When Boredom Beats Mental Busywork

Posted on March 4, 2015 at 8:00 am

I love this tribute to boredom on car trips with children. I well remember being in the back seat with my sisters, alternating games of GHOST and Botticelli with highway bingo and, yes, arguing with each other about who had to ride in the middle. What will today’s children remember about family car trips? Watching “Frozen” for the 17th time? Playing video games? Car trips can be tedious without media, but they can be the most precious family bonding time you will ever have. And there is no greater gift you can give a child than the ability to be present in the world and find ways to use his or her imagination for entertainment. And it is also good for them to learn that we watch movies to engage our minds, hearts, and spirits, not as a distraction from whatever is going on around us.

Antonia Malchick writes about her family’s device-free drive:

Even I was surprised by how well they adapted to the screen-free hours in the car. John took to drawing intricate pictures with hilarious narrative explanations. Alex tried to copy him, and then got bored and threw her stuffed dogs at him. He threw his stuffed Angry Birds back. They giggled and fought and stared out the windows a lot. And it wasn’t just them_I was noticeably more relaxed and calmer without constant access to Facebook; FOMO (“fear of missing out”) faded away and I got to pay attention to everything else I’d been missing out on.

South Dakota was hot, but it also has the Badlands, which they’ll remember instead of Caillou; they know that Illinois is where we passed wind farms and corn farms, not where they were playing Minecraft; that Billings, Montana, stinks of oil refinery and has approximately a million coal trains but it was also where_we only saw it because we were paying attention — we passed a train of open freight cars, each carrying a massive windmill blade.

Instead of memories of a crazy long car trip where they escaped the dullness in videos and games, they’ll have memories of a crazy long car trip where they formed a more complex relationship with each other and with me. They got a sense of the country, its vastness and variety, its future and past, and a sense of themselves at the same time, what their minds are capable of when allowed to roam in the deceptive bleakness of boredom. The perfect road trip.

The Most Over-Used Lines in Movies

Posted on February 21, 2015 at 3:54 pm

The wonderful screenwriters’ blog Go Into the Story has assembled a terrific list of the most over-used lines of dialog we have heard far too often in movies. The lines usually mentioned as the most frequent: “Let’s get out of here,” “Please, try to understand,” and “Try to get some rest.” But those are said all the time in real life, so it makes sense that they would occur a lot in movies. The wonderful old Rotten Tomatoes show used to have hilarious compilations of lines like “This wasn’t part of the plan” and “I have a bad feeling about this.”

These are ones that writers should be careful to skip, unless they are making the point that the character is unimaginative or trying to present him/herself as a type.

Here are some of the best/worst from the list.

I was born ready.

Is that all you got?

I’m just getting started.

Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

Don’t you die on me!

He’s standing right behind me, isn’t he?

Let’s do this thing!

What part of _____ don’t you understand?

We’ve got company.

Wait! I can explain! This isn’t what it looks like.

f we make it out of this alive . . .

You’re either very brave . . . or very stupid.

Not on my watch!

Listen to me, and listen good, ’cause I’m only gonna say it once.

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Understanding Media and Pop Culture

Tom Shales on SNL and Lorne Michaels

Posted on February 20, 2015 at 8:00 am

Of all the tributes and critiques of “Saturday Night Live” as it starts its fifth decade, none is more astute than Tom Shales’ for Daily Beast. Shales is the co-author of Live From New York: The Complete, Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as Told by Its Stars, Writers, and Guests. In this column he talks about producer Lorne Michaels, and his original idea that the show should be for the generation who grew up on television. It was media-aware and subversive from the beginning.

In the earliest days of Saturday Night Live it didn’t occur to Michaels, who of course created the show, that they would establish characters and bring them back for repeat sketches, with the conspicuous exception of The Bees, with the “Not Ready for Prime-Time Players” dressed in fat padded bee costumes that had been lying around.

Michaels said later he brought the bees back because the only note he got from network executives after the first show was: “Lose the bees.” So it was that SNL began, defying authority and ever-evolving as a showcase for the best and sometimes bravest American humor. It’s Comedy Mountain.

Julianne Moore and Patricia Arquette — Why We’re Rooting for them on Oscar Night

Posted on February 18, 2015 at 11:02 pm

No one is smarter about actors and Oscars than Susan Wloszczyna, and I was honored to be included in her latest Big O piece about front-runners Julianne Moore and Patricia Arquette, and why wins for the two of them will be especially satisfying.

But what will make a triumph for Moore even more satisfying is that the 54-year-old actress, who has been nominated four times before with no Oscar to show for her efforts (and probably should have had a fifth nod for 2010’s “The Kids Are All Right”), is considered long overdue. She hasn’t even been in the race since 2002.

Meanwhile, 46-year-old Arquette — a member of a high-profile acting clan who made her film debut in 1987’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3” — has never gotten the recognition she deserves for her standout roles in such films as 1993’s “True Romance,” 1994’s “Ed Wood,” and 1996’s “Flirting With Disaster.” She has been better served as the star of the TV series “Medium,” which aired for seven seasons starting in 2005 and won her an Emmy.

As for Arquette’s role in “Boyhood,” in which she plays a devoted mother determined to better her position in life, it is essentially a lead and probably the most substantial showcase for her talent that she has ever had. That alone practically assures that she will not go away empty handed.

Fingers crossed for both of them Sunday night.

SNL Turns 40

Posted on February 6, 2015 at 3:55 pm

“Saturday Night Live,” once the brash upstart whose cast billed themselves as the “Not Ready for Prime Time Players” is now an established institution. Performers like John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Al Franken, Eddie Murphy, Martin Short, Billy Crystal, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Chris Farley, Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Conan O’Brien, Chris Rock, Will Ferrell, Tracy Morgan, Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Kristin Wiig, Seth Meyers, Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, and many more all had breakthrough performances as writers or members of the cast. Dozens of memes, characters, and catchphrases originating on the show have become a part of our culture.

SNL is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a book and a prime time TV special hosted by Eddie Murphy February 15, 2015, with many of the cast members and special guests including Sarah Palin, Kanye West, and Justin Timberlake.

Saturday Night Live: The Book includes over 2,300 images from SNL’s archives, many previously unpublished, an illustrated breakdown of the 6-day week at SNL through the years, with an expanded section for the live show, a seasons reference guide with complete cast, host, and musical guest lists, and an exclusive interview with founder and executive producer Lorne Michaels.

On October 11, 1975 at 11:30 p.m., NBC viewers who tuned in to the network’s new late night show saw a sketch featuring John Belushi repeating, in a thick foreign accent, nonsensical phrases about wolverines being read to him by head writer Michael O’Donohue. Abruptly, O’Donohue clutched his heart and collapsed onto the floor. Belushi paused, raised his eyebrow, and then did the same. Posing as the stage manager, Chevy Chase entered the set and feigned confusion before breaking character and announcing to the camera: “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”

Copyright NBC

In that instant, television, which had long been out of touch with the young and hip, experienced the first seismic tremors of a major paradigm shift. TV comedy as we know it today owes it all to Saturday Night Live, the show that dared to take risks (not least the fact that it’s broadcast live), challenge the censors, and celebrate the work of offbeat writer-performers. Hundreds of gifted and dedicated people have contributed to Saturday Night Live over the years, and this book pays homage to their groundbreaking work. The list of esteemed alumni, most of whom were complete unknowns when they debuted on SNL, reads like a Who’s Who of the past 4 decades in comedy: John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Al Franken, Eddie Murphy, Martin Short, Billy Crystal, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Chris Farley, Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Conan O’Brien, Chris Rock, Will Ferrell, Tracy Morgan, Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Kristin Wiig, Seth Meyers, Fred Armisen, and Bill Hader—to name just a few.

Now, as SNL celebrates its 40th anniversary, Tashcen brings you the ultimate tribute to the show. To research this book, editor and author Alison Castle was given not only full access to SNL’s archives, but also the rare opportunity to watch the cast and crew at work. She spent the better part of season 39 in the trenches, learning how everything comes together in just six days for the live performance. Part encyclopedia and part behind-the-scenes tour, Saturday Night Live: The Book covers both the making of the show and its remarkable history.

Fans of the show should also read Live From New York: The Complete, Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as Told by Its Stars, Writers, and Guests by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller.

Glamour has a terrific, very candid roundtable with the SNL women, who talk about everything from their “terrifying” auditions to writing for themselves to avoid one-line waitress roles, to the ideas behind their most famous characters.