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YouTube

After a 10-year absence, the men in black finally make a comeback. This is the third installment in the MIB franchise, and I sure hope as hell it won't be the last.

Men in Black now ranks as my second favorite alien franchise, next only to Doctor Who. Some people might be asking, "Wait, I thought you liked Star Wars?" Yes, I do love Star Wars. But you have to understand first that when I say "alien", I don't mean "sci-fi". There's a difference.

"There is?"

Star Wars is sci-fi. Dune is sci-fi. Star Trek is alien. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is alien. Get the difference?

When I say "alien", I mean something that still involves human Earthlings and the planet Earth. Do you have the planet Earth in the Star Wars universe? No, you don't. Is Han Solo a human Earthling? No, he isn't (he's a human Corellian).

Anyway, 10 years is a long time, and a lot of changes have taken place in MIB headquarters. First, Zed's dead (nice rhyme). Second, the new director (I assume that's what the highest MIB officer is called) is O (Emma Thompson), and she gives a hilarious eulogy to her predecessor.

"Is it funnier because of my British accent?"
5:17 PM
What makes this episode different from all the others? That is, aside from the fact that we see nothing of Jon Snow, crows, wildlings, Winterfell, Harrenhal, Robb Stark, or the Kingslayer?

HBO
Don't worry. We'll still get to see some breasts.
4:01 PM
Columbia

For those of you who are too young to remember, 21 Jump Street was a television show in the 80s. It was mostly my mother and my aunt who watched it; children love their cartoons, and are not interested in anything adults like.

Anyway, this here is the movie version. Hollywood showed us that making movie versions of old TV shows is quite lucrative, and since they've basically cleared the 70s with Charlie's Angels and Starsky and Hutch, they now move on to the 80s.

Anyway, here are 21 reasons to watch this. Thank heavens the street address wasn't in triple digits. If it were called 101 Jump Street, I'd have to write 101 reasons to watch this.

1. Channing Tatum's first attempt at comedy

Columbia
I mean, look at him.


2. A lean, mean, Jonah Hill

Columbia
"Uh..."
10:02 AM
AMC

Welcome to Madison Avenue, home of the Ad Men, or Mad Men, as they like to call themselves. (See, that's a play on the words "advertising", and "Madison"─Mad. Get it?)

I've heard about this show before, but I never got a chance to watch it, because when this show started, I was extremely biased towards HBO productions and tended to ignore all the other shows on TV.

It was only when I became a copywriter that I decided to check the show out. I needed some inspiration, because I just realized that I suck at writing copy. And inspire me it did. Everyone in a line of work involving creativity will definitely learn a lot here, from the first episode's Lucky Strike campaign (It's Toasted!) up to the season ender's brilliant, sentimentally tear-jerking pitch of the Kodak carousel slide projector.

AMC
"I'm crying because of the sheer brilliance of this scene!"

Mad Men is set in 1960s America, sometime during the Nixon-Kennedy election showdown. And the show does indeed look convincingly like the 60s. The hair, the costumes, the production design, the cinematography, the soundtrack─everything is swingin' sixties, baby. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the best use of effective realism I have ever seen on television.

The entire visual look is so effective, it looks like those 60s Coca-Cola ads brought to life.

Like this, basically.
3:05 PM
YouTube

I wasn't a Joss Whedon fan. Everything I know about Joss Whedon, I learned from The Avengers. Before that, everything I knew about Joss Whedon, I learned from my co-writer Claire and Tumblr. And before that, I knew nothing about Joss Whedon.

Yes, I was aware that there was a show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But after the film Cruel Intentions, I thought Sarah Michelle Gellar was too slutty for my taste. Also, I thought Buffy was a show for girls, like Charmed, so I never checked it out anymore.

Anyway, after watching The Avengers, I decided that Joss Whedon is a huge geek and one brilliant storyteller, and is definitely worth my time. So I decided to watch The Cabin in the Woods. And although it had the feel of a B-movie, I wasn't disappointed.

Except by the dirt on the characters's faces.

The film started out like an ordinary college movie, where you get the typical archetypes: the hunk (a pre-Thor Chris Hemsworth), the slut (Anna Hutchison), the virgin (Kristen Connolly), and the pothead (Fran Kranz). Then as the film became weirder and weirder, I said to myself, "Hold on! This looks strangely familiar..."

"When you say 'familiar', you don't mean us, right?
Because we're basically Whedon staples."

And then it hit me. Doctor Who.

For those of you unfamiliar with Doctor Who, you need to explore things from other English-speaking countries, not just the USA. Why not explore stuff from the birthplace of English itself? If everything you know about the British Isles you learned from Harry Potter and the Beatles, then shame on you.

"How about the Spice Girls?"

All throughout the film, I kept thinking how much Joss Whedon's style is so much similar to the styles of Doctor Who head writers Steven Moffat and Russell T. Davies, the latter being the driving force that brought the Doctor back in 2005 after a television hiatus of more than a decade. I even went so far as tweeting that if Joss Whedon were only born under the Union Jack, he would surely be the head writer for DW.

Same level of creepiness. Satisfied?

And I thank Claire for coming to the rescue, when she said that Russell T. Davies was actually inspired by the works of Joss Whedon. And that's not just fangirl ramblings (Claire is both a Whedon-whore as well as a Whovian).

“[Buffy the Vampire Slayer] showed the whole world, and an entire sprawling industry, that writing monsters and demons and end-of-the world isn’t hack-work, it can challenge the best. Joss Whedon raised the bar for every writer—not just genre/niche writers, but every single one of us.”─Russell T. Davies

It is, actually, quite obvious, or else I wouldn't have noticed it. It's the perfect balance between single character conflicts, group dynamics, aliens, monsters, the mythological, and the supernatural. And another thing: is Joss Whedon a pothead? Because in this film, the only survivors are the pothead and the virgin. Brilliant, right?

"That's 'cause his name is really Joss Weed-don. Get it?"

Like I said earlier, I wasn't a fan of Joss Whedon. But I am now.



The Cabin in the Woods. USA. 2012.



Rating: Seven point eight out of ten.
6:29 PM
Ye olde bigge hair.

This is a sad time for disco music. After the death of Donna Summer, another disco legend bites the dust dance floor. I'm talking about Robin Gibb, whose death has left his older brother Barry as the last survivor of the Bee Gees.

Although the Bee Gees were big in the 70s, they still made hits in the 80s, so if you grew up in the 80s, you'll surely have heard them on the radio (since the Philippines in the 80s was basically America in the 70s).

As I was growing up, I encountered Bee Gees references in pop culture. There was one in the comic strip Pugad Baboy, about how the Bee Gees always sounded like they just ate really spicy food. Then there was another one from A Goofy Movie, where Bigfoot danced to "Stayin' Alive".


Then when I was in high school, the Bee Gees made a comeback, with this video constantly playing on music channels, competing for the same airtime as Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and the Smashing Pumpkins.


It was then that I noticed, "Hey, that other Bee Gee looks really cool, like an old artist-type guy." And yes, he's the one who doesn't look like a lion. Then I learned that cool artist-type guy was Robin Gibb, who sang "Boys Do Fall in Love", a song everyone in the 80s should have heard at least once.


And that is the story of how Robin Gibb became my favorite Bee Gee ever.




Robin Hugh Gibb. 22 December 1949─20 May 2012.
1:21 PM
Wicklow News

Let us pause for a moment to honor the memory of one of the legends of disco─Ms. Donna Summer.

I'm not that familiar with Donna Summer as a person. But I do know her name, as it is a bit synonymous with "disco". And I do know her songs. I'm sure most of you do, too, without realizing it.

Here's something to help you remember:


Here's another one:


I'd give you another video, but Donna Summer wouldn't like that. She doesn't like people who are too lazy to google her.



LaDonna Adrian Gaines. 31 December 1948─17 May 2012.
6:25 PM
What do you get when you bring in the show's creators to write this episode?

Like the episode before this, which was also penned by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, this one is filled with talk and drama. Pfffttt. I don't want that. I want great storytelling, like you guys did in Season 1. Seems like you've gone soft in this episode. At least the previous episode had just a teensy hint of violence. The only sign of violence in this episode was those two guards at the gate that Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie had to pass through─and the guards were already like that when they got there.

HBO
How does Jaqen H'ghar kill? Really?
12:43 PM
Meredith has a long lifespan for a guest character, don't you think?

The Vampire Diaries Season 3 has been more like a soap opera with a fantasy twist, specifically witches, vampires, werewolves, hybrids, and ghosts. We have grown to love the ultimate villain that is Klaus that there was no real threat to our heroes this season. We had Mikael, Esther, and Vampire "Alaric" Hunter, but no one really measured up to Klaus. But our Original Hybrid is kind of busy painting and sketching.

We're always pleased by Elijah's surprise presence!

Don't get me wrong, I love that we had a glimpse of the Originals and their humanity. It's enriching to know how a villain became who he is and the reasons behind his actions. It will still be good to have Daniel Gillies, Claire Holt, and Joseph Morgan (please say his body is intact, albeit burnt) around. Elijah, Rebekah, and Klaus all bring that royal, regal, and ancient yet edgy feel to the show.

These two, on the other hand, are terrific, romantic or not.

But I also want to see our vampires in action again. I'm not sure what kind of villain or threat is going to outrank Klaus and the Originals, but I have hope that with the new dynamics─Elena turning vampire and all─they'll find someone or something fearsome and worthy to hate again. It could even turn out to be Vampire Elena? Nina Dobrev could easily pull that off, but I guess that's Katherine's turf.

I'd still choose Damon anywhere, any day, any time.

The Salvatore brothers have been through a lot and this season also solidified their blood relations. It's so good to see them come together even if they still have their differences. We saw Paul Wesley take on Stefan's history; I want to see Ian Somerhalder show why Damon ended up as this bad-ass vampire we know and love. Stefan might be Elena's choice now (even though I have a feeling he's always going to be her choice), but "The Departed" is all in favor of Damon (like I said, Stefan's guilt and Elena's refreshed memory). But I hope the brothers only get stronger after an uphill climb getting over Elena's turning in the season to come.

If only we could freeze this moment... then the show is over. So we will NOT.

We say goodbye to Alaric, yes. Our resident witch going dark, maybe? Caroline and Tyler (who is actually Klaus posing as Tyler at the moment) still on the run? Will Matt's near-death experience make him not-so-normal now? Who are the ghosts Jeremy will have contact with? How the hell are they going to turn back Mystic Falls to the way it was? Our vampires can't compel each and everyone to forget.


The Vampire Diaires gets a seven out of ten, for insights on the Originals, the Salvatores, Elena, and more (specifically a stronger Bonnie, empowered humans, and villains we all hate to love or love to hate).



*photos from The CW (here and here) and by VLC
6:39 PM
Dear, dear Chance Harbor witches...

We're sort of back to square one. The Secret Circle ain't bound anymore, and solo powers are restored. It took you a whole season to start being interesting. I can literally tick off a handful (or maybe half) of the episodes that just confused the only storyline that mattered. Nick, the demons, and the witch hunters are vital to your ultimate plot, but the rest, really, you could do away with easily.

What The Secret Circle could have been given more spotlight: good and evil (fighting bad guys or their own internal demons), some romance and a little bit of sex (I stand by my statement that this show really lacked the hot guy for girls to fantasize; I'd settle for Jake but he's not that cute), and a lot of mystery (one too many surrounding voodoo, though), and great cool chanting spells (which we only sort of heard in the latter part of the season). Plus, I've always said the costume design needed an upgrade because it reminded me of Dawson's Creek, which was a show way too long ago.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm a little bit sad that we will no longer find out what happens next. The montage at the end of "Family" looks to shatter all that we know and love of the characters, and that can only be good to shake things up. Let me take you to the best of what's never going to come:
6:31 PM
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