I’ve been meaning to do this entry for a while. The idea first sparked when my parents took me to see Avatar and Sherlock Holmes in the same day. Today it was renewed with the unfortunate viewing of “Spartacus: Blood and Sand“.

You really have to wonder why movies and television are really lacking in dialogue, plot, and good character development. Not to mention originality. I, myself, am not a huge television watcher, nor do I keep up on the latest movies. I think that mostly has to do with the real lack of original plot, or at the very least good writing.

Did the writer’s strike a couple years ago destroy all the good writers? Did they decide to say “fuck it” and go into hibernation? Only to slowly drift out again when they wanted to do a movie like District 9?

A year ago, when I first met Kevin, he introduced me to a fantastically done series known as Deadwood. It’s an HBO series. When I think “HBO” I usually think The Sopranos and Sex in the City, neither of which really perk my interests. We started watching it, and holy shit. I was blown away.

If we want to talk about historical accuracy, not only is it done in story, but also characters, costumes, setting, and dialogue. The cinematography is beautiful. The use of sex is actually appropriate to the setting, not distracting nor thrown in haphazardly. You find yourself rooting for people who are murderers, but also these murderers have so much more complexity to them that you are connected to them. The violence isn’t unrealistic, leaving out the popular Hollywood bullshit use of wires and acrobatics. It stays true to the setting, and it fucking WORKS.

I’ve heard high praise of other HBO series, mainly Rome and the Wire. I think the reason these shows were successful - despite early cancellations (Rome and Deadwood) - is because the writers and producers TRUSTED the AUDIENCE. Shit isn’t spelled out and explained in insulting detail like a mother trying to tell her child that putting a hand on the hot stove will burn you. These writers are willing to take chances, to risk being vague and allowing the audience to draw the connections. You know, to trust the audience to have a brain with which to THINK.

Television these days is so mindless. Writers take something that was successful - 300, Gladiator - and create shows like Spartacus: Blood and Sand thinking that they can actually pull in a specific audience. But they do it in the worst possible way. Gratuitous sex scenes that is soft porn that does nothing more than show that ONE character has some sort strange kink. Ridiculous amounts of CGI in which 80% of the budget was used on FAST MOVING CLOUDS in nearly EVERY SCENE, stupid slow-mo action scenes, and AMG LOTS OF CGI BLOOD SPLATTERS!!!

But why? Why all this stupid CGI? It’s so over done that they think they can distract the audience away from the horrible dialogue, which is probably even worse than dialogue in “Hercules” or “Xena". But even so, Hercules and Xena weren’t trying to play off as a super serious series with “historical accuracies.” No, it was just playful fun. Whereas at the very beginning of Spartacus, we had this LOVELY disclaimer:

“Spartacus is a historical depiction of ancient Rome’s society and culture. The intensity of the sensuality, brutality, and language is to suggest an authentic representation of that period.”

Because, you know, Romans are actually British people and the gladiators were all Americans. … wait, what???

And, you know, people’s bodies splitting completely at the torso while flying through the air is truly an “authentic representation.” … All that slow-mo REALLY HAPPENED PEOPLE. SRSLY.

It’s horrible how movies these days are so CGI driven, rather than story driven. Avatar is a grand example, as is Sherlock Holmes. Both movies have HORRIBLE plots, HORRIBLE dialogue, and INAPPROPRIATE and, dare I say, HORRIBLE use of CGI. It does absolutely nothing to add to the story in a way that would remotely make it a worthwhile movie. Yes, Avatar’s CGI was fantastically done. I loved the world creation and the monsters, which couldn’t have been done without the expensive CGI. But Avatar was nothing more than a glorified Pocahontas story. Not to mention the dialogue made me gag.

Sherlock Holmes… I don’t even want to talk about Robert Downing Jr. Holmes.

Unfortunately, I’m not the target audience on most of these poorly crafted TV shows and movies. It’s the people who think the Digiorno commercials are funny.

I can’t wait for the next movie to come out that has some sense of originality, good dialogue, and appropriate use of CGI (or better yet, NO CGI). In the meantime, I just have to stick with HBO and good books.

Preface: This is MY opinion. You’re free to disagree and argue with me, but I will NOT tolerate a flame war. I know a lot of people will disagree on points, but any display of hatred and intolerance will result in immediate removal of comments and possibly banning from my site.

I read a few things recently that really, really bothered me. It’s centered around Prop 8 in California, but this is really about Gay Marriage in general. First, let us look at the exact wording for Prop 8:

The official ballot title language for Proposition 8 is “Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry.” The entirety of the text to be added to the constitution is: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”¹

Shall the California Constitution be changed to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry providing that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California?²

There’s also Prop 102 in Arizona:

Proposition 102 would amend the Arizona Constitution to provide that only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state.³

And Florida’s Amendment 2:

This amendment protects marriage as the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife and provides that no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.⁴

Now let us take a trip through history.

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