Pop Culture Priest

Jun 7

Avengers Arena: Chill, people. Nico’s fine.

Listen, gente, I love a good comic book as much as anybody. And I love me some RUNAWAYS like the sweet sweet sound of my mother singing to me as she cradles me in her arms.

And I know some of you are freaked out about Avengers Arena this week, where SPOILER***

SPOILER***

Dennis Hopeless seems to have killed our girl Nico like she was some old dish cloth that you can just toss away and wait for a new one.

And yep, I want to riot, too. Or just ignore it, because come on, long term, that nina is not dying, or at least not in some book other than her own. Yeah, she may be “dead” for now, but bring back RUNAWAYS and that lady is gonna be back and badder than ever. Fact, she might be so bad she steps off the page and shows Hopeless and Alonso and their boys what it feels like to be a plot device, to use a horrifying concept like “kids killing kids” to sell books.

But what was Nico’s last spell? “Help.”

Now if I know Marvel, that’s going to be some sort of way to bring in the bigger Marvel Universe rather than an immediate Nico Lives medley. (As though the bigger universe somehow forget their children were missing, one of the many bizarro logic-defying plot gaps of the series.)

But let’s remember, she’s from RUNAWAYS, a series that specializes in time travel and people coming from the dead. Hopeless can kill her all she wants. He can infuriate us with his very problematic storyline of children killing children, one that began just weeks after the tragedy of Newtown.

But that lady’s coming back.

And that — not this nonsense — is a story I want to see.

May 20

*sigh*

(via whospam)

May 17

Goodbye, The Office

Just watched the series finale of The Office. A lovely piece of work that captures well the spirit of the show.

There have been some great articles on the show in the last few days. Alan Sepinwall at Hitfix had this one. And the AV Club has this great piece on the show’s best eps.

One of my favorite moments — and there are so many — was Pam and Jim’s wedding. Enjoy.

Bye, Jim and Pam and everybody else — we’ll miss you.

Mar 5

Walking Dead's Carl Speaks!

Great little interview with Chandler Riggs from Walking Dead. The first question alone is hilarious:

“Q: Now that Madison Lintz (Sophia) is gone, what’s it like to be the only kid on set ?

A: Luckily, some of the actors act like kids, like Steven Yuen and Norman Reedus. So I hang out with them a lot. They’re really fun guys.”

Mar 2

inothernews:

Actress Bonnie Franklin, best known for her portrayal of Ann in the TV show One Day At A Time, died at 69. From the New York Times:

“One Day at a Time” ran from December 1975 to May 1984, and its ratings ranked in the top 20 in eight of those seasons and in the top 10 in four. Ms. Franklin was nominated for an Emmy Award and twice for a Golden Globe.

The show’s topicality fell squarely in the tradition of its developer, Norman Lear, who had gained renown for introducing political and social commentary to situation comedy with “All in the Family” and other shows. Its co-creator was Whitney Blake, a former sitcom star who, as a single mother, had reared the future actress Meredith Baxter.

…As a divorced mother who had reverted to her maiden name and relocated to Indianapolis, Ann fought her deadbeat ex-husband for child support, for example. Or she dealt with a daughter deciding whether to remain a virgin.

Some story lines continued for up to four weeks, as when Julie, to Ann’s consternation, dated a man more than twice her age. In one plot twist Ann’s fiancé is killed by a drunken driver. Later she marries her son-in-law’s divorced father.

Comic relief came from the frequent visits of the building superintendent, Dwayne Schneider (Pat Harrington). But Ms. Franklin was said to have pushed the producers toward greater realism, urging them to take on issues like teenage pregnancy and avoid letting the show lapse into comic shtick.

In her 2009 memoir, “High on Arrival,” Ms. Phillips, who had come to the show after gaining notice in the 1973 George Lucas film “American Graffiti,” said that Ms. Franklin did not want “One Day at a Time” to be “sitcom fluff.” “She wanted it to deal honestly with the struggles and truths of raising two teenagers as a single mother,” Ms. Phillips wrote.

By the time the show ended in 1984, Ann’s daughters had grown and married; Ann herself had remarried and become a grandmother. In interviews. Ms. Franklin said she had refused to do anything that might diminish her character’s integrity. In particular, she said, it was important for Ann not to rely on a man to make decisions.

But each year she found herself fighting the same fights. “And I’m not working with insensitive men,” she told The Boston Globe in 1981. “But the men who produce and write the show still don’t believe me when I present them with the women’s point of view. “After seven years,” she continued, “I just want to say, ‘C’mon guys, I’m an intelligent person, why don’t you just trust me?’ I’m so tired of fighting. But you can’t give up.”

Report: ABC cancels 'Zero Hour' after only three episodes | Zap2it

Damien Wayne — RIP

Mar 1

The “Johanna” reprise from Sweeney Todd is the musical in miniature | Music | Hear This | The A.V. Club

Great article about a great musical.

Feb 28