Crowning Moment of Awesome- 09/29/2012

Who better for a Crowning Moment of Awesome than the Axis of Awesome showing how to play every hit song ever with four chords?

(Three swear words, so possibly NSFW).

Crowning Moment of Awesome- 09/22/2012

I'm reducing the "Crowning Moment of Awesome" Posts to when I find something truly amazing on the web.

This qualifies:

XKCD Brilliance 

Doctor Who Thoughts

I have become a Whovian, watching since the series was rebooted in 2005 and starting to watch many of the 'Classic' episodes.  (Favorite Doctor:  Right now Nine.  Favorite Companion:  Ace, with Donna RIGHT behind her).  So, as this season began, I chronicled my thoughts, comments, and criticisms:

**  NOTE:  Don't read further unless you've seen the episode.

1) I hated, hated, HATED the whole "Amy and Rory are divorcing" sideline. It felt false, it didn't add to the story at all, it wasted the actors. Every time that part of the story was brought up, I wanted to shoot the TV.

I will argue that, of all of the companions that I've seen, no one has been wasted more than Amy and Rory. Rory's only purpose is to show how much he loves Amy (and be a corpse when they want someone to appear dead for dramatic purposes). Amy's only purpose? Look good and be a damsel in distress for the Doctor. Blargh.

2) Now, the "Oswin as Dalek" twist? Loved that. Thought it was brilliant, and it caught me off-guard (though it shouldn't have). But...

3) They blew up the planet and killed her off?!?! NO! There were so many directions they could have taken that concept. Have the Doctor rescue her and try to 'fix' her. Or see if a Delak (even an 'insane' one) can fit in their universe as a protagonist. Or hell- when the Doctor forced her to confront the truth, have her go mad and vow revenge- giving the Doctor an insane Dalek foe who is actually SMARTER than him.

But to create a character that has so many storylines and then kill her off two minutes later? What a waste...

((Note: I retract this comment if she is brought back and they follow one of those storyline suggestions))

4) The "By the way, I've completely deleted all records of you to the Daleks. They have no idea who you are" strikes me as corny and bad writing. And it won't last past the next time they want the Daleks to remember that the Doctor is their enemy.

Crowning Moment of Awesome- 09/03/2012

I love seeing the future.  I love it even more when it looks like the Original Star Wars movie.

Crowning Moment of Awesome- 09/01/2012

Improv TV:  Make up a song, in the styles of 80's alternative, about gas station attendants, called "Wipe the Windows, Hang the Freshener, Let's Go"

Considering this was literally made up on the spot, it's amazing.  Better than half the songs out there today, in fact:

 

Is Clint Eastwood a mad genius?

Hear me out... actually, first, watch his performance at the Republican National Convention this week... then hear me out:

OK- I'm sure if you already are inclining to vote for Romney, you enjoyed this.  If you already were inclined to vote for Obama, you disliked this.

(And, if there's anyone who's truly on the fence right now, I'd be curious to hear their opinion on Clint's speech, both on levels of entertainment and for making political points.)

Here's my thought, though- every President gets caricatured.  W was portrayed as a shoot-first cowboy, Clinton as a "Slick Willie", George HW Bush as an out-of-touch patrician, Reagan as a doddering fool... it's in America's DNA to mock their leaders.  Hell, go back in the past years and see what was said about Teddy Roosevelt , Franklin Delano Roosevelt, or  Dwight Eisenhower.

But Obama's always been very hard to caricature.  No image has really caught on with the American public the way they have with previous Presidents.  In a time where there's about 18 million late night talk shows who are all too willing to mock Sarah Palin, Kim Kardashian, or anyone else... the President's always been treated with kid gloves.

Maybe it's Partisanship- I know some people like David Letterman are big Obama supporters.  Or maybe there's a fear that any mockery of President Obama is racist (Spike Lee had no problem calling Clint Eastwood a racist, and there is not one single note about race in anything that was said in the video above)

But Obama-as-Empty-Chair?  That's catching on.  It's caricaturing a large aspect of his Presidency- the man who makes grandiose promises but isn't there to deliver them.  It's a rough attack, but above the belt.  It's taken three and a half years into his Presidency, but there's finally a caricature image that is catching on with the American public.  

It just took an Oscar-winning director to find the right one.