Book Club: Crime and Punishment, Tim Cowlishaw + Tina Fey

Book Club (May/April 2014)

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Obviously this is considered one of the greatest pieces of literature in human history, but I just wish it was a little bit shorter. Technically, I think I had the unabridged version and the print was tiny and very close together, but 500 pages is a lot of reading. I will probably read this again down the line because it deserves re-reading and I'm sure there's a bunch of stuff I missed out on. I don't think the book was perfect (and what I do know, right?). Some of the dialogue tends be way too verbose, but when Dostoevsky gets it right, it can be downright chilling.

Drunk On Sports by Tim Cowlishaw
I love Around the Horn on ESPN. It's one of the few shows I still enjoy on any ESPN network. I don't really have a group of favorite analysts from the show, but I always enjoy when Tim Cowlishaw is on. This show in particular includes glimpses of the analysts' true personalities, but just because you watch someone on TV doesn't meant you actually know anything about his or her personal life. Drunk On Sports isn't a memoir so much as it is a story about an alcoholic who didn't realize he was an alcoholic, continued to be an alcoholic and finally decided not to be an alcoholic. It's not a self-help book, as he iterates on multiple occasions because he never found those helpful for his own problems. His actual sports reporting stories are great – all the stuff with Jimmy Johnson and the Cowboys, stories about actually working for a local paper and its transitions throughout the years. But there's a lot to take from his story about how to approach, deal with and, really, diagnose an alcoholic, especially one whose life isn't necessarily in shambles.

Bossypants by Tina Fey
I like Tina Fey. I wasn't super into SNL, but I was a huge 30 Rock fan. I knew there were mixed reviews about this book, but I wanted to read it anyway. I read Mindy Kaling's book a couple years ago and really enjoyed it, and I just assumed I would feel the same way about this. It starts off pretty weird. It's a memoir, but she tends to intentionally keep so many details to herself, and her childhood really isn't all that interesting. But it takes a turn for the better when she starts telling stories about her time at SNL and later on 30 Rock. The first third of the book had me thinking Fey's humor didn't translate well to 15-page chapters, but by the time she gets to the NBC years, there are moments I literally laughed out loud. She also opens up about being a woman in the industry and being a mother and whether having more kids will affect her career, and I definitely appreciated this as well. As much as it's obvious women don't get proper respect within the comedy/sitcom world, it's nice to hear specifics from someone who works both in front of the camera and behind the scenes.

IamSu! feat. 50 Cent & Jay Ant – Show Me

When 50 Cent hopped on LoveRance's "Up," it was a move meant to keep himself somewhat relevant and help give a local hit some national shine. He had been charitably flocking verses to everyone from Too Short to one-offs like Mann that it had become routine over that time period. So while he actually shouted out HBK on "Up" and appeared in the video, it probably didn't occur to anyone that there was a relationship between Fif and Su or any the HBK kids.

On Wednesday Jay Ant threw out the song, claiming it had not made Su's upcoming debut Sincerely Yours. 50 is also in album promo mode, so it kind of makes you think where his starpower and credibility is at if a great song like this won't even make IamSu's album. This is definitely one of Jay's more accessible beats. It soothes in the way most of his music does without intentionally being extra trippy. Su has been playing around with the auto-tuned flow for almost two years now, and especially in the wake of guys like Young Thug, it's great to see someone use his voice as an instrument as uniquely as he does here. 50 also shines here. He basically follows Su's style, but he's clearly having fun stepping outside of his comfort zone.

The four singles he's dropped from Animal Ambition, while all technically good aren't anything to run home to. Perhaps 50 is in a position, at least creatively, to try these new styles instead trying to recreate feelings from his heyday. While there would almost certainly be a backlash, I would very much appreciate it.

This song is so much more interesting than the single Su actually decided to go with, it's a total bummer it isn't official. But if this ended up on the cutting room floor, I look forward to what ends up on the album.

I don't want to like HBO's "Silicon Valley"

HBO's newest comedy "Silicon Valley" premiered this Sunday. It follows Richard Hendrix (and his buddies) as he finds himself going from mindless employee at the show's version of Google to owner of his own potentially umpteen million dollar company after creating a lossless compression algorithm.

Aside from the show's creator Mike Judge's history, the cast and a two-minute preview HBO released a few months ago, I didn't know much about the show. But I didn't want to like it. I was born and raised in Silicon Valley. My parents aren't software engineers, but I've always been around that world. I ended up going to college at UC Berkeley to study Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and I now work at a company just like the people in the show.

I guess I appreciate that this world is getting some shine through the comedic lens of a guy like Mike Judge. I wouldn't compare my office to the one in Office Space, but I definitely feel like the only sane person in a room full of ridiculousness when at work. It's just that the software industry has completely blown up. There's so much money in this world that it doesn't even make any sense, and the industry has become this caricature of itself during that process. But there's so much more to life in the Valley than this. So if an outsider's only entry point into this world was The Social Network and news reports about how awesome Google's offices are, I didn't want another (likely more accessible to the average viewer) viewpoint to come from that angle. There's also several stereotypes about software engineers that I've always resented, especially while in college, and I probably took it personally that a significant HBO show could potentially portray that as the norm.

What I didn't learn until today was that Mike Judge worked as a programmer. Granted it was 30 years ago, he has more insight into what it's like to work at one of these companies than I ever thought he did. It's kind of inspiring to know that I could possibly go from what I do now to what he does now.

The pilot was okay. It was hard to not groan at the Jobs/Wozniak joke. It's also weird to watch a storyline about a guy's side project becoming a million dollar company in literally hours when I know that not only does this never happen, but also that most engineers just kind of exist without really contributing anything all that significant in the grand scheme of things. But I get it, it's a fucking TV show. I do appreciate the sort of inside jokes thrown in – about no girls being around, the absurd IPO party kind of lifestyle, the insults the guys in the house throw at each other – that reveal a deeper level of these friends' personalities. Because, in the end, the fact that the show is based here isn't what makes it funny or interesting. It's simply what drives the plot forward.

I don't see Silicon Valley catching up to Veep, which I believe to be funniest show on TV, in terms of quality, but I'll obviously continue to watch. I was never worried so much that the show would "portray us incorrectly." It was more that, if they were going to do this show, it better be good because I've forced myself to be personally invested in its reception. I'll probably write about it more here in the coming weeks.

TV Recap: Enlisted

I'm a big TV fan. I watch way more TV than most people I know, so I was shocked to find out about FOX's Enlisted for the first time last week, nine-tenths of the way through the show's first (and unfortunately last) season.

FOX had been batting well above .500 when it came to single-cam comedies, having found success with New Girl, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and (kinda/sorta) The Mindy Project. Enlisted fit right in with those other shows, and like Brooklyn Nine-Nine, it found its footing as a convincing and overall funny show very quickly.

The show follows three brothers, solders assigned to the U.S. Army's rear detachment. The brothers along with the rest of the platoon make up a lovable pack of misfits that follow some typical sitcom tropes but still provide an interesting spin to the workplace comedy. It's about soldiers, but there's a nice balance of men and women and stories that include both points of view. And it doesn't just focus on the three brothers. The storylines in each episode involve most of the cast, or at least different combinations of the group, so the show is not just Michael Scott and the rest of the gang, which I appreciate.

Unfortunately, Enlisted aired at 9:30pm on Fridays. It wasn't moved there. That was its original timeslot. I'm a loser that does nothing on weekends, and even I don't watch TV on Friday nights. Last Friday the ninth and final episode, of a planned thirteen episodes, aired as FOX chose to remove it from the schedule.

On one hand, it's understandable. If you run the network, you have to get rid of something, and it's not going to be New Girl, Brooklyn or Mindy. And really, this is the type of show that gets fourth billing. It's genuinely funny but easy to not recognize amidst its network competition. Because of the low ratings, there probably wouldn't be a huge backlash at its cancellation. But the show (I just finished episode 6) really had potential. There isn't anything that separates Enlisted from Brooklyn Nine-Nine except that Andy Samberg stars in one of the shows, and its lack of star power or at least familiar faces (Chris Powell who plays the middle brother is probably the most famous for having played Piz in Veronica Mars) likely led it to the chopping block.

You could have easily placed it in Tuesday's comedy lineup and made it more significant, but for whatever reason Fox is choosing to keep faith in the middling Mindy Project. I don't know enough about how TV works to understand why a show needs to be cancelled, especially considering acclaimed sitcoms don't just fall from the sky. But I highly suggest watching the show. All episodes are currently available on Hulu, and hopefully the show finds life on Netflix or something along those lines.

50 Cent feat. Trey Songz – Smoke

50 Cent feat. Trey Songz – "Smoke"

I feel like it's safe to say we're all still rooting for 50. He's had his slip ups (more than a few since 2007), but he's obviously a very smart man. He also seems to have an answer for absolutely everything, which makes watching his recent interviews almost impossible because he goes on these tangents for what seems like hours. You ask him why he's been quiet for so long, and it's because this or that or Interscope or because Lloyd Banks is lazy or whatever. But now really is his last chance to pull a rabbit out of his hat and prove not only to himself but to the rest of us that he's still got it and that he's still culturally relevant.

The thing about 50 is that he's always been mainly an entertainer (and probably even more of an entrepreneur), but we don't really know much about him as a person. He reps New York, but he chokes up when you ask him to pick between the Giants or Jets. He keeps his relationships private, but you wonder if he thinks about getting married at all. The artist-fan relationship is so much more about buying into the artist as a person, and it's odd to see 50 confused to realize that. Even his moves outside of music right now are somewhat baffling. He'll (I assume) brag about his new show on Starz, a network not known for groundbreaking original programming or impressive ratings. He's hanging out with Rachael Ray, who hasn't actually been a thing since her show on the Food Network (#TeamGiada tho). And while I'm sure he's made millions off these decisions, it's almost like who cares?

He's dropped a few songs recently, but "Smoke" is the one. It's supposed to be anyway. On first listen, especially once the synth kicks in, it's easy to think the song is special. But maybe I just want it to be so. It's kind of forgettable, but for some reason I find myself listening again. The smoke metaphor probably came from the time he kept outwardly legitimizing the popularity of Wiz Khalifa and Frank Ocean's "Novacane"as hippy culture. In today's radio climate, it might have made more sense for the song to feature Chris Brown but that probably doesn't change much.

This video really sucks though. As do all of his videos. They're all directed by Eif Rivera, and they're all just footage of him reciting the song. This one tries to be interesting, but falls flat all while ripping off Kanye's "Flashing Lights" video. He also has the most horrendous album and single artwork, but I'll save that for another post.

Sage The Gemini - Remember Me

During the ringtone rap era, labels would repeatedly sign acts with a local-turned-crossover hit. In some cases, the label would force a second single out of the artist and hope it would match the success of that initial hit. In even more cases, that initial hit would run its course and the album the artist was promised would end up shelved after the label decided it could do no more with him.
This is what's so amazing about Sage The Gemini's story. He could have easily become "the guy with that 'Gas Pedal' song." Not only did he follow up the bass-heavy hit with "Red Nose," Sage was able to parlay his hit songs into the start of a serious career, a feat few Bay representatives can claim to have conquered. Even IAmSu, his HBK cohort and the leader of the region's youth rap movement, has yet to earn even a fraction of Sage's accolades.
Remember Me's release is a victory in itself, considering the history of artists from the under appreciated region, but let's be clear. This shit has some bangers on it. Sage has a gift for writing hit songs. "Gas Pedal" and "Red Nose" will continue to dominate mix shows for the foreseeable future, but then you have "Bad Girls," "Just A Kiss" and the infectious, sure-fire hit "Go Somewhere." Every one of the HBK kids makes an appearance, but this is very clearly Sage's album. He commandeers nearly every hook and produces half the album.
It's easy to call this a fluke. To dance and sing along to Sage's music and still contend he won't be around next year. To pretend that all his success is still not as significant as some of his competition's. He's already gone from one to two to three to potentially four-hit wonder. A successful career really isn't all that farfetched at this point.

Film School: The Grand Budapest Hotel

I've never been the biggest Wes Anderson fan. Not in the sense that I dislike his movies, but I guess I've just never been absolutely infatuated with them. To be fair, I was probably too young to properly appreciate Tenenbaums, and Moonrise Kingdom is the only other one of his movies I've actually seen.

I'm almost surprised to say, though, that I absolutely loved The Grand Budapest Hotel. Obviously the story was a captivating one. The movie was incredibly funny – with some unexpectedly shocking dialogue from Adrien Brody and Willem Dafoe's characters – and romance wasn't the main part of the plot, which for whatever reason I enjoyed. The main focus, instead, was the lovably uncomfortable companionship between Ralph Fiennes' character M. Gustave and his apprentice Zero.

The pairing of the two starring actors was an interesting decision. Fiennes is an enormously talented actor with a distinguished resume. Tony Revolori, who plays Zero, on the other hand just seemed like any random kid. He seemed to mumble more than I did when I was a teenager — maybe I could have been an actor. His finest moments on screen were him chastising Fiennes' character for flirting with his girlfriend, but he was no show stopper. Saoirse Ronan, who played Zero's girlfriend Agatha however, did a marvelous job – considering she had maybe 10 minutes of total screen time – as the worrisome but confident pastry chef that helps Gustave and Zero resolve their quandary.

Anderson's cinematography and compulsively technical camera approach is second to none, but the film's Eastern European location made an even bigger impact on the final product, in my opinion. The snow and the mountains are one thing, but there's a character to the stone pathways and century-old buildings that give off a sort of authenticity. It almost makes me want to move to a place like this.