THE RETURN

                                                       


No, not of blog posts here. No one gives a damn about that. This is about the GLORIOUS return of the flat top haircut. More specifically, on the basketball courts of this nation.See Exhibits A, Iman Shumpert on the left, and B, Nerlens Noel on the right, and just really soak it in. The world hasn't seen a resurgence of the hair tower of power since the golden years of Patrick Ewing and Kendall Gill (although Shump is looking more like he rolled out of Kid N Play).

I, for one, could not be more excited. I can only intuit that this means a banner year for the NBA, and a NY Knickerbocker's championship banner (he said with the slightest, and saddest, but of hope in his voice). Cheers to you Flat Top. And welcome back.

Opie and Ned: The Effectiveness of Emotional Investment

SPOILER ALERT: Stop reading here to avoid spoilers about both Game of Thrones and Sons of Anarchy.






Forward thinking shows have less and less of a problem offing main characters. Recently, however, certain shows have taken the next leap by having very popular main characters, often representing the "good" in the show, murdered.

The first that comes to mind for many is Lord Eddard (Ned) Stark from Game of Thrones. Amidst all the royal intrigue and jockeying for the Iron Throne, Ned was the ever loyal right-hand man who tried his damnedest to stay a bit above the fray and always do what is right. Despite this, all his good deeds got him, once his homeboy King Robert died, was a shocking (for the TV audience) decapitation. I remember, at the time, sitting in shocked silence with two friends not knowing what to make of this. Game of Thrones, the trend setter that it is, had just killed off a character that had, until that moment, seemed like an integral and necessary part of the show to the viewing audience. HBO was playing a dangerous game as, at least as far as I can remember, a TV show had not killed of such a character until the very end of the show's run. Even Tony Soprano, despite all the beefs he had and the fact that he was a mob boss, did not maybe die until the last episode cut to black.

Ned Stark was very much in my mind this past Tuesday when another favorite show of mine, Sons of Anarchy, killed off the biker gang's Vice President, and Pres Jax Teller's best friend, Opie. The response was a little bit different here as shock was replaced with a light sadness mixed with a tad bit of outrage. Opie was the only character on the show who truly felt fundamentally unchanged by the club and true to who he was. He seemed relatively untarnished. He was easy to like. Not to mention the fact that the initial shock provided by good ole Fast Eddard helped soften the blow of a similar move being made. All that being said, whether it was conscious move by Kurt Sutter and the other show runners, there were striking similarities between the situations. The "good guy(s)" in the viewers' eyes were in the clutches of there enemies and there were scores to be settled. Blood had to be spilled as "blood will have blood." Even how the scenes were shot are strikingly similar (see above). Both main characters take up the center of our (the viewer's) screen as the off-center and only partially seen murderer does his work. And though there are slight differences in the characters' expressions, Opie with his face forward defiantly wearing a smirk and Ned head and shoulders down waiting for the steel, they are both accepting of their fates. Ned is just reluctantly accepting while Opie, due to all the tragedy he's faced, is ready and more than willing for the cruelty of his life, and this life in general, to be over.

The shock and/or sorrow felt by myself, and viewers generally, is quite effective in tying the viewer to the show if done right. And it most likely will be done right since the fact that you are tied enough to the character to care, the writing is pretty damn good already. I guess what I am saying is it in an interesting evolution in television, but future practitioners might want to tread carefully. If the audience is not already invested in the character, it is just a gimmick that will fall flat. But not for you Justified. Make moves.


IMAGES: both Google Images; upper left is Ned Stark and lower right is SAMCRO's Opie.

NERD ALERT: Higgs-Boson Has Been Found?!???

Early last week, exciting news was released that scientists are both Fermilab and CERN were getting closer and closer to pinning down the location of the so-called "god particle," otherwise known as Higgs Boson. Then, this past Wednesday as America celebrate the 4th of July, nerds around the world had their own fireworks as they announced that Higgs Boson had indeed been found. With a 5 sigma signal, meaning that there is less than a one in a million chance that the findings are a fluke, scientists the world over could deem the particle found. Declared the "god particle" because of its relation to the "Big Bang," or the moment of the creation of our universe, this particle has been deemed crucial by physicists because they hope it can answer the previously unanswerable about the actual existence of dark matter, the possibility of additional dimensions or universes, and hopefully to finally confirm the unified field theory that finally brings beautiful symmetry between Einstein's theory of gravity and quantum physics involving subatomic particles. According to Peter Higgs, half of the namesake of the discovered particle:

"I had no expectation that I would still be alive when it happened," he said of the speed with which they found evidence.

"For physics, in one way, it is the end of an era in that it completes the Standard Model," he said of the basic theory physicists currently use to describe what they understand so far of a cosmos built from 12 fundamental particles and four forces.

Although this probably swept beneath the general public's rug of consciousness, it's kind of a big eff'n deal. It is WAY above my pay grade to truly describe what the Higgs Boson does (here is a good, and fairly simply explained, primer from the Atlantic) and why it is important, but here is the basic gist:

Scientists struggling to explain the theory have likened Higgs particles to a throng of paparazzi photographers; the greater the "celebrity" of a passing particle, the more the Higgs bosons get in its way and slow it down, imparting it mass; but a particle such as a photon of light is of no interest to the paparazzi and passes through easily - a photon has no mass.

So, essentially and more complexly, the exchanges between various fields and bosons, a general class of subatomic particle of which Higgs is a type, is called the Higgs mechanism, which is still not fully understood, and it is through these exchanges that particles gain mass (Thanks Atlantic Monthly!).


Phew. You still with me? Because at this point I'm just continuing to write to help myself fully understand. But that's all folks for now. Unless you want to really step up your nerd game and read the philosophic interpretation of our inability to readily grasp the workings of Higgs Boson. Because that's right here. You nerd...


UPDATE: In a closer reading of the material released, it is not entirely a settled matter that it is exactly the Higgs Boson that has been found (although many believe it is so). According to Reuters:

What scientists do not yet know from the latest findings is whether the particle they have discovered is the Higgs boson as exactly described by the Standard Model. It could be a variant of the Higgs idea or an entirely new subatomic particle that could force a rethink on the fundamental structure of matter.  

The last two possibilities are, in scientific terms, even more exciting. 

Sooo, definitely very exciting nonetheless. 


IMAGE: ibnlive.in.com

StewBeef's No-no

Old post that I did not manage to get to the past month. But that glorious screenshot is from Jon Stewart's self-shot video of his reaction to Johan Santana's no-hitter for the Mets last Friday that was aired on The Daily Show on Monday. As a fellow Mets sufferer fan, I know how he feels.

The Mets, very surprisingly after the loss of Jose Reyes, have been winning with an unheralded squad (outside of David Wright) and are currently in second place in the NL East, right behind the almost as surprising Nationals. The poster boy for this squad would have to be knuckleballer R.A. Dickey who just recently went on a historic run on 1-hit shut outs.

Long story short, much like Stew Beef, I love this Mets team and their equally unheralded manager, Terry Collins. I think it may be time for people to start meeting these Metropolitans and do some heralding.

Image: Daily Show screenshot via Huffington Post

Wes on Wes on Wes

First things first, please enjoy this amazing tour of the Moonrise Kingdom set with the inimitable Bill Murray, slightly sauced on spiced rum.

All set? It was amazing right? Oh, BMurr.

Now onto the movie itself. Underwhelming is the word that immediately came to mind. To be fair, I saw the above video before the movie and was expecting big, comedic things. My advice to you, dear read, is don't. While there were certainly some funny and many charming scenes, the beach dance party between main characters Sam Shakusky and Suzy Bishop comes to mind, for the most part it was, as has been stated by critics ad naseum, Wes Anderson out-WesAndersoning himself. I suppose it is my own fault as one should temper their expectations when they see the main characters populated by kids, but I could not help myself once I saw the BMurr, Frances McDorman, Bruce Willis (underrated comedy chops), Edward Norton (ditto) and Anderson mainstay Jason Schwartzman. It turns out, however, that these luminaries are just a sideshow to the chilrens and that this movie, in general, is more akin to The Fantastic Mr. Fox rather than Rushmore/Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou/Darjeeling Unlimited (which I really liked actually but haters gonna hate).

Since the central conceit seems to be the relative maturity of the Sam and Suzy compared to the childish antics of the adults (drunken tree chopping/police car canoodling/shoe assaulting). The children are actually preternaturally adult with their playing of house, aforementioned dance party more reminiscent of Vincent Vega and Ms. Mia Wallace then two young kids, which is doubly appropriate since there is, in fact, a teenage wedding and at least one old(er) folk wished them well (and I'm pretty sure that Pierre really did love the mademoiselle). EXTENDED ALLUSION POINTS! Bruce Willis makes this explicit in his scene with the young Mr. Shakusky later in the movie.

I enjoyed the movie enough just because of Anderson's talent (what's up with directors with the last Anderson, by the way?) but my recommendation would be to temper your expectations. This one does not bring much of the funny.

On to P.T. Anderson's The Master? 1 out of 2 Anderson's wouldn't be bad.

A Simple Request

I know it is usually Music Video Mondays but this had to be posted for a number of reasons:

1) both the video and, more importantly, the song are fantastic.

2) I may or may not have been in love with Fiona Apple in, like, the 7th grade or so.

3) this video was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. For realsies. Look it up. The guy who directed this, and this, and this, and this upcoming one. How was I not aware of this? Is P.T. Anderson just a huge Fiona Apple fan (I'd get it) or does she have some crazy dirt on him? Does Maya Rudolph make him do it because she's home-girls with Fiona? I have a million questions about this artist-director relationship and I would watch a complete documentary on it. So, Mr. Anderson, please get crack-a-lacking on that documentary. Thank you sir and have a fantastic Memorial Day Weekend. I look forward to The Master and, as always, to making fun of Scientologists generally.

NERD ALERT- Like a Rolling CERN

I'm taking artistic license on the title, so back up off me. CERN, a.k.a. the European Center for Nuclear Research, had its big reveal today on whether the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) had determined the existence, or non-existence, of the Higgs boson. And they revealed (drum roll please)... (dramatic pause to enhance excitement)... (pause/drumroll has gone on too long and now people are annoyed)... that they'd only found hints of the particle and would need another year of data to make any real determination! WOOO! The Higgs boson particle, and thus the excitement about it, is a little bit hard to explain, which is attempted with more success here, but it is essentially the smallest building block of the Higgs field which, according to the Standard Model, gives particles mass. This is disappointing for those hoping to know, either way, but there is, seemingly, a silver lining:

"Given the outstanding performance of the L.H.C. this year, we will not need to wait long for enough data and can look forward to resolving this puzzle in 2012.”

Over the last 20 years, suspicious bumps that might have been the Higgs have come and gone, and scientists cautioned that the same thing could happen again, but the fact that two rival teams using two different mammoth particle detectors had recorded similar results was considered to be good news. Physicists expect to have enough data to make the final call by the summer.

For those, like me, who geek out over this stuff, it only means that we've been thrown a cliff hanger that will bring us back in this summer. Kind of like the "Game of Thrones." That's good enough for me (at least CERN didn't pull a "The Killing"... people will probably be interested enough to come back for Higgs boson in the summer). 

As Per Usual, I Can't Say It Better Than Sully

I'm sure he does not enjoy me calling him Sully, repeatedly (because clearly he reads this blog regularly), as if I was his best friend (I WIISSSHHH) but I have to give him props for his always on point analysis of the American political process. He has been particularly good, lately, at expressing why the POTUS hasn't been getting nearly enough credit, as outlined in this post.

We are very similar in that we have complimentary view points and he is a much, much better blogger than I. So you should probably stop reading this and head over to the Dish now. Seriously, what are you still doing reading this? Ridiculous...

Music Video Mondays

Because Monday's are bad enough without music videos. Enjoy...