I remember the kind of mental blankness that comes at the end of semester every time it descends on me but still I'm never prepared for it. Yesterday was a huge day and I ended it with watching two shows new episodes of which were released in the afternoon/evening and which I like to keep up to date with: We Own This City, which is up to the fifth instalment of six episodes, and Better Call Saul which is pushing out two seasons this year, or two mini-seasons or however they're framing it, and which ended on a mid-season cliffhanger yesterday in a way that didn't really do much for me.
I am the world's worst television watcher and always have been, because I just can't pay that much attention. I don't seem to have the concentration span, and I know I'm not unusual in that (it must drive directors, actors etc mad that so many people are like this: 'just fucking watch, damn you!'). We Own This City is actually fairly mundane, the most interesting thing about it is that the tales about police corruption are so cheerily and apparently voluntarily (well, they are in prison, but they have no qualms about discussing their actions, never couch it in justifications) given by the corrupt police in question. There's no time in this show for anything but the sketchiest backstories and it's really all about the various injustices and crimes committed over a long period of time. I guess I enjoy it, as I've stuck with it, but (and? because?) it is very unusual television.
Better Call Saul has been overlong and it is hard for me to follow all its characters/narratives, so I just take each episode as it comes pretty much. Obviously I have stuck it out this far and I look forward to an accelerated final seven episodes. But maybe it has come close to outstaying its welcome. Somehow I have been exposed to a lot of social media excitement about the series and yes it has a lot going for it but I can't help feeling that there's quite a bit of water-treading going on here.
The other thing I watched last night was Chip 'n' Dale: Rescue Rangers, a film which critics are saying is 'far better than it has any right to be'. I remember in my childhood any time I encountered anything meta or fourth-wall-breaking I would be completely thrilled, and so too I suppose were millions of others of my generation, which is why it's so common these days in mainstream media. Anyway, this is a film in which Chip and Dale, two ridiculously minor Disney characters* are former stars of a 1980s/90s tv show (which they were) which means something to a certain demographic (people around the age of 40 now I suppose, or a bit younger) but the chipmunks themselves are washed up, or one of them is (Chip I think, whereas Dale is still trying to trade on faded glory). The whole premise of the film centres around a preposterous beat up re: pirated or 'bootlegged' characters and knock-off movies, unless it's not a beat up and this really was/is a major thing. Nobody dies and there are some scary moments. I don't think I laughed but I actually enjoyed quite a few things about it, not least that Dale is a 3D animation and Chip remains a flat, cel animation. I gather there is a massive amount of references to animated cartoons from the last 100 years most of which I didn't get, and I also didn't really get the guest appearance of Robert Crumb's Mr. Natural who was never an animated cartoon character as far as I am aware. Or maybe I dreamt that bit.
*OK wikipedia tells me one of their 1950s shorts was nominated for an oscar. So I suppose they have meant something to some people sometimes.
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