The James Marsden niche

James Marsden either has the worst agent in the world, or the best. My first (memorable) encouter with this actor was in The Notebook. He played Lon Hammond, the handsome, rich, practically perfect man who did not end up with the girl, but could not have been a nicer guy about it. Lon wasn't the villain, he wasn't keeping Noah and Allie apart, he was a really decent guy, and James played the part extremely well, so well in fact that he has basically played the same character ever since. Although I do remember him from X-Men, it was only after seeing The Notebook, that I realized it was the same guy. Maybe its because his sparkling blue eyes were covered, but more likely it was due to the fact that even in that movie, when he does "get" the girl (Jean Grey), no one left the theater thinking of him and her: it was all about Wolverine and the smoldering sexual tension between him and that other guy's wife. He played the same role in the sequels, and again in Superman Returns. He is with Kate Bosworth but, predictably, she chooses the superhero over him. And, again, it's not because he's a bad guy, he's great, but he's just not enter name here. Hairspray, same guy, Enchanted, which he was spectacular in, he again loses the girl to McLamey (I actually don't mind Patrick Dempsey, but I thought he was really stupid in this movie). His characters even have vanilla, second best names: Lon Hammond, Scott Summers, Richard White, Corny Collins, Prince Edward, come on! I am rooting for Marsden to one day be the guy who gets the girl because he really does have it going on in a conventional sense. He deserves one of those meaty leading man parts. Enough Arrested Development quotes for you? I know, impossible. What do you think? Has Marsden carved out a lucrative niche for himself? Is he like Paul Giamatti, who plays a small yet crucial role in about 27 movies a year? It is a steady paycheck after all, but I am thinking he's a little tired of people overlooking his good looks.

National Day

I generally define my days in terms of movies, music, tv shows (shocking, right?). Today was definitely a National day. It was rainy, but not raining, cold, but not the magical winter cold; haunting, beautiful, effable only in terms of the National album "Boxer." Thanks to my brother for introducing them to me, by the way. Anyways, it's not just Matt Berninger's elegiac voice, or the fact that he reminds me of Leonard Cohen, whose book "Take This Longing" was in second place for describing today, it's the fact that the album not only aptly describes the day, but is also essential to that day's existence.

Not only did I say "today is a National day" I also proceeded to listen to the album all day long, knowing that when next November rolls around, I will be thinking of the day I only listened to "Boxer." In late fall 2004, for example, I was constantly listening to a mix my brother made for me, featuring "King of the Rodeo" (Kings of Leon) and "Evil" (Interpol). Those songs and that time in my life are forever linked, and that relationship allows me to easily recall memories and track moments of my life via pop culture morsels that are ultimately way cooler than I was at that time, or could ever hope to be. However, that accessibility also makes me realize what a creature of habit I have become.

Let me illuminate: for the last four years, October the 24th has been an LOTR: Fellowship day. How do I know that? Because when Frodo is at Rivendell for the first time, upon waking Gandalf greets him by telling him where his is, and the date: October the 24th, and upon hearing this I always say: "What a coincidence, that's today's date!" And, for the past three years, I have proceeded to say "Oh my god, I watched it again on the exact same date. Weird." Despite the changes that occur every year (sorry if that sounds like a "your first period" pamphlet), I always end up watching that movie on that day. Either October the 24th requires an epic story of hope, friendship, adventure, fantasy, etc. or my need for LOTR is like clockwork. Maybe a little bit of both. Will I be watching LOTR next year on Oct. 24th? Stay tuned to find out.

In conclusion (cop out phrase, I know) Thanksgiggity is upon us, and I will be spending most of my break baking, eating and catching up on all the tv shows stupid school has made me miss. So far I have been able to watch a lot of The Office (3rd season, I know I'm behind!) and 30 Rock. Tomorrow is Project Runway, my plan for Thursday is to watch a lot of movies on tv, and Friday I will have a marathon of the last Curb season, which I unfortunately had to stop watching half way through. Stupid being a student and having no money for HBO. Oh, there will also be a lot of Scrabble tournaments, prepare to be Bingoed Kai!

The Laugh Track

Oh my god, so much to discuss! The Writer's Strike, Project Runway, Locksley, all the Thanksgiving specials we will soon be enjoying, however, I am putting these issues on hold until I have a little more free time. For now, I want to address something that has recently become a significant topic of debate: the laugh track. First, a little history.

The first known use of a recorded laugh track is said to be in 1950, when the producers of the Hank McCune Show added canned laughter after the show's taping. Until that time, other radio and television comedies either used a live studio audience or no laugh track at all. In 1953, a sound engineer named Charley Douglass invented the Laff Box, a small electronic device containing numerous loops of recorded laughter and applause. The Laff Box provided a laugh track for numerous sitcoms and talk shows during the 1950s and 1960s.

It is rumored that Charley Douglass culled almost all of his laugh track material from in-studio recordings of several different comedy shows, including I Love Lucy ,The Red Skelton Show and various live performances by mime Marcel Marceau. Douglass needed to record all different styles of laughter and applause without the sound of dialogue, so it's very possible that he recorded several of Red Skelton's silent clown performances. If this is true, then audience reactions on a modern sitcom may have actually been recorded over 50 years earlier. (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-laugh-track.htm)

Interesting! However, this colorful past does not make up for the fact that laugh tracks are lame. However, you should not let the presence of dead mime laughter deter you from watching a good show. I am ecstatic to see that many comedies are sans LT these days, (Curb, Always Sunny, Arrested Development, etc.) but what about Seinfeld? What about Friends? What about How I Met Your Mother? Are they so easily cast aside because you can't block out a little background noise. I know this boy, and I love him because he is obsessed with Harry Potter, and computer games, and math, and Star Trek, but despite all of these wonderful qualities he says "Bag-el" instead of "bay-gel." This is annoying and it stings my ears a little, but I am not going to stop listening to him talk about Mugglenet just because he might be having lox and that-which-must-not-be-named for lunch.

Television shows are still flawed; HBO and illegal downloads aside they still have commercials and annoying pop-ups, but we love them anyway. Interestingly enough, this week's How I Met Your Mother presented a similar message, as the friends' annoying habits came to light and were then accepted in a classic, but not corny, HIMYR conclusion. I was so entertained and elated that I didn't even notice the LT. So, to all you laugh-track snobs out there: get off your mope-box and come sit down on the couch-let us laugh along with all those dead people.

LAUGH NOW- and not Ricky and Lucy in disguise (with diamonds, haha, sorry, had to) laughter, but Mike Seever just made a clever quip laughter.

Week's Worth of Entertainment

Greetings,

Our guest blogger's computer is currently down so you will have to wait on the special holiday blog but until then here's a new post to tie you over.

Firstly, shout out to Rachel for mentioning GDK in her blog. She is my fairy-blog mother and if you want to check out a pro, you should go here: http://www.unexpectedsunlight.blogspot.com/

So I thought that since this is a pop culture blog I should keep you informed of my viewing/listening/reading activities. I know that it has not yet been a week since my first post, but I am very busy tomorrow so Christmas has come early! Before your jaw drops in awe of the amount of media I consume, keep in mind that I am also a student (last year of college!), I work at an art gallery (Tandem Press!), and I do have hilarious friends, and a wonderful boy who loves Star Trek. In other words, I do leave the comfort of my couch, occasionally...

Movies!
Went to: Bee Movie (GDK approved), Vanaja (also GDK approved, and bonus, fulfills my "cultured" movie quota for a while)
Watched (I have an extensive DVD collection): Pleasantville, 40 year-old virgin (Judd Apatow is my hero, I even sent him a movie I made once-more on this later) Anger Management (after the Jack Nicholson post this is what I ended up watching)

TV!
The Simpson's Halloween, Family Guy (discussed previously)
How I met your mother-amazing, as usual: always GDK approved
Samantha Who-got curious, watched a couple of episodes: pretty lame but Jean Smart is good, she plays a character like Lucille from Arrested Development, but you know, not as good
Seinfeld, Season 9, reverse peephole: such a good episode, aren't they all though? The fur coat, George's wallet, Jerry's European Carry-All, Joe Mayo-Comedic Perfection
Grey's Anatomy: I can't tell how I feel about this show. I am watching it so clearly it has some sort of value but the only thing I got out of this week's episode is the realization that Katherine Heigl was totally in that "Wish Upon A Star" movie that always played on the Disney Channel. Good times.
Friends: I watched a couple episodes from season 5, research for my holiday specials blog.
LOST: I am just finishing season three. Uncharacteristically I jumped on the band wagon pretty late, but all I can say is OH MY GOD.

Want to watch:
Heroes, Curb (I don't get HBO at the moment), It's always sunny in philadelphia, old episodes of Wild and CrAZY kids, so many celebrities appeared on it as kids!!!!

Listening to:
MGMT, N.E.R.D, The Kinks (I have been totally brainwashed by Darjeeling Limited previews), Weezer (as previously mentioned), The epilogue to Harry Potter 7, as read by Jim Dale-it just makes me SO happy, The National, Leonard Cohen, Voxtrot, Fresh Air on NPR, Madonna

Reading:
The Onion, Foxtrot, Get Fuzzy, a bunch of lame academic books, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

That's all for now, it's actually been an unusually light load this week; Thanksgiggity is going to be a different story. A holiday where everyone gets Thursdays off and just eats and watches television? Incredible.

Bedside Blogging: Your Next Movie Marathon

Hello loyal readers,

Now that you know a little about me and have clearly fallen head over laptop (we are on date #3 after all....) I thought I should begin using my power to enligthen and influence: hope you are wearing oven mitts cause I'm about to drop some knowledge, and it's HOT! Remember that time you and your friends got together and thought, "hey, we should totally watch a Jack Nicholson film from every decade, that way we can track how well he's aged. And we'll watch two from each decade, so we can have a more complete picture, and perhaps pinpoint when exactly things started to go south for him physically." So you talk about how great it will be, how you can start in 1960 with his bit part in Little Shop of Horrors, then on to the great stuff like Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces. Do you watch Chinatown, the Passenger, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest or Tommy because they are all done about 1975 (amazing right?) Clearly The Shining is on there, Batman obviously, A Few Good Men, maybe Mars Attacks, As Good as It Gets, About Schmidt, The Departed, and maybe Something's Gotta Give if you want to end on a happy note, though that will ultimately mess up the age-tracking idea, since it was done three years earlier than Departed. Oh yeah, and Anger Management would be a good one, though same year as SGG. Despite this being hypothetical, I am kind of thinking about doing this marathon, however back to the point. So you've gotten together and decided on this awesome marathon, next Friday, Brad's house. Then next Friday comes around and things don't work out: you couldn't get a lot of the movies, Tammy can't come, Jake wont come if Tammy wont (Brad, Tammy and Jake? Sorry, apparently it's 1991), etc. etc. Movie marathon cancelled. Brad watches The Shining by himself because that's the only movie on the list he owns, and is then afraid to go to sleep. It doesn't have to be this way! The most important thing about having a successful MM, other than the theme, is sufficient planning. Make sure you tell people about it well in advance so they can clear their schedules-Good MMs should take an entire day, if not two. Have a discussion about the movies and then get a working list going that can be amended over the course of the month, yes month. When the MM is about a week away, you can start rounding up all the neccessary films. Also make sure you have the food situation handled, I like to have everyone bring a movie from the list and a snack to share. Actually I have never done that, and now that I see it sounds like I am running a kindergarten class, I know why. I hope this helps you plan out your next MM. I currently have one in the works, but I'll save that for another time. Next week, we are having a guest blogger as part of the point-counterpoint series. Topic: Holiday television specials. Until then, your most humble servant, b.

Bee Yourself

Hello! I realize that I did not sufficiently explain my blog, or why I titled it "Gigantic Drum Kit." I am a big fan of escapism, using movies and books and songs to elevate an otherwise dull day, and it was through this process that my world was eventually shaped. As Rob Gordon said "it's what you like, not what you are like." I once played a drinking game with some friends, one of the rules being, if you quote something or talk about a movie, tv show, or character from either medium, you have to drink; it took me less than thirty minutes to get sloppy. Before you write me off as a couch potato loser, think of it this way: if I sat around quoting Shakespeare would that make me pathetic? No it would make me erudite and a little pretentious, like the guy that stays home secretly memorizing the Trivial Pursuit cards to impress people when an actual game occurs. You know who you are. Sometimes I do quote Shakespeare, but not nearly as much as I quote Arrested Development, because, sorry William, the latter is way funnier. So, how does this relate to a big drum kit? Nick Andopolis from "Freaks and Geeks" (R.I.P.), played by the amazing Jason Segel (love him), was always playing the drums, and he had this gigantic drum kit that he spent years perfecting. It represented everything he was and wanted to be. My favorite thing in life, my passion,-my gigantic drum kit-is pop culture, specifically movies, tv, music and books. Those are the things that really matter to me, aside from family, friends, blah blah blah. I do my best to keep up with important current events (there's a war going on now right?*), but I would rather read The Onion than watch CNN. I also love food, but I would not be comfortable emparting wisdom on the subject, seeing as I am still very much a novice myself. Nick enjoyed other parts of life, but the drums were his raison d'etre, and even though he wasn't that great, it didn't stop him from being Neil Pert or John Bonham, even if it was only for an hour in his garage. Speaking of pretending you're a rock star in your garage, just rediscovered Weezer's Blue Album. I hadn't listened to it in a long time because it reminded me too much of my sixth grade self (not a good year for me, or anyone really...), but it's really amazing. If you are avoiding it for similar reasons, pick it up again, you can handle it. Now I am off to watch Jason Segel in How I Met Your Mother!-Blythe

Quick List
Bee Movie- Cannot recommend it enough, so so good. Make a beeline for the theater, take your honey, play the Hives on the way over to pump yourselves up!

11/4 Family Guy(s)
At first I was disappointed by a clip show but with Seth McFarlane there (I adore you, by the way), and the fact that all those clips were fucking hilarious, it turend out to be better than I could have imagined. New episode, also great. Favorite Scenes:

douchebags did to guitars
Ringo writes a song, John puts it on the fridge

Simpson's Halloween
They've done better, but I still laughed. Even at their worst they are still superior to most.

A Blog Virgin No Longer

Hello!

Welcome to GiganticDrumKit. My name is Blythe, and after 15+ years of living vicariously through fictional characters from movies and television shows, I thought I should start living vicariously through my cyber self. That sounded a little dirty, but let's roll with it! I was trying to think of a theme for this blog, what knowledge I could possibly offer to the rest of the world? All I ever do is watch movies, listen to music, and eat food, however I also make all three, so there's my angle. You should value my opinion on pop culture because I am not only consuming and regurgitating media, I am also trying to create it. Sorry to cut this short, but I am off to see Bee Movie. Love Seinfeld, love Pixar, never imagined the two would come together in such perfect harmony. BZZZZ! Let's see who brings in more honey! By the way, I quote things a lot, if you are cool enough to recognize these gems, you will enjoy, if not sorry, but this might be too esoteric for you. Insert perfect Family Guy quote here. Bee you later! Blythe