Music Review: "Random Access Memories" by Daft Punk

By Ian Cory

On the last day of classes at my high school, my entire grade (60 kids, it was a small school) crammed into a classroom and blasted music while we signed each other’s yearbooks. Being the school’s designated music nerd I was allowed access to the playlist on the condition that I didn’t play anything too outlandish. Knowing that I had a limited amount of social currency to spend, I selected only two songs; Europe’s “The Final Countdown”* and Daft Punk’s “One More Time”. The later ended up being played upwards of five times over the final 45 minutes of the day. I do not consider myself to be much of a dancer, but my 17-year-old self cut a fucking rug to the best of his ability. It was in this moment of uninhibited excitement and relief that I “got” dance music. I was surrounded by 59 other kids who were all equally psyched about being alive, and none of us gave a shit that we looked pretty silly trying to dance through the hallways while carrying an iPod speaker and singing along to a 6 year old French House tune.

Game of Thrones: “Second Sons”

By Paul Krueger

Westerosi society makes much of the circumstances of your birth.  What’s between your legs, how many children came before you, how much gold your folks have to flash.  These are all things beyond your control, and with the exception of a very small number, they almost completely determine the course of your life.  This episode takes its title from a mercenary company, but the theme with which it concerns itself is second sons, both literal and metaphorical.  The people of whom we see the most this hour are those who weren’t born right in the eyes of society.

That's All She Said: Goodbye, The Office

By Josh Oakley

"I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days, before you've actually left them."

-Andy Bernard

I was in line for the bathroom at a bar last night, and a stranger followed a number of unintelligible words with "Life's a lot of give and take, you know?"

I've watched every episode of The Office, so yes, I'm well aware. That show, one of the great sitcoms of the past 20 years, gave us so many things, and took almost two years of wading through misguided plots. But I'm not going to focus on the bad years. There are plenty of great write-ups to serve as reminders that The Office faltered, and it faltered dramatically. It's not that I, as a television critic, am oblivious to faults within the shows I love. I'm well aware that The Office's eighth season was largely rancid, but this is a eulogy. Most obituaries don't mention the shitty things that a person did, and I'll pay The Office the same respect. I can acknowledge the show's faults, and may write about them at a later date. But I'm here to discuss why this show meant as much to me as it did. The Office was an important sitcom for the genre itself, and for myself on a deeply personal level. I wept from the moment Pam wished to have inspired at least one person, to a good minute or two after the credits rolled. If you're not in for that kind of thing, check back here later. If you're ready for me to go on about my ultimate love of The Office, keep on reading.

The Television Will Not Be Revolutionary: How ABC’s SHIELD Changes Nothing

By Paul Krueger

To the surprise of nobody, ABC picked up its Marvel-fueled pilot Agents of SHIELD to full series late last week, and over the weekend the trailer hit airwaves. The footage currently available promises slick direction, dialogue that more than meets the quippiness quota, and the Lazarus treatment of Clark Gregg's deceased character, Agent Coulson (spoilers if you're the one person who didn't see The Avengers. And if that’s you, what the hell is wrong with you?). In other words: all the ingredients necessary to craft the silver bullet ABC means to shoot through the heart of timeslot rival NCIS, plus Clark Gregg.

Music Review: "Nightmare Ending" by Eluvium

By Ian Cory

We tend to think of music as being a narrative art. This is a pretty reasonable position, because we like narratives and tend to see them everywhere, and a piece of music normally* has a pretty concrete beginning, middle and end. Pop music also pushes us into this interpretation by providing a lyric narrative that follows the linear progression of the music. Matthew Cooper, better known to most of the world as Eluvium, does not follow this pattern. His music only works as a linear narrative if the same could be said of the tides. Even the larger arc of his career appears to be cyclical in nature. His early works were pure ambient, made up of shifting soundscapes and drones; then he suddenly added vocals on 2010’s Similes only for them to (mostly) vanish on his newest record, Nightmare Ending.

How We Met Their Mother

By Josh Oakley

I began my relationship with How I Met Your Mother near the middle of the show’s first season. I was in 8^th grade, 13 going on 14. I’ve watched it regularly every season, never falling more than a couple of episodes behind. This is untrue of almost every other show (I caught up with season 8 of The Office this summer, after not being able to make it through while it aired). I spent my entire high school experience with Ted, Lily, Marshall, Robin and Barney by my side. When I graduate college next spring, the show will end. I will have spent almost half of my life, at that point, with How I Met Your Mother. My age obviously differed greatly from the characters’, so I grew alongside them, rather than with them. Regardless, I have spent many years of my life, the most important portion yet, with this show. And that is why the ending of tonight’s season finale hit me as much as it did. I know how long Ted has waiting for her, because I’ve been with him every step of the way.

On Community's Fourth Season, And the Show's Future

By Nico Danilovich

Now that Community has concluded its fourth season, it’s time to take a good look at the season as a whole. Many of the online community seem to think that this season was horrible, however, I think this view is too extreme. I do believe that there was a definite drop in quality , as it was full of imperfections hard to ignore. However, the show was still entertaining and isn’t that why we watch it? As far as the fifth season goes, I am personally not very excited, but since its happening anyways, it’s important to look at what the writers of Community should do in order to make next season as good as the first three.

Game of Thrones: “The Bear and the Maiden Fair”

By Paul Krueger

One of the best things David Benioff and D.B. Weiss did when adapting A Song of Ice and Fire was agreeing to let series author George R. R. Martin write one episode per season.  His first contribution, “The Pointy End,” was a wire-tense hour that completely unraveled House Stark’s power in King’s Landing (and gave us this heartbreaker).  Last year he wrote “Blackwater,” one of the most spectacular things to happen to television, ever.  Benioff, Weiss, and their crew are excellent writers, but there’s a special quality to Martin’s episodes.  He’s lived with the characters longer, and it shows.

Community: "Advanced Introduction to Finality"

By Nico Danilovich

“Advanced Introduction to Finality,” whether it ends up being just a season finale or a series finale, was slightly underwhelming in that it dealt with an issue we already knew the answer to. On the other hand, it was an arguably fun installment that provided us with the necessary resolution to Jeff’s central conflict as a character. In the end, “Advanced Introduction to Finality” accomplished what it needed to accomplish; it was certainly crazy, fairly humorous and slightly heartwarming. Whether or not it went beyond that probably depends on each viewer’s personal opinion of the darkest timeline.

Recasting RDJ: Come On, Marvel, Really?

By Paul Krueger

With Iron Man 3 come and gone, Robert Downey Jr.’s long contract with Marvel is up, and the word around the campfire is “renegotiation.”  Since 2008’s Iron Man, the Marvel cinematic universe has grown considerably, but the heart of it all is still Downey’s Tony Stark.  He got the most significant dramatic arc in The Avengers, he gets name-checked the most often in movies that aren’t his, and he’s one half of the very popular Science Bros meme.

And now, that’s all suddenly in doubt.  Marvel has a history of financially low-balling, and the ever-changing face of Bruce Banner demonstrates that they’re not afraid to recast.  Three films into a solo franchise and one into an unprecedented meta-franchise?  Artistic integrity be damned, there’s not an actor alive who wouldn’t want to step into Downey’s clanky boots.  Hell, I’d do it if I were anything like the man at all (nice, cleaned-up 2000’s RDJ, though, not Ally McBeal-horror-stories RDJ).

While you could probably throw someone else into the suit and it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, what this comes down to is a case of could versus should.  Could Marvel breed Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Javier Bardem to create the perfect Robert Downey Jr. clone?  Yes.  But should they?  No.

Well, actually yes.  But not until after these movies are done.