Posts Tagged ‘West Wing’

In case you’ve not already heard The King’s Speech is a costume drama based on real life events around the end of the reign of King George V, King Edward VIII time on the throne and George VI reign up to the outbreak of World War II.  It’s focus is not the abdication, death or build up to war – the main focus is on Bertie (the Duke of York later King George VI) and his battle with a debilitating stammer that affects his public and private life.

The top class cast give excellent performances.  Colin Firth as Bertie is excellent throughout and deserves awards.  The stutter alone should be award-winning; it’s not a comedy stutter but a thoroughly believable affliction with variation and nuance.  Geoffrey Rush creates a radical specialist in speech impediments who would rather succeed in treating his patients than in business.  A man who has little time for pomposity or position and so manages to become Bertie’s friend.  Helena Bonham Carter’s Dutchess of York/Queen Elizabeth works because she doesn’t try to play the part as likable but as a snob who is quietly driven to cure her husband.

Michael Gambon has only a couple of scenes but manages to convey the weight of George V sitting on Bertie’s shoulders.   Guy Pearce’s smooth bullying Edward VIII is a similarly strong performance.  The supporting cast includes Derek Jacobi’s Archbishop Cosmo Lang, Timothy Spall’s slightly odd Winston Churchill, Jennifer Ehle’s Myrtle Logue and many others turn in excellent performance in supporting roles.

The costumes, sets, locations and other technical work is outstanding.  The inspired use of bad weather allows external scenes without the modern London sky line encroaching – thick fog in the street when the Duchess of York first visits Lionel.  Fog again when the Duke and Lionel go to the park and rain on the way to the palace.  Despite large sections being set in London its refreshing that the capital’s landmarks aren’t splattered all over the film as cheap window dressing.

Some people may not like the way aspects of history of the 1930s time such as appeasement, the abdication and the great depression are brushed over.  The film isn’t about those aspects, it’s about a man overcoming a stammer and a situation he can’t simply walk away from.

The King’s Speech is at times dramatic, poignant, funny and human.  It reminded me in places of the West Wing’s relationship between President Bartlett and Dr. Stanley Keyworth that began in episode Night Five.  The central relationship between the miserable King George VI and the theatrical Lionel is entirely believable.  The use of a training montage amused me as we see some of the techniques Lionel uses.  The film’s most astonishing moment has to be pulling off the reading of a long minute speech as a climax with.  All Firth’s hard work in creating the stammer through the film allows tension to be maintained throughout what is basically one person reading  a speech written by someone else from a script.

If The King’s Speech had been released here a few weeks ago it would have topped my Top Films of 2010 list.

Pick any one of Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman or John Malkovich and you’d have my attention for RED.

Brian Cox or Ernest Borgnine would push this into my want to see list.

Helen Mirren flower arranging is a bit a bit Calendar Girls. Helen Mirren with a machine gun? Helen Mirren with a Machine Gun! Ok I’m buying this. Heading into not just the danger zone but Hot Fuzz territory.  I don’t care about the reviews.

Then they ice a rather fruit looking cake with Mary-Louise Parker who was both funny and smart in the West Wing.  Tasty.

Looks like REDs at least one must see film in October.

• Weather = Yuch so just messin' around with Vue #
• @very_true_thing So did it work? in reply to very_true_thing #
• Comment spammers found my site yesterday and (so far) akismet has caught every single one of em #
• Sustained in my editing efforts by an excellent batch of Pork and Mushroom Curry http://bit.ly/AgZze #recipe #food #
• RT @AllenVarney William Shatner masterfully recites Sarah Palin's farewell speech (Conan O'Brien): via @JamesWallis #
• RT: @jearle Big Cat sighting in Scotland. – it's a Puma, by the look of things, running wild. #
• RT: @KimKnox ooh this looks very cool. Trailer for Waters of Mars – Doctor Who #
• So I need to join Scribd to download a pdf copy of a document but not to print it? Stupid controlfreakery and bad for the environment too #
• And printing from Scribd in Firefox = completely broken too. 20 sheets of paper wasted. /rant #
• RT @jearle If you Google "Scottish Cuisine", my Munchy Box blog post is on the front page. http://bit.ly/e640w #
• @jearle Wish I'd photos of the Scottish Indian I had a business trip. Unlike any English Indian I've had. Clearly related to your Munchy Box in reply to jearle #
• @jearle I wish I could work that into my current project. I'm forcing myself to stick to just London so it wont get out of hand in reply to jearle #
• Can it really take an hour and a half to visit the Pencil Museum? Is it twinned with the Hotel California? #
• @KimKnox So how cheesy is Satin Spar's cover or is it classy like Dark Host? in reply to KimKnox #
• @KimKnox Good news – I'll look forward to seeing it then. Meanwhile contemplating if IsItCheese.com or CheeseOrNot.com is a better URL… in reply to KimKnox #
• @KimKnox Hmm. That ones barely work safe… in reply to KimKnox #
• Aarrgh. Basic maths failure. What was I thinking when I wrote a table for a 3d6 roll with the first entry being for a roll of 2? #
• Some really nice entries for the Vue 3D Environment Competition 2009 http://bit.ly/1b7BE9 glad I don't have to pick the winner #
• listening to "cacharpaya – incantation 1982" ♫ http://blip.fm/~at2mc #
• listening to "Capercaillie – Coisich A Rùin – video clip Gàidhlig Gaidhli" ♫ http://blip.fm/~atgp8 #
• listening to "MANDOLIN RAIN original video" ♫ http://blip.fm/~atp60 #
• RT @criticalhits Why can't we show these ads instead of Evony http://is.gd/1TeiZ #
• I always thought some perfumes should be banned under the Hague Conventions http://bit.ly/t2LBr #
• @jearle lol. We'll keep that off the banned list just for you. in reply to jearle #
• @KimKnox Let Blur distract you. That way the rest of Write Club don't feel so bad about our pitiful comparative word counts in reply to KimKnox #
• for @KimKnox your mission should you choose to accept it is to finish Space Fluff ♫ http://blip.fm/~autqy #
• RT @johnmcc: Probably the best explanation of the xhtml 2 announcement I've yet seen: http://bit.ly/2pSCJN via @jearle #
• Will economics defeat Moore's Law? http://bit.ly/ThLjm #
• @KimKnox Sounds like you need this instead of Mission Impossible ♫ http://blip.fm/~auw9u #
• Looking for the Johnny Clegg original I found this cover ♫ http://blip.fm/~av040 #
• listening to "Tanita Tikaram – Twist In My Sobriety" ♫ http://blip.fm/~av0pd #
• listening to "Pet Shop Boys – Suburbia (HD)" ♫ http://blip.fm/~av1gx #
• Hunting for the early 90s rock cover. This isn't it but hey… ♫ http://blip.fm/~av1x0 #
• And it definitly isn't this one either – I give up ♫ http://blip.fm/~av2gz #
• Thats a tough one RT @mediaguardian: Vote for your favourite TV show of the decade: http://bit.ly/4t5loz. #
• From the Guardian: 'Swine Flu readiness has become a competitive sport'. Will we be hosting the world cup? http://bit.ly/kHmjv #
• @richeym The Wires really caught up. When I voted The West Wing was ahead of it. in reply to richeym #
• RT @DanDiplo Why you shouldn't design birthday cakes using Microsoft Word…. http://bit.ly/m484u #fail #programming #webdevelopment #
• Sausage Brown Barm Red Sauce #famishedfriday #
• @JamesWallis Far too early to call the Ashes because of three little words: England Batting Collapse in reply to JamesWallis #
• RT @guardiantech: Volomedia claims podcast patent http://bit.ly/yNcsq #
• @very_true_thing #VisitLondon (http://ustre.am/4n0W) Tower bridge faster than twitter – Just closed when I got the page loaded #
• listening to "The Peanuts Theme" ♫ http://blip.fm/~az5p3 #

I didn’t get round to posting about Saturday’s Doctor Who and with no connection last night I couldn’t do it then either. So here rather late are my brief thoughts on Midnight.

Not a bad little story getting Donna out of the way was a good idea. It had an air of the cheap story with basicly one studio set, a small cast and a few good quality matte paintings made to make up for some of the bigger budget episodes with UNIT looking like they were more than two troopers and a landrover. It reminded me a little of A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C Clarke.

The West Wing episode 17 People is one of my favourites. It works because it focuses in on the characters and doesn’t go for any location work or any guest stars. It was made on the studio’s orders to keep the costs down.

Midnight wasn’t a 17 People but it wasn’t the first Doctor Who clip show either. Personally I’d have made it a little scarier and played up the claustrophobic element a bit more. Ultimately it didn’t feel like the Doctor was really in jeopardy.

CSI Spoiler Warning.

I would but I just can’t be bothered to put the time in to send up CSI like I did Waking the Dead last night. Tonights moan is that what was an almost perfect episode of CSI was spoilt at the last by another bad habbit of TV show makers. For once a CSI where once of the main cast is at the centre of the story was really well done. Then they chicken out at the end.

Too often when a character leaves a long running show the makers feel obliged to give us a last long lingering look at the character. In ER its them walking out of through the ambulance bay. Earlier this year in CSI when Sarah went it was the taxi journey. When the character is leaving by walking away that works. There is a time it doesn’t work though: when the character has a violent end. Now I’m assuming Warwick won’t be coming back. If he comes back from being shot multiple times by someone trained in using a firearm who fired from less than six feet away then the shows credibility will really have slipped. However the long lingering cast moment before hand gave away something was going to happen. As he walked outside in slow motion I thought he was going to get shot. When he got in the car I thought it was going to explode. When someone knocked on the window I went back to the idea he’d be shot.

The sad part is that this can be handled to give the moment real impact. Unexpected violence for loved characters should be unexpected for the audience too. Character’s should have unresolved relationships without wrapping everything up with a bow. That gives the writers’ more stuff to play with. I’ll mention two character deaths from US television that support my argument. Agent Simon Donovan’s death in the West Wing episode Posse Comitatus – killed suddenly in a random act of violence. He was in on ly four episodes. I know its coming now but it still gets me every time. My second example is Lt. Col. Henry Blake in MASH who dies of screen but which has real impact because it’s unexpected.

Fortunately for the world there isn’t anything on TV tomorrow night that I want to watch so you’ll be pleased to know I’ll spare you another rant about someone spoiling otherwise good work at the end.

1. You’ve Got To Laugh – Nik Kershaw. Arrived this week from Short House Records and in my CD player a lot since then. Includes a warning that it may include traces of irony. Traces? Some might say that alone is ironic. The tunes could be mistaken for pop. The lyrics are a little more complex than that.
2. The West Wing (Season 1). If there is one show I find my way back to over and over it’s the West Wing.
3. Bat Out of Hell 2 – Meat Loaf. Because Objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are.
4. The Very Best of Incantation. I’m not a big listener to pan pipe music but Incantation are far too good to pigeonhole and ignore.
5. Mr Benn. It was research for something I was writing, honest.
6. The Way It Is – Bruce Hornsby and the Range. Have you noticed I like my lyrics complicated yet?
7. Set Me Free – Marion Raven. Nik’s knocked Marion out of my CD player but she’ll be back soon I’m sure.
8. Battle Star Galactica (Season 2). The only reason I’m not on The West Wing’s second season. Really enjoying this despite still thinking they should have kept the original shows theme.
9. A Cock and Bull Story. Not sure what to make of this. It was either brilliant or utter rubbish. I think I’ll lean towards the first of the two.
10. Local Hero Music by Mark Knopfler.
11. The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War – Thaddeus Holt. A heavy weight and slightly very dull history book but between the bickering over who commanded what when it does actually include some interesting history.
12. Sharpe’s Escape by Bernard Cornwell. I’ve barely started this yet because The Deceivers is taking a lot longer to read than I expected.
13. Carrotblanca – Bugs Bunny and Friends do Casablanca. Somehow it works. Don’t ask me how. It would be quicker to just watch it for yourself and see.

So what are you listening to / reading / watching at the moment?

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

At lunchtime I thought tonight I was going to blog about The American Dialect Society’s choice of Word of the Year. It got Plutoed.

This afternoon I thought it might be that the BBC’s new children’s spy show M.I.High is supposed to be about teenage members of MI9. Not sure why anyone would reactivate the old resistance fighting and Escape and Evasion branch of Militiary Intelligence known as MI9. Is it just poor research or stupid writing. Pick a number that wasn’t used. Anyway that rant’s got Plutoed too.

At 9:58 I thought it was going to be Waking the Dead that got tonight’s post for its utter utter dark, twisty, fun silliness. It got Plutoed barely 2 minutes later.

Why? Because someone with less brain cells in an attempt to reinvigerate ER has taken an unmistakable theme tune and replaced it with an insipid none entity of a tune. The theme tune of a long running show is more than just a piece of music it is a statement of the brand. Shows like NYPD blue, the BBC Cricket coverage, the West Wing, the Sky at Night and The A-Team have unmistakable themes. I could go on listing great themes.

They tell you when the show is starting. If you like it they say heres the show you’ve been waiting for. If you don’t like it you turn off. If you have an established brand on the slide you won’t save it by changing the music.

ER had a strong theme. Sure the title sequence needed modernising. Sure the style of ER which was once new, fresh and distinctive is now more like a set of comfy slippers. The characters cliché’s are getting a little used up after a couple of hundred shows. The same story lines are being foisted on newer characters without even a new twist or direction.

You won’t fix that by changing the music. You can’t fix that by changing the music. Especially not to a musical waste of space like the new ER theme. So why bring in a new theme? Probably because they don’t know what else to change. Where else to make a change. Their afraid that if they do make a change the slow decline of their product life cycle will crash in around their ears. So they do what fools in television do they change the only thing they think they can. One of the key piece of branding they have. The theme. Idiots.

This Follows on from: Characters on the Couch (Part 14). The first part can be found at: Characters on the Couch (Part 1).

So why use Archetypes?

As a writer there are several advantages to using archetypes when designing characters. Archetypes give characters personalities that readers can easily identify with. They make characters memorable by making them stand out (what marketers would call providing strong differentiation). They also provide obvious areas for minor conflict between player characters at a philosophical level.

Archetypes from the drivers opposed to those a character is pursuing and shadow forms of their own archetype make excellent adversaries for a character. If you want to tempt a character their potential dark side will reveal a weakness that you can attack.

By knowing your character’s archetypes you can develop stories that have stronger plots because you have a clearer understanding of their motivation. Also because you know their motivation you will find it easier to their reaction to situation should you find your original story and plot going off-piste.

Not every character needs to fit an archetype. Many lesser characters fall short of being archetypical. Some are pulled towards more than one driver and can never fit an archetype. Some are just bland, unmemorable bit players and some may be there to provide contrast to an archetypical character by casting them into relief through their slip from being archetypical to being an also-ran.

At their simplest level they are useful for the more clear-cut style of writing, often associated with heroic styles. They can also be useful for more complex characterisation especially when the changing drives and internal conflicts come into play. In TV’s West Wing an ongoing sub-plot was centred on President Bartlett’s struggle between the different archetypes he might be presented as and the difficulty this caused him.

In the end this is just a tool. If it’s getting in the way of having fun throw it out.

Between watching CSI:Miami and one of my favourite West Wing epidsode “The Supremes” on DVD I’ve played a little more with Pepakura designer. Just trying to get to grips with getting workable meshes out of it that have some curvature in the shapes without being too fiddly to assemble. Looking forward to getting some suitable card and glue at the weekend so I can make a few of my creations.