Tuesday, November 21, 2006

i'm bringin' sexy back...

i had to use that one. i heard it in the mall today and it has been going thru my mind ever since. and it seemed appropriate since last nite i came home from my new job to a mailbox full of e-mails about underwear. and it's been mentioned everywhere (including claire martin). i personally think it was an homage to the white stripes and their news story. that's all i'm gonna say.

speaking of bringing sexy back, check out the diving clip from the mercer report this week.

i was going to post on my first two days of the job, but all this sexy talk distracts me. so, let's talk about last week's 'the hour' instead.

what a week of closers! finally, signs of life. thank you, thank you, thank you!

there's more, let's call it 'spice' in the show now. the show is back to being more politically aware. the jokes are flowing better. the quips are more natural, seem more off the cuff. like the intro to an oj piece.. oj simpson is back in the news again, being a moron. bam! stephen harper and the chinese president. the chinese president flatly rejects criticism. i guess harper and him have something in common. bam! (ok, that one was obvious, but in the first few weeks of the season, i don't think they would have nailed it).

the guest list was good this week. however, i had some problems with the production/editing of the pieces.

first, i thought the wendy mesley started off horribly. at first i thought, wow, she's a crappy interviewee but it ended up getting much better. however, who edited the piece? you can't have her accuse pierre trudeau of being a pedophile and edit out the explanation. true, after the interview, it was explained (he hit on her, but she was 20, not 12) but to edit the piece that way made it look like bad tabloid tv.

second, i loved the catherine o'hara interview but where was it filmed? was somebody not listening to what was going on in the background? it sounded like it was filmed in a bar at night, there was so much background noise. it was extremely distracting and made the interview hard to follow at times.

side note...my brain is alert and awake tonight, but not my body. i stood up, and nearly fell over. damn near spilt my wine!

i loved and hated the foo fighters interview. i have to admit, when dave grohl was talking about his daughter and said something like 'i only know how to love her", my eyes teared up. but on a personal level, when dave grohl said talked about stuff he said in interviews when he was in nirvana, i felt like part of me was ripped out and stomped on. umm, what you said in those days meant a lot to me. it was a little disheartening to hear him blow off so casually the younger version of himself.

i mentioned editing above, and i have to say i have issues with the edited versions that they played on the best of this week. one, they kept showing clips of the foo fighters that they didn't air and two, they edited the billy connelly interview to make it look like mr. stroumboulopoulos actually had control of the interview. which was never the case. connelly ran wild with that interview from the moment he took the stage. i am not saying it wasn't good, connelly was hilarious. but that was no interview. and this isn't a big criticism either. i think it would have been hard for most people to control it. he reminded me of robin williams in that way.

i think if 'the hour' can't go to other cities, they should at least have the panel van do a cross country tour. and i mean cross country. not just vancouver, calgary and montreal.

this is what i want, and indeed expect from 'the hour'. i want to be educated, i want to think, and i want to be entertained. and finally this season, i am seeing signs that that 'hour' is returning.

bravo.

ps.. just saw that jack black is listed as upcoming on 'the hour'.. .. sigh... :)

10 comments:

Toccata said...

Good review. Makes me want to start watching it again. I've caught bits and pieces but not the entire show. Speaking of which I guess it's on right now.

Don't spill your wine! That would not be good. I'm having a nice glass of white wine right now. Perfect way to end the day.

668 aka neighbour of the beast said...

i can honestly say, it's so much better now than it was in the beginning of the season. and i think i have been nothing but fair and honest when it comes to it.

are you kiddin'? the way i feel lately, i would have licked it up off the floor. i am drinking white wine i bought at a winery this summer when i went to saltspring island.

i am so alert right now, and yet, i don't feel like doing any work. looks like another late night for me.

Allison said...

Good review, I have to start watching full eps again. Just not enough time in the day, hence me posting this at 4am...lol...the life of a student.

I'm going to go watch the Mercer clip now :)

greenteaicedtea said...

I think it's hard for them to edit down stuff for the "throws" show on Sunday. It's like trying to write a short essay, it's harder than writing a long essay. I imagine the flow of how the Billy Connolly interview originally went, was easily lost by having to edit it. It was still funny! I had heard a skit of his on cassette when I was a kid, "ohhh death" and it was good to see him on TV.

668 aka neighbour of the beast said...

i do think editing is hard, but i just feel the entire feel of the piece shifted by that particular one. but i agree it was still funny (i had to edit my post a little, a small typo made it look like i didn't enjoy it. i did.)

mellowlee said...

I finally watched the diving clip LMAO It was great! I enjoyed your Hour review! I agree whole heartedly when you added that a panel Van travel cross country "not just vancouver, calgary and montreal." I for one would be most interested in seeing of Canada, not just these places too. There is life outside of these centres damnit :)

668 aka neighbour of the beast said...

maybe i will send that suggestion into the hour.

i hate when people say cross country and then don't actually go cross country. this band kept emailing about their cross country tour and it was montreal to calgary!

i would like to see them go to the territories too, but then maybe that would have to be the panel dog sled. :)

668 aka neighbour of the beast said...

ps.. and that diver! whoooo hoooo!

Anonymous said...

OMG!! I love your brain!
You and I think so, so, much alike.

The closers have been getting better. More thought in to them. More George.

Everything you said about all the interviews was dead on...

And GS not having control over Billy Connelly was sooo true. I have never seen him so out of control!

The editing has been crappy.
Do we know why The Hour can't go across the country?

You rock.
J

668 aka neighbour of the beast said...

j - well, i'm glad i'm not the only one. sometimes when i read the stuff on myspace etc i think are they watching the same show as me? :)

that's why the editing bugged me so much on the connelly piece on the best of! i understand the need to edit, but i just felt it misrepresented the feel of the piece. i'm really picking on editing. i wanted to be an editor once.

i'm not sure what the reasoning behind not going on the road is. it's weird because last year, one of the cbc'ers told me that they were going to go on the road more not less.

ahhhh, thanks.