Category: Opinion

A Few Thoughts about TRANSPARENT

Hey, we understand that Amazon’s TRANSPARENT is a big deal show. Critics love it. It makes us feel. But when all is said, is TRANSPARENT really a sitcom? Is it – wait for it – funny?

transparent headerby Ken Levine

Emmy voting has begun.

TRANSPARENT is a wonderful show. It is filled with rich characters, novel situations, tremendous heart, superb performances, inspired writing, and it courageously tackles a delicate subject with compassion and conviction. It’s far and away the best new show of the current season. read article

John Ostrander on Making Your Characters Miserable

woodyamiserable

by John Ostrander

Stranger Than Fiction, a 2006 film from director Marc Forster (Finding Neverland, Monster’s Ball, and World War Z, among others), is a favorite of Mary’s and mine. It that starred Will Farrell in a very atypical Will Farrell role, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah, and Emma Thompson.

The story concerns an IRS auditor named Harold Crick who starts to hear a narrator in his head. The voice turns out to be a world famous author who is writing a story about an IRS auditor named Harold Crick. The author, Karen Eiffel, always kills off her main character at the end of the book. The real Harold’s only hope to survive is to find the reclusive author and convince her not to kill him. Eventually, they meet.

Karen Eiffel, understandably, is freaked to encounter an actual Harold Crick. He’s just as she pictured him. They both know that if she kills him off in prose, he will die in reality. She is confronted with the reality of what she does; Harold Crick isn’t just a creature of her imagination. He’s a flesh and blood person. read article

Troy DeVolld Dishes About His Career in Reality TV

For the past decade or so, writer-producer Troy DeVolld has been a pivotal presence in the world of reality TV…and a frequent contributor to TVWriter™ as well. Thanks to this podcast, we now have the chance to listen to this master storyteller spin what could be his most exciting tale yet – his life:

troybaby

Click HERE to hear Troy on the GIRLZ IN THE WOOD PODCAST

Herbie J Pilato: Why I Found SPY Offensive

miranda spyby Herbie J Pilato

Except for the overt, excessive, grotesque, and bloody violence that pervades and apparently has to be part of every movie-going experience today (drama or comedy, horror, adventure or otherwise), everything visual about SPY is beautiful, including it’s dynamic leading leading, Melissa McCarthy, and her co-stars Jude Law, Rose Byrne, Miranda Hart, Jason Strathram, Bobby Cannavale, and Peter Serafinowicz.

Unfortunately, their beauty gets lost each and every time one of them opens their mouths.

As a result, what could have been one of the most perfect adventure-secret agent feature films this side of the best of James Bond on the big-screen is instead disturbing. read article

Is the Copyright Monopoly Based on a Huge Lie?

Inasmuch as we seem to be featuring good ole timey values today, it seems appropriate to talk about a new value and its place in the pantheon of things. (Similar to the interweb of things except not.)

Stay with us now because this is cool:

copyrighandwrong

by Rick Falkvinge

The copyright monopoly is based on the idea of an exchange. In exchange for exclusive rights, the copyright industry supplies culture and knowledge to the public. It turns out that the entire premise is a lie, as untethered creators are racing to provide culture and knowledge anyway. read article