Just the Ticket

Give a big "Welcome back, Blogger!" to the column formerly known as the SW@ Soundtrack , a column I started back on June 26, 2005 with an issue called The Grading Curve . Therein, I did not review anything, but instead laid down a grading system based on the names of popular record store chains (a sales medium that has come into great jeopardy in recent years). I eventually abandoned said grading curve to experiment with other systems, as any good artist will do when he's new in the game and tired of spitting the SOSO that he brought to movie criticism for one year straight. This issue will be a big one, since I plan to copy-and-paste all back issues of the Soundtrack back-to-back herein. And while it didn't have great longevity at my hand, I still think the curve was a clever device worth giving its due, so what better place to start than June 26, 2005 (SW@ Soundtrack #1: The Grading Curve)? When I have no movies to take apart, I plan to look at the world of mus

Ironic that I should talk about authenticity today, isn't it? I said last time that I was going to Bring Back the Soundtrack  with a look at the last two albums released by R.E.M. before their disbanding this year, and I lied a bit. I started looking back at my old SW@ Soundtrack  posts and got lost in history. I now plan to make a one issue run-through of the original column before the R.E.M. expose'. But first, here's a prompt and response FROM March 5, 2005 to one of my college writing assignments. It was from my World Music class and took place roughly 200 days before the inception of the SW@ Soundtrack column, so I thought I would release it here for my readers to use as a learning tool. Enjoy! Writing Assignment #1: Response to David Byrne’s "I Hate World Music" Paper Requirements: Papers are to be: 2-3 full pages; double-spaced and typed; formatted with standard side margins of 1"-1.25" and top and bottom margins of 1"; a common 12-point fon

It's a weird title, don't you think? Since I came up with it myself, I'd tend to agree with you in the positive on that score. So what does it have to do with television, besides the obvious similarity to the title of that old cop show, Jake and the Fatman ? You're about to find out. The Jesus part comes from the star of today's show up for review, Person of Interest  (a title based on the recently ubiquitous semantic loophole that allows law enforcement officials to pursue and detain people for questioning without officially naming them as suspects). Remember the good old days when you could get shell shock at the airport terminal without being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in the international transit lounge? Enough P.C. and B.S., T.H.'s! Just call a spade a shovel and let's get back to the review. Person of Interest  is one of many in the J.J. Abrams serial explosion that followed Lost , and has found at least a freshman level of succ

As you try to say the title of this post three times fast, celebrations are in order because we've just crossed the 6,000 pageview mark with the last issue of Ticket Stubs , wherein I poked fun at a massive typo featuring Cinderella  and Chimpanzee  that I found in my local grocery store's movie rental guide. Today, it's time to get serious about our fairy tales with a Stay Tuned/Just the Ticket  crossover event. First, if you're the network airing Once Upon A Time  (now in season 2, Sundays at 8pm on ABC), it pays big to own Disney. Since bounty hunter-turned-fairy tale savior Emma Swan ( House 's Jennifer Morrison) broke the queen's curse at the end of Season 1 and Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle, 28 Days Later ) tried to impress Lost  love Belle (Emilie de Ravin) by bringing magic to the characters' prison town of Storybrooke, Maine, the door has been opened to mash up even more Disneyfied fairy tales (stretched to serial-supporting size by the occasi

J-Ho, or Japanese Horror, continues to be a source of inspiration to horror film directors. But since The Ring (Japanese title: Ringu ), Hollywood has adapted and concocted a slew of of copycats and sequels ( The Grudge , A.K.A. Ju-On , Shutter , One Missed Call , Dark Water , etc.) and used the genre's more annoying signature elements to tweak non-J-Ho films like Day Of the Dead , The Woman In Black , and Apartment 143 . No more evident is the predictable structure of the J-Ho film than when comparing the first two American ventures into the genre,  The Ring  and  The Grudge . FROM April 5, 2005 (SW@ the Hell? #2: Spidey 3, WWE SW@, & SW@ Ticket Shorts):  The Grudge was basically an OK movie, but a little too much like The Ring . Don't get me wrong; The Ring was an amazing movie, but some originality needs to be in order. You have the blonde do-gooder (Sarah Michelle Gellar instead of Naomi Watts), the dark-haired amorphic zombie-ghost out for revenge, the string of