Category: Essays

Donald Glover, Chevy Chase, And The Life And Death Of “Community”

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“Community” co-stars Donald Glover and Chevy Chase

The NBC sitcom Community, which ran from 2009-2015 (its last season actually running on Yahoo Screen) was once one of my most beloved TV series. Blissfully unaware of my later revelation that “fandom ruins everything,” I had an intense fandom for this show.

But reading Atlanta creator/star and current Lando Calrissian Donald Glover discuss his experiences on Community, I am reminded once again what a clusterfuck that series was & why it was ultimately doomed.

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Friends: The Russ Ross Paradox

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*shudder…*

One of the most scary things I’ve ever seen was not in a horror movie, but in the TV series Friends. It was a literal doppelgänger of the character Ross—called Russ. Russ looked…similar to Ross. But had subtle differences.

These great similarities yet subtle differences deeply creeped me out about Russ. To the point that whenever I even look of a picture of Russ, I shudder as if gazing upon some sort of Lovecraftian demon from the bowels of Hell. Had I encountered the Russ/Ross paradox as a small child, I know I would have studiously avoided watching Friends at all in an attempt to never encounter this creature again.

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When Movies Fail: 2001’s “Evolution”

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Evolution, directed by Ivan Reitman, should have been everything I sought for in a movie. I was still a huge X-Files fan when it came out, and the flick was largely shaped as a star vehicle for David Duchovny. Some sort of alien-conspiracy goodness seemed to be promised, and it even had a devil-may-care three-eyed smiley face logo that I might have seen before in other cool and counter-cultural entertainment…

And yet, I never saw Evolution. And even before the smallest bit of motivation gripped me to climb out of my basement apartment and actually see this movie in the theaters, it had already gotten horrible reviews and audience buzz. And then…

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Sex and Death: The Brief Friendship Of James Dean And Vampira

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We have the same neuroses.
–Maila Nurmi on her friendship with James Dean

Irresistibly bound up in the seemingly eternal icon of James Dean is equal parts sex and death, like sweet heroin to the angst-ridden teenagers of multiple decades. So perhaps it was only fitting that one of Dean’s supposed “best friends” also encapsulated that dark wedding of eroticism and morbidity, her simultaneously cadaverous and sexy visage spawning a veritable amazonian army of the undead.

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The Dennis The Menace Of Two Worlds

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March 12, 1951 saw the debut of one of the most beloved young scamps in all of comic strip history: Dennis the Menace.

The only problem was, two completely different Dennis the Menaces debuted on March 12, 1951: one in America and created by Hank Ketcham, and one in England created by David Law.

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The Great Big Mouth/BoJack Horseman Nick Kroll/Will Arnett Conspiracy Theory.

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I’ve been sitting on this one ever since I watched all of the new Netflix animated series Big Mouth several days ago—and now I feel like I’ve been ENLIGHTENED as to all the secrets of the Universe!

Because I believe that Big Mouth is really Nick Kroll’s revenge on his former girlfriend Amy Poelher’s ex-husband Will Arnett. Let me explain.

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Unbreakable, Death Wish, And The Man In The Hoodie

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Bruce Willis in Unbreakable and Death Wish

The new trailer for Eli Roth’s Death Wish has dropped, and causing a bit of controversy as you might as well imagine. A throwback (whether ironic or not is up for debate) to the “hero vigilante” movies of the 1970s and early 1980s, this remake of the 1974 classic features Bruce Willis as a “guy with a gun” getting revenge on the people who hurt his family (as well as shooting “bad guys” everywhere).

What immediately struck me about this (much reviled, in certain circles) trailer is how much the movie is reminiscent of Willis’ 2000 film Unbreakable, in terms of general premise (“who is that lone hero?”) and iconography. And by “iconography,” I’m specifically talking about the hoodie Willis wears.

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