Today,we're looking at my list of personal picks for web videos,which include online series,TV show clips and even a musical selection or two. If you're on the look out for some smart and savvy internet content, hopefully some of these clips will be a perfect fit like Cinderella's shoe:
SHARP EDGE SOCIAL SATIRE
Ask a Slave: Actress Azie Dungey draws upon her real world experience as a historical character interpreter to set up a Q&A for Lizzie Mae,housemaid to George and Martha Washington, to answer the many ridiculous queries that tourists had for her such as "What did George Washington think about Abraham Lincoln freeing all of his slaves?"
A smartly satirical look at American history with a well balanced blend of workplace humor and a serious shake of the head at how lacking our educational system is in imparting the full picture about this time period, AAS has become so popular that funds for a second season were quickly raised at Kickstarter and is now airing on a weekly basis:
TOTALLY BIASED DEBATES: One of the best segments on the now sadly canceled FX series Totally Biased were the discussions held on such topics as religion and changing the offensive to Native American names of sports teams,which were both lively and intelligent.
The first one held on the show was between blogger Lindy West and comedian Jim Norton over rape jokes,that to the shame of the internet resulted in lots of vicious feedback sent Lindy's way(not to mention Roseanne putting her two cents in-seriously,that woman should not be online without adult supervision) and yet it did set the tone for other debates that followed. Hopefully,when W. Kamau Bell gets another media outlet for his talents, he will bring this feature back:
MORE JANE AUSTEN GOODNESS
During the summer,we were treated to Sanditon,a modern day look at one of Austen's unfinished novels which allowed a lot of lee way for the various story lines.
Those plot points included a mayor determined to make his beach side town look like a health mecca(even if it meant calling an ice cream parlor a juice bar), competing spin gyms run by a competing brother and sister,plus an unlikely romance between a reluctant mayoral assistant and the plucky owner of Sanditon Scoops.
Gigi Darcy played hostess for this seaside saga but in the end, it was the love story that won out over all:
EMMA APPROVED: Currently, the new Austen web series has the iconic Miss Woodhouse set up as a professional matchmaker/life coach with Mr. Knightley as her office manager and Harriet Smith ,who has been recently hired as her assistant who is being groomed for a major league romance. So far, the show has done a great job in adapting the classic novel to modern times in a way that's not clueless and will be a production that the original Emma would very much approve of:
ENTERTAINING OBSERVATIONS
Song Parody Alert!: While plenty of folks had a confused look along with some laughs at the well intended but oh so wrong Brad Paisley tune "Accidental Racist", Just Some Random Guy used that timely ditty to air a few grievances between Superman and Wolverine over director Bryan Singer switching from one comic book movie franchise to another:
What is up with Movie Posters,Anyway?: Cecil at Good Bad Flicks not only does fun and funny looks at offbeat genre films, he also does interesting side pieces such as a breakdown of what went wrong with The Blair Witch Project: Book of Shadows, the cult status of Halloween III:Season of the Witch(which I still say is a mess but worth taking a longer look at) and this look at the declining quality and creativity of movie poster art:
A MUSICAL INTERLUDE
Fan based romance: This delightful singalong salute to fictional heroes,"Boys In Books Are Better" explains just why ladies seem to find the best love interests between the covers of a good book. I believe this singer is English which is why the book covers for Harry Potter and The Hunger Games are different than the US versions but a rose by any other name and all that....:
Subtle signs of love: Daft Punk's next level album "Random Access Memories" has released several amazing tracks,including the true song of the summer "Get Lucky".
However, one of the most heartfelt videos from RAM is "Instant Crush",with Julian Casablancas offering a lyrical narration of a secret romance between museum figurines that invokes the Hans Christian Anderson fable of the Steadfast Tin Soldier.
Hauntingly endearing,with a play of shadow and light to express the emotional interplay that can not be expressed, this is one music video that can be truly considered high art in the best sense of the term:
I look forward to seeing many more great video offerings in 2014 but for now, let's all enjoy a merry holiday season,whether you celebrate Thanksgivukaah or a Patrick Swayze Christmas:
1 comment:
Nice job as always! I haven't seen any of these web series, but I will try to give them a shot in 2014.
I love that poster critique video - thank you for suggesting it to me a while back. I actually have that clip scheduled for my own site, and I'll link back to this post when it goes up.
And, seriously, out of so many hours of pure, blissful comedy created by the MST3k crew, the Patrick Swayze Christmas song is one of the very best. It didn't surprise me at all to learn that Joel & company were more stressed by their ship-bound segments than their riffing. This could be the Swayziest Christmas of them aaaaaaaaaall!
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