My New Best Friend: "Friends with Kids"

It has to be a very special movie to be started (and watched about halfway through) on a long plane flight, immediately rented on Netflix upon arriving home (so that the rest of the movie can be watched) and then placed into the Amazon shopping cart immediately once the movie is over.  

“Friends with Kids” is that kind of very special movie.  

On a superficial level, “Friends with Kids” follows the lives of 6 friends (2 couples and 2 singletons) as they maneuver the fraught-filled waters of early 30s coupledom.  The cast is so full of quality that you would be hard-pressed to find a bad performance in the entire movie.  

First off, let’s get the easy praise out of the way:  “Friends with Kids” is beautifully written, directed and produced by the incomparable Jennifer Westfeldt.  I had not previously experienced the package that is Jennifer Westfeldt (although “Ira and Abby” is now in my Netflix queue) but I knew early on into “Friends with Kids” that there was a woman at the helm of this movie.  The situations, dialogues and characters resonated too deeply with me for it to be otherwise.

What I loved most about the movie was how real it felt to me.  As a member of Generation X (or Y, they’re never really quite sure), I recognize the partnering-up, pairing-up and parenting-up frenzy that many of my friends are going through; as well as the anxieties of those who are “left behind”.   But this movie doesn’t let any green grass sit unexamined.  If you didn’t already know: marriage is messy, dating is messy, relationships are messy, children are messy, sex is messy, love is messy and life is messy.

Both situations, either being partnered or single, have benefits and drawbacks and this movie seamlessly (but lovingly) shines a soft light on all of it.  What this means as a viewer is that you interact with all of the characters using the full range of emotions (joy, embarrassment, sadness, anger, amusement, humor, frustration, love) and consequently are very, very sad to see them leave when the movie is over.  

Ultimately, it is a story about love for people who grew up on love stories, but are also grown-ups.

- Sis

Neilson's Needless Numbers

Just because I don’t watch in REAL time doesn’t mean I don’t REALLY watch.
 
(Disclaimer: I am crap with numbers.)

In 1930, 50 years ago, when Arthur Nielsen started his television ratings system, there were 5 networks and 3 channels that aired about 6 hours of content a day.  It was very easy to get a sense of what the public liked.  You were either watching television or you weren’t.  

Even in the olden days of VCRs and 25 basic cable channels (read: the 80’s), my dual antenna VCR and 8 hour EP recording tapes could ensure that I never missed a show.  Fast forward to now.  There are over 500 channels that I NEED to watch.  And suddenly I cannot not keep up.

So I upgraded to Tivo.  Oh bless you, Tivo!

This little box could not only record 2 shows at a time, but it could also find shows I had accidentally missed on ANY of my now 150 basic cable channels.  However, this amount of TV watching would not suffice for the The TV gods.  

I have to to admit the television Pantheon did help me out some:  expanding prime time programing to 11pm on weeknights.  Still no matter how hard I tried, anything starting at 10 pm had to be recorded to be viewed the next day. I just could not stay awake.  

Also, with the completely dreadful reality TV line up, I had full-on HOURs of time that I would not watch any programming at all on any network.  

And THEN CAME HULU!  And On Demand.  And life was sweet again.

(Cue the swelling orchestra and large dance number.)

But my happiness was short lived.  Because of Nielsen.  (Cue the booing.)

Because I couldn’t watch my shows in real time, Nielsen did not count my viewings towards the show’s ratings.  Suddenly, my 20 hours per week of television-watching did not count.  How crap is that!  

I am a FAN (a hardcore, loyal one at that).  I LOVE my TV and my television shows.  
Just because I do not watch them in “real-time” does not mean that I don’t REALLY WATCH them.

Nielsen’s needless numbers have been the death of some of my favorite shows and I feel partly responsible, because I (and others) watch them online.  

We are watching, just not on TV.

Here are some numbers for you.  In case you’re curious.
 
I am one person.  
12 is the number of hours of programming that I record on my DVR a night.*
4 is the the number of hours of programming I watch online every week.
5 is the number of hours of programming I watch On Demand every week.


This adds up. We need to be counted.  

Neilson needs new numbers.

*(see disclaimer above)


- Squirt

A Sour Note about The Sing Off

Okay, I have gone through the denial, anger, bargaining and depression of the COLOSSAL ERROR that the Sing-Off judges made in Monday’s show.  (Clearly, I have not yet gotten to acceptance.)

You’ve heard us talk about the Sing-Off here (go to the 34 minute mark).  

This is my first season watching it all the way through and so far, I have been supportive of the judges and their decisions.  

However, on Monday, I really think the judges were wrong.  The final elimination came down to Dartmouth Aires and AfroBlue.  AfroBlue got eliminated, which was the WRONG DECISION.


Don’t get me wrong.  I like Dartmouth Aires just fine.  Their Queen medley was one of the best musical numbers I have seen on television this season.

But Dartmouth Aires relies, quite heavily in my opinion, on visual theatrics.  Yes, Michael is an excellent frontman, but what they do best is filling the stage with a lot of energy.  However, if you were to close your eyes and listen to the music, you would hear a choir.  Which is fine.  But not an A Capella group.  


AfroBlue on the other hand is an A Capella group.  They bring out all of the instruments on the track and the vocal stylings of the artist to create a full and rich sound.  Yes, they sometimes got a little too highbrow for some of us, but they were, and are, a solid A Capella group.  

When the judges were deciding, both Sara and Ben pointed to consistency as their reasons for keeping Dartmouth Aires, which is usually a good factor for an artist.   However, remember that the prize of the Sing-Off is $200,000 and a recording contract.  


Not a show in Vegas.  


Not a touring deal.  


But a recording contract.  


It will not matter how much energy and jumping around Dartmouth Aires does, because when they record, we’re not going to see any of that.  We’re just going to hear the music and that is where they are not as strong as AfroBlue.


Now, of course, all of this is ultimately irrelevant because, in the end, neither the Dartmouth Aires nor AfroBlue can compete against the amazing juggernaut that is Pentatonix.  

Pentatonix will be the winner of the Sing-Off and I will definitely buy their album and tickets to their shows when they pass through.  But that still doesn’t change the fact that I think the judges made a decision on something that ultimately won’t matter.  And it was the wrong one.

- Sis

PODCAST: A Hot Steaming Cup of...Fall TV Shows That We Are In Love With

Jokes about hipsters are funny (2 Broke Girls).  Whitney = Lucy (Whitney). And Chris Delia is a god! (Just a truth.  Accept it.)

Sis and Squirt finally get around to the new Fall TV shows that they love.

When Suburgatory let go of the voice-overs, we let go of our reservations and fully embraced the show.  (Even if Awkward is better.)

The Count of Monte Cristo and Dynasty got together and created Revenge, which is awesome!

Pan-Am's Karine Vanasse breaks our hearts.  But we forgive her anyway. 

Hart of Dixie has Josh Schwartz and Rachel Bilson and uses the Gilmore Girls set.  Of course we were going to love it. 

On The Sing-Off, Sis wants Sara Bareilles to give her constructive criticism on her life.  And Squirt has decided that she is Ben Folds.  Whatever that means.