Pooh on swine flu.

Dollhouse episode 10: solving your own murder? geekiness ressurected.

Apparently everyone has seen the "solve your own murder" plot before. Except me. So for me this episode of Dollhouse was fresh, engaging, and fun. The big theme this episode is eternal life. We're introduced to how with dollhouse tech, certain privileged individuals can have life after death, or conceivably eternal life. Perhaps this is what Whedon meant when he mentioned his vision for the show. For me this brought an entirely new angle to the show, and gave new meaning to the short scene in episode 6 where a scholary type person said how if dollhouse tech really existed(he didn't know. poor bastard) we would cease to matter as a species.

Echo is imprinted with a recently dead friend of Adelle this episode. Being suspicious of her own death, she decides to investigate. In the process discovers what her family and loved ones really thinks about her. I don't need to tell you how this ends, but the journey there is gripping, entertaining, and fascinating, even if it did involve one too many horses for my liking. Meanwhile, Topher shows us he's not just quippy lines and sarcastic remarks when he resurrects a dead geek friend. Suffice to say the only thing they don't do is fuck. It's sweet, charming, and somewhat eerie. We actually feel sorry for him this episode. Lonely, sarcastic Topher, the only nerd in a house of security personnel and empty headed dolls.

In short, Dollhouse continues to be awesome, and I continue to pray for a second season. I'm drafting my letter to the television gods now.

on self control.

It's eleven.
I haven't eaten.
But I weighed myself.
So the food I shelved.

GOKU! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!?

Dollhouse episode 9: the attic is scary, Adelle's second layer.

So I've enjoyed dollhouse ever since it started, this much is true. To a certain extent. Nevertheless if I suck on this particular dick any harder it will probably drop off. But let's be honest. The show has gotten better and better with each episode. so let the weekly cocksucking party begin. Minor spoilers.

So this episode there's a spy. Another person feeding Ballard information besides Alpha. From inside the dollhouse. He/She get's caught of course, but not before some detours that show yet another dimension to this already multi-layered narrative.

For starters, we get to see what happens to individuals who get the much teased about attic sentence, and Adelle DeWitt shows a side of her that transforms her from cold-hearted British business woman into something more interesting. Something with quite a bit more layers, more fascinating, and intriguing. I hesitate to spoil it, because the reveal is quite the shocker. It puts an entirely different spin on the Adelle character moving forward.

In other news, Paul Ballard's life crumbles to even finer dust, as he discovers Melly is a doll, existing only as a tool for the dollhouse to spy on him. Paul discovers this by way of a hidden message imprinted into Melly's programming, apparently courtesy of the titular mole. A lot can be read from the scene that ensues, in which "Melly" tells Paul to keep up appearances. Subtly creepy and revealing at the same time.

Echo learns to ask this episode, which is also subtly creepy yet revealing, she requests to be imprinted so that she can help sniff out the inside man/woman. Is it an early sign of a "composite event" teased earlier in the series? Or something else?

The story played out, at least at first, like a Tarrantino movie. Told nonlinearly from different points of view, being a television show that has to make sense on some level, all the plot lines converged, and all the while the show is sowing seeds, slowly building up to our not-really-season-finale-but-apparently-is episode. Entitled Omega. Which will, if things keep up like this, be FULLY AWEOSME.

Ahem.

As I mentioned earlier, any more smoking of the cock of Dollhouse will like cause it to fall off, and my balls to shrink. So I leave you with this, a much better written, spoiler ladden review of dollhouse of the same episode. You must be a very very nice person to read this far. :)

The Nightly News.

Reading the Nightly News, one gets a sense of madness, insanity. Cold, calculated, well thought out, soundly structured madness. Not the kind you find in an asylum. This is more than being a little bit off the beaten path. This is faith we're discussing. It's a beautifully designed/illustrated finger to the media conglomerate, peppered with spreadsheets, factoids, graphs and feels feels brutally honest, despite the creator's frequent attempts(in and out of the book) to distance himself from the views represented(misrepresented?) in the book.

But let's back up. This is a graphic novel, written and drawn by Johnathan Hickman. It's a one and done story told in six issues. We follow John Guyton, failed art critic, homeless, who gets recruited into becoming "the HAND of the VOICE". The leader of a cult with one goal in mind. The complete obliteration of the modern journalistic system. Indoctrination disguised as education, the essence of truth, the power of faith and how dangerous it can be a just a few themes the book tries to explore. It's heady, confusing stuff. Even though it feels somewhat didactic at times, the central plot line grabs on to you like a mad dog humping your leg. Never letting go and giving you only the slightest room for breath.

The visual styling of the book deserves special mention. A mash-up of graphic design and comic illustration, it's arresting, layered and powerful. Never before has design been so tightly intertwined with the story in a graphic novel. Every page is painstakingly designed, little visual cues and easter eggs dotted all over, most of which won't be apparent until at least a second reading. Or the annotations, which are awesomely insightful.

It's rather dense, but never feels hard to follow. It leaves you feeling a little bit smarter than before, as all good work should. It's unapologetic demonizing of the media seems increasingly relevant in our age of information. Perhaps it's distasteful to some, but for everyone else, it's a great looking ride, with insanely brilliant cult-speak, explosions, political intrigue, and everything you'd want from an excellent conspiracy story.

Been busy.

Daily writings becomes less and less daily every day. This week was particularly hectic, I know that isn't an excuse for not writing, but I'm using it anyway. Because I'm promising myself to write more often.

We've sent out 1500 emails to almost everyone in the London Ad industry, and half of them were truncated. Of the replies we did get, 40% were like "fuck off" 30% "interesting", 20% "nice, wanna come in some time soon?" and the remainder was positive. Certainly, we pissed a lot of people off, and as long as they're not reading this, I doubt they'll remember in a couple of days.

Out of 1500 emails, we have maybe 10 possible book crits. Which is not too bad, when you think about it.

I'm thinking of posting up the replies soon, because some of them are genuinely funny.

So still to come in the coming days.

the current weekly "Dollhouse review", Impressions on Johnathan Hickman's "The Nightly News." and maybe several other stuff.

Dollhouse episode 8: Needs. Spoilers ahoy.

I expected this week's episode to usher in a new status quo, possibly building up to a final showdown between the dolls and the dollhouse in the finale, but of course, that is way too obvious.

It begins with a meeting among the staff of the dollhouse. Adelle describing that a tide is rising, referring to the shenanigans of the previous episodes. Memory drugs, Echo's veering off course and various other anomalies the show has presented to us so far. Then without warning, we cut to our favourite actives. It seems they've become aware, original personalities intact sans memory, but with little hints sprouted about, giving them a sense of purpose. Seemingly without reason. In the night they awake, screaming, afraid, and determined. Sneaking around, pretending to be dolls, they hatch a plan, to get out together. The first bombshell is dropped when Echo/Caroline announces that she's going back into the dollhouse to free the other dolls. Right away we realize this is Caroline from the animal testing days. Idealistic, rash, a girl on a mission. She confronts Topher, and Adelle. Her rhetoric no match for the keeper of the house, yet determined, in her purpose, in her belief that the dolls should be freed. Meanwhile, Sierra faces the man who put her in the dollhouse, who seems unsurprised at her sudden appearance with Victor. Victor, slowly developping his crush on Sierra, climaxing with them kissing. Melly remembers her daughter, and seeks her out, only to find a tombstone in a cemetery. For a while it seems like the dolls have won, they've mostly evaded capture, and Echo convinced Adelle to set the dolls free, with a gun. Then without warning, the dolls shut down. Adelle looks pleased as we flash back to the beginning. In which it's reveled that our dolls are being set free, to achieve resolution, closures with conflicts they've developed whilst in the dollhouse. Hence Victor's kiss, Sierra's meeting with the man who took away her freedom, Melly's grief for her daughter and Echo's desire to free captive animals. A sedative released once they have satisfied their needs. Finally, another bombshell, while Echo was semi-lucid she recalled Paul Ballard's name and has left him a message. I'm not sure how this will play out, but as we race closer and closer to this season's finale, the only thing left is to pray for a second season.

Slowly but surely, this show is turning into a meditation on the societal condition. Subtexts abound, but aren't really required to enjoy the story. Has Joss Whedon delivered on his promise? Sort of. We can be sure there will be no more suicidal pop-stars from here on out. There's less Whedonism in dollhouse, and that may turn off the average whedonite, but dollhouse, as it stands is a work of considerable maturity. Reserved in it's execution, but insightful and subversive nonetheless.

We're seeing the slow blossoming of this show's vision. "Man on the street" gave us a glimpse of it. "Needs" expands it. Silencing more naysayers every week. The dolls it seems, have proven themselves to be more than dolls.