Author Archives: Evan

Shame Day: The White Man March

Two nights ago I posted an article to our Facebook page that listed tweets in response to some sort of White Man March. My first reaction upon coming across it for the first time, as I think most most people’s would be, was not so much what is this as why is this. My second was to ascertain that the tweets were in fact funny so that I could share them on social media and use them as a hook to create discussion [which they did not, but what are you going to do].

In coming up with today’s Shame Day post the march came to mind, but it dawned on me that I knew literally nothing about it besides the fact that the internet thought it was ridiculous.

https://twitter.com/Falcc/statuses/444889354838609920

I did what I consider to be the bare amount of research possible and determined that, yes, the White Man March is indeed worthy of its own Shame Day post. Continue reading

2 Broke Girls, S3E19 “And the Kilt Trip”: A TV Review

kilttrip

Right at the end of 2011 Todd VanDerWerff, who I unofficially inherited these reviews from after Pilot Viruet passed the torch, wrote an article on the AV Club discussing how some shows on TV existed as “Nice places to visit”.

While the initial focus was on dramas he turns to sitcoms and describes how he divides them into two categories: “shows that aim for greatness and try to push the boundaries of the form, and shows that just want to create a bunch of characters that are fun to hang out with.” Happy Endings is my personal benchmark for the latter, with Parks and Recreation coming a close second. It’s not to say that neither show exhibits good writing [both do, in their own ways], more that they’re half hours of television in which viewers can relax, content to spend time with characters who are familiar and comfortable to them.

2 Broke Girls appears to want to be one of these shows. Continue reading

Farmed and Dangerous, S1E4 “Ends Meat”: A Web Show Review

endsmeat

We open up with the last Buck Marshall ad we’ll ever see, the IFIB rep. letting us know that shows like the one we’re about to see “worry the public about the dangers of industrial food production.” The issue with this, of course, is that “[their] research shows that worry leads to stress and depression, which is detrimental to your health.” That’s actually great to know, since I was worried going into the season finale.

Last week’s installment was extremely shaky, scoring points for being informative and funny at the same time but ultimately failing when it came to raising the stakes [ironic given the episode title]. Things ended with Chip in jail believing that Sophie had stabbed him in the back, and so things start with him sitting in an interrogation room. A promising enough beginning, I suppose. Continue reading

Taking a Breaky-Break

Gordon pled and so I capitulated that as a blog we would be taking the week off [with the sole exception of tonight’s 2 Broke Girls review, which I’d like to stay consistent with]. While this particular section of the internet will be quiet for the next seven days, our hardworking bloggers will not simply be sitting around doing nothing-

This week will be devoted to the blog’s Facebook page.

cwrfb
Yes, we realized that the only way we could possibly improve was to expand into what I hear the cool kids are calling “social media”. On our page you’ll be able to catch updates to this blog, of course, but also links to articles that we think are interesting or important [ideally both]. It’s also a great place to share your opinion, or suggest topics for us to write on.

So head on over there with the knowledge that we’re making efforts to liven things up. Please support our efforts as we try our best to get with the times.

EDIT: No 2 Broke Girls tonight. Best break week ever!

ANOTHER EDIT: Just realized I will be reviewing the final episode of Farmed and Dangerous, so there’s that actually.

Falling Off the Hate Bandwagon

Last week I touched on writing about [and off] that which we have not personally experienced ourselves and that while we can, doing so can damage our credibility and rob us of what we may actually enjoy. Somewhere in that mess of words I mentioned that basing our opinions on the judgements of others [specifically when they’re negative] is not the greatest. The thing is, it happens all of the time.

An example I brought up in that last post was Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, a show I had despised before ever watching an episode. Of course, my hatred for it was tailored by such gifs as this:

Continue reading

Culture War Correspondence: Russia and the Ukraine

GORDON: The Culture “War” has more often than not been used as a metaphor, but every once in a while (and with increasing occurrence) battles of the heart and mind start to include blood and iron as well.

Today we’re going to be discussing the ongoing Crisis in the Ukraine, both in regards to its roots and its implications in our society as a whole.

EVAN: I’m going to be one hundred percent honest with you, Gordon, and with all of our readers, I’m primarily going to be viewing a lot of Russia’s actions, and the responses of the other world powers, almost purely as if this were all a game of Sid Meier’s Civilization V.

putinthegreat

Consequently, I can only imagine Putin like this.

Continue reading