Community

So NBC finally put Community back on the air, and man, I forgot how much I love this show. Every other line is a reference to something in popular culture—another show, a film, a news story, a meme or trend—and the lines in between those reference lines are original, awesome jokes.

With all of Romney's talk about how corporations are people, Community took that notion to its (il)logical extreme last night when they introduced a man who legally changed his name to SUBWAY. He fist bumps people while saying "Eat fresh!" Incredible. Also, how did it take so long for someone to make a joke about how hard it is to hold in a fart in public?

Films have the power to capture dreams...

I didn't plan on seeing Hugo this year but the 11 Oscar nominations it earned piqued my curiosity. It was a delightful tale of a little boy's adventures as a vehicle for Scorsese to remind us all of film's power. I was only vaguely aware of Georges Melies before seeing Hugo, but his contribution to early film (especially in the realm of special effects) was incredible. As a magician-turned-filmmaker, he approached the new medium from a very unique perspective. Going on a journey with Hugo Cabaret as he uncovers the mystery surrounding Melies really did make me feel like a kid again. But why do kid protagonists always have to be orphans...

There was also some surprisingly powerful dialogue. In one scene, Hugo leads his friend up to the top of the clock tower and they (both orphans and struggling with their purpose) survey the beautiful Paris landscape. He tells her, "Machines always come with the right amount of parts. So if world is one big machine, I couldn't be an extra part, I have to be here for a reason. You have to be here for a reason too..." Developing analogous themes of purpose and function between humans and machines in a "children's"movie was a surprise. Was it William Paley who made the famous watchmaker analogy as an argument for God?