Tabz (aka Tabitha Grace Smith) is a omnivorous geek with a special love of television. She's a writer, social media strategist, and teacher. In her spare time she blogs over at Doctor Her (a Doctor Who blog) and runs Between the Lines Studios.
My first full time job was at a dot com business that was just at the “we’re out of the garage and going to the penthouse suite” stage in it’s development. When I was first hired we worked in a run-down office building that, every time it rained, the electricity would go out and, until it came back on, they’d have wheeled chair races. In an office like that, it’s easy to hear a million excuses why work doesn’t get done. Like on Childrens Hospital, a wacky show that playfully mocks the medical drama genre, the characters remind me a lot of my workmates at my old job. The doctors at Childrens Hospital don’t work Saturdays and that often leads to some crazy situations for both them and their patients.
If you haven’t seen Childrens Hospital yet, it was originally a web-series created by The Daily Show alum Rob Corddry during the Writer’s Strike. The original episodes were 5 minutes long, it bumped up to 15 minutes when it joined Cartoon Network’s [adult swim] line up. The new series premiered this last week. Corddry himself appears as the lead (the clown doctor), and there’s a cast of great TV alumns like Megan Mullally (Will & Grace), Lake Bell (Boston Legal) and Henry Winkler (Happy Days, Arrested Development).
For an idea of what the show is about check out this clip:
So, I’ve been so busy trying to get my MA and then MFA done that I’ve really slacked off in being part of the podcast community. I missed the early days of podcasting when people would jump on each other’s shows and really get involved with promoting, listening, and commenting on each other’s shows. Thankfully, Podcast Junkie (Megan), started a new Facebook group called Podcast Community to help recapture that feeling.
In honor of that I decided to start writing up some reviews of the various podcasts I’ve learned about through the community. These are going to be based on listening to the “latest” episode when I visit their website. Hopefully this helps spur some interest and helps readers find some new podcasts to join, comment on and enjoy. If you are a podcast listener make sure to hug your favorite podcaster (and by hug I mean leave a comment, review or email).
Podcast One Episode Review #1 – Time Shifters Podcast Episode Reviewed “Sure he’s rich, but does he have a podcast?”
If you’re a sci-fi/genre TV or movie fan, this is probably a podcast you’ll really enjoy. One of the things I enjoyed about this episode was the hosts banter included a catch up on their real lives (I personally love the “these folks are my friends” kind of podcasts). The hosts also discuss recent news. In this episode they discuss the Viacom craziness, which I thought was a surprising choice, but I enjoyed that because it does relate to folks who enjoy genre TV as much of it is on cable. They also geek out about Voyager (again, not quite what I expected, but really cool).
After they discuss their personal lives and the news, they go into what they’ve been watching. I love shows like this because, again, it feels like I and my friends sitting around talking about the TV shows we love. I think my one criticism is that this show would benefit from timestamped show notes so I would know when to skip certain parts of shows I’m not watching yet or am behind on.
All in all I give it a real thumbs up for some great geeky information, news and that roundtable feel.
Join Tabz and Melanie as they discuss the episode “Bushwacked” from Firefly, find out Melanie’s thoughts about River, predictions of what’s to come, and whose afraid of Reavers?
Send your own feedback for “Bushwhacked” to betweenthelinesstudios@gmail.com.
Theme song: “Gotta Fly” by Marian Call
Intro/Credits: Dan Putnam (Mal from Firefly Between the Lines)
Next episode: “Bushwhacked” with fans of Firefly (i.e. people who have seen the series already).
Matchbox Twenty has returned with their official music video for their first single (“She’s So Mean”) from their album “NORTH” (out Sept 4, 2012). The video, directed by Rich Lee (Eminem, Norah Jones, will.i.am) is a fun, deceptively simple video that really highlights the song and engages the band members as the “mean” girl trashes their performance. It’s great to hear Matchbox Twenty back and the vocals and music is just pure pop crack.
Make sure you catch Rob Thomas on The Voice as he mentors Cee Lo’s team. The Voice returns Sept 10th on NBC (check your local listings).
Matchbox Twenty is also headling the iTunes Festival in London. They will perform at Camden’s famed Roundhouse on September 19th.
Join Tabz, Kim, Heidi and Dan as they discuss Season 1 Episode 13, Game, Set… Muuurder?
Listen as they discuss fingernail decoration, stepping on pins, and track suits.
Who hasn’t felt like Charlie Brown at sometime in their life? Jared Evan’s single, “Charlie Brown,” is perfectly brought to life with clips from Charlie Brown movies and features a boy and Jared dressed in the trademark yellow shirt with a black squiggly line. Of course, it’s a bit more hip hop than cartoon as Jade and his cohort smoke and drink.
Did I mention I was a huge Sherlock Holmes fan? HUGE Holmes nerd (I still can’t call him by his first name, it seems wrong). Ever since my dad bought me my first large red leather edition of “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,” I’ve been hooked.
Since the beginning of my love of Sherlock Holmes I’ve been very interested into the scholarly work behind the fandom. I’ve heard every theory and read many papers on the various interpretations behind Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson’s relationship. I’m pretty much a hardcore purist in many ways. I believe that Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are the purist form of friendship that one can find in fictional characters.
When I heard that CBS was doing a version of the British “Sherlock” (which I love), I was interested. When I heard they were making Watson a woman, I was concerned. When I saw some the trailers I was mildly worried.
So when I found out that they were going to be showing the pilot at ComicCon I tried to enter with a optimistic mind. After all, I had been wary of “Sherlock” itself. It was hard to picture Sherlock Holmes removed from Victoria England, but it worked for “Sherlock,” so maybe I was being too quick to judge. Perhaps the other elements of the show would be fantastic.
Perhaps.
While I wasn’t blown away by the pilot, I wasn’t entirely turned off either. The acting was amazing thanks to Lucy Liu (Watson) and Jonny Lee Miller (Holmes). The real credit goes to Jonny Lee Miller who makes an intense Holmes that is different from Benedict Cumberbatch, but still rings true to the character. Lucy Liu is a good foil for his character, providing quiet strength to every scene she’s in, but a bit of humor as well (which is sadly very needing).
Another shining point was the music, but that may be changed before the episode airs this fall, but hopefully not by much. The music choices really had a good balance of tradition and modern and added a lot to the series.
Sadly, the show fails when it comes to writing. There’s way too much talking heads and very little action. The show removed some of the visual elements that had really saved “Sherlock” and instead Miller is forced to drone (on… and on…) for a majority of the episode. This can be brutal for even non-Holmesians who are forced to just hear someone say how clever they are rather than see it for themselves.
As a fan, I was a bit disappointed on several fronts. The show also plays up Sherlock Holmes’ drug addiction (which is a major story line in the TV show, but never that big of a factor in the original stories). Very little else came from the source material other than the surprising choice to have Holmes keep bees (which, in the original stories, he does upon retiring). Another disappointment? Sherlock has sex (not because he enjoys it apparently, but because it’s “necessary,” which makes my skin crawl).
I do hope the show picks up the action and emulates some of the things that have made Sherlock so wonderful. Otherwise, it’s just a show about a crazy person who talks a lot and his female companion…
If you know me, you know that Despicable Me is one of my new favorite movies. The minions are these adorable alienish characters that help the main character, Gru. In this fun video the minions run all over Universal Studios and take over various parts of the park in celebration of Universal Orlando Resort’s brand new ride, Despicable Me Minion Mayhem which opens July 2nd.
(On set, they made this look like an airport… taken with Tabz’ cellphone)
Join Lisa, Tabz and evil GPS as they DON’T get lost coming home from being extras for the filming of EMIT. Recorded June 24th, 2012 (AT 4AM!!). Also, Tabz was wrong and the principle actors were not actually related.
