PCHH Jan 27th 2012 : Oscar Nominations and Liking What's Popular

PCHH
Oscar Nominations and Liking What's Popular
Jan 27th 2012


First Segment : Oscar Nominations

The panelists discuss the nominations for the Oscars.  They discuss the 9 nominees for Best Picture.   Glen is waiting not so eagerly for the Billy Crystal monologue and the various salutes to the movies.  Linda's favourite nomination is Melissa McCarthy as supporting actress for Bridesmaids.  Stephen is thrilled with the nomination for Kung-Fu Panda 2.  Linda is disappointed that Bill Cunningham New York is not nominated as documentary, and neither are the 23 movies she saw at SilverDocs.


Second Segment : Liking What's Popular

Contrarians be damned or Out on a very sturdy limb : liking popular things for your very own reasons.  Glen is a fan of Attack The Block, because the movie trusts its audience to hold conflicting opinions. Glen mentions his disdain for Super 8, against the opinions of Stephen and Trey.  Trey discusses his appreciation of Tilda Swinton and her performance in the movie Edward the Second.  Glen mentions her serie of interviews with Roger Ebert.  Stephen makes a case for Rob Reiner as director of many great likable movies (before he went off the rails). Linda wants to talk about The X Files and the relationship between Scully and Mulder as platonic soulmates.


Final Segment : What's making us happy this week?

Glen appreciates the video Watching Downton, which was posted on the PCHH Facebook page.  Trey is happy about the Oscar nomination for "Man or muppet" and its co-writer Bret McKenzie from Flight of the Conchords, and the first nomination for Gary Oldman.  He also loves the Tumblr Capital Couture about the fashions from the movie The Hunger Games.  Stephen has seen and enjoyed Bill Cunningham New York and The Artist.  Stephen also thanks Linda for allowing him to meet his favourite Survivor : Yul Kwon from Survivor : Cook Islands.  Linda loves Joe Reid's tumblr "This Had Oscar Buzz".


Notable mentions

• "War Horse.  A horse.  Made for war." Glen
• "Oscar's eternal war : snobbery vs self-congratulation."  Stephen
• Trey likes Stephen not as the court jester of NPR but because his hair smells so good.  Stephen is uncomfortable in 7 different ways.  Later, Linda almost asks Stephen how sturdy is his limb.

PCHH Jan 20th 2012 : The Golden Globes and Twitter criticism

PCHH
The Golden Globes and Twitter Criticism
Jan 20th 2012


First segment : The Golden Globes

The panelists discuss the host Ricky Gervais, who they found not as offensive and subversive as he pretends to be.  Trey mentions an outtake from Sesame Street where Gervais and Elmo get the giggles and how he prefers that side of Gervais.  Trey and Linda debate the merits of Angelina Jolie's dress, and Stephen is pleased with Matt Leblanc's win for Episodes.  They discuss the differences between the vibe of the Oscars and the Globes, and The Artist as front runner for the Oscars.


Second segment : Twitter criticism

The discussion starts with a discussion of Spin Magazine moving their music reviews to the twitter feed @spinreviews.  They discuss the work of critics and the role of reviews in a cultural context and as guides for buyers.  Glen appreciates the difficulty of writing music criticism and Stephen discusses his process.  Stephen summarizes the process of critical work as Curate, Consume, Cull, Contextualize and Care.  Linda mentions her presence on a panel at SXSW about Twitter and criticism.


Final Segment : What's making us happy this week?

Glen is sincerely happy about Marc Maron's WTF podcast with Todd Glass, where Glass does his coming out.

Trey is conflicted about the Michelle Williams interview in GQ, a fine piece of writing with a complicated subject.  He also is thrilled with the return of Cougartown and Sherlock, and the Criterion Collection Blu-ray of Belle de Jour, a great movie with Catherine Deneuve

Stephen loves the movie The Princess Bride and watched it with his kids for the first time.

Linda's favorite moment of the Golden Globes was the Tina Fey and Amy Poehler table and the photobomb by Fey.  She's also happy with the cancellation of Work It, which she not-so-lovingly reviewed here.  She also enjoys the new All-Stars season of Project Runway on Lifetime.


Notable mentions

• The show starts with an attempt by Glen to differentiate his voice from Trey's.  It does not work.
• Stephen Thompson confirms that he is not a writer for Sherlock, nor the namesake albino model.

PCHH Jan 13th 2012 : Is PBS the next HBO? Plus Tomorrow's rediscoveries

PCHH Jan 13th 2012 : Is PBS the next HBO? Plus Tomorrow's rediscoveries

PCHH #
Is PBS the next HBO? Plus Tomorrow's rediscoveries
Jan 13th 2012

First Segment : Tomorrow's rediscoveries

Stephen mentions Robert Forster and an A.V. Club interview he loves with him.  He wonders "Where is Jackée?" and is rooting for her.

Trey's first rediscovery is William Shatner and his solo Broadway show.  His second is Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics, who is part if the songwrinting team of the Ghost musical.

Glen's rediscovery is the movie Top Secret.  Jim Carter from Downton Abbey is in it as Déjà Vu.

Linda mentions the ABC show "Don't trust the B. in apt 23" and the actor James Van Der Beek, who was on Dawson's creek and did the great Vandermemes.


Second Segment : Is PBS the next HBO?

The conversation starts with a discussion of the new seasons of Downton Abbey and Sherlock and the great ratings PBS is getting for it.  The panelists discuss the distinction of acquisition of shows versus production of shows and the influence of social media.  They mention the @pattonoswalt live-tweeting of Downton Abbey.


Final Segment : What's making us happy this week?

Glen rediscovered the poet James Tate and his poem The list of famous hats.  He recommends the book

Trey is made happy by crossword master Will Shortz and his email discussion about the word illin.

Stephen loves the new Nada Surf record The stars are indifferent to astronomy

Linda mentions a review on website The Hairpin for the movie Warhorse by a woman who loves horses.


Notable moments

• Linda mentions her voice is a little "froggy" because of a lung fungus or consumption.
• Trey mentions "Here comes the clay" as a possible song on Ghost.  Glen invents "You in danger, girl you know it's true".

PCHH Jan 6th 2012 : Resolutions for an overloaded 2012

PCHH Episode #
Resolutions for an overloaded 2012
Jan 6th 2012


First segment : Pop culture resolutions for 2012


Glen :

• His resolution is to finish his book, Superman : The unauthorized biography.
• He mentions an app, Freedom, to block your computer from accessing the internet.

Trey :

• His resolution is that in his pop culture diet, he wants more solid nutrition and less junk food.
• He mentions wanting to watch Breaking Bad, The Good Wife and the Rufus Wainwright Judy Garland special DVD.

Stephen :

• His resolution is to do more : listen to more music, see more tv and movies. 

Linda :

• Her resolution is to see 100 movies from 2012 and to finish The Marriage Plot, a book she dislikes.

Second Segment : Pop Culture Overload

• The idea for this segment comes from Andy Selsberg, author of Dear Old Love and AV Club writer.  How do you handle pop culture that demands a good amount of your time?
• Mike Katzif mentions Prince, Ryan Adams and Robert Pollard of Guided by Voices (review here).  Stephen mentions Bradford Cox (Deer hunter and Atlas sound) and Ryan Adams.
• Glen mentions Guy Maddin (Canadian filmmaker) and Daniel Clowes (comic book creator).
• Linda mentions Stephen King and his new book.  She talks about recognizing the rhythms and ticks of certain authors.
• Trey mentions the Stephen Sondheim memoirs.   He talks about getting away from certain authors for a while to discover them anew. 

Final Segment : What's making us happy this week

Stephen mentions The Amazing Race Australia, which he is watching instead of Parks and Rec.  He mentions The Descendants and the Rose Bowl lost by Wisconsin

Trey mentions watching The Umbrellas of Cherbourg with Catherine Deneuve, a gorgeous movie.  Linda is surprised that Stephen knows and loves this movie.

Glen mentions the parody twitter account @criticmichiko (account now closed).  

Linda mentions watching her screeners for the second season of Downton Abbey and enjoyed it (prim women in hats!).

Notable moments

• Stephen mentions his passive-aggressive attempts to get Linda to say twenty-twelve instead of two-thousand-twelve.