Nell Flanders turns into Al Capone. Yo, Mr White... (Breaking Bad review)

Despite my post of 24 April 2011, I now need to update my top-fav-TV-series-ever chart. At number 1, knocking off the X-files, is Breaking Bad, the show created by writer/producer Vince Gilligan who once actually worked on the X-Files. For Chris Carter's show he wrote one of my favourite episodes, "Drive", which in fact starred Bryan Cranston, here as the guy who breaks bad indeed.

My dad always said there is no worse bad guy than a good guy who turns bad. So true.

So what's Breaking Bad all about?
[spoiler alert]
It's about Walter White, husband, father, high school chemistry teacher (but once Nobel prize team researcher -- so a kick ass achiever who settled for less, much less), stubborn, proud, depressed, middle aged guy. Depression has been Walter's second skin for some time, so much so that maybe he doesn't even know it himself. Or does he? Or does he care? But bottling up isn't healthy, we all know that, all he needs is a reason to explode. And that reason is soon served when he discovers on his 50th birthday he has terminal lung cancer. So Walter's beige clothes and beige car, his beige job and beige reason for living suddenly explode into a variety of colours and a full blown mid-life crisis, which actually feels like real living, for once. He's pressed for time, he needs to make cash quickly in order to leave something for his family before he checks out. So he teams up with Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), a small time meth dealer and Walt's ex high school student. Together they make an explosive duo. They cook meth, they push it, they make cash. Then it escalates. A lot. And fairly quickly. They have to kill, cook, sell, cook some more, steal, borrow, lie, kill again, live and let die, cheat, sell some more, cook large, cook blue, and in the process they have to be really close, but get on they do and they don't. Love and hate mix together in a highly volatile recipe, maybe with a touch of Stockholm syndrome thrown into the mix (well, just a touch, neither holds the other captive, if not psychologically), and a dysfunctional father-and-son type of relationship is born.

The 4 series of Breaking Bad so far are a real roller coaster of emotions and events. The blue meth powers the story, like every respectable MacGuffin should do, but really it's about the ride. The ride of a life. Walt's life, as he tries to live more than one at once when he sees the finish line on the horizon. So Walter White and his alter ego Heisenberg, master chef of the blue stuff and urban legend of a kind, destroy everything on their path as they ride into the sunset. But golly is it a spiffing fun ride of destruction or what? And isn't destruction just part of life after all? New things are born from the ashes of others. It's chemistry.

Bryan Cranston is absolutely amazing as Walter White, a role that has won him 3 Emmys in a row (and if you only know him as the goofy dad in Malcolm in the Middle you are in for a big surprise), Aaron Paul as a Sancho Panza to Cranston's Quixote is great too, the two obviously have great chemistry together (I can't put it in any other way, I tried), but the whole cast is simply, hands down, truly awesome. Two of my personal favourites are Bob Odenkirk and Jonathan Banks, a colourful, capable, logorrheic, criminal, lawyer the former and an old sea wolf, dirty PI/hitman the latter. But every one in the cast, in leading roles as well as small parts, is fantastic. The same goes for the quality of writing, directing, photography, music, you name it. I can but imagine the positive environment cast and crew must work in. The show apparently runs on a very tight schedule, from pre to post production, so to do such a remarkable job they must be more than happy to get to work.

If you haven't seen Breaking Bad yet... sorry for you. I have not heard a single bad review of the show yet, so if you heard a lot of hype about it, believe the hype. Yo! (Sorry, couldn't resist).

To sleep or not

The internet is a wondrous thing, and it keeps me up at night. Well, not always, but sometimes it does. Like now. It's 3.04am and I am surfing youtube videos, watching some crazy shiz, weirdo and weirder-o doing weird things. I'm also reading the news, following people on Twitter and deleting emails of adverts that offer me low cost scuba diving lessons and one-hour go karting. I am intrigued by the go-karting and toy with the idea of taking it up, but clearly realise that it's a momentary fantasy to be removed from my mind at this very moment. There. Gone. No go-karts. As for scuba diving... too much effort.
I need to get back into writing. I have been writing sober (like it's a good thing) for a good 3 or 4 months. My short film is still in post-production and the thought of getting into a new short film, or anything else creative, gives me an odd feeling, like I'm cheating on my husband. I'm not even married. That's because artistic projects are like babies that you nurture and care for, that you love unconditionally, even when you know every little fault, every little inherent defect they carry. In Naples they say "ogni scarrafone é bello a mamma sua" (every cockroach is beautiful to his mother), and that is not to say my short film is a cockroach, but even if it was I'd love it like my own child. And I don't have kids either, but you get the gist. I think my short film will look pretty good, and I would like to get on a new project, develop some ideas that have been bouncing around my head for a while, churn out some new, but I feel I can't. Not yet. Not until this short film has seen the light of day. I guess it's sort of physiological here... one can't get pregnant again until the other baby pops out.
Still, I am suffering from a little artistic withdrawal, or it's more like artistic repression, and that's what's keeping me awake. I watch stuff that other people make and think that I need to get a move on, explore ideas, run wild with all the crazy stuff I have inside me.
Fine. I'll go to bed. At least I can achieve something in dreams.

Itsy Bitsy Spider...

I got home and found a huge spider in the bath... he is still there now... how am I gonna get it out? Lure it with flies? Wait until he crawls out by itself, provided he won't slip back down into the bath?

Short film shot

I finally got round to making my short film "Fallen". I have been keeping a blog on the shoot and will carry on updating it until the film is made and goes to competition and festivals. So for info, updates, pics and all that jazz, have a look at the Shooting Blog here.

Supporting new Filmmakers

This is a link to my friend's Nic's new film. He needs support to complete post-production, please have a look and donate what you can. Young filmmakers need all the help they can get, and this short film definitely needs being finished and seen. Thank you all!

Fun and Games

You can make your own.... hands off, this is mine! :)

Game of Thrones (so far... review)

OK, I never read George R R Martin's novels "A Song of Ice and fire" so I can't compare the (amazing!) HBO series Game of Thrones with the source material. But I watched the first four episodes and they are absolutely epic and awesome. The cast is ace, the story will draw you in, costumes, set, all big scale. They hint at a world of legendary beasts and strange creatures lurking outside the boundaries of the civilised realm, which is separated from the wilderness by a massive wall. I am sure we will soon discover the odd and exotic creatures that live on the other side of the wall. 

I am watching the series with fresh eyes, because I know absolutely nothing about the story-line, and for that I am happily losing myself in it. 

All I can say is that it's great and has amazing production value. HBO did not fall short of a making a big blockbuster film, only they serialised it for TV. 

If you love drama, violence, sex, intrigue, fantasy, good actors strutting around in big armours and shiny swords... then this will be right up your street.  

Kitchen Sink Guitar

I love creative people!!! And it sounds fabulous too. After kitchen sink drama, we can expect some kitchen sink soundrack... hurray!

Things that aren't cool are cool because the ones that are cool eventually become uncool

I believe in things that aren't cool.

I simply love them and I embrace uncoolness with all my heart.

One of the things that makes people "cool" is fashion, don't we all know that? But fashion is ephemeral, it's a bubble that floats in the sky just for a moment before bursting. So if you follow fashion and you think you are cool, think again because what makes you cool today,  is going to make you well uncool tomorrow. Remember the 1990's? They weren't all that long ago...

Try to wear that today and think yourself cool. But fashions are swings and roundabouts, sooner or later, maybe 20 years from now, someone will indeed wear one of those jackets with the largest shoulder pads, or the jeans pulled up and the shirt tucked in and think himself the dog's bollocks.

Personally, I prefer those who are considered to be uncool (surely, being myself one). They last. Uncool people are consistent with themselves and their uncoolness, they know where they stand, no one tells them what to wear, what to say, how to say it. They don't give a damn. In fact they wear their uncoolness with pride. Maybe one day, someone will start an uncool fashion trend that's really quite cool.

Meantime, we are plagued by this...

and I cannot wait to see the end of this trend so that all the saggers in the world will rush home to burn the photos in which they are posing with their Calvin Klein (if they are real cool saggers) exposed for the world to see.


I mean... seriously?!


But coolness does not restrict to fashion only. Anything from gadgets, accessories, things to do or see, are all out there waiting to be had, for the real cool people. Anything with the prefix "i-" is cool. Saying "your" instead of "you're" is cool. Cool are acronyms and cool it is to make up words (well, actually, that IS pretty cool if you do it well).

It's also cool to replace your boobs with cereal bowls...

And because I'm starting to sound like my grandmother, who thinks it is cool to wear hair clips to stop hair going into your eyes, I'd better stop here...

My Top 10 fav TV series

I don't know if you think that TV series are cheap entertainment, since they are on the telly and therefore free (I'll come to cable and Sky in a minute, hang on) and also because they are the most popular form of entertainment. Popular televised entertainment of course embraces anything from soap operas to reality TV (a form of entertainment I pretty much loathe), GMTV, talk shows, music videos, shopping channels, you name them. But it's mostly TV series that stick with us in the years, that define us, set trends, fashion, a way of thinking, and in some cases affect its big brother, the movies, too. I don't think TV series are cheap entertainment other than because they are fairly readily available to us, if not on telly itself, now through streaming or on DVD. If you pay for Sky or other digital boxes that bring home entertainment directly to your own tube, then you must be really spoiled for choice. I barely manage to keep up with what's on regular TV. But if we forget how many ways to enjoy TV  there are today, and if we take a step back to, say, 10 or 15 years ago, we can see what a different animal was TV back then. I'm not a romantic in the sense that I think TV was better then, I actually hated having to run home to watch something, and even in the age of VHS, when you could set the timer to record your favourite shows, it still wasn't all that great, but creativity ran high, didn't it? As far as broadcasting goes, of course I prefer how things are today, watch when you can, while you can, if you have a computer at hand it's there, on iPlayer or on DVD or your USB stick or on iTunes or the various pirate streaming channels on the web. Creativity is still running strong, thanks to TV's many outlets. New technologies allow a higher volume of request, and also of outlet. Amen!

The way we watch TV has always affected the way TV-makers made shows. In the 70's and part of the 80's producers simply ruled. If they had a production company they'd make the show and sell it to the broadcasting companies or networks. I am explicitly referring to the USA as for example in England channels like the BBC had its own way of doing things, commissioning series that they'd broadcast to the public, all hands on from beginning to end, pretty much. When in the USA, which we must say was the biggest producer of TV shows, networks became allowed to make their own shows, a lot of the then big production companies that made the series, sold what they had and went into retirement. And from that moment on the networks took over, to this very day.

So this is my list of 10 favourite TV series EVER. It's not an easy chart to do, but hopefully it'll give me an idea of what I consider top notch TV and maybe it'll show if the best was then or now...

1 - Millennium
                                         

2 - X-files

3 - Twilight Zone

4 - Deadwood

5 - The West Wing

6 - Life on Mars (and Ashes to Ashes)

7 - Mork and Mindy

8 - The Greatest American Hero

9 - Twin Peaks

10 - The Streets of San Francisco

   

Script rewrites... old ideas... new ideas... just ideas

I have been rewriting a script that I had originally written when I was about 18 or 19. The story is still very good, IMHO, but the original script was so bad, and I mean SO bad, that I gave it up altogether back then. I sort of picked it up again some 10 years ago (stop counting to see how old I am), but gave it up again. My patience for rewrites has never been that strong. But now, armed with improved skills, new ideas, and a lot of good will, I took it up again. The story is still worth fighting for. There are some crazy elements, an ancient Teddy bear, Cupid like you have never seen him before, a "star crossed" couple, London in the background. The rewriting good will has taken me to page 37, and I am starting to struggle again. The problem with rewrites, especially with old material, is that part of the old drafts are sort of embedded in your head. I am being rather ruthless deleting scenes, changing direction, killing my darlings, as you are told you must do... But after a while the élan you had when you started winds down quite a bit. I am not dragging my scriptwriting feet just yet, but I wonder whether I should leave the script alone for a few days and let the story brew in my head before continuing the rewrites. Dee dum, dee dum... No I shall continue. It's a mission. I must complete this script. The life of a Teddy bear depends on it, and so does Cupid's reputation.

Brevity is not the only soul of wit

Sorry Polonius and Shakespeare. Yes, being brief implies a certain ability to self edit and go to the point of something, acumen is not a widespread quality, but one can top brevity and wit with long-worded posts to mock and wind up the recipients, with enough wit to light a cruise ship around the world. (Try to say that all in one breath!)

I just spent... er... quite some time reading David Thorne's website, wasting precious time of my work-at-home day. His emails are not sharp, brief and witty, but they are sharp, intentionally prolix and witty. A gem of the www which I hope you'll enjoy as much as I did, and that I hope will make you waste enough precious time of your day as it did for me.

My favourite page must be his son's musing view of the world.

Source Code (review)

Saw Source Code last night followed by a Q&A with director Duncan Jones. It's one of those sci-fi films which relies on the story and storytelling, not on relentless moments of special effects. It does have it's sfx moments of course, but the story's the thing. And a cool one too. If you know me a little you know it's exactly the sort of stories I like.

It has Duncan Jones' signature style, although it isn't as moody, slow paced and dark as Moon (which I simply adore). But there are some scenes where Gyllenhall's character is being briefed (and debriefed) that will put you right back into Moon mood. It draws on a great legacy of sci-fi ideas, the right ones, like those of Quantum Leap and The Twilight Zone, so as far as I'm concerned, big thumbs up there. It's a great movie, story and character driven, the right amount of sfx, it's fun, intriguing, deep, moving, with funny spells. It is so spiffingly up my street I totally recommend it. Go see it!

The AWESOME Button

You know when you come across things that could need improvement and you think, someone should invent something that does so and so? Well, this guy has invented an "awesome button". We are now so facilitated by technology I wonder what the history of literature would have been like if the likes of Byron, Shakespeare, Conan Doyle, you name them, had an instant thesaurus at hand... or some magical, er, technological, writing aid like we do today. Still, this is a fun video and a useful gadget. Of course he makes it look easy, but I haven't got a clue what he's doing, how he's doing it, how it works etc. But I do marvel at it and smile. I'm glad there are people like that out there. Enjoy the video.

The Guv

OK, I'm a good 3 or 4 years behind here, I know, I know. I just got round to watching Life on Mars. You can boo me... but better late then never, hey? I'm totally head over heels for Gene Hunt, OK, I'll join the club. Man, he's got some fab lines. There are a bunch of tribute videos out there, I just picked one.

'nough said :P

Confused or Confucius?

Now that is the question.... Smart Boy!

It's from here... but just in case they erase the web page, here's a print screen.

Old band rehearsals

I used to be in a band called "Angel of Grief", ok, yes, the name is a little sad but it's after this tomb/sculpture in Rome's protestant cemetery by the Pyramid (which is round the corner from my home in Rome). Me and Mauro Tonelli were particularly in love with this sculpture we managed to convince the other two band mates that we had to name the band after it, so it was.

The band's line up is:

Mauro Tonelli, guitar and vocals
Fabio Salati, Bass and vocals
Francesco Fareri, solo guitar
Francesca Silveri (me), drums

Francesco wasn't with us when we rehearsed Paranoid. These videos are about 4 years old by the way...



And since these are rehearsals, it's ok to make mistakes or forget a song... like I do here.



I miss playing big time.

The Green Hornet (review)

Mr Gondry, we think that you are not just a great director, but an amazing artist and we would like you to direct a film with a very bad script and a lame story, what do you say?

vas te faire encule... and pardon my French!

We will give you the chance to make Christoph Waltz, a terrific Oscar winning actor, look puny...

No, no... I could say something else very rude in French. Go away!

Money?

Mmmm. Oui, let me see what I can do. Give me that script...

books presentation (videos in Italian)

The presentations of my books "Poprio come una balena" and "Strane Crisalidi" on 17 and 18 February went very well. Especially on Friday 18, big turn up. Here are the videos... for those of you who understand Italian. If you don't speak any Italian, well... Gabriele Sabatini and Caterina Gramaglia are beautiful and talented actors (who presented with me) to admire anyhow :)

If Queen were a Japanese band...

Another must watch video. I cried, oh I cried!

My favourite youtube video ever!

This is it.

Little force

In a TV panorama where ads not only interrupt your program of choice, but annoy the hell out of you because they are badly written, badly filmed and badly acted, and all this at such a loud volume so they can reach you while you've gone to the loo or to brew some tea. It's often an effort to advertise a product that has nothing to do with the ad you've just seen. So in this silly panorama, sometimes you find an ad that isn't just cute and clever, but it's also worth watching and posting.

books presentation

Well, I know you are all in the UK or on non Italian soil... or Roman for that matter... but I shall be presenting my two little books at the bookshop Flexi, Via Clementina 9, 00184 Rome. The event will start at 7pm sharp.

Should you have friends or family in the area, tell them to come along. It'll be a nice relaxed evening. We'll be listening to two lovely actors who will read out some of my compositions, so I aim it to be a bit like a staged reading.

Here's the e-leaflet I made for the evening.

 

Barry Got Punched

Hear it from the horse's mouth 

it's out!

My book is now officially in the shops, this is the cover. I shall post some links to bookshops that sell it soon.
Chuffed to bits!