Monday 5 May 2008

Tracking Pop Culture References about the Web

As many readers are aware, I’m one of the old ladies of the Web, having started in 1993 back when the Web was text-based, accessible and not at all a part of culture much less popular culture.

It surely has been a fascinating experience watching the Web, and the online world in general, infiltrate society in different forms. From the first time I saw a URL advertised on television (1996, I believe, for Subway Sandwiches); read about Web sites in books (”Mary went downstairs to Google for an answer to her lonely heart”); and more recently, references to Twitter on shows such as CSI, I have been in awe of how the Web has become a part of the fabric of our lives.

Sitting here last night watching an episode of 3rd Rock from the Sun from 1999, I was tickled beyond pink to hear the character of Dick Solomon quip “I was going to order it off the Internet until I realized there was no such thing as Amazon Dot Crap.” It got me thinking that tracking such references to the Web and Internet in popular culture could be a really fun and revealing adventure.

Got a favorite reference about the online world from a film, book, lyric or other relevant media? Share below!

Filed under:   music, pop culture, film, society, molly asks you, community
Posted by:   Molly | 12:29 pm | Comments (19)

Tuesday 6 December 2005

Name The Movie

Tell me where the following quote is from. Tell me the film, the character, the awesome soundtrack, the context.

“How much for the masterpiece?”

Dare ya.

Filed under:   humor, music, pop culture, film
Posted by:   Molly | 3:59 am | Comments (36)

Thursday 11 August 2005

Found Classic: Nurse Betty

YOU HEAR ABOUT A MOVIE when it comes out. It clocks on your radar because someone gives it a thumbs up, but years pass before you actually see it. Occasionally, this ends up in you watching the film thinking how on earth did I miss this?

Nurse Betty is one of those gems that I somehow missed. I remember my youngest brother telling me it was excellent - he’d seen it on screen back in 2000 when it was first released. Usually, if Linus tells me a movie is good, I find it good as well - we share a taste for very dark humor.

The film is in fact excellent, due in no small part to the script. A script can be brilliant and fall flat without the talent to carry it out, but in this case, the acting does not disappoint. With memorable performances from the likes of Morgan Freeman, Chris Rock, Renée Zellweger, Greg Kinnear, Tia Texada and Crispin Glover, the film is both funny and very, very disturbing.

The plot involves Zellweger’s character, fresh-faced Betty Sizemore, finding herself through a series of bizarre incidents. A small-town waitress married to a sleazy car-slash-drug dealer, Betty dreams of becoming a nurse and lives out her fantasy daily through her favorite soap opera, “A Reason to Love.”

When her husband is brutally murdered by Freeman and Rock, who are looking for drugs that Betty’s husband has hidden in one of his autos, Betty witnesses the killing from another room. In her shock, she sublimates her husband’s gruesome death and goes on an adventure to find the real man of her dreams: The fictitious Dr. Ravell (Kinnear).

As the story unfolds, the blurring of what is real and what is fantastical increases. The plot has many rich twists, and the acting is so top-notch that it comes off without a hitch.

Perhaps the most disturbing character in the story is played by Rock. Some reviews I’ve read suggest that he didn’t carry the part because it was so brutal, and he’s known for his comedy. I, however, have to disagree and say he not only carried the role, but did so in such a way that added a level of extra creepiness. Of course, with Crispin Glover on the set, that probably wasn’t an easy thing to do, because Glover doesn’t have to be in character to be creepy.

Nurse Betty: A found classic. If you’ve never seen it and enjoy dark comedy, I highly recommend it. It’s not for the kids though, there’s explicit violence, but it is a memorable and worthy film.

Find any classics lately?

Filed under:   pop culture, film
Posted by:   Molly | 8:43 am | Comments (33)

Sunday 6 March 2005

pop film quiz

First three to successfully post to comments for this message with the name of the film, characters, actors, and general scene description will win a “Zen of CSS” book.

“She was a dancer, I was a bouncer.”

GO!

Filed under:   humor, pop culture, film
Posted by:   Molly | 10:23 pm | Comments (27)

Thursday 23 December 2004

pop culture moment

OH YOU’RE INCREDIBLE, and I’m getting lost in movies and TV shows.

God bless torrents.

The Incredibles

For the first half I was blown away into sublime happiness. I lost it toward the end in which I think the “Disney” administration displayed its ugly influence.

21 Grams

I watched it again only because I wanted to revisit the career of Melissa Leo who is hot in this film, not to mention brilliant in her years on Homicide, Life on the Streets (see next) and for whom I profess an unrequited love.

Homicide: Life on the Street

Homicide broke all the rules: Hand-held cameras, real characters with complex lives. The show went on to influence and inspire a host of contemporary cop and suspense shows: Law and Order, Oz, you name it - nothing was like the first two years of this show in terms of gritty commercial US TV.

Memorable, get it, watch it.

Filed under:   humor, flashback, film
Posted by:   Molly | 6:44 pm | Comments (30)