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Little G’s Halloween, The Nine
Thursday, October 26th, 2006 at 4:00 PM - by Vern Seward
Well, its closing in on All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day, Halloween, or October 31, depending on your preference. By tradition sweets are handed out to miniature cowgirls, Supermen, Frankenstein Monsters, and fairy princesses by the handful.
If all that sugar isnt enough to keep you or your youngsters bouncing off the walls for the next six months, you might try taking a peek at Little Gs Halloween, a short movie available as a free download from the iTunes Store.
Little Gs Halloween |
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This is a short movie, emphasis on short, so I wont tell you more about the plot, such as it is, but I will say that you may need to spend more quality time with a toothbrush after watching. This little movie is so cutesy sweet I think Im getting a cavity just thinking about it, and I dont mean sweet in a good way.
My biggest complaint is the music, which tinkles and wafts through the movie as if it were a Christmas piece about some forgotten elf that Santa remembers at the last minute.
Swap out Christmas for Halloween and... Oops! Ive given away the plot of Little Gs Halloween.
Ah well, no matter. Its short, cute, and, if you turn down the sound (no words spoken), very watchable and worth the few minutes it take to download.
If youve already overdosed on sweets and you need something exciting to help you burn off that sugar rush you might try The Nine, a pilot for a new series on Wednesday nights this Fall on ABC.
The Nine |
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The first 10 or 12 minutes of the pilot episode does a great job in setting up the situation. The premise is interesting as well: during a botched bank robbery, nine hostages are taken by the bad guys. In the first 10 or so minutes you get a glimpse of the lives these nine people lead before their appointment with fate, each markedly different than the other.
As I watched the pilot, two things kept finding and flicking a raw nerve. The first nerve-flicker deals with the camera work, which is so jerky in many of the transition shots that I just wanted to turn the show off. I know this quick-zooming, then pull back and shaky panning is popular these days, but why does everyone feel the need to do it? I guess its suppose to add excitement or edginess to the show, but it wound up just being annoying. Fortunately, its not annoying enough to dismiss the whole show.
The second nerve-flicker is the bank manager. Not that hes badly played by Chi McBride of Undercover Brother fame (he was The Chief), Mr. McBride does a fine job on the show. The problem is that he is the bank manager, and he is Black, with a daughter who acts like an overly tanned Buffy. I know there are Black bank managers, and Black Buffy wannabes, but, in this show, which takes place in a very nice bank in what looks like Beverly Hills, Mr. McBrides character seems out of place. It seems that the producers are over compensating for the lack of ethnic faces in the show by putting the two in high positions. There are also two Hispanic tellers in the show, but their characters are about what you might expect in real life.
Am I being overly sensitive? Nah. As I said, Mr. McBride does a fine job in the pilot, and brings warmth and believability to an otherwise unbelievable character.
It would be better if the show got people beyond this stretch of unreality by addressing it openly instead of leaving it up to the audience to make heads or tails of it. For instance; theres a scene where a distraught woman is complaining about some contents of her safety deposit box that are missing. When the bank manager appears to address the issue she doesnt miss a beat, as if Black bank managers in Beverly Hills (or where ever) are a dime a dozen.
As I said, if the bank manager is to be Black then at least acknowledge it and let the audience get past it. As it is, at least to me, the bank manager and his daughter stand out like a raisins in a bowl of milk.
The Nine pilot is still definitely worth your time, so download it and enjoy.
Happy Halloween.
Other Treats for free at the iTunes Store:
Title | Network/ Album |
Free Episode/Artist | Genre | Description (According to iTunes) |
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The Tonight Show with Jay Leno | NBC | "Commercial Parodies" | Comedy | "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" features a nightly monologue and newsmaking guests, as well as ongoing comedy segments including Headlines, Pumpcast News, Phony Photo Booth, Jaywalking and Celebrity Jeopardy. The result is a unique look at todays pop culture. Check out these hysterical Tonight Show commercial spoofs you wont get anywhere else. Includes Dick Cheney Action Figure, Ambien, Bitch Slap n Kick Naomi, and The Killer Kamikaze Burger commercials! |
Skyland | Nicktoons Network | "Dawn of a New day, Pt 1" |
Animated Drama | Welcome to Babylonia, home of Lena, Mahad and their mother Mila. A peaceful haven in the tyranny of the Sphere, the family lives happily, but with a secret. Seijins (humans with telekinetic powers) are the most wanted people in Skyland, something Mila knows only too well, as both she and her daughter belong to this select group.
The children are unaware of their Mothers secret until an incident at their home exposes both Mila and Lena and they are forced to flee. Knowing the Sphere will hunt them down; Mila sends her children away and stays behind to be captured by the Sphere. Lena and Mahad are sent away in a stolen enemy ship when suddenly they find themselves confronted by the Pirates. The children are taken in by the band of pirates and learn even more of their parents past. They are escorted to their fathers last known secret headquarters only to find his famous Hyperion ship seemingly waiting for Mahad to inherit. Unfortunately, they are intercepted by the evil Diwan, minion to Sphere leader Oslo and they are forced to battle their way out They rejoin the pirates who invite the children to live in Puerto Angel where they will continue the fight to find their mother and defeat the evil Sphere. And so, the adventure begins. |
Breaking Bonaduce Season 2 |
VH1 | "El Gringo Loco" | Reality | At the onset of Season Two, we see the impact that Breaking Bonaduce has had on Danny and Gretchens lives. In fact, the show is successful enough to get international distribution. So in order to keep the momentum moving forward, Danny agrees to help promote the show in Mexico City.
While there, he pays a visit to a dubbing house where Breaking Bonaduce is being translated into Spanish. But because Danny has never seen the show before, after viewing an episode from last season in which Gretchen has strippers at her birthday party, Danny goes into a tailspin. |
Apocalypso | Mew | Apocalypso | Rock | In a music industry where things are too easily compartmentalized, the Danish quartet Mew is able to avoid classification. |
Always Something Better (Trentmoller Remix) |
Trentmoller | Trentmoller | Rock | Copenhagens Trentmoller creates dark, minimal house music that is as heavy on thought as it is on creating the bone-shaking polyehythms. |
Vern Seward is a writer who currently lives in Orlando, FL. He’s been a Mac fan since Atari Computers folded, but has worked with computers of nearly every type for 20 years.
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