“There have been times when I’ve had lightning strikes so close I can feel the heat on my face, [times] I’ve been hit by massive hail, [times] I’ve been caught inside a tornado […],” professional storm chaser George Kourounis said. While Kourounis was studying to become a sound engineer, he[Read More…]
Tag: tv
Netflix announces new production of “A Series of Unfortunate Events”
Netflix recently released a preview for a new upcoming series: A Series of Unfortunate Events. Now that it’s confirmed as part of the Netflix family, the surprisingy mature children’s series seems to be coming back into the public eye. The original book series, written by Daniel Handler under the pseudonym[Read More…]
Pop Rhetoric: The small screen reaches a wider audience
Television has long been regarded as film’s more annoying, less accomplished younger sibling. Sound bytes like 'made for T.V. movie' and 'multi-camera sitcom' continue to haunt audiences’ psyches, evoking nightmares of outrageous laugh tracks and over-dramatic soap opera acting. For decades, critics considered film the real art form—a medium that actually allowed[Read More…]
Stranger Things and The Americans: The Cold War on TV
With its 1980s pop culture nostalgia, Netflix’s Stranger Things feels comforting and familiar, yet unlike anything else on television. Stranger Things is based on a simple premise: One night after riding his bike home a kid named Will Byers goes missing from Hawkins, Indiana, a small midwestern town. Strongly influenced[Read More…]
Has “How to Get Away with Murder” lost its pizazz?
How to Get Away with Murder just finished its second season, and so far it is not at all impressive. What started as a ground-breaking and provocative television series is rapidly becoming mundane and vapid. This was expected, however, seeing as Shonda Rhimes is the executive producer of the show.[Read More…]
The case for Canadian content on Netflix
Netflix’s recent decision to crack down on the use of virtual private networks (VPN)—location maskers that permit international subscribers to access content reserved for other countries—should ultimately result in greater viewership of Canadian productions. While VPN providers—including Faraz Ali, the digital marketing manager for PureVPN—have expressed their skepticism towards Netflix’s[Read More…]
Pop Rhetoric: How TV can improve in 2016
2015 was arguably the best year for television in the history of the medium, both in terms of quality and quantity. Last summer, John Landgraf, president of FX network and de facto ‘mayor of television,’ stated that people have reached an age of “peak TV in America,” pointing out that[Read More…]
Pop Dialectic: Modern Family
Modern Family just finished its long run of consecutive victories at the Emmy Awards earlier this year. Two writers take a look at the show and its legacy. Click each perspective to read more Modern Family was always stuck in the past Arielle Garmaise When Modern Family premiered in 2009,[Read More…]
Off the Board: 21st Century Fox/National Geographic partnership signals decline in accessible education
On Sept. 9, 21st Century Fox struck a 725 million-dollar deal with National Geographic, thus ending the 127-year-old magazine’s era of non-profit existence. Under this deal, Fox will own 73 per cent of the new joint media venture—National Geographic Partners—making Fox the majority stakeholders. Only 27 per cent will remain under[Read More…]
Gotham: When Batman’s growl had a pre-pubescent pitch
Why do people love prequels? Is it the allure of watching the characters you know so well develop psychologically? Perhaps it’s because everyone is younger and—usually—better looking? In the case of Gotham, maybe it’s both. Gotham, which premiered on Sept. 22, was created by Bruno Heller and begins with the[Read More…]