Joss Whedon has done it again. From the creator of Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Serenity comes this amazing new show, Dollhouse. Its about this organization where volunteers have their minds wiped clean, and depending on the client's needs, they have differnt personas imprinted on them to suit different assignments. It could vary from being the perfect lover, to an assassination job, to being a bodyguard or a safe-cracker, all depending on what the client needs.
The 'Actives', as they're called in the show, are people who have volunteered five years of their lives to the Dollhouse, in exchange for a gigantic paycheck and solutions to all their problems. People who feel that they have no where else to go come to Dollhouse and give up those years, while not truly knowing what they're signing up for.
The Dollhouse is a very serene and tranquil haven for the Actives. It is designed to be extremely soothing, to allow the Actives to have zero conflict and shock when they're in the mind-wiped state. They even have yoga sessions on the patio upon the pond. And the best part is, they all shower together, male and female, cause in their blank state they supposedly have no desires or emotions. An erection or two subsequently proved them wrong.
It's a very dark show and it explores issues on moral ethics and identity. Can who a person is be changed just because she doesn't have memories of who she was? Or is character and personality something that goes deeper than surface consciousness? The beautiful and terrifying part about this is that the Actives truly believe they're the person they've been imprinted with, which makes them completely honest and real. This raises the question of how real they are, when they have been programmed to be real.
This is the cover I designed for my Christmas songs! I love the pun of peace and piece. Cause you know, we should spread peace during Christmas, and all that crap.
"Eight years ago, maybe I met that person kind of in a very platonic way and yet they're still using my name in songs in order to boost their career which I don't think is working so my thing is if I write a song and it's called "Why are you obsessed with me?" and people are seeing that person in the song? That's not my problem... Truly it's just obsession. I mean, I don't even know who we're talking about. I'm just using a hypothetical example of just like anybody who would write a song about somebody and try to say nasty, disgusting things about them eight years later when they're married. I was like I don't think so."
First up, we have one left hand side a dress inspired by the whole rugged mountaineer fur jacket look, with the jacket ending midriff, with baggy high-waist pants. Its a very mannish look. And in contrast with that, we have the princessy look on the right. I came up with that actually as a joke, to ask Jaystine to put that extremely girly dress on for prom.
Next, we have the peasant styles. I'm quite entranced by the looks of the commoners and workers of the renaissance period, and did these two sketches to reflect the 'styles' of that time. The left side one is more masculine, with the Aladdin styled pants and vest, and feathers, while the right side one has more feminine milk-maid look. It reminds me of the good ole' days of simpler times, where the biggest problem they had to deal with was 'who milks the cow today'.
Here on the bottom left we have sort of a cargo pants / jumpsuit hybrid. It starts off as a jacket-styled top, but then as it progresses down it becomes cargo pants. It began as two seperate pieces but I decided to just combine them and make it more ridiculous. The one on the right is inspired by Russian military coats, infused with the russian doll sleeves.
Like an amateur, unwary I opened up and let you in Shot me down, once and again Efficient as a deadly assassin Mesmerizing me, challenged boundaries Showed me two of a kind beats a straight Deluded in thinking I was in control Trump was in your hand instead
Promised me king But I was a pawn A piece in your egomaniac game Plaything to be forgotten by dawn My unguarded naive past Caught off guard by your childish behavior Wounds became my armor Funnily enough, your actions were my savior
Bring it on, I'm ready now That endless onslaught of abuse But it won't affect me anymore Haven't you deduced? Betray me, why won't you? Try again to rob me blind But you can't suceed, sorry honey I won't allow it, not this time
Act 1 Scene 1 [The beach, Greece]
Enter Lucas, Yew Siang and Kin Onn
Lucas: Roses are red
Violets are blue
I wanna marry you
And screw you too
YS: Oh, Lucas, the loving gaze in your eye
Brightens my day like the sun in my sky
KO: Rawr! Rugby!
YS: Be quiet, foolish one
Will you only shut up when the day is done?
Lucas: Come, my dear one,
We’ll escape into the sunset
Get married by the seaside
And at night we’ll have great sex
KO: Yes!
YS: Yes!
Lucas: Yew Siang, I was talking to,
Kin Onn, I’ll never love you
An affair or two has been fun
But you’re impotent, and will never give me sons
Come, my darling Yew Siang!
[Exeunt]
Act 1 Scene 2 [In a manger full of hay (like where Jesus was born)]
Enter Lucas, Yew Siang, Kin Onn and Doctor Lawrence
YS: Never once in my sexual escapades
Have I felt a pain so great
Three babies pushing out of my private place
Why won’t they give me a fucking break
Lawrence: They’re not coming out. How can this be happen?
Lucas: Push harder, you useless bitch!
This birth must go off without a hitch
KO: Ooh! The blood scares me!
Lucas: Shut up, you brainless head!
Will you only be quiet when you’re dead?
-Lucas shoots Kin Onn in the head. Kin Onn dies. -
YS: Take me now, dark Hades of hell
Just bless my children with utmost wealth
-Yew Siang dies-
Lawrence: Come on, guys. Time for Caesarean! Ripped untimely from the womb!
-Lawrence saws off Yew Siang’s leg-
Lucas: As useless as a doctor as a math teacher, I see
Stop all these nonsense, leave my wife be
-Lucas shoots Lawrence. Lawrence dies-
Lucas: My dear children, you’re finally here
At last I can go drink my ice cold beer.
[Exeunt]
Act 1 Scene 3 [A marketplace in Italy]
Enter Lucas, with three young children, Yiling, Junzhi and James
YL: The busy market
Stink of the fish is so strong
I want to go home
JZ: Fret not, sister
Here’s a flower, it’ll be better
Lucas: Look, children; cotton candy!
Have some and all’ be dandy
Shopkeeper: Come, children, cotton candy!
Have some and all’ be dandy!
Lucas: I just said that, you goon
Think of something more original
Or I’ll hit you with a spoon
James: Pray calm down, old man
Buy the candy or I’ll bite your hand
Lucas: Such utter insolence!
On you three bastards I’ll never spend a pence!
JZ: Beer money you spend on
But your children you don’t dote on
YL: I do not like you
A tyrannical father
I want to kill you
Shopkeeper: Here, brave children!
Use my knife
End this old bastard’s
Meaningless life
YL: Hand the knife to me
I have been dreaming of this
Despicable fool!
James: Sister, give it to me
This is no sight for a lady to see
-Yiling stabs Lucas-
Lucas: Young fry of treachery!
She has killed me, shopkeeper
-Lucas dies-
Shopkeeper: Come on, children, the candy’s on me
For killing that fool you’ll get it free
I never thought I'd actually say this, but I was wrong about Bandslam. I thought it was just gonna be another one of those typical teen flicks where they break out in song and dance and jiggle their problems away, ala High School Musical. I'm not gonna lie and pretend to hate HSM, when I really did enjoy the silliness of it all, but to set the record straight, I really thought Bandslam was better.
The story starts off with Will, this loser in life and looks (not to be superficial and judgmental, but you gotta believe me, this is NOT the face of a model to be), who feels so pressurized at his old school and town that he begs his mother to move to another state. At the new school, he meets two gorgeous girls who're determined to be his friend. A totally likely scenario of course. Well, duh, naturally the two most beautiful girls in school are gonna go for the new ugly loser. What, you thought they'd be interested in the actual good looking guys? Oh puhlease.
So anyways, after Charlotte(one of the hot girls) finds out about Will's vast musical knowledge, she makes him the manager of her band. He recruits a few more people and makes it into a really big nice band, and they want to join this competition, Bandslam. Apparently, the winner gets a real record deal, so I would assume that makes it a really big thing.
The way Will tells the story is mostly through letters to his idol, David Bowie. Its an interesting way to show how he interprets events in his deluded attempt to 'connect' with his favorite singer. As it turns out, the actions of Will's father impacted his life horribly, and the people in his previous town were all angry at him for it. The story follows the story of how he overcame the shadows of his father's actions, and how he proves to himself that he is better than that.
Lisa Kudrow gave a beautiful performance (of course she did, it's Phoebe Buffay, for the love of Oprah) as the mother troubled about her son's inability to fit in. The scene when she tells Charlotte to fuck off (obviously she didn't say that, but as a blogger I have my creative license okay) and stop bothering her son (cause of something horrid Charlotte did) was just perfect.
Overall verdict: Exceeded my expectations, but I was expecting pretty bad. Decent show, ain't gonna remember it by next week but it was still good fun.