Tableau Your Mind

Nov 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving from Tableau Your Mind

Don't worry - he's not mad. His face is just always like that.

Nov 20, 2013

Balthrop, Alabama: Drawstravaganza!

Last night, I had the distinct pleasure of going to see Balthrop, Alabama at Joe's Pub (which I realize I've written about for two posts in a row, but I-go-there-a-lot-so-get-off-my-back!). Balthrop, Alabama is one of my all-time favorite bands. I just can't get enough of them.

As a bonus, Joe's Pub and artist-in-residence Michael Arthur teamed up with Tumblr to add an audience, live-drawing aspect to the show. Now, Michael Arthur AKA Toxie Goodwater already live-draws the shows, but last night the audience was invited to join him. Now, I've never live-drawn anything, really, but I gave it a shot and here are my results:

The band is actually ginormous, but I focused on the people I could actually see from where I was sitting. I may color these in at some point, but for now I'mma leave 'em in B&W.

Whoo!

Nov 12, 2013

My Pop Culture Weekend: Nov 9-10

When I wrote my first 'My Pop Culture Weekend' back in June (!), I sort of had the idea that they would be a regular event - a way to showcase just how much I watch in a given 48 hours. However, I was so busy watching movies and television and listening to music that I kind of forgot to write about it. My bad. Obviously, the only thing that could break me out of this pattern was to have the MOST EPIC POP CULTURE WEEKEND of all time, which is what I had this weekend.

In theory I would list all the things that I watched and listened to and talk about how I feel about 'em, but there was really one event that made this past weekend so legendary. So, here's a quick list of everything else I watched/listened to:

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Nov 5, 2013

Woody Allen 'Makes Love' shudder

This is the first post I've written in over a month, and I have come back to ask you all a very serious question – how long has it been since you've ralphed? Like, when was the last time you had a seriously good vomit sesh in the back of a Ford Pinto, PT Cruiser, or whatever cool car the kids are throwing up in these days?

Well, if you're in the need of a good chuck (of the 'up' variety), then check out this Supercut

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Oct 3, 2013

Happy 'Mean Girls' Day!

It's October 3rd, which means that it's officially Mean Girls Day! Don't know what I mean? Well, stupid, check the gif and the video and learn something for once in your pathetic life:

I don't have much to add, except to say that this movie is in MANY ways the most wonderful movie ever made, I love Tina Fey, and your hair looks sexy pushed back. Also, I only made out with a hot dog like ONE TIME!!

Sep 30, 2013

Everyone Dies Sometime, Kiddo – Thoughts on the ‘Breaking Bad’ Series Finale.

The following article is about last night's Breaking Bad finale. Spoilers follow.

I haven’t written about Breaking Bad before now, because my recent obsession with the show is just that: recent. I watched the pilot many years ago, and was really turned off by it. It felt clunky and overly expository. I thought that, if a show had to spend so much time proving the legitimacy of the world, than this was not a show worth getting into.

Boy, was I wrong. Over the past year, marathon viewing sessions of Breaking Bad have made me a much darker person, but they have also instilled in me a hope for television’s future. With a landscape populated with sub-par reality television and inexplicably popular CBS sitcoms, it was nice to see a show that was both a ratings hit (especially in the final, protracted season) and a critical darling. It was incredible to see a show that didn't f*ck around with the audience, that was constantly rewarding, and that didn't sacrifice character for story (with a few minor exceptions). It was great to see a series that wasn't so up its own ass that it was afraid to innovate and change, molding the narrative as it went along. After years of Lost creators telling people that they had an endgame in mind when they totally didn't, it was nice to see a show that gladly flew by the seat of its pants when it came to breaking character and story arcs. This loose structure made it

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Sep 27, 2013

It's Time To Get Excited About the 'Into the Woods' Movie

Into the Woods is being made into a movie, and I'm very excited, and I'm sure I'll talk at length about it in the months ahead. But for now:

Sep 23, 2013

Man, The Emmys Were Weird This Year

Be honest. You came here to see Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

The 65th Emmy Awards rolled onto the tiny screen last night. It was a time to celebrate the beautiful, buxom, and big-headed stars of all of our favorite television shows. And also Modern Family. It was a weird night, with everyone trying really hard to show everyone that this is the Golden Age of Television. Except that all that posturing made everything seem all the more desperate. Television is still relevant, and to prove that, here's Carrie Underwood singing a song by The Beatles. Because when you think The Beatles and Walter Cronkite, you think scripted television.

Other than being tonally inconsistent, this was also possibly the saddest Emmys in recent memory (I know that the Modern Family peeps made some reference to this, but I was too upset about 30 Rock/Louie's loss to really pay attention). There were a lot of great actors and actresses that died this year, and it's great to remember them, but the one-on-one eulogies were more painful than anything else. I didn't need to see Edie Falco's strong tears - why you play me like that, Emmy? Also, it's hard to swing back into comedy after seeing the JFK assassination, which was included in the broadcast because...TELEVISION!

She won!

At the very least, this was a very unpredictable Emmys, especially in terms of lady winners. Tina Fey won for writing, which is what Tina Fey should always win for, Merritt Wever gave a delightfully brief acceptance speech, Anna Gunn got some much-deserved love for Breaking Bad, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus proved that she is just better at comedy than anyone else. Speaking of, it was a pretty great night for Veep and Breaking Bad, the former of which won two big acting awards (Whoo! Tony Hale) and the latter finally picking up the win for Best Drama. Also, The Hour won for writing, and I love that show and I miss it almost every day. Even Jeff Daniels' confusing win for the inscrutable Newsroom couldn't bring me down with wins like that.

Still, the last two hours were a bit of a drag, and host Neil Patrick Harris seemed off his game for the entire night. We get it, people watch television on their phones. Hilarious. Oh, and you want to make a joke about Thai hookers when introducing the sisters Deschanel? Perfect. Even with the increasingly odd parade of thin women that used to not be as frighteningly thin, there were a few moments that were pretty great. Will Ferrell's bit with his kids was cute, Amy Poehler and Tina Fey proved once again that they're just the best, and Sarah Silverman and Nathan Fillion were featured for seemingly no reason, but in a good way. It was the Emmys, so, even though it was terrible (nothing for Enlightened, still no love for Jon Hamm), it was still better than most nights, because America, and the world, got to spend a little more time with the pretty people.

Onward and upward.

(source)

Sep 16, 2013

Art Imitates Life or Vice Versa or Something

Well, it turns out that "Wrecking Ball," the Miley Cyrus song about a failed relationship that Miley kinda sings also kinda turned out to be prescient, since she and fiancé Liam Hemsworth called off their engagement today. Some people, who thought that their love was the true-true, will find this shocking. For those of us who thought that they broke up six months ago, it's mind boggling. For everyone else, it's Monday.