coles_notes

Based on the manga of the same name written by Tsugumi Ohba and produced by Madhouse, we follow Light Yagami, a brilliant high schooler who comes upon a Death Note, a mystical notebook sent down by a shinigami which allows the owner to write names in the book and subsequently have them killed. We follow Light as he comes to grips with this new found power, and starts down a path to become a god and kill any in his way. A fan of series told from the perspective of the antagonist, I had started this one years earlier and was never able to finish it. Restarting it again lately, I remembered why I was drawn to the premise, as most probably were, its a genuinely interesting idea and the directions it starts to go with it were unexpected to say the least. Until about a third or so into the 37 episode series, when in my opinion its plots begin to spiral, it introduces multiple new characters out of nowhere, has a bunch of time jumps, and becomes a bit of an angsty, frustrating, sloggy mess. Without spoilers, a series whose main premise is two geniuses going up against each other to out the other first; the decisions they make are just not rational from an objective perspective, but they try to justify them all with clever twists or just very forced exposition. The series obviously thinks itself very cool, and will often remind us how cool and smart it was in ways that are just eye rolling, and the world building tries to seem grand, but they never really spend time justifying or explaining anything in what I felt was a satisfying way. There's definitely hints at rules or frameworks to how the world is set up, not to mentioned the sometimes multi-paragraph title card explaining literal "rules" of the notebook (which appear on the screen for way too short a time and you always have to pause to read), but again half of them never seem to come up in the plot itself or get fleshed out meaningfully, so like what was the point. Pretty much all the characters a superficial tropes, and some of the side characters I really did not like how they were written, its a lot of teenage edgelord drama. I'm very surprised this series is often ranked so highly, I feel like there's so many other gritty anime in this vein that are so much better. Maybe controversial but probably wouldn't recommend.

Created originally as a pilot for Fox, created and written by Rob Schrab and Dan Harmon, directed by a young Ben Stiller, and starring (the voice of) Owen Wilson and Jack Black as the leads Heat Vision and Jack respectively. What was in hindsight the set up of a powerhouse of a series, we never got more than the single original episode after Fox passed on the series. Following Jack Austin (Black), a former astronaut who is exposed to solar energy giving him extreme intelligence (but only in the day), and his best friend and talking motorcycle Heat Vision, who was an old roommate shot by a raygun, merging is mind with the bike. Obviously a ridiculous and over-the-top series from the get-go, it reminds me much of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace or Danger 5, in its campy, schlocky style. The jokes are pretty funny for what it was, and Jack Black of course gives a fantastic performance. With Harmon and Schrab behind the writer's room I'm sure this could have turned into a pretty fun ride, and its unfortunately we never got to see it. If you like any of these people, sure, was a fun thing to flip on for as short as it is.

Widely considered a pioneer in what would become modern celebrity reality television and ushering in a new era for the format, The Osbournes does exactly as it states, following the day-to-day life of now infamous Osbourne family of kids Kelly and Jack, mom Sharon, and of course the dad, Ozzy himself. Pitched by Sharon to MTV execs after their successful episode of the same network's Cribs, the series is raw and unfiltered; giving true insight into the family, as they deal with mundane troubles like ordering a new Bently, organizing a concert, or learning how to make easy mac. Jam packed with swearing and vulgarity, most of which was fairly bold for tv at the time, it shocked some viewers into a fandom, demanding more, and making it a 4 season run before leaving the air. As someone with a bunch of series on the go at any given time, I was a bit into this one already when we all got the sad news of Ozzy's passing, and finishing it up this past weekend I will say I now have a much greater respect for the man, and certainly perspective of his family. Season one starts off as many fledgling formats do, with some struggles, as while I must give it praise for how truly unfiltered it was, it also means as a narrative things are quite disjointed from scene to scene. It was clear producers had hours upon hours of footage of the family and without knowing what would be a hit just stitched together whatever interactions seemed zaniest, leaving us with a sort of awkward, cringy, and somewhat stressful clip show of Osbourne moments. Which again, was understandably a hit at the time and got it renewed for a double length 20 episode season 2. The series hits it stride as it introduces more narrative threads for each episode, giving us set ups and pay offs, be it Jack getting his license, Kelly recording a song, Sharon planning an episode of her simultaneously produced The Sharon Osbourne Show. Now with the whole family nearly as famous and interesting as Ozzy, the show can focus more on their on-goings, for both its good and bad. With this they also re-enforce a reality tv classic, adding lots of contextual fibbing by the editors, like faking a quad bike accident, bringing in a pet psychic, or just generally making up interactions not as they played out, but in ways that would play best in the episode. A lean away from the reality part of reality tv. All said, the family can at times be quite difficult to watch for me, though I understand that itself was a draw for many of its viewers. The kids are so spoiled and detached from reality in ways that only makes you feel for their upbringing, and Sharon, while a powerhouse, can at times just seem outright mean to her husband as she blows off his opinions or perspectives. Ozzy is a truly a star and the centrepiece of any scene he's in, but it's also difficult to watch him struggle as he tries to communicate, exercise, or just generally function around the house. In the end he feels the most grounded, thoughtful, and genuine of the family, which is saying a lot, and the series finale wrap up episode with Dr. Phil himself brought a lot of that home. Defining the early 2000s cable televisions landscape and of course the genre to come; this series ran so the Kardashians could fly. A difficult one to judge, it was fun having it on in the background as I did chores, and when paying strict attention it can be a fun hate watch, but if you view it with a sympathetic lens it ends up being more disappointing and stressful than anything else, at least for me. I'd certainly recommend flipping on an episode or two if you've never seen it, just to see what you missed out on and if you're already a fan of this style reality tv it is of course a staple.