How to Win Halloween with a Killa Costume

By Spence Blazak

I pride myself on my Halloween costumes. The greatest day of my life is going to be when I take my son/a random baby and dress him up as a little Harry Potter, then dress myself up as Hagrid. Every year, I try to outdo myself with a costume that straddles the tight rope of obscurity, relevance, and hilarity. Some past gems have included Braveheart, Kevin Jonas, a deer, Billy Mays, and a fruit ninja. Before I make the big reveal of my costumes this year, here are a few pages for you from my Halloween playbook.

Saul from Homeland

-Alright, so no one watches this show. YET. But when they do, people will look back on your costume and say "Wow! What a clever guy!" And if you do happen upon a lady who watches the show, let me put it this way…you will be in for a long night of terrorist negotiations! 

Olympic Mascot

-It looks like a futuristic space phallus. Bring the kids!

Haymitch from The Hunger Games

-Long hair, always hammered, and played by Woody Harrelson in the movie. And girls who read will totally think you're cool! If you run into a female that is dressed up as Katniss, then you can ask her if she used one of Gale's traps…on your heart. 

President Rutherford B. Hayes

-The President who put the "Ho" in "White House." Get ready for a long night…1800s style. 

A character from the classic fire fighter film Backdraft

-Celebrate Halloween in style with the 14th highest grossing movie of 1991. If people don't "get it" then they are the weird ones!

The guy from 50 Shades of Grey

-Show off your leather fetish IN STYLE!

Prime Minister David Cameron

-Set yourself up for a night you'll never forget. This costume will open you up to an exclusive club of other people dressed as British PMs. A love rendezvous with a girl dressed as Margaret Thatcher? A new friendship kindled with Neville Chamberlain? A brunch of kippers with Gordon Brown? Nothing is out of the question with this gem of a get up!

Gus from the season 4 finale of Breaking Bad

-Who wouldn't want to dress up as the man who once said "I don't give out threats….but if you don't do as I say, I'll kill your whole family." Always keeping it light!

Magic Mike

-Note: Works better if you are fat.

The narrator from Moonrise Kingdom

-Someone indie will give you a shout out at some point during the night….and I'm going to level with you: that's as good as your night is going to get. 

Palmer, the Seeing Eye Dog from the apartment down stairs from me

-Wear all black, get a tail, and a leash, then wear a Giants bandana. Last step: win the hearts of millions!

Varys from Game of Thrones

-A bald eunuch that wears slippers, a moo moo, and talks like the musical theater director from my high school. Potential to be a huge hit among LARPers. And we all know what a hard crowd they are too please!

FOR THE LADIES:

Slave Girl Princess Leia from Return of the Jedi

-Easily impress men with working eyes!

Pippa Middleton

-For the ladies out there who want to take it allllllllll the way back to spring 2011!

Carly Rae Jepsen

-For the drag queen in all of us! Or a girl with brown hair!

Monica Lewinski

-Always keeping it timely. Achieved hip, new relevance when Kanye West turned her name into a verb…..in 2009.

Megan Draper

-Everyone's favorite wife of Don Draper on Mad Men. Gorgeous, French, sings seductive songs, and….is perfect.

The Cast of Full House

-Requires a pretty large group to get it just right…..and GOD KNOWS everyone will be fighting over who gets to dress up as Kimmy Gibbler!

A Cat

-From the people who brought you dressing up as "a baby"! You can't beat the classics. 

Exotic Birds

-Tweet tweet.

Now, without further ado, my three costumes for this year:

Robin

-My friend is going to be Batman, but I, the one that is built more like a tree, am going to be the Boy Wonder.

Tagg Romney

-All of my friends and I will be donning khakis, button down shirts, and a slicked back professional haircut, representing….The Romney family!

Edward Cullen

-Sparkles, paleness, and a picture of Bella. Remember me as I was….before I put on this costume and became the coolest man alive. 

Is "Homeland" the Future of Television?

By Spence Blazak

            Showtime’s Homeland has recently gone from obscurity to one of television’s biggest shows. This was spurred by its dethroning of Mad Men and Breaking Bad at the Emmy Awards, a recent plug from Barack Obama saying it is his favorite show, and the launch of its second season. Stars Damian Lewis and Claire Danes have been giving interviews left and right to big name media sources, and the Internet has dubbed the show “the future of television,” but is this really the case?

            Homeland follows the intertwined stories of Carrie Mathison and Nicholas Brody, played by Danes and Lewis respectively. Carrie is a CIA agent stationed in Baghdad who gets a tip that an American prisoner of war has been turned to the side of the world’s most dangerous terrorist Abu Nazir. A few months later, Marine Brody is found in a POW prison and returned home after 8 years in captivity. After attending Brody’s debriefing, Carrie is convinced that Brody is secretly a terrorist.

            So begins the tale of Homeland. It seems like the things that appeal to television junkies the most are its tight pacing, well developed characters, unavoidable plot points that are spaced out at the right amount, believable dialogue, and expert execution of the intellectual inner workings of government bureaucracy. Carrie’s battle with her near crippling bipolar problem is the best aspect of the show so far, giving her quest to prove Brody is a terrorist the kick in the face it needs to keep from being a clichéd snooze fest (like something on CBS).

But the real reason for most of this hype? People are probably just getting sick of the same two shows being considered television’s best so they are overlooking Homeland’s flaws and putting it on a pedestal. Dexter hasn’t been watchable since 2009, Game of Thrones is sublime but isn’t an original, and Walking Dead has been suffering from pacing issues and plot motivations that feel like they were WRITTEN by someone without a brain! Thank you, thank you, great to be here everybody, don’t forget to tip your waitress. Television people are tired of having Mad Men and Breaking Bad on the top of the heap, and are trying to move onto something fresh.

Homeland suffers from faults no different than most standard original dramas: unavoidably and unintentionally awkward family scenes with Brody and his family, Danes overacting gets kind of uncomfortable to watch at times, and one trick pony side characters are a bit cartoonish. The best two so far are the evil Vice President and Brody’s conspiracy theorist war buddy who so has so far appeared twice with both scenes ending in him calling the EXACT logistics of some intricate terrorist plot…then getting called crazy or punched in the face. This makes a man ask questions. Why is the Vice President so important? Why was the actual President only mentioned ONCE during the show so far? And who keeps inviting the conspiracy theory guy to hang out?

Don’t take this the wrong way, Homeland is a great show so far, but it’s just not the godsend that the media is making it out to be. Half of the show’s hype can be attributed to the relationship issues that television pundits are having with AMC’s best…and they might even be a little jealous that these shows just keep getting better with age while these television writers just keep getting fatter and more tightly shackled to the laptop in their mom’s basement. Televisions two best shows have their reputation for a reason, after all.

So far, Homeland has had a solid start to its second season, and its most recent episodes have taken it in an unpredictable direction, making it very interesting to see if the show can keep it up for the rest of the season. Who knows? By 2015, Homeland might be a Sunday night staple, and television writers might be trying to break up with it as well, for all the same and all the wrong reasons as Men and Bad: so they can begin courting some zesty, new show in a low cut red dress.

The "How I Met Your Mother" Paradox (SPOILERS)

By Spence Blazak

            How I Met Your Mother viewership has hit a sudden surge over the past year, making it the most popular it has ever been in its 8 season run. Part of HIMYM’s draw is its unconventional narrative timeline that frequently jumps between different points in the story and points of view, its episodes that are satirizing Friends, and its compelling story. Since the beginning of season 7, the dynamic of the show changed into something I like to call “The HIMYM Paradox.”

            There was always a realm of mystery to the show. The setup was too good to resist: 2005’s Ted Moseby has a terrible love life, but the tale of how he meets “the one” is told to his children many years in the future. No one except him knows the how, when, where, or even what parts of his story are real. One of the most interesting dynamics of the show is how Ted falls in love with a woman named Robyn in the pilot, before immediately blowing it with her and guaranteeing to the audience that she is not the mother. As seasons go by, the viewers can’t help but wonder….is Ted lying?

            Not anymore. At the end of season 6, it is revealed that Ted meets the mother at the loveable character Barney’s wedding, and at the end of season 7, it is revealed that Barney is marrying Robyn. While it was a natural plot progression to move towards a point where the series can end, the problem is that this put every single character into limbo. Too much is known about the end game to keep it going for a satisfying 8^th (and possibly 9^th) season.

            At the beginning of season 8, Barney is engaged to the stripper-with-a-heart-of-gold Quinn, and by the second episode they have broken up. This leaves all of the viewers saying “…so?” You know he winds up with Robyn so…in the words of Peter Griffin, “Who the hell cares?” It was known from the beginning of the season that the relationship was headed for disaster. It doesn’t really work poetically either, but just serves as a moment to spur a looking at of one’s watch, waiting for the two Ted chronologies to catch up with one another.

            Another problem is that the characters of Marshall, Lily, and Ted are in a dramatic stand still. You know that everything Ted does is doomed in everything he pursues until he goes to Barney’s wedding, and Marshall and Lily have achieved all of their goals, are happy, and…don’t really have much a purpose anymore. Jason Segel (who portrays Marshall) has been achieving huge big screen success and has made it to the A-List, causing him to look like the quarterback that got a full ride to Alabama that is just waiting out his senior year of high school in a bunch of electives.

            The way that How I Met Your Mother can save itself is to make this its last season, break it off between Ted and Victoria in an interesting fashion that furthers his character, and keep Barney from dating Robyn again for awhile, instead throwing him into an existential crisis of some sort that matures his character. But the most important thing that the show can do, all fans can agree on….the bringing back of Ranjit the cab driver to be a regular for the last season.

Ted has gone from mild mannered architect to beacon of hope for a generation of lovelorn single men, so for his and everyone’s sake, let’s hope he meets the mother soon.

"Babel" by Mumford & Sons: Review

By Spence Blazak

            Mumford and Sons has been doing something since their 2007 inception that is very uncommon in the modern rock scene: making a folk-based style popular. The band follows up 2009’s smash hit Sigh No More with Babel, which delivers in every way a fan could want. It provides evolved sound, deeper lyrics, mandolin solos, and surpasses its predecessor in numerous ways.

            Marcus Mumford and his band of merry men start the album off with the song “Babel.” Mumford sings, “My ears hear the call of my unborn sons/and I know their choices color all I’ve done/But I’ll explain it all to the watchman’s son/I’ve never spent a better year in love.” This line is a good sample of the tone the album is going for, something introspective, a little haunting, and a chorus as catchy as “Call Me Maybe” (maybe just a bit of an overstatement).

            Another great song on the album is the single “I Will Wait,” which became a Youtube sensation when it was performed on Saturday Night Live. “Now I’ll be bold/As well as strong,” Mumford sings. “And use my head alongside my heart.” It utilizes the sophisticated hoe-down vibe that made their previous hits “Little Lion Man” and “The Cave” such huge Top 40 hits.

            The album doesn’t have a real bad song, but admittedly lurches through the underwhelming song “Lovers in the Light.” This is just knit picking, considering one “eh” song out of fifteen great ones is a superb ratio. This is compared to my recent listen of Battle Studies by John Mayer, which got a 9/11 “eh” song ratio. As far as the last three songs, they are only available on the Deluxe Edition, but they couldn’t be more worth the extra 3 bucks. It includes a Simon and Garfunkel cover, as well as two originals, and they might be the three best songs on the album. Their use of silence and harmonization will leave satisfied chills on your spine after every listen. The finale “Where Are You Now?” has been the go-to song of the month on my iPod.

            The overall tone works much better than on the first album, which I found to be a bit too perpetually dreary at times, whereas this is melancholic yet upbeat at the same time. Whether you are new or old to the band, Babel is a must own album, and it is especially worth a gander if you want to try something folk, or if you just want to satisfy your secret banjo fetish. If you’re anything like me, it will be the latter.

Why You Should Watch "Peep Show" and Give Up on "The Office"

By Spence Blazak

            Its that terrible time of year again: the wind blows a little harder and sugar doesn’t taste quite as sweet…all because The Office is back for another season. Speaking on behalf of fans of the Michael Scott-era of the show, watching the new episodes will slowly destroy you on the inside (Dwight brought a knife to the office? Really?) Yet, it is so hard to turn away, and move on. Much like a parent that refuses to acknowledge that their child is now 33 and should move out of the garage, you still keep metaphorically doing their laundry by watching the new Office episodes.

            This is where the good news comes: there is hope. The Office isn’t the end all, be all of awkward comedy. There is a place where the show is but a spring board to bigger and better things. A place called Great Britain.

            Enter Peep Show, one of the hidden gems on instant Netflix. It is notorious for being Ricky Gervais’s (the creator of The Office) favorite show, and for pushing the awkward comedy bar even more so than the over the top Curb Your Enthusiasm.

            Peep Show follows the day-to-day lives of Mark Corrigan and Jez Usbourne, roommates in South London. The hedonistic, sporadically motivated Jez has just come off a relationship and has decided to move in with his up tight, loan managing former college roommate Mark. Not a setup that is too out of the ordinary for a sitcom, but the delivery and execution is where it sets itself apart.

            The show is shot from a first person perspective, depicting everything from a standard breakfast conversation to Mark going to the restroom to Jez making love, and also features the thoughts of Mark and Jez to serve as a narration.

            Also at play is the cast of characters that includes Jez’s many female conquests, such as: a Russian drug dealer, an American hippie, and his neighbor who is separated, but still living with, her husband. On Mark’s side, there is Sophie, the object of his desires, and Jeff, Mark’s rival in achieving Sophie’s eye. Last but not least, there is Super Hans, the drug abusing best friend of Jez, who makes up half of their fame-seeking techno band.

            Unlike the prototypical model of modern sitcoms, such as Two and a Half Men, Peep Show is serialized. Each season (or series, as they call them across the pond) has 6 episodes, all with cohesive plots and character development building on each other. So far there have been 7 series, and an 8^th will be showed this fall. Like the show on Facebook to keep tabs on when this will actually be.

            Still not convinced that you can trade in The Office for Peep Show just yet? In the pilot, Jez brings a girl back to his room, and just before leaving with her from a party, Mark tells him that he should be careful considering the girl has cancer. This leads to a phenomenal, cringe-worthy scene of Jez being afraid to seal the deal because he thinks he will catch her cancer. Of course, Mark was mistaken and she is perfectly healthy.

            Enjoy.

This article was featured in the September 27, 2012 issue of The Daily Targum.