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Disney sci-fi genius
SINGLE REVIEW
Tyler, the Creator and A$AP
Rocky bring the public much
needed material after having
spent what felt
like weeks in the
studio together.
With “What
The Fuck Right
Now,” they
bring a musical
chaos and
frenzy that fans
of Tyler have
been missing
for some time
now (with the
accompanied
video of Tyler
and A$AP wilding out in the
studio being icing on the cake).
The track’s title and beat are
both borrowed from Kanye
West’s “Freestyle 4” — fitting
considering the release comes
on the heels of Tyler’s various
creative collaborations with
West. While the track itself
was a nice addition to The Life
of Pablo, providing listeners a
candid illustration of Kanye’s
menacingly confident psyche, it
also felt a bit bare relative to an
otherwise frenetic collection of
songs. In typical Tyler fashion,
he reworks the beat with surreal
and raucous lyrics — “I hope
you dressin’ yourself and not
followin’ niggas opinions on
fashion, I hope them cars you
drivin’ ain’t rented just to get
some comments on ‘Gram.”
Elsewhere, you can find A$AP’s
ever present bombastic persona,
serving as a hypeman for Tyler
and the track.
A$AP Rocky and Tyler’s
newfound relationship definitely
seems to have rubbed off on
Tyler in a positive way. After
recently publicly announcing
his ambivalence toward hip-hop
and his rap career, his release
of “What The Fuck Right Now”
denotes a positive musical
direction for the artist. Hopefully
this rejuvenation carries enough
momentum for Tyler to create
even more material worth of his
potential.
- ANAY KAYTAL
Shows of our youth
more substantial
than you think
By BEN ROSENSTOCK
Senior Arts Editor
The years of 2003 to 2007 were
great for science fiction on TV. No,
I’m not talking about the premiere
of “Lost” or “Battlestar Galactica.”
I’m not referring to the relaunch of
“Doctor Who,” or the one-season
wonder “Invasion.” No. I’m talk-
ing about “Phil of the Future” and
“That’s So Raven,” two of the best
TV shows Disney Channel ever
created.
Okay, yeah, maybe we all like
to romanticize the shows we were
irrationally obsessed with when
we were kids. But I recently went
back and re-watched a couple epi-
sodes of “Phil of the Future,” and
they hold up! Aside from the ridic-
ulous overabundance of sound
effects that characterized Disney
shows of the time, the show is fun,
thoughtful, funny and surprisingly
emotional.
People tend to dismiss stories
targeted at children once they get
older. When I bring up “Phil of
the Future” in casual conversa-
tion, people laugh, because they
remember it as a show they kind
of liked back in elementary school,
but not one that still holds any sig-
nificance to them. I get the same
reaction when I tell people that
last year, I read the entirety of the
“Animorphs” series, most known
now for its iconic covers of tweens
morphing into animals.
Just because something is writ-
ten for kids, though, doesn’t mean
the writers don’t put real thought
and care into it. I mean, sure, there
are some kids’ shows that only do
the bare minimum to keep kids
watching with simplistic morality
lessons and ugly, uninventive ani-
mation. But for every shitty show
like “Caillou,” there’s something
thoughtful out there. After all,
it’s not like these shows are being
written by kids. They’re written by
adults with kids in mind, and many
of them have a lot to offer to adults,
too. I mean, have you seen “Adven-
ture Time?” It’s imaginative, funny
and dark when you least expect it.
Last year, I touted “Inside Out”
as the best science fiction film of
2015, because it uses its fantasti-
cal concepts to establish essential
truths about human nature while
providing a rich world of cool sci-
fi details to take in. “Phil of the
Future” does the same thing. When
you sit down and take it seriously
instead of seeing it as some juve-
nile program from back when our
brains weren’t developed enough
to know when TV was good or bad,
you can see that many of these Dis-
ney Channel shows pull off science
fiction better than most of the sci-fi
shows that make it to air now.
There’s a tendency now for sci-
ence fiction to get bogged down in
a mass of undecipherable mythol-
ogy, even in the best shows. “Lost”
became notoriously convoluted
because of the number of questions
it raised, and “The X-Files” did
the same, even this year during its
return. “Orphan Black” is almost
always better when it backs off
the complicated conspiracy theo-
ries and luxuriates in the inherent
coolness of its premise: a bunch of
clones played by the same (amaz-
ing) actor.
“Phil of the Future” is never
convoluted,
and
sure,
maybe
that’s because it’s made for kids,
but so what? Maybe if the writ-
ers of “Lost” had kept a possible
adolescent audience in mind, its
reputation wouldn’t have taken a
nosedive in the eyes of half its fan
base.
The first episode of “Phil of
the Future” I re-watched was
“Unification Day,” in which Phil
Diffy (Ricky Ullman, who briefly
returned to acting for a cameo in
“Broad City” last season) and his
family celebrate the day when the
Earth will, in the future, achieve
world peace. Phil and his dad
(Craig Anton, “MADtv”) have
a tradition of playing a game of
“laser squash” each Unification
Day, but this year Phil blows him
off to go to a party with his friends,
including
Keely
Teslow
(Aly
Michalka, “Easy A”). Eventually,
Phil inevitably decides to ditch the
party and play some laser squash
with his dad, and I swear, guys,
I almost teared up seeing Lloyd
Diffy smile with pride and relief at
his son coming back home. Watch-
ing your kids grow up is hard, even
in the future.
In any normal sitcom, this
would be a Christmas episode, or
a Thanksgiving episode. “Phil of
the Future,” though, manages to
hit the traditional emotional beats
of a holiday episode while filter-
ing it through a sci-fi lens. There’s
something fun and unusual about
seeing a kid and his dad playing
laser squash where a regular sit-
com would just use basketball.
And there are these little giddy
moments of world-building that
sci-fi fans crave, like the future
sport of laser squash, or the spray
cans of meatloaf that Pim (Amy
Bruckner, “Rebound”) uses, or
the strange finger-wiggling ges-
ture Phil and his family casually
make to somehow indicate their
appreciation of Unification Day.
But for the most part, “Phil of the
Future” is content to use these sci-
fi elements as little cool touches
to enhance the fun of an episode
that’s otherwise concerned with
the same reliable themes of grow-
ing up and parenthood that other
family sitcoms use.
You can also find this with
“Wizards of Waverly Place,” or “So
Weird,” or any other Disney Chan-
nel show with paranormal or fan-
tastical elements. Every episode of
“That’s So Raven” involves Raven
(Raven-Symoné, “The View”) get-
ting a glimpse into the future and
using that information to solve
some human crisis — urging her
best friend to break up with the
boyfriend Raven sees cheating on
her, for example, or trying to save
her dad’s job after a vision of him
getting fired. And the writers are
still able to imbue these human
stories with cool world-building
flourishes. One of the most mem-
orable episodes, for example, is
“Clothes Minded,” which involves
Raven getting a vision of the school
bullies putting a wheel of smelly
cheese in the hot air vent. Raven
approaches the group and says,
“Uh, you guys weren’t planning
on putting the cheese in the vent,
were you?” They reply, “Well, we
weren’t … until you just said that.”
It doubles as a great joke and a clas-
sic example of the self-fulfilling
prophecy concept that crops up in
practically every time travel plot.
Look, I’m not saying people
should drop whatever they’re
watching and regress to the TV
they loved when they were tod-
dlers. We should read widely and
watch widely. But part of that
means making a space for sto-
ries traditionally designated “for
kids.” If you’re an artist, what you
consume when you’re little can be
enormously influential in what you
create as an adult, but you don’t
have to be a child to form those
connections. Just because you
watched it as a kid doesn’t mean
it can’t offer you anything as an
adult.
EPISODE REVIEW
Due to its 30-minute run-
time and its 10-episode sea-
sons, “Girls” is a show that
frequently struggles to give
each of its many main char-
acters their
own complete
story arcs.
The first
two episodes
of this sea-
son were
so strong
because they
had a sense
of focus and
efficiency;
while the
premiere confined all the
characters to one convenient
location, the second episode
dropped Shoshanna (Zosia
Mamet, “Mad Men”) and
Marnie (Allison Williams,
“Peter Pan Live!”) entirely to
focus on the other characters.
This week’s episode,
“Japan,” might’ve worked
better if it had focused on
Shosh for the entirety of the
episode. The change of setting
works great for “Girls,” and
it’s fascinating to see Shosh
flourishing in an entirely new
environment, making friends
with a pair of Japanese girls
and crushing on her boss,
Yoshi (Hiro Mizushima,
“Black Butler”). Even more
pleasantly surprising, Shosh
makes the choice to stay in
Japan, going against “Girls”
’s tendency to reset the sta-
tus quo every time there’s a
change of scenery (see: Han-
nah’s brief stay in Iowa last
season). If we’re lucky this
time, we’re in for some more
episodes set in Japan.
Instead of confining the
whole episode to Japan, there
are two subplots crammed
in. Adam (Adam Driver, “Star
Wars: The Force Awakens”)
and Jessa (Jemima Kirke,
“Tiny Furniture”) are devel-
oping some really nice chem-
istry, so the lack of progress in
their budding romance is for-
givable. The subplot involv-
ing Hannah (Lena Dunham,
“Happy Christmas”) discover-
ing naked pictures of Fran’s
(Jake Lacy, “Carol”) exes is
less substantial, though it still
leads to some great moments
of comedy as Hannah makes
Ray (Alex Karpovsky, “Inside
Llewyn Davis”) and Elijah
(Andrew Rannells, “The New
Normal”) take nude pictures
of her. There’s also the Skype
call between Hannah and
Marnie, whose pronunciation
of ‘Ecuador’ is such a brilliant
and hilarious encapsulation of
her character.
Despite lacking the focus of
the first two episodes, “Japan”
tells an unusually effective
Shoshanna story and provides
plenty of comedy to go along
with it. And, if nothing else,
you can replay the clip of
Marnie saying “Ecuador” a
hundred times like I did.
- BEN ROSENSTOCK
B+
Girls
Season 5
Episode 3
Sundays at
10 p.m.
HBO
Thursday, March 10, 2016 — 3B
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’
100th Episode
in this series, three daily arts writers in
varying states of mind do the same activity
and write about their experiences.
this week’s event:
I. love. this. fucking show. I have given my metaphorical blood sweat and tears to every season
of this show (except 1 and 3, sorry bout it), and i am 110% excited for season 8. you all have no idea what
this show means to me.
II.
Here is my ranking of the best entraces: Naomi Smalls kicking off, mmm girl, serving fish to the
maxxx. Dax exclamation point: sickening. Acid Betty in and out of drag, absolutely terrifying.
Robbie Turner giving me a mix of Violet Chachki and Jinx Monsoon and I don’t hate it.
Kim Chi: 1000% fab. Bob the Drag Queen, I know i will love you this season already.
Laila mcqueen: You’re actually pretty hot out of drag. Not Pearl hot mind
you, but there’s something for this straight gal. Derick, are you fucking
Courtenay Act??? I had to make sure it wasn’t the same person.
Honestly, RuPaul comes into the workroom and I am l
i v i n g. But mostly because I can’t figure out what
the fuck is going on with this outfit. circus
pimp realness perhaps.
So the first challenge starts
and it’s a photoshoot with all
the previous winners! Yay! But what
happened to Sharon Needles?? And where is
Bianca??? My fave queen is nowhere to be found
:(.
so the main challenge begins and its a shit show. nobody
knows what they’re doing per usual, we figure out which queens
cannot sew (if you’ve been watching this show and want to be on it,
you know that you won’t last 5 episodes if you can’t sew). One of them gets
the dog challenge where they dress like a poodle then walk said poodle down the
runway with you. This challenge sounds amazing, but i would be disqualified for not
making my look and just petting the dog.
The results are in: Kim Chi wins! Yay! Layla something loses. Sad. But to be honest she was the
most boring one in my opinion, and now that she’s gone everyone is exciting and I can keep them apart
in my head. that was fun. time to sleep
-Daily Arts Writer
What a time to be alive.
- Caroline Filips, Senior Arts Editor
Neon sign that says werk!!! Need in my home bc lauren
conraad wrote a blog post once about how crucial neon
signs are to decorate your home with bless her paper
crown for kohl’s heart tbh. Four scorn and two weeks ago I
procrastinated my Shakespeare essay and had the revelation
that he literally invented the drag queen, so thanks be to you
RuPaul for honoring that guy who probably doesn’t need any
more praise. I’ve never watched this show, and here I am
watching the 100th episode. Drag “race”? What’s the race?
Where are they going? What’s the prize? Oh my god someone
just said, “Go back to party city where you belong” … that
is an iconic insult that I will definitely use tomorrow on an
innocent victim. Drag names are iconic. I want a drag name.
Oh my god this first contestant got his drag name from Naomi
Campbell. When will I get mine? When will you get yours?
You won’t, because you belong at Party City and I belong with
kate middletons parents and their party goodie bag company.
OK this first guy is so objectively attractive as both a man and
a woman good for him because I cant even master my #lewk.
He’s obsessed with ‘90s supermodels! So am i! Everyone
loves Naomi ugh no one walks like Naomi ugh. HAHA Dax
ExclamationPoint rn: “what’s up nerds!!!” Dax also wants
brunch. Dax I will brunch with you. And this entire cast for
that matter. OMF Acid Betty just made an entrance af. Robbie
Turner is literally wearing the robe you would wear to answer
baked.buzzed.bored.
A-
What
the Fuck
Right
Now
Tyler the
Creator
Odd Future
DISNEY CHANNEL
Now he’s Phil of the Past.
TV NOTEBOOK
the door when the authorities come to deliver you the news of your oil empire husband dying under
mysterious circumstances.
-Daily Arts Writer