December 28: Five-Minute Breaking Bad

[Sa'ar Chasm]

I still have a couple of seasons to catch up on, so my opinion may change. But I've never related to Walt -- and I'm appalled at the idea that I should.

People keep telling me "You're a chemist, you should watch it." Here's the thing...most science on TV makes my degree hurt. I don't watch CSI because I'd be screaming "Wrong!" and throwing things at the TV within five minutes. Plus I don't really go in for angsty drama, people doing dumb things, and drug dealers.

Same deal with Glee: You like music and karaoke, you should watch Glee. First, most of the music I like predates my birth, so any current pop songs they do will be lost on me. Second, teen drama angst.

[Zeke]

Two plus points that I forgot to mention are the acting and dialogue. I never get tired of watching Aaron Paul as Pinkman -- his mixture of biting sarcasm and utter dumbassness can make even horrific scenes entertaining. (During a fight over who has to kill a witness: "Oh well, heil Hitler, bitch! And let me tell you something else. We flipped a coin, okay? You and me. You and me! Coin flip is sacred! Your job is waiting for you in that basement, as per the coin!") The DEA agent brother-in-law, Hank, is a lot of fun too; he's coarse but has a really good heart, to the point where Walt, who's at great risk having him around, still clearly likes him. And while I dislike Walt, the many viewers who praise Bryan Cranston's acting will get no argument from me.

The chemistry content of the show is mostly trivia, but sometimes Walt puts his knowledge to practical use for more than just making meth. Where other criminals would just hack off a lock or shoot it, he'll use hydrofluoric acid or thermite or something. The best example is this awesome scene.

Sa'ar: Oh, NOW someone mentions Glee. I was really into the show around the time I started that "what other shows should we do" thread, and I was secretly hoping someone would suggest it. It's pretty cheesy and pushes its agenda way too blatantly, but it's lots of fun too.

My actual favourite shows right now are How I Met Your Mother and Parks & Recreation, but fivers of those would be redundant.

[ETA: Hmm, a link to this fiver is now kicking around Facebook, but I can't tell where it originates. What I really need is to get it on StumbleUpon -- several of our fivers get frequent visits from there. Most frequent? Five-Minute Sailor Moon, believe it or not. 138 likes!]

[EETA: Turns out you can add a few links to your own site on StumbleUpon, just not too many. I've added this. We'll see what happens...]

[Alexia]

Me again, swinging by and reading about two previous posts to vaguely work out what's going on.

Four words: The Big Bang Theory.

I've been watching it solidly (save for the annoying times I need to work and sleep) for three weeks and am almost done with the first four series. It's brilliant