On Web Series

vlog (ˈvlɒɡ) — n

a video journal uploaded to the internet

Vlogs (video blogs) are one of the cooler products of YouTube's popularity, allowing random strangers insight to other random strangers' lives. Among my favorite vloggers are the brothers Green (creators of educational channels CrashCourse and SciShow; John is also a #1 New York Times-bestselling author.) I've followed the duo online for about 3 years, and attended an awesome event they held last year at a local indie book store in celebration of John's new novel The Fault in Our Stars.

As it happens, I also follow John on Twitter. Last April 9^th, he linked to a video which sounded interesting, a new project of his brother Hank’s. It was called the “Lizzie Bennet Diaries” – a modern version of Jane Austen’s classic “Pride and Prejudice.” I was familiar with the story, so watched the video with interest. But what caught my attention was its format.

It was a vlog. A fictional one, that is. Videos were released regularly, and soon other characters in the story universe began their own vlogs. Characters created Twitter and Tumblr accounts, too, creating an interactive experience.

As I later learned, the "LBD" isn't the first of its kind. According to Wikipedia:

A web series is a series of videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet or also by mobile or cellular phone, and part of t he newly emerging medium called web television… While the popularity of web series is continuing to rise, the concept itself isn't entirely new. Scott Zakarin created the first advertiser supported web series in 1995, The Spot.

There are a thousand media through which to tell a story. I deal with written forms: novels, short stories, poems, et cetera.  Other popular media include musicals, films, and television. As a storyteller, I feel it’s important to have an understanding of each of these forms.

So, it came as a surprise when I discovered web series. Curious, I looked into the classics, including lonelygirl15 and The Guild. I searched through list, like this one from Flavorwire.

Poster for Submissions Only, one of my favorite web series.

Web series are curious to me. Though their budgets are generally small (H+ is one exception), they’re often of surprisingly high quality. For example, I enjoyed seasons 1 and 2 of “Submissions Only” much more than many popular television shows I’ve seen. I was also impressed by “Burning Love” and “Dirty Work” (just a note: “BL” includes blurred nudity, “DW” language.) Other great shows include “Squaresville” and “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog,” which is actually a musical of Joss Whedon’s. (When I heard about “Dr. Horrible”, I had a little heart attack. A Whedon musical featuring Felicia Day, Neil Patrick Harris, and Nathan Fillion? The music is fantastic, and the story is powerful. Watch till the end and you’ll understand what I mean.)

Web series come in all shapes and sizes (or lengths, that is.) Just a few examples:

1. “The Lydia Bennet”, a tie-in series with the “Lizzie Bennet Diaries.” Installments last only two or three minutes. Both fictional vlogs are designed to be interactive (discussed at 25:00 in this podcast), and have gained a strong fan base, or “fandom.” Viewers are mostly women, though the age range is wide. The series is sometimes comedic, sometimes dramatic, but always engaging. This series could easily have turned out badly, but luckily both its writers and actors are quite talented. In fact, watching this latest video of Lydia’s prompted me to write a paragraph-length comment on Lydia’s psychology. 
2. “Dirty Work”, a dark comedy from Rides.tv. Episodes last 20 minutes each but are split into three acts. The show provides some fun bonus content, including additional video clips and optional messages to your phone or desktop (sent by the characters, so that the viewer becomes a part of the story.) The show depicts the misadventures of three Los Angelenos working in the crime scene clean up business.
3. “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”, a tragicomedic musical from the wonderful Joss Whedon. It’s split into three 14-minute acts. From Wikipedia: The show tells the story of Dr. Horrible (played by Neil Patrick Harris), an aspiring supervillain; Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion), his nemesis; and Penny (Felicia Day), their shared love interest.

Whatever your interests, whichever experience type you prefer, there’s a web series for you.

Probably, that is. It might just be me, but most web series seem to fit into more specific niches than television shows. For example, though I found “GeekTherapy” to be cute, I found the show dull. (This is mostly because I didn't understand its geeky references.)

If you've never watched a web series, I’d encourage you to look into the media. It has a lot to offer, and can only grow more diverse and engaging with time.

Update: The Lizzie Bennet Diaries eventually went on to win an Emmy, and I fell in love with sequel series Emma Approved as well as Freddy Wong's creation Video Game High School. The 1st season might need some video game knowledge to appreciate, but even clueless me loved season 2. 

Comedy & Korean Cuisine: Adventures in California

This post will be a short mish-mash of updates. Maybe I ought to come up with a title for posts like this. "What's Up With Christina?" Gotta work on that...

If you follow me on Twitter, you might know that I spent this past weekend in California. My sister wanted to visit Stanford & UC Berkeley, and I was dragged along.

The campuses of both San Jose-area colleges were beautiful, and the weather was great. Our hotel was very cool (with East Asian decoration), and though I missed visiting the pumpkin patch, the stay was nice.

We arrived to California Thursday evening, and woke up bright and early on Friday to visit Stanford. We spent several hours on campus, and chose to hang around the hotel rather, driving up to Berkeley on Saturday. I lay in bed and read a little of "Crossed", the second book of Ally Condie's Matched series. I'd just devoured "Matched", the series' first installment, in about two days. Unfortunately, as is the usual case with sequels, "Crossed" wasn't quite as exciting as I'd hoped. I was also iffy about the POV, which is split between two major characters.

Out of some frustration but mostly tiredness, I dropped "Crossed" to watch the vice presidential debate with my mother and sister. While watching, my mother criticized one of the nominees, and I wondered how SNL would work with the material.

This is because, lately, I've been watching more comedy. I love SNL's polticial gags, as well as Catherine Tate's Lauren Cooper sketches. (This is my favorite - it's best if you're a Doctor Who fan familiar with Tate's other LC sketches.)

I bring this up because, in the past, I don't think I gave comedy quite enough credit. Though some shows' jokes are unoriginal and occasionally perverse, there's some great material out there. I've begun to have real respect for shows like The Office, which uses understated humor based on different personalities. Comedians need to understand characters and conflict, and I think every writer could learn a thing or two from comedy. After all, humor in writing can be a very difficult thing to achieve.

Anyway. After watching the VP debate and mulling over the pros of comedy, my family headed out for dinner. My mother had done a bit of research into restaurants in the area, and right near the hotel was a heavily-recommended Korean BBQ.

Unfortunately, the place wasn't vegetarian, a fact which my mother had misunderstood. She ordered a chicken dish and my sister a broth with tofu, but I had to special order. (It can be difficult to be a vegetarian who doesn't like tofu.) I asked for a broth with dumplings - or, rather, my mother did.

While we waited, a few dishes of potatoes, rice, and noodles were set out, all surprisingly tasty. I'd only ever gone to one Korean BBQ previously, near my house, and hated it. (Maybe because the latter is owned by a Japanese family.) Then my dumplings arrived, and I tried one... and freaked out.

The dumplings' filling tasted like meat. I split open two or three dumplings, and the contents looked like meat as well. For several minutes I sat petrified, waiting for our waitress to pass by again. My mother noticed my behavior and volunteered to try the dumpling, but only vaguely said that she couldn't tell what the filling was.

I was suspicious mainly because of previous mix-ups at Asian restaurants. I knew a mix-up was possible here, too, because of my unusual order. Thankfully, it turned out the filling was only fake meat - designed to taste and look like the real thing - but I was still happy the next day to fly home, where I could stay safe heating up my own nachos in the microwave.

Thoughts on the debate? Comedy? Korean cuisine?

"Buffy" Breakthroughs: A Love Post - Part II

Welcome back, loyal blog readers! This week, as promised, I'll be finishing up my discussion of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's top 5 "breakthrough" episodes.

Here we go, with #4 and 5 (and some honorable mentions)!:

4. "The Body" (S. 5, Ep. 16)

"The Body" screenshot.

The above image, in conjunction with the episode's title, basically reveal the premise of this episode. But I'll drop a spoilers! warning here anyway.

The episode previous to this ends with Buffy entering her house and calling her mother. Her mom's been dealing with a brain tumor throughout the season, but lately she's seemed to be doing fine - until Buffy walks into the living room and notices her mother, dead, on the couch. It's a shock to Buff and the audience.

"The Body" deals with the aftermath of the event. Buffy's sister, Dawn, is told of the event; friends also react; and the family heads to the hospital and makes funeral plans. It's a powerful episode, and one character's reaction to Joyce's death just about brought me to tears.

But this episode isn't only important for its emotion; what makes it stand out is that it has no musical score. The only music is diegetic (that is, played by the characters, on camera - no background tracks.) The move perfectly fits the hollowness that the characters are feeling, and heightens the sense of sudden grief for viewers.

5. "Restless" (S. 4, Ep. 22)

"Restless" screenshot.

Probably the best word to describe this episode is trippy. The episode is comprised of dream sequences, full of strange lighting effects and camera angles. For example: in the shot above, most of the frame is empty, the focal point in one corner.

"Restless" doesn't follow with an arc. Joss Whedon, the series' creator, called it a "grace note" to season 4. Because it follows the dreams of several characters, this episode acts as an interesting character study, marked by the series' signature wit. At Slayage.com, "The Online Journal of Buffy Studies", author Daniel Erenberg placed the episode as the 2nd best of the series. As he put it, the episode "lends itself to infinite interpretations. No one watches it the same way. That's the mark of a true masterpiece." 

This girl is in agreement.

Honorable Mentions

"Passion" screenshot.

1. "Passion" (S. 2, Ep. 17): This episode is marked by (spoilers) the killing of popular character Jenny Calendar. She's a schoolteacher, Buffy's mentor's sweetheart and all-around nice gal. What makes her killing worse it that it's performed by Angel, Buffy's former beau, made evil after a curse rips away his soul. Jenny's death is meant to serve as a notice to fans: that none of the characters are safe, and that death is scary and real. Television shows often kill off characters for dramatic effect, but I felt this one was especially well-executed. It was definitely a shock.

2. "Normal Again" (S. 6, Ep. 17) and "The Wish" (S. 3, Ep. 9): These 2 episodes explore two different, very freaky, alternate dimensions. In "Normal Again", Buffy is injected with hallucinogenic venom that causes her to believe she's been catatonic in a mental hospital for the past 6 years. In "The Wish", Buffy has never come to Sunnydale, and vampires control the streets at night. And they've invented a machine to industrialize the harvesting of blood... 

3. "The Gift" (S. 5, Ep. 22): All right, I'm cheating with this episode. "The Gift" doesn't contain an original format, unusual score, or alternate dimensions. What it does contain are some very cry-tastic moments. I don't want to spoil the plot for any future Buffy fans, but I will say this: a song featured at the episode's climax, "The Sacrifice," sends chills down my back and tears to my eyes whenever I listen to it.

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So! That wraps up my discussion of Buffy's breakthroughs. Enjoyed it? Comment below!

What great/groundbreaking TV have you watched?

"Buffy" Breakthroughs: A Love Post - Part I

* You can check out Buffy's Wikipedia page for background on the series.

It's no secret that I'm an uber-fan of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (as this post proves.) When first watching the series about a year ago, I zipped through all 7 seasons in under three weeks. (That involved at least one all-nighter.)

Today and next week, in a 2-part discussion, I want to highlight five of Buffy's greatest "breakthough" episodes - episodes not only entertaining and emotional, but ones that brought something new to the series (and, in some cases, television in general.)

So - without further ado - I give you #1-3!:

1. "Once More, with Feeling" (Season 6, Episode 7)

"Once More with Feeling" screenshot.

This is possibly Buffy's most original and influential episode, concept-wise. It's a miniature musical - complete with witty lyrics, orchestral backing, and some pretty cool choreography. It received critical acclaim after airing in 2001 (despite some actors' limited vocal ranges), and its musical format has been copied in several TV shows since. (Scrubs, anyone? Grey's Anatomy? Even Glee, possibly?) Yet even forgetting the strength of its influence, "Once More" can definitely be labelled Buffy at its finest. 

Other interesting points:

- "Once More with Feeling" is Buffy's most technically complex episode. The cast had to take extra voice and dance training, which was interspersed with the production of four other episodes. 

- From 2004 to 2007, "Once More" was shown in theaters (with the audience invited to sing along), before a financial dispute ended public showings.

- "Under Your Spell" received attention from Buffy studies writers for its frank depiction of lesbian romance. Previous television shows had never gone beyond kisses and coming-outs - small bits of affection (definitely no erotic material.) Actually, Buffy was the first show in U.S. TV history to portray a long-term lesbian relationship among the core cast of characters. 

(So... musicals & social advances? Not a bad way to spend a Tuesday evening..)

2. "The Zeppo" (Season 3, Episode 13)

"The Zeppo" screenshot.

"The Zeppo" takes spot #2 because of its complete focus on a minor character (Xander Harris.) The title of the episode refers to Zeppo Marx, who was the straight man among the Marx Brothers and long considered to be the most unexceptional member of the act. From Wikipedia:

"The Zeppo" is a twist on the show format, which normally consists of an action-packed "A-story" and a character-development "B-story". Here, Xander's feelings of inadequacy develop into the A-story while a stereotypical epic episode of Buffy and the others saving the world is pushed to the background to become the B. Most of the apocalypse story elements come across as background events, happening offscreen, only in small bits, or being talked about afterwards by the characters.

"The Zeppo" has proved influential on later television writers, including Doctor Who executive producer Russell T. Davies. He has cited the episode along with Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Lower Decks" as an influence on his 2006 Doctor Who episode "Love & Monsters." The television format came to be known as the "Doctor-lite episode", an annual tradition for Doctor Who since 2006.

3. "Hush" (Season 4, Episode 10) 

One of the Gentlemen - "Hush" screenshot.

Personally, I consider "Hush" to be one of Buffy's creepiest episodes. Firstly, it introduces a terrifying new villain: the Gentlemen, a group of demons that levitate from town to town, served by a group of demonic footmen in straight jackets. (One can already wonder about the monsters' symbolism.) But what's scary about this episode is its silence: 27 minutes of the episode are free of dialogue, after Sunnydale, CA citizens wake to discover that they are unable to speak. Their voices have been stolen by the Gentlemen, who cut out human hearts at night... their voiceless victims unable to scream for help.

This episode received high praise after airing, and was the only episode in the entire series to be nominated for an Emmy in Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. As Wikipedia states, "Hush" addresses the limits and assets of language/communication, and the disruption to society when communication breaks down.

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All right, that's it for now! I'll be discussing Buffy's top 4 and 5 breakthroughs next week, along with some honorable mentions. Until then...

Ever watched Buffy?  What television do you love and admire?