Create a GUI Interface using Visual Basic VS Generation Kill
Last week we received an interesting mailbag from WANTED outlining a particular flavor of displeasure I completely relate to. While the origin of my own ire varies, the frothy foam that flies from my gaping maw like so much volcanic ash as I vent primal anger is very likely the same.
That scene in Swordfish with the (wine/dancing!?) coding cube, the magic image enhancement flaunted in so many episodes of CSI, and easily half the shit pulled in Hackers (alright, the rollerblades were super hot). Why does this bother us geeks so much? Lightsabers, photon torpedoes, and time travel are gravy but damn the production that allows our hero's clip to magically hold 500 rounds.
Examples of such deviancy permeate every genre, doubly so if an area you happen to have as a profession is the topic abused. For WANTED it was the impossible image enhancement, for me its just about any military film of late. Hell, seeing characters in BSG with their uniforms all open and disorderly was enough to make me cringe. And they were in the future. Fighting robots. In space.
Just as gross exaggeration fuels frustration, a square hit on a niche topic lends incalculable credibility. One such example is the 7-part HBO mini series Generation Kill.
Adapted from the experiences of Evan Wright, a reporter embedded with the US Marine Corps' 1st Recon Battalion in 2003, the series got right everything that Jarhead and several other USMC-centric films got wrong. Being character driven, as the better mil-flicks tend to be, we get front rows seats for what is essentially a road trip to Baghdad. While I can't claim any ties to the Recon specific aspects of tomfoolery there were dozens of references that were superbly accurate, from a superstitious loathing of Charms to how race kind of sort of doesn't really exist in the Marines.
Inside jokes and uberniche references aside, Generation Kill performs on a level all of its own portraying equal parts pumping adrenaline and mind-numbing boredom, both of which are synonymous with a modern day deployment to Iraq. I was surprised at how enjoyable getting to know these characters was as they went through nearly unbelievable circumstances over and over only to come out at the end more themselves than when they started.
If you like mil-flicks at all be sure to pick this one up.
Sure, some parts are a bit exaggerated but they only enhance the experience. It's a fine line that, when balanced, yields the ultimate in entertainment. Gritty details act as salt in the saccharine rich fantasy fluff, like the dual pistol reload in Equilibrium or just about all the fights in the recent Batman movies. Yes, the protagonist is a superhero. Yes, his shiz breaks and he nurses bruises the next day.
Details make or break the story; perhaps that's why gross negligence can become unforgivable in a series like CSI. I still watch LOST despite near cosmic season-to-season changes but for me a balance is struck between fantastic and mundane.
So what does it take for you to stop watching a show? What exactly pushes your tolerance beyond that of acceptance to pure rage despite the fact that the setting is as far from reality as possible?
