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If You Like ‘Arrested Development,’ You Need to Watch ‘Soap’

Tyler Coates — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:00:55 +0000

After I watched the last four episodes of Arrested Development when they were unceremoniously broadcast on a single night in February 2006, I was devastated that my favorite show had been pulled from the network. The irony, of course, is that I was part of the show’s demise: like many other people I knew, I did not watch the show when it aired, but in single viewings on DVD. Arrested Development was one of the first series I watched almost in its entirety at home on my own time, a practice that did little to help the show stay on the air by the time its low ratings forced Fox to cancel it. When the third season was released on DVD, I tore through it in a single night, once again feeling dismay that no show would bring such joy as Arrested Development had. That is, until I discovered Soap, a sitcom that predated Arrested Development by 27 years and laid the groundwork for the brilliance of Mitchell Hurwitz’s revolutionary comedy.

Soap, which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1981, tells the story of two families in fictional Dunn’s River, Connecticut: the wealthy Tates and the middle-class Campbells. The matriarchs of both households are sisters — Jessica Tate and Mary Campbell — and the two households become intertwined in a variety of melodramatic ways (including murder, adultery, mob plots, and alien abduction, to name just a few). Conceived by creator Susan Harris (who would later create Golden Girls) as a prime-time spoof of daytime soap operas, the show took on a life of its own as it tackled controversial topics like homosexuality, rape, incest, and oral sex with a lighthearted, comical tone. Soap immediately created controversy when it was added to the ABC lineup, yet it managed to last for four seasons as well as inspire the spin-off Benson.

The comparisons between Soap and Arrested Development are abundant: there’s the boozy, sometimes dim mother figure, the wealthy grown children, a looming criminal trial, a plethora of minor guest characters ranging from mobsters to criminally stupid lawyers, and even a ventriloquist dummy who manages to insult the rest of the cast of characters. With the convenient narrator who conveniently shares what will happen on each following episode of the series, it’s easy to see where Hurwitz got some of his inspiration for his multi-layered comic story of the Bluth family.

That the various societal taboos are presented so frankly is what’s most indelible about Soap’s legacy. The Tate family’s butler, Benson (played by Robert Guillaume), is a ground-breaking African-American character; his blatant distaste for his rich, white employers is surprising for the time, especially since his insubordination comes across as comically noble. The Tate daughters, both sexually active, aren’t promiscuous as much as they are modern. Billy Crystal broke new ground in his portrayal of Jodie Dallas, the first openly gay sitcom regular; the character regularly makes the homophobia of his peers the butt of the joke rather than the other way around. (A caveat: the depiction of Jodie is hardly perfect, especially when one storyline involves his casual quest for a sex-change operation; it’s representative of a time when sexual orientation and gender were regularly confused.)

The most striking comparison between the two series is that they both follow a multi-story serial narrative, a style that was never employed in a comedic before Soap (and one that didn’t become popularized again until Arrested Development’s cult success). While dramatic series always found solid audiences, it was rare for a sitcom to require a viewer to watch the series from beginning to end to fully understand the complexities of its storyline and characters. It proved to be both successful and detrimental for both series, but enabled them to have long shelf lives upon their respective home video releases.

Once you’ve watched all 15 new episodes of Arrested Development upon their premiere on Netflix this Sunday, I suggest watching the four seasons of Soap. While it’s no longer available on Netflix Streaming, its 93 episodes will surely keep you busy while you’re waiting for the eventual Arrested Development movie. It’ll even prep you for your next AD marathon; surely you’ve found all the Easter eggs on the series, but it may surprise you how many elements of Soap made their way onto the latter’s monumental run.

This ‘A Field in England’ Trailer Will Blow Your Mind

Jason Bailey — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:59:34 +0000

Ben Wheatley is quickly becoming one of our most interesting filmmakers—and most prolific. He followed up his 2011 breakthrough film Kill List with the masterful dark comedy Sightseers; that movie just arrived on our shores a couple of weeks ago, but he’s already got another one on deck. His next effort is the black-and-white period picture A Field in England, but this isn’t your typical British historical film—if the first trailer is any indication, this is less Merchant-Ivory than David Lynch. Check it out:

[The Film Stage]

And Now, the Animated Realization of Patton Oswalt’s Epic ‘Star Wars Episode VII’ Pitch

Jason Bailey — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:39:29 +0000

Last month, Patton Oswalt’s improvised eight-minute riff on how Star Wars Episode VII should go (edited greatly into a filibuster scene for Parks & Recreation) went a little viral, and we all watched it and laughed a lot, and that was the end of that. Or was it? Artist Isaac Moores took Oswalt’s epic pitch and turned it into an animated short, and the results are awe-inspiring.

[Splitsider]

The National Perform on ‘Letterman’

Tyler Coates — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:19:48 +0000

The National’s sixth album is released today, and to promote the record (titled Trouble Will Find Me), the band stopped by the Late Show With David Letterman last night to perform “Don’t Swallow the Cap,” joined by Doveman’s Thomas Bartlett. Don’t worry: they didn’t perform it for six hours straight or anything. [via Pitchfork]

Flavorwire Exclusive: Ramona Ausubel on Her Favorite Short Story

Emily Temple — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:00:06 +0000

The short story can be a magical thing. It’s a breath, a moment, a captured mood — or an entire teeming world packed into a few pages. Maybe, if it’s really great, it’s both. The only trouble with short stories is that not enough people read them. So, in a series to celebrate Short Story Month (and help you add to your reading list), Flavorwire is asking some contemporary masters of the form to talk about the short stories they love. In this installment, Ramona Ausubel, whose incredible collection A Guide to Being Born was one of our favorite May releases, recommends a particular favorite.

Ausubel: As a writer and reader both, I love short stories for the risks and tests of form possible. It’s a chance for playfulness — an attribute as high on my list as almost any other, which is why “What We Wanted to Do,” by Ron Carlson, is a favorite. It begins, “What we wanted to do was spill boiling oil onto the heads of our enemies as they attempted to bang down the gates of our village, but, as everyone knows, we had some problems, primarily technical problems, that prevented us from doing what we wanted to do the way we hoped to do it.” There are Visigoths and Megagoths, a cauldron two-years in the making, a lot of lukewarm oil, and finally, nothing to show for it but a grease-stain on the village steps. It’s really a story about a small-time bureaucrat who made an important miscalculation in a plan beyond his abilities. We see guys like him all the time. He’s pathetic, but he’s trying. He is pleading for another chance, and you know what, it wasn’t all bad. “The Visigoths, about two dozen, did penetrate the city and rape and plunder for several hours, but there was no pillaging.

What’s On at Flavorwire: Links You Need to See

Lillian Ruiz — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:30:14 +0000

Depending on who you’re asking, Reggie Watts’ shot-for shot video cover of “Never Gonna Give You Up” is amazingly accurate (and hilarious). Thanks to NPR, we got a look at 100 behind-the-scenes photos of 100 classic films. This Neatorama piece gives us the inside story behind a legendary tale about Groucho Marx and reminds readers about his talent as a comedian. Lastly, in the spirit of revisiting classic pop culture moments, The A.V. Club reviews the greatest scene in The Matrix.

‘The Simpsons” Most Memorable Interactions With the Real World

Tom Hawking — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:00:07 +0000

Sigur Rós and Björk were on The Simpsons last night because, hey, Iceland is the place to be, right? We’ve written in the past about memorable guest stars and movie references on the show, but it’s also interesting to look at its interactions with… the real world, for want of a better term. So here’s a brief selection of life imitating art, and vice versa.

Hipsters

Hey, so apparently there are these kids in a place called Williamsburg who wear American Apparel shorts and drink ironic PBR! As our own Judy Berman wrote at the time, this was basically everything that’s wrong with The Simpsons these days.

Pop culture

The Simpsons is basically Mad magazine these days — something that used to make funny and relevant pop culture references/parodies now just doing so for no good reason at all. Things used to appear in the series for a reason — now they appear just because. Interestingly enough, pop culture itself has pushed back against this — there’s a great discussion here of why references in and on themselves aren’t especially funny, and another one on Salon about the fact that they tend to tie a show to a certain age and audience.

George Bush Sr.

Still, it wasn’t always thus. The show once wielded such cultural influence that a succession of conservatives decided that it was in need of a stern finger waved in its direction. The most prominent voice of disapproval came from the President himself — George Bush Sr. bleated in 1992, “[Republicans] are going to keep on trying to strengthen the American family, to make American families a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons.” The show’s writers rubbed their hands with glee, and returned fire with the above scene, included in the intro to a rerun of the third season’s “Stark Raving Dad.” (There was also 1996 episode “Two Bad Neighbors,” which featured a plot centered around the idea of the Bushes moving to Springfield, and many jokes at the by then former President’s expense.)

Homophobia

The show’s eighth season found them addressing homophobia in society, courtesy of a pleasantly subtle script and a guest appearance from John Waters. “Homer’s Phobia” is The Simpsons at its best — funny, biting, and socially relevant. It also caused a predictable stink, with Fox at first refusing to run the episode, although happily the reception from the usual cacophony of conservative naysayers was rather muted.

The French

And finally, in a rather depressing example of life imitating art, the derogatory epithet directed at the French for refusing to join the “Coalition of the Willing” in the Iraq War started life as a satirical phrase from… yes, The Simpsons.

Flavorpill Guide to the Week’s Top 10 SF Events

Bonnie Chan — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:30:53 +0000

San Francisco is home to a breathtaking diversity of cultural events. Between our fair city’s world-class museums, restaurants, bars, art galleries, music scene, festivals, and clubs, between all that is weird and quirky and purely San Franciscan, there’s something going down, somewhere, every single day of the year. Check out our Flavorpill social discovery engine, where you can create and share events with friends, and follow our carefully curated editors’ picks. Below, you’ll find Flavorpill’s top picks for this week — just a little bit of help as you set out into this beautiful wide world of SF’s happenings.

Monday, May 20

PERFORMING ARTS: Pop-Up Magazine: The Song Reader Issue
The future of journalism is not happening online, but onstage. After a stunningly successful debut and subsequently successful follow-ups, the salon-esque Pop-Up Magazine returns with a Song Reader-themed live “issue” in which the audience will be treated to what promises to be a ridiculously talented group of live musicians and storytellers playing their interpretations of Beck’s latest album. Grab your seat fast; this is one issue that doesn’t stay on the newsstand for long. — Bonnie Chan

Tuesday, May 21

BOOKS: Eduardo Galeano: Children of the Days
Eduardo Galeano — journalist, writer, historian, and author of the Memory of Fire trilogy, Open Veins of Latin America, Soccer in Sun and Shadow, and The Book of Embraces, among many others — is one of Latin America’s most celebrated writers, by turns commanding the page with fiery condemnations of the atrocities committed throughout history and politics, and tender vignettes about beauty in all its forms. Galeano’s newest work, Children of the Days, tells a moving story about each day of the calendar year. For all lovers of literature and words, this reading and speaking engagement is not to be missed. — Bonnie Chan

Wednesday, May 22

MUSIC: Björk
As artists go, few have lived in their element as thoroughly as Björk. Performing since she was a child, the Icelandic musician continues to be inspired by the possibilities of sound, intent on further pushing boundaries even after influencing countless others with her often unorthodox approach. Her latest album, Biophilia, went beyond simple musical exploration to incorporate science, technology, and visual art — an undertaking that is even more apparent in its live incarnation. Performed in the round, Björk’s Biophilia live show is set within a massive installation, featuring a series of custom-designed instruments, a two-dozen-strong choir, and video screens with mesmerizing displays. The Icelandic powerhouse performs three intimate shows at Richmond’s Craneway Pavilion on May 22, 25, and 28. — Doug Levy

CITY GEM: Harvey Milk Day

Thursday, May 23

MUSIC: Philip Glass at 75: La Belle et la Bête
Easily one of the most influential music makers of our time, Philip Glass, now celebrating his 75th year, continues to set new trends, this time creating an entirely new performance genre: opera-accompanied film. This is something that has been done the other way around, time and time again, but as a first, you can watch Jean Cocteau’s classic Beauty and the Beast (1946) set to a live operatic performance courtesy of the Philip Glass Ensemble. Arrive early Saturday night for an hour-long conversation with Philip Glass himself, and be sure to catch the second half of the weekend-long Philip Glass at 75 celebration on Sunday, with a screening of the groundbreaking classic film scored by Glass, Koyaanisqatsi (1982). — Joshua Wyatt

Friday, May 24

MUSIC: SF Popfest
SF Popfest, not to be confused with Noise Pop, is an emerging Memorial Day weekend festival featuring up-and-coming power pop, Britpop, dream pop, and basically all kinds of pop bands from all over. Well, mostly the West Coast. For the festival’s fifth year, the three-day event hosts the Ramones-like Colleen Green, Slumberland Records’ Sea Lions, Sisu (featuring members of the Dum Dum Girls), San Francisco’s Permanent Collection, a free indie-pop dance party, and many more bands and DJs. — Cooper Berkmoyer

Saturday, May 25

CITY GEM: Masturbate-a-Thon 2013
In 1994, U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders was fired by President Clinton for suggesting that masturbation should be taught in schools. In response, SF’s Good Vibrations created National Masturbation Month. Today the Center for Sex and Culture hosts its 13th annual Masturbate-a-thon, with the goal of “ending the stigma around self-pleasure” and raising money for the Center for Sex and Culture’s sex-positive education and library. You can be a voyeur or a participant (open-minded friends can sponsor by the minute or by the orgasm). No faking though: sexologists check flushes and breathing patterns to make sure that participants are keeping it real. — Joey Stevenson

Sunday, May 26

FESTIVAL: Carnaval SF Grand Parade
Grab your finest feathered tail-piece, some timbales and chains of plastic beads, and get ready to shake your coconuts for Carnaval. The two-day street party features a nonstop lineup of the Bay Area’s top Latin and Afro-Caribbean musical ensembles dishing out more soca, calypso, salsa, samba, hip-hop, and cumbia than your feet can possibly handle. But the main event is Sunday’s Grand Parade, which transforms Mission Street into a movable feast for the eyes, with enough rainbow colors and gyrating, bared flesh to give next month’s Pride festivities a run for their money.

Ongoing

ART: Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg

Flavorpill Guide to the Week’s Top 10 LA Events

Tanja M. Laden — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:30:49 +0000

There’s so much going on in the City of Angels, it can be hard to keep track of it all. Thanks to the new Flavorpill, we’re inviting the entire community to make suggestions with its gorgeous city-based culture guide — an open platform where our very own editors and curators meet and mingle with artists, gadabouts, and other tipsters for a limitless variety of both ongoing and one-off recommendations. With this in mind, please enjoy our weekly list of hand-picked event suggestions here on Flavorwire, and in the meantime, be sure to check out the new Flavorpill. We’ll see you there.

Monday, May 20

FILM: The Elegiac Visions Of Phil Solomon

Tuesday, May 21

Sterling Ruby: Anti-Print Poster 1,2,3 (set of 3 Prints), 2007

ART: Happening 2013: LACE Benefit Art Auction
Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions is one of the pillars of brave contemporary art and performance art on the West Coast — thanks in no small part to the generosity of the artists, curators, and collectors who have made a point of supporting it over the decades. The most high-spirited of LACE’s annual fund-raisers, Happening 2013 is far more than just another auction. The organizers invite a group of local curators to select and solicit the pieces for sale, with an eclectic array of A-list and emerging voices represented in the results; and their areas are organized more like a series of micro-exhibitions than a sales rack. Come for the party, stay for the closing-bell acquisitions frenzy – and now, thanks to Paddle8, you can also bid online. — Shana Nys Dambrot

Wednesday, May 22

MUSIC: Morrissey’s 54th Unhappy Birthday Celebration
These are rough days for Moz fans, what with all his tour cancellations and talk of possible retirement from music due to certain ailments. But what would being a Morrissey fan be without a little doom and gloom every now and then? And without a little Moz drama from time to time, we wouldn’t be able to really enjoy events like this birthday celebration at the Fonda Theatre with Smiths/Morrissey tribute band Sweet and Tender Hooligans, along with Ghostwolf. — Jason Diamond

Thursday, May 23

MUSIC: Johnny Cash Tribute Night
Johnny Cash is the man we all secretly want to be — the outsider and addict who found redemption without losing either his edge or his soul, singing with that unmistakably knowing voice, sharing his heart’s devotion while oozing with humble cool. For this tribute night at Los Globos, local musicians The Cash Fix Band step up to cover the Man in Black, along with DJs and special guests, all evoking the badass spirit of Mr. Cash. — Ewa Josefsson

Friday, May 24

FILM: Vertigo (1958)
When it’s good, there’s nothing better than a congenial, heroic, funny leading man playing against type — and when that man is Jimmy Stewart, it’s good. A policeman with secrets and demons of his own, he’s in love with a woman he is supposed to be trailing, whose death is either real or staged, but in either case triggers something like a psychotic break in the normally avuncular good guy. Suspense, icy blondes in tailored suits, unmistakable music, and fabulous retro special effects all contribute to the Hitchcock fun-house nightmare world in which nothing is as it seems. — Shana Nys Dambrot

MUSIC: Amanda Jo Williams

Saturday, May 25

Photo: Tanja M. Laden

FESTIVAL: Topanga Days
We love Topanga Canyon for its historic roots, lush vegetation, and evergreen bohemian vibe. An annual Memorial Day weekend tradition, Topanga Days is nestled deep inside the heart of the quirky local enclave, and it’s as good a reason as any to take a mini-staycation from the city’s often headache-inducing stress — not to mention the traffic that usually comes with a three-day weekend. With nonstop music, a wide range of vendors, and an even bigger selection of munchies, Topanga Days is not unlike a county fair for hippies, but without the pig racing and tapestry competition — unless you count fashion-inspired people-watching as a sport. — Tanja M. Laden

FILM: The Princess Bride (1987)

Sunday, May 26

PARTY: Miss Kitty’s Military Ball w/ Prince Poppycock

Ongoing

Pat Riot’s chewing-gum portrait of Darryl Strawberry.

ART: Out of Left Field
Out of Left Field is an exhibit of new work from artist Pat Riot, along with special guest artist Bill Barminski. A lifelong baseball fan, Riot realized years ago that bubblegum is a long-lasting art medium. This exhibit at Known Gallery features hundreds of baseball cards that the artist defaced (or “re-faced,” as Riot prefers to say) with chewed bubblegum, as well as large, Impressionist-style portraits of similarly re-faced Major League Baseball players such as Jackie Robinson, Darryl Strawberry, and Eddie Murray. Partial proceeds benefit the Major League Baseball Players Association’s Urban Youth Academy, while 100% of proceeds from Riot’s pre-sold piece Jackie Robinson, made from bubblegum on aluminum, goes directly to the organization. In addition, three of Riot’s bubblegum portraits are up for auction, with the winning bidder commissioning a Riot portrait of a player of his or her choice. — Karin E. Baker

Flavorpill Guide to This Week’s Top 10 New York Events

Mindy Bond — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:30:23 +0000

For our (unconscionably high) rent money, the best thing about living in NYC is its endless supply of fun, odd, and inspired cultural events. But with so many options, it can be hard to know where to even begin. To help you make sense of it all, Flavorpill Deputy Editor Mindy Bond shares the very best of what’s on offer this week. It’s just a taste of what you can find on the new Flavorpill, so if you like what you see, be sure to sign up.

Monday, May 20

FESTIVAL: Internet Week New York 2013
With the news that Yahoo is swallowing up Tumblr for $1.1 billion, so begins Internet Week in New York. Launched in 2008 with the NY Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment’s blessing, this week-long mega festival is a mash-up of technology, business, and culture. Major highlights of the week include the IWNY HQ Opening Party hosted by Grandlife, the 17th Annual Patton Oswalt-hosted Webby Awards, and the star-studded Webutante Ball. IWNY Headquarters is the festival’s central hub, where panels and keynotes with the likes of Joan Rivers, Maria Rodale (Rodale Inc.), Lauren Zalaznick (NBC Universal), and Neil Blumenthal (Warby Parker) are afoot, as well as exhibits featuring new tech ventures and an smattering of sessions hosted by Vice, Google, and Mother NY. You’re sure to find something of interest at this superhighway-charged celebration, no matter what field you work in, be it art, finance, food, music, sports, real estate, media, healthcare, or fashion. Visit the website for the lineup of activities. Flavorpill is a proud media sponsor. — Mindy Bond

Tuesday, May 21

BOOKS: LIVE from the NYPL: Matthew Barney in Conversation w/ Paul Holdengräber

FOOD/WINE: The Manhattan Cocktail Classic: Social Mixology: Unchained
Winner of a “Gazzer” award at last year’s festivities, Tobin Ellis of BarMagic in Las Vegas returns to the Manhattan Cocktail Classic with his ongoing party series, Social Mixology. A roving, underground pop-up cocktail speakeasy, Ellis’ signature soiree doesn’t follow a set schedule and has left indelible drink experiences in places like Miami, Aspen, Hawaii, New Orleans, and San Francisco. Tonight, eight of America’s master cocktail crafters convene at Ellis’ spirited affair (the location of which is only disclosed to ticket holders) to reveal what’s next in the world of cocktail culture. If you like “different” and are up for an alcohol-infused adventure, this is the event for you. — Mindy Bond

Wednesday, May 22

COMEDY: Trevor Noah: Born a Crime
South Africa is certainly not the first place we think of for comedy, but Trevor Noah is doing his bit to change that. Winner of the Breakout Artist Award at this year’s Sydney Comedy Festival, Noah is in town with his smart, funny, and thought-provoking one-man show, Born a Crime. Noah, the child of a black South African mother and white Swiss-German father, had an interesting relationship with race growing up in post-apartheid South Africa. For his 60-minute set, which we wish was longer, Noah reflects on his experiences growing up and his observations about race and place. A charming and masterful storyteller with a quick wit, we highly recommend catching Noah during his visit. — Mindy Bond

Thursday, May 23

PERFORMING ARTS: LABAPALOOZA! A Festival of New Puppet Theater from The Lab
It’s that time of year again when St. Ann’s Warehouse sends in the puppets. Not your garden variety Sesame Street-fare, Labapalooza! features avant-garde puppetry that has been developed in the Lab, St. Ann’s Warehouse’s clubhouse for artists developing interdisciplinary projects for puppets and object theatre. This year’s festival includes two programs each showcasing three works. In the mix are Nick Lehane’s Chimpanzee, about a female chimp reflecting on her life; Maiko Kikuchi’s Daydream Anthology; and David Commander’s toy theater piece, Essex. Robin Frohardt’s trailers, which riff on Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo and Les Blank’s Burden of Dreams, screen with both programs. — Mindy Bond

Friday, May 24

MUSIC: YACHT, Prinzhorn Dance School, Larry Gus and Kris/DFA

FILM: Before Midnight
In Before Midnight, the latest chapter of Richard Linklater’s romantic chronicle, Jesse (the writer played again by Ethan Hawke) is told of his third novel: “It’s a better book! It’s so much more ambitious!” It plays like an in-joke, but an accurate one; Before Midnight has all the best qualities of Before Sunrise and Before Sunset (a love of conversational dialogue, long takes that value the joy of performance and interaction, gorgeous European locations), yet it is a grander and more complicated achievement. There are some supporting characters this time, for example, and a fuller sense of the protagonists’ lives outside the narrow timeframe. But it also reflects, beautifully, how romance in your 40s is a very different beast from romance in your 20s, or 30s. — Jason Bailey

Saturday, May 25

FESTIVAL: Bike Fetish Day
Brooklyn’s greatest little museum takes over Havemeyer Street between Hope and Grand for a day of BBQ, contests and tons of bikes. — Jason Diamond [Photo by Eric Harvey Brown]

ART: Video_Dumbo

Sunday, May 26

PARTY: The Do-Over: A Red Bull Music Academy Special
If you’re looking for a party this Memorial Day weekend, then look no further than this booty-shaking LA-import. A special edition served up by the Red Bull Music Academy, this backyard freebie is known for its good vibes, buckets of beer, tropical drinks, and all-day BBQ. Today’s soiree features Do-Over residents Haycock and Strong & Black, as well as Emufucka (live), Trancemicsoul, and very special surprise guests. And while this party is on the house, RSVP is required and early arrival is recommended. — Mindy Bond