Last time I caught up with the voguegasm universe (which I know this blog title could be so much better), I bemoaned the episodic formula, Nick and Monroe's bromance, but especially Nick himself. But something happened in the middle of season 4. What was it exactly? Trubel? I don't want to think so. The writers? Not to throw them under the bus, but maybe. Burning the trailer? Kelly "dying?" Probably a big fat yes to both of those. But it seems I can't shake this feeling off as if they're starting to rewrite the show. 

Nick and/or His Grimm Army

Once upon a time, an average yet intuitive cop realized he was victim to his genetics of being a paranormal profiler seeing into a half mythical half realistic Wesen world. Like the world of humans, the Wesen species has their good ones and bad ones. But with this came a greater world and a sense of loyalty where being a cop began and ended. With his Aunt's trailer full of Grimm artifacts and making an accidental friend out of a blutbad ("big bad wolf") and a fuchsbau (fox), he begins to attain all the Wesen knowledge available. He makes a mortal enemy out of a hexenbiest (witch) and his relationship with his boss gets compromising to say the least. But mysteries still remained between the Royals and an ancient myth that involves the crusades and 7 keys.

There's nothing wrong with making a one person narrative into an ensemble as long as the focus on your main character never wavers. Maybe therein has laid the problem for the Grimm writers. How can you develop dimensional characters when you only have 40 minutes and known to be the pit stop hour where commercials come to die? For season 4, the issue has been the following. What can we stretch and what do we have to put a roadblock on?  [More on this question later]

In Season 4, Wu joins "the Scooby gang," as it were, in a fantastic realistic way and by the season finale, he leaves the badge at home truly earning his Scooby stripes. Hank deals with a Native American Mishipeshu spirit in one of the better episodes of this season. Even Adalind didn't make me cringe so much as the show incorporated her real life pregnancy, which tied into her own Mommy issues. I love how these characters have been stretched a little further. But the focus occasionally hiccups for Nick, who did lose his Grimm-yness and had five episodes to really decide what he wanted in making this fantastical thing surprisingly realistic. Luckily and conveniently, it was back in full force for #savemonroe aka. the two most stressful episodes of my life! 

After Christmas break and the panic attacks that involved the Wesenrein, it was all Nick being a cop in the Wesen world which was a nice change of pace but without Trubel. Through the assorted cases, bringing back ex-Lieutenant Peter Orson to a natural MPD-suffering Wesen called the Huntha Lami Muuaji and may I repeat the Mishipeshu, Nick's psychology isn't so much a character after getting his powers back. Up until now there had always been a sense of internal struggle with Nick and we are to assume while he's off being a Grimm-Cop it shows how blindsided he is once Juliette comes clean about what Renard's mother or the process of re-Grimm-ing him did to her. But without that tension, whether it comes from the cases or the Portland mist or Nick's psychology, it all just becomes camp! I understand that delving into slight "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer" nods from Greenwalt's past life can be fun, but it doesn't have to be a moment to moment basis. 

But let me back up since I kind of hit and ran on something back there. Let's go through the emotional teeter-totters of Nick's psychology in the past 3 seasons. Season 1 was the discovery and the slow evolution of balance between being a Grimm and a cop. Season 2 was how much of it would consume Nick and his home life as well as the balance of who he can trust with this knowledge. Season 3 was Nick's realization with amplified Grimm senses that he can be dangerous without a badge as well as the balance with the amplified senses. Where's the question of balance in season 4 exactly or are there more interesting questions to ask? Maybe instead of balance, Nick begins to unconsciously realize the dualities of everything: intentionally being dangerous leaving the badge at home, having to sleep with a shadow of his enemy in order to get his powers back, who Juliette is to him with or without the Hexenbiest powers, who Adalind is to him now that she's having his child?

But is duality an impossible abstraction to put into a TV show when it has been about disciplined balance? Or is that the risk the writers are taking right now in taking a chance on doing something different? But with doing something different also risks the show as a whole e.g. Glee. But at the same time, if Nick's psychology isn't so much a character, but instead duality, there is a sense that after those five episodes of just being resourceful that things have become dire as if there is no teeter totter anymore, it's simply polar opposites. In that case, then the show should feel a little off as both Kelly and Juliette's possible "deaths" will take Nick to that place I mentioned in my last post: should we feel sorry for that genetic rabbit hole of a Grimm or celebrate it because this is the old school Grimm that he could possibly come back from in season 6?

The Female State of Grimm

Where Nick and Monroe's relationship has been deflated by the lack of focus, it's been no secret that the gender equality or really just the role of women has strengthened. Obviously Juliette as a character has grown over the last 3 seasons either as a fault of the shallow writing, she has been given or what her character has gone through to bring her to this point. Between the coma and the shock of learning about the Wesen world (which she had been a great help with considering "Stories We Tell Our Young" and "El Cucuy"), Juliette  was made fully comfortable in her character until Elizabeth found a way to give Nick his powers back. Unfortunately, it backfired on Juliette as we all know making her into a hexenbiest.

This is one part of the huge mess of what people have called "hexenbitch" that has been rather poetic. What would happen if someone was created Wesen instead of being born with it, what would be the differences? What would be the struggle? Balance? Duality? Perhaps it is because Juliette has never been a consistent character to begin with, it works as long as they keep it tight and disciplined in about 2 or 3 episodes. But, like The Grimm Podcast has said, this (and the Renard/Jack the Ripper storyline) could have been nailed in 3 episodes or less! Once again, it's all about those editing choices! Instead, it was stretched out to sixteen episodes right up to the possible "mercy killing."

Juliette only continued down this spiral of what it means to be Wesen and the balance of it throughout the rest of the season, it shifted from beating a dead nuckelavee (yep, went there...) into these really interesting moments. In the season finale, you can see her struggling between her human and Wesen side much like how Renard's mind was not completely his own. But she continues to do the evil thing because she does not know any better!

The issue I have ties Adalind into all of this from the moment Juliette tells Nick that she "will kill her." Since the start of the show, Grimm has kind of been a boy's club but with some sensitivity thanks to the guy love Monroe-style. Juliette was treated as something Nick struggled to keep separate from his Grimm and work life, someone who could see into the private places of himself, including the loss of Marie and the type of person he is having lost his parent(s) at an early age. Only through Adalind's continuing antagonism on Nick then Juliette, Juliette begins to hate her almost as much as Nick does.

But it's the relationship between Nick and Juliette that has always concerned me. Because she was always the home life that was to never get in the way of Nick's profession, Juliette was never even given any characterizing agency until she is turned into a Hexenbiest. Sure, before the transformation she had her moments of extreme passion defending her fuchsbau best friend when the abusive boyfriend broke into the house, learning how to use a gun and fighting off the Siegbarste with nothing but boiling water! But it's through her passionate nature that also destroys her through internalizing the damaged person who Nick naturally is.

Regardless, it's a woman internalizing a man and with Adalind destroying that man and by extension Juliette, it's understandable why the Burkhardt unit would collectively hate her. But it's the first glance of it that has always made me queasy and one of the oldest soap opera rules known to mankind. The blond-haired woman is the good girl and the antagonist is either a redhead or a brunette fighting over a man. Grimm somehow managed to invert that to their advantage. With all the emotional ammunition, yes, it's more than fair that Juliette on the Wesen flip side would be amplified for her hate, but it all is still rooted in the empathy she once had for Nick which also made her Adalind's target. The amplified anger would be triply dangerous and now it's all for Juliette herself. Somehow we are to believe that is who Juliette is but for a character who was never given a set of attributes what are we supposed to believe of Tulloch's character exactly?

Where Juliette has become the antagonist, Adalind has fully settled into her role as the mother of (eventually) two children. I liked what they did to Adalind in the fourth season because of her stance as an antagonist and paying for it through the loss of her child. Whereas the last section of this post was about balance, it seems for the women their characterizing points are opposites. What was once the protagonist is now the antagonist and the antagonist's empathy would cure Juliette. What was once Adalind's biggest fear of having children and being a mother is now what she wants and realizing how ferocious she can be if she can't have them. After the scene she talked to her mother's grave in "You Don't Know Jack," however humorous, I got a sense that as someone of emotional abuse, it came full circle. There is something implied here that Adalind would struggle to be a good mother where Catherine just wasn't.

And here is where we are 4 years later. It's still a boys-club on some level (considering the uh-may-zing "army" scene, invading the Royal compound with all the guys and Trubel) with the women having more of a presence. Excluding Rosalee and Trubel, Juliette and Adalind wear their painfully archetypal attributes as two unfortunate extensions of Nick much like a madonna (Adalind) and whore (Juliette, only in a sense that she is independent and destructive). But perhaps that's rather a boys-club thing to say...

Dear Grimm Writers...

There is no nicer way to say this, but, you're getting sloppy. Other than the poor focus on Nick which would have been remedied by a PTSD like arc of reviving (super-)Grimm powers, there are a few other non-Nick-centric things I would like to discuss. But before I do, let me praise you first. I love how you brought Wu into all of this as well as the compound invasion which was probably the best thing I've seen this season next to the Wesenrein situation. I love the Mishupeshu (obviously), Monroe's speech at the camp after all that happened to him and the satisfying, although campy as hell Hexenbiest fight between Juliette and Adalind. I really enjoyed all the cases you brought to the table this season, but honestly, I can't make a favorite episodes blog post for a number of reasons! 

As great as the cases have been, the B and the occasional C storylines could have been better, whether through just grabbing that red pencil and about five thousand read-throughs focusing on details alone. In "You Don't Know Jack," the sloppiness was the most apparent. Cops (both human and Grimm alike) who aren't versed in the legend of Jack the Ripper, really? If someone said something right away like a cop walking by the trio, "Gosh, this reminds me of Jack the Ripper" would have triggered something in their minds that the deceased room mate's life could have been next and to get her into protective custody! I really don't mind my worlds crossing being an avid "Ripper Street" fan, but another Jack element also bothered me just as much as the former. In "Double Date" Renard enlists Monrosalee to help find out what's wrong with him but they never follow through. How can you develop dimensional characters when you only have 40 minutes and known to be the pit stop hour where commercials come to die?

Another detail that really bothered me was when you decided to burn the trailer (which I understand for plot device reasons and even on an unconscious level, it does work but for the next week I actually thought of quitting you). From season 1, we are to believe of Nick's character that although very intuitive about people, he is also incredibly jaded from his family. First Aunt Marie dies, then he finds out his mother is alive, then the trailer burns up. Even if it was an extended scene, it would have been nice for Nick's reaction to literally be in tears as if he's losing Marie all over again. If we are to continue to play this back and forth of Nick's psychology between being Grimm and human then where was this emotional battle or are we so masked by the "Hexenbitch" arc we can't even have that moment? 

I understand how badly the season wanted to physically pit Juliette against Adalind now having Hexenbiest powers, but as much as you made the rules of what constitutes a woge, you are slipping, I really felt throughout this whole sequence staying in woge was a little needless. A person can only stay in anger or absolute fright for so long, you even wrote season 3's "The Show Must Go On" over this theory! I just felt that Juliette and Adalind's woges were really just a device to mask the stunt people which I find very poor direction. I'm sorry, I just do!

In the past two sections I have mentioned what deserves to be expanded on and when you need to use that red pencil. It's like what I said in the first post: "How can you develop [...] when you only have 40 minutes and known to be the pit stop hour where commercials come to die?" Well, for one, you can cut down a C storyline like how you did with Adalind in season 3, you just have to be strategic! Secondly, you need one of the creators there in the writer's room, making executive decisions based on details and consistency from season to season! Thirdly, I more than understand that you want to experiment and test the limits of Nick, he's the central character of the show, but if killing aspects of what made him or rather, the show so atmospheric at the expense of camp or the occasional preachiness, I think we have a problem. Oh, and let Brenna Kouf at the helm more often! "Double Date" was really disturbing in a realistic MPD kind of way and "Chupacabra" was definitely something out of season 1 which is a standard to live up to that you're, I'm sorry to say, forgetting about! Like the 7 keys situation or the resistance!

And that promised, although bullet-infested, shirtless rage. You're welcome!

The Story

W. Frank Brinton and wife, Indiana on the right

The original avid film collector was an Iowan. Washington County native W. Frank Brinton was a known eccentric, inventor and more in likely the inventor of something like a traveling film festival.  From 1895 until 1910 Brinton and wife, Indiana showcased short silent films across the Midwest and Texas. Taken from production companies such as Lumiere (including Georges Melies), Edison and many others, early film goers were treated to scenes from India or Egypt, pre-Chaplin comedies and for those weren't scared of clowns, a man dressing up as one.

After 70 years in Brinton's executor's basement, Iowa historian and archivist Mike Zahs made an impulse purchase with a box labelled "Brinton crap." Contained was sixteen tins of 35mm cellulose nitrate (labelled "explosive") in sad shape as well as magic lantern slides, ticket stubs, posters, etc. Although eventually preserved into 16mm and becoming less flammable, the currently in process-digitized collection is now in the safe hands here at the University of Iowa's Special Collections next to cool Gene Wilder papers and "Peyton Place" scripts. 

Tonight, Tonight

Mike Zahs (so sorry about the pixelation!)

Naturally, Zahs and that majestic beard of his was in Iowa City tonight. Although choosing shorts as the hour-long event went along, the contemporary moviegoer saw...

Elephants (including the interactive moment with getting sprayed by water by the master of ceremonies....)
Camel Market
On the Farm (1902)
Iowa? (1901)
Sydney the Clown (1905)
Pullman Car (1900)
The Matrimonial Ceremony (1906)
At the Dentist (1907)
Mashing a Jersey Mosquito
The Good Story
All on Account of Eliza

All of these were to the tune of the Red Cedar Chamber Music, either adapted from popular music of the time or by the original orchestrator, Harvey Solberger. A guitar string broke and Mr. Zahs saved the moment by being a walking Brinton encyclopedia. There was a kazoo! A fight with a dummy pre-Tom Conway fighting with a stuffed cat in Cat People (1942)! Jump cuts between two men of the clergy giggling like little girls! A child, even giggled during the comedy shorts which is definitely a good sign for film history in the next 30 years. It was a magical night. (Including B shoving her face full of fried risotto corn balls at the reception, but that's a different story....)

"Saving Brinton"

The exclusive thing about tonight (besides the fried risotto corn balls...) was the reason why a film crew was lurking around Shambaugh Auditorium. Cofounder of the local art house theater FilmScene and Copartner of Northland Films, Andrew Sherburne along with Tommy Haines and John Richard are in the process of documenting Zahs and his awesome nerdiness about the Brinton silent films. To describe "Saving Brinton," Sherburne explains that "it is a film about film" where "the past is a constant presence." 

Although clearly still filming, Sherburne and crew pulled together a 3 minute trailer that was full of that majestic beard on his movie tours much like the original Brinton ones. The icing on top of a huge movie nerd's cake was Zahs's room at his home that was devoted to all of these artifacts as well as his fantastic sense of humor and overall enthusiasm for this project. I expect a future screening at FilmScene!

(Thank you, IowaNow, for the supplementaries!)

I know. It's been almost a month and a half since I have advertised a few of my (new) favorite things, but you know, life. In the lieu of life and wondering if anyone is actually reading this blog or this post, leave a shout out in the comments and make a girl feel good. Please? But since it has been a month and a half, there has been plenty things cooking in my Vspot folder...

Five of the Best Words in the English dictionary: Emmy the Great, New Album

Our favorite anti-folkster has moved to the West Coast from England and adopted a new sound, this we already knew from her "Swimming Pool" single from last year. Now there are three more songs attached to this new EP entitled "S" and they all are made of ambient, sensitive, honest, and electropoppy goodness.  Even in the first few seconds of "Somerset (I Can't Get Over)" you feel that "oof" factor in the "tell me something that's real like please don't get over me." But that's what Emmy has done even in her previous incarnation of Regina Spektor's lyrical cousin with her cleverness. Case in point in the same song, "F. Scott Fitzergald, Tennessee Williams/Come on let's talk about something different..." I always find it fascinating that an album or an EP comes out around a life experience of hers and that's why I love her so much. Now Taylor Swift on the other hand....(j/k)

NEW TRAILER for 

"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"

Ten of the Most Orgasmic Words in the English Language:

Josh Groban, Three New Videos and a New Album Coming

Josh Groban will be putting a new album into the world that sounds much more promising than "All That Echoes" (sorry!) IN TWO WEEKS! While it will be nothing original like "Illuminations," which I will forgive because my Joshy has been very busy for the last few years, he will tackle the Broadway standard. Already it's been reported that standards such as "Pure Imagination" (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), "What I Did for Love" (A Chorus Line), "Bring Him Home" (Les Miserables) "You'll Never Walk Alone" (Carousel), "Finishing the Hat" (Sunday in the Park with George), "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (The Wizard of Oz), "Try to Remember" (The Fantasticks), "Not While I'm Around" (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street), "Children Will Listen" (Into the Woods) among many others. Oh, and "All I Ask of You" from Phantom of the Opera. You *do* *not* want to hear the noises I made when I discovered that one. This will be a VERY happy experience!

The Von Trapps Are Doing Indie Pop

The Sound of Music notwithstanding, "Kurt" or Werner in the real world von Trapp's great grandchildren, Sofia, Melanie, Amanda and golden hair God -- I, I mean -- August made a band and they're awesome. While the von Trapps have already released an album with the easy listening band, Pink Martini, they are putting out a more Indie poppy sound on their "Dancing in Gold" EP that will come out -- oh hey! -- today. Unfortunately, I missed the chance to see them in Des Moines a few weeks ago (but luckily I got the secondhand scoop from a friend who opened for them) but I'm ready to hear more than just the YouTube clip of their new song. Their genetic harmonies are just as genetically tight and I am so ready for this! [EDIT: (4/14 1:23) IT'S HEERREE!] My Homegirl Mackenzie Scott is Being Awesome Again...

By this point, you all know my deep homegirl affection for Mackenzie Scott. She's adorable and awesome and honest and can rock a Kum and Go trucker hat like no one's business. But I digress. That honesty has come back in a more vibrant way via "Sprinter" coming out May 5. While her first album was painfully truthful and beautiful in that melancholic kind of way, this time around (if her singles "Strange Hellos" and "Sprinter" is any indication), it's raw and as autobiographic as the first album. In an interview with pitchfork, she explains the lyrics come inspired by her family (she herself being adopted as well as the mother who raised her).

"Whether it be abandonment, or fear of rejection, or perhaps inability to connect with people, comes down to that fear of isolation, of not being good enough. Those are themes that have cropped up in my personal life, in my writing, and my Mom can definitely understand that herself."

Sold!

(From Left to Right: Garden Variety, Blossom Dandy, Flowerista, Petal Pushers, Perennial Chic, Picked Perfect)

Now this is pretty cool. Fashionista extraordinare Rebecca Minkoff has partnered with Essie, not only as the Global Color Desiger but also creating some magnificent colors with the nail polish line. If the names are not any indication, it's definitely a garden of bright and floral....ness.  My faves? I'm definitely into Garden Variety and Flowerista and rather curious of Petal Pushers. You never know about the undertone or thickness of a polish until you are at CVS with your scotch tape. Completely normal!