Author Archives: Mark Humphrey

“Hot Fuzz” Director Edgar Wright Rogue Pictures (Out Of 5) The practice of screenwriting is filled with as many metaphors as the stories screenwriters tell on the page. One metaphor is that a story is a buffalo and that all parts of it must be used throughout the screenplay, much like Native Americans used every […]

If I had to describe HBO’s “The Wire” using only two terms, they would be “criminally fantastic” and “criminally underseen.” The latter changed when BET snapped up the show’s syndication rights. Now, the show is available beyond pay cable to people who want to watch. Sure, sex and profanity are edited, but at least viewers […]

One thing Westwood doesn’t have a shortage of, aside from USC students hanging out at Diddy Riese, is sandwich shops. From the overpriced South Philly to the Roll Inn Sandwich Shop (which is also called Buck Fitty’s, depending on which side you take in this contentious debate), sandwiches can be had on just about every […]

I’m the worst kind of couch potato ““ the sort who structures his life around TV. I’ve been known to hesitate before making plans if they interfere with TV, like going on dates, to concerts, to class or taking a final. There’s one show I’m particularly bad about, though, that causes me to sprint back […]

Inspiration comes from multiple sources: unrequited love, harrowing ordeals, sunsets … and now, apparently, car insurance commercials featuring cavemen. ABC caused a stir recently by ordering a sitcom pilot based on the cavemen characters in a series of Geico commercials. In these commercials, the cavemen adjust to modern life and express disdain for Geico’s claims […]

TV on the Radio Henry Fonda Theater March 31, 2007 After watching the Bruins get thoroughly dismantled once again by the Florida Gators, going to a concert was the last thing I wanted to do. Even if it was a concert by one of the most promising, exciting bands around today. Yet TV on the […]

There’s been a lot of hoopla lately about the 10th anniversary of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer.” Many have noted how the show changed modern TV: scripts littered with pop culture references, combining of genres, and perhaps most importantly, killing off major characters without warning. This last point is a salient one, as it seems that […]