Mike Whalen

Member since: Oct 1st, 2006

Mike Whalen's Latest Comments

Blog Activity

Blog	# of Comments
Joystiq	2 Comments
Engadget	1 Comment
AOL TV	10 Comments
Download Squad	1 Comment

Recent Comments:

Ousted Infinity Ward founders file suit against Activision (Joystiq)

Mar 4th 2010 11:29AM Activision has certainly fallen far from their origins.

It's the New Zoo Revue, coming right at you! - VIDEO (AOL TV)

Mar 25th 2009 6:39PM You're trying to help folks remember their funny, tender childhood memories and THAT is the example you find? Holy God! You've just killed my childhood!

(I'm kidding.)

Bob Newhart: The TV Squad Interview (AOL TV)

Dec 4th 2008 3:37PM Oh don't take me wrong. The article was awesome. I just thought I'd point it out. It didn't diminish the article for me. So sorry.

Bob Newhart: The TV Squad Interview (AOL TV)

Dec 4th 2008 12:34PM Whoops. Sorry, Mr. Newhart. It's actually the Superdome, not the Silverdome. No worries, mate.

GM chief to drive Chevy Volt in search of $18 billion handout (Engadget)

Dec 4th 2008 10:46AM These are the kinds of decisions I just wish I had better detail on. Why not drive the car the entire 355 miles? It's not that long especially if you do it over two days. Are they worried about him getting in an accident? Does he just not want to do it? When I envision myself in the same situation, I think that I would say, "Nah, I'll just drive it." I have a lot of trouble believing that the guy is just full of hubris and won't do it because he's too important/smart/rich/sexy/etc.

But maybe that's the case. :-/

Short-Lived Shows: Day By Day - VIDEO (AOL TV)

May 8th 2008 4:20PM One of the memories I have of this show is they did a small Brady Bunch parody during an episode. The son in this show played Greg and you could see it was an amazing fit. Sure enough when the BB movie came out, he played Greg. :-)

Hillary Clinton and Bill O'Reilly: chemistry? - VIDEO (AOL TV)

May 2nd 2008 3:09PM She did great. An awesome interview. Kudos to both.

Cavemen: Her Embarrassed of Cavemen (series premiere) (AOL TV)

Oct 3rd 2007 10:03AM Here's my .002 cents. (Yes, my opinions are worth that much since I doubt they'll change the show based on what I say.)

It seems they either missed the original air around the commercials or tried to stretch it into a full series and realized that it couldn't be done.

For me, the reason why the commercials are so clever is that they're very subtle in the way Race-as-topic is presented. In many ways, the cavemen in the ads are much more sophisticated than most folks. Is it because they're overcompensated for a perceived lack of inferiority? That's for the viewer to decide.

There is also a lot of comedy around well-intentioned people who don't want to offend anyone, but wind up doing so anyway. This pokes fun at our Political Correct senses and offers the question: How guilty are we if we occasionally broach stereotypes? Like it or not, we learn stereotypes and while many of us know they're wrong, we still occasionally err in their direction. That creates an awkwardness that nearly everyone deals with and, well, is comedic.

The commercials show how very different each of the cavemen actually are. While we mostly follow the exploits of the one who is existentially bothered by it, we see many others. The one who is getting back with "Tina" probably couldn't care less. He's attending a sophisticated party and is getting back into a relationship. Meanwhile, the bothered caveman tries to talk sense into the one who's clearly irritated by others who, he feels, judge him for going along with something he thought good for himself but that the others can't forgive somehow. This shows us the culture is made up of people who likely don't care, people who care a lot and people who make the decision to care based upon peer pressure.

The commercials are slices-of-lives. They live beyond the 30-second spot and poke fun at things we all do in interesting ways. They're clearly not minority-jokes. Like most good comedy, they show us who we are and wish we weren't. They sympathize with us and encourage us to take it all easy.

The series doesn't do any of that. And that's a real shame.

Photo finish for Mario and Sonic at the Olympics (Joystiq)

Jul 10th 2007 4:05PM >We understand trying to balance the game to make all
>characters have an equal shot at all event, but really,
>this just stretches incredulity.

Hehhe. As opposed to an stereo-typed Italian and a human-sized hedgehog -- who runs on two legs -- racing in the "Olympics?" _That_ doesn't stretch incredulity? ;-)