Saturday, July 2, 2016

Happy Fourth of July Weekend!

As always, you are instructed to watch William Daniels play John Adams in 1776 this weekend!

Also, it's been so long you may miss it, but I posted in "Girl Meets Triangle" Spoiler alert: I despised it!

Since we're all here, I just want to say how much I love Boy Meets World again. God, it's such a good show. Looking at Torn Between Two Lovers to compare to Meets Triangle made me all tingly.

It's so good, man.

61 comments:

  1. Duly noted, Christian.

    I'll see if I can track down "1776." In the meantime, here's "Sit Down John."

    I never realized how important Mr. Feeny's moustache was. Also, memories of "Me and Mr. Joad" come rushing back.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqAdlkJDt7k

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  2. I really gotta watch 1776. I mean obviously Hamilton has stolen it's Thunder in terms of Founding Fathers musicals but I've heard it's good. At least there's no John Adams in Hamilton so William Daniels remains in the spotlight on that front. :P

    Side note: I'm noticing a lot of commenters seem to have a different outlook than you guys (ie. most people in the comments and in general seem to like the show in general more than either of you). Like, there have been several episodes now that you guys are pretty much the only two I know who hated them. :P

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    1. Which episodes are you referring to?

      Either way, I'm not surprised. Most of the people who watch the show, I expect, are Disney Channel fans in general. Sean and I are just Boy Meets World fans. We don't watch anything else on Disney Channel, and we wouldn't watch this show were it not a spinoff of Boy Meets World.

      Also, I will add that the HBO miniseries John Adams is good Founding Fathers material.

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    2. It's hard to reconcile, from my point of view. Most of the comments are people posting their own reviews, rather than responding to our observations. And that's perfectly fine! It just prevents any real conversation. Like, we list all these things that bothered us about an episode, do the people who liked it DISAGREE or like it DESPITE the bad things we talked about? There's over 200 comments on Meets Triangle and maybe three of them are actually related to what we wrote.

      And again, that's perfectly fine, but my mental response to pretty much every positive comment is "Yeah, but what about the bullshit I pointed out?"

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    3. Shipping Wars Are StupidJuly 2, 2016 at 5:16 PM

      ^Which is why I avoid writing giant posts these days. Unless the episode really pisses me off. I like the writing Christian and Seam do but I wish more of the comments focused on how dry Sean's humor is and how great Christian's rants were.

      That said, happy 4th gents. Thanks for all that you do.

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    4. Maaaaaaaaaan, you're the best.

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    5. That's actually been bugging me too, Sean. I'd probably be more active in the comments if it felt like people were discussing the reviews and not just chatting about whatever or talking about Twitter.

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    6. That's an excellent point, Sean and Christian. I'll be sure to try to respond a bit more to your reviews properly from now on.

      I'd like to apologize for my role in this. I haven't contributed to actual discussion of the reviews, or alternate interpretations nearly enough. You two have done an excellent job here.

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    8. I think there's a good mixture on here of both old school BWM fans and younger Disney Channel fans.

      As for opposing views, I usually find its a combination of either outright disagreement or simply not being bothered by the same things.

      For instance, I disagree with your sentiment that showing anger is always better or stronger than portraying sadness. And I'm sure I've said so before.

      However I just don't feel minor things like, the weak acting of some one shot background character or a joke that falls flat here and there is enough to complain about an episode over all. Hell, unless it's like really offensive or something I rarely feel the need to comment on it; let alone discuss it.

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    9. Funnily enough, the sentiment that showing anger is stronger at least, than portraying sadness is probably one of the things I agree most strongly with. At least partially because showing sadness is overdone, and is usually done in a way to make a character seem weak, and sooky.

      I generally agree with the reviews; but I also always have a half-a-mind as to what my son will get out of an episode when he watches it, which colors my thoughts.

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    10. I'll definitely try to analyze your thoughts next post. Mark my words.

      "There's over 200 comments on Meets Triangle and maybe three of them are actually related to what we wrote." But like... most of those comments were posted before Christian even wrote his thoughts.

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    11. To be fair, it's not as though they were in response to Sean's thoughts either; so the point is fair.

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  3. Yeah Sean and Christian you guys provide the most analytical and least biased views on both Boy Meets World and Girl Meets World out there. And 9 times out of 10 I find it impossible to disagree with you guys. These reviews rule. Happy 4th gentlemen.

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    1. That's really awesome of you to say man. Glad to have you.

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  4. I try to base my reviews on what you guys put up, but I realize I end up going off on my own tangents. My bad, gentlemen.

    I hope you guys have a really good 4th. Enjoy!!

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    1. nope, nobody's bad. i tried to be clear that everything is fine. keep doing you.

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  5. 1776 not available on Netflix (up here anyway), so I ordered the Blu-ray. Not as pricey as the BMW box, but you have guys have cost me money once again.

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  6. Christian and Sean, I think I owe you an apology. Looking back on the last few months, I have spent far too much time using this wonderful blog as a place to write my own reviews, rather than actually foster discussion.

    This was wrong of me.

    This is the one place on the Internet that actually has conversation on the show. IGN is a joke--"Commonism" got a 7.5! And Tumblr...is obsessed beyond obsessed with ships.

    I care about this website very much, and I want you two to be successful and fulfilled here.

    I will adjust my comments from now on with this in mind.

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    1. you dont owe anybody shit. i tried to be very clear that no one is doing anything wrong. do you, man.

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    2. Thanks, Sean. But Christian has a legitimate point. I could, and should, try to respond a bit more directly to you--though I think my hypothesis that Katy is deliberately playing "Maya's Mother" traits to steer Maya towards the Matthews is a bit closer to what Christian has in mind than many of my comments have been.

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    3. For the record, I too am not upset! :)

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  7. Happy Fourth to you guys!

    A Fourth of July present to anyone who wants:
    GM Upstate link:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UroDeanTscI

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    1. I am extremely fond of you Jet.

      Thanks so much!

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    2. Man, that was a fun watch. Total 180 from "Triangle"

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    3. Will give more thorough thoughts when appropriate to do so.

      But guys, I'm still wondering. Do you think an episode in an arc can retroactively improve or take away from other episodes in the arc?

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    4. Cryptid-I think neither. But I'll answer this question in more detail when the "Upstate" post comes out.

      BTW, "Upstate" is 24:33 long. Most episodes are 21-22 minutes. No wonder the scenes felt longer and the episode overall had a different feel.

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    5. I don't think an episode in an arc can retroactively improve or take away from other episodes; but I think it's possible that some arcs are best viewed as an entire arc, rather than individual episodes.

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    6. While I don't think an arc and be considered good or bad based on one episode, I do think one episode can stick out like a sore thumb if it isn't handled with as much care or thought as the other episodes in a given arc.

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    7. i loved the episode and that kiss at the end its something i wasn't expecting for it being a Disney show i want to see cory and topanga have a kiss like that.

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    8. Sheesh. I never want to be responsible for that^

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  8. So other than watching 1776--which I really need to buy myself--what is anyone else doing this holiday weekend?

    History Channel is showing American Pickers and that three-part special "Sons of Liberty," that made everything up.

    American Heroes Channel is having a much better marathon of its Revolution and Patriots miniseries.

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    1. I recommend "My Date With the President's Daughter". It's an old Disney Channel original starting our fav Will Friedle.

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    2. Cryptid, Happy Fourth of July, to you and your brother, and every other American here. Is there a book on American history you would recommend?

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    3. Ah, Milestones, why didn't you tell me you loved American history?

      It all depends on what you're interested in. If you like biographies of historical figures, giants among men, then I recommend "John Brown, Abolitionist: The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights." It's not the most thorough of books on Brown, but it was informative and easy-to-read.

      Or maybe the Founding Fathers are more up your alley. "Patrick Henry: First Among Patriots" is one of my favorites. "The Minutemen and Their World" is another great one. Thomas Jefferson is my hero, after Patrick Henry, but I couldn't tell you a particularly good tome on him.

      There are other books out there, some of them truly wonderful, but nothing immediately comes to mind. What time periods interest you most? The early explorers? The Civil Rights Movement? The Great Depression?

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    4. Well my big holiday was Friday for Canada Day but I hosted a games night today and we played Mario Kart and variations on Cards Against Humanity.

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    5. Oh long weekend. That would explain why things have been quiet this weekend. We have one public holiday between June and the end of December, and that's Labor day in October.

      Happy long weekend then.

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    8. Thanks, Will, but it's more than a long weekend.

      Canada Day and the Fourth of July are hugely important to the identity of their respective nations.

      Canada Day celebrates the unification of the Canadian colonies in 1867.

      And the Fourth of July is the date the United States observes its Declaration of Independence from Great Britain.

      Consider them the equivalent to your Constitution Day.

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    9. Cryptid, thanks!

      I use to dabble in history, though that effectively came to end about fifteen to twenty years ago or so, whenever it was the History Book Club stopped servicing Canada and sold its member list to an outfit up here whose monthly offerings didn’t much interest me. I tended to look for books on ancient or early European history, sometimes overviews of particular peoples, Mongols, Bretons, whatever was available. When it came to biographies, I gravitated to women: Hatchepsut, Teresa of Avila etc. I figured I would get around to American history eventually, and first looked to stuff that was by comparison off the beaten path, but it never happened.

      I was thinking about the American Revolution. Maybe because it’s the Fourth of July, or because viewing 1776 is in my summer plans. Also, perhaps due to some combination of getting older, a sharp change in political direction, and finding myself now having regular conversations with Americans, the idea of national identity has been on my mind.

      I am just old enough, barely, that Mother England looms very large in my earliest memories of national symbols. The first flag I learned to draw was the Union Jack (the second was the monstrosity, at least to a child with crayons, blank paper and an assignment, that used to be our unofficial national flag). At assemblies we sang God Save the Queen at least as often as we sang O Canada. It was a while before I saw a map in school that didn’t identify the country as the Dominion of Canada.

      It’s weird to think of such mundane memories as the consequences of history, and I really must stop using comments here to publish my memoirs in non-sequential fragments. But, rather late in life, understanding the revolution you fought and we rejected suddenly seems very important.

      Sorry for the ramble, Cryptid. Hope you had or are still having a great Fourth of July.

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    10. We know about Independence Day here; but Canada Day means like, nothing to us here. It's probably due to the fact that we get a -lot- of American shows here, and through those and movies it gets mentioned a lot. I was born in American; so I used to get teased about it fairly frequently as a kid.

      Constitution Day doesn't mean a lot here; probably because that Day is actually January 1. Australia Day, despite the... controversy it still causes, is probably the closest equivalent.

      But apart from the sidetrek, hope the day was good.

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    11. Interesting thoughts, gentlemen.

      I knew a little about Constitution Day vs. Australia Day, but thought Constitution Day was a bit closer to Canada Day on the spectrum of state holidays.

      Ancient history more your cup of tea, Milestones? Fascinating stuff, but it was always harder for me to get invested. I loved the Revolutionary War especially because Shipping and I are descended from a prominent figure of the early revolutionary days.

      I guess it's that the Revolution and the Civil War and the other Events of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries felt a bit more tangible. Something we could touch. Even now, the explorers of Canada's wilderness seem more real than the European explorers of China and India or South America.

      Oh, and if you ever wrote your memoirs, Milestones I would be first in line at the bookstore. I love your rambles.

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    12. Interestingly enough, I used to love ancient history at school. I only really got into modern history in Years 11 and 12; but that was also when modern history started getting into more European stuff rather than Australian history; which always kinda bored me.

      Though, it's lately taken on more of an intrigue for me, as we've been researching our family history lately, and it's intriguing the amount of people from my family crop up in early(ish) Australian history. More late 19th century than convict times though.

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    13. Cryptid, some day you will have to tell me about your ancestor. Nothing so spectacular in my family tree. I did have a great uncle who was an MP and later mayor of a small city, and I have a cousin whose name would be known to curling aficionados.

      Interesting that you sight the tangible. It was the opposite for me, the appeal of the distant and mysterious steering me to ancient history just as it did with science fiction and astronomy. It’s only relatively lately that I find myself drawn to the tangible. If you have a book recommendation or two about the Revolutionary War, let me know.

      Will, for a time my younger brother, I think as a preschooler with nothing to do but watch TV, believed we lived in America and could not be convinced to the contrary.

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  9. Speaking of 1776, how many times have each of you seen it? I've watched it 3 times.

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  10. Is it bad that I hope episodes of GMW are bad just so I can see you guys tear it to shreds? I'm more excited for your reviews than I am for the actual episodes. Seriously. You're hilarious. Your reviews of Bay Window, Commonism, Legacy, and others have had me laughing so hard that tears come out of my eyes (And Sean I love your humor)! Also have to say that I agree with 99% of what you guys say, and Happy Fourth of July!

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    1. I'm like 99% sure this commenter is my mom

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  11. New tweet: Girl Meets Writers ‏@GMWWriters · 5 hours ago

    World Meets Girl: An interactive episode. The audience is the show. But then, it always was. #Takeontheworld


    I've read it's an "Eric Hollywood" deal with look alikes for the cast. A few original ideas would be nice, but it appears they have run out of those.

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    1. Cripes, looking at the responses to that tweet, I definitely see why they're pandering to the Triangle for such a long time.

      The audience of 12-16 year old girls is definitely still the primary demographic, and they're definitely fighting the shipping wars HARD.

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    2. Gosh, I haven't felt the urge to purge my eyeballs so hard in months.

      That being said, Jacobs said a while back that Disney actually is making sure the episodes are "appropriate" for their demographic.

      God Almighty, I don't know whether to feel disdain for the Writers, or very deep pity. This just can't be what they had in mind....

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    3. The writers willfully wrote themselves into this corner. Now they must live with the consequences. We didn't need to be here, but here we are. They made this bed, now they'll lay in it. I really don't have sympathy for them. The only people I feel bad for are the talent and us, because we're watching this happen.

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    4. The Girl Meets Hollywood episode is being directed by Ben Savage and written by Mackenzie Yeager, the new writer who wrote Jexica. I have new hope for this episode.

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  12. Hi, can any of you guys check out my blog?It's girlmeetsworldphd.blogspot.com. My blog is very opinionated. like it or hate it.

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    1. Looks like a lot of emphasis on shipping, which isn't really my thing, but good luck!

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  13. Who did Lucas choose in this non-triangle?

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  14. If anyone wants it,

    Promo for Meets True Maya:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTKuwoNNd6E

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