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8/10
Metaphysical Romance
24 July 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Once you understand Racing Daylight is a metaphysical romance, not really a ghost story, it becomes a simple, lovely little gem of a movie; quite easy to follow. It is about a group of people who inhabit the same space in two different times. Melissa Leo's Sadie returns to the home of her childhood to care for her bedridden grandmother. This people of the town have, as she is told often enough, 'always lived here'. The town seems to be what some people call a thin place. Lost and lonely Sadie begins to move in and out of her time and that of her civil war ancestor, Anna.

The story is lyrical and romantic, told through exquisite performances by Melissa Leo, David Strathairn, Giancarlo Esposito and a superb supporting cast. Racing Daylight does come off as a little stagy at times; the sets and cinematography are basic, almost dogme-ish. While I suspect some of the spareness is due to budget constraints, some of that choice is central to director Nicole Quinn's vision: the framing, sets and costumes convey the fluidity of time.

Racing Daylight was a pleasant surprise early on a sleepless morning.
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Once Upon a Time (2011–2018)
Disney Rehash
24 October 2011
Once Upon a Time isn't fairy tale based, it's Disney based: yet another opportunity for Disney to cram more of it's pricey pablum down the throats of the American public...for goodness' sake, Disney OWNS Jiminy Cricket and the Sheriff of Nottingham was an historic figure, not a fairy tale figure.

I love some of the Disney work like the Little Mermaid and Lion King, but the pilot episode of Once Upon a Time is one of the cheesiest and most poorly conceived things ever to come out of the Disney franchise; on a parr with 'the Gnome-Mobile'. The contrived plot seemed cobbled together with every inoffensive, non-archetypal Disney cliché a roomful of writers could muster. The three stars are for Jennifer & Ginnifer.

I had forgotten that Disney owns ABC until about 90 seconds into this episode. Still, I suspect the show will survive. (sigh) I wonder when the lunchboxes and collectible dolls will be released.
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Outsourced (2010–2011)
9/10
Sheer Ex-Pat joy
29 January 2011
In the pilot of Outsourced, Todd (played by Ben Rappaport)arrives at his workplace one morning to find the Midwestern joke catalog callcentre he manages desolate. Todd is told he can either follow the work, which has been outsourced to India or find another job. Rather than face job hunting in this economy, he chooses India.

The utter charm of this show is in the storytelling from Todd's point of view; Rappaport's simple, untraveled Todd embraces the vast cultural differences he encounters in his new home with mystified delight. As a long time American ex-pat in a different culture, I remember that feeling of discovery.

Some people have complained of stereotyping and at the beginning of the show, the characters did come off as stereotypes; Todd, like us (the American audience for whom the show is written), is uninitiated and meets several new people on the same day just as we meet them in the first half hour. Due to some of the best sitcom scriptwriting EVER, characters have developed, Todd's POV has dampened and the show has become a true ensemble.

I could write several more paragraphs about Outsourced, rhapsodizing the scriptwriting, superb ensemble cast, direction and arc of the show- but I will instead tell you this; outsourced is a show about Joy- about reveling in our differences and sameness and foibles and strengths.

The only reason I didn't give it 10 stars is that is reserved for M*A*S*H* and the first few years of Taxi.
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