tcesritment
By JAMES COUCHE
STAFF WRITER
JTCSIOI@PSU.EDU
It is no secret that the Internet is
beginning to surpass television.
The wealth of content that
it provides is miles ahead of
every other medium; it is more
outlandish, more plentiful and
more original than anything on
television or radio.
The perfect example of such
content is "Sock Baby," a series so
delirious it could only exist on the
Internet.
"Sock Baby" is the creation
of Doug TenNaple, the man
who created the hit video game
"Earthworm Jim."
The story follows the
misadventures of '7os style kung
fu fighting Ronnie Cordova and
his cybernetic friend Burger.
The whole thing starts off
simply enough with Ronnie and
`Gossip Girl' as farfetched, entertaining as gossip itself
BY ALLISON MILLS
STAFF WRITER
MXA932@PSU.EDU
The CW's hit series "Gossip
Girl," which boasts about
being every parent's nightmare,
combines the beautiful and the
unrealistic to create a drama
about high school teenagers.
The show revolves around the
lives of trust-fund children and
the Paris Hiltons of the fictional
world. We watch along with their
peers in New York City as they
fall in love and make mistakes.
Not entirely revolving around
the rich, however, Gossip Girl
also follows the struggles of a
Brooklyn family trying to fit into
the world of Manhattan's elite.
The beautiful cast includes
Blake Lively as the passionate
and genuine Serena van der
Woodsen, and Leighton Meester
as the scheming and controlling
Blair Waldorf. Kelly Rutherford
is Serena's mother, Lily van der
Woodsen. The rich boys include
the brooding and sensitive Nate
Archibald played by Chace
Geek Corner: 'Sock Baby', baby
Burger setting out to get
something to eat with a
small sock baby in tow.
No sooner do they step
out the front door then
they are attacked by evil
Greys: ghoulish warriors
in black suits. What
ensues is three episodes
of Ronnie and Burger
fighting to defend sock
baby using everything
from kung fu to origami
creatures that turn into
CGI monsters.
Absolutely nothing about
"Sock Baby" seems to
make sense. The dialogue
is beyond bizarre and the
performances are very
over the top. Ronnie
Cordova is decked out
in a 1970 s style leisure
suit, a gold medallion and
aviator sunglasses. Burger
looks like a patchwork
cyborg with swimming
Crawford and the devilish and
manipulative Chuck Bass is
portrayed by Ed Westwick. On
the other side
of the bridge,
Matthew
Settle is Rufus
Humphrey,
who sacrificed
to send son
Dan (Penn
Badgley)
and daughter
Jenny (Taylor
Momsen) to
the exclusive
private school
of the very
smart and
very rich
In this
senes we see
friends have
sex with their
best friends'
lovers. We
see the teens
use drugs and
drink alcohol.
And it is
portrayed as
"Sock Baby" is one of a growing number of
TV-like shows on the interne
glamorous. No wonder parents
don't approve.
Yet I don't think parents need
to courtesy
The CW network's "Gossip Girl", based on the best-selling book series, has
quickly become the latest teen-drama show to capture young girls' hearts.
goggles and hair that is
literally drawn onto his head
with a sharpie marker.
The whole series has a very
no-budget look to it since all
of the wild action happens
in' front of someone's (the
director's) house in the
middle of the suburbs.
Do not let this fool you into
thinking that the series is
low quality. The production
is quite slick with great
costumes and special effects
and the fight scenes are as
good as anything coming
out of Hollywood.
"Sock Baby" has an
incredible amount of energy
and never has a chance to
get boring. Either people are
fighting to the death or they
are saying things that are so
ridiculous it will make your
jaw drop. It also helps that
the episodes are only about
10 minutes long at best.
to worry if their children enjoy
watching "Gossip Girl" because
it is unrealistic. It may give them
CW Network, LLC.
Shows like this are rare on
television outside of programs like
"Adult Swim" (which gets much
of its content from the Internet).
Most networks would not know
what to do with a show about
people fighting over a talking sock
puppet while going out to "food
up."
That is the beauty of Internet series
like "Sock Baby." They represent
something that only the Internet
and independent producers can
provide innovation mixed with
insanity.
TenNaple and company are free
to let their imaginations run wild
and the show will go on for as long
as they want it to. "Sock Baby"
has drawn a lot of attention since
the release of the first episode and
it has attracted Hollywood actors
as a result. The recently released
fourth episode features both Jon
Heder ("Napoleon Dynamite")
and Doug Jones (Abe Sapien of
"Hellboy").
unrealistic expectations about
sex, but chances are that there
are enough pregnant kids in their
class to keep them disenchanted.
Perhaps it is an accurate
portrayal of life as spawn of the
very rich, but since most viewers
have no links to that world, there
is no way to know for certain.
While totally unbelievable to the
point of being distracted, it is a
fun show to watch because it's
easy to enter that world.
Television doesn't have to
be realistic; it only has to be
entertaining to the viewer.
While many shows entertain
by depicting realistic scenarios,
"Gossip Girl" is so farfetched
that it becomes very easy to be
intrigued by the crazy plot. Like
a soap opera, viewers watch
to be entertained and do not
concentrate on the realities of the
situations. Then when the Gossip
Girl blogger narrating the show
says in every episode, "You
know you love me," viewers nod
because they know they love the
show, even against their better
judgment.