The Secret World of Alex Mack

Lately my life has seen a lot of near-misses that turned into new blessings. I couldn't get my hands on the Sugar Rush TV show, so I ended up reading the far superior original novel. The DVD series of Unfabulous is sucpiciously unavailable, so I ended up revisiting a show whose DVD I could find -- a show from my very distant past. And frankly it may even outclass Unfabulous.

I keep thinking "there's no deeper into my television history I could ever possibly go." I've revisited shows from when I was 12 only to find they're thrice as well-written as I ever could guess. Will I someday realize Barney was a work of genius? I doubt it. But Alex Mack takes my archeological excavating to new heights thus far, a show all the way back from the mid-90s. It hasn't knocked me completely off my feet but it has left me very deeply impressed as an expert piece of solid craftsmanship, and a definitive work in the teen genre.

The Secret World of Alex Mack is a Sitdram, a show that generally follows the conventions of situation comedies but with a more serious atmosphere and only the rare unambiguous punchline here or there. Sitdrams generally have a 30 minute runtime (22-ish sans commercials) and are typically very episodic like a sitcom. A term you more commonly hear is Dramedy, but a dramedy more closely resembles a drama, the way a sitdram resembles a sitcom. Dramedies frequently feature an hour-long episode running length and focus on story arcs, but with a lighter atmosphere than the stone-cold approach many dramas wield.

It didn't hit me until I popped the DVD in and watched the first episode. "Thomas W. Lynch... where have I seen that name before?" It turns out that the creator of The Secret World of Alex Mack would go on to make the impeccable South of Nowhere ten years later! And that's far from his only credit. Though not as prolific as the untouchable Dan Schneider, Thomas W. Lynch has carved out a sizable portion of Nick history, including the drama Caitlin's Way and the recent comedy Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures. His work permeates with sentimental weight, stylish production, and excellent music selection.

I find the mid 90s aesthetic of Alex Mack particularly exulting and masterfully refreshing. The mild production (as was standard in the 90s) is a glorious change of pace from the overstimulation you find on even the most supposedly "adult-oriented" programs today (i.e. news shows). It has a strong dignity and zenlike simplicity to it that for obvious reasons you don't find in any of the current Nick or Disney shows -- they're all comedies. Drama was the norm for teen live action in the mid 90s and the early 00s, but today straight-up comedy reigns unopposed. While I'm a diehard comedy fan, Nick could desperately use a new sitdram or drama. I'm hoping that after Bucket & Skinner, maybe Lynch can put together a new one.

Alex Mack truly shines when it puts aside the subplot of the chemical plant trying to capture Alex, and focuses on Alex's family and social life, crafting quality coming of age material which I find sincere and close to home. Luckily, this happens often. Alex's run-ins with the evil chemical plant are mostly unconvincing, since it only takes a few iterations to demonstrate that no consequences will really come from it. There isn't a lot of longterm plot development in the show but there is a much-appreciated smattering of schmaltz and drama covering very much relatable contnet that is realistically handled. You also have to give Mack credit for spawning the subgenre of magical power teen shows, followed most notably by Wizards of Waverly Place.

Finally, this opens up the door for me to acquire more vintage Nick shows. Luckily I have a couple options left to me: Pete & Pete, Clarissa Explains it All. Unfortunately, a lot of good old shows have never been released at all, neither on DVD-R nor on digital services like iTunes. Nick has released a few classic series and still shows several on Teen Nick, while Disney has released zero from their back catalogue and halts reruns of old shows as quickly as possible.

I'm hoping that the digital era will rectify this mistake -- today, every new episode of a show is quickly released onto iTunes and Amazon. Ideally these shows will remain available 5, 10, 15 years from now when Shake It Up, ANT Farm, and Big Time Rush become novel and therefore newly lucrative. However, it's possible old shows will be pulled from iTunes when they become no longer current -- I've already seen this happen with some music. It would seem to me a no-brainer for shows to be kept on iTunes for purchase, no matter how few buyers they get, seeing as how it's not exactly taking up space in a warehouse anywhere! But this is not always the case, only time will tell how old shows are treated.

Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer!

I've wanted to see this film ever since it came out, because it looked so inconceivably old school. Surprisingly, it's not a Nickelodeon movie, but it perfectly captures the summery, bittersweet aesthetic of live action kids shows and movies in the 90s, like Pete & Pete or Snow Day (granted Snow Day's from the year 2000).

Judy Moody wants to have the best summer ever, problem is her friends and parents are all going away. Her young Aunt Opal steps in to take care of her, but misadventure follows misdaventure and this summer is turning out a disaster! Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer is fun and carefree, with just enough drama to be engaging. Not to mention the excellent, exuberant camera work and solid performances throughout the cast. The premise is stock, but the plot is unique and universal.

Heather Graham puts in a glowing performance as the charasmatic, idiosyncratic and nurturing Aunt Opal, while Jordana Beatty acts with poise and showcases a decent bit of nuance in her command of emiting emotions with her facial expression, quite impressive for her age.

The film unfortunately recieved negative reviews, being handed the same absent-minded and lazy assesments that Ebert & ilk copy/paste into their ham-handed writing for pretty much any live action kids movie, condensing its redeeming features into having "bright colors" and calling it uninteresting. The critical zeitgiest is clear: the only admirable kids movies are animated. They'll lavish praise on any by-the-numbers Pixar film but if you make a film with actual humans in it, you've already made a fatal mistake. Even as a kid, I always prefered live action. Far be it for us to fancy something more relatable than talking inanimate objects, fairytale mentalities, and two-bit good vs. evil themes from centuries ago.

I certainly can't say Judy Moody ranks as one of my favorite movies of all-time, but it's a kids summer classic for sure and it's a spot-on new entry into a genre that has been conspicously and woefully absent as of late.

Sugar Rush

Sugar Rush is a 2004 novel by Julie Burchill that was turned into a TV series in the UK. Since the series is not available here in Region 1, I got the book instead.

I had seen it described (once) as a shallow fantasy story. Considering the premise is: a girl moves to a new school and promptly scores the affection of the head-of-the-totem-pole most popular girl, I was willing to believe it. But the concept didn't affront me -- we have, after all, been subjected to heterosexual fantasies since we were children. Even as toddlers we are fed Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Pocahontas. If hypothetically Sugar Rush's gay daydream were to show us the other side of the coin for once, that's something more than worthy of a look.

It was with a feuding mix of intrigued elation and embarassed chagrin that I discovered how utterly off-base the 'fantasy angle' was in describing Sugar Rush. The last thing I was expecting to find from Sugar Rush, was exactly what it is: one of the most disgustingly poignant and frighteningly insightful books I've ever read. Mind you, it's not poignant in a universal way, where I can say "read this book, it will change your life." It's poignant in the shockingly idiosyncratic way, where I have to wonder if -- in my specific case -- the author has been watching me live, in order to write this story. I'm a little bit terrified by this book, but only because it's been so long since I've had to face my own cold reality.

I was fully prepared for Sugar Rush to be superficial, gaudy, maybe even as bad as those preposterously graphic porn novels for houswives Wal-Mart sells about ravishing princes and gross idealized rape scenarios. But it wasn't. Not at all. I actually found it to be quite a sincere novel. Far from shallow, it's pretty insightful, verging on brilliant.

It's neither as eloquent nor as romantic as Annie On My Mind, but there's no shame in being beaten by the best. It's a different aesthetic -- one that I'm less fond of. But it's one that is, in all honesty, exceedingly more true to my actual teenage years than Annie is. Annie represents idyllic, perfect love, while Sugar Rush presents a more accurate depiction of the sordid little lives we lead. At its finest moments, Sugar Rush manages to accurately capture the naive, butterflies-in-the-stomach fun of being young, juxtaposed against the horrible rough edges inherent in the coming of age. Side by side you have the light-headed excitment mixed with fear that you get from brand new experiences, when you're young enough to feel like anything can happen; And then comes sorrow, the dread, the existential confusion that accompanies divorce, lost friendships, school. The self-doubt, the unbridled enthusiasm, the awkwardness, the drugs... portrayed just how I really experienced them all as a teen.

I was pleased to find that Maria "Sugar" Sweet wasn't quite the archetypal "popular girl" ruling the school like she had been portrayed in some write-ups. As a matter of fact, her popularity lasts all of about one paragraph, from then on out she's more of an outcast misfit. I certainly have nothing against popular people (love 'em), but two people alone in the world clinging to each other for warmth -- that's my favorite kind of love story. This novel takes a familiar set of angst and imbues it with a new modernity.

SPOILERS

I generally don't find it necessary to delve into spoiler territory in my reviews, but it's impossible to discuss the impact of Sugar Rush without doing so. So I strongly discourage those who have not read the novel, who think they ever might, from reading any further portion of this review.

While an upcoming tragedy was distinctly foreshadowed, I was expecting something categorically different, perhaps an ill-fated out-ing like in a Nancy Garden novel. I think the disastrous and illuminating phone call with Stella is the moment where the reader is supposed to realize Stella and Maria are two terminally selfish, woefully clueless peas in a pod. And I did briefly consider it, but I shrugged it off. You have to understand, my mind was set on this being a love story. An unadventurous straight-A private school prep falls for the informal but passionate city school girl? Where have I seen that before? I was fully expecting this to be the crude, unkempt 00s update of Annie On My Mind. My mind wouldn't let go of the idea that they would end up together until the gangbang scene, putting me right in the mindset of Kim and allowing me to be quite a bit as flabbergasted as she.

It's hard for me to even process this book. I have to look back on scenes like when Maria cheered Kim up after her disastrous school presentation and wonder, in light of the ending... what was the motive there? I suppose Maria was a good friend some of the time, it wasn't ALL about attention. But she still did manipulate Kim. But Maria probably didn't even realize how she was manipulating Kim. That's sort of the point, that she's simply clueless and blind.

Suffice to say, Sugar Rush mirrors what I've gone through quite ferociously. It scarily mimics a few aspects of my history that I have no intention of getting into, but what was most striking about it was the thought process Kim went through. It's not just that she was duped, but that she was duping herself to an extent. She held on to hope longer than a person reasonable should have, looking at everything that Sugar did and figuring out a way to keep believing they were meant for each other. Kim had a conclusion in mind, and morphed the circumstances to support that conclusion, rather than looking at the circumstances and deciphering what they mean. My real life tragic flaw is the very same, when it comes to love I make excuses and manipulate the benefit of the doubt until I can "reasonably" hold on to hope. Until it eventually all tumbles down, when the benefit of the doubt gives way to hard facts.

I'm really glad Zoe and Kim ended up together, though. I was always hoping they would be friends again, I never felt they should have really parted ways in the first place. I was shipping them without ever thinking they had a chance to be together. That confrontation scene at the end was exquisite. All in all I just have to say this novel was impeccable at every turn. The writing was a little odd at moments, but the story was flawless and brilliantly handled.

Now I'm off to embark on "Sweet," the novel's sequel. I'm a very trepid about what territory it might cover (since it was inspired by the portrayal of Sugar in the TV series, rather than the original novel), but with such a steller first book I'm confident it will be excellent.

Update: Sugar Rush the TV Series

Sugar Rush became a hit TV show on the UK's Channel 4 in 2005 & 2006. To prep myself for reading "Sweet," I watched a few episodes of the TV series. As a TV show, it's quite decent. Coming into it blind, I'm certain I would enjoy it a lot. But as a devout fan of the original novel, I find the TV interpretation hard to swallow. It's a show inspired by the characters of Sugar Rush (or even just its premise) rather than being an adaption of Sugar Rush itself. The characters are similar to how they appear in the book, but the plot does not align in the least. Zoe does not even exist in this adaption, although a random character named Saint (Zoe's nickname) begins appearing in season 2. The TV version of Stella never even abandons Kim & the family, thus altering her character dramatically. Basically, the TV version is devoid of every little thing that makes Sugar Rush bloody brilliant. Yet, if I can mentally divorce the show from the source material, I would enjoy the TV version as a quality (though trashy) gay teen drama that came out right around the time we in the US had the stellar South of Nowhere.

Pop 8 Collection

It's here! Couldn't stand to wait as long as I wanted but I did wait longer than the pace of new collections in 2011, at least.

1. Smooth Criminal -- Michael Jackson
2. Decode -- Paramore
3. Sheela-Na-Gig -- PJ Harvey
4. Ms. Jackson -- OutKast
5. Part of Me -- Katy Perry
6. Coming Home -- iCarly Cast
7. He's Mine -- Rodney Atkins
8. Take a Hint -- Liz Gillies & Victoria Justice
9. Party in the USA -- Miley Cyrus
10. Leave It All To Me (Billboard Remix) -- Miranda Cosgrove
11. P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) -- Michael Jackson
12. Sugar, We're Goin Down -- Fall Out Boy
13. We Found Love -- Rihanna
14. Skin & Bones -- David J. Roch