Borrowing ideas from sitcoms, one of the sections on the TV totem, may not be super smart, but that stupid charm on full display during “Crush Landing” is what separates Greek from other teen-oriented dramas. During commercial breaks, I flipped over to the new 90210 to check out one of the most hyped shows of the fall. Watching this, along with checking out Gossip Girl clips on YouTube in an effort to figure out why people are ga-ga over it, made me appreciate Greek’s stupider endeavors. Those other shows take themselves too seriously, while Greek isn’t afraid to feature the lines “I want to bite things, I want to bite her.” Give me stupid LOL over stupider OMGWTF anyday, even if I get Just Shoot Me vibes sometimes.

Summary

ZBZ’s crush party is upon us, throwing Casey and Ashleigh into a downtrodden state given the lack of boys in their lives at the moment. Life starts to turn around for sorority president and hottie Casey when she hits it off with a hot guy at career services. Turns out this hot guys is Ashleigh’s “hot-ness monster.” The two don’t know how to handle the situation, but settle on both hanging out with him at the crush party and letting him decide. Elsewhere, Rusty has become bored with his major, and contemplates switching to a new field of study. He tries to get advice from the awkward senior R.A., who helps him reignite his engineering flame (through zany methods!). Cappie and Rebecca exploit the controversy surrounding her to get free stuff. And Evan and Frannie do stuff more boring than the RNC.

Representations of College

- Nobody in Rusty’s dorm knows who the R.A. is. In fact, no one has ever even seen him. How can that be possible? Don’t they have to at least hold one meeting? Wouldn’t they patrol the halls at least once, even just for show? Don’t they have to earn the free room and board by, you know, actually doing stuff?

- The highlight of the episode, and early contender for moment of the season, was Cappie falling asleep during Rusty’s spiel about why he’s an engineer. Because, quite frankly, other people’s passions can be absolutely boring. When I hear someone start babbling about why they love acting or geology, I’m playing Connect Four in my head. Bravo for Cappie being human and not caring about Rusty’s uninteresting life.

- College girls swoon over Johnny Depp…but Christian Bale? [In Batman voice]: WHERE’S THE “HOT-NESS MONSTER?!”

- The USA Today featured in the episode looks nothing like the real USA Today.

Examples of Greek’s Bad Writing in Action

- Cappie is obsessed with Garfield, even saying at one point “he’s a cat who likes lasagna.” This isn’t funny, it’s stating a truth, like saying Marmaduke is a dog or Dilbert sucks. I think this comic strip sums up the writer’s mistake.

- Rebecca to parking permit guy Toby Kwon: “Help me Toby Kwon, you’re my only hope.” To quote Darth Vader in Return of the Sith, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

- The introduction of the extra-kooky character of Betsy, the lovable recovering alcoholic. She exists for no good reason. She’s almost as bad as the “hot-ness monster.” Almost.

Closing Question - Wha’choo talkin’ bout cast of Greek?

“Brothers and Sisters” felt like one of the weakest installments of the show to date, but I have hope that the season can pick up the overall quality quickly. Seriously, did you watch the trailer to College, in that link in the last paragraph? Even Greek wouldn’t stoop to such shoddy quality.

Episode Summary

The annual Greek Week games grace Cyprus Rhodes, and reacquainted pals Rusty and Calvin try to stay neutral during the events to avoid sparking old, bad feelings between the two regarding house loyality. Casey, meanwhile, attempts to figure out how to deal with Rebecca, who’s Spring Break misbehavior has become an Internet sensation and landed ZBZ in hot water. The troubled senator’s daughter isn’t helping by getting completely trashed in public and beating the crap out of bloggers. Evan and Frannie debate whether to make their new relationship public, especially on how to break the news to Casey. Elsewhere, Cappie dresses up like a cheerleader and prances around.

Representations of College

- ZBZ makes up a bunch of spirit shirts for Greek Week, with the girls in the house required to wear certain shirts on specific days. Every sorority sister I know owns enough house-related apparel to clothe the entire nation of Sweden, so good observation by Greek on this one.

- Rusty and Calvin attend a screening of Ben-Hur on campus. This makes no sense at all, as the only people who go to presentations of archaic movies are film majors and lonely weirdos (I should know, I’ve hit up a fair amount of vintage film showings during my Northwestern career, and I certainly am not a film major). Rusty and Calvin don’t meet any of this criteria, so they should have gone to Chipotle instead.

- After Rebecca gets wasted enough to splash around in a fountain and receive a police write-up, Cappie talks to his inebriated beau like she’s a five-year-old, using simple and slow sentences in a Mr. Roger’s tone. This is the best way to talk to a sloshed student, as anything that would go over a toddler’s head will also fly right over someone who lasted a bit too long during a kegstand.

Examples of Greek’s Bad Writing in Action

- Just because the episode features the Greek Week games doesn’t give the writers an excuse to load the show up with random references to the Olympic Games. Cappie spouts off all sorts of Olympiad trivia, and we even get the gem of a line “step away from the knee cap, Tonya Harding.”

- Rebecca, after goring a girl who was insulting her: “Put that in your blog, bitch.” Unfortunately, adding the word “bitch” to the end of a sentence has become as lazy a comedic technique as “that’s what she said” and “your mom.” Blame Britney Spears, folks.

- The Kappa Tau crossdressing cheerleader dance scene…no amount of staring at the sun can undo what I saw. The horror, the horror.

Closing Question - How soon before Cappie and Casey start having conflicting feelings for each other once again? I give it two weeks.

Actors, agents, directors, executives, rappers — none escape unscathed in Ben Stiller’s Hollywoodfarce Tropic Thunder. Controversies surrounding the film may account for its relatively unimpressive box office debut this past weekend, and reviews have been mixed. Regardless, the film did did topple The Dark Knight in its second weekend, so you have to give it some credit.

Now re-imagine Tropic Thunder for a moment, from a different perspective. You’re Brandon T. Jackson, and you’ve been cast to play rapper-turned-actor Alpa Chino. With relatively little experience (you played Junior in Roll Bounce), you now find yourself working with Ben Stiller, Robert Downey, Jr. and Jack Black. Now what’s your reaction? Give it some credit? More likeAwesome, man. Jackson, 24, participated in a round table with college journalists, and here’s what the newcomer had to say:

How did you get the role?

I auditioned, like, 15 times for Ben [Stiller] and it was crazy, because I didn’t get the role at first. Dreamworks was like, he’s just too young. They didn’t believe I could do it as far as, not my talent, but they didn’t think it would look right, a [then] 21-year-old next to all these 40-year-olds. So they hired the other actor and I guess it didn’t work right. I got a call from Ben like “Hey, uh, would you like to come do the movie?” They gave me the part, I flew to Hawaii and next thing I know I’m working with Robert Downey, Jr., Ben Stiller and Jack Black. It’s been crazy ever since.

What was it like being on set next to the guys like that?

The tough thing was being the odd man out, being the freshman, ’cause this was like my comedy grad school. I was the youngest and the blackest on the set — the real blackest — so it was different because I would talk about different things. I’m coming straight from the young hip-hop world, not even the older hip-hop world, to this, where I’m just like, “You guys see the new Lil’ Wayne video?” And everybody’s like… So it was weird, but when I got used to it and started getting around and seeing how everybody moved it became comfortable. I was hazed a little bit, but it wasn’t that bad.

Who was the primary hazer?

Ben and Robert. They would play games. It was things where they don’t believe you can do it, but you got to show them you can do it. Just little stuff. The weirdest thing is Robert would stay in character the whole time, even off camera. Ben would yell cut and he’ll still be going “Ima go to the trailer and get some chicken and barbecue sauce, wanna come with me brotha?” One time he showed up late and he was like, “You know how we always late.”

Since this is a movie about actors, how much do you think that you were playing yourself? Or did you feel you had similarities to your character at all?

My energy’s kind of the same, but at the same time it was different because I kind of became the voice of reason. Everybody was going crazy and I’m like, “We gotta stop.” It was kind of one of those things where I saw a different side of myself. It’s definitely different. I’m really used to kind of hitting the punchlines all the time, just punchline, punchline, but this was more developing character outside of just the fast-talking guy.

Did you like that?

It was uncomfortable at first, but I began to like it once I saw how it was being played out, and once I saw it in the screening.

What did you learn from working with such established comedians as Jack Black and Ben Stiller, being a comedian yourself?

I learned that… if you’re white you can do anything. (Laughter) I’m just playing. I learned that these guys are freakin’ geniuses and they work very hard and they stay working hard and they make it look easy. And it’s not. So I have to figure out how they have the time to do this, is my question.

How did you feel about Downey’s character? Did you see the satirical nature of the role?

I did feel like I was the one justifying the movie because without me, without my character, we would have been shut down. There was a scene where Robert was supposed to say the N-word, and I had to say, “No Ben, we gotta cut.” Remember the scene where Robert hugs me and does the whole, “It took a whole lot of trying to get up that hill?” It was written for him to be like, and I’ll say it, so you can hear how it sounds, “N—–s always gotta be n—–s.” It’s funny, but it would have got such a shock. Especially right now with what we’re going through with Barack and Jesse and all this other stuff. It would have been such a shock that they probably would have shut the movie down. Or they would have just cut the scene. I said “Ben, we can’t say this man. For real, it’s gonna get shut down.” So we kind of had a team huddle and I was like, “You know what’s funnier? What if I said it and he corrected me and went into some jargon, like the speech. You get the older black man speech. Let me be the young rapper and you be the Bill Cosby approach where you’re like “You all gotta stop being such and such.” So it actually worked out being one of the best scenes in the movie, I think, personally.

You played a rapper. Did you model your character off anyone in particular?

Ludacris, Lil’ Wayne and Nelly. And Diddy, especially Diddy.

Why should people see Tropic Thunder?

Shit is funny. Best two performances of this year: Robert Downey, Jr. and Heath Ledger. One’s in blackface, one’s in whiteface. Oscars, both of them.

If you could have any kind of role in 10 years, what kind of role would you want to have?

Ten years? In the next five I want my Money Talks, Chris Tucker-type, “Beverly Hills Cop” role. I want to be the “Beverly Hills Cop”-type dude for our generation. Nick Cannon done effed it up for all of us because he wasn’t funny in Underclassman. Sorry! I take comedy very seriously. When something’s funny it’s amazing, when it’s not it’s just sad. To watch my idol [Eddie Murphy] do Meet Dave, I just wanted to cry.

Method Man wants to make it clear: He’s not saying he and Redman are the best, he’s just saying nobody rocks the stage like they do.

That’s because at the fifth annual Rock the Bells, the touring hip-hop fest featuring performances from legends like A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, The Pharcyde, Mos Def, De La Soul and Rakim, as well as Redman and Wu-Tang Clan member Method Man, he knows talk like that might be considered blasphemous.

Four of those legends are Imani, Slimkid3, Bootie Brown and Fatlip who, as alternative West Coast rap group The Pharcyde, released their platinum debut Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde in 1992 and followed that three years later with the double platinum Labcabincalifornia. On Saturday, July 19 at Rock the Bells’ first stop in Chicago, they took the stage together for the first time in 11 years, further boosting the legacy of a concert series that in 2004 reunited jazz rap pioneers A Tribe Called Quest after a six year break. This year the tour has added international stops, including four in Europe and one in Japan, to a schedule that previously included only U.S. and Canadian cities.

Unlike last year’s festival, which featured hard-rockers Rage Against the Machine as headliners and was consequently attended by what the New York Times’ Jon Pareles dubbed “a cargo shorts crowd,” this year’s event drew a more traditional hip-hop fan base.

Brightly colored clothes and shoes, flat brimmed hats, billowing dreadlocks and facial piercings were on full display. Between sets, heads bobbed most enthusiastically when DJs played classics like Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth’s horn driven “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.),” an early 90s track that magazines like Spin and The Source have featured on various best songs lists.

Strangers struck-up conversations. Dialog even flowed at a nearby gas station after the show. One man’s comment of, “Who here thinks Nas was better than Tribe?” provoked icy stares from two women who weren’t feeling the Tribe MC Q-Tip’s new material, from his upcoming album The Renaissance. “But he’s a poet,” one said.

Indeed, a preference of older material seemed to rule the day. Songs off new or upcoming albums from Q-Tip, ‘80s icon Rakim and Nas elicited mixed reactions at best.

After politically charged sets from underground duo Dead Prez and Peruvian MC Immortal Technique, Rakim’s old school clout and late 80s, early 90s fixture De La Soul’s kickin’-it-on-a-Saturday-afternoon vibe created some party spirit. But things really got started with Method Man and Redman.

“The energy you give to us,” Method Man proclaimed in his gravelly voice, prefacing their set, “we give back to you.”

The duo then unleashed their hit “Da Rockwilder” before being joined by fellow Wu-Tang members Ghostface Killah and Raekwon. They proceeded to put on the day’s most memorable performance. They frenzied the crowd with their raw energy and undeniable chemistry, as they mounted speakers, crowd surfed, unloaded water bottles and rocketed around the stage.

At one point, Method Man leapt off the stage and assaulted a viewing platform off to the side, climbed it and heroically delivered a verse as enthusiastic fans swarmed beneath him and others stood behind him, separated only by a wooden guardrail.

Fans showed their approval by releasing clouds of smoke from out the sea of people.

“That was a solid throw-down!” screamed one man, probably drunk, wearing a Cubs hat. “A nine-point-five solid.”

After that adrenaline rush, Mos Def’s one man show seemed comparatively tame. But The Pharcyde dazzled behind a live band, as suspended screens above depicted giant marijuana leaves.

Many bass-heavy songs didn’t sound right over the poor sound system, which pumped too much bass and often obscured the music, but Pharcyde classics like “Passing Me By” and “Runnin’” got roars from the crowd by their instantly recognizable guitar and keyboard riffs, which sounded great.

Nas followed and, dressed completely in white, glowed ethereally under the spotlight. The crowd demonstrated its old school roots during his emotional set, responding more to well-known classics like “N.Y. State of Mind” (the lyrical substitution of “Chi-Town” for “New York” also helped) than to songs off his latest album like “Sly Fox,” after which Nas called Fox News “the devil.”

Q-Tip, one of two A Tribe Called Quest MCs, along with Phife Dawg, preceded Tribe’s set with songs from his upcoming solo album The Renaissance, but nobody knew or could make out the songs over the shoddy sound system, making for a disappointing combination. He also seemed indifferent through most of the set but become astronomically more animated for his recital of Tribe hit “Sucka Nigga.” Anxious for the Tribe, when Q-Tip finished and the stage went pitch dark, some booing ensued.

Had Phife Dawg and DJ-producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad not appeared, there might have been a riot. Wearing a Chicago Bulls Derrick Rose jersey and looking a little chubby at 37, Phife joined Q-Tip in recounting vintage Tribe.

Here as a volunteer with Rock the Vote, Max Rothstein, 19, took in the set after a day of registering voters, grooving to a climaxing medley of tracks like “Can I Kick It” and “Electric Relaxation.”

“Basically everything we wanted to hear,” Rothstein said.

If you liked Zoolander, you’ll probably appreciate Tropic Thunder. Both were directed by and star Ben Stiller; both take advantage of pop culture stereotypes; and both do offer moments of brilliance.

But both are also comedy sketches stretched to movie length, and after an opening 20 minutes of genius, lampooning every Hollywood stereotype, Tropic Thunder can’t quite sustain the spectacular momentum it builds early on.

Ben Stiller directs his first movie since 2001’s Zoolander, centering on a group of egotistical, self-absorbed movie stars shooting a big-budget Vietnam War epic. Stiller plays Tugg Speedman, an action star whose quest to be taken seriously has led him to disastrous flops like Chitlin’ and the Dude and Simple Jack. Robert Downey Jr. is Australian character actor and five-time Oscar winner Kirk Lazarus, who surgically assumes blackface through a controversial “pigmentation augmentation procedure” to play a black dude. Jack Black is Jeff “Fats” Portnoy. He likes heroin.

Precluding the movie are fictional trailers, including a Brokeback Mountain-esque drama co-starring MTV Movie Awards’ “Best Kiss” winner Tobey McGuire. This follows rapper-turned-actor Alpa Chino’s (Brandon T. Jackson) ad for Booty Sweat, his patented energy drink. The standalone trailers are Tropic Thunder at its best: pure sketch perfection.

The following 15 minutes or so continue the ferocious torrent of laughter as the film moves down the line of stereotypical movie types: the pampered, difficult actor; the overly enthusiastic pyrotechnics guy; the British director; Matthew McConaughey as Speedman’s sweet-talking, Wii Sports-playing agent and best friend; the ornery billionaire financier, etc. In their universal incompetence, these characters manage to botch an expensive explosion they only had one shot at, putting the movie ever more behind schedule. Desperate, the director takes his actors to the middle of a dangerous jungle, hoping to elicit some real emotion. When the actors lose their way, they’re quickly left to fend for themselves in territory ruled by guerrilla soldiers called The Flaming Dragons.

Lazarus is so committed to his role that he never breaks character, to the annoyance of those around him and especially the actually-black Chino. Their relationship (“What happens when a white guy acts black around a black guy?”) as well as that of Speedman and Lazarus provides most of the laughs while Black is a major disappointment — mostly because his character didn’t have much potential to begin with. All he does is go through withdrawal from lack of “jellybeans” (heroin).

By the end of Tropic Thunder, the movie has moved from a hilarious, leave-no-one-unscathed film industry farce into a tired message about embracing who you really are (Downey covering up his skin is really him covering up what’s inside, yada yada), but the message is forced and out of place. And where Zoolander was a little more unpredictable, you pretty much know what’s going to happen in Tropic Thunder. Still, a trajectory from great to just decent isn’t the worst thing in the world.

A pair of jeans that fit four very different body types perfectly – it’s a pretty ridiculous concept that comes with an oftentimes clichéd script and predictable plot, but this sequel and book adaptation is sweet and appropriate for the young female audience it is likely to draw.

The four central characters — Carmen, Bridget, Lena and Tibby, played by America Ferrera, Blake Lively, Alexis Bledel and Amber Tamblyn respectively — although not incredibly deep, stand out as women portrayed authentically in comparison to stock female characters we’ve seen this summer in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight or Mary Steenburgen as the mother in Step Brothers.

All four actresses deliver mixed performances. Blake Lively’s attempt at angst in Sisterhood is reminiscent of her often-melodramatic portrayal of Serena on Gossip Girl. Her character may not be a designer-clothes-wearing Manhattan party queen, but Lively still isn’t convincing as the wholesome character she portrays. Similarly, Alexis Bledel (although she has the cutest story line and costumes) delivers pained, deer in the headlights looks as boy drama unfolds that brings back the days of Jess vs. Dean on Gilmore Girls.

The best performances occurred when the actresses broke away from the characters they’ve played on TV. America Ferrera’s Carmen, the perfect combination of confidence and self-depreciation, has no trace of Ugly Betty, while Amber Tamblyn gives Tibby sarcasm and spunk more reminiscent of Sex and the City’s Miranda than of Joan of Arcadia.

Like the first film, Sisterhood explores parental and romantic relationships between men and women but, in its core, it’s about the importance of friendship. Bridget tries to forgive her father after her mother’s suicide and Tibby attempts to overcome her emotional unavailability with her boyfriend. Lena and Carmen also have men in their lives, but these friends are committed to being there for each other first and foremost – even dropping everything and flying to Greece when necessary in a plot twist that’s fun, but a little far-fetched.

Sisterhood provides fans of Ann Brashares’s books a plot from the original books, but doesn’t leave those who haven’t read the series or seen the previous film feeling out of the loop. Combining the juicier story lines from Brashares’s second and third books, Sisterhood follows Lena at summer drawing classes, Tibby through a pregnancy scare, Bridget on an archeological dig in Turkey and search for family roots in Alabama, and Carmen at a theater program. The movie employs the book’s format of short chapters dividing the stories of the characters. While this can make the film choppy, it adds suspense and keeps those in the theater from getting bored.

The plot can be predictable, such as when Carmen trades backstage work for a role onstage. And the dialogue often falls flat on clichés – “Why can’t you stop thinking about it and follow your heart?” “Because he broke my heart!”

Despite its weaknesses, Sisterhood’s leading ladies keep the film together and remind audiences that female characters do not always have to be dimensionless chicks. The plot and writing aren’t Oscar-worthy, but these actresses deliver believable portrayals of women devoted to their friendship.

The bottom line: With an action-packed plot and jarringly human characters, The Dark Knight is the perfect summer blockbuster.

There have been a lot of superhero movies this year. Iron Man and Hell Boy II were both heartfelt and humanistic, but the setting and the characters were always sharp reminders that this was a fantasy world — not your own.

What has always set Batman apart as a superhero is that he is completely human. He isn’t a mutant, he doesn’t possess super-human strength, and he can’t shoot anything out of his hands. Perhaps that’s Batman’s attraction to his loyal fan base, the reason he so easily transitioned from comic-book hero to big-screen action star: Batman proves that superheroes are thoroughly people. The Dark Knight takes that quality and creates a movie few, if any, superhero movies have ever done. It is believable.

The Dark Knight is set in a very human world. In the opening scene guns, grenades and good, old-fashioned treachery is utilized in a bank robbery. And those who wield these weapons aren’t from Hell or another planet; they’re human, and they die with a good shot to the head. It helps that much of the film was shot in our backyard of Chicago, including stunning, panoramic shots of the bridges along the Chicago River when the city evacuates to escape the bombings threatened by the Joker (Heath Ledger).

The action isn’t too shabby either. Whether it’s chasing the Joker in an 18-wheeler through the tunnels of LeSalle Street or battling in hand-to-hand combat, the film has variety, and gorgeous explosions. The plot is more crime-thriller than superhero flick. Tight, well-wrought and with plenty of turns (albeit, a few too many diversions), it’s also intelligent. The film asks what is the nature of good, the nature of evil and the nature of people, but never gives a single, hokey answer.

The casting is near-perfect and the acting is pretty killer. Heath Ledger has already received rave reviews and Oscar hype for his final role as the Joker. He’s sadistic, haunting and psychotic. Even with ghoulish makeup and without a back story, you don’t ever doubt that he is a man who “just wants to see the world burn.” The villains are always the hardest characters to make appear real, but it’s the little things that make Ledger’s Joker a standout, even against the likes of Jack Nicholson, who played the role in Tim Burton’s 1989 version. After a police interrogation, his trademark makeup is grossly smeared — proving that he, too, is only human, and a disturbed one at that.

Though Ledger is a standout, the performances by Gary Oldman (Lt. James Gordon), Michael Caine (Alfred Pennyworth) and Aaron Eckhart (Harvey Dent), with his always likable mix of sleaze and charm, shouldn’t be overlooked. But, whileChristian Bale’s performance as Bruce Wayne gave Batman real heart, his voice in the suit is too cartoonish for a film trying to go beyond its kitsch genre.

In the end, the movie is more about Ledger’s Joker than Bale’s Batman: the Joker’s character, not his actions, are what the whole movie is based around, and what Batman (and the audience) has to battle. What is the nature of evil?

Six Flags Great Adventure already released a rollercoaster based and named after the film. The “one-of-a-kind dark ride experience,” according to Six Flag’s Web site, may best sum up the film: “Venturing through demented hallways of twists, turns and hallucinatory images, [audiences/riders] are tormented by The Joker himself.”

Other Chicago fan conventions this summer

GREEN PARTY NATIONAL CONVENTION

July 10-13

Sort of like a Ralph Nader fan convention, the official party of tree-huggers will congregate at the Palmer House Hilton to decide which of their members will receive less than 1 percent of the November vote this time.

TERMINUS (HARRY POTTER)

August 7-11

They couldn’t get J.K. Rowling, but they did get her editor, Cheryl Klein. And, for some reason, kids author Tamora Pierce. The magic will invade the Hilton Chicago in August.

STARGATE SG-1/STARGATE ATLANTIS

August 22-24

The most popular “Star-___” series since Star Wars. And Star Trek. And possibly Star Jones. Guests at the O’Hare Wyndam will include Michael Shanks and Ben Browder.

A decade ago, when Anthony Zucconi met Andrea Ivanovs, they weren’t exactly themselves. He was dressed as sleazy mob boss Tony Dracon; she was dressed as the gargoyle form of New York City policewoman Elisa Maza. Their personas were rivals, but they must have looked cute together — enough to be awarded the title of “Cutest Couple” from Greg Weisman, one of the very men who created both characters.

Exactly one year later, Zucconi and Ivanovs were in costume again. This time, he was a self-serving, pony-tailed CEO named David Xanatos; she was the same Elisa Maza, but in the character’s human form. On the masquerade floor, he asked her to marry him. “I knew I wanted to propose at the ‘Gathering,’” he says. “Because without it, we wouldn’t be together.”

That “Gathering” was, and is, the Gathering of the Gargoyles, a convention held by hardcore fans of the animated Disney television series “Gargoyles.” From June 27 to 30, the 12th annual Gathering will host about 200 devotees at the Hotel Orrington, a block from the Northwestern campus. Fans and friends will arrive from California, New York and even overseas to discuss Gargoyles semantics, browse “Gargoyles” artwork, participate in a “Gargoyles” radio play and “mug” (interrogate) a member of the show’s original production team.

What about this semi-old cartoon is so inspiring for them? The Gathering’s Web site tells a poignant truth: for its followers, in unexpected ways, the show “brought us together and in some way, small or large, changed each of us.”

“We were making something special”

In 1991, then-28-year-old Greg Weisman was a Disney executive heading a team to develop new shows for the Disney Afternoon programming block when the idea for “Gargoyles” came to him. “I was always fascinated with this idea of gargoyles,” he says, “that you put up something ugly on your wall to scare away something worse.” His team originally pitched it as a comedy series, but Disney CEO Michael Eisner didn’t bite. So Weisman revamped the concept with less-cute critters and a darker, semi-Gothic tone.

His timing was right. With the recent success of Beauty and the Beast, Disney felt ugly was hot. In 1994, the show made its debut on Disney Afternoon, and quickly gained a following. As part of a syndicated block, free from network censorship, Weisman was able to push the envelope a little further, exploring themes as complex as genocide and inter-species romance. Consequently, even parents could enjoy the adventures of animated, speaking gargoyles transplanted from 10th-century Scotland to the rooftops of modern-day Manhattan. In their new home, the intelligent beasts wake from stone each night to fight foes like Xanatos, the anger-filled gargoyle Demona and reality-TV stars “The Pack.”

“It wasn’t dumbed down,” says Jennifer Anderson, known as “CrzyDemona” in the community, who began watching Gargoyles in 1994. “It was enough that me and my husband could watch it, and my four kids loved it as well. It’s got a little something for everyone.”

Fourteen years later, Anderson is the volunteer president of Gathering of the Gargoyles, Inc., the non-profit organization that manages the convention. She has attended 10 conventions to date.

Weisman said that, while he knew from its conception that Gargoyles was something special, “I never could have imagined that years later we would have any conventions, let alone 12.”

Salvaging a series

Few animated shows are as long-lived as “The Simpsons”; most are lucky to last more than a season or two. “Gargoyles” met an ignoble demise: Disney assigned a completely different production staff to the third season, retitled the show “The Goliath Chronicles” after the main character, and released 13 episodes so reviled by the community that they still refuse to acknowledge the third season’s existence. The show was quickly canceled in 1997.

That could have been the end for “Gargoyles.” Instead, with the help of the then-new Internet, word began to circulate through mailing lists. People began to talk of a convention, and a woman named Mae Li offered to host it in New York. Patrick Toman, a college junior at the time, learned of the event through Station 8, a pioneer online forum centered around “Gargoyles.” “In the fall of ’96, I first got the Internet,” he says, and instantly “started looking for ‘Gargoyles’ sites.” Today, Toman is one of only three fans to have attended every single Gathering.

After the second convention, also in New York, the Gathering went on tour across North America. In 1999, it was in Dallas; in 2000, Orlando. The convention left the States for the first time in 2004 to be hosted in Montreal. Members of the tight-knit community greet each iteration as a focal point in their year — a chance to make new friends and reunite with the old.

“It’s like a family reunion for us,” Zucconi says (and Anderson uses the exact same words). “We all live so far away that it’s the only time we can see each other. I’ve become close friends with people from every walk of life.”

Bringing friends and family together for the Gatherings, however, is no easy task. Susan Leonard, 41, of Lincolnshire had to begin planning this year’s convention in Evanston almost two years ago. The annual conventions survive, she says, thanks only to the dedication of fans.

More intimate than Star Trek

At Gathering 2008, the four days of festivities will be jam-packed with constant “Gargoyles”-related activity. Panels have names like “Combat & Weapons” and “Gargoyles Biology & Culture.” Attendees audition for and perform a radio play based on the show. The highlight event, the masquerade ball, takes place on Sunday night. Participants are encouraged to dress as a favorite character (called “cosplay,” short for “costume-playing”) and dance until midnight.

Comparisons to Star Trek conventions, long infamous for their oft-crazed “Trekkie” attendees, are inevitable. The two series even share a number of actors: John Rhys-Davies, Jonathan Frakes and a dozen others have both lent their voices to “Gargoyles” and appeared on a version of Star Trek. But Patrick Toman, a member of both fandoms, says there’s a core difference at the conventions: intimacy. At the much smaller Gatherings, “you’re not in awe looking up at [special guests] — you get to talk with them person-to-person,” Toman says. “I think if I had to choose between a big Star Trek con and a Gathering, I’d choose the Gathering.”

This year, those guests will include Weisman, Adcox and Keith David, who voiced the gargoyle Goliath. They are flown in and accommodated at the hotel for a weekend, then sit for free at “Mug-A-Guest” sessions where almost any question can be put forth. While guests are treated like celebrities, their fans are often also their close friends. Weisman is more like a friendly patriarch than a looming superstar, though fans like Leonard aren’t shy about calling him “absolutely brilliant.”

“I work in what, emotionally, can be a pretty tough business,” Weisman says. “I go to this ‘Gargoyles’ convention once a year, and I get an ego-boost that just carries me through into the next summer.”

Married with children?

Groups like the Gargoyles fanatics often fall into a category of “wispy communities” — groups that interact little outside of their respective conventions, says Northwestern University sociology professor Gary Fine. In these groups, Fine says, “you’re not likely to find many men and women who have children. When you get engaged [or] married, each of those are forces that push you out of these voluntary subcultures.”

But Fine might be surprised at the Gathering. The convention-goers do return to ordinary lives and jobs after the event: Leonard is a dog-breeder, Toman a structural engineer, Morgan a residential counselor. And the immediacy of the Internet lets them stay in touch through fan work and forums.

In addition, many members of the community do indeed have kids. Leonard is a mother of two, and Jennifer Anderson’s kids range from 11 to 18. One, Stephanie Scoggins, 18, says that “Gargoyles” has been a part of her life for as long as she can remember, and she passed it along to her younger siblings. “They were exposed to it as soon as they were able to focus on a TV,” Scoggins says.

And most fans find their friends and relatives supporting of their unique interest. “My family think it’s great that I found someone with a similar interest,” says Andrea Zucconi. “They don’t have a problem with it. But my grandmother’s still kind of scared.”

Of her husband?

“No!” she laughs. “Of the gargoyles!”

Geeky and proud of it

For many “Gargoyles” fans, the 2008 Evanston Gathering will be the central four days of their year. They’ll be doing what they love, with the people they consider both inspirations and friends.

They will create memories, as with last year’s Gathering in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., when Tony Zucconi and a group of friends all got tattooed with the show’s “Phoenix Gate” symbol. “If that doesn’t show the love for the show, then nothing will,” Zucconi says. “The Navy has given me the power to protect people all over the world, but Gargoyles was what kept me going through the hardest times.”

Andrea liked the tattoo; she provided the drawing. “We’re all terrible geeks,” she says cheerfully. “But we’re proud geeks.”

Proud geeks, indeed, and ones with no intention of renouncing their geekhood. Plans for the 2009 Gathering are already in place. And so just as the series’ gargoyles live in clans, so does the clan of Gargoyles fly onward in their noble—geeky—quest.

Thanks to the footage from Carrie St. Michel, you can see where this site’s most prolific writer’s passions developed. He cringes at a cup of foul drink like he cringes at the sounds of Mika. In search of cute animals, he yells out for a doggy. His singing amounts to the experimental noise that One Click Wonders always pimps out. He starts reppin’ The Simpsons at age four. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any video evidence of the Mr. Lister he’d become, but he does gurgle something at his father that sounds vaguely like “Top ten food-centric music videos.”

NBN will miss you, Patrick, and we wish you a Happy Hanukkah.

The episode left hints about that post-collegiate fear throughout the episode: the middle-aged hotel receptionist seemed downright miserable, entertained only by Who Wants to be a Millionaire at an otherwise drab career. Conversations about majors and the inevitable return to school were underlined with fear and anxiety. Near the end, the adult world interrupted the festivities via a Congressional scandal (no, seriously) that directly affected three characters. The most morbid line came, oddly enough, from a character who hasn’t said anything intelligent all season (and wouldn’t say another non-cringe-worthy word the rest of the episode). Before the title sequence even flashed by, Ashleigh said, in reference to appropriate beach music, “No Jimmy Buffet, we have plenty of time to listen to him when we are sad and old.” And yet “Spring Broke” hinted at the fact that the characters on this show may not have much more time before “Cheeseburger in Paradise” becomes a sonic staple.

And I’m glad Greek finally spent a lot of time touching on one of the central themes of the show. After tonight’s season finale, the future of the series seems a bit better off — sure, plenty of rehash, but the conflict of the characters trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives offers a whole slew of new possibilities in coming seasons. Tonight’s episode wasn’t the best episode, but it did an excellent job setting the next season up.

Summary

Everyone is going to Myrtle Beach, S.C., for spring break. Rusty ends up having a miserable time, and opts to head home early. As does Calvin, who misses his boyfriend. The two end up on the same bus home, and much re-connecting happens (eventually). Evan goes on a tear, meeting tons of new girls after the Casey episode, but eventually gets closer to Frannie. Casey and Ashleigh just want to have a good time and meet some boys. But things change when Casey and Cappie start getting close again, and Ashleigh finds a super hot guy she “wants to molest.” She calls him the “Hot-ness Monster,” by the way. Cringe.

Representations of College

- I think it’s hard to mess up a spring break episode of a college show — just show lots of partying and some live music (from a band called American Bang, a group I initially confused with Kings of Leon) and you pretty much cover everything that needs to be covered.

- One of the wacky things on Casey’s “spring break to-do list”? Play a drinking game. Uhhh, that doesn’t seem that out of the ordinary to me. Shouldn’t she have played one at some point at college? Weird.

- Casey freaks out when Rebecca starts doing stupid stuff while wearing her letters. I’ve been told by some of my sorority pals this is a policy, that letters can’t be displayed in photos or videos featuring alcohol.

- As much as the title “Hot-ness Monster” makes me ill, I’m starting to see that girls really do dub certain boys with equally idiotic titles. Maybe the writers of this show are really geniuses, and I’m the idiot. Why not?

Examples of Greek’s Bad Writing in Action

- Hidden geniuses or not, I’m still pointing out “Hot-ness Monster” as stupid.

- “I just met the man I’m going to molest!” Sad face goes here.

- “You’re putting my tray table into its upright position.” Cappie to Rebecca. Suprisingly, I don’t hate this because it is a bad erection joke. Rather, it’s dumb because Cappie uses an airplane metaphor for no reason. They weren’t talking about planes or commercial airflights or anything. There has to be stuff at the beach he can compare his boner to.

- Also, Ashleigh named her credit card Teresa Visa. Just… poor Ashleigh.

Closing Question - Why can’t September come sooner? Also, why is Ashleigh so stupid? The actor who plays her seems coherent enough, if the below video proves anything.