Tag Archive | Breaking Bad

Screenwriting as Love Drug Mania Part 1 – The High

Holy fucking roller coaster, Batman. And the ride isn’t over.

The last two weeks have been a completely new kind of writing experience for me. It feels a little weird to be able to say that at 33 years old, especially considering I was writing little stories since, like, first grade. But it’s true.

It was so intense. It felt kinda like how I imagine being manic might feel. It felt like being in love. It felt like being on reeeeeeeally good drugs. It was all rushing and inspiration and not being able to sleep and waking up early with ideas and thoughts of how to work parts of it together. And it was a lot, lot, lot of writing.

Here’s what happened. For my university, there is a requirement called a senior capstone. I’ve resisted it as long as I could, putting it off term after term, imagining the anonymous diatribes I wanted to write against the requirement in the school paper as if that could somehow exempt me from having to take a capstone class. But this winter, I had to sign up, so I picked Research Experience for Science Majors, hoping to, you know, get some research experience.

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2013 in Review

Jan20

I’m still alive. I didn’t blow myself up in a chem lab, get buried in snow while visiting family on the east coast or get kidnapped at the Coen Brothers’ new movie screening.

I did however, spend about three weeks traveling, and was super busy before and after. I have lots to post here and hope to get back on track real soon. Look for some updates, new posts, more importing of old posts (still haven’t finished that), writing samples, movie and TV reviews, and all the usual to start cropping up on a regular basis ASAP.

In the meantime, gotta say a great big YEAH BITCH, MAGNETS OH! in honor of Breaking Bad winning some Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards!

~Emilia J

P.S. Thought I’d share the blog report on last year. Going to be hard to top that for 2014!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 310,000 times in 2013. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 13 days for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Breaking Bad: Pictures from Halloween

Oct31

It was fun to be Walter White for a day. I even got to go to my workplace where I tutor chemistry in costume for a little bit. In fact the next day, someone who had seen me in costume the day before, said, “Oh, you’re the crystal meth girl!”

So here are some fun pictures:

Taking a break while cooking that sweet baby blue:

Back to work cooking that good shit:

The final product:

By the way, this is totally misleading. We did not actually cook the blue stuff. We tried. To make rock candy, I mean, not meth, but two chemists had a pretty epic chemistry fail and didn’t realize how f’ing long sugar takes to crystallize and tried to cook the stuff at the last minute using the principles of basic recrystallization that we’d learned in organic chem lab. We ended up with blue syrup. But luckily I had ordered some rock candy as a backup.

When we were carrying the little baggies around we got some great comments. One person said, “They have blue rocks! That makes me so happy!”

Oh and here is another attempt at that iconic Walt and Jesse shot with beer and popcorn, with our suits halfway unzipped but this one doesn’t work quite so well. Mostly my fault.

What were you, if anything, for Halloween?

~Emilia J

Breaking Bad Episode 516 “Felina” – The Series Finale

Oct1

“Just get me home. Just get me home. I’ll do the rest.”

So much to say that it’s hard to know where to start. I’m so full of different emotions. I loved the finale. It was so bittersweet and surprisingly hopeful, and full of sad goodbyes that were heartbreaking but understated and not sentimental. And then there are all the feelings I’m having as a fan. It was actually hard to watch the finale a second time in order to write this post because all the goodbyes hit harder the second time around. It wasn’t just Walt saying goodbye in different ways to the people in his life, but us saying goodbye to all these characters we’ve lived with since we started watching the show, characters who were written and acted so vividly that they seemed almost alive and breathing in the real world.

It’s a big loss. No more predicting what Walt or anyone else will do. No more suspense, or shocking surprises. No more crazy, off-the-wall scenarios tossed out during the weeks or years between episodes. No more time with these wonderful awful people who are all so flawed and human. But even this loss puts some sweetness in the bittersweet of it all. The show did go out on top. There are shows I love that have just gone on too long and shown a drop in quality, and it’s usually around the fifth of sixth season, sometimes sooner, so that by the end, no one really cares anymore, and just watches out of habit if at all. And there are shows that ended too soon (The Killing, anyone? Don’t get me started) with stories unfinished, left on cliffhangers that will never resolve because the writers didn’t know the last episode was the last episode.

Vince Gilligan and his brilliant team of writers did know, for a long time, and so they could craft an ending, build up to it. And craft they did.

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Live Chat for “Felina” (Breaking Bad)

Sep29

As mentioned in this post, there will now be a “live chat” post for each new episode. Feel free to post thoughts before, during and after the episode here. This will be a place for all the discussion on the new episode before the review post goes up.

I’m actually watching the first showing this week–everyone’s coming to the early one–so less than two more hours to go. I don’t feel all that excited today, though. I’m dreading what could happen to all these characters we’ve invested so much in over the last several years, and I’m just so sad that it’ll soon be over. I already feel the emptiness that is sure to set in big-time later tonight and tomorrow.

Live chat in the comments section! Have at it!

~Emilia J

P.S. Some final thoughts:
Still expecting Marie’s poisoning fantasy to play in SOMEHOW.
I may be the only person who doesn’t think that “woodworking” has anything to do with Lydia and her “woodchipper.” I think it’ll be something random that we can’t yet guess.
I think Walt dies in the episode or will be dying by the end.
Think Walt may turn himself in and take the ricin so he doesn’t have to keep living in jail.
Jesse’s a wild card but I hope he ends up okay. Live, Jesse, live!
It’s going to be fucking EPIC!

Breaking Bad Infographic: Walt’s Money and the Storage Locker

Sep28

While we wait for the finale, here’s a Breaking Bad infographic. I’ve been finding and receiving lots of cool things like this, and some videos and other fun BrBa art and such, so there will be more on its way. Hopefully it’ll all help fill the inevitable feeling of emptiness that’s bound to hit later tonight and soothe us through the BrBa DTs over the next few days.

From the creator:

Unless you’ve been sleeping under a rock for the past few years, you’ve undoubtedly heard the buzz around AMC’s hit drama “Breaking Bad”. Now the 2013 Emmy Award winner for Best Drama Series, this program has been raved by both critics and fans alike, and the guys over at SpareFoot share the same sentiment. The online self-storage marketplace decided to take a deeper look at one of the key plot points from the most recent season: Walt and Skyler’s storage unit.

They decided to try and come up with answers to some of the most detailed of questions surrounding the Breaking Bad storage unit. “What was the size of the pile of money?”, “Where exactly was the storage unit located?”. These questions, and twelve others like it are answered in this one-of-a-kind infographic from SpareFoot.

Like I said, I have some more Breaking Bad infographics and videos and other treats coming your way over the next few days, in the desperate hope that these will help with withdrawals.

Can’t believe the end is here.

~Emilia J

Breaking Bad Episode 515 “Granite State”

Sep24

“It’s over.”

Does anyone remember last year, how episode 507 was originally listed as “Everybody Wins,” instead of “Say My Name”? I was thinking that “Granite State” could’ve been called “Everybody Loses.” Every character lost a LOT in “Ozymandias,” but in this episode, the fallout really hits. Some characters can see the loss for what it is and accept it, while others can’t. I think the crux of this episode is how everyone deals with and reacts to “It’s over.”

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With a Wink and a Smile

Sep23

Yo! So I’m currently in this contest to go to the Breaking Bad finale in LA, which I’ve been desperately wishin’ and hopin’ to go to for a long while now. The contest is based on coming up with toasts, but I thought, just in the interest of trying everything I can, I’d also throw out a pitch.

This make me so uncomfortable (and I really hope the places where I make fun of myself come across) but here goes:

Top Ten Reasons You Should Pick Me for ToastingBad

10. Wanting it More

Whispers about the finale event at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery started in February. And ever since then, I’ve always kept one dedicated window on my phone’s internet browser open to a google search for “breaking bad finale hollywood forever” and would refresh it on a daily basis in hopes of new updates. For months and months, there was nothing new. In June and July the news started picking up and in August ticket info was finally available. At noon on September 4, 2013, I sat here at my computer with two browsers open, refreshing the ticket page on each like a madwoman. But even with all that, it went from “not onsale yet” to “no more tickets available” with one click of the refresh button on each browser. I was so crushed that I wrote a post about it.

In Season 5 of The Office, Michael Scott tries to start his own paper company. He has his first meeting with investors, and of course it turns out to be his grandmother’s investment group. When Michael’s Nana asks him how he expects to turn a profit in this economy, Michael says, “By wanting it more” This answer is hilarious, ridiculous and quintessential Michael. I realize that winning the chance to go to the Breaking Bad finale is a much bigger stretch than Michael Scott launching a successful paper company on his own, that my odds are WAY worse than his (which is saying something sorta astronomical), but I think I can make a case for wanting it more. Or at least wanting it really, really badly.

Point is, I was tracking this event for a over six months. The timing of the event fit my schedule so well (which came as a surprise) that it felt destined. And that’s gotta count for something, right, Nana?

9. Contributions to the Breaking Bad Community

I blog here, a lot, about Breaking Bad. My post How Walter White Poisoned Brock and What Happened to the Ricin Cigarette, which walks through the whole tangled web of lies Walt wove, step-by-step, with episode titles, pictures and detailed discussion to illuminate what happened and how Jesse finally figured it out, has helped more than TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND people (check it: photo evidence from my stats page) understand that plotline. One commenter even said, “This convoluted plot seems to be all crystal clear now about 99.1%. :) Thanks Emilia J I’m going to marry you!” This post has been linked at IMDB, televisionwithoutpity, a Radiohead forum, the Breaking Bad wiki, a bodybuilding forum, the AMC Breaking Bad site, TV Guide, and many, many other sites. Greg Otto linked it in his review of a Game of Thrones episode (it’s the “near-deaths” link) in US News and World Report.

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Live Chat for “Granite State” (Breaking Bad)

Sep22

I’m actually holding off till the second showing of the episode (people will be coming over for that one but not the first) so I’ll check back in in a few hours.

Live chat in the comments section! Have at it!

~Emilia J

P.S. Some final thoughts:

Charlie Rose
There’s been a lot of talk about fires, and smoking near meth-making…will anything come of that tonight?
That conversation with Saul from the preview, I think it’s from before Walt disappears, and will be the teaser.Jesse’s in an underground dungeon in chains and will most likely have a bucket for a toilet. Kinda like Krazy-8 was once in bike-locked to a pole in Jesse’s basement. Circularity, bitch.

Tarot Cards for the Remaining Characters on Breaking Bad

Sep22

So this was a little fun idea that was inspired by a few people over at the AMC BrBa board–Kathy, Schmeisenberg and Lydia’s Shoes–why not try reading tarot cards for the characters who are left and see if that’s indication of their fate in the next episode? Of course they aren’t real, but their stories are more finite than most things one might attempt to pick up using esoteric tools. I used to read cards all the time, so why the fuck not?

And just in case it’s not abundantly clear, this is totally in fun, not serious. Just playing around. So let’s do it.

Character Tarot Readings for “Granite State”

MARIE – Victory (Six of Wands)

That was a bit surprising. I don’t expect anyone to be feeling victorious in tonight’s episode, especially Marie, considering her husband has just died. This could pertain to an “I was right!” type feeling. Maybe in her grief, she is enjoying one-upping Skyler somehow? There is definitely a sense of pride going on here. There could also be some righteous anger. Can’t let go of the poisoning idea even though I can’t see how it would come into play. But whether it does or not, perhaps Marie will “win” somehow tonight? Or it’s all just hogwash.

SKYLER – Knight of Discs

This card actually fits Skyler very well. The knight of discs is pragmatic, steady, solid, concerned with the little details that add up to building a future. The knight of discs is savvy and careful about matters of money, again always focused towards building a future. This indicates acting out of logic and practicality and not so much out of emotion. We might see some calculated moves on Sky’s part, that shrewd intellect of hers leading the way. Skysenberg may be at it again. To me this card doesn’t necessarily indicate an outcome so much as a mindset. I think she’ll be using that big brain of hers to deal with things the best way she can for the long-term benefit. Maybe that will mean playing into what Walt set up in that call, or maybe it will mean fessing up everything she knows if that’s what’ll be best for the kids, or maybe it could mean floating Walt’s false confession (doesn’t seem likely though). The point is, if there’s anything to this, Sky will be acting out of logic and reasoned thought rather than emotion. And she has that potential in her, big-time.