An Arguement Against Causality

There's nothing I can say to make this right.



What was Alf thinking?

Thanks Shortpacked.

Cuff the Clark and ... George Michael

I was apparently totally screwing around at the beginning of this television season. I'll blame this miss-portunity to Clark and Michael not actually being on TV. The show is hosted online by CBS and stars Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Superbad) and Clark Duke (friend of Cera). Defining the show is a little tricky as it seems to be a documentary crew (hired by Cera and Duke) following the two as they make and attempt to sell the show they are currently filming. Obviously a mocumentary though still a snake eating its own tail. There are ten approx. ten minute episodes that comprise the entire season.

The show centers around Cera and Duke, so their interaction is critical to the success of the show. Both play oddball characters that react unpredictably and without any ounce of social awareness. There is plenty of the awkward humour Cera is so adept at playing (honestly I think he plays awkward better than any actor I've ever seen) and a copious amount of funny guest stars like David Cross, Tony Hale, and Andy Richtor. Also it's cool to see Sam Weir has grown up into quite the young man. Finally it has the best title sequence of any show I've ever seen.

The show isn't the bees-knees of comedy though, it falters more often than it succeeds in the beginning, but as the show progresses it certainly becomes quite enjoyable. My favourite is the penultimate episode and it's certainly worth a gander if you don't feel like watching the show from the start. Check it out.

Thursday Bonus Content (TBC): I had an argument with my cousin regarding Superbad a while ago. My cousin thinks Jonah Hill is going to be the next big comedy star and I unfortunately agree. Hill is capable of funny but so often resorts to bombastic cursing for his laughs, which will likely serve him quite well in his future. However, in that movie and all his other roles, Cera is able to act with such subtlety that his comedy comes not just from his lines but from his idiosyncratic mannerism. This makes his acting and comedy quite engaging for me, unlike the humorous yet relatively unchallenging fuck-yeller Hill who will no doubt be appearing in theatres near you soon enough. That being said, Juno comes out this December if I'm not mistaken.

The Bible is Full of some Badass Mofos

I was trying not to just post links to things that are funny but, hey, the semester is almost over, this is funny, and I've got other things to do than blog at length about the Top 9 Badass Bible Versus. But a quick sample regarding Moses' Egyptian incident in Exodus 2:

"Moses, seen here, is about to murder the hell out of an unsuspecting Egyptian."

"Moses later defeated the Egyptian Pharaoh, who, if we remember correctly, had been using Hebrew slaves to construct a 40-foot-high armored battle suit capable of launching nuclear missiles to anywhere in the world."

Found via Boing Boing. And obvious thanks to *sigh* Cracked.com.

Amiss to Push some Daisies

As I approached my 10am class this morning cancelled notices coalesced in my sleep-blurred vision. My body hit the wall in a last ditch effort to keep from collapsing. I used my head to force myself off the cold brick wall and roll back to a stand. A classmate swore and asked if anyone wanted to go for a beer. Alas society's laws against such a thing.

So I find myself in the student centre, listening to Dub Side of the Moon, and without the book I so crucially need to be reading at the moment. Might as well get off another entry though, the only other thing I could do is school work.

When I was home last so long ago (sorry mom) my mother showed me a television show called Pushing Daisies. I wasn't a big fan, perhaps because my mother was so adamant that I would love it (sorry mom). Even so, the quirkiness lingered in my subconscious. I'm not too sure what triggered the renewed interest but it may have had something to do with having nothing else to watch due to this damned writers strike. I ended up downloading the entire season thus far. My mother turned out to be on to something after all, though I still hate every brand of CSI under The Who (again, sorry).

These are the facts: Ned (the pie maker) has the unique ability to bring dead people back to life. However if he touches them again they re-die, and more severe, if he doesn't re-die them in a minute someone else will die to take their dead-place. Logically he ends up partnering with a PI and waking up murder victims to find out who killed them to collect rewards. When he finds his childhood crush (Chuck) dead and brings her back to life to ask after her murderer, he can't bring himself to kiss and thus kill her. It's very romantic, except they can't ever touch or cause Chuck to let loose her mortal coil, again. Elaborate at first, yes, but essentially it feels like a cross between Desperate Housewives and Dead like Me.

As you can guess the show is pretty damn quirky. It exists in a world not real, but perhaps a world so influenced by mystery novels and unapologeticly sappy romances that things like love at first glance and murder by scratch-n-sniff are perfectly common place. I say this but the wonderful thing about Pushing Daisies is it's ability to acknowledge itself. The PI, Emmerson, is usually there to make a sarcastic comment about how odd the murder is, or how lame Ned and Chuck's conversation is (indeed hanging the lantern I'll admit). Besides the quirky world, the dialogue is some of the most clever on TV. I wouldn't toss this around lightly, and later I'll put my comments in perspective, but the stuff they say on this show is often so clever I get mad that the Office is what it is currently.

In the end I'm surprised. There were all these comedies I was looking forward to this season and have been relatively disappointed by all of them (fyi BNL now provides the theme for the lame duck Big Bang!) and along comes this show I paid no heed to at first and yet proves to be the best new comedy of the season, perhaps even the best show on TV period. Chuck is mediocre, Office faltering, and SVU, well, child abuse and rape can only be funny for so long.

So if you haven't already, watch some Pushing Daisies. It'll make you believe in love again, or at least necrophilia.

Bored Girls and Comedy (Hott!)

Thought I should put up a link to this. I'll keep my opinions on Dane Cook to myself but definitely encourage anyone to check out their local stand-up scene.

Bender Bending Rodríguez's Back, Baby

Shut up friends!, I was cruising around IGN's TV reviews a few days ago. Boy, do they have my ass kicked in review quantity. Though seeing the giant scores they're giving some pretty mediocre Office episodes, I feel somewhat appeased that I'm a fair bit more elitist. *notch*

Anyways I stumbled upon a review of the new Futurama movie, Bender's Big Move. "Shit, they were making those weren't they!" I'd forgotten but started my download almost immediately.

I was hesitant. I loved and do still love Futurama, but that ex-girlfriend who was torn away by moronic TV execs is never the same when she walks back into your life. I mean the beret was cool in high school but when you're pushing 22 it looks a little silly. Also, Family Guy sure has sucked since it came back on the air. Each episode is like a bunch of chimps trying to approximate what Family Guy used to be. Maybe orangutans.

So I watched it. And it was sorta disappointing. I mean it wasn't terrible but it wasn't awesome either. Bender was the source of most of the laughs, which is abnormal as I tend to like the Professor, Zap, or Zoidberg more. Zap was pretty funny but was on screen for about 3 minutes. Some of the oddity has been lost which was always my (everyone's) favourite.

I was also worried that the "movie" would play like four episodes of Futurama pasted together. *cough cough Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story cough.* And surprisingly the plot held up pretty well. I don't want to give too much away but there's time travel. I love multi-layered time travel narratives, especially ones involving time-cops. The story was actually engaging and even had some moderate surprises. I've read some complaints about the Leela-Fry dynamic as tired but frankly has there ever been a television show without the will-they-or-won't-they get-together couple? And if that's been the driving force of the show why wouldn't it be the driving force of the movie? Yes, it's in there and it's sorta lame, but this means to me that the next three Futurama movies will likely be light on the issue. Get it over with first I guess? Whatever. I'm pumped Futurama's back.

In brief: if you like Futurama you were going to watch this anyways, if you don't, then this wont change your (obviously malfunctioning) mind.

But let's face it, comedy's a dead artform. Now tragedy, that's funny!

Comedy for People into Sonic Youth

I found this article via Stereogum. If you like David Cross, Demetri Martin, and indie rock then you'll probably love this article.

That may be untrue. I love those three things and was totally underwhelmed funny wise. I was tickled but I didn't laugh. I was more surprised to find out Keanu Reeves was in a band. I remember hearing about that but the deliciousness must have alluded me at the time because I forgot. I think I need to download a few albums, Willie Shatner is getting a little dusty. (I lie. I still love that WOW pimpin' fool.)

The prospect of getting these two comedians together to listen to music, then provide this sparse two page "interview" certainly seems like a missed opportunity to me. Why not ask Cross why he still thinks The Strokes are cool or Martin about when his new Grapes album is being released? Or at least get them to star in like a Grizzly Bear video? They're the critical darlings of the moment aren't they?

Whatever. Thought you might be interested.