Scary Movie wasn't Funny.

I dislike horror movies. In fact I don't like terror in any form. Probably just a disposition developed from having my family killed by a mask wearing serial killer in front of my very eyes when I was six... I miss you mommy.

Still, I do love the Halloween. I love to dress up and act a little silly. Given my love/hate relationship with the holiday I thought I’d list some not so obvious things you could watch this Halloween to keep you in the spirit but don't render you incapable of taking out the garbage at 3 in the morning. I hate the fucking Ring.

But yeah. After you’re done with Shaun of the Dead, Evil Dead II, Young Frankenstein, and the Simpsons Halloween Specials, maybe you might consider something off this list:

Monster Squad – I loved this movie when I was a kid. A bunch of kids take on all the classic movie monsters. I haven’t seen it in years as I lost my of TV recorded VHS copy, so I’m not sure it’s actually good or not. However I do remember this line which is enough for this movie to make it onto the list: “Wolfman’s got nards!”

Big Trouble Little China – Kurt Russell as a self-aggrandizing anti-hero who finds himself mixed up with magic, monsters, kung-fu, and Victor Wong. You might guess this one’s cheesy.

Bubba Ho-Tep – Okay: Bruce Campbell, as an old man convinced he’s Elvis Presley, teams up with an elderly (and black) JFK to save their retirement home from an ancient mummy who sucks souls out of residents’ rearholes. … Yeah.

Little Shop of Horrors – Rick Moranis stars in a musical comedy featuring a giant man eating plant. There are also hilarious appearances by Steve Martin as a masochist dentist and Bill Murray as the sadist that can’t get enough dental work. Did I mention Rick Morranis sings?

Not a movie but the episode called “A New Man” is a pretty great episode of Buffy that is often overlooked. Some of the comedic timing in this show is genius. It was neither written nor directed by Joss Whedon so there’s little lecturing.

And finally you gotta check out the first movie I had to be taken out of crying. (For your information the second was Jurassic Park because, well, there was a giant man eating dinosaur running around eating Jeff Goldblum. The third was Holy Man which had a cringe inducing Eddie Murphy running around eating at Jeff Goldblum's career.) But yes, the first movie I had to be taken out of was, honest to god, Ernest Scared Stupid. I remember (i.e. construct) the look of utter befuddlement on my cousin’s face. “Wait he’s scared of Ernest? We’re leaving? You have to be joking.” My cousin and I don’t speak anymore.

But seriously that movie freaked me out and I still find it a little chilling. Goblins are scary okay. I learned to love the movie later, likely having nothing to do with proving that I was becoming “a man.” Again I haven’t seen this one in years but I’m sure there’s some decent simple slapstick and good natured life lessons in here that we can all enjoy. Or you could just laugh at how much of a sissy I was to be taken out of the theatre crying at an Ernest movie.

If there’s anything I missed why don’t you post a comment? We could be like buddies.

Comedy Network Low-Jacked Comedy Central.

So I read on Stereogum that The Daily Show has posted a new website disconnected from Comedy Central. Alright let's blog about that. First maybe I should check out the site though. Oh no we won't. Things are involved.

Seriously try out this link to www.thedailyshow.com. Note the address that appears in your bottom status bar. Now click on it. Well it seems like you've been re-directed to a site you had no intentions on visiting. Strange.

Hmm. Let's try www.comedycentral.com. Hey look that's re-directed too.

Just a quick explanation: The Comedy Network is a Canadian cable television channel that plays various funny (and often unfunny) shows. Comedy Central is an American cable television channel that does the same. The Comedy Network syndicates a lot of shows off Comedy Central (like The Daily Show). Up until recently one was able to access either network's websites to watch streamed content. No longer. Here's a CTV news story about the issue (be aware that CTV owns The Comedy Network).

So what's going on here? This has happened to me before when trying to gain access to a certain site hosting bittorrent files. The site blocked my access because of the different laws in Canada in regard to copyrights. I wasn't really aware sites were able to block sites based on country of origin. And now this is what The Comedy Network is doing. They are re-directing Canadian traffic to their own site--essentially blocking Canadian access to Comedy Central on the net.

So what's the deal with this? I don't want to rant but where does The Comedy Network get off blocking perfectly reasonable access to Comedy Central? Blah blah blah Google and China, but like Comedy Central is an American channel that can only be accessed through illegal methods in Canada. Their website, however, was a way to watch Comedy Central content not available on The Comedy Network and further had a greater selection of streamable content.

According to the deal The Comedy Network will have access to all of Comedy Central content but will they be hosting that all on their site? For instance can I stream content from a show The Comedy Network doesn't air but is still aired on Comedy Central? And am I going to have access to the archives that The Daily Show's new site hosts? This was an awesome feature that I don't see on The Comedy Network. Also I'm not really able to stream any of the content because it requires a plug-in that won't install correctly onto my computer (that one's probably on me though).

But beyond these issues of comparable content access, I think this whole tactic is a rather cheap way to promote that their "website doesn't suck anymore." I don't really care that it doesn't suck. I may not use it regardless because, yeah, I too am that petty. So, please don't block my access to websites whether you claim to offer the same content or not. This is America dammit and I should be able to go wherever I want on the internet. Be that porn, porn, or porn.

Segues and Louis C.K.

Oh yeah remember your blog? Shit.

The plan was a segue. Lucky Louie to Louis C.K. but then I sorta got distracted and 12 days later yay new post. But apologies.

So, Louis C.K..

My first Louis C.K. experience was the sudden discovery of what I'll look like when I'm middle-aged. Once I got past his dashing good looks I realized that C.K. was also a pretty funny comedian. What makes C.K. at first so appealing (i.e. hilarious) is his natural presentation. If, for example, you found yourself at shrimp-fest with Louis his routine might seem like a pleasant (i.e. hilarious) conversation. In fact, only after becoming more familiar with his routines did I realize a lot of the funny things he said during interviews were just jokes he uses on stage.

This natural delivery not only keeps C.K.'s comedy from seeming contrived but also compliments nicely the matter he discusses. C.K. talks frankly (seriously frankly) about his marriage and his family. He says things about his daughters that I've never heard from a father before, but things which immediately seemed like that which a parent thinks but never says. "My daughter is an asshole." Anyone that's ever spent time with a child knows that this is too often true, but who has ever heard someone on TV say it? I cringe to use the cliché that it's funny because it's true but, seriously, kids are assholes. I was.

I heard or read an interview with C.K. in which he said his earlier comedy was clever but that it didn't really matter at all. And he's not being cocky, his jokes are moving past the tired comedy clichés about the family into a discussion about family (that at least to me) seems pretty honest. I laugh because C.K.'s jokes are new and shocking, but further I think about the topics a little differently after. I grow!?

Aaron posted a link in a comment to my last post that's a great sample of C.K.'s comedy (as usual: beware of content). Also he has a new HBO special you could probably acquire through bittorrent.

Lucky You

Another sitcom? I'm hoping you are not yet completely exhausted by my current TV comedy fixation because I've got one more sitcom to talk about (promise.). My motives today however are not to review a new sitcom though, it's to finalize (ha!) my discussion on sitcoms in some way. So why don't we start talking about Lucky Louie?

Lucky Louie isn't a new show this season, in fact the show's actually been cancelled for a while now, but I want to mention it as a contrast to all the sitcoms strewn across your television channels. Lucky Louie actually aired on HBO, making it the first sitcom to be produced by the channel, and upon watching any episode of the show you'll understand why its HBO and not CBS, Eric. In brief: Louie and wife deal with the problems of their marriage and 4yr old daughter. Sounds like a generic sitcom but... well watch this clip. This little scene sums up the show for me. It starts out deceptively like any sitcom with the set and pan in, then even sort of a familiar joke, but then as the conversation continues we start to go further than a regular sitcom would normally go. His daughter's incessant questions almost lead to a monologue of self contemplation for Louie. This is the very first scene of the pilot, brilliantly introducing the show.

The show gets a lot filthier as well. Lucky Louie takes on issues that sitcoms skirt around because they aren't wide viewership friendly and discuss them blatantly with copious amounts of cussing. I can remember conversations about Louie's eating problems, masturbation, and a lengthy scene between the couple regarding anal sex (seriously beware of content). A large driving force for the show is the problems with Louie and Kim's marriage and provides moments of honest realism and yet still moments of great comedy.

I discussed the racy nature of the show but I think I need to stress this point further. This show is absolutely filthy. If things aren't getting dirty at home, the moment his friend Rich walks on screen you're guaranteed to hear some things that will make you uncomfortable to be watching it with your mom. (Seriously this is how I started watching the show, with my mom. My mom and dad actually became fans of the show--an unexpected outcome and one that has required near limitless numbers of mental blockings.) Sometimes this perversity is a strong point for the show. In an argument about having another child Louie explains "my dick is too aware that your pussy is a chamber of financial ruin." This line was the reason I started watching the show: honest, crude, and funny. However!, sometimes the perversity just goes on without a point. Just a long conversation about masturbating with his friend which isn't particularly funny and, what?, shows us that men talk about masturbating? I saw that on The Drew Carey Show.

The show is very interesting in how it takes the sitcom genre and exploits it to be sometimes movingly honest, yet still manages to be consistently funny. The writing however really kills Lucky Louie. The writers (mainly Louis C.K.) didn't know the strong points of the show and so for every scene of hilarious reality inside the most unrealistic television show form, we had long uncomfortably dirty and unfunny scenes. HBO didn't renew the show and it's a shame because a second season can often drastically improve a show (remember the first season of Seinfeld?). I would have been interested in seeing the show Lucky Louie could have been. But alas.

Check it out if you aren't too bashful and if your mom's out of room.

Return of The Office

I wanted this to be a positive post. For earnest I swear. However, I got home today planning on writing today's blog and found not the new Iron and Wine CD I ordered in the mail-box BUT my roommate's damn Scary Go Round book. Also!, I wasn't overly impressed by The Office last Thursday.

I watched The Office's (hour long!) premier after the (hour long!!) premier of My Name is Earl. And this was actually the problem for me. MNiE is trying something new this season that actually has me looking forward to the next episode. They've thrown Earl in jail and thus the show's formula has been tossed about too. I hand it to the show, they've shown a fresh willingness to renew their format. This might be something The Office could learn from?

Now I'm not ignorant. The Office has had some shake-ups, like relocating Jim in the start of season 3. This was a good move, one I thought they could have milked a little longer. I enjoyed the alt. branch a lot and the scene that occurred between Jim and Pam over the phone was quite touching. But the two offices merged and Jim came back with Karen which was essentially a reversal of our old love triangle. This isn't really the dynamic that troubles me though. Pam and Jim have always been The Office's strong suit and more and more the rest of the cast is becoming increasingly fleshed out and hilarious. Just take a look at Creed and Darryl. Oddly the problem I'm having with The Office is its root: Michael Scott.

Indeed. Michael's antics started to wear on me a little last season, his character seeming to become sort of a caricature of itself, and this season's opener didn't show any signs of relieving the problem. I know it may be an odd move to cite the main character and premise of the show as its main problem but that's what I'm finding consistently makes me reserve all out praise for the show. For instance: this new episode's nude scene. Honestly, this joke was lame. Pam walks in on Michael changing after he told her to come in. I didn't even smirk at this joke. Blurred out man parts aren't really funny on their own, especially not in a show that is pretty good about avoiding tired humour.

After all this though, the episode was pretty decent. There were plenty of good (humorous and sweet) moments between Jim and Pam, and the rest of the cast had some pretty good moments too (taking off for a beer during the run), but Michael was unforgivably annoying. Yes, he drove the story forward, but he used to do that while still making me laugh. Michael used to be a doofus that was trying hard to be cool but now he's this zany clown that the writers seem to be trying to have out-do himself each episode. I think they should take a hint from MNiE's writers (did I just write that!?) and try to mix things up a little more by focusing on other secondary characters or by having Michael be the straight man for once.

Remember though: this was just the first episode of season 4; there is still so much to like about The Office; I didn't get my CD.