MIT... a guy...

I found this interesting little video on ill doctrine (a pretty sweet hip hop vlog) where Jay Smooth talks about the ethics of satire.



He's right about it being very easy to just make fun of someone for a laugh. We've all been there (humour me please) where we've said something sorta mean about some random person to get a laugh and then the person turns out to be like no armed or something. But that's really a different issue than mocking celebrities who do make their lives very much part of their ad campaigns (check out the Extras Christmas Special). So it becomes a little trickier, like he says, to know if the respective star has forfeited their right to not be comedically objectified by, you know, saying things like this.

If you got time also check out the ill doctrine video on CNN and WWE.

Walk Hard looks like Shit

Sorry, it does.

When I saw Darjeeling Limited (along with the monkey) they had a few other previews: Juno, which I want to see; Margot at the Wedding, which I probably will see; The Savages, which I really want to see; and Walk Hard, which looks like shit.

Sorry, it does.

And that represents the duality of comedies in my mind. The indie comedrama which offer genuine characters with real moments and then Talladega Nights. I guess Walk Hard has a bunch of people I like from Apatow films and Jack White as Elvis which is pretty cool but a world of muh. I don't plan to see it but this little viral marketing video is actually funny.

This, like everything I usually post, is nsfw.



"Last time I saw Judd run that fast somebody dropped a quarter."

If you haven't already seen the failed casting vids for Knocked Up: Cera and Franco. Also if you're familiar with Undeclared he's used that Mortal Kombat joke before (though it's still a goodin).

ty Stereogum.

Christmas Extras

"Well I was pissed because you called me in early--I was watching a movie."
"Get over it."
"What movie?"
"Oh um, do you know the show Extras? Its Christmas special."
"Ha! You watch celebrity gossip?"
"No no its a British comedy by the guys that did the original British Office. No? Well. The american Office is a remake of a British show created by Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais. It only ran for two six episode seasons but they concluded it with a Christmas special and, uh, you're just walking away from me in mid-sentence."
"I'm still listening to you Cam."
"Thank you Jay."
"If only out of politeness."

Extras was a fantastic show, just like its predecessor The Office. If you haven't watched Extras, I don't know why you're wasting your time with my blog, you have more important things to do. Both shows are top-notch comedies not only because they're hilarious but because they use that hilarity to build towards an honest-to-god touching emotional climaxes.

And, just like original Office, Extras was concluded with a feature length Christmas special (just this Sunday) and I was again surprised at how I actually felt those weird human "feelings" as it concluded. The beginning of the special was a little frustrating as it turned Millman into more of a jerk than usual--revealing a pretty petty core personality--and I was afraid the eventual epiphany regarding the error of his ways would just be trite, but I was pleasantly surprised. The necessary "oh I'm a prick" occurred in a non-cliched manner and in a way that's fairly biting of celebrity culture.

I'm continually impressed by how Merchant (who's absolutely brilliant) and Gervais create hilarious TV programs filled with relatively realistic characters and are able to turn all the humour in on itself to be more dramatic than Law & Order tries to be every week.

All in all I'm quite pleased with how this special concluded the series. I actually hope these guys put out something lackluster just so I can have some sort of perspective. I feel weird saying only good things about them.

Also, the show used Sufjan Christmas music. Instant bonus points.

Just a Note on Blog Wars

After his nasty post I thought perhaps I should retaliate in kind, with words drudged dredged up from the most acerbic and condescending part of myself, but then I realized, heh, no one has actually read it but me, why confuse my readers?

*snap* *less of a snap*

Learn to Speak Turkish in Seconds Flat

I saw this over at The Sneeze. It wasn't a post or anything, just an ad on his site.


This makes no sense to me. In what world is this service needed?

Quick! I need to learn Turkish ASAP or else the Earth will be destroyed. If only I could learn like a spy.

Maybe if this was selling Russian or Chinese? I don't mean to be racist but Turkish isn't normally associated in my mind with international espionage. Also I'm left considering the demographic for such an ad. Are blog readers more inclined to purchase speed language learning services?

Why?

You've made a Cuckold out of me

So Dan beat me to the punch on an I Am America (And So Can You!) book review. This could be due to the fact I still haven't read it all yet. I can blame my slow consumption on school work and my secret vampire slaying life, but it's really more of not being overly impressed by it. I agree with most of what Dan says in his review. A lot of what makes Colbert funny is his presentation and reading him just isn't the same. I had the same issue when I read Lewis Black's Nothing's Sacred. You really need to listen to these guys to enjoy their material, reading leaves out a crucial element of their comedy styles.

Another issue I have with the book (and with Colbert actually) is the constant use of satire. Satire is tricky--if you go too far you can come off as pedantic or just eye-roll worthy. I like Colbert, I just prefer the way Stewart lampoons politics and media without overt parody. Both Colbert and Stewart are funny, but Stewart would actually be someone you'd want to have over for dinner. And Colbert's book likely suffered because I enjoyed America the Book so much. Because of its congeniality and varied comedic tone, America the Book is both consistently hilarious and very effective as a piece of political writing .

All that said the book is funny enough. If you like Colbert you'll probably want to read it just out of interest and if you're like me you'll want to own the first edition hard-copy to get that sweet sweet ribbon bookmark.

An Arguement Against Causality

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



What was Alf thinking?

Thanks Shortpacked.