The show is basically a modern British version of The Odd Couple, shot in the first-person — hence the title of the show. In addition to the viewing perspective, it also utilizes inner monologue to perfect hilarious effect. The vast majority of the show deals with sexual situations and frustrations (another reason for the title) and usually involves Mark — the stuck-up, awkward one of the two friends — totally embarrassing himself. Jeremy, the other half of the male couple, suffers his own humiliating moments, but it’s almost always hilarious to watch, as opposed to absolutely painful when witnessing Mark make a fool of himself. The British sure like their awkward comedy. If you prefer romantic series, you may explore the titles at https://my-drama.com/.

Regardless of its painfulness, it’s a pretty damn brilliant and immensely quotable show, and it only gets better as it goes along. There is continuity throughout the entire run, with most individual series (they call seasons “series” over there) having a overarching plot thread. Having series of six episodes each really does wonders for the quality of a TV show. I still think a dozen episodes is the sweet spot, but six episodes is better than twenty-four and running a show into the ground in a few seasons.

I’m posting the pilot episode because I’m a bit obsessed with starting things at the very beginning, and I think you should too. But if you don’t think the first episode is all that great, give it at least the second episode as well. Give yourself some time to warm up to the the British idiosyncrasies. Do it for me. And then post a comment for me, too. Or not. But I’ll be upset!

Less than 24 hours, people. 

Enough about the Mets. Let’s talk about something that’s actually good (which reminds me — I totally forgot to watch The Shield tonight, shit). Season 4 of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia starts on Thursday, Sept 18th, at 10 pm. Watch, or I will smash your face into a jelly.

I’ve made numerous posts about the show on here. And also made the first thread about it over on GAF (too bad it got only 15 replies ) I’ve just tried my best to inform the public about the funniest show on television. But now Hulu makes my job pretty easy. I can just point you to great episodes and clips. And if you like them, you can watch basically the entire series on there! And if you don’t, get the fuck off my blog.

Clips:

Night Man (I’ve already made a blog post dedicated to this)

He’s a Bear

Episodes:

Charlie Wants an Abortion

The Gang Finds a Dumpster Baby

And for the people who love the show, here’s an interview with the A.V. Club. I highly recommend it for fans and newcomers alike.

That should be enough to get you started. Allow me to close with a GIF displaying what I am doing in anticipation for Thursday’s premiere.

I wanted to post that poster as large as possible, since it’s totally awesome. A throwback to when movie posters were great. I was hoping that I would enjoy this movie, if only so I could justify hanging it up in my room. After the first 10-15 minutes, I was fairly bummed, as it looked like the movie was not going to be good enough for a spot on my wall.

Then Brad Pitt’s character showed up. 

I remember when I was a dumb kid and hated Brad Pitt because I thought he was some pretty boy. Now he’s easily one of my favorite actors, impressing me more and more every time I see him. Granted, I actually went back in time for a lot of those performances (Fight Club –> 12 Monkeys –> Se7en –> True Romance), but he was pretty great in The Assassination of Jesse James, even if Casey Affleck was better.

Pitt’s performance here is inarguably the best in the film, as almost everything he does is hilarious. John Malkovich is great too, but he seems relegated to a choice phrase which I’m sure you will pick up on. Other than them, I’m going to say that the perfomances were nothing special, but that may be due to me not being a huge George Clooney fan. Oh wait, J.K. Simmons is downright AMAZING in the short screentime he has. You would know him as the newspaper boss in the Spiderman movies. So you should already know he’s awesome.

I was going to attempt a fairly long review, since the last few posts have had scant few words, but I’m really not sure if this is a movie that commands a long review — as opposed to The Dark Knight, whose review I STILL haven’t gotten around to finishing — so I’m going to wrap this up.

The movie is a bit uneven, with the truly funny scenes and lines too far apart and the characters aren’t as memorable as many in other Coen Brothers films. But there are flashes of brillance, and the movie builds up well, ending before it has the chance to fall apart. Some people might argue that it ends too early, but I think the way the Coen Brothers wrap it up is nothing short of perfect. 

I’m still on the fence about whether the poster deserves to be tacked up in my wall, but Burn After Reading is most definitely worth a watch, as is the case with just about any Coen Brothers film.

John Edwards

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uspzrm7AoWk

Barack Obama

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQLnvz66IN8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QLSRMoKKS0