I must have wanted to make this thread for around two months now. Once I was invited to thebox.bz I quickly acquainted myself with the amazingness of Newswipe – basically the UK’s answer to The Daily Show. Only instead of episodes every weeknight throughout the year, Newswipe follows the usual British TV schedule of six episodes each year. This allows Newswipe to maintain its high quality throughout an entire run, except for the poetry segments (you’ll see what I mean).

I’ll go ahead and post a segment from the show — despite it already made the rounds on the internet multiple times — because it is that perfect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHun58mz3vI

Charlie Brooker is really, really awesome. I did a little wiki’ing and I found out that Newswipe is actually a spinoff of the more popular Screenwipe, in which Brooker rips on (I assume) British television. I’m sure it’s awesome, but I’ve never had the urge to watch, due to my non-existent knowledge of the vast majority of television across the pond. Except for one show, of course. And that would be Peep Show. But I highly doubt he makes fun of that show, since it’s fucking awesome.

Since I was on a Charlie Brooker -wipe binge, I noticed something called Gameswipe on thebox.bz as well. That was an extremely entertaining 50-minute rundown of gaming history. So basically, anything Charlie Brooker is involved in proves to be awesome. Which means I need to get around to checking out You Have Been Watching. The following is the only clip I’ve seen from it, and I’m still recovering from the knowledge that BIBLEMAN is real.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EIS5_kpS4c

I also need to check out That Mitchell and Webb Look, since it’s the same guys (David Mitchell and Robert Webb) who star in Peep Show.

And then there’s The Thick of It, the television series which In The Loop — probably the funniest movie of last year — was based on. Oh oh, and Misfits, which I actually have watched. It’s been described as a cross between the British teen drama Skins (which I’ve never seen) and Heroes. That probably doesn’t sound all that good to a discerning American TV viewer, but it’s pretty fun. It’s like if Heroes starred all teenagers with superpowers, but actually featured competent writing. And there’s swearing. And tits. I hope it sounds more enticing now.

So now you have a list of shit you should download if you ask for an invite (which you obviously should do):

Peep Show
Newswipe
Gameswipe
You Have Been Watching
That Mitchell and Webb Look
Misfits
The Thick of It

Just make sure to keep your ratio above 1.00, alright?

Edit: You should probably check out Spaced, too. If only because it’s by the same guys behind Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. I really need to start taking my own advice, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57saocQSQDo

I’ll say this first off: I am going to see this movie solely because it’s directed by Edgar Wright, the director of — as the trailer says — Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Those are two of my favorite movies of the past decade, so I have to give him the benefit of the doubt here. And the visual style of the movie does look pretty damn fun. If I can appreciate the totally ridiculous, eye-melting, seizure-inducing visuals of Speed Racer, I can enjoy a full-blown attempt to create a live-action comic book.

What I cannot take is Michael Cera’s face and voice. Hey, it was perfectly amusing in Arrested Development when he was 15 years old, but he’s now 21 and it doesn’t seem like he’s even hit puberty yet. Between his ugly baby face (refer below) and squeaking voice, a pristine ID wouldn’t be enough to convince me he was of legal drinking age. Maybe he’s meant to be a teenager in this movie, yet again. But then this chick would be kind of a slut with seven evil ex-boyfriends already.

Also, from everything I’ve heard, the original comic book is apparently making fun of hipsters. But at the same time many of the people that are most interested seem to hipsters. I don’t know what to make of this. Perhaps they are self-aware hipsters capable of laughing at themselves? Does that qualify as ironic?

What I cannot abide is making Mary Elizabeth Winstead look this bad. She was totally hot in both Live Free or Die Hard and Death Proof, but in this movie she’s got the whole kinda goth/hipster with no makeup thing going on and it’s just disappointing. She doesn’t even look that good when Scott Pilgrim falls in love with her at first site! Does he just have a purple hair fetish? I imagine this is the face I’d see if I asked him this question.

A closing thought: someone whose opinion I trust saw an advance screening and said the trailer is shit and the movie is awesome. So that’s encouraging. I trust Edgar Wright like I trust Christopher Nolan.