http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQsTZc4WIL8

Accidental Penis – No, this is not a blog of “penis slips”, but pictures of stuff that look like penises. Much more Safe for Work.

The Fangraphs UZR Primer – This is just about all one could ever want to know about the now ubiquitous fielding metric that is a component of Fangraphs’ WAR calculation. I can’t believe I read it all.

A Few More Predictions – Joe Posnanski goes off and writes another few thousand words about baseball — words that you should read.

Shit My Kids Ruined – A tumblr blog of shit…ruined…by kids. I got nothing. Just click for schadenfreude.

Gateways to Geekery: Spaghetti Westerns – I’ve already seen The Good, The Bad And The Ugly; now I need to follow the rest of this guide to awesome westerns made over in Europe.

Harmful Drinks in America – I thought about not including this, because I feel like some of the comparisons are either wrong or just retarded, but they do emphasize the fact that most of the food (or drink, in this case) out there is slowly killing you.

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.

Battery…dying. Guy in the back likes some show called Peepshow. He sounds like a dick. #livetweetingAVclub

I was the “guy in the back.” Awesome. And yes, this was a week ago — and yes, I realize I haven’t written a blog post for about three weeks. Although I didn’t realize that latter fact until today. I don’t even know what I’ve been doing. Lying in bed in the dark with the blinds drawn thinking about past and future mistakes? Nope, not at all.

Anyhow, back to being called a dick. #livetweetingAVclub would be a Twitter reference to this A.V. Club event in Brooklyn, which I attended for the hell of it — because what else was I going to do on a Monday night? The event started at 8, and I got to the hipster bar at about 7:30, looked around for a bit, didn’t notice anything signifying an A.V. Club book reading, so I sat at the bar and ordered a beer I had never heard of. When I say hipster bar, I mean people were sitting around reading, and there were bocce ball courts. Indoors. But maybe that’s not even hipster; maybe Union Hall used to be a Italian retirement home.

So I start talking to a girl who’s also there for the A.V. Club thing, and after 10 minutes or so, she says she’s going downstairs. Ohhhhh, so THAT’S where everything is going down. I didn’t even realize there was a downstairs. This obliviousness led to my vision of the tiny stage and projector, when I finally made my way down there just before 8 PM, being almost totally blocked. One of the few times I wish I were taller than 5’7″, in addition to almost every other waking moment.

This backstory is important (not really) because about an hour in, I just gave up on twisting my neck and standing on my toes to see what was going on, and decided to make my way to the back to get another drink. Turns out there was even a stool to sit on. Fuck standing and being dry, it’s about sitting and getting drunk. At some point during my imbibing of Blue Point Toasted Lager, the A.V. Club fellas mentioned that there would be a Q&A sesh after their formal presentation. It was then that I decided I would ask about the total absence of Peep Show from their TV of the Decade coverage. I could excuse most entertainment outlets for not mentioning an absolutely hilarious British sitcom that has only had its first season aired on BBC America years ago, but not the A.V. Club.

The problem was that, as a result of being ALL the way in the back, I would have to yell at the top of my lungs to be heard. I feel like it’s hard not to sound like a dick when you’re yelling your lungs out and no one can even see you. Perhaps yelling, “Everyone should watch it!” — after the ONE PERSON among the A.V. Club personalities who had seen it finished her thoughts — didn’t help. So it was at this point at which that tweet must have been…tweeted.

I then proceeded to drink more and then go up to the A.V. Club writers and subsequently implored them all to watch Peep Show. Except for the one cool chick who had already seen it and loved it — and also wrote this article almost a year ago! If her co-workers didn’t listen to her, why would they listen to me? I was just a drunken lunatic raving about some British sitcom. But if the A.V. Club starts reviewing old Peep Show episodes — or at the least the 1st series DVD — I will take credit.

Oh, and I was also photographed for The Onion at some point during the night. So, out of the people who read this who know my ugly mug, keep a lookout for me in an embarrassing photoshop of some kind, most likely with an equally embarrassing caption or quote accompanying it.

Now watch the second episode of Peep Show on Hulu:

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!