"Yeah, suck it, I DO read the paper" - 30 Rock

30 Rock cracked me up last night. In fact, it cracks me up every time it's on. I'm surprised that more people don't watch this show. The regular excuse I get from co-workers is that they watched the pilot and weren't too blown away with it, so they never bothered to come back.

Tell me people, when was the last time that you saw a really kick-ass pilot for a sitcom. The Friends pilot is meh, as are the ones for The Simpsons, M*A*S*H*, Seinfeld, The Office (American version), and more. All of them shaped up and have become classics.

Now, I don't know if 30 Rock will become a classic of TV, but it certainly has hit its stride now and is much better than the pilot. Check it out one more time. I think you'll like it.

Alec Baldwin alone makes the show worth watching. The man is a freakin' genius!

Pulp Fiction: just words

Someone put together this little piece using just animated text and the original audio from the "What does Marcellus Wallace look like?" scene in Pulp Fiction. The result is a very pretty, yet occasionally hard to follow, piece of animation. Worth checking out (contains explicit language):

What has FOX done now?

For the record, Fox News generally makes me angry. And also, I love Comedy Central's Daily Show, although I'm not a die-hard fan and I don't think it's the Gospel according to Jon Stewart. I just think it's funny and pertinent. Who doesn't like good topical comedy?

So, that being said, I'm not sure if the following makes me angry or just sad. Fox has created a Daily Show rip-off called The 1/2-Hour News Hour which seems to be specifically designed to lampoon Democrats and liberals. Fine. Ok. Everyone is entitled to skewer whoever they want in the name of comedy. It's just that the show is not funny at all.

I figured it out. The whole things just makes me sad. Not angry. So very sad.

Veteran TV writer John Rogers, over at his blog Kung Fu Monkey, has an exceptional and hilarious post on the show, the politics of it, the bad writing, and the so-called "comedic" nature of the show, complete with clips. I'll wager that you'll be amazed by the whole thing, and not in a good way.

New Oscar ads by Spike Lee

Since this year's Oscar advertising campaign has been all about famous quotes from Oscar-winning movies, director Spike Lee went ahead and filmed average Joes and Janes in average settings delivering various memorable quotes to bring this campaign to TV. Check it out the 1-min version:



I'm told there are more than just this one, but you can go find those yourself :) The Oscars can be seen Sunday, February 25th, 2007 at 5pm PST on ABC. That's a week from today people! Get your act together! Battlestar Galactica will rerun later in the night so that can't be your excuse for missing the biggest awards ceremony of the year.

Oh, and I found all this out via CHUD.

Ghost Rider

I just got back from seeing Ghost Rider. It was awful. One of the worst comic-based superhero movies ever! The two people in front of me got up and left less than 1/2-way through the movie.

For me, out of the ones I've seen, Catwoman is probably the very worst. After that, Elektra. Then Hulk. Ghost Rider is probably on par with Elektra, although the latter did have Jennifer Garner and kung-fu which raises it up a slight notch... maybe.

The writer/director is the same writer/director that did Daredevil, which I enjoyed if only for the fact that I like Affleck, Garner, Favreau, and Joey Pants. I would've liked to see someone else as Kingpin, and a better story with better effects, but oh well. I can watch it again without cringing, and that's what matters in this discussion.

Ghost Rider has a God-awful script, terrible performances from good actors, bad direction, and toxic amounts of cheese. The effects were good if it was the Ghost Rider himself, but everything else looked less refined, like it was done 5-10 years ago. The story was bland and didn't make much sense 90% of the time, nor was the mythology very consistent. SPOILER QUESTION: if he could get stabbed while in Ghost Rider form and need to be stitched up after reverting back, shouldn't the 100 bullets fired into him by the police have killed him when he became Johnny Blaze again?

Ugh, and what was with all the pointing?!?!? You'll understand what I mean if and when you see the movie. LAME!!

ANOTHER minor SPOILER: the only good parts were with the goth girl (about 2mins) and the ride of the two Ghost Riders (about 30-seconds).

Please. No sequel. Just... no sequel.

UPDATE: Link to an Ain't It Cool News review that is much more eloquent (and angry) than mine. All the same, I totally agree!

"Did he mean me or that?" - Hot Fuzz

Hot Fuzz is the new film from the creators of the zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead, one of my new favorite movies. I cannot wait to see Hot Fuzz. I believe it just came out in the UK and is getting rave reviews. Unfortunately for us yanks, it doesn't come out here until April (I think). I guess I'll just keep watching the trailer daily until then. Seriously, though. How freakin' funny is this?:

"People never go out of business" - The Office

If you didn't see this past week's episode of The Office entitled "Business School," you are really missing out. It was easily one of the best episodes ever! And to top it all off, it was directed by Mothra himself, Joss Whedon. The episode was side-splittingly hilarious and down right touching at the same time.

If you missed this episode, you can get the episode on iTunes for the standard $2. And now I hear that JJ Abrams will be directing next week's episode. Not sure if that's true or not, but if it is I'm stoked. Unless it turns out the Dunder-Mifflin played backwards says Hanzo Foundation. Then I'd be really pissed.

Here's a clip of Joss Whedon talking about directing The Office:

And I was doing so well avoiding these

Let's talk MMORPGs for a sec. I just know I would absolutely love "World of Warcraft" (Lord knows my coworkers do). I also know that because I would love it, the game would consume every ounce of free time that I have. So therefore, I don't play it. And for that same reason, I don't own an XBOX 360, a Nintendo Wii, or play online poker. I am comfortable in my time-wasting activities that I don't need new ones.

That all may change. I just read a 2 sentence blurb in this month's Wizard that says that a Firefly (yes, that Firefly) MMO is being developed by some company called Multiverse. WHY AM I JUST HEARING ABOUT THIS?!?!?

If it's even slightly good, I'm getting it. Firefly is one of the all-time great yet shafted shows along with Arrested Development, but to be fair, Firefly was shafted harder that Arrested Development. How cool is it going to be to play an MMO where you get to be a real space cowboy just like good ol' Mal Reynolds.? Hopefully they'll get the master himself, Joss Whedon, to consult on the game to make it better. Ah, who am I kidding. If it blows, I'll probably still play it.

Link to an article on this subject in Wired Magazine.

UPDATE: You can get the entire series of Firefly on DVD for around $20 these days. I know Amazon had it for that low recently, as did Best Buy I think. It's always going on sale and at $20, you can't afford to pass it up!

Good Will Hunted

The latest in the rash of fake trailers is "Good Will Hunted." It's Good Will Hunting recut to make it look like a government conspiracy movie. Not bad, but not as good as the other one's I've posted on before. Oh, and it contains explicit language, so turn that volume down:

When Harry Met Sally - the thriller

Another great fake trailer. This one is for When Harry Met Sally as if it were a horror/thriller. Well done and pretty funny. Found this via a post on BoingBoing: