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There is a lot of talk lately in this election about Barack Obama having “socialist views” and being “a socialist.” For some – especially those who grew up during the Cold War – this evokes an image of radical Socialism as practiced in Soviet Russia and Mao’s China. Or is that Communism? What is the difference anyway?

The idea of Socialism has been around for a long time – longer than German philosopher Karl Marx (who wrote The Communist Manifesto). Socialism is a set of ideals and not a type of government. Examples of types of government are Representative Democracy & Constitutional Republic (United States), Parliamentary Democracy & Constitutional Monarchy (United Kingdom, Canada), Direct Democracy & Parliamentary Republic (Switzerland) and Socialist Republic (Cuba) … among many others.

Having “socialism” written down as a set of ideals came out of Europe where people had been struggling with class for centuries. Industrial revolutions made the worker more valuable but also the CEOs of the time much richer. Common people wanted to be recognized as a more important part of society and given more rights and better compensation for their work.

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Good news, everyone! One of England’s best sitcoms ever created – Simon Pegg’s Spaced – has finally come ’round to Region 1 DVD here in America!

the cast of Spaced

Before Simon Pegg and Nick Frost were fighting zombies in Shaun of the Dead, they were slacking around North London as Tim and Mike in Spaced.  Spaced is a somewhat dark yet giggly show that wasn’t really about much of anything other than that stale bit of your life that falls between leaving the fun of your 20s behind and laying out how your 30s might pan out. Besides Pegg, the show stars and was co-written by Jessica Hynes (nee Stephenson) who didn’t have quite a large role Shaun but is a central character in Spaced.

The plot is simple – Tim (Pegg) and Daisy (Hynes) are strangers when they meet in a cafe at the beginning of the show, but find that flat hunting is more lucrative as a pair. They find the perfect flat but are told the renter is looking for couples only, so they pose as a couple in order to be accepted. Also living in the house are cougar landlord Marsha (Julia Deakin) and conceptual artist Brian (Mark Heap). Frost plays Tim’s Army-obsessed best mate Mike and Daisy’s best friend Twist is played by Katy Carmichael.

Tim is a graphic artist/comic book writer and Daisy is an extremely unproductive writer. The two bounce around between jobs and being on the dole, inbetween marathon video game sessions and Robot Wars. Daisy is trying desperately to be fun and hip while Tim is trying to hold on to that last bit of childhood fun.

What’s most fun about the show is the endless homages to various sci-fi movies and shows, 70s and 80s pop culture, horror films, cartoons and video games. One of the extra features of the DVD set is a “Homage-o-meter” so you can follow along.

Besides the wink-wink-nudge-nudge of the homages, the writing, acting and filming of this show are all top notch. Each character is a bit of a caricature in contrast to the more boring Tim and Daisy yet they are mostly harmless and genuinely care about each other as part of a new surrogate family. Any resemblance to Friends pretty much ends there – none of the characters are successful, all of the characters are odd and/or awkward and they all live in an apartment they can seemingly afford.

The new Region 1 release has the complete show (all 14 episodes…goddamn that British short series!) plus the extras from the original discs in the form of outtakes, commentary, deleted scenes and a short documentary. New for this release is special commentary by American celebs Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith, Bill Hader (from SNL, not Napoleon Dynamite), Matt Stone, Patton Oswalt, and Diablo Cody.

It’s taken 7 years for this gem to come out in Region 1. Even though I’ve watched it a few times from a few different skeevy sources, I was still moved to buy the DVD set. It’s an absolutely perfect little show that show be part of any Gen Xer’s “I’m so fucking cool” DVD collection. I know the truly cool amongst you had it on Region 2 already but now you can stop pointing out how your pals didn’t hack their DVD players and get your Spaced on without prejudice. I love it when a plan comes together!

Carpoolers

Tuesdays @ 9:30 on ABC

In a nutshell: Office Space in a car

It’s a sad time in TV Land right now, where the WGA Writer’s Strike has sucked the life out of any good show that was on a roll and left use TV lovers scraping the bottom of the barrel for something – anything! – to fill these dark winter nights between football and Lost (yes, all of you football fans I am aware of this “playoff” thing, but as a Clevelander, football is dead to me until after the next World Series.) So, down to the bottom of the barrel we go.
I saw a commercial for this show and thought “OK, this premise won’t last long” but the promo failed to mention that the show was created by Bruce McCulloch of The Kids in the Hall, plus co-produced with Joe and Anthony Russo of Arrested Development, so when I found that up I sat straight up and decided to give it a whirl (and by “whirl” I mean “download.”)

The plot is as you would expect – four guys from the same California neighborhood sharing a carpool to their boring office park. About 1/3 of the show revolves around the actual car driving and the rest is about their quirky families.

Gracen Brooker (Fred Goss) is a mediator (kind of like a lawyer/shrink) whose wife is an aspiring real estate agent (played by Faith Ford) and son is a classic doofus character named Marmaduke. The character of Gracen is ho-hum, but Ford does an excellent job not swinging her character too far in to “goofy housewife-turned-careerwoman” land and this Marmaduke kid is something to be seen. A larger, more disturbing Napoleon Dynamite if you will. Words sort of fail me when I go to describe the character that is Marmaduke (it’s unclear so far how he got his name…) but I’ll go so far as to say that trying to figure out what the hell is up with Marmaduke is the #2 reason to watch the show, behind its association with Kids in the Hall.

Laird Holcomb (Jerry O’Connell – aka “the fat kid from Stand By Me”) is Gracen’s best friend and neighbor. He’s recently divorced and was able to keep the house in the divorce, sans any furniture but his “ab-sizer.” Laird is a dentist and the perpetual lady’s man which sometimes scares but sometimes intrigues the other married members of the carpool.

Dougie (Tim Peper) is the “new guy” in the carpool. He lives in an extremely sheltered world with his perfect marriage to his perfect wife in his perfect house with his perfect baby. The writers have done a good job not making Dougie and his wife Cindy TOO scary or naive, eschewing topics such as extreme fundamentalist Christianity and instead giving them quirky desires to fit in and the wife being oddly proficient at gift wrapping.

Aubrey (Jerry Minor) is a neurotic office worker who is stuck in some sort of personal hell raising seven rambunctious children while his wife (shown only as a pair of lounging feet – even when they go to a neighborhood party) sits idly by. Aubrey is most excited about the carpool, as it is his only time away from his family and thus does the most driving.

The carpool situation is mildly amusing and allows for some short but interesting scenes. The show opens with the to-work drive, in which the guys unabashedly sing along to 80’s songs (one time calling OnStar to get the correct lyrics to “Come On Eileen’) or fight against the evil “cool carpool” for a parking spot. KITH fans take note – Scott Thompson is the leader of the “cool carpool” and is looking fantastic these days.

So far, 7 episodes into the show, the main plots have been ho-hum but it’s been fun watching Marmaduke’s sub-plots, and playing “spot the Kid.” Kevin McDonald shows up in episode 7 as Leila Brooker’s real estate rival – here’s hoping we see more of him and perhaps Dave Foley too.

According to TV Guide, there’s six episodes left so you can still catch this show on ABC. Also, AOL’s goofy TV thing has a couple of episodes up. I say it’s a good one to download once you’re dying for fresh content like I am. I’m hoping it will get better as it goes along much like 30 Rock did (don’t worry, I’ll be recommending that one soon) and won’t be canceled early like Andy Barker P.I. was.

Stand tall, TV fans. There’s always reruns!

Corner Gas
On WGN Superstation in the United States:

In a Nutshell: (Clerks+Seinfeld/It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) + Northern Exposure

I’m absolutely tickled by what Canada has been serving up on the box lately. Sure, they gave us SCTV, The Kids In The Hall and The Red Green Show, but it’s been an awfully long time inbetween those and their latest offerings: Trailer Park Boys (2001-2006), Corner Gas (2001-present) and Little Mosque on the Prairie (2006-present). While TBP didn’t get much of a showing in the US, and Little Mosque on the Prairie might not ever have a chance here (it totally should), America is finally getting a full taste of Saskatchewan’s answer to Seinfeld – Corner Gas. WGN, which has been a part of most basic cable packages for years, picked up Canada’s favorite show (now in its 5th season in Canada) and put it in heavy rotation.

You really don’t want to miss this one, folks.

The premise is very simple – it’s about a small town in Saskatchewan called Dog River (population ~500). The town center is a gas station run by Brent LeRoy (Brent Butt) that he has taken over from his retired father, Oscar (Eric Peterson). The station is connected (think “truck stop”) to a small diner called Ruby’s, which is now run by a displaced Torontonian named Lacey (Gabrielle Miller). Brent’s unemployed but forever-scheming friend Hank (Fred Ewanuick) hangs out at the gas station, as does the rest of the town. Brent’s sole employee Wanda, his mom Emma and the two town cops round out the cast. Plot lines revolve around little schemes and happenings in the town.

As I said – extremely simple. However, the writing, acting and even the editing makes this show extremely compelling and even – dare I say it – laugh-out-loud funny! I know this makes me sound like TV Guide but honestly people, I try not to steer you wrong here (please ignore my previous attempts at liking Studio 60. We all make mistakes.) I was ready to not believe the hype, but the first scene of the first show caught me off guard and made me let out a huge guffaw. Yes, I guffawed out loud. It’s that good.

You’ll note in the In A Nutshell description, I liken the show to Clerks (about goofy characters who hang out all day at the convenience store), Seinfeld (a show about nothing, with terrific acting), It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (today’s Seinfeld) and Northern Exposure (fish out of water in a sleepy northern town).

Corner Gas is more like Northern Exposure and less like Seinfeld in that it has sympathetic characters. On the flip side, it’s a little more edgy than Northern Exposure and zero drama. Fast camera breaks to illustrate stories and the geekiness of some of the characters’ conversations bring it back into Clerks and …Philadelphia territory. And, the amazingly deadpan dry humor of writer/star Brent Butt rounds out the perfectness to make it a show entirely worth watching. I guarantee you’ll like the freshness of it and at the same time find it to be a style you feel comfortable with. Extremely dry sarcasm and unapologetic Canadian-ness makes it hard to look away. And don’t worry if you miss a few episodes – they’re completely self-contained.

This show has made all of Canada go ga-ga for Gas for the past 4 years, receiving numerous awards, breaking new ground (first show to have Canadian Prime Minister guest star, first show to release a previous season on DVD before a new season is out, etc) and I’m guessing it’s second only to Hockey Night In Canada. This could very well be Canada’s The Office or The IT Crowd, so be sure to jump on the bandwagon early before America turns it to shit.

As a lefty liberal, I like Michael Moore. As a journalist (I have more creds than just a blog, I swear), not so much. Lucky for me he’s making movies for the masses and not writing for The Washington Post. Otherwise, he’d have been shut down years ago. Instead, we can enjoy his films for what they are – films that while maybe not full of “truthiness” will make people talk and think.

As Moore state in the film, SiCKO is not actually about people who don’t have health care in America. It’s more about people who DO have health insurance and get screwed by it. People who pay the premiums and deductibles and still get denied care. In America, we like to get what we pay for, but when it comes to insurance it doesn’t seem to work that way.

He tells the stories of an older couple who have gone bankrupt paying for medical treatment for heart attacks and cancer, even though they have good jobs with good insurance. The middle-aged woman who’s brain tumor was considered not a medical emergency and died. The young woman who’s surgery was paid for by her insurance and then payment was revoked when it was revealed that she had not disclosed a previous yeast infection when applying for insurance.

Moore reports in the movie that he received over 2500 emails from people with stories about the horrors of health insurance – many of them from people who work in the insurance industry. The most stand-out story was that of Linda Peno, a former medical reviewer (the person in charge of deciding who gets what care) for the Humana HMO. Ms. Peno stated in a congressional review:

I wish to begin by making a public confession. In the spring of 1987, I caused the death of a man. Although this was known to many people, I have not been taken before any court of law or called to account for this in any professional or public forum. In fact, just the opposite occurred. I was rewarded for this. It brought me an improved reputation in my job and contributed to my advancement afterwards. Not only did I demonstrate that I could do what was asked, expected of me, I exemplified the good company employee. I saved a half a million dollars.

It may be no secret that insurance companies are for-profit businesses and saving money is their game. After all, we’re a capitalist society. But is this the right way to go? Moore points out our socialized fire and police protection. Our free schools. Free libraries. Why not free, government-controlled health care? (more…)

Now that the 2006/2007 fall TV schedule is over, it’s time to ponder what it is about television that we like so much. Is it watching people do stupid things on reality shows? How about steamy hospital dramas that have more sex than medicine? Is it comedies about fat, dumb husbands with hot wives that hate them? All of these things are well and good, but they don’t really give me what I’m looking for.

I like all types of comedy, but oddly enough, my favorite is physical comedy (oddly enough, I say, because it’s a well-known fact that women don’t “get” The Three Stooges). Perhaps I DON’T like The Three Stooges – but I do enjoy me some fallin’ down. I like people smacking themselves in the face with doors and I like people throwing themselves around the room. What makes it funnier is to see it in the middle of a sitcom where everything else is “normal” and actors get by on witty lines. It’s the physical comedians within these groups that make certain shows stand out. And, of course, there’s the stand-outs on Saturday Night Live. While I tend to consider it a bit easier to do physical comedy on a sketch show, I’ve included the standouts from that show as well.

The following is an in-depth look at physical comedy throughout the past 40 years. You will note that Dick Van Dyke and Lucille Ball, while mentioned, are not on the list. We’ll call them the far end of the “modern” scale and look past them to those they inspired.

You’ll also notice that to keep your attention, I have sprinkled a bit of nudity throughout the article. Enjoy!

20./19. (tie) Chris Farley/Will Farrel & John Belushi/Dan Akroyd – For many folks in their 20’s and 30’s, Farley and Farrel epitomize physical comedy. For the preceding generation, it’s Belushi and Akroyd. The main draw for all four of these guys is their size – seeing them take their large frames and hurl themselves through dance routines (Farley’s Chippendale, Belushi and Akroyd’s Blues Brothers, Farrel’s cheerleader) or bandy about the set in a “large” fashion (Farley’s Matt Foley, Belushi’s samurai, Farrel’s hot tub lifeguard) cemented them in our minds as guys who based their comedy on the idea that big guys doing most anything is hilarious. While they could possibly be near the top of just any “physical comedy” list, for the purposes of this list (which focuses on television), we’ll give them their rightful place near the bottom for using the unbridled comedy venue of late night, weekend, sketch comedy television to hone their skills.

18. Molly Shannon - A former SNL cast member NOT known for her movie career, Shannon makes it in to the top 20 by taking some seriously badass falls. Her work as the character Mary Katherine Gallagher was mindblowingly physical – launching oneself into a pile of boxes or chairs on “live” TV is much more impressive than doing it in a movie or even a taped sitcom. All that, and she’s wearing a short skirt! She also added a lot of dancing and gymnastics to her other characters such as Sally O’Mally (”I’m FIFTY years old!”). She probably won’t be remembered as one of the best SNL cast members of all time, and her career went pretty dead after she left the show – but she gets an A+ for effort for slinging herself around with the boys of SNL.

17./16. Sarah Chalke/Zach Braff - You don’t generally find good physical comedy in today’s sitcoms. Heck, with all the reality show buzz, it’s hard to find a sitcom at all. But along with being brilliantly written and acted, Scrubs holds up the current television schedule with a little bit of physical comedy thanks to Braff and Chalke. From the beginning, Braff has been taking shots to the head from inanimate objects and riding his scooter through seemingly solid objects. And of course, he’s been through the Ritter/Van Dyke school of falling down. Chalke gets her position on the list for being the hottest chick on television (or so I’ve read) to take the occasional fall or just flail around hopelessly.

15. Don Knotts - Knotts gets his points basically for being extremely funny-looking and putting it to use in a comedic fashion. He’s funny just when his hair is out of place as Barney Fife. He’s funny when he’s scared. Funny when he’s drunk. Funny when he’s trying to be macho. His high-pitched excited voice and spindly frame serve as a template for actors like Zach Braff (16), Andy Dick (13) and Michael Richards (10) as he fully embraced his end of the comedy spectrum as “that weird little guy.” Later in his career, on Three’s Company, he kept up his reputation as being a sort of “rubberband man” with his his bug-eyed facial expressions and slow-wittedness. While Knotts didn’t do as much falling down shtick as others known for their physical comedy, his ability to play out “anxious” through facial expressions and mannerisms sets him up as a true modern physical comedy legend.

14. Ellen DeGeneres - Before Ellen was known as a lesbian, she was known as a great female physical comedian. Able to clumsily dance and sing her way through her sitcom (and now even her own talk show), she brought back the clumsy female lead we really hadn’t seen since I Love Lucy. Although the sitcom itself wasn’t really anything to write home about, the classic setup of miscommunication -> “madness ensues” was made more palpable and fresh by having DeGeneres herself do the pratfalls and play the dummy. DeGeneres plays as a female Don Knotts doing the comedy of Jerry Seinfeld and getting herself into situations similar to Lucille Ball.

13. Andy Dick - It would appear that while Andy Dick played America’s favorite spazz on television (Newsradio), he was also quite a spazz in real life. The Newsradio writers obviously put this to good use and used Dick as a punching bag for the show – during the second season, every show opened with Dick’s character falling down for some reason or another. While this didn’t carry through to the following seasons, falls, smacks and flailing were a part of Dick’s repertoire throughout the rest of the show’s run. Combine that with the perfectly clueless nature of Matthew Brock, and this little gem of a physical comedian shines. Much like Scrubs, which adds more humor to its already awkwardly-humorous setting (a hospital) by adding slapstick, Newsradio brings a new facet to making office life humorous by adding physical comedy in the form of Andy Dick.

12. Chevy Chase - Really not known for his work on TV…but his stint as a cast member on Saturday Night Live solidifies him as one of the most memorable physical comedians in modern TV history. Why? Well, I am a huge fan of the prat fall and no one does it better than Chase. While Chase is known as a terrific prick and was definitely not a favorite amongst fellow cast members, he sure did a hell of a job falling down on camera. He didn’t even resemble Gerald Ford in the least bit, but he ingrained the image of Ford as a clumsy boob for all future generations. Chase did the “fall of the week” during SNL openings…and that’s why he’s number 13.

11. Steve Martin – Like Chase, Martin isn’t known for his television work anymore, but he’s so good he’s remembered for being a cast member on Saturday Night Live (which he wasn’t). Martin is the modern equivalent of a Vaudeville man, using props, songs and incredibly lame humor in his act. He’s very much the guy who made the “fake arrow through the head” funny and danced around like a complete buffoon singing about King Tut. Martin’s physical appeal is in his lanky body and large voice, accompanied by his self-deprecating humor. His physicality in the “wild and crazy guys” alone earns him a spot on this list for funny catch phrase, funny costume, funny accent and funny dance.

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Hey, remember Mike Judge? He’s that guy who did that little show called Beavis & Butthead and this movie you like called Office Space. You might also recognize his name as being the creator of King of the Hill.

Did you know he had a new movie out? Well, probably not because Fox did a hell of a job keeping it out of theaters and unless you live in Austin you probably didn’t even know it was in a theater near you (that is, only if you live in L.A., Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston or Toronto). What, exactly, was Fox’s beef? It’s really not clear. Judge was doing what he is best at – commenting the stupidity/ignorance that exists in America and imagining a world where “teh sm4rts” are wiped out and the only people left are the ones who eat stupid food for breakfast.

While the movie is a bit odd and certainly doesn’t have a blockbuster plot or cast, the premise leaves us much to think about and is a truly genius idea that doesn’t get touched on often (although Futurama manages to sneak some “future stupidity” in at times). The main premise is explained brilliantly in the beginning of the film – an interview with a young, educated couple explaining that they are not ready to have kids, they feel it’s “too early,” and a cutaway to a “white trash” family (fathered by “Clevon”) surprised by another pregnancy. Five years later, the “educated” couple states they’re not ready – “not in this market” – and the “white trash” family has spawned more children thanks to the help of the neighbor woman. The educated couple ends up learning that the man has a low sperm count and one of Clevon’s sons is shown as a football hero promising the cheerleaders he will “fuck all y’all” to Clevon’s prideful cheers.

So begins the “de-evolution” of humans where the more intelligent fail to breed while the less intelligent breed at a high rate, thus lowering the human IQ substantially.

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The Knights of Prosperity
Wednesdays @ 8:30 on ABC (always check listings – it moves a lot)
In a Nutshell: Welcome Back Kotter + Heist

Click here to see the amazingly sexy theme song!

Here are 10 good reasons why this show is amusing:

1. The theme song kicks ass. It’s a story-song in the manner of Shaft.

2. It’s produced by David Letterman’s company Worldwide Pants, but does not star David Letterman.

3. Famous people – most notably Dustin “Screech” Diamond and Mick Jagger – show up occasionally, playing caricatures of themselves.

4. It stars a big fat black guy with a Barry White voice who constantly chomps a cigar.

5. Two of the characters are an Italian from the Bronx and an Indian taxi driver who continuously throw racial jabs at each other. (more…)

How may we disappoint you today?

I really used to love my credit card company. That’s sort of an odd thing – like loving your cable provider or your electricity company. But every time I interacted with MBNA, I came away pleased. Maybe it’s because one always expects poor customer service these days, and a good customer service experience ends up being infinitely more satisfying than you could ever imagine.

MBNA and I had a wonderful relationship since 1998. I didn’t screw them over (I was the very model of a modern credit-having individual) and they didn’t screw me over. They sent me cool perks. They gave me great rates. Their Web site was awesome. It was a dream come true. I was faithful to them and not only did I get myself a second card, I recommended my parents to them and got a business account for my business.

In 2006 I was informed that MBNA was merging with Bank of America. Now, I’d not heard much about BOA. MBNA was such a huge presence here in Cleveland that I just assumed MBNA would be swallowing up BOA and millions of new customers would enjoy the same wonderful customer service as me and that’d be the end of it.

I was sorely mistaken. Bank of America swallowed up MBNA and within a few short months proceeded to spew its glistening guts all over my pristine view of the credit card industry.

This is a really fucking long rant about Bank of America and how it sucks. If you are into this sort of thing…

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Little Mosque on the Prairie
Wednesdays @ 8PM on the CBC (Canada)
In a Nutshell: Father Ted/Vicar of Dibley/Ballykissangel + 24

This is one of the best new shows I’ve seen all year. It’s a comedy – a sitcom, even – about Muslims. And I’m not talking it’s “about” Muslims like Blue Collar Comedy is “about” rednecks, it actually centers around a group of Muslim people and the goings-on in their daily lives. They deal with their kids, their neighbors, their customers. Oh and yes they do deal with practicing their religion.

The premise of the show, which was written and created by Torontonian Zarqa Nawaz, is that a group of Muslims living in a small Canadian prairie town needed a place to hold their prayer meetings, so they rented the activity room in the local Anglican church. At first the group hid the fact that they were holding prayer meetings there under the guise of using the space as contractor Yasir’s (Carlo Rota) office but the Anglican minister and some of the town’s busybodies quickly caught on. As it turned out, Reverend Magee (Derek McGrath) didn’t really care – membership was down in his church and they could use the rent money. (more…)

Look At My Striped Shirt – Confessions of People You Love To Hate
by The Phat Phree
$10.36 @ Amazon.com

First off let me admit that this blog – or at least me – is somehow related to The Phat Phree. I’ll give you 3 minutes to Google it and figure it out. If you can’t, well then it’s of no concern to you. But I did get this book sent to me for free with the understanding that I would review it. Such is the duty of a “Blogger” – we are here to spread the word where no one else gives a damn.

Now let me explain a little bit about The Phat Phree. It’s an online humor magazine that is about two hundred times more popular than Unsought Input. But then again, uhm…we like it that way. The guys from The Phat Phree are those kids who probably beat you up in elementary school, played sports in middle school and by high school they were all of a sudden really in to drama club and the school newspaper because they were slightly too intelligent to stay in football. They weren’t in drama to sing and dance (cuz “that’s be gay, dude”) or on the newspaper to write scandalous op-ed pieces, but because they like when people listen to them talk or read what they write. They’re those guys who fill the large gap between the over-smart introverts and the air-headed extroverts. Now they work office jobs but hope to someday make it big in a way that people will pay money to hear what they have to say.

So, nothing wrong with that. Someone’s got to fill that gap. They’re honing their skills by following the TPP credo: Target. Observe. Ridicule. They’re taking “observational comedy” to a different level than we’re used to – different than the droning of Jerry Seinfeld’s sly jabs at everyday annoyances and not so far as the over-done “people of [my ethnicity] are funny because…” yawn-fest of Carlos Mencia.

Look At My Striped Shirt – Confessions of People You Love To Hate contains 73 essays written from the point of view of all of the quirky lamers you work with, ring up at the cash register, run into at parties and, God forbid, are related to. A Spoon River Anthology for the modern day, if you will. (more…)

An artist named *spacecoyote posted two “fan-fic” anime-style drawings of The Simpsons and Futurama characters to the popular art site deviantART.com. Less then a week later, she was signed on to work for Bongo Comics – owned and created by Matt Groening (creator of both series) on anime-style Simpsons comics. She also might be working with 20th Century Fox as well.

How’s that for a nice little bit of happiness from this “Web 2.0″ world? Post some junk online that you think your friends might dig and instead of a lawsuit (more common) you get a job?

Please do check out *spacecoyote’s drawings – I especially like her realization of Marge, Patty and Selma in the Simpsons drawing.

Here’s the official deviantART posting on the topic if you’d like to leave her some props.

Extras
Sundays @ 10 PM on HBO
In a nutshell: The Office + Curb Your Enthusiasm

Aren’t you Americans lucky? Ricky Gervais’s second hit BBC show (since The Office) is here on Pay Cable!

Gervais plays goofy and awkward (sound familiar?) bit-part actor Andy Millman who spends his time playing the role of an extra in crappy British TV shows and movies. His agent, Darren Lamb (Office co-creator Stephen Merchant) can’t actually get the guy a good part to save his life – his role is really that of being more pathetic than Andy than actually getting him work. Ashley Jensen (the wardrobe closet manager on Ugly Betty) plays Gervais’ co-extra and best friend Maggie, who, while not more pathetic than Andy is actually more clueless. But sweet. She plays Andy’s conscience.

Andy gets some local recognition – mostly from people on the street who hate him or directors that dispise him. Like Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm, he is pretty good at unintentionally pissing people off just by opening his mouth – a role not too far off from Gervais’ Office manager David Brent. (more…)

By the time Christmas is over, you’re going to have some gift cards to spend and some returns to make. Forget buying books or CDs with your Borders gift card (dude, CDs are so 2005) – instead, stock up on some television show boxed sets. Instead of shoveling the driveway or doing whatever people do in the winter in places where it doesn’t snow, stay inside and rot your brain AGAIN with these hours upon hours of television goodness. All commercial-free!

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

This is hands-down the best Holmes series out there. Jeremy Brett (as Holmes) basically turned himself into a raving lunatic to bring us the most true-to-story Sherlock possible, and the writers of this first series worked hard to keep true to Doyle’s works as well. Fans of House and CSI will appreciate the original “so clever it hurts” character after which Greg House and Gil Grissom are often cited as being modeled after. Brett is a sexy bastard as well.

There’s other Granada Television (of Great Britian) Holmes series starring Brett, such as The Return of Sherlock Holmes and The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, which are also good but Adventures is the place to start. The original 13 episodes, included in this set, had the best scripts and Brett was still at the top of his game. As the later series came about, the quality of Holmes stories left from which to choose became a stumbling block for the writers. Brett also started losing his mind a bit and his health got worse. By the time The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes was shot (the final series), Brett was literally having to be propped up in order to appear in the shows.

But this first series is can’t-miss. Sets are amazingly accurate, Brett and David Burke/Edward Hardwicke as Watson give spot-on performances and the scripts couldn’t be more accurate. Investing in this series will definitely up your geek cred by letting you discuss Holmes with your bookstorecoffeeshop buddies as if you’ve actually read the books.

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Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Mondays @ 10PM on NBC
In a Nutshell: The West Wing meets The Muppet Show

Man, this show was tough to pick as a recommendation. I actually only snagged it at first (for research) because I thought it was the “new Tina Fey comedy” but I was wrong (that one is 30 Rock; review coming soon). I watched the first 4 episodes and was frustrated all to hell.

I’m not a West Wing watcher so I am not up creator Aaron Sorkin’s ass. With this show, I figured out why I’m not a West Wing watcher – Aaron Sorkin makes me dizzy. This whole “pedaconferencing” (or the walk-and-talk) puts a serious crimp in any laid-back tv watcher’s style – especially when one is being introduced to the characters and trying really hard to follow the plots that will set up the stories for the rest of the show’s life. Things happened so fast that I had to visit the Interweb to have it explained to me. Oh yeah, and the whole show takes place in the dark. You know, to give it that CSI..er, I mean, old theater look.

What I found was that everyone from the Interweb was tuning in because they WERE up Aaron Sorkin’s ass. Fair enough – I hear West Wing was good. I read that people were quite disappointed in the show thus far (by episode 4-ish) but were amused with the West Wing/Sorkin “shout outs” and eager to see the show get better. The Collective Mind told me (every week, for about four weeks) that I MUST keep watching because the show WOULD get better. (more…)