Unsought Input

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…)

Joe Rogan is an animal. After years of being pissed of that Carlos Mencia has been stealing from other comedians he finally had enough and confronted him on stage. It is just brutal. Joe totally takes him apart and Carlos’ only comeback is to call Joe a “little bitch” ten times. To add further credibility to his argument Joe shows various clips showing Carlos stealing material. Joe Rogan is definitely the last person I would want in my face like that. He could easily kick Carlos’ ass but instead he just totally verbally destroys him. Joe was banned from the Comedy Store where this took place afterwards showing just how much free speech is respected in comedy clubs. Visit joerogan.net for more info and to give Joe your opinion on whether you think he was right or just being an ass.

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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The shock is that it’s actually funny.

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Jason is confusing Cyber Space with Meat Space again and referencing something I’d said at a party regarding England’s Channel 5’s Greatest Comedy Movies Ever list (not Bravo, as he had thought).

Being a fan of British “humour” I figured my top movies would be spot-on with our friends from the island, but instead I was incredibly disappointed by their idea of what is funny when it comes to comedy movies.

I’ll wait for you to click on the link and we can discuss.

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