mwatson13

Weekly recaps?

Alright if you have been following this blog it’s pretty obvious I’m a big fan of television. In fact I find it hard to watch all my shows each week because I get addicted to them all. I thought I could possibly do some reviews each week and give you a little insight into my thoughts. It’s late January so most shows have started airing or have finished their seasons, so I’ll choose the ones that have just started, or will be running until the end of the season(usually around the end of May). Here’s a few shows I am currently watching. If you would like my opinions on them tell me so in the comments section. If nobody does then I’ll probably do whatever the fuck I want. Well either way I’ll probably do whatever the fuck I want, but it’s nice to know you think I value your opinion.

-Parks and Recreation

-Shameless

-Californication

-Community

-Eastbound and Down

-Modern Family

-Happy Endings

-Psych

-The Walking Dead

-The Big Bang Theory (Just Kidding)

Louis C.K. Live at the Beacon Theater

Ten years ago not many people knew who Louis C.K. was. A couple of late night talk show appearances, including a memorable one in which he describes how amazing life is and we are all miserable on Conan, and now he is arguably the hottest stand up comedian out, with one of the most innovative, unique shows on television. Live at the Beacon Theater is the fourth full length special/ concert film from Louis C.K. and once again he throws away all previous material, and comes at you with sixty minutes worth of brilliant, and honest comedy. What sets this apart from others is not only his material, but the way it was distributed. Louis skipped the “middle man” and went straight to the consumer. He bypassed numerous companies vying for the rights to distribute his special. He offered anyone with internet access to visit his website and download the special for $5 via paypal.

It seems pretty simple right? The only problem is that because of the way it is distributed it becomes  easy to illegally obtain. However, leave it to Louis C.K. to take care of almost two decades worth of illegal file sharing by simply writing a personal letter to the buyer at the bottom of the download screen. The note simply asked everyone, in typical Louis C.K. style, that he produced the special with his own money and  to not be a dickhead and actually buy it, don’t steal it. When i was reading the note from Louis I thought to myself that wow this guy really took a huge risk with putting his work out there for people, and I appreciate it so I’ll gladly spend $5 of my own money. Well his experiment worked. In fact it worked very well. In just over 12 days the special has made over $1 million.

So Louis took a quarter of the million and set it aside to cover the production cost of making the special,  set aside another quarter for his staff on “Louie”, then donated just over a quarter of it to charity. That leaves around $220,000. “Some of that will pay my rent and will care for my children. The rest I will do terrible, horrible things with and none of that is any of your business,”

In an interview with Jimmy Fallon, Louis explained,  “I’ve never had a million dollars all at once. I grew up pretty poor and I was like, this is not even my money,” he said. “This is just a five-dollar impulse that 220,000 people had, and now I have it. And I felt uncomfortable about having that much money.”

That’s just the kind of man he is. I’ve watched countless hours of video, and interviews of Louis and he just doesn’t seem to be phased by the spotlight. He wears jeans and a black t-shirt on almost every piece of video I see him in, and even walk to the comedy clubs in NY when he is performing. He’s just a guy. He’s a divorced father of two who is brutally honest in his views. He does Now I’m sure he splurges on a hooker every now and then, but hey how can you blame the guy.

“I never viewed money as being ‘my money’ I always saw it as ‘The money.’ It’s a resource. if it pools up around me then it needs to be flushed back out into the system,” he wrote. “If I make another million, I’ll give more of it away.”

I highly recommend spending the $5 on this hour long special, or if you don’t feel like spending the money right away, take a look at a few of his acts on YouTube. You won’t be disappointed. Well actually i can’t guarantee that because he does say some pretty fucked up stuff, but nonetheless If you’re not shy when it comes to comedy then he’s your guy.

Could we possibly be seeing the future of material distribution? It seems to early say yes, but this experiment worked. He took a huge risk, one that could have easily backfired, but for now it looks like smooth sailing for Louis C.K. It’s barely been two weeks, and it’s scary to think how many people will have bought it in a month. So go check the special out. Aids.

Greatest Christmas movie of all time?

What is the best Christmas movie of all time? A question often debated between friends, families, and throughout the media. Since it’s that time of year I thought it would be cool to hear your thoughts. Now I’m going to post my top 5, but feel free to include any I may have missed. The criteria for the list would be that the movie would have to relate to Christmas, or the holiday season. As long as the movie has some sort of holiday theme it’s good. So here is my 5 favorite Christmas movies of all time.

5) Christmas Vacation

4) Home Alone

3) Elf

2) Die Hard

1) A Christmas Story

The Dark Knight Rises

Here is the 2nd trailer for the much anticipated sequel to The Dark Knight. We get a look at a few new faces as well. Tom Hardy will play Bane, Anne Hathaway is slated to play Selina Kyle, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is to play a Gotham police officer named John Blake, and Marion Cotillard is playing Miranda Tate. It will be hard to live up to the expectations of many people who loved The Dark Knight, but I believe Christopher Nolan will succeed. It’s a tall task replacing the Joker and Heath Ledger, but look no further than Tom Hardy’s work in the movie Bronson to see he can surely play a villain. Take a look at the trailer and give me your thoughts.

Great article on NBC’s move to bench critically acclaimed “Community”

NBC recently opted to move “Community” from its Thursday night lineup. A move that has made myself, and many other fans of the show extremely angry. Do yourself a favor and read this article, and hopefully it will sway you into watching the show.

\”Community\” on Hiatus: Why NBC is making a mistake.

My Thoughts on The Penn State/Joe Paterno Situation

Ever since the news broke of former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, I have wanted to write on here about it. I held off on it for awhile as not be swayed by the opinions of others. After I have had time to think over the whole situation on whether Joe Paterno should be fired or not, I can only come to one conclusion and that is Paterno had to be let go.

I can’t remember a scandal in sports that is this sickening. We had Tiger Woods cheating with a bunch of women, and steroids in baseball, but never did I think I would be putting child molestation and sports in the same sentence. What Jerry Sandusky “allegedly” did is just one of the worst things you could do to a person. If he did commit these heinous crimes, he should be in jail for the rest of his life. I think most of us can agree on that. What seems to be dividing people is whether or not Joe Paterno should have been let go. My answer is yes.

Penn State did what it had to. In a sensitive subject like this, every single person involved had to go. If Joe Paterno was told by Mike Mcqueary about Jerry Sandusky showering with a child, and he did not let the police know, he is at fault. He might have told the person he was supposed to, but as a man, and as a human being, he did not do enough. I want to believe Joe Paterno is a better person that that, and he somehow made a lapse in judgement, but I can’t.

Joe Paterno is what made Penn State one of the most storied college football teams around. He generated millions of dollars, sent many players to the NFL, and helped Penn State become a school that people wanted to go to.  In the end I’m afraid, we wont remember him for what he did do, but what he did not do.

TV Shows You Should Be Watching.

I love to watch TV and I’m sure most of you like to as well. Isn’t is nice to settle down after a tough day, and turn on that favorite show of yours. Here’s a list of some shows that you’re probably not watching, but ones that you should definitely be watching

Community-
This NBC sitcom has flown under the radar throughout its three season run. The show stars Joel McHale(The Soup) as Jeff Winger, a thirty-something lawyer who is forced to back to college because of a false diploma. The show also stars Chevy Chase(Vacation movies, Caddyshack) as Pierce, Donald Glover(30 Rock) as Troy, Alison Brie(Mad Men) as Annie, Danny Pudi (Greek) as Abed, Gillian Jacobs (Choke) as Britta, Yvette Nicole Brown (500 Days of Summer) as Shirley, Ken Jeong(The Hangover) as Senor Chang, and Jim Rash(Reno 911) as Dean Pelton. Community is truely and ensemble comedy, and each character plays a huge part in why it works.

I could describe Community in many ways, but I’ll just tell you the reasons why I like it. Community does numerous parodies (Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction, Die Hard, etc) of other shows and movies. It has been described as being “meta”, but I still have yet to figure out what the fuck that word means. All I can tell you is that this show is extremely inventive and original. I can’t name a show that follows this style. They did an entire episode about the college having a paintball war. How fucking awesome is that.

The part that I love most about Community is their characters. The writers and cast do an incredible job of creating characters that don’t become stale. In the 3 season run, every character has evolved. Character depth in any show, or movie is what makes the show great. I promise you will grow to love these characters that you get to hang out with every Thursday night, and like me you’ll wonder why this show gets such low ratings. Oh and by the way, ratings are bullshit. I could go into a whole essay about how they are such a terrible way to gauge a shows popularity, but I’ll save that for another post.

Community airs Thursday nights at 8pm on NBC.

Psych-
I know, that you know, that I know. Watch the show and you’ll get that opening sentence. Psych stars the charming James Roday and Dule Hill(The West Wing), as Shawn Spencer and Burton “Gus” Guster, childhood friends who consult with the Santa Barbara Police Department on cases. This is based upon the idea that Shawn is an actual psychic.You quickly find out that Shawn is not an actual psychic, but a person who just has a remarkable talent for the minor details. It’s a lot like The Mentalist. You’ll get that joke too when you watch the show.

Psych is smart, witty and just a fun show to watch. The show is a comedy, but each week solves a different crime. What I like about Psych is it also references other movies and TV shows quite often. Roday does a brilliant job, and is one of the main reasons why the show succeeds.  Shawn and Gus a new mystery each week  with the help of Santa Barbara PD detectives Lassiter(Timothy Omundson) and O’hara(Maggie Lawson), along with occasional help from Shawn’s father, Henry Spencer(Corbin Bernsen).

Overall Psych is a fun show to watch. It won’t ever win an Emmy, or be talked about as one of the greatest shows on TV, but season after season Psych is consistently funny and smart. So watch it and hopefully you enjoy it as much as I do.

Psych airs Wednesday nights at 10pm on USA.

Homeland-

Homeland is in its first season on Showtime, starring Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison, a CIA operations officer who has come to believe that a Marine(Damain Lewis), who was held captive by Al-Qaeda as a prisoner of war, was turned by the enemy and now poses a significant risk to national security.

The show was created by the producers of 24 and has that same type of feel when watching it. It keeps you on the edge of you seat the entire episode. I don’t want you to think that this show is exactly like 24, because Homeland certainly is not. In 24 Jack Bauer was a strong, bad-ass lead character. In Homeland Carrie Mathison, is a bi-polar CIA agent who screwed up and missed an opportunity to stop the events of September 11th. Now almost 10 years later she believes that Brody (The US Marine who was imprisoned for many years) has turned, and now plans to facilitate in an attack on the United States.

Homeland offers so many possibilities on how the event can turn out. The writers give just enough to let  you formulate an opinion, before revealing something else and making you change it. I’m on episode six and I’m hooked. I think if you watch the pilot you will be too.

Homeland airs Sunday nights at 10pm on Showtime.

I’ve given you three shows that you should be watching, so let me know what you think of them. Hopefully you like them as much as I do. If there are any shows that I missed(I’m sure there’s plenty) let me know and I would be happy to watch them. As long as it’s not Glee. That show it terrible.