2008 Performance at the Wilbur Theater

The unique comedic style of Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, and David Wain may not be exactly mainstream stand up, but it certainly makes me laugh. This is their first live show released to DVD and their easy banter (which should be easy, since they’ve been comedy partners for like twenty years) is an infectious blend of high and low brow humor. Not just anyone can just make me laugh by uttering the phrase, “M’lady farts”, but Wain says it oh so right. The only thing that didn’t go over so well with me was Showalter’s dirt beard.

Watch it instantly on netflix.

Click here for the rest of Stella: Live from Boston

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Posted on November 22, 2009

I have a confession: I like Glee. I think it's smart and funny and every time Jane Lynch is on the screen I am completely happy with the world. However, I spend a large majority of the (hour long!) show either revolted and pushing fast forward or downright embarrassed and looking away (that would be every time Matthew Morrison starts to rap and hip hop dance) because of those damned musical numbers.

I'm sure this American Idolization was a vital component to getting the surprisingly edgy show on the air but the songs (of which there are far, far too many each episode) are a real obnoxious downer… and now they are available in one easy to torture your enemies with CD.

Ever wanted to hear a (more) emasculated version of REO Speedwagon's Can't Fight This Feeling? Glee's got it.

Even worse than the squeaky clean, over produced, Broadway-style trained vocalized cannibalization of songs I actually like (such as Dancing with Myself), the show and its cast are unforgivably responsible for introducing me to popular songs I could have otherwise easily avoided by willfully and purposely not turning on the FM radio. I never had to know about Celine Dion's Taking Chances or Jordin Sparks's No Air and I would have been happier for it.

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Posted on November 9, 2009

Here's what I wrote back on November 11th: 11/17/08

Getting into The Wire is like joining a cult, anyone whose been there knows that once you tap into season one, hours, nay weeks – even months – of your life will be devoted entirely to the world of Baltimore's rough streets. It's riveting drama and the perfect argument against those people who refuse to watch TV, claiming it's nothing but crap. It's?a show entirely worthy of its hype and word of mouth.

In fact, word of mouth and the release of all the seasons on DVD is what's made this series, which began it's run way back in 2002 so popular lately. More and more people are discovering what at least someone at HBO knew all along. Sure they failed to gain a huge audience for the hailed program, but they did allow it to go on for five years – all of which I am excited to watch. (Like I said this show can take months of your life from you.)

Former homicide detective, Ed Burns and his co-creator (and former journalist) David Simon were clearly inspired by their real life experiences and have written three dimensional characters who feel nothing like the expected television versions of themselves. No cop is on a vengeance kick after losing his wife to a bad guy, even the bad guys aren't bad guys in the typical sense. Some have more honor than the police officers, others are just kids stuck in a losing cycle.

The women are given equally complex and dignified roles. No where is there a boring twenty year old blond girl in charge of a crack team of detectives, a TV trend I've already railed against. Sadly, despite critics constantly calling this one of the greatest television shows ever created, if anyone in the networks saw it, they took no notes from it except that it wasn't an instant success, because nothing since has come close to the complexity, sophistication and greatness of The Wire.

Each season focuses on a different aspect of the city of Baltimore: the projects, the docks, politics, schools, and media, which maintaining some central characters like Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell – the top men in a drug ring, Detective McNulty and Detective Greggs who try to catch them, and characters like the drug addicted Bubbles and the Robin Hood like Omar who are just trying to make it in a crazy world.

To get into the plots would be unfair to you that have yet to watch it and simply too much to get into here (I recently finished an explosive season three), but I can say that this is a thought provoking and worth while journey with some of the best characters put on the small screen.

RUNNERS UP:
Summer Heights High
Planet Earth
Poirot
Trial and Retribution
Thundarr The Barbarian
Silk Stalkings

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Posted on November 2, 2009

Jeffery Deaver, best known for his novel The Bone Collector, has compiled the most edible thrillery popcorn into the short story collection Twisted; I haven't had this much fun with mindless reading in a while. Like a horror anthology (though much better than those you can usually find on TV – in fact, this book could easily become the only really good horror anthology of the decade if someone good got behind it) each brief thriller starts out one way (you think a woman is about to meet with a serial killer, a dad is about to be murdered, a jealous husband is about to enact bloody revenge, etc) and then… Bam! There's a twist!

The language and style can best be described bare bones (lazy at worst: every female character is described as resembling either Pamela Anderson or Michelle Pfeiffer) but Deaver really really knows just how to cut to the chase and tease the best out of his highly satisfying and effective formula. The twist-ending game might get a little tedious after sixteen stories, but I have to admit: I couldn't always figure out what was coming, which keeps it fresh.

This is perfect beach reading for non beach reading weather – so maybe we can call it 'sofa and hot cocoa reading'. In response to the overwhelming popularity of this collection, Deaver put out a second volume ingeniously titled More Twisted.

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Posted on October 26, 2009

The Squid and the Whale is a wonderfully subtle portrait of a bunch of assholes. Deeply intimate, the story tracks on the unraveling of the Berkman family: Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney and their two young sons. Though it's fueled by the consequences of divorce and betrayal (IMDB has it tagged 'joint-custody'), it's far from melodramatic, the characters feel very real – so much so that I wonder if writer/director Noah Baumbach's parents felt embarrassed the first time they saw it. It's a tough movie to watch at times, but somehow it remains tender and funny even as it digs into the rawest of situations and emotions; I was truly touched.

After years of hearing from friends about how we'd like this film, just last week I finally managed to get Jim to sit down and watch it, despite his deep distrust of Baumbach as a filmmaker. Here, shooting entirely (and surprisingly) on super 16mm in 23 days, he proves to be a deft auteur. I hope he brought some of that talent to the Fantastic Mr Fox screenplay.

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Posted on October 19, 2009