JOSHUAJENKINSis unremarkable

By now you've probably heard of AMC's critical darling Mad Men. Actually I'm probably the only person on planet America that hadn't watched the show until last week. This is another one of those highly rated series that I'm taking way too long to get to.

This series is fantastic. I am a complete sucker for anything that takes place between 1910 and 1969 and somewhat of an architecture slash city slash New York City nerd. Mix the two together and I'd be completly satisfied if the show was just about a couple guys talking on the street for thirteen episodes.

However, this is not the case. The show is incredibly well written and the direction is great. I love that we're hitting the point where TV series feel like small movies. I think the high-definition transition has a lot to do with that, but I appreciate the level of entertainment I recieve from shows like this.

The series is about a group of men and women tied to the 1960's New York City advertising world by one string or another. The show focuses more on the awkwardness and excitement of a culture slowly breaking down from the white-man-rules-all to the people-are-people society we're close to today. A lot of touchy subjects such as sexism and racism are hit upon without any apologies and I appreciate that; it's always tastefully done.

If you have Comcast cable you probably have this on-demand for free for a couple more weeks before the new season starts (it actually starts next Sunday, but I belive the on-demand period goes one week beyond that). I'd recommend checking it out. The first season is thirteen one hour long (~45 minutes sans ads) long episodes and they're all fantastic.

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I can't justify subscribing to HBO or staying up to date with pop-culture. The first doesn't agree with my wallet, the second would devastate the street-cred I've been building for years. That's why I haven't seen Flight of the Conchords (the show) until recently.

Over the past few days I've been wading my way through the first season. I'm very bummed that only twelve twenty-six minute episodes exist, but it's better to have loved and lost or, something, I don't think this reference is going to pan out.

So the show; it's hilarious. Comedy gold boiled down and laced with crack. Essentially it's two guys from New Zealand that are in a band, have anywhere from zero to three fans and occasionally pursue women. Oh, and they break into song when necessary. That's it. There's a little plot thrown in there but it's really just a hilarious visual television-show version of their comedy act.

That's all you need to know.

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I was thinking the whole time "wow, I bet I'm running at a pretty consistent pace."

Not so much.

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Million Dollar Baby was on AMC^HD today. With nothing better to do, and despite seeing the movie a couple years ago, I hazarded another watch.

This film is perfect. Outstanding performances by everyone in the cast. Clint Eastwood and Hillary Swank don't need to be in any more films, they've set up a hard act to follow.

I don't have anything meaningful or intelligent to add to the plethora of reviews and opinions out there, I just recommend that you check out this film if you haven't seen it—or watch it again if you have. Just be prepared to feel depressed afterward.

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Due to a small travel hiatus at work I've had the time to watch a little television. Occasionally I'll flip on TBS because they tend to play a lot of Family Guy. Over the past couple of months I've noticed that they have two new completely heinous advertising techniques.

Technique the first

I'm half way through Family Guy, which is only about 22 minutes long as it is thanks to advertising and I notice Bill fucking Engvall start waltzing across the bottom of the screen. I hold my extended index finger in front of my face to cover up his cousin-marrying (speculation) ass; I am appeased for about three seconds. I holster my Bill-erasing finger and notice that he has picked up a little remote and he's pointing it squarely at the Griffin family. What's he going to do now?

Oh. No. He. Did. Not. Getoutofhere.

The little weasel paused Family Guy! And now he's talking about jerking off a cow or whatever his next episode is about. TBS and Bill, are you guys kidding? Is this a joke? Is this how desperate you idiots are for viewers? This is completely unacceptable. Commercial breaks used to seem like a horrible interruption, this is fathoms worse. I am actually measuring things in fathoms it is so bad.

Technique the second

I'm watching Family Guy again it goes to commercial break. Nothing unusual here. TBS has some doofus doing stand up, maybe advertising for some special they have coming up. I start listening to the guy's joke and he's saying something to the extent of "And yeah, Suzy, that slimy bitch, she starts eating some pizza at Cecil's. That cow can really throw down some food. FUCK BITCH LOVES SOME CECIL'S BRAND PIZZA AND SO SHOULD YOU HA. HA. HA. HA. IT'S SO GOOD. Can I have my check now?"

Seriously, that's not embellished. This freaking douche-nozzle is actually pimping pizza under the guise of stand up comedy. There are multiple of these ads.

TBS does not disclose at any point that you are watching an advertisement. Apparently their target demographic with these ads is the 18 - Snorts-Draino group. Does anyone really fall for this nonsense? It's awfully convenient that a handful of comedians have jokes centered around national retail brands and services.

Stop it

I'm really not sure what spurred these disasters of ad campaigns, but if I had to take a guess I'd bet it's all the hype around that new "internets" and how all the youngsters are watching their youtubes and holo's and raking in all that ad revenue. So this is TBS's counter-attack? Not in a million years will this work. Unless they're shooting for more pirated shows (since they pretty much syndicate 90% of their content as it is) they should probably go ahead and knock it the hell off.

I actually kind of like their show My Boys for some reason. There's some vaguely natural about it. Something that can't be said for their other terrible shows. That's about the only thing keeping me coming back to TBS at this point, and I'm really considering just cutting it off entirely.

Take that Turner!

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