Totally Tubular
Apr. 25th, 2008 12:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penfield"Happiness is a butterfly which when pursued is just beyond your grasp... but if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you."
- Nathaniel Hawthorne
Last night, appointment television returned with a vengeance in my household. The long strike-related layoff ended with new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Lost, along with continued fresh material from My Name is Earl, The Office, Scrubs, and Smallville. House, the only other network television show I regularly watch, will return from its own hiatus next week.
Since so many of my must-see programs air on Thursday, it would be in my nature to try and spread the viewing out a bit, one program or two per night. But J. eschews this kind of patient self-denial and insists that everything must be watched immediately, lest we be 30 seconds behind what the rest of the world is watching, even if it means sitting through inane Tina Fey aggrandizement and commercials for Hall-of-Fame quality birth control.
During network television's refractory period, I filled the air time by watching professional sports, HBO's John Adams miniseries and SAL's Freaks and Geeks DVDs, while J. seriously pondered finding a new boyfriend, or at least her own television set. On those occasions, J. did manage to commandeer the remote, I had to settle for television's mutant cousin: YouTube.
Here are some of the video clips I marked as favorites, not counting the ones in which I appear.
CAKE - Wheels (Live on Jimmy Kimmel Live)
While this video does unfortunately feature an introduction from talentless gasbag Jimmy Kimmel, what follows is the best reproduction of CAKE's live show -- including the extended instrumental coda and John McCrea's compulsive chatterboxing -- without the annoying crowd noise common to handheld live recordings. If it's plain old music videos you prefer, though, I'm also a big fan of Short Skirt/Long Jacket.
Zach Galifianakis
Sometimes, a great show will burst onto the scene and then disappear just as quickly. Usually this is because the show is offensively awful, or has poor ratings, or both. If the show is lucky, it becomes a "cult" hit and lives on in DVD box sets. If not, the show is summarily forgotten. Late World with Zach was a comedy/interview show that aired on VH1 for something like 10 minutes back in the early 'aughts. It was sort of a weird fit, a late-night talk show built around an experimental, antisocial comedian who specialized in obtuse observations and general inappropriateness. So it makes sense that nobody watched it. But it was really funny, in a subversive sort of way, and this clip at least represents some evidence that it ever existed. Galifianakis is still out there touring and pissing people off, but I miss that show.
Cupid
Speaking of shows cancelled before their time, there once (1998) was Cupid. It was awesome. Unlike "Late World," though, it apparently hasn't been totally forgotten. Perhaps buoyed by the subsequent success of its creator Rob Thomas (the mind behind "Veronica Mars"), the show is getting a re-boot with an all-new cast next season. It's hard for me to believe that they'll have better chemistry than Jeremy Piven and Paula Marshall, but I look forward to seeing them try.
Mr. Belvedere Opening and Closing Themes
Only the best opening credit theme song ever, for a woefully underrated show. The Greatest American Hero theme is pretty good, too, in a cheesy, traditional, retro sort of way. Television shows don't really have theme songs anymore, as they have been replaced by more dialogue/action. It's hard to complain about this, I guess, since we're getting more value for our time, but there's something almost Pavlovian about a theme song from a favored show inspiring a warm feeling of comfort.
More Cowbell
It feels like kind of a copout mentioning this Saturday Night Live sketch, which is so popular and ubiquitous that even my parents have probably heard of it. From Will Ferrell's committed performance to Christopher Walken's eerily stilted delivery, it still holds up after repeated viewings. It's not my favorite SNL sketch -- that honor goes to Jackie Rogers Jr.'s $100,000 Jackpot Wad (which was removed from YouTube for copyright infringement) or maybe The Sinatra Group (which I could only find on AOL Video).
A Day In The Life Of An MC Escher Drawing (Short Film)
Remember the '90s, when MC Escher was everywhere? J. and I saw this at a short film festival, and this is the one short film that stuck with me. It's technically and thematically simple, and maybe even not all that original, but it's good for a quick laugh.
Flight Of The Conchords - Jenny
Half music act, half comedy act, "Jenny" is one of the New Zealanders' few songs not to make it into the first season of their HBO show or their new CD. But it's just as good as that stuff, if not better.
Weird Al interviews Eminem
These faux-interviews have been a staple of Yankovic's "AL TV" schtick for years -- YouTube is littered with them -- but Yankovic seems to take particular delight in skewering Eminem's verbal tics, street mannerisms and self-involvement. You know what I'm saying?
Terry Tate Office Linebacker
The "Bud Bowl" series isn't on YouTube -- yet -- but my second-favorite Super Bowl ad is. I can still remember my Super Bowl party erupting with laughter during this spot, particularly the in-joke reference to "Office Space." Other commercials good enough to save: The first great "Got Milk?" ad, a classic Budweiser commercial and the somewhat esoteric but nonetheless funny NFL.com fantasy spot.
BASEBALL BIRD
There are a handful of sports-related clips in my Favorites file. But this one, in which Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson accidentally vaporizes a passing pigeon, is my favorite favorite because it is (a) visually shocking and (b) rationally unbelieveable. What are the odds that a 95 mile-per-hour fast ball would hit a clueless bird flying perpendicularly to it? It practically defies physics; you could not repeat it if you wanted to. Apparently even the French thought it was interesting. Other sports clips include an amazing gimmick pitch (although I thought it was outside) and accumulated highlights from the greatest college bowl game ever. If it's fake sports you like, how about an upset of Mike Tyson or the exploits of the greatest video game athlete ever.
A Conversation Between Allen Iverson and Jim Mora
This is only marginally about sports. If it is about anything, it is about mild outbursts of unfettered insanity. From the moment these two events occurred, I was hoping for some kind of mash-up. Thank you, YouTube, for answering my prayer.
Jerry Seinfeld Comedy
It's not what the title suggests. It's actually a trailer for Seinfeld's 2002 documentary Comedian and it's probably my favorite trailer ever. I'm one of those people who likes to get to movies nice and early so I don't miss any of the previews. There used to be a program on HD-TV that showed nothing but movie trailers, but that show is gone now, too.
Man, television sucks. Thank goodness for YouTube.
- Nathaniel Hawthorne
Last night, appointment television returned with a vengeance in my household. The long strike-related layoff ended with new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Lost, along with continued fresh material from My Name is Earl, The Office, Scrubs, and Smallville. House, the only other network television show I regularly watch, will return from its own hiatus next week.
Since so many of my must-see programs air on Thursday, it would be in my nature to try and spread the viewing out a bit, one program or two per night. But J. eschews this kind of patient self-denial and insists that everything must be watched immediately, lest we be 30 seconds behind what the rest of the world is watching, even if it means sitting through inane Tina Fey aggrandizement and commercials for Hall-of-Fame quality birth control.
During network television's refractory period, I filled the air time by watching professional sports, HBO's John Adams miniseries and SAL's Freaks and Geeks DVDs, while J. seriously pondered finding a new boyfriend, or at least her own television set. On those occasions, J. did manage to commandeer the remote, I had to settle for television's mutant cousin: YouTube.
Here are some of the video clips I marked as favorites, not counting the ones in which I appear.
CAKE - Wheels (Live on Jimmy Kimmel Live)
While this video does unfortunately feature an introduction from talentless gasbag Jimmy Kimmel, what follows is the best reproduction of CAKE's live show -- including the extended instrumental coda and John McCrea's compulsive chatterboxing -- without the annoying crowd noise common to handheld live recordings. If it's plain old music videos you prefer, though, I'm also a big fan of Short Skirt/Long Jacket.
Zach Galifianakis
Sometimes, a great show will burst onto the scene and then disappear just as quickly. Usually this is because the show is offensively awful, or has poor ratings, or both. If the show is lucky, it becomes a "cult" hit and lives on in DVD box sets. If not, the show is summarily forgotten. Late World with Zach was a comedy/interview show that aired on VH1 for something like 10 minutes back in the early 'aughts. It was sort of a weird fit, a late-night talk show built around an experimental, antisocial comedian who specialized in obtuse observations and general inappropriateness. So it makes sense that nobody watched it. But it was really funny, in a subversive sort of way, and this clip at least represents some evidence that it ever existed. Galifianakis is still out there touring and pissing people off, but I miss that show.
Cupid
Speaking of shows cancelled before their time, there once (1998) was Cupid. It was awesome. Unlike "Late World," though, it apparently hasn't been totally forgotten. Perhaps buoyed by the subsequent success of its creator Rob Thomas (the mind behind "Veronica Mars"), the show is getting a re-boot with an all-new cast next season. It's hard for me to believe that they'll have better chemistry than Jeremy Piven and Paula Marshall, but I look forward to seeing them try.
Mr. Belvedere Opening and Closing Themes
Only the best opening credit theme song ever, for a woefully underrated show. The Greatest American Hero theme is pretty good, too, in a cheesy, traditional, retro sort of way. Television shows don't really have theme songs anymore, as they have been replaced by more dialogue/action. It's hard to complain about this, I guess, since we're getting more value for our time, but there's something almost Pavlovian about a theme song from a favored show inspiring a warm feeling of comfort.
More Cowbell
It feels like kind of a copout mentioning this Saturday Night Live sketch, which is so popular and ubiquitous that even my parents have probably heard of it. From Will Ferrell's committed performance to Christopher Walken's eerily stilted delivery, it still holds up after repeated viewings. It's not my favorite SNL sketch -- that honor goes to Jackie Rogers Jr.'s $100,000 Jackpot Wad (which was removed from YouTube for copyright infringement) or maybe The Sinatra Group (which I could only find on AOL Video).
A Day In The Life Of An MC Escher Drawing (Short Film)
Remember the '90s, when MC Escher was everywhere? J. and I saw this at a short film festival, and this is the one short film that stuck with me. It's technically and thematically simple, and maybe even not all that original, but it's good for a quick laugh.
Flight Of The Conchords - Jenny
Half music act, half comedy act, "Jenny" is one of the New Zealanders' few songs not to make it into the first season of their HBO show or their new CD. But it's just as good as that stuff, if not better.
Weird Al interviews Eminem
These faux-interviews have been a staple of Yankovic's "AL TV" schtick for years -- YouTube is littered with them -- but Yankovic seems to take particular delight in skewering Eminem's verbal tics, street mannerisms and self-involvement. You know what I'm saying?
Terry Tate Office Linebacker
The "Bud Bowl" series isn't on YouTube -- yet -- but my second-favorite Super Bowl ad is. I can still remember my Super Bowl party erupting with laughter during this spot, particularly the in-joke reference to "Office Space." Other commercials good enough to save: The first great "Got Milk?" ad, a classic Budweiser commercial and the somewhat esoteric but nonetheless funny NFL.com fantasy spot.
BASEBALL BIRD
There are a handful of sports-related clips in my Favorites file. But this one, in which Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson accidentally vaporizes a passing pigeon, is my favorite favorite because it is (a) visually shocking and (b) rationally unbelieveable. What are the odds that a 95 mile-per-hour fast ball would hit a clueless bird flying perpendicularly to it? It practically defies physics; you could not repeat it if you wanted to. Apparently even the French thought it was interesting. Other sports clips include an amazing gimmick pitch (although I thought it was outside) and accumulated highlights from the greatest college bowl game ever. If it's fake sports you like, how about an upset of Mike Tyson or the exploits of the greatest video game athlete ever.
A Conversation Between Allen Iverson and Jim Mora
This is only marginally about sports. If it is about anything, it is about mild outbursts of unfettered insanity. From the moment these two events occurred, I was hoping for some kind of mash-up. Thank you, YouTube, for answering my prayer.
Jerry Seinfeld Comedy
It's not what the title suggests. It's actually a trailer for Seinfeld's 2002 documentary Comedian and it's probably my favorite trailer ever. I'm one of those people who likes to get to movies nice and early so I don't miss any of the previews. There used to be a program on HD-TV that showed nothing but movie trailers, but that show is gone now, too.
Man, television sucks. Thank goodness for YouTube.
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Date: 2008-04-26 02:17 am (UTC)-GDM
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Date: 2008-04-28 06:14 pm (UTC)