In free form comments, Mitch made a good point -- maybe it is unfair of me to stop running my weekly TV in Review post just because the only new show that I watch is done until January. If you want to talk about TV this week -- and let's make it anything you watched this week, including movies and re-runs and DVDs -- do it here. If people use this space, I will keep putting it up; if not, not. Review, recommend, discuss.
For me I watched all of Frisky Dingo on youtube. If you do not know it, it is an Adult Swim cartoon in 15 minutes blocks about a supervillain (Killface) and a superhero (Awesome X) From the people who brought you Sealab, it is a good version of the standard Adult Swim logic in which the plot is driven by more and more surreal diversions, although instead of one-off bytes, there is continuity between episodes -- a girl reporter is introduced in one episode, as are computer keyboards that are also ant farms; later she falls into tanks of radioactive waste used to destroy the keyboards and radioactive ants infect her brain; she becomes an evil ant queen supervillain (Ant-igone), who robs banks; later we just drop this whole plot and the girl reporter gets rid of the ants by eating ant poison.
What really makes the show fun is the jokes on pacing. When Killface gets wounded he spends a good deal of time on a hospital payphone trying to get through to his insurance company -- who re-direct him through New Delhi -- before discovering that the company is owned by his billionaire nemesis, Awesome X.
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ReplyDeleteI love Frisky Dingo.
ReplyDeleteGeoff, if you've never seen the Venture Brothers, you should check it out. I think you'd appreciate it. And it only gets better with Season 2.
I'd love to hear you and Matt Fraction discuss both shows ad infinitum, I would.
I saw three movies this weekend-
ReplyDeleteKNOCKED UP, which was funny and sweet, but not as good as 40-Year-Old Virgin.
THE FOUNTAIN, which was beautiful to look at and not as disappointing as everyone assured me it would be. What is really cool is that all of the trippy "Nebula" effects were actually not CG, they were extreme close ups of chemical reactions set off by a chemist.
And ironically OCEANS 11 for like the 50th time, which is always fun. I can't wait to see the new one this week.
I've seen a little Frisky Dingo, but I could never get into it. I think what bothered me was the voice acting; like the later episodes of Sealab, it was just annoying, featuring characters yelling at each other incessantly. But that's probably just me.
ReplyDeleteOh, I also highly recommend Venture Brothers. It's one of the funniest shows on TV. And The Fountain, which was one of my favorite movies last year.
Big Brother 8 started here, If you've only seen the American one you have no idea... it's a daily soap-opera with human lab rats. It's also the one show which binds this nation together. This year it's 12 girls and 1 guy.
ReplyDeleteVenture Brothers is manna from heaven.
THE WIRE is still a damn good show.
ReplyDeleteI actually liked "Knocked up" more than "Virgin", but mostly because the ending of "Virgin" nearly derailed the whole movie for me.
ReplyDeleteGeoff, the Adult Swim show you should really check out is 12 oz. Mouse. Once you get past first two episodes, the series turns into a densely-layered exploration of mystery and symbolism that positively reminded me of Grant Morrison or David Lynch. And yeah, there is a ton of episode-to-episode continuity. The way the show "plays with" its audience also made me think of Lost.
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