Honor, diplomacy, and the 'ultimate shamed ballplayer'

Since this show has been lauded once or twice on this site, I thought I'd throw in my two cents along with a couple updates and one 'funny or die' video that has me laughing to death.


When I saw the first episode of 'Eastbound and Down' it was presented by someone who told me that HBO had already pulled the plug on the series due to it's crass, lowbrow humor tarnishing their reputation, even though the first episode hadn't even aired yet. Now six episodes with Kenny Powers have gone by faster than six with David Brent, marking the end of the first season. I thought the makers would try to push a DVD release as soon as possible so as to get fans clamoring for a second season. About half of that assumption was correct. The DVD is being given a semi-quick release in about three weeks (June 30) but apparently it's been almost two months since HBO announced that it's been renewed for a second season, though there's no word yet and when it will air or if it's even been written yet.


I have yet to find a website that lists the special features of a DVD long before its release date. No word on this one yet, but I hope it includes this hilarious video I came across over at 'Funny or Die.' Though it has no direct connection to anything in the show, it was clearly shot on the set of 'Eastbound and Down' while Will Ferrell was in his Ashley Schaffer costume. I particularly like Ferrell's singing style and the sound editing in the last minute.

BAT FIGHT with Will Ferrell from Will Ferrell

To learn a more about the show's genesis, check out this TV guide interview with Danny McBride.

you should be watching Eastbound and Down.

If you haven't started watching Danny McBride in HBO's Eastbound and Down yet, you are officially missing out on one of the funniest shows ever and after it has been cancelled due to bad ratings and critical indifference you will have no one to blame but yourself. But really, this training montage put together by Kenny Powers (the egomaniacal former MLB star and current high school phys ed coach,) and his band-teaching lacky Mr Janowski, should be all the reason you need to start watching:



I also just started watching AMC's Breaking Bad and I am already absolutely loving the shit out of that as well. So you should probably also be watching that.

what's the frequency, Kenneth?

If you still have never seen 30 Rock, I implore you to drop everything you are doing and start watching season 1 immediately. Over the last 2 years its been consistently one of the sharpest, most well-written comedies on television, and it also has probably one of the best casts ever assembled. You can say what you want about Alec Baldwin and Tracy Morgan, who are both ridiculously hilarious on the show (Tina Fey is certainly no slouch either,) but Jack McBrayer's Kenneth the page character has been one of the bright spots in the bizarre cast of supporting characters since the shows inception.

The wide-eyed innocence that naive country boy Kenneth maintains in the face of the increasingly insane shenanigans that are continually going on at the NBC building never fails to get some of the biggest laughs of any given episode, and McBrayer has managed to perfect the same sort of comedic timing in his recent movie role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and in the following videos which I found on FunnyorDie:

See more Jack McBrayer videos at Funny or Die

part II is here and part III is here.

plus, as another excuse to post something about Mariah Carey, catch Jack in the video for Touch My Body.

listen to me, I'm a celebrity.

Hello. I am an apathetic 18-24 year old who has never participated in the democratic process. All I want to do is smoke marijuana and watch MTV all day. I know nothing about any world issues outside of what I read in US magazine. Oh, look. Here comes a group of random celebrities. I wonder if they have anything to say about my empty, meaningless lifestyle?



Thank you celebrities. Without your condescending, arrogant words of advice, I would never have known that I can participate in the selection of a new leader for my country. Hooray.

Sigh.

Seriously though, I am having a hard time deciding whether to get angry about this, or concede that there are actually some people out there that will be encouraged to vote by this video. But at the same time, if a person has to be told by Jennifer Aniston to vote, should this person even be allowed to vote in the first place? Think about it.

I still did enjoy Sarah Silverman and Jonah Hill, though I would much rather listen to Craig Ferguson's thoughts on the subject.

box office poison.

In 1998, Melrose Place star Courtney Thorne-Smith decided to branch out into the world of mainstream cinema and played the love interest in the movie Chairman of the Board, which was supposed to launch the career of a popular, prop-wielding comedian by the name of Carrot Top. I've never actually seen resulting movie, but I did watch the trailer and as we all know, Carrot Top is a pretty unfunny, annoying loser, so I can imagine that the movie was a pretty massive piece of crap. Anyways, after she was done making this movie, Courtney made the mistake of appearing on Late Night with Conan O'brien on the same night as comedian Norm MacDonald. Norm didn't seem to hold Carrot Top in very high esteem either, and the result is one of the fucking funniest interviews ever.



Also, in a related subject, somehow Carrot Top now looks like this:

sharing a dream so fine.

Hang time was one of the best Saturday afternoon shows of all time, and had one of the best theme songs as well. It doesn't look like too many of the other cast members have gone on to much, and I'm not feeling particularly motivated at the moment so I don't even feel like checking out the imbd, but it did help launch the career of Anthony Anderson, who was in Hustle and Flow and the Departed, amongst other things...like Kangaroo Jack. I also find it amusing that former NBA player Reggie Theus, who played the coach in Hang Time, is now the coach of the Sacramento Kings. If they don't play the Hang Time theme every time that team takes the court in Arco Arena, they really need to fire whoever is in charge of such things.

Patrick Stewart

I was told today that I haven't been posting in my blog enough recently...and thats fair. I have definitely been slacking recently, and I do apologize. In any case, I just got back from my cousin's wedding, and I have been drinking heavily so I'm going to post some pictures of one of the greatest actors of all time, Patrick Stewart.







If those amazing pictures don't prove to you that Patrick Stewart is a god amongst men, then this clip from Ricky Gervais series 'Extras' will surely convince you.



"But I've already seen everything."

And finally, one of my all-time favourite Patrick Stewart scenes ever, from 'Chain of Command pt II,' an episode from the 6th season of Star Trek: the Next Generation. For this entire episode Picard has been getting physically and mentally tormented by this sadistic Cardassian played by David Warner, which ultimately leads to this final standoff:



Patrick Stewart is the fucking man.

9021 - ouch

Beverly Hills 90210 is another one of the greatest shows ever made. I am not sure how I feel about this 90210 remake thats coming this fall, since theres no way it will ever match the utter genius of the original. Anyways we all remember David Silver, the geeky wannabe musician who spent the bulk of the series trying to sleep with Tori Spelling (yikes.) Now watch this next video and then try and imagine the fact that today, Brian Austin Green can have sex with Meghan Fox (from Transformers) whenever he wants. Be careful though, because thinking about it for too long will cause your brain to swell against the inside of your skull.

Fresh Prince en italiano

Fresh Prince of Bel Air is clearly one of the greatest television shows ever made. But what if it were translated into italian? Is there a chance that it could somehow become even better? The answer is no, there is no possible way to improve Fresh Prince. but check out the opening credits and theme song for the italian version and tell me you don't want to watch the rest of this bad boy:



I will never be able to take Will Smith seriously. I did enjoy his ultra bizarre hitting on mannequins behavior in I Am Legend, even though that movie sucked. But for instance in Bad Boys he plays this streetwise, tough-talking Miami police detective, but it just seems so phony, like it is physically painful for him to say the word "motherfucker."



Even Martin Lawrence is thinking "Will, you're not fooling anyone dude."

this is absolutely terrifying

You know, the Simpsons has been really awful for the past few seasons, which is depressing because its clearly one of the best and funniest tv shows ever made. Only now, I don't think I'm going to be able to watch even the earlier, good episodes without this monstrosity coming to mind:



This is so horrifyingly bizarre that H.P. Lovecraft and Salvador Dali would glance at it and run crying into the night. I am going to be having nightmares about this for weeks.