Friday, February 5, 2016

The Broad City Drinking Game!

It has been so long since I've posted a new drinking game, but, because I am so excited for the new season of Broad City to start in less than two weeks, I decided to come up with another. So, put away your toilet snake, kick your roommate's boyfriend off the couch and skype your main squeeze because, yas kween, it's the Broad City drinking game!

Four and three and two and wa-one!


Watchin' Stuff Lite Vol. 14

Hey guys, I'm back so soon, can you believe it? I can't. But, here I am to drop another Watchin' Stuff Lite for your enjoyment. So, here are five more things that I have recently enjoyed and you should too.

#1. The Apocalypse Song - St. Vincent. For me, St. Vincent was kind of an acquired taste. In fact it took quite a few listens over the course of a few plane trips last May to get to really like her and this song in particular. Test it out, maybe you'll take to it quicker.


#2. Difficult People. Based on the promo and the title I thought I was really going to hate this show. But, I gave it a shot anyway and was so pleasantly surprised. The creation of Julie Klausner, who also plays one of the main character, Difficult People follows Julie and her best friend Billy, played by Billy Eichner, in their daily dealings with the world at large. The beauty of this show lies simply in the jaded, cynical, sarcastic and generally dysfunctional way that both Julie and Billy approach basically every situation with which they are faced. I'd say it's somewhat akin to a strange hybrid of Broad City and Curb Your Enthusiasm, just to give you a taste of both the relationship between the two main characters and way they approach those around them. This show is a "Hulu Original" so head over there to check it out. It's a very quick watch.


#3. The Killing Type - Amanda Palmer.


#4. Please Like Me. Another show that was written by the same people who play the main characters, Please Like Me is an Australian show that follows a twentysomething named Josh (played by writer Josh Thomas) who, after a breakup with his longtime girlfriend, realizes he is attracted to men. Over the course of this self-discovery he is also forced to deal with his mother's depression and attempt to figure out how to conduct himself as a new adult. Both amusing and relatable, Please Like Me is another solid show that can be found on Hulu.


#5. Cities in Dust - Siouxsie & the Banshees. Just a solid tune.


Thursday, January 28, 2016

Watchin' Stuff Lite Vol. 13

Well, it's been close to two years since I last posted anything on this blog. But, I've missed it recently and figured I'd stop by to drop a Watchin' Stuff Lite on you all. Here's a list of ten songs and shows that have kept me occupied over the course of our time apart.

#1: Heavy (When I Need It) - Sleater-Kinney. This is my very favorite band. Last year they released their first album in ten years, No Cities to Love. If you missed it, I suggest you acquaint yourself, stat, because it was one of the best albums of 2015. This is one of the bonus tracks from said album.


#2: Broad City. This show is now coming up on season three and if season two is any indication, we're in for a roller coaster come mid-February. Broad City is honestly one of the funniest, ballsiest shows I've seen in a very long time. Throughout the run of the show thus far, Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer are unapologetically blunt, crude and generally unladylike and I love every minute of it. If you have yet to let this show into your heart, get your shit together and go watch it.


#3: He War - Cat Power. Every time this song comes on in my car I have to replay it two or three times until I can move on, it's that good.


#4: Transparent. This is another great show that has already completed two seasons, so, as you can probably tell by now, I'm not addressing anything terribly new. However, this is one of the few shows over the last two years that have truly stuck with me as something I can legitimately recommend. This show, if you haven't heard by now, follows Jeffrey Tambor's character, Maura, and her trials and tribulations as a newly out trans woman with three of the most selfish children of all time. Tambor is fantastic and his supporting cast is equally fantastic. So fantastic, in fact, that it even includes the one and only Ms. Carrie Brownstein. Go give it a watch on Amazon instant or wherever else you can find it.


#5: Second Skin - The Gits. I discovered this song by the Gits fairly recently, though I've been aware of the band for a while. Unfortunately, even though the Gits were a pretty great early 90's Seattle-based band, their success was abruptly abbreviated by the murder or their lead singer, Mia Zapata. Despite this tragedy, in their short time together, they were still able to put out a few gems like this one.


#6: Master of None. This is a more recent watch of mine. Though I wouldn't call Master of None one of my new all-time favorites, I will say, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Aziz Ansari's contribution to the new abundance of self-written shows about comedians living their lives (ala Louie and Maron), Master of None is pretty much what you would expect from Aziz Ansari. It's funny, it's charming and it's lighthearted when addressing not-so-light topics.  Overall, it's enjoyable and I'd suggest stopping by Netflix to check it out. It's a quick watch.


#7: Pedestrian at Best - Courtney Barnett. It's cool, take a listen.


#8: Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Definitely one of my top three network sitcoms of the last five years. If you are holding out on this one because you're not so sure you'll be into it (like I was for a while) I would highly recommend giving it a watch to make sure. Expect to see a lot of Andy Samberg being Andy Samberg, but in the best way possible. If you're not a fan of him, however, the rest of the fantastic cast might just make up for him with their flawless portrayals of some great characters. Gina (played by Chelsea Peretti) and Captain Holt (played by Andre Braugher) being two of my personal favorites. It's basically just a very well executed classic cop sitcom with a more modern feel and I love it.


#9: Blackstar - David Bowie. We lost a great one a few weeks ago and luckily for us he was thoughtful enough to leave us all a little love note before he departed. This is the title track off David Bowie's final album and it does everything I had hoped it would.


#10. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. I've always enjoyed the liberal comedy-meets-newscast format used most notably in the past by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, but I never watched their shows as religiously as I have Last Week Tonight. Perhaps it's the fact that it's on HBO or because the weekly episodes are less daunting to keep up with than episodes on the daily but I have yet to grow tired of this show. In fact I'm very excited for John Oliver to return to his desk after hiatus. He and his writing staff never cease to impress me with their wit and creativity. And no matter my level of interest in the topic of the episode I am always equally entertained. This show really just checks all the boxes in terms of what I look for in my programming and I would like it to come back now, please.