The Office vs. 30 Rock

Nelson and I were talking about which is better, and it's weird because they can't really be compared. Their sources of humor come from such totally different places. Like The Office is recognizable and subtle while 30 Rock is fast-paced and outlandish. Everyone knows people like the characters on The Office, but I can't say I have a whole lot of Tracy Jordans, Kenneth the Pages or Jack Donnaghys in my life. The Office takes place in the kind of banal, tedious world most of us live in whereas 30 Rock explores a much more glamorous, fun 30 Rock occasionally has bits like a live-action Family Guy, where they'll cut to something so outrageous, it could never have happened in real life. Meanwhile, the funniest parts of The Office often come from a subtle look, awkward silence, or facial expression. I think that's why the dramatic parts of The Office often work as well as the funny parts.

You can watch the season premiere of 30 Rock on hulu.com, but for some reason, I'm waiting until Thursday. Or until I get more bored than I currently am. Call me old-fashioned like that.

ahhhhh baby burger

This picture is adorable!

Paul F. Tompkins is having the Best Week Ever

Not sure how I feel about this, but Best Week Ever is changing its format to be more like The Soup. The NY Times has an article about it today. Personally, I prefer The Soup, but I think Best Week Ever had a good thing going with its unique format. It was kind of the prototype (along with I Love the 80s et al) for all those shows which feature snarky "pundits"/out-of-work comedians sitting in front of a green screen and talking about shit. The new Best Week Ever will be hosted by Paul F. Tompkins, who is funny, but I think lacks the charm and likability of Joel McHale. It's not the format that makes The Soup more successful than BWE, it's McHale's charisma and personality. However, it seems like E! is also going format-happy since they also recently created Sports Soup and Topanga's The Dish.

Required Reading

I am doing a lot of web reading at work. This is mostly because from my new job, I no longer have access to my google reader because my computer is like the John McCain of computers (read: old, not a POW). So here is what I've been reading this week:

The Trouble with Paul Feig (John Bowe, New York Times): Everyone credits Judd Apatow with Freaks & Geeks, but Apatow was only the producer. The real creator was Paul Feig, who has done such awesome things as directing episodes of The Office, Arrested Development, Weeds, 30 Rock, and Mad Men, and writing a book entitled Superstud, or How I Became a 24-Year-Old Virgin. He also played Mr. Pool, the science teacher, on the first season of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. This profile of him is FANTASTIC and the best writing about success vs. failure since J.K. Rowling's Harvard commencement speech. As Bowe describes it, "it's the myth of Sisyphus in the key of geekdom."

The Terrorist Barack Hussein Obama(Frank Rich, New York Times): Also from the NY Times, this opinion piece about race and the terrorism rhetoric in the election is fascinating. Things I learned from it: that Sarah Palin used an unattributed quote from racist and anti-Semitic writer Westbook Pegler in her convention speech, and that "a black senior writer from The Tallahassee Democrat was mistakenly ejected by the Secret Service from a campaign rally" just because he looked out of place.

Speaking of the election, Pop Hangover delivers an awesome take on the weird-looking people in the audience of last week's debate, but missed the old-timey mustachioed father and son that my friends and I noticed.

Finally, if all of this bores you, MONKEYS IN A RESTAURANT!!

Did you know that Michael Ian Black has never appeared (or even been asked to appear) on Late Night with Conan O'Brien? He wrote it on his blog and sounded sad. Someone should keep track of this stuff.

Ah, the start of fall.

I had my first hot Starbucks drink yesterday, which was a milestone. I love hot Starbucks drinks when it's cold but the whole get-an-espresso-add-milk-yourself-save-two-bucks thing doesn't work as well for hot drinks as it does for iced drinks. I suppose you have to reconcile yourself to seasons changing. So I'm transitioning from doppios on ice to pumpkin spice lattes and from flip flops to suede scrunchy boots. All the empty calories and tendency to fall apart on the streets of New York, twice the warmth. This is my first falling into fall where I haven't gone back to school in 14 years. How weird is that.

This weekend, I went to Boys' Life with Kara on Friday and Margaret Cho: Beautiful with Ryder on Saturday.
The more I think about Boys' Life, the more I really liked it. At first, I was annoyed by how shallow and one-dimensional all the female characters seemed. The way I described it to Kara, it reminded me of how sometimes you'll be arguing with a boy and you'll be being totally rational and you know that the boy is just sitting there shaking their head, going "Man, girls are crazy. They have no reason for doing anything." And you want to be like "No, you are the reason I am sad/mad/etc." That is how I felt. But about halfway through, the male characters started to become just as unlikable and the women started seeming more rational. It's similar to Juno, where at first you're totally on Jason Bateman's side and by the end, you're on Jennifer Garner's side. Ah, male-female relationships... so heteronormative.


Margaret Cho was as brassy and ballsy as ever. I remember how she was like my numberonesuperhero when I was 15 and read her book, I'm the One that I Want. I think her stand-up has gotten less funny as she gets older and more political. The political stuff she does is a little too preaching to the converted for my taste. Like yeah, you say "I hate Sarah Palin," of course your audience of Asians/gays/faghags/liberals is going to respond like "Yeah, we agree;" that doesn't mean they're laughing at your stand-up. But before I was the converted, I thought she was just out of control amazing. I can't really think of anyone else who has confronted race, gender, and sexuality in the same way as she has. So if I were to judge it on a stand-up scale alone, it wasn't fantabulous, but seeing one of my all-time heroes and role models live (even from what felt like thousands of feet away)... nothing can compare.

Today, I was listening to the Avenue Q soundtrack and realized they say, "You're 22," which I am. And I realize that all the songs are like specifically catered to my age group: What Do You Do with a B.A. in English, I Wish I Could Go Back to College, Purpose, etc. Tres le sigh, that is a depressing realization. But I suppose, as they say, "It's only for now."