Catching up more with books and comics and museum exhibits

The Killing Joke is Alan Moore's The Joker origin story, along with an excuse to see Commissioner Gordon and his (newly paralyzed) daughter naked. As such, it fits in just perfectly with Moore's other work. I have to say that I thought it was interesting, although I can't say that I like the shortness. I feel like it could have been longer. I do wonder what the midgets were named though.

In an attempt to catch up on things, here's some brief reviews of random books I've read over last nine or so months: The Right Stuff (noted here, and a reminder that Tom Wolfe is a good writer, once you get past the "New Journalism"-y writing style), Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories (first noted by me here, and quite an interesting collection of Ryunosuke Akutagawa's stories, most of which I enjoyed, although the auto-biographical ones were depressing), Memoirs of a Geisha (told you I was going to read it, and it was considerably better than the movie), Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo (noted twice in last week's vampire-puppet filled Middleman, but purchased by me earlier in the year based on a recommendation from some website I can't remember (io9? Bryan Lee O'Malley?) and is basically a rabbit ronin wandering feudal Japan, so of course I was going to love it, but I have 20 something volumes to purchase in order to read it all), Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns (read almost immediately after watching The Dark Knight, but I forgot to mention it in that review, but it's actually kind of good), The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (quite a gay little book, but it's going to be a movie, and I was interested, although it's not nearly as good as Michael Chabon's later works), A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (probably the last Joyce I'll read as I doubt I could make it through Ulysses or Finnegan's Wake, but it and The Dubliners are excellent) and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier (a pornographic Alan Moore comic, with a 3-d section that gave me a slight headache, but I loved the extension of the mythology and the pitch-perfect satires of literary genres). Also, I watched the new DVDs of Spaced, one of the best things that's ever come out of England. It's pretty much: Monty Python, Alec Guinness, and Spaced. And I guess HP Sauce and the idea that vinegar is good on chips.

I went back to the Freer & Sackler galleries August 24th, which was quite fun, as it's one of my favorite museums, if only for the Peacock Room, which is the kind of room I want to have in my mansion. But the Sackler galleries had an exhibit on landscapes of the Yellow Mountains, which was gorgeous. A little small of an exhibit, but the artwork was uniformly nice. I have to say that I love landscapes, which is kind of middlebrow, but eh, de gustibus non est disputandum. Unfortunately for all of you, it closed on that day. After that exhibit, I saw muppets. Yes, there's an exhibit about Jim Henson at the Smithsonian. You have until October 5. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It's under the garden between the Sackler and the African Art Museum (which I've now been in, but still haven't seen any exhibits, not because I don't like black people, but because I haven't yet found anyone who wants to go with me). Time Piece, his Oscar-nominated short film, is included in its entirety (and it was a bizarre and funny movie), along with many of his 8 second adverts for things that are awesome in their bizarreness. And, of course, there's a Bert and Ernie, a Rowlf, a Kermit, assorted other characters, a couple fraggles (which made me extremely happy and I came very close to singing the theme song when it was shown during a documentary on Henson), and some very, very cool Dark Crystal artwork and props. Basically, if you are my age, you will love the exhibit. If you are younger, you will love it.

Häxan, Babel, & Shortbus

Häxan is a semi-documentary about the history of witchcraft. It's also a silent film. I also fell asleep at a couple points. I blame the Five Guys burger and fries eaten just before beginning it. Also the comfortable couch and the slightly warm room. I do, however, recommend it if you're up for it, as it's interesting, although it can definitely be watched at fast speed to get the same amount out of it faster. Not that I watched it at fast speed, which may also have contributed to my falling asleep. It's also a bit preachy, but the opening bits about the history of witchcraft and the misconceptions of early societies were quite nice, if the recreations of the witch trial wasn't nearly as interesting.

Babel is 143 minutes. And I didn't care about any of the people in it. I liked most of the actors I knew, and it was good to see Kôji Yakusho get some work noticed by the American public. He's been in some great films. And I imagine that Rinko Kikuchi goes on the list with the other GAWLIS's. Yes, new tag! Fun! Babel: Not Fun! I guess I could write more if I thought that Rinko's nudity was remotely needed. Well, maybe the ending stuff, but why, exactly, did we need to see her labia? Completely gratuitous. Amores Perros was amazing, and 21 Grams was pretty good as well, but this was just bloated.

Shortbus. I'm not sure how to discuss the film and, honestly, am not sure what to think about it. I mean, there's the porn aspect of it (and I use porn as in it has stuff that's normally only in porn, not that it is a porn film), but it's got an interesting plot, and I liked it, but I felt kind of dirty for doing so. I don't want to condemn it for not being better, but it's eminently watchable. I think that I'm one of the people who is supposed to be shocked by the film, but they forget my long history of nunsploitation and that I've seen Ken Park. Admittedly, this is the first time I've seen autofellatio. Didn't look too comfortable. I never even thought about the possibility of it being done like that. See, I just can't get away from the explicit sex and discuss the film as a story. A story about finding your place in life, basically, similar to Hedwig, but without the kick-ass soundtrack. Just an ass-soundtrack. Woo! Man, if you haven't seen the film, you wouldn't understand the pun. I want John Cameron Mitchell to continue to make movies. He's an interesting voice. Does Sook-Yin Lee get added to the GAWLIS list? Yeah, I'd say probably. It's not Great, it's just Good.

The Painted Veil, House of Fury, Vampire Effect, & Gen-X Cops

The Painted Veil is racist. Yeah, I'll come right out and say it. The white man has to come out into the boonies to save the savages (in this case the yellow people) from themselves. But that's not all: the only people noted in the opening credits are white. Even Diana Rigg (who is, admittedly, somewhat famous in the west), who has a tiny role, is mentioned in the opening credits, while Anthony Wong (the first in my little Anthony Wong mini-fest) isn't mentioned, even though he has many scenes, and is actually the third best thing in the film behind the scenery (stunningly gorgeous) and that Toby Jones is having sex with some hot Asian. Which is just funny, since he's basically known for playing Truman Capote. Actually Toby Jones in general is quite good, and I liked him in this. But the love triangle in the center of the film is just overwrought to an extreme, and once you have characters going into an epidemic of some kind, at least one of them has to die. It's just a rule of epidemic films.

House of Fury is stupid. But fun. It stars Gillian Chung (she of the Edison Chen Sex Scandal, and apparently a small role in W. as an escort dancer???) as the daughter of a government agent who has to protect former spies who then has to save her father's life from the American assassin who was crippled by a former spy. Sure, there's other parts to it, like some ridiculous martial arts sequences including a dining room table (of which there were at least three different ones throughout the movie), a remote control, and, for some damn reason, absolutely no dolphins. Why the hell was the brother a dolphin trainer? That doesn't come into use at any point later in the film. Have these people never heard of Chekhov's Gun? The movie did have Charlene Choi in a glorified cameo with some of the only humor in the film, if you consider "Do you want to French kiss?" and then saying, "Time's up" before the guy has a chance to reply. So there was your bit of Twins for the film. Pretty much the only things worth watching were the martial arts sequences. Because the movie was a mess. But on blu-ray. So go Hong Kong, I guess. Maybe put out some better films on it.

Vampire Effect is a Hong Kong vampire film, but not with hopping vampires, but more traditional ones. The version released in the US cut out 19 minutes. Apparently, those scenes make the film make more sense. I would hope so, because it would be hard to make a film that made less sense. This had a good cast, and Donnie Yen is a talented guy, but Edison Chen is kind of a dick, and The Twins were mediocre in this, with about the only bright spots being Anthony Wong (who still is the best thing in any film he's in), and the Special Guest Appearance by Jackie Chan and the Special Friendly Appearance by Karen Mok. But the fight scenes were too wire-based and frequently nonsensical, especially the final one, and the internal consistency was lacking immensely.

Gen-X Cops is another Jackie Chan produced film, this time with him as a fisherman. I have a serious problem with the anti-gay humor in a lot of Hong Kong films. It's like gay people are completely acceptable to make fun of. Well, it bothers me immensely. Also, the HIV joke clearly played into that. The frequent switching from English to Cantonese was distracting as well. But the excuse to have Jaymee Ong speak in her Australian accent... I've long said that Asians with Commonwealth accents are hot. And although the Australian accent was a little off for a Canadian, I didn't care. Basically, the non-gay stereotypical of the three undercover cops were attractive as were their girlfriends, and some of the fight scenes were good. But it was ridiculous and the special effects were pretty bad. I think it's come down to me watching recent Hong Kong action films almost entirely due to the cheese (and cake) factor rather than an expectation of them being watchable.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End & Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End has Geoffrey Rush back, which is a definite step up over Dead Man's Chest. But it's also racist, with pretty much all the Asian characters complete stereotypes. At least the main pirates have some type of obvious thinking going on in their heads, every single other character is wafer thin. And do I have to mention, again, that the only female characters in the film are a god in human form and Keira Knightley? As if it needed to be more of a sausage fest. Basically, far, far, far too long, stupid, and just an insult. And still not as bad as the second one. Geoffrey Rush is just that good.

In order to get the bad pirateness out of my mouth, I went ahead and purchased Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty. Unfortunately, it was not really a search for booty (of either the pirate or rapper kind), but a search for things to make searching for Clank easier. But it was about as fun as Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, which this follows in time. I hate jumping puzzles, and feel that they're there only to piss me off, due to my lack of spatial awareness, but even though I struggled with one stupid part of jumping on some moving platforms and walking along a thin beam, I still got over four hours of enjoyment from the game. And for only $15, not a particularly bad purchase. Because, as a Ratchet & Clank game, it was funny, and you can never have too many drunken robotic pirates.

TMNT

TMNT is an insult to movies. First off, the CGI is cartoony, and insulting to women who are not stick figures. When April O'Neill is going through the jungles near the beginning, her waist looks like it's as big as my wrist. Which, for those of you who know me (I assume that's all of you), my wrists are not particularly thick. Also, it was weird to hear Sarah Michelle Gellar's voice coming out of her. I do sort of wonder if actors like Mako think "I'm about to die and TMNT is the last movie I am ever going to do?" Because that's gotta be depressing. It was short, and more in tune with the original comics (admittedly, I read one issue back in 6th grade, and it was taken from me for reading it in class, so I can't be positive, but I think it was) than the live-action movies or the video games. Actually, TMNT 1 was so frickin' hard that I'm amazed anyone was ever able to finish it. TMNT 2 on the other hand was great, but cartoony like the cartoon. The slightly darker tone matched the bland colors, but it was basically a movie for very small children who like movement on screen. And terrible music. And no Shredder.

One little bit of trivia: all I have to do is make a billion dollars and I too can marry someone like Zhang Ziyi. First step: making that first million.

ST 3: Marauder, POTC: Dead Man's Chest, Larry Flynt: The Right to Be Left Alone, & Thank You, Mr. President: Helen Thomas at the White House

Starship Troopers 3: Marauder was terrible. There was gratuitous nudity. But as per usual, no frontals, so sorry. That some nudity thing made me think it would just be a fleeting thing, but nope. Anyway, the film was horrible. Vagina dentata up the wazoo though, along with ridiculously stupid religious symbolism. Actually the nudity and the fact that the black guy doesn't die are about the only things to recommend it. Well, it depends on whether you actually liked the book. The return (I haven't seen the second, and both Tweaks and Meat have warned me of just how terrible it is) of the Nazi propaganda films made it somewhat enjoyable. Jolene Blalock's horribly puffed up lips detracted from that. Oh, and the main protester being named Gonif was a little bit of Yiddish humor. Gonif's hard to describe, but sort of a good-for-nothing who does things that are sort of illegal, but not really a crook.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is 2.5 hours long. For those of you keeping track, that's at least an hour too long. It just kept going and going and going. And Depp wasn't nearly as fun, and basically everything wasn't nearly as fun. The first one didn't feel like it had to live up to anything, and my expectations were pretty low. I did see it in a packed theater with a very enthusiastic audience, and this one I saw on blu-ray on my HDTV, but alone on a Sunday morning. I sort of regretted it, although now I can complain about the most important thing that the Pirates of the Caribbean films brought to light: a zombie pirate monkey. This was such a great thing in the first movie with lots of zombie pirates and then a reveal of a zombie pirate monkey at the end, and then this just shunts him off to a couple of jokes, and focuses on sea creature pirates. Which fail miserably. I like cute furry creatures, not starfish. So few films really need sequels, and most that get them screw up the expectations created by earlier films that it's just painful to see them even try.

Larry Flynt: The Right to Be Left Alone was a short documentary about Larry Flynt. And while I've never actually read/held a Hustler in my hands (as far as I can remember, it has been pretty hard to find a Hustler in Cincinnati for most of my life), I like Larry Flynt's continual fight for its right to exist. And this was a much more accurate version of the movie than The People Vs. Larry Flynt. About my only complaint (besides brief length) was that intercut with the archival footage and talking heads was a scene from a photoshoot for Hustler. This was unnecessary. I don't care what the photoshoot looks like, except in the context of what is acceptable and not within a variety of censorship laws throughout the country. I mean, is it acceptable to show nipple? Because I have this feeling that it isn't in Malaysia. Silly Muslims, nips are for kids. And yes, I just hurt everyone's brain with that. Yay!

Thank You, Mr. President: Helen Thomas at the White House is a big love letter to the White House press corps. And it's too short. I wanted more of a press corps that cared and asked tough questions like that. Maybe less singing from Helen Thomas though. It's a good use of 40 minutes.

Also, this was the colon update. It's complicated.

Wag of my finger for Netflix, Tip of my hat to the National Geographic Society Museum

Due to Netflix being a bunch of annoying people, I didn't get movies I should have, so I caught up on TV (Generation Kill is not as good as The Wire, but still a very watchable and good show, along with some great lines), watched an old movie I hadn't seen in a while (The 39 Steps, while excellent from a cinematic standpoint, still has a practically neanderthalithic sense of gender roles in that every woman with more than a line or two is either stabbed, beaten, or portrayed to be an idiot in the movie, sometimes all of them, and really, it's not like Hitchcock was always the most progressive when it comes to female characters, with Mrs. Smith enjoying the rape at the end of Mr. & Mrs. Smith (not the one with Brangelina)), and went to a museum. That last one was the National Geographic Society Museum, which I thought was a little small, but was pretty neat. One exhibit was on Zheng He, the most famous Chinese explorer. Basically, he sailed all over the Indian Ocean, being kind of awesome, even while being a Muslim Eunuch. The exhibit had a bunch of maps (one of which was nigh impenetrable, even for someone who knew exactly what it was supposed to be of), models of the ships they think he sailed on, some china from the time, and modern day photos of places he visited. The other main exhibit there was on Shaolin monks, with photographs of them practicing. And most of the monks were 33rd generation or the like. That's pretty amazing. I wanted this photo, but look at that price: $600! I do not have that kind of money to spend on a photo. 50 DVDs, on the other hand... The exhbits are only there for a few more weeks, so you don't have much time.

The Secret Life of Words, They Live, The Burmese Harp, Pineapple Express, & Once

The Secret Life of Words stars Sarah Polley and Tim Robbins as people scarred by life. Polley is a former Yugoslav who is partially deaf and works in a factory in Northern Ireland. When she finds out about an oil rig that needs a nurse, she volunteers and starts to care for Robbins's scarred and temporarily blinded worker. And they tell each other secrets and learn how to live again. It's a kind of cheesy movie, but the acting makes up for it. Weirdly, I saw this the same weekend Elegy came out, which was also directed by Isabel Coixet.

They Live is a film that I've been meaning to see for far too long. But it was a Metafilter thread about Hollywood fight scenes a couple weeks ago that made me move it to the top of my queue. And I sort of don't regret it. Sure, John Carpenter has been mostly miss over the last twenty years, but this is twenty years old, after a string of enjoyable films like Big Trouble in Little China, Starman, The Thing, and Halloween, so I was hoping for something cheesy and fun. And this film is cheesy and fun. Rowdy Roddy Piper plays a drifter who ends up in a homeless camp, and finds some sunglasses which show that every rich person is an alien who have taken over society through subliminal messages. So he has to stop them. And toss out lines like, "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I'm all out of bubblegum." One of the best one liners in all of movie history. The long fight scene with Frank is ok, nothing nearly as amazing as I was led to believe, but the film itself was ridiculous enough in everything that I had to enjoy it. Also, for the record, about thirty seconds before the credits, there's a completely gratuitous topless scene. So add They Live to the list. Nothing is added, except a reason to make sure you keep paying attention during the denouement.

The Burmese Harp is an anti-war film by the Japanese. I think I need to watch a Mishima film just to see what a pro-war film from the Japanese would be like, since almost everyone of any talent in Japan basically makes anti-war films. This is about a platoon of Japanese soldiers retreating in Burma during the last days of WWII, and one of the soldiers has made the titular harp, and plays it when scouting ahead. After the war ends, they surrender to the British, but the harpist is sent to try to convince a group of soldiers who are still holding out to surrender. As anyone would expect, he fails and becomes a monk. It's a beautiful film, but it's depressing. Of course, now I have to see Fire on the Plain, which has been sitting in my Janus box for a couple of years now. And I'd like to point out that I saw the original, not the remake from the 80s.

Pineapple Express is a weed action movie. Emphasis on both descriptives. It's obviously a movie, and it's obviously about pot, but it seems like some weren't expecting the action. I wasn't expecting some of the gore. But it was enjoyable, and funny, even though I wasn't partaking of weed. It actually reminded me of a far more competent Dude, Where's My Car?, and now moves into first place on the weakly competed for "Best Pot Movie Ever Seen By Me" category. James Franco is just so dreamy. It's a damn shame that he had to go and do that James Dean movie after Freaks and Geeks, because otherwise he would have kept making comedies, and he's just very good in this. And David Gordon Green makes the film look pretty darn good. Some of the scenes in the forest were just beautiful. Also, since I haven't written up the last two concerts I've been to (since I wasn't particularly familiar with either band beforehand, but Regina Spektor and Statehood are quite good, and well-worth the no monies I paid to see them), a return of my favorite bit of concert going: douchebag of the movie going experience! No, not me for mixing popcorn and blue raspberry icee and feeling sick for the rest of the day. It was the two girls who walked up to the help desk at the Georgetown theater and asked "Is that new Ben Stiller film out yet?" And when they were told no, both sighed and walked straight back out the front doors. One: are there people that excited about the Ben Stiller film after seeing advertisements about it that they neglected to notice that the advertisements all say that it opens next week? Two: are these same people really able to go all the way to the theater and ask someone who works there before they realize that the movie isn't opening? Are these people Unaware of All Internet Traditions (like, say, google or yahoo or fandango)? I didn't realize there were people in this city that did stuff like wander in to a movie theater thinking that a movie was coming out one weekend rather than the next. Movies with enormous advertising budgets.

Once made me tear up. Falling Slowly deserved the Oscar. And I had to rewatch the best thing about this past Oscar ceremony. For the transcript, go here, but since the media companies don't understand the web, they don't actually have the video on youtube, but that first link has it. Basically, besides the touching speech, Jon Stewart is awesome. Anyway, besides Falling Slowly, there are a number of other great songs, and the acting is quite good, especially from two people who've never really acted before. Although Glen Hansard was also in the Commitments, a great movie about a blue-eyed soul group in Dublin, which I saw in the year without a blog. I actually think that the 85 minute run time was quite perfect for the film, even if I wish there had been more time to spend in their lives. But that ambiguity that exists, about a lot of the history of the characters, along with all that was said in Czech, works here, and I was touched. Sure, the budget is clearly tiny, there are a few times that the crowd looks at the camera, and you frequently see crew members and microphones on screen or in reflections, but the scenes of them making music together and separately are what makes the film magical. See this film.

Radio On, The One-Armed Swordsman, The Americanization of Emily, Rambo, & Yo-Yo Girl Cop

Radio On has a great soundtrack: it kicks off with Heroes (the mixed English/German version) and continues on with a jukebox playing Whole Wide World, which was also used well in Stranger than Fiction, which I didn't mention before, but had a great soundtrack. And the rest of it wasn't as well-loved by me, but there was still Kraftwerk and Devo. The plot itself was secondary, a road trip by a disaffected youth in England trying to find out information about his brother's apparent suicide. So basically, just listen to Heroes and then Whole Wide World while watching black and white scenery, and you'll get about the same out of it.

The One-Armed Swordsman was apparently one of the first big kung fu films of the Shaw Brother Age. It was also ridiculously obsessed with stabbing people in the stomach. Except for the arm cutting which gives the film the title, pretty much everyone who died was stabbed in the stomach. The fight scenes were pretty silly, as the good guys kept doing the same stupid things and then dying, and they were much slower than they should have been. When you have a guy with one arm, he may not be able to attack that quickly, but I'd be damned stupid not to try to take advantage of that fact when attacking him. It was quite an impressive set, though, with the early scenes in the snow being pretty. And one last thing: if some woman ever want to show that they care, do it by telling me, or kissing me, or something like that, not cutting my arm off. That is not cool.

The Americanization of Emily is a cynical as all hell film written by Paddy Chayefsky, and proves that he wasn't a one hit wonder like I postulated based on the Hospital. I don't blame him for Altered States, I blame Ken Russell. But anyway, this one was James Garner as a dog-robber in World War II, working for an Admiral who wants to play up the role of the Navy in D-Day, so he wants Garner to make a movie about the Navy's important role clearing the mines. And somehow that leads to Garner being the first man on Omaha. He falls in love with Julie Andrew's war widow along the way, who prizes him for his cowardice due to the fact that it would be unlikely he'd die like her former husband. And James Coburn plays Garner's friend who wants to fight, but has bad eyesight and was given a desk job. And this is all a ridiculous satire of bravery and the military, along with great performances from all involved. I recommend this film to all who like good films.

Rambo is a film I recommend to all who like terrible films. My comments on the series can be summed up as "Although the first one is actually not a bad movie, the next two (in II he single-handedly refights and wins Vietnam, and III where he single-handedly defeats the Soviet Army in Afganistan and paves the way for the rise of the Taliban and 9/11) are terrible." This one is also terrible. I'd also like to point out that there were 262 deaths in the film (in just 91ish minutes), and only two of them are white people, missionaries who basically have no personalities or names before their death. The Arab or Hispanic mercenary lives, I think, but the asian one dies, because no Asian must come out alive. Seriously, 260 deaths are Asian? There was a decapitation as well a throat being ripped out. Also, surprisingly anti-religion, as the missionaries had to overcome their reluctance to kill in order to save themselves. One final note: "sometimes a guy getting turned into hamburger by a jeep-mounted machine gun is just a guy getting turned into hamburger by a jeep-mounted machine gun".

Yo-Yo Girl Cop is no The Girls Rebel Force of Competitive Swimmers. It's quite terrible, with precious little Yo-Yo fighting, although there are girls and cops. It's ridiculously bad. Also, it's an adaptation of a series of mangas, and the return of a tv and movie series of the mid-80s. At least they brought back the character from the original series for the movie. The titular cop somehow gets a bulletproof uniform at the end, but is still extremely stupid, like running towards explosions and ignoring the guy with the big sword who keeps cutting her. It was directed by the son of the guy who directed Battle Royale and The Yakuza Papers. Based on this movie, directing talent is not genetic.

The Middleman

The Middleman on ABC Family: yes, in some ways, you're giving money to Pat Robertson. I think, all I know is that he's somehow still on ABC Family. How they can show the 700 Club and The Middleman back to back is painful to my brain. But man oh man, The Middleman may be the best comic book adaptation ever. For those not in the know, Javier Grillo-Marxuach (a former writer for Lost) wrote the pilot episode for the series some years back, but no one wanted to pick it up, so he turned it into a comic in 2005. And published three trade paperbacks over the next few years until ABC Family (in their infinite wisdom) actually picked this up for series. Originally planned to be 13 episodes, the ratings have been bad, and so the order was cut down to 12. I don't want this to go the way of all the other awesome shows I love on TV (unlike Pushing Daisies and Lost) and get canceled. Anyway, the plot is that a temp, named Wendy Watson (nicknamed Dub-Dub, which always makes me think of Jubjub), ends up hired by mysterious superhero The Middleman to be his replacement and they end up having to fight crime with the help of an alien android and lots of crazy technology with ridiculous names (like the BTRS Scanner, which stands for Beyond the Realm of Science). And more puns and references to pop culture than I could have thought possible. Every episode seems to have a lot of references to one particular subject matter, like the trout zombie episode having many references to the band, The Zombies. Episode titles include "The Sino-Mexican Revelation" (a group of Lucha Libre wrestlers kidnap the Middleman's sensei (played by the Chairman, Mark Dacascos, shown here with the Middleman), "The Flying Fish Zombification" (about a guy turning people into trout zombies...), and "The Boyband Superfan Interrogation" (about an alien who is trying to stop a boy band from destroying the planet through the use of wormholes). Honestly, this is just about the smartest show I have seen in years. But beyond the absurd plots (Supersmart Gorillas Obsessed With Gangster Movies! Recovering Succubi! A Cursed Tuba From The Titanic!), the best thing is the characters. Wendy (adorably played by the adorable Natalie Morales) lives in an illegal sublet with another young photogenic artist, played by Brit Morgan, and is friends with Noser, who generally speaks all in song lyrics and plays "Stump the Band" in a highly entertaining fashion. These are real people in a bizarre but enjoyable world and their interactions are what make the TV show worth watching.

I've been watching it with Tweaks and Meat. And for those of you who want advanced studies in Middlemania, go here to see a bunch of behind the scenes videos and promos giving you a bit of the idea of the ridiculous awesomenosity of the show. This week's episode is about ghosts at a sorority, and constantly references Ghostbusters and Wendy talks about how she watches terrible zombie films to remind her of how awesome the good ones are. It was just great. And there will be upcoming episodes with Kevin "TV's Hercules" Sorbo, vampire puppets (can't possibly be as good as Smile Time, but I'm happy that there will be more vampire puppets on TV), and an evil parallel universe (with goatees!). I defy you to watch this show and not enjoy it. Please watch it. Please.