Song(s) of the week

For anyone who has known me for any length of time, this band is in no way unknown. I have been shoving them down the throats of everyone I know for a good two years now, and today I shove them down yours.

Hopefully your listening experience will be a little more pleasurable than I made that sound. You’ve gotta learn the art of the sale Brian! Oh well. This week’s songs are:

“Camp Out” and “Postcards” by An Horse

Where I found An Horse: This was another product of working long nights in the lab. Originally I checked out this Australian duo because they were opening for Tegan and Sara. It didn’t take long for them to become a permanent fixture in my listening routine.

Over the past couple of years I’ve managed to see this band twice live, and even got the pleasure of meeting them in person (extremely nice people) at a small show in my home town. Just to prove to you how much I love these guys (well guy and girl) – my band frequently covers “Camp Out” in our live shows, and I consider their debut “Rearrange Beds” my favourite album of 2008.

What I like: They have a sound that is uniquely their own. Their hooks are solid. Their lyrics are sublime. They make an unbelievable amount of sound for a two piece band. Just pick one – they’re all great reasons to listen to this band.

Camp Out - An Horse

Postcards - An Horse

One last thing – I want to give a quick shout out to Conan’s “Staffer’s Kids Say the Darndest Things” sketch he did on Wednesday night’s show. He’s done this segment twice now and both times have left me in hysterics. You can find it here if you live in Canada or here if you live in the United States. You’ve got to wait a second for the Canadian version.

Have a good one!

Happy Expulsion from a Uterus Troy

I’ve been a big fan of NBC’s Thursday night line-up for a while now, so I figured I would give you my thoughts on last night’s episodes. Except for Outsourced, I can’t watch that show.

This goes without saying, but obviously there will be spoilers.

Community – “Mixology Certification”

This was a great episode from a show that has, for me at least, been the most consistently funny show on television over the past year. The only shows on network television that I could consider competing with it are Parks and Recreation or Modern Family. Unfortunately Parks and Rec won’t be on until after New Years, and although I do love Modern Family, it’s had a couple of off episodes this season (please don’t hate me fans of Modern Family, I’m on your team).

This episode saw Troy finally turning 21 (it took him a while to figure it out) and the entire study group hits the bars to help him celebrate. I loved how the second they figured out that Troy was turning 21 instead of 20 Jeff decided that his current birthday party had become immediately “unacceptable”.  I also really liked the banter between Jeff and Brita over what they were drinking. Troy’s line “I can’t wait to understand these arguments” was perfectly timed and basically encapsulated my experience with drinking up until like last year (I’m lying, I still don’t understand these arguments).

The bit with Abed being hit on by a bar patron while he assaults the guy with science fiction jargon was also great. His line when the guy finally breaks down and asks him how he couldn’t pick up on the fact he was trying to have sex with him was priceless.

ABED: Oh I actually did pick up on it after a while.

MAN: And?

ABED: I really really like talking about Farscape. It’s a really good show.

I see a lot of myself in Abed.

While Abed (Danny Pudi) and Troy (Donald Glover) are easily my favourite part of this show, I do have to give a shout out to Annie, played by the remarkably funny Alison Bree. She’s slowly emerging as a force to be reckoned with in a cast full of standout performers. Her work in the last episode, “Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design” was hilarious, and watching Annie lose control with a bottle of chloroform in “Accounting for Lawyers” has been one of my favourite moments from the show this season.

 I can’t even wait to see the claymation Christmas episode next week. I love Rudolph so it should be entertaining.

30 Rock – “Chain Reaction of Mental Anguish”

TRACEY: You know Donald, my son who’s two years older than me.

While this show may not be as laugh out loud funny as it once was, it still holds its own against the best comedies out there. I thought this episode was one of the better ones I’ve seen from 30 Rock this season. Watching both Liz and Kenneth go back through their past traumas was awesome, especially Kenneth’s father pig. Also awesome, any scene with Tracey Morgan in it.

The Office – “China”

I was actually pleasantly surprised with this week’s episode of The Office. I’ve been disappointed with the show lately but I’ll save my reasons for another post. This episode was a nice return to form. They had a good character moment with Pam expressing her fear of failing again to Jim. It was nice to see the writers find a good use for Jim and Pam. These characters have been in a bit of a rut in recent seasons, and when they have gotten screen time it hasn’t been particularly funny. I’m not sure if I liked Dwight ending up as the puppet master at the end, but on the whole the story worked for me.

I enjoyed the side stories in this episode as well. Andy’s texts to Darryl were funny and his final redeeming text made me laugh. It was also fun to see the rest of the office grabbing at the opportunity to show up Oscar. Oscar is often the voice of reason in the office so it was cool to see the writers turn that on its head. Here’s hoping they can keep this up.

One last thing. Please check out this hilarious video of Conan pretending to do a video blog. Man did I miss him.

Stay tuned, I should have a review of this week’s episode of the Event pretty soon.  Whenever I get around to watching it...