Jason Segel–we love you, man.

APPEARANCE: 3.5

L: I have a big crush on Jason Segel’s face (and tallness)! He looks fun and boyish, and totally presents himself as the (tall) guy best friend who I never realized I should love until now. I appreciate his smiley ways, and how he can look goofy but still good looking. He wears scruffiness well. He should show up at the Ultimate Party wearing a suit with his tie half undone, his hair half mussed and his face unshaven for a few days, and looking slightly sheepish. It’s a good look on him. I also appreciated his wacky, laidback scrub look in I Love You, Man—he coupled it with floppy, curly hair!

I: He is a large man! And I agree, he has boyish qualities that make him crush-worthy. But he’s almost got like, this mushy face. I never saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall and doesn’t he show full frontal in that? I guess that will be the true test of whether he gets a “5” from me! Har har. Oh! And I hate him with a goatee like in Knocked Up. Ugh.

PORTFOLIO: 4

I: Well, much like Seth Rogen, Jason Segel has been riding the Judd Apatow train for a bit too long. It’s time to break out into something that will surprise and impress us! Woo us, Jason Segel! I need him to show me that he can act successfully without his security blanket of cast members. Of course, I enjoyed Freaks & Geeks and thought he really did a good job on that show. He was more complex than most of the other characters!

L: Yes @ J.Seg being on F&G and showing more depth than the others by doing a rendition of “Lady”! Although I wonder if he never did the show, if he would have met J.Franco and Seth Rogen, thus Judd Apatow… I think he needs to lean away from doing gross boy movies and try to score some John Cusack-esque roles. When you can’t be Brad Pitt, be John Cusack, who’s a thousand times more awesome anyway. But I think he’s on the up and up, giving that he’s actually going to scribe the next Muppets movie, do some voice acting and act in Gulliver’s Travels. I’m glad he’s experimenting.

CHOICES: 3

L: J.Segel was Frenching Chloe Sevigny in public like a couple of French people at a Frenching festival. How do you feel about that?

I: That is such a RANDOM couple! Are they a couple? Does he have a significant other? He seems earnest about his work so I guess that’s nice. His Wiki page claims that he’s a “musician.” I hope he doesn’t try to pull out any bullshit music career on us.

PERSONALITY: 4

I: I hope J.Seg would mix and mingle well with the Ultimate Party crowd and not just huddle in a corner with SR all night! I worry that he wouldn’t demonstrate interest in others; he would just blab on about himself and his hopes and dreams all night. SNOOZE!

L: Yes, we’ll have to encourage Seth Rogen and J.Segel to mingle with the other guests. Maybe we can give them doctored invitations, showing them when to show up and when to leave so they’ll never be there at the same time. They don’t need to be startin’ no Flip Cup and getting noisy together. I don’t think that J.Segel would be self-absorbed and chat about himself. I think that he would be interesting and chatty, but leave you wanting more because he has the attention span of a gnat and gets pulled in multiple directions—basically the J.Mraz problem.

ROMANTIC POTENTIAL: 3

L: It might be fun to be his girlfriend. I like that he’s got a lot of varied interests and is dabbling in all sorts of things. He seems like he’d always be entertaining, and he’d be useful at retrieving things from atop high shelves for me. But what about long-term potential? Would he do something awesome for your birthday? Would he take an active interest in what you’re up to despite his busy schedule?

I: This is why I fear he’d only be interested in chatting about himself and his MYRIAD projects! Anything you’re doing is lackluster in comparison. I worry about how tied down he is with other projects. I need a dude who just has one awesome job (like John Krasinski!) and then we can chat equally in the eves. Also, he seems like he’d be sloppy in bed, y/n?

L: Yeah, I guess I could see that. He’d hurry through it then jump right up while zipping up his pants (which he never really took off all the way), rushing off to his next project.

SUGGESTIONS

I: Hm.. I don’t know. I’d really have to hang out with him for a while, like on a date maybe, to see if he’s worthy. I suggest Jason Segel woo me!

L: Agreed, a date’s in order. I want Jason Segel to take me mini golfing.

FINAL GRADE: 17.5/25 B

In November I had the opportunity to rent the complete television series of Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000). I watched all eighteen episodes in a week and was pleasantly surprised with what an amazing show it turned out to be.

The story takes place primarily on the grounds of William McKinley High School in a suburb in Michigan (Glee, anyone?), focusing on the lives of two outcast groups of students in 1980: the freaks and the geeks.

The show had an all-star cast including Linda Cardellini (ER), John Francis Daley (Bones), James Franco (Milk), Seth Rogen (Funny People), Samm Levine, Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother), Martin Starr (Adventureland), and Busy Philipps (Cougar Town) as our lovable outcasts, as well as veteran actors like Thomas F. Wilson (Back to the Future) as the school’s gym teacher, and Dave Allen as the guidance counselor; it also featured surprise guest appearances by Rashida Jones (Parks and Recreation), Kevin Tighe (LOST), David Krumholtz (Numb3rs), Shia LaBeouf (Transformers), and even Ben Stiller (Tropic Thunder).

You may wonder how this show ever got canceled after only its first season. What douche-of-a-network had the balls to drop such an achievement of comedic genius? UGH, I’ll tell you that NBC put it on Saturdays at 8pm so nobody watched it! So blame them for bad scheduling.

From my point of view, Freaks and Geeks is a refreshing take on the now so popular high school genre that seems to have taken over network television in the past few years; whether it involves blood-sucking vampires, sex-addicted rich kids, or ballad-singing losers.

Although the show takes place more than a decade before I was born and aired while I was still in grade school, I still found it incredibly relatable to my own experience in high school.

However, Freaks and Geeks is not necessarily suited for fans of shows like Vampire Diaries or Gossip Girl or High School Musical; it portrays a more realistic version of life as a teenager were no one bursts out into song, nobody is a vampire, and there are no threesomes (have you seen that commercial?). In fact, I’m happy to say that throughout all eighteen episodes there is not one sex scene. Unlike Gossip Girl which has sex scenes in order to distract from how horrible the entire show is, the story in Freaks and Geeks just does not need it. They decided to let the audience dive deep into the emotional and social issues of each character instead of deep into their pants.

The show’s main focus are the lives of Lindsay Weir (Cardellini), a sophomore math-genius and daddy’s little girl turned burnout, and her younger brother Sam (Daley), a socially challenged freshman. In the first episode Lindsay crosses over from her boring existence as a mathlete to the dangerous and exciting life of a freak. Cardellini’s character’s change from golden-girl to freak is brought upon by witnessing the fearful revelation from her dying grandmother that there is nothing on the other side except utter darkness, igniting Linday’s life altering thought: what is the point of it all? Throughout the season Carellini does a great job of portraying a confused teenager struggling to deal with the pressures from her parents, and peer-pressure alike.

Initially Lindsay is not altogether accepted by the freaks, which include the math-test-cheating Daniel Dosario (Franco), his bitchy girlfriend Kim Kelly (Philipps), chronically-sarcastic Ken Miller (Rogen), and pot-smoking drummer Nick Andopolis (Segel). Although it takes a while for their emotional layers to unfold, each of them has a depth that allows them to accept Lindsay as one of them, and gives their characters a significant arc.

I was really happy with the changes in the freaks. By the end of the series Daniel is playing Dungeons and Dragons with the geeks, Kim goes from bitch-of-the-year to Lindsay’s best friend, Ken’s caring side is brought out by his relationship with the cute tuba-player, Amy Andrews (Jessica Campbell), and Lindsay (this is just what I think since  the show didn’t have a chance to resolve what actually happens), gives a final goodbye to her “straight-A” past and ends up ditching a summer academic program for a road-trip Grateful Dead tour with Kim and some “death-heads.”

I was similarly pleased with Sam Weir’s band of geeks, Bill Haverchuck (Starr), Neal Schweiber (Levine), Gordon Crisp (Jerry Messing), and Harris Trinsky (Stephen Lea Sheppard). My favorite geek is definitely Bill, whose awkwardness is ultimately overshadowed by his deeply emotional relationship with Mr. Fredricks (Wilson), the gym teacher. At first, Bill is the only geek strong enough to protest against the jocks always choosing teams and positions for baseball because he “might be great, but they’ll never know.” And when Mr. Fredricks starts dating Bill’s mom, moves in with them, and is watching football on the TV in their living-room Bill still hold pride for his love of the prime-time soap, Dallas. One of my favorite scenes in the entire series is when Bill finally accepts Mr. Fredricks into his home and he explains what’s going on as the watch the show together in a heart-wrenching father/son kind of moment.

Although not as great as Bill, fellow geeks Sam, Gordon and Harris were also pretty cool. I was happy when Sam finally realized that it did not matter how pretty his crush, Cindy Sanders (Natasha Melnick), was when she turned out to be such a bitch and had to break up with her. Harris’ wisdom concerning bullies and girlfriends reminded of the guru kid from Recess, and Gordon was a lovable addition to their group of misfits.

The only two characters I really had a problem with were Nick Andopolis (Segel) and Neal Schweiber (Levine). I found Nick’s obsession with Lindsay disturbing, and Neal’s delusion of being an expert with girls was just plain annoying. But it did make it all the more hilarious when Bill ended up making-out with the head cheerleader, Vicky Appleby (Joanna Garcia).

Overall, Freaks and Geeks is an incredible show. I quickly found myself caring about every character, and it was easy for me to relate to most of what they were experiencing. It’s rare to find a show with such interesting characters, as well as an intriguing plot, and it sucks so much that NBC ended up canceling it. No matter how under-watched it was, Freaks and Geeks is one of those shows that appeals to people of all types, so if you haven’t seen it yet, it’s time to give it a try. You won’t be disappointed.

]]> http://sixwordstochangetheworld.com/2009/11/25/happy-thanksgiving-all-you-little-turkeys/ Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:58:23 +0000 Mallory http://sixwordstochangetheworld.com/2009/11/25/happy-thanksgiving-all-you-little-turkeys/

Thanksgiving is upon us yet again, and I’m currently at work hoping that we will soon get an email saying “LEAVE. NOW. EVERYONE. GOBBLE GOBBLE.” So far, no luck.

I was taking a look at my Thanksgiving post from last year, and I must say: not a whole lot has changed. I’m still thankful for all of that good stuff (like goat cheese and Michael Franti and not being pregnant). Yesterday in my Pilates class, while we were doing a move called “the teaser,” the instructor asked us to think only of things we were thankful for. No bad thoughts like “hot DAMN this is hard!” I thought that was kind of sweet.

This year I’ll be spending Thanksgiving here in DC with Kelsey and a couple other lovely people, and we are forgoing the traditional feast-and-family route in favor of Korean spas and fancy dinners. I’ll let you know how that goes.

While we’re at it, I’ve gotta confess: World, I am thankful for Jason Segel. Even though I’m very NOT thankful that he pulled this stunt at the Swell Season concert in LA rather than the one in DC. Asshole.

Eat lots of delicious things tomorrow, and be happy about all you’ve got going for you. Gobble gobble!

[Posted by Mallory]

Happy Thanksgiving week! Let me prime your appetite for turkey, stuffing, potatoes and pie with a little bit of some warm pop culture goodness. Here’s the top 4 things you need to know about from this past week:

4. The NPH Pose

For those of you who have been hiding in a hole for the past few years, Neil Patrick Harris has arisen like a child-star Jesus back into the mainstream. The man is funny, charismatic, and endlessly watchable in his many projects. Which is why nobody was surprised when he added his own pose to the world. Observe:

Simple, yet elegant. Spread this around and do NPH proud.

3. The Jason Segel Awesome Song

Speaking of people who make me laugh consistently (and are on How I Met Your Mother), schlubby comedy master Jason Segel has come out with a brand new video consisting of a song he sang at a The Swell Season show. And seeing as Mr. Segel has brought us the genius of the Dracula Puppet Musical, I’m pretty sure he can do no wrong with original songs. Watch and enjoy (and call the phone number because IT IS TOTALLY REAL).

2. The Once-Normal Lady GaGa

Speaking of people playing the piano exceptionally well, it turns out that before she went all crazy in the head, Lady GaGa was tearing up the ivories at NYU, as seen in this surprisingly good clip of her from her heyday there.

Now if that doesn’t make you question the power of stardom and fame on one’s sanity…

1. The Shame of the Nation: New Moon

Speaking of things that constantly make me question humanity, The Twilight Saga: New Moon shattered all sorts of records and young girls hearts in its opening this weekend. Unfortunately, this sort of thing propagates an endless sterotype amongt anyone with half a brain: the Twilight series is lame. There, I’m on the bandwagon, deal with it. Besides, when you have arguments like this one:

I rest my case.

Don’t eat too much turkey, everyone. See you all next week around the breakfast table!

Here’s a video of Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) singing a song with The Swell Season (Once).  At first I thought he was actually going to play a serious and sweet song… I’m ashamed that I thought that.  Luckily, he performed a hilarious pop ballad with the digits to a phone number that has been disconnected.  Bravo.

I’m fucking obsessed with this. What’s not to love? Puppets? Fucks my shit up. Queen? Freddie Mercury was from Zanzibar, thus awesome.

Hence, I love the Muppets. And Sesame Street, which will be the only TV show my children will be allowed to watch until they’re old enough to understand 30 Rock.

What we read while trying to get into Justin Bieber’s Twitter account….

• Here’s an interview with Jonathan Safran Foer, normally a great fiction writer, whose new book Eating Animals tries to get people to stop eating meat. Hasn’t he read Josh? In 100 years, this whole discussion will be moot.

• Last week, we linked to Steven Pinker’s negative review of Malcolm Gladwell’s What the Dog Saw, a collection of essays. This week, in the interest of equal time, here’s Gladwell’s three-part response–with all parts brief and in large print. Part I on Pinker, Part II on Quarterbacks, and Part III on Eigenvalues.

• It hasn’t even been a week since John S pointed out the double standard applied to Miley Cyrus. Well, in that time she’s been criticized for the death of her bus driver and for not liking Twilight. What a bitch!

• For all our Buffalo readers, why Perry Fewell isn’t the answer–and it has more to do with the sport than the team.

• This post, as are all others from NPI and the rest of worldwide blogs, is brought to you from our collective mothers’ basements.

• For the man who has everything this holiday season… DON DRAPER THE DOLL!

• The BCS has a Twitter; run amok.

• The BCS Twitter is citing some of the dumbest propaganda I’ve ever read; run amok.

I know this is a little late, but I was compelled to share this clip anyway.



Jason Segel is neck and neck with NPH for “Funniest HIMYM Cast Member”.

So as some of you may have noticed (mom) I’ve been absent for a good while now. This means no new post. This means a life less excellent for you. This makes me sad. That said now that life has slowed to a crawl the site is back, at-least for a while now I promise. In the future expect plenty of chewy goodness to help you get through your day. Now without further adieu is a great little video of Jason Segel from the amazing Forgetting Sarah Marshall sharing his deepest secrets in song.

Also after the jump I’ve added some videos of what I consider one of the greatest running gags in TV history – The Slap Bet.

Segels face around the 23 second mark is priceless.

Actor Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) performing an original song of his, with The Swell Season, at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, CA. Nov 18, 2009

Here’s how this happened… The band was at a restaurant in Los Angeles; drinking tea, when they were offered a bottle of wine by two celebrities. Paul Rudd and Jason Segel. Now The Swell Season has been enjoying watching their “Freaks & Geeks” DVDs while on tour, so this was a nice coincidence. They became good acquaintances, so The Swell Season asked Jason Segel to be a surprise guest and sing a song.

The Swell Season is a musical duo formed by Irish musician Glen Hansard and Czech singer and pianist Markéta Irglová who got together in the excellent 2007 film, Once.

Jason Segel joined the Swell Season onstage at a recent show to perform an original song of his. The results included the display of his actual phone number and lyrics claiming there were no special effects involved when he showed his manhood to the world in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Needless to say, hilarity.

Here’s a video from 2007 of The Swell Season (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova) performing “Lies” from the “Once” soundtrack:

Click here to watch actor Jason Segel join The Swell Season onstage for a special song a few days ago.

Jason Segel, o ator, está ficando cada vez mais conhecido. Nos últimos dois anos ele participou de Ligeiramente Grávidos, Ressaca de Amor e Eu te amo, cara, além de poder ser visto semanalmente na sitcom de sucesso How I Met Your Mother, atualmente em sua quinta temporada.

Já Jason Segel, o cantor, não aparece com muita frequência, mas ele já deu amostras de que leva algum jeito para a coisa – em Eu te amo, cara, faz dupla com Paul Rudd tocando sucessos do Rush, e em Ressaca de Amor seu personagem escreve e estrela o próprio musical. Além disso, Jason já cantou em nada menos que quatro episódios de HIMYM.

Um dos ‘hits’ de Marshall Eriksen em How I Met Your Mother

No último dia 18, o The Swell Season fez um show em Los Angeles, e Jason dividiu o palco com a dupla vencedora do Oscar, Glen Hansard e Marketá Irglová - a quem, após a frustração de não ser indicado à estatueta de Melhor Canção Original pelo mini-musical apresentado em Ressaca de Amor, Jason pediu conselhos sobre como compor belas canções. Marketá lhe disse que escrevesse com o coração, e que incluísse o máximo de informações pessoais que pudesse (talvez ela não tenha dito exatamente isso, mas…).

Jason Segel dá uma palhinha do Dracula Musical

E, assentado ao piano, ele cantou. Uma composição própria, com o máximo de informações pessoais possível (até demais!), como ele mesmo entregou. Além de esclarecer que em Ressaca do Amor não houve efeitos especiais na sua cena de nu frontal, falando abertamente sobre o tamanho de seu pênis, ele dá seu número de telefone. Anota aí: (315) 329-6673.

Segel se apresenta com o The Swell Season

And Also, one with NPH

Love this

Jason Segel sings an original song at a recent Swell Season concert at The Wiltern in LA (11/18/09).

Must-See TV by Brent Johnson

There are a few things I look forward to in life: landing on an underrated Billy Joel song when I listen to iPod Shuffle, a fried chicken salad with French dressing at Applebee’s.

And Thursday nights on NBC.

Remember ‘Must-See TV’? When Friends and Seinfield shared the same Thursday-night block? It’s back. And it’s much more deadpan, much more sarcastic, much more pop-culture-fied. And it’s my favorite night of the workweek because of these four shows:

Community
8 p.m.
It’s about a hot-shot lawyer sent back to community college because of a glitch in his degree. Joel McHale of The Soup is acerbic and charming as the preppie playboy attorney. Chevy Chase — who used to play acerbic, charming, preppie playboys — is deliciously wacky this time as an aging sidekick (and proves that he’s still one of the most entertaining comics of the last half-century). And the storylines are packed with well-paced jokes — often making fun of obscure pop culture with more nuance than Family Guy. It’s like if 30 Rock calmed down and switched its writing staff with Scrubs.

Parks And Recreation
8:30 p.m.
A show with a rocky debut last year that has easily become the most satisfying comedy on TV this season. Created by Office writer Michael Schur — a.k.a. Cousin Mose — it uses a local Indiana government as the backdrop, which kind of makes it seem like ‘The Political Office.’ But the characters are more human than the Dunder-Mifflin crew. And the episodes have proven to be stellar every single week. Plus, it boasts maybe the funniest character on TV: Ron Swanson, a moustached, no-nonsense government guy who spouts straight-faced one-liners, loves breakfast food and hates his ex-wives, both of whom are named Tammy.

The Office
9 p.m.
Not as good as last season, when the show was steeped in what makes it great: farcical comedy sprinkled with human drama. But like Cheers, we watch because we care about the characters. And like Seinfeld, we watch because we yearn to see what story this week brings. Shows like that never fully lose their luster.

30 Rock
9:30 p.m.
Star-Ledger TV critic Alan Sepinwall notes that a while ago, creator Tina Fey decided to veer this show more toward the zany than the human. Thus, it doesn’t always click as much as it used to, when Fey’s character was more human and Alec Baldwin’s big-wig boss was more supporting than lead. But the show is still stellar because the jokes are so frequent and so random. You never know when you’ll laugh out loud. It hits you so quickly.

My favorite program not on NBC’s Thursday nights?

That Metal Show on VH-1 Classic. That channel alone is brilliant for all the great forgotten 1980s alternative rock it plays (hello The Church and The The). But this half-hour — a talk show about heavy metal featuring a trivia-spouting DJ and two standup comics — is addicting. And I don’t even like metal.

(left to right) Jim Florentine, Eddie Trunk & Don Jamieson of That Metal Show

They also nab great guests — Lemmy, Mike Piazza. And Eddie Trunk, the DJ who’s the poor man’s Matt Pinfield, is a music nerd you have to like. Seriously, try an episode, even if you’ve never heard a Slayer
record.

Also worth noting…

Larry David, Anna Paquin and Thomas Jane bring their A-Game to HBO on their respective shows

HBO, the non-network that continues to break TV molds.

Curb Your Enthusiasm‘ is clever this season for reuniting the Seinfield cast without a real reunion. Tell me what’s more thrilling than seeing the Fab Four back in that New York Living room, talking about Superman and prostitutes.

True Blood was one of the few dramas on TV that consistently interested me — mostly because it’s too funny and too ridiculous to be bogged down with the weighty action and heavy-handed melodrama that make a show like 24 so unappealing to me. But Season 2 was a bit too fantastical.

And freshman show Hung — about a high school basketball coach (Thomas Jane) who turns to being a male hooker to make money — was underrated for its sly humor and sturdy acting.

Time is of the Essence- The Only TV I Watch by Bill Bodkin

I don’t have a lot of time in my schedule for TV. Between the blog, my job and my film production company combined with the fact I have a 300 movie Netflix queue and 30 movies on my DVR at any time plus my love of football and wrestling, I don’t have a lot of time to watch original television programming. So these 5 shows are ones that I do/should be watching on a regular basis.

1. Mad Men (AMC): Brilliant cannot begin to describe this show. Take a trip back to the early 60s, America’s golden years so fondly remembered by earlier generations. Enter the world of the charmingly despicable yet tragically sympathetic ad man Don Draper. If the show focused solely on his character alone it would still be great, but writer/creator Matthew Weiner has created a world where every character is vital, where every prop is integral and every line delivered has some sort of ramification. Characters come and go, sometimes not seen for weeks at a time, but their storylines are never forgotten and they are resolved (or not and for a good reason) by the end of the season. Weiner seamlessly integrates major political issues of the time and product placement (sometimes tongue-in-cheek) into storylines. Yet, even with all this, it’s still the performance of Jon Hamm that gives this series the emotional knock-out punch. He’s able to make an audience sympathize with him while still damning him for his wrong doings. A tortured soul with a heart of tarnished gold, Draper’s world is one you cannot help yourself but to watch. As a person who is not a fan of heavy drama for entertainment, I have been a devoted fan of this series for two years and simply cannot wait until next August when Don Draper walks back on my TV screen.

2. Top Chef (Bravo): I originally dismissed this show as “another crappy reality show.” I was wrong. While the show gives some attention to “drama” brewing between the chefs; the focus is, was and always will be the food. Seeing some of the best chefs in the world come up with brilliantly delicious delicacies under intense time constraints is mind-blowing. Their creations will make you salivate immediately and I guarantee the competition will suck you in. Kudos goes to the producers of Top Chef as they have been able to keep this show, which has a very simple and dangerously repetitive concept, fresh by coming up with unique weekly challenges, filming in interesting locales (Vegas, Puerto Rico, Napa Valley) and bringing in special guests like Natalie Portman, The Foo Fighters, Zooey Deschanel and countless celebrity chefs.

3. How I Met Your Mother (CBS): This sitcom is based around a simple gimmick- a father (the voice of Bob Saget) would regale his children with the story of “how he met their mother.” Clues are dropped regularly, which initially drew viewers in. It was the air of mystery that made this show sitcom unique. However, this mystery is not what makes How I Met Your Mother one of the best sitcoms going. It’s jam-packed with razor-sharp dialogue, tremendously funny dream sequences and cut scenes and is anchored by outstanding comedic performances from Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Segel. If you’re a fan of British sitcoms like Spaced, this is definitely a show you need to be tuning into.

4. The Soup (E!): I was a huge fan of Talk Soup with John Henson back in the day. After Henson left for TV shows that never panned out, he was abysmally replaced by Hal Sparks and Aisha Tyler. Luckily in 2004 someone decided that character actor Joel McHale would be a good fit to write and host the show. McHale not only brought back the witty one-liners (including digs on E! itself), zany intros and extremely random guest appearances but he shifted the show’s focus from just talk shows to cover reality TV, morning network news and absurd celebrity spots (e.g. It’s Miley!). You can always count on this show for good laughs.

5. Bored to Death (HBO): I will be completely honest here, I have only seen one episode of this series. However it’s an episode that completely hooked me. Jason Schwartzman plays Jonathan Ames- a pot smoking alcoholic yet lovable neurotic Brooklyn novelist who has severe writer’s block. After losing his girlfriend and doing extensive research for a possible detective novel, he decides to become a private detective. Along for the ride are his best friend & cartoonist Ray (Zach Galifianakis) and his publisher George (Ted Danson). The trio embark on a series of ridiculous capers, mostly while stoned. The combination of hipster humor, film noir and pot make this show a very engaging, breezy and utterly enjoyable series. It will most likely never meet “Entourage” levels of success but it’s a thinking man’s comedy that should entertain for years to come. And if that doesn’t sell it for you, then watch it for Galifianakis, who is an absolute understated comic genius.

Jason Segel AND Swell Season, all in one place? Hilarious and AWESOME.

Easily the best thing I’ve seen online all week, maybe all month! Further proving Jason Segel might be the coolest guy that ever lived. Watch him preform an original song with The Swell Season below:

The audience at The Swell Season’s first of two concerts at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles last night was lucky enough to catch a surprise special guest performance. How I Met Your Mother’s own Jason Segel joined Once’s Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová on stage and sang an original song/personal ad with a refrain calling out the digits of his phone number and referencing the cameo made by a certain body part of his in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Apparently, Segel became friends with Hansard and Irglová after he and friend Paul Rudd sent them wine in a restaurant one night and hilarity, I’m sure, ensued.

The new album by The Swell Season, Strict Joy, is excellent. Like their previous efforts, their songs are dreamy, wistful, melancholy, and hopeful all at once. The Swell Season’s Glen Hansard, originally from the Irish band, The Frames, and Marketa Irglova, a classically trained Czech pianist and vocalist, are accompanied by many musicians on their tour including violinists, cellists, guitarists, keyboardists, drummers, and a brass section. My favorite new song on Strict Joy is “Maybe I Was Born To Hold You In These Arms.” This live version is another Tiny Desk performance from NPR and, in lieu of their usual accompaniment, they ask those in the room to mimic the sounds of the instruments.

The Swell Season – Maybe I Was Born To Hold You In These Arms:

-Melissa