Blogaday #2: Thinking Outside of The Box

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Guarantee at least one of those videos has a half taped over wedding on it and another one holds an episode of 'One Foot in The Grave'

Yesterday's post was my 50th. That's half a century of posts to you minions. God knows how many words. Each post is unique in its own special little way. Feel free to go and read them all. Anyway, second day into blogaday (as I tweeted yesterday, this has nothing to do with Timmy Mallet *shudder*) now and I'm here again at 23:46 desperately racking this brain of mine for anything of worth. Nope, drawn another blank.

If you even vaguely know me - be that in real life or via my much cooler and funnier internet and dinosaur related yarns, you'll know I've got a problem with DVD box sets. By that I don't mean that I'm some ridiculous purist that has issues with the DVD format nor do I like DVDs but dislike them being co-ordinated and issued as a 'box set'. Oh no dear reader. My problem is quite simple - I just can't stop buying them. Below you will see a list of box sets I have bought recentlyish, my current progress reflected as an estimated percentage and my first impressions or predictions of the content contained on each beautiful box set.

Dexter

Current progress: 26%
Impressions: Clever little show. Annoys me a bit how Dexter will look all perplexed now and then only to then spring to life and pluck some ridiculous theory that happens to be bang on the money out of the ether. In that sense, he's a bit like Jonathan Creek. Differences between Dexter and Jonathan Creek are plain of course. Dexter isn't English, a Virgin, a member of The National Trust nor does he have a haircut not seen on anyone for approximately 25 years. What? Who's Carles Puyol?

The Wire

Current progress: 100%

Impressions: Just ridiculously good. Clever, cool and funny yet at times also really heartfelt. It is the perfect TV series. I got smashed once and watched the below scene about a hundred times convinced it was the truth, the meaning of life and all that. Fitzgerald, for once, probably isn't spinning in his grave as a popular programme discusses his work. Predictably, I just got distracted from writing this post by watching Wire clips for about half an hour.

The Sopranos

Current progress: 0.8%
Impressions: Okay, so I've underestimated that. I've just finished the first series but I'm sure there's about eleven series so I feel like I'm at the start of a long journey. I mean, didn't the last last episode air not that long ago yet on the series I just watched everything is crazy early 1990s. I like it that way. Ain't nobody wanna see Tony Soprano handing orders out via tweets on twitter or none of that stuff. I like it though. The whole idea of being a mobster yet the day-to-day business being, well, a bit mundane at times is a good one. It can't all be saying hello to my little friend and making offers people can't refuse. Also, Steve Van Zandt being in The E Street Band AND The Sopranos?! That's two good lifes he's got there. Hand one over here ya punk.

Breaking Bad

Current progress: 40%
Impressions: This is good. Yes, I sort of half wrote it off due to the Malcolm in the Middle dad situation because I'm simply ridiculous like that but damn, this is really good. If I didn't have box sets coming out of my box sets I'd really focus on this thang.

Generation Kill

Current progress: 0%
Impressions: Solely bought on The Wire association. I make no qualms about it. I have not watched a single minute of this and it remains in its wrap. I do want too. It's just this whole time thing. I think I need a considerable stint of unemployment in all honesty. Just a few years so I can watch DVDs and let's be honest, probably get really fat and turn into a social recluse that is scared of the sunlight. Yes, in other words, a 'Twilight' fan.

Mad Men

Current progress: 50%

Impressions: Don Draper also has Jonathan Creekitis where he plucks ideas out of nowhere for amazing advertising plans that have built the marketing world we know and probably hate so well today. He is a lot cooler than me generally though so I shouldn't complain too much. I haven't watched an episode of 'Mad Men' for quite a while. It's very well made and faithful to its era and all that put actually putting the disk in the tray just doesn't hold the same appeal as say 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2'.

Yeah so these are all my 'in progress' box sets (I rewatch The Wire episodes now and then) and every single one is American. What's that about? There must be some good British ones out there for me to waste some time on.

No, I can't think of any either.

Care about.

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1. Jay -Z - The Blueprint 3
This is going to be dope, wack, fresh, sick, cool, rad and all *that*. We've got the front cover and the tracklist (see above and below - taken from Jay-Z.com) now. There's an awful lot of features on it including Jeezy, Alicia Keys, Cudi and Luke Steele (WTF). Thankfully, Kanye managed to muster up a small amount of ownage on Jay (no homo!) with his verse on 'Run This Town' and here's to all the guest spots being as good as that one. Ye owed him for showing him up on that sick 'Diamonds From Sierra Leone' remix. He's a business, mannnn. Yeah. that one.





Jay-Z is pretty much the man everyone wants to be. What I know of his life (yes, he's got more than 98 problems but still) sounds pretty cool and I reckon I could handle it. I could deal with the rap game, Beyonce being a crazy bitch and talking about how things would be different if she was a boy, the clothes line, the Mets, being tight with Barack - all of it. With all that said, he might actually be putting it all on for the camera. Maybe he spends most of his time watching shopping channels in his underwear whilst eating mini versions of popular ice creams. Wait! That sounds like a really good way to get over that savage Swine Flu. I know, I know.


"Only rapper to rewrite history without a pen..."

Jay-Z - D.O.A. (Death of Autotune)



2. The XMI X-mini II Speaker

I think I might be way behind on this little rogue but mannnn this thing is crazy cool. Essential details - it's a portable speaker (w/a tidily concealed inbuilt 3.5mm audio connection cable) that you nerds can plug into your Sony Walkman or whatever you use. It's really small, about the size of a 15 month old (approximate guess) baby fist. It charges from a USB connection in about two hours and a full charge lasts for eleven hours, allegedly. I fully intend to find out by listening to a white noise audio track that lasts exactly eleven hours this evening/tomorrrow early morning.

To get this thing cranked you gotta turn the two halves away from each other to reveal a little valve (see below) which, for want of a better term, is really really really cute. It's like a little techno kitten. Hello Kitty I suppose. These guys have gotta get more marketing game. These things could (and probably should) be massive. This is not a paid advertisement, promise.


Yeah, The key thing about the X Mini II is that it is loud. It's really loud actually. I had 'A Milli' on when I was in the shower earlier and the bass was so on that the little thing was jumping around each time Bangladesh had that thing banging. It was kinda poetic really. I almost felt that through the song and the movement of the speaker, Lil Wayne and I were having a little conversation. It's the closest I've ever felt to Wayne and what with me being a naked little geek in my shower and him being a rap superstar, probably the closest I ever will be (no homo). This thing is like £17 over at amazon. G g g get it bought. What's seventeen pounds? An emotional Will Smith add a tenner, that's what it is.

3. Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 7

I don't know when this will (if at all) air over here in the UK but CYE is one of those programmes that I always forget how much I love until I watch an episode. HBO have posted a few teasers of season 7 on youtube and I'm now officially psyched. That's the word people use isn't it? 'Psyched?' Whatever. Larry David has just got a funny little face hasn't he. He's a bit like a flamingo or something. I can't look at those guys without literally LMAOing. I also cannot believe that these damned fingers just typed LMAO either. Goddamn. On second thoughts though I just remembered the line "I'm on my way to the bank, L M A O..." and Lil Wayne said that and if it's good enough for him...


ANYWAY, yeah. The clip is below but head over to youtube because they've got a fair few over there. Whilst you're there I guarantee that you'll end up looking at about a dozen other old Curb fave moments. "President of hittin' that ass...", Larry doing his cameo for Scorcese, calling the phone directory for Krazee Eyez Killa's number. You know how I roll. If you're me, however, it's far easier to just leave the house and find yourself in your very own Curb Your Enthuasiasm moment. 50% of everything I say is apologies, the other half is a mix of swear words, gutteral sounds and trying to talk like I'm Omar from The Wire. Ya feel me?


EDIT: WTF is up with Marty Funkhouser's voice. He sounds like if you cut his chest open it'd just be one big mess of wires, bolts and LED lights. Marty 5 is Alive! I'd photoshop his face on Johnny 5 from 'Short Circuit' if I could but I can't. Other things I can't do include wiring a plug, back flips and being nice to people on Facebook.