Firefly. (BSDA #12)

When I was younger, my dad tried to introduce me to Buffy - I did not like it at all. Now I simply cannot work out why that is, because after it being recommended to me by the world of internet geekdom, I decided to get Firefly, Joss Whedon's next series, a western in space, on DVD. And ohmygoditsoneofthebestthings-iveeverseen!

Wikipedia's synopsis tells us that the series is set in the year 2517, after the arrival of humans in a new star system, and follows the adventures of the renegade crew of Serenity, a "Firefly-class" spaceship. The ensemble cast portrays the nine characters who live on Serenity. Whedon pitched the show as "nine people looking into the blackness of space and seeing nine different things". The show explores the lives of some people who fought on the losing side of a civil war and others who now make a living on the outskirts of the society, as part of the pioneer culture that exists on the fringes of their star system.

So that's a decent summation. But what it doesn't tell you is how brilliant this show is. I mean, incredible. Its colourful, complex, funny, wonderful characters, who speak Whedon's trademark cool-but-unusual style of language - "corpsifying" - inhabit a world which is as familiar as it is original, a quite genius mix of the American West, traditional oriental culture and the classic world of conventional sci-fi, all of which influences are melded into something consistently fascinating. I've only seen 5 episodes so far (come on, the box came 26 hours ago and I had to sleep and go to school in that time!) but this upcoming Easter break will see the rest demolished with glee. (No, not with Glee. Just - no.)

OK. That's enough lyrical waxation. Follow this blog, follow me on twitter, yadda yadda. And I leave you with the theme tune, written by Joss Whedon and performed by the wonderfully-named Sonny Rhodes. 

I like funnies, me. (BSDA #11)

Hey, you! Yes, you! Wanna hear a fairly good joke? No? Oh well...

A cow and a chicken break out of jail and a road is the only thing between them and freedom. The chicken then tells the cow to cross it, but says that he will turn back. When questioned why, he answers that if he crosses the road, it will raise many questions.

Not bad, I hope. Anyway so today I was thinking about the kind of humour I like and if there's any meaningful way to differentiate it from what I don't. Let's break it down via genre. (All UK, sorry. Foreigners, go down there for some video links....)

I'm a massive fan of Monty Python (I ordered a T-shirt of the Black Knight from Holy Grail off TeeFury!), the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the Goon Show, the Mighty Boosh and similar comedy in the absurdist vein. I also like wordplay-based comedy such as the legendary Two Ronnies, Fry and Laurie (yes, the guy off QI and the guy off House used to be a double act) and lots of literary comedy. Thirdly, I like what used to be called alternative comedy such as the Young Ones or, say, Stewart Lee (whose show returns to the BBC in May!) and I like well-written sitcoms such as Blackadder, Red Dwarf and Coupling (the last of which is basically a better version of Friends, written by current Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat). Finally, I like real political/social satire - Charlie Brooker, Chris Morris, Rory Bremner et al. (No, not him.) Oh, and the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre? Heard of them? Thought not. They're brilliant. I need to see them live as a matter of urgency.

That seemed messy and kind of hard to follow, but we shall press on nonetheless. That which I do not like can be summarised as follows: - comedy which tries to be foul-mouthed without any reason other than to shock (Frankie Boyle), conventional sitcoms, anything that plays on stereotypes unintelligently (Al Murray) and anything that uses stupid gimmicks (95% of BBC comedies of the last few years...).

It's about quality, people! Here is some quality for your delectation.

This is so violating copyright laws.

And if you want any more, then @reply me on twitter for some links! Of course, you'll have to FOLLOW me first - antmoorfield. (Shameless plug is shameless.) And you should FOLLOW this blog. I might write about sci-fi or something tomorrow. You just never know.


SFSPT: www.youtube.com/sitcomtrials 
Me in the twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/antmoorfield
Anything else, google it. I mean, come on.