Ty Watches "Better Call Saul" Season 5 Premier

Season five, I believe the penultimate season, of “Better Call Saul” kicked off this past Sunday and Monday with two new episodes, and they were great. I’m a fan of this show.

Originally I was on the fence when they announced it, but when I saw that Bob Oedenkirk and Vince Gilligan were attached, I started to get more on board. Then I watched the first season, and loved it. The same can be said for the next three seasons. They’ve all been great. They have also brought back characters from “Breaking Bad”, many of which I really liked. Mike Erhmantraut, Gus Fring, Lavell Crawford’s character, they’re back and they’re just as wonderful. I also love the new additions. Kim Wexler is wonderful, and I hope she gets an okay outcome, although I don’t think she will. Michael McKean was exceptional as Jimmy/Saul’s bigger, much more successful and smarter brother. McKean’s partner, who I know from “Saved By the Bell: The College Years” is smarmy and slimy and perfect. All the gangsters and dealers, it’s like a glimpse of the “Breaking Bad” future.

As for Jimmy/Saul, he started out the series as a guy that just constantly gets beat down by life. He is getting passed up for every law job, his brother is clearly better than him, he’s looked upon as a second class citizen, things just don’t go his way. As the show has continued, you can slowly see the transformation. He is clearly getting sick of his lot in life, and he’s determined to change it. And, he does it pretty underhanded, and he’s pretty shady. You could really see the transformation at the end of the past season, especially when he does the double finger guns at Kim after winning a case and tells her “it’s Saul Goodman”.

That continues directly at the start of the new season. We do get to see him in Omaha at the Cinnabon he works at, his criminal hiding out/protection stuff. But when they flash back to him becoming Saul, he’s really becoming Saul. He has the Bluetooth, the cheesy clothes, his signature hairdo and his scamming ways are front and center. The way he convinced a lobby worker to jam up the elevator so he could get another lawyer to help him, and his clients out, was Saul at his best, and seemingly earliest. When he also tries to convince Kim to play along with him when she’s struggling with one of her cases, it just oozes slime from his part. And bless her heart, Kim doesn’t want to do immoral and unethical things with him, but she does truly love him, she goes ahead and uses his plan, even though she hates every second of it. And the stuff with Mike and Gus is as thrilling and nail biting and has all the intensity that “Breaking Bad” had. The same can be said for the Mexican drug cartel, especially when they picked up Saul at the end of the second episode. I literally cannot wait to see what happens next week.

All in all though, this show is Bob Oedenkirk’s vehicle, and he is driving it like a master driver. He’s so good in this role. Any hesitations I may have had at the start, they’re long gone by now. This is one of the best shows on TV, and I’m so glad it’s back on, and taking us on this ride once again. “Better Call Saul” is not “Breaking Bad”, hardly any shows are, but this is an excellent off shoot of that wonderful series. And I feel like this season is going to be truly amazing. I’m so happy it’s back.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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Ty Watches "El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie"

Yesterday I watched "El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie". I enjoyed it. The movie was dark, bleak, depressing, hard to watch and, flat out, brutal. But, that was exactly what I was hoping for, and expected to see. When we last left Jesse Pinkman, he was not in a good place. He did get out, spoiler alert for a show that ended nearly a decade ago, but after that, he was officially on the lam. That is where this movie pretty much picks up.

What I enjoyed about this movie the most was the fact that Jesse had, for himself, a somewhat happy ending. He got the closure that I felt his character deserved. Jesse immediately goes on the run, in the El Camino after Walter White rigged up the gun that shot the place up, and he knows he needs to hide. We find him next running into Skinny and Badger. He goes to their house and says he needs to stash the car. He is led inside, eats a ton of cup of noodles and crashes to sleep. When he wakes up he freaks, thinking he is still in the cage that the neo Nazis put him in to cook. When he realizes he isn't anymore, he cleans himself up, shaves and goes out to get his vengeance.

From this point on, there are a ton of silent scenes and flashbacks and Jesse trying to find a way to get out and start over. The silent scenes in the movie were incredible. It showed a broken man that was trying to get himself back together again. When he is searching around houses looking for money or when he has his freak outs when he wakes up or when he is caught by some random guys pretending to be cops, those were super intense. I was on the edge of my seat, just waiting to see what would happen next. The flashbacks really helped jog my memory, which I liked. If there was something I was a little cloudy on, I would most likely get a flashback, and that would help me remember who the character was, or the situation we were in in the movie. I appreciated that from the movie.

The stuff with Aaron Paul and Jesse Plemons character, the soft spoken yet insane killer neo Nazi, were so wild and so essential. RD told me, and I then went on to read, that Jesse Plemons said that, for him, this was one of the oddest buddy movies he has ever been a part of. That is 100 percent true. Plemons character takes Jesse out of his cage to help him with a job, and the stuff they do, and talk about, you would think that these guys are buddies. Then a flashback comes, or Jesse grabs a gun, or cowers when Plemons talks to him, and then you remember, Plemons is a bad, bad dude. He killed people that Jesse loved, and that he is one of the people that are keeping him in a cage so he can cook for them.

But, when all is said and done, Jesse gets the best possible outcome. He gets his vengeance. He gets his chance to start over. He gets to leave a letter for the only person left that he truly cares about. And he drives off with a small smile on his face, the first time they show that in the movie.

I feel like "El Camino" was a perfect way to close the story on all things "Breaking Bad". It perfectly wrapped up any loose ends that the finale, which was great, might have left over. I feel a sense of closure now with this movie, and was very happy with how it all turned out. "El Camino" is worth your time, and it is a great ending to a great show.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

SeedSing's Advent Calendar of Awesome Holiday Music: Day 4: Don't Shoot Me Santa

ed note: This article was originally published on December 3rd, 2015

The pre-Christmas Day season of Advent is upon us. Here at SeedSing we love the chocolaty goodness of getting a piece of candy once a day until we get to open our presents. As our gift to you we will present a new awesome holiday song for every day of Advent. This is the greatest music of the season. Enjoy.

Day 4: Don't Shoot Me Santa by The Killers

Opened Doors: One, Two, Three

I used to live in an urban neighborhood just north of Downtown Cincinnati. Urban living introduces you to wide variety of personalities not always found in the suburbs. I was part of the yuppie community trying to "rebuild" the city. We had some extremely rich people living a few blocks away in their estates overlooking the Ohio river. A few blocks the other way we had a lot of low income people living in government assisted housing. Every single stoplight in our area was populated by panhandlers. Many of these beggars were drug addicts and con artists. Some times we would see college age kids end their "shift" by getting in a car and a new person would take up the empty corner. The started to internally identifying the regular panhandlers with descriptive names. There was one down on his luck guy who always wore a filthy shirt and nice jeans. He was named Clean Jeans. Professor Shakey was a talkative man who never outright asked for money, oh and he was very jittery. One particular panhandler had a bushy white beard and a jolly old face, this man was to be named Hobo Claus.

Since 2006 Las Vegas based band The Killers have been releasing a new original holiday song with part of the proceeds benefitting Product RED . Of the ten offerings, "Don't Shoot Me Santa" is far and away the most surreal. The song is a two character play backed by the rock stylings of The Killers. Singer Brandon Flowers is a naughty boy who has been killing people who tease him, and Santa is coming to deliver justice. Not many holiday songs discuss how Santa deals with the naughty kids. Popular culture has attributed the lump of coal as the go to gift for the naughty. The Killers decided to go a little bit farther. Flowers spends the majority of the song pleading, and Santa is not having any of it. At one point Santa points out that he was a troubled kid, unfortunately that will not be enough to save Flowers. As one last gift Santa does allow Flowers to indulge in the great memory of being young and tasting some sweet Mojave rain.

Outside of the strangeness in the dialogue of the two character play that is "Don't Shoot Me Santa", the song has the great music one expects from The Killers. The band has established itself as one of the greatest pure rock bands of the current generation (Greatest American Band Debate feature?). "Don't Shoot me Santa" has The Killers signature sound, but there is a nice mix of Mariachi like desert music mixed in. Every time I hear "Don't Shoot Me Santa" I image it as a signature tune for Walter White on "Breaking Bad".

Hobo Claus is the placeholder for Kris Kringle whenever I hear "Don't Shoot Me Santa". The naughty kids should not be visited by a jolly old Saint Nick, their Father Christmas should be dirty, smelly, and generally uncomfortable to be around. The video for "Don't Shoot Me Santa" seems to agree with me on the unkempt image. This holiday season pray for a jolly, nice smelling Santa. If you have been naughty, watch out, because Santa may be coming for you.

Ed Note: These Holiday music article are meant to be fun. Having said that, this is the most important time of the year to help the homeless in your city. Your time and money is needed to assist your local homeless charities. Contact the United Way to find a charity in your city.

RD Kulik

RD is the Head Editor for SeedSing. He is trying to be really good this year. He hopes Santa can see the goodness through the small bits of naughtiness. Come bask in our goodness by liking us on Facebook.

Jonathan Banks Turns Great Shows into Classic Television

New Mexico is much more beautiful with Mike Ehrmantraut in it.

I just want to take a minute to talk about how awesome of an actor Jonathan Banks is and has always been.

Jonathan Banks is new to me, the first place I saw him was on "Breaking Bad" as Mike Ehrmantraut. He was phenomenal on that show. He was the badass assistant that Gus Fring needed. He was the perfect hitman, bodyguard, money guy, basically, he was the jack of all trades, as long as it was shady. When Mike showed up in season four of "Breaking Bad", that's when that show went from great to a classic masterpiece. He really turned an already great show into absolute, must watch TV. He was so great and was almost as fun to watch as Gus. No one, and I'm including Walt and Gus and Jesse, was as good on that show as Mike was. He was awesome.

Now I'm a big fan of "Better Call Saul". I put season one in my top 5 shows of 2015, both on the podcast and on my blog. It's a really great show. I had my doubts, it was released so close to the end of "Breaking Bad", so how could they even come close to what they had with that show, but they have pulled it out. It doesn't hurt that Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould still produce and write a lot of the episodes and that the majority of the original actors appear as themselves on "Better Call Saul". That helps the show even more.

Bob Oedenkirk is the star of the show, but what makes shows like "Better Call Saul" and "Breaking Bad" so great is the fact that any number of actors can have their moments. In "Breaking Bad", it wasn't always Bryan Cranston as Walt that made it great. There was also the afformentioned Gus and Jesse, but also Krysten Ritter as Jesse's junkie girlfriend or Walt's brother in law Hank, his thieving wife Marie, Walt's wife, Skyler and, of course Saul and Mike. They all had episodes that featured their characters in pivotal roles and some of the episodes that featured these people, like when Walt watches Jesse's girlfriend choke and die on her own vomit, were compelling as any Walt heavy episode. Same thing goes for "Better Call Saul". There is plenty of episodes that focus on Saul's brother Chuck, played expertly by Michael McKean, and his struggles with electronics and paranoia and the fact that Jimmy is still a crook. There is also the stuff that features Jimmy's, that was Saul's name before he became Saul Goodman, girlfriend/work buddy Kim. She's played a pivotal role in 2 of the first 5 episodes of season 2 already. There is also Howard, who is co owner and creator of the law firm that Chuck started and Jimmy could never get a real job at.

Every episode of "Better Call Saul" is great television ,but the best episodes, and I'm including the ones that are Jimmy centric, are the ones that focus on Mike. He is wonderfully brilliant on this show. The fact that we get to see him alive again, spoiler alert, is fantastic. And man does Jonathan Banks knock it out of the park with this role. He is so god damn good. He plays the same type of character that he did on "Breaking Bad", but on "Better Call Saul", we get to see what turned him into this shady back door bag man and body guard and hit man and con artist. The episode in season one of "BCS" where we learn why he left the police was one of the best, most heart wrenching 45 minutes of television I have ever witnessed. That episode is a masterpiece and it should be shown in film and TV schools because it needs to be studied by the future TV and movie writers. It is so, so great. Go back and watch that episode. You will cry and you will feel things you never thought a TV show could make it feel. It is a work of art.

This season on "BCS", it seems that they have taken a more forward approach to making Mike more of a main character and the show is so much better for doing that. Jonathan Banks as Mike is so soft spoken and calm, yet you can see the anger and violence that he has behind those eyes. He never gets to amped up or too crazy about anything or any situation he's thrown in. He always has the same look on his face and the same tone to his voice and he carries himself with the same demeanor. He's always calm, but you better not cross him, or he will make you pay. Take an episode earlier this season. The guy from Minnesota, that he was essentially a body guard for, shows up in a humongous bright yellow hummer to go do a drug deal and Mike calmly tells him that he will not get in that car that screams arrest me and that if this guy goes to the deal alone, he will pay some kind of consequence. The guy doesn't listen and his home eventually gets robbed and his treasured baseball card collection is stolen. Mike cleans everything up for this guy in the next episode, but he is not happy about it. He did it for the money. Then, there is last nights episode, where he helps get Tucco arrested. Tucco's assistant, Nacho, wants Tucco killed and asks Mike to do it, but Mike calmly explains how this is a terrible idea for everyone involved. Instead, he hatches a plan to get Tucco arrested where no one will suspect any foul play and it works to perfection.

Jonathan Banks is a excellent actor. I'm just upset that it took for me to watch "Breaking Bad" to realize this. He was great on that show and he has been the best thing about "Better Call Saul" and I love that show. Hopefully he gets awards or at least recognition for the awesome things that he is doing on TV. Jonathan Banks is a wonderful actor.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He forgets that Johnathan Banks taught a lot of young men about the biology of a young woman (thanks to Conan O'Brien for digging this gem up). Learn from Ty by following him on twitter @tykulik.

Ed note: We misspelled Jonathan Bank's name when the article was posted. Ty got it right, I was wrong. It has been corrected. Sorry

Beware the Bullying Nerds of Twitter

The Star Wars dog is trying to explain his views to the sports dog

I was scrolling through my Twitter feed yesterday, as I'm want to do, and I came across a tweet from Doug Benson that made me very upset. Now, first of all, I'm a humongous Doug Benson fan. I've seen him do standup multiple times. I've gone and watched him do a live podcast. He, in fact, introduced me to the world of podcasts and as many of you know, I'm an enormous fan of many podcasts. I own all of his comedy albums. I've spent a lot of my personal time and money on Doug Benson stuff. But, this particular tweet from yesterday just rubbed me the wrong way and I can't shake it.

In his tweet Doug Benson said, "if your Twitter avatar is of something involving sports, I don't care what you have to say about Star Wars". So, first of all, he's entitled to his own opinion, I get that, but, why does he feel he still needs to attack people that play and/or watch sports? I wonder if he was bullied as a young kid by a jock, but why does he have to lump every other sports fan in with this one particular asshole? Yes, I've played and watched sports my entire life, but I have never once bullied or picked on someone for not playing sports, or for liking Star Wars. And, furthermore, I've known many more "jocks" that have many other outside interests than just sports, Star Wars being one of the main ones. I'm sorry for this one or maybe two jackasses that teased you, but don't lump the rest of the people that like sports in with these people. It's not fair to pigeonhole every "jock" as bullies and jerks. That's a very, very small number of douchebags. Anyone that picks on someone else is clearly insecure and has deeper issues.

But, I'd like to ask Doug Benson personally, do you not care for or like Mike Schur(co creator of the American "Office", "Parks and Rec" and "Brooklyn 99") because he has a baseball player as his avatar? Do you not like Nick Swardson since he's a huge Minnesota Vikings fan and just a fan of football in general? Do you not care for Brody Stevens since he played and still watches a ton of baseball? Do you not get along with Joe Mande or Hannibal Buress because they are both huge NBA fans? And what about your personal driver and opening act, Graham Elwood? Do you not care about his opinion since he's a big time football fan? I'm sure there's dozens of other contemporaries of yours that like sports a lot that you're alienating with this one tweet.

It's also pretty sad that a tweet can dredge up this much anger, but that's the world we live in with all the social media nowadays. Also, you may need to think about growing up and getting over this particular bully. First of all, you are a 50 year old. This person that picked on you did it over 35 years ago, I'm sure they've forgotten about it, so maybe you should too. Also, you are 50, like I just said, and you ask young girls on Twitter to send you side boob pictures and pictures of them in their BB-8 underwear. GROW UP! You are old enough to be a grandparent. Stop asking girls that could be your daughter to send you pictures via Twitter. Maybe, you should lay off the weed too. If I've said it once, I'll say it much more during this blog, YOU'RE 50! GROW UP! I know that weed is your whole "image", but you have to stop doing it sometime. I'm worried for you and I don't even know you personally. I'm scared you're going to drop dead from undetected cancer or something else and I don't want you to die because I really enjoy your comedy. Also, stop throwing donuts at the crowd during your shows. Stuff like this is why foreigners hate America. We act so privileged and just throw food in a vast arena. It's wasteful and gross. Just stop it.

I'm sure you won't read this or, if you do, you'll block me on Twitter, but so be it. I'm a "jock" that has never bullied anyone and your tweet really offended me. I have many other outside interests including comedy, music and movies, but you wouldn't care to know that since I like sports. You've now become the bully. You are doing exactly what this person did to you over 35 years ago, but instead of just picking on or alienating one person, you're doing it to hundreds of thousands of people. I'll still listen to your comedy and your podcast, but not with the usual giddiness because I know you will judge me without getting to know me since my Twitter avatar is of me in my basketball gear. You won't even give me a chance and that's the real shame. I'm sorry that I like sports, but I will never lose my love for sports no matter how much you bully the sports loving community.

Another person that's guilty of judging books by their cover in the alternative comedy world is Chris Hardwick. He has a vendetta out for hipsters. As you all know by now, I don't particularly care for hipsters with beards, but Chris Hardwick must be ignorant to how much of a hipster he truly is. He is the biggest hipster in all of comedy. Just go back and look at that shiny silver suit, with the extremely skinny tie you wore during your last standup special. Go back even further and look at the way too short, way too tight t shirts you wore when you hosted "Web Soup". And now that "nerd culture" is the hip thing, you are the leader of the biggest hipster uprising in the history. I don't care that you can name Pi to the 100th degree and I definitely don't want to watch you saying all the digits on "The Meltdown", that's just bad TV. You may also be the biggest whore in all of television. The last thing I want to watch after "The Walking Dead" or "Breaking Bad" is you and your hipster friends discussing the episode that we just watched. I also don't need to see you handing out points to your comedian friends on your ripoff gameshow "At Midnight". That show is a complete waste of time.

Chris Hardwick and Doug Benson have become the people that they hated in high school. Sure, you guys were nerdy and into things like comedy and movies when you were younger and some douchebags thought that it was okay to pick on you, but now, you've turned into the bullies. You guys have a platform where thousands of people listen to you and instead of using it for good, you're using it for revenge. That's a pity. I thought you'd both be bigger than that, but I guess you guys aren't above the same bullies you detested in school. That sucks. As I said before, I'm sure you guys won't even glance at this, or if you do, you'll just ignore or block me, but, I felt that this needed to be said. Not everyone that likes or plays sports is a bully. Quite the opposite in fact, most of us are nice people and if you took the time to get to know us, you'd realize that. But, you'd rather just go on Twitter and bash us without giving us a chance.

You guys are the true bullies.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man. The only numbers of Pi he knows is how many slices in a whole one. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

"The Comedians" will enter the unfortunate world of cancelled too soon.

What the hell am I going to watch now?

With the rumors today, according to the AV Club, that FX has cancelled the show "The Comedians".

I want to take my time today to complain about networks giving up on shows way too soon. I understand that, especially in the please me now, I can't wait culture that we live in, you have to make decisions without really having any time to think. Thankfully the higher ups that made decisions on shows in the 90's and early 2000's had more time. If shows like "Seinfeld", "ER", or even "The Simpsons" premiered now a days, they might not make it to a second season. Those are three classic TV shows, and in the case of "The Simpsons", it's still on TV. "Seinfeld" was almost cancelled after it's first season, but some very smart executive said let's give it one more try. Thank goodness the people listened to him, because "Seinfeld" is one of the best shows to ever be on TV and without it, we may have never gotten "Curb Your Enthusiasm" or "Veep". But, like I said, we have a please me now and immediately culture that is pretty much my generation, the millennials, fault.

A large percentage of millennials have very short attention spans and if you don't catch our attention in the first few episodes of a show, you might as well go ahead and cancel it. Unfortunately, not every show has great, ingenious writers like say a "Breaking Bad" or "Game of Thrones" has. "Game of Thrones" already had a template with all the books. It's very rare now a days that we get a show that captures the country's attention like "Breaking Bad" did. That show was perfection and will go down in history as one of the greatest shows ever. But, I digress.

Back to shows that never really got a chance. As I said before, "The Comedians" got, reportedly, cancelled. This is a bummer for me. The show did start kind of slow, but I found something funny in each episode. Josh Gad was great on this show. It was nice to see him on a raunchier type sitcom, since most people know him as the voice of Olaf in "Frozen", or have seen him in some pretty terrible movies like "The Rocker" or "The Internship". A lot of people don't know that he really hit the big time playing Elder Cunningham in Broadway's first run of the hilarious "Book of Mormon". That play is about as raunchy as it gets. Billy Crystal was pretty great on the show too. He was funny and took a lot of shots at himself. Go back and watch the episode of "The Comedians" were Josh and Billy get stoned and go grocery shopping. It's a 30 minute piece of comedy gold. The final couple of episodes of the first, and apparently only season, started to really come together and the show looked to be getting good. That was not enough for the people at FX. It's a big loss for them, since they take chances on different types of shows, and I think they should have stuck with this one for at least one more season. They could have reaped the benefits.

"Hannibal" on NBC has been cancelled after this, it's third season, ends. I have not watched this show, and my wife watched the first season, but stopped because it was too gory for her taste. But, if you read any reviews by critics or fans, this show is genius. From what I've seen online, the acting, writing, and directing is top notch. Apparently, some of the shots in this show are so beautiful, viewers don't seem to care about the gore. Netflix and Hulu have passed on making more seasons, so fans will have to be happy with three short seasons.

One of my favorite shows, "Better Off Ted" got only two seasons. The show was about a science based company manager having to deal with scientists and fellow employees. The show was very goofy and off the wall. I had never seen anything like it on TV before and that was a good thing. But, the people at ABC found it to be a bit too kooky, so they pulled it. They didn't care about my demographic watching it and that sucks, because I'm in that prime 18-49 demographic. ABC should have stuck with "Better Off Ted", because they had a brilliant show on their network. One final show I'd like to talk about is one of my all time favorite TV shows.

"Undeclared" was way before it's time and pulled off the air after only one season, just like "The Comedians". "Undeclared" was about a group of freshman at college and the show talked about everything that young college kids go through. They had episodes where one of the students dad moves in the dorm with him after he and his wife break up. They talked about pledging for a fraternity and how horrible of a process that can be. They had kids losing their virginity and the fall out that comes from losing your virginity to a girl that has a crazed boyfriend. "Undeclared" falls in the same category as "Freaks and Geeks", both created by Judd Apatow, but a lot more people know about "Freaks and Geeks", not so many have seen "Undeclared".

I guess, it just bums me out that crappy, hackneyed shows like "The Big Bang Theory" or "Glee" got many more seasons, and just churn out the same joke over and over. Nothing is new or innovative on these shows, but they're safe and the "older" viewers of TV find comfort in routine. I will keep watching new shows though. So far I've liked "Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll", "Why? With Hannibal Buress" and the "Jim Gaffigan Show" and hope that the networks they're on will give them space to find their voice and keep these shows on air for two or more seasons.

Give these shows a fighting chance, don't just drop them after one season.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of The X-Millennial Man Podcast. He is forever grateful that The Simpsons have discovered the antidote to weak network executives. Follow him on twitter @tykulik