SeedSing Classic: Advent Calendar of Awesome Holiday Music: Day 20 - Alone on Christmas Day

ed note: This article was originally published on December 20th, 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 are looking back at the great holiday music, movies, television episodes, and food of this great season. Enjoy.

Day 20: Alone on Christmas Day by Phoenix and Special Guest Bill Murray

Opened doors: OneTwoThreeFourFiveSixSevenEightNineTen, Eleven Twelve, ThirteenFourteenFifteen,Sixteen,Seventeen,Eighteen, Nineteen

I have spent many Christmas nights all by my lonesome. I was not alone for the whole day. My Christmas mornings have always been about waking up way earlier than normal and opening tons of presents with my family around. Once the intense excitement of Christmas morning was finished, I would pack up my bounty and head back to my 15th floor studio apartment in downtown St. Louis. Most of these Christmas nights I would stare out at the Gateway Arch on the usually cold evening and decided I would get a drink, at the fancy hotel a few buildings down. I would put on my Christmas sweater, wrap a scarf around my neck, and head to the hotel bar. Once inside I would find a seat in a corner booth and observe all the travelers who were truly spending Christmas alone. I would sip my Manhattan, listen to the piano being played, and was thankful I was not alone on Christmas Day. 

Earlier this December, Netflix premiered the Sofia Coppola directed Bill Murray holiday special A Very Murray Christmas. During the course of the program a lonely Bill Murray asks the catering staff at the hotel to play him a song. The staff happens to be french indie rock band Phoenix. The band, with help from Paul Shaffer on piano, Jason Schwartzman on drums, David Johanson (as Buster Poindexter) on martini shaker, and Mr. Bill Murray himself on featured vocals, cover the Beach Boy's rarity "Alone On Christmas Day".

Phoenix and gang take an unknown and discarded Beach Boys tune with "Alone on Christmas Day" and create a new holiday standard. The Beach Boys tune was originally unreleased in 1979, and after Phoenix requested to cover the tune, Mike Love changed some of the lyrics and released his own version. The Phoenix cover is light years better. The tune alludes to the sadness of being by oneself on Christmas, but "Alone on Christmas Day" encourages us to think of the gladness, and to keep moving on. Plus if you listen to the tune, no one is truly alone on Christmas Day. You will still have the bar patrons and employees to sing you a joyful tune.

I was never truly alone on Christmas Day. In the morning I had my family and in the evening I had the travelers and  employees at the hotel bar. We all came to the bar as individuals, but on Christmas evening we were together. The piano played on in the background, our drinks warmed our spirits, and we all got ready to move on, together.

RD Kulik

RD is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He has given up the Christmas Night bar scene and traded it for his family sitting around the fireplace. He did not give up on his yuletide Manhattan. Celebrate the togetherness of Christmas by liking SeedSing on Facebook.

 

Ty Watches "Fargo" Season Four

television.jpg

"Fargo" just wrapped up its fourth season, and boy was it a good one. I am proceeding with caution, as to, I do not want to spoil anything.

"Fargo" is a loaded show. It is a show where you need to give it your full attention. You cannot be on your phone, or in your own little world. You have to be laser focused when watching. This goes for all seasons of this show. If you zone out for as little as five minutes, you will miss something. That is one of the many reasons I have enjoyed the hell out of this show from day one. Sure, I had my reservations. The movie is a classic, come at me if you disagree. So I was a bit leery of a TV show. But when I saw it was going to be a serialized crime show, and that the Cohen Brothers gave it their blessing, that was all I needed to get on board.

Just like with other seasons, the fourth season takes place in a certain time, the end of 1950 to the beginning of 1951. The only difference from previous seasons, this one takes place in the midwest, in Kansas City. The other three seasons are in the North, mostly Minnesota. But changing the scenery did nothing to dampen the show. This season was just as brutal, just as involved, just as grimy and just as good as the other three seasons. In fact, I think it may be my second favorite season, behind only the first. This season was so well done. It weaved a great crime story. It told the story so well, and so effectively and so real. This season's violence, and how undignified mob violence can be, felt the most real to this point. There were so many shots in the back, or guns going off unexpectedly or no pomp and circumstance before being shot, like in big time action movies. When it was time for a certain character to die, they died. You know what I mean. In these big crime or action movies there always seems to be a monologue or something to stall the end game. That isn't real life, and this season of "Fargo" showed that very well.

I was super impressed with the acting in this season too. Chris Rock was the boss of the new family in town, and he really delivered. That dude can act when given the proper writing and direction. Jason Schwartzmann was really good. He was wild, but smart. He had some of the funniest moments, but he was also pretty crazy. Jessie Buckley, as the crazed nurse, was a revelation. I had never heard of her until now, but I will never forget her now. Ben Whishaw was so good and so understated, and he was probably the character I rooted for the most. Emryi Crutchfield was tremendous, and her role in this is going to lead to way bigger and way more fun roles. She was so awesome. Glynn Turman, Doctor Senator, was so great. He deserves to win every award he is going to be nominated for. He was wonderful. Rodney L Jones III, as Rock's youngest son, man was he excellent. He got to really stretch his legs as the series went on, and he shined. I mean, everyone in this season did a great, great job, just like the actors in prior seasons.

I am immensely impressed with this show. Where most shows would dip, or take some time off, look at the season of "Lost" with Bai Ling, or every season of "The Office" after Steve Carrell left, "Fargo" hasn't done that. Each season has its own charm and is so well made and written and acted. This show is a force, and I hope they continue. It was also nice to have this right now as a distraction from the world. I love this show, and I really, really liked this most recent season. Just do yourself a favor and watch it. In fact, watch all of "Fargo". It is more than worth your time.

Ty

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

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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

Ty Watches "Fargo" Season Four Premier

cat-watching-the-tv.jpg

I'm back after a day away. I had some personal stuff to deal with, some tough stuff, and I needed a day to just vent and cry with my wife and kids. But, it is all good now, and I am back. And I am back to talk about the new season of "Fargo".

We have made no secret, RD and I, how much we love the movie and love the show. It is one of the best portrayals, or continuation if you will, or a great movie turned television show. They took this classic movie, and have now made four seasons of some of the most watchable TV out there right now. I was particularly excited for this new season because I am a humongous Chris Rock fan, and I also really, really like Jason Schwartzman. When I saw that they were cast for this new installment, I was pumped. And they are wonderful on the show. This is the first, of four, that doesn't take place in North Dakota or Minnesota. This one is in Kansas City. There is a character from Minnesota in the new season, more on her in a minute, but this is all about the Midwest.

The way the show started off, there were two new episodes, almost three hours of material, and it was tremendous. We got a back story from a young African American student, expertly played by Emyri Crutchfield, about how mob families have come through Kansas City since the early 1900's. It was interesting and cool to see how it was run by one family, a Jewish family, and they made a deal with an Irish family. Then the Irish family takes over and makes a deal with an Italian family. In each one of these deals, a child is traded from family to family too, making it seem that much more ruthless and wild, that people were willing to give up kids to have control over a town and city. After the Italian family takes over, this is where we get the African American crew, led by Rock, coming in to form an alliance with them. When they make the trade off, this is where the show totally takes off. The stakes rise so very much because Rock and his crew are, not only well formed and ready to fight, they are smart too, smarter than any other mob family that has come through. After the trade of children, things get pretty wild. The Italian family loses their leader, mini spoiler alert, when an errant pellet hits an artery in his throat. This pushes Schwartzman to the front of the line. He becomes the leader. He seems ready, but he is also a bit hot headed and hostile. He seems like a bomb that is ready to explode. When he is in the hospital, watching over his father, we meet this crazy nurse who relocated to KC from Minnesota. Jessie Buckley plays the nurse, Nurse Mayflower, and she is crazy. She has been getting compared to Nurse Rathcet, but I think she may be more crazy, and also smarter. She is an evil genius essentially. Her arc over these two episodes was wild, and I am completely in for her journey. As for Schwartzman, he was good, like he always is, and I want to see where he goes from here. He had some great scenes in the first two episodes. Rock and crew were my absolute favorite part so far. Rock is the poised leader of the new mob that comes to town. He is pointed and careful and smart and knows what he is doing and how to do it. It is so cool to see him in a role like this. This is like the stuff he did early on in his career, like his role in "New Jack City", or more in tune with what he did on his own with a movie like "Top 5". Chris Rock is a good, adaptable actor, and roles like he has in "Fargo", and the aforementioned movies before prove that. His crew is also pretty great. Again, they follow his direction, and Doctor Senator, played by Glynn Turman, is a great second in line. Again, he is calm, but he also seems like he has a very, very dark side.

I have enjoyed every iteration that Noah Hawley and crew have done with the "Fargo" TV series, but this one feels different. This one feels like it could be a classic. This feels like this could be the season where everyone is talking about it years and years from now. It has the potential to be that good. I was enthralled, didn't look at my phone and watched with intense focus the whole time. That doesn't happen much anymore, but this fourth installment has my undivided attention. I cannot wait to see where they go from here. 

Ty

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

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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

Ty Watches "The Polka King"

file0001189052451.jpg

On our recent mini vacation, every night after the kids went to bed, we would pick a movie to watch at the Airbnb we stayed in. Each person chose a different night. On the last night we were there it was my father's choice, and he picked a movie called "The Polka King". I remembered seeing stuff on Netflix for this movie. I believe I had it on my list to watch, it has Jack Black in it, so that makes me instantly in, and it was, deemed by critics, similar to another Jack Black movie I love called "Bernie", I guess it has the same feel to it. So I was down when my dad asked to watch this movie. My wife and mom didn't seem too crazy about it, but it was dad's choice, and we watched it.

“The Polka King” is a solid movie. In fact, I enjoyed it quite a bit. And while, for me, it isn't on the same level as "Bernie", that movie is criminally underrated, it was still a well told story with a great Jack Black performance. The movie is about a polish gentleman named Jan Lewan, who is a polka musician, moves to Pennsylvania and gets sent to jail for running a ponzi scheme that preyed on the elderly. It seems like a very by the book crime movie, but it took a different approach than others. The fact that Lewan was this polka musician, and spoke with a thick accent, it made him seem aloof to what he was doing. You almost felt like he was doing now wrong. He seemed to be a nice guy, that just dug himself into a hole that he couldn't get out of until too many things went wrong and he landed in jail. Black embodied the character. Seeing him go about his everyday life as Lewan was great. He crushed that. But the polka stuff, my goodness did he crush that. He was electric. I am not a polka fan, in fact the only person I know who truly liked polka music is my now passed away Grandpa. I have met no other people who list polka as a favorite genre of music. But dammit if I wasn't bouncing my leg and humming along to the music when Black performed it in the movie. It was fun. Black was through and through perfection in this movie. I totally bought him as Lewan, I loved his musical performances, I bought his earnestness and his downfall, I was all in. He was tremendous. So was every other big time actor cast in this movie. Jenny Slate played his wife, and she was great. She talked about how she fell for him because he seemed so sad. She then really loved him, but struggled with his fame over hers. I loved the stuff with the Miss Pennsylvania pageant involving Slate. She was awesome. Jacki Weaver was wonderful as Slate's mom, and Black's mother in law. She didn't like Lewan, always thought he was up to something, and let him know every chance she could. And when she stood up for him, that was a dynamite scene. Jason Schwartzmann as his band mate and friend, he is becoming one of these actors that you can always count on for a solid performance, no matter if the movie is good or bad. It definitely helps when it's a good movie like this. Even JB Smoove, in a very small role, with a full head of hair, he was excellent and stole his scenes.

I didn't know if I would like this movie when we started it, but I can say very loudly now that I truly enjoyed this story and this movie's way of telling it. It was also a quick 90 minutes, which I very much appreciate. So, if you are looking for a quirky, funny, real life crime story, I highly recommend "The Polka King". It is a very, very solid movie. 

Ty

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

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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

SeedSing Classic: Advent Calendar of Awesome Holiday Music: Day 20 - Alone on Christmas Day

ed note: This article was originally published on December 20th, 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 are looking back at the great holiday music, movies, television episodes, and food of this great season. Enjoy.

Day 20: Alone on Christmas Day by Phoenix and Special Guest Bill Murray

Opened doors: OneTwoThreeFourFiveSixSevenEightNineTen, Eleven Twelve, ThirteenFourteenFifteen,Sixteen,Seventeen,Eighteen, Nineteen

I have spent many Christmas nights all by my lonesome. I was not alone for the whole day. My Christmas mornings have always been about waking up way earlier than normal and opening tons of presents with my family around. Once the intense excitement of Christmas morning was finished, I would pack up my bounty and head back to my 15th floor studio apartment in downtown St. Louis. Most of these Christmas nights I would stare out at the Gateway Arch on the usually cold evening and decided I would get a drink, at the fancy hotel a few buildings down. I would put on my Christmas sweater, wrap a scarf around my neck, and head to the hotel bar. Once inside I would find a seat in a corner booth and observe all the travelers who were truly spending Christmas alone. I would sip my Manhattan, listen to the piano being played, and was thankful I was not alone on Christmas Day. 

Earlier this December, Netflix premiered the Sofia Coppola directed Bill Murray holiday special A Very Murray Christmas. During the course of the program a lonely Bill Murray asks the catering staff at the hotel to play him a song. The staff happens to be french indie rock band Phoenix. The band, with help from Paul Shaffer on piano, Jason Schwartzman on drums, David Johanson (as Buster Poindexter) on martini shaker, and Mr. Bill Murray himself on featured vocals, cover the Beach Boy's rarity "Alone On Christmas Day".

Phoenix and gang take an unknown and discarded Beach Boys tune with "Alone on Christmas Day" and create a new holiday standard. The Beach Boys tune was originally unreleased in 1979, and after Phoenix requested to cover the tune, Mike Love changed some of the lyrics and released his own version. The Phoenix cover is light years better. The tune alludes to the sadness of being by oneself on Christmas, but "Alone on Christmas Day" encourages us to think of the gladness, and to keep moving on. Plus if you listen to the tune, no one is truly alone on Christmas Day. You will still have the bar patrons and employees to sing you a joyful tune.

I was never truly alone on Christmas Day. In the morning I had my family and in the evening I had the travelers and  employees at the hotel bar. We all came to the bar as individuals, but on Christmas evening we were together. The piano played on in the background, our drinks warmed our spirits, and we all got ready to move on, together.

RD Kulik

RD is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He has given up the Christmas Night bar scene and traded it for his family sitting around the fireplace. He did not give up on his yuletide Manhattan. Celebrate the togetherness of Christmas by liking SeedSing on Facebook.

 

SeedSing's Advent Calendar of Awesome Holiday Music: Day 20 - Alone on Christmas Day

file1791315420853.jpg

ed note: This article was originally published on December 20th, 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 20: Alone on Christmas Day by Phoenix and Special Guest Bill Murray

Opened doors: OneTwoThreeFourFiveSixSevenEightNineTen, Eleven Twelve, ThirteenFourteenFifteen,Sixteen,Seventeen,Eighteen, Nineteen

I have spent many Christmas nights all by my lonesome. I was not alone for the whole day. My Christmas mornings have always been about waking up way earlier than normal and opening tons of presents with my family around. Once the intense excitement of Christmas morning was finished, I would pack up my bounty and head back to my 15th floor studio apartment in downtown St. Louis. Most of these Christmas nights I would stare out at the Gateway Arch on the usually cold evening and decided I would get a drink, at the fancy hotel a few buildings down. I would put on my Christmas sweater, wrap a scarf around my neck, and head to the hotel bar. Once inside I would find a seat in a corner booth and observe all the travelers who were truly spending Christmas alone. I would sip my Manhattan, listen to the piano being played, and was thankful I was not alone on Christmas Day. 

Earlier this December, Netflix premiered the Sofia Coppola directed Bill Murray holiday special A Very Murray Christmas. During the course of the program a lonely Bill Murray asks the catering staff at the hotel to play him a song. The staff happens to be french indie rock band Phoenix. The band, with help from Paul Shaffer on piano, Jason Schwartzman on drums, David Johanson (as Buster Poindexter) on martini shaker, and Mr. Bill Murray himself on featured vocals, cover the Beach Boy's rarity "Alone On Christmas Day".

Phoenix and gang take an unknown and discarded Beach Boys tune with "Alone on Christmas Day" and create a new holiday standard. The Beach Boys tune was originally unreleased in 1979, and after Phoenix requested to cover the tune, Mike Love changed some of the lyrics and released his own version. The Phoenix cover is light years better. The tune alludes to the sadness of being by oneself on Christmas, but "Alone on Christmas Day" encourages us to think of the gladness, and to keep moving on. Plus if you listen to the tune, no one is truly alone on Christmas Day. You will still have the bar patrons and employees to sing you a joyful tune.

I was never truly alone on Christmas Day. In the morning I had my family and in the evening I had the travelers and  employees at the hotel bar. We all came to the bar as individuals, but on Christmas evening we were together. The piano played on in the background, our drinks warmed our spirits, and we all got ready to move on, together.

RD Kulik

RD is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He has given up the Christmas Night bar scene and traded it for his family sitting around the fireplace. He did not give up on his yuletide Manhattan. Celebrate the togetherness of Christmas by liking SeedSing on Facebook.

 

The SeedSing (half) Year in Pop Culture: The Top Five Television Shows of 2015

Find the nob and change the channel

Find the nob and change the channel

Day three of my best of 2015 countdown will be my top five shows pf the year. All the shows are in their second, third or fourth season except for one of them. The shows don't have to necessarily be shows that premiered this year. Sometimes the second or third season of a show is the best. Take the US version of "The Office". That show peaked in year four but they went on to make five more seasons. The majority of my countdown is all comedy shows. That's what I prefer. Sure, there's one show that could be considered a dramedy, but I'm a comedy fan. No "Mad Men", which I loathed this final season. I also don't watch any of the superhero one hour shows, be they on Netflix or basic cable. So, don't expect what the majority has put as their best of 2015. Comedy takes a certain taste and most publications writers don't have that taste. On with the countdown.

At number five I have "Better Call Saul", the dramedy of the group. I was very skeptical of this show when I first heard about it. I thought the writers of "Breaking Bad" did an excellent job of tying up the story of Saul Goodman, so why make a prequel type show for him? I began to get on board when I saw that Vince Gilligan and the majority of the "Breaking Bad" writers were hired to write the series. Then I watched and I couldn't look away from the TV. This was a show when it was on, I was focused. No cell phones or computers to look at, "Better Call Saul" needed my undivided attention. The show has many characters but make no mistake, this is Bob Oedenkirk's show, he's the star. And he does a damn fine job as the title character. We meet him as Jimmy McGill, his name before he became a "criminal" lawyer and he's a schlubby, down on his luck kind of guy. He lives in his brothers shadow, played excellently by Michael McKean. His brother has a melt down and won't leave the house, so Jimmy tries to take up the slack. There's a ton of great episodes in the first season. Jimmy becomes a lawyer for the elderly, he gets some skateboarders involved in a hit and run scam and he even helps a family launder thousands of dollars. You can see early on that he is a shady person. The best episode, by far, of the first season was when we get Mike Ehrmantraut(Johnathan Banks) back story. We all remember Mike from "Breaking Bad" and this episode lets us see why he does what he does on both shows. It's an incredibly moving and powerful episode. It's one of the finest 44 minutes TV has had on in quite a while. "Better Call Saul" goes into season two in February and if it's half as good as season one, we will have a mega hit on our hands.

My number four show is "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp". This show was perfect in every sense. I love that all the original actors from the cult hit "Wet Hot American Summer" recreate their roles. They've all aged the 10 or so years since the movie, but they're actually playing younger versions in this series. The fact that it was on Netflix was awesome because I watched the whole thing in one day. I loved this show. I also like that they brought in new actors like Kristin Wiig, Chris Pine, Jordan Peele and Jason Schwatzman. They were all great. Jon Benjamin as the camp counselor that becomes the can of talking vegetables was hilarious. This show was great in every possible way. Paul Rudd shines once again and Michael Showalter was just as hilarious. My favorite episode was when Elizabeth Banks, who's a reporter at a magazine, poses as a teenager to get a story on how real teenagers act. All she has to do to look like a teenager you ask, pull her hair into a side ponytail. Hilarious. I hope they do more episodes because this show was just what the fans of the movie needed.

My number three show is "Last Man on Earth". When we left the first season, Phil(Will Forte) and Carol(Kristin Schaal) were on the move from Tucson. We picked up this season with them trying to find a new place to live. Nothing was as good as Tucson so they went back to find it completely abandoned. We come to find out that every else moved to Malibu. When Phil and Carol end up in Malibu, that's when all the hilarity starts. First of all, we get a cameo from Will Ferrell. He doesn't say one word and is spooked to death by Carol, literally. Everything else that ensues is great. Phil, who is now going by his original name, Tandy, is put in stocks and has an electric dog collar on until they find it fit for him to live with everyone again. Carol is her usual upbeat self, even when the worst things are going on around them. Todd(Mel Rodriguez) and Melissa(January Jones) break up. The other Phil(Boris Kodjoe) professes his undying love for Carol, but finds out he's impregnated Erica(Cleopatra Coleman). And Gail(Mary Steenburgen) is deeply distraught by the fact that her lover, Ferrell, was scared to death. There's a lot going on this season and the season finale was very heavy, but this show was pretty damn funny all season long.

My number two show is "Review". This show is the weirdest, most innovative thing I've seen on TV ever. Andy Daly plays Forrest McNeil, a guy that reviews everyday life. Not movies or TV or music, just life situations much to his and the people he loves demise. This season saw him start a cult and lose the cult to his girlfriend. The girlfriend he got in an earlier episode was from a review that was to sleep with a teacher. He gets his first girlfriend locked up for stealing pills from a hospital on the first episode of the season. He now lives with his dad and he got both his dad's home and summer home destroyed this season. He also tries to get the perfect body, but becomes addicted to steroids. Everything is so hilariously messy and the best episode was when he had to review, "killing someone". He doesn't want to, obviously, but he accidentally kills a man that he was in a fight with earlier in the episode. This leads to him going to jail and reviewing life experiences from jail. He says that the producers of the show are not who he thinks they are and that they want him to struggle and lose everyone he loves. He even has a chance to get back together with his ex wife, but that blows up in his face as well. "Review" is an excellent show and I love that Andy Daly finally has a project that suits his comedy to perfection.

Coming in at number one is "Nathan For You". What else is there to say about this show that I haven't already said. He's made man caves in women's clothing shops, he's walked a tight rope to make someone else famous, he made a play that was literally just people sitting at a bar smoking cigarettes and talking about absolutely nothing. He did so many crazy things this season. The best for me was the outerwear that supported Holocaust history and the fitness craze, The Movement, that he started. The Holocaust thing was absurd, upsetting and hilarious. The setup he had, with a rabbi's blessing, in that store was downright appalling, but he found a way to make it funny. He's also earned over 300,000 dollars for Holocaust awareness due to his new line of jackets and hats. The fitness craze episode was just bizarre. He convinced a body builder type guy to be the spokes person for losing weight and gaining muscle by only lifting and moving boxes. The episode as a whole is one of the most cringe worthy, yet laugh out loud funny things on TV all year. I'm currently reading the book that a ghost writer wrote, who Nathan Fielder hired off of Craigslist, wrote in two days. "Nathan For You" is by far the best show on TV and I cannot wait to see how he tops himself in season four.

So there you have my top five TV shows of the year. Come back tomorrow for the best podcast episodes, in my opinion, for 2015.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He is building muscle mass by moving Christmas presents from one house to another. Learn all about his secret by following Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Ty's pumptitude pays off with the great "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp"

Is Netflix on UHF or VHF?

Is Netflix on UHF or VHF?

Now that I've finished "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp", I'm so very, very pleased with how great it was and is.

It was truly everything I hoped and wanted it to be. It was silly, goofy and ridiculously uproarious. The fact that they made it 15 years after the movie and the actors played their same roles was great. I loved how they kept saying things like, oh I'm young, my body is still in great shape, or, I can't drink, I'm not of age yet. It's hilarious when you watch it and see these actors in their late 30's and 40's saying these lines. The original cast members were excellent reprising their roles, the best being Paul Rudd. He was rude, crude and gross. But, he also showed some heart and we realized that he wasn't a total jerk, he can be a good guy sometimes. Elizabeth Banks back story was great. She was a journalist that wanted to get the real teenage experience by going to a summer camp. Problem was, she was 24 and nobody at the magazine believed she could be a 16 year old, until she pulled her hair back. Then they all believed she could do the report.

The new cast additions were pretty excellent too. Josh Charles, Kristen Wiig and Rich Somer, the rich kids from Camp Tiger Claw were awesome. Josh Charles was so douchey, his collar was popped three times. They played the snotty, spoiled rich kids perfectly. John Slattery was so great as the big time theater director from New York. He was slimy and acted as if he was a well known, superstar director. He was just great. Micheala Watkins played his choreographer and she was a disgusting, horny old lady that wanted to hook up with campers. It was a perfect role for her and she nailed it. H Jon Benjamin and Jason Schwartzman as the camp directors were really good too. Schwartzman played his typical role, but he was very funny. Benjamin was hysterical and we found out where the talking of can of vegetables from the movie came from.

Watch the series to see what I'm talking about. My favorite new addition was Jon Hamm as President Reagan's top assassin, The Falcon. He was a stone cold killer, but we find out that he's an old army buddy of Camp Firewood's head chef. Hamm plays the role with his usual quiet, yet seething anger charm. Jon Hamm is a very strong comedic actor.

I loved "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp". Fans of the movie will love the show and I think the show will bring a bunch of new fans to the franchise. This was totally worth the wait and I'm probably going to watch it about ten more times and hope they do more.

It was perfect.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of The X Millennial Man Podcast. He is currently away at summer camp, and he is way to old to be doing that. Follow him on twitter @tykulik

Ty is pumped for "Wet Hot American Summer" series.

Does this show have horsemen too?

Does this show have horsemen too?

In 2001 a movie called "Wet Hot American Summer" was released to very little fanfare.

The movie was panned by critics and made a very small amount of money at the box office. I don't remember seeing any previews for it and I saw little to no press before it was released. It just kind of came and went and I assume most people forgot about it.  

About two years later a friend of mine told me I had to see this movie she just saw called "Wet Hot American Summer" She said it was so bizarre and hilarious, and she knew that I liked wacky, humorous movies. I remember thinking, oh yeah I've heard of that movie, I thought it was supposed to be pretty bad. She told me to give it a chance, that she was sure I'd love it.

Boy oh boy do I love that movie. It was so off the wall and different than any movie I'd seen before. It was on the same level as "Pootie Tang" for me. I knew, after watching it, why critics may have not liked it so much. Critics, for the most part, are crotchety old men that usually only like documentaries and dramas. So, a ridiculous movie like "Wet Hot", they went into giving it no chance and decided before it even started that they hated it. I couldn't disagree more. This movie is a genuine "cult classic". I have friends strictly based on them knowing lines from the movie. That's how our friendships started.

"Wet Hot American Summer" was also the first place I saw actors who I love today. I had never heard of, or at least they didn't make any lasting impressions on me until after this movie, people like Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Ken Marino, Joe Lo Truglio, Michael Showalter, Bradley Cooper, Margarite Mareau, Michael Ian Black, Christopher Meloni and Molly Shannon. Judah Friedlander had a small, but very memorable part in the movie. In fact, the only two actors I truly knew were David Hyde Pierce and Jeanane Garafelo. They are excellent in this movie. The pure silliness and goofiness with which this movie was acted, written and directed with could only be done by David Wain. I, for the most part, have liked all of his movies, my favorite being "Role Models".

"Wet Hot" is great for someone that likes off the wall silliness in their movies. These guys do it to perfection. This movie should be shown in film schools, to show students how to truly make comedic movies. Another hilarious thing that I love about it, the actors playing the counselors and workers at Camp Firewood are much to old to be playing the age of their characters. This was obviously done on purpose because it's hilarious. I cannot say enough good things about it, "Wet Hot" is great.

Which brings me to what I'm truly writing about today, July 31st 2015. Netflix announced months ago that they were in contact with the original writers of "Wet Hot" on possibly doing a prequel movie or series. All of the fans hoped for a series because it meant that we'd get at least four new hours of "Wet Hot". Our dreams were met when they announced that they would do 8, thirty minutes episodes on Netflix. You can stream them right now and watch all 8 in a row if you want to. The only reason I haven't watched it yet is, I have a three year old and I'm a stay at home dad. My job is to watch him, but he's about to go down for a nap and I know exactly what I will be doing for the rest of my day. It doesn't hurt that all the original cast members are back for the prequel, but they've also added some more big time names like, Jason Schwartzman, Kristen Wiig, and Jon Hamm. Most of the people involved with the movie are huge stars now, yet they wanted to come back and do this show. That should tell you how good it is going to be. The addition of some major stars show how much people adore the "Wet Hot" movie. I'm so pumped to watch and 2 pm central time can't come soon enough. As I said, all eight episodes are currently streaming on Netflix, so you can watch it right now.

In fact, I'm probably going to move nap time up to right now so I can watch. Enjoy it everybody.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing. If the show is that good, he may have to extend nap time. Follow him on twitter @tykulik