Ty Watches "Big Mouth" Season 3

Last Friday I finished season 3 of "Big Mouth", and it continues to be the best show about puberty that I have ever watched.

I love this show, and I love what the writers do to show kids how tough and embarrassing and crazy and messed up puberty can be. I wish they showed this show in middle schools, they won't because it is so very dirty and uses bad language, because I feel like it would make the students feel okay. It would let them know that puberty is tough for every single person out there. I also think it is the perfect show for people my age because it is so easy to relate to. I remember going through puberty, how tough it was, and I was just your average run of the mill kid in middle school. There was nothing spectacular or terrible about me. I was the definition of average in middle school, and puberty sucked for me too.

The third season of "Big Mouth" touched on some really great concepts, and added a few new characters that were really funny. The subjects that they touched on in season 3 were things I went through, stuff I did and was/am still embarrassed by, and it all really hit home. They talked about school uniforms in the season premiere, and it was a great discussion on how differently boys and girls are treated at that time in their life. Another episode, it crossed about 2 episodes in fact, Nick and his family are obsessed with their phones. None of them can live without them, and when the phones get taken away, they freak out. I live that daily with my son and his Switch. He is crazily obsessed with that thing, and it is getting tough. also, that episode makes me happy that cell phones weren't a thing when I was a kid. The Florida episode is a perfect encapsulation of what the rest of America thinks Florida is. Also, the secondary storyline of Andrew and his cousin was absolutely hilarious. There is one episode that is entirely dedicated to the story of a young Duke Ellington. Jordan Peele is great as Duke, and to hear him tell the story of how he became to be a great jazz pianist was funny and enlightening. There's another episode where the boys rank the girls on looks. I did this same thing, I am embarrassed that I did it, and this episode flooded me with memories. It shows how gross and mean middle school boys can be, and I was once the exact same way. This was probably my favorite episode of the season. There's another one that is pretty much about the SAT, or any standardized test, and that portrayed the anxiety those tests give 12 and 13 year old, and it is unnecessary anxiety. The "Disclosure" musical episode was so niche, and so god damn hilarious. We were also introduced to Thandie Newton's character Mona, another hormone monstress. The secondary story too, where the "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" guys come in and fix Coach Steve was dynamite. And the season finale, where all the kids get "super powers" was so good. This is where Andrew and Nick get in their first real fight, and that was, dare I say, emotional to watch because, again, I went through that exact thing in middle school.

There is a ton of side stuff that was perfect this season too. Jay coming out as bi sexual was awesome. Also, Jay being taken in by Nick's parents when he is abandoned by his family was great. The addition of Ali Wong's character, Ali, was perfect. The stuff with Jessi's power, making people tell the truth, really gave us some insight into what her character may be doing next season. Andrew Rannels character finally getting a boyfriend was a long time coming. And anything that featured Coach Steve was ridiculous and hilarious.

"Big Mouth" is one of the best shows currently on TV. I was stoked that Netflix gave it such a long term deal. Nick Kroll and Andrew Goldberg have struck lightening in a bottle, and I cannot wait to consume more and more of the show. It is fantastic. And season 3 keeps showing that the show is only getting better and better.

Ty

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

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Ty is Going to Watch "Black Mirror"

This is going to be short because truth be told, I have a fever and I’m miserable right now. But, what makes me happy is knowing that season 4 of “Black Mirror” is currently on Netflix, and it’s just waiting for my wife and I to watch.

I love this show so much. I was hesitant to watch at first, thinking it was just going to be a horror genre show. “Black Mirror” is so much more though. The people are right, it is a modern day “Twilight Zone”. The subjects they’ve tackled so far, all centered around the bad sides of technology, have all made me think that all of it could happen. The show is so well written. The concepts for each episode are just perfect. I like the shorter seasons too. The first season only had 3 episodes, but I poured over all 3 weeks after I had watched them. The new season has 6 episodes, and I can’t wait to watch when I get back to full health. I’ve read some things about the new season, no spoilers though, and I’m pumped to see how they pull it off.

“Black Mirror” is one of the best shows on TV right now and everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, should be watching this show, especially now.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is near delirious from his late December sickness, but he is still a boss who writes. We appreciate it here at the virtual cube farm called SeedSing. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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Ty Watches "Love" Season 2

ed note: Ty Watched season 1. Read about it here.

Recently I finished season 2 of "Love" on Netflix, and I really enjoyed myself while watching it. I really liked that it picked right up where season one ended. I will do little to no spoilers today, so anyone who hasn't seen it yet should be fine reading this.

Where we left Gus(Paul Rust) and Mickey(Gillian Jacobs) were outside a gas station where Gus was buying snacks. Mickey lays it all out for him and tells him all of her secrets. She says that she wants to take a year off from dating and get her life together. Gus proceeds to kiss her, and that is where season 2 starts.

I really like this show. A lot of people will say "Master of None" is the better romantic comedy show on Netflix, and while I really like it, I think "Love" is much better. "Love" doesn't take itself as serious as "Master of None" seems to. I also prefer the leads in "Love" to the leads in "Master of None". I love Aziz Ansari's stand up, and his phenomenal role in "Parks and Rec", but for a sitcom type show lead, I, for some reason, prefer Paul Rust. He is way goofier and way less self serious. As far as the female leads, I will take Gillian Jacobs any day over Noel Wells. She's a much better actress and way, way funnier than Wells. She is just more fun to watch act. People are trying to compare these shows, I chose not to. These are 2 different style shows. "Love" is much more of a straight forward comedy and "Master of None" borders on the dramedy line. I like both shows a lot, but, as previously stated, I prefer my comedy as goofy and straight up, therefore I prefer "Love". That is where the comparison stops for me.

Anyway, season 2 of "Love" follows a couple of months between Gus and Mickey. Mickey doesn't want to date anyone, but her addiction to love gives in. Not only is she an alcoholic and drug addict, but she is also a sex and love addict. She really, truly seems to very much like Gus. Gus is different from any guy that she has dated before. Gus is polite. Gus is nice and complimentary to her. Gus tries hard because he feels that he doesn't deserve someone like her. Gus, at least on the surface, seems to be a great guy. But, he is a little overbearing. He can be complimentary, but also condescending. He waits until the last minute to explode on Mickey when he is upset with her. Mickey, to her credit is trying to get her life together. As I said, she is involved in all the addiction programs. She actually takes her job seriously this time around. She wants to better herself. She doesn't want to give in to Gus, but she likes him so much that she gives it a try. But, she too has her flaws. She flakes out a lot on friends and family. She rants and raves about Gus a lot. She feels that she can give relationship advice, even though she clearly doesn't know what she is doing in that aspect of her life. That is what I like about the 2 main characters, they have flaws. Neither is right or wrong with their decisions. There is some great back and forth this whole season between Gus and Mickey. The creators and writers, including Paul Rust and his wife Lesley Arfin, really did an excellent job portraying relationships in your early thirties during this season.

While Rust and Jacobs are the clear stars of the show, the supporting actors were used excellently, and frequently, this season. Claudia O'Dougherty, who plays Mickey's roommate, was great this season. She is funny, quirky and plays her role as fish out of water so great. She is the best supporting actor in the whole show by far. Mike Mitchell, of "Doughboys" and "Birthday Boys" fame, was used a lot more this season, and he had a creepy and weird story arc, but it was perfect for him. Judd Apatow's daughter Maude, who plays the actress that Gus teaches, had a much bigger role and she can really act. The people who work on the show "Wichita", the show where Gus works, weren't used as much, but when they were, they were really funny. Brett Gelman is awesome in his few and far between scenes that he gets this season. Bobby Lee is really funny in his minimal role. Gus' friends, the guys and girls that make up theme songs for movies that don't have theme songs, where really good as well. Everyone in the show is great.

I cannot say enough nice things about "Love". I think it is the best Netflix show, and I am way into a lot of Netflix shows. Paul Rust has found a perfect place for him to shine as a writer and actor. Lesley Arfin is a tremendous comedy writer. Gillian Jacobs crushes her role on the show. All the supporting actors I mentioned are fantastic. Watch this show. I know you will love it as much as I do. I saw that they are filming a season 3 and I cannot wait until it comes back on. "Love" is great, and it is one of the best comedies on any type of television right now. Check it out.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. If Ty watches a bunch of Netflix shows, where is his review for Voltron: Legendary Defender? That show rules. 

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Is piracy helpful? Kirk has some ideas.

Once upon a time, I pirated movies, television shows, music, and software without feeling the slightest measure of guilt. There are many ways that I used to justify this shameless disregard for the artists of the entertainment industry. In some ways I still think that piracy is warranted ethically if not legally. Although I have not given up piracy completely, the media world has changed dramatically and thus negated some of the excuses that I once used.

When I was in college, as I was introduced to piracy through a friend who had a then rare home broadband connection and a piece of software known as Napster, I was poor. I was the typical broke college student. I paid for music from the artists that I already knew about and whose music I knew I would enjoy. What I was downloading was merely for discovery purposes. These were artists that I would never have had a chance to listen to in that era. If anything, it broadened my taste. I probably bought more music as a result.

In the ten plus years since then we have music subscription services like Spotify, Google Play Music, and now Apple Music. I listen to most of the music I want through one of these services and do occasionally purchase an album I would like to own. The fact is, legal music adapted to what the consumer wanted. I could still be pirating music, but the paid alternative is more attractive. Which brings me to another justification that I once used and still, in some respects, do.

The industry has to compete. Prior to high speed internet, folks had to put up with any antiquated system that any of these media companies wanted to use for distribution. There was no alternative and would not have been any alternative without high speed internet. The technology to distribute content in a more user friendly way was there long before the big media companies decided to take advantage of them. I contend that without piracy, big media companies would never have been motivated to offer content on services like Netflix, Spotify, iTunes, Steam, or any of the other digital content service providers that exist in the wake of piracy.

Big media companies are champions of capitalism. In a capitalist system one has to compete with any other service providers. That does include black markets in this case. At first they resisted. They tried to sue their way back into the game. They were used to having control over the method of distribution and did not want to make changes for the kids of tomorrow. Eventually they have started seeing that they would have to offer a more alluring alternative to piracy. It wasn’t hard. Piracy can be clunky. Do you think I am going to pirate a movie or series that I can find on Netflix? Not a chance. It is so much easier to use Netflix and have a library of content at my fingertips. I even tend to choose something that is on Netflix over something else that I maybe wanted to watch which is not. This all because of the efficiency over piracy that Netflix provides. In that light, content providers are losing money by failing to provide it through such a service.

As much as I would like to say that I am a pillar of progress and that through only viewing content which is available through these types of services I am only supporting those content providers, I cannot. I have found that currently airing television series are still served superiorly to me through piracy. I think that network fragmentation is culprit there. Hulu has tried to offer a solution to that issue, but those particular content providers are still too greedy to go for it. I am pretty sure someone could improve on Hulu anyhow. Sorry, but serving ads along with subscription content will not fly.

So, dear reader, what do you think? Has your use or justification of piracy changed with the times? If you were a user of early services like Napster, do you still pirate to the same extent or at all today? Was it ever really justified or would we have progress just the same without it? Let me know your thoughts.

Kirk Aug

Kirk is still the new guy around here.  He is added some gravitas and intelligence to the group. Follow him on twitter @kirkaug