The Office: End of Days

As far as I'm concerned The Office aired its final episode this past Thursday with Steve Carell's finale, "Goodbye, Michael."

While this is not the case, as the show has been renewed and there are a few more episodes left in the season (including guest stars Will Arnett and Ricky Gervais!), this episode felt like what was the end of the series. Michael Scott was the office's (both the place and the show) central figure, and without him it just doesn't make much sense at all.

This episode was by no means perfect; I found all the subplots superfluous and annoying, and I just can't wait for Deangelo to leave. I even took issue with the way Michael handled his departure mostly, but at the end I realized that he did it in exactly the right way -- his own way. And the final scenes with Jim, Dwight, and Pam were so heart-wrenching, emotional without feeling insincere or forced. They were subtle, and they were beautiful, and they were the best things the series has done since season 3, emotionally.

These last few episodes have felt like a fitting tribute, mostly, to the end of an era. I don't expect the show to go on much longer without Michael Scott's powerful and perfect presence; while it's a great ensemble, it was always Michael that held things together, Michael that made the show feel that much more cohesive instead of just a bunch of characters playing off each other. Michael was both hilarious and tragic, something that none of the other characters grasped quite as well as he did. He will be sorely missed.

I give "Goodbye, Michael" 4 removed microphones out of 5.

Watch "Goodbye, Michael." [video TBA]

Thank You, Sony...

If you haven't already heard, the PlayStation Network (or the PS3's online service for those of you weirdos who somehow don't know that already, because I mean how could you not know that already, you're here, aren't you?) has been hacked.

Yes, Sony, a multi-million-dollar company, was hacked by some still-unknown third party. It's depressing and disturbing that such a thing is even possible. You would think that Sony, with its big bags of money all piled up in a room somewhere in their fortress of media, would have created, y'know, a STRONG SECURITY SYSTEM. But nope, apparently that wasn't a priority, and now a hacker has obtained access to every single PSN user's personal information, including credit card information. (Thankfully, security codes were not compromised. This seems almost ironic but I'm too tired right now to think about that any further to determine whether it really is irony or not. Someone tell me.)

Unfortunately, there's not much we can do. The network is still down so we can't log in and try to change our passwords. If you use the same password for your email/other important accounts as you do for the PSN, it is recommended that you change it. Yes, that would be a smart move. Do that.

I really hope the network comes back up soon, but honestly, this really makes me lose faith in Sony a little bit. I just can't believe that they created a network open enough that a random number generator (or whatever) could hack into it. That's just unacceptable. I'm not going to sell my PS3 or anything drastic like that, and it's not like I can't use it at all or anything -- although not being able to use Netflix on it or have my trophies sync is a major problem for me; I had to download Netflix on my Wii and watch Parks and Recreation in SD as opposed to glorious HD, sad face -- but it's still frustrating when one of the major selling points of the system just shuts down like this.

The service is free, so we can't expect as much as an XBox Live user would from Microsoft. However, I really hope everyone who has had to endure this ordeal can be compensated for their patience in some way. I'm not sure what a viable option would be, but I hope Sony comes up with something. A free game would be stinking awesome, though. Just saying, guys. I've been wanting to play Final Fantasy VII for awhile now. ;)

Thursday Night's All Right

Thursday's comedy block was extremely awesome. I'm a cynic and a hater and I actually really enjoyed every show of the night -- well, except the Paul Reiser Show, but I don't watch that, so.

Community was hilarious, although I kind of resent that all of those awesome little plot lines will never be expanded upon. The Office was sweet, even though it was trying really hard to make me feel that way. It was nostalgic, and I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff. Season 2 will forever have a place in my heart, so I really appreciated this episode. And it made me even more sad to see Michael go.

Parks and Recreation...I can't even describe my feelings for that show in words. I spent the last two days watching all of the episodes of Season 2 that I hadn't seen. It's just a perfect television show; it's reminiscent of season 2/3 The Office, and it's so wonderful. I love EVERY. SINGLE. CHARACTER. Even Tom, even Jerry. (HAHA, Tom and Jerry.) The show works in relationships so subtly; last week April and Andy got married with little fanfare. This week Leslie acknowledges her feelings for Ben and it's not a big deal. The little quiet moments make this show feel realistic, moreso than the Office, and I just enjoy every minute of it.

The hour-long 30 Rock had its great moments, too, with some hilarious one-liners (ALSO THE RETURN OF DANNY, JUST PUTTING THAT OUT THERE CUZ I LOVE HIM), but overall I think the show should stick to its 30 minute roots. Also the shoehorned clips felt really, really weird. This season has already had two season finale-type episodes and it's not even over yet! The Office also played with nostalgia this week but in a less overt way, and while it was still kind of obnoxious I appreciated it a bit more than 30 Rock's lazy bag of season 1/2/3 clips.

I did, however, love the callback to Jack's classic line: "It's after 6. What am I, a farmer?" Good stuff.

So, yes. I highly recommend you start watching Parks and Recreation if you haven't, and I would suggest you watch all four shows' latest episodes. They were all worth it. Best Thursday in awhile.

Vacation Posting

I'm on Spring Break right now, so I'm feeling very lazy. Well, really, I've been feeling lazy for awhile now. Sorry.

Today's Thursday and you know what that means - a new 30 Rock (the hour long 100th episode!) and a new Parks & Rec! I woke up this morning feeling excited. It was wonderful.

Last week's Parks and Rec was so good, just a great ensemble episode with character development and heartwarming moments and blah, I'm excited for tonight's. Especially since it's called "Soulmates" and it involves Leslie being matched with someone she already knows on an online dating service. ;) Although if it's who I'm thinking it is, then why would he be on an online dating service anyway? He doesn't strike me as that kind of guy. Well, I guess I'll figure that out in less than 12 hours.

Last week's 30 Rock was good too but I just want them to resolve this TRACY IS MISSING! arc already. I hope tonight is awesome and I'm looking forward to that Condoleeza/Jack tryst being brought up again. That was mentioned in season 1, right? It killed me. Hopefully this will be a satisfying culmination.

I wonder what an hour-long 30 Rock will feel like. It seems like a weird prospect, like an hour-long episode of The Simpsons or something. Well, I guess they did have one of those, and it worked out pretty well in my opinion. So I have high hopes.

Make sure to watch Parks and Rec tonight at 9:30 EST and the 1-hour 30 Rock special at 10 EST. (Also tune in to Community at 8 EST. Don't feel obligated to watch The Office.)

Thanks, Youtube

Over the weekend I was able to go to Coachella. Okay, I wasn't there in person, unfortunately, but thanks to the advent of the Internet I was able to experience it live from the comfort of my own home.

Youtube was streaming concerts live all weekend long, and I was able to catch two great ones - Best Coast and, at 2AM Saturday, Arcade Fire. Arcade Fire also streamed one of their shows at Madison Square Garden live last year and I watched that one, too. They are truly an amazing band live and oh, how I wish I was there in person to experience that! They really put on quite a show. I watched them until 3:30, I didn't want to stop, it was just beautiful.

Best Coast was great, too, although their set was much shorter. Just like Arcade Fire, though, they're really good live; I think I'd say that they are even better live than on recording, even! Bethany's banter was awesome and she just had a ton of personality and energy, even more than she does on the album. Also, the band played a new song I'd never heard before and a cover, and both of those were worth the watch!

I don't know to feel about these streams, despite my enjoyable experiences with them. On the one hand, I got to watch Arcade Fire in concert for free! Twice! A lot of people got to see how great these bands were for the first time and are now going to check them out. And I am a thousand times more likely to try to go to an Arcade Fire/Best Coast/etc. concert in the future. On the other hand, as an artist, wouldn't you rather people pay money to see you live? Obviously watching at home isn't quite the same but it was still pretty darn good. I actually got to see them up close; at a concert there'd be a ton of other people around and I might be stuck in the back.

I don't know that people would ever stop wanting to go to concerts but streaming them is definitely making people like me less likely to try to attend something like Coachella because I know I can just watch it at home.

We'll see what happens.

Apocalypse Please

Today I visited a college and in a mock class we watched the opening to Apocalypse Now. I hadn't seen the movie in going on a year, and since reading Heart of Darkness I had sort of been wanting to rewatch it. Watching the opening again, I was just instantly reminded that this movie is a true masterpiece, much more entertaining and even insightful than the book. I can't even think of a more perfect opening at this moment. "The End" just works so masterfully, it's like it was written for this movie.

Partyin' Like It's 2008

2008 was a pretty good year for music for me. Vampire Weekend's debut album basically owned it, alongside Tokyo Police Club's debut Elephant Shell; I also discovered Band of Horses that year. It was a good time.

Today I felt a random inclination to jam to "Oxford Comma." I remember not liking it a lot when I first heard it. I mean, I liked it, but I much preferred "A-Punk," "Walcott," "Mansard Roof," "One (Blake's Got a New Face)," and "The Kids Don't Stand a Chance." I would listen to it but throughout its entirety feel antsy to hit the back button and listen to "Mansard Roof" again, or skip forward to "A-Punk."

But then the music video was released and -- see, I have a disorder known as Video Affection Syndrome. Once a song has a video accompaniment, whether it's a video or a commercial, I immediately love it more. That's what happened with "Oxford Comma." I loved the video SO MUCH that immediately my liking for the song grew and grew and grew. It's not like it's some random video, either; I legitimately love the "Oxford Comma" video on its own. Shot in one take, I find it fascinating, cool, and fun.

Check it out and I hope you have a reaction as (positively) strong as I did the first time I saw it, three years ago.



P.S. I just found out that the video was directed by Richard Ayoade, who is the amazing IT Crowd and Garth Marenghi's Darkplace actor and occasional director of such things as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Heads Will Roll" and the latest episode of Community, the great one with the My Dinner with Andre/Pulp Fiction send-ups. Awesome!