The Internet has reached a certain level of harmony with the universe (toh) now that I can post an entire Shô Kosugi classic on my blog and not feel a premonition of danger (kai). Sure, I could have posted better known movies that I enjoy like 28 Days Later, Meet Joe Black, Point Break, Requiem for a Dream, The Usual Suspects, and Monty Python’s Meaning of Life. But Kosugi has shown more strength (rin) than any other actor ever put on film.

The television episodes that I recommended recently where all downloaded on bittorrent. I simply had no other means of watching them. The networks know I’m not alone.

Finally these networks and studios have realized that to control (zai) this tide of Internet viewers in their immediate favor, they should provide that same content directing the energy (kyo) toward themselves. It’s not a matter of mastering time and space (retsu) but of understanding what the viewers think (jin) and want.

Hulu can heal (sha) the differences between the studios and pirates. Hulu is enlightenment (zen).

[Continued from part 1]

We’ve just hit fall and the new television seasons are dawning. So it seems like a good time to look back into my brain and see what episodes stood out in the last year. Here’s the second half of my list in order of airing dates:

Update: I should have warned that there are spoilers all over, so tread carefully.

House
“One Day, One Room”
Season 3: Episode 13
First aired: 1/30/2007
Writer: David Shore
Director: Juan J. Campanella

While House is forced to work full-time in the clinic and deal with a rape victim who insists on confiding with him, Cameron deals with a terminal cancer patient trying to take advantage of her state of mind.

What makes it great: There’s so much I can say about this episode. Shore started it off just like any other, and as the formula we all know and love unravels, he suddenly tears it all down. At that point we have no idea what will happen next. There is no medical mystery in a show about medical mysteries. In an instant we are unexpectedly watching a short movie about two people trying to figure each other out. Two people who have nothing in common except that they’ve found refuge in abandoning trust. The cast, joined by Katheryn Winnick, do impressive performances in what is easily the best episode in this list.

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We’ve just hit fall and the new television seasons are dawning. So it seems like a good time to look back into my brain and see what episodes stood out in the last year. Here’s the first half of my list in order of airing dates:

Update: I should have warned that there are spoilers all over, so tread carefully.

Avatar: The Last Airbender
“The Blind Bandit”
Season 2: Episode 6
First aired: 5/5/2006
Writer: Michael Dante DiMartino
Director: Ethan Spaulding

In search for an Earthbending teacher for Aang, the kids go to an underground Earthbending tournament called Earth Rumble 6, where they encounter Toph (aka the Blind Bandit), a blind, but powerful Earthbending girl. After seeing her unique style of Earthbending, Aang wants Toph to become his teacher, but there are complications with Toph’s family.

What makes it great: While the stories and animation of this show are consistently excellent, this is the episode that made me really curious about the actual fighting styles of each culture. According to Wikipedia: “The creators use Tai Chi for waterbending, Hung Gar for earthbending (although Toph employs a Chu Gar Southern Praying Mantis style), Northern Shaolin for firebending, and Ba Gua for airbending.” Also, this episode introduces Toph, who has become my favorite character. It’s amazing how deeply developed she feels in her first minute on the show.

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My favorite video client for Windows Mobile, TCPMP, could be seen running on Morris O’Brian’s Pocket PC on the popular television drama 24. During the episode that aired on February 26, 2007 (Day 6: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM), it was used to display a brief animation simulating a contact list. I thought it was important for me to blog this. Then I went to the Wikipedia entry for TCPMP and updated this information. And I took the screenshot to demonstrate above.

Just in case you were wondering if I’m going to die alone.

Before I talk about Peep Show I need you to understand my general disdain for sitcoms. I can sit through a fan-favorite episode of Friends with a blank face. That doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the show. The problem is that I was raised by television.

Thanks to syndication I feel like I watched every episode of every sitcom of my day. That includes Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Charles in Charge, Saved by the Bell (including Good Morning, Miss Bliss), Full House, Family Matters, Growing Pains, Wings, Murphy Brown, A Different World, Diff’rent Strokes, Punky Brewster, Home Improvement, My Two Dads, Roseanne, Working… the list goes on. Either you feel nostalgic or think I’m sad, but you get the idea.

So when a show like Arrested Development or The Office comes along to shake things up, they’ve got my attention. This time it’s a show from Britain called Peep Show.

From Wikipedia:

Peep Show features the often sexually frustrated lives of two twenty-somethings, Mark Corrigan (Mitchell) and Jeremy Usbourne (Webb) - former university companions who now share a flat in Croydon, south London.

Mark is a loan manager and the more financially successful of the two but is extremely uncomfortable socially and pessimistic about nearly everything. Jeremy - who had recently split up with his girlfriend - found himself homeless until a chance meeting with Mark, who agreed to let him rent his spare room.

Jeremy usually has a much more optimistic and energetic outlook on the world, yet his ‘talent’ as a musician is yet to be recognised, and he is not as socially popular or sexually attractive as he would like to think.

The show is unusual in that the events of the two main characters’ lives are seen almost exclusively from their own points of view (and those of other characters they interact with). Scenes in the show are often filmed using cameras strapped to the actors’ heads, to give the viewer a point of view identical to that of the protagonists, and the two main characters’ internal monologues (or interior thoughts) are presented to the audience as voiceovers.

I think the funniest part is how I came about this show. I read a recent humor column that made fun of the UK version of the Mac vs PC television ads:

The ads are adapted from a near-identical American campaign - the only difference is the use of Mitchell and Webb. They are a logical choice in one sense (everyone likes them), but a curious choice in another, since they are best known for the television series Peep Show - probably the best sitcom of the past five years - in which Mitchell plays a repressed, neurotic underdog, and Webb plays a selfish, self-regarding poseur. So when you see the ads, you think, “PCs are a bit rubbish yet ultimately lovable, whereas Macs are just smug, preening tossers.” In other words, it is a devastatingly accurate campaign.

That said, the show is brilliant, unpredictable, and I really recommend it.