My Own Little World

When I first heard about The Good Place , it sounded like a neat little idea: one of the brains behind Parks and Recreation and The Office, the afterlife, Ted Danson, and Kristen Bell. It appeared to be a slightly quirky but still conventional take on the single-camera sitcom, and I knew at some point I would need to watch it. Oh, how wrong I was. The Good Place in its first season has become one of the best sitcoms currently on television. With its clever, witty writing and excellent performances, The Good Place is poised to become one of the best places to turn your attention to on Thursday nights. Part of this is because of its premise. Kristen Bell plays Eleanor, a recently-deceased woman who sees herself put in “the Good Place” in the afterlife. What’s off about this, you ask? It’s simple: there’s no way she belongs there. By any stretch of the imagination, Eleanor is at best an average person who compares extremely unfavorably to the philanthropists, environmentalist...

I'm going to say this once, and I want you to know that I really, really, really mean it. Arrested Development  is the best sitcom I've ever seen. This show has three perfect seasons, one lesser but still really solid season in its Netflix revival, and an absolutely riotous sense of humor. Its casting is perfect, its writing is top-notch, and its performances are dedicated and stellar all around. A lot of that stems from the show's biggest advantage: its humor. There's so many inside jokes that Arrested Development continually makes throughout its four season run (and will undoubtedly continue during its fifth season next year) that I almost can't explain why the humor works so well. It just does. It’s infused with a sense of irreverence and absurdity that, quite thankfully, matches the characters and the situation in which they find themselves. It is those two things that I find make Arrested Development work so well. These characters are actually quite...

Over the summer, I decided to finally watch The Office , one of the most beloved sitcoms of my generation. I watched it for two reasons: first, so I could understand all the references my friends made to the show; second, so I could relate better to a girl I was very interested in (update: it worked). To be honest, though, I really did not like the show at all that first time through. I found a lot of the characters very grating and a lot of the comedy racy at best and offensive at worst. Yet, for some reason, whenever I thought back to the show, those weren't my gut reactions. Instead, I thought of the great prank war between Dwight and Jim. I thought of the wonderful romance between Jim and Pam. I thought of the character arc that Michael has and how transformed he was by his time at Dunder-Mifflin. Those kind of thoughts don't come for shows I liked better "on paper" than The Office , so I decided to take another crack at it to see if I liked it better. And y...

Hey all. It's been a while since I've talked about my life, so here I am with just some tidbits: For spring break, I went home, watched over two seasons of The Office  and lots and lots of movies. I also recorded some music with my good friend Sarah Simmons that will be released later this year, so stay tuned for that. On the whole, though, spring break was a much-needed period of rest and relaxation after a hectic semester to date.  As far as Lifesong (my traveling worship band) is concerned, we have had a very busy schedule. Pretty much every weekend is spent with that bunch of hooligans leading worship at either churches or youth retreats. It's been a ton of fun this year, but it is extremely tiring, especially on weekends when we have retreats. I wouldn't trade the experience for almost anything, though, and that keeps me going from week to week.  Felicia's great. And awesome. That is all.  School itself is fine. I have some classes that I really enjoy an...

It's been a little while since I've updated you on my binge-watching, so yesterday when I finished my most recent show, I decided to write a little bit about it. I didn't think I'd have a whole lot of good to say about this show, especially because of what my opinion of it was early on in its run. I don't think I've ever had a show where I've hated the central character so much. Well, what's the show and main character I'm talking about here? The American version of The Office  starring Steve Carell as Michael Scott. (And if it weren't for me having to put a title on each post, this would have been a great reveal. Oh well.) I went through an intense love/hate relationship with Michael for the first four seasons of The Office , mostly because he is a character that has no boundaries, or even an awareness that he should have any in the first place. He is offensive, idiotic, and downright stupid. Yes, I do understand that that's the entire...