Up All Night has been pretty good throughout. Funny enough that I'd almost probably have watched even absent Arnett. Both show off that they can really act - Arnett as a reasonably convincing normal-person straight man to Applegate and especially Randolph, Applegate as a reasonably convincing semi-dork who does not look like what Applegate looks like. Randolph has backed off the show-stealing antics of season 1 of late which is too bad as she reliably got the best lines. Finally this past episode though Arnett let a little freak fly, *WONDERFUL* *spins ecstatically in circles à la Sound of Music opening* but still within in-character bounds. The nice moment, flashes of GOB, when he guesses that Gene is 45 and can't believe he's 34, and especially his frantic multi-mimicry "bullet points" which brought back both Baldwin's unforgettable role-playing therapy mimicry and, at the end, unmistakable evidence of his friendship with Krasinski (real life, not Jim) in his identical timing and style.

To celebrate next week's commencement of principal photography on season 4 of my all-time favorite tv series: my favorite lines:

"Who'd want a bee as a gift?"
- Walters' disgusted delivery makes this

"DEAD DOVE DO NOT *EAT*" / "I'm not sure what I was expecting."
- the bizarre underlining of "eat" is *so* G.O.B.

"I don't care about *ostriches*."
- Lindsay in a nutshell. Also one of the times her lilting native accent slips through; love it

"What a fun, sexy time for you."
- IIRC this was ad-libbed. The word genius is perhaps thrown about overliberally including by me, but Cera, man. His terror and flinching at Buster's hook - sheer greatness

"I don't understand the question and I won't respond to it."
- epitomizes Lucille -- sneering, willful blissful ignorance

"Oh! Lindsay!"
- and the self-conscious way he looks around afterward, at once expectant as if someone should give him a prize and also checking to be sure his quick recovery fooled everyone. Just amazing
(Michael: Do you remember growing up with a sister?
G.O.B.: Sister? Uh...no, I don't... not really ... ringing any bells.
Michael: (nodding toward Lindsay who is standing RIGHT NEXT TO THEM) Other than Lindsay, of course.
G.O.B.: Oh! Lindsay!
Michael: Well, you might not be the most reputable source on this.)

Eureka: just realized: a major reason that - if forced to choose - Jenna and GOB are my favorite characters in their respective shows: = their shared trait of reliably giving socially incorrect responses - even (maybe especially) in fleeting, wordless reaction shots - to every thing that ever happens around them - including their own statements and actions.  Two favorite examples leap to mind:

Jenna (with wounded dignity): I never heard back about my audition for Everybody Loves Raymond. I'd wondered if you'd made a decision.
Phil Rosenthal: Yeah, 15 years ago. We went with Doris Roberts. ...But thank you for tying your headshot around a brick and throwing it through my window.
Jenna: [bashful proud half-smile, like a child who's just been praised for doing a minor task well]

(From possibly my fav episode of the entire series: model home kitchen; Lindsay is sitting at the counter on the outer side; to her right, GOB is standing, and to his right, Michael is standing inside the kitchen)
Michael: GOB, do you remember growing up with a...sister? [referring to mysterious "Nellie"]
GOB (mostly while looking directly in Lindsay's face): Sister? Uh... no, I don't. Not really... ringing any bells.
Michael: Other than Lindsay, of course.
GOB: Oh! Lindsay!!!
[GOB looks back and forth between Lindsay and Michael, looking super pleased with himself, like a dog expecting a treat]

Rob Huebel guest spot on Happy Endings reminds me of Will Arnett: no matter how normal the character initially seems, there's something irrepressibly sleazy and creepy/pervy (respectively) that emanates from them right off, and you just know it's going to come screaming out of them eventually and it always does. (David Letterman to Arnett, cheerfully, about Brothers Solomon: "It's very funny...and geez, you couldn't be creepier." Arnett:  "Thank you! My parents are so proud...") That's why the few normal roles I remember ever seeing them in (AJ / Sopranos FBI agent...that's all I got) are sooo unmemorable and unconvincing. Kind of like Johnny Depp in that real-time movie ... Nick of Time or some such nonsense? I remember a critic saying something like "Depp cannot convincingly play a regular person" and it was meant as a compliment.

The show's good but Adam Pally's timing and charisma really leave everyone else in the dust.

AUGH spent most of the day wandering teh interwebs pinning (or following millions of rabbit trails leading therefrom or thereto), and now have to scramble to get some work done. (err...most everything is with the other side... really...) Re-found wonderful too-brief piece by Mitch Hurwitz. Especially like:

[GOB] was as bad at hiding his inner life as he was at guarding the secrets to his illusions. And yet his massive insecurities were so dramatically cloaked in a kind of over the top entitlement...
everyone who came in [to audition] just played it so "character-y." And we had some hilarious guys — but nobody really played him like a guy who thought of himself as the chosen son even though it was obvious to everyone else that he was the least favorite.

See, this is what I'm always saying about GOB. Everyone says he's stupid; he's not! He just, without fail, misinterprets every single thing that anyone ever says or that happens around him, and reacts accordingly. "Bees!!!!"

finally stealing moment to rewatch thurs' 30 rock and it turns out my extreme enjoyment of it was not merely contextual or Will Arnett-driven.... it really did have the wall-to-wall perfect oneliners/100% joke density/batting 1.000/pick the metaphor it seemed to at first viewing. Last episode I remember being this chock-a-block w/goodness was the "Dealbreakers" one.

Devon's sleep-clothes are so ridiculous.  The Hank (Kabletown CEO) actor is pretty great.

ROFLMAO she gets corrected for calling it just "10", by one of the rioting guys trying to flip her car...

good gracious...every Alec Baldwin & Will Arnett confrontation is like watching clashing gladiators...their physical humor styles are so well-matched.  Directing them must be like driving a Ferrari.

How are backpack-sized jetpacks still not available at retail? I should be able to walk into Best Buy or Target and buy one, and it should be, like, $199 for a basic model. I would accept a super fancy one costing as much as $499. It just seems such a no-brainer. If locomotive safety is a concern, just don't make them able to go very fast or high. How hard can this be?

Because 100% of all things, people and ideas reminds me of The Simpsons or Arrested Development: herewith one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life:


(You just KNOW he ad-libbed the "the crotch". I never don't LOL at this.)

...followed closely by the video instructions that came w/said jetpack and scared the crap out of George Michael, in "Mr. F".

As often, Brittany kills: (handing Kurt a sheaf of construction paper with "heart ataks" on it in glitter): "I did a book report on heart attacks, if you want to give it to the doctor. It got knocked down a whole letter grade because it was written in crayon."
Sue: "This country is not a monarchy. Trust me- I've tried."
Lunt: "He was homeschooled by the most talented tutors money can buy."
Steve (with bashful pride): "I had Marvin Hamlisch for math."
Wilde Oil slogan on signboard: "Not our spill"

Vincent, after Bob Saget tore through his house gladhanding everyone: "I have no idea who that is."... my first lol moment in Entourage
Brittany, to Dentist Carl: "Are you a cat?"
Rachel: "I look forward to the day that paparazzi provokes me and I attack them."
Sue in finer form than ever.
Steve: "Oh, [my family] care about me. They just choose not to show it with... words or actions." 2nd episode of Running Wilde much better than pilot.

My love for Will Arnett cannot be overstated, and almost everything he does at minimum tickles me, and I want that enormous preposterous painting of him for my apartment, and I thoroughly approve of his equestrian outfit, but:
- the use of voiceover - let alone by Puddle - is...at best...inscrutable.
- Keri Russell IS NOT FUNNY. AT ALL.

They lack chemistry fully as much as I expected, but at least the direction of their scenes is snappy.

The driver is the clear star.

Ah, "The Final Countdown." Will I ever hear this and not think of GOB flailing about "magically"? Doubtful.

Finally saw Despicable Me, which I've been looking forward to for over a year. As usual Will Arnett is used only passingly and wastefully; the plot is wan (has the Last Holiday problem of the main conflict/antagonist being engaged too sporadically and weakly); and I know they're meant to be caricatures but there's a borderline nastiness to the way many of the characters are drawn.

On the plus side, I enjoyed the fact that, refreshingly, few of the characters bore any resemblance to the actors voicing them (that got old fast- I'm looking at you, DreamWorks); it was worth the price of admission for the soundtrack alone -- just astounding, like a character on its own (if a touch too... slinky? for the target audience - it's very very foxy); and the space scene was breathtakingly, even divinely beautiful - in fact the movie is pretty gorgeous throughout, with tons of eye candy in every shot.

And not that physical plausibility is a paramount concern in animation generally, but my favorite element might have been the gross improbability and inefficiency of Gru's and Vector's modes of transportation. Terrific sight gags (though I seemed to be the only person in the theater to think so - I loon-cackled alone every time they appeared onscreen).

Something about the physical oddities of the movie reminded me of Triplets of Belleville - the same cheerfully daft but also faintly sinister effect.