Archive for December, 2009
23
Dec
Posted by John S in Aught Lang Syne, Comedy, TV. Tagged: Arrested Development, Aught Lang Syne, Charlie Wants an Abortion, Comedy, Curb Your Enthusiasm, david brent, David Brent sings, Dwight's Speech, Flight of the Conchords, Franklin Bluth, Franklin Comes Alive, good sitcoms, How I Met Your Mother, Ian McKellan, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Kristen Schaal, Mugged, Orlando Bloom, Patrick Stewart, Righteous Brothers, Robin Sparkles, Saddlesore Galactica, Samuel L. Jackson, Slap Bet, South Park, the Aughts, the death of eric cartman, the demise of The Office, The Office, The Office (UK), The Simpsons, The Table Read, Training. 8 Comments
Our look last week at the decade in television focused mainly on dramas. But the creative advancements in the medium were not limited to that genre; it’s only more obvious there. The Aughts have been a great decade for comedies as well, seeing such brilliant shows as Arrested Development, The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and many [...]
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22
Dec
Posted by Tim in Unabated to the Quarterback. Tagged: afc v. nfc, brett favre, chris johnson best player in nfl, conference imbalance, indianapolis colts, jaguars helmets, jeff fisher coach of the year, jim caldwell, marvin lewis, new orleans saints, norv turner, patriots colts rivalry, san diego chargers, tennessee titans, the demise of the falcons, the panthers and the caprice of the nfl, torry holt as the nfc's best. 4 Comments
“Nothing is given to mankind, and what little men can conquer must be paid for with unjust deaths. But man’s grandeur lies elsewhere, in his decision to rise above his condition.” –Albert Camus For virtually the entirety of the Aughts, the AFC has been far more intriguing than the NFC. After pulling two Super Bowl [...]
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22
Dec
Posted by John S in Aught Lang Syne, Comedy, Film. Tagged: A Mighty Wind, Anchorman, Aught Lang Syne, Ben Stiller, Christopher Guest, Comedy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Jason Segel, Jonah Hill, Judd Apatow, Knocked Up, McLovin', Meet the Parents, michael cera, Paul Rudd, Puff the Magic Dragon, Robert De Niro, Seth Rogen, Steve Carell, Superbad, The 40 Year Old Virgin, The Hangover, Wet Hot American Summer, Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, Zoolander. 5 Comments
Yesterday we gave you the definitive list of the funniest comedians of the decade. Today, NPI continues its look at the comedy of the Aughts by looking at the ten funniest films of the decade. Evaluating comedies can be tricky. Is the sheer number of laughs more important than the overall quality of the movie? [...]
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21
Dec
Posted by John S in Aught Lang Syne, Comedy. Tagged: Arrested Development, Aught Lang Syne, Celebrity Jeopardy, comedians, Comedy, Conan O'Brien, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Dave Chappelle, David Cross, Ed Begley Jr., Extras, george w. bush, Henry Winkler, Jason Bateman, Jeffrey Tambor, John Michael Higgins, Jon Stewart, Judd Apatow, Larry David, Matt Stone, michael cera, mitch hedberg, More Cowbell, Mugatu, old-timey baseball, Portia Di Rossi, Ricky Gervais, Ron Burgundy, seinfeld, Seth Galifianakis, South Park, stand-up comedy, Stephen Colbert, Stephen Merchant, Strangers with Candy, the Bluth family, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, The Office (UK), The Tonight Show, This Week in God, Tobias Funke, Tony Hale, Trey Parker, Will Arnett, Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis. 5 Comments
Comedy is a broad subject. It’s not confined to any one medium, genre, style, or format. It’s hard to define and almost impossible to quantify. But here at NPI, we take comedy very seriously. The comedy of the Aughts in particular will always have an important role in shaping our senses of humor. So today we [...]
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21
Dec
Posted by NPI in Monday Medley. Tagged: around the horn, bill plaschke, brittany murphy, clueless, david simon, gossip girl, great taste less filling, happiness, hitfix, Jalen Rose, miller lite, netflix, new york, New York Magazine, nude scenes, pardon the interruption, roger ebert, Slate, social networking, the aughts (obvs), The Wire. Leave a Comment
What we read while frantically pushing Clueless up the Netflix queue: Once again, Slate is about three weeks too late in asking, “What should we call this decade?“ Way back in October, Tim celebrated the anniversary of Pardon the Interruption by praising the show as a standout among sports debate shows, especially its lead-in Around [...]
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20
Dec
Posted by Tim in Aught Lang Syne, Literature, Sunday Book Review. Tagged: a heartbreaking work of staggering genius, Aught Lang Syne, Dave Eggers, goethe, i don't think i mentioned it explicitly but i did spend a lot of time contemplating the bildungsroman, self-consciousness, spotlight on the aughts, the modern memoir, you shall know our velocity. Leave a Comment
“Everything that happens to us leaves traces, everything contributes imperceptibly to our development.” —Goethe There’s a hardcover edition of Dave Eggers’ first novel, You Shall Know Our Velocity, in which the text of the story actually starts on the book’s cover. There is no title page or copyright or About the Author; the story comprises [...]
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20
Dec
Posted by NPI in Aught Lang Syne, Comedy, Culture, Economics, Food, Uncategorized. Tagged: A.J. Jacobs, Blink, Chuck Klosterman, Dan Ariely, Hegemony or Survival, In defense of Food, James Surowiecki, Michael Lewis, moneyball, noam chomsky, Predictably Irrational, randy barnett, restoring the lost constitution, Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, The Mystery of Capital, The Omnivore's Dilemma, The Tipping Point, The Wisdom of Crowds. 2 Comments
In case you missed Part I of our analysis of the decade’s best nonfiction, you can check it out here. 9/11, Pirates and Emperors, Hegemony or Survival, Failed States, et. al. – Noam Chomsky Noam Chomsky has always been prolific in his political writings, but the aftermath of 9/11 saw an increase in the relevance of [...]
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20
Dec
Posted by NPI in Aught Lang Syne, Literature. Tagged: Al Franken, America: The Book, Aught Lang Syne, Books, consider the lobster, david foster wallace, David Sedaris, Evan Wright, Everything Bad is Good for you, fox news, Freakonomics, Generation Kill, Geoff Emerick, george w. bush, Here There and Everywhere, Howard Massey, Jon Stewart, Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell them, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Mystery, Neil Strauss, Nonfiction, Paul Collier, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Dubner, Steven Johnson, Steven Levitt, the Beatles, The Bottom Billion, The Daily Show, The Game, The God Delusion. 2 Comments
Last week, NPI gave an overview of fiction (in two parts!) of the Aughts. Yesterday, Josh pointed out the popular economics trend in this decade’s nonfiction. Today, Josh and John are going over (in two parts!) what they believe are the biggest nonfiction books of the Aughts. America: The Book – Jon Stewart and The Daily Show writers [...]
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19
Dec
Posted by Josh in Aught Lang Syne, Economics. Tagged: discover your inner economist, dubner, Freakonomics, incentives, levitt, Malcolm Gladwell, more sex is safer sex, popular economics, Predictably Irrational, Tyler Cowen. 3 Comments
One clear development in nonfiction during the Aughts has been the rise of popular economics. Popular economics nonfiction existed before this decade, but the genre proliferated in 2005 with the wild success of Freakonomics. Discover Your Inner Economist, More Sex is Safer Sex, Predictably Irrational, The Economic Naturalist, and SuperFreakonomics among others followed. What is [...]
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18
Dec
Posted by John S in Religion, Social Norms. Tagged: Black Friday, cheer, christmas, Christmas movies, Christmas music, Christmas season, Christmas shopping, Christmas specials, Christmas' monopoly on good things, consumerism, George Orwell, gift-giving, goodwill, Hanukkah, happiness, Happy Holidays, hating Christmas, Jingle Ball, Merry Christmas, Religion, Santa Claus, the anxiety of gifts, the misallocation of gifts, totalitarianism, when does Christmas start?, Yule Log. 10 Comments
Today is December 18th, which means we’re a week away from the 25th, the two-month anniversary of Christmas. So now seems as good of a time as any to explain why I hate this “holiday” with a fiery passion. It probably doesn’t come as much of a shock to you to hear that I hate [...]
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