Coming to Terms With My Addiction…

You may have noticed that I’ve been conspicuously absent from this corner of the blogosphere for a few days now. Some of this has been because life in general has been keeping me busy. I also had a period of sub-broadband speeds for our home internet connection — something which I assure you I’ll cover in a blog entry quite soon. (Hint: it has to do with Twitter and Comcast.)

But the reality here is that there’s been something else sucking up my time and energy to an extent which would make a Dyson vacuum cleaner shudder. I’ve been procrastinating quite a bit and neglecting by blogging — to the extent that I, indeed, missed an important post yesterday.

Yesterday was July 13. And I completely neglected to post a “List on the 3s.” The sad thing? I was well-aware of it. Had I simply forgotten about it, I would easily forgive myself. But no — I simply watched the day creep away while I was engrossed in a weekend-long activity.

And I think it’s time for me to come clean about this addiction — not something I’m very proud of, but something which must be admitted and acknowledged.

I’m Shiny. And I’m addicted to Weed(s).

I’ve known that the show has been out there. The only stars of the show whom I knew were Mary-Louise Parker (whom I knew from The West Wing among other shows) and Kevin Nealon (from SNL). When I was discussing the show with the lovely Hilly not more than a week ago, I really had no desire to see it. All I knew was that it was Parker as a drug dealer living in the suburbs — hence the hilarity. Hilly mentioned some interesting things about the show — including the presence of Albert Brooks in season 4 and some of the Jewish content — and I decided to give it a try.

I’ve watched approximately 43 episodes of the show over the past few days. Good gravy the show is addictive! But now I’ve caught up — and I have no need to seclude myself simply to watch one specific show.

July 13 is gone. However, today is July 14 — or 7-14. And if you add up those numbers you get another number which, if you add those digits together, you get the sum total of 3. For this reason I present:

“List on the 3s” (kind of): Shiny’s Top 5 Things He Likes About “Weeds”

5. The character development is impressive. It reminds me a lot of what Alan Ball did to the characters on Six Feet Under or even American Beauty. The notion that everything seems normal on the exterior but, when you look a little closer, everyone has his “freak flag” is one that makes our characters human — whether they be drug dealers, moral compasses of the community, children,  or anyone else.  You find yourself rooting for — as well as rooting against — pretty much everyone.

4. My impressions of Kevin Nealon has risen above the very, very low expectations I had originally bestowed upon him. I’ll be honest — I never was much of a Nealon fan on SNL. Maybe it’s because he was part of the same cast as the likes of Dana Carvey and Jan Hooks.  Hell, he took over anchoring the news from Dennis Miller who — believe it or not, kids — used to be kind of funny. Kevin Nealon’s delivery  on Weekend Update was simply sub-par — he would flub jokes and simply look nervous.

In “Weeds,” however, he plays city councilman Doug Wilson — a corrupt bastard who loves to have fun (read: get high) and remain completely self-absorbed. But some of his lines are amazing.  I found myself laughing out loud at him and his chutzpah — and the way he said the word “cankles.”  Touche, Kevin…

3. It’s a sexually and verbally explicit comedy on Showtime. It makes me wonder how they would have done Arrested Development on Showtime or HBO.  It opens up the genre to more raw monologues such as this one where Shane gets a lecture on masturbation from Uncle Andy. Brilliant! (And NSFW.)

(Direct YouTube Link)

Bananas. Who knew?

2. They do the Jewish stuff somewhat right. The main family in question (Mary-Louise Parker’s family) are the Botwins — the father of whom was Judah Botwin, a Jewish guy with Jewish ties. In the first season we see Judah’s unveiling (a Jewish ceremony in which the gravestone is, well, unveiled), one of the Botwin kids shouting out Shma Yisrael! before a karate match, and more.  The second and third seasons focus on Andy’s (Judah’s brother) brush with rabbinical school (which, from what I’ve heard, is way off base), and the fourth season shows the Botwin clan (with grandfather Lenny played by Albert Brooks) experiencing Shiva. Some are hits and some are misses. But it works. Most of the time…

1. The way they used “Little Boxes” as the theme song for the first three seasons. It’s a cute, catchy tune with a fun, comedic video montage that goes along with it which provides some well-executed visual commentary.  The first season had the song performed by Malvina Reynolds…

(Direct YouTube Link)

… but the second and third seasons changed it up a bit by having other artists perform the theme song, such as Regina Spektor…

(Direct YouTube Link)

… and Elvis Costello …

(Direct YouTube Link)

… and Death Cab for Cutie …

(Direct YouTube Link)

… and children’s music group, The Laurie Berkner Band …

(Direct YouTube Link)

… and, of course, Billy Bob Thornton.

(Direct YouTube Link)

I’ll miss it for season 4 (which has its own clever title card motif). I just wish that other shows would be as bold…