As I diligently cram for my Logic midterm (ha!), I remembered that the last season of An Idiot Abroad is coming out in just under 3 weeks! Perfect for after exam viewing!
Tag Archives: Karl Pilkington
interim
I’m feeling slightly queasy. My dad tried his hand at making fish, as in fish and chips. Without meaning to pun, it was very fishy – i had to drown it in chili spring roll sauce to mask that.
Anyway, i promised a monster post a couple weeks back so here it goes. Be warned – incoherency ahead! I jotted down bits and pieces of my thoughts over the weak and I didn’t realy make an effort to make them cohesive. This is literally a brain dump.
I was mending my yoga pants and listening to James Vincent McMorrow‘s devastating Follow You Down to the Red Oak Tree when my dad popped his head into my room and ASKED FOR THE SONG’S NAME! He literally disagrees with most of my music tastes (except for oldies and classical music) so this was kind of strange/awesome. He said the singer’s voice is very special – which is basically the reason why i love James VM so much! So much softness and strength! And oh yeah, I may have raved about that movie too – the one that cemented my undying devotion to Benedict Cumberbatch…?
I love entirely too much. this sounds like an odd thing to pronounce, but i don’t think i have enough love IN me, not enough for myself. Anyway, a portion of my time went into reading this. Tony Bourdain is such a character, that’s why I enjoy his shows (and the first couple of books were great!) so much. He’s lively and unpretentious (well, at least not to himself). I love real travel-food documentaries. I want to see the culture of the real folks, not just the touristy “hidden gems”. This also goes some ways to explain why I love “An Idiot Abroad“. Karl Pilkington is unlike anyone you will ever meet/ see/ hear of. He is just brilliant. Completely unassumingly, ignorantly brilliant – which is the best kind for reality shows!
oh! I found this fantastic site that links a ton of films, books, podcasts, to classic material! I have so many documentaries awaiting my attention it’s both delightful and depressing at the same time. Depressing because it’ll be a good month before i can even venture into the world of self-indulgence.
[brb – tummy feeling queasy!!! … is this TMI?]
Hmm… what else? I must one of the only people that didn’t talk about the US elections! Too much ink has been spilt on the issue already so i don’t want to dwell on it. I’m happy that he won – I disagree with Romney on several key points, but I don’t think he’s a bad person nor do I think he wants USA to go down the drain as a country. My mother is the opposite of me in politics, so our most recent skype meet was intense and a bit exhausting. But hey, she’s supposedly talking to Democrats online in order to “see the light”. She sees Obama in the same way I see Romney: ultimately nice guy – but not up to the task of being president.
on an utterly frivolous issue – i’ve been doing lots of online window shopping lately (due to my materialistic but stingy ways). I’ve come to realize something during these pseudo-shopping sprees: I view money in a completely different way than i did when i was jobless. Back when i didn’t have a job, i would easily buy things if i had the money. but now that i do have a job, i can never justify frivolous purchases to myself. i guess everyone experiences this maturity? But a lot of my friends think my frugal ways are hilarious. For instance, i have very sensitive to heat, so if i buy a coffee and the shop doesn’t offer cardboard sleeves, i always ask for an extra cup. when i finish my coffee, rather than throwing away the whole thing, i carry my unused extra home and save it for a day when i don’t feel like bringing my tumblr. is that too extreme? it’s no trouble at all to bring a paper cup home!
another thing i’ve come to realize during my vocal/visual arts haitus: the aforementioned arts are def not my forte. most of the time, i imitate. when i sing, i am always trying to mirror the original over some great cover. i haven’t painted anything original in months – always drawing waterlilies or starry night. i need to get back into doing more creative prints!! i miss it so! my creative writing, though not by any means especially outstanding – is completely my own, even if i can’t define what my style is.
This leads me to another point. I am so grateful that i have so many forms of creative outlet. I never feel ennui. In his second autobiography, stephen fry said that he and hugh laurie once exclaimed “how lucky we are!” They spent their days in cafes and vinyl shops after 20min of voice-over work (which pays very well). they did what they loved best, writing and acting together!
and of course talking about Fry always somehow leads me to his reproduced letter in Moab Is My Washpot which contains the immortal words “I tell you now that everything I feel now, everything I am now is truer and better than anything I shall ever be. Ever.” Fry wrote this when he was 16 and deeply unhappy.
I am not deeply unhappy, but if i may say so myself, i am deeply troubled. And every time I read these words, I am destroyed. Stephen Fry, over all these years, has always been so real, so authentic, so loyal to his feelings – whatever they may be. He never shied away from his self as he sees himself.
I, on the other hand, never allow myself to be so unguarded. every moment of my life is planned – by me! I never allow myself to wander. this is exhausting, and yet the fear of anticipation is too great to bear…
feeling slightly renewed. i rewatched season 2 of the UK Office before i went to bed, which wasn’t the most uplifting thing to do. it still rattles me how good of an actor Gervais used to be – back when he didn’t depend on disabled “fellas” for jokes. anyway, the pilot for his new show “Derek” is reminiscent of his old style, endearing, true, and relatable – so hopefully that turns out to be compelling.
I have a crap load of stuff to handle at work right now, due to the fact that no one bothered looking after the receivables whilst I was away.
still, i must and shall dedicate at least 3 hours of my day to rereading Descartes, Hume and Plato tonight. I MUST I MUST I MUST!
My Dad formatted his PC, which I’d just redone for him a couple of days ago. He accidentally deleted his internet and sould drivers – so yup, that’s on my to-do list tonight as well.
Hurrah~ not.
On a brighter note, I got my friend COMPLETELY OBSESSED with Sherlock (the BBC adaptation) and now she’s surviving by actually reading the original ACD stories!! I’m so proud!
the round headed wonder
I was listening to one of my audio regulars when I realized Karl Pilkington is one of the obsessions I haven’t made remarks upon. It’s difficult to qualify him. He isn’t a comedian but he’s the funniest person I know. He isn’t educated but his observations make you stop and wonder why you haven’t thought of them before. He’s an enigma, and he has no clue why people are fascinated with him. It’s precisely this unconcerned, “un-celebratized” air that he has (seriously, he’s for real) that endears him to all his fans. Heck, he makes the current Ricky Gervais (one of his best pals) tolerable (when they are together)
My obsession started when I was searching for “english podcasts” on itunes. There were a ton of results, ranging from the Stephen Fry ones (which, of course, I already possessed) to grammar ones and, most importantly, this.
Now, you know I can’t turn down anything that has to do with the English – and seeing its outrageous high rating/popularity didn’t hurt. So I clicked – anticipating a quirky discussion on why the English are awesome. incredibly enough (and luckily enough) I had no idea that these were comedic podcasts – the description (from Audible) was cute and whimsical:
Publisher’s Summary
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LENGTH56 mins
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AUDIBLE RELEASE DATE20/04/2009
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PUBLISHER
The Ricky Gervais Guide to… THE ENGLISH.
In celebration of St. George’s Day, this last episode in the present series focuses on the English – their culture, history, and how they are perceived internationally.
Join Ricky Gervais, Steve Merchant, and Karl Pilkington as they take tea, maintain a stiff upper lip and generally comport themselves as fine examples of the Bulldog Breed.
In this episode: Karl harks back to halcyon days; Ritzy crackers; the archetypal Englishman; weddings; Karl on cafe culture; help the aged; Ricky’s royal etiquette; dung beetles and dead badgers; fair play and the crossbow; dragon slaying and tongue-grabbing; Steve’s spectacles; and Ricky reads a Brooke.
For your listening pleasure: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/audio/2010/apr/23/ricky-gervais-podcast
So I listened. I was pretty confused why Ricky was so hostile towards this Karl dude (esp the infamous ORANGE HEAD intro), who seemed pretty laid back and was just taking all this crap. Maybe it’s because I am also somewhat of a self-professed weirdo, but I was sort of nodding my head with some of the stuff Karl was saying. Anyway, by the end, I was hooked – and I started to listen to Season One of the show (the guides happened after 5 seasons) – those were even better – my favorite segment till now has always been “KARL PILKINGTON’S DIARY”. It’s the combination of the funniest non-happenings, Steve’s dead-pan delivery, and Ricky’s screams of laughter that makes it hilarious.
As is per my habit, I devoured the podcasts in less than a week and began scouring for more. It wasn’t until I found the XFM (a London alternative music radio station) shows that I became a devotee. These are recordings of this weekly radio show that Ricky did immediately following the first season of The Office (oh, Tim). Karl was the producer (responsible for “pressin’ the buttons an- that”) and wasn’t even suppose to be on-air. But over time, Ricky became obsessed with Karl’s strange and fantastic outlook on life and began to drag him into the on-air conversations. The rest, of course, is history.
Most fans agree that the latter half of XFM Show 1 and the first half of XFM Show 2 are the funniest things they’ve ever heard. I have loved them for 2 years now and though I know every episode like the back of hand, they never fail to cheer me up.
It’s difficult to find just one clip to represent the trio is so amazing, so I am going to be self-indulgent and pick a few of the classics:
Karl’s Diary: the Inauguration
Suzanne’s (Karl’s longterm partner) Birthday!
You Never See An Old Man Eatin’ A ___________
And we end with the Man himself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz0DKtWl-Eo
How about you guys? Any favorites?
3woodlandcreatures 