Netflix Picks of the Month Club

The team at my agency Tribal Worldwide recently started a Netflix Picks of the Month Club. Well, this is my month and just for fun, I thought I'd share my picks.

Better Off Ted, 2009

Okay, Let’s start off with a great little TV series that’s totally binge-able over the course of a single weekend. This show only lasted two seasons, but that’s a good thing… because it’s nearly perfect. If you dig Arrested Development, you’ll absolutely love this quirky satire on climbing the corporate America ladder. 

Shut Up and Play The Hits, 2012

Even if you aren’t a fan of the electronic beats of LCD Soundsystem, this beautifully shot rockumentary chronicling their final concert at Madison Garden is simply infectious. Put it on the big screen, crank the volume, and this one pulls you in like a tractor beam. If you don’t believe me, watch its epic trailer like right now.

Unbreakable, 2000

Since someone already swiped my first pick of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, I’ll just go with straight up Unbreakable… M. Night’s best and ONLY re-watchable movie. This is easily one of the greatest superhero movies ever made and features a pre-Avengers, pre-Capital One Samuel L. Jackson in one of his coolest roles. And after you finish it, check out Patton Oswalt’s in-depth pitch for the sequel.

The Trip, 2010

This dramedy is a very English take on the classic roadtrip-buddy flick genre. Think of it as Tommy Boy with British-trained theatre actors who consume fine foods, traverse the rolling hills of Northern England, and enjoy educated conversation, all the while making you fall on the floor laughing. 

Harold & Maude, 1971

Alright, now for the coup de gras. This is one of those movies that from time to time will make you the smartest person in the room. It’s a beyond quirky cult-classic love story between equally strange peeps who are generations apart from one another in age. See a young Bud Cort (a.k.a. the bond company stooge in The Life Aquatic) drive one of the most iconic cars on film (a Jaguar hearse) to the best soundtrack ever… completely scored by none other than Cat Stevens himself.

Fictional Seinfeld Movie Posters

One of my favorite running gags on Seinfeld has always been the awesome and hysterical fictional movies the gang would go see. Apparently NextMovie and Old Red Jalopy brought a handful of these imaginary masterpieces to life through a series of modern movie posters. Click on any of the sets below to enlarge.

Back to the Knight Rider

When it all boils down to it, this blog is all about intersections. Here's a perfect example of movies, TV and cars colliding. It's a legit redux of Back to the Future meets Knight Rider. Enjoy.

A Hundred and Three 'Arrested' Jokes

The doods at Struck have burned the midnight oil to crank out an ode to Arrested just in time for Netflix's Season 4 launch. Love it.

Top 10 Favorite Cartoons

I've found myself spending way too much time at work talking about vintage cartoons with this guy and it's lead to me thinking about all the cartoons that have influenced me the most over the years. No, as much as I love 'em, you won't find Ren & Stimpy, Beavis and Butt-head or even The Simpsons on this list. This list's all about those cartoon series of yesteryear that were action-packed with after-school awesomeness.

10. Battle of the Planets (a.k.a. G-Force: Guardians of Space)
This was the first series I can remember watching and simply being in awe. I was about 6 years-old when I saw this and I vowed never to watch Sesame Street again.

9. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
Here's a little factoid that I totally know just off the cuff. He-Man is actually half Earthling, have Eternian. His mother was a human astronaut who crash landed on Eternia.

8. Speed Racer
Thank goodness for Nick at Nite. They brought this oldie-but-goodie back right at the age for me to still find it both ironic and awesome.

7. Animaniacs
This is the odd ball of the bunch, but you can't deny the greatness of Wakko's constant Ringo Starr impression, Yakko's incredible Nations of the World song and don't forget—this is the show that brought the world Pink and the Brain, Narf!

6. Robotech
I discovered Robotech at far too young of an age and I knew it even at that time... and that's one of the reasons I loved it. It was one of my first real brushes with a pure anime-style and its more mature themes made me feel super smart and cool at such a young age.

5. Voltron: Defender of the Universe
Before a single Power Ranger ever danced across a screen, there was Voltron. Now, I'm not talking about the crazy vehilce-based version. I'm talking about the straight up robeast-shreading mega-droid made up of freaking robo-lions. Let's go Voltron Force!

4. G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
When the ultimate action figure finally got its own afternoon cartoon, you better believe I was all in. But let's just set a few things straight: Destro > Cobra Commander, Lady Jay > Scarlett and of course Snake Eyes > Storm Shadow.

3. Transformers
Transformers were the perfect TV show/toy combination. These things were awesome. It's like a Hot Wheel that becomes an action figure?! Gobots were essentially the same thing and came out about the same time, but it was the Transformers cartoon with its epic characters, stellar theme song and unforgettable transforming sound effect that set it apart.

2. Thundercats
Thundercats probably has the craziest premise of any action cartoon ever. I'm mean, just read the show's plot on its Wikipedia page. It sounds like it should be a horrendous show. But I loved it. I dunno if it was the fact that Cheetara was the hottest cartoon babe of her time or that Mumm-Ra is still the most evil cartoon villain ever, but even though this show produced my most dreaded nickname (Snarf!), I full-on recorded episodes on audio cassettes before we got a VCR!

1. Batman: The Animated Series
After Tim Burton's and before Christopher Nolan's the WB released a fantastic, animated version of Batman that's still my fave. It was dark, epic and has to date one of the best Batmobiles ever. When I envision Batman, this is the first version I go to in my mind's eye. Not to mention it reintroduced Mark Hamill again as a cultural icon—voicing an amazing Joker. And that's not an easy task coming from the guy known for kissing his sister and whining the fateful line: "But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!"

Jerry on Porsches

For those of you who don't already follow the amazing Motoring Con Brio blog, check out this fantastic clip of Jerry Seinfeld pontificating about his favorite cars. No clue how I didn't stumble upon this sooner! Great find.

An Open Letter to Netflix

Dear Netflix,

I want to let you know that I support the fact that you recently announced that you need to increase your rates, you have every right to do so. However, due to your serious lack of content on Instant play, you're forcing a digital-forward guy like myself to go back in time and use discs again. I don't get it. Would it not make more sense to give folks who want to be fully streaming a way to supplement your extreme lack of streaming content via discs without having to have two full, separate and equally-expensive plans?

The choice to separate these plans is a clear step backwards in the way I live my digital life style. In the past, I've converted many friends to your service, mainly due to how progressive you've been. I can no longer claim that, I will no longer refer you and it honestly saddens me. In fact, this act has forced me (one of your past tried and true brand evangelists) to sincerely apologize to multiple recent referrals who made large scale hardware investments and content service changes (at my behest) based on your previous set up. It really put me in quite an embarrassing position.

In September, we will only be accessing the disc delivery portion of your services because we love exceptional content. We've very much enjoyed many of the docs, foreign films and TV programming you have on Instant, however we like great, mainstream flicks as well. So you have relegated us to discs yet again. Please figure out a way for a digital-forward customer like me (who has an iPhone and an iPad and also loves exceptional quality content with access to anything and everything) to use all of your services without enrolling in separately managed programs that do not currently equal one another in quality of selection.

Just let me be clear. I (and probably everyone else out there) get that your rates will inevitably go up over time. I do not have issue with that. But again, due to your overwhelming lack of quality content on Instant play, you are currently not in a position to separate your plans (as though they are equal to one another) and attempt to position it as a benefit to me. It's actually a massive inconvenience.

Here's a quick take-it-or-leave-it suggestion: if you have to separate the two plans for structural reasons or whatever, fine. But for those of us who want and use both services in order to supplement each other, give us a slight discount for using both. It would seriously help soften the blow of a price increase in these bleak economic times.

One final thought. Just be awesome. If you strive to look at your customer and PR choices through the lens of 'awesomeness' you won't run into this type of bizzaro snafu again. Cuz let's be brutally honest here, this recent announcement is not awesome.

Sincerely,

Kyality

TRON: Uprising Trailer

Digging the trailer for the new Disney animated series TRON: Uprising starring voice talents of Elijah Wood, Mandy Moore and none other than Paul Rubens! Looks like a great combo CGI and some traditional character animation.

The King of Cool Commercial

Even the King of Cool did commercials. Awesome music by the way.
(via Monoscope)

Kyality-Style Christmas

Well, we just had ourselves another Kyality-Style Christmas that included everything from reading material to musk. Mrs. Kyality added to my Design Museum set with Fifty Chairs That Changed the World and even though I love the packaging of Kenneth Cole's Vintage Black, the original Black is a far tamer scent. And apparently she's cool with me learning how to mix the perfect Old Fashion thanks to Mad Men: The Illustrated World. I'd just prefer to mix a Root Nog instead. Merry Christmas everyone and thanks for reading.

Is Ted Better Off Dead?

As many of you know, Mrs. Kyality and I have forfeited cable for a sweet combo of Hulu and Netflix and based on some key recommendations, we started watching Better Off Ted on Netflix Instant. After two short seasons, ABC pulled what was easily one of the smartest, funniest sitcoms on TV. But in a massive marketing blunder, barely anyone had ever even heard of Ted prior to it being cancelled.

We just finished both seasons and literally started them over again. Why, you ask? No missteps. Due to being cancelled prematurely—Ted falls into the honorable camp of shows like The (British) Office and Extras. It's short, but tighter than tight. Granted we would have loved some real closure, nevertheless Ted was never subjected to an off-the-rails season. Its cancellation guaranteed it a flawless record.

Think about this season of The (American) Office—sure there are funny little moments—but the story arc feels completed. And you watch new episodes thinking, haven't I seen this one before? The idea of the decade-long sitcom is better off dead. Some argue LOST was too long, and some say not long enough. At least JJ and crew fought for a solid ending and won, or else we'd still be wondering what that black smoke's all about.

So check out Better Off Ted, or even buy the complete series when it comes out on DVD. Watch it. Gift it. It won't disappoint. Ted rightfully deserves a place on your shelf right next to your copies of Arrested.

Diablo vs. Kyle... Chandler, that is

This is a must-see interview for any FNL fan. I pre-apologize for some of the language—still, it's a fantastic clip. Thanks to Mike Arauz for posting this one.

Top 10 Favorite Seinfeld Episodes

10. The Soup Nazi - Season 7, Episode 6

"Jambalaya!" - Newman

9. The Comeback - Season 8, Episode 11

"Well, the jerk store called, and they're running outta you." - George

8. The Jimmy - Season 6, Episode 19

"George is getting upset!" - George

7. The Race - Season 6, Episode 10

"I choose not to run!" - Jerry

6. The Dinner Party - Season 5, Episode 13

"Look to the cookie, Elaine. Look to the cookie." - Jerry

5. The Pool Guy - Season 7, Episode 8

"Why don't you just tell me the name of the movie you've selected." - Kramer

4. The Chicken Roaster - Season 8, Episode 8

"Is someone there? Mr. Marbles?" - Jerry

3. The Puerto Rican Day Parade - Season 9, Episode 20

"This time, advantage Varnsen!" - Jerry

2. The Strike - Season 9, Episode 10

"No, please! Denim Vest! He's smoothing it!" - Elaine

1. The Little Jerry - Season 8, Episode 11

"It's chestnut with auburn highlights!" - Elaine

My Photo-A-Day Tumblr Experiment

I have a pretty substantial hobby collecting what I think are pretty cool pictures from online. And of late, I've become a fan of some sweet Tumblr photo-blogs. Some of my faves are ryjohnson, Convoy and Please Don't Shake Me. So with all that in mind, I've decided to start my own simple, little Tumblr photo-blog. I plan on posting a photo each day and in true Kyality fashion they'll be pics about music, movies, tv, cars and design. You can follow the imagery action at: kyality.tumblr.com

Enjoy!

Top 10 Favorite TV Cars

While developing my Top 10 Favorite Movie Cars list, I noticed that tons of movie cars started as TV cars, which inspired the list below. Enjoy!

10. "The Monkeemobile" 1966 GTO convertible - The MonkeesMy dad, Normality, always talks about seeing this one in person as a kid. That kinda thing sticks with you.

9. "Crockett's Ferrari" 1986 Ferrari Tesstarossa - Miami Vice
Growing up, I wasn't allowed to watch Miami Vice so this car always had some mystique surrounding it. Not to mention, it has a way cool rear view mirror.

8. "B.A. Baracus' Van" 1983 GMC G-Series - The A-Team
A kidnapper van never looked so cool.

7. The Jon Voight Car 1989 Chrysler LeBaron Convertible - Seinfeld
"Everybody's talkin' at me, Can't hear a word they're sayin' [George improvises] Just drivin' around in Jon Voight's car…"

6. "KITT" 1982 Pontiac Trans Am - Knight Rider
Now if this car woulda just shut up, it might have made my top 5.

5. "Mr. Bean's Mini" 1977 MK IV Mini 1000 - Mr. Bean
Yes, I want a padlock on my Clubman.

4. "The General Lee" 1969 Dodge Charger - The Dukes of Hazzard
Way cooler than Starsky's Tornio—I'm mean who needs doors that actually open?

3. "The Mach 5" - Speed Racer
Best Speed Racer quote: "If we crash The Mach 5, I can't win!"

2. 1983 Ferrari 308 GTS - Magnum, P.I.
You're only allowed to drive these things if you have a mustache.

1. "The Batmobile" 1955 Lincoln Futura concept - Batman
Holy mother of all TV cars Batman!

The Book of LOST

In the beginning there was Jack. Ever since I started this blog, thoughts and updates on LOST have been a fairly standard feature. Well, the end of an era is upon us and I thought it'd be nice to take a look at the series finale and what it meant for the show as whole. Don't continue beyond this point if you're still a potential watcher of the finale or a hater of it in general.

In regard to the finale, the dialog was fantastic—Hurley and Sawyer were cracking me up. Desmond was in full force, and I got my "I'll see you in another life brother!" even though it was delivered by Jack. It was fantastic to see Jack and Kate do a bit of tongue wrestling. And you had to love the Jack super punch.

As for what it told us about the show on the whole, I loved that the island and everything that happened on it was in fact real. There really was a magic island in the middle of the Pacific, period. I thought it was a totally intriguing and bold twist to make the show overtly religious. I loved that it was all about Jack and his, for lack of a better term, eternal progression. And I loved that in true LOST-ian fashion we didn't get all the answers—in fact, I felt it was telling us that it's not the little details that matter in the eternal scheme of things.

It seems to me that in the end, LOST was more or less a parable for life and I get that not everyone got it or liked it. Isn't that what a parable is all about anyway?

Hulu’s Taking Over the World (And I Feel Fine)

As of this past January TV season, Mrs. Kyality and I have completely switched over to watching shows online. Yes, we’re still dual-wielding our Bluetooth Might Mouse and Apple Remote from the couch. But other than LOST, which is exclusively shown through ABC’s very nice Full Episode Player, we watch ALL of our shows on Hulu. These currently include: The Office, 30Rock, 24, our guilty pleasure Chuck and of course FNL—or for the uninitiated—Friday Night Lights.

Though I love the quality picture of the ABC Player, I’ve gotta admit that I just feel cool watching shows on Hulu. The interface is extremely well designed, the ads are pretty unobtrusive and don’t require me to initiate the show or choose fullscreen when they’re done and best of all they apparently take requests!

Yep, that’s right. Hulu staffs a very cool, approachable and quick-to-reply customer service team. Over the Christmas break I was stoked to watch a ton of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe with the Kyality Kids. They totally loved it so it got me thinking about the afternoon cartoons I loved as a kid, classics such as Thundercats, Robotech, Galaxy Rangers (not Power Rangers mind you), The Bionic Six and of course Voltron: Defender of the Universe. So I fired off an email to feedback@hulu.com and let’s just say that now the Kyality Kids totally love to get their “Boltron” on.

Just the other night as Mrs. Kyality and I sat down to watch our weekly installment of Friday Night Lights—which as Upto12 has skillfully noted is beyond exceptional this season—I instinctively typed “FNL” into Hulu’s search field… I got nuthin. Now I knew that if I typed in “SNL” it’d quickly connect me to their ample supply of Saturday Night Live content. I fired an email off to my good ol’ friends at the feedback desk asking them to index FNL so I can get my Riggins fix as fast humanly possible. The very next day I got a personal response:

Hi Kyality,
Good call--I have asked our search team to index that abbreviation. Should be
active in the next day or so.
Thanks,
Eugene
Hulu

The result… just last week as we went to watch the Dillon Panthers’ season closer, without thinking I once again instinctively typed “FNL” into the Hulu search field and to my surprise and delight it instantly brought me to their full Friday Night Lights line-up. Booyah. Yeah, feel free to thank me for that one. Bottom line, if Hulu’s planning to take over the world, go ahead and count me in. Now if only they could somehow make Parks and Recreation a way cooler show, I’d be set. Maybe I’ll email them that… “Dear Hulu-ers, Can you please make Parks and Recreation as awesome as we all thought it would be? Love, Kyality” Okay, it’s sent!

In The Not Too Distant Future.

When I was a kid, I’d seriously get giddy about flicks or shows that began with the subtitle, “In the not too distant future.” They were always movies that tended to have really cool vehicles and plenty of action. Today I’m here to say that the not too distant future is the here and now. I’m talking about the launch of Hulu.com.

Hulu is a joint web venture between some of the biggest networks and studios to deliver free, ad-supported content of you favorite shows and flicks with none of the guilt of watching ripped content. I’m literally watching the series premiere of Airwolf while I write this post. I haven’t seen the adventures of Stringfellow Hawke and his supersonic chopper since I was about 13 years old—and even those were reruns on the USA Network. Yet here I am, watching it for free with a fullscreen option.

I can honestly say if it wasn’t for people yappin’ about LOST the very next day, I’d never buy cable television again. Thanks to our 24-in iMac, which is just about the same size as our TV set, Mrs. Kyality and I have been plowing through the first 2 seasons of Friday Night Lights online. Yes, we're officially Panthers. And I’ve become a pro at sitting back on our couch and dual-wielding a Mighty Mouse and an Apple Remote. Unfortunately, when watching shows online, you can’t navigate single-handedly with just the remote as you can when in Apple’s Front Row app.

Wouldn’t it be sweet if the Apple Remote had a little scroll ball embedded in it that simply controlled your mouse movement? Ya know, just like a Mighty Mouse. In fact, they could call it a Mighty Mote. Check out my awesome Photoshop skillz:

Pretty good idea, huh. Eat your heart out Jony Ive!

If Anything Goes Wrong Desmond Is My Constant.

So I figured it out. Yep, that’s right. I’ve got it all figured out. Let’s just say that it’s all about Desmond—and he’s been sent to “save” everyone. Well I've done some research and apparently this is a sneak peek at the LOST season finale:

I’m kidding. This is however Henry Ian Cusick playing Christ in 2003’s The Gospel of John. Anyone who’s kept up with LOST Season 4 knows: so far—so, so, so good. But this week, they upped the ante yet again with another mind-blowing, Desmond- centered episode. I won’t give anything away, but needless to say, it once again confirms that Desmond is without a doubt my absolute fave LOST character. I've mentioned this before, but Desmond is just smooth—Jesus hair and all.

But seriously, are Damon and crew taking the Messiah route with Desmond or what? I mean, he’s basically immortal, he can foresee the future, he’s got tons of brotha-ly love, and I’ll admit, sometimes I do find myself asking: What would Desmond do?

If for some reason you haven’t been soaking in the Season 4 goodness, get with the picture and catch up with ABC.com’s Full Episode Player. And remember: WWDD?

Red Porsche Is My Maroon Golf.

On May 14, 1998, the nation united to watch the much anticipated series finale of the show about nothing, Seinfeld. About 4 minutes into the finale, I knew that for me the real series final had actually aired one week earlier, on May 7th. In my opinion “The Puerto Rican Day” was the last genuine Seinfeld episode and the true series finale. This episode featured each of the characters at their finest—even Kal Varnsen, H.E. Pennypacker, and Art Vandelay made appearances. This episode also introduced one final nemesis to Jerry and his Black Saab: Maroon Golf.

This episode introduced a new concept to me, the combining of driver and vehicle to become a single entity. Maroon Golf was the combination character of a vehicle (a maroon VW Golf) and a driver (in this case, comedian Mario Joyner). From that point on, I’ve designated my share of freeway foes in a similar fashion. And for the past couple of weeks the same dude has pestered me nearly every day: Red Porsche.

First let me say that his vanity plate is the biggest oxymoron ever: UNDRADR. Pa-leeze Red Porsche! Seriously, you couldn’t be more over radar here in good old West Jordie. Other than the inaccurate license plate, Red Porsche is actually a fairly competent archrival. I mean, the guy’s a decent driver, he understands the rules of engagement for a quality game of cat and mouse, and our cars are fairly comparable performance-wise.

So on Thursday last week, I once again encountered Red Porsche on the way into work. I made sure I was right behind him as we merged on to the freeway. As soon as he was on the open road, he took off. Now there’s no way for a 2006 Cooper S to catch even a 1989 Carrera in a 0 to 60 scenario, or in this case a 45 to 85 scenario. But I’m patient, highly maneuverable, and I know that to succeed in a freeway game of cat and mouse—you’ve got to think of it like chess. You play 3 moves ahead.

Basically, I just drove pretty normal, using stratagem with each lane change. We exchanged leads a couple times. I knew all I needed to do was be about a car length away before “the curves”. Meanwhile, Red Porsche, made some clumsy moves and ended up behind a delivery truck putting him in perfect position for an old fashion smack down. As we drew nearer to the curves, I was right on his tail. I could tell he was accelerating just a bit too much into the first curve. I on the other hand did the usual: geared down to 5th and let off the gas, then as I entered the turn, and geared down to 4th. We were both in the outside lane. Then right at the sweet spot, I gunned it, changed to the inside lane, and sling-shotted right past him. Booyah.

Oh Red Porsche, when will you learn?

On a side note, Best Buy mislabeled the newly released DVD of Seinfeld’s 9th and final season today. It was supposed to be $29.99 and it was marked as $16.99. I actually brought it to their attention, but the pimple-faced “manager” shrugged and just asked me if I wanted it or not. Booyah.