Reading: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Music: Great Big Sea
TV/Movie: Watchmen
Link o' the Day: Shortpacked!



This Wednesday, The Ogre's Pick looks at Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy

I finally got around to grabbing this a couple of weeks ago. Not on DVD. Not on Blu-Ray, but downloaded from iTunes to play on either my laptop or my iPhone. Half the price of the standard DVD set which, given the overall length of the offerings, seems about right. I think I would have felt ripped off at $20, but I also don't know what extras might have been on the DVD. For around $10 bucks it seemed worth it for just the episodes.

So what is this? If you watch Family Guy, then you're familiar with their habit of frequent side jokes (Manatee jokes as they're sometimes known). These are essentially fifty cutaway gags--but definitely not the sort you could see on TV! Some of them are pretty raunchy. Some, unsurprisingly, challenge the borders of either good taste or political correctness. They're episodes that could only have been aired on the internet which, while not as Wild West as it used it be, is still where the buffalo roam.



So to speak.

They're very much in the vein of Seth MacFarlane/Famly Guy brand humor--just not safe for TV. And like Family Guy, you're either going to love it or hate it. Me? I'm a fan. have been since the very beginning, so these work for me, although the short-attention-span lengths are a little annoying. Average segments last only a minute or two. I'd have liked to have seen more at least five minutes in length with several themed gags strung together (one gag would be stretched too thin for more than a minute).

Highlights? "Super Mario Rescues the Princess," "Jeff Goldblum Wafers," "Die, Sweet Roadrunner, Die," and the many "Things You Never Hear." I probably could have done without "Fred Flintstone Takes a Sh*t" and "Name That Animal Penis!"



Is Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy a recommendation? Only for folks who are already Seth MacFarlane fans. And I mean dedicated fans. Fans sitting on the fence may find themselves jumping off the MacFarlane bandwagon altogether (a shame considering the upcoming Cleveland Show). I'll understand if this doesn't garner MacFarlane any new fans.


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Today's link goes to the David Willis webcomic Shortpacked!. I was trying to describe this to a friend the other night. Essentially, it's a spin-off from Willis's long-running webcomic It's Walky and features a lot of humor for toy fans--particularly Transformer and other Hasbro action figures. Takes place in a toy store. Lots of wacky characters (including a former president). Well worth checking out.

Cheers!