Pilot Watch: Chozen / Rick and Morty

Quick thoughts on a few new shows I watched last night.  I'm lumping them together since they're both animated.  Beyond that, there's not too many similarities.

Chozen is on FX, paired with Archer, so I thought it might be up my alley since I LOVE Archer.  It's basically about a gay white rapper (one might use the politically incorrect term "wigga" since he says thinks like "errrybody" even though he's very white) voiced by Bobby Moynihan, who I like a lot.  Unfortunately, the character is just annoying and I dunno, even though it's about a gay rapper and no one seems to really notice, comment or care that he's gay, its humor seems more aimed at the kind of guys who like Eastbound and Down and think Kenny Powers is actually someone to emulate.  I loved Eastbound and Down because it took an unlikable character and made him sympathetic.  And I know I only watched one episode of Chozen and as Linda Holmes from NPR always says, "comedies take time."  So I may go back to this one at some point and see if it gets better.  But for now, there's just too much to watch and there wasn't enough in this one to make me want to watch it again.

Rick and Morty, on the other hand, I LOVED.  I think it's up to three episodes and I only watched the pilot, but I will definitely watch more.  It's an Adult Swim show created by Dan Harmon and it is FUNNY.  It's basically about a kid named Morty whose uncle Rick takes him on weird adventures in different worlds and I dunno how else to explain it.  It's WEIRD and delightful and the voice work is really good.  I no longer have a DVR, but if I did, I'd set a series recording for it.

TV watched in 2013

30 Rock
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Almost Human
Alphas
American Horror Story
The Americans
Archer
Arrow
Awkward
Banshee
Bates Motel
The Blacklist
Boardwalk Empire
Bob's Burgers
Breaking Bad
The Bridge
Broadchurch
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Children's Hospital
The Colbert Report
Community
Cougar Town
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Dallas
DaVinci's Demons
Defiance
Downton Abbey
Dr. Who
Eagleheart
Eastbound and Down
Elementary
Enlightened
The Eric Andre Show
The Fades
The Fall
Family Tree
The Following
Fringe
Game of Thrones
Girls
The Good Wife
Graceland
Grimm
Hannibal
Happy Endings
The Heart, She Holler
Hemlock Grove
Homeland
In the Flesh (mini-series)
Inside Amy Schumer
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Justified
Key and Peele
The League
Legit
Lost Girl
Low Winter Sun
Luther
Mad Men
Maron
Masters of Sex
The Mindy Project
Misfits
New Girl
Nikki and Sara Live
NTSF:SD:SUV::
Orange is the New Black
The Originals
Orphan Black
Parenthood
Parks and Recreation
Peep Show
Raising Hope
Ray Donovan
Rectify
Revenge
RuPaul's Drag Race
Scandal
Shameless
Sherlock
Sons of Anarchy
The Soup
South Park
Spartacus
Strike Back
Suburgatory
Suits
Supernatural
Switched at Birth
Teen Wolf
The Tomorrow People
Top of the Lake (mini-series)
Treme
Under the Dome
The Vampire Diaries
Veep
Wilfred
Witches of East End

TV I caught up with this year

Kroll Show (2 episodes) Will continue in 2014
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (1 episode) Will continue in 2014
Black Mirror (2 episodes) Will continue in 2014
The Peter Serafinowicz Show (2 episodes) Will continue in 2014
The In-Betweeners (series 1, about 4 episodes) Will continue in 2014
Southland (season 2) (disc 1)
Southland (season 1)
The O.C. (season 2) (through disc 3)
The Thick of It (season 4)
The O.C. (season 1)
Breaking Bad re-watch
Teen Wolf (season 1-2)
Elementary (season 1)
Arrested Development re-watch (season 1, about 3 episodes)
Banshee (season 1)
Suits (season 2)
Suits (season 1)

Book Read 2013

Here's a list of all the books I read in 2013.  100 in total, 6 I'd read before.  And 2 I only read about half of, so maybe that should be 99 books?  Meh.

Favorites:
And the Mountains Echoed / Khaled Hosseini
Beautiful Chaos / Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Beautiful Creatures / Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Beautiful Darkness / Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Beautiful Redemption / Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
City of Ashes / Cassandra Clare
City of Bones / Cassandra Clare
City of Fallen Angels / Cassandra Clare
City of Glass / Cassandra Clare
Curtsies and Conspiracies / Gail Carriger
Double Feature / Owen King
Etiquette and Espionage / Gail Carriger
Fangirl / Rainbow Rowell
Let's Pretend This Never Happened / Jenny Lawson
Paddle Your Own Canoe: one man's fundamentals for delicious living / Nick Offerman
The Revolution Was Televised: The Cops, Crooks, Slingers, and Slayers Who Changed TV Drama Forever / Alan Sepinwall
Save Yourself / Kelly Braffet

Disappointments:
The Demonologist / Andrew Pyper
Reviver / Seth Patrick (Didn't live up to the intriguing premise)
The Woods are Dark / Richard Laymon (In the top 5 of the most unpleasant books I've ever read)

Didn't finish:
The Flamethrowers / Rachel Kushner (read about half)
Tenth of December / George Saunders (about half)

The rest:
99 Percent Perspiration / Jef Mallett
A Fistful of Charms / Kim Harrison
A Game of Thrones / George R.R. Martin (re-read)
Angel and Faith, vol. 2
Astonishing X-Men, vol. 1-4 / Joss Whedon
Buffy TVS, season 9, Vol. 2
Cold Days / Jim Butcher
Crap Kingdom / DC Pierson
Dead Ever After / Charlaine Harris
Dead Witch Walking / Kim Harrison
DeadSet / Richard Kadrey
Dexter's Final Cut / Jeff Lindsay
Die Trying / Lee Child
Divergent / Veronica Roth
Doctor Sleep / Stephen King
Every Which Way But Dead / Kim Harrison
Evil at Heart / Chelsea Cain
The Fault in Our Stars / John Green
The Girl Next Door / Jack Ketchum
The God Engines / John Scalzi
The Good, the Bad, and the Undead / Kim Harrison
Hater / David Moody
Heartsick / Chelsea Cain
House of Mystery, vol. 1 / Matthew Sturges
The Howling / Gary Brandner (re-read)
The Howling 2 / Gary Brandner (re-read)
The Howling 3 / Gary Brandner (re-read)
I Can Barely Take Care of Myself / Jen Kirkman
In the Woods / Tana French
Joyland / Stephen King
Kill You Twice / Chelsea Cain
Kinsey and Me / Sue Grafton
Let Me Go / Chelsea Cain
The Likeness / Tana French
The Madness Underneath / Maureen Johnson
Messy / Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
The Morels / Christopher Hacker
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore / Robin Sloan
The Name of the Star / Maureen Johnson
The Night Season / Chelsea Cain
NOS4A2 / Joe Hill
Night Film / Marisha Pessl
The Ocean at the End of the Land / Neil Gaiman
The Passage / Justin Cronin (re-read)
Planetary vol. 4 / Warren Elllis
Ship of Magic / Robin Hobb
Sweetheart / Chelsea Cain
Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made / Stephan Pastis
Transmetropolitan, vol. 3-10 / Warren Ellis
The Twelve / Justin Cronin
Unbreakable / Kami Garcia
The Unwritten, vol. 1-2 / Mike Carey
W is for Wasted / Sue Grafton
The Waking Dark / Robin Wasserman
Walkers / Gary Brandner (re-read)
Walkers / Graham Masterton
Wanted / Mark Millar
Witches of East End / Melissa De La Cruz
Y the Last Man, vol. 1-10 / Brian K Vaughan

Movies 2013

Movies I watched in 2013

I watched 114 movies in 2013.  Holy Crapola.  I only watched 25 last year.  Movies in bold with asterisks are the ones I saw in the theater.  YES.  I only saw 5 movies in the theater.  And one was Admission.  IT WAS HUBBIE'S CHOICE.  (And it was cute.  Forgettable, but cute.  Not worth spending 20 bucks on, but cute.)

5 stars
M

4 1/2 stars
It Happened One Night
Pitch Perfect

4 stars
A Face in the Crowd
Argo
Behind the Candelabra
Dial M For Murder
Django Unchained
Epitaph
Gilda
Higher Ground
The Innkeepers
*Iron Man 3
Magic Mike
Much Ado About Nothing (2012)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Road House
The Sessions
Skyfall
Stoker
The Third Man
*Thor: The Dark World
*The Wolverine
*The World's End
You're Next

3 1/2 stars
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage 
Castle Freak
Four Flies on Grey Velvet
The Fury
John Hodgman: Ragnarok
Killer Joe
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Men in Black 3
Paranorman
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) 
Pusher
Pusher 2: With Blood on My Hands
Red Riding: 1983
Scanners
Source Code
Tango and Cash
Valhalla Rising
Videodrome
The Woman in Black

3 stars
21 Jump Street
Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter
*Admission 
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane
The Apartment
The Campaign
Child's Play 2
Chronicle
Cold Prey 2
The Dark Knight Rises
Dead and Buried
Demons
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010)
Dredd
Empire Records
Final Destination 5
Hard Target
Horrible Bosses
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
Lockout
Magnum Force
Mama
Maniac Cop
The Manitou 
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Moonrise Kingdom
Night of the Demons
Opera
Parnormal Activity 4
Premium Rush
Rabid
Red 2
Red Riding: 1974
Red Riding: 1980
Return of the Living Dead 3
Rob Delaney: Live at the Bowery Ballroom
Safety Not Guaranteed
Seven Psychopaths
Shadow of a Doubt
Singin' in the Rain
Ted
This is the End
We Need to Talk About Kevin
While You Were Sleeping
White House Down
Zoltan ... Hound of Dracula


2 1/2 stars
Beyond the Door
Demons 2
Don't Torture a Duckling
The Gate
The Lady EveLes Miserables
Looper
Maria, Full of Grace
National Treasure
Sharknado
Star Trek Into Darkness
Tommy Boy

2 stars
The Beyond 
Child's Play 3
Curse of Chucky
The Dark Crystal
Frozen(2010)
Killing Them Softly
Puppetmaster
The Raid: Redemption 
Real Steel
Side Effects

1 star
House of 1,000 Corpses

1/2 stars
Sleepaway Camp 2