Curb Your Enthusiasm is the show created for HBO by Larry David after the demise of Seinfeld. David was the co-creator and principal writer of Seinfeld - the character George represented him. It’s concerned with similar subject matter - the kinks in social contracts and the minuitae of realationships. What’s different about it is it dispenses with the norms under which sitcoms are recorded. Principally, it is not filmed before a studio audience. This means no laugh track to prompt the viewers at home and let them know what they are watching. The first time we stumbled across it,in the middle of a hyper-bizzare conversation between Larry and his wife about masturbation, we didn’t know what we were watching, was it a film, a drama or what? It takes a little time to get your bearings without the handrail of other people laughing along, giving you permission to laugh as well.

The lack of a studio audience also means you forego the two principal sets within which almost all the action in regular sitcoms take place. The iconic set - the Cheers bar, the Friends cafe, the Frazier appartment, the Huckstable living room - meant veiwers knew as soon as they came across it channel surfing what they were watching. They were also, of course, very confining. Curb Your Enthusiasm’s action takes place wherever it takes place, anywhere. It liberates the format and gives it a new veneer of reality. It’s not the first show to try this, the excellent Larry Sanders show pioneered the approach of abandoning the studio audience. It was still shot on film on a studio soundstage, using a variety of minor sets as apposed to two major ones. Curb your Enthusiasm is shot on the highly portable DV format which allows them onto the streets recording in a run-and-gun style. Along with The Office in England, these shows seem to suggest the way forward for sitcoms. Trouble is, they haven’t really pulled in the ratings yet as audiences have yet to adjust to the new style.

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LONG LIVE THE KING!

Glam rocker on the edge. Sun God.

Michael Jackson: dickface.

via The Plastic Cat

“As the Secretary General of the United Nations, an organization of the 147 member states who represent almost all of the human inhabitants of the planet Earth. I send greetings on behalf of the people of our planet. We step out of our solar system into the universe seeking only peace and friendship, to teach if we are called upon, to be taught if we are fortunate. We know full well that our planet and all its inhabitants are but a small part of this immense universe that surrounds us and it is with humility and hope that we take this step.”

The pussy. 25 years ago today, Voyager was sent out into an infinite trip to the cosmos with this message, images and sounds from Mother Earth. For a machine launched in the 70’s, the list of music included in the Interstellar Outreach Programme is notable for its lack of prog rock and street funk.

via Napsterites