June 2024

Sasquatch Sunset (2024)

Y'know, I like a good challenge - I had heard the notorious whispers from Sundance claiming Sasquatch Sunset to be 'the one'. The one that caused the walk- outs. The one that was 'borderline unwatchable'. The one with 'THAT' in it: equipped with my most morbid of curiosities, I cautiously took my seat...

And I think I understand the repulsion: Sasquatch Sunset revels in the bone-headed, 'Jackass'-esque philosophy of appealing to one's inner primal, Neanderthalic amusements. It's a constant, (literal) orgy of grunts, wails, slapstick and...*ahem*...'bodily excretions'. 'Not for everyone' is perhaps an apt label. But wading through the scatological streams lies something oddly humanist; it's the aforementioned primitive nature of this big-footed clan's escapades and ecosystems that's endearingly zen-like and honestly kind of sweet.

A truly intriguing oddity that I think I could only recommend to the truest, most hardcore 'squatch heads out there.

Smiling Friends: Season 2

I remember hearing about the Smiling Friends pilot back in April 2020, and I honestly thought it was a joke - No way this was real! The internet animators who practically warped the brain chemistry of my Oney-quoting, Nostalgia Critic obsessed, 'Game Grumps-on-an-IPod touch' watching 13 year old self on ACTUAL television?! That child's mind would have been blown to bits.

Whilst not all episodes of this newest season hit, the creative step-up through the multimedia techniques and grander animation, as well as the influx of improv- styled exchanges, further develops and refines the show's brilliantly absurdist identity. It already feels classically 'Adult Swim', with a singular goal, devoid of any real meaning, of simply making people laugh.

Alan's landlord is the funniest thing I've seen in quite a while.