The Butt Ugly Weblog

Something that passed unnoticed was the 20-year-anniversary of this blog. I started out with a very witty Finnish Hello World -like text:

The quality has been downhill ever since.

However, I'm wondering... Should I arrange some sort of a celebration? Write a memoir entry? Reminisce about "ye goode old days" of blogging when we all knew each other and had those unforgettable monthly orgies? Right now I don't really quite know how to handle this, so if I a) have any readers still left, and 2) they might have some ideas, feel free to pitch them.

A few months ago I asked for some recommendations on quick comedy series to watch, and quite a few people recommended The Good Place. I was a bit sceptical at first, since I in general shy away from religious-themed shows, but after watching a few episodes I ended pretty much binge-watching the whole series. There is just something about mixing philosophy, Molotov coctails, British parties and comedy and the series worked very well for me.

Without spoiling too much, it's great on Season 1, a bit weird on Season 2, the whole Season 3 is a bit of a letdown, and I watched Season 4 in pretty much three helpings. There are some pretty solid actors, with D'Arcy Garden shining through the entire series as Janet, a fairly omnipotent computer who is most definitely not a girl.

The final episode, "Whenever you're ready", was a somber surprise after so much weird and fun, and it feels like something of a completely different series. Instead of being pointy or funny, it was simply quite beautiful. And through comedy and absurdity, we did learn something about the characters and watched them grow, and letting them finally go was... weirdly sad and happy at the same time. I wasn't quite expecting this, but in the end it was all very okay. It's no wonder this episode grabbed both the Nebula and Hugo awards. In fact, the whole series grabbed quite a few nominations in many galas, though surprisingly few wins.

Anyway, two thumbs up. Let me know if there are other comedy series to watch. Criteria: must be a comedy, streamable, episodes 30 mins or less, English/Finnish subtitles please.