Misfits, but really, it all fits.

I watched the first 10 minutes of this show while on call and the resident I was with said, and I quote, "I have no idea what they are saying, this is stupid, let's go round".  That ended Misfits for me for 6 months.  Then, one day, my world was opened again on a whim to kill an hour.  Three days later I emerged having watched two twelve episode seasons.  I'm not confident I showered in that time.

When I describe this show to others, I say, "think of Heroes and Community mashed together, but better than both".  In the first episode a group of UK kids who are doing community service for minor offenses are caught in a storm and get special powers.  So did everyone else caught in the storm.  You end up with five fuck ups with "special power" (Ok, mutant powers. Give credit where credit is due, all of these shows are just reruns of X-Men*) who end up killing their probation worker and have to hide him.  Drama ensues.  Hilarity ensues.  Hilarious drama ensues.

This show has everything.  Absolutely everything.  It has moments that Breaking Bad and Dexter should be shown so they can understand how to build suspense.  "Oh, I see. Get the audience to believe what the characters believe.  Weird, who knew that would work."  There are stylized episodes that would make Community bow and say, "well done".  There's a Nazi episode, a cult episode, an episode where a guy has a power that makes him think he's in Grand Theft Auto that is so on point with Grand Theft Auto that you would believe the actor they got to play the GTA guy is the actual guy who did the stop-motion for the game.  And yes, of course it has a zombie episode.

It is also fucking hilarious.  The main guy, Nathan (Robert Sheehan of well, absolutely nothing) is one of the funniest on screen actors I have seen.  Remember when you were watching 2 Guys a Girl and a Pizza Place and you were like, "Wow, this show blows. Although...that one guy, he seems to have something special" and that guy turned out to be Ryan Reynolds (regardless of what you think of him now, admit he was good when you first saw him.  Admit it.  Now.  In writing.  Leave a comment.)?  This guy is like that.  His delivery is something special.

The directing is spectacular, the writing is amazing, the characters even better.  Even the theme song is a great Rapture song (Echoes, if you're looking for it) and they have some awesome music in their show.  Fuck, even the cinematography is top notch.

So please, get on hulu, spend 4 days and get caught up on all 3 seasons, and we can have a Misfits party before season 4 comes out.

*Note: And just like X-men and all of these shows, there is some awkward time traveling stuff.  I didn't say every episode was perfect, just that most were.

Bond. James Bond. James F. Bond? Ok maybe it's under something else.

The life of a secret agent is probably a lot more dealing with front desk clerks than shooting people.

"I believe there's a package for me under the name 'Frank Wilson'"
"Ok what kind of package?"
"Um, a package with some stuff in it.  It's under the name 'Frank Wilson', here's my ID and Passport"
"Great, thanks, what kind of package is it? Big? Small? Envelope?"
"Let's say smallish. Maybe heavy.  Or maybe it just has papers in it.  I'm not really sure."
"Who sent it?"
"Um, I'm not actually sure."
"Well what's the return address on it, that's what I'm really asking"
"I...don't really know."
"Well can you check a tracking number, or call the person who maybe sent it, or check an email?"
"No, not really, that was all destroyed."
"Ok, so smallish, maybe heavy package with an unknown return address and the name, 'Frank Wilson' on it.  I'll just go to the back and look through the 300 pieces of mail we receive a day at this depot and see if I can't find it.  Do you have 3 hours?  Also there is a guy in a suit standing behind you who keeps telling me to go ahead into the back, I think he wants to talk to you."

Orwellian anatomy: 198Four ligaments in the knee

I wish textbooks were as interesting as pleasure reading books.  Like I wish Orwell wrote my anatomy text.  It would be like, "the sun poured in through the window and landed gently on her scapula, which is attached to the Manubrium at the sternoclavicular joint, the subtlest of joints."

Step 18 of becoming a doctor, wade through the bullshit

I'm interviewing for residency right now and it's a bizarre process.  I'm applying into neurosurgery and surprise! it is a 7 year, "88" hours a week, 5am to 8pm on an easy day, work your ass off residency.  Turns out people want neurosurgeons to train kinda hard like.

So going through this interview process is a strange trip.  On the one hand, most good applicants get a program in their top 3 choices.  That's pretty comforting.  In fact, by far the most common scenario is to get your number 1 choice.  And more than that, most people like their home institution and their home institution has interviewed them for the 4 years of med school (particularly in neurosurgery where people start from day 1 walking around introducing themselves as, "Hi, I'm JohnI'mgoingtobeaneurosurgeon, what's your name?"), so it's sort of clear that it's a mutually beneficial situation and a bit of a lock.

However, there are political games galore, lying, applied game theory, and tons of horror stories of the "locks" at Home Institution University ending up at Third Best State School in the Region University.  So everyone gets very nervous, no matter how good an applicant and develops a self destructive habit like alcohol abuse or watching Whitney.

A common question at this point is, "well what's wrong with Third Best State School in the Region University, won't you still be a neurosurgeon".  Yes, and likely a well trained one.  Still, 7 years, working that hard with 7 to 21 other people (most programs take 1-3 residents a year) is just not a flippant choice.  It's like trying to pick the best prison for you.  Which penitentiary has the coolest inmates?  Who's the best Warden? Where do they give you the most time for arts and crafts, but still enough time to read?  How much outdoors time do you really get?  You can't switch residencies (or rarely) and you can't speed it up.  At the end of the day, we will all be rehabilitated and ready to re-enter society, but you still want the best prison possible.

Let the games begin!

Let's smoke pot and play computer games

There are some words that are just about impossible to say cooley (like, "cooley").

Try to talk about marijuana and sound cool.

"We are going to go smoke some pot".  Thanks for the update, Baby-boomer.  Let me know how groovy it is and if you guys are going to the Simon and Garfunkel concert later.

"Those guys are going to eat weed brownies".  I hope they get a glass of milk with those and don't stay up too late watching Animaniacs, they have a big homework assignment due at the end of the week.

Using a desktop is another one.

"Let me just write this down on my PC".  Oh right, take whatever time you need to write on your "Personal Computer".  Do you think you can get me a copy with your Dot Matrix Printer, or better yet, Fax it to me.

"I have a desktop".  Cool dude, can't wait to come over and play computer games.  Should I bring a joystick so we can both play Civilization or SimCity 2000?

I've just started saying, "I don't have a mac".  That basically answers people's questions.