In which we tell you about awesome things that you must look into and enjoy.

WATCH BURNING LOVE

There’s no denying the Internet, and its forms of entertainment are here to stay. There’s also no denying most web series are not great. Burning Love shoves that opinion down your pants, simultaneously up your butt while giving you a heege. It’s set up exactly like the Bachelor, except it’s purposefully funny. Currently there are three seasons online, and the first season airing on E. It’s a who’s who in comedy including Ken Marino (whose wife created the show), Michael Ian Black, June Diane Raphael, Natasha Leggero, Joe LaTruglio, Adam Scott, Rob Huebel, and an insane amount more. If they’ve shown up on Party Down or Childrens’ Hospital, there’s a good chance they’re on this show. The episodes clock in around 9-13 minutes, which is the perfect dose. And on top of that, it somehow makes you actually care about the results. How could Mark/Julie actually kick that person off? It’s crazy. This is what a spoof should be. And the season 3, Burning Down the House, takes the little world they’ve built and kicks up the insanity to a thing of beauty.

Watch if you like: the State, Reno 911, Party Down, Arrested Development, Comedy -MG

READ OCTOPUS PIE

I always was a fan of comic strips in the newspaper growing up (though, honestly, if you’re not Calvin and Hobbes or The Boondocks, GTFO.)  But the Internet has really given comic writers some well-deserved elbow room in terms of their story-telling and expression; they now have control over print size (or computer users can simply enlarge a page on their browser so they’re not stuck reading shitty chicken scratch); long-form stories that span more than one entry are now much easier to catch up on; and they’re not bound by size, length, or censorship regulations of any newspaper publication.

Octopus Pie, a comic strip by Meredith Gran concerning twenty-somethings in NYC, is easily something I could have connected with were it in a newspaper during the 90s (although the swearing and occasional nipple would have been absent.)  Roommates Eve and Hannah work as an organic grocer and a baker/major pothead, respectively.  It sounds like hipster-central, but don’t worry, it’s genuine.  As the comic has matured, the storylines continue to deal with more serious subject matter–like friendships becoming unrecognizable, depression, emptiness–without losing its humor.  It can get a little navel-gazey at times, but it’s earnest about the themes it explores, and the writing is never out of its depth.  As a cartoonist, Gran has this hard-to-explain gift where the way she draws something–whether it’s a face close-up, or a certain way of shadowingt can make certain pieces of dialog breathtakingly intimate.  She also, without fail, has some pretty hilarious faces in basically every entry.  Give it a read at octopuspie.com.  (And start from the beginning.)-EW