Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

This topic is important to me, because it hits close to home. Like the eponymous Doctor, I am a Ph.D. (student), a (karaoke) singer, and a blogger (duh). The only difference is that I'm getting my degree in Biomedical Engineering, not "Horribleness".

Irony is so funny, isn't it? With irony, you can appear to like something, but by virtue of that thing's obvious dearth of like-ability, the very semblance of liking it becomes the source of laughter.

Hence, hipsters.

Doogie Howser, M.D. yielded, if nothing else, an ironic hero in the form of Neil Patrick Harris. He co-starred as himself in the Harold and Kumar movies, a major plot device that is based solely on the fact that Neil Patrick Harris played Doogie Howser in the early 90s.

When it comes to Neil Patrick Harris, the humor is thick like ironic paté, and it need not be anything more.

But somehow, it is.

After a series of bit parts in sitcoms and TV-movies (I'd say his biggest role since the demise of Howser was in Starship Troopers), Harris stormed back to the cultural foreground as Barney on How I Met Your Mother. The character is, dare I say, hilarious, but the writing would fall flat without a suitable actor in the role.

You would know this if you had any taste, because How I Met Your Mother is legen... wait for it... dary. You philis... wait for it... tines.

He also did a funny commercial for Old Spice that you've certainly seen if you've been watching TV, but that's really neither here nor there.

So it turns out that this guy is really talented, and deserving of more credit than as an ironically comical child star. Harold and Kumar treats him like he's Chuck Norris or Gary Coleman... albeit tastefully.

Apparently there's a cult following of Joss Whedon, although I'll confess, I never followed his creations, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any of the spinoffs. Don't you just cringe at the word "Buffy-verse"? Let's presume, though, that Joss Whedon is pretty good at this creativity thing.

These two forces have combined, and the result is thoroughly awesome. Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. It's a 45 minute mini-movie that is primarily a twisted take on the idea of Super Heroes and Super Villains, but is also a love story. And a musical.

It's been released on the internet, and quite for free. I watched it and loved it. You should too.