Turtle's Tips: Bizarre web show

Remember way back when the television writers' strike was going on? We were all lamenting our lack of continuous, fresh media content to digest. Many of us went to the web, where original video content was flowing on a daily basis. A new media era was proclaimed. Television was dead.

Then the strike ended. The networks got their shows back up and running. People returned to the comfort of Two and a Half Men and whatnot.

I'm here to tell you there are still good web series out there. Principally hosted by Blip.tv.

A show that is way under-appreciated is Motherhoodlum. Now in its second season, Motherhoodlum tells the tales of Emily, a pretentious performance artist coping with unexpected parenting and the relationship with her fiance, Marty the accountant. They conceived after their first date.

The main characters are pretty screwed up, but everyone else they encounter are more wacky. There's the sex-and-relationship guru, who sneaks out early as he makes the couple do a relaxation exercise. There's the sought after nanny, who is the one doing the interview, not Emily. There's Emily's desperate sister, who is upset at Emily for discovering her boyfriend is just a con artist using kids as props to score with other women at the playground. Emily has her own problems. She's a compulsive liar and has been kicked out of 5, no 6, different mommy groups.

Here's the most recent episode. It's six minutes long. If you want to start from the beginning of the series, check out the archives. Warning: This episode, as well as many others, feature frank talk about sex and a fair amount of strong language.

A Womb Of One’s Own

• Flash
• | QuickTime
• | iPod

Motherhoodlum is hosted by Offsprung.com, a wonderful parent community that proclaimes "Your life didn't end when theirs began." It was started by writer and occasional Salon contributor Neal Pollock and also hosts Open Salon's Heather Ryan AKA Terrible Mother.

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Turtle's Tips is a semi-regular feature on which I shine the light on some little known art, movie, show, music, food, or anything else under the sun. It's a showcase of what I like.