(Not So) Clean Fun

A link to a ton of random, but funny, IRC conversations here.

So after I went to the ballet on Saturday night (which was outstanding), I went to see "Knocked Up". Talk about a different plane of entertainment... LOL Anyway, it was funny and I liked, but not nearly as much as I had enjoyed "The 40-Year-Old Virgin". I think Steve Carell really took that movie to another level. Plus, his chemistry with Catherine Keener was wonderful whereas while Seth Rogan and Katherine Heigl were good, they were nothing outstanding. By the way, "Knocked Up" is raunchier than "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" if that is possible...

Before "Knocked Up", there were some previews and Seth Rogan's next movie is called "Superbad" and it stars Michael Cera (aka George Michael from "Arrested Development"!) Looks very funny. So I'll add that to my list of upcoming movies to watch out for. The one movie I want to go see this week or next is "Waitress". I need to go before it closes.

By the way, my blog turned 2 yesterday! How time flies by!

Steve, That's A Stupid Thing To Say and You're A Stupid Person For Saying It!

I have been MIA for a bit. Life is insane, and I just forget to blog. I'm tired, but it is a good tired.

Last week, as part of their 10 F&%#ing Years retrospective on The Daily Show, there was a segment of the best of Even Stephven, which is one of my favourite recurring segments ever on the show. It features Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert yelling, insulting each other, and fake crying a lot. It makes me laugh so so much:


I'm so happy nice YouTubers exist so I can rewatch these outstanding segments over and over again!

I'll be back later this week to post a bit more about life. :) Hope everyone is good and well!

Arrested Development DVDs, Baby!

Season 3 for 21.99$ at Best Buy. Pretty sweet deal. I just unpacked them and they are sitting on my couch. I'll watch a few episodes tonight. Yay!

I am even more excited though for The Office Season 2 DVDs coming out on September 12. Ah yes, the Emmy award-winning Office! Jenna Fischer, who plays Pam, has updated her MySpace page with a bunch of pictures from the Office Emmy after-party. It is adorable.

My favourite picture of the Emmys: Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell having too much fun. They are very cute.

Wednesday Night Is Alright For Working and Relaxing

A big hi to my girls Shri and Kir who found their way over here recently. Nice to have you here in my little corner of the Internet! :)

Life has been crazy busy recently, but I finally decided to go to the movies this week since it is one of my favourite things to do, and I hadn't been in at least 2-3 months. On Monday night, I went with my friend Jeremey to see Strangers with Candy, which was so wrong and yet so funny. It had been a while since I had seen a movie that made me laugh so much. I don't think I could love Stephen Colbert any more, and I lurve Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello. They also recruited Matthew Broderick as an evil science teacher, Alison Janney and Philip Seymour Hoffman as science fair judges, and Sarah Jessica Parker as a wacky grief counsellor. Loved the movie.

Then, last night, I saw that there was going to be a free screening of Little Miss Sunshine tonight at theatre near my house so I decided to go. I saw the reviews for it from the Sundance Festival back in the winter, and I've been waiting ever since to see it. It was a dark comedy, just the way I like them. The ending was so funny! Basically, it is about a family who drives in a RV from Alburquerque to California to attend a child pageant because their daughter really wants to compete. Greg Kinnear plays a failed motivational speaker and his supportive wife is played by Toni Collette. I love those two. There is also Steve Carell plays the gay university professor uncle who has just attempted suicide and is under their watch. This is a pretty dramatic role, but he kicks butt as always. There is also Olive, the unusual pageant daughter, their teenage son who has made a vow of silence, and the wacked out grandfather. Seriously, it is all kinds of awesome. Very touching and very funny. Plus, any movie that has Steve Carell dancing is alright with me! (It wasn't boss of dancing awesome, but still good.)

Tonight I also treated myself to a bubblebath complete with pear/linden bubblebath, scented candle, and a drink. It was a beautiful thing. I'm so relaxed now. Yet, I have to get back to work. Such is the irony of life. *hugs to all my readers out there*

Blog Design & Television Critic Association Awards

I've played around with the layout of the blog because I just realized that it looked like crap on Mozilla (it had no left margin) while it looked perfectly fine on Explorer. It looks a bit better now, but it is still not perfect in Mozilla. I do hope it is easier to read if you are using a Mozilla browser.

On to awards I know nothing about! The Television Critics Association, appears to have been giving awards for the last 20 years! I saw on Office Tally that the Office had been nominated amongst others, but what really caught my eye was the category of Individual Achievement in Comedy. The nominees are Steve Carell ("The Office"), Stephen Colbert ("The Colbert Report"), Lauren Graham ("Gilmore Girls"), Jason Lee ("My Name Is Earl"), and Jon Stewart (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart"). Wow, this is like Sophie's Choice but four ways. ;) I could never pick who of Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart or Lauren Graham should win! So Gilmore Girls was not very good this year, but Lauren Graham has been recognized so little for her amazing acting on that show that she deserve to win for the whole run. The Colbert Report and The Office have both been so so so good. This is one tough category.

Jon, Steve, and Stephen were always so good, even together way back when:


For other readers who, unlike me, actually watch more than 3 programs on TV (for me, it's The Office, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, and sometimes The Amazing Race, and that's it!), here are the rest of the nominations:

PROGRAM OF THE YEAR
"Grey's Anatomy" (ABC)
"Lost" (ABC)
"The Office" (NBC)
"The Sopranos" (HBO)
"24" (Fox)

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY
"The Daily Show" (Comedy Central)
"Everybody Hates Chris" (UPN)
"My Name is Earl" (NBC)
"The Office" (NBC)
"Scrubs" (NBC)

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA
"Grey's Anatomy" (ABC)
"House" (Fox)
"Lost" (ABC)
"The Sopranos" (HBO)
"24" (Fox)

OUTSTANDING NEW PROGRAM OF THE YEAR:
"Big Love" (HBO)
"The Colbert Report" (Comedy Central)
"Everybody Hates Chris" (UPN)
"My Name Is Earl" (NBC)
"Prison Break" (Fox)

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA
Alan Alda ("West Wing")
James Gandolfini ("The Sopranos")
Hugh Laurie ("House")
Kiefer Sutherland ("24")
Kyra Sedgwick ("The Closer")

Discuss.

My New...

Passion isn't exactly the right term. At this point, it would be more like "something I recently discovered that makes me happy", "my new thing to bring a bit of sunshine in my life", "something light and delightful I can indulge in occasionally". Actually, it is something old made new again. Ah yes, fanfic. Since I know a number of my readers know about my dirty little fanfic-reading secret because they shared it too (LOL), I don't feel too ashamed. Yes, I am a little fangirl trapped inside of a body of a grown woman... who still goes to school... who has a roommate... who owns a lot of mismatched furniture and no car. Anyway, technically, I'm a grown woman. ;)

My undergrad years, particularly in the summer, were prime time X-Files fanfic reading. Since then, I lost a lot of my XF interest so I have read very few (none really in 3 years at least). But I have now started watching The Office, which has plenty of UST (Unresolved Sexual Tension for those uninitiated), which is the ultimate trap for me to read fanfic it seems. LOL Mulder and Scully got me the first time, and now, it's Pam and Jim. I stumbled upon a board where people made fic recommendations, and oh. I have only read 3 or 4 short stories but I have fallen in love with it a bit again. Of course, I sadly don't have much time to read this stuff but that's all the more motivation to graduate. ;) LOL

By the way, there is a Saturday Night Live TV Funhouse retrospective airing on April 29. Saturday TV Funhouse was often the best part of SNL. The Ambiguously Gay Duo and The Ex-Presidents were always my favourite cartoons on SNL so I'm hoping to see plenty of both. Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert, who were the voices of Ace and Gary, aka The Ambiguously Gay Duo, recorded new material for this special. I can't wait to hear that!

My Top 10 Movies of 2005

I got the Entertainment Weekly Oscar issue, which got me all excited for the ceremony. I love movies and wish I could go spend a day on a set, to see how the crew makes the magic happen. Anyway, my love of movies is only rivaled by my love for listmaking. ;) Hence, a list of my top 10 movies of 2005. (Some I saw in January/February 2006 but they're still 2005 movies. LOL Some are 2004 movies I saw in 2005. It's my list so I'm fudging the rules a bit. LOL)

10. The Constant Gardener: I really enjoyed this movie. The plot is complex without being obtuse. You just need to pay attention. Besides, it's interesting to try to figure out where the story is going. It was shot for the most part in Africa, and the landscapes are beautiful. Rachel Weisz and Ralph Fiennes are both very good.
9. Enron: The Smartest Guys in The Room: I love documentaries and this was a great one even if I came out of the theatre so infuriated. I wanted to run down to Texas and jail the idiots myself. I thought Enron was a scandalous affair before I saw that movie; I now know it is even worst than I imagined it. Enough said.
8. March of the Penguins: I was impressed by all the work that went into making this movie. It was so beautiful that I could have stared forever at the screen. I am not necessarily a big National Geographic person but this is just so grand. It just showed the unbelievable steps animals will take to reproduce. Wow.

7. In Good Company: I love the duo of Dennis Quaid and Topher Grace as the old guy with experience who loses his job, and now has to work for the know-nothing-but-workaholic young guy. I thought it was a great script that toed the line between drama and comedy throughout the whole film. It just spoke to me somehow.
6. The Squid and The Whale: A movie set in the 80s about self-involved parents who are smart but so self-involved it is not funny. Their kids just act out, and they don't even notice. Good acting, great script. Funny, smart & twisted is my kind of movie.
5b. Maurice Richard: Great movie about a Quebecois hockey player who became the icon of a nation. He is the symbol of the awakening of the national/patriotic conscience within the French-speaking Quebecers.

5a. C.R.A.Z.Y.: I'm cheating a bit but I had to include the 2 best Quebecois movies I saw this year. C.R.A.Z.Y. was just so so so good. The movie is about a lot of things but mostly, it is about a boy called Zack growing up in the 60s/70s who realizes he is gay and does not know how to deal with it. Society in Quebec at that time was fairly conservative and religious so he tries to navigate wanting to please his dad and wanting to be himself. It is also a movie about the relationships between the 5 very different brothers in this family. It was a huge success in Canada. Unfortunately it won't be distributed in the US because the music clearance would be too expensive. It has hands down one of the best soundtracks ever: "Crazy" (and many other songs) by Patsy Cline, "Space Oddity" by David Bowie, Pink Floyd, The Stones, and a lot of French classics.
4. The 40-Year-Old Virgin: I love Steve Carell. I just do. I think he has a knack for finding the line between pathos and laughter. This was hands down my favourite comedy of the year. It was hilarious, funny, yet sweet. It was not a great movie but one of my favourite movies this years. I'm sure I'll rewatch for years to come, all the while still laughing.
3. Good Night and Good Luck: I love historical movies, and this one is really interesting. It recounts the showdown between Sen. Joseph McCarthy and Edward R. Murrow, which ultimately ruined McCarthy's credibility. Beautifully shot in black and white by the no-less-handsome George Clooney. The whole cast was great. I thought its message about our responsibility as citizens of a democracy to question our leaders and keep the governement accountable. My hat's off to you Mr. Clooney on a great directing, writing, and acting job.

2. In Her Shoes: I didn't have any expectation in regards to this movie. I figured it was going to be a light chick flick. Really not. It was sooooo good. The central focus of the movie is the relationship between 2 sisters and also with their grandmother. The sisters, played by Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette, go through a crisis, and both have to grow and develop independently of the other sister. I thought it was fabulous, and I was into it that it made me cry so much.
1. Brokeback Mountain: I am usually not a sucker for sad, tortured love stories but this one just got me. I empathized with the pain all these characters were experiencing (pretty much everyone in this movie is happy for fleeting moments and miserable for the bulk of the movie). The label of the "gay cowboy movie" just doesn't do this movie justice. That is so not the point. It is a love story between two guys but that is not even really the main point. A lot of the movie was dealing with the feeling of being an outsider in your own life. It was either feeling that you don't belong to society or that people you love and who should care about you don't. All the characters (the couples but also parents and children) love each other in a clumsy, and often, hurtful manner. This movie resonated with me so much that I saw it twice. Both times I left with my stomach tied in knots from the angsty finale. The acting was top-notch, and the cinematography was just gorgeous. Plus, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal aren't too hard on the eyes. ;)