I Love Me Some TV

I bought DVDs of the first season of Chuck and Andy Richter Controls The Universe. Even though the first season of Chuck was only last year, I had already forgotten a lot of what was going on back then. It's such a rewatchable show. I'm so glad it's been renewed for a third season, thanks to fan efforts.

Andy Richter Controls The Universe is a series that aired back in 2002. I remembered finding it very funny, but it got cancelled fairly quickly like most innovative and smart shows seem to. Anyway, I highly recommend it. I'm sure I'll be rewatching those DVDs often.

Finally, I was looking at my livejournal page, and all the keywords I had entered as interests. I think it describes me pretty well:

Aging, arrested development, books, cheers, chocolate, chuck, coffee, cooking, crosswords, dictionaries, french, grammar, montreal, monty python, movies, musicals, neuroscience, newsradio, non fiction, photography, politics, pride & prejudice, psychology, science, statistics, sudoku, teaching, technology, the colbert report, the daily show, the human brain, the office, the office fanfic, the x-files, toronto, writing

TV & Movies

I was thinking of rounding up a list of cultural endeavours I loved in the last few months. You might know I love old movies so there are a few of that. I'll stick with recommendations.

TV Series

1) Chuck: Of all the new series from last season, this is my favourite. I lost my other love, Pushing Daisies. I cannot say enough good things about it. It's got comedy, spy action, and romance. I love the characters. It's perfect TV fluff. I really hope NBC doesn't cancel it!

2) Breaking Bad: Such a dark series about a chemistry teacher who learns he has 18 months to live after being diagnosed with cancer. To leave money for his family, he joins forces with a younger guy to make crystal meth. So it's a totally crazy premise, but the characters are flawed and interesting, and you just want to know what will happen next. It's a series by Vince Gilligan, who was my favourite writer on The X-Files.

3) Being Erica: I've talked about it before, but I was totally sucked into this dramedy about a 30-something girl who lives in Toronto. The season finale really makes me die to see how it continues.

I also really enjoyed two BBC miniseries I watched: Cranford and State of Play.

Movies

1) Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? What a fantastic movie! It's a creepy thriller, and Bette Davis and Joan Crawford are both great. That movie had me on the edge of my seat.

2) Vertigo:. I had a Jimmy Stewart double bill a few weeks ago: The Philadelphia Story, which I love, and a movie I had never seen, Vertigo. I don't know that I was totally sucked into the movie, but I can definitely see why it's been so influential in terms of film making. It's definitely very interesting as far as how it is shot. And the plot has lots of twists and turns.

3) Sunshine Cleaning: I saw this movie last weekend. It's the story of two sisters who start their own crime scene cleaning business to try to rise up above in their situations. It's a quiet little film about the struggles of life. It just touched some cords in me. Made me cry like a little girl.

Other mentions: Loved Rachel Get Married. It was my favourite Oscar season movie along with Milk. I saw Monsters vs. Aliens in IMAX 3D. That was just a whole lot of fun. On the more serious side, Waltz with Bashir, a movie about the Shatila Massacre in the 1982 Lebanon War, is very poignant.

I have a few old school movies lined up in the next few days: 1) Hitchcock's Rope, which I have seen before but is just a great movie, 2) To Have or Have Not, a Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall movie, and 3) Fellini's 8 1/2.

I'll be back tomorrow with my favourite books that I've read lately.

The Nanny

Again, the Internet makes me rediscover things from years gone past. I love you, YouTube. Anyway, I've been watching some episodes of The Nanny lately. I had forgotten how funny that show was, especially in its earlier seasons, before it became way too corny. The last time I remember seeing this show on TV was when I first moved to Toronto. I have memories of crying, missing home late at night, and watching that show to cheer myself up.

I came across a clip where Fran Drescher saying that her inspiration for the show was a spin on The Sound of Music, and it's probably exactly why I like it. It has the romantic aspect to it mixed with silly antics. I do remember my thinking Mr. Sheffield was so dreamy. LOL Fran Drescher's physical comedy was always very funny to me, which is surprising given that physical comedy doesn't tend to be what makes me laugh most. Niles and C.C. are also very funny as are the kids. This is a show I'd never pick apart because plenty of it makes no sense whatsoever. It's like a silly vaudeville, but it doesn't pretend to be anything more than that. I was pleased to still be finding it funny, because some shows just age very poorly.

Television

I rented the season 1 DVDs of The Flight of the Conchords over the weekend. Very funny show. I noticed that one of the writers was the creator of one of my all-time favourite shows, NewsRadio so I'm not surprised it's up my comedic alley.

Snow and TV Shows

It's been a snowy weekend, so I had fun with my camera!








As far as TV goes, I'm so sad that Pushing Daisies has been cancelled. Now, ABC may not even air the last episodes. Boo, ABC, boo.

On the plus side, there's this new series on CBC on Monday nights (which I've heard will air in the US on SoapNet, but it's totally not a soap) called Being Erica. It's about a girl who gets sent back in time to moments she felt she screwed up to try to fix them or learn from her mistakes. The writing is really good, and I just got sucked into the show. The third episode was on tonight, and it's just so enjoyable. Plus, you get a lot of music from the 90s, which is so cool. The fact that the series is about a single girl in her early 30s living in Toronto and coming home to her cat and kinda of confused about it all might make me identify a tiny bit. ;) Highly recommended.

Chuck and The Office are also very enjoyable this year, and The Daily Show is on fire so I'm pleased as punch.

Oh, to end my post, here's a little cutie. :)

How I Wish I Had Call Display...

This is a typical day at my apartment... I get maybe 6-7 calls, 4 or 5 of them are from telemarketing/survey people. I was waiting for an important call so I couldn't let it go to the machine. So I had to deal with super annoying people always trying to sell me the same crap. I don't need a new credit card/long distance plan/a free trip (yes totally free!)/cell phone plan. Leave me be.

In other news, I had the most amazing weekend. I took time off and it did me so much good. I went to Niagara with some friends. We saw the falls, went wine tasting, visited Fort George, and hung out in Toronto. We had good food, and it was the most relaxed I felt in months. So that was nice,

Also, newsflash: it is apparently the early 90s again and I'm 12 all over again, I listened to The New Kids on The Block new CD and watched the 90210 premiere yesterday. ;) NKOTB impressed me. I mean, I'm not going to start sketching little hearts in my notebook or anything, but what little I heard from their new CD sounds like good pop music. That's good enough by me. As for 90210, I was a regular watcher of the original for the first few seasons... I'm definitely too old for this stuff, but I love that Jessica Walter plays basically an unironic version of Lucille Bluth. Otherwise, it's just like any other teen soap, which basically means I'll have it on if I'm cleaning or really trying to avoid work.

Jimmy Kimmel, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and A Whole Bunch of Celebrities

Somebody gave me a link to the song Sarah Silverman sang on Jimmy Kimmel a few weeks ago called "I'm F&%*ing Matt Damon".



I'm usually not a fan of Jimmy Kimmel or Sarah Silverman, but that was very funny. Both Matt Damon and Sarah Silverman were very game, and went all out.

So tonight, I didn't turn off my television right after the Oscars, and caught the beginning of Jimmy Kimmel's Oscar special. And he had a rebuttal for that initial song:



That was truly hilarious. I can't believe how many celebrities he recruited to sing about his love for Ben Affleck.

I Have Been Quiet in The Last Few Months...

It's odd how I used to blog quite regularly, but it seems to have just fallen out of my regular routine. I'm keeping quite busy as always. I did go out this afternoon, and went to see Definitely, Maybe, which I enjoyed even more than I thought I would. It's a very cute movie for a Saturday afternoon. :)

I've tried to pick back up my cooking of late, and I've made ratatouille and many other delicious dishes. I can't wait to buy myself a digital camera (which should be soon enough) to keep a visual diary of my culinary attempts.

Oh, and I finally, I've started watching Frasier reruns recently, and I had forgotten how much that sitcom made me laugh. David Hyde Pierce as Niles is particularly brilliant.



While I love shows like The Office, 30 Rock, and Pushing Daisies, I wish there were some good sitcoms in the vein of Frasier and Cheers still around.

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

I have been quiet around here lately. Haven't had much to say. Things have been busy between my dissertation, teaching, and my part-time job as a psychometrist. I'm going home this weekend for the holidays. I've been in a festive mood for a while. I decorated mid-November this year. I love having all the lights and the tree. It's just so pretty! :) During the break, although I do need to work, I plan to take time to bake, go to the movies, and sleep! :)

I'm bummed out about the TV strike because I had been enjoying The Office and 30 Rock a whole lot this season. Plus I found 2 new shows I love, Chuck and Pushing Daisies. Highly recommend all these shows. Hopefully, the strike shall end soon. I am watching the new game show called Duel on ABC right now though, and kicking serious butt. I would have won all the duels. I guess it sometimes pays off to know a lot of random facts! LOL The host, though, is utterly annoying.

Happy Holidays, everyone! Best wishes to you and your family and friends! :)

All Is Well. Mostly.

Term has begun. I am teaching a course, and have another part-time position one day a week to pay the bills. Besides that, it's me and my research. Oh yes, the demon is back. So it is.

I've started doing Yoga Booty Ballet recently. I know that it has the most ridiculous name, but it is fabulous. They're fun workouts and I'm already seeing changes in my booty and my ads. That's all a girl can ask for! :)

Besides that, tonight is The Office's season premiere. I can't wait. I watched Chuck on Monday night, and that's also a very enjoyable show I'll probably continue to watch. I love nerdy guys, which I am sure comes as a shock to all who know me. ;)

Oooo, Extras DVD!

David, I don't know if you still read my blog, but given that I don't have access to Hotmail (and consequently your email address) from work, I thought I would post this here to remember to tell you. Look what is coming out July 10!


Brilliant! Hopefully, my videostore will get it. At any rate, we'll need to have a viewing party because I can't wait to see it.

Bon Jovi Night on American Idol

Okay, so mock me all you want, but I've been occasionally watching American Idol this season after a few seasons of never ever watching it. I'm usually watching while working so I'm not allocating it my full attention and would have a hard time really providing a detailed rundown of what happens on most nights, but nevertheless, it is somewhat entertaining. Anyway, Bon Jovi music last night. Awesome. Gina, did you watch? I thought of you, since I know how you like his music. I really do too, and it was just nice to have Jon Bon Jovi there. Melinda kicked ass as always with her performance of "Have a Nice Day", one of the more recent and not as awesome Bon Jovi songs. The judges called her a young Tina Turner, and I couldn't agree more. LaKisha was quite good for the first time in many weeks with her performance of "This Ain't A Love Song". Judges really liked Blake's "original" performance of "You Give Love a Bad Name", but I thought it should have been called "ridiculous". I don't really care for Blake. He seems very creative, however, so I probably would appreciate him more with original songs as opposed to his trying to rework songs too much to "make his own, dog". I missed Jordin's and Chris's performances, and Phil? Eh. Although he was better than usual.

Movie, Movie, TV!

What is better than a movie with Colin Firth? Colin Firth singing in a movie?! It has Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan on top of it. I saw the musical Mamma Mia back in 2002, and it was highly enjoyable. This movie should be good too. That's one I'll be keeping my eye on.

We have a documentary festival in Toronto called Hot Docs. Anyway, this year, it has a very interesting documentary about Michael Moore and his ways of making movies. While I've enjoyed what Michael Moore was trying to do, let's say that I never thought what he did 1) were documentaries as much as commentaries and 2) I always suspected there was a bit more to it. Too bad it is sold out, but hopefully, it will released soon in theatres.

One last thing... I am happy to see they finally released Larry Sanders on DVD: Not Just The Best of the Larry Sanders Show. I think it aired on HBO in the US because I only was able to watch it in syndication on CTV very late at night in the late 90s. The article I linked makes me laugh a bit because they seem to say Garry Shandling appears currently very deflated and morose. Have they never seen Garry Shandling before? He was always like that as far as I am concerned! LOL Anyway, I hope I can rent that DVD set at the video store. I had encouraged the owner to buy Arrested Development once upon a time!

Holy Lack of Science Knowledge, Batman!

I was looking up an urban legend and stumbled upon this real clip of the French version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire during my snooping around:

The question was "What revolves around the Earth?" The choices were a) the Moon, b) the Sun, c) Mars, and d) Venus. The ignorance of the most basic scientific knowledge displayed not only by the contestant, but by the whole audience just dismayed me so much. Poor Copernicus is spinning in his grave.

Yes, I Am Still Alive...

I've been super busy recently so I haven't had the time and/or energy to blog. But anyway, I am still around. I just had to post a hilarious parody of Studio 60 (which I watch because of the good acting while simultaneously hating it because the storylines are lame & stalking is apparently real love). Anyway, so Mad TV did a parody of Studio 60, and it really made me laugh so much because it is so on target:

Bloggie Blog Blog

Blogs are a great invention because you get to read all kinds of interesting info you wouldn't find out otherwise. I stumbled upon a link to Ken Levine's blog, who was a writer on Cheers and Frasier. He gives insight on those shows, and on other writing matters. Fascinating. Well worth the read.

TV, Why Do You Make Me Sad?

I watch very few dramas and comedies on TV, and I now remember why. Dear God, I can't take the angst! On last night's episode of The Office, the Scranton and Stamford branches merged, and Michael is now in charge of them all so that means more friends for him, which makes him so happy! Ha! He even made a welcoming video called Lazy Scranton, based on the SNL clip Lazy Sunday. Hilarious. One of the new employees, Andy, played by Ed Helms of The Daily Show, is the ultimate suck-up, which gets oh so much under Dwight's skin. That was all great.

They are trying to kill me with the Pam and Jim relationship though. Pam was so happy to have Jim back in Scranton, because she finally broke up her engagement and seemed ready to start something with Jim. He was being distant most of the day (he got rejected by her before so it was understandable to be on his guard.) At the end of the episode, Jim announced to Pam he was dating someone else! Kill me. This is like the Mulder & Scully dynamic but at least 10 times worst. LOL The new girl in Jim's life, another employee from Stamford who got transferred with him, has no idea what went down with Pam so it should be fun when that blows out in the open.

Anyway, this made me so sad because:

1) A comedy shouldn't be bumming me out.
2) I can't believe I care enough about fictional characters to be feeling sad about their fate (they are NOT REAL!)
3) Seriously, I don't want them to hate each other. It is not fun to watch.
4) I don't think I can tolerate another Mulder/Scully or Ross/Rachel type of relationship again. Because, by the end, I didn't really care what happened to those 2 couples. It had dragged on so long that I wasn't too fond of them anymore.

Let's hope Jim and Pam make up sooner than later. Otherwise, I'll be weeping in my corner. LOL

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.

Oooooo... New TV!

Yay, I have a shiny new TV. So pretty. Enthralling! :)

Technological Woes...Again!

I am having a funeral for my TV. It died a sad death, and would cost 300$ to fix it. So I have to go buy a new one. That may sound like fun, but it isn't.

Now, I just realized that I forgot my speakers that I brought to class tonight to have students listen to some videoclips. I was talking to students as I packed my bag at the end of class, and clearly got distracted. Damn all to hell. I hope they are still there tomorrow morning, because I don't want to buy new speakers!!! This is just the summer of crazy expensive stuff that breaks or gets lost. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh.