Apartment hunting-turned townhouse hunting and work have kept me from updating lately. And, if I am being honest, what would possibly top my epic New York post? How do you move on from that? I don’t know.
However, it is Thanksgiving week, and I would be remiss if I didn’t use this space to share some of my favorite Tday clips, as I do every year. Last year was focused on Friends; this year is a hodgepodge.
Cheers epic food fight:
Lorelai and Rory prepare for four Thanksgiving dinners
Rory’s “yeah” at the end cracks me up every time.
Cliff Huxtable treks back and forth to the store
Dexter (aka Kyle Butler) has Thanksgiving with the Mitchell family.
Creepy as fuck but so good. Three words for you: “Shut up, c*nt.”
And finally, my favorite, President Bartlett calls the Butterball hotline:
It’s been busy ’round these parts lately. Everyone I know had a baby. Well, okay, only two people, but two of the closest people in my life. Hence the lack of blogging.
That doesn’t mean I have been ignoring my pop culture duties. That would never happen. So here are some things I’ve been digging lately.
Mad Men A few years back, I tuned into a new show called Mad Men, lauded by critics and TV watchers alike. Watched it for about 10 minutes, realized I wasn’t paying attention, turned it off, and didn’t watch another episode until this month. Guys, I don’t know what I was thinking. This show…is SO GOOD. Over the weekend, a friend asked me how it was, and my response was one simple word: “Delectable.” That it is, and not just for Jon Hamm. (Though, lets face it…) Everything, from the cinematography, the clothes, the writing, the acting, the music (THE MUSIC, YOU GUYS. SO PERFECT)…it’s all amazing, and all a feast for the senses. It’s so good that, instead of doing my usual marathon watch, I am limiting myself to one or two at a time. (And trust me, for me, that IS limiting.) So far, I am about 2/3 of the way through season 2, and there hasn’t been one sub-par episode. Also, a word on January Jones: I have not seen her now famous SNL hosting disaster last year. Don’t want to. But in terms of dramatic acting chops? Gal has it. She has Betty Draper DOWN. Do I like her character? Not really, but damn if she doesn’t do a fine job portraying the unhappy housewife.
Also, Jon Hamm is really, really hot. Unlike a lot of hot actors today, he actually has the chops to back it up.
It’s hard to pick a favorite moment (just last night I watched Colin Hanks play guitar; this certainly goes on the list) and, like always I cannot pick just one, so here are a couple of mine from season 1. (Note: All the Mad Men clips disable embedding, so you’ll have to click over to YouTube. It’s worh it, I promise.)
Don’t fuck with Betty Draper, or her kids:
Pete shares his hunting fantasy with Peggy. (How awesome is Peggy, y’all? I love watching her grow professionally.)
Don’s carousel pitch:
Resonates on so many levels, y’all. Also, it’s no secret I am a sucker for nostalgia.
After pitching the carousel, Don thinks twice. (This ties with Matt Saracen driving out of Dillon on Friday Night Lights for best use of a song on TV)
(After this song started playing, I actually said out loud – to an empty room – “Oh, this is PERFECT!” That never happens.)
So yeah, umm, watch Mad Men. Not since Gilmore Girls has a show transported me so fully into another world.
Other things:
* Wednesday night comedies are back! Yay for Modern Family and Cougar Town.
* Sometime over the summer, I started watching Community. Somewhere in the run, I fell in love. Actually wait, I can tell you exactly when I started to love the show. When this happened:
* A few years back, I read what remains to be my favorite book ever, I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb. I recently read his follow-up book, The Hour I First Believed. While it takes place in the same town, and features some of the same characters, it really doesn’t hold a candle to I Know This Much… It’s still good, but Mr. Lamb gets a bit too caught up in his own drama for me. Kind of disappointing, because She’s Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True are both masterpieces.
* Is anyone going to the Stewart/Colbert rallies? I kind of really want to. Is it just me?
* Another podcast has been added to my regular rotation: Radio Lab. It took me awhile to get into it, because they have an unconventional style that takes getting used to. But, they do some pretty amazing stories, and actually make science interesting a good part of the time. My favorites so far include War of the Worlds, Detective Stories, and Diagnosis. (Two of which actually aren’t that science-y. Go figure.)
But seriously, guys, go watch Mad Men. That’s really the point of this post.
While I was out, amongst other things, I finished The Wire.
What to say? I don’t even know. To everyone who told me (repeatedly) it was the best show ever: You were (mostly) right. I don’t know that it is my FAVORITE show of all time, but it’s definitely the BEST show I’ve seen. Everything is top-notch, from the writing, acting, cinematography, use of location, etc. Everything is carefully and perfectly constructed. There are no mistakes. Not a word is wasted.
Now that I finished it, I want to go back and watch again. This is a show that needs repeat viewings. Although I watched carefully, I’m sure there’s still a ton of stuff I missed. Also, I could listen to that dialogue all day long. It’s brilliant.
As you can see, I have nothing intelligent to say about the show. I’m still processing. However, those looking for intelligent discussion and breakdowns should read Sepinwall’s excellent recaps. I supplemented my viewing with these, and found it helped a lot. Look on the sidebar for The Wire seasons. He even divided his recaps into two separate categories: “newbies” and “veterans.”
What else? Favorites? Sure. (Spoilers ahead, proceed with caution.)
And we’re back. Had a lovely time in Chicago, despite the heat. Came back to…more heat. And more lists. So here is part two of the television survey making its way around the internet. Go here for part one.
Regular readers of this blog know I cannot resist a list. Much like Rob Gordon and his buddies, pop culture lists are my kryptonite. I take them very seriously.
So this survey has been going around the internet for a while. You are supposed to do 30 posts in 30 days, and answer one question per day. But who has the time to do that? Well, let me be more generous here: I do not have the time to do that. Instead, I’m going to lump them all into two big posts. Warning: This could get long. And um, probably spoilers ahead for various TV shows.
Retrowatching 