After a stressful week of icky weather combined with still having to go to work (and actually having lots of work to DO), the last thing I wanted today was to be sans my iPod. But it happened. And unfortunately, I discovered this only after I got to the Metro this morning.
However, this forced me to use my work computer for music, which led me to YouTube, which led me to this performance of “You and I” by Wilco and Fiest (the best song on their self-titled album), which led to me holding back tears as I sit at my desk working on an Excel spreadsheet.
Happy Friday?
I love this song so much, you guys. Not only is it just really sweet, but Jeff Tweedy’s voice kills me. This is a song I used for a birthday film last year, and it turned out to be one of my favorite segments.
Is Wilco touring? I feel the need to see them live again. Haven’t seen them since they played the Spring Fling in my college parking lot back in 2003.
Happy Friday, guys. This performance is so nice they play it twice.
Happy 2011! Hard to believe we’re halfway through January already, isn’t it?
So this is the time of year where people make resolutions for the new year. (Well, a few weeks ago anyway. But between moving, getting sick, and getting snowed in, I haven’t had a lot of free time.) Last year, instead of making a “best of the decade” list, I made a list of shows I wanted to watch in 2010. So how did I do? Let’s see:
Watched: Freaks and Geeks Sons of Anarchy The Wire Mad Men
Not watched: Oz Battlestar Galactica Lost Breaking Bad The Sopranos Firefly
4/10. Not great as a goal, but as a general statistic, completing (or catching up on) 4 shows in a year is pretty good. Of course, I did get sidetracked by other shows – Community and Cougar Town both had one season under their belts when I got around to catching up.
So this year, I resolve to watch at least 4 more of these “best of the decade” shows. After all, if watching Mad Men gave me the beauty (in more ways than one) of Jon Hamm, and The Wire gave me Bubbles and Omar and Cuddy, who knows what Breaking Bad and Oz will bring? (Probably a lot of grief and angst.)
Any suggestions on other shows I should catch up on? They don’t have to be currently airing; in fact that might be better in the long run. There are only so many hours in the day, after all.
Video of the Day: Favorite TV relationship of 2010: Don and Peggy, y’all. Don and Peggy. Also, if Jon Hamm doesn’t get an Emmy for his work on season 4, there is no justice in the world.
Happy Holidays! Here is the final addition to my countdown to Christmas. Between moving over the weekend, and being super busy at work, I haven’t gotten to celebrate the season as I normally do. No tree or Christmas cookie making for me this year. So instead, I decided to take a look back at some of my favorite holiday-themed TV and movies. We’ve come to the end, and I’ve saved the best for last: Here are the creme de creme, my favorite of the favorites.
From Love Actually: I actually love (see what I did there?) this whole movie, and if I could I would post the whole thing here. But…you people have lives. So instead here is the famous airport scene. Makes me cry every time.
From The Office: They’ve done a lot of Christmas-themed episodes, but for me, nothing can top season three’s “A Benihana Christmas”. This is The Office at its finest. Michael is heartbroken, but not over the top annoying about it, just enough to still be funny. Jim tries (and fails) to be more serious at work. And of course, the dueling Christmas parties. What’s better than that? My personal favorite part of the show is where everyone does karaoke, but that cannot be found on the Internets. So instead, here’s a music video someone made summarizing the episode.
“Are we taking this too far? You know what, I don’t think we’re taking this far enough.”
“I just got chills.”
Awesome. Totally awesome.
From Scrooge: This musical version of the classic Dickens tale doesn’t get its due. Sure, not everyone likes musicals. But Albert Finney’s performance alone should garner some attention. If you haven’t seen this film, and you like musicals, check it out. You won’t be disappointed. And you just might cry. I know I do. For example…
From Frasier: They also did a handful of Christmas episodes, but season six’s “Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskawitz” is my favorite by a mile. I’ve talked about it at length on this blog before, but man. Seeing Niles as Jesus will never not make me laugh. Plus the end has duel pay offs both with Mrs. Moskawitz finding Niles and the Christmas tree in the bathroom, and Frasier and Martin attempting to air their grievances.
Oh, man. Always, always funny.
From When Harry Met Sally: Technically this is New Year’s Eve, but the season is right. I think you have to be made of stone not to love this scene. This also umm…never fails to make me cry. (Do you see a pattern here?)
“I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”
Does it get any more romantic?
From The West Wing: Sorkin puts on a good Christmas show. We know this. I enjoy season four’s “Noel” quite a bit, but season one’s “In Excelsis Deo” remains my favorite West Wing episode to date. (But stay tuned; I haven’t finished the series yet). The part that really gets me is when poor Mrs. Landingham talks about missing her boys. But since that’s not online, here is the next best thing.
“Toby? I’d like to come” is almost as good.
And finally (drumroll please)…
From It’s A Wonderful Life: No man is a failure who has friends.
And that’s it! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
Happy holidays! Here comes part 3 of my Christmas countdown. December is super busy for me this year, and there is no time to decorate or make cookies. So I’ve been trying to get into the holiday spirit by remembering some of my favorite holiday films and TV shows.
Here are a few funny TV holiday moments.
From The Big Bang Theory: An obvious choice. Actually, most of my choices for this post seem kinda obvious. But that doesn’t make them any less enjoyable. Seriously though, I think this episode became a Christmas classic the moment it aired. It’s also the episode that made me love the show. (Note that I didn’t start watching the show until season 2. Otherwise I would have fallen in love when Sheldon dressed as the Doppler Effect for Penny’s Halloween party in season 1.)
From Friends: They actually had quite a few fun Christmas episodes. I particularly like the one from season 2 where Phoebe attempts to find her real father, and Monica and Rachel’s Christmas party turns into a sauna when the radiator breaks. However, nothing tops the Holiday Armadillo. He’s your part Jewish friend! Ross often gets overlooked, but that dude got into some wacky situations. Getting stuck in a pair of leather pants, over-whitening his teeth, a spray-tan mishap, attempting to play the bagpipes…all that and he dresses up in a ridiculous costume for his son. Props to David Schwimmer. He’s a very funny guy.
From Frasier: They also did several Christmas episodes, and all of them are pretty great. I’ve got a couple written down, but instead of the obvious one (and if you are a regular reader of this blog you probably know which episode I’m talking about) we’ll go with the final season’s High Holidays. All you need to know is that Niles thinks he is high, and Martin actually IS high.
And finally, from A Colbert Christmas:
On behalf of all the goyim, and until next time, happy holidays!
Happy holiday season, Internet. If you read my last entry, you know that, due to a hectic winter schedule, I’ve found it hard to get into the holiday spirit this year. In an attempt to capture some of that magic, I am sharing some of my favorite holiday moments in moves and television.
This entry is all about Bing. Bing Crosby. I’m sure you’ve heard of him.
First up is the debut of the song White Christmas from the horribly racist classic Holiday Inn.
And while we’re at it, this has nothing at all to do with Christmas, but is my favorite dance in the horribly racist film.
Next up: White Christmas. (Which, FYI, is my favorite Christmas movie of all time. Yes, I am horribly cliched.) I basically love every song and performance in the film (with the exception of “Love You Didn’t Do Right By Me”, which I KNOW is supposed to be cheesy, but man alive, I just can’t take it), so it’s hard to narrow down my favorites. The whole movie is awesome, go watch it.
Since “Mandy” is not available on YouTube, here’s the next best dance number from the film:
So, remember what I said about hating “Love” because it was so cheesy? Well…forget I said that for the next 49 seconds while you watch the next clip. Y’all, I’ve seen this movie probably every year of my life and I STILL tear up at this part.* Every damn year. Even though it’s totally cheesy.
*Also every year, I get mad at Emma for spying on Bob and telling Betty. I’ve seen the movie enough times, I know it’s coming, and I know it all works out in the end, but I STILL get mad. Stupid Emma.
And finally, you can’t talk about Bing Crosby without talking about this scene. Which, now that I think about it, is also totally cheesy. But it’s Irving Berlin, guys. He produces good cheese. White Christmas is the cheddar of holiday movies.
Retrowatching 