If I had a Nielsen Box

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01/09/10--15:32: Blah blah superheroes (chan 2094318)

So when I heard they were doing a Green Lantern movie and that Ryan Reynolds would be the star, I thought that kind of sucked, since in my viewing experience, the Green Lantern is black. In all fairness, there were several Green Lanterns. They've gone with the second Green Lantern, Hal Jordan. I'm used to the fourth one, John Stewart, who is the Green Lantern featured on the current Justice League cartoons. I guess that makes it marginally less white-washy, but still. They could have done a movie about Stewart instead of another superhero movie about a white guy. Or they could have cast Hal Jordan with a black actor, especially since the Green Lantern is set in New Orleans. White superhero keeping the largely black population of New Orleans safe and sound? Unfortunate.

And now they've cast Blake Lively as an "aerospace executive" who hires the Green Lantern and also plays his love interest. I really like Blake Lively on Gossip Girl, but there's no way she's going to make a believable aerospace mogul. She's just too damn young. She's 22! IMO, she's also probably too young to play Ryan Reynold's love interest. I know people hate Gwyneth Paltrow, but at least the guys in charge of casting Iron Man had the wherewithal to cast someone of an appropriate age to play opposite Robert Downey Jr. Even though I adore Rachel McAdams, I thought she was badly miscast in the Sherlock Holmes movie. She just looked too young to be a woman capable of outsmarting RDJr's Holmes and holding his attention. Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane didn't help Superman Returns suck less, either.

So IDK, this movie is shaping up to be particularly failtastic for me. Even Blake Lively's role annoys me. As if womens' roles in superhero movies aren't already problematic enough, she's a (totally realistic!) high-powered executive who hires a "cocky testpilot" and ends up falling in love with him. Cringe.

In happier Blake Lively-related comic book news, Gossip Girl is now a Korean manga. I love how Blair wears a crown, Serena sparkles, and Dan needs glasses to convey that he's smart -- and he is smart, only less with the socially awkward and more with the evil genius. Hilariously, it looks like there will be Dan/Blair (sort of), and Nate is practically non-existent. Whoever is writing this obviously prefers the show.


01/11/10--12:22: Don't freak out. (chan 2094318)

It has been faaaar too long since I have been able to do this LJ-cut. And I read that it got excellent ratings last night, so yay.

I was really concerned the whole I KNOW KUNG FU thing would end up changing the show in a bad way, but I actually looove it. Because Chuck still can't use the Intersect properly, so it's even more awesome than when Chuck was just a repository of information he couldn't reliably access. It's basically the same Chuck, but now he can do even more crazy/hilarious stuff *and* also gets to be an actualfax spy, yay.

SO. Chuck/Sarah. My fandom MO never did bode well for me caring about Chuck and Sarah's relationship, considering I tend to not like the long, drawn out, will-they-won't-they kinds of story lines. They get stale for me pretty fast, and I find other (usually masochistic) things to ship. But I really feel like Chuck/Sarah has been very well-written. The reasons they couldn't be together were written right into the fabric show, so I've always appreciated the various barriers between them. I didn't think last night was a deviation from that. To Sarah, the path to being with Chuck was to stop being a spy and have a real life and be a real person. Maybe she wants that as much or even more than she wants to be with Chuck particularly. But for Chuck, it's sort of been the opposite. It's not just Sarah being a spy that's the problem. It's his being a civilian -- and a perpetually underachieving one, at that -- that's standing in the way. Especially because Chuck could have been an agent, and he's got to wonder if maybe Bryce wasn't wrong, if maybe he could have done it and not totally lost himself in the process. But the bottom line is that Chuck has been waiting for his real life to start, just like Sarah.

So when Chuck chose to be the Intersect again at the end of the season, and when he explained why he didn't run away with Sarah, everything he said about emulating her because he loved her was really touching *and* that much more tragic, considering how many times Chuck asked Sarah to be with him when the Intersect was gone. And she was 110% ready to do it, but now he's the one saying no. And now there's this new barrier between them, which is basically that they want different things, and being together isn't enough for either of them right now. So I really do continue to 'get' Chuck/Sarah and be totally engaged and convinced by their relationship. It doesn't feel like the writers are just slapping down contrived roadblocks in their way to me.

Anyway, I hope what we see this season is Sarah making some headway into deciding what she wants. We know what's driving Casey and Chuck, but Sarah has always been kind of a mystery. It seems like she's just a spy because it's something she's good at, and she obviously doesn't get the kind of joy out of it that Casey does or the sense of self-worth that Chuck does. And of course, I really want Chuck to get at least a little more capable. Even if the Intersect doesn't work perfectly, it was nice to see him being able to block some of Sarah's more basic moves. I want Chuck to keep improving, with and without the computer in his brain! I also NEED Captain Awesome to be involved in a mission. I mean, he sky dives and spelunks and does all sorts of crazy outdoors weekend-warrior kind of stuff. It would be HILARIOUS.

On a somewhat-related note, I was interested to read that Nielsen reported 45% of people who regularly play video games are, in fact, women. Food for thought, people who make video games!


01/11/10--20:33: The Daily Show (chan 2094318)

This John Yoo interview is painful.

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01/12/10--17:31: WTF NBC (chan 2094318)

Team Conan!

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01/20/10--13:43: John Mayer thinks he's half-chick. (chan 2094318)

Oh, John Mayer. I have all your albums. I have seen you live. You are one of my most-played artists. But I really, really dislike you. You have a problem, and NOT SPEAKING until you can do so without coming off as either deeply stupid or the Joshua Tree of douchebags would go a long way towards fixing that. And keep your old man hands off of Taylor Swift! *shudder*


01/28/10--22:21: TV (chan 2094318)

I watched the "Be Good Johnny Weir" documentary last night, and it was okay. It contextualized a lot of Weir's 2006 obnoxiousness for me, which was good. I thought they gave Evan Lysacek a bad edit. Anyway, it wasn't exactly riveting, but it put me in the mood for the Olympics! I haven't followed figure skating at all this past season, so all the programs and costumes will be 100% fresh for me, yay. And I'm neutral re: skaters for the first time probably ever. And Sasha Cohen didn't make the team, which means I don't have to suffer through her falling every other jump in her long program! The less second-hand anxiety, the better.

TV is sparse lately. All I had to watch this week was TVD and Chuck. And Psych, but that was boring. Totally wanted to throw up when Victor Newman's fugly mug turned up again on Y&R. He was not missed.

Vampire Diaries

+ I was glad that creepy, annoying girl turned out to be a vampire. The bartender was a nice surprise, though. Isn't that Sean Farris? Appropriate casting is appropriate.

+ I can't understand half of the things the people on this show say. Did I really hear Damon call that vampire a dickhead? And what belonged to Emily? I heard grimore or grim orb or something.

+ I was pleasantly surprised by Stephen's willingness to torture the vampire for information about how to open the tomb. I am really hoping that when Damon goes to do it and Stephen is fake helping him, he'll end up not going through with whatever his plan to stop Damon is because he's so not over Catherine either. He might want to be, and I'm sure he really does care for Elena, but it's Catherine and Elena is her doppleganger, come on.

+ The connection between Alaric's wife and Elena's birth mother totally shocked me. I really do like the myth arc on this show.

+ The whole THIS WILL NEVER WORK thing between Matt and Caroline is cute but nonsense since they've got the whole Captain of the Football Team/Head Cheerleader thing going on; there is nothing remotely weird about them together at all. They are perfect. And also completely, superfluously adorable, and I looove them in spite of myself. BRB, eating a million lemons.

Flashback episode next week, boooo. The flashback episodes kill my soul, especially the southern accents. (NO.)

Chuck

+ GO AWAY, LANA LANG.

+ I love that Shaw is pushing Chuck in ways that Casey and Sarah don't! Actually, I am enjoying Shaw in general. I'm not sure I totally trust him, and I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out the Ring has his fiancee and he's pulling a Vesper to save her. But I'm usually wrong about who's evil on Chuck, so he's probably a boyscout.

+ I loved the Captain Awesome episodes. I am sad he didn't take to spy work because I would have loved to see more of his weekend warrior skills put to good use, but oh well. Ryan McPartlin makes jokes about how he is a bad actor, but I thought he was surprisingly strong with the dramatic scenes. They should totally consider him for Captain America instead of Channing Tatum or Sam I Am In Everything Worthington.

+ When Brandon Routh had the scene with Laura Flynn Boyle, I couldn't help thinking how she would have made such a better Lois in Superman Returns.

Private Practice

+ I'd almost forgotten what a bad actor Eric Dane is, yikes. But he and Kate Walsh do have a lot a chemistry; the post-coital scene in her office was super cute in a way most of the sexytimes on this show are not at all.

+ I have nothing to say about Maya (sp?) being pregnant that Sam did not already say. YOUR PARENTS ARE DOCTORS.

+ I wouldn't say that Sam/Addison is subtle... but it's subtle for Grey's & Co.? I still don't like it because of Naomi, and I feel like the writers are making her overly mean and flakey to pave the way for future justification of Addison and Sam getting involved with each other. Or maybe it's just Audra MacDonald gnawing on the scenery out of sheer boredom with her story line, IDK.

+ Oh man, Cooper/Charlotte. I feel like the things they were screaming at each other when they broke up were so blatantly false that this is probably meant to be more of a roadblock for them than a real ending. But it might just be the show sucking, I can't decide. Maybe I'm just picking the woman's side, but I really do feel like Cooper is 90% at fault. Unless there is some major groveling on his end in the near future, I think he's ruined himself.

LOL, I'm listening to podcasts while I write this, and Rihanna just startled me out of my typing by saying Drake's "Best I Ever Had" is one of the best hip hop songs of the past decade. I like that song too, but really.


02/09/10--16:02: Mostly Last Week's TV (chan 2094318)

Don't get appendicitis if you're uninsured. My sister *is* insured, thank god, but the person at the hospital put the wrong company into the form (even though she had the card right in front of her?) and screwed up the initial billing. Even though it's all fixed now, she's been getting heart attack inducing bills in the mail for the past two weeks, and the self-pay prices are literally unbelievable. For profit health care = insanity.

Chuck

I'm enjoying Brandon Routh's character a lot and was glad to hear they were keeping him on longer than they'd originally planned. But -- and I swear I'm not saying this just because I ship Chuck/Sarah (I swear!) -- I'm not really feeling the whole Shaw/Sarah thing. It annoys me that Shaw went from telling Sarah they'd both made the same mistake by falling for spies in one episode to hitting on her in the next. And it especially annoys me that Sarah is making that mistake a third time. It'd be fine if they were just hooking up because they are extremely pretty together, but the coffee and the flirting and the conversations were all very normal -- way more normal than Chuck/Sarah ever were. IDK. Maybe I am just being a crazy shipper, but I don't think it's doing either character any favors, and I especially don't like how Shaw went from cold professional who was very critical of how Casey and Sarah coddle Chuck or of Sarah going off the grid in Lisbon to totally into Sarah, all in about a minute. (I really hope he is not evil. Or Vesper.)

Was the Mask of Alexander the Great thing a Lex Luther reference? I feel like that was a Superman joke that flew over my head a little bit. Since we are talking about super heroes, I would die of lulzy glee if Ryan McPartlin got Captain America. He talked about how he auditioned for it, so that probably means he's not being considered, but still.


The Good Wife

My only real complaint about this show so far has been that all of the clients Alicia has defended have been innocent. There's a lot of moral ambiguity on the show, but that hasn't been reflected by her swanky firm's client list at all!

Until last week, but I thought it was badly done. If their client was actually guilty, why would he have waited until the lower stakes civil trial to frame his step-daughter? And if he did frame her, he certainly didn't seem to be trying very hard. His legal team stumbled across the connection while they were trying to cast suspicion on the victim's sister, and the thing with the head was gross and just too much of a coincidence. Maybe if the reporter had mentioned an anonymous tip, but there was nothing like that at all. Not to mention that he had to depend on the forensic evidence to clear him. It was very weird and poorly written, I thought.

Diane's story was mostly superfluous, but who would have thought she'd turn out to be the more principled lawyer at the firm? And that Will would be the shark, what with his wanting to force out Stern, take guilty clients, and rolling his eyes at Diane's pet cause clients that don't bring in any money? I like how almost everybody on this show keeps defying my expectations and preconceptions.


Ugly Betty

I hate that this show is cancelled! I feel like they've been doing some of these arcs so carefully -- some a little too carefully (like Betty's career/look) -- that I feel like I have been robbed as a viewer because I won't get to seem them play out. Everything from Justin coming out to Amanda's aimlessness to Wilhelmina's inability to balance a career and a life to Betty/Daniel... Hopefully they'll be able to wrap up some of those, but Betty/Daniel is shot. (Maybe it always was, though. IDK, Silvio Horta is confusing.)

Apparently I have nothing to say about the actual episode, sorry.


The Vampire Diaries

+ Whoa, was Emily the Salvatore's slave? Or does Jonathan Gilbert courting Pearl mean that I am supposed to ignore race? And is anyone else slightly creeped out that all the witches so far are WoC? And watching all of those men round up the female vampires was definitely creepy. I appreciated that there was less attempting and failing at southern accents than last time, but the flashbacks are not good times. And I always expect Katherine to be AWESOME, but then it's just Nina Dobrev.

+ Okay, the witch thing reminded me to say that Stephan had more chemistry with Bonnie's grandmother in that one scene than he has with Elena in most of theirs. But I did like the moment of swing dancing at the 50's dance, because I always appreciate when the show reminds us that Damon and Stephan have been around for a really long time. And I did think Elena was totally awesome last (last) week, what with the pencils and the stake and everything. Kudos.

+ Oh, Stephan. Even his betrayal of Damon was lame. It was basically just him spouting generic humanist principles that made less than no sense considering that Katherine was out and about murdering the townspeople. Maybe Stephan was completely in the dark about her nocturnal activities, but come on. Someone was killing the townspeople! Stephan's best moment for me in this last episode was the look on his face after he shut his father's casket. :(

+ I am glad that wherever Bonnie and Elena have been taken they are probably together. Annabelle and Sean Farris are kind of boring, otherwise. I'm sad that next week looks a little too momentous for Matt/Caroline, though. Needs moar Matt/Caroline!


Private Practice

As much as the story line about the twins with leukemia annoyed me (because the parents would never have to or even be asked to decide which twin would receive the treatment, omfg!) I thought this was one of the better episodes this season, mostly because of the writing for Sam, Naomi, and Addison. I think the show has done a good job of explaining why Sam and Addison's friendship has developed into something confusing for both of them. I felt especially bad for Sam because you really get why he is so angry at Naomi and doesn't care that being with Addison would hurt her. And the scene with Naomi and Addison and the chocolates was particularly awesome. I hope the promo monkeys are lying about Addison/Pete because I feel like Addison sleeping with Pete when (because?) she has feelings for Sam would be a lot more old!Addison than sleeping with Sam could ever be.

And as ick as Sam/Addison is in theory, I'm actually enjoying it because it's just nicer when Addison is involved with someone who's a real part of the show. For awhile, it was like ABC was using Private Practice as a testing ground for casting the leading men in their prospective pilots (what with Wyatt going to Better Off Ted and Noah going to Cougar Town). And it was boring. Plus Sam feels like a real part of the show for the first time since he got back together with Naomi for about a minute. I love Taye Diggs, but he has always seemed so side-lined.

Ugh, the teenaged pregnancy. I don't trust Shonda Rhimes to do much these days, but I think I do trust her to have an endgame in mind regarding Maya's pregnancy that doesn't make me want to scream things at my television. So I'm not going to bother getting too grossed out about people letting a fifteen year old couple get married and play house. But I do hope they have a point with this story line. And whatever it might be, I know I'd appreciate it more if they'd cast actualfax 15 year-olds; the actor who plays Dink looking every one of his 20 years irks me every time I see him.


I'm so ready for the Olympics.


02/10/10--10:27: I said he shouldn't speak! (chan 2094318)

Re: Playboy Interview

B&, Mayer. If I saw him on the street rn, I would legit kick him in his fucking shin.

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02/16/10--20:56: Anybody But Plushenko (chan 2094318)

Well, I just became Evan Lysacek's biggest fan.

(If I were a RPF writer, I'd be composing fic right now about how Plushenko quit ice skating, got fat, and was bitten by a vampire. And then he returned to competition to lord his superhuman (but completely artless) skills over the rest of the mortals. Possibly he even feeds off of his "ENEMIES" before they skate, to weaken them.)

ETA: Here's the scoring. Notice Plushenko's criminally high scores for ~~interpretation.

Also, everybody who reads the Stephanie Plum books needs to come into this post and complain about how Katherine Heigl has been cast as Stephanie in the movie. Which is obviously TERRIBLE. ETA: It gets worse. The same people who did the absolutely disgusting The Ugly Truth are doing the film. BTW, the same team that wrote The Ugly Truth wrote Ten Things I Hate About You and Legally Blonde, what the hell. Talk about cognitive dissonance.


02/17/10--23:27: Bhutan's flag has a dragon on it. (chan 2094318)

RETRACTION: Okay, I unfortunately need to soften my position slightly on Plushenko. NBC did a hilarious profile of him last night, and I only got around to watching it tonight. I heard about the "enemies" thing, but in actuality, I think it was just a language barrier moment. I think he was looking for the right word and said enemies before settling on rivals. Not that he isn't still an unattractively arrogant dude who is nowhere near as good as he thinks he is, obviously.



I also watched some of the lower-seeded performances, and Takahashi was kind of awesome. I'd be happy if he or Evan beat Plushenko.



This was the first time I've watched the much-hyped Jeremy Abbott (sp?) skate. It was kind of a letdown. I felt really bad for him. I hope he kills it tomorrow. Actually, I even hope Joubert kills it tomorrow.



Women's downhill was sort of insane, what with all of the crazy wipeouts. Did I misunderstand the announcers, or are there separate tracks for the men and women? I was a little disappointed that Lindsey Vonn seems so... annoying. I mean, whatever, she was just happy. But it was kind of an annoying happy.



Speaking of annoying happy, even though I am pulling for Evan Lysacek tomorrow night in a big way, I was turned off by his overcelebrating last night. I mean, I KNOW that I have no concept at all of the work he has put into that moment, and I get that he just skated one of his best programs ever at exactly the right moment and how emotional that must be for him... but save it for the long program. (IDK, I think Johnny Weir fans have made me biased against Evan.) And he needs to put down the bronzer. That is Adam Lambert pre-Idol degrees of bronzeness.



So Shaun White is pretty awesome at snowboarding. And doesn't annoy me as much as someone who takes his private helicopter to his private halfpipe probably should. His last run was amazing. I was actually more impressed with the height he got during all of his moves than the Double McTwisty 360 (or whatever; I've never seen more than three inches of snow in my life, idgaf about snowboarding terminology).



I laughed and laughed and laughed at the short track relay. This sport is TOO FUNNY, I cannot take it seriously at all. Someone should give Ohno a medal for milking a massive amount of sponsorship and spokesperson deals out of this sport.



I cannot get into speed skating at all. When I was watching tonight, it was not at all surprising how many pairs finished within a spot or two of each other. I do think that pressure from your competitors -- not their times -- helps athletes race their best, and I really wish there were at least four lanes and quarter/semi/finals system. I guess that's just not possible, but ugh. I am super blah about it.



Bhutan has a cool flag. But I already knew that! I pwn at that game, even the African flags. It's actually kind of sad.

I am veeeery excited for the men's figure skating tomorrow night, omg. Definitely the best men's field pretty much ever! I can hardly believe Joubert barely made the Top 20.


02/18/10--22:10: Olympics (chan 2094318)

Men's free skate was a bit of a letdown. I'm very happy for Evan, but I didn't feel like I was watching a gold medal performance when he skated. I'm not at all surprised he won, though. Evan Lysacek is a pretty consistent skater and very good, if not necessarily my favorite to watch. I was very upset at how meh Stephane Lambiel skated. Jeremy Abbott was a total disappointment, but hopefully he'll be back in four years and do better, although I kind of doubt it. Once the Olympics becomes a Thing for a skater, they rarely seem to recover. I still cannot get over Todd Eldredge's threepeat Olympic fail, for example.

And Johnny Weir's score just cast a pall on the whole thing for me. And it's not like I'm a huge fan of his. I'm not sure I think he should have been in third place, what with being ~7 points down on Takahashi after the short program. (Although I thought he was scored pretty low there, too.) But you could see Takahashi being really nervous about whether or not he was going to hold onto the bronze medal while they were waiting for Johnny's scores. But there Johnny sits in sixth place.

What I especially don't get is that he actually beat Chan, Takahashi, and Lambiel on technical elements and lost on program components to all of them, and I thought that was the "artistic" score? He also lost to all of them on performance execution? IDGI! But whatever! I thought he skated the best I've ever seen him, and I'm really really really happy for him. I'm just sorry it didn't seem to pay off in the scoring, for whatever reason. It's really hard to understand the way this sport is scored so much of the time. I really felt like he *deserved* fourth, though.

Anyway! At least Plushenko didn't waltz in and win gold after his three year siesta. After which he came back exactly the same as before and still expected to be handed top honors because he can do a consistent quad.

Women's snowboarding was pretty lame. Tons of falling and we actually rewound the men's snowboarding afterwards while we waited to build up TiVo buffer for the skating. They're just not comparable to watch, sadly. Also sad? That Shaun White's best competition (Pearce and Davis, I think?) were out with serious injuries! I didn't realize that. :(

I'm so happy that skiier who took that ridiculously nasty fall medaled in the combined (or whatever, I'm not trying to front like I know anything about skiing). I'm sorry Linsey Vonn had to fall herself for it to happen, though. But at least it wasn't one of her best events?

P.S. Elvis Stojko is turning into the next Dick Button, what with his Crazy Old Man rants.


02/28/10--12:12: Olympics! (chan 2094318)

I'm sad the Olympics are over! (Technically there is still hockey, but unless Pacey and the Bash Brothers show up to do the Flying V and strip in the penalty box, I don't care about hockey.) I know if they'd gone on another week, I'd probably get sick of them, but they've been so much fun! My favorite thing about the winter games is getting into all of these bizarre sports for two weeks. I even got really into curling this year. Actually, if there was a club around here, I'd be really tempted to go join up. (Of course there is not.) The sports I couldn't get into at all were ski cross (and it sounded so awesome on paper!) and speed skating. Although the thing with Sven Kramer was very ~dramatic. I will definitely remember that.

Even with some pretty disappointing performances (seriously, Jacobellis?), Team USA managed to put in its best-ever performance at a winter games, yay. I hope some of the teams that have been officially disbanded (like ski jumping) will get the cash they need to be competitive. I especially hope the IOC will add slope-style snowboarding to the 2014 games, because it is awesome and fits right in with the weirdness slash extremeness of the winter games.

Even figure skating was fun. I agreed with all of the winners, although I didn't always agree with the scores. (Yu-Na deserved to win, but not by that many points! Plushenko deserved to lose, but not by a single technical point!) I feel gratified that Plushenko 100% justified my dislike of him with all of his media trolling. Best of all, there is a lot of up and coming talent from everywhere, and I think my favorites are Patrick Chan (in spite of his comments about Johnny Weir not being "proper" in the kiss and cry, wut?), and Mirai Nagasu. It's always really nice to see an athlete genuinely thrilled to place well in the Olympics, even if it's not for a medal. Her OH MY GOD!!! when she saw she was fourth was adorable. I also really loved Davis/White. Ironically, all of these skaters committed a cardinal sin by skating to Phantom of the Opera or Carmen! But hopefully they've got it out of their systems now.

Anyway. According to the NYT, the summer Olympic venues in Beijing are mostly unused. Same goes for Athens. I didn't live here in 1996, but I will say that Atlanta seems to have made a success out of most of our Olympic venues, which became new stadiums for our local sports teams, college facilities and dormitories, etc. So it can be done. Maybe it takes more time. But this seems as good a time as any to wonder whether there ought not just be a permanent Olympic venue in Greece? I know the Athens Olympics weren't hitch-free, but maybe it's time the IOC start running the games instead of being treated like royalty by cities/countries who compete to spend the gazillions of dollars it takes to pay for the games, despite the fact that they never end up paying for themselves. I read that Montreal (1976) just finished paying off their winter games! But where would a permanent winter Olympic venue go?

ETA: OH. ESPN is still planning to bid for the post-2014 broadcasting rights. They plan to show everything live, so here is hoping they win.


03/02/10--12:19: Bored Now (chan 2094318)

It's been snowing all day, and when snow starts to accumulate in the ATL, people lose their shit and everything grinds to a total halt.

Excellent halt-passing activity? The fandom March Madness thing!

There is already a movement to vote for some dude named Castiel in the Supernatural bracket so we do not get stuck with Dean Winchester again, FYI.

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03/04/10--23:05: I hope your lies keep you warm at night. (chan 2094318)

The Daily Show newsletter had an amusing error this week. I glanced at it on Monday to see who was coming up (yay Dr. Tyson!) and there's a Scott Patterson, author of The Quants, listed for Thursday. And next to the listing is a picture of Scott Patterson of Gilmore Girls fame. I was all like WOW, HE WRITES BOOKS TOO and obviously psyched to see his interview. Unfortunately the interview was NOT with Luke Danes. It was some other dude named Scott Patterson. Fire your intern, Daily Show. (Just kidding. But Google Images, really?)

Also, I watched Jon Stewart's interview with Robert Pattinson, but I could not tell you anything that was said because I was completely transfixed by the epic disaster that was his hair. What is WRONG with it? How does he get it to look like that? How can he walk out the door that way? Doesn't it make his mother cry? It's like... I don't even know. Robert Pattinson's hair is full of secrets.

Chuck

Breaking up with someone exactly at the time you're supposed to be meeting their parents is a ridiculously terrible thing to do. But I could not even focus on that because I was too busy having my post-Clana stress disorder triggered by Hannah's final scene:

Clark Chuck: There are things about my life I can't share with you.
Lana Hannah: I thought you were a good guy!
Clark Chuck: I am a good guy! And I care about you! That's why we can't be together.
Lana Hannah: I HOPE YOUR LIES KEEP YOU WARM AT NIGHT.

*rocks back and forth* Eight seasons...

BTW, did you hear Josh Schwartz is putting Kristin Kreuk on his new show? Of all the people that have guest starred on Chuck, KK is the one who catches his attention. Also, Nikke Finke says Chace Crawford is on some sort of shortlist of actors to play Captain America. (RYAN McPARTLIN! RYAN McPARTLIN! RYAAAAN McPAAAARTLIIIIN!) Why does everyone fail upwards?

But I digress! Dumb episode, except for Casey being awesome and Captain Awesome preshly not being able to lie to save his life. And I beg to differ: Sarah does not look like a Sam. And her dialogue was cringe inducing. It's not that Sarah feels the way she does about Chuck and his spying -- all of that is perfect continuity from the start of the season. But the way she said it was so anvilicious and just whiny.

The Good Wife

I legit squeed when Alan Cummings walked on screen to play Peter's evil genius defense lawyer. He is so funny, and I hope his scenery chewing is as awesome as I think it will be. Mr. Ballistics Expert can stay, too.

I thought this episode had a lot of interesting movement as far as the relationships go, especially for Peter/Alicia, Will/Alicia (that was like the definition of a Moment between them) and Kalinda.

I liked how effective Cary was in court without it contradicting his characterization from the beginning of the season, about how he's not a natural in court like Alicia is. I liked that he did good but had obviously painstakingly prepared in order to shred the witness's credibility.

And I really like how the judges and Stern lawyers and Kalinda's contacts reoccur. Another way this show reminds me of VM (tm themis) is how it is starting to feel like an actual universe, not just another procedural where the minor players appear briefly and disappear forever.


03/08/10--22:29: Stuff I watched (chan 2094318)

I lulzed my way through the Lost in Austen miniseries this weekend, and OH DEAR. It's kind of like a self-insertion Pride and Prejudice fanfiction where everything goes horribly wrong. Only it isn't very well-thought out. The self-inserted heroine needs to be wrong about someone the way Elizabeth was wrong about Darcy, so instead she's wrong about Wickham, who turns out to be the most dashing male character of all. It turns out Wickham was falsely accused by Georgiana after he rejected her in Bath. Which... doesn't really make sense, considering all of the other awful things he did; it's not like that's the only black mark against him. And since Wickham is the one who helps the Gardeners find Lydia when BINGLEY (I know, right?) absconds with her instead... doesn't that sort of make him the heroine's Darcy? Actualfax Darcy was essentially pointless since he *was* wrong about Wickham and not even remotely helpful, in addition to being even more of a jerk than usual.

But there is a scene where she makes Darcy climb into a fountain to reenact the stupid Colin Firth scene from the 1995 version, which made me laugh. And on the heroine's first day, she gets wasted at the assembly, fails epically at dancing, and then makes out with Mr. Bingley. I would make exactly the same life choices if I were plopped down into Pride and Prejudice, so props! I hope the movie includes more than just P&P, though.

I watched my first Bollywood movie, Om Shanti Om, this weekend. I netflixed it based on some recs by themis. (I *am* going to watch Dor, but it sounded a little depressing and I was not in the mood for anything even remotely depressing!) It's a little overlong and slow moving at the beginning, but oh my gosh, it is delightful. And I liked the end so much that when I watched it a second time I liked the beginning a lot more.

I was really impressed by the relationship between Shanti and Om. I loved that Shanti was haunting the set instead of having been reincarnated, and I liked that Om's relationship with Sandy stayed entirely platonic. I'm not sure a western movie would have showed that kind of restraint. Plus Shanti avenged herself in the end, yay.

I also loved the credits sequence at the end where all the actors *and* the crew -- right down to Accounts and Finance! -- danced down the red carpet. That was awesome.

Gossip Girl: The Hurt Locket

Here is what is wrong with Gossip Girl right now. And will probably stay wrong with it for the forseeable future, tbh.

A.) This show is a fustercluck of plottiness. The only thing driving the show right now are various plots, none of which I remotely care about. For example! Gossip Girl said some words about Nate/Serena being worth the wait. But there wasn't any wait. Nate decided he had feelings for Serena in one clunky episode. He told her at the end of that very same episode. They were together an episode after that. They've bypassed most of the good stuff and are well on the way to the boring stage of their teen soap relationship where all the tension comes from misunderstandings and talking or not talking about feelings. Dan/Vanessa is even worse, considering La Duff informed Dan (and the audience) that he was in love with Vanessa. Good to know?

B.) This show has no heart. The characters used to have problems that were more complex than the kind of stuff that can be distilled down into an episode synopsis. But lately the show is all froth, and it's seriously unsatisfying. What's the point of Jenny helping Damien deal drugs? (And if Jenny's gonna do this, can't she do it right? Why couldn't she have devised a plan to get the jacket instead of fortuitously noticing it on the floor? Taylor Momsen needs to deserve her hammy evil face.) What's the point of Blair's insane crusade to rule NYU? Stephanie Savage brags about how we've never seen the inside of a classroom on Gossip Girl, but there's a lot of inherent drama in college -- self-discovery, experimentation, unlearning the things you thought you knew, deciding who you're going to be and what you're going to do with your life, etc. Instead we get a glitzy new event every episode where the characters act like they're forty and mingle to advance the ends of various stupid, forgettable plots that don't actually matter. It's not like the show needs to be Felicity, but it doesn't need to be such a lot of stupid frivolousness all the damn time. When is the last time Dan mentioned being a writer? What is Serena doing now? Is Nate actually interested in politics, or was all of that just a way to introduce Tripp and the Buckleys? We've seen the story line where Blair chooses Chuck (and Nate! and Serena!) over her social ambitions again and again and again. She even already chose Chuck over the same exact secret society when she gave him that photograph earlier this season! I'm pretty sure she's not going to stop doing the right thing after she's exhausted all other options. Where is her arc going? And could I please care about it for some other reason besides how much I don't care about it and how sad that makes me?

Things that were okay:

+ The casting for Chuck's mom (or is she?). It's almost creepy how much she resembled Ed Westwick.

+ Nate and Serena making out. Finally! This show needs to be racier again.

+ Blair telling Nate not to break his brain trying to figure out her Anna Karenina outfit, lol. Also, Blair confronting Chuck's mom, as Blair would obviously do.

+ Blair and Dan giving Serena and Nate unhelpful advice about how to date each other. Serena and Nate are actually a lot alike. They don't need your bad advice, dudes.


03/11/10--22:45: TV (chan 2094318)

I actually sort of liked Private Practice tonight. All of it. I still think Violet is going to come back from her touching monkeys trip with her head on straight enough to want Lucas and Pete back in her life. Which will obviously spell DISASTUH for Addison but greatness for me because I very much prefer Pete/Violet together.

And Addison SHOULD be ashamed, btw, at what a god-awful cheater she is. You think she'd be better at it by now! She should have played it cool when Nai showed up and told her something like 'no, there is no action going on here, this is just Sam comforting me because I lost my patient.' Easy!

I still don't get where they're going with this story, though; all of Addison's breakthroughs seem to be immediately contradicted or lost. The one about how cheating doesn't equal sex? NOTHING HAPPENED. WE KISSED. The one about how she should grow up and attempt to be happy without causing strife and drama? That didn't really work out. Addison shouldn't throw herself at Sam when she's drunk and upset? Well, Sam does the same thing to her a couple episodes later. Addison has said a lot of words about not wanting to be a cheater anymore, but she can't seem to shut it down and it's obvious that Sam/Addison isn't going anywhere anytime soon. It's like the show REALLY REALLY wants to teach her a lesson, but then everything that happens is the opposite of that lesson. IDGI.

I still ship Cooper/Charlotte. No, I have no idea what is wrong with me.


I enjoyed the Psych finale overall, but it definitely irked a bit. The killers keep kidnaping all of the women who are valuable to Shawn. That's a super conventional plot that's also kind of sexist, especially when it happens twice to three women -- literally ALL of the women who've been fixtures in Shawn's personal life on the show. And didn't Yang also abduct a waitress who flirted with Shawn? What irks the most is that it's particularly unnecessary on this show because Gus is absolutely the most logical target if the killers want to get personal with Shawn. Not that I WANT Gus to get kidnapped or scarred for life, of course. But Gus and Juliet being abducted would have been an even bigger deal. Intriguing picture at the end, though. And I was TOTALLY PROUD of Gus for going after Juliet.

And I know this is probably just because I watch too much soap, but sometimes I get the weirdest vibes off of Juliet and Lassiter. Every so often they have these shippy little moments, like the time Lassiter knew what her hair smelled like or the time he said she wasn't hot in a way that made it obvious that he's definitely aware of her hotness. The scene last night where Lassiter was like 'brb bitches, rescuing my partner' and especially that last scene where he broke through to Juliet by telling her she didn't have to be fine and then held her while she cried... I kinda see it? The shipping on Psych is not at all subtle, and Juliet/Shawn is written into the DNA of this show, so I don't think anything is going on at all. It's just Jules and Lassie being awesome partners. But still, they pull at my ShowTP-rejecting tendencies.

The other show about the other obnoxious fake psychic was boring. And oh my gooosh, my mom is so upset about American Idol. Speaking of which, Kris Allen's single that I always think I hate until I'm listening to it and singing along went platinum and is Top 10 on the radio. (Apparently people still listen to the radio. Who knew.) Yay, Pocket Idol!


03/17/10--00:10: bullets, this post has them (chan 2094318)

When I read that Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes were getting a divorce, the first thing I thought of was her Golden Globes speech last year. 'I'M SO GLAD I CAN STAND HERE AND TELL YOU HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU, LEO. I'VE LOVED YOU FOR THIRTEEN YEARS. YOU ARE SPECTACULAR. I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART.' I know I am not the only one!



American Idol blows this season. Everyone is boring. And that Siobhan girl was not that good; it's like Adam Lambert all over again (re: the judging), but at least he screeched in tune. I wish her luck though, because quirky, polarizing contestants generally require a penis to be a finalist on AI. I saw a sign on the highway today telling me to vote for Lee DeWyze. I paid the most attention to him because I found that so bizarre. (He's not from around here!) The judges seem to think he is the second coming of Cook or Daughtry, which is understandable because his voice has that kind of generic gravely sound to it. But he seems way mellower to me, like Dave Matthews. Casey makes playing the guitar look like work. Tim Urban needs to go audition for the Disney Channel.



Thank goodness spring is just about here. Daffodils are popping up, a couple pink trees are blooming, and I even saw some forsythia today. The weather is still a little too cold, but we are SO CLOSE to perfect temperatures, I can feel it. *bounces*



I bought most of The Script's album the other day, and I looove it. I have been singing along to a mix of them, Kris Allen, and Jason Derülo in my car all week. Spring always puts me in the mood for happy pop music. Also, Kris Allen says he is working on a song with Kate Voegele, which made me think of pathstotread



Gossip Girl


• Serena was by far the best part of the episode, what with how they tied her daddy issues to Chuck's mommy issues. But that emotional continuity came at the expense of actual continuity, because the rest of it didn't make sense. If Chuck's mom never loved Bart, if he was so cruel... why was she weeping at Bart's grave on the anniversary of his death? And why did Chuck go from being so disappointed that she wasn't his mother last week to not even wanting to hear her out at all? Either way, missing Chuck's mom telling him the truth in service to either Serena's story line about her dad or some misguided attempt to surprise the audience (we weren't surprised) was unfortunate, I thought.
  
  
• Blair and Chuck act like they're FORTY. Their drama continues to be almost entirely beyond my ability to relate to or care about. I mean, next week Blair gets upset when Chuck is accused of sexually harassing his employees. I'm already bored.
  
  
• I watched with my sister and she kept laughing about how Chace Crawford has no personality. And yeah, he is so ridiculously bland and Not There except the times he's being smiley or mean or himself. It's seriously unfortunate. I thought maybe he'd be better with Serena than with Blair or Vanessa, but no cigar.
  
  
• I'm not sure what Jenny's endgame was when she pretended the drugs were hers, and even though I mostly FFed Damien's confession, I didn't hate that story line. In fact, as far as ranking all of the plottiness I don't care about, it went sort of like:
  

  1. Serena, Serena/Nate
  2. Jenny/Damien
  3. Blair/Chuck, Chuck's mom
  4. Rufus/Lily
  5. Dan's exile to in Vanessaville





The Good Wife

This show keeps surprising me! When I saw last week's previews, I thought they were moving too fast with Will/Alicia. I figured their kiss would happen at the end of the episode and Alicia would get spooked and run away before we faded to black. But instead it happened in the middle, and it made everything else so much more interesting and awkward between Alicia and Peter and Will. I mean, it was kind of amazing. I especially loved that Alicia went back. I mean, you could almost see her thought process as she got ready to get in her car and go home to Peter. Because why should she?

And she and Will have chemistry! Those were really pretty kisses. And I loved Will's face after he found out she came back to his office. And his OKAY, I HAVE A SUGGESTION [Get a divorce!] line was greatness. But the look on Peter's face when Alicia told him good night and closed the door was also ridiculously awesome.

And wow, that insurance company was particularly evil. NGL, I wanted to reach through the TV and strangle that woman.



I didn't watch the Nip/Tuck series finale, but I did read the recaps and am REPULSED that Matt ended up with Ava. Whatever, I know a lot of people love Ava, but she was always so vile to me. And it's typical they killed Kimber and that she ~visited~ Christian and told him she killed herself because of him. Oh, show. Otherwise, it seemed like a surprisingly non cray cray ending for such a RIDICULOUS show.

Sadly, I think that's all the new TV for me this week. But Netflix just sent me two new Bollywood movies that I am looking forward to watching.


03/31/10--00:30: POS (chan 2094318)

I just had a cartoonish rage meltdown over this stupid, stupid, piece of shit printer. I was about two seconds away from tossing it out the freaking window. HP products tend to register pretty high on my personal scale of dnwness (KILL IT WITH FIRE), but this hateful old thing is particularly capricious.

This is a pathetic post, but whatever. Sometimes when I don't post for awhile the next post feels stressful, so this will just get it out of the way while also allowing me to contemplate my anger management issues.


04/01/10--13:02: Pointless but necessary (chan 2094318)

It feels like a Friday! Especially knowing that I will be at the beach in a few days, yay. And I'll get to run on FLAT LAND, hallelujah! My quads are rejoicing already.

And being the most gullible person ever, I have been fooled multiple times today. I am determined not to be suckered again, so I'm not taking anyone seriously until tomorrow. Trust No One!

I have a dish of Easter-colored peanut m&ms, and I have decided they are my only true food vice. I can pretty much enjoy everything else in moderation, or at least accept my body's natural cues about the richness of x food or fullness or whatever. But I can never stop eating peanut m&ms, and I will even eat them to the point of feeling ill. Idkw, maybe it's the crunch or something. I don't even especially like candy...

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04/02/10--15:41: But... But.... But! (chan 2094318)

WTF?! My local Mellow Mushroom is now a 'Big Easy Pizzeria.' BRB, KILLING MYSELF.

But seriously, what kind of pizza am I supposed to eat now that I have been ruined for all other pizzas by the Mega Veggie?! This is tragic, senseless, and cruel.

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