Wednesday, June 30, 2010

"No."

I quote Ron Donald, caught red-handed with poo shoe.  Starz has decided to cancel Party Down.  You'd think at this point in my life, with all the cancellations I've had to deal with, I'd find a better way to handle this.  Alas, no.  Just like Arrested Development and Pushing Daisies before it, one of my favorite shows is now in the TV ether.

I've been watching all the videos uploaded by Stupid Starz that I can see on YouTube, and while I wish I could post the video of the cast acting out the play from Steve Guttenberg's Birthday, it's not there.  However, in complaining about this tragedy on Twitter, I found out that I'm in good company.  Chuck Klosterman, the hilarious author of one of my faves Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs says, "The fact that Starz just canceled PARTY DOWN makes me want to blow up my TV, followed by the entire state of California."  Dan Harmon, writer and creator of fave show [thankfully STILL ON THE AIR] Community simply says, "BOO."

I agree, funny dudes.  BOO.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Who likes stuff?

Okay, my new favorite thing to do is follow and read fashion blogs and YA book review blogs.  I especially love the fashion ones because I find out where all the good sales are, and these ladies are so cute and so fashionable and it makes me want to dress nicer.  Case in point: reading of these blogs made me buy a super cute pleated skirt from the Gap that is not on their website or I would link to it, and today I am wearing it to work!  White legs and all!  (Also, this skirt is a size 6 and it totally fits me so comfortably that I couldn't pass it up for real.)  Either way, these kinds of blogs have lots of giveaways, so don't be surprised if you occasionally see one of those "Hey, Look at This Contest!" post.

So... hey!  Look at this contest!

Friday, June 25, 2010

Johnny Cash & Michael Jackson, we apologize.

When I heard the news that Johnny Cash died on September 12, 2003 (via a call from my cousin telling me that John Ritter died randomly and also "some guy named Johnny Cash?"), I immediately called my brother, who got me into Cash.  My bro said quietly, "I think I killed him."  After my response of "huuum-na?" he explained to me that the previous day (Sept. 11), he wore a black suit, black shirt, and black tie to work, and one of his students called him The Man In Black.  He admitted he'd never been called that before, which according to him, caused Johnny Cash to die.  It wasn't, you know, the diabetes and years of hard livin' or anything.

Fast forward to June 25, 2009.  I was at work at the Worst Law Firm Ever, and my GBF (who I miss more than life!) peeked over the cube wall and say, "Dude, Farrah Fawcett died!"  We had a moment of sadness, and we pressed on through the day.  After work, he and I were on the way back to my place (to get dinner and drop him off in DC), and we started talking about that Celebrities Die in Threes urban myth.  My theory is that each celebrity that passes has to be more famous than the one that died before, and the third one is the biggest star of them all.  Since Ed McMahon had also died earlier that week, we knew a third was coming, and we knew it had to be bigger than Farrah Fawcett.  Very nonchalantly, I threw into the ether, "It's gonna have to be like Michael Jackson or something!"

Unbeknownst to me, Michael Jackson had been rushed to the hospital about an hour before.

We walked in the door, and Hubs asked if we heard the news.  Confused as to why Hubs has suddenly taken an interest in Farrah Fawcett, I replied that we had.  Then, we glanced at the TV to find that, officially, MJ had been pronounced dead.  I slapped my forehead and yelled, "Oh crap!  I killed Michael Jackson!"

Maybe the craziness runs in the family.  Maybe we just don't have the proper brain filter during these trying times.  Maybe this is the most ridiculous story I have.  All I know is that, in times of celebrity death crisis, my brother and I still think we have to take the blame.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Spider-man And His Amazing Vuvuzela

My brother is a big fan of Spider-man, ever since before he could read.  In fact, Spider-man pretty much taught him to read.  As children, we would always watch VHS copies of Spider-man and His Amazing Friends, a cartoon about Spidey and his two friends Ice-Man and Firestar.  Even as a small child, I thought he should have had better friends whose powers didn't cancel each other out all the time, but... I wasn't Stan Lee, was I?

I find myself thinking of one particular episode lately, since the World Cup is always, always, always on the TV in my house.  Vuvuzelas = SWARM.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

I'm a Slayer; Ask Me How.

I know I've been really Buffy-tastic lately, but I really wanted to post this since the atrocious LOGO list this past weekend.  It started a ground swell of anger for TV bloggers and TV twitter-ers (what a ridiculous word!) after the list made its rounds on the interwebs.  As previously stated, I'm somewhat of  TWoP stalker, and I follow the tweets & blog of one Joe R. who was kind enough to retweet my original call of blasphemy!  He asked that his blog readers send him their own personal top 10.  As I tried to figure that out, I found that I wanted to explain why said 10 were my favorites.  SO, for those of you still reading past "Buffy-tastic," here are my own personal top 10 (plus 3 honorable mentions for personal reasons).

10. Welcome to the Hellmouth/The Harvest

This should be kind of self-explanatory, but this is the beginning, the one where it all started.  It's a pretty great series beginning, and it sucks you in (sadly, no pun intended!).  It effectively introduces the core of characters that we will grow to love over the course of the series, and they are so cute in their youngness!  ESPECIALLY baby Angel, who appears all stalker-y out of the darkness right into Buffy's heart.  Anyone who watches this knows that Angel is the original Edward Cullen.  It also establishes the Big Bad of S1 as The Master, who is one ugly motherShutYourMouth of a vamp, and begins the whole "High School As Hell" analogy that Joss was going for.  Ain't that the truth!

9. The Wish
Cordy tells new friend Anya that she wishes Buffy had  never come to Sunnydale, and unbeknownst to her, Anya sets the plan into motion as she's a demon.  It's a really dark look into what life would have been like had Buffy never come to that Hellmouth.  The entire town's been overtaken by vamps, The Master completed the Harvest [the one Buffy stopped in the very beginning], and now almost all of her friends are on the wrong side of the line.  This is one of my favorites because, right before the curse is reversed, all of the main characters are killed off during an epic battle.  You know that the characters don't feel the impact of the loss during the fight, since they are alternative versions of the characters the audience knows, but the AUDIENCE feels the loss.  Seeing Angel, Willow, and Xander turn to dust is pretty jarring, regardless of the fact that it didn't happen.  Plus, Buffy's face scar is pretty awesome.

8. The Zeppo
This is for fans of the Xander, which I am.  He's awkward, he has hot girl friends that see him permanently in the Friend Zone, he's got no powers to speak of, and he feels useless.  So, he abounds on what should be a B-plot that becomes the A-plot.  Meanwhile, his friends are dealing with the apocalypse that you never even see.  Fave part: Buffy and Angel having ANOTHER deep discussion about their epic love and why he shouldn't risk himself to save them and blah blah blah, and Xander interrupts all awkward and hilarious.  I feel like this is a love letter to people like me, who love TV as an art form and a hobby.

7. Band Candy
2 reasons: seeing Ripper come to life (bonus: hearing Anthony Head's real accent), and the actual title of the episode.  My inner Band Geek heart swells.  That says it all.

6. The Prom (Season 3)
I've already talked about this, so I won't go into it.  However, can't watch the end without tearing up!  Freakin' Jonathan and his Class Protector speech...

5. Graduation Day 1 & 2

Just epic.  The climax of Season 3 ends with a giant amazing fight that involves the entire senior class.  Of course, after the Class Protector thing, they aren't going to argue with Buffy when she tells them to hide stakes, knives, axes, and arrows under their robes.  Mostly, it goes back to that same nostalgia I feel as myself a member of the Class of 1999.  My graduation was soooo boring, especially compared to this.  I wish we could have had awesome weapons under our robes rather than white dresses and Silly String.


4. Hush
Joss is widely know for his witty and pop culture laden dialogue, and this episode was written to specifically show that his talent is quite beyond his wordiness.  The Gentlemen are coming, and they are about as creepy as possible, and they will steal your voices.  Much of the episode is music only, while the Scoobies figure out WTF to do.  Favorite scene, without question, is Giles and his silent slideshow.

3. Once More With Feeling
IT'S A FRIGGIN' MUSICAL.  To boot, it's catchy as hell.  So catchy that I used to listen to a playlist of it on YouTube until I bought the album off Amazon.  The plot is, the Monster of the Week (a demon named Sweet) is summoned, and he causes everyone in Sunnydale to sing their feelings.  It's a good turning point in the series, and it's a particularly bright spot in a bleak, weaker Season 6.  Most everyone has pretty average voices, except Giles who sounds so delicious and pleasant.  If you ever see me singing to myself, it's probably this.

2. Surprise/Innocence

I know I've said it before, but I'm totally Team Angel, and this is why.  It's Buffy's birthday, and she wants to celebrate by hanging with her Vampire with a Soul boyfriend and keeping things low key.  Unfortunately, Spike & Dru disagree, and they set a plot into motion that eventually leads to Angel leaving to keep All Evil from breaking loose.  THAT plan fails, and Buffy and Angel end up back at his place, which leads to some sweet bow-chicka-wow-wow.  HOWever, Angel's soul curse is such that, if he has one moment of pure happiness (i.e. making love to the one woman he's loved in over two hundred years), he loses said soul and becomes an evil and awesome douche.  For the rest of Season 2, Angelus is the Big Bad, and he wears eyeliner and leather pants and talks a LOT about hilarious crap.  It's awesome, awesome stuff with the action AND the sad love story, and it ultimately leads to the really great (at #11, I swear) finale of Season 2 and also Willow's Witchy Ways.  This incident defines their relationship for the entirety of the series, and it's also a personal joke between my husband and I (because our sense of humor peaked at age 13).  I've read this somewhere before, but guys always turn into such jerks afterwards...

1. The Body

There is not enough I can say about this episode.  This is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen, not just of Buffy but of any TV ever, and it's heart-breaking.  Writing, acting, everything is perfect.  Buffy's mother had been suffering from a brain tumor for the first part of the 5th season, and she had just had a operation and was given a clean bill of health.  Our Slayer had spent the last few years protecting her mother from various demons and monster and creepy crawlies, only to lose her to an aneurysm that she never saw coming.  Every single time I watch it, I cry so so many times, the trigger being when Buffy rushes to her mother's body and screams in her face to get her to react (see the pic from EW.com on the left).  Our girl is always so calm and collected, always the fighter, but this is far too much for her.  Again, I simply can't say enough about this, because no matter what I say, it doesn't do it justice.



HMs: School Hard, Pangs, Storyteller (SH because it's when Spike was AWESOME, Pangs for the "you made a bear!", Storyteller for "we are as Gods!")

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Big Bad John.

Jimmy Dean died on Sunday, very randomly and also very suddenly according to his wife.  He and Donna have lived in Varina, the area where I grew up, for a long time, and they were the biggest local celebrities our little side of Richmond had ever seen.  It wouldn't be strange to see them out at (the now defunct) Ukrop's for groceries or other places around town.  While I was in school, they had a "Dean's List" program where students were given savings bonds for keeping the GPA high or raising it from one semester to the next.  They also helped out the school by buying new band uniforms, and he honored the top 30 seniors in a class by taking them on his yacht for a day (or, in my case, having them over for an afternoon party)and drawing a name from his cowboy hat to give one of us a car (sadly, I did not win).

I have many Jimmy Dean stories that I love to tell.  In fact, all of my Jimmy Dean stories are in my repertoire that I whip out at parties or other times when the mood strikes.  Each one is a little bit different (though they all end with a quippy punchline), but each of them is pretty hilarious.  There's a great one where, while visiting his house during the Top 30 Seniors Party, I won lots of quarters from his in-house slot machine, and he came up behind me, draped an arm on my shoulders, and said, "I hope you don't think I'm gonna let you take that home with you!" There's another fun one from my freshman year, when my brother's friend asked him during an assembly how much his belt buckle cost, and Jimmy called him a smartass in front of the entire student body, faculty, and visting parents.  There's my second favorite from when our Madrigal chorus sang as carollers for his holiday party, and he told our director (AND I quote) that she couldn't find her fanny if all 10 of her fingers were flashlights.

However, my favorite Jimmy Dean moment happened after I'd left high school, after I hadn't won the car, after I'd been gone from Varina for a while.  It was my cousin's 21st birthday, and she was working at the local CVS pharmacy.  I had decided that I was going to surprise her at work by ambushing her and singing Happy Birthday.  The pharmacy is located in the back of the store and my mole told me she was at the register, so I chose my inconspicuous aisle, leapt out from around a blind corner, and started belting it out.

Turns out, she was currently ringing up Mr. Jimmy Dean, clad in jeans and a Varina sweatshirt.

She was so, so embarrassed, judging by the horrified look on her face, and I probably should have been too.  I do admit, I got a little flustered by my celebrity audience, but I didn't miss a beat.  I kept singing, did a little birthday softshoe, and the line of people gave me nice smiles and applause.  Cousin told Jimmy that it was indeed her birthday, and that I (her cousin) just wanted to tease her.  Jimmy asked her how she was, and when she replied, he laughed heartily and quipped, "Oh honey, I've got underpants older than you!"

Happy birthday indeed.

That being said, he was a lovely man who did many wonderfully nice things for our fledgling community while being very genuine and respectful, and I know we're all a bit sadder now that he's gone.  Thank you, Sausage King.

Monday, June 14, 2010

I'm really wanting some Beautiful Darkness.

Looks like there's a contest going on to win an ARC of Beautiful Darkness.  I loved Beautiful Creatures, and I'm hoping to win.  Therefore:

Look at the prizes!


I hope I win!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Blasphemy!

The LOGO network has been running a Buffy fan favorite countdown this weekend, as voted by fans all last month.  I saw commercials for this, but I didn't vote because... well, I didn't.  However, I gotta say, this has got to be the craziest, most nonsensical fan countdown ever and I'm having a really hard time believing it.

First off, the main thing that bugs me is that "The Body," one of the best episodes not only of Buffy but of TELEVISION ever, was at number 13.  This is widely known to be the tip top of writing and acting of the show, and yet it doesn't even break the top TEN?  That's so ridiculous, I can't even begin to explain it.

Secondly, there are two types of Buffy fans- Team Angel and Team Spike.  I get the feeling that the voters of this countdown are all on Team Spike, and (obviously, if you've ever read any of my previous posts) I am definitely Team Angel.  Some of my favorite episodes, most of which involve Angel, are either very low or not even on the list.  Things like the epic second part of "Graduation Day" and the beautiful "Innocence" and the previously-mentioned-in-this-blog "The Prom" are all below #15.  And now, I'm watching "Gone" which is #12, and it's one where The Trio [of Nerds] turn her invisible, and it's pretty much 42 minutes of amateur sight gags.  Uh... WHA?  How is Spike doing it with invisible Buffy BETTER than... well, all of the other episodes I mentioned?

Answer: it's not.

In other words, Logo, Boo you whore.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Try any banker, bum, or barber.

Due to ridiciously sneaky sickness and the aftermath of it (i.e. three solid days of sleeping), I have been a slacker of the blog.  Today.. well, it's kind of no exception.  Nothing new to add to the world, no quippy lines to drop, no new lingo to think up.

However, I just found this on the Twitter, posted by Angel Cohn who writes for Television Without Pity (I'm kind of a TWoP stalker, by which kind of = totes).  It puts together two things I am a fan of: Lady Gaga and Newsies.  Come on, NewsiesNEWSIES?  It's my favorite forever.  It's how I fell in love with Christian Bale before all the Batman hype.  (Actually, if you haven't, check out Empire of the Sun to see a young CB acting his butt off.  I was impressed and moved by his performance at the ripe old age of 13.)

At times, this little mash-up seems forced, but when it gels, it's perfection.  LOVE.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Give up the funk.

So... no rounds done on the future Sock Puppet last night.  Why?  Because I decided to get margaritas with co-workers instead.  Therefore, as much as I want to finish the sock(s), I feel I should be making friends too.  We still don't really have that many people we hang out with in town, except for my favorite Katie, so it's good to get out and be ridiculous sometimes.  I forgive myself for not knitting when I got home.  And you should too, you judgers!

Okay, so I have been very vocal about my love for Glee and how it is, to quote a sparkly vamp [and a Mormon housewife], my very own brand of heroin.  I hear what people say about how ridiculous it is and how it makes no sense and how nothing that happens could logically or realistically HAPPEN, and I just brush it off.  I know it's out of control, but I don't really care.

However, last night's penultimate Funk left me... well, in a funk.  I have been able to ignore the gaping plotline holes for a while, but there were too many that grated me last night.  Why did Jesse go back to Vocal Adrenaline when TWO WEEKS AGO he and Rachel were back together?  And, last week, he wasn't even THERE, so... did they break up?  I mean, all it would take is one line of THROW AWAY dialogue to say, "oh, yeah, Jesse won't return my calls, it's so bizarre."  And then, when he was back in VA this week, the viewer would say, "OH, remember last week?  How he disappeared?  Turns out, it's because he's a d-bag!  I got it!"  But, no.  Inexplicably back to the enemy.  Not really into that.  From what I'm reading on the interwebs, I'm not the only one feeling this way.

And yet, I find myself wishing that Glee would do more fantasy-like sequences a la "Loser."  While I thought that was a supah random choice for a song, I thoroughly enjoyed their zombie-like faces as they wandered through Sheets-n-Things.  It reminded me of what Six Feet Under used to do that never failed to entertain me.  Plus, if they did more fantasy sequences like this, it would make the Assignment of the Week angle disappear, or hopefully it would.  I like that there's a theme every week, but it seems forced to make these kids have weekly "assignments" and then they sing their "assigned" songs.  I think it would be better to have a weekly theme, and maybe the entire group sings a theme-y song together (like last night's Give Up the Funk), but the Glee kids could have theme-related fantasy numbers. 

I would really like that, alright, Ryan Murphy?  Look into it and get back to me.

Bonus: in looking up that video of Claire, I found what is my top #1 favorite series finale ever.  Enjoy! (um... spoiler alert warning if you've never seen the SFU finale...)

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

June... already!

The theme of this blog is supposedly TV and knitting.  I tend to sit more in the TV chair than the knitting throne because I've been kind of lazy, and it takes no dexterity to watch TV, unless you're trying to do a work-out video or something, at which point you have made me tired.  So, I thought I'd go old school and actually talk about those two things today!  Side note: whenever I read the descriptor of what this blog is, I think "knitting and TV" to the tune of Blur.

Knitting: I'm still knitting that sock.  That same sock.  Not the other one in the set.  The SAME ONE.  It's my first sock, and it's been kind of tough to find a method I like.  I should have just bought one small circular needle and knit a tube like nobody's beezneees.  However, I tried DPNs, then Magic Loop, and both made me want to go HRKJHSEJSHKGJFGIOIES.  So, I've been doing this on 2 circulars, and it's kind of pokey sometimes, but it's been working.  My problem is that, since it's been so stinkin' hot outside, my hands get sweaty and then the needles get a little slippery, and then a stitch falls, and then I get angry and harumph a lot.  Mostly, I just need to get this crap done and quit being such a whiny baby about it.  10 rounds before the end of the day!  That's my goal...

TV: Season finales have all occurred except for Glee, which is next week, and Party Down, which is... some time... soon.  Now is the time when I should knit more because I won't have as much to watch.  Actually, summer is the time when I decide to add a new show to my Netflix or watch that series I own and love on DVD.  I know I should watch Firefly, since I'm a fan of the Whedon and the Fillion, but I couldn't get into that first episode.  Maybe I should pay attention more?  I'm sure.  I was also thinking of watching Lost again, all the way through from start to finish.  I think we have most of the episodes still saved on the DVR, or I'm sure by the time I'm ready for Season 6, it'll be out on DVD. 

As far as new summer shows, sometimes we watch the silly crap like WIPEOUT or Real Housewives of NJ (I need my drama fix!), sometimes we give new shows a chance, but for me, summer = PSYCH.  Hooray!  I'm even more excited having seen these pictures just posted where Dule Hill is DANCING.  I lurve Gus.  Summer also means True Blood.  There have been some leaked photos of this new season, and seeing them makes me have the urge to re-read the 3rd book.  I know there has to be some lead-up to the 4th book (which is my favorite, I think...), but I can't remember what it is!

I want a donut.