Day 12 – An episode you’ve watched more than 5 times

I don't understand how I'm supposed to talk about any other TV show besides Veronica Mars because OMG DID YOU SEE DID YOU SEEEEEE!  AAAAAAH.  I'm trying to justify spending $350 to get Jason Dohring/Logan Echolls to record me an outgoing voicemail.  Hubs isn't in agreement.  He's such a hater.

Oh yeah, but I'm not talking about Veronica Mars today... though I'm fairly certain I've seen the entire series 5 times.  I've seen oh-so-many TV series more than 5 times (for Friends, it's more like 20 times).  This particular episode of this particular show gives me lots of happiness.

How I Met Your Mother, season 2, episode 9... "Slap Bet."

This episode is a new classic not only for the slap bet which is amazing, but for the introduction to Robin Sparkles.  If you haven't seen this, I cannot remotely do it justice with my words.  So let this video do the talking.  You won't be soar-y.

This is back when HIMYM gave me all of the happies and didn't disappoint me like it kind of is right now.  JUST SHOW US THE MOTHER ALREADY, SAGET.  This episode is made for a rewatch, though.  So hilarious, every single time.  The audio commentary is pretty great too.  Yes, I've watched this episode enough times that I've watched it with commentary.

[Fantastic Five Friday] Five Favorite TV Kisses

Blanket spoiler warning, although every kiss I'm about to mention aired in 2007 or earlier.


I love TV.  I love kissing.  I love blogging lists.  I love The Weekly Enthusiast for starting this blog meme.  This one's a no-brainer, people.

Pushing Daisies, S1E3 Aired 10.17.2007, "The Fun in Funeral"
also known as The Cellophane Kiss
Ned and Chuck's relationship is one of my favorites, because it's so damn sweet and so damn heart-breaking.  He cannot touch her because if he does, SHE WILL DIE.  They must find creative ways to show their affection that do not involve actual skin-to-skin contact or else Chuck becomes The Lonely Tourist Dead Charlotte Charles once more.  And, since this is a Bryan Fuller show, it's gotta be quirky as can be.


Veronica Mars, S1E18 Aired 4.12.2005, "Weapons of Class Destruction"
also known as First LoVe
Logan and Veronica had been doing this strange and crazy dance around one another for a few episodes before this, building up the tension as all the best shows will do.  She had been helping him out on a case, and he dropped many of the bitter feelings he had in the past for her.  It all culminates in this awesome sweeping kiss that you don't see coming just as much as you do.  None of the videos would let me embed the actual kiss, so here's what I've found.  THIS VIDEO is the lead-up to the kiss, which you should watch because it includes a mulleted JTT (YES!) and Logan calls him "Jump Street" and it's just good to have back story.  THIS VIDEO is the kiss itself.  It looks like the picture below, but... you know... moving and stuff.

Like this, but with more kissing.

Friends, S2E7 Aired 11.9.1995, "The One Where Ross Finds Out"
also known as That Scene That Always Plays Whenever Anyone Talks About Ross & Rachel
Before they became a veritable punchline, Ross and Rachel's will-they-or-won't-they carried quite the punch.  I'm a big ole Friends fan, still to this day.  I remember watching the build-up to this for weeks (yes, when it aired back in 1995 when I was just barely 14 years old) and my baby-teenage heart was FIT to BURST.  And then, it happened.  Oh my, did it happen.  Watching the video of the kiss still gave me chills, even this many years later.  Again, unable to embed so entire scene can be viewed RIGHT HERE.

Well, hello there, Dr. Geller.

The Office, S2E22 Aired 5.11.2006, "Casino Night"
also known as The Night I Yelled at My Boyfriend For Making Me Love This Show
Y'all.  In doing my research for this entry, I just fell down a serious Jim and Pam rabbithole, and THE FEELS.  THEY ARE OF THE KILLING KIND.  I'm such a Jim and Pam fangirl.  This is another that I remember so SO well.  I remember watching their relationship unfold, breaking my heart piece and piece as it went, because I never thought Jim would be able to get the girl.  They were too tentative, too shy, too good at their little dance that they couldn't see around it.  So it's Casino Night, and something in Jim sees that this is his moment and... Pam says no.  And I cried like a little girl, hands pressed to my mouth, tears streaming down my cheeks.  But fear not, True Believers!  It wasn't over yet!  Actions speak louder than words!  THIS VIDEO is a poor quality version of the kiss itself, but the below video is so so sweet, and it's rocking the Ingrid, and you can see the kiss again starting at about 2:36.


Gilmore Girls, S4E22 Aired 5.18.2004, "Raincoats and Recipes"
also known as That Time I Squeed So Loud I Terrified My Neighbors
No TV list of mine is complete without one GG reference.  And you know it had to be Lorelai.  What I adore about Luke and Lorelai as a pair is that it wasn't so hit-you-over-the-head obvious as TV couples usually are.  Yes, it was established in the pilot that Luke was a dude that gave Lorelai The Feelings, and yes it gets pretty properly hinted at over the course of these 4 seasons, but it didn't take over the plot as a whole.  Not until the end of Season 4, and suddenly Luke Can See Her Face, and that surly, hat-wearing diner owner is DONE.  Love it.

[Fantastic Five Friday] Five Characters To Which I’ve Become Too Attached (TV edition)

In looking through my blog reader today, I saw a post that intrigued me about five tv/movie characters to which the author was too attached.  Then I found out it's a weekly blog meme started by The Weekly Enthusiast.  Then I remembered my blog and thought, "Didn't I used to write about TV shows and stuff back in the day?  I should do that again!"

AND SO, without further ado, here are "five" characters from television shows that I wish were real people so we could be super BFFs for all time.  I wanted to get all random and oddball on all of you (which I kind of do as far as show choice) but sadly, the majority of these are main characters instead of side characters.  DEAL WITH IT.

5.  The Piemaker aka Ned, Pushing Daisies

Print by Nan Lawson, which you can buy here!

There were 2 reasons I was dying to watch Pushing Daisies before it aired- Bryan Fuller and Lee Pace.  These two had worked together on a fun, quirky, supa random show I (of course) adored called Wonderfalls. I didn't like Lee's character that much at first, but he slowly grows on you, and I give all the credit to that to Lee's awesomely awesome acting talents.  The more research I did on him, the more he impressed me.  Pushing Daisies was no exception; it only made my love grow stronger.  If I'm awake, I'm missing this show.  It's always in my brain.  In fact, it's affected me so much that I unconsciously wrote one of the boys in a story to  look like Ned without realizing it and then I saw these and was like, "YEP. WHOOPS."  #sorrynotsorry

Favorite Ned quote:
"Everything we do is a choice. Oatmeal or cereal, highway or sidestreets, kiss her or keep her. We make choices, and we live with consequences. If someone gets hurt along the way, we ask for forgiveness, it's the best anyone can do."

4. Seth Cohen, The O.C.

gif found on tumblr, duh

I had such an addiction to this show when it first aired, like... serious.  It made my week.  I would tell people not to call me, bother me, make plans with me while this was on.  Because of Seth Mother-f-ing Cohen.  He was the nerdy dream boy for a whole generation of girls just like me.  Sweet and sensitive and did I mention SO NERDY?  Big ole swoons from me.  Then, the whole show went downhill too fast, and I broke up with it and it wasn't pleasant and I still haven't see the last 2 seasons.  I'm waiting for the Seth Cohen comeback because I know it's coming.

Favorite Seth/Ryan conversation:
Ryan: Sometimes I think you talk just to make sounds.
Seth: Well, sometimes, I do.

3. Cory & Topanga, Boy Meets World

LITTLE BABIES!!

I love Boy Meets World more than anyone should, really.  I know it's cheesy and predictable and very, VERY 90's.  But I don't even care.  I'd like more cheesy, predictable sitcoms if they were written with so much sweetness and honesty and inside jokes and if William Daniels was in them.  Life doesn't have to be all art films and emo things and THIS IS MOST BEAUTIFUL THING I'VE EVER SEEN.

Cory and Topanga are the OG OTP, IMO.  They were endgame back in the sandbox.  And they knew it, and they weren't afraid to show it.  I never doubted that their love was true, or that what they felt didn't feel supremely real to them.  It's the embodiment of first love, and more power to you if you can find something like that.  I also believe all bromances on TV today owe a lot to Cory and Shawn.

Be careful what you wish for, Cornelius Matthews.
"That's just what I want - to be Topanga's boyfriend. And then we can name our children Chewbacca and Plankton."

2. Veronica Mars, Veronica Mars

again, thanks tumblr

I already knew who I wanted in the #1 spot, but this one was tough.  I ended up benching Buffy (I KNOW!) for V. Mars, but I'm not going to apologize.  While I do adore Ms. Summers, I always felt an attachment to Veronica because she's just a normal girl trying to do right by her and her people.  She was a normal goody-two-shoes who managed to bag a bestie like Lilly Kane, score a date with Lilly's brother Duncan... and then her whole life fell apart slowly but surely due to nothing she did.  Instead of falling to Earth in pieces, she picked herself up, dusted herself off, and made sure that crap didn't happen to her again.

What I most love about Veronica is how vulnerable she really is, because she certainly presents herself as ten pounds of badass in a five pound bag, and how terrified she becomes when that vulnerability brings itself to the surface.  She'll let little glimmers of her true self shoot through that intense armor, and it's like magic.  Sadly, that's the reason she and Logan have SUCH A HARD TIME being together.  He wants to protect her; she's not going to stop doing what she does best.  Fight angst fight- them's the breaks when your love story is epic.

"Tragedy blows through your life like a tornado, uprooting everything. Creating chaos. You wait for the dust to settle and then you choose. You can live in the wreckage and pretend it's still the mansion you remember. Or you can crawl from the rubble and slowly rebuild."

1. Lorelai Gilmore, Gilmore Girls

Oy with the poodles, I have such a crush on Lorelai Gilmore (and also on Lauren Graham too).  Lorelai is completely and totally cah-razy, but she wears it so well.  More than any other character I've ever known, I wish Lorelai was real so I could be friends with her.  I think we'd really understand each other.  We could drink coffee and hide out indoors and watch/mock tons of movies and laugh at the same jokes and tease Luke while he fixes things.  I'm legitimately sad that can't be my reality.  OH, TELEVISION.  How you've ruined me.

Much like V.Mars, Lorelai uses her wit and her charm as her mask because she's so very, very vulnerable.  She's been so burned in the past by Christopher, by her parents, by nearly everyone, that she basically trusts no one but Rory.  When she is happy, I cheer with her.  When she is broken, my heart breaks too.  There are certain episodes of Gilmore Girls that are beyond difficult for me to get through because a- Lauren Graham constantly and consistently knocks performances out of the park and b- I identify with Lorelai very very much.  She makes mistakes.  She has flaws.  She knows it, and she knows when she's making a bad choice but she doesn't always stop herself.  She's so complex, I friggin' love it.  I started watching Parenthood because she'd be on it (and Peter Krause too!!), and I'm thankful for her casting all the time.

So... those are mine!

Running up that hill.

Did not "train" all weekend due to headaches/feeling not so great.  So, yesterday, when I go to do my set mileage, I feel terrible, like my legs are like lead.  I managed to keep running for a mile but I stopped soon after that.  It didn't make me feel great (because I should have done more), but I can't be disappointed because at least I did SOMEthing.

More than anything, I got Vegas on the brain.  We fly out Sunday, and I'm really looking forward to it.  It's going to be a fun awesome vacation with fun awesome friends, and it's just what I need.

Now that Angel & Buffy are all done (at least DVD wise...), I need a new show.  Of course, I went delving into the world of cult shows, and I came up with Veronica Mars.  I was pretty certain I would love this show for a long time, but again, I held off.  Mostly, when I don't watch a show that has a lot of buzz around it, it is because a) everyone else is watching it and so I am trying to be too cool for school, b) Jack tells me I need to quit watching so much TV/he tells me I already watch a show almost identical to it/he tells me I watch enough shows that aren't good solely for entertainment purposes (that boy doesn't understand my addiction, huh?), or c) it came on the same time as one of my favorites and this is pre-DVR times and therefore I could not watch.  With VM, I have no idea which one of these typical reasons it was but I'm guessing it fell into the realm of b.  Either way, I think I needed to be a fan of 2 things before I started VM- Buffy (duh) and Party Down.

Party Down is one of my new favorite shows because it has a great cast and it reminds me of Arrested Development.  ANYTHING that can invoke memories of AD is a blessing in my book, because there are not a lot of shows that can garner that kind of compliment.  Party Down does, because it's got dysfunctional characters doing somewhat ridiculous things that are hilarious and awkward at the same time.  That to me is television gold. 

However, PD is produced by Rob Thomas (NOT of MB20), and he's the creator of Veronica Mars.  Therefore, lots of crossover in casting.  This is also the reason by being a Buffy fan was crucial to pre-VM viewing, because there are many old Buffy cast members that grace the VM line-up.  I'm looking forward to episodes featuring Charisma Carpenter, who I didn't like much at the beginning of Buffy but broke my heart by her last episode of Angel.

Either way, Veronica is filling up the void in my life left by finishing one of my new favorite TV franchises.  Fast-paced and unique dialogue, interesting characters, excellent pacing of plotlines, and dynamic casting.  Do I like TV too much?  Perhaps.  I don't think so.  I think it's my hobby.  I know that sounds weird... but it's true.  I watch it a lot, but it's not a passive activity.  Sincerely, my dream job would be a TV writer-- NOT a writer of TV shows (though I think I'd be really good at that...) but someone who writes about TV, like a reviewer, and get paid for it.  Basically what I do now with more focus and MUCH more money.  One can dream...

This got rambly.