[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!

Day 15 – Favorite male character

Of course, I have more than one (HELLO, don't you know me??)  However, like with the authors, I'll only write a little extra about one.  So, first: I mentioned Michael Moscovitz yesterday, and he's definitely one of them, because he's a real boy written like a real boy.  And he'll show you his Blueside.  My second one is the incomparable Boy With The Bread, Peeta Mellark.  Oh, my #PeetaPocket.

I'm not going to say anything about that except... I love tumblr.  (All credit to that goes to lilliansblog.)

Okay, for real now, here's my pick and why.

Cricket Bell from Lola & The Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
*as imagined by Simini Blocker

I've never been one of those girls that goes for the bad boys (I did once, not quite realizing that he was one, and let's just say it didn't end well).  I never really wanted to date the boy you needed to change or fix.  Frankly, I'm awesome, and I should be treated awesome.  When I am treated awesome, I respond by treating you awesome in return.  Win-win, as they say.

HOWever, I've found that I'm the complete exception to this rule, and it was especially evident when I was a teenager.  While other girls at my school were going after jerky dudes who didn't even know they existed, I was always the one chasing after the musicians, the theater geeks, the smart guys... essentially, the nerdy guys.  And Cricket Bell is just about as nerdy as they come.  He is the epitome of all the things I love best about nerdy guys.  He's sweet and charming, he cares about people and isn't afraid to show it, he's awkward and tall and has crazy hair and... I just love him.

Cricket is sort of an anomaly in modern YA, where he's presented from the beginning as already in like with the main character, rather than assuming they don't like each other and will have tons of ridiculous conflict together over and over until finally he says, "Oh wait, this girl is kinda amazing, I should stop being mean to her."  And then the girl says, "Well, I know you've been mean to me for a long time, but I know it was really because you lurved me!"  (Yes, this is a GINORMOUS generalization, but whatever.)  Cricket's just like, "Yep.  Like you!  Let's go out!"  And when he finds out Lola has a boyfriend who's kind of a dillhole, he says that while he desperately wants to be with her, he'd rather she BE HAPPY and he will LET HER GO if the dillhole is really what she wants.  But he's also willing to fight for her, to wait for her to realize that he's the much, much, MUCH better choice.  He stands up for her, understands her, sees that she's not perfect in the larger sense of the word but that she just might be perfect for him.  Some argue that being sensitive isn't manly, but I disagree.  I know I always be saying this but to me, there's nothing more bad-ass than being yourself.  You don't have to punch some guy to prove that you're strong.

So when Cricket leaps back into the scene just in the nick of time, I'm basically just a big ball of swoony swoons until the very last page.

That's why I love this boy, because he understands what true love is.  It's wanting the one you love to be happy, regardless of your own happiness.  And that's why the sensitive/nerdy guys of the world- the Cricket Bells, the Peeta Mellarks, the Michael Moscovitzs, the The Hubs Jacks- will always have my heart.  I don't want to chase.  I want to be truly loved.  Thankfully, I am.

<3

Happy birthday Jack!!

Thanks for being born.
Thanks for playing the tuba.
Thanks for wearing that Ben Folds Five shirt.
Thanks for driving me to all those shows in DC.
Thanks for letting me watch the Star Wars Episode 2 trailer on your DVD-ROM.
Thanks for going to the away football game that fateful November day.
Thanks for thinking my craziness is cute rather than... well, crazy.
Thanks for making me laugh more than anyone else on the planet.
Thanks for loving me exactly as I am.
Thanks for making me cry while I write this, though you have no idea I'm doing this right now.
Thanks for showing me that having a dog was a brilliant idea.
Thanks for teaching me the wonder that is King's Court.
Thanks for knowing so much random information so you can always answer my questions.
Thanks for cooking me delicious food all the time.
Thanks for always getting my jokes and playing along with my comedy bits.
Thanks for knowing which member of Reel Big Fish is my favorite.
Thanks for letting me be a fan girl.
Thanks for buying me new bookshelves when the old ones get too full.
Thanks for spending your life with me.
Thanks for being you.
Happy stinkin' birthday <3

What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? Being Grateful.

2011 has been an interesting year for me and mine.  We have had a rough few years due to circumstances out of our control, but I always take comfort in the fact that The Hubs and I continue to remain happy and strong when we are together, no matter what life throws our way.  Thankfully, this has been a pretty good year, a crazy year, a year full of changes and new jobs and books upon books upon books, and I really couldn't be happier.  Lots of great things planned for 2012, so I really hope the world doesn't end.

I would like to thank all of you out there who've read my blog craziness over the years as well.  I love having an outlet with which to express myself, and I never imagined anyone would read this besides The Hubs or my mom or something.  So, from the bottom of my heart, no matter how you came to read this, thank you for taking the time to make me feel just a little bit important.  I am so very grateful.

Please enjoy this mega-cuteness from Zooey and Joseph.  See you next year!