An endearing moment from Gary

The Scene: Living room, midnightish, watching the Tonight Show with Conan.

The Set-up: A commercial for I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Outta Here! featuring Heidi Pratt crying on camera and announcer saying something like, "Don't cry, Heidi, it's only your second night in the jungle!"

Gary: "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Outta Here?" This is a show?

Me: Yeah. Although the term "celebrity" is used pretty loosely. Like, the biggest celebrity on that show right now is Lou Diamond Philips.

Gary: And Heidi Klum.

Me: ...What?

Gary: Heidi Klum. On the commercial.

Me: That...wasn't Heidi Klum.

Gary: It's not? I didn't think it looked like her, but it's the only Heidi I know that's famous.

Me: Heeee!

I am so, so thankful that Gary has no idea who those Hills/Laguna Beach people are. The fact that I know who those vapid, useless, famewhores are makes me cry inside each day. But seeing as my old roommate, Mike, watched those shows all the time claiming the girls were "hot," I sadly have way too much of my brain space devoted to knowledge of these people and their continued existence in pop culture.

It's my birthday, but I'm giving you a present

Apropos of nothing. Just makes me giggle.



My God, I'm 28. I'm celebrating my birthday by finishing my thesis.

Obligitory Oscar Post!

Remember how last year I, like, cleaned up all over the place taking Oscar pools for all they were worth? This year I didn't do so hot. I think I got 13 right in my predictions, while Gary got a whopping 17 correct, much to his delight. He kept shoving his ballot in my face and making self-satisfied "Hmmmmm" noises. Bastard.

Anyway.



So, Hugh Jackman. He's not my boyfriend Jon Stewart by any means, but he was fine. I wasn't overly wowed by him, but on the same hand I didn't think he was horrible either. He got the job done, basically. I did really enjoy his opening number though.



A confession about Anne Hathaway: I kind of like her. I didn't see Rachel Getting Married, but I heard from Stephanie that she knocked it out of the park in that role. And considering how crazy her personal life was in the past year, I think she's handled it all really well and is pretty classy. I really dug her doing the number with Jackman.



Debbie loved that Jackman "brought Broadway to Hollywood," as she put it, but I hated this number. It seemed really out of place, choppy, and contained far too much Zac Efron. Actually, the entire Oscar telecast featured too much Zac Efron. I just didn't get this bit or how it related given that there were only two musical movies this year (Mama Mia and High School Musical 3), neither of which were nominated for anything.



Generally I'm not a Ben Stiller fan. But this was hilarious. Come on. And Natalie Portman, I love you, but please eat a sandwich or twelve.

When it came to presenting the acting awards, I was torn about how the did them this year. On one hand, it was sweet to see past winners singling out the nominees and giving them each personal kudos. However, I thought some people got better speeches than others. And, I really missed seeing clips of their work. And it also went on forever.



YAY! I am, across the board, a huge Kate Winslet fan. I think she is just so rad. Aside from being ridiculously talented and gorgeous, she also comes across as incredibly clever, sincere, and normal. I sort of want to be Kate Winslet. I'm glad she finally got her Oscar and I loved her speech, especially when she had her Dad whistle to her and then she elatedly waved to him. She's fantastic.



Oh, I am so glad Slumdog Millionaire won. I saw it this past Monday with Kelly and just loved it. Months and months ago, before it was on anyone's radar, the Doc saw a screening of it and then told me it would win. I was skeptical because I hadn't even heard of it. Even Brisket was like, nope, we're not even going to screen it here at the KOP theater, it's too indie for anyone to care about. But WOW. How great to be wrong, and how awesome for an Indian film, half done in Hindi for crying out loud, to win. I'm so pleased.

All in all, I enjoyed this year's Oscar's. Deb's Annual Oscar party helped get me out of this "winter of discontent" attitude I've been in for the past week and a half, but next year I think I would like to be more low-key with my Oscar plans -- some wine, popcorn and a few catty friends. Who's in?

ETA: I also agree with everything said by Joe here.

Randoms of Politics and Doctor Who

• I've got to love a political comic with a Doctor Who reference.
  
  
• Stephanie and I had a Whosday yesterday and watched the latest two episodes which were ohmygod SO GOOD and made us covet a library planet, afraid of the dark, and cry with broken hearts, all at once.
  
  
• As sad as I am that Russel T. Davies is leaving Who, I am very excited about Stephen Moffat taking over.
  
  
• I am so totally wearing my "The angels have the phonebox" shirt that Renee gave to me, in honor of la Moffat.
  
  
• Shut up.
  
  
• Back onto politics: Dennis Kucinich, bless his liberal heart, has presented 32 articles for impeachment against President Bush to Congress. IT'S ABOUT FRICKIN TIME. Judging by the lack of media coverage from any major news organizations (including the BBC!) means that fuck all will be done about it, sadly. And this is why I hate politics.
  
  
• This LJ post completely made me snarf all over the place. And also, I say yes.

More to come, soon. I have weekend updates and photos for you guys.

Ugh

Dear American Television:

STOP FUCKING UP GOOD BRITISH SHOWS. The US version of Life on Mars looks like ass. (Even though it stars Colm Meaney and Lenny Clarke, both of whom I normally like, this does not redeem the stiff wooden Jason O'Mara, who my friends, is certainly no John Simm. And as much as I may like Colm Meaney, Philip Glenister is THE MAN, and I don't see how you can recreate that.)

If you like British shows so much, why don't you just buy the rights to them and air them as they are? There's a reason I'm addicted to BBC America.

Adding this one to the grave next to Viva Laughlin and Coupling,

8K

Number 69? Check!

First of all you guys, I should tell you that I hate my list. I've come to the realization that I am going to FAIL, and miserably at that, at completing my list. Like, seriously. I have until the end of December to complete all of this nonsense and it is just not going to happen. Look at number 83. Do you know how much a new bed costs? I am sorry, I do not have $1000 to spare for something like that. In fact, I don't have $1000 for anything at all. And look at number 28. That, my friends, is an act of purist optimism considering that I suck at strategy and sort of hate RISK, not to mention that Gary lives at his job and therefore isn't around to play anyway.

But moving on...


69) See The Daily Show live.

I feel sort of bad crossing this one off of my list, since I really didn't do anything at all to achieve this. Huge, major, MAD props go out to Christopher, since he did all of the work to get us to see this show. I just blithely allowed myself to be led around New York to all the Snark and Awesome.

And I really need to thank Christopher because not only did he arrange for the tickets and such, he also planned the entire day out for us. What time we should leave, how we should get there, what trains and subways to take, where to eat lunch, etc. I didn't have to worry about anything! He even had a little map that he printed out from the internet and a list of all the subways and their stops and which bus* to get on. It was all rather Eagle Scoutish and endearing, so of course Kelly and I had to give him shit for it. But really, it was a godsend and it was so nice to not have to worry about anything. So thank you, Christopher.

And friends, it was wonderful. I mean, the standing in line for an hour kind of sucked, but really, that was the worst part of the day. And if standing in line for a bit is the worst thing you can say about an experience like this, then you're doing pretty good.

We had Jose with us, and we managed to convince him to play the gimp card. And it worked, because they walked us around from the back so we got to walk across The Daily Show stage and thus right past Jon Stewart's desk. We also got rad seats right on the floor in the second row so I was about 20 paces from the man the entire time (the studio is TINY).

Jon Stewart is just as sexy, funny, and nice in person as you could hope. He took a few minutes to answer questions from the audience, was able to riff with general aplomb when some silly woman's cell phone went off -- despite approximately 50,000 reminders from all of the show's staff and crew to turn your cell phones off, not on vibrate or silent, but OFF, COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY OFF -- in the middle of the interview portion of the show, and then later still was so kind to her by telling her not to worry about it, that the editors would snip it out, and relating a funny a story about the Oscars. He was just so lovely and completely awesome. How I did not run on stage and tackle him in a moment of fan-girl glee is beyond me. It took a lot of self control, let me tell you.

The show whizzes right by when you're in the audience. The commercial breaks are considerably shorter, and sadly, Jon has no time to chat or engage with the audience during them since he's getting notes from writers/producers/fancy TV people during the breaks. Since the show goes by so quickly it's kind of anticlimactic when it ends. I don't want to say that it's a let down or anything, because it's not. It's just that the warm up people get you so pumped and your cheering loudly and laughing and giddy and excited and you really do sort of want to tackle Jon Stewart in a bear hug or at least high-five him, and then all of the sudden it's over. And you have to go about your normal Jon Stewart-free existence, and let's face it, it's just not as good.

Also dorkingly thrilling to me was to see how it was all done. Being an old amateur theater techie, I really coveted the crew's Boba Fett ear pieces and the dashing about with wires and watching them wheel the cameras in. I kind of want to work there. Hello Daily Show, will you hire me? I work hard and I am cute!

The show we taped broadcast last evening at 11 p.m. (which we didn't get to see because we were on our way home) and is being rebroadcast tonight at 8 p.m. (which I won't get to see because I'll be in class) so you should try to catch it and listen for Christopher's whistles and my WOOOOOOO!

*A bus, I might add, that we never got on, much to Christopher's dismay. We walked instead since 1) It was a beautiful spring day, 2) traffic was kind of sucky, and 3) It was only a mile, fer cryin' out loud. But M20 bus, if you're reading this, Christopher loves you and totally wanted to have a rendezvous with you.

While on the subject of apples...

Tomorrow I'm headed to the Big one! As in New York. Tell me if this doesn't sound awesome:

• Taking the train to the city
  
  
• Meeting up with Jose!
  
  
• Eating lunch at a fab Mexican Restaurant where hopefully there will be margaritas the size of my head.
  
  
• Stalking Jon Stewart Going to a taping of The Daily Show
  
  
• Taking as many photos as my camera can take and probably annoying the crap out of Kelly, Christopher and Jose in the process.

I know right? I'm stoked.

Eleven Minutes...of AWESOME

Kelly and I went to the film festival on Saturday and saw this film, which was great. It's showing again tonight, if you want to check it out.

Also, we were thisclose to Jay McCarroll (he brushed up against my shoulder!) and totally could have talked to him, only Kelly and I were ill prepared and were dressed in jeans and hoodies and neither of us had the good sense to bring a pen or a camera. Nor did we have anything particularly interesting to say to him ("OMG! You're Jay McCarroll! You design awesome things!"), and would have sounded like noobs.

There was an after party at the Fels Planetarium where Jay would be showing his line, which Kelly and I really wanted to go to, but sadly we were bound by the SEPTA schedule and had to catch the last R5. Bugger.

Oscar 2008 - Big money, no whammies, STOP!

Nothing clears up a foul mood like the Oscars. Well, if you're me anyway.

I went to Debbie and Brian's Annual Oscar Gala. And let me tell you, no one does Oscar quite like Debbie. Everyone comes dressed up as either a character from one of the movies or dressed for the "red carpet." Debbie has an entire room decked out with an Oscar trivia quiz. The living room is set up to resemble a theater and the names of stars are taped to the back of the chairs, just like the Oscars (I spent the better part of the evening in Cate Blanchet's seat and then switched to Tilda Swinton's seat).

And then, of course, there are the predictions. People. I ROCKED OUT.

They way it works at Debbie's is that you make your predictions and then as the awards are announced you have chances to win prizes for the category. And I completely housed everyone with 16 correct predictions.

Here's what I got right:

Original Screenplay - Juno
Costume Design - Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Film Editing - The Bourne Ultimatum
Art Direction - Sweeney Todd
Animated Feature - Ratatouille
Short Film (Live Action) - Le Mozart Des Pickpockets
Sound Editing - The Bourne Ultimatum
Original Score - Atonement
Make Up - La Vie En Rose
Visual Effects - The Golden Compass
Original Song - "Falling Slowly" from Once
Supporting Actor - Javier Bardem No Country for Old Men
Supporting Actress - Tilda Swinton Michael Clayton
Leading Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis There Will Be Blood
Directing - The Coen Brothers No Country for Old Men
Best Picture - No Country for Old Men

Not bad, no? Gary was so annoyed with me. Since this was my first Oscar Gala at Debbie's, he was used to winning all the time. He kept getting frustrated with me and calling me a "slut nugget" every time I raised my hand to announce that I had correctly picked the category.

But, I was wrong for a lot of them too.

Here's what I missed:

Documentary Feature - Taxi to the Dark Side (I hadn't seen any of the nominees, but predicted No End in Sight because I had read awesome reviews for it.)
Documentary Short - Freeheld (I chose La Corona, a complete guess on my part)
Foreign Language Film - The Counterfeiters (Another random guess on my part, I chose Katyn)
Sound Mixing - The Bourne Ultimatum (There was some science to this one -- I was pretty positive that Ultimatum would take the Sound Editing prize, so I figured the Academy would throw a bone to Transformers with Sound Mixing)
Screenplay Adapted - No Country For Old Men (I went for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly since I'd heard wonderful things about both the movie and the book, and since I'd also heard that No Country For Old Men is almost word for word from the book.)
Cinematography - There Will Be Blood (Again, I went for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)
Short Flim (Animated) - Peter & the Wolf (I went for Madame Tutli-Putli, which from the short clips I saw, stylistically, it looked amazing.)

And finally, the one I was most happy to lose:



Leading Actress - Marion Cotillard in La Vie En Rose

People. She was fantastic in La Vie En Rose. FANTASTIC. But I put my money on Julie Christie since the Academy is a sentimental lot and statistically Foreign Language films don't win in major categories. I am so glad I was wrong. She totally deserved that Oscar.

Other wins and moments I was pleased with:



Javier Bardem, being basically awesome.



Daniel Day-Lewis being the most eloquent mofo on the planet. Now there's a man who knows how to make an acceptance speech.



YES, YES, YES! I am so glad that Once won in this category. If some schlock from Enchanted had won for Original Song then I would have had to have gone to the Academy and had a THROW DOWN. Once is such a sweet, gentle, thoughtful movie. I loved it. And I'm not going to lie to you. It reduced me to a pile of tears and hormones, it was so wonderful.

And then Glen Hansard's sweet and sincere speech in that lovely Irish brogue. "Tanks, Tanks! Make art!" LOVE HIM. But even better:



My boyfriend Jon Stewart being a classy bitch and bringing back Marketa Irglova so she could have her moment. I hate HATE when the Oscar people cut speeches off, especially when there are multiple people winning. It's not fair that one person gets to have their moment and others are shafted. It's the Oscars. It's supposed to be long and you're supposed to hear people thank their Mom.

Anyway, I won some awesome prizes. I made out like a bandit! For my category wins I got: Michael Clayton on DVD, a copy of the book Atonement, A Bob Dylan biopic/concert on DVD, a set of swirly straws ("I drink your milkshake"), and some Pirates of the Caribbean stickers.

And then, since I got the most correct I also won the grand prize: Two different box sets of past Best Picture winners. How Green Was My Valley, The Apartment, Marty, to name a few.

As of this post, I'm still waiting on my office pool. Last tally I was tied for first. I love this Oscar Pool/prediction thing! I'm doing it every year from now on!

For Renee

Why Blackpool makes me happy in my heart, and is the perfect show for you:



*dies*

Project Fugway

I'm stealing a bit of Renee's thunder here, but seriously. Tonight's Project Runway made me SO STABBY.

First of all, I can NOT BELIEVE that Victorya's ugly bubble dress WON the challenge. Sweet Pea's dress was much much prettier, not to mention it didn't have cheap-ass rhinestones covering a retarded-looking neckline. HATE your designs (apparently "clean lines" translates into "make all girls look as flat-chested and frumpy as possible"), HATE your passive-aggressive attitude, HATE that you always whine to other designers until they tell you what to do, HATE the way you spell your name.

Thank God the divine Tim Gunn agrees with me:

Frankly, the decision to toss Victorya this win eluded me. In my view, the electric blue textile said “superhero” not prom. Furthermore, the jewel emblazoned panel on the front of the halter made the dress look more appropriate for a hostess at a Vegas cocktail lounge than a teenager attending a suburban prom.

Fuckin' word. I mean, look at this thing:



Ugggggh. That poor girl looks stumpy and slouchy. It's beyond me how the judges thought this looked good.

Meanwhile, Sweet Pea rocked it:



As did Chris, who I am secretly rooting for again (but trying not to get my hopes up because the good die young):



Speaking of the good dying young, Kevin!



I will admit that his design and dress had problems. His model may have looked a little...wanton. The dress looked cheap. And the hem was atrocious. BUT, I thought throughout the past challenges he consistently designed and sewed well, UNLIKE OTHER PEOPLE.



OH MY GOD RICKY STOP CRYING, TAKE OFF THAT AWFUL HAT, AND GET OFF MY TV SCREEN. It boggles my mind how you have been in the bottom two for every challenge, and yet, still manage to live, Wendy Pepper-like while better designers get auf'd. I swear by all that is good and holy, if I have to look at you crying in those stupid mesh hats for one more week, I will have an aneurysm, jump through my television, and beat you down. GOD.

Phew. I feel better now that I've gotten that off of my chest.

Support the WGA

Talks are looking good right now, and that is very encouraging. Even so, I would like to remind you to continue supporting the WGA.



For more, read WGA writer and strike captain Pamie's blog.

Fantasy British Acting Mafia

When you watch as much British television and as many British movies as I do, you begin to notice things. You begin to see patterns and links between actors. Like, "Hey it's that guy! You know, the one that was in that other movie with Bill Nighy!" A sort of six degrees of separation for British actors. Stephanie calls this The British Acting Mafia.

To give an example(Doctor Who of course, since it's what I've been watching obsessively): David Tennant, the current Doctor, starred in Secret Smile with Kate Ashfield, who was the lead chick in Shaun of the Dead. She starred in Shaun of the Dead with Jessica Hynes (who, incidentally, guest starred on two episodes of Doctor Who). Jessica Hynes was in Bob & Rose with Lesley Sharp. Lesley Sharp gave a tour de force performance in The Second Coming with Christopher Eccleston, who ALSO PLAYED THE DOCTOR in Doctor Who! TA-DA. See? British Acting Mafia! And I'm only skimming the surface here*.

Anyway. Because I'm a dork and was thinking about how much Stephanie and I squee whenever we recognize someone and make these links, I developed a game. Instead of fantasy football or baseball or whatever, with its statistics and trading and all the nonsense that I just don't get, Fantasy British Acting Mafia. Here's how it works. Think of your favorite British actors. Imagine them in an awesome roll. When it comes true, you win!

The first installation of Fantasy British Acting Mafia we have one of the coolest things ever. I am so bummed that it's sold out/I don't have a Sugar Daddy/I can't just up and go to England.

Chiwetel Ejiofor and Ewan McGregor in Othello. Whoever cast that, you get a medal. That's going to rock.

*Ok, I could also mention that Kate Ashfield was in The Best Man with Richard Coyle, who you know from Coupling, who was also in -- get this -- Othello with Christopher Eccleston. I KNOW. I could go on all day like this.

Titanerific and Bottastic!

You guys. I am SO EXCITED right now. Thanks to eagle-eyed Mike over at Renal Failure, I discovered two hugely fabulous things this morning.

1.) The new MST3K site that will be launched in a mere 2 days and which will be the new official site for the show as well as featuring weekly animated 'Bot stories.

AND

2.) Cinematic Titanic, which, yeah. Awesomeness to the 10th power.

This is so going to rule.

It's TARDIS Time!

Stephanie, who is much like my dealer when it comes to British pop culture, delicious vegan foods, good wine, cute dogs, and silliness, introduced me to Doctor Who. I sort of thought that it would just be this thing that we occasionally watched together; an excuse to hang out and drink wine and listen to some hot accents. Which, you know, it is. But I didn't expect to be this into it. I should really know better. Will I never learn? I'm the Beeb's bitch.

It's science fiction, obviously, and dorky and fun in that respect, with aliens and weird-looking creatures and sonic screwdrivers. But more than that, it's written quite well with lots of thought behind the wowwee geeky sci-fi stuff. Much commentary on companionship, grace, the complexity of relationships, need, loss, emotional development, etc. Oh, and it's funny. And when it needs to be, it can creep the ever-living shit out of you. It's terribly well-written, this show, and I've kind of fallen in love with it. I've also fallen into fan girl swoons over the relationship between the Ninth Doctor and Rose, which, from what I understand, is kind of a taboo for those in the hard core Doctor Who fandom. Whatever. I don't care.

Last night Stephanie and I gathered for Thai avocado deliciousness, really good wine, and possibly the best three episodes of the series so far.


Is it wrong that I sort of want Chris Eccleston to pop up in my life and whisk me away through space and time in the TARDIS?



Fuck it. If it's wrong, I don't want to be right. I can't believe it's taken me this long to get into this show.

I also can't believe I just spent an entire post gushing about Doctor Who.

Goodnight, Dr. Jackman

Furthering my addiction to BBC America, my new favorite show is Jekyll.

People. This show is SO GOOD. I know, I scoffed inwardly at it too. I mean, a remake of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? And following on the heels on the snooze-worthy Robin Hood I just didn't have a lot of hope for it. But, it stars Gina Bellman from Coupling and James Nesbitt, whose Irish-accented voice I could listen to all day. And then Stephanie was talking about Hex, which I never quite got into and mentioned that we should both watch Jekyll so we could talk about it. And then Thursday night I was bored, anxious, and lonely and looking for distraction and the first episode was On Demand, so why the hell not?

No lie, I think at one point I said out loud to Dill, the only living thing in the vicinity, "Holy shit."

Aside from being really well written and suspenseful, James Nesbitt rocks my world. He owns this role. His performance is just mind blowing — he is so creepy as Mr. Hyde, so convincing as tormented Dr. Jackman. There's a scene in the first episode where we see Mr. Hyde for the first time, and he's in this alleyway with a young girl making lewd comments, smile leery and wide, enjoying her panic and fright, "Let's play lions! No, don't run. Not while we're playing lions. Do you know what runs?" His voice drops low and he pulls her close taking time to eye her, "Food runs." And cue the shivers going down my spine.

I'm not doing that scene justice either. It's a damn good show, you guys. You should check it out.

First Harry Potter and now this?

Oh my God, this is the best day EVER.





I think I just came a little bit.

Cancellation

Renee sent me an email this morning with the subject line "Americans Are Stupid."

She's not wrong. CBS just cancelled Creature Comforts, you see.

I don't know what else to say about this, other than it sucks. And yes, I had a vested interest in the show since I know someone who provided one of the voices, but I can honestly say I probably would have watched it anyway since I love all things Aardman and I watch the British series on BBC America whenever I see it on. So essentially, this blows. And Americans just don't know what's good for them.

And CBS? You can't see it, but I am sticking my tongue out at you and blowing a giant raspberry. Thwwwwwwppppppt!

To the folks at Aardman: You guys are aces, and I think you should continue releasing the episodes online. And please tell me there'll be a DVD?

To EditorPenguin: Email me. I have about a million questions for you.

Our Favorite Bat

Renee was kind enough to point out to me that the CBS Creature Comforts blog says some very nice things about the Doc, a.k.a. that bat from this past Monday's episode. Silly me, I'd only been reading the Eyeballs and Fishlips blog.

From the tone of the blog entry, it makes it seem that this is the only segment he'll be in, but I hope that is not true. I want them to do more with his character -- not just because I think he's great and funny and I know how awesome their animation is, but because I'm selfish. I liked hearing his voice again. I'm hoping they release the audio file of him talking about the squirrel too or animate it for a DVD extra or something, just because that's gotta be hysterical.

We have a few more weeks of episodes. Keep watching. Fingers crossed.

UPDATE: Thanks again to Renee, I now also realize that you can watch the episodes online too, in case you missed it. Click on the link I gave above and then on "Full episodes." He's the bat with a cold in the winter segment.

Blinding me with science

So sad! How is it that I only found out about this today?