Ready for us.

30 Rock reshaped as a surprisingly convincing drama. I would see this movie.

Also, great song they used. Not crazy about Bon Iver but that is a darn good song!

Download "Creature Fear" by Bon Iver.

I believe the man has a new album coming out soon, too. It's self-titled. Pre-order here.

Thursday Night's All Right

Thursday's comedy block was extremely awesome. I'm a cynic and a hater and I actually really enjoyed every show of the night -- well, except the Paul Reiser Show, but I don't watch that, so.

Community was hilarious, although I kind of resent that all of those awesome little plot lines will never be expanded upon. The Office was sweet, even though it was trying really hard to make me feel that way. It was nostalgic, and I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff. Season 2 will forever have a place in my heart, so I really appreciated this episode. And it made me even more sad to see Michael go.

Parks and Recreation...I can't even describe my feelings for that show in words. I spent the last two days watching all of the episodes of Season 2 that I hadn't seen. It's just a perfect television show; it's reminiscent of season 2/3 The Office, and it's so wonderful. I love EVERY. SINGLE. CHARACTER. Even Tom, even Jerry. (HAHA, Tom and Jerry.) The show works in relationships so subtly; last week April and Andy got married with little fanfare. This week Leslie acknowledges her feelings for Ben and it's not a big deal. The little quiet moments make this show feel realistic, moreso than the Office, and I just enjoy every minute of it.

The hour-long 30 Rock had its great moments, too, with some hilarious one-liners (ALSO THE RETURN OF DANNY, JUST PUTTING THAT OUT THERE CUZ I LOVE HIM), but overall I think the show should stick to its 30 minute roots. Also the shoehorned clips felt really, really weird. This season has already had two season finale-type episodes and it's not even over yet! The Office also played with nostalgia this week but in a less overt way, and while it was still kind of obnoxious I appreciated it a bit more than 30 Rock's lazy bag of season 1/2/3 clips.

I did, however, love the callback to Jack's classic line: "It's after 6. What am I, a farmer?" Good stuff.

So, yes. I highly recommend you start watching Parks and Recreation if you haven't, and I would suggest you watch all four shows' latest episodes. They were all worth it. Best Thursday in awhile.

Vacation Posting

I'm on Spring Break right now, so I'm feeling very lazy. Well, really, I've been feeling lazy for awhile now. Sorry.

Today's Thursday and you know what that means - a new 30 Rock (the hour long 100th episode!) and a new Parks & Rec! I woke up this morning feeling excited. It was wonderful.

Last week's Parks and Rec was so good, just a great ensemble episode with character development and heartwarming moments and blah, I'm excited for tonight's. Especially since it's called "Soulmates" and it involves Leslie being matched with someone she already knows on an online dating service. ;) Although if it's who I'm thinking it is, then why would he be on an online dating service anyway? He doesn't strike me as that kind of guy. Well, I guess I'll figure that out in less than 12 hours.

Last week's 30 Rock was good too but I just want them to resolve this TRACY IS MISSING! arc already. I hope tonight is awesome and I'm looking forward to that Condoleeza/Jack tryst being brought up again. That was mentioned in season 1, right? It killed me. Hopefully this will be a satisfying culmination.

I wonder what an hour-long 30 Rock will feel like. It seems like a weird prospect, like an hour-long episode of The Simpsons or something. Well, I guess they did have one of those, and it worked out pretty well in my opinion. So I have high hopes.

Make sure to watch Parks and Rec tonight at 9:30 EST and the 1-hour 30 Rock special at 10 EST. (Also tune in to Community at 8 EST. Don't feel obligated to watch The Office.)

Lovely Tina, Tina Fey

So I've been listening to No Color a lot lately. Love it. I hope to get a review out by the end of this month.

But right now I'd just like to post this link to an interesting article I read about a presumed "Tina Fey backlash." I'm a huge 30 Rock, and thus by extension Tina, fan, and so I found this article particularly engrossing and thought-provoking. A lot of points are brought up that made me really consider her role as a feminist figure, if she even is one.

When she was a head writer on SNL they always made it a point to say that she wrote some of the dirtiest jokes, after all. It's not like she really powered ahead in female characterizations on the show. It was great to have her as head writer but how else did she innovate then?

And 30 Rock is about a female showrunner whose show is called The Girlie Show. I just used the word "show" three times in that sentence. ANYWAY, despite this fact, from the very first episode it's taken over by a guy, which was not Liz's choice but not something she's neccessarily fought against. The rest of the writing staff is either male or asexually female, aside from Liz, who herself is a little pathetic. I love her and I respect her and she's one of my favorite characters of all time, but Liz isn't exactly a great role model for girls. She's not terrible, and she's easily the best on the show, but in the grand scheme of things? I don't.

Anyway, read the article and let me know how you feel. Here's the link.

I don't shine if you don't shine.

Yesterday I went to an awesome party. Whoo. After said awesome party, however, I was unable to sleep, which is always the worst. I went to bed at 11 or 11:30 and didn't fall asleep until after 3. And then I woke up at 6. And now my nose is running and my throat is sore and my back is killing. Ugh.

That being said, I have no interest in writing an elaborate post today. So, instead, here, watch Thursday's Parks and Recreation (BEN AND LESLIE AAAH) and 30 Rock (I will miss you forever, Carol):



"Ron and Tammy, Part 2" (Parks and Recreation)



"Double-Edged Sword" (30 Rock)

My Year in Lists, Part 3: TV, Movies, and "Be Seeing You"

"My Year in Lists" by Los Campesinos!

This is the first New Year's Eve in years that I've actually been a functioning person and not just a depressed blob. Yay me! Although that "functioning" part only goes so far: despite my obvious love for television, I cannot for the life of me make a coherent list of what I liked watching this year. I can try, but it's really difficult. Behold, the fruits of my effort:

FAVORITE SHOW OF 2010

 30 Rock

Obviously. The latter half of Season 4 and everything shown of Season 5 so far has been wonderful. From the introduction of CAROL, to the rapid-fire and insane jokes, 30 Rock this year was pretty consistently perfect. Sure, there were definitely some clunkers (I for one would prefer to never see that episode guest-starring John Slattery ever again), but I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say this was the funniest show on TV in 2010.

Best episodes: Season 4's "Don Geiss, America and Hope" and "I Do Do," Season 5's "When It Rains, It Pours," "Live Show," "Reaganing," and "College"

Honorable Mentions: Adventure Time, Regular Show, and Flapjack on Cartoon Network. The latter had a really terrible series finale though. Why did it even have to end?! Regardless, Cartoon Network is in the middle of a mini-Renaissance here with its new cartoon block. Adventure Time, Regular Show, and Robotomy (NOT MAD, bleck) made for a solid hour of Monday night TV this year. It was the most consistently entertaining slew of shows this side of Thursday Nights on NBC. Check out these episodes: "The Duke" (Adventure Time), "The Unicorns Have Got to Go," (Regular Show), "All Hands on Deck" (Flapjack)

The Fonzie For TV's Most Improved: Parks and Recreation; Community. I went from cringing every time these shows were on to laughing at them much more than I was laughing at The Office, which I was watching voluntarily. Okay, that isn't hard, but Parks and Recreation and Community both had great seasons this year. While Parks and Rec was relegated to a mid-season replacement (Thanks Outsourced...) Community has been rocking it all Fall long. I recommend marathoning it on Hulu as I did recently. 

Stupidest Reality Show That I Actually Watched Weekly: Pathetically I basically watch NBC comedies, cartoons, and MTV docu-reality shows and that's kind of it. The worst of the latter was easily Teen Mom. I don't think I need to even explain this choice. It's obvious. Even I got tired of it and I don't think I'll be watching it again next year. Runner-up is this season's Project Runway, which gets the title solely because GRETCHEN DID NOT DESERVE TO WIN AND I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO STRESS THIS ENOUGH. TEAM MONDO FOREVER.

Most Surprisingly Great Reality Show: Tie between Work of Art and Top Chef: Just Desserts. Why don't you read my posts about them and find out for yourself how entertaining they were? Those Magical Elves really know their stuff and had a really strong year, and with the repeatedly awesome Top Chef: All Stars continuing its season into the New Year it's looking like 2011 will be great for them, too. 

Obviously, I need to start watching Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, and every other show you like. I will!

THE MOVIES I SAW THIS YEAR*

*The reviews are ones I published on my Flixster. Yep.

How to Train Your Dragon

AWW. IT WAS SO GOOD. It was really adorable and well-done in just about every way. The celebrity voice acting was actually quite good and I didn't even realize that it was all done by celebrities until the credits at the end. The story of Hiccup and Toothless was really sweet. I thought it was kind of annoying that all of the other kids started to like Hiccup when he showed dragon taming prowess, seemingly ONLY because of this talent, but by the end I barely minded. Also, the animation was of a very high quality; I think it was Dreamworks' best looking film to date. Highly recommended!

Also had the most surprising yet perfect ending to any movie I saw this year. I have to watch this again (on my Blu-ray :]) soon.

 Exit Through the Gift Shop

Movies like this are the kinds of documentaries that I like. Cool and interesting.

 Since that review is utter nonsense, read my post about the movie instead.

Please Give

The acting was good, but the story was meandering and ultimately pointless.

I think this was my least favorite of all of the movies I saw this year. I'm surprised that it got so many good reviews. This movie was largely forgettable; if it weren't for the excellent Rebecca Hall (who is on her way to making it really big; see: The Town), then I think I would have liked this movie even less. Rebecca Hall made it worth watching, even though I feel like her character became less and less interesting as the movie went on. Oh, and the girl playing Catherine Keener and Oliver Platt's daughter was great, too.

Toy Story 3

This was THE single most perfect ending I've ever seen to a trilogy in my life. The Toy Story series is my favorite of all time, the first one being my favorite movie ever, and this one is now most likely my second favorite. Definitely in my Top 5. I'm not that much of an emotional person but I was sobbing while watching it. It was EXCELLENT. Hilarious AND beautiful. You need to see this. Now. NOW. GO NOW.

 Yes, this is one of my favorite movies of all-time, and easily of the entire year. Really just perfect.  I need to watch my fancy Blu-ray of it soon...

Inception

Okay, I'll be honest - the last 1/3 of the movie was a little weak. I'll try to avoid spoilers but it just was confusing and went on too long. That aside, this movie was a perfect action movie - exciting, fun, smart, and keeps you on the edge of your seat. It seems complicated - it is. But it all starts to make a ton of sense until you start worrying that your life may be but a dream, too. (Well, the last part's confusing, but ignore that for now.) The acting was awesome and the story was the bomb. SEE IT.

 Also see my mini-review here.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

I liked it a LOT more than I thought I would. It was by no means perfect, but it was FUN, and that's what it needed to be. It wasn't a completely faithful adaptation, and there were definite problems, but the sum of its parts were wholly satisfying. WHOLLY. SATISFYING.

 CAPITAL LETTERS. Read my mini-review here.

Summer Wars

It was quite good. It reminded me a lot of Digimon: The Movie -- in a good way! It was very hardcore and sometimes unbelievable but still a lot of fun. Great characters. I must say though, overall I liked The Girl Who Leapt Through Time better. But this was still great.

 This movie is now out in select theaters in English, so go see it if you can! (Not that it wasn't great in Japanese. Subtitles, though, aren't for everyone.)

The Social Network

I enjoyed the dialogue. Aaron Sorkin's a master. I also liked Andrew Garfield and Armie Hammer (great name) as the Winklevi, tee-hee. Jesse Eisenberg made Mark Zuckerberg into this disturbing, depressed, awkward, uncomfortable to watch tragic (tragicomic?) figure, and I think his performance was so subtle that I didn't realize how good it was until the last scene. The last scene really brought it all together for me. That's when I knew that Mark was indeed our hero, or anti-hero. I had thought it was Eduardo all along. While Eduardo wasn't a villain perse, it's clear that Mark is our poor unfortunate soul of a very, very rich main character. Man, that guy's rich. But, um, yeah, do believe the hype, because this movie is very good.

I look forward to hearing this film's name called for nearly every category at next year's Oscars. I look even more forward to it winning several awards (maybe even Best Picture?).

Catfish

I got a very cool opportunity to watch this movie at a screening that had a Q&A afterwards with the directors + Nev. VERY cool. And since I'm a kid and there were other kids there and kids are just awesome, Nev and Rel stuck around for an hour (maybe even more; they were still talking to other people 20 minutes after I left!) and took more questions and talked to us. Very cool. All of the other girls were fawning over Nev but my friends and I talked to Rel, who was similarly very nice (but not as...not charming, but obsessed with the ladies). So, very cool. Although Henry disappeared. I wanted to talk to him, too. Oh well. It was cool talking to/shaking the hand of a filmmaker.

 Ah yes, my non-review. This movie was almost as much of a thriller as Inception was, and in that regard, it succeeded. Sure, it may be a bit dubious morally, but it was a heck of a ride.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I

I think I may be closer to a 4.5 on this one, but I really did love it, and would rank it up there with 1 and 3. It did feel like there was more "exposition" (even though these movies abandoned trying to re-familiarize audiences with the overarching plot about 3/4 movies ago, which is both good and bad) than actual action but I enjoyed it as a more character-driven story than other movies were. I really love the interaction between our main gang, especially Harry and Hermione and Ron and Hermione (I just love Hermione), and it was nice seeing pretty much all of our favorite characters again, even briefly (LUPIN HI LUPIN...WAIT WHERE ARE YOU GOING COME BACK AND BE IN THE WHOLE MOVIE PLEASE he looked really good in this movie, I feel like he's decreasing in age or something). This movie was SO BEAUTIFUL, I really felt like saying "wow" the whole time. The colors and the locations were great. Those HP kids better be grateful that they got to see all of these amazing places. The ending felt a bit odd; "No, Harry, I can't help Dobby, we haven't reached our death quota yet! And also it would be a perfectly sad way to end this movie! So let's end it now! Predictably! But let's also remind people that this is TBC by showing Voldemort! Yay!" Also I haven't read the book since it came out so the movie was a bit hard to follow at times, but even so this felt like one of the most succinct (despite its running time) films in the series, as well as the most engaging, and I'm SO READY for Part 2!

Stealth-edit. (how could I forget this movie?!?!)

BOOM. MOVIES OF THE YEAR. RIGHT THERE. Sort of.

Movies I wanted to see but didn't but will see soon: Black Swan; The King's Speech; 127 Hours; True Grit; Greenberg; The Kids Are All Right; Easy A; Winter's Bone; Waiting for "Superman"; Somewhere; Tangled; The Illusionist; Blue Valentine. Yeah, I don't get out much.

Alrighty then. There you have it. 2010 was a pretty decent year for me in many ways. 2011's going to be extremely scary, but I'm going to be cautiously optimistic. Optimism! That's new for me.

So, be seeing you in 2011, then!

I liked it a LOT more than I thought I would. It was by no means perfect, but it was FUN, and that's what it needed to be. It wasn't a completely faithful adaptation, and there were definite problems, but the sum of its parts were wholly satisfying. WHOLLY. SATISFYING.
clear rating

The acting was good, but the story was meandering and ultimately pointless.
clear rating

This is Essentially a Post You've Read Before But You Will Read It Again and You Will Like It

Last night's 30 Rock proved that life is worth living. It was a comedy powerhouse that transcended race, religion, sexual orientation, and shoe size.

Yeah. "Wow." Watch it.

Relevant Things Going On in My Life Right Now #5

[Note: images aren't working for me at the moment. Sorry. Sad face.]

I haven't written a post in awhile-ish. Sorry. Lazy. I also haven't written one of these kinds of posts in a LONG time. But now I am. Aren't you lucky?

Today I got a Mew and now I am quite confident that I will become the greatest Pokemon master EVER. If you have HeartGold or SoulSilver then get on the Mystery Gift right now and download Mew! Do it! Now! Right now! But then please come back and read the rest of the post...

Which starts now!:

• 30 Rock Live: This is major and I probably should have written a review, but I didn't and oh well. Did you see it? Oh, excellent? Did you love it? Gasp! Me too! It was great and I enjoyed it immensely. It had a series finale kind of vibe but it was a fun experiment regardless. Although I think maybe this should have been the series finale -- not now, of course! Years from now, they should have done this episode. But whatever, I enjoyed it now. I didn't get to see the West Coast version but luckily someone has compiled a video of the differences between the two. I'm not sure which one I like better; they're both pretty amazing. Maybe the East Coast version, because I'm biased:
   
• Justin Bieber's autobiography: If you can even call it that. It's even more hilarious than I would have thought it'd be, though. Choice line: “There are lots of things I really like besides girls. Like pizza. And pranking. And CHUCK NORRIS.” Obviously this thing was ghost-written when I was in middle school. Biebs has been ready for this for years.
• The long tracking shot from Atonement: I loved the book but wasn't as big of a fan of the movie. I especially conked out during the Dunkirk scenes; unfortunately that meant that I missed on this very, very long tracking shot. I think tracking shots are the absolute coolest; this one especially! Watch it here.
• Cathy is over: Y'know, she definitely is a ton like Liz Lemon. "Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate! Ack!" Love it. People always complained about how whiny and annoying Cathy was but I always kind of liked it. I recently watched the EMMY AWARD-WINNING animated special (in which Cathy is voiced by Pepper Ann!) and I actually liked it a lot. It's sad that it seems like the newspaper comics industry is sort of dying out; there isn't anything new coming in and older things are dying out. I wonder what will happen.
• Songs from commercials: I usually don't listen to songs that I heard first on commercials because it's hard to disassociate them with the commercials, but I've been listening a lot to "All Summer" from a recent Converse commercial (that actually creeps me the heck out) and "Blogspot" (BLOGSPOT OH EM GIZZLE) by Paul and the Patients from a Target commercial. They're both really good in their own right and I think that the visuals in the commercials don't distract me from the songs. (Also, if I hear songs that I already know in commercials or in Sears like I did yesterday then I actually want to listen to them more. Weird, isn't it? I heard "Fools" by the Dodos on a beer commercial and it made me want to listen to the song again. And I heard "Fables," also by the Dodos, in Sears yesterday and got super-excited. It's super-exciting!
• Friday night's episode of Freaks and Geeks: Please let me continue to live in my little bubble where this show still airs weekly, okay. There are only 2 episodes left for IFC to show and it makes me a little sad, especially since yesterday's episode was so good. You can watch it in many a part starting here.
• Sweaters: This is random and irrelevant (UH OH) but I love sweaters. That is all.

Such is life. Life goes on. Things like that. Now, back to looking at my kitty. Whoopee!

New York Comic-Con/Anime Festival 2010

I went to Comic-Con/NYAF this past weekend. It was pretty awesome. Yay!

I saw the standard cosplayers; there were so many Lightning's and Yukiko's and Ramona's of different shapes/colors/sizes, it was pretty nuts. But I actually liked a lot of the costumes I saw; it's awesome how much effort some of these people put in, and how much confidence they had, wearing skimpy outfits and posing for picture after picture. I know I took pictures!

I also got to see the first ever New York screening of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya on Friday. I was really excited for that, but man, the other people in the room were obnoxious as HECK. They laughed at every little thing, even if it wasn't all that funny; they applauded everything, too. It was insane. I mean, I loved being around a whole room full of people who I knew loved the same anime that I did, but they were so irritating. This girl we sat next to laughed so loudly and annoyingly, and this guy we sat behind waved to the voice actors who hosted the panel and I think he was dressed up as an InuYasha character or something and it was horrible. Towards the end of the movie -SPOILER ALERT- Kyon (main character) got stabbed out of the blue and everyone started laughing and clapping. How is that funny or applause-worthy whatsoever? They were taking me out of it, and it nearly ruined it for me. I still really enjoyed the movie but I hope I can see it in the comfort of my own home soon.

I wanted to go to the Square Enix panel, also, but it was full. Other things I wanted to do: play the games! Nintendo's booth had Kirby's Epic Yarn, Donkey Kong Country, Wii Party, and some other games that I really wanted to try but I never got the chance. I watched some guys play Kirby for awhile and it looked so gorgeous and cute, though. I really want it! Now.

I did get to play a little bit of Okamiden, but I had no clue what was going on. It did look really cute, though. I got a poster, a little mask-type thing, and some Chibiterasu silly bands from the Capcom area, which was nice. I wanted to play Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and get a poster, but that game was one of the most popular there, and I think you could only get a poster from one of the signings, which I didn't go to. Oh well.

SPEAKING OF SIGNINGS, I am a sucker for being in the presence of celebrities, so you can imagine how happy I was to MEET THREE (KIND OF MINOR BUT OH WELL) CELEBRITIES! :D I met Patrick Cassels, who works for Collegehumor.com, and got his autograph and a picture with him; he was so nice! Then I got a picture with and an autograph from Judah Friedlander (Frank on 30 Rock), which was pretty awesome, too. He told me to "stay sexy." Hilarious. And the best one of all was meeting Scott Adsit (!!!!! Pete on 30 Rock) who was on his way to the Delocated panel despite not really having anything to do with it! I got his autograph and told him that I loved 30 Rock and Moral Orel and once I mentioned the latter his eyes just lit up and he looked at me and said, "Thank you! I really appreciate that!" And then he asked me if I had seen Delocated and I said that I hadn't but I wanted to and he told me to check it out. AND I DID. And it was okay. It had Todd Barry in it which was great because I love Todd Barry. I also love Scott Adsit!! I wish I'd gotten a picture with him, but at least I'll always have the memory.

Even though I'm the cheapest person around I forced myself to buy stuff: tons and tons of pins, a Scott Pilgrim sticker, and a Scott Pilgrim t-shirt. The Oni Press booth had a ton of cool Scott stuff, and I wanted to get the wristbands but they said "July 2010" on them and were from SDCC, so I decided against it. Also, my wrists are too big for wristbands, anyway. ;_; At least I got the shirt! And a sticker! And I wanted to buy a book from there, Hopeless Savages, but it was $20 and I decided against it. They had a nice booth though. Pretty cool times. Oh, and the pins I got included a Pokeball, a Harvest Moon pin, a Spirited Away pin, a TON of adorable Inception pins, and super cute Wallace and Kim pins. I wanted to get Scott but he was sold out. You know, the only Scott thing I got that actually HAD Scott on it was the sticker. Too bad.

On Saturday night we decided to take a cab to the train station, and we managed to get a stretch limo. It was amazing. We went with these two random people we met; one of them was wearing a green suit. They were also amazing. We paid $30 for 8 people to take a stretch limo from the Javits Center to Grand Central. It was -- guess! -- amazing.

So that was my Comic-Con experience. It was tons of fun. I want to go next year. Can next year be tomorrow? Please? I hope I can meet Scott Adsit again and take a picture with him this time! But any celebrity will do. Please celebrities! Come find me and give me your autographs!

"Oh REAL-O?" And Other Things You May Not Understand Yet

Last night's 30 Rock was stinking amazing (contrary to what that idiot who writes the recaps on TWOP says. C+? Are you on drugs? Are you mentally ill? Or are you just really that dumb?). SO GOOD. I have high hopes for this season and I wish they would just release it on DVD right now for me to watch and re-watch forever.

Why don't you take the next 20 minutes to watch it? It's truly worth it. Highlights: Ritchie's Civil War re-enactment skills, Tracy playing Cash Cab, JACK BEING JACK-ISH, LIZ BEING LIZ-ISH (Seriously, the "Oh real-o? I meant to say really, I misspoke, continue" line is my absolute favorite), Dr. Leo Spaceman!, the fact that Pete is there being awesome (they should keep giving him more screen time!), and just basically everything.



Just in case you were wondering about the other Thursday Night NBC shows, well, I don't watch Community anymore so don't ask about that, and I watched The Office this afternoon (having passed on it live for Project Runway, which was pretty crazy dramatic and man did those outfits suck). It was not funny. I can't remember laughing more than twice. Pretty pathetic way to go out, The Office. Although I like the idea that Michael may be fired for his "homicidal potential" (severe, says the ever-pudgier Toby).

I'll leave you alone so you can watch 30 Rock in peace, the only sound being your own uproarious laughter.

Bucky Gunts Presents FWSF's Emmy Recap

Thank you, Mr. Gunts.

So it goes like this: The Oscars are the Patriarch. They are bulletproof. Even when the hosts are bad (like, sadly, this year's were) the show is still amazing because nothing beats its turn-out. The Golden Globes are that smelly uncle from a foreign country that you don't see very often - and don't really want to. But sometimes he brings you some really awesome presents, so you hang out with him a little.

The Emmys are the Oscars' red-headed child. Not step-child, real kid. They try to live up to the Oscars despite their obvious hindrances (red hair/no awesome movies stars, just a lot of cynical TV actors). A lot of the time, they fail. But that's because you don't get to know them. You ignore them. Once you get to know them, once you start to care about them, they're fun. They're worth it.

Last night's Emmys weren't perfect - but they never are. I mean, come on. But they were enjoyable, for the most part. Here are my highlights:

• The opening skit was actually pretty good, despite me being all "EWW GLEE I'M SO TIRED OF YOU GAWRSH" when I saw Lea Michele's confused bangs poke out from the corner of my TV. Jimmy Fallon proved himself to be up to the task. Reuniting him with Tina Fey made me very happy inside. Kate Gosselin, who, by the way, should NEVER EVER be invited to the Emmys EVER AGAIN, was seriously hilarious. And even though I don't really know "Born to Run" they all did an awesome job. I was surprised they didn't make fun of Jorge Garcia more, though. I mean, come on. It's so obvious. And they just ignored little Nina Dobrev, dancing back there. Why was she even there? The Vampire Diaries wasn't nominated for anything, was it? So strange.
• 
  Oh, let me add: I think Jon Hamm rules. Thanks 30 Rock, for teaching me that he has some serious comedy skills! But he seriously is very, very, VERY funny. When he joined the Glee Club (that is so weird to write) I was happy. "DREW AND LIZ TOGETHER A-GAIN!" 
• 
  Since Comedy is the only category I actually watch anything in, I was upset to see it go first. C'mon, guys, you want me to watch for the whole three hours, don't you? But of course, I had to keep watching anyway. The power of bright shiny lights and promises of Ricky Gervais/George Clooney/etc.
• 
  The first award of the night was, weirdly, for Supporting Actor. Seriously guys? You had to go with one of the big categories first? And ACTOR? I would've gone with Actress first, personally, because it's so predictable. Knock the easy ones out first. But I was interested to see who would win this one; I knew it was going to be one of the Modern Family dudes, and I was personally rooting for Ty Burrell. I'm pretty sure Phil is everyone's favorite character. (I'll ask everyone later if this is accurate. I have them locked up downstairs.) But JTF and Eric Stonestreet were deserving too. I love Kurt -- "Rose's Turn" was seriously the best moment of Glee's first season ("If it wasn't for me, then where would you be, Miss Rachel Ber-RRRRRY? *jazz hands*" I'm listening to it now, and never turning it off, thanks), but it wasn't his time. Honestly, will it ever be? I don't know. We'll see. Also, I'm just realizing Jack McBrayer wasn't nominated. That is disgusting and someone will pay. Anyway, Eric Stonestreet won. He made a nice speech. I was happy for him, because he really did deserve it, even if his character isn't my favorite. 
• 
  I knew 30 Rock wasn't going to win any of the big categories, but I really hoped that they'd win a Writing Award, at least! I marathon-ed 30 Rock earlier that day and "Anna Howard Shaw Day" was a hilarious episode. It wasn't the best, and I personally would have nominated "Future Husband" or one of the other Wesley episodes, but it was still great. I haven't see "Lee Marvin vs. Derek Jeter" so I can't comment on its quality. I knew Glee had no chance, but the "Pilot" was an excellent episode, so I'm glad that it was the one nominated. The episode nominated for The Office was one of the few good ones from the season, and Modern Family could basically have any episode nominated and stand a good chance. As it turns out, they won. Yay.
• 
  Oh, right, by the way, I liked the videos they made. The Glee one made me giggle violently. Seriously, I was physically ill by the time I was done. HE SAID HE LOOKED LIKE A SHETLAND PONY. BAHAHA. 
• 
  Stephen Colbert is a perfect human being. His joke was a bit obvious but that man delivers. I bow to you, Stephen. The category he was announcing was Supporting Actress, which was obvious so I just complained about how Jane Lynch was getting way too big now and moved on. But did you see Jane Krakowski after the other Jane won? She looked so sad. Don't worry, Jen. I think you're excellent.
• 
  They showed a ton of weird Community commercials. I couldn't hear them half the time because the people in my house don't understand that the TV is something people like to LISTEN TO. But they didn't seem that funny. It was really strange. But I'm glad NBC is confident in the nomination-less Community. It is a pretty good show. Not amazing, but funny. Troy and Abed are the bomb.
• 
  Jimmy Fallon did this pretty nuts six degrees of separation thing linking Matthew Perry to Lauren Graham (or the other way around, whatever). This would have been a lot cooler to me if I didn't completely despise the both of them. Seriously, I think they're awful. Completely unfunny. I hate Friends and I can't stand Gilmore Girls. Also, that joke that I think Lauren made about Matthew Perry playing "another gay character" wasn't funny, at all. Anyway, they talked about the people who had won for guest roles. It was boring and just made me feel resentful towards Betty White. Sorry, Betty, but I think you're starting to be overexposed. But NPH, keep doing your thing, honey, yo' perfect. LOVE YOU.
• 
  The comedy directing tapes were really, really strange. Why was Ryan Murphy holding Britney (who looked insane at the show, by the way. I was surprised) like she was his prostitute? Highly disturbing. I had expected, even sort of wanted him to win before that, but then I was a little unsure. He might use the Award to entice more young prostitutes. He ended up winning, so someone should keep an eye on him.
• 
  The little Modern Family short was pretty amusing. The Sofia Vergara-in-3D joke was starting to be overkill. I think I'd be more afraid of Christina Hendricks in 3D. I mean, GOD. SHEESH. 
• 
  The show was moving very quickly. I think it wasn't even 8:30 when they got to the Leads? I was starting to wonder how the heck this was supposed to last another 2 and a half hours, but I knew them Emmy Producers had their magical ways of stretching things out. Anyway, they did Lead Actor first. I sat back comfortably, expecting my beloved Alec Baldwin to pick up yet another award. You know, now that I'm thinking about it, was he even there? They didn't really show him, I don't think. I saw Kenneth/Jack more often than Alec Baldwin. Anyway, so they announce the winner and I'm quite confident that the presenters can't read or something because they say "Jim Parsons." Then I see that completely unfunny dude from the completely unfunny The Big Bang Theory walk up and I throw my M&Ms down in disgust. HOW COULD THIS FREAK WIN OVER ALEC BALDWIN? WHAT IS THIS TRAVESTY? I was pretty much ready to give up at this point. Seriously, that was just awful. If Alec wasn't going to win, I would have been okay with Steve Carrell or Larry David, I might have even been somewhat emotionally stable if Matthew Morrison, but JIM PARSONS? UGHH! I have to move on before I throw my computer at someone.
• 
  Edie Falco isn't funny. She's right. She isn't. Tina Fey, however, is. So why did she not win, again? Ugh. Lea Michele could have even sat okay with me (listening to "Don't Rain on My Parade" right now and this girl could have won for this scene alone. Apparently that's the episode she was nominated for, too). Amy Poehler rocked on Parks and Rec, too. I think Edie Falco is an awesome actress and I liked her on 30 Rock (oh, you) but is Nurse Jackie even a comedy, really? I mean...sheesh.
• 
  Reality is a joke of a category, especially when Intervention isn't nominated, but I was rooting for Top Chef. Also, I really liked those catchy songs Jimmy Fallon was singing at the start of each category. Kim Kardashian wasn't much of a singer. Is it just me or does she look a LOT better in person? In pictures she looks very...odd. But in person she looked great. Maybe it was the makeup or the hair or something. "Reality!"
• 
  Top Chef won. We were all very happy. Although for a ton of the speech were were trying to find Padma, but then we found her and the world was good again. Her hair looked tired. Yes, that is possible.
• 
  Will Arnett and Keri Russell have no chemistry and I'm expecting Running Wilde to fail miserably. It pains me to say that, honest. But I think Mitch Hurwitz struck gold once and won't ever be able to do it again. I'll check it out and hope for the best, but it doesn't look good. 
• 
  I don't care about drama that much because I don't watch any of the shows nominated, but I like Dexter and Breaking Bad and I'm totally okay with Mad Men (Jon Hamm and Elisabeth Moss are my bros) so as long as those won my blood pressure would be stable. I was really happy for Aaron Paul when he won Supporting. He was supposed to be excellent this season and he just seems like a nice guy. He was so happy. I appreciate that. 
• 
  I heard a lot of people say good stuff about Archie Panjabi on The Good Wife but I didn't expect her to win. Her speech was positively dull but I was still happy for her, even though I was rooting for the Mad Men girls. 
• 
  Lead actor, I was rooting for Michael C. Hall (his hair is growing back, yay), Bryan Cranston, and Jon Hamm. I would have been okay with any of them, but I was calling B. Crans. You know what's creepy? Dexter is married to Deb. It always grosses me out to see them together at these shows, holding hands and being all spouse-y. It's hard for me to disassociate TV from real life, okay?! IT'S A PROBLEM. I KNOW. Anyway, Bryan Cranston won. That dude is so humble and he brought his wife and kid. His daughter seemed to be rolling her eyes a lot. I wasn't a fan of her, but I'm not a fan of most teenage girls. Including myself, and YOU. Anyway, Bryan Cranston, shut up about thinking someone else should win, because you deserve it. And since Breaking Bad isn't coming back until next summer or whatever, Michael C. Hall or Jon Hamm can win next year. :)
• 
  Lead actress was a category I didn't care about at all. I just expected Juliana Marguiles to win, but honestly, it made no difference to me. My dad seemed excited for Kyra Sedgwick, but I was apathetic. Kevin Bacon looks eternally youthful, though. And I enjoyed Tina Fey's banter and Matthew Morrison's awkwardness. Kyra gave Tina the award to hold for her and Tina said, "First award I've got to hold all night!" Oh, Tina Fey. Stamatina Fey. That's her name, you know. Stamatina.
• 
  Jimmy Fallon's musical tribute was awesome. I seriously thought he was Elton John at first. I'm an idiot. But he was good! I especially loved his Boyz II Men parody (THE OUTFIT HAHAHA) and OH GOD HIS BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG! It was PERFECT. I cracked up and couldn't stop. If he had only done his Neil Young, man, I'd be settled for good. 
• 
  I think Variety came next. Variety! Ricky Gervais presented a number of the awards. He should host the Oscars next year. Heck, he and NPH should just co-host every single awards show or something. He rules. He rambled and gave out non-alcoholic beer. Oh, lawd. And the Bucky Gunts thing was monumental. A dude named Bucky Gunts was nominated for directing the Olympics, and in retrospect, Ricky's serious intone as he said "Bucky Gunts" the first time around was probably the funniest thing of the entire show. "I really hope Bucky Gunts wins, because I didn't even know we could say that on TV." (Get it? Because it sounds really DIRTY?) And then he did win and Ricky cheered. It was perfect. Bucky didn't seem to care. Those Canadians are really laid-back.
• 
  Jimmy later accidentally called one of the female presenters "Bucky Gunts." I think it was Claire Danes? Which is hilarious because I hate Claire Danes. Hugh Dancy! You deserve better! You too, Jason Sudeikis! January Jones sucks. 
• 
  Everyone was cheering for Coco to take it home, but that was never going to happen. Did you notice during the Variety montage they had a ton of Coco clips but only one Jay clip? Telling, telling. Also, Jimmy made a little jab at Co at the beginning of the show. Co did not look amused. But it was hard to tell under the facial hair. You know, it was interesting, the Conan shots were kept to a minimum. I guess NBC sort of wanted to forget he was there.
• 
  The Tonys winning, by the way, was idiotic. Although I liked that guy's clip the most. It was very nice. He had the referee one, right? Anyway. Who actually watches the Tonys? I wanted Bill Maher to win something, darn it. And my dad tried to explain how Wanda Sykes' joke about Obama and watermelons was actually funny and not perpetuating racist stereotypes but I just wasn't following. Sorry, but I don't find her funny. 
• 
  
  
  
  

  

  This is how George Clooney feels about this post

• 
  George Clooney won an award for Humanitarianism. I liked his speech, personally. I think he's a cool bro. But then again, doesn't everyone? I'm sure everyone was ecstatic to be in the company of a TRUE movie star, anyway. George Clooney is always fun to watch at awards shows. His deadpan facial expressions at the Oscars this year were my favorite thing.
• 
  Mini-series and Movies is the most boring category. I wanted You Don't Know Jack to win everything. It didn't, except Al Pacino won for acting. Temple Grandin cleaned up. Was it really that good? I don't know. And what was Claire Danes nominated for before? Not My So-Called Life, I hope? I think she was my least favorite thing about that show. Actually, I think everything was my least favorite thing on that show. But I even liked her less than Jared Leto. 
• 
  The real Temple Grandin was there, waving and talking a lot, and my sister kept telling her to shut up, which was mean. I must admit, though, she was getting a little irritating. Not really her fault; I think the whole category was just getting to me.
• 
  Oh, and Julie Ormand or whatever her name is who won Supporting was very, very funny. I can't remember anything she said, but I remember finding her hysterical. It was refreshing.
• 
  Over at my friend's blog she called the In Memoriam segment "the dead montage" which I find hilarious. During the commercials they showed a preview of the segment (because I guess seeing dead people whom most of us don't even remember is something we all look forward to) and Corey Haim seriously looked like Fred Savage. We had a good laugh over that. Wait til Fred Savage hears that everyone thought he was dead! Seriously, apparently we weren't the only ones to think Corey Haim looked liked Fred Savage. But once I realized it was Corey I was sad. Also, could they seriously not get anyone more relevant than JEWEL?
• 
  Jimmy Fallon calling Tom Selleck his "real father" was strange. Tom Selleck: "...Okay." Ahaha. But, um, it was strange that Drama was announced before comedy. I guess they wanted to have the teenagers stick around for as long as possible, eh? So Mad Men won and life went on as normal.
• 
  Modern Family kicked 30 Rock off its pedestal, which made me sad, but at least it wasn't Glee. I think Modern Family had the most consistently-good season out of all of the nominees, so I was okay with it. Every episode I saw was good fun.
• Oh, and John Hodgman as the commentator is something I always look forward to.
 

Holy crud, my arm hurts. These Emmys need to be shorter. This year's was good fun (I KEEP SAYING THAT! EW!) and all, but I don't know. Awards shows aren't what they used to be. Jimmy Fallon was good but the Twitter thing was irritating and it just dragged at the end. Awards season is kind of over now. I'll miss you!

It's Only 3 O'Clock And I'm Already Calling It A Day

Today I headed over to the IFC Center with mi madre and mi hermana to see Summer Wars, Mamoru Hosoda's follow-up to the OHMYGODAMAZING The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. It was excellent. You can't see it now because today was its last showing, but I recommend you check it out when it comes on DVD/Blu-Ray. I'll keep you posted.

After the movie, we were driving through the East Village, when suddenly I cried, "OH MY GOD!" Turning to my sister, I yelped, bemused, "That was the girl from My Life as Liz!" As in, Liz from My Life as Liz. Yeah, I'm a bit odd. So, yes, I saw Liz Lee being an annoying faux-"nerd" hanging out with her "friends" and a police officer on the sidewalk. If you care, her head is large and her hair is as red as the fire I set to it in my mind. If you don't care, well, then, don't. (Note: I think the police officer was there because they were doing filming or something? I'm not sure. She wasn't TALKING to him or anything. Also, I must say she had a snazzy outfit on. Gotta hand it to the kid.)

Since tonight is the Emmys and I'm preparing by watching 30 Rock on Free-on-Demand, I'm going to just let you read this awesome (IMO) review of My Life as Liz I wrote awhile ago. ENJOY. And come back tomorrow for my post-Emmys recap. Please? PLEASE?

What is it really like to be an “outsider?” The new MTV “reality” series, My Life as Liz, tries hard to answer this question, but ultimately fails.
Liz tells the tale of painfully cool teen Liz Lee from Burleson, Texas, where all hip kids go to die. Liz and her band of fellow “outcasts” stick out like sore thumbs amongst the other kids, whom she describes as being all preppy and stupid, and thus beneath her on the Periodic Table of Awesome. The show documents Liz’s heavily-scripted travails against the pack of blondes who used to be her friends until she awakened her inner dork and now want to make her life miserable.

Liz tries to be the My So-Called Life to the Beverly Hills 90210 that makes up the rest of the MTV line-up. (Liz even has the same dyed red hair that Claire Danes had on Life.) Whereas Life reflects sincere feelings of awkwardness, Liz portrays the sarcastic cynicism of today.

While in similarly cynical works such as Juno and MTV’s own Daria the protagonists were likeable behind their snark, Liz is completely snobby and unlikable, fitting more into the pretentious hipster scene than the nerdy one she so confidently declares herself part of.

Liz is an ironic T-shirt-abusing, chronic hair-dying, thrift store-shopping “weirdo;” however, it’s exactly these kinds of people who’ve become popular and mainstream in their own right. She’s not as different as she claims to be. In fact, according to a multitude of online comments made by her classmates, Liz is indeed quite popular at her school, contrary to what’s shown.

MTV seems obsessed with painting Liz as some sort of nerdy messiah to the masses of socially inept minors it hopes to attract. Liz preaches that she knows what it’s like to be “the school mascot” or “the club president,” and with her show she hopes to give them a voice. What she’s really doing is reducing them to outdated and inaccurate stereotypes. Liz is a 21^st Century girl, but her mindset seems to be stuck in the halls of Saved by the Bell.

In the end, Liz proves herself to be just as condescending as the people she decorates her hate wall with; the blondes she battles may be elitist, but if they are, then she is, too. What she’s not is nerdy, not in any sense.

If you want to find a true look into socially awkward life, Liz isn’t the one to go to; instead, look at the misfit boys surrounding her: if anyone at their school’s a nerd, it’s them. You don’t have to think for long to get why Liz was picked as the show’s anchor as opposed to any one of her male entourage. Even on a show about outcasts, the outcasts lose.

In two words: epic fail.

Hasta manana, babies.

Today In News That Probably Only I Care About

Today's top headline:

MATT DAMON IS RETURNING TO 30 ROCK! YES. YES. YES!

Shall I re-post my awful Matt Damon dancing .gif? I think I shall!

Huzzah!

In other news:

• Will Forte is leaving SNL. This is, hopefully, an excellent career move for the very funny Forte [/alliteration]. I think he should do more voice acting, because he's good at it. His character was one of the few on Sit Down, Shut Up that I nearly tolerated (until that TERRIBLE joke about him developing boobs. That was mightily disturbing).
• BREAKING: Final Fantasy Versus XIII is still not out. Oh wait, everyone knows that already? Does everyone also already know that it probably isn't even coming out next year? They do? Oh. Well, carry on then.
• You can now trade games in at Best Buy. But should you? No.
• The interesting-sounding, Jim Carrey-starring romantic dramedy I Love You Phillip Morris is finally coming out. And on my birthday, no less! Now I can celebrate the good old-fashioned way: with gay convicts expressing their love through repeated escape attempts.
• Conan can make fun of NBC if his Tonight Show wins at the Emmy Awards this Sunday, permitted that his remarks "aren't false." In normal people's terms, that means we can potentially look forward to jokes about my admittedly most-watched network's poor ratings and even poorer management. Goody?
• Maybe you've heard of that suicide at a recent The Swell Season concert? Well, if you were one of the unlucky ones to be present, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova and company are willing to pay for your resulting therapy. That incident really was quite sad, and I'm not going to joke about it. If you'd like to read some people's impressions of what happened there, check out the comments of this SFWeekly article.
• To end on a lighter note, here's a cool mash-up between Scott Pilgrim and Avatar: The Last Airbender (the show, NOT the movie), posted by the former's director and just one of the nicest guys around (he seems nice to ME, anyway) Edgar Wright.

A'ight, so that's the story, from your favorite random news aggregate around. Check it. (If you read that in an Ali G voice it's pretty funny!) 

This Day In Videos You Should Watch

I like the idea of calling my posts "Today In," but I don't want things to get repetitive. So I changed "today" to "this day" because for some reason I thought that was better!

Anyway, here are some videos that I've been watching lately. Mind you, I don't really watch videos that often, so the selection is kind of slim pickin's. (Do people use that phrase? I feel a little strange using it.)

Trololololo

This is a popular meme, and for good reason. It's really funny. Also, the song is so catchy; it's always stuck in my head. ALWAYS. ._. I think the best part of this is his face when he's singing. I'm pretty sure he's lip-syncing, because his mouth doesn't move at ALL. AT ALL! Watch it! It won't move!

Pacey-Con with Joshua Jackson

Pacey-Con with Joshua Jackson from Joshua Jackson

Pacey was the best character in Dawson's Creek, hands down, even if he was a little frightening and was the one that I'd vote "Most Likely to Murder the Other Characters in Their Sleep." So it wouldn't surprise me if there actually WAS a Pacey-Con. Sadly, there isn't, but Joshua Jackson tries his darnedest to start one. We should get this guy in some comedies. He has the "Clueless Egotist" part down pat.

30 Rock, Therapy with Jack and Tracy

An oldie but a goodie. This is the single greatest scene from 30 Rock. It's from the episode "Rosemary's Baby," which is in season 2 (the single greatest season of 30 Rock :D). The episode is pretty forgettable until you get to this scene. It cements the already-obvious fact that JACK DONAGHY IS ONE OF THE GREATEST CHARACTERS IN TV HISTORY. EVER.

 Justin Bieber in "The Great Escape"

That's my title for it, at least. Basically Biebs tries to flee from a mob of pubescent girls with raging hormones who are willing to do absolutely anything for him on a Segway. Is it just me or does J. Biebs have some funky priorities? He's willing to call some chick who doesn't even like him, apparently, his "baby, baby, baby, ooh" and tell her "one time that [he] loves [her]" but then when he actually meets girls that are interested in him, he flees! Makes you wonder.

"World News" by Local Natives

This is one of my favorite songs on their album, Gorilla Manor. Well, actually, I like all of the songs. "Cards and Quarters" and "Cubism Dream" are my least favorites, but even those I like. Anyway, this is one really, really weird video! But watching that little kid lip-sync to the song is enjoyable.

Auto-Tune the News: Bed Intruder Song

 

I LOVE Auto-Tune the News. Every episode of it is just awesome. (I think I'm going to rank the episodes some time. Just because I can.) Anyway, apparently this video of a guy being interviewed about some local rapist is making its rounds, and the Auto Tune the News guys (and girl) did their take on it. Obviously, it's amazing. SO CATCHY. "Hide your kids, hide your wife! Hide your kids, hide your wife!"

"Kiss" by Sandara Park Cover

Don't know who Sandara Park is? WHO CARES? This song is SERIOUSLY catchy. This is a cover that my friend did. She does dubs of different J-Pop/K-Pop, etc. songs on YouTube, so you should check out her other stuff! I JUST WANNA KISS I NEVER WANNA MISS~

So, those are my video recommendations for the day. Take them with a grain of salt because, honestly, what do I know? (Although if you don't even so much as grin at the 30 Rock video, I'd venture a guess that you have no soul.)

This Post Was Hijacked By the ATAS

ATAS = Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

I was going to try to write a review of Work of Art, but I realized a few things. 1. I am so tired that I am beginning to hallucinate, 2. My brains are trying to crack my skull right open, 3. I just said "brains" when I should know that it can only be "brain," singular, geez, you don't have more than 1 brain, 4. the Emmy nominations are out, and 5. I'M REALLY COLD AND IT'S NOT EVEN COLD TODAY.

Let's focus on #4.

Here's the list of main nominations. If you care about things like directing, writing, and stunt coordination like I do, then you might want to go to the actual Emmy website, where they have a fancy drop-down menu of ALL the nominations.

Before I start ranting, let me just say that I rely a bit too much on awards shows like this to base my opinions on things. Awards help me affirm and tailor my tastes in television, which is pathetic, because it's television, and the most important thing should be whether it entertains you or not. Since I watch a lot of reruns and not a lot of new shows on TV (especially when it comes to dramas; I don't watch a single drama during its regular season, unless Glee counts), the Emmy Awards show is particularly useless to me. I like seeing the celebrities the best, but when you don't know or care about the majority of them, then it gets boring, especially when people from horrible shows like, um, Gary Unmarried or Friends (yeah, I HATE FRIENDS. Wanna make something of it?) get to go. I used to not watch the Emmys at all for this reason. I still love the Oscars better. But now that I watch some things that actually qualify for the 2010 Emmys as opposed to the 1990 Emmys, then I guess I have to watch it. And I have to rant at you about it. Moving on.

Okay, so, first things first. We failed, team. We failed to get Zach Gilford (if there wasn't already a Zachy G. in my life, I would surely have affectionately dubbed him that by now) the nomination he deserved (for Best Guest Actor in a Drama). Fortunately, "The Son" got a writing nod and to the excitement of FNL fans across the country the two lead actors got nominations. When I saw that both Kyle Chandler AND Connie Britton got nominated, I was happily surprised. And I'm not even completely sure who they are! (But then, who are we, anyway? Yeah, I just got all philosophical on y'all's eyeballs. ...I'll leave now.)

As I said before, I'm not much of a follower of drama, but I'm happy that Dexter got so many nominations. Hopefully it sweeps all of its acting categories like it did at the Globes. I love Michael C. Hall (who doesn't?) and I want him to get everything he deserves. I also want him to hang out with me some time. We can go see a movie together. It doesn't even need to be a good movie. Ahem, but I fully expect that Mad Men will do its obligatory "Yeah, we're cool and awesome and retro" rounds and win everything. I didn't care much for what I saw of it (which is way more than you'd think) but I really like Elisabeth Moss and everyone is so wildly obsessed with Christina Hendricks' boobs acting, so if either of them won Supporting Actress, I'd be happy, I guess.

Drama seems to be relying on the old (stale) standbys, but Comedy saw things being changed up. In Best Series we see Nurse Jackie, Modern Family, and Glee as newcomers in the race, and a show I always enjoy when I see it, Curb Your Enthusiasm, gets a nomination for the first time in what seems to be a long time (2 years is a long time, okay?!). I, like basically anyone with a functioning sense of humor, like Modern Family and Nurse Jack-ay is supposed to be good, but I'm going to be a hater and say that I really, really am tired of this Glee bandwagon that's been making its rounds to every state in the country and picking up people for a joy ride that they're brainwashed into enjoying and never allowed to get off of and required to spend lots and lots of money on and then, years later, when it's finally over, they get nothing but a sense of dread that, crud, maybe they've made the world a slightly less habitable place. This can be simplified: I HATE GLEEKS. If you call yourself a Gleek, I hate you. Go away. I'm sorry, but leave. Now. There are things I can like about Glee, as I've written about in the past; I like Kurt and I'm really glad that he got a nomination, even though his acting is generally nothing to write home about (He hopefully got nominated for Rose's-Stinking-Amazing-Turn and that whole "Home" episode in general), and I like his dad, whose name is annoyingly Burt. But Glee is not a god. If Glee is your deity of choice then WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? Go watch Singin' in the Rain or something before I make your face melt* with my poorly articulated ranting!

Glee leads the stinking pack with 19 noms. Nineteen. Let's talk about something else, though. Modern Family got a lot of acting nominations, which makes me happy. GO TY BURRELL GO GO GO. The Office was largely left out, but hey, I'm not complaining. Its Series nod is unwarranted, if you ask me. "Niagara" a.k.a. "Jim and Pam's WACKY Wedding" got a writing nomination, confusing the heck out of me. I will admit, though, it was probably my favorite episode of the season. 30 Rock got lots of nominations for a season that many people felt was lackluster but I found to be quite good. I wish that Cheyenne Jackson as Jack/Danny was nominated for Guest Actor, but Will Arnett was, instead, which is definitely fine. Devin is one of the best characters. (Oh, and go J. Krak for Supporting! You won't win because of Jane Lynch, but even so.) Amy Po-Po got nom'd for Parks and Rec which she definitely deserved. I was once a P&R hater but now I find myself wishing it was recognized for more. This season was great.

Big thing that people will use to affirm some kind of nonsensical and unimportant point over the next few months: Conan's Tonight Show was nominated for Variety Series while Jay Leno was nowhere to be found. Well, duh. Hollywood loves Conan, and they feel all the more sympathetic for him now that he can't afford to come to the country club anymore. Unfortunately, he'll lose to Jon Stewart, but it's okay. At least we know he'll be there. (Also: how the heck does SNL still get nominated for these things? Is there really no other variety show to fill up the space?! That show aside, every show nominated is excellent. Colbert especially was awesome this year - I loved his Olympics coverage. So. Much.)

I think it's stupid to nominate reality shows, but there are some good ones. Like Intervention! Sadly, despite having a few of the best episodes in its entire run (Amy W., Marquel) last season, it was snubbed. However, it did win last year, and that season was probably the single greatest (Joey AND Bret were in that season, I mean, c'mon), so let's give someone else a turn. (I'm an Intervention obsessive, so apologies for my confusing babble.) In Reality-Competition we see Top Chef nominated against the newly-Lifetime'd Project Runway. I want Top Chef to win. I better get what I want. Also, why the heck was Padma not nominated for Best Host when she is a truly excellent host? Watching Top Chef recently proved that to me. She rules.

No one cares about Outstanding Animated Program anymore, but I do. The only things that anyone likes that were nominated are South Park and The Simpsons, and one of those isn't even good anymore. You can pick which one. The South Park episode(s?) nominated are the controversial Mohammed ones, so I think that just knowing about them alone will guarantee that voters will choose them. South Park is probably the only one that even deserves a win, anyway. By the way, did you know Anne Hathaway was nominated for her guest appearance on The Simpsons? How weird is that! I seriously did a double-take.

I think the nominations made a lot of people happy. Some new blood was brought in, which helps to outweigh the staleness of certain other categories. However, even categories that feature the same dang people over and over have been injected with some new life (apparently people are very happy about Matthew Fox's nomination, for instance). I read a lot of Dream Nominations yesterday and the day before (okay, not a lot, but enough) and it seems like a lot of people's "dreams" came true.

Sorry for that lame joke. Emmys are on end of August. Expect more ranting to commence the day after they air.



*Please do not hold me liable for any accidents caused by your face spontaneously melting.

Thirteen (Or, I Review Parks and Recreation, The Office, and 30 Rock)

So I didn't post reviews on Friday like I said I would consider doing. Sorry.

I was going to review the season finales of Community, Parks and Recreation, The Office, and 30 Rock (AKA NBC's entire Thursday night line-up) but then I barely paid attention to Community and I just got lazy.

I'll just sum up my opinions on the other three for you, anyway, while I rock out to B.o.B (Nothin' on YOOOOOU, baybeh).

Parks and Recreation: #2.24 "Freddy Spaghetti"

I wouldn't really consider myself a Parks and Rec fan, nor did I watch every episode this season, but every episode that I did see I enjoyed. Season 2 was a major step up from that crudtastic season 1 that I hated so so so so so so so much.

This episode was especially good. I did a lot of "awwing" Thursday night because of this and 30 Rock, which I'll get to. (And from what I heard, I probably would have been grinning madly at Community too). There were lots of sweeeeet moments between Wamy ("Amy" to you people out of the loop that really only includes me but okay) Poehler, aka Leslie Knope, and Ben, who was played by the guy from that show I've never seen on Starz, Party Down. Ben was Rob Lowe's (oh yeah, he was guest-starring, too) partner, and they came to Pawnee to authorize budget cuts or something. Ben started off as the main antagonist, but eventually became pretty close to Leslie, empathizing with her ambitious political dreams. The episode is kind of based around Leslie trying to set up a fundraiser to build a new park, and the main attraction was supposed to be the titular Freddy Spaghetti, a name that I always feel idiotic for typing; however, when Freddy nearly bails out for some other gig, it's Ben who gets him to come back to play Leslie's fundraiser. Yes, it was as adorable as it sounds. (As was the last scene with Leslie and that guy, um, Mark, who left the Parks and Rec department. In the end, nearly everyone lost their job to buget cuts, I think. It was sad.)

The B-plot of the episode was centered around the love triangle between Andy, Ann, and April, who is probably too young tot be dating Andy, but that doesn't stop her from trying. We see a new side of April - she's not completely apathetic! But she is an insanely jealous person. This was a continuation from the previous week's episode, when April is suspicious of Ann and Andy and then turns Andy down or something. In this episode, Andy and April almost get together until Ann ruins it. She's lonely, you see. That's all I'm going to say.

This episode was a lot more emotional than most episodes of the show and had lots of character development. It really felt like a finale, though; I got shades of "Casino Night," The Office's awesome season 2 finale. But it was still funny, mostly because of Ron (others would include Tom, but I despise Aziz Ansari), so it was a balanced and satisfying conclusion to a very good season. Too bad we're going to have to wait until January for more Parks and Rec.

I'll give it 4 Pregnant Wamy Poehlers out of 5.

The Office: #6.26 "Whistleblower"

I'll be blunt: This episode sucked.

There were some funny moments, mainly because there was a good amount of Andy, and Andy is probably my new favorite character. There was a sweet moment or two, particularly the one at the end with Michael and Kathy Bates playing some chick from Sabre or whatever it's called. But all-in-all, it did not feel conclusive, very little happened, and it was BORING. It felt like a mid-season episode that shows in one of those slow March weeks.

Here's the plot: Sabre printers catch fire. Press finds out from an employee who leaked the info to them. Who is this employee question mark exclamation point.

A writer is supposed to take this boring-sounding plot synopsis and make it funny, engaging. These new Office writers, picked off the streets outside their Ivy League colleges, do not understand how to do that. The actors try their darnedest (Ed Helms, Mindy Kaling, Steve Carell, and even Jenna Fischer especially), but it just fails so much because of the writing. Jim and Pam used to be the two most popular characters, and amongst the most well-written, but, sorry to be a hater, they're absolutely dreadful now. Jim just lazily makes faces to the camera and says something sarcastic every now and then. Pam whines and talks way too much. Thus, the writers have been steadily shifting to the relationship between Andy and Erin, which is still interesting, but very little time is devoted to them.

Most of the time was spent with Michael and Kathy Bates. Michael proudly defends his new parent company against the "allegations" that their stupid printers catch fire, although he does it more because he's excited to be on TV than because he cares about Sabre. Because who really cares about Sabre, anyway? I don't. They brought that creepy tall guy into the office. What's his name, anyway? Wikipedia says Gabe...he is so creepy. Speaking of people we don't care about or like, the best part of the episode was also the most awkward: the IT guy who I had never seen before, Nick, announced that he was leaving. No one cared. There was a funny callback to the old IT guy, the Arabic one that Michael thought was a terrorist. (Where'd he go, anyway?) And then there was a hilariously awkward scene where Nick yells at everyone for treating him like dirt and then leaves to teach in Detroit. Poor guy, hope he doesn't get shot.

So basically all that happened was that we find out that Andy was the "whistleblower," everyone hates him more than usual except for Erin, and then Kathy Bates tells Michael that she'll try to get Holly back. For a finale to have only two minor conclusions like that is really anticlimactic. I wasn't a Holly fan, at all, although I appreciate them at least furthering Michael as a character in terms of his relationships and such. But what is Kathy Bates even going to do about it? What can she do? I don't know. I miss David Wallace.

2 Creepy Sabre Employees Who Always Look Scared out of 5.

30 Rock: #4.22 "I Do Do"

A lot of people thought that this season of 30 Rock was the worst, but I'm a relatively new fan, and I liked this one as much as the last season (although I watched Season 2 over winter break and nothing beats that). This episode, which was a continuation, like Parks and Rec, of the previous week's, was especially good.

Following "Emmanuelle Goes to Dinosaur Land," which is an amazing title, Liz tries to find a way out of "settling" with her hilarious British soul mate Wesley Snipes. Yes, like the actor. Wesley is the one who brought us such great phrases like "Gangway for the foot cycle" and "My velocipede!" and we love him for it. Well, "we" meaning everyone but Liz, who can't stand Wesley at all. I think everyone who watches the show wants Liz to be happy, but I would've been fine with her marrying Wesley if that meant that we got to see him again. Alas, that was, of course, not to be.

As Liz begrudgingly attempts to get used to the idea of having Wesley around, Jack tries to work out his own relationship problems - should he choose Nancy or Avery? At the beginning of the episode he's convinced that he wants Nancy. It's understandable, considering Nancy is sort of like the way more Bostonian female Jack, but at the same time, you can tell that this really is a hard decision for Jack. Personally, I HATED Nancy. I couldn't stand her horrible accent. There were lines she said that I normally would have thought were funny had she not been the one saying. I don't really care much for Avery, either, but one of the things Jack wanted the most was an heir, and he wasn't going to be getting that from Nancy. Avery reminded me of Edie Falco's character from season 2, and I actually kind of liked her, and I thought that type of character was good for Jack. And guess who he really chooses in the end? A pregnant Avery. I read somewhere that this might mean next season will be all about Jack complaining about not being able to be a good father because he didn't have one growing up, and I really hope that's not the case.

Matt Damon guest-starred as the pilot that Liz meets at Wesley's office, Carol. Within two minutes of talking to him, Liz discovers that HE is her true soulmate. Carol likes everything that Liz likes and even likes TGS, so he's kind of like Liz's scary fanboy, except awesome. Also, he is a horrible dancer, and I find that endearing. Carol is so perfect for Liz that I could not stop awwing at them. I like the characters on 30 Rock so much that seeing them happy makes ME happy. It's infectious. Unfortunately, when Liz tells Wesley that she and Carol are soul mates and Carol overhears, she nearly ruins it. I felt like Carol's reaction was realistic, but at the same time, he was just kind of like, "Wow, creepy. Bye," and then he specifically said bye to Jack in a way that was supposed to bring us back into Jack's story, but it kind of bothered me. That's a nitpick, but still. However, Carol comes back. Why? What normal person would do that? He says that he thought about it and that he's getting old, too, and...basically, he tells Liz that he's settling for her. It's kind of like Wesley and Liz all over again, with the roles reversed, except that there's a mutual interest there. I think I'm the only person seeing it like this, but Carol specifically says "I'm 39 years old" as if he's saying he has no other options.

Whatever, I love him anyways. I even made this really bad .gif of him dancing!:

I haven't even talked about Kenneth yet! Kenneth had one of the best parts of the episode when he drunkenly gives a speech at Grizz's wedding about how he loves everyone after losing his job. Basically, Jack got Kenneth a promotion -- to LA. Kenneth gets mad. Kenneth acts totally and hilariously un-Kenneth-like to lose the promotion, only to end losing the job. Then he shows up the wedding and gives a heartwarming speech. Yay, Kenneth. The best part of that was that he sounded completely angry the whole time...oh, Kenneth! I love you.

This episode was the most truly conclusive out of the three I saw; it ended Liz and Jack's season-long arcs in a nice way. I'm just worried that Liz and Carol aren't actually going to end up together. That's the nature of the guest star, although Carol's a pilot, so, hey, maybe it can work?

5 Dancing Matt Damons out of 5 :)

Those were like extra-long, out of order summaries with "I love you"s and "Hilarious"es thrown in, but OH WELL. NOW YOU KNOW. I'd recommend you go watch "Freddy Spaghetti" and "I Do Do" on Hulu, as well as Community's finale, "Pascal's Triangle Revisited," which I heard was pretty good. I only saw some of it, and it involved the usage of the term "Tranny Queen," if that will compel you any.

In parting, here's a clip of Kenneth's speech, with bonus Carol and Liz time! And Will Forte as Jenna's creepy boyfriend...or whatever he is...