+ Rumor has it that Neil Gaiman will be writing an episode of Doctor Who pretty soon.
+ Were you as blown away by "Lost" last night as I was? I thought so. (Creepy Claire scared the bejeezus out of me.) Bask in that "Lost" afterglow goodness with this terrific essay from The New York Times on the strengths and yes, weaknesses of the show. I love this line: "It is possible that, in the end, “Lost” will turn out to be nothing more than an elaborately analogized exegesis on the horrors of modern travel." Heh.
+ Elizabeth Berkley has joined the cast of "Donnie Darko 2." She'll play "a speed freak-turned-Jesus freak obsessed with cleansing the world of sin and infatuated with her dreamy pastor." No, really. Stop laughing. Whoever thought doing a sequel to "Donnie Darko" was a good idea, well, allow me to send them a reproving look and waggle my finger at them. Naughty!
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Hey look, Angel's solving crimes again!
The good thing about being a totally lazy person is that it leaves me with a lot of time to watch TV series that I was too stupid to watch and enjoy when they first came out. The husband and I have recently fallen under the spell of two very different shows: "How I Met Your Mother" and "Bones." I'll save my love of Neil Patrick Harris for later because right now I want to talk about how nerdiliciously fun and creepy "Bones" is.
I'm not a big fan of procedural shows like "CSI" and "CSI: Miami" and "CSI: Mount Vernon" or whatever other iterations are out there, but to me, "Bones" has something a little different to offer, especially for those of us who like to see our fellow brainy chicks shine. It's even better when those chickies are based on actual people.
I like the fact that "Bones" is about smart people doing smart things and using their squishy frontal lobes to parse problems that would make the rest of us mortals just scratch our heads and shrug. In this aspect, it's like "West Wing" but in a morgue and with less walking through corridors.
I also like Emily Deschanel's portrayal of Bones. She's amusingly spacy in that way you imagine Einstein would have been, getting up from his kitchenette and stuffing a jelly donut in his pocket because he's distracted by big ideas. I like that the character is a social maladjust who really only functions within the set framework she has created for herself. Deschanel pulls this off without making Brennan seem creepy or off-putting. She's all Spock-ish in her cool rationalism but Deschanel does well at hinting that more lies beneath the surface.
Seeing David Boreanaz in this series has been hugely fun, too, although early on I kept thinking, "How come Angel can walk in the daylight? And what's up with him smiling? And wow, he's still using the same amount of hair gel!" I was never a fan of Boreanaz on "Buffy," but I grew to love him in "Angel" and it's great to see that he's still got loads of charisma to spare. The husband and I are still in the first season of "Bones" but I can tell just from episode to episode how Boreanez's performance is improving. It's great to watch and his chemistry with Deschanel makes him seem even dreamier. (Here's a random question for "Bones" watchers: what's up with Booth sometimes wearing high-top sneakers and sometimes not? I'm intrigued.)
People have been telling me for ages to check out this show and I tried several times to get into it, but it never clicked until the DVDs came home to roost. I'm enjoying it thoroughly...and I'm learning valuable lessons in the process. Among them: never watch "Bones" while eating dinner; David Boreanaz's forehead will never cease to enthrall me; my husband is always right about TV shows; Adam Baldwin eventually appears in every single one of my favorite shows; and oh yes, I don't ever want to be a crime scene investigator. Valuable life lessons indeed.
News of the Day -- Thursday, May 29
+ An awesome new "screensaver" from Paul Rudd at Funny or Die. Not safe for work, but boy, would gazing at Paul Rudd while he looks pretty and talks crazy make the work day easier. Thanks to Jen for sending the link.
+ I've waited all my life for a headline like this: Monkeys Control a Mechanical Robot Arm With Their Brains. Monkeys, robots, telekinesis (not really, but close): Rod Serling is so pissed that he's dead right now.
+ I totally want one of these: a dining table with "Pong" embedded in the table top.
+ Ah, when great fandoms collide: Rainn Wilson will have a role as a college professor in the new "Transformers 2" movie.
+ Because at heart I'm kind of a passive-aggressive bitch, I feel compelled to report on the "Sex and the City" premiere, which went poorly enough for me to smile and feel a tiny song in my soul.
+ I've waited all my life for a headline like this: Monkeys Control a Mechanical Robot Arm With Their Brains. Monkeys, robots, telekinesis (not really, but close): Rod Serling is so pissed that he's dead right now.
+ I totally want one of these: a dining table with "Pong" embedded in the table top.
+ Ah, when great fandoms collide: Rainn Wilson will have a role as a college professor in the new "Transformers 2" movie.
+ Because at heart I'm kind of a passive-aggressive bitch, I feel compelled to report on the "Sex and the City" premiere, which went poorly enough for me to smile and feel a tiny song in my soul.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
News of the Day -- Wednesday, May 28
+ In preparation for tomorrow night's two-hour season finale, here's an interview with "Lost"'s Michael Emerson. Shockingly, he reveals nothing! But it's still an interesting read.
+ Check out the trailer for Robert Downey Jr.'s new movie, "Tropic Thunder." It's the naughty trailer so you'll have to vouch for being over 17 before viewing it. I'm not quite sure what I think of this movie, but I'll admit I'm curious. Thanks to Jessica for submitting the link!
+ It was announced today that David Byrne and Lorne Michaels are the recipients of lifetime achievement awards from The Webbys. I totally get giving one to David Byrne because he's magical like a unicorn. But it just seems weird to honor Lorne Michaels for realizing that viral videos might be a way to resurrect ratings for a 30 year old late night comedy show. That just seems like good marketing sense. Stephen Colbert is also being honored, which is great because he's like the magical internet unicorn that all the other magical internet unicorns look up to.
I don't know what my deal is with unicorns today.
+ Check out the trailer for Robert Downey Jr.'s new movie, "Tropic Thunder." It's the naughty trailer so you'll have to vouch for being over 17 before viewing it. I'm not quite sure what I think of this movie, but I'll admit I'm curious. Thanks to Jessica for submitting the link!
+ It was announced today that David Byrne and Lorne Michaels are the recipients of lifetime achievement awards from The Webbys. I totally get giving one to David Byrne because he's magical like a unicorn. But it just seems weird to honor Lorne Michaels for realizing that viral videos might be a way to resurrect ratings for a 30 year old late night comedy show. That just seems like good marketing sense. Stephen Colbert is also being honored, which is great because he's like the magical internet unicorn that all the other magical internet unicorns look up to.
I don't know what my deal is with unicorns today.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Who wouldn't want to wear a giant bird head?
We all have dreams. Some of them involve Orlando Bloom as our pool boy. Others might involve winning a million dollars...and hiring Orlando Bloom as our pool boy. For many years, I’ve had a dream, the flames of which were fanned this weekend when the husband and I went to a Toledo Mud Hens minor league baseball game. My dream is this: someday, I would like to be a team mascot.
I should clarify: I don’t actually want a team to make me, Liz, their mascot as they would, say, a bulldog or small goat. No, I’d like to be the person to put on the mascot costume and shoot t-shirts into the stands, race other humans dressed as hot dogs or presidents around the ballpark and stand on the opposing team’s dugout doing “YMCA” with my enormous misshapen mascot hands.
This has been a latent dream of mine for many years, but I fell in love with the idea all over again when I saw the Mud Hens’ TWO – yes, TWO – mascots at work this past Saturday. Their prime mascot, Muddy, is a Mud Hen with a jersey and hat on. He seems like the responsible one. His girlfriend – or at least I’m assuming there’s some sort of relationship going on, what with the way their hollow, lifeless papier mache-headed eyes stared at each other across the diamond – is called Muddona and she wears a jersey, hat and a cheerleader outfit. She is the party animal. Like if these two were the B-52s, Muddy would be a reticent Fred Schneider and Muddona would totally be Kate Pierson except with feathers instead of a beehive hairdo.
Here’s why being a mascot would be awesome, especially for an introvert: if you make sure never to reveal your secret identity, you can pretty much do whatever the hell you want. Seriously. As a plain old normal human being, I wouldn’t be caught dead doing the Chicken Dance. If I’m dressed as Muddonna, well, I’m compelled to do so by the laws of mascot nature. Also, I would delight children by the thousands and, best of all, be able to chase and/or mercilessly tease drunken loudmouth adults all in the name of good fun. Say I grab the hat of some lout and throw it onto the field between innings while NOT wearing the costume. I get instantly arrested, right? Wearing a mascot costume, I am a hero to everyone in that section and hundreds of people go home that night, smiling and reminding each other, “Wasn’t it great when that ginormous chicken humiliated that guy?” And they’d all nod and sigh in quiet reflection and awe. Wearing that costume is like being a superhero but without actually having to risk your life and save anyone, especially someone you might not like. Wolf Blitzer, for example.
The only downside of being a mascot that I can think of is that the suits probably smell really bad. That seems like a small price to pay, though, for outrageous personal freedom and the chance to dress as a giant chicken and lead your team to victory. In fact, if I had kids, I think they’d be pretty proud. Or embarrassed. Either way, it’s a win-win.
I should clarify: I don’t actually want a team to make me, Liz, their mascot as they would, say, a bulldog or small goat. No, I’d like to be the person to put on the mascot costume and shoot t-shirts into the stands, race other humans dressed as hot dogs or presidents around the ballpark and stand on the opposing team’s dugout doing “YMCA” with my enormous misshapen mascot hands.
This has been a latent dream of mine for many years, but I fell in love with the idea all over again when I saw the Mud Hens’ TWO – yes, TWO – mascots at work this past Saturday. Their prime mascot, Muddy, is a Mud Hen with a jersey and hat on. He seems like the responsible one. His girlfriend – or at least I’m assuming there’s some sort of relationship going on, what with the way their hollow, lifeless papier mache-headed eyes stared at each other across the diamond – is called Muddona and she wears a jersey, hat and a cheerleader outfit. She is the party animal. Like if these two were the B-52s, Muddy would be a reticent Fred Schneider and Muddona would totally be Kate Pierson except with feathers instead of a beehive hairdo.
Here’s why being a mascot would be awesome, especially for an introvert: if you make sure never to reveal your secret identity, you can pretty much do whatever the hell you want. Seriously. As a plain old normal human being, I wouldn’t be caught dead doing the Chicken Dance. If I’m dressed as Muddonna, well, I’m compelled to do so by the laws of mascot nature. Also, I would delight children by the thousands and, best of all, be able to chase and/or mercilessly tease drunken loudmouth adults all in the name of good fun. Say I grab the hat of some lout and throw it onto the field between innings while NOT wearing the costume. I get instantly arrested, right? Wearing a mascot costume, I am a hero to everyone in that section and hundreds of people go home that night, smiling and reminding each other, “Wasn’t it great when that ginormous chicken humiliated that guy?” And they’d all nod and sigh in quiet reflection and awe. Wearing that costume is like being a superhero but without actually having to risk your life and save anyone, especially someone you might not like. Wolf Blitzer, for example.
The only downside of being a mascot that I can think of is that the suits probably smell really bad. That seems like a small price to pay, though, for outrageous personal freedom and the chance to dress as a giant chicken and lead your team to victory. In fact, if I had kids, I think they’d be pretty proud. Or embarrassed. Either way, it’s a win-win.
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