Talking About Stuff and Things

So I finally, FINALLY, decided to take a crochet class. I am very happy I did. I found the class on Course Horse (pretty cool place to find classes, check it out!) and the class is through Lion Brand Studio. Conveniently located near Union Square! They also sell yarn there, it's a super cute store. I signed up for Crochet 1, it's a two-day class, two hours each. I still have one class left and I already signed up for Crochet 2. The instructor was super friendly and there were only five people in the class so you get plenty of one-on-one if you need it. I'm pretty psyched to keep learning, probably evidenced by the fact that all I've done this weekend besides watch The West Wing, is practice crocheting while watching. :P

My first ever bit of crochet!

 I'm looking forward to working my way up to crocheting dolls, because surprisingly there are no Doctor dolls available for purchase and I need a little Doctor doll to squeeze while I'm crying as the Doctor says "I don't wanna go." (Because y'all KNOW I'm going to watch that again and again.)

Speaking of TV, after I plowed through all of the modern Doctor Who episodes for the second time in less than a year, I am finally finishing up The West Wing. I blazed through the first four seasons, but due to current TV, Doctor Who and people telling me seasons 5-7 just aren't as good, I had put the brakes on watching it. I finally started watching the rest last week. I spent the entirety of the day yesterday watching season six and I have to say, I still love the show. I honestly don't think I would've noticed that Sorkin left if I wasn't told. Maybe I'm just not a discerning enough viewer, but I still thoroughly enjoy the show. Not the least of which is CJ Cregg.

CJ Cregg is my hero.

Holy crap, is that woman amazing. I've been a huge fan of hers since day one, but she actually kicks even more ass in the later seasons. This woman is like the number one female role model I've come across on TV. haha I mean I haven't really studied it, so maybe I'm wrong but man I love her. She's funny, she's smart and she's so damn powerful. Gah. I can't get enough. I'm going to be sad when I'm done. Though I think Newsroom will be starting soon, so at least I'll have that. And I still have yet to watch Sports Night. Oh yeah, I'm one of those people that LOVES Sorkin. :) After I watched the first season of Newsroom, I realized I was one of those people and so I needed to watch The West Wing. [I'm one of the few that loved Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (I even own the DVDs).]

Ned and Jory. They lead a simple life.

I also started playing with this gif app I found called Camoji, so you might be seeing some more gifs on here... (I still really need to learn how to make them out of pre-existing images or videos.)

So I think I have some West Wing to watch... although... I DO need to go for a run... but like, it's so HOT out this weekend... Dammit. I'm already making excuses. At least I haven't been eating a lot this weekend... although I did drink almost a whole bottle of wine... Sigh.

Never Mind the Buzzcocks

I'm lazing about my apartment this afternoon just watching Never Mind the Buzzcocks. I SHOULD go out for a run...and I might still do, but I've got a birthday party in a couple hours so I need to do it soon...

I bought this back in 2001, I've still never read/listened to it...

Over the winter I got into watching NMtB on YouTube (oh thank you, people that find happiness from uploading old episodes of a show I have no other way of seeing). NMtB is a bit special to me because way back in 2001 I lived in London for about three months for a study abroad program, and it remains one of the best times of my life. I often wish I'd stayed on longer, but who knows how that would've affected the rest of my life... Anyway, in that time there were two shows that I found and loved to watched. One was The Dave Gorman Collection (which maybe I'll post about another time) and Never Mind the Buzzcocks. Looking at the series dates, I believe I watched season 8. I totally developed a crush on Sean Hughes and ended up buying a couple of his novels. Once I found it, I didn't miss one for the rest of my time there, but of course I couldn't watch it anymore once I'd gotten home (I don't think torrenting TV shows was that big a thing yet...if even a thing at all...so that wasn't an option).

This is where I lived!! I take a walk by it whenever I visit London.

[Sort of related, I actually ended up getting to see We Know Where You Live, Live! hosted by Eddie Izzard on the last day of my time in London (I'd accidentally booked my flight home a day too late but being a HUGE Eddie Izzard fan, I was very happy once I'd see an ad for this show). Phil Jupitus, who is a team captain on NMtB performed that night and did the most hilarious impression of Eddie Izzard.]

Anyway, I'd mostly forgotten about this show until a few months back when I had some friends over to watch Doctor Who (yes, it's taken over my life), I wanted to show them some Who-related videos on YouTube and one of my friends saw a video in the "related" section that had Richard Ayode on it that he wanted to put on. It was an episode of NMtB that he was guest-hosting. And it was bloody hilarious. (Another side note, it's what got me to finally watch The IT Crowd which I ended up loving.) After they left, I decided to watch some more NMtB as I saw there were tons of episodes up on YouTube. Being me, I needed to start from the beginning. I blew through the first 5 seasons in the following week or so, but then fell off. I think because I'd started during rerun season and new TV had come back on.

"Have you tried turning it off and on again?"

So this afternoon, my Netflix was not connecting for some reason so I just put on YouTube on my TV and decided to watch some more. I think I'll finish season 6 today.

After all of that, maybe I should explain the show! It's basically a music quiz show, but points aren't always awarded fairly and no one actually wins anything. The first 17 seasons are hosted by this guy Mark Lamarr, who I think is a comedian but I don't know anything of him outside of this. There are two team captains, Phil Jupitus and Sean Hughes, also comedians. These three also have an amazing amount of music knowledge. Each episode has four guests, two for each team, sometimes comedians but mostly musical performers. Some guests include Suggs, Boy George, Billie Piper (omg she was around 17 at the time and ADORABLE and long before her stint on Doctor Who), Lemmy, Billy Bragg, Adam Ant and a ton of other mostly-British people I've never heard of, but many of whom are quite funny. (Eventually, Simon Amstell becomes the host followed by a bunch of guest hosts, also Sean Hughes leaves around season 10, replaced by Bill Bailey, who've eventually replaced by Noel Fielding, also from The IT Crowd.)

There are a bunch of different categories, like the one where they have to perform (without lyrics) the intros to famous songs or the one where the host says a lyric and the team needs to say the next line. There's another round where they show an old video focusing on a particular performer, then they bring out five people and you have to guess which one is the one from the video. (Ugh that description is so poorly written, I hope that makes sense.) Oh and the one where you have to figure out the lyrics to a particularly hard-to-understand song. That one is great and always makes me think of my mom who always talked about how she had no idea what the lyrics were to some of her favorite songs, particularly with The Rolling Stones.

The show is apparently incredibly popular over there and has made it to 27 seasons! So far there hasn't been any new episodes in 2014, but supposedly there's a new regular host in line for the next series. I would really like it if this show lasted forever. I've got quite a way to go to catch up though, so I'm not worried of running out just yet...

So that was all a long way to tell you, hey, I like this show called Never Mind the Buzzcocks. If you're a big music buff, or just an anglophile, you might like it. Check it out. :P

I Kinda Miss This Place!

Looking back at this blog, I saw there was a time I was really on top of it. These days I think I just have WAY to much pop culture to consume! I was always a big TV person, but ever since Netflix streaming, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBOGo, etc... It's just gotten crazy! haha But I still get the sitemeter emails telling me how many views I get every week and I always delete them so quickly because I feel guilty for not keeping up with it. I know I have no reason to feel guilty, but I did really like it and it was pretty cool when people actually read and commented on stuff I wrote!

Every so often I write one of these "I'm gonna get back into this" posts and then nothing happens. But I'm going to keep trying! I AM!

Hot Topic has a lot of cool Who stuff too. :P

So what's something new about me? Well the one thing I can't stop thinking about these days — The Doctor. If any of my friends or twitter followers read this, they're probably rolling their eyes. This is literally all I've been talking about for the last two months. I admit my I've gone a little off the deep end when it comes to Doctor Who, but I don't care, I flippin' love it. (Oh I just watched all of The IT Crowd too, and am now really into "flip" and "flipping." haha)



I've definitely been known to get a little obsessive over new nerd things I get into, but this is definitely one for the record books. I watched all seven seasons as well as all four seasons of the Torchwood spin-off in about 7 weeks. And as for merchandise...holy crap. Part of me wanted to get into Doctor Who because of all the amazing TARDIS merch out there. So you can imagine...I've got a lot of TARDISes about! :P

I've even started to get crafty with it. I've already done a couple Who cross stitches and I started a gigantic 9th Doctor portrait cross stitch (that I got from etsy, where you can find a TON of cool Who stuff) that I'll be luck if it only takes me a year. Yes, the 9th Doctor is my Doctor. But 10th comes VERY close. 11th... well, I DO like him very much, but he just doesn't hold a candle. :P Oh and as for the companions... I love them all. It's hard to choose, but Rose with always be #1. And Clara is last, though I still do like her. I really hope I can get down with the new Doctor. I'm not sure how I feel about an older doctor, but I wasn't sure about Matt Smith and I eventually grew to like him. Soon I will start my "best of" list of classic Who episodes to watch. I don't want to watch them all because a) time and b) they are ridiculously cheesy. :P But I do want to see a couple from each Doctor.

The Doctor has two hearts.

(I am currently watching Saturday Night Live and I just squealed when they showed Beck in one of those little preview bits of what's coming up next they put in the middle of the commercials sometimes. I heart Beck 4Eva)







 So anyway, The Doctor is a new thing for me. There are other new things with me. Hopefully I will post about them soon! Woot!

I even buy things that just LOOK like a TARDIS. Sigh.

War on Religion

I made this thing the second I heard Jon Stewart say it because it's full of truth.

The Daily Show rules.

I still can't get over this idea that (religious) people think there's a war on religion in this country. Do they really think their right to practice whatever religion they want is being THREATENED?? Are you KIDDING me?? Just because we don't all subscribe to their beliefs and we don't want our lives and our rights to be dictated by those beliefs, we're waging WAR?? Just because we want ALL people to feel included in this country?

I don't believe in god, I don't believe in heaven or hell, I don't go to church, I don't pray. But I'm a good person. I am nice to strangers, I love my family, I work hard, I have fun with my friends and I want everyone to be happy and healthy. And I am an American. I'm sorry, but this country is NOT a Christian nation. It's a nation of differences. The country was not founded as a place for Christians, it was founded as a place to be free to practice whatever religion you choose and that includes NO religion. IT DOES. Accept it. My not believing has ABSOLUTELY NO BEARING on your believing. It doesn't affect you. If you don't want to marry a member of the opposite sex because it's against your religion, that's YOUR CHOICE. It is NOT your place to tell others what they can and cannot do. If I have a company and I want to include EVERYONE in my holiday wishes by saying "Happy Holidays" or by displaying decorations from multiple religions, that's a GOOD thing. It's being inclusive. It's say "hey, I recognise that we're not all the same and I want to make you all feel welcome in this holiday season."

And I definitely think the government SHOULD ALWAYS seek to include everyone. When the president acknowledged non-believers in is inauguration, that was a GOOD thing. It is not attacking you. I don't want to take away ANYONE'S right to practice whatever religion they want. Sure, I often want to try to convince people that they're religion makes no sense... haha But I would never, ever, ever suggest there should be laws restricting that. (Except, of course, if their laws harm another human being... no human sacrifices allowed.) And I will NOT accept any religion that DOES want to do that. Keep it to yourselves. Separation of church and state. This is one of the most important aspects of our government that needs to be preserved. The religious need to understand that this idea protects THEM TOO. What happens if this country DID have an official religion? Many religions would be furious. Sure, right now they all agree that gay marriage is bad, but if there was one religion in power that had views the others didn't, they'd be screwed.

Look, ultimately it comes down to this: What do you care?? I understand that you think you're helping all these lost souls. And if you want to run around waving pamphlets and trying to convince others the error or their ways, go right ahead. But to go as far as trying to make these things law, is NOT OKAY. And you don't have to worry about seeing all these awful sinners in heaven, anyway, right? God won't let 'em in. So why don't you just let them live their lives in peace and he'll take care of everything for you in the end.

Sound good?

Ricky on The Daily Show!

Ricky was on The Daily Show yesterday and it was great, but they went over and had to put the remaining bit on the Comedy Central website. This happens more and more frequently lately, but this is the first time I've ever actually went and looked for it! I'm sharing it with you because it's awesome. And so VERY atheist! ;-)

The Daily Show - Exclusive - Ricky Gervais Extended Interview Pt. 2
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Here's of the "Easter card" he showed Jon. Click here to read his Easter message!!

Blasphemy!

The End.

Airbender Happiness

So if you read this blog, you know exactly how I feel about M. Knight's craptacular live-action adaptation (see previous blog: "Fuck You, M. Knight") of what I feel is one of the greatest cartoons ever created, Avatar: The Last Airbender. Do yourself a favour and WATCH THEM. So good.

ANYWAY, if you HAVE seen Airbender, then you know how good it is, and you'll be delighted to learn (if you don't already know) that there will be a new cartoon mini-series following the events of Airbender starting up next year! It's called The Last Airbender: The Legend of Korra and HOLY CRAP I CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS!!!!

BEWARE: SPOILERZ AHEAD! (Both of the original show and what I've learned of the new one.)

Originally slated for 2011, the show has been delayed until 2012

It's basically the story of the NEXT Avatar!! Following in the pattern, the next up would be water, but being as she's the Avatar, she has to learn airbending from the NEW last airbender, Aang's son Tenzin! Since Avatar's only appear once the previous one has died, Aang will obviously not be alive in this series, but as we've seen in the show, Avatars can communicate with past Avatars in the spirit world, so we're sure to at least see Aang!

While I am definitely sad that I know I won't see Katara, Sokka, Toph, Zuko and ESPECIALLY Appa & Momo, I am still SUPER excited for this! Same people involved so I expect it to be just as good. And I can at least I can HOPE for maybe flashbacks from Tenzin growing up or something. Maybe one of the old characters is still alive and a crazy old person like King Boomy from the Earth Kingdom.

Another great thing about this show... J.K. FRAKKIN' SIMMONS!!! He's slated to be the voice of Tenzin!!! HOW AWESOME IS THAT!?

Well, anyway, just thought I'd let you know. This makes me happy after the debacle that was M. Knight's "movie." Ugh.


So those who have not seen the awesomeness that is The Last Airbender, you've got a year to catch up! Hop to!

The End.

PEE-WEE'S PLAYHOUSE!

So I saw the Pee-wee play!!! Yes. Just add that to the incredibly long list of reasons to love living in New York City! Now let me start by saying something that you'll probably get mad at me for: I wasn't really a huge Pee-wee fan. I know, I know. I just didn't remember ever being REALLY into it. I knew I watched it as a kid, but I would've called myself a fan. That's all changed now. :)

First, let me just tell you HOW I got to see this show. Frakkin' FOURSQUARE, that's how! As you may have known if you follow my twitter, I'm a little addicted to foursquare badges. They do absolutely nothing and I can't even get stickers of them like you can from GetGlue. But I still need to get as many as I can. I will just walk around the city to check into places to get badges. ANYWAY, a few months back, when the Pee-wee show on Broadway first opened, Pee-wee started a little campaign with fourquare, in which one could earn a Pee-wee badge by first being his friend on foursquare, and then checking into 2 or 3 places Pee-wee checked in to. There were plenty right near my office, so I got this fairly easily. It's a great badge, it looks like his suit. I was happy. I did not know anything else would come of it.

THEN, a couple months after that, I get an email that basically says: "Dear Foursquare Badge-holder, We're having a drawing for free tickets to see Pee-wee on Broadway for a special taping of the show to air on HBO. To enter, blah blah blah." So I entered. AND I WON! 'Twas VERY exciting. Luckily I had nothing planned for that day, so I went.


And it WAS GREAT! I realised once the show started that I knew A LOT more than I thought I did about Pee-wee. I remembered SO much! I completely forgot about Penny, which was my favourite bit on that show. Not to mention Ptery and Globey! Of course there was Chairy, but I never forgot her. It was a GREAT show. Funny and fun and very nostalgic. If I hadn't been watching the last ever production, I would've been telling EVERYONE to go see it. So I'm super glad I got the chance and I thank you very much, foursquare!

But it gets better! More fourquare awesomeness! SO, at the end of the show, Pee-wee mentions that in a couple days there will be a foursquare PARTY at the new Bowlmor Lanes in Times Square (the original is in Union Square) for a select few of the badge-holders who ask to participate. I get ANOTHER email asking about this and I RSVP and the next day I'm told I can go! WOOT! Now, while this was a bowling party, I really didn't feel like bowling, so I just sat at the bar with my friend and tried some of their food. About an hour in, Pee-wee shows up and makes his way around the entire party saying hello to everyone that came. SUCH a sweetheart. He even actually OFFERED to take pictures without me even asking! I absolutely adore him now. He won me over. Too bad it's at the end of the Pee-wee train... I don't know how much more he can do with the character, but I'm considering buying the DVD set of the show... :-P

So meeting Pee-wee was definitely the highlight, but the whole experience was really cool and I only have foursquare to thank. So no longer can I be made fun of for my badge addiction! :-) (Side note: I also got $5 admission to the Whitney with my Whitney badge the other day — that's a $13 savings people!!!)

Anyway, last thing I want to tell you peeps, is that the HBO taping I went to IS AIRING THIS WEEKEND! March 19th, to be exact! Set your DVRs and watch this! I will admit, if you know NOTHING of Pee-wee, you might not enjoy it quite as much, but it's still a good time. Check it out: Pee-wee on HBO!

Trailer

The End.

Guns & the Second Amendment (as explained by SNL)

I don't like guns. I don't like that I've lived with people who own guns (because of their jobs), I don't want a gun in my house and I kind of think it's creepy that people want to keep guns in their house. I DEFINITELY think it's creepy when they want to carry them ON them wherever they go.

Recently (well, like 9 months ago) I actually went to a gun range for the first time because I made a promise to a friend. He had convinced me to try it with this line: "Nothing scares Conservative Republicans more than a liberal atheist that knows how to use a gun." And I will NOT deny that it was fun. In A COMPLETELY SAFE AND CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT. This place was STRICT. You always had an instructor next to you, YOU were not allowed to load the gun and if you even turned slightly away from the firing direction, you would be stopped and reprimanded (here I am with a rifle with my instructor). In those conditions, I can't help but admit I had a BLAST (pun intended)! :-)

But the personal ownership of guns...I don't know. It's just creepy. Granted, it MAY come in handy in self-defense (although, at least in NYC, I believe you have to keep it locked up so that could hinder it's actual use), but there's too much risk of unintentional damage. You always hear about people accidentally shooting themselves or family members. And I actually went to collage with a kid who's friend accidentally shot and killed him. It's terrible. And personally, while I supposed I'd rather kill or be killed...well, I REALLY don't want to kill anyone.

Anyway, I think guns are a little too easy to come by in this country. Though, I'm not sure how to fix it because the criminal always seem to find ways to get illegal things...but I feel like being able to buy guns in a Walmart or something, with like a week's wait or whatever, is just not enough. And why do people need to own them so badly!? And so MANY! One of my favourite comedians, Eddie Izzard, makes a joke about kids only having to go to their "grandfather's arsenal" to get ahold of guns. There's that like 6-year-old kid in Bowling for Columbine that Michael Moore talks about who takes someone's gun to school and kills a little girl. There should have been NO WAY for that kid to get his hands on a gun!!!! But people teach their kids to shoot guns from very young ages! And I suppose it's good for them to at least KNOW how to handle it, but...I don't know, I feel like their not old enough to REALLY understand the consequences yet.

Maybe it's because of where I live that I don't want a gun? I recall being in a London hostel back in (I think) 2004 where this older gentleman was (co-ed room hostel) was staying for a night or two to look at some artifact or something (the hostel is right by the British Museum). He was from Texas and somehow we ended up talking about guns (weird...) but when I said I would NOT want a gun EVER, he was surprised. He said he thought we all wanted guns up here but out government wouldn't let us! I said I didn't know that many people that actually wanted to own a gun (and even the ones that did, wanted them for recreational purposes, not for protection). He didn't understand, he asked about protecting ourselves or our property and I said that's what the police were for. He said the police would take a half an hour to get to his home by him. Which I suppose, if that were the case, I might want my own protection as well. I don't know.

Anyway, this all comes up because of what I thought was a great and funny little bit on SNL's Weekend Update last Saturday.




Well, anyway, I don't really know what's to be done about this. I think a lot of it might be because of something like what I was talking about with that Texan. I think our country is just so damn large that the experiences I can have are so completely different some someone in, say, Texas. It DOES seem to be more of the southern states that are so pro-gun, but that might not be true and just my perception.

What do YOU think of the gun situation in our country?


The End.

PS Here's the Eddie Izzard bit that I love!




PPS One last thing, one of my favourite Eminem lines is from the song "Who Knew": "So who's bringing the guns in this country? I couldn't sneak a plastic pellet gun through customs over in London."

Busy Bee Part 2

OK! SO! After getting home at 4AM, I was VERY lazy on Saturday and didn't make it to the convention until around 5PM. Yes. I spent a mere 2 HOURS at NYCC (not counting my booth shift on Friday) in total. I just went directly to Artist's Alley to hang out with friends and get a few sketches. I managed to get three from Katie Cook, Declun Shalvey & Leandro Fernandez (I don't have them scanned right now, but I'll post 'em eventually)!

After that a bunch of us went out for dinner. I forget the name of the place, but THIS is what I saw on the wall on the way out. Why?!?!?!?!?!

Saturday night was also the Marvel after-party, hosted by none other than the famous C.B. Cebulski! I was PLANNING on not staying out too late because I had to be up at 8AM to drive to Pennsylvania the next morning...but I should've known better. Here are the only pics from that night I will share...

Me, Jeph Loeb & Brea Grant!


And this is me with Scott Porter (of the famous Friday Night Lights that I have to watch soon)!

This guy decided around 2AM that we should turn the party into a karaoke party! It was a great idea. Everyone went nuts and had a fantastic time. I left AGAIN around 4AM, but this party was still going STRONG. Scott was a sweetheart and definitely helped turn this party up a notch. (Also, Brea was so adorable that night when she sang! haha)

So, as I mentioned I had to get up at 8AM the next morning. Which I managed to do (ok, 8:30!). And this is why. For the 8 weeks preceding this day, I had be VERY good about keeping up with the gym 2-3 times a week (a big deal for me as ever since I stopped kickboxing, I've been VERY lazy). What finally got me motivated? THE WARRIOR DASH!

What is the Warrior Dash, you ask? Well, it's an approx. 3 mile race complete with obstacle! There's climbing cargo ropes, schlepping through ICE FUCKING COLD WATER and over logs, climbing up muddy hills, crawling through mud under barbed wire, jumping over fire and MORE. So after 4 nights of drinking and being out late, and about 4 hours of sleep, I took a 3 hour drive to Quarryville, PA to compete in this.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't expect to win. Actual athletes will compete in this. My main goal was to a) FINISH it and b) NOT be the last of my group of friends. And in these two things I succeeded! WOOT!

Yeah, they give you a little finisher medal at the end which was pretty cool. The race was really fun. It would have been MORE fun had I properly prepared for it. I was out of breath JUST WAITING AT THE FINISH LINE. And the hardest part of the whole race was the RUNNING. I HATE running and my stamina is CRAP. Most of the obstacles were fairly easy to complete, but all the running throughout was ROUGH. Also, at about the second obstacle — climbing up and over these truck-like constructions — I jumped down off the second one and really hurt my leg, so I had to go through most of the race with THAT pain (which I'm JUST this week FINALLY getting over). But I made it through in 45 minutes! 7th out of my group of 16 friends! (Approx. 3800th out of 5111 people. haha) The best of us did it in 24 minutes (I have no idea how that's possible! :-P) and the last of us I THINK in like 58 minutes. Still pretty fucking impressive!

Throughout the race, Brightroom Photography was taking pictures of us, this is the only cool one of me that I found from the very end (I really wanted one crawling through the mud-pit under the barbed wire) but I'm not buying it b/c they are RIDICULOUSLY expensive. Jerks. (Hence the copyright logo over it, it's just the preview so you can choose which to buy.)


Here's a great group shot someone took of us. So fun.


After the race, you get hosed down (though it only does so much) and a free beer. You can also buy more beer and food and stuff. It really is a lot of fun and we're already planning on doing it again next year. This time I WILL GET A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP!! :)

Oh and these were my poor knees at the end of it...


So, that being the ROUGHEST part of my crazy-busy month of October, there's still so much more to come! The following Tues, I finally went back to The Comic Book Club (a weekly, live talkshow about comics that's REALLY funny) since my friend Declun was a guest on it and I had been neglecting the show (I used to go very frequently). I LOVE the guys who run the show and since I hadn't been there in so long, I hung out afterwards with them AGAIN a little too late that I should've. Oh well. It was fun.

I then followed it up on Wednesday with a ladies night with some of my favourite ladies. We had a delicious meal at Josie's East with lots of girl talk. I actually made it home at a decent hour THIS time. The other thing to happen to me on Wednesday was my good pal Scott Adsit (who plays Pete Hornberger on 30 Rock) invited me and a friend to watch the 30 Rock live episode from the luxury of the SNL Green Room! I decided to bring Declun because I honestly can't think of a bigger fan of the show (and also because my poor little cousin who I originally asked was out of state and couldn't come).

So then on Thursday we went to the SNL studio (EEEEEE!!!!) and did just that! There was free pizza, sushi, wine, coffee and cookies in there. I saw Brian Williams in there (too nervous to talk to him, he's AWESOME) and watched the HILARIOUS east coast taping of the show on the many big screens they have there.

The guy who runs the 30 Rock twitter account took a pic of our group hanging out in the green room before the taping started and posted it on twitter:


Scott took us around for a tour of the set in between the east and the west coast tapings. We got to meet Tina Fey, Julia-Louis Dreyfus, John Lutz, Jack McBrayer, Bill Hader, Judah Friedlander and more. (I actually have met Tina, Bill & Judah before and they are super awesome.) We then took this awesome picture in front of their fake FOX news set:


Then we went back to the green room to await the west coast taping. We noticed that the screen where we watched the show was just showing the floor of the set (meaning the camera was just sitting on the floor). So when Scott left to go tape the next show, he found it and brought Rachel Dratch to say hello to us:


I have to say, it was pretty hilarious to see that in the room all of a sudden. haha I wonder what everyone else in there thought of that...

Anyway, the second taping was just as awesome as the first and included a couple of little differences that made it fun.

I got a couple more shots of the SNL studio before I left. Here's some retired costumes that are great. That's Church Lady in the middle who I LOVED when I was a kid:


In this very hall, I also met MATT DAMON!!!!!! Just a quick handshake and hello, but that was so cool. He's so awesome.


Part of the 30 Rock set being taken down at the end.


Unfortunately I don't have any pics from what followed but we ALSO went to the after party!!! Free booze, free cupcakes, mini hamburgers and other snack foods, and even free milkshakes!! I met Dot com and Tracy Morgan bumped into me. Talked to Jane Krakowski about the fatty milkshakes and stood there while Alec Baldwin talked to her right over my shoulder (it was very crowded). Had a great time hanging with Scott and his lovely lady Sandy, and also Christina Gausas who is such a doll! (She and Scott do a 2-person improv show at UCB theater called Adsit & Gausas. The next one is 11/10! GO!)

So, yet another late night home, but WELL worth it. I had such a great time and now Declun owes me for the rest of his life. haha I was so wiped out I just spent the entire weekend home playing Final Fantasy XIII, watching TV and knitting. I needed to replenish for the REST of October....


To be continued...

Lorelai Gilmore, How I Wish She Were Real

And my friend. I love this woman. haha

My co-worker is currently watching the Gilmore Girls series with his girlfriend and he said to me today "So we saw the 'culs-de-sac episode.'" This is how much I loved this bit in that show. It was YEARS ago but I guess I talked about it so much, he remembered how much I loved it. It was the opener to one of the Season 4 episodes and it had me laughing so hard I almost peed. And just reading the transcript of that bit nearly did it to me again.

This also shows more of my nerdiness as it's frakkin' GRAMMAR humour! I present this to you now, enjoy...

RORY: It’s culs-de-sac.

LORELAI: No way!

RORY: It is.

LORELAI: The plural of cul-de-sac is culs-de-sac?

RORY: Yes.

LORELAI: That doesn’t even sound like English.

RORY: That’s because it’s French.

LORELAI: You know what I mean.

RORY: I hate to be the bearer of bad news.

LORELAI: Words should sound right to be right.

RORY: That’s not how it works.

LORELAI: So, what, the plural of yo-yo is yos-yo?

RORY: Yeah, ’cause that sounds so natural.

LORELAI: As natural as culs-de-sac.

LORELAI: Hey, Luke.

LUKE: Look at this.

LORELAI: Who, Lane? She’s super waitress, able to leap tall pancakes in a single bound. Or is that pans-cake?

RORY: Very funny.

LUKE: It’s not gonna work out.

LORELAI: Oh. What, she’s so good.

LUKE: She’s too good.

LORELAI: Oh, calm down.

LUKE: When there was a lull, she cleaned the menus without being asked.

LORELAI: Do you mean mens-u?

RORY: Stop it.

LORELAI: So, now, why do you have to get back to campus so early? Classes don’t start for a couple of days.

RORY: Yeah, I have a lot of stuff to do. And it’ll be nice and quiet with no roommates around.

LORELAI: Where are the rooms-mate?

RORY: Um, Janet’s mountain climbing, Tanna’s home, and Paris went skiing with her boyfriend.

LORELAI: So you’re just ignoring the plural thing now?

RORY: Yeah.

LORELAI: Boy, maybe this Lane/Luke team isn’t gonna work out.

RORY: Yeah.

LORELAI: Where do you think Luke will go?

RORY: I don’t know. Maybe a big chain will take him on.

LORELAI: I wonder if he has a forklift license.

RORY: He could redeem recyclables.

LORELAI: You mean recycs-able?

LORELAI: So everyone in the entire world knew the plural of cul-de-sac was culs-de-sac?

RICHARD: Yes.

LORELAI: Okay. So Mariah Carey is out with some friends and she’s had a couple cocktails, she glances down from the roof and says, “Oh, look at all those culs-de-sac.”

RORY: Why are they on the roof?

LORELAI: It’s a rooftop bar.

RICHARD: How have you been saying it?

LORELAI: Cul-de-sacs.

RICHARD: And no one ever corrected you?

LORELAI: No, because that’s the way it should be. Even if it isn’t technically correct, it should be pronounced that way.

RORY: Mom, Mom, just let it go.

LORELAI: I will never let this go.

I NEVER forgot "pans-cake" and "recycs-able." Fucking hilarious. I only wish Rory told her about "passersby" b/c that always annoyed me and would have blown her mind! haha (Not that "passerbys" sounds much better.) Seriously, I would love to have conversations like this all the time. I need the Weird Science kids to make me a Lorelai to hang out with. ... But then...if they COULD...would she REALLY be the first person I would have them make me...? ;-)


The End.

PS I also totally love Lauren Graham as Sarah Braverman on Parenthood. Which is a totally amazing show that everyone should watch. I've seen like 10 or so episodes and EVERY SINGLE one has at least made me tear up, if not cry. So good!!!

Iron Man & Handsome Men

Sunday night I watched the Oscars (I'm actually glad Bullock won and that new girl will have plenty more chances, so I don't think she was "robbed"), the best part being the AWESOME John Hughes tribute that brought a tear to my eye.

But AFTER the Oscars, I stayed up late, even though I was exhausted from the weekend, sat through the news and then Jimmy Kimmel: Live After the Oscars so that I could see the KICK-ASS NEW IRON MAN TRAILER! Go watch it if you haven't. I can't WAIT for this movie!!! (Which I just realised comes out the day I go on a mini-holiday with my mom, so hopefully — likely — the Marvel screening will be a day or two before then...)

Now, as I said, I had to sit through Jimmy Kimmel. I never liked The Man Show and I usually don't attach "funny" to this guy in my head, but I do admit I loved his response to "I'm Fucking Matt Damon" that his (now ex-)girlfriend Sarah Silverman made: "I'm Fucking Ben Affleck." Anyway, I didn't think I would like this show, and while I DID turn it off as soon as Robert Downey Jr. and his Iron Man 2 trailer were done (sooooo tiiiiiired), I enjoyed it up until that point. And here is the main reason why: The Handsome Men's Club. Frakkin' awesome. See for yourself:



I just absolutely LOVE "show of handsome"!! haha And Jim from The Office is fantastic in this! hehe Love this skit.


The End.

PS IRON MAN 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I'm very excited!)

Cash Cab

So not too long ago I found out that Cash Cab doesn't just randomly pick people off the street for it's "surprise" cab trivia game. A co-worker and some friends regularly go to trivia nights at different places around the city and one night they were approached by some people that asked them a bunch of questions and asked them if they wanted to be on a show. They said to meet them at something like 11AM on a particular block. Most of the crew couldn't make it as they had day jobs. One of 'em COULD make it and it turned out it was Cash Cab! Technically, it is sort of a surprise, but still not like they would have us believe.

Basically, what I'm saying is, don't go taking a bunch of cabs in hopes you'll get Cash Cab. ;-)

I LOVE Cash Cab though. Last winter while on a trip to Buffalo with some friends, we were exhausted after the 8-hour drive and while waiting to get dinner we watched like 4 episodes in a row. I swear there is NO GAME I like more than trivia-related games! I LOVE answering questions, even if I don't know the answers! :-P Which is probably why I used to answer all those ridiculous surveys on myspace all the time which would annoy all my friends. hehehe

Anyway, this all came up because I came across this today. INCREDIBLY frustrating! WHO DOESN'T KNOW THIS!?!?! And when do I get picked for Cash Cab?!? ::sigh::

ARRRRGH! ::sigh again::

The End.

I Know Nothing of His Music...

But I LOVE Michael Bublé!!!!!!

Another home run, SNL. Thanks you. ;-)


The End.

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!! I hope you all have a fantastic holiday! I love Christmas, I love my family & I love my friends and it's nice to have a time once a year where everyone is getting/giving gifts, making cookies (and other goodies) and listening to fun songs that remind us of our youth. I will always love Christmastime above all other times. Right now I'm listening to Dominic the Donkey (for the 100th time) finishing up baking for the family, about to make some string beans for the dinner, then off for the likely traffic-filled drive to my aunt's house.

Anyway, here's a few things for you for Christmas:

My FAVOURITE Christmas elf...



The wonderful Marvel Christmas e-card (that's a picture of what was hanging in the office, click it for the card!):



And lastly, I leave you with this new addition to Mark Walhberg talks to animals. He slips up right off the bat, but I still really like it. :-) Andy Samberg is great. <3

Happy New Year too! Thanks for reading my nonsense all year!


The End.

SNL Still Kicking Ass!

So I watched last week's SNL last night (aaah, love that DVR). It was just another example of how good this show has been in the last few years. Now I know not every sketch is great and some episodes are weaker than others (I was disappointed, for example, that Seth Rogen's episode a while back was kinda crap).


I didn't expect much from this one as I couldn't care less about the host, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but it turned out to be really great. I even enjoyed the opening political bit which I haven't been lately. It was upsetting because I have faith in Obama and it totally made fun of him, but they were spot on and it was amusing. Gordon-Levitt was a bit strange, I must say. He strikes me as being slightly crazy...I can't quite explain it. His opening dance number (yep, a dance number) was pretty impressive all things considered, but was also a bit weird. (His good-bye also freaked me out a bit for some reason... :-P)

Anyway, the fake commercial they typically do after the monologue was PHENOMENAL for this episode. Granted, I'll eat up anything that makes fun of Sarah Palin, but this was superb. They re-cut the trailer for 2012 (in itself a ridiculous thing)...it's too great to explain, watch it here. It's not available for embedding, I'm assuming the linked website got some special permissions. Too fantastic. WATCH IT!

Also awesome throughout the episode was Al Gore's appearances. I don't know why, but I love this guy. His appearance on 30 Rock for Green Week was also great. And he DOES make fun of the fact that NBC calls him up every time there's a Green Week. He even sat through that insane"What Up With That?" sketch. haha Those are ridiculous!

I WAS able to get the Mellow Show clip from Hulu to embed. This was great. Dave Matthews, who was the musical guest, does a pretty great impression of Ozzy. I'm so curious how they came up with that. Like, did they ask him first who he though he could impersonate, or did they just take their chances with Ozzy and he nailed it? If I ever run into Bill Hader (who actually plays Dave Matthews in this same sketch!) again, I'm going to ask him. (Not that unlikely as he's written a comic for us with Seth Meyers. It's collected in Spider-Man: The Short Halloween Premiere Hardcover! Check it out! ;-P)



Last but not least, Andy Samberg didn't disappoint with his digital short. It's absolutely ridiculous, but I love it. Not as great as Dick in a Box or Mother Lover, but it's still pretty entertaining. Enjoy!



You can watch the full episode on Hulu if you feel so inclined. I recommend it!


The End.


PS Spoiler if you didn't watch that Palin video yet... but this was the scariest part in my opinion!! haha

In Honour of New Moon

I'm actually looking forward to New Moon despite the fact that the FIRST Twilight movie was a pile of poo. Mostly this is because of Jacob. As I've mentioned before I am in love with Jacob. Not so much the actor (though he's gotten pretty cute), as the character, but either way, they're both in the new movie. I'm also pretty excited for Dakota Fanning being in it. I love that girl. I'm hoping the fact that the first movie (miraculously) made a bunch of money, they'll spend a little more on this one. THe "glitter in the sun" effect in the first one just made Edward look sweaty. Ew.

ANYWAY. So I was watching Saturday Night Live from a few weeks ago, with special guest Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift, as some of you may know, is DATING the actor who plays Jacob. You might also know that HIS name is ALSO Taylor. This I find to be ridiculous. It is probably the reason that the Digital Short for the episode was made, though. And THAT was fantastic. I present it here for you. Enjoy!



Ha! Love it! And Taylor does a great job impersonating the ridiculously over-acted Bella. ;-)


The End.

AAAAAAH!!!! INFURIATING!!!

Found on The New Atheist:



This makes me so frakkin' angry!!!! Firstly, the kids' songs are harmless. It's not like they're droning on about the light that shines from Obama's face or anything. One of 'em just says "Hooray" for his accomplishments or something and talks about how all "colors" of people are equal. OK, so that guy shouting about Obama saving the world is a bit much... But really?? We're the best country because we respect "God's authority"?! NO other country does this?! What about Israel? I can't imagine a country that prays more to god and follows religious rules, etc. Their country is torn to shit. And anyway, I don't really think we're the best anymore. (Not sure if I ever did, I don't know everything there is to know about all other countries to be able to make that call.) But certainly we're not the greatest place to live right now. And it started BEFORE Obama. (Cuz I'm sure that's what this asshole would say to that.)

Man, I've only seen snippets of the shit that spews from this guy's mouth, mostly just repeated clips of him calling Obama a racist. Yeah. Genius. I think this is the longest I've watched him and I think about the limit of what I can take.

Just frakkin' horrendous.

A VOID! We have a VOID to fill because we don't believe in god!! AAAHHH!! This shit drives me CRAZY! How the hell can someone assume that shit about other people! And the stuff he says we fill it with? Are you says people who believe in god don't want or say those things? Arrrggh!!!

I have to stop now. Blech!


The End.

Neglect

I've been neglecting you, blog. First it was to watch Veronica Mars. I stopped doing that b/c I'm afraid of the ending. I fell in love with this fella:

His name is Logan Echolls. I am nervous as to how the show will end (was cancelled near the end of Season 3), so I have been putting off watching the last 8 or so episodes.

THEN I got into this Twilight nonsense! They're ridiculously girlie, young adult, romance novels, involving vampires that glitter in the sun and werewolves that change whenever they want to and protect people. As if you didn't already know. I've read the first two (each only took two days) and I'm on the third. I'll have read the forth by middle next week, I'm sure. I love them. And now I love THIS fella:

Though I don't actually like this actor or anything (I mean, he's OK...certainly better looking than the creepy-looking kid who play the vampire lead), but he's the physical representation of the character in the book that I've fallen for, Jacob Black. ::sigh::

So these things have kept me occupied. It's getting a bit ridiculous. I expect soon to be living completely in a fantasy world made up of all my favourite books, movies & TV shows. It's sad. Pity me.

Meanwhile I have dreams where Hurly from Lost is a classmate of mine and in some weird gathering to talk about a reunion, he freaks out like in a vampire-esque rage, I'm told he as an iron deficiency in his blood, he tries to attack us, I stab him in the back with this giant steak knife and run, he chases after me (pretty fast, all things considered) until he catches up with me talking to an older woman walking her dog who offers him a poundcake. About then I wake up. Ridiculous.

The End.

PS As I mentioned I haven't finished either Veronica or Twilight...PLEASE...NO SPOILERS!

EDIT: OK, after watching the New Moon trailer, I find the Jacob Black actor much hotter...though, he's only 17 and that makes me uncomfortable! haha

Uuhhhh...so...yeah...

Holy Shit, I LOVE this!!!

OK, I'll admit I stole this from my pal C.B.'s blog, but I just HAD to share it!!! AWESOME!!!!!!




The End.

I Love Amy Poehler!!!

Watched the Best of Amy Poehler SNL show from the other night. She's frakkin' awesome.




The End.