Psych Season Finale

I do not even know what to do with myself with that ending. What?

Also, the Lassiter Psych-Outs are always so funny I nearly wet myself.

And finally, I do not like the serious Psych episodes so much.

In Which I Condone the Objectification of Men...or at least one man...

Jamie Bamber is yummy.

China Beach

I can never get enough of pop culture countdowns, but this one was pretty mundane: best tv shows of the '90s, Seinfeld, Friends, yada yada yada. Then, it surprised me by including China Beach, a show I thought nobody but me even remembered! I loved that show and am really looking forward to the day it comes out on DVD.

Scrubs is funny again! and other TV musings

I'd been kind of unsure about Scrubs since it's premiere on ABC a few weeks ago, but with this week's episodes, I think I can safely say, "it's back!" I actually lol'd twice, both thanks to Kelso. I'm so glad they've kept him on the show even though he retired from the hospital. Scrubs has also earned points with me by reuniting JD and Elliot and by paying homage to Boston Legal the other night with a scene between Perry and Bob. Now, I stopped watching Boston Legal a long time ago, but even after I stopped enjoying the rest of the show I still enjoyed the relationship between Spader and Shatner. That's so much scenery-chewing in one place you'd think only bad things could come from it. Instead, Brilliant! (Imagine the Guinness mascots saying that, folks.) They've also been using Jordan and they gave Ted a cute storyline in which he got to sing a capella (love it) and get it on with a ukulele player. Thank you, Scrubs. I was nervous for a while there.

I'm making my way through the first season of Buffy. I don't have much to say about it analytically, yet (don't worry, if you're just dying to see me wax philosophical about tv, I'm about to write about the third season of BSG), but I am really enjoying it. I knew I would like this show if I could just get over the mental block that "I'm not really into vampire, monster, demon-y stuff." It didn't help that everyone kept telling me the first season wasn't that great! Having the ladies over to watch a few introductory episodes from other seasons was definitely the way to go. I'm enjoying the first season, but I do agree that it's not as good as the episodes I've seen from later seasons. I have to say, even the episode named for him didn't bring me over to the Angel side. I'm also sticking to my guns about the attractiveness of Giles. And seriously, how much do I love Alyson Hannigan? I'm looking forward to watching the show, the characters, the relationships, and the mythology evolve. Thinking about Buffy and thinking ahead to how I want to blog about BSG has me thinking about Joss and Helo and holy cow I can't wait for Dollhouse this weekend. Although, I am no-longer-secretly-as-of-this-moment a little worried I'll be disappointed. I always worry when there's a lot of build-up, y'know?

Whoa, we interrupt this regularly scheduled blog post to discuss the recently-announced cast of Dancing with the Stars. They've only announced 2/3 of the cast so far, but so far L'il Kim, Steve-O, and Denise Richards are all in the lineup. Is it even safe to have that much crazy in one place? And, on the subject of Denise Richards, I have to point out how creative the producers are in declaring each star's claim to fame when what they are really famous for can't be said in the intros. For example, Heather Mills was announced as a philanthropist and formal model...um, right, she's famous for being married to a Beatle, people. And Denise Richards? Former Bond Girl. Oo-Kay.

I guess more on BSG later; it's getting time for me to get to bed!

BSG Season 2 Finale

Another day, another bulleted Battlestar Galactica list. Spoilers for the season 2 finale ahead!

• I'll just get this one out of the way now: Anders is my boyfriend.
• Al!
• Al is a cylon?! No, say it ain't so!
• Wait, so how many cylons do we know so far? Six, Sharon, Short Guy, Vest Guy, Dr-from-the-Farm Guy, Xena, Al...I think that's it? 5 to go!
  
• I hate Sharon 2.
• I actually got a little choked up when Raptor 612 jumped into the mountain.
  
• I also got choked up when Cally forgave Tyrol, although I didn't love his storyline overall. It was clearly just meant to open the door for the Al-as-cylon reveal.
  
• Sorry, Roslin, but in the case of democracy, the end does not justify the means for me.
• Oh wow, POW Six knew what she was doing when she set off that nuke. I just thought she was suicidal...
  
• After I just expressed so much sympathy for Sharon 1, she appears to have gone completely bad. Of course, things are not always what they seem, but a cylon-occupied New Caprica certainly seems bad.
• Does anyone else watch Eureka? Jo as Maya is just a little weird for me (not distractingly weird as in the case of Xander "Could I be any more Chandler Bing?" Harris); Jo's not exactly the maternal teacher-y type.
  

Overall, I loved it, of course, but I'm still undecided as to how I feel about the time warp (oh, man, yesterday "motley crew," today "time warp;" I honestly cannot help the cheese). On the one hand, it was a great plot advancement. The "I told you so" of how hard the living is on New Caprica, of Gaius' seemingly hedonistic lifestyle (seemingly, because one assumes he isn't actually feeling that much pleasure having lost POW Six, sentenced them all to life on this horrid planet, and basically just sucking at leading the people), of the return of the cylons, was really poignant. But, it was difficult to adjust to other things, the relationships in particular: Cally is pregnant? Starbuck and Anders are married (sweet! But, I wish I knew more!)? Lee and Dee appear to be married (she was playing with a wedding band, he wasn't wearing one)? Lee and Starbuck aren't speaking? Haven't spoken in a year? Tell me more!

Ooh, I'm excited for season 3!

OMG, Downloaded

Spoilers for BSG Season 2 ahead!

We watched a few more episodes of season 2 Friday night (just two more to go, then on to season 3! I wish I'd caught on to this show earlier so that I'd be caught up to the episodes that are currently airing. I'd probably go a little crazy waiting a week between episodes, but at least I wouldn't have to be so diligent in avoiding any news about BSG. But, clearly, I digress.).

Anyway, the show had been kinda lackluster for me since Black Market, which was horrible. I actually like that BSG addresses the fact that the fact there are only 50,000 humans left doesn't mean that suddenly we can all just get along. When faced with sudden, unexpected genocide, you don't get to hand-pick 50,000 saints to bring with you on a mission for the survival of the species. I just thought this episode addressed the issue in a heavy-handed, awkward way that didn't fit with the flow of the show at all. It was a totally stand-alone episode that did nothing to advance the overall story arcs and mythology of the show. Unless you count the fact that suddenly Lee has a troubled past and a relationship with a prostitute. Because the end of the human race, a dead brother, feelings for the dead brother's fiancée, a difficult relationship with his father, and being used as the rope in tug o' war between the Admiral and the President isn't angsty enough.

The episodes between Black Market and Downloaded were certainly up to par with BSG's usual writing and acting standards, but I just didn't love where the plot was going. Scar was a good episode, but I hate Kat; I hate Lee and Dee (the fact that their names rhyme makes me hate them more!); and I hate that they killed Billy. Mind you, I don't hate Lee and Dee because I loved Dee and Billy (and definitely not because I want Starbuck and Lee to get together, more on that later). I just think that a) it totally came out of nowhere and b) they have no chemistry.

But, with Downloaded, they reeled me back in, hook, line, and sinker. This episode was made of awesomeness. Here are the highlights:

• The return of The Hotness. Uh, I mean Anders. The return of Anders. While I must admit that after the one episode (or was it two?) they had together, I had a hard time buying the mind-frakking lurve Starbuck has for Anders, there is no denying that they do have boatloads of chemistry. Yum! I'm looking forward to their reunion and I'm guessing that eventually I will buy into the deeper layers of their relationship. (So you see I am not a Lee/Starbuck shipper. In fact, I think a Lee/Starbuck pairing is icky. She was engaged to his brother and his dad clearly thinks of her as a daughter. Furthermore, I like the depiction of their friendship and I appreciate when men and women have non-sexual relationships on television. Because in real life we actually are capable of that, folks.)
  
  
• The return of Caprica as a setting. The return of Anders also means a return to some of the storylines I found most fascinating in the first season regarding life on Caprica after the attacks. I think the human resistance and the Cylon colonization are great stories to tell and add more dimensions to the "Colonial Fleet versus the Cylons" narrative.
  
  
• The revelation that, just as the "good guys" aren't all good, the "bad guys" aren't all bad.
  
  
• The return of Sharon 1. I find Sharon 1 to be a really sympathetic character. Imagine living your whole life as one of the good guys only to find out you don't really have "a whole life" (most of your memories are fake) and you are one of the bad guys. One of the bad guys you actually hate. Talk about inner conflict and self-loathing. I had wondered what happened to her after she got shot, whether she was close enough to download and if the process of downloading triggered a part of her programming that made her go, "sweet, I'm a cylon and I totally shot Adama" or if she woke up like "frak, I'm surrounded by cylons. I frakking hate cylons! Dammit, I am a cylon. This sucks." Thank you BSG showrunners for addressing my concerns!
  
  
• The demonstration that Tricia Helfer can act. Head Six just totally sucks.
  
  
• Head Gaius!!
  

Bulleted List

Quick recap of a good week:

• Received many wonderful things in the mail (and one textbook, not wonderful): necklace for wedding, rehearsal dinner shoes, GAP cardigan (in wild rose), beautiful birthday gift from Pat's mom, and an invitation to Michelle and Ian's wedding!
• Conducted official Sesame Street business, which made me feel really important.
• Got exciting loot at Half-Price Books, both in really good condition: a hardcover edition of Avalon High by Meg Cabot, so now I'm ready to stalk her at TLA, and the second book in Van Reid's Moosepath League series. The Van Reid books are hard to track down, so that was especially exciting.
• Had many good phone conversations with friends.
• Got lots of wedding stuff done.
• Had a successful program at work (A New Year, A New You: Get Organized, 16 attendees).
  
• Actually made plans for next week's trip to Boston and those plans include seeing a BU/BC hockey game!
• And best of all, spent lots of QT with friends: Fiesta Bowl victory and frozen custard with Al and O on Monday; Labyrinth and pizza with blue cheese on it that I actually ate at the Mitschkes' on Tuesday; spicy peanut noodles and lots of conversation with Kate on Friday; and then today a very lucrative trip to San Antonio with Al and O (who were exceptionally gracious about me being the third wheel multiple times this week) followed by veggie chili and three episodes of Buffy with the ladies. I'm pleased to announced that I did enjoy Buffy and am now going to try to make it through the series. After I get caught up on BSG, that is.
  

Psych returns!

And to celebrate, EW lists their ten favorite things about Psych. I'd switch out The Adventures of Little Gus & Shawn for the tender, loving bromance between Gus and Shawn. The cartoon just isn't that funny. The bromance is.

And so it begins...

It's AI and DWTS time again! They just announced the celebrity dancers yesterday and I'm already pulling for Marlee Matlin. I lurve her. I'm pretty excited to see Kristi Yamaguchi, too.

As for last night's AI, I have only three observations:

1) Did they deliberately pick the 12 most awkward dudes in America?
2) 60's night = so unkind. To everyone.
3) Luke Menard, hell-o.

Just for the heck of it...

I figured I'd go ahead and post since it's been two months since the last time. Despite the fact that I haven't been posting, I have been partaking in the pop culture. I've seen some movies (Lions for Lambs was horrendous, as was I am Legend; National Treasure 2 was surprisingly enjoyable), read *lots* of books, and have pretty much given up on TV (due to a combo of a lack of time, the strike, and Heroes sucking this year). I tried American Gladiators, but the nostalgia factor was just not enough to overpower the cheese factor. At least Psych starts again tonight. Gus and Shawn are my favorite relationship on TV, followed by Ned and Chuck, JD and Turk, and Len and Bruno. ;) Oh, and speaking of, I know I failed to do my weekly DWTS posts during the fall, but I'm glad Marie Osmond didn't win. I thought Mel B. was the best dancer, but Maks' choreography for the finale was awful. That's my $.02 on that.

Most of what I've been reading I won't bother posting about (historical romances, I kid you not; I'm addicted to them.), but I did read a cool collection of short fiction that I got at the Texas Book Festival called The First Line. All of the stories in it start with the same first line. There are four issues a year, check it out: www.thefirstline.com.

PS I've recently discovered Google Reader. An excellent way to stay on top of the million or so pop culture blogs I like. :)

One last thing: http://thesuperest.com/archives/2007/10/16/k01_unopposinator/
A couple of friends draw "superheroes," each one bested by the next. An excellent time-waster. (Thanks to Pop Candy for linking to it!)

Great news for Whedon (and Dushku) fans!

Fortunately for me, I'm both. :)

Welcome to the Dollhouse.

Sorry I've been so lax about this blog; Facebook and my "life in Texas" blog are taking up most of my internet time these days! This is one of the reasons I resisted Facebook all these years!

But, I have actually been doing some recreational reading, including a Romance novel I really liked and I'm not too proud to say it, Flowers from the Storm. I'm reading another one right now, too. Okay, I am a little embarrassed. I started The Golden Compass and gave up after page 67, making me the only person ever to not like this book, I think. I also read I Love You, Beth Cooper. It was a quick read and quite entertaining. It's the story of a high school nerd who confesses his love to the captain of the cheerleading squad in his valedictorian's speech and how he spends the rest of his graduation day. Hijinx ensue. The "soundtrack" and move quotes are a cool feature of the book, too. At one point, you could download the soundtrack from iTunes (or so I read on another blog), not sure if that's the case now.

I don't think I've seen any movies, but I have been trying to keep up with TV. I really liked the one episode of Samantha Who? I saw, but we didn't get the first one for some reason and the third was booted for Monday Night Football. Pushing Daisies is still my favorite thing on television; Sabrina and Mark (totaly cutie!) were robbed; and Heroes hasn't been as good this season. They need fewer characters and faster moving plots. This season doesn't have enough action for me (although, full disclosure: I haven't watched the last two episodes, yet, maybe it gets more exciting). Oh, and I can't wait to watch Scrubs! I haven't gotten to it, yet, but I am really hoping J.D. and Eliot did something they shouldn't have.

DWTS, Pushing Daisies, and more!

I can't post nearly as often as I'd like to on this (and, yet, I still joined Facebook, like I have time for that), but I just wanted to comment quickly on Dancing with the Stars and Pushing Daisies.

First of all, they keep saying this is the best season of DWTS yet and I can't really make that judgement since this is only the second season I've watched, but I do have to say the competition is pretty impressive. I was planning a post for later tonight in which I was going to say, "Floyd's going home this week. There was a lot of buzz about him pre-season, but he's actually pretty bad. After that, Jennie Garth. But, then it could be anyone." Well, that was before Jennie's paso doble tonight. Now, I'm eating my words. My only other thoughts: love the ongoing Superman thing with Cameron Mathis. And yes, Mark Cuban is still my binky.

Unlike Floyd, Pushing Daisies has totally lived up to its pre-season hype. When I first heard about this show, I thought "this idea is stupid. No way am I watching this show." But the hype kept building and building so I decided to just watch the first episode and figured I'd give it up after that. No. This show is my new obsession. If you haven't seen it, get on that.

It's actually the only new show that's made the cut with me (although I haven't watched Samantha Who? yet; it's on the DVR). I liked Reaper, but I don't have time for too many shows. Dirty Sexy Money was m'eh. So, this season's line-up is looking like:

Monday: DWTS, Heroes, How I Met Your Mother, and possibly Samantha Who?
Tuesday: DWTS
Wednesday: Pushing Daisies
Thursday: My Name is Earl, Scrubs

Speaking of My Name is Earl, if you saw last week's episode, you may have heard a bluegrass-y sounding cover of Gin & Juice by Snoop Dogg. That was The Gourds. When I first heard that song when Megan and I were living together I assumed it was by a bunch of young guys, whatever. Oh no. I actually saw The Gourds live on Saturday (at a great outdoor venue in Austin: Threadgill's) and it's a bunch of middle-aged men. They put on an absolutely excellent show, by the way. I highly recommend checking them out if they're in your area. Or, you could come to Austin. They're from around here so they play pretty often in the area.

Just a quick note on books while I'm posting anyway: I finished the Harry Potter series. Book 7 just might be my favorite, but I do also kind of feel like she cheated on the last few chapters. Like she suddenly realized there were a lot of loose ends and she needed to take care of them asap. There were some explanations that left me feeling dissatisfied. But, I also think I'm maybe being a bit picky and I think the rest of the book makes up for it. Right now I'm reading The Golden Compass and The Other Boleyn Girl. I'll keep you posted.

Sydney White, Monday TV, and Rustic Overtones

It's gonna be an eclectic post, friends.

Friday, I had a really terrible day. The worst since getting to Austin. There was a scene with the FedEx man. There were tears. It was bad. So, Friday night, I skipped out on kickball practice (more on kickball on my Boston to Austin blog once we've had some games) and Pat took me to see Sydney White. It's the Amanda Bynes teen comedy based on the Snow White fairy tale. It was Pat and I and a horde of teenage girls in the theater, which was super fun for him. Let me tell you, the movie really hit the spot. I just totally emptied my mind for a couple of hours and was absorbed in the total silliness of it. I laughed aloud several times and actually thought it was really cute. Pat thought it was possibly the cheesiest movie I've ever liked. He's probably not too far off, but I highly recommend it if you are in the mood for a little cheese. I'd say it's tied with Bring it On: All or Nothing for my favorite "mindless movie," but it could be that my opinion is colored by how emotional I was on Friday and how much better I felt leaving the theater.

Last week, I said I'd only watched DWTS and HIMYM, but I did watch last week's Heroes, too. I don't have much to say, yet. I'm going to watch a few more episodes and see how it goes. I'm wary of adding new characters (I'm looking at you, Grey's Anatomy), but I do like the Parkman/Mohinder/HRG partnership and I'm intrigued by what Peter's been up to for the last four months leaving him with amnesia. I'm also digging the storyline with Nathan and Peter's mother and Hiro's father. I'm much more interested in the storyline involving the older generation of heroes than I am in the boogey-man storyline. I hope they bring back Claude Raines.

I didn't get to watch much of DWTS last night because of the three-way time conflict of DWTS, Heroes, and Monday Night Football. I did see Mel B, my boy Mark Cuban, and Wayne Newton. Oh, Mark Cuban, how I love you so. Why are the judges such haters?? How was everyone else last night? The Cheetah girl?

Here's what's backed up on the DVR right now: two episodes of Reaper, one of Heroes, and one of My Name is Earl. This week I'm gonna check out Pushing Daisies, too. Unless it conflicts with the Sox game...

One last thing: the Rustic Overtones. Why do they spite me so? Seriously, if I had known the reunion was going to last more than the summer...And if I had known a little earlier...I may not have left the East Coast. They are playing shows left and right! And I'm missing them. But, the good news is that they are playing the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving. I've already got plans on Saturday, but I'll be seeing them Friday. I can't wait! I hear that they played for some record execs, too, so maybe they're going to become big rock stars (living in hilltop houses, driving fifteen cars). I hope so.

And so it begins...

So far, we've had How I Met Your Mother and Dancing with the Stars.

The HIMYM premier was freaking awesome. I don't even know what the funniest part was...either the ending (http://www.slapcountown.com/) or the "tramp stamp" (specifically Barney's reaction to it; who knew Doogie Howser would go on to be a great comedic actor? His timing is awesome.)

As for DWTS, I don't have much to say, yet, except that the star I was most looking forward to was Mark Cuban and he did not disappoint! He was awesome! I'm not sure who I'd send home from the guys, but I agree with the judges on the lady who should head home: Josie Maran. She just was...blah. The guys, though...they held their own tonight. A lot of people were surprisingly good for the first week. At this point, I'd say it's wide open. My favorite new professional dancer: whoever's dancing with the Cheetah Girl. Their dance was awesome and he seems to have a lot of personality. Maybe I should learn his name...

I apologize for the excessive use of the word "awesome" and for the brevity. DWTS is about to end, though, so I have to get back to work. Woo, marketing textbook, here I come!

Truth is Stranger than Fiction

"Dick in a Box" was nominated for an Emmy.

Sacrilege!

Is using the term sacrilege for anything that's not actually sacred, strictly speaking, sacrilegious in itself? Did that even make sense?

I digress.

I failed to mention that the closing number on the DWTS Tour was to Footloose (big yay!), but that helps me segue nicely into this bit of news that I find unnecessary:

Zac Efron Brings Home the Bacon in Footloose Remake

And how awful is that title? Oh, TV Guide...

Dancing with the Stars Tour

On Sunday night, Pat and I went to see the Dancing with the Stars tour at Mohegan Sun. Sadly, it was not one of the five shows on the tour that Apolo appeared in. As it turns out, I was pretty pleased with the star who was dancing with Julianne in his place: Joey McIntyre. I knew he was going to be on the tour and I wasn't overly excited because he was never my favorite New Kid and I didn't watch the season of DWTS that he was on. That changed pretty much the second he came on stage and I realized I was fulfilling my lifelong dream of seeing a New Kid live (okay, the dream is to see all of the New Kids, but that's clearly not gonna happen). It was all I could do to not scream like a teenage girl. I was pretty much a pile of mush. As it turns out, he's actually a pretty good dancer, too, so I really wasn't missing Apolo at all. And then...he sang. Twice!!

I couldn't get Pat to understand just how much it meant to me to see a New Kid. Jonathan Knight was my first celebrity boyfriend (although my second celebrity crush after Patrick Swayze) and the New Kids were my only true celebrity obsession ever. I had a sleeping bag, sheets, the buttons the size of my face...the list goes on and on. And, in fact, it was because of the New Kids that I first learned that the people we idolize aren't perfect (of course, on reflection, idolizing a boy band was probably not a great choice in the first place, but I was 6 when Hangin' Tough was released). I remember reading in the paper that Donnie Wahlberg had busted up a hotel room and did drugs. I was crushed. In my world, doing drugs was the worst possible offense.

But, back to the show...The highlight of the night: Forgot the dancing! Joey Mac, Joey Fatone (of N*Sync, my other favorite boy band), Joey Lawrence (whoa!), and Drew Lachey all sang a Rat Pack medley together. I told Pat it was the best thing that ever happened to me. On reflection, I may have been a little too caught up in the moment, but it was still pretty damn good. I think I was one of the few people in the audience that was just the right age to have been a fan of both New Kids on the Block and N*Sync. There were a lot of old ladies and teenage girls in the house.

Okay, I should probably talk about the dancing at least a little. They did some of my favorite numbers from the only season I watched, including Joey and Kim's jive and their freestyle, as well as Apolo (played by Joey Mac) and Julianne's dance to I Like to Move It. They also did Drew and Cheryl's freestyle (Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy) and their paso doble (Thriller). The group numbers were fantastic, as well. I especially enjoyed the one they did with Joey Lawrence and four of the female professionals and the group one to Luck be a Lady. Julianne and Louis did a pretty steamy...rumba, I think it was. I mix them up. But it was really amazing.

Another highlight: They had local ballroom dancers do a mini dance-off and had the audience vote on a favorite. When one of the dancers introduce himself, he mentioned he was single. Not surprisingly, he and his partner were the winning dancers.

I wish I could dance.

Rustic and Paradise Hotel

So, I'm now seeing Rustic Overtones four times in nine days. I'm considering making it five times in ten days because they are playing a free WCYY patio show on Friday, July 27. It's tempting because their first patio show was the first time I ever saw them live (11 years ago!) and because I want to see them as many times as possible before they break up again and go back to their current bands. They were in the WCYY studio on Friday so I got to hear two of their new songs on the radio. They also played a song from the patio show and I was a little verklempt. My first Rustic show! I was 14. Good memories.

Also, as fate would have it, not only is my favorite band of all time returning this summer, so is my favorite reality tv show (not that the two are even remotely in the same league, but watching Paradise Hotel again will be amusing): http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20007101_0_20042276,00.html (scroll to the bottom)

MTV Movie Awards

Just finished watching the MTV Movie Awards. I have only these few things to say:

1. Transformers looks so freaking awesome I can't stand it, but I also can't stand that this was essentially a two-hour preview for the movie.
2. Sarah Silverman sucked.
   
3. Johnny Depp accepted his award looking exactly like he did in 1990: plaid shirt tied around his waist, torn jeans, longish hair, and ridiculously gorgeous.
   

Dork. D-O-R-K. Dork.

There will be five hours of the national spelling bee on my DVR waiting for me when I get home tonight. :)