Don't you just love tv?

Ever since I found out that The Avett Brothers are performing at The Grammys Sunday night, I've been joking with my brother Ben that the only thing that could make the experience more perfect would be if Tim Riggins sat next to me at the show.

So, speaking of TAB and FNL, one of the episodes from season two that I watched last week ended with If It's The Beaches playing while Tyra and Landry kiss. Awww. Two worlds collide, in the best way.

Now, more of things tying together, I think Jasmine and Crosby's pastor/pre-marriage counselor guy from this week's Parenthood episode was Coach Deeks from Whitmore University from FNL. Plus it looks like Crosby and Lyla hook up next week! I'm glad Haddie got the parental ok to date Vince.

Also, I just noticed while watching Coach Taylor get the new Lions up and running -- the Under Armour rep from an early episode in season three of FNL is the guy who is the stay-at-home dad carpenter guy married to the Traffic girl on Parenthood.

OK, this is the last one, and it's kind of lame and I'm probably the only one who noticed, but in the Christmas episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, there was a scene in a mall, and Mac and Charlie walked right by who I'm positive was Chris Raab (Raab Himself) from CKY.



p.s. I'm flying to LA tomorrow morning for my fun-filled, star-studded Grammy weekend! See you next week!

Always champions in my book

I've been knee deep in Friday Night Lights seasons one through three this past week, and when I got to the second to last (that's 'penultimate' if you're fancy/douchey) episode of season three, I had completely forgotten that the Panthers do NOT win State in 2008. I fully expected them to win, and started sobbing uncontrollably when they lost.

You know who took the loss like a true champ though? Tim Riggins. He leaves his cleats on the field in a quiet private moment, and it's beautiful. God bless that guy. I've said it before but I'll say it again -- that show makes me want to be a better person.

Season three has plenty of beautiful Riggins moments. Like when Jason Street and Tim go to New York (episode title: New York, New York) and Tim, realizing he might be losing Jason forever to Erin and Noah, says "Hey J6. I hope you get everything… I hope you get everything you want. But no matter what happens in there, you’re always gonna be my best friend, and you deserve to be happy."
That guy's got a heart of gold, he really does.


I'll always be a 2006 Dillon Panthers State Champs kind of gal, but a testament to how good this show is, is that I love and get wrapped up in the storylines of every character that gets introduced after that point. Looking forward to barreling through season four this next week, and painfully and wistfully looking forward to the fifth and final season when it premieres on NBC later this year. Directvers, keep your mouths shut. I don't want any spoilers.


In closing, Texas Forever! And you know what else? Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose!

Happy Birthday Rich!

Today is my brother Rich's birthday.

Here's a story about Rich - he used to dress pretty square, but the older he's gotten, the cooler his clothes have gotten. In this picture, he's wearing a braided leather belt. Remember those? He wore it forever, and when it finally broke he was kind of heartbroken. I've had this picture on my fridge for years, and whenever he's in my kitchen he tenderly touches the image of his dear departed belt and bemoans the loss.

Happy Birthday Rich! See you in a week!

Speaking of this picture, I was supposed to go over to my mom and dad's house today to scan in a bunch of old family photos, so the picture for this post was supposed to be of Rich and me as kids, but no, it had to snow AGAIN. I tried three different ways but couldn't ever get out of the neighborhood because I kept getting stuck. Guess I'll just have to sit around here all day and watch more Friday Night Lights episodes. To paraphrase Coach Taylor, that is not my burden, that is my gift.

All good things must come to an end / When one door closes another one opens

We've enjoyed free cable since we moved into this house two and a half years ago, but all the ice and snow from the last few days snapped the outside cable so those days are over.

The last couple days we've been snowed in and due to the no cable situation unfortunately couldn't watch local news to see what was going on with the roads and the weather, but fortunately we could spend hours and hours (and hours and hours) watching Friday Night Lights episodes!

Tomorrow I have to go back to real life, which means I have to spend the next couple days at the courthouse for jury duty. Yuck. It's the most tedious mind-numbingly boring thing I've ever experienced. I'll comfort myself with the thought that I can return home at the end of the day to Tim Riggins.

Timmy Riggs!! #33!! You just don't know how much I love that character and that show.

thirtysomething

Since we're talking about tv, remember the show thirtysomething? There is no reason I should have watched it or felt any connection with any of the characters considering I was in high school when it was on, but I watched it and I liked it. For some reason it always bugged me that Ken Olin was married in real life to Patricia Wettig, because his tv wife, played by Mel Harris, was such a better match for him. Like they seemed to go better/look better together.

real life couple

tv couple

When I worked at Barnes & Noble in Santa Monica, I checked out Mel Harris one time. She is still very pretty, and she was very nice. I don't know why she told me this, but I happen to know that she was dropping in to pick up some books for herself after buying some underwear for her daughter down the street at Victoria's Secret.

I saw a gray-bearded Ken Olin on something on tv recently, and he's still a hottie.

swoon!

Suzanne Pleshette

Speaking of The Bob Newhart Show, how stunning was Suzanne Pleshette? What a looker!

She was outstanding as Bob's wife Emily, as the schoolteacher (and ex-girlfriend of Mitch) Annie in The Birds, and as the little dog lover/big dog hater Fran in The Ugly Dachshund, one of my favorite old Disney movies.

Hi Bob!

I've been re-watching an old favorite, The Bob Newhart Show, for the past week or so. Sometime in the 1990's Nick at Nick played a lot of that show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Rhoda, and I fell in love with all of them. The characters, the stories, the humor, THE SETS! Oh my gosh, the sets.

Right now I'm wishing I lived in Bob and Emily's Chicago apartment. Normally the 1970's is kind of bashed on for the ugliness of its fashion, color schemes and decorations, but I'm totally drawn towards the décor in the sets of these shows.

Particular favorites from The Bob Newhart Show are the wall of art in Bob and Emily's apartment, especially the yellow and white painting, the shelving units in Bob's office and in the apartment, and a pretty red/rusty/orangey painting in Bob's office. The two hobo clown paintings in Jerry the Dentist's office creep me out. I am not drawn towards clown art of any kind.

Bob's office

Orangey goodness!

a to z bookends!

Here's that wall of art in Bob and Emily's apt. The yellow & white painting is my favorite.

Isn't this cool? - it's a painting of Bob and Emily's living room, by Steven Volpe. You can see a bunch of his amazing paintings on his website: http://www.stevenvolpe.ca/index.html

Mac & Cheese / Hot Pants

Have you seen this commercial where the husband unexpectedly brings his client home for dinner (oh, no!) and his unprepared wife is able to come through in a pinch thanks to macaroni and cheese?

Literally, the only dish on the table is a large casserole of macaroni and cheese. No side dishes, no salad, just smiles all around.

Are we to believe that this by itself is a suitable dinner for adults? I don't buy it. If anything, it worked out ok because maybe the client will give this guy some business when he realizes that the poor guy can barely afford to feed his family.

It's just strange.

It kind of reminds me of the Mad Men episode where Don brought Roger home for dinner unexpectedly and the two of them ate steaks while Betty pretended to be happy with just salad, explaining that she's a vegetarian sometimes. Then later while Don was in the garage looking for more booze, Roger cornered Betty in the kitchen and said "You can't tell me I'm not giving you hot pants."

Hot pants, that's always makes me laugh.

Those Macaroni Rascals!

I'm not embarrassed to admit that I love watching Jersey Shore. I'm enjoying this season in a huge way. So there's that.

OK, you know how sometimes translations from an Asian language to English will result in unintentional comedy? See here for examples, and for some good laughs.

Imagine my joy when I read that the Japanese call the Jersey Shore crew "Macaroni Rascals."

Thanks Japan!

Yo Snickers!

A Twilight Revelation, aka Laura Doesn't Know Anything About Popular Culture‏

By now you've probably heard all about these Twilight books/movies the kids are so crazy for these days, right?

Well, did you know the story is set in present time? For some reason I thought it was set in like the 1800's or something until I saw a clip on tv last month with Peter Facinelli (Mr. Jennie Garth) dressed up like a doctor in a modern-day hospital setting.

Now I know, and knowing is half the battle.

Baby Fish Mouth

I know I should be watching Rudulph the Red Nosed Reindeer or How the Grinch Stole Christmas, both of which are on tv right now, but I can't stop myself from watching When Harry Met Sally yet again, on VHS no less. I've been going through something with that movie lately that I can't quite explain.

Anything that gets me out of doing these dishes is a welcome diversion.

No Nirvana, huh?

Genius has done it again! Look at this brilliant mix it made for me based on Nearly Lost You.
(Wouldn't it be awesome if I knew how to do stuff and you could listen to all these songs instead? That won't be happening any time soon because, unlike Rachel, I do not have excellent compuper skills)

Nearly Lost You - Screaming Trees
Seether - Veruca Salt
Miss World - Hole
Drown - Smashing Pumpkins
Pretend We're Dead - L7
Lump - Presidents of the United States
Santa Monica - Everclear
This Is a Call - Foo Fighters
Head On - Jesus and Mary Chain
She Don't Use Jelly - Flaming Lips
Live Forever - Oasis
Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now) - Cracker
Suck You Dry - Mudhoney
Monkey Gone to Heaven - Pixies
Dollar Bill - Screaming Trees
So Alive - Love & Rockets
The One Thing -INXS
I Got You - Split Enz
Outshined - Soundgarden
Rhinoceros - Smashing Pumpkins
Supernova - Liz Phair
Cannonball - Breeders
Big Me - Foo Fighters
Feel The Pain - Dinosaur Jr
Stop - Jane's Addiction

Don't knock yourself down

Last night on Parenthood Adam gave his niece Amber a perfect piece of advice after she admitted that she didn't want to go to a college interview because she was scared she would screw it up: "Life will knock you down more times than you can possibly imagine. Don't knock yourself down."

Well said, Adam, well said. I love his character more and more lately. He had a great speech a couple weeks ago explaining to his dad what lead him to punch a stranger who had called his son a name.

Jason Katims is a producer on Parenthood and on Friday Night Lights, and I don't know if he's the only connection or if those two shows share a casting agent or what, but Vince's druggie mom from FNL (Angela Rawna) showed up on Parenthood last night as Zeek and Camille's marriage counselor! Vince (Michael B. Jordan) is currently on the show, and Lyla (Minka Kelly) shows up periodically. I would love it if Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) showed up one of these episodes. I would love it if Tim Riggins showed up at my front door right now. We'll see.

In closing, "Life will knock you down more times than you can possibly imagine. Don't knock yourself down." Yep.

A story about Boardwalk Empire turns into a story about Joel Gion and a t-shirt‏

I've watched five full episodes of HBO's new show Boardwalk Empire and I'm still not sure if I like it/dislike it/have any real interest in it. It's pleasant to gaze at Michael Pitt (so dreamy), and I love that a Brian Jonestown Massacre plays during the opening credits, but other than that I could kind of take it or leave it.

Speaking of BJM, if you think it seems like I'm obsessed with the Avett Brothers at the moment, trust me when I say that when I first saw the movie Dig! my obsession with Anton Newcombe and Joel Gion waaaaaaaay surpassed whatever I'm going through right now. Which is not to belittle my current fixation, not in the least. Just so you know, when I find something new that I love I get excited about it, sometimes rather enthusiastically excited.

When I lived in LA I had the chance to go see Joel's band, The Dilettantes. When I first walked up to the venue (Silverlake Lounge?), Joel was outside by himself smoking a cigarette. I showed him the couple dollar bills and bunch of quarters in my hands and admitted that I was using my laundry money to see him! Twenty seconds later, the girl at the door refused to take the coins so I had to walk straight back outside and explain the situation to Joel who very kindly gave me dollars for all the quarters and told me that now he had laundry money! That was a strange moment, but he was super-nice about it, plus he complimented me on my t-shirt! That was already one of my favorite shirts, but ever since then it's been my lucky shirt too. That whole night was super-fun -- I talked to Joel and Dave Deresinski after the show and ended up hanging out with people I met that night till like six in the morning.

It might be time to retire this shirt. When I wore it earlier this year when BJM were in St. Louis I still got turned away from that super-sold out show. Maybe I've worn all the luck out of it.

Meatballs

Have you ever seen the movie Meatballs? It's hilarious. The synopsis on imdb is "Wacky hijinks of counselors and campers at a less-than-average summer camp." ("hijinks"!! Best word since shenanigans!) That explains the basic idea but you can't begin to comprehend the laughs without seeing it.

When I was a kid, this one St. Louis tv station used to play the same movie pretty much the entire weekend. One weekend the movie was Meatballs and my brothers and I watched it maybe 10 times in those two days. I've loved Bill Murray ever since that fateful weekend.

I distinctly remember my mom walking in on me and my two little brothers all laying on the floor of her bedroom watching it on the tiny tv from our van and asking incredulously "You're not watching that again, are you?!" Then she told us to go play outside, which we didn't. Then she came back in later and got mad because we were watching it yet again and none of us had moved an inch the entire time. That tiny tv made the rounds of rooms in our old house when it wasn't actually in the van, though I can't really explain why the floor of my parents' bedroom was ever a good spot for it. The screen was maybe 6 inches and the picture was always terrible, but when you love tv you make certain sacrifices.

Jonny just quoted "Don't you change" from Meatballs this weekend, and we both throw out "What, no mustard?" on a weekly basis. I can sing you the entire C.I.T. (Counselors In Training) song on request. Quotes from Caddyshack come up quite regularly as well. God bless Bill Murray! A while back I went on a couple dates with a guy who admitted that he didn't really remember lines from movies and I'm not kidding when I say that that was one of the reasons why we only went out a couple times.

I'm a huge movie re-watcher to this day, using the skills I learned as a child. The last Chicago apartment I lived in didn't have cable so I watched Bottle Rocket every day for six months in lieu of tv. I don't currently have a "go to" movie, but the last time I did it was The Darjeeling Limited. Thanks for all the good times, Wes Anderson!

Jonny watches Polar Express all the time, and he has this funny bit where if somebody walks in while he's watching it he pretends the remote control is broken as if that's a valid reason for watching a kid's movie for the 100th time. [Jonny wants me to point out that this bit originated when he used to watch Beauty and the Beast on VHS constantly and if somebody walked in he'd claim that the vcr was broken and he couldn't get the tape out.]

Speaking of remote controls, my family has always referred to ours as "the mote." I wonder if anybody else calls it that.

Tomorrowland, Mad Men Season 4 Episode 13

Joan's going to need the money that will eventually come with that Director of Agency Operations title when she has to raise her (and Roger's) kid by herself after her husband dies in Vietnam. I knew she didn't have that abortion! You can't fool me, Red!

Joyce's nickname for Peggy is Pumpernickel! How cute is that?!

Speaking of nicknames:
Sally: Who's Dick?
Don: Well, that's me. That's my nickname sometimes.

It was funny that Megan brought up her teeth because I had just then noticed how toothy that girl is. Toothy or not, I wanted her and Don to end up together, so I'm happy about their engagement. I'm not sure how I feel about Don proposing with Anna's engagement ring from Original Don. That part seemed kind of impulsive considering he had only had the ring in his possession for a couple days, but really, the whole proposal was impulsive. Just like when Don cannonballed into the pool! What a funster!

I loved the scene where we realized that Don doesn't care about spilled milk(shakes), it was high-strung Betty who got all bent out of shape about stuff like that. The new and improved Draper household will be relaxed rather than rigid, calm rather than tense. I had to smile when Megan told Don "I know who you are now." Well, no, no you don't, but it's sweet that you think that.

I was never that big of a fan of Dr. Faye, but I did like what she said to Don when he broke the news of his engagement, "I hope she knows you only like the beginning of things." I think that statement is part right on and part sour grapes. Let's face it, most of us only like the beginning of things.

Oh my gosh, Pete "Emily Post" Campbell just had to correct Ken and explain that when congratulating a newly-engaged couple, one says "Congratulations" to the man and "Best Wishes" to the woman. What a smary square he is! He makes me sick. Betty makes me sick too. I can't believe she fired Carla. What a thing to do! She'd be better off relinquishing parental rights to her, not firing her. Is she scared someone is going to find out about the time she let Glen have a little lock of her hair? We all know you're imperfect Betty, giving that kid your hair is the least of your offenses.

Terrific finale of an outstanding season of a fantastic show.

Three Things That Make Me Sad

This sad squandered Lion's Choice ice.

This sad dilapidated blue house.


And the fact that tonight's Mad Men is the last episode of this season.

Friday Favorite

One of my all-time tried-and-true favorite songs is So Lonely by The Police.

As I've mentioned previously, I didn't really get into music until my college boyfriend took my musical education into his own hands. We listened to music all the time, we went to see every good band that played the Blue Note in Columbia (and EVERYBODY seemed to play there in the early-mid nineties), plus he made me these amazing mixtapes filled with songs that made me fall in love with him and with music. So Lonely was on one of those mixtapes so listening to it always takes me back to that specific time in my very early twenties that I remember quite fondly.

Years later, when I lived in LA, I came across So Lonely again. Danny Masterson (Hyde from That '70's Show) had a great radio show, Feel My Heat, on Monday nights and he played awesome songs for a couple/few hours then always, always closed with So Lonely. I remember the time I spent living in LA rather fondly too. It was a time in my life when I clung to music in a big way.

I will always love hearing So Lonely no matter where I am in life or in the world.

A roundabout story involving Martha Plimpton

Have you ever seen the movie Pecker? The movie is just ok, but the soundtrack is a smile-inducing funfest! I was so charmed by the songs that I ran out and bought the soundtrack the very next morning after I saw the movie.

Martha Plimpton was in Pecker, she's currently on the tv show Raising Hope, and of course she will live in the collective hearts and minds of 80's kids forever as Stef in The Goonies.

This week on Raising Hope I heard a funny song with funny nonsense lyrics, Do-Wacka-Do by Roger Miller, that sounded like it would fit right in on the Pecker soundtrack. It made me smile.

Martha Plimpton looks great and I'm glad to see her on tv.

Blowing Smoke, Mad Men Season 4 Episode 12

The Return of Midge!! I was watching this episode with my little brother Jonny, and almost as soon as Don walked into Midge and her "just for the bread" husband's apartment, he said "This is some kind of set-up." Correctamundo! I didn't see it coming, but Jonny did and Don quickly figured it out too, thanks to clues from the Heroin Husband. Heroin!! Wow.

For a minute I thought we had seen the last of Pete's blue suits. He wore a black suit last week for a funeral, and in one of the first scenes of this episode, he and Don were sitting next to each other both wearing grey suits. Samesies!! Sadly, he was back to a blue suit the next time we saw him. Rats.

My favorite lines from this episode came from Sally Draper and Bert Cooper.

Sally: "She doesn't care what the truth is as long as I do what she says." Therapy with Dr. Edna has really helped Sally, and I'm happy that she's figuring out how to get along in this world. Too bad her mother, a grown woman, still hasn't figured that out.

I so wish Betty hadn't caught Glen and Sally in their secret but completely innocent meeting place. Sally truly was being a good girl and nothing bad was going on, but there's no doubt Betty will twist the situation around to turn something innocuous into something dirty. Just as Dr. Edna is able to talk Sally through what could have been a lifelong neurosis, Betty has to come along and heap another complex onto Sally's poor little mind.

Bert: "You there! Get my shoes!" This was just comical. I giggled for minutes in a row.

The most perplexing line of this episode was supplied by old #92, Glen Bishop. Reaching the end of his Coke, he asked Sally "Do you want the backwash?" Really? Who wants the backwash, especially when you don't even try to disguise it as something else?