College, As Defined by Sheldon

In my quest to watch as much Big Bang Theory as possible, I've come across perhaps the best characterization of college parties I've ever seen on a television show. Sheldon and Leonard have it pretty down pat.

"Like Jane Goodall observing the apes, I initially saw their interactions as confusing and unstructured, but patterns emerged. They have their own...language, if you will."
"Go on."
"Well it seems that the newcomer approaches the existing group with the greeting 'How wasted am I?' which is met with an approving chorus of 'Dude.'"
" Then what happens?"
"That's as far as I've gotten.

"Don't Question It, Just Do It!"

This is probably the funniest TV Funhouse short ever called "Maraka." It's a Dora spoof, and when you get a minute, watch it. Seriously.

Hey, that's MTV Background Music!

Do you ever listen to your iTunes on shuffle and find songs that you've never really listened to?

Do you ever do this and hear a song that you've heard in the background of a television show and always wanted to know what it was?

I totally just did both with "Idioteque" from Radiohead's Kid A CD (which I've grown to love since Danielle gave me that and Hail to the Theif). Turns out that I've heard it a million times before and loved it, but never knew it was Radiohead.

It's been in the background of every other episode of True Life that MTV has made. You know, when MTV was still kind of respectable.

In Honor of Hump Day

Because nothing says "Hump Day" like Jorma Taccone humping a sax to the Fleet Foxes.

House Season 5 Finale. Let's Discuss

So if you haven't watched, fuck it, this is full of spoilers.

I'm a shameless fan of House getting together with Cuddy. If you're a troll in fan forums, it would be referred to as "Huddy." And last week, when the BoGirls and I were watching the episode, The two were up against the door getting hot and heavy. Which was hot.

To the point where we were almost breaking quiet hours yelling "HI-OH!" at the TV.

Turns out the whole thing was hallucinated. He didn't have her lipstick, he wasn't taking off her clothes, and he's not clean and sober. He was going nuts and still popping pills.

Now the whole dream ending has been done before (including House itself, season 2), but this I thought was surprisingly well done. Even though the sex was fake (I still have hope it'll happen at some point for real), it was a really good ending and satisfying to see him end up in the loony bin. Which, apparently, was really shot in Jersey, unlike the rest of the show. I agree with Kristyne, the Cameron/Chase wedding was a sweeps staple and kind of boring. And Kutner showing up was a bit much (even though I love me some Kal Penn), Amber was all that was needed. But the rest of it was great.

The downside of all this is, of course, that I have to wait until September to see what exactly happens to House.

My Favorite Things: Frontline

They're perhaps the best documentaries made these days, but Michael Moore isn't involved. They're not shown in movie theaters, but they make it to DVD. They're bold, they're engrossing, and they're made possible by PBS viewers like you. This is Frontline, and I'm pretty much in love.

I'll be honest, I've never really watched PBS (except for in my Sesame Street days, and the few times I've actually watched the BBC World News rather than reading it online). And even this, I don't really watch on PBS, I watch it online. But the fact that something I had to watch for class can hold my interest in my free procrastinating papers time is new to me, and I think the series deserves far more attention.

It's informative. I learned a ton from it, whether I was watching "Young and Restless in China" as I talked about in a previous post, or "News Wars," or "The Choice 2008." Even more, it's fascinating, and it's great investigative and documentary journalism, and I would pee myself if I ever got to work there. So my advice to you is to go check it out, because it's severely underrated and you might learn something.

Killing Russell Brand, Trent Lane Plays Miles, Hotel California, and 5 Reasons Why Chang Should Be On Lost

See, now this is what happens when I watch Lost with Kristyne, Allie, and KellyPaul (one word).

First off, there's a dead body on Lost. I don't know who it is, but it really looked like Russell Brand. Which I would be really upset if it was, because I love that crazy limey.

Logically, I knew it wasn't him. I mean, this isn't 30 Rock, there are no crazy celebrity cameos, no matter how much they're rumored.

Furthermore, young Miles was a BAMF. We all agreed that a few piercings on a guy were okay (maybe one in the ear; supposedly, an ear piercing on a guy means he'd be a good husband. He knows pain, and he's good at picking out jewelry), but all over your face? No thank you. He had them in his ears (all up in, up and down the ridge), in his nose, in his eyebrow, and three making an odd face on his chin.
So basically, he looked like Trent Lane from Daria. Not that this is a bad thing, I thought Trent was pretty hot for a cartoon character. And I sort of have a thing for Asian guys, so to me, Miles is pretty sexy (more without the piercings than with, I gotta say).

Somewhere after talking about the Miles/Trent resemblence, Kelly Paul mentioned that the people on the island "can check out any time you like/but you can never leave," which I never noticed before, but is totally legit. The island is totally Hotel California.

Funny, never thought an Eagles reference would make it onto this blog...

Moving on. We also decided as a group that beloved film professor/Korean chef Chang should totally make an appearance on Lost. Here are our (Letterman rip-off) Top 5 Reasons Why Chang Should Appear on Lost.

5) He would make way better Dharma Initiative videos than the crap-ass director they have employed now.
4) He would beat up the polar bears with his wooden stick.
3) Writers already established potential family members with Dr. Chang and Miles.
2) When everyone on the island gets sick of boar meat and fish, he could make kim-chi quesadillas.
1) In Kristyne's words, "It's Chang."

Technically, it's "The President's Office"

See, you never see Charter on TV. You can see Cab Calloway on Made, but not usually the good old CSDubs. One enterprising senior decided to change that with some frustration and some food.

On the plus side, this is the most wide vocabulary I've ever seen used on a reality show. Come on, have you ever seen the word "homogeneous" used on Rock of Love? I think not.
Once again. Charter is raising the bar.

Reason #928357 Why I Want To Be A Journalist

I must meet these two local anchors.

Big Ups to Delaware

In terms of television shout-outs, Delaware is a pretty lame place to live.

Usually, the towns the get mentioned are Los Angeles in shows like Alias and Entourage. There's usually a show in Miami, like CSI and Burn Notice. New York is constantly mentioned in shows like Dirty Sexy Money, Castle, Law & Order, The Real World, and a ton of others. New Jersey is used in dramas like The Sopranos and House. Every now and then, there's a San Francisco show like Eli Stone or Full House. But Delaware?

There are no shows there. Or movies. Usually, The Small Wonder is the butt of a joke. When it does get mentioned, it's for the military.

So I was watching The West Wing season 3 (you know, to catch up between seasons 2 and 4), and it turns out that in "The Black Vera Wang," Dover, Delaware is a target!

I know! No way! I mean, logically, it's targeted for Dover AFB, but still! It's important enough to get hit by people on TV, which means it's somewhat important!

Even more impressive? On the 30 Rock commentary in season 2, when Tina Fey and Jeff Richmond talk about how Alec Baldwin's character meets his girlfriend at an off-the-road OTB bar, it's in a town between DC and New York city called Hockessin (!!!!).

It's starting, everyone. Delaware is feeling the love.

Think Before You Abbreviate

Think before you post, E!Online. I know you what you were going for (Kanye West beating up a photographer). But you can't just abbreviate that stuff. Kanye's not an OB/GYN.
Celebrity news fail.

Because the Brits Have Good TV

There's been a ton of reports lately that the United States is going to start this series called "Who Do You Think You Are?" where celebrities and famous personalities go back and follow their family heritage. It's being headed up by Sarah Jessica Parker and Susan Sarandon, and NBC is developing it. I think it's really really interesting. However, for those who thought this was an entirely new concept—meaning, all the entertainment news channels—I just want to show this little tidbit.

It started in the UK, and they did a damn good job with it. So here's to hoping that this UK remake has the success of The Office rather than Coupling.

My Two Loves: Hugh Laurie & Compact Cars

Since I was editing this past Monday night, I unfortunately missed the first 15 minutes of House. Which usually wouldn't bother me much, because I don't really watch the show for the cases and the procedural. I watch it for the characters—primarily for House, Wilson, and Cuddy.

So I figured I would watch the first 15 minutes that I missed just to see the set up. Turns out they were like the 15 funniest minutes of it.

The show starts with a close-up on eyes, and my initial thought was either that A) this was the patient, or B) I was watching a Lost rerun.

But no, it turns out it was House putting something together with medical tape and tubing from an IV bag. I thought someone was hurt pretty severely. Because really, when an IV is involved, it's usually because the person is really really bad off or really really drunk.

Again, I was wrong. Turns out he was just making a homemade Hot Wheels track out of office supplies. Now this isn't the first time he's made entertainment out stuff in his office before. But this Hot Wheels track...

...this was better than the plastic one my sister had. It had tubing, it had loops, it had a plastic shark waiting to eat the car (or for it to jump the shark).

If only Cuddy hadn't caught the car at the end? Epic.

Should've Used Laundry View

I've never seen a show really nail laundry etiquette in the college sense, and really, it is a subject that should be discussed because so many people lack it. Tonight, ABC's new show (and a new favorite of mine) Castle decided to address it by having a dead body rolling around in the dryer.

The cops were talking about how the old lady found her in the dryer when she was going to take someone else's clothes out to put hers in, because someone else was being a jerk-off and left their clothes in the washer.

This brings up an interesting point: what is the appropriate grace period for commandeering a dryer? The old lady in this episode waited a full half hour for it, and then found the dead body (which one police man said served her right for going downstairs to grub through someone else's undies to use the dryer).

Now generally, I wait about 5 minutes until I go downstairs to pull someone else's laundry out of the dryer. It's rude, I understand. I really don't have much of an internal grace period because I firmly believe that when you're doing laundry, you should be there to take your stuff out. And if you're not, you should be able to deal with your clothes neatly piled on the table next to the machine. If you wait more than 5 minutes, people will take over the entire laundry room, using all 3 washers at once and being a laundry douche.

Furthermore, I don't take peoples' clothes out of the dryer until they are completely dry. I cannot stand when people take your clothes out of the dryer only 30 minutes in, because let's be honest: dryers on campus aren't that good. They do take the full hour to dry your clothes, and if you take them out halfway through, I can guarantee that your jeans and towels will still be damp to the touch. So for a woman to wait 30 minutes for someone to get their stuff out of the laundry in my eyes, is really effing polite.

This episode of Castle raises a few good questions about laundry. One, what amount of time is acceptable before someone takes over a dryer? Two, if Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson knew that illicit affairs in the laundry room could lead to murder, would Little Children ever be the same?

Kurtwood Smith's a BAMF

And he'll put a boot up your ass.


After memorable turns as Robert Sean Leonard's prick dad in Dead Poet's Society and as Eric Foreman's (funny) prick dad in That 70s Show, Kurtwood Smith decided to expand his horizons by playing...a prick senator on 24.

So three cheers for variety.

But he basically stood up to Jack Bauer this week, and that's just not done. He called Bauer out for threatening him to help an investigation with no base.

Is it wrong that I wanted him to call Jack a "Dumbass" and send him back to the Vista Cruiser?

I thought it would happen when he was on House too.

Endless Love: Cullen vs. Alpert

So as I was watching Lost tonight, I had a thought. A lot of girls I know have become obsessed with one Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). They like his protectiveness of Bella, his greasy bedhead, his eyes, the stubble, etc. In real life, they like Robert Pattinson's British accent.

Now I agree, the immortality thing is kind of hot. He's lived, he has wisdom and experience, and he has something of a baby face. But when I think of sexy immortals, I'm not usually thinking of this greasy mug. My first thought usually is David Boreanaz on Angel (my fellow Parkie!). And then I think of a very sexy immortal, also of questionable morals and age: Richard Alpert.

So he guy-lines. Whatever. I have a thing for tall dark and handsome. And the fact that he knows how to properly use make-up isn't completely off-base or a turn off. Richard Alpert has a few advantages over Edward Cullen. He's not a vampire, which would not work for some girls. But Alpert lives on a beautiful island, which his girlfriend would presumably visit. He seems to be indestructible, so that's good. He's physically attractive. And if it doesn't work out, he's surrounded by good looking men that are willing to date outside their pool (because really, Sawyer can only get with Kate so many times, and Juliet seems to accept her role as second fiddle).

Advantage? Dharma's own. Sorry, Eddie.

I Want a Super Sexy Slo-Mo

I'm a huge fan of Conan O' Brien, so really, seeing him leave Late Night was a big thing for me (even though he'll be back on the Tonight Show in June). Jimmy Fallon is not my ideal late night host, but I'll give this to him: The Super Sexy Slo-Mo and the "Slow Jam The News" bits were pretty good.

The one-word answer questions were funny for Robert DeNiro, especially after watching him make fun of DeNiro on SNL without knowing that he would show up.

So here's to a good start to the show.

Love the house band, by the way. Not Max Weinberg, but still, the Roots are awesome.

You must live up to this:

Well, 3 out of 5 Ain't Bad.

As some may know, I've made it something of a goal of mine to see as many Oscar-recognized movies this year as I can get to and pay for (...or not). It's not because I'm a pretentious film buff, really. The roots of this mission are a little bit deeper than that.

For all who don't know my living situation, it's this: I live on a floor of film buffs. The majority of the people I live with (including my roommate) are cinema and photography majors - emphasis on the cinema part. And every year, I watch the Oscars and wonder: Do these movies really deserve the awards they win?

Most of the movies fall into a gray area where some people know the movies - usually those living in a city lucky enough to get all the limited release films that always get nominated - and where most people (average popcorn movie-goers like me) don't. So when the lists for the awards shows made it out this year - first the Golden Globes, then the SAGs and Critics' Choice, and then finally the Oscars - I made it a mission to see if these films were actually worth the praise they receive.

I figured I'd go category-by-category in the next few days to say who I think WILL win and who may DESERVE to win.