211: Favorites XXIV

This week, I present some of my favorites of a dying breed: TV title sequences.  In addition to those listed below, I give honorable mentions to The Big Bang Theory, the CSI franchise (mostly for using "Who Are You?" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" to great effect, though "Baba O'Riley" isn't as good a fit), and Doctor Who (because I get giddy just listening to the theme song).  Any suggestions for other good opening titles?

Downton Abbey
First, the bit of score over the credits is just gorgeous.  Secondly, it's the prettiest montage I've ever seen that starts with a closeup of a dog's butt.  Incidentally, I also like that the cast is presented in alphabetical order, with no preference whatsoever given to bigger stars, bigger roles, or even the dame in their midst.

True Blood
Warning: there's some suggestive images, roadkill, a time-lapse shot of a fox being consumed by maggots and some close-up shots of weird-looking bugs.  But it's totally worth it for the "God hates fangs" sign and the general modern Southern gothic ambience.

Mystery!
Edward Gorey animations and the theme song that I miss desperately, now that it's Masterpiece Mystery.  I actually learned the Mystery! theme on the piano when I was a kid -- I loved Poirot that much.

Law & Order: UK

A nice update on the traditional freeze-frame style of the US franchise, with another piece of music that I love.  It's not the funky jazz themes of the American series, but it does go nicely with a show that has Crown Prosecutors instead of Assistant District Attorneys.

Mad Men

Great mix of animation, music, and vintage advertising for one of TV's best shows. (YouTube won't let me embed, so click the picture to go watch it on the site.)

204: Favorites XXIII, SDCC Edition

I'm not at San Diego Comic-Con, but I'm enjoying it vicariously through Twitter and various news sources.  Some fun things from SDCC 2011:

Muppet Mythbusters
From Mythbuster Tory Belleci's Twitter came this gem:

The Marbled Rye
In which Lost's Man in Black finally gets a name:

Spectacularly bad hair

via GFY

I understand that it's for a movie (evidently, the character runs out of a barbershop in the middle of a haircut), but that's not going to stop me from chuckling every time I see it.


Cosplay with Annarchy 
My favorite tertiary character from Penny Arcade made her triumphant return for the Comic-Con-themed run this week.  PA is rarely sweet in tone, but I think this one is just utterly charming and perfect for a Friday strip.

(click to view larger at PennyArcade.com)

183: Favorites XXII, Southern Lit Edition

Favorites from Southern literature (of the things I have read in my lifetime):

To Kill a Mockingbird
Some writers are incredibly prolific and can put out a novel every couple years.  Some are like Harper Lee.  But if you're only going to publish one novel in your lifetime, you want it to be To Kill a Mockingbird.  I read somewhere that it was voted the best book of the 20th century, and between that, the Pulitzer Prize, and the author's Medal of Freedom, I wouldn't argue.  The book paints a vivid portrait of race, racism, and class in the Depression-era American South that was controversial when it was published in 1960 and is an important history lesson for modern kids.  (There is, of course, the issue of how the book is received by African-American readers vs. white readers -- but the fact that a book from 1960 can still be debated in 2011 is fantastic, plain and simple.)  Scout and Atticus Finch are two of my favorite characters in all of literature, and the book's film adaptation gave us Gregory Peck as Atticus, and for that we should all be eternally grateful.

The Secret Life of Bees
Not as iconic as To Kill a Mockingbird, with a mediocre film adaptation, but still well worth the read.  Sue Monk Kidd's narrator is no Scout Finch, but Lily Owens' deeply conflicted narration is teen angst through and through.  Part coming-of-age story, part civil rights chronicle, part beekeeping manual, the book is a female-character-driven look at acceptance and the relationships between families (both those related by blood and those bonded by shared experience).  There are some truly great images in this book, like the Boatwright sisters' bright pink house and Our Lady of the Chains, the ship's figurehead that sits inside that house.  Incidentally, I read this book as part of the girls-only book club at my high school run by the head librarian and my favorite English teacher -- admittedly, I came for the free pizza and lemonade, but getting this book for free was icing on the cake.

The Help
I just finished Kathryn Stockett's debut novel this morning, and it already makes a "favorites" list.  The book shifts between three narrators (a pair of black maids and a young white woman) and presents a picture of life in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi from both sides of the dividing line between the races.  There are a few truly shocking moments, and plenty of good, quotable lines throughout the book.  It's funny, sad, hopeful, frustrating, and suspenseful in turns, and was one of those books that I had trouble putting down when it was time to do other things.  Every time I closed it, I still wanted to know what was going to happen to Aibileen, Minny, Skeeter, and everyone else.  Was Skeeter really going to marry Stuart?  What did Minny do to Miss Hilly?  When was little Mae Mobley inevitably going to repeat something to the wrong person and get Aibileen fired?  The degree to which Stockett managed to get me invested in her characters' lives was almost ridiculous. Kudos, madam.  It was really the perfect summer-read-with-substance.

"A Rose for Emily"
Okay, yes, necrophilia is usually a part of discussions about this William Faulkner short story.  But the story is Southern Gothic at its very finest, and exactly as creepy as you'd want it to be.  I remember even being freaked out by the first-person plural narration, as though the story is being told by the town's collective consciousness, like they're the Borg or something.  Faulkner uses that unusual narration to take us through his three-part story about Miss Emily Grierson and the remnants of the Old South in a changing Mississippi town with bits and pieces of Emily's odd behavior and the town's pity for and fascination with her in life and death.  It's macabre and dark and dusty throughout, and it still gives me chills every time.  You can read (or re-read) the story in its entirety here or in various places around the web.

169: Favorites XXI, or Saturday Morning Movies

Sometimes, I watch action movies on Saturday mornings.  Just, you know, to start the day off with some explosions.  Some favorites from my DVD collection:

The Bourne Identity/Supremacy/Ultimatum
 I watched Ultimatum this morning, just to relive 1) Bourne beating a guy with a textbook and 2) Bourne calling a CIA deputy chief from the guy's own office.  I like the trilogy because Bourne is an intelligent antihero with all kinds of creative ways of getting rid of henchmen -- putting a magazine in a toaster as time-delayed ignition for a gas leak (although the Mythbusters disproved the plausibility of that), beating an assassin with a magazine and a ballpoint pen, etc. -- because there are all kinds of crazy car chases, and the initial shock of Matt Damon being a serious action star?  Priceless.

Batman Begins
Before we all found out that Christian Bale is a little bit crazy, he busted out that ridiculous Batman voice in the franchise reboot.  I love a good origin story, and while The Dark Knight may have been even better, I go back to this one more often (and not just because I never actually got the sequel on DVD...) just to watch Bruce Wayne pull together all the elements of his secret identity.  Also, there are some genuinely funny moments, usually involving Alfred (Michael Caine!) or Lucius Fox (President God Morgan Freeman).  Fast-forward through all the parts with Katie Holmes and it's an extremely enjoyable substitute for Saturday morning cartoons.

Casino Royale/Quantum of Solace
What I said about origin stories goes double for Daniel Craig's two outings as 007.  Sure, I didn't know if I could get behind Blond Bond when Craig was cast, but he makes a great rough-around-the-edges James Bond, and I completely buy that this guy turns into a super-smooth secret agent later on in his career.  Even between Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, you see the slightest bit of growth for Bond, even though he's still messier than a covert operative ought to be and he's well on his way to being the disgusting womanizer that we all know and cherish.

Star Trek
Sure, there's plenty of action, but it's really just about the scene where Kirk's hands puff up like balloons and he runs around with a numb tongue.

The Incredibles
I'll go out on a limb and call this one the best superhero movie in years.  Fun, exciting, and animated, so the laws of physics need not be taken into consideration, and it's okay if Elastigirl's stretching looks cartoonish.  Because it's, you know, a cartoon.  Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter are the perfect voices for the retired superheroes, and Samuel L. Jackson as Frozone is just a bonus.  It may not be as universally beloved as Up and Finding Nemo, but it's one of my favorites.

162: Favorites XX

Summer!  The sun stays up later than I do (...okay, not really), I get to subject the neighbors to my pasty legs whenever I mow the lawn, and we all get to enjoy the things that only come around during the summer months.

This week, my favorite summer guilty pleasures (and yes, a lot of them are on TV):

Reality TV
No, not The Bachelorette or Has Anyone Heard from the Kardashians Lately? or Teen Mom or whatever other horror shows are on MTV.  I admit it: I really enjoy America's Got Talent.  Mostly, I love Sharon Osbourne's hysterical laughter, usually at the expense of her fellow judges, but there's also the rare moment where someone genuinely talented turns up and blows everyone away.  There's also The Voice, where even Christina Aguilera's increasingly depressing personal style (seriously, girl, you cannot go on national television with a streaky spray tan...it's just sad) can't take away from some great performances and aspiring singers getting what seems like genuine mentoring from successful artists.  Rebecca Loebe and Devon Barley's duet/battle on Radiohead's "Creep" was fantastic:

Of course, I've also started watching Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition, which is not so much light entertainment as motivation to keep exercising, even when it's muggy and awful outside.

Romance novels
Admittedly, I read them year-round, but I save the truly fluffy, downright embarrassing stuff for summer.  Even though some of it is terrible, and some of it reads like thinly-veiled fanfiction, it's really the best read-in-the-hammock genre.  So thanks to my college roommate, Jess, for introducing me to books by Jennifer Crusie, who was my gateway author.  It's been a downward spiral ever since.  Thank goodness for ebooks from the library.  No one knows your shame when it's hidden on an e-reader.

Vampires, werewolves, and telepaths
Specifically, the ones in and around fictional Bon Temps, Louisiana, where True Blood takes place.  Based on Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire series (see also: romance novels, above), it's that patented HBO blend of sex, violence, and cussing, with a healthy dose of humor and mystery to boot.  Yes, I sometimes want to reach through the television and smack all the surviving members of the Stackhouse family upside the head, but there are some great subplots and supporting characters (Hoyt and Jessica, Terry Bellefleur and his pet armadillo) that make even the most annoying of Jason Stackhouse's exploits bearable.  Thank goodness for friends with premium channels.  Given the choice, I will pick this vampire story over Edward and Bella any day of the week.  (Also, I would put money on Eric Northman ripping Edward Cullen to sparkly bits in a cage match, but that's a whole different issue.)

Covert Affairs
USA Network's spy show (available on their website for those of us without cable) is both really awful and strangely appealing.  The writing comes right up to the point of being good before making an abrupt U-turn into hokey territory.  Piper Perabo plays Annie Walker, a CIA agent who is essentially a Mary Sue, but I keep coming back.  I don't know why, but I suspect it has something to do with how much I love action movies, and this show is nothing if not an extremely low-budget, forty-minute action movie.  Apparently I'm willing to put up with stunning mediocrity for the occasional gunfight or explosion.  I'm hoping for less preoccupation with Annie's rogue-spy boyfriend/ex-boyfriend and more hanging out and beer-drinking with her tech ops buddy, Auggie.  In addition to the exotic foreign gunfights and terrible dialogue, of course.

155: Favorites XIX

Favorite TV one-season wonders, or "oh, look, she's getting verbose about Law & Order: LA again":

Firefly

I wonder if Fox ever rues the day it canceled Joss Whedon's sci-fi/western dramedy starring a whole host of actors now on other successful shows (e.g. Nathan Fillion, Morena Baccarin, and Adam Baldwin) and featuring a couple of memorable guest appearances by Christina Hendricks (Mad Men's Joan Holloway/Harris).  I -- like most of America, apparently -- didn't watch the series when it was originally on the air, but discovered it through IMDB's streaming video and Netflix.  And thank goodness I did, because it's the perfect blend of two niche genres, offers a bit of steampunk appeal, and created a cast of likable, flawed characters.  Firefly painted a picture of a future that is both amusing and dangerous -- Star Trek it is not.  And, naturally, everyone curses in Mandarin.  It's really a shame the network couldn't see fit to give the show a second chance (and chose to air some of the episodes out of order), but they did make Serenity, the feature-film sequel to the series that helped cap off the story...though how satisfying an end it was is debatable.

Freaks & Geeks

Judd Apatow's high school comedy was set in 1980, featured some true-to-life awkward-looking teens, cameos from Jason Schwartzman and a couple Mystery Science Theater 3000 alumni, and a cast that has been ridiculously successful in the years since the show's premature cancellation.  Sure, some of the gags were so painfully awkward that I couldn't actually watch them (but I have a low threshold for secondhand embarrassment) and the period setting turned some people off (who really wants to relive the early '80s?), but taken as a whole, it was a fantastic show.  These are characters you can relate to, or who remind you just how happy you are to be out of high school (or both).  And Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation" was its theme song!  Maybe network TV wasn't the right home for the series; Apatow's college-set follow-up, Undeclared, aired on MTV...and was also canceled after one season.  So I'm not sure where either of these shows belonged.  At least we'll always have DVD.

Kings

This show was great...in theory.  An allegory for the Biblical David and Goliath story, set in a 21st-century kingdom that resembled a slick, modern political machine more than anything else, it was supposed to blend the stories of a soldier-turned-war-hero thrust into the lion's den of the royal machine.  Unfortunately, the show was nowhere near allusive enough -- the protagonist's name was David, and he became a national hero for blowing up the enemy's "Goliath" armored tank.  The names of characters and settings were lifted directly from the Bible with only minimal changes made (e.g. King Saul becomes King Silas).  The series should have worked.  It had IAN MCSHANE, for cryin' out loud.  IAN MCSHANE, gnawing the scenery at every turn!  Of course, I thought the character of David was too much of a goody-two-shoes to be truly likable, but I enjoyed almost everyone else, and I kept coming back because I was interested in the universe the show created.  I would have been interested to see what they would have done with a second season, but it wasn't meant to be.

Law & Order: Los Angeles

I've talked about LOLA on this blog before, and I'm still disappointed that it's been canceled after a single tumultuous season.  Sure, Terrence Howard can be about as engaging as a sheet of plywood, and the long hiatus during which the show was tweaked to the very edge of believability hurt the ratings, but with the addition of Alana de la Garza and (what seemed like) more screen time for Alfred Molina, I think the show still had a lot of life left in it.  But, like the two previous series on this list, LOLA was a victim of the NBC hatchet.  The writing was often hit-or-miss, and viewers may have found it difficult to connect with some of the lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-famous crimes, but I always found the first half of the show entertaining.  When the case was handed over to the prosecutors was usually when the show lost momentum, in my opinion.  If one good thing came from this series, it was the introduction of Corey Stoll to a primetime audience.  Stoll is a fantastic actor who made his character (Det. TJ Jaruszalski, or just Baldy, if you're my mother) likable, believable, and reliably entertaining from the first episode to the last.  Even the dubious subplot in which TJ goes to Mexico to hunt down the drug lord who killed his partner was tolerable, just because I'm so deeply fond of Corey Stoll.  And here's where I heave a big sigh and say RIP, LOLA.  I'm sure there are literally dozens of us who will miss you.

(click photos for sources.)

148: Favorites XVIII: Ginger edition

I've been watching Doctor Who today, and since the Doctor is constantly disappointed that he isn't ginger, here are five of my favorite folks who are redheads:

 Karen Gillan

Amy Pond!  Most charming Scottish accent on Who since David Tennant.

Felicia Day

Great as herself and extra endearing as Codex on The Guild.

Deborah Ann Woll

My favorite vampire on True Blood, hands down.  Yes, we all love Eric, but there's something about newborn vampire Jessica that is very sweet...and deadly.

Christina Hendricks

Joan Holloway (Harris).  Need I say more?

Conan O'Brien

Team Coco forever.

photos via We Heart It

134: Favorites XVI

My five favorite websites this week:

Simple Desktops

Does what it says on the package.

Go Fug Yourself

Witty fashion criticism from two smart and funny ladies (who also have a YA novel coming out soon).

Ravelry

It's where the knitters are.  Patterns, forums, groups -- it's the ultimate in crafty social media.

(login required)

Mrs. O

If you're a fan of Michelle Obama or her style, it's a must-read.

Pete Campbell's Bitchface
Nothing fills the Mad Men-shaped hole in my life quite like the ridiculous facial expressions of Vincent Kartheiser as Pete Campbell.

127: Lazy Favorites XV

I'm reading Tim Gunn's book, Gunn's Golden Rules at the moment, and he put together several top-five movie lists.  Inspired by Mr. Gunn's lists, here's my five fictional hangouts I wish were real:

The Pie Hole
Pushing Daisies was candy-colored fun, and I still miss it dearly.  Most of all, I miss Ned's pie shop.

The Old Haunt
Sure, they only featured the bar on Castle once, but anywhere Castle, Esposito, Ryan, and Beckett hang out is A-OK by me.  Besides, (if I recall correctly) it has a secret exit in the basement that connects to a tunnel system.  What more do you want from your bar?

The library
Otherwise known as the place all of my friends and I wanted to hang out.  The Beast's gift to Belle in Beauty and the Beast, I think it's the one thing that all little readers wish they could be given one day.

Merlotte's
I'll take a pass on the world with vampires and werewolves, but the only bar and grill in Bon Temps, Louisiana is one of the home bases for the insanity on True Blood.  Between Lafayette's infamous "AIDS burger," the handsome proprietor, and the cast of colorful locals, I'd pick it over Fangtasia any day (sorry, Eric and Pam).

The holodeck
Every vacation ever, all in one.  Best invention for Star Trek: The Next Generation, hands down.  Why, you ask?  Because with a holodeck, you could simulate every other location on this list, populate it with the appropriate characters, and have your own little adventures in the safety of virtual reality.  When do we get this technology for real?

Photos via We Heart It.

120: Favorite Things XIV

Too lazy/tired to write, so it's a Favorite Things in photos.

Diners

 Cookies

 Slightly creepy roads

Prince Harry

 I enjoy that he had to spend part of the big wedding day baby-sitting and dress-wrangling.

Pocket watches

click photos for their sources.

113: Favorite Things XIII

You may notice a theme in this week's favorites.

Amy Pond
Plucky, headstrong, and fiery, Amy is always fun to have around, especially since she can easily dominate not only her own husband (see Rory Williams, below), but also one of the biggest personalities out there: The Doctor.  Sure, she sometimes gets relegated to the damsel-in-distress role, and the preview for next week's Who has some horror-movie screaming from Amy in it, but I can't help being awfully fond of her.  Come along, Pond.

via We Heart It

The TARDIS
Just as big, blue, and intermittently reliable as always.  I love seeing how different writers tackle characters' reactions upon seeing the interior for the first time -- the way it was handled in "The Impossible Astronaut" was quite funny, and both Mark Sheppard and Arthur Darvill hit exactly the right tone.  As fond as I was of the Eccleston/Tennant TARDIS, there's something about the new Smith-era console room design that appeals to the steampunk fan in me.  If the TARDIS were real, and I was in it, you'd have to strap me down to keep me from pushing buttons and turning dials (which would probably send us to the year 3008 or something).


Rory Williams
Honestly, one of my very favorite things about the new season of Doctor Who is seeing Arthur Darvill's name in the credits.  Amy's great and all, but I adore Rory.  He's steadfast and brave, but we really don't notice, because most of the time, he's just Amy's slightly goofy, very put-upon husband, who is resigned to being Mr. Pond.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again: if Karen Gillan couldn't make it to the set, I'd happily watch The Doctor and Rory Show.


The Doctor
He's nine hundred years old, travels through time and space in a bucket-of-bolts blue box, has saved humanity countless times and seen the very best and very worst in all of the universe at all points in history.  Also, he's an alien.  Seriously, what more do you need from a sci-fi hero?

Doctor Who in the USA

I loved seeing some vistas in "The Impossible Astronaut" that weren't shot in a quarry in Wales.  Welcome to the extremely telegenic American West!  I'm not thrilled with some of the still-fake American accents (although Mark Sheppard's is remarkably good), but at least they got the scenery right.  Between this and the Neil Gaiman-penned episode to come later this season, I'm super-excited for what's to come in the next several weeks.

via We Heart It

106: Favorite Things XII

Drive-by favorites:

Mythbusters
Sometimes, you just want some good explosions.  Mythbusters always delivers on the pyrotechnics and the science, to boot.  Whether Adam, Jamie, Grant, Tory, and Kari prove or disprove the myth, they always make the process entertaining.  (Also, Grant Imahara is the creator of Craig Ferguson’s robot skeleton sidekick, Geoff Peterson, which makes him automatically awesome.)

Detective Tomas "TJ" Jaruszalski
Law & Order: Los Angeles came back this week, and we said our final goodbyes to both TJ’s partner (Skeet Ulrich, we hardly knew ye) and TJ's mustache (which I will miss more than Skeet Ulrich).  My mother thinks Corey Stoll’s head looks like a cue ball now, and I can’t really disagree.  Regardless, I was reminded, while watching the new episodes this week, that TJ was my favorite character from the show's early days, and I hope that, as he grieves for his slain partner, the writers don't sacrifice the wry, amusing essence of the character on the altar of interior melodrama.  (...and now I'll just pack up my pretentious language and move along.)

The Secret Lives of Dresses
I'll admit it: I judge books by their covers.  I was unspeakably disappointed that Twilight had such appealing cover art.  This book by Erin McKean, however, has both a pretty cover and an enjoyable, well-written story.  Not a coming-of-age story as much as a figuring-out-how-to-be-an-actual-grown-up story set against the backdrop of small-town North Carolina, I was so engrossed in this book that I read about half of it in a day (and most of that was during the long stretches of waiting around during my training at the new job).  I think part of the reason I liked it so much is that Dora, our heroine, is a liberal arts major who has no idea what she wants to do with her fancy degree.  Girl, I feel you, for real.

Wayfarer sunglasses

RIP, sunglasses.

My trusty Target wayfarers broke this week, and I've been at a loss ever since.  I'm halfheartedly trying to find a pair to replace them, but I'll probably never find another pair that's black on the outside and purple on the inside (purple! my favorite color!), so I'm seriously considering just super-gluing the suckers back together.  Those glasses made it through airport security about eight times during trips to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles, survived being tossed around with all the other stuff in my purse for about three years, and went out in subzero cold and super-humid ninety-degree weather.  Of course, all of that contributed to the huge split in the frames that makes them unwearable now, but my point is this: those glasses have been good to me, and I'll never have another pair exactly like them.  Farewell, sunglasses.  (I will also miss these sunglasses more than I will miss Skeet Ulrich.)

This video

Anderson Cooper would, apparently, have been my best friend if we'd met as children.

100: Favorite Things XI

Short on words, a day late and an item short of the usual five, but here's what got a thumbs-up last week.

via We Heart It

Biking weather
I scrubbed down my bike and took it for a spin late in the week, and every time I looked out the window this weekend, there was a bicyclist going by.  Awesome.


Getting hired
A paycheck is a nice, nice thing, even if it's only for a month.  This next month of work will fund my entire trip to Vancouver later this summer.

Technology
I joined the modern age with an iPod touch this week, and I discovered the wonders of apps.  Apps!  They can give you all kinds of cool information without having to be tethered to a computer!  How long have we known about this?

via We Heart It

Thunderstorms
First thunderstorm of the season last night.  I love severe weather season, both because I sleep better during thunderstorms than at any other time, and because I know it means they're shooting another season of Storm Chasers on Discovery Channel.

092: Favorite Things X

You know, X, as in ten (10). Anyway.  Things I liked this week include:

via We Heart It

Baseball
Thank goodness for the season opener, even if my Minnesota Twins lost the first game of the season to Toronto.  They're on the road, so it's okay...right?  The start of the MLB season means winter is definitely over (even if we're due to get more snow) and it's time to dust off the old Joe Nathan jersey that went unworn last year while #36 was out for Tommy John surgery.  Plus, Justin Morneau is back from his season-ending concussion!  Provided Morneau and Joe Mauer can stay healthy, Nathan is back on form, and the bullpen keeps its act together, it should be a fun season for Twins fans.

Skype
After using meebo for a year or so in a desperate attempt to avoid downloading any more IM programs, I switched to Skype and I'm not looking back.  As Wil Wheaton says, I love living in the future; you can talk to friends on both coasts at the same time without spending a penny.  It's fun even when you don't have a camera!

@BronxZoosCobra
Once missing, now behind bars.  Reliably entertaining, which is more than can be said for most parody Twitter accounts.  I was actually a little bummed when zoo officials announced they'd found the snake because I knew it would cut short the snake-on-the-town adventures.  However, the snake did manage to hijack Ryan Seacrest's Twitter and website yesterday, so hopefully the shenanigans will continue.  The account even got name-checked by NYC mayor Mike Bloomberg -- and I'm pretty sure that means you've made it.


Corey Stoll's mustache, "Poseidon"
Alas, the 'stache is no more.  I'm still not sure why I liked Poseidon so much.  Perhaps because it was just such a cop 'stache, which made me cringe and laugh when I first saw it, but when I actually started watching Law & Order: Los Angeles, it just looked right on Detective Jaruszalski's face.  In any case, I will miss the partnership between TJ and his mustache (certainly more than I will miss the partnership between Bald and Boring, as we called Corey Stoll and Skeet Ulrich in my household).  Even if Poseidon had to go, I'm glad Stoll is hanging around; he is, by far, the best part of LOLA. (video via All Things Law & Order)

085: Favorite Things IX

I feel like that subject up there ought to be followed by a colon and "THE RECKONING" or something.  "FAVORITE THINGS IX: THIS TIME IT'S PERSONAL."  Or perhaps, "FAVORITE THINGS IX: REVENGE OF THE STUFF"...or not.

via We Heart It

Puppies
The local CBS station sometimes does a segment featuring shelter animals up for adoption during the noon news, and the collie puppy they had on this week is, quite possibly, the most adorable dog that has ever lived.  Now, I'm not a dog person, but puppies are just darn cute.

Community
I read a book this week that used the phrase "streets ahead" and couldn't help but think of Community's Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy Chase). The oddball characters, improbable situations, and this week's Pulp Fiction/My Dinner With Andre homage episode all contribute to making the show the first Favorite Things repeat. I just wish they'd stop pushing the Jeff/Annie relationship; I don't buy it.  Of course, I didn't like Jeff/Britta, either.  In any case, I'll keep watching in the hope they'll top the paintball episode.

Aaron Sorkin on 30 Rock
I loved The West Wing.  It remains the only grown-up TV series for which I own the official companion book and a collection of first-season scripts (I have copies of most of the tie-in novels for Ghostwriter, but that's another thing altogether).  I still quote the show on a regular basis, wish I could vote for Jed Bartlet, and "pedeconference" gets regular use in my lexicon.  So I was pleased to see a very West Wing-y walk-and-talk scene with Sorkin and my beloved Liz Lemon on 30 Rock. 

via We Heart It

Secret double lives
One of my favorite things about superhero comics and movies is the cover identity; I loved the opening to The Incredibles, where Mr. Incredible is on a schedule as he tries to beat the bad guy so he can be on time for his wedding to Elastigirl.  The classic is the sheer implausibility of Clark Kent "disguising" himself by putting on glasses.    Then there's The Secret Lives of Jeopardy! Contestants to consider, too.

Cheese
Apparently it's just a Liz Lemon-themed week.  There is a certain joy derived from browsing the cheese section at Costco.  Why, yes, I do need over a pound of Havarti!  How did you know?  If I'm not careful, the whole wheel of Brie could be gone by Monday.

078: Favorite things VIII

Late-breaking favorites...

Knitting
And it's a good thing, too, since I'm spending a lot of my time doing it.

via Things Organized Neatly

Organizing
There's nothing quite like reclaiming a closet and some floor space by shoving a whole lot of junk into a trash bag.  That, and putting in neat piles things that were strewn all over.  I spent a couple hours stacking yards and yards of fabric on new shelving units in my grandmother's sewing room.  Anybody in the market for some '70s doubleknits?

Melting
There's been a steady, fast-moving stream down to the storm drain at the end of the street, and most of the snow has melted on the front lawn.  In a related story, we thought someone had stolen our ice chopper, but after a foot or so of snow melted near the front steps, a familiar handle was spotted sticking up out of the snowbank.  Moral of the story: don't leave your snow removal tools out in the path of the snowblower.

via We Heart It

Sleeping
I've been having trouble getting up before 9AM recently, because it's just so much nicer to be asleep.  Zzz.

Listening
Specifically, listening to the Minnesota Orchestra's Beethoven cycle, courtesy of my public library.  Shamefully, I haven't been to see the Orchestra live since I was in elementary school, but the CD releases of the Beethoven cycle (conducted by music director Osmo Vänskä) seem like a good way to get reacquainted with the local band.  Good, clean fun and excellent music.