359: Come on and let it snow

My favorite terrible Christmas song comes from the movie Love Actually, and it's the only holiday song I keep on my iPod year-round.  Enjoy the awful, really inappropriate music video for "Christmas is All Around" by Billy Mack (AKA Bill Nighy):

Merry Christmas!

346: Happy Valentine's Day, No One

I realize we're nowhere near Valentine's Day, but I just stumbled across this old 30 Rock clip, and it's still delightful:

345: Christmas at Downton

The Downton Abbey Christmas special looks awfully exciting.  Murder trials!  Punching!  Snow!  But will it ever air in this country?

344: Lights and sound

We put up the Christmas tree today.  In celebration, here's my favorite Christmas lights video:

340: Picturesque

Look at this gentle frakking snowfall.

It's just so goddamn picturesque.

(from this morning)

338: Bloopers

Sometimes you just want to watch a bunch of blooper reels.

Here's one to get you started:

334: The Broken Ones

Dia Frampton was my favorite from the first season of The Voice.  I...don't really know what's going on in this video?  But I like the song, and I'm looking forward to her album.

330: Jingle Bells

Well, it's that time of year.  The day after Thanksgiving is when I put all my Christmas music into rotation, and the first holiday song came up in shuffle today.  It was one of last year's additions, Straight No Chaser's "Twelve Days of Christmas," which everyone should know, because it is hilarious (to me):

328: The Butterball Hotline

Possibly my favorite Thanksgiving clip ever, and certainly the best from The West Wing.  President Bartlet calls the Butterball hotline:

Happy Thanksgiving!

327: Soft on Turkeys

On the day before Thanksgiving, allow me to share my second-favorite Thanksgiving storyline from The West Wing.  This is from season two's "Shibboleth":

Allison Janney is a national treasure.

319: Coppers

Law & Order: UK proves that every show, no matter how serious, should have a blooper reel.

(see also: Criminal Minds' gag reels)

318: May the odds be ever in your favor

Everything is The Hunger Games and there is nothing wrong with that.

311: Look at all this paper

Carrie Preston as Elsbeth Tascioni on The Good Wife makes up for all the soapy melodrama with Alicia's life.  She has trouble with technology, appreciates cupcakes, and wants her parking validated.  She also likes that color on you.

(Also-also, I love that Carrie Preston is married to Michael "Ben Linus" Emerson in real life.)

285: Hemingway

Yes, as a matter of fact, Hemingway is the best thing about Midnight in Paris.

276: Grenade

Yeah, I like The Sing-Off.  What of it?

262: The vast wasteland

Missed another blog yesterday, because I watched the Emmys and got all excited about Downton Abbey taking home four trophies.  It was an okay show, with several horrible choices (the Emmytones) and a few good moments (Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage's cameo in the opening number; The Office's Creed buying meth from Aaron Paul).  But the best and funniest bit was (at least partially) unscripted: the lead comedy actress nominees lining up on stage like pageant contestants waiting for Rob Lowe and Sofia Vergara to announce the winner:

And then Melissa McCarthy (who I love) was crowned Miss Emmy.  I suspect Amy Poehler's hand in this, since she also arranged the eyewear bit from the 2009 Emmys:

That second clip proves the importance of having presenters who 1) can read off a prompter without sounding like they're reading off a prompter, and 2) have enough chemistry to make you believe they like each other.  Tina Fey and Jon Hamm: good.  Most other presenter pairings: not so much.

But anyway.

257: Giggles

I get enraged every time I hear Michele Bachmann talk (irresponsibly) about the HPV vaccine, so I need some giggles, and I'll share them with you, Internet.  Enjoy:

248: Have we got news for you

In honor of Labor Day, here's the musical number with the most uses of the word "union" from the best/worst movie about labor strikes ever made, Newsies.

That little Christian Bale, he sure has spirit, yes he does.

(My sincere apologies to actual union members everywhere.)

224: Clip of the week

It's Friday night, so let's watch a clip of James Franco talking about his sex tape, and then driving Conan to end it all.

I just want a GIF of Conan leaping over that back wall.  Looping forever.

ETA: Thanks, Conan GIFs.

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.)