“I’ve traveled half the world to say I belong to you”

Friday Thoughts:

• Yeah, so obviously I’m wicked excited that The Twilight Saga: New Moon comes out today. I desperately wish I could go see it but I have to wait until Monday or Tuesday to go. So sad. I do apologize to all of you who are not into the Twilight thing that you have to put up with what has been an all-out media blitz this week. It’ll calm down by Thanksgiving. SPOILER ALERT! The down side to this movie coming is that, as a hard core Team Edward fan, Jacob Black gets awfully irritating and awfully close to Bella in this story. Thank goodness we know how that turns out. Vamps vs. wolves? Please. No contest.

• In other vampire news (like I’ve said, I really like vampire stories), I opted to watch The Vampire Diaries last night live instead of FlashForward which I think was a good idea because OMG! Stefan is fucking hot! Seriously, if we have to pick teams, screw Team Edward vs. Team Jacob, I’m all about Team Stefan vs. Team Damon. That was a great episode even though Stefan was leading Elena on way too much. That ending was something though. Oh and history teacher guy is so a vampire. He even has one of those nifty “daywalker” rings.
• Okay, I’m done with the vampire stuff now.
• This time tomorrow I’ll be landing in Raleigh, NC, for my week long trip at Dad’s. Very early flight tomorrow morning and I’m not prepared at all. I still have laundry and all the packing to do and I have to be up at about 4am tomorrow. Somehow it will get done.
• Haven’t had a week long break since January. Today’s my last work day before the break. WOOT!!!!!
• I’m glad it doesn’t rain all that often here in Boston because this city sucks in a storm. People are rude with umbrellas and all the streets have standing water so it’s impossible to stay dry.
• New code name for that guy: Mr. Pancake. Thanks Alyssa!

I have more thoughts but I just caught the time and, uh, yeah I have to go.

Oh. My. GOD!

What a way to start a morning:

From upcoming GQ Man of the Year Issue.

GAAAAAHHHHH!!!!

In white, about Parks and Recreations

WILL ARNETT IS COMING ON!!!!!!

In Bill I (Still) Trust – Thoughts For Tuesday

My take on “The Decision” controversy at the end but first here are some random thoughts:

• Going to see Avenue Q tonight. I’ve seen it twice before and each time I’m reminded how good this show really is. If you haven’t seen it, you really need to try to catch it either on tour or Off-Broadway. It seems that in theater circles, there is an ongoing debate about whether or not Avenue Q should have won the Tony for Best Musical over Wicked. Each time I see Wicked, I think it was robbed and then I see Avenue Q and I agree with what happened. I’m not sure there’s even a right answer to that one.
• Do you ever have trouble getting your water temperature right in the shower and then spend your whole shower trying to adjust it? That was so my morning.
• How I Met Your Mother: Hahaha – “The Scuba Diver”  That was awesome!
• The Big Bang Theory: I know it was old-hat comedy but I very much enjoyed seeing Raj, Howard and Leonard getting high while camping.
• I apologize to you all for the madness that was my last post. I’ve regained my mental stability but thank you all for the advice and support.
• I found out last night that some of my relatives – and no, it’s not my Dad or Madelene – are huge supporters of Glenn Beck. I  knew a bunch of them were conservative but Glenn Beck is, quoting my dad, “a raving lunatic.” Very depressing.
• Dilemma: I’m one of those that lumps Thanksgiving in with Christmas. I don’t think that takes away from the holiday at all. For me, Thanksgiving is just part of the fun of the season. In years past, I’ve started my Christmas decorating and listening of Christmas music around this time of year, about a week or so out from Thanksgiving, to get me in the mood. Having a hard time getting into this year. I’ve already decided to not decorate much at my work. I can’t decorate my apartment until at least the week after Thanksgiving due to time constraints. Question: do I force myself this week to start in on the Christmas music to get into that holiday spirit or do I just say screw it and sacrifice a bit of the holiday cheer at least for Thanksgiving? If the former, what do I start with? South Park Christmas maybe?

The Decision: A better controversy title than Spygate

Set Up:

New England Patriots at the undefeated Indianapolis Colts. Sunday Night Football. The Patriots have played an amazing 3 quarters and then the unbelievable Peyton Manning shows up in the 4th to make it a 34-28 game with 2 minutes, 8 seconds left. The Patriots have the ball on their own 28 yard line with no time outs left. It’s 4th down and the Patriots need two yards to end the game. They get that first down and they can run the clock, keeping the ball away from Manning and they win what was already one of the most epic games of this rivalry.

The options on 4th down:

1. Punt the ball, pin Peyton Manning and his extremely now-hot offense back 70 yards away from a game-winning touchdown and let your worn-out defense try to stop them, keeping in mind that the defense just allowed 14 points in that quarter.

2. Go for it, trusting in one of the best offenses in the league to get those two yards and win the game.

The Decision:

Bill Belichick decides they are going for it on 4th and 2.

What Happened:

Brady throws a short, 3-yard pass to Kevin Faulk who comes down with the ball over the line and is pushed back 2 yards by the Colts defense. The refs do not award Faulk the forward progress due to what they say was shaky possession of the ball. As it is still before the 2 minute warning, the Patriots could challenge the call except they don’t have time outs left so the call stands and Indy gets the ball back with less than 30 yards to the winning touchdown. Game over.35-34 Colts.

My opinion:

• It was a good call and the right call to make, whether they made it or not.
• To Peyton Manning on the hunt for a win, his 30 yard line and the Patriots’ 30 yard line is the same thing.
• The key to this decision was to keep the ball away from Manning in any way possible. If Manning got the ball back from wherever on the field, he was going to use the rest of the time on the clock to score that touchdown and ensuring that the Pats did not get the ball back.
• Had the Patriots had a time out left, that final score would have been 34-28 Pats.
• Had they converted that fourth down, Bill Belichick would be an even bigger hero than he was on Saturday here. They’d rename this city Belichicktown.
• If this was the AFC championship game in January and it was the same situation, going for it on 4th down would still be the right call to make.
• I’d far rather have a coach willing to take those kinds of chances than a coach to afraid of public opinion to do what’s best for his team.

Media and Fan Reaction:

• Shame on you. All day yesterday I heard commentators and fans bitching about Bill Belichick. One radio host even said Bill is “losing it.” Are you fucking kidding me? Where is the loyalty? This man has brought you 3 Super Bowl wins in the last decade, an undefeated season and an 11-5 season with a backup QB. Name me another coach that can do that!
• All you hypocrites out there whining about this would be singing the praises if they had gotten that first down.
• Just so you know, the world has not ended and neither has the Patriots’ season. They are 6-3, on top of the division by a very healthy margin and are still in line to make the playoffs. The Patriots don’t need home field advantage and especially not over the Colts. They proved they can play in Indy.
• Calling Bill Belichick’s decision arrogant, taking offense to it if you’re some of the Colts defense (true story, look it up) or the Pats defense (for the first time as a fan I’ll say this: shut up Tedy Bruschi), or using this as just another example of how Belichick is only in it for himself and doesn’t think about his team is all bullshit.

Bottom Line: Stand by your team and stand by your coach. This is what infuriates me about sports fans in this area of the country. We’re so spoiled by the success of the Red Sox, the Patriots, the Celtics and even now the Bruins that any time something even remotely goes wrong, it’s doomsday and there’s gotta be someone to blame. If the Pats were 1-8, yeah, I’d say panic. They’re 6-3 with only one game left that is even remotely as difficult as this last one was.

ETA: Thank God for Tom Brady. Listened to his weekly interview on WEEI this morning and he’s standing by Belichick 100% and you can tell he’s not just toeing the line.

“If you’re not the one…”

This just sucks. The whole thing sucks.

ETA: Eh, if you haven’t read it by now, you didn’t need to read it to begin with.

“V” – Strike One

I’m probably in the minority on this one but last night’s “V” was a total snoozefest. I’m so glad I watched my DVR recording of it so I could fast forward cause I could not keep my attention on the show at all. I’ll give it the next two episodes and if it doesn’t improve, I’m not coming back to it in March. The show isn’t offering us anything new. Elizabeth Mitchell is doing her same tough Juliet routine that I didn’t like much on a show I was invested in let alone a new one. And yes, we get it. The Vs are sinister and up to no good. There’s a rebellion, there are traitors on both sides. None of this is even remotely exciting because we’ve all seen this on multiple other shows. With a slight exception to the priest – and even he was boring last night – there is no character on the show that I even enjoy watching or that is more than one-dimensional.

Perhaps I just wasn’t in the mood to watch it? Or maybe I’m still mad that they offed Alan Tudyk.

TV Roundup

The following contains comments on the latest episodes of: The Office, 30 Rock, FlashForward, The Vampire Diaries, Project Runway,  How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory. I have not watched Mad Men so don’t tell me anything.

The Office

Continuing to enjoy this season. Loved having dick Michael back. Breaking up with a coworker’s mom on her birthday in front of said coworker and then having to drive everyone back was classic dick Michael. I thought they handled the punch really well. I was concerned that they’d shy away from it but Michael had that coming and it was still very realistic that Pam didn’t feel good about it after. How does Steve Carell not have an Emmy yet? And I very much enjoyed the Dwight/Andy favor-off and that Dwight is still trying to bring Jim down. Very true to his character.

30 Rock

Best episode of the season and that’s including the Will Arnett episode (so you know I really liked this one). Jack on the subway was hysterical as was the whole audition story, including the much talked about Susan Boyle gag. I’ve heard from some that this season has a different feel or tone to it and maybe that’s why it is keeping my interest. It’s still the show on after The Office for me but  it is an enjoyable one and since nothing conflicts with it…

Project Runway

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. The two people who got kicked off were the two people I liked the most throughout the entire season. I don’t want any of the remaining three to win and I’m not even sure I’m going to watch.

FlashForward

Finally the stakes are raised on this show! Despite having little to non of Charlie Simon, this was an excellent episode that took everything we thought was true about the concept of the flashforwards and threw it off the side of a building. Literally. The dude sacrificed himself so that others could have a different flashforward than the sucky ones they were first dealt. Is this really going to change the future? And what’s with that daughter showing up? And why haven’t we seen Joseph Fiennes shirtless more? I may need a bigger post about this one.

The Vampire Diaries

I finally have caught up with this show after being 5 episodes behind and I gotta say that I absolutely love it! It’s a better vampire story than Twilight, a better constructed story than True Blood and darker than Buffy. No I’m not saying it’s better than Buffy but it certainly is as entertaining, made even more so by the truly gorgeous Stefan and Damon. The two brothers have great chemistry and Damon pretty much steals every scene he’s in. What I love is that he is a bad-ass vampire. Spike was badass but if you think about it, you never really saw him going around and killing a whole lot. Damon is just ruthless and does it with a smirk. It makes me want to read the original books though I know the show is wildly different. Hey Twilight movies, you know you can change the crap parts of the books right?

How I Met Your Mother

Well, that didn’t last long. I know I had said that I wasn’t digging Barney and Robin and I will admit that I was a teeny bit spoiled as I had read that the couple would break up this season but I absolutely was not expecting it to happen so soon. The blame on this one goes to the writers. They screwed this relationship and didn’t do anything to explore the awesomeness that could have been Barney and Robin. That said, at least we get the old Barney back. I loved the scene in the station wagon with Marshall complaining about the van, Ted complaining about money and both getting on Lily’s case for substituting a robot for a storm trooper (even I know they aren’t the same). I feel like this season, while enjoyable, doesn’t have much aim or a visible goal to it. The end with Barney wanting to find tape of Robin’s variety show is intriguing and man I’m hoping they continue with that.

The Big Bang Theory

Just when I had started to think that this hilarious show was lacking a bit in Season 3 we get one of the funniest episodes of the whole series. You all know I’m a Leonard fan and while I think he can do better than Penny, I don’t want to see them break up, especially on the same night that Barney and Robin break up. You dodged a bullet here CBS. But the fighting was hilarious on all sides. I was impressed that the fighting was very loud and very passionate with both Leonard and Penny having good points and shallow points. Love that Sheldon was the little kid caught in the middle of his parents’ fighting and his weak attempts to try and reunite Leonard and Penny were great, especially the scene at Penny’s restaurant. Raj and Howard fighting was really cute (they are SO a couple) and I always enjoy Howard’s mother. Stuart from the comic book store is growing on me and I hope we get to see more of him this season. Above all, I’m so glad that Penny and Leonard made up and the end scene with them in bed made the whole thing end on a high note. More episodes with the whole gang together please!

ETA: I’m so sick and tired of every Big Bang thing I read being all about how Sheldon is great and how Leonard is an ass. I love Sheldon, Jim Parsons is hilarious, but I don’t think you have to hate one to love the other. The show isn’t called Sheldon… It’s nice to have small problems like these. I think the answer is to just stop reading about shows I like, especially when I know my opinion differs so much with others. Or I could just get a life.

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So I have three Mad Men’s to watch plus all the new shows on this week, including the return of Glee!!! Time to watch it all, especially with my return to exercising? No way.

Hello My Name Is Loser

The World Series: Well, at least it’s over now.

Do NOT misunderstand me. I am a New York Mets fan. Period.

But since my team didn’t do so well this year (understatement of the decade), I had to make a choice: root for someone in the MLB postseason or stop caring about baseball until next year. As I’m still trying to learn as much as I can about the game, I went with option #1 which meant…rooting for the New York Yankees.

I have my reasons.

1. As much as I don’t like the Yankees, being the snobs from the same town as the Mets, I really hate the Red Sox and it now goes so far beyond just being annoyed at T traffic during the season. In sports, you don’t have to have rational explanations for rooting for or against a team. I knew it would annoy Red Sox fans here if the Yankees won.
2. And as much as I don’t like the Yankees with all their A-Rod crap, come on. I was not going to root for the Philadelphia Phillies! They are in the Mets division, won last year, and are just a bunch of punks that complain about the game, their opponents and even their own season. See comments made by a certain Phillies pitcher about wanting his season to be over. If they won two years in a row, they’d be just completely insufferable next year.

So yeah, World Series over. 2009 season done and in the books. It is SO time to move on. The Mets can continue to get healthy, maybe add (perhaps subtract) a few things and a year from now, this post will be all about the other New York baseball team that won the World Series.

Sleep tight David Wright.

“I just wanna live while I’m alive”

Wednesday thoughts:

• Can you be obsessed with a CD less than 24 hours after getting it? The Glee soundtrack is so awesome it makes me want to cry to have to wait until next Wednesday for a new episode. I added to the album by getting the “It’s My Life”/”My Confessions” mashup and the “Halo”/”Walking on Sunshine” mashup on iTunes. I wish they had put even more of the songs on the CD like the Thong Song and I Could’ve Danced All Night or even Leaving on a Jet Plane (or whatever that song is called. Not enough M. Morrisson goodness.
• Fall in New England is especially brilliant this year. There is a tree on Mass Ave in Arlington that is bright blood red. When the sun hits it, you need sunglasses. Boston is a very pretty place right now.
• Going to see Fiddler on the Roof tonight at the Opera House with friend of blog Dori. Should be fun. I’ve only ever seen the movie but I really enjoyed that. Downside is that the show is close to 3 hours long. Trying not to think about that part.
• How I Met Your Mother was pretty funny on Monday, though even I was getting a bit sick watching cutesy Barney and Robin. I’m glad they are giving Marshall and Lily more to do this year.
• The Big Bang Theory: football and geeks? This show gets more and more perfect with every episode. Loved the jersey cocktail dress on Leonard and that Sheldon knows about football. I also very much appreciated that Leonard was taking notes on the sport by watching New England. Oh and the Battlestar toast was awesome.
• Am behind on every other show and it’s very sad. I am starting to catch up on Vampire Diaries. I forgot how much I enjoy this show and it’s just getting better and better. Don’t spoil me, I still have like 4 to watch.
• Speaking of vampires, I’m reading The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I’m only 150 pages in but so far it’s about all these historians trying to find the truth about the Dracula legend. Very enjoyable and well written, especially if you are interested in historical fiction. It’s also nice after reading and watching so many benign vampire stories to read one that is actually frightening and makes the vampires actually evil instead of romantic and misunderstood…so far anyway. I may have to read Bram Stoker’s Dracula after this. I don’t think I even know that story.
• Work has been so crazy busy with close and large projects. It feels good to have a lot to do but so far this week I’ve been working above my normal hours which is sad because I do that overtime in the morning when no one sees it and I don’t get paid for it so other than having extra time to do my work, I’m getting no credit for it. Maybe I should casually let it slip.
• I really need to stop my imagination going wild. It’s gonna get me into trouble, sooner than you may think.
• Saw graffiti on the T this morning: “Thank God for California’s Prop 8. Next MA.” Also saw that Maine voters reversed the gay marriage law up there. What else can I even say about this?
• 2 and a half weeks until Thanksgiving – well my Thanksgiving break anyway. I’m so mixed about it. I can’t wait to have a week off of work and I’m excited to see my father and stepmother but I’m also, uh, not. Oh well.
• 2 straight weeks I’ve been brushing and flossing morning and night like a pro. I’ve been really good about it since my dentist yelled at me. This better make a noticeable difference next time he sees me cause it’s taking up a lot more time.

Ok, I suppose I should get started on work. Have a good one!

Last thought. This picture makes me really happy. Two of my TV boyfriends all gussied up. Ignore the girl.