Please

That’s all I’m asking the gods right now. Please? Please oh please let this man win on Tuesday!

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“I’m going to make this as hard as possible” – The Office 5×5 “Employee Transfer”

Gonna do this different this week. Divided into two categories: what I liked and what I didn’t like.

What I liked:

• Always love seeing Halloween costumes and I like that Halloween was only part of the cold open. I can’t decide which costume was best. Pam’s Charlie Chaplin was great, especially the Hitler line. Andy looked more like a character from the musical Cats than a kitten but that moment with Jim Dave was classic akward Office. Of course the joke about everyone dressing up as Heath Ledger’s the Joker was very funny, though Creed was genuinely scary especially since I watched this very late last night. Was sad to see no Michael costume.
• It was great to see Jim and Pam together again. Very reassuring. Makes me feel much better about the state of this fictional relationship.
• Can’t say enough about Dwight and Andy going at it. Nice to see Dwight take on the Jim role in pulling a prank on someone and the Cornell prank was so great because Dwight really hates Andy so it wasn’t motivated out of boredom or general dickishness like with Jim. The interview was really funny and I laughed out loud when Andy couldn’t pull the desk back away from Dwight. It was nice to see more of Andy just on his own without Angela for a change, even though I like the two of them together. And while the tag was very close to the Jim/Dwight switch a few seasons ago, I still liked it and laughed so hard when Andy could not bite through the beet.
• Michael’s outburst: “I hate Jan!” It’s about time you said that.

What I didn’t like:

• :::sigh::: Michael and Holly. I knew the breakup was coming, how could you not see it coming? But it all felt very abrupt and there wasn’t a good enough reason for Holly to break it off. I would’ve liked to have seen them try the long distance relationship for at least an episode or two. That whole part of the episode felt forced.
• What’s up with Jim’s brothers being real assholes to Pam? While it was nice to Jim stand up for her so vehemently, it was even remotely funny and didn’t even make sense as a prank. Was this supposed to give us insight into what Jim’s background must have been like and why he sometimes does dickish things? There was such an ominous feeling to this part.
• Pam needs to come back to Scranton. NOW!

Overall it was an okay episode, definitely my least favorite of season 5 so far. I’m not overreacting to it and saying the show has jumped the shark by any means. It was just a bit of a clunker. All great shows have them (remember the awful series of like 6 episodes with Julie on the second season of Friends?). Anyhoo, looking forward to next week’s episode.

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Coolest Thing To Watch On Election Night

The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are combining next Tuesday night for a one hour live election special. The press release says the Stewart and Colbert will be anchoring from the same desk. That is gonna be so great. Also, and this is really astounding, the show is being broadcast on the big jumbo screen in Times Square. Imagine that.

Anyway, should be fun. The show is on at 10pm.

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Wait, there’s an election coming up?

One week! In one week (knock on wood) we will have a new president elect. YAY! Things are looking up for Obama as polls across the country have him ahead by 5 points or so and he’s winning most of the battleground states. Some analysts are saying that he is in a good enough position that he doesn’t even need to win Florida or Ohio to win. I think it will be really interesting to see how the states fall, particularly Virginia, Florida, Ohio and … Arizona? That’s right. Apparently John McCain’s own state has become a battleground with the polls coming in at a dead heat between the two candidates. Truly amazing.

Yet I’m not counting my chickens until the eggs have hatched. It will be exciting to see this all unfold though. Remember that Obama is on The Daily Show tonight and on Rachel Maddow tomorrow night. Also, Obama’s half hour commercial airs tonight (opposite Pushing Daisies) and McCain is on Larry King tonight. I’m missing all of these things which is why I, for the thousandth time, thank my lucky stars for getting DVR when I did. Sunday is going to be nothing but watching TV and I can’t wait.

I’ll leave you with this as I have some pumpkin planning to do. There’s a big fence by my apartment on the corner of what I like to call the “intersection of death”. It is a 5 road intersection and all but one has a stop sign. Very dangerous. Anyway, on this fence yesterday, somebody or some group put up two enormous McCain/Palin signs. I mean like bigger than big, perhaps about 87ft wide and 4 ft tall or something like that. Makes me sick to walk past them. C’mon Arlington, what are you doing?

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Obama Gets It

Obama is scheduled to be on The Daily Show Wednesday night. I do believe that is what’s called a “huge get” for both TDS and Obama who isn’t afraid to show some love to the – stolen phrase –  Stewart Nation.

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If You Could Ask One Question…

… of Stephen Sondheim, what would it be? I suppose I should have posted this days ago but I only recently found out that there is a Q&A session at the Sondheim event I am attending this evening. I admire the man so much, he’s such a legend, I don’t know where to even begin to think of a question to ask that wouldn’t be stupid and at the same time overly snooty.

I guess I’d be curious as to his opinions of the theater today, if he thinks it is in trouble or if the creative spark is still strong. I’d love to hear more about his young days going to the theater, the influence Oscar Hammerstein II had on him and I’d really love to know of the shows he’s worked on, which are his favorites and which are ones he doesn’t think fondly of looking back on it all. Are their shows that were better received than he though they would be and vice versa? Does he consider any one piece of work his masterpiece, the most personal and so on? What, in his opinion, makes a good musical?

Hopefully others will ask these. I’d be way too nervous.

Side note: I feel crappier today than I did yesterday and a coworker just about drove me tears a little while ago. Happy Friday.

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“It squeaks when you bang it” – The Office 5×4 “Crime Aid”

That just might be my favorite “that’s what she said” of the entire series. Cried with laughter on that one. So, raise your hand if you think season 5 has been effing AWESOME! I’ve loved every episode and “Crime Aid” is certainly no exception. They have really gotten back to the root of The Office this year, starting with so much of each story taking place IN the office setting.

Let me first squee about Michael and Holly. OMG, I about jumped off the couch when Holly dragged Michael into the stairwell to have sex. How adorable! I was mad that it went to commercial over that audio. And Holly and Michael holding hands was great. I can’t remember. This couple is just fantastic. Loved the cutaway to Jim observing the cute couple in that look of his that says “aw, they look like me and Pam. Or the way we used to look before she stayed out with friends until 8am.” More on that later.

The Dwight/Angela/Andy triangle seems…over? Is Angela sticking with Andy? I have to say, this is another really cute couple. Say all you want for Dwangela, Andy is so much like Angela that they make a lot more sense together. Until we see Andy doing something dickish, I’m rooting for them. I loved the Dwight/Phyllis stuff. Poor Phyllis, though that was sweet of Dwight to push up the auction for her. At least, that’s what I thought he was doing.

And I can’t avoid it any longer. Jim and Pam. Oh, what is happening to Jim and Pam? First, I’m really missing Jenna Fischer and I’m hoping this separation doesn’t last too long so that she’ll be on the show more. Second, what the f? Fine, you think Jim and Pam are boring if nothing is going wrong with them but watching Jim be tormented like this is not right. I about wanted to jump into my television and strangle the dude, even though I know he’s fictional, for not going to New York. Nothing to do with trust, maybe it would be nice to surprise your girlfriend with an unexpected visit? Eesh!

And then there’s the tag. What can I say about the tag? Holly putting her finger on Michael’s mouth? Too cute for words. The little peck and the full on kiss? Perfection! Holly’s enthusiasm for Michael? “Michael seems to be too good to be true. So far, it all is” or something like that. So adorable. David Wallace seriously looking into the camera and saying that he didn’t know they were dating in a very ominous tone? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When do we start the “Keep Holly on The Office” campaign? The title of next week’s episode is “Employee Transfer”. Hmmm.

Overall, fantastic episode. And then Will Ferrell pops up as Pres. Bush. For a moment, I thought it was the year 2000.

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Bah

Took a sick day today. It was real borderline. I’m not knocking at death’s door but I also don’t feel great and yesterday was hard to get through. I think the main reason I stayed home is that my office is an hour away and if I went and felt really sick throughout the day, it is an hour before I could get into my bed. I always feel guilty taking sick days. I know a lot of people who simply don’t take them or don’t have the luxury of taking them and that makes me feel bad when I do. I guess I’m just not that strong.

On other horrible, horrible, horrible news, it sounds like things are not going well for Tom Brady. The Boston Herald is reporting that he has had three procedures since his surgery to remove infection. Of course, they are already thinking that the worst could happen – that would be for them to have to repeat the surgery, starting from scratch, meaning Brady would not be ready to come back in July 2009. I’m staying positive. And apparently Brady’s been writing on his website: http://www.tombrady.com. Who knew?

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A Night Full of Politics

I had some entertaining TV watching last night. At 8pm I caught up with my Monday night shows I had missed due to the football game via DVR. In short, How I Met Your Mother was awesome! Rather sad though. And then I watched Daily Show and Colbert Report from Monday evening. If you didn’t see Monday night’s Daily Show, go to the website and watch it because it was the funniest thing ever.

At 9, I watched one of my new favorite shows, The Rachel Maddow Show. Does anyone else watch her? Yes, she is liberal and makes no apologies for it but she’s funny and engaging without beating you over the head with the commentary.

No, for that I watched Keith Olbermann at 10. Both shows were sufficiently going after voter fraud allegations and Sarah Palin’s latest and greatest ill-informed assertion that the Vice President is “in charge” of the U.S. Senate and can go in and make policy changes with the Senators. That was her response to what the Vice President’s job is, asked by a third grader. Oh dear Lord, we are in trouble if that ticket wins.

I finished up the night with, of course, the Tuesday Daily Show and Colbert Report.

Seriously, what am I going to watch once this election is over? 🙂

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On The Hunt For Buffalo

Well that was an exciting game wasn’t it? I had the biggest smile on my face through most of that. Not only did the Patriots beat the Denver Broncos, a team we have historically had trouble against, but we showed a kind of dominance last night that hasn’t been seen since last year. Against a good, high level team (though admittedly their defense is ranked one of the worst in the league).

Cassel did better in the second half but those sacks were just crazy. I almost feel like the O-Line was trying to get him sacked, like an initiation or something or a test to see how strong the kid is. No interceptions and turnovers though, thank God.

Anyway, great game. I cannot believe the announcers even hinted at saying “Tom who?”. I’m not ready to say that yet.

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