You've earned a place atop the ICU's Hall of Fame
First of all: luciademedici tagged "everybody" in a meme:
Rules are: No matter what the genre, whether or not they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your livejournal along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.
And because I'm a sucker, ta da:
1) "Level", The Raconteurs
2) "Fake Tales of San Francisco", The Arctic Monkeys
3) "From the Ritz to the Rubble", The Arctic Monkeys
4) "Make This Go On Forever", Snow Patrol
5) "Hanging on the Telephone", Blondie
6) "It's On the Rocks", The Donnas
7) "I Am the Man Who Loves You", Wilco
I tag ... whoever. Have at it.
Secondly, it's time for Part Five: 2006 TV Recap
Originally, I was going to write this huge, asstastic tirade on TV and certain shows and character assassinations and and blah blah blah, but I've decided to, instead, give my favorite TV moments of the year in handy-dandy Top Ten Format.
10. The Outer Limits: What the?!
Okay, this just happened last night. And yes, according to the imdb, this episode originally aired in 2000. But if I saw it between January 1 and today, it counts!
I was making my bed last night and put Sci-Fi on because The X-Files has been playing at 2 a.m. recently (in all its Season Four glory! Usually when I catch The X-Files it’s season nine crap). But last night… no! It was something weird! So I do this weird turn-upside-down from the bed thing and glance at the screen, and who should I spy on the screen but … Victor Garber!
I only caught the last fifteen minutes or so, but it was enough to make my top ten moments (probably because it’s so fresh in my mind). Garber played an evil geneticist or something that created an android, and the point was that the android had fallen in love with another android and they wanted to get married and have android babies (I have NO idea - it’s The Outer Limits). But Garber was EVIL and BROODING and a little bit snarky and that’s JUST how I likes my Victor Garber. It was a great moment, and if you can catch it, it’s totally worth it.
9. Lost: Adios, Mr. Eko
Oh, Mr. Eko. I loved you and your Jesus stick. I had no idea you were going to get killed, and I'm all sad now. But thank you for bringing back the Lostzilla Smoke Monster, if only for one last time.
8. The White House Correspondant's Dinner
I came home from work one night in April (or was it May?) and found the reairing of this on C-SPAN. Yes, it was a miracle - Alaina watched C-SPAN. And watched throughout the arrivals, and watched while the Press Corps and the President ate dinner. And watched while the President of the Press Corps made an unfunny speech. And continued to watch while President Bush and a look-alike did a hokey routine that wouldn't have been funny in the Poconos.
And then: Stephen Colbert came out for his address.
I'm sure everyone on my flist has seen this or read this, so I'm not going to rehash it. Just the sheer brilliance of Stephen Colbert and his persona ... words cannot describe it. Stephen Colbert was insulting the President of the United States, the White House Press Corps, and the media in general at an event honoring all three groups.
I honestly wondered if President Bush was aware that Stephen Colbert in real life wasn't as full-blooded a Republican as the Stephen Colbert Persona and invited Colbert, hoping to get the persona and instead got the person, impersonating as the persona.
Did that make sense? Eh. I don't care much.
7. The Office: A Benihana Christmas
FINALLY! Pam and Karen become friends! And it doesn't throw a monkey wrench in either of their relationships with Jim! Michael gets dumped by Carole (it was bound to happen), and is taken to Benihana's by Andy, wherein Michael and Andy pick up two Asian waitresses (that's important) and bring them back to their Christmas Party.
Or Christmas Parties, because Pam and Karen have teamed up against Angela and created their own Party. If The Office were Beans, Pam and Karen would be Marilyn and I, and Angela would be Judy. Totally. No question.
Anyway, the moment: Michael realizes he doesn't know which Asian Waitress is HIS Asian Waitress. Because, and I quote Michael Scott: "All waitresses look alike."
Now, this episode came about after Emily and I had written our Asian-centric spec script for The Office, so of course, instead of being incensed about the racism evident, I think, "Why didn't WE think of that?"
The episode continued to the point where Michael marked the arm of "his" waitress to tell her apart. And a beautiful moment comes from Jim, when he hears about Michael's Waitress from Michael. I really want to know if John Krasinski knew that "Michael Scott" had marked the waitress, because Krasinski's reaction is very real there, like it was a complete surprise to him.
6. Arrested Development: The Final Night
Due to FOX being an asshole, the final four episodes of Arrested Development aired back-to-back on one night. But I have not laughed that hard before or since. Each episode just became a little bit more brilliant. From the marriage between George Michael and Maeby that they thought was fake until it was too late (which progressed into George Michael going head-first into second base), which was weird because Maeby was George Michael’s cousin because Lindsay actually gave birth to Maeby - and then let’s sidetrack onto the mystery of Nellie Bluth. A mystery daughter, who may have been the scapegoat for the Iraq mess. And then it turned out that this mystery daughter (played beautifully by Justine Bateman) is actually a prostitute, and her pimp is … FRANKLIN! And then Lindsay was actually adopted by Lucille, so Lindsay’s not really a Bluth, which means Maeby isn’t related to George Michael and … ANNYONG WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING?! Annyong even came back?!
It was brilliant. And I haven’t seen anything else nearly as brilliant. Rest in Peace, Arrested Development. And we’re still waiting on that movie…
5. Grey's Anatomy: Welcome to the world, William George Bailey Jones
OH, "(as we know it)" (a.k.a. "The Second Half of the Post-Super-Bowl Episode"). Between the bomb going off and killing Kyle Chandler and not Meredith, Tucker Jones nearly coding in the middle of his brain surgery (until The Little Bastard actually hits something a la Fonzie and the Jukebox and Tucker's heart starts beating again), and Bailey refusing to give birth until GEORGE convinces her to give birth ... oh, GEORGE. Before the Meredith sex, before the Calllie Fiasco, this was the George I loved.
But the moment that made me burst into huge gasping sobs of PAIN was when Bailey presented her husband with their new son, and revealed his name to be William George Bailey Jones. Because you KNOW she wasn't going to name him George until THE George convinced her to give birth and I'm seriously, honest-to-God choking up a bit just thinking about it. That moment will be like the moment in Titanic where, while water is coming up to his knees, Mr. Andrews (yes, that's Victor Garber to you) resets the clock in despair and nobly sacrifices himself for not building Rose a better ship. *SOB*
4. The Office: Jim vs. Dwight
Oh, Dwight. I will admit I came to The Office late (like, September of this year, rather than watched the whole season 2 when it originally aired), so some of the great Jim vs. Dwight moments may have originally aired in 2005, but since I saw them in 2006, they count in my book. Dwight is so … insistent that he’s right and awesome and perfect, and with just a look, Jim cuts him down to size. There was the moment where, mid-ab-thrust, Jim pops Dwight’s Abdominal Workout Ball. There was the brilliant teaser for “The Fire,” which never fails to reduce me to riotous tears of laughter, where Jim managed to get Dwight’s entire desk into the men’s room.
But, for a true 2006 moment, I have to give: Faxes for Dwight . I don’t even want to explain it. Just … go watch it. Even if you haven’t watched a single episode of The Office, if you don’t find it funny … just … gah. There’s no hope for you.
3. The Daily Show/The Colbert Report: The Geraldo Smackdown
The relationship between Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart is one of both respect and disbelief. For most of 2006, we only saw the rapport between Stewart and Colbert during the throws to Colbert at the end of The Daily Show. But then there was the Geraldo Smackdown (sidenote - how on earth has Microsoft Word managed to put Geraldo into its common use dictionary!? I find that horrible!), wherein Geraldo insulted Stewart and Colbert and said that all they do is show videos of old ladies falling on the ice. So Stephen asked Jon to apologize to Geraldo, and Jon refused. And here’s what Stephen said when Jon refused:
What are you implying, Jon - that O’Reilly and Geraldo are narcissists enthralled with their own overblown egos? Projecting their own petty insecurities onto the world around them? Inventing false enemies for the sole purpose of bolstering their sense of self-importance? Itty-bitty Nixons minus the relevance or a hint of vision? HOW DARE YOU!
And then - AND THEN - Stephen Colbert put Jon Stewart On Notice. That entire second act nearly killed me in a wonderful way.
2. Veronica Mars: Adios, Beaver Cassidy
I had been notoriously spoiler-free for Veronica Mars all season. I had no idea who blew up the bus, I had no idea what the Fitzpatricks' were doing rolled into the season mystery, and I liked it that way. So when kind, gentle Beaver Cassidy, wonderful boyfriend to Mac, was revealed to not only have been the mastermind behind the bus crash, but also Veronica's rapist from season one, I was stunned.
But the worst part was when Cassidy blew up the plan that carried Woody Goodman and, supposedly, Keith Mars. In my heart of hearts, I knew Rob Thomas wouldn't kill off Keith. The relationship between Keith and Veronica was the central relationship (Logan/Veronica shippers bedamned! Bedamned, I say!), and killing Keith would result in TONS OF HATE MAIL. But for those seven agonizing minutes, I truly believed that Rob Thomas pulled a Lost and killed off a main character without notice.
But then Logan was making (unexplained) bacon the next morning and Keith was okay and Alaina bawled.
1. Alias: Jack's Final Moment
Oh, Jack. Throughout the entire series, his one motivation has been to protect Sydney. Sometimes it was to protect Sydney from her own stupidity, but mostly it's been to protect her from the Evil Uncle Arvin Sloane (and yes, even though he's now Benevolent Uncle Saul on Brothers and Sisters, he will ALWAYS be Evil Uncle Arvin Sloane to me) and from Irina. And no one - NO ONE - has been hotter shooting people. One of my favorite Jack Bristow moments was the season 1 finale where he shoots Hiladki (HILADKI! the WEASEL!), even after Hiladki confessed, simply because Hiladki put Syd in danger.
But the best moment in the Jack Bristow saga was his final one. After being shot approximately five times in the chestal region and being dragged out of the Rambaldi Cave of Eternity by Syd and Vaughn, Jack dragged himself back down into the cave, and had the time to strap DYNOMITE to his chest! And he confronts Sloane (after Sloane took the Rambaldi Immortal Life Juice):
Sloane: I didn't want to shoot you, Jack, but Sydney forced my hand.
Jack: Yes; she can be very stubborn at times.
Sloane: You're dying. I can help you.
Jack: I don't want your help, Arvin. You've caused my daughter ... so much pain. I could have prevented it. I won't continue to make that mistake.
Sloane: I think you've overestimated your position, Jack. You can't hurt me anymore.
Jack: True. But I can keep you down here with me.
Sloane: What are you doing?
Jack: You beat death, Arvin. But you couldn't beat me.
And BOOM! Jack sacrifices himself, keeping Immortal Sloane trapped for Eternity! And Alaina bawled.
And that, my friends, was Alaina's Memorable TV Year. And Dear Uncle Jean: GIVE ME BACK MY ALIAS FINALE, YOU BASTARD!!
That's it for the Year in Review. Coming Soon: New Year's Resolutions and Tarot Card Spread.
Happy New Year!!
Rules are: No matter what the genre, whether or not they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your livejournal along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.
And because I'm a sucker, ta da:
1) "Level", The Raconteurs
2) "Fake Tales of San Francisco", The Arctic Monkeys
3) "From the Ritz to the Rubble", The Arctic Monkeys
4) "Make This Go On Forever", Snow Patrol
5) "Hanging on the Telephone", Blondie
6) "It's On the Rocks", The Donnas
7) "I Am the Man Who Loves You", Wilco
I tag ... whoever. Have at it.
Secondly, it's time for Part Five: 2006 TV Recap
Originally, I was going to write this huge, asstastic tirade on TV and certain shows and character assassinations and and blah blah blah, but I've decided to, instead, give my favorite TV moments of the year in handy-dandy Top Ten Format.
10. The Outer Limits: What the?!
Okay, this just happened last night. And yes, according to the imdb, this episode originally aired in 2000. But if I saw it between January 1 and today, it counts!
I was making my bed last night and put Sci-Fi on because The X-Files has been playing at 2 a.m. recently (in all its Season Four glory! Usually when I catch The X-Files it’s season nine crap). But last night… no! It was something weird! So I do this weird turn-upside-down from the bed thing and glance at the screen, and who should I spy on the screen but … Victor Garber!
I only caught the last fifteen minutes or so, but it was enough to make my top ten moments (probably because it’s so fresh in my mind). Garber played an evil geneticist or something that created an android, and the point was that the android had fallen in love with another android and they wanted to get married and have android babies (I have NO idea - it’s The Outer Limits). But Garber was EVIL and BROODING and a little bit snarky and that’s JUST how I likes my Victor Garber. It was a great moment, and if you can catch it, it’s totally worth it.
9. Lost: Adios, Mr. Eko
Oh, Mr. Eko. I loved you and your Jesus stick. I had no idea you were going to get killed, and I'm all sad now. But thank you for bringing back the Lostzilla Smoke Monster, if only for one last time.
8. The White House Correspondant's Dinner
I came home from work one night in April (or was it May?) and found the reairing of this on C-SPAN. Yes, it was a miracle - Alaina watched C-SPAN. And watched throughout the arrivals, and watched while the Press Corps and the President ate dinner. And watched while the President of the Press Corps made an unfunny speech. And continued to watch while President Bush and a look-alike did a hokey routine that wouldn't have been funny in the Poconos.
And then: Stephen Colbert came out for his address.
I'm sure everyone on my flist has seen this or read this, so I'm not going to rehash it. Just the sheer brilliance of Stephen Colbert and his persona ... words cannot describe it. Stephen Colbert was insulting the President of the United States, the White House Press Corps, and the media in general at an event honoring all three groups.
I honestly wondered if President Bush was aware that Stephen Colbert in real life wasn't as full-blooded a Republican as the Stephen Colbert Persona and invited Colbert, hoping to get the persona and instead got the person, impersonating as the persona.
Did that make sense? Eh. I don't care much.
7. The Office: A Benihana Christmas
FINALLY! Pam and Karen become friends! And it doesn't throw a monkey wrench in either of their relationships with Jim! Michael gets dumped by Carole (it was bound to happen), and is taken to Benihana's by Andy, wherein Michael and Andy pick up two Asian waitresses (that's important) and bring them back to their Christmas Party.
Or Christmas Parties, because Pam and Karen have teamed up against Angela and created their own Party. If The Office were Beans, Pam and Karen would be Marilyn and I, and Angela would be Judy. Totally. No question.
Anyway, the moment: Michael realizes he doesn't know which Asian Waitress is HIS Asian Waitress. Because, and I quote Michael Scott: "All waitresses look alike."
Now, this episode came about after Emily and I had written our Asian-centric spec script for The Office, so of course, instead of being incensed about the racism evident, I think, "Why didn't WE think of that?"
The episode continued to the point where Michael marked the arm of "his" waitress to tell her apart. And a beautiful moment comes from Jim, when he hears about Michael's Waitress from Michael. I really want to know if John Krasinski knew that "Michael Scott" had marked the waitress, because Krasinski's reaction is very real there, like it was a complete surprise to him.
6. Arrested Development: The Final Night
Due to FOX being an asshole, the final four episodes of Arrested Development aired back-to-back on one night. But I have not laughed that hard before or since. Each episode just became a little bit more brilliant. From the marriage between George Michael and Maeby that they thought was fake until it was too late (which progressed into George Michael going head-first into second base), which was weird because Maeby was George Michael’s cousin because Lindsay actually gave birth to Maeby - and then let’s sidetrack onto the mystery of Nellie Bluth. A mystery daughter, who may have been the scapegoat for the Iraq mess. And then it turned out that this mystery daughter (played beautifully by Justine Bateman) is actually a prostitute, and her pimp is … FRANKLIN! And then Lindsay was actually adopted by Lucille, so Lindsay’s not really a Bluth, which means Maeby isn’t related to George Michael and … ANNYONG WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING?! Annyong even came back?!
It was brilliant. And I haven’t seen anything else nearly as brilliant. Rest in Peace, Arrested Development. And we’re still waiting on that movie…
5. Grey's Anatomy: Welcome to the world, William George Bailey Jones
OH, "(as we know it)" (a.k.a. "The Second Half of the Post-Super-Bowl Episode"). Between the bomb going off and killing Kyle Chandler and not Meredith, Tucker Jones nearly coding in the middle of his brain surgery (until The Little Bastard actually hits something a la Fonzie and the Jukebox and Tucker's heart starts beating again), and Bailey refusing to give birth until GEORGE convinces her to give birth ... oh, GEORGE. Before the Meredith sex, before the Calllie Fiasco, this was the George I loved.
But the moment that made me burst into huge gasping sobs of PAIN was when Bailey presented her husband with their new son, and revealed his name to be William George Bailey Jones. Because you KNOW she wasn't going to name him George until THE George convinced her to give birth and I'm seriously, honest-to-God choking up a bit just thinking about it. That moment will be like the moment in Titanic where, while water is coming up to his knees, Mr. Andrews (yes, that's Victor Garber to you) resets the clock in despair and nobly sacrifices himself for not building Rose a better ship. *SOB*
4. The Office: Jim vs. Dwight
Oh, Dwight. I will admit I came to The Office late (like, September of this year, rather than watched the whole season 2 when it originally aired), so some of the great Jim vs. Dwight moments may have originally aired in 2005, but since I saw them in 2006, they count in my book. Dwight is so … insistent that he’s right and awesome and perfect, and with just a look, Jim cuts him down to size. There was the moment where, mid-ab-thrust, Jim pops Dwight’s Abdominal Workout Ball. There was the brilliant teaser for “The Fire,” which never fails to reduce me to riotous tears of laughter, where Jim managed to get Dwight’s entire desk into the men’s room.
But, for a true 2006 moment, I have to give: Faxes for Dwight . I don’t even want to explain it. Just … go watch it. Even if you haven’t watched a single episode of The Office, if you don’t find it funny … just … gah. There’s no hope for you.
3. The Daily Show/The Colbert Report: The Geraldo Smackdown
The relationship between Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart is one of both respect and disbelief. For most of 2006, we only saw the rapport between Stewart and Colbert during the throws to Colbert at the end of The Daily Show. But then there was the Geraldo Smackdown (sidenote - how on earth has Microsoft Word managed to put Geraldo into its common use dictionary!? I find that horrible!), wherein Geraldo insulted Stewart and Colbert and said that all they do is show videos of old ladies falling on the ice. So Stephen asked Jon to apologize to Geraldo, and Jon refused. And here’s what Stephen said when Jon refused:
What are you implying, Jon - that O’Reilly and Geraldo are narcissists enthralled with their own overblown egos? Projecting their own petty insecurities onto the world around them? Inventing false enemies for the sole purpose of bolstering their sense of self-importance? Itty-bitty Nixons minus the relevance or a hint of vision? HOW DARE YOU!
And then - AND THEN - Stephen Colbert put Jon Stewart On Notice. That entire second act nearly killed me in a wonderful way.
2. Veronica Mars: Adios, Beaver Cassidy
I had been notoriously spoiler-free for Veronica Mars all season. I had no idea who blew up the bus, I had no idea what the Fitzpatricks' were doing rolled into the season mystery, and I liked it that way. So when kind, gentle Beaver Cassidy, wonderful boyfriend to Mac, was revealed to not only have been the mastermind behind the bus crash, but also Veronica's rapist from season one, I was stunned.
But the worst part was when Cassidy blew up the plan that carried Woody Goodman and, supposedly, Keith Mars. In my heart of hearts, I knew Rob Thomas wouldn't kill off Keith. The relationship between Keith and Veronica was the central relationship (Logan/Veronica shippers bedamned! Bedamned, I say!), and killing Keith would result in TONS OF HATE MAIL. But for those seven agonizing minutes, I truly believed that Rob Thomas pulled a Lost and killed off a main character without notice.
But then Logan was making (unexplained) bacon the next morning and Keith was okay and Alaina bawled.
1. Alias: Jack's Final Moment
Oh, Jack. Throughout the entire series, his one motivation has been to protect Sydney. Sometimes it was to protect Sydney from her own stupidity, but mostly it's been to protect her from the Evil Uncle Arvin Sloane (and yes, even though he's now Benevolent Uncle Saul on Brothers and Sisters, he will ALWAYS be Evil Uncle Arvin Sloane to me) and from Irina. And no one - NO ONE - has been hotter shooting people. One of my favorite Jack Bristow moments was the season 1 finale where he shoots Hiladki (HILADKI! the WEASEL!), even after Hiladki confessed, simply because Hiladki put Syd in danger.
But the best moment in the Jack Bristow saga was his final one. After being shot approximately five times in the chestal region and being dragged out of the Rambaldi Cave of Eternity by Syd and Vaughn, Jack dragged himself back down into the cave, and had the time to strap DYNOMITE to his chest! And he confronts Sloane (after Sloane took the Rambaldi Immortal Life Juice):
Sloane: I didn't want to shoot you, Jack, but Sydney forced my hand.
Jack: Yes; she can be very stubborn at times.
Sloane: You're dying. I can help you.
Jack: I don't want your help, Arvin. You've caused my daughter ... so much pain. I could have prevented it. I won't continue to make that mistake.
Sloane: I think you've overestimated your position, Jack. You can't hurt me anymore.
Jack: True. But I can keep you down here with me.
Sloane: What are you doing?
Jack: You beat death, Arvin. But you couldn't beat me.
And BOOM! Jack sacrifices himself, keeping Immortal Sloane trapped for Eternity! And Alaina bawled.
And that, my friends, was Alaina's Memorable TV Year. And Dear Uncle Jean: GIVE ME BACK MY ALIAS FINALE, YOU BASTARD!!
That's it for the Year in Review. Coming Soon: New Year's Resolutions and Tarot Card Spread.
Happy New Year!!