fives and dimes
So, remember that top five meme? I do!
mazily asked for top five CJ/Toby moments (canon, fanon, whatever):
1. "By the way, you are a beautiful woman, and no one around here has ever assumed you were either ambitious or stupid," beat, Toby fiddling with the door frame. CJ looking up at him kind of wistfully. "Toby? It took two years." (I love how it's this extremely personal exchange and a completely professional one at the same time. Ah, inappropriate workplace romance.)
2. C.J. breaking up Toby's marriage, with or without sleeping with him, in countless Bordello stories--it was always this marvelous possibility that never really got cancelled out by canon, and there was all this sex and alcohol and tension and goofy souvenirs from California (how did the Bordy collectively agree that C.J. would buy Toby the best random presents? Was it you, pene?). It's so sad, and so romantic, and such a perfect flipside to the crisp White House world.
3. The entire "apology" scene from Lord John Marbury. A SHIP IS BORN. Toby was trying to do it nicer!
4. Because I'm nothing if not a taker of fanbait: the end of The Women of Qumar, but more specifically, all the fannish spinning out of where that gesture came from and what happened next (including my own, since that's my favorite story I ever wrote about them).
5. The scene at the pool table in Manchester, not so much the dialogue or anything, but the way that they look at each other and move around with these props between them and she finally just knocks his eight-ball right into the corner pocket with her bare hand. It is that rarest of Sorkin things: a non-belabored metaphor.
attempt_unique asked for top five favorite speeches from a Sorkin show:
1. Okay, it's short, but it should count: "Because I love you I can say this: no rich young white guy ever got anywhere with me by comparing himself to Rosa Parks." Only Isaac can fit a whole Sorkin speech into one perfect sentence.
2. "We're gonna have a party, Congressman. You should come; it's gonna be great. And when the watermelon's done, right in town square, right in the band gazebo. You guys got a band gazebo? Doesn't matter; we'll build one." Josh Lyman wore out his welcome with me a little bit (yeah, I'm not sure how, I woke up in season five totally over him and also missing a kidney), but maybe just because nobody could sustain the awesomeness of his first season self.
3. Oh, can I count Leo's whole Johnnie Walker Blue monologue from Bartlet For America as a speech? Because if I can, it's gotta be on here, it absolutely guts me every time. But if not, well, the whole Shadow of Two Gunmen speech, "They say a good man can't get elected President. I don't believe that." There's so much love and fire in Leo.
4. "That was eleven years ago tonight, and I just wanted to say I'm sorry, Sam. You deserved better in my hands. And I apologize. That's all." Dan. The Apology is a obvious, obvious choice, but for a reason.
5. I'm gonna quote this one in full, because of it being the only Bartlet speech I'm including, and it was so hard to narrow it down. But I remember it giving me chills the first time around, because it was so heartbreaking how Jed had clearly thought this nightmare scenario out both from a political and personal standpoint, and how he really didn't seem to like using it to scare his daughter, but he had to make it real for her. And then of course in light of later events of the series it's just scarily prophetic and perfect.
"It's a big party with lots of noise, and lots of people coming and going. And it's a half hour before someone says, 'Hey, where's Zoey?' Another fifteen minutes before the first phone call. Another hour and a half before anyone even thinks to shut down all the airports. Now we're off to the races! You're tied to a chair in a cargo shack, somewhere in the middle of Uganda, and I'm told that I have 72 hours to get Israel to free 460 terrorist prisoners. So I'm on the phone pleading with Benjamin and he's saying, 'I'm sorry, Mr. President, but Israel simply does not negotiate with terrorists, period. It's the only way we can survive.' So now we've got a new problem, because this country no longer has a Commander in Chief, it has a father who's out of his mind because his little girl is in a shack somewhere in Uganda with a gun to her head! Do you get it?"
krazykitkat asked for top five songs to fic to:
1. All of Tori Amos's Boys For Pele, really, because it has so much richness and depth musically that I never completely tone it out, and yet I've listened to it so many times that nothing about it is jolting when I'm really focused. And it has this real raw emotionality to it that is good when you're trying to write high drama. The best track for writing, if I must pick one, is "Doughnut Song" (or maybe "Putting the Damage On").
2. Josh Ritter, "Best for the Best." Most Josh Ritter puts me in a writing mood. This song has an especially lovely, wistful Americana vibe, and I find it kind of amazing how it's so quiet and pretty but so angry at the same time.
3. Indigo Girls, "Joking" (You kissed me like I was a soldier, heading for war: never fails to break my heart in the right ways for sad writing. I wrote all my Josh/Sam stories listening to Indigo Girls, because I'm that kind of cliche.)
4. Soul Coughing, "Super Bon Bon." Gets the blood a-flowin'.
5. Arcade Fire, "Neighborhood #4." I don't exactly know why, but when I was looking through old writing-related posts of mine I kept finding references to this song. So I guess it works even when I'm not paying attention?
numinicious asked for top five characters that would make good duck boat guides:
1. Nate Fick. He would know his way around, he would give excellent descriptions of Revolutionary War battles, and he would be able to point out the best bars for writing and/or pining.
2. Denny Crane. The whole tour would be focused on accounts of his legal and sexual exploits. He would bring drinks for everyone.
3. Sully, Jimmy Fallon's character from the old Saturday Night Live "Boston Teens" sketches. For an authentically retahhhded experience.
4. Carla from Cheers. Her tour would show you all kinds of cool haunts from the 70s/80s, and if she liked you she'd probably tell you how to pick up a hockey player. If she didn't like you, she'd just dump you into the Charles.
5. I thought about saying Jed Bartlet, but then I realized that he would never, ever stop talking. Stay away from Jed's duckboat!
caruso asked for top five basebrawls:
1. The only possible number one choice. Red Sox/Yankees, July 24th, 2004. Words fail me. This one featured sideshows including Tek's wrestling hold, Papi windmilling, and Trot Nixon flying in from the outfield to rescue Gabe Kapler from Tanyon Sturtz's clutches, but nothing tops that one immortal image: The glove in The face. I believe Bronson Arroyo has immortalized it in song.
2. Michael Barrett versus A.J. Fuckface Pierzynski, May 20, 2006. The best thing that ever came out of interleague play. Pierzynski acts the jackass and receives an epic suckerpunch for his pains.
3. Nolan Ryan versus Robin Ventura, August 4, 1993. Ventura charges the mound; Ryan immediately subdes him with a headlock and several direct hits to the noggin. Don't fuck with the arm from hell.
4. Carlton Fisk versus Thurman Munson, August 1, 1973. Intense rivalry crossed with mutual loathing equals classic donnybrook. If I'm not allowed to pick something I've never seen on video, then I'll substitute that one time that Chan Ho Park roundhouse kicked a guy.
5. Pedro Martinez versus Don Zimmer, October 11, 2003. I hate to be all Sox/Yankscentric, but I have to include this one because it is the ultimate litmus test for baseball fans. Any fan who claims to be neutral in the rivalry should be shown this video. If your main reaction is to feel bad for Zimmer, an older gentlemen being manhandled by a crazy mofo, then you're a Yankees sympathizer. If your main reaction is to laugh out loud at said crazy mofo's bullfighting skills, because what the hell is Zimmer doing trying to headbutt Pedro anyway? Then welcome to my side of the line.
Whew, sorry that took so long.
mazily asked for top five CJ/Toby moments (canon, fanon, whatever):
1. "By the way, you are a beautiful woman, and no one around here has ever assumed you were either ambitious or stupid," beat, Toby fiddling with the door frame. CJ looking up at him kind of wistfully. "Toby? It took two years." (I love how it's this extremely personal exchange and a completely professional one at the same time. Ah, inappropriate workplace romance.)
2. C.J. breaking up Toby's marriage, with or without sleeping with him, in countless Bordello stories--it was always this marvelous possibility that never really got cancelled out by canon, and there was all this sex and alcohol and tension and goofy souvenirs from California (how did the Bordy collectively agree that C.J. would buy Toby the best random presents? Was it you, pene?). It's so sad, and so romantic, and such a perfect flipside to the crisp White House world.
3. The entire "apology" scene from Lord John Marbury. A SHIP IS BORN. Toby was trying to do it nicer!
4. Because I'm nothing if not a taker of fanbait: the end of The Women of Qumar, but more specifically, all the fannish spinning out of where that gesture came from and what happened next (including my own, since that's my favorite story I ever wrote about them).
5. The scene at the pool table in Manchester, not so much the dialogue or anything, but the way that they look at each other and move around with these props between them and she finally just knocks his eight-ball right into the corner pocket with her bare hand. It is that rarest of Sorkin things: a non-belabored metaphor.
attempt_unique asked for top five favorite speeches from a Sorkin show:
1. Okay, it's short, but it should count: "Because I love you I can say this: no rich young white guy ever got anywhere with me by comparing himself to Rosa Parks." Only Isaac can fit a whole Sorkin speech into one perfect sentence.
2. "We're gonna have a party, Congressman. You should come; it's gonna be great. And when the watermelon's done, right in town square, right in the band gazebo. You guys got a band gazebo? Doesn't matter; we'll build one." Josh Lyman wore out his welcome with me a little bit (yeah, I'm not sure how, I woke up in season five totally over him and also missing a kidney), but maybe just because nobody could sustain the awesomeness of his first season self.
3. Oh, can I count Leo's whole Johnnie Walker Blue monologue from Bartlet For America as a speech? Because if I can, it's gotta be on here, it absolutely guts me every time. But if not, well, the whole Shadow of Two Gunmen speech, "They say a good man can't get elected President. I don't believe that." There's so much love and fire in Leo.
4. "That was eleven years ago tonight, and I just wanted to say I'm sorry, Sam. You deserved better in my hands. And I apologize. That's all." Dan. The Apology is a obvious, obvious choice, but for a reason.
5. I'm gonna quote this one in full, because of it being the only Bartlet speech I'm including, and it was so hard to narrow it down. But I remember it giving me chills the first time around, because it was so heartbreaking how Jed had clearly thought this nightmare scenario out both from a political and personal standpoint, and how he really didn't seem to like using it to scare his daughter, but he had to make it real for her. And then of course in light of later events of the series it's just scarily prophetic and perfect.
"It's a big party with lots of noise, and lots of people coming and going. And it's a half hour before someone says, 'Hey, where's Zoey?' Another fifteen minutes before the first phone call. Another hour and a half before anyone even thinks to shut down all the airports. Now we're off to the races! You're tied to a chair in a cargo shack, somewhere in the middle of Uganda, and I'm told that I have 72 hours to get Israel to free 460 terrorist prisoners. So I'm on the phone pleading with Benjamin and he's saying, 'I'm sorry, Mr. President, but Israel simply does not negotiate with terrorists, period. It's the only way we can survive.' So now we've got a new problem, because this country no longer has a Commander in Chief, it has a father who's out of his mind because his little girl is in a shack somewhere in Uganda with a gun to her head! Do you get it?"
krazykitkat asked for top five songs to fic to:
1. All of Tori Amos's Boys For Pele, really, because it has so much richness and depth musically that I never completely tone it out, and yet I've listened to it so many times that nothing about it is jolting when I'm really focused. And it has this real raw emotionality to it that is good when you're trying to write high drama. The best track for writing, if I must pick one, is "Doughnut Song" (or maybe "Putting the Damage On").
2. Josh Ritter, "Best for the Best." Most Josh Ritter puts me in a writing mood. This song has an especially lovely, wistful Americana vibe, and I find it kind of amazing how it's so quiet and pretty but so angry at the same time.
3. Indigo Girls, "Joking" (You kissed me like I was a soldier, heading for war: never fails to break my heart in the right ways for sad writing. I wrote all my Josh/Sam stories listening to Indigo Girls, because I'm that kind of cliche.)
4. Soul Coughing, "Super Bon Bon." Gets the blood a-flowin'.
5. Arcade Fire, "Neighborhood #4." I don't exactly know why, but when I was looking through old writing-related posts of mine I kept finding references to this song. So I guess it works even when I'm not paying attention?
numinicious asked for top five characters that would make good duck boat guides:
1. Nate Fick. He would know his way around, he would give excellent descriptions of Revolutionary War battles, and he would be able to point out the best bars for writing and/or pining.
2. Denny Crane. The whole tour would be focused on accounts of his legal and sexual exploits. He would bring drinks for everyone.
3. Sully, Jimmy Fallon's character from the old Saturday Night Live "Boston Teens" sketches. For an authentically retahhhded experience.
4. Carla from Cheers. Her tour would show you all kinds of cool haunts from the 70s/80s, and if she liked you she'd probably tell you how to pick up a hockey player. If she didn't like you, she'd just dump you into the Charles.
5. I thought about saying Jed Bartlet, but then I realized that he would never, ever stop talking. Stay away from Jed's duckboat!
caruso asked for top five basebrawls:
1. The only possible number one choice. Red Sox/Yankees, July 24th, 2004. Words fail me. This one featured sideshows including Tek's wrestling hold, Papi windmilling, and Trot Nixon flying in from the outfield to rescue Gabe Kapler from Tanyon Sturtz's clutches, but nothing tops that one immortal image: The glove in The face. I believe Bronson Arroyo has immortalized it in song.
2. Michael Barrett versus A.J. Fuckface Pierzynski, May 20, 2006. The best thing that ever came out of interleague play. Pierzynski acts the jackass and receives an epic suckerpunch for his pains.
3. Nolan Ryan versus Robin Ventura, August 4, 1993. Ventura charges the mound; Ryan immediately subdes him with a headlock and several direct hits to the noggin. Don't fuck with the arm from hell.
4. Carlton Fisk versus Thurman Munson, August 1, 1973. Intense rivalry crossed with mutual loathing equals classic donnybrook. If I'm not allowed to pick something I've never seen on video, then I'll substitute that one time that Chan Ho Park roundhouse kicked a guy.
5. Pedro Martinez versus Don Zimmer, October 11, 2003. I hate to be all Sox/Yankscentric, but I have to include this one because it is the ultimate litmus test for baseball fans. Any fan who claims to be neutral in the rivalry should be shown this video. If your main reaction is to feel bad for Zimmer, an older gentlemen being manhandled by a crazy mofo, then you're a Yankees sympathizer. If your main reaction is to laugh out loud at said crazy mofo's bullfighting skills, because what the hell is Zimmer doing trying to headbutt Pedro anyway? Then welcome to my side of the line.
Whew, sorry that took so long.