"Modern Family" Hilarity

Modern Family is a pretty great show, though I haven't quite been able to put my finger on what I like about it so much . I have only rarely laughed out loud during the episodes, but the combination of ridiculously true hilarity and sweet lessons learned is very well balanced.

However, this week the show produced many more genuine belly-laughs, in a variety of ways. First, I found this amazing music video for free on iTunes.

As a preface, watch this segment from the episode two weeks ago.



The reactions are the best part.

So, the free video on iTunes was this.



I was laughing/crying the whole first two times I watched this. Little video extras are what really make shows I like shows I love. The world of the show becomes incredibly vivid and real. And this week's episode of Modern Family was the most hilarious to date, at least to me. Best part: the following. Cameron: "It's not unlocked!!!! Oh, oh. That is amazing, how did they do that? Did it come from space?"

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things: Sara Ramirez

I really like Grey's Anatomy — it's a solid soap, and provides me with my cathartic tears for the week — but sometimes the show and the cast can seem a bit too serious. Take, for example, front picture of the cast on the show's Hulu homepage. Everyone looks so dour.


Well, I take that back. There is one person giving a huge, happy smile. Thanks, Sara Ramirez, for fully appreciating the stability of being on a hit show, having pretty good storylines and writing (at least so far this season), and the general hotness of the cast surrounding you.

Also, she was fab-u-lous in Monty Python's Spamalot. Check it out.

I Never Experienced THIS Side of British Men

This is one funny video. I have no idea from what programme (if we're being British) the clips come from, but I'm interested in finding out.

I didn't laugh out loud — or rather gasp — until 2:57 in.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

What the Frick?! Crazy Babies

I love kids, and can't wait to have them (someday, in the future (but not too far into the future)). But HELL. TO. THE. NO.

What I could deal with much more, getting pregnant two times in one month.

Random Quote: It's Hip to Be a Square!

The video on this link on (of course) EW.com is a-maze-ing. (Also check out Kelly Paul's comments). But the best thing about the Sesame Street Mad Men parody — besides the use of sycophant on a children's television show — is how it brought so many other videos to my mind, and my knowledge.

First, I started looking up clips that played when I was little for a little stroll down memory lane. I remember a ton of great segments: "It's Hip to be a Square," "Cereal Girl," "Great Balls of Fur," "Reach for the Sky" and so, soo much more. Check out these classics.



* I had a slight convulsive episode watching this. I just loved this song so much!



Maybe this is where the seeds for my CSI/forensic love were planted?



I then had to check out some classic famous people I remembered, only a few of which I actually recognized as famous when I was watching. Robin Willams I did know. This is one of my favorites. His shirt is also fantabulous.



And I don't remember this song, but I definitely remember Randy Travis' jacket.



Youtube also showed me some fun recent celeb appearances. You can look them up, but is are my favorite. Jack Black is still Jack Black, and I guess it fits, since he is just a giant child. "Eight stunning angles!"



Aww, memories.

Best Site Ever: Funny Or Die

Most people have probably heard of Funnyordie.com, the website run by Will Ferrell and company. The site has some amazing videos, including my personal favorites The Landlord, pointing out how Ironman is cooler than Batman, and Puppies! (Though many videos are NSFW — so watch out!)

Anywho, I really can't stand the new Latisse product — why would anyone need to grow more eyelashes, that's what mascara is for! Especially when your eyes can change color, or other awful things could happen, not too far from what is described below.

Lashisse from Molly Sims

Gross, hilarious, and sickening, because it's kinda true.

A Brand New Day, a Brand New Blog (Format)

I've been wanting to spice up the blog for a while, and thought this picture in the header (scroll to the top, take a gander) was fitting and rather pretty. Also, I really didn't like how the width of the main content would adjust to how wide the internet window was. I need to have things be uniform, and tend to freak out, visibly or internally, when things change.

In the process of changing the template, I could not find a format with fixed sizes that was wide enough to accommodate the width of the Hulu videos I so often put in my posts. BUT I discovered how to adjust templates! It's a very daunting task, just look at all that html code:

So I was able to make it wide enough. How happy I am with myself.

9/22: The Day of Supplication to the TV Gods!

I was just coming back from an event at Church, when I ran into my friend, Kelly (Paul). We chatted for a minute before she said, "Oh, and Happy Hobbit Day."

"What?" I said.

"Hobbit Day," Kelly said, expecting me to already know.

After a moment, I suddenly realized. "September 22, yes!" I said with glee. "Happy birthday Bilbo and Frodo!"

But then, a strange sensation came over me. I went back, remembering...

WWWOOOOSSHHHH

September 22, 2004. It was a simpler time. I was just starting my sophomore year in high school. The Red Sox were only just in the running for the wild-card race - again. My sister had just started her freshman year at Fairfield. We had just gotten a new couch in the den where our TV is. And there was a hole in the television landscape where Friends and Frasier had been.

Then, at 8 pm, everything changed.



Feel free to watch the whole episode over again. I'll wait. Because it's worth it.

Beautiful, ain't it?

WWWWOOOSSSSHHHHH

Back in the present day, I begin to squeal uncontrollably.

That's right. Happy Lost Day everyone! Five years ago today ABC brought us what is arguably one of the most important shows in the last decade, if not the history of prime-time TV. Oceanic Flight 815 crashed on a strange Island. They were not rescued. They heard a monster. Jack was a doctor with control issues. Kate was a fugitive with a heart of gold. Charlie sang "You all everybody" and gave up drugs. Sawyer was a wise-ass con-man. Hurley was a chill dude except when the numbers were involved. Sayid was an Iraqi tech guy looking for love. Claire was pregnant with possibly a magic child. Jin was Korean and seemed mean to his wife. Sun was the stifled Korean wife who secretly spoke English. Michael was the rash father. Walt was his "special" son. John Locke was the wise bald man who used to be paralyzed. Boone was the do-gooder rich boy. Shannon was his spoiled step-sister. Vincent was the yellow lab. Rose was the spiritual older woman who believed her husband - also on the plane - survived.

What a simpler time it was! The cast aways were concerned about where the water was coming from, what they should do with the fuselage. There were no Others, no distinct knowledge of Smokey. No Dharma, no hatches (at least not the interiors), no buttons to push, no shootings, no Benjamin Linus, no ageless Richard, no time-bending/nose-bleeding, no Freighter invasions, no getting back to the Island, no flashes besides those that when back, no giant statues, and definitely no Jacob.

Though events on Lost have gotten quite complicated, it's still a character-driven show with all the big questions of life and death in this extreme situation. The bigger meanings are the subject of many theorizings — Doc Jensen is my personal favorite, especially his (and Dan Snierson's) Totally Lost videos — but I've never had the head for figuring out that stuff by myself. I just love the complex people that have been created, their interactions with each other, how they have grown and changed, and what they are willing to do in the crazy world that is the Island.*

There's also a lot of fun that happens on the show and because of Lost. Here are my personal favorites:

Charlie's physical comedy when trying not to read the kidnapped Claire's diary. It's so simple, yet sweet, endearing, and still makes me laugh.



"What?" It needs no more explanation. Ben has the best ones. Obvs.



Another compilation that makes my heart very happy, because it's Sawyer-centric. The nicknames are very inventive, which is a credit to the writers, but Josh Holloway's deliveries make them more than just witty, they become sublime. This is seasons 1-3, for seasons 4-5, see here.



My favorite fake video is a classic from season 1, but it still makes me laugh soooo much. "You know what, I'm sensitive to you."



Lost Rhapsody originally came from the first season, with the use of cutouts and Weird Al's version of "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Bohemian Polka." Though the original was great because it was the first, the second's beautiful rotoscoping and spot-on lyrics make it just that little bit better.



That's a heck of a lot of videos (and I could easily add at least 3 more). But I'll just leave this little taste, and let you look around for yourselves. It's the least we can do to celebrate the wonderful contribution to arts and entertainment that Lost will always be.

* Also, Josh Holloway is a great, and greatly attractive, actor. Those gratuitous shirtless scenes make all the bad worth it.

** We cannot forget Hobbit Day as well. Here's a video that addresses both joyous occasions to celebrate this day.

Best Site Ever: The Onion

The Onion, the hysterical fake-news group, has been around for a while — twenty years in fact. It was doing Jon Stewart before Jon Stewart did Jon Stewart. I've also known about it for some time, between watching their clips on Hulu, and I recall my sister giving my father an Onion book for Christmas a long time ago.

But it just struck me that this is my new favorite site (after EW.com, that is. My love for that site is like my love for cheese. Sure I eat other things, but I can and do eat cheese all the time). Exhibit A of why you should love The Onion too:


Facebook, Twitter Revolutionizing How Parents Stalk Their College-Aged Kids

It's funny 'cause it's true.

P.S. - Thank you, Mom and Dad, for not being involved in either of those sites.

Are Any Films NOT Improved by Being 30 Seconds...and Reinacted by Bunnies?

I have to admit, I was one of the very few people that did not like March of the Penguins that much. It was almost universally loved, but I just did not find the film that compelling and it was rather tedious, despite the adorableness of the animals and the kick-ass narration by A+ voice talent Morgan Freeman.

However, whist surfing the wild web yonder I rediscovered Starz 30-second Bunny Theatre. And their version of the film is much better (or just hilarious), what with the pretty decent Freeman mimicry, and the line "This is a story of survival and hot penguin loving." Check it out.



Want to get a load of the many other films that are just as, or even more, amazing when they are 30-seconds and re-enacted by bunnies? Check out angryalien.com. They are also rentable on DVDs!

Random Quote: Miles Makes My Day

"You owe me a fish taco!" - Miles Straume, Lost



P.S. - In the process of finding an appropriate clip for Miles (there is an extreme lack of them, I have to say), I found a MILES/KATE romance video. Not to get too Grey's-Anatomy on y'all, but Seriously?

Seriously?

It's the Little Things

File this under the category of Completely Pointless. But guess what, this is my blog - so I can write about whatever I want!

So, I was just signing in to Netflix from the homepage, where new members can sign up if they want to. And they have this cute pictoral to show how it works, with DVD examples and everything - which were No Country for Old Men, Lost: Season 4, and Iron Man. Not only do I love all those movies (ok, not Old Country. I found it really slow moving, though the performances were top-notch), I've seen them all. I can't explain it, but I got this little thrill shudder. It happens everytime I go through my 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book, and I have all the movies on the page checked off. I just enjoy seeing things I've watched. Or rather knowing that I've seen a film.

Or maybe I'm just a little nuts. As if that's news to anyone who knows me.

Good for You, Jeffrey Katzenberg!

I'm not the kind of entertainment junkie to pay big attention - or care - to the moguls in charge of studios/corporations/companies/owners-of-enough-money-to-buy-the-whole-world-swine-flu-masks. But this article (of course courtesy of EW.com) caught my attention. Jeffrey Katzenberg, the Dreamworks CEO who has been behind some pretty huge, and in many cases well reviewed, animated films like Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, and Madagascar has re-uped his contract through 2013. The deal?

He's getting paid $1 a year.

Ok, so its just in the "being reported" phase still, and "additional compensation in the form of stock incentives tightly linked to the company's share price." That's still a huge sign of goodwill in this rotten economy from a man who could be earning millions. So cheers Jeff!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

May the luck o' the Irish be with ye! 

For some reason, today's Google icon went away, which isn't fair, since it's only 11 pm! So this is the 2008 Google logo. How about the 2007?

I don't like this as much. It's a lack of pizzazz. Was 2006 any better?

Hello! I like this one the best! I can just imagine the Google logo sighing as it lay down to lounge in the bed of shamrocks. 

2005 gets points for incorporating the traditional cartoon leprechaun hat. Though for some reason the shade of green for the Google logo is really bothering me. 

Here's 2004, and though the pattern is pretty, it's not Saint Patrick's Day without shamrocks. I also have to note some patterns I'm seeing in other special Google logos. Father's Day often includes a dad in a hammock. Mother's Day only has flowers. For some reason Persian New Year is different than regular new year, and thus worthy of a special logo. 

For some reason Saint Patrick's Day isn't important enough in 2003!

At least 2002 has something. Not a particularly spectacular something, but something nonetheless. 

Yay, a pot at the end of the rainbow! Way to go, 2001!

I just noticed in 2000 that they used to have a TM at the end of Google, apparently through 2003 that was the case (judging from these pictures. 

So 2000 was the first year they really started the Google logo thing. But I just can't get over how weird the old Google named use to look! It's all chunky and different. Me no likey. Exclamation point!

Why is Everyone Getting Twitter-pated?!

I am an old woman. Seriously. I know I've said that many times over the years for many reasons - I can't deal with loud music, I have had conversations with people (ok, children) who were born since i've been in high school - but I am serious this time. How did I not know about Twitter?

Apparently, it's the biggest thing right now. There are tons of celebrities on it. And at least 30,000 other people. 

The name sounds so familiar. Maybe I heard it, but I thought it was just something like Flickr. Not. 

I mean, I knew about MySpace, but chose never to be on it, cause MySpace is sketch. I got on Facebook, back when there weren't tons of adults and little children on it. But Twitter escaped my knowledge. 

Perhaps it's better this way. Despite the call of celebrities being into it, I feel like it would be far too tiring to attempt to maintain Facebook, this blog, Twitter, and a normal, functioning REAL life. 

Whoa, It's Been Too Long!

Ok, so I do have an explanation for not posting in 10/11 days. I've had a lot of work to do with classes, etc. Over Thanksgiving I will definitely be catching up with my Lost Revisited posts, so never fear!

I am, of course, posting late tonight in avoidance of work I should be doing. And what's the best way to do that? By watching TV shows online!

Well, that's if there are any good shows I am not caught up on to watch. And there aren't. I've watched all the Samantha Whos, CSIs, Pushing Daisies, Grey's Anatomys, etc. So I began watching the Ugly Betty presents: Mode After Dark. Which are pretty funny and adorable.

But the point of this post is not the minisodes. It is the short ads inbetween the shows that caught my attention. The song was this really catching little French ditty that I really want to find the name of. The weird thing is that the ad was for HPV.com. Why they would choose a cute little French song to back their text about HPV being comunicable and checking with your doctor beats me. I just really like the song!

What the Frick?! iTunes

So, I was surfing the web (ok, from EW.com. Why pretend I find things out anywhere else) and found this great music video from the group Alphabeat. I was real excited to check out some more of there music, and maybe even get the music video, so I go to iTunes. 

But they don't have it. Or any of Alphabeat's music. I say: what the Frick?!

Now I must be content with watching the video on YouTube on a loop. 

That Guilty Feeling

The new 30 Rock episode is on Hulu, a full week before it premieres on that boxy thing that looks like a computer screen without a keyboard. What's it called again? Oh, that's right, a television. 

Afterward, I proceeded to watch a solid half hour of clips, which culminated with this one. 

It is so true. 

EW and I Have a Mind-meld*

This is why I want to write for EW when I graduate. I was thinking about writing a "Happy 50th, Viggo" post, and they up and did it before me.

*Only my heterosexual life-partner Kim** would understand this reference. 

**Again, only Kim would know.

Yeah, I Did That!: Beating PopWatch

Have you heard of Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation, a film three Mississippi boys made over the course of 7 years in the 80s recreating shot-for-shot the original Raiders film? 

Well, my first point is you should see it if you get the opportunity - it is great. My more important point is that I saw it and wrote about it - 4 weeks before EW.com's PopWatch blog wrote about it. And for someone who loves EW, someone who'd love to work there one day, it was a great feeling of scoop-age and accomplishment. Check out my article in The Ithacan and the PopWatch piece about Raiders: The Adaptation.