Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of my first post, so I thought that I would actually post something. ALSO, it's Thursday, which means........

In celebration, I thought I would talk a little bit about some of my favorite episodes of my lovely Thursday night comedies. These are by no means my favorites, (except for The Injury. And possibly Rosemary's Baby) but they are fantastic representations of these awesome shows. (I can think of more superlatives, don't think I won't.)

30 Rock - 2x04 - Rosemary's Baby

This episode shines with a light for all to see. It is one of my favorites of all time. Guest star Carrie Fisher plays Liz's heroine (lady hero. She doesn't want to inject her and listen to jazz.), a former TV writer who inspired Liz to pursue television. (My future Tina Fey? Hmmm.) Meanwhile, Jack tries to help Tracy get to the root of his daddy issues.

"You're not my dad!"
"Never go with a hippie to a second location."
"Help me Liz Lemon! You're my only hope!"
"You know, it's too bad you didn't know Howard Cosell when you were growing up, because I had that one in my pocket the whole time."

The whole Tracy/Jack therapy session was golden.

The Office - 2x12 - The Injury

My favorite Office of all time. It's just wonderfully silly and sweet all at the same time. Michael is in his role as the demanding child, but it is the way the rest of the office reacts to him that make it so so wonderful. And Dwight's concussion friendship with Pam (which I believe they called back to in a more recent episode, anyone remember which?) is just sweet and fun, and just a little bit odd.

"Ryan's... uh, dead."
"Where are you shipping your foot?"
"See you later, Pan."
"The gas station in Carbondale did not have fresh yams."


Community - 2x08 - Cooperative Calligraphy

Community is a relatively recent love of mine, so I don't yet know which is my favorite. My mind immediately goes to instant classics like Modern Warfare and Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas, but I saw this one recently and it is just fun. From Abed's tongue-in-cheek (not really from Abed, but the writers. Abed can't be tongue-in-cheek) references to bottle episodes (an episode of television that takes place in one location), to the sweet ending, I love every bit of it.

"I wanna see if those wiener dogs are born that way, or if they start off normal and then get wiener."
"This is a bottle episode."
"I'll make your ass sense."
"I could never deprive the world of the portion of my chest the strap would cover."

Parks & Recreation - 3X02 - Flu Season

This was last week's episode. My Parks and Rec situation is much the same as my Community situation. Until I've seen each episode multiple times, I don't feel like I can properly decide which is truly my favorite. I chose this one because I'm still kind of on a high from it. In this episode we see Leslie in less than top form, yet she is still trying her best to do it all. We also see Chris in a moment of weakness, a sad, hollow shell of the usually upbeat and fit guy that he is. Also, I had the hardest time choosing a picture for this.

"Stop. Pooping."
"You had me at meat tornado."
"Cartwheels. Am I not doing them?"
"I have to get ready for the chamber of secrets."
"Ann's my doctor. And she's the most beautiful nurse in the world."

Emily's Emmy picks!

The nominations are in, and awards season is a glint on the horizon. In a little over a month, we'll find out who (according to Emmy voters) in television is among the best of the best. Usually the voters in question have a slightly different opinion than I do as to who exactly is the best of the best, so here are my picks:

It occurs to me that the only drama I consistently follow is Lost, but now I don't even have that, making my picks for any of the drama categories slightly biased. The Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category has me torn between two of the best actors on Lost, in my opinion. Michael Emerson always made me cringe (in a good way, a good cringe) as the awesomely creepy Benjamin Linus, and Terry O'Quinn showed us a different side of John Locke at the end of the series as Anti-Locke. Lead Actor is going to have to go to Matthew Fox (even though I really, really do not like Jack. Okay, I hated him less at the beginning and the end.). The only Lead Actress nominee I've seen in action is Law and Order: SVU's Mariska Hargitay, who has only snagged one Emmy out of her six nominations, which was back in 2006, so maybe she's due another. I'm going to root for Mad Men's Christina Hendricks for Supporting Actress, based solely on her performance in Firefly.

I follow far more comedies, which makes it a little easier to be balanced. Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series will most likely go to Jane Lynch as her hilariously awful Sue Sylvester in Glee, which I could support, though it would also be great for Kristen Wiig to finally get her due for SNL, or Jane Krakowski for 30 Rock, but if I were a betting woman, it would be Jane Lynch all the way. My Supporting Actor pick has not changed for the past few years, and after four noms, I want to see a win. I will root for Neil Patrick Harris as How I Met Your Mother's Barney Stinson until he finally gets the award he deserves. For Lead Actress, I'm torn between my undying love of Tina Fey's Liz Lemon and my relative new love for Amy Poehler's Leslie Knope. So I'd rather not go there, thankyouverymuch.

I now move on to another paragraph for the bloodbath that is the Lead Actor in a Comedy Series category. I feel like I need to first apologize to both Steve Carell and Alec Baldwin for this, but I have to go with Jim Parsons as everyone's favorite neurotic physicist Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory. He's kind of how I picture myself, if I were male, lacked social skills, was good at science, and had a degree or two.

Outstanding Drama Series is kind of a given, considering my prior comments--I'm not even going to insult your intelligence by naming my choice for the award. For Outstanding Comedy, however, I'm a little bit torn. I have to go with 30 Rock. I love The Office and Glee, but 30 Rock has been able to consistently make me laugh more than any of the others nominated.

Miscellaneous Awesome -

Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics

How I Met Your Mother - "Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit" - Girls Vs. Suits - Carter Bays and Craig Thomas

Outstanding Music Direction for a Series (Original Dramatic Score)

Lost - The End - Michael Giacchino, Composer

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie

Hamlet (Great Performances) -

Patrick Stewart as Ghost / Claudius

Outstanding Guest Actor In A

Comedy Series

Glee - Dream On -

Neil Patrick Harris as Bryan Ryan

Outstanding Guest Actress In A

Drama Series

Lost - The End -

Elizabeth Mitchell as Juliet Burke

Outstanding Reality Program

Mythbusters

Outstanding Writing for a Drama

Series

Lost - The End

Damon Lindelof, Writer

Carlton Cuse, Writer

Outstanding Writing for a Comedy

Series

30 Rock - Anna Howard Shaw Day

Matt Hubbard, Writer

I'm sure you all have noticed that I seem to be slightly ignoring Glee's 19 Emmy nominations. I'm not ignoring them, by any stretch. I love Glee, I really do, but to me it's sort of like a cool new friend at school. You like hanging out with this person, and think he/she is interesting, but you still have a core group of close friends that you would drop everything for. Glee and I are still in the first stages of our relationship, and I would feel a little like I was betraying my other sitcoms if I chose Glee over them.

Something that frustrated me a little bit is the total snubbery toward one of NBC's best new shows, Community. I got in on Community a tad late in the game, (like, two weeks ago) and fell in love with it.

I'm not dead yet!

The past month or so, computer-wise, have been kind of like electronic purgatory. My laptop was finally pronounced dead, so I've reclaimed my ancient desktop from home and am finally reconnected to the internet. So that explains the utter lack of posts, if anyone was wondering.

Sadly, all of my fun pictures are still on my laptop's hard drive, so I'll see if I can find something cool on this one. :D

Television!

My Hulu queue is backed up again, with 21 items. They are as follows:

• Lost - 1
• SNL - 1
• Dead Like Me - 5
  
• Caprica - 4
• Psych - 4
• Merlin - 2
  
• V - 4

Merlin has actually already been through my queue once, but I didn't seem much of it again. I might give it another shot, though. I mean, Anthony Head plays Uther, so it's kind of worth it to see Giles, even if he's a very un-Giles-y jerk.
I'm really enjoying Caprica. I knew with Jane Espenson (have I talked about that time she replied to my tweet? It was amazing.) as showrunner it would be awesome, but I'm getting into the story more than I expected. Of course, I'm a little behind, but I should remedy that soon.
I'm a little disappointed with the way this season of The Office is going, but I think it has taken a turn for the better.

A friend of mine told me about a NaNoWriMo thing in April for scriptwriters called Script Frenzy that I've decided to do. For those of you unfamiliar with NaNoWriMo, it's an awesome program for writers in November. It stands for National Novel Writing Month, and the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. Script Frenzy is kind of the same thing, but the goal is for a 100-page script.

I have an idea for a spec for The Office, so I might work on that for Script Frenzy. :)
Wish me luck!

Let the sapfest begin.

Happy Valentine's Day. To those of us who find ourselves alone this holiday, don't despair. A great way to pull oneself out of a slump is to ignore reality for a few hours. Immerse yourself in a world of fiction, and pretend that that world is the true reality.

Since I sort of like television, I thought I would whip up a nice list of some of my favorite love-themed episodes:

• "Lovers Walk" - Buffy the Vampire Slayer 3x08 - One of my favorite Buffy episodes. Spike returns to Sunnydale after Drusilla leaves him, and has decided to use magic to get her back. Meanwhile, Buffy and Angel set out to stop him together, and Xander and Willow have to deal with their own hormones.
• "Swarley" - How I Met Your Mother 2x07 - A HIMYM classic. Marshall goes on a date with another girl after he and Lily break up, and she's not as okay with it as she lets on.
• "Valentine's Day" -The Office 2x16- The title really says it all. It's Valentine's Day at Dunder-Mifflin. Flowers are being recieved, cards sent, secrets revealed, and some people in the office are just not happy. I'm worried this list is making me seem like a downer.
• "Crush" - Buffy the Vampire Slayer 5x14 - With seven seasons, I couldn't help but include another episode. In this episode, Spike sets out to prove his love for Buffy by killing Drusilla. Great quote: "Honey, did you somehow lead him on in any way? Send him signals?" "Well, I do beat him up a lot...for Spike that's like third base."
• "St. Valentine's Day" - 30 Rock 3x11 - Liz has a strange first date with Drew, and Jack goes to church with Elisa. An awesome episode made even more awesome by Jon Hamm as Dr. Drew Baird.

EDIT: There are actually two more Buffy episodes that I thought of that belong in this list. They are:

• "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" - 2x16 - After Cordelia breaks up with him on Valentine's Day, Xander casts a love spell that causes all of the women in Sunnydale to fal in love with him, with disastrous results.
• "Him" -7x06 - Dawn falls head over heels over a boy at school, as does Buffy, Anya, and even Willow, as the result of some sort of spell.
  

This is by no means a definitive list. If I had all night, I would make it much longer and far more detailed. With a rating system. And possibly plot analyses.

(Other recommended viewing includes You've Got Mail, Notting Hill, Shakespeare in Love, Kate and Leopold, Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, Moulin Rouge, and Paris, je t'aime)

I hope that can at least give you some ideas on how to make your Singles Awareness Day the best that it can be, given whatever circumstances may be involved. And to you couples, enjoy each other's company, and try to be respectful of those around you that are not walking on clouds.

Once again, Happy Valentine's Day!