Before going into my blog, I am probably going to be officially moving this blog to Wordpress this weekend. Right now I'm adding tags and learning about the features before officially moving. I will be sure to make a note of it when I go "live."
Anyway, I wasn't a loyal Family Guy watcher until I got cable in March. Before March, I mainly didn't watch Family Guy since it was on the same time as Desperate Housewives and, of course for me, DH takes precedence. So now I always end up watching Family Guy reruns on TBS, on On Demand and on Sundays when they've stopped reruning DH reruns (seriously...what's up with that? Thank g-d they're showing on On Demand). It really is an insanely funny and weird show. Now, I don't know what this says about me, but one of the characters I *always* look forward to seeing is the old guy, Herbert. I only found his name after a Google search. I won't type the things he says, but luckily YouTube doesn't fail in providing me video to help me:
And JibJab has a nice long video, but they don't let you embed.
It seems, though, that Family Guy or its affiliates get really upset about clips being shown on YouTube. But I think those three work well. And as for why I like him, I think it's the dark part of my brain that still finds shows like Beavis and Butthead funny.
And just for fun, here's some more clips from Family Guy clip:
Before starting this Pish Posh Etc. blog, I kept a very political blog. I kept it before the 2004 election and I trailed off writing in the middle of November 2004.
Anyway, I started this blog with Blogger since it's what I've used before and what I'm used to. I have started shopping around, though, and the verdict seems to say that Wordpress provides a really great platform. For fun last night I imported my Blogger posts to a Wordpress blog and they moved over really well. So, I might poke around with Wordpress more this weekend, but I really like that they offer more templates. Here's what I had so far: Pish Posh Etc Wordpress. I think that template is a little more "me" than any of the ones offered by Blogger and it seems they have many features built in that you have to add here (the counter/tracker, to name one). It has more bells & whistles, but I think I'd like to get some more bells & whistles around here.
Over the weekend I was watching The Soup and was surprised and happy to see Keith Olbermann making a cameo. He actually made fun of the whole thing on Countdown last night too. Anyway, here's the clip from The Soup:
and here's the cut to the Legally Blonde part:
I had a fabulous weekend in New York for my birthday. When I got in Saturday afternoon, I did some shopping at Macy's. Of course, in that Macy's, the plus sizes are on the 7th floor. I guess that goes to show the lengths they'll go to to keep people that aren't model size from the general public. Their plus size department, though, is so huge and nice so it's worth the adventures on the escalator. I did end up getting some clothes. Afterwards I hopped the subway to Union Square area. All over Union Square people are selling Obama memorabilia. I love that his candidacy has generated so much enthusiasm. I keep thinking that, even if things don't work out (and God, please let Obama win!!), this has been such a memorable campaign and it's great seeing people this excited about a candidate. So, anyway, I strolled over to Strand bookstore and got myself mesmerized with the $1 book racks. Of course at the end I ended up putting back most of the $1 books, except ones for my friend's 1 year old son, and got the more expensive ones...I got A TV Guide to Life: How I Learned Everything I Needed to Know From Watching Television and Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope.
My friend then met up with me there and we had dinner at an Indian restaurant and had dessert at Max Brenner. We finished up the night by seeing the film Mamma Mia! at the AMC in Times Square. The film was fantastic...great music, sexy Pierce Brosnan, and of course Meryl Streep played a great part.
And Sunday we got up late and met my other friend for brunch at the Tick Tock Diner and did a whole buncha shopping in mid-town. I have to finish with a little story about the Bolt bus. This was my third time, I think, taking the Bolt bus and I have yet to be disappointed. On the way back I was really impressed, even though we did get stuck in tons of traffic out of New York and I missed my train (and had to take a cab home...damn bad Sunday Septa schedules). Some guy thought he was on the bus to Boston (how the driver or he didn't realize this is beyond me) and realized his mistake when we started crossing the bridge. The driver had some Bolt associate meet us at the first rest stop in NJ and drive him back to the Bolt stop. Now that's some great service!
I will leave with a clip of Abba:
I turn 29 today, one year till I turn 30. I didn't think I'd be one to care that much about ages, but this year I'm getting a bit introspective, which I suppose is natural with a milestone birthday a year away.
Most of my college friends seem to be settled in careers and/or settling with partners. I'm not doing any of these things and I know that these days it's common for 30-somethings to still be in transition, but I guess I grew up having certain expectations for my age. I know I have accomplished quite a bit, but I still don't see it as enough.
Sigh, I will stop at there. Next weekend, if I don't have to work, I was thinking of having a Sex & The City marathon. I did just get the last part of season 6 from Amazon. I think watching that will help me.
In tribute, here's an episode of Friends that's appropriate for this morning...it's where they all recall their 30th birthday.
Ok, I promised myself no more TV blogging this week, but what the hell. When I go into work late I end up watching sitcoms on Lifetime most of the morning while I'm doing stuff around the apartment. So...right now they are showing what I think is the last season of Will & Grace. Now, I really do love so much about Will & Grace and I still contend that the Karen/Jack storylines are so much more entertaining than the Will and Grace storylines. But of course since I love the show so much I do care about Will and Grace. I started getting bothered by the show when they brought in Harry Connick, Jr. as Leo. I couldn't stand Leo's character and didn't like his relationship with Grace at all.
So, around then I really watched the show primarily for the Karen and Jack's stories. I really had no feelings one way or another about Vince, the cop Will ended up marrying, but I was happy they finally let Will have a long term boyfriend after all these seasons. That was one of my issues the series too.
Anyway, right now they're showing an episode of W&G where Grace is pregnant and having Will help her with her Lamaze class.
Of all the series finales, in my mind, I think Will & Grace had one of the worst. The Jack & Karen stories ended good and funny, as expected. Then I hated that Grace took Leo back after he did all that cheating on her. But I found it extremely unrealistic that Will & Grace went 20 years without talking at all. As for their kids meeting at college and falling in love...that was a little too unrealistic for me too.
It really made me upset that such a generally good show went out in such a bad way. Boo!!
A good Jack, Rosario & Karen moment:
I have started hearing the idiom, "egg on my [your] face" more and more often. I never really knew what it meant, but this morning I did a quick search on it to find the meaning and possible origin of the phrase.
I did find my answer. As for the meaning or implication:
It often implies that you have made a serious mistake, but more strictly it indicates that something you have done (or some turn of events) has left you looking extremely embarrassed or foolish.
It feels like one of those expressions that have been around for ever, but the evidence suggest that it’s an American expression from the middle of last century (its first known appearance was in an American television series about 1951). It’s possible, though, that it is somewhat older, though I haven’t been able to find it in my large collection of out-of-copyright e-texts, which suggests it is more recent than the 1920s.
I know of two possibilities for where it came from. My assumption to start with was that it was a comment on a minor social gaffe at a meal, when poor manners or sloppy eating left egg around your mouth. The late John Ciardi, however, suggested an origin in the lower and more rowdy kind of theatrical performance, in which an incompetent actor would have been pelted with eggs and forced off the stage.
I came across an interesting sounding documentary while looking at the Feministing blog today. I think I stumbled upon it somewhere else a few weeks ago, but I took some time to peruse the website today. Being an almost 30 single woman myself, it especially piqued my interest. From the Seeking Happily Ever After website's summary:
There are more single women in their 30s today (by choice) than at any other time in history, according to a recent US Census. Why now? Are women redefining happily ever after? Filmmakers Kerry David and Michelle Cove decided to find out. They went underneath the bubbly surface of Sex and the City to talk to hundreds of single women and find out what's really going on.
I have about 13,000 songs on my iPod and usually people are shocked to hear that, but I really love my music and listen to pretty much everything. I am probably what you would call a music geek.
So, occasionally a certain song will come up and my mind will automatically flashback to the time when the song meant a whole lot to me or was the soundtrack to whatever was going on in my life. Today that song was Here and Now by Letters to Cleo. This wasn't super popular, but reminds me of my high school years and just the whole atmosphere that was my life in the early 90s. These days I wish I had those problems I had then...back then I thought my petty little issues were going to be the end of my world, but now I'd love it if my only problems were how to get a certain guy friend to see me as more than that and wondering if I'd find a place to fit in. Anyway, today when this song came on I played it at least 3 times...it takes me right back to that place since, as I recall, I played it over and over when I was that age. I did find a video of it on YouTube. I love YouTube for having so many quirky videos like this easily available.
And eek! I found the video of Beavis & Butthead making fun of it. :) Their making fun of it was still funny to watch for someone that loved the song. Ah, the good ol' days when B&B was considered such a "dangerous" show. :)
I was sorry today to hear about the passing of Estelle Getty, best known for playing Sophia on the Golden Girls. She played such a great part on the show and, luckily, the show has become part of TV history and we will probably be able to enjoy reruns of Golden Girls for many years to come. So, here's to you, Estelle, and may you rest in peace knowing that you had such an important impact on the world.
Here are some great Sophia moments:
I have been following the story about Larry Mendte with a moderate amount of interest. I don't usually get into these types of Philadelphia stories that they beat into the ground, especially considering all the problems in this city that will take forever to resolve. Michael Nutter's doing a great job and I still say I'm so proud of our city for voting him in. But...my discussion about the troubles in Philadelphia can be put off for another blog.
Back to Larry Mendte, though...of all the newscasters in Philly, he's one that I've always felt a certain fondness towards, moreso since I officially moved here. Larry and his wife, Fox news anchor Dawn Stensland, live in Chestnut Hill and on several occasions I've seen him come into Starbucks. He's always seemed like a generally good guy. My friend H worked with him, too. After graduating college, she got a job at NBC-10 through an internship she had there, and told me about what a rough time she had with the majority of her co-workers at the station, including one of the weekend anchors that really treated her like crap. She said, though, of all the anchors there, Larry Mendte and John Bolaris were among the nicest ones. Larry always made people laugh and was always telling jokes about Dawn's absent-mindedness. So, knowing what I know of Larry and the fact he was a bright spot for my friend during one of her more difficult times, I was very disappointed to hear of these allegations against Larry. Now that Larry has been convicted and will likely be go behind bars for these charges, I'm still not going to be quick to jump down his throat. What he did was certainly wrong and he should get some punishment, but I hope he eventually comes out of this learning a good lesson and maybe gets back into the media in some form.
Today I finally got around to watching High Fidelity all the way through. I generally like John Cusak and dig his characters. He played the brooding, introspective Rob here that recalls all his past relationships and wonders where everything went wrong. I really wasn't wild about the character of Laura, who he ended up getting into this spiral over, but I enjoyed following the story of him getting to this point.
I especially loved the record store Rob owned and he and his friends' obsession talking about music and talking so geekily about different artists. Jack Black gave a great performance, playing a wacky character he's generally good at playing. The general soundtrack to the film went along well with the whole story.
I haven't really had any wild celebrity crushes since Jared Leto, when he played Jordan Catalano on My So-Called Life.
from My So-Called Life in 1994
2008
I still think he's cute, but I generally like him better with maybe a little stubble and not overly greasy. I don't follow him, though, as much as I did in the years after My So-Called Life went off the air.
My latest celebrity crush, though, is on Jason Bateman. I was too young to have one of those crushes on him in the 80s when he was on silly shows like Silver Spoons or Valerie. He has gotten my attention recently after his great performance in Juno and in my rediscovery of Arrested Development. He's certainly one that has gotten better looking with age. I don't understand the hype about the young Jason Bateman, but he's really aged well. Besides his physical attractiveness, he always plays such great characters and really fits well into the roles he plays.
Jason Bateman then, with sister Justine:
Jason Bateman now:
I am having a little insomnia tonight. I've finished all my "fun" stuff I have to do online and really don't feel like watching TV so I'm looking for music to download. From Limewire of course. There are a few sites I frequent to help lead me good music because, honestly, not everything is on iTunes and I like being able to find weird and unique music, often music that no one in my age group really listens to.
My favorite site is Digital Dreamdoor Music Lists. I appreciate that the owner has included all kinds of genres...surf music, blues, doo wop, etc. Not just the plain ol' country, rap and pop. I like that in his 90s lists I have found songs I haven't thought of in *years*. Some of the 80s tunes bring me back, but the 90s were all on during my turbulent adolescent years and I have a real warm spot for those tunes...even ones that I hated at the time. I guess it's all just nostalgia now.
I have also gotten into Pandora. The lists aren't there, but I like that they can help me find music like R.E.M. (though there's NO ONE like R.E.M.).
So all this should help me doze.
I did a little driving around Delaware County today. I have an interview in Drexel Hill this week and I wanted to do a little test drive since I'm not too familiar with the area. And while I was there I stopped in to visit a friend in the area. I used to be in that area all the time visiting my friend Isabella, who has since moved to Ireland, but I haven't had a reason to be there for awhile. It's generally a nice area, but I'm not sure if I'd move there if I got a job out there. There are these Swiss Dairy stores I've been fascinated with, but never got a chance to visit. Maybe I'll pop in there after my interview this week.
I'm still not sure how I feel about them doing a spinoff of Beverly Hills 90210. I loved 90210 and part of me thinks they should just let the show go already. But then I admit that I'm curious to see the show just because I loved 90210 and I also just saw this article:
Shannen Doherty Returns.
Apparently Brenda will be playing a visiting drama teacher and Jennie Garth will return as Kelly, playing a guidance counselor. I think it would be nice if they could get any of the guys to come back. I know I'd love to see Steve Sanders again.
Despite what you might think from my blog so far, there are really very, very few TV shows I watch religiously. Most of the shows I do watch religiously are ones that have been long canceled...Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, Seinfeld, Friends, Sex & the City, My So-Called Life, and many of the old sitcoms they rerun all over the place. I guess I'm an old fart in that I can not get into any of these reality shows or reality type shows and prefer my television to have a story and script. Of course there are exceptions for shows like Colbert, Daily Show & Olbermann and some news type programs.
Anyway, one of those few shows I still watch religiously is Desperate Housewives. I know the show has lost fans over the years, but I think it's still really well done, has great quirky story lines and fantastically developed characters. And in the Darren Star (and the late Aaron Spelling) tradition, you really get some nutty characters and great cliffhangers. Ugly Betty does a great job with this too, but Desperate Housewives does more to fuel my need for fluff.
I always like surprising people by saying I love shows like Melrose Place,
Dawson's Creek and 90210. Since I think so much during my regular day, shows like this really do a great job sucking me in and distracting me from everything else I'm dealing with since they have such intricate stories. The Office is funny and does have tiny bits of drama thrown in, but, obviously, not to the extent of DH.
So I was disappointed when I saw this headline on Yahoo! today:
Housewives Saying Goodbye to Wisteria Lane.
“I’ve made the decision that after seven years I will probably keel over in a hump,” Cherry explained. “I love my baby, I love working with these gals, but the idea of letting anyone else take the show from me kind of makes me sad and sick to my stomach...I’m going to take it for seven years, and we’re going to get out while people still like us.”
I'm guessing he's trying to pull an act like Seinfeld with DH, which I do think makes some sense. Right now I'm up to season 9 of 90210 on the Soap Network and, really, as much as I love the show, they really did drag it out too much by the end. 90210 without any of the Walshes doesn't really make sense since, really, the initial premise of the show was about Brenda & Brandon trying to acclimate to life in Beverly Hills. I know there were lots of Brenda fans that jumped ship when she left, but the Brandon character still made the show valid.
So, there will be 3 more seasons of Desperate Housewives. Of all the ladies, I really hope that Marcia Cross keeps working after the show's over. Her character has been one of my favorite parts of the show from the beginning. Cross always plays such a good, insane person.
I think I did really well in the interview I had today. I'm writing up my "thank yous" right now. I've tried not getting too excited about good interviews lately, though, because I keep getting disappointed.
Earlier this year I sold all my Friends DVDs, but I keep thinking about episodes during the first season when Rachel is struggling trying to find a job in fashion. There was the one interview she thought went really well, but they went around and hired someone else. It was that episode where they were all playing poker. I love the poker part of the episode too. :) Of course, that guy Mark ended up finding her a job, but up until that point, I can totally empathize.
I was happy to find that episode here on YouTube...in 3 parts.:
Anyway, I have been appreciating Rachel's character so much more lately. I used to love Phoebe the best. I still like Phoebe's character, but, really, I love the storylines with Rachel too. I've been thinking of the one where she has the eye issues too...that is completely me too.
I found a clip of that too:
It looks like we're getting another heat wave in Philadelphia. It looks like it will be for the next few days. I hate these heat waves. I always want to camp in my apartment watching TV, but of course I have to live my life.
Tomorrow I have some job related ventures. One interview at a non-profit and a meeting with a staffing agency. I need to get some grocery shopping in too. The cost of everything is so insane lately. I use one credit card only for gas and my bill has gone up so much since last time. I did, though, get a BP gift card so that will help with at least one tank of gas. I'm glad I got the BP card. I was using the AAA card for my gas for awhile, but the BP one has this great reward benefit. Plus there are BPs all over the place and they're one of the most environmentally friendly gas company.
Over last weekend I ordered the whole series of Arrested Development and I've received seasons 1 and 3 so far. Maybe I'll be lucky to get season 2 by the weekend. So maybe over the weekend during my downtime I'll get to camp out and watch them.
