Out and Back

The end of The Sopranos

Advanced warning: if you are a fan of The Sopranos and haven't seen last night's episode, I don't want to ruin it for you, so the rest of the post will begin after the jump.

I'm officially weird

Am I the only one who gets a huge kick out of those Jimmy Dean commercials with the sun, his family, and his co-workers?  They're wonderfully surreal.  I was overjoyed to discover that they're all up on the Jimmy Dean website, so I can get my breakfast on whenever I feel like it.  I want to get a recording of the music, too... and play it in the mornings when I pour my cereal.

Merry Christmas from Payless....

Last year, I posted a very well-received entry about my favorite Christmas/holiday songs.  The entry still turns up in search results for people who are looking for information about "The Hat I Got For Christmas Is Too Big" by Mel Blanc, a rather obscure Christmas song in the vein of "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth."

This year, I thought I would turn my attention to Christmas television commercials.  I'm one of those people that gets sucked right into the holiday cheer... I still get choked up watching that classic Folger's Christmas commercial.  You know the one... "Peter" comes home from college unexpectedly, and he and his little sister make coffee.  The parents wake up and come downstairs, and when Mom sees Peter she gives him a big hug and cries tears of joy.  Then they all drink coffee and open presents.  (I was surprised to see that commercial back on the air last year... maybe it will be back again this year, too.)

And how many of you out there remember the incessant "Merry Christmas from Payless... Merry Christmaaaaaas...." jingle?  That pops into my head at least once during the holiday season.  Not bad for a commercial for a drugstore chain that doesn't even exist anymore.  Somehow "Merry Christmas from Rite-Aid" or "Duane Reade" or "Eckerd" or "Walgreen's" doesn't have the same ring.

When I was growing up in the Seattle area, we had a drugstore chain called Pay 'N Save.  I still remember their kitschy blue and green signs and going shopping there on a regular basis with my mom.  Pay 'N Save's Christmas commercials were memorable, too.... they usually depicted Santa Claus finishing up his last-minute shopping, happily walking out of Pay 'N Save with his purchases to the sounds of sleigh bells ringing.

These days, the Gap's holiday commercials never fail to put a smile on my face.  I'm loving the new "Holiday in Your Hood" ad with Common's rap:

And, of course, this classic Gap ad from 2002:

I love this!

This was on The Colbert Report a couple of weeks ago.  I just about died laughing.  The best part is that Jane and Gloria are totally in on the joke.

Mennnnnswear....

I'm the kind of girl who enjoys a good "Britcom," and as far as I'm concerned, Are You Being Served? is one of the best.  For those unfamiliar, AYBS is a delightful and sometimes-naughty comedy set in London about the employees of the fictional Grace Brothers department store, in an era when there were still floorwalkers, senior and junior salespeople, and the possibility of purchasing everything from bridal veils to stationery all in one big department store. 

The show features a colorful cast of characters, including the famous Mr. Humphries, one of the first gay (or at least sexually ambiguous) characters on TV.  His character has many of the best lines (save perhaps for Mrs. Slocombe's comments about her pussy and incessant use of the phrase, "...and I am unanimous in this.")  There is also Captain Peacock, the snobbish floorwalker; Mr. Rumbold, the clueless department head; and the two junior members of the sales staff, Miss Brahms in Ladies' and Mr. Lucas in Gents' Ready-Mades.  And who could forget Young Mr. Grace, whose catchphrase, "You've all done very well!" is sure to bring a smile.

House, M.D. Part II

Colleen commented in response to last night's post that she had never heard of House, M.D. (my new favorite show) so I thought I would spend a little time tonight going into more depth about the show and why I love it so much.

To answer Colleen's question, yes, House is a doctor show.  Hugh Laurie plays Greg House, a very gifted diagnostician with the world's worst bedside manner.  Each episode, he and his team of physicians encounter patients with unusual maladies, and House employs numerous unorthodox techniques to determine the illness(es) and save the patients' lives.  He regularly flouts the authority of the Dean of Medicine, Dr. Lisa Cuddy, and last season locked horns in a major way with the chairman of the hospital's board.  In addition, he's forever trying to get out of doing his clinic hours and hurling sarcastic comments and insults at his patients, their families, and the members of his team (Drs. Chase, Cameron, and Foreman.)  His only friend is an oncologist, Dr. Wilson (played fabulously by Robert Sean Leonard, whose work I have loved since I was young.)

Dr. House himself was crippled as the result of an erroneous diagnosis, and he walks with a cane and pops Vicodin every chance he gets.  This season (the show's second) looks like it will be a good one, as House's ex-girlfriend was recently hired as the hospital's legal counsel.  (House saved her new husband's life in the final episodes of season 1.)

I love everything about this show, from Hugh Laurie's acting (and impeccable American accent) to the fascinating medical mysteries and everything in between.  It is an hour well-spent on a Tuesday night, and every episode contains just the right mix of humor, sarcasm, and drama.  Last night I found myself laughing my head off at one moment, only to find my eyes welling up later.  The show can get a little intense at times and doesn't shy away from showing pretty graphic stuff, but it's no worse than that other huge medical show, ER.  So next time you are in the mood for a great hour of TV, tune into House, M.D. on Fox.

House, M.D.

Just got done watching the season premiere of House, M.D. on Fox.  Best damn show on television, if you ask me.  As I watched, I realized how much I missed that show over the summer.

House-ism of the night: "Bros before hoes, man."

Celebrity Fit Club

The other night while exercising on my recumbent bike, I turned the basement TV set on and watched back-to-back reruns of Celebrity Fit Club on VH1.  Talk about a motivator.  There is something about watching washed-up celebrities trying to "take off the ten pounds the camera adds... and then some" that really pushed me to ride that bike for all I was worth.  Who knew?

Fun with movies and TV

On Friday night, we headed over to one of our local multiplexes to watch Tom Cruise take on alien invaders in War of the Worlds.  Despite Tom's totally weird public behavior of late, I have enjoyed a lot of his film work, and I was very interested in seeing War of the Worlds.  (I am going to buy this t-shirt, however.  Poor Matt Lauer!)

The movie itself was good, and relentless in its intensity (particularly considering its PG-13 rating.)  It also felt very realistic -- in the sense that if aliens did invade our planet, this movie is probably a pretty good depiction of how the shit would go down and, in particular, how us "human beans" would react.  (There is a scene in the film where Tom Cruise's character and his two children are nearly killed by an angry, desperate mob... for their minivan.  That scene was more upsetting to me than anything the aliens did.) 

So go see War of the Worlds.  If you happen to live near a drive-in, definitely see it there.  It's a very good drive-in kind of movie.

I spent Saturday watching old Seinfeld episodes on DVD in between loads of laundry, and the brilliance of that show never ceases to amaze me.  I didn't start watching it regularly on tv until roughly halfway through its run (my roommate at the time was obsessed with it and that's how I got hooked), so it has been fun to watch some of the earlier episodes and to see how the show evolved over time.  God bless Kramer.  Michael Richards' comic timing is pure genius.

We rented Hitch, Sideways, and At First Sight on Saturday and watched Hitch that evening.  It was funny and cute... Will Smith always makes me think of my mom, because when I was a teenager she and I would never miss The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on Monday nights.  Despite the inevitable chasm that grows between teenage girls and their mothers, my mom and I always had at least one thing in common, and that was our affecton for Mr. Smith.  Maybe I'll send her a copy of Hitch as a "thinking of you" present.

We haven't gotten around to watching the other two movies yet.  I'll probably watch At First Sight by myself because my husband knows well enough by now that NO ONE comes between me and Val Kilmer.

Have a great week....

Every prophet in her house: save Carnivale

People who read my blog regularly could probably guess that I am a huge fan of the HBO series, Carnivale.  I've never subscribed to HBO, but I bought the first season on DVD after my cousin recommended it to me.  From the HBO website:

CARNIVALE follows a traveling carnival as it wends its way across the Dust Bowl, focusing on Ben Hawkins, a mysterious 18-year-old fugitive with hidden talents who is taken in by the carnival, and Brother Justin, the charismatic, shadowy evangelist who will ultimately cross his path. The series takes place at a time of worldwide unrest, with evil on the rise around the globe and the Great Depression wreaking economic and social havoc here at home.

My husband and I were hooked from the first episode.  The show is gritty, intense, at times darkly funny, and exceptionally haunting.  And beautiful.  I never imagined that the Dust Bowl could be so gorgeous.  The characters are all delightfully weird and yet totally accessible.   You feel like you know them all (which is sort of unbelievable considering most of them are circus freaks, crazy religious fanatics, and carnies.)  I love all the characters, but if I had to choose a favorite I would have to choose Jonesy -- the head roustabout who was a professional baseball player until the mob smashed his knee when he wouldn't throw a game.  He is a good-but-imperfect person, simultaneously reflecting strength and vulnerability.  (Every woman's dream man, right?)

We finished watching all of the Season 1 episodes a few weeks ago, and it is going to be a long, painful wait for Season 2 to arrive on DVD.  Even more painful was receiving the news last month that HBO has decided to cancel Carnivale after only two seasons.  There is a huge grassroots effort going to encourage HBO to reconsider.  SaveCarnivale.org is pulling out all the stops, with a campaign of mailing one tarot card a day to HBO with a letter imploring the top brass not to pull the plug on the show.  I'm going to buy a new tarot deck myself and participate, because it has been ages since I've found a television program this good.

I encourage you to rent or borrow the Carnivale DVDs (or catch a few re-runs on HBO).  If you like what you see, consider joining the effort to keep it on the air.

"Come on children, let's shake some dust!"