This Week in Chuck

Be prepared - major picspam coming your way because "Gossip Girl" made me seriously happy last week!!!

Winner #1: (From "It's a Wonderful Lie") No Contest - Sparkle tux! Sparkle tux! Sparkle tux!


Winner #2: (From "O Brother, Where Bart Thou?") He was in mourning all episode (lots of black suits, black overcoats, etc.) so I'm giving the win to the artfully disheveled hair! May not look like much, but for a character who lives and dies by the amount of brillo cream in his carefully slicked hair, this represents an entire character arc. (Psst - it clues us in to his grief - get it?)


In all honesty, I absolutely loved this episode. Yes, Chuck looks like a maniac, but the performance was great (a very Chuck reaction to grief), it featured some progress on the Chuck and Blair front, made me hate Serena and Dan a little less and a little more, simultaneously, and revealed that Rufus and Lily have a secret love child out their somewhere! Can't wait to see what happens next. (Jacob at TWoP wrote a great recap of the episode if you want to read it here.)

It also gave me these beautiful moments:

Blair looking radiantly happy at her mom's wedding

Blair and Nate coming together to help Chuck (we seriously need more scenes of the three of them together - Nate has been isolated all season so far - not good!)

Blair finally says "I love you" and Chuck looks terrified

The hug heard round the world - about damn time!

And Eric - just because he's the most awesome character on the show!

Now onto more pressing matters - SERENA'S WARDROBE:

I know Blake Lively is hot, and has one of the most magically, naturally beautiful bodies to come around in quite some time. She's vivacious, tall, curvy, has quite the chest and ass, and looks like she eats and is healthy. Kudos! But practically every costume over the season has made it a point to showcase either her bust or her legs, and more often than not, both. Yes, Serena Van der Woodsen is a free-spirited dish, but she's starting to dress a tad trashy and I'd like it to stop.

The evidence:

This is her go-to top design.

She was actually trying to piss off her step-father here, but still...

This is the top and bottom of the dress she wore to her boyfriend's father's wedding. A tad too short, do we think?


Again with the too much cleavage.


Actually a lovely top and jacket, but I think the plunging neckline is a little inappropriate for her Yale interview with the Dean.


Thanksgiving in a skirt short enough to see her peek-achoo.

And this was the dress deemed fitting for her step-father's funeral. At least she wore a coat most of the time.

So what do you say - am I overreacting?

My Favorite Actresses

This is another of those lists making the blog rounds, so of course I had to do one as well. The topic: Your 20 Favorite Film Actresses. This was actually pretty hard and I'm not sure this is the definitive list, but it's the best I could do in 20 minutes (which is all the time I allowed myself to obsess). Not all of these actresses are the best of the best, but they've managed to win me over. I realized that for an actress to be a favorite of mine, I have to like her, not just her acting. Some of these are greats, others just had one amazing role I've never forgotten. So here they are, in alphabetical order, as well as my favorite part they've plaved.


Amy Adams: Junebug
Loved her in this, and if you haven't seen it you must!

Juliette Binoche: Dan in Real Life or The English Patient
Has a very warm quality, always seems intelligent and thoughtful in her characters and I love the way her voice sounds.

Cate Blanchett: (I can't pick)
She's seriously fantastic in everything. I love Notes on a Scandal best as a film (in which Blanchett plays a weak teacher having an affair with a student) but just take a look at her strength and versatility in Elizabeth, Bandits, The Gift, The Aviator and I'm Not There. Amazing actress.

Toni Collette: Muriel's Wedding
Has a goofy smile and makes me cry at the end of The Sixth Sense.

Claire Danes: Shopgirl
So she's here because of "My So-Called Life" which, I know, is a TV show. Danes has all the potential in the world but hasn't seemed to find a film career that matches the flickers of talent we saw then. That said, love her in Little Women and Stage Beauty and she was very good in 2005's Shopgirl.

Maggie Gyllenhaal: Secretary (though I love her in Stranger Than Fiction too)
One of my absolute faves, Maggie is stunningly vulnerable in Secretary, but contrast that with her strength and ferocity in Stranger Than Fiction and Sherrybaby to get some idea of her range. I also dig the way she looks, all gawky angles and chipmunk cheeks. So cute.

Anne Hathaway: Ella Enchanted
She's just innately likable. I'm looking forward to seeing Rachel Getting Married, which looks to be her breakout role as an actress to be taken seriously.

Bryce Dallas Howard: The Village
Haven't really seen her in anything else, but her portrayal of Ivy in The Village blows me away. That girl is freakin' incredible.

Keira Knightley: Pride and Prejudice
Just now beginning to stretch herself, I love that she looks resplendent in period garb and has that great clipped British accent, and P & P and Atonement are two of my favorite films. She's radiant in both.

Juliette Lewis: What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
She played Becky, one of my favorite characters of all time, and wins a spot here just for that. Even though she fronts a band now and is mostly cast in forgettable sidekick roles, she has proven her abilities in Cape Fear, Natural Born Killers, and Kalifornia.

Mary Stuart Masterson: Some Kind of Wonderful
Not conventionally the most attractive, there's something in her awkward body shape and tomboy speech that I really love. Watts is probably her most well-known character, but she's also really good in Benny & Joon, and Fried Green Tomatoes.

Rachel McAdams: The Notebook
Another actress with all the potential in the world, we're all just waiting for her to take it somewhere amazing. Love her passionate portrayal in The Notebook, as well as her ability to be both bitchy (Mean Girls, The Family Stone) and extremely likable (Wedding Crashers).

Natalie Portman: Beautiful Girls
Apparently I'm not the only one in love with her character in Beautiful Girls. Definitely one of her greatest performances. Portman has the ability to garner our sympathy, but sometimes chooses roles where she's somewhat off-putting and distant and I like that she plays against her innate charm with a coolness.

Susan Sarandon: Bull Durham
Annie Savoy is just a great character and Sarandon imbues her with a sultry, smart sexiness. I love her in Moonlight Mile and Anywhere But Here (also good for Portman) and I can only pray to look that good when I'm almost 60.

Elizabeth Taylor: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Maggie the Cat is a shallow bitch, but Taylor makes me love her. Very strong-willed characters.

Kristin Scott Thomas: The English Patient
At first I thought I only liked her in this film, but then remembered how she made me root for her in The Horse Whisperer despite being a career-obsessed control freak, and that she was the elusive and tart-tongued Fiona in Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Emma Thompson: Wit
Thompson is great in everything, my favorite actually being her high-spirited Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, but she's fantastic in Wit, a widely unappreciated film. Often plays drama, but is a first rate comedian, and try not to cry in her big scene in Love, Actually.

Uma Thurman: Kill Bill
She's cool as a cucumber in Pulp Fiction, stunning in Gattaca, fierce and combustable in Kill Bill, and a sweet doofus in The Truth About Cats and Dogs. Really is an underrated actress.

Dianne Wiest: Hannah and Her Sisters
Her characters in Hannah and Parenthood are among my favorites, plus she has a cheery, stable quality to her in films like Dan in Real Life, The Horse Whisperer and Edward Scissorhands.

Kate Winslet: Titanic
It's funny that she's last because she is most definitely #1 in my book. Never turns in a shaby performance, she's just radiant. Her best acting is probably in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but Titanic is where I fell in love, and her parts in Sense and Sensibility, Heavenly Creatures, Hamlet, Hideous Kinky, Enigma, and Quills are all amazing.


Just Missed the List: Meryl Streep, Jodi Foster, Winona Rider, Reese Witherspoon, Joan Allen and Emily Blunt.

Christmas Oddity

The computer is finally fixed! Yay! It was actually good to go last Thursday, but I had a hella busy weekend and have only now gotten around to posting anything.

To begin with, it's Christmas time. For me this means two things: All Things Christmas (watching our large assortment of holiday themed films, decorating the house within an inch of it's capacity and wrapping all presents myself with a variety of ribbons and paper) and Awards Season.

Strangely I am not particularly into either of these events this year.

I did help decorate the tree and spent my last two days off wrapping all the presents (that felt good), but have left most of the house decorating to my mom (I just haven't really cared, very uncharacteristic of me) and haven't watched a single holiday movie - no cartoons, no Miracle on 34th Street or Elf, and I'm not really all that sad about it. I don't know what's up with that.

Anyone ever seen the TV show "Roswell"? Kinda crap, honestly, but I was obsessed with it my first two years of college. Katherine Heigl (before she was famous) played a character (also ironically named Isabel/Izzie - crazy!) who was a teen alien that psychotically loved Christmas. Her nickname in the Christmas episodes was "The Christmas Nazi." I wouldn't go as far as to call myself that (I'm not involved with Senior Home gift drives or caroling or Christmas Pageants), but I have been known in years past to take the decoration of my home a little too seriously (I have a collection of fruit ornaments that will someday take over their very own tree - meaning I'll have two trees and one will be filled with fruit), I've made timetables for the watching of Christmas films in order to ensure everyone's tastes and schedules are satisfied, and I've maintained pretty high standards for the kinds of wrapping paper used and demanded a variety of types of ribbon be made available (for example, no one in my family has two presents wrapped in the same pattern of paper - that would be wrong). But other than a little anal retentiveness in the wrapping portion of the season, my other Christmas fetishes have been largely overlooked.

The other oddity has been my lack of interest in Awards Season buzz. Last week alone, the Broadcast Film Critics announced their nominees, as did the Golden Globes, and the National Board of Review, L.A. Film Critics and New York Critics circles all named their choices for Best Film, Actor and Actress of the Year. Normally this would mean a great deal of squeeing and speculation on my part, but other than being stoked that WALL*E was named Best Film (by the L.A. Critics), I am not particularly excited. (Wait, I lied: Kate Winslet's up for a slew of awards, as well as Best Actress and Supporting Actress honors at the Golden Globes and the fact that she doesn't yet have an Academy Award is one of the few quatifiably wrong things in the universe, so I am rooting for her, of course!) I guess my interest in the Awards Season will probably change once I've seen some of the nominated films (post-Christmas: Milk, Revolutionary Road, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Doubt, Gran Torino, Frost/Nixon and Slumdog Millionaire, here I come) so I hope the New Year brings me some renewed vigor cause an Allison that doesn't obsess over Academy Awards nominations is just not an Allison you'd recognize (plus, that would be some hard evidence that I am actually suffering from depression - we don't want that!).

My Computer Blows Chunks

I know I promised a "Things I Missed" post a week ago, which is incredibly ironic as I've now missed so much more that that post is most likely irrelevant. In the boonies of good ol' Sweet Home, our computer has up and quit connecting to the Internet, so this is the first chance I've had to check anything online in about a week. Sorry 'bout that. (I'm actually using the computer at my friend's house in Eugene right now.) We're taking the computer in to get fixed tomorrow, and hopefully we'll get it back before the week is out so that I can actually post all the things I've been working on.

As for now, tonight is Gossip Girl and it looks like Bart Bass has died, so I am of course super excited about Chuck's imminent meltdown! Seriously, I want that boy screaming and crying and tearing his hair out (from the previews, it's already 50% more unkempt than usual) because I want to see this actor effing lose it! Can't wait, but I won't be able to weigh in until later. Boo-hoo.

Hopefully I'll be talking to you by week's end. In the meantime, came across this great song while I was watching shipper videos on youtube. It's called "HeartBeat" by Scouting for Girls and I put it on repeat while getting ready this morning. Love!

Two Weeks Ago in Chuck...

For at least the third time I am late, really really late, with my Chuck's Wardrobe post. I thought about including this in my 'Things I Missed" post (coming tomorrow) but that post is already nearing epic lengths and I can just bang this out right now.

Winner #1: From the episode "Bonfire of the Vanity" 3 weeks ago. It may not look like much but blow it up and pay attention to the detail. The matching blue pocket square. The fine stitching of the plaid jacket. The deep blue sweater vest beneath. And I know you can't see them, but the elbows are furnished with dark brown patches. Nice.




Winner #2: Neither of Chuck's outfits in "The Magnificent Archibald" were all that spectacular; just your usual tie (red), vest (tan), and geisha-like smoking jacket (navy). So let's focus on the scene surrounding this bathrobe, shall we? Yes, that's Chuck having a martini-toast with the woman who has just shaved his face in his own private barber shop. Jacob's recap says it all:

"Eric's mind is so fucking blown that it propels him up the stairs and into Chuck's room, where he's delighted to see Chuck is home. And here's what Chuck's up to right now: getting a shave and facial from a silent woman in a French maid costume, while they drink martinis together, wearing a smoking jacket. "My plans for the evening got held up at Customs," he smarms, but I think these "plans" are imaginary as I often do, because he's got an image to protect. Eric must not know that he is impotent, because he loves Eric the most of anybody besides Nate, who I guess also must not know about the mechanical errors, so: "plans." Eric's like, "YOUR DAD TOTALLY JUST BLEW MY WHOLE MIND" and Chuck's like, "You know I have a PI on retainer -- you think Bart wouldn't?" He clinks martinis with the French maid lady at this point. He is like twice as Chuck Bass right now as usual, it's awesome. Eric's like, "Isn't that totally fucking fucked up, though? Am I wrong here?" Chuck, because why would he know better, is like, "I don't even know what fucked up means. It's what we do. Remind me to tell you about the time I found these amazing surveillance photos of Gina, my hot Italian au pair who later molested me and contributed to the insane mess I am!" Eric takes a pass on that one, and Chuck offers him the keys to the vault. And because it's Gossip Girl, yes: there is literally a vault, with literal bars of gold in it."

Blankets with Sleeves!!!

Caught this commercial a couple weeks ago and it sent me into quite an uncontrollable fit of laughter. Witness the blanket with sleeves!



While I get what they're going for, how hard is it really to just reach out of the blanket to grab what you need? I don't think the sleeves are necessary. Plus, they make the wearer look like a member of a cult. The shot of an entire family sitting around the campfire, all wearing these blanket/coats? Eerily similar to a sacrificial gathering. (It also reminded me of the Season 2 episode of "Angel" where there was a vampire cult pyramid scheme and all the members wore colored robes to signify their level.) I don't think that's what the makers were going for!

Tagged: Alphabet Meme

I got tagged over at the Random Ramblings Blog to list a favorite movie for each letter of the alphabet. For those of you who were reading my blog earlier this year when I did my Favorite 100 Movies, many of these selections will be familiar, but there were a few letters for which I had to do some digging. Rules are below, hope you enjoy! (And this game originated at the Blog Cabins blog!)

The Rules

1. Pick one film (your favorite film) to represent each letter of the alphabet.
2. The letter "A" and the word "The" do not count as the beginning of a film's title, unless the film is simply titled A or The, and I don't know of any films with those titles.
3. Return of the Jedi belongs under "R," not "S" as in Star Wars Episode IV: Return of the Jedi. This rule applies to all films in the original Star Wars trilogy; all that followed start with "S." Similarly, Raiders of the Lost Ark belongs under "R," not "I" as in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. In other words, movies are stuck with the titles their owners gave them at the time of their theatrical release. Conversely, all films in the LOTR series belong under "L" and all films in the Chronicles of Narnia series belong under "C," as that's what those filmmakers called their films from the start. Use your better judgement to apply the above rule to any series/films not mentioned.
4. Films that start with a number are filed under the first letter of their number's word. 12 Monkeys would be filed under "T."
5. Link back to Blog Cabins in your post so that I can eventually type "alphabet meme" into Google and come up #1, then make a post where I declare that I am the King of Google.
6. If you're selected, you have to then select 5 more people.


Here are mine:

Almost Famous

Before Sunrise

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Dazed and Confused

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Fish Called Wanda, A (almost was The 40-Year Old Virgin, but I felt like tooting Wanda's horn)

Gosford Park

High Fidelity

It's a Wonderful Life

Junebug

Kill Bill (if I had to choose, Vol. 2)

L.A. Confidential

Moulin Rouge

Newsies

Once

Princess Bride, The

Queen, The

Royal Tenenbaums, The

Sideways

Titanic

Upside of Anger, The

Virgin Suicides, The

What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

X-Files: Fight the Future (it was either this or copy X2: X-Men United)

Yentl (yes, it's Barbra Streisand and I love it!)

Zodiac


This post brought to you by the letters J, N, Q, U and X, all of which kicked my ass! (And unsurprisingly, I had way too many options for the letters M, B, L, S, T and W - duh squared!)

I'm supposed to tag 5 other people to do this, but I only have about 3-4 real friends who consistently read my blog and only 1-2 have a blog of their own, and I know you guys aren't crazy movie bloggers. So if you feel so inclined, Heather and Damon, feel free to participate and list your fav's alphabetically - but no pressure!

Heather at Married to the Game
Damon at Hart Burned

This Week in Chuck...

Last night was another fabulous episode! My Blair love is quickly rising back to Season One levels (although Dan stumbled a bit after last week's impressive showing and is now almost a douche again). Now that Blair and Chuck have declared an armistice they are back to cute snark and co-plotting, just the way I like it, and she was freaking hilarious last night! I missed last week, yet again, so you get two entries this week (again).

Winner #1: From last week's episode, Chuck actually wore a pretty fab gray/green suit with awesome lapels and piping, but you can see that in the photo from the episode in my "Best TV Week Ever" post. So instead I'm going with the pretty lavender sweater. Not too crazy, but how pretty is he in that color? Love it!


Winner #2: Chuck only wore 2 outfits in last night's episode, so lucky for us one of them was this amazing, plaid blazer. Seriously, I spent a good five minutes gushing about this thing while I was watching the episode. And every time he came back onscreen led to another round of, "Oh My God, that jacket is fucking awesome!" Apparently I'm easy to please; all you need is a plaid jacket and healthy dose of smarm.

Best Week of Television Ever!

Well, maybe not. But I was so in love with most of my shows last week I have to gush!

MAD MEN

It was the season finale of this excellent show and I was immensely satisfied. It took place against the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, and most of the characters felt like taking risks and deciding what really mattered. In this vein there were 3 really entertaining and important developments:

1) Don more or less admitted his infidelity and disrespect to his wife Betty in an attempt to get her back. Don is a pretty awesome character but he has struggled this season to own up to his shortcomings and be honest, so this was an important first step towards repairing his marriage. He also got the upper hand in the Sterling-Cooper merger allowing him to finally put Duck in his place. Which brings me to number 2...


2) Duck boils himself in a stew of his own making. After setting up a risky but extremely lucrative merger for the company (which will land him a position as President, finally giving him seniority over Don) Duck makes a pretty grand faux paux. First, the alcoholic has started drinking again, leading to some cutting comments and yelling in the big meeting. But second and most entertainingly, his supposed triumph over Don was entirely contingent on Don being forced to stick to his contract, giving Duck control and the upper hand. The kicker is that Don doesn't have a contract and is free to quit and work for rival companies if he doesn't like the way Duck runs the office. So now Duck has made a fool of himself and completely overestimated his hand, landing him in deep, deep water with the senior partners. It was a great scene.

3) The most touching scene was the long-awaited reveal of the fate of Peggy and Pete's love-child. We've known all season that Peggy gave birth to Pete's child at the end of last season, but we weren't sure where the baby ended up and we've been waiting for Pete to find out that his casual dalliance with Peggy resulted in a child. A buzzed Pete finally sits Peggy down and honestly admits that he's in love with her and wants to be with her, his marriage be damned. And Peggy sadly and kindly informs him that she had his child and gave it away because she wanted more for herself. She wanted the big career which she has pretty much achieved and she no longer wants Pete the way she used to. He is so devastated in this scene and both Elizabeth Moss and Vincent Kartheiser were fucking amazing in the scene.

GOSSIP GIRL

This was definitely one of my favorite episodes of the season. I liked just about every development and really cheered on a few characters that I have never cared for. Like Jenny - usually a spoiled brat wannabe, but tonight, while still being a baby, she was at least an interesting baby. Fought Eleanor Waldorf for control of the dresses she designed and almost got into some trouble with a shady model and her annoying photog boyfriend, but then! NATE TO THE RESCUE!!! While the attraction between Nate and Jenny seemed kinda sudden (not to mention Chace Crawford is 23 and Taylor Momsen in only 15, eww?) I like their chemistry, we need to see more half-naked Nate, and I liked their kiss. Can't wait to see what Blair thinks about this! Jenny screwing over Blair's mother, then picking up with her ex, ooohhh, can't be good.


In other news, I finally liked Dan! Really, really liked him! I want to, and God knows Penn Badgely is adorable, but Dan is just such a judgmental ass most of the time I just can't get on board. But this week he genuinely tried to see others as actual human beings with feelings and really helped Blair out. I really like Dan and Blair scenes together - they have a great chemistry. I don't want them together romantically because I love her with Chuck too much, but I like them interacting. Even when Dan reverted to sanctimonious jerk for 5 minutes (Damn you, Vanessa!) I at least understood why, and he faced down Chuck Bass to make it right! Bravo!


Also, yay for Chuck and Blair pretty much admitting they are in love with each other. It's about time! Totally my favorite couple, they actual got all vulnerable with each other and decided they don't want to risk a relationship because they're afraid they'll screw it up. It was tragically and beautifully sad (oh, they way they held hands!) but here's hoping they get back to some friendly scheming together now.


Oh, and Serena's got a new love interest and I find him intriguing, plus he totally reminds me of pretentious smarties with boho looks like Blake. This could be interesting!

GREEK

I'll keep this short(er) but in the midseason finale I gave up on Evan and Frannie. This season's evil power couple showed lots of promise as characters last season, but now Frannie is officially beyond repair. She steals half of the ZBZ house to start her own sorority, why - because she can't be president of ZBZ. What an evil wench! And she is totally using Evan for him money and connections. Which is fine because Evan is a douche! What happened to the nice guy who wanted to be more than "Evan Chambers" in those freshman year flashbacks??? He had so much potential. But this week, in the long awaited street fight between the Omega Chai's and Kappa Tau, Evan hit Rusty in the face with a pledge paddle - HARD!!! Ostensibly as payback, but please! He's humiliated Rusty plenty already, and it's RUSTY! (Just look at him) You just don't do that to Rusty - he's cuddly baby who is made of awesome! So glad Cappie punched Evan back. And hope that Calvin finally opens his eyes and sees that Evan is crap. I have decided that Cappie has to be Evan's salvation. Until those two make up and Cappie helps Evan remember how to be a human being, I have written Evan off for good.


Also, like that Rebecca wants to be Casey's friend, glad that Casey chose herself over a guy, but love that Max may be sticking around because he is a sweetie and a dish and until Casey and Cappie get back together, I'm loving Max! Can't wait for March!

SONS OF ANARCHY

Anyone else watching this? It's a new show on FX and I am officially hooked. What initially caught me was Charlie Hunnam (really cute British actor from the UK "Queer as Folk" and Judd Apatow's show "Undeclared") but I'm really starting to love everything about it. It's about a biker gang in a small town and they basically are the law. They run guns and keep the peace, but they're all fucked up. Honestly, I don't think I can explain the entire dynamic. Clay (Ron Perlman) is the leader and his stepson Jax (Hunnam) is second in command, and the rest of the club is just filled with great character actors. It's really one of the best ensembles I've seen in a while. Gemma (Katy Segal) is Jax's mom and Clay's wife, and she is a force to be reckoned with - she and Perlman are acting superstars. Anywho, love this cast, love the momentum of the last couple episodes, love the diversity of characters, the conflict, Jax reuniting with old love Tara, the Hamlet-like undertones to the Clay/Gemma/Jax relationships, the dark humor, and on and on. Definitely my favorite new show of the season. And since it's about a rather misogynistic, violent and illegal enterprise, it's gotta be doing something right to have me hooked.



All in all it was a very satisfying week of television for me. Here's hoping this week is half as good!

This Week in Chuck...

Because I missed last week's entry, there are two winning outfits for the infamous Chuck Bass this week.

Winner #1: While touring Yale and hoping to seek acceptance into the Skull and Bones secret society, Mr. Bass found himself in a typically ridiculous color palette. The chocolate fedora is actually the least strange piece of the ensemble because I don't know what he was thinking pairing that pukey brown blazer with a pink shirt and rust trousers. (And I know you can't tell, but he's also wearing another purple ascot and green socks. Yikes!)


Winner #2: This week Chuck sported a truly fabulous maroon velour jacket, complete with another ascot, but I really thought I should take a moment to commemorate his casualwear; you hear enough about the suits and bowties and ascots. In highlighting his equally amazing prepster wardrobe, rake your eyes over these plaid pants and striped sweater. I know it's not as flashy as his suits (and in no way compares to awesomeness of the bass sweater he sported last season) but it takes a fairly secure man to strut around in plaid pants without a hint embarrassment.



Bonus: I know this feature is all about the wardrobe of Chuck Bass, but the girls of "Gossip Girl" are seriously deluded in their fashion pursuits as well, if perhaps a little less blantantly ostentatious than Mr. Bass. Plus, I figured I owed you something a little more after being so absent lately. So I bring your attention to this concoction Blair Waldorf wore around the Yale campus last week. Yes, she is the ultimate control freak prep, and many of her fashion statements do harken to an older time, but this mish-mash of patterns and fabrics is pretty freaking awesome, even for her! She looks like a deranged flapper!


And, what the hell, here's the velour jacket too! Bonus!

Mark Wahlberg on SNL

I originally found both of these videos over on the Cooler blog (to check out the original entries click here and here) so I can't take credit for discovering them on my own, but they were just so funny I had to share.

The first is a sketch from SNL called "Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals" that aired two weeks ago. What made it so funny to me was that I had just watched The Happening and that mixture of tough guy bravado and eager sincerity so often employed by Wahlberg's acting (especially in The Happening) is so spot-on skewered by this sketch. I don't count myself in the camp thinking Wahlberg is a horrible actor, but I can't deny that when he's miscast or trying to play this tough-but-sincere-role, he unfortunately sounds just like this.

The second clip is when Wahlberg stopped by SNL the following week to poke fun at himself and the sketch. Both clips are hilarious.

Top 10 TV Credits Sequences

I know most of these are also some of my favorite shows, but I didn't feel like doing research into the credits of "Rockford" or "Dallas" or "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" (although I am reasonably fond of the credits to "Laverne and Shirley" but that's probably just because of Wayne's World) in order to find THE BEST. And to be fair, there are plenty of shows I love that didn't make the cut credits-wise ('Sex and the City", "Grey's Anatomy", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Queer as Folk") or just don't have real credits ("Gossip Girl", "Lost", "Sports Night", etc.) These are the ones I'd be most likely to watch every time I pop in an episode, and I know it's due mainly to the music.

• 10 - "Everwood" (2002-2006): Love the small-town charmyness of those painted stills, and the violin music is acutely schmaltzy - in other words, perfect for this show.

• 9 - "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993-1999): This is probably the weakest series in the "Star Trek" franchise, but the music that accompanies the opening credits is just beautiful. I probably would have been just as happy with the music from "The Next Generation" with the whole "SPACE! The final frontier..." schtick, but I felt like being a little less obvious.

• 8 - "Gilmore Girls" (2000-2007): Yes, Carole King's "Where You Lead" is just too precious for it's own good, but somehow is perfect for this show. From the 5th season to the end, I always made sure I was home, freshly bought 44oz. in hand, to sing along to the opening credits.

• 7 - "Cheers" (1982-1993): To be honest, I've never seen more than a handful of episodes of this show, but how can you deny that warm feeling that comes over you whenever you here the opening tune? I know I wanna go where "everybody knows your name." Plus I like the ragtime saloon photos.
  

• 6 - "Firefly" (2002-2003): This short-lived show had it's roots in both sci-fi and western genres, and the credits song, written by Joss Whedon himself, is fine-tuned blend of futuristic spaceships and sweet/sad violin tunes.

• 5 - "My So-Called Life" (1994-1995): This show so rocked! I love credits full of scenes from the show, and these do a great job of showcasing what a great ensemble cast this show employed. The music is upbeat and part of the show's actual score, and I love that the cast is listed in alphabetical order and that no one's name appears over their own face. That's rare.

• 4 - "The Office" (2005-present): Shockingly, I couldn't find these credits on youtube - at least not as they appear on the show, so these will have to do; they're very close to the actual thing. How can anyone resist these catchy tunes? I'm singing along every time.
  

• 3 - "Veronica Mars" (2004-2007): These ones have grown on me so much! First of all, the lyrics of the song ("A long time ago/We used to be friends/But I haven't seen you lately at all..") are disturbingly acute as the show's heroine has been ostracized from her old friends and is a social outcast in high school, but the poppy, upbeat tune is also starkly different from the dark and crime noir-ish aspects of the show, which creates a nice ironic imbalance. So great!
  

• 2 - "How I Met Your Mother" (2005-present): These credits are only 15 seconds long but make me long to have a usual bar I regularly frequent with my oldest friends! Not only is the "Ba ba pa pa" tune awesome, but the candid shots of the cast at the bar look so real-world that I get all nostalgic for hanging out at bars in college! Which I never really did much! And I certainly don't have any great, candid, photographic evidence of those amazing nights! Boo! But !YAY! credits!

• 1 - "Freaks and Geeks" (1999-2000): The most amazing and accurate and funny credits sequence ever! To the incredible tuneage of Joan Jett's "Reputation" each of the main cast comes in for an awkward and funny yearbook photo where the essence of their character is nailed down in like 3 seconds. I NEVER skip the credits when I'm watching these DVD's. Sadly, I can't find the credits anywhere on youtube, nor can I embed a clip from the show containing the credits, so to see them, click here and wait until the 3:21 minute mark to enjoy! Or just watch the entire first scene - so excellent. Sorry I can't do any better.

Bonus - while searching for "The Office" credits that apparently do not exist, I came across a fanmade set of Office credits done to the "Friends" theme and style. They were well-done and funny and I can't get enough of good fanmade credits. ("Gossip Girl" doesn't have a credits sequence and I am addicted to finding the perfect ones, so I frequently stumble across "Gossip Girl as Veroncia Mars credits" packages and they crack me up.

"Hey! It's That Guy!" Makes EW

So now you know that I'm not dead. Sorry for not posting anything lately!


I know I've missed my monthly "Oh, That Guy!" posts lately. (Actually, I've neglected to blog about quite a few things lately including, but not limited to, Check This Out, This Week in Chuck, Weekly Links, and anything resembling an actual movie review.) But "Hey! It's That Guy!" is on the forefront right now because an article about the many underappreciated character actors made last week's issue of Entertainment Weekly. (Sorry for the crappy photo - taken with my phone camera as I couldn't find a copy of it online and nothing else would do!) The list is comprised of 22 familiar faces, 3 of whom have been previous features in "Oh, That Guy!" - John Slattery (my inaugural inductee), Celia Weston, and Bob Balaban. A couple others in the EW article were on my short list for future entries (like Stephen Tobolowsky, Beth Grant, and Larry Miller - trust me, you'd recognize them if you saw them! See below!)















So to make up for my shocking inattention to this feature, please do me a solid and check out the link over at Entertainment Weekly - it's a fabulous list!

This Week in Chuck...

Winner: The navy shirt with white collar and sailor-style...what is that? A kerchief? Not a cravat, but not a tie... I confess, I'm at a loss. Whatever it is, it makes him look an extra from an MGM musical where Gene Kelly prances around on a sound stage decorated like a ship, with dancing sailors in the background. All Chuck needs is the little sailor hat, cocked to one side. Can you see it?

My screencap knowledge is limited so I pretty much have to work with what I can scrounge up, and I can hardly ever find shots that display his entire outfits in decent lighting, so I'm sorry you don't even get to see the full ensembles. Especially the shoes. I know I've mentioned some of his amazing socks, and his shoes are frequently awesome as well, but alas, can't find the money shots, so I'll have to make do with the focus on his extreme and varied collection of neckware. Worse things have happened.

Coming Soon!

Sadly, I have not seen a movie in the theater since The Dark Knight in July! JULY, PEOPLE!!! Only two months, but feels much longer. Which means that in addition to not seeing any new flicks (luckily, most of August and September blew, though I am missing Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express, and Burn After Reading), I haven't seen any previews! I live for previews! I love seeing previews for movies I haven't even heard of yet, and that hasn't happened in at least 3 months (the Rio didn't play any new trailers before The Dark Knight, damn them!). So I had to wait for the Fall Movie Preview Edition of Entertainment Weekly, devour it's contents, and look up all the trailers on YouTube. And now that that's done, here's what I'm looking forward to most...

• Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (10/3): Probably sick of seeing the TV spots for this one already, but I am beyond excited for this movie! Michael Cera can do wrong, as far as I'm concerned - the kid's golden. And his costar, Kat Dennings, is really growing on me, plus, points for not looking like a stick figure with no soul!

• Australia (11/14): It's Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, epic, beautiful and directed by Baz Luhrman. Need I say more? That man has owned me since Moulin Rouge and this is actually his first film since then! Crazy! But it honestly looks big and grand and sweeping and romantic and all the other things I'm a big ol' sucker for!

• Doubt (12/12): This one's got tons of awards buzz already, it's based a really great play, and it stars Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. I watched the trailer and this movie looks intense. In that "I'm not gonna enjoy this and be happy, but watching this will be fascinating!" way. Kinda like that. And that works for me too.

• High School Musical 3 (10/24): I am beyond embarrassed to admit this, but I kinda love the HSM series. They're comfortingly lame, and although the bubble gum pop music is rather schmaltzy, it's catchy and fun. I've been trying to figure out how I'm actually going to see this in the theater; I can't possibly go to a regular show stuffed to the brim with teeny-bopper Zac Efron fans that will giggle and screech and coo throughout the entire film, plus I might disintegrate into a pile of mushy, pathetic goo on the floor if I have to actually ask for a ticket to this movie. It's beyond humiliating (I actually had to hide my face while watching this trailer while I was alone!)....and yet, count me in the stoked pile! If you want to revel in the heights of my geekitude, feel free to laugh at this trailer!
  

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (12/25): It's directed by David Fincher, which means stylistically it's gonna be awesome! Also, it's the story of a man's life as he ages from an old man at birth to a baby at death - that sounds insanely cool! And as if starring Tilda Swinton and Cate Blanchett weren't enough, the title role is played by Brad Pitt (I've always thought he was a vastly underrated actor - and I love him for more than his good looks, though those are a plus), and he plays the character at every age, aided by make-up and effects that look spectacular.
  

• Twilight (12/12): I haven't read the books this is based on, but I'm a huge Harry Potter and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" fan, so I think that places me in the target audience. I've really enjoyed Kristin Stewart's work (in Into the Wild especially) as well as director Catherine Hardwicke (Lords of Dogtown) and the hot lead vampire was Cedric Diggory in the 4th Harry Potter film. Plus, as usual, I'm a sucker for doomed romances and lusty, shall-I-kill-you-or-screw-you interaction; Spike was totally my favorite character on Buffy.

• Frost/Nixon (12/5): This is also based on a recent stage play about a series of interviews between ex-talk show host David Frost and then-former President Richard Nixon. Knowing little about the interviews and what was said in them myself, I can't wait to see what is discussed and the dynamic between the men sounds really interesting. Also, reprising the stage roles are the always excellent Frank Langella and Michael Sheen, whoopee! Nixon is a figure easily demonized, and yet absolutely intriguing and almost sympathetic in his frailty, failure and vulnerability, so I really want to see how this plays out.
  

• Revolutionary Road (12/26): Entertainment Weekly described this film as "Mad Men + American Beauty + Kate and Leo acting their butts off" and watching the trailer, that sounds exactly right. I loved American Beauty and it's director Sam Mendes, so I'm excited about that. I have been a fan of Kate and Leo ever since Titanic (which yes, I still love shamelessly), and they've only gotten better with age. And my recent obsession with the period detail of "Mad Men" pretty much clinches my anticipation for this film. The trailer just about rips my guts out.

Should go without saying, but I am also stoked for the next Bond flick, Quantum of Solace.