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XKCD on Wikipedia.
The alt text reads:
Wikipedia trivia: if you take any article, click on the first link in the article text not in parentheses or italics, and then repeat, you will eventually end up at “Philosophy”.
It works for Jell-O, Hello Kitty, and snot.
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Just finished watching Pushing Daisies – amazing show. Felt like crying during the final episode. I can understand while they canceled it – too expensive and too absorbing for the casual viewer. It’s a minor miracle that it was made at all.
I seem to have a thing for shows that begin with ‘C.’
Castle (season 2) – Season one was pretty fluffy but I like Nathon Fillion who plays Richard Castle too much to give up on it now. And the camaraderie between the cast is so evident that it’s a treat to watch. I particularly like Castle’s daughter Alexis (Molly C. Quinn). It’s nice to see a pleasant and level-headed teen for once.
Chuck (season 2) – As I’ve noted, I’m lot in love with this series. And I have four more seasons to go. I’m so lucky!
The Closer (season 5) – I’m not as excited about it as I was when I begin watching it. But it’s still solidly entertaining and I’m going to watch it till the end of the series – season 7 I believe.
The Commish (season 1) – I’m rewatching this series with a kinder, gentler Michael Chiklis who plays Tony Scali. I watched it for my mystery movie project and remember it fondly from the early 90s. The fashions and technology are painfully outdated but the relationship between Tony and his family is just as warm as I remember.
Glee (season 1) – The soap opera talking parts are not my favorite but Jane Lynch is fantastic and fun and I’m enjoying the energy of the musical numbers. And I like them even more for inviting Kristin Chenoweth to sing. It’s nice to see Itty Bitty again after the misery of watching the last episode of Pushing Daisies.
Dollhouse (season 2) – This show is painful to watch but the season finale, Epitaph One, has stirred my interest again. It’s intriguing even if there’s no one to love in the series, since all the good characters are automatons.
C is for the TV show Chuck starring Zachary Levi. This is part of our Dictionary of Fun project.
My timing is never the best and the next season – the 5th – will be the show’s final season. To be honest, it’s my favorite way to watch TV without the pesky raising and dashing of hopes. It’s done and ready to watch in long sessions.
From what I’ve read, Chuck has had a troubled history staying on the air. But they also have had the good fortune of devoted fans who bought Subway sandwiches to support the show. I had read about the Subway campaign but still didn’t watch the show.
One time, I saw a Christmas episode in which there is a hostage situation (Season 2 - Chuck Versus Santa Claus). It seemed grim. And I thought, if that’s their Christmas episode –no sappy? no feel-good???– then I don’t want to see their regular shows.
Just recently, I saw an episode in an airplane that was very, very funny. So I thought I’d try it, and I just finished season one. I can see why people bought sandwiches for it. It’s very enjoyable with a very engaging cast.
Last week, I showed Beffers the episode Chuck vs. the Undercover Lover, and she laughed quite a bit. She thought she could convince her brother to watch it with her as it is guy-friendly.
Adam Baldwin, especially in the later episodes of season one (The Crown Vic and The Undercover Lover), is a sheer delight. I am wishing, in complete self-interest, that he gets another job SOON that matches his abilities.
Perhaps I should have waited till “L” or “Z” because the actor who plays Chuck Bartowski is a big part of my infatuation with the show. If I’m reading the world right, many, many people besides me have noticed that he’s handsome, charming, and witty. He can also sing.
Television Without Pity says Levi couldn’t be cuter if he had a rabbit on his shoulder. A piece of information that is indisputable.
Here is what I think sums him up. Oscars: Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi are singing the nominated song I See the Light. A fan describes his performance as debonair. After the song, Mandy Moore still looks tense. He winks at her. She visibly relaxes and gives him a sweet smile. Not only is he something of a Prince Charming himself but he brings out the princess or prince in his co-stars.
A Softer World webcomic via I forget. This one was particularly funny.
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B is for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I am a fan of the Whedonverse. Oddly enough, my story starts not with Buffy but with Firefly.
Note: You can skip this part and go directly to the comments and tell your own “browncoat story.”
But here’s how it was…
At the time, I was friends with a crowd that talked during movies, and in fact mocked them. It’s not because that we even disliked what we were seeing, we just liked making gibes. Yes, special hell for all of us.
One evening, a friend came over and brought a new show on disk. I don’t even remember how he described it. We settled in; saw the pilot and the second pilot and were kind of insufferable about it. I think it was Bushwacked when we all went quiet and just started watching. The evening broke up late and we didn’t say much other than goodnight.
A few days later, the man came back. He had just gotten in the doorway when our very loud conversations stopped dead. We all focused on him. He said, “What?” One of us said, “Did you bring it? Firefly?” He shrugged, “I thought you guys didn’t like it. I didn’t bring it with me.” There various dissents. We stared at him some more. Our spokesperson said, “Well. Go go it.” Poor guy didn’t even get to sit down.
(N.B. We were generally nicer than that to our friends.)
Firefly primed me for BtVS. I had already planned on watching the series the year it ended. Years before I had watched the pilot episode and liked it but then my job kept me from watching much tv. Also, there was this weird teen next door who would go into his yard after the show was over and swing a stick and pretend to stake vampires and yell, “I’m right behind you Buffy!”
But the show was on Netflix and it seemed like a good idea – especially after Firefly. I persuaded Kat to join me. Once a week, we’d ‘buffize’ and watch all 4 episodes one after the other. It took us several years.
Some of my friends (a mix of fans and not) came over for a party to watch the final episode. It felt quite emotional to finish it, not only the show but the great time with Kat.
For years, I’d been trying to persuade my brother to watch it with me. He was doing a job near where I live and stayed for some of the weeknights. I pounced on the opportunity. I own season 1 and season 2 and we whizzed through those. He was much more analytical than I was when I first watched it and his favorite character was Cordelia. He pointed out that, unlike Buffy, she lost her cheerleader friends but wasn’t accepted by the Scoobies for a long time. I bought season 3 to keep pace with our watching.
Then I stayed the weekend with him and his wife. We watched all of season 4 in 2 days. The biggest compliment I can give it is that marathon watching all the shows didn’t feel repetitive or tedious. Instead, I felt emotionally wrung out. Some tough stuff happened in season 4, though nothing to compared to 5 and 6.
I have also been astonished that episodes that I disliked or thought were lacking, didn’t seem so bad this time around. I don’t feel introspective enough to figure out why. But it’s nice that season one and season four do not disappoint as much as I remembered.
I wanted to be as poetic as my sister bloggers but I don’t have anything elevated inside me right now. So here’s my first (belated) Alphabet of Fun post.
(A for Autumn)
Winter here in Kentucky is awful. There’s rarely any snow to speak of – the trees are bare and brown, the ground is bare and brown. It’s usually raining and the sky is sickly pale blue. I hate it.
Spring is okay. It tends to be unstable: chilly; sunny; windy; rainy and then tornadoes.
There is one excellent thing about spring here and that’s the yellow-green leaves. Usually I dislike any yellow-green but this is such a happy, fresh color I can’t.
My brother imagined a conversation between the deciduous trees and the evergreen.
D (goofy, excited, childish voice): I’m greeeen! Green green GREEN!
E (growly, world-weary, curmudgeonly tone): Photosynthesis isn’t always going be as easy.
D: What’s fotosinnasis? We don’t do that, we’re just GREEeeNNN!
E: Happens every year. Gotta teach ‘em everything.
D: Greeeeeeeeeen!!!!!!!!!
Summer is pretty good. Every thing feels lush; the grassy fields and the deep green leaves on the trees. Mellow rains interrupt hot, humid sunny days.
But Autumn is my favorite season. The sky is a deep blue – a lot like this: 
. It’s the perfect temperature, not warm enough to make you sweat if you are out for a brisk walk and not cool enough to warrant sweaters. The leaves are so brightly yellow and orange and read that they bounce light off people’s faces as they walk along. It’s rarely windy and the rains are pensive. It’s so perfect that it sustains me through most of the winter.
moonlit garden
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