The Wire is the Best Television Show Ever

I am in love. Those who know me know I love my TV. Yes, I was obsessed with Twin Peaks. Then Buffy and Veronica Mars. And yes, I've even lost days to the Gilmore Girls, Freaks and Geeks, Angel, The Soparanos. For laughs -- Curb Your Enthusiasm and the Office. But none of these shows -- do you hear me? -- not one of these shows can even touch the Wire.



season 1 recap



season 2 recap



season 3 recap




and season 4

5 quick things

1. we saw Borat. a funny romp, however I could have done with fewer jokes of a scatalogical nature. if anything, it is valuable for its documentation of how little it takes to get homophobic rodeo dons and inebriated frat boys to reveal their prejudices. it is also interesting to see how many law suits are springing up. i'd be curious to hear what some of you film folks think of these.

2. tis the season to fluff your dollars. we hope to bring back a new and improved version of the fluffy dollars drinking game.

3. Laguna Beach just gets skankier and skankier. But Tessa and Rocky are very interesting young women. Or rather, their depiction within the context of the show is interesting. The whole "mean girls" vs. "nice girls" is as old as snow, but it's never been an especially pronounced theme on the show before. Sure, you had Kristin vs. Lauren, but Cami and Kyndra are way meaner and more gnarly than Kristin. And Lauren didn't really have any of the nobility they're trying to heap on Tessa and Rocky. As for the boys, an annoying boy of the week post is coming re: Rocky's manchop Alex, Kyndra's Tyler, and everybody's fuckbuddy Cameron. This is by far the most emotionally abusive cadre of dudes yet.

4. Hey! I'm learning how to design web pages. Here's a the first draft of our homepage.

5. Puppytire has a new friend.

3 Things to Be Happy About

this

this

&

this

goodbye mac guy

Perhaps for striking people as a "smug little twit," in the words of Seth Stevenson, ad critic for Slate. Long, he adds, is "just the sort of unshaven, hoodie-wearing, hands-in-pockets hipster we've always imagined when picturing a Mac enthusiast.... It's like Apple is parodying its own image while also cementing it."

source

The Best Store in the World

Giant Robot


also, we saw Marie Antoinette. WE LOVED IT.

Annoying Boy of the Week: Mac Daddy

I've always found the pc/mac debate mind numbingly boring. It's like arguing about whether you prefer nikes or addidas. They're just stupid brands. You like what you like. Whatever.

But the new mac tv ad campaign is so annoying. You know, the ones that feature a schleby guy in a tie saying he's a PC and a smarmy guy with facial pubes saying he's a mac. I guess we're on the third or fourth commercial by now. Anyway, the mac commercial I just saw featured supermodel Giselle. Giselle is supposed to represent an i-movie. A hairy, cross dressed man represents the pc movie.

This commercial makes me prefer PCs for the following reasons:

1. If I am asked to chose between schluby and smarmy, I'll take schluby. The mac guy is one of the most obnoxious characters I've ever seen. I hate that type of guy. If you are that that type of guy, cut it out. srsly.

2. If I am asked to chose between a supermodel and a transvestite, I'll take the transvestite; this person is much more socially-radical, and s/he promotes a fluid interpretation of gender. The supermodel is incredibly problematic.

I'm not saying I don't *get* the metaphor. I just think its premise and execution are incredibly annoying. Almost every commercial is offensive and annoying, but people are always talking about how hip and edgy mac's ad-campaigns are. Whatevs. This commercial makes me associate macs are with suburban, smarmy, white boys who think they're cool just because they read pitchfork and like the films of Quentin Tarantino.

Anyway, the new HP commercials with Jay-Z and Pharell are less annoying. And anything is better than those computer commercials that had the blue men pretending to be processors. Yikes. But it seems to me that very few commercials for computers feature women. And most representations of computer use in tv and movies seem to focus on the geeky "computer guy." Thankfully, Veronica Mars is all about the techie ladies, though the main computer whiz on that show is named -- you guessed it -- Mac.

Rock N Roll High School

re-watching rock n roll high school is making me incredible happy. It pairs well with Valley Girl and is -- I think -- a better movie.


Happy Birthday to Nicole!!!

I Wanna Go

to Ice-T's Rap School!!!!

Ice-T (born Tracy Marrow) will educate the students on a variety of subjects, including learning to rhyme, timing, scratching and break-dancing.

Rap School is geared toward exposing the prep school scholars to Hip-Hop culture, while proving to skeptical parents and faculty that rap can be a positive force.

The show will also concentrate on teaching students how to express themselves through rap, as well as how to find their voices and conquer personal issues such as shyness, speech problems and divorce.

After pressure-packed auditions and recording sessions, the kids' skills will be put to the test with a final exam: opening up for rap pioneers Public Enemy at the acclaimed B.B. King's Club in New York City.

Morbid AND Fluffy

'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

so we didn't see the guacamole

But we did watch Dogtown and Z Boys and Valley Girl. I love California.

I also drank a lemon drop. Yowza.

Gotta Cali film to recommend us? We'd love to hear from you!

xoxo ff

calendar

this weekend we are thinking of going to see the world's largest vat of guacomole. How large will it be. I will take a picture, and I will show you.

File Under Gross

I added style.com to my yahoo awhile ago, but today I took it off.




















Fur is so fucking gross. The devil wears prada indeed.

13 going on 30: Chick Flick Sick? Teen Movie Tricks? or Does it Just Have Something to Do with Mark Ruffalo?

You are probably wondering why the hell I am writing about 13 going on 30 *

I like Clueless, Legally Blonde, and Mean Girls. I'm a sucker for six-hour A&E period dramas like Pride and Prejudice and Vanity Fair. My favorite movies growing up were Freaky Friday and Heathers. I think all of these are considered "chick flicks." But I hate crap like Sleepless in Seattle and When Harry Met Sally. And I can't even watch Affair to Remember or Dirty Dancing -- or --holy hell-- Pretty Woman. [I will never ever stop being shocked by the number of women who list Pretty Woman as one of their favorite movies. Fuck.]

Anyway, the subject of chick flicks and teen movies** has been on my mind since I watched 13 going on 30 and found it totally compelling. I didn't see it in theaters. I'm pretty sure it was out around the same time as Mean Girls, and I didn't even go to the movies to see that. I haven't ever really been a fan of Jennifer Garner, despite the fact that she kicked ass on Alias (I just couldn't get past its inferiority in comparison to Buffy). It was only because it was recommended by a friend that I even considered watching this movie.

Anyway, 13 going on 30 seems to exists in the Bermuda triangle of genres -- somewhere between the saccharine Olsen/Disney movie, the chick flick, and the teen movie. It's like Big or Freaky Friday in that's it's a high concept farce that exploits the premise of "be careful what you wish for," but this also means that it must negotiate some pretty, er, creepy scenarios when kids end up in very, um, adult situations. And it's inversion of the Lolita story -- the way the fantasy reveals a grown man's desire for someone with a 30 year old woman's body but with the brain of a 13 year old -- is, um, pretty strange. Moreover, the movie's (apparent) evasion of any explicitly gendered issue is curious; the notions of "nice" and "mean" are diced and discussed, but this doesn't seem to connect to anyone's consciousness re: constructions of femininity. Overall, this movie is an odd cocktail of winsome and creepy, charming and confusing, refreshing and disappointing.

I can't help but wonder if this also says something about this particular cultural moment; Mean Girls and The Devil Wears Prada are two movies which seem content to at once diagnose the conditions that lead to "mean girl" behavior (patriarchy, capitalism) and to ultimately acquiesce to the status quo. While I find both of the aforementioned movies entertaining, I would never call them progressive. In fact, I consider them quite the opposite, especially compared to movies like Heathers and Cruel Intentions.

But I cannot write about 13 going on 30 without mentioning Mark Ruffalo. I've liked him since seeing You Can Count on Me. And his role in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mine was way too tiny (in my version he played the part Jim Carey played). But I didn't even know that he was in 13 Going on 30. I just assumed the male lead was played by Jared Padalecki or some other clown. But it's Mark Ruffalo. And he is really really good.

*Okay, I know what you're thinking. I only felt like talking about this movie because of Ruffalo. That could be true.

**I'll likely be writing more about teen movies in the coming months, as I like to have them on as I work on my teen novel(s). Would love to know what y'all think about this genre.

ETA: The 13 going on 30 dvd comes in a pink case that smells like bubblegum. ick.

question

wtf is up with all the high school violence

high hopes

for season 7 of the Gilmore Girls. Hopefully we won't have to watch Lorelei and Rory take a bunch of crap from their boyfriends anymore. I mean, we have Laguna Beach for that. Anyway, now that Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars are on the same network, they seem to be sharing stars. Word on the street is that Logan Huntzberger (Matt Czuchry) will be on VM and I just found out that Gia Goodman (Krysten Ritter) is going to be one of Rory's new friends at Yale. I'm so into girlfriends. Word.

Gilmore Girls Tonight

also, I saw the first episode of season 3 of VM. I love that show.

Confessions

1. I think the new Juicy Couture ads are really cute. They have fluffies and neon letters. I want to make neon poetry.

2. I am enjoying the new season of Laguna Biatch

3. I'm into DK. 15 years ago that DK would have stood for the Dead Kennedys. Now it stands for Danity Kane. (tho I still like the Dead Kennedys, fyi). Also, I think I like two songs by Hillary Duff and two songs by Kelly Clarkson. I think they are way better than the Arcade Fire or the Firery Furnaces or Death Cab or Animal Collective or whatever else the cool kids are listening to.

4. I've totally flipped re: my attitude toward the 6th season of the Gilmore Girls. How can I explain this? Perhaps I've accepted Rory. Perhaps I've accepted that the show is writ larger than life -- that the gestures are broad. I'm still mulling it over. But it is strange. I threw things at the TV last year. But watching the 6th season on DVD has been really fun. This is, of course, further evidence that all tv is better on DVD.

5. I have a love/hate relationship with IKEA

more confessions coming soon.

Eco-Kun, that's me

What San-X Character Are You?


Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

Campin' Out in Goleta

So the move is about 75% done. We are still waiting for our stuff, which creates a sort of limbo state. I find it difficult to do ANYTHING without a desk, let alone a basic surface. That said, I'm eager to get back to blogging. I wasn't feeling it for awhile...everything felt like blah blah blah...but I think fall will bring some renewed energy to the activity. Not that I will be saying anything of great import (those of you who are at all familiar with the content of this blog know this). And I don't plan to make any fancy changes. There may be fewer celebrities, but the focus on fluffy commerce and entertainment will remain. So there.

Also, the lack of stuff is making me want to buy stuff. If you're interested in the things I want you can check out my newest totally pointless blog: fluffy ways to spend dollars.