"Say what you will about Michael Scott, but he would never do that."

I realize I probably committed near-blasphemy earlier in the week when I said that How I Met Your Mother was about to pass The Office as the best comedy on television - especially since CBS doesn't feel fit to give HIMYM the post-Super Bowl spot - but then The New Yorker went and ran this must read on the differences between the British and American versions, and most importantly, between David Brent and Michael Scott. (HT: ALOTT5MA)

AlthoughI haven't seen the British version in some time, I really favor the American side of things because while it has its cringe-worthy moment, the heart shines through more often than not. David Brent going to the celebrity appearances after his firing is one of the most painful, awkward things on film, and no matter how well written and how well acted, it's not exactly comedy.


Let us not forget the best part of The Office...

I Feel It In My Fingers, I Feel It In My Toes...

I'm a little rusty at this, so please excuse the countless typos, grammatical errors and redundant statements that are about to unfold in front of you...

And just like that, we’re at the end of the semester.

Three class days left, folks, and then it’ll be all with the people in Europe and no football games and slippery slope until we’re seniors and I want to just curl up into the fetal position and weep for joy and a fear so deep of the real world I don’t even want to think about it right now.

(And by real world, I mean Real World, as in “If Real World: Denver turns into the Alex and Colie show, ala Melinda and Danny in Austin and Ace and whateverhernamewas from Paris, I’m going to be tuned out by January.” More on this later.)

I’m not sure where to rank this semester. The football season had some high points, and then some twenty-point lows, and the added variable of Tommy/Paul and Christina/Katie out at TC made up for the fact they took our beautiful, beautiful bar away. My classes were a mix of totally and fantastically awesome and “Bleh, I hope I get my B+ and can move on”. For the lone semester of junior year when most everyone was here – with a few exceptions of evil traitors who defected across oceans during football season and the only part of the year where South Bend is meteorologically tolerable – it wasn’t a great success, but I liiiiked.

This site took a nosedive to the work over at Rakes, and for that, I apologize. But honestly, I wasn’t qualified to be talking about most of the stuff I used to. Between RecSports, The Observer, class and having to read hundreds of words on college football per day just to stay on top of things, I only made it to a handful of movies (although really, more than I usually do while at school), had my television watching limited to a half dozen shows (which still sounds like a lot, but hey, it’s me) and haven’t got to follow the NFL like I used to (which isn’t my fault, since I’m sans Sunday Ticket).

But I’m back now, fingers crossed and totally for true. Considering the academic hell that this past week was, the next twelve days are going to be comparatively smooth. I’ll take requests for whatever anyone wants me to write about. I’ll rent movies, marathon your favorite television show and you know you’re going to get hundreds of words on your 2006 Pittsburgh Steelers, defending (totally legitimate, without the aid of an absurdly easy path or the referees) Super Bowl Champs! I’m back, baby, since college football’s dark period and the upcoming semester break leave me with all sorts of beautiful time.

Let’s walk, shall we?

*

SUGAR BOWL SUGAR BOWL SUGAR BOWL SUGAR BOWL.

I couldn’t be more geeked for New Years in New Orleans.

JaMarcus Russell: Someone took a defensive end, attached a rocket launcher to his arm and sent him to destroy the Irish.

Plane ticket? Check. Hotel? Check. Heavy underdogs against a team that reeks of heinous, obnoxious speed at every position? Check. The Irish go into this game with literally nothing to lose, having already been pasted by the Wolverines and Trojans, so that means everybody wins:

It’s a four-day period of no consequence! With the French Quarter! And newly minted 21ness! I’m going to be absolutely, 100% totally broke by the time I arrive in DC in the middle of January, and I couldn’t be more thrilled about that.

(There’s also rumors of riverboat gambling, and if they prove to be true? Yikes…)

(Also, speaking of DC, I ended up getting an internship with Meet The Press. I’m pretty sure that’s going to involve getting up at like three in the morning every Sunday, so huzzah! The Wizards never got back to me, and because of that, I’ll forever be somewhat judgmental of Agent Zero for the rest of his career. It’s sad, but I am vindictive.)

*

I made a brief little rant on The Real World earlier, but I do that only because I know it can be good. Key West was pretty damn good. San Diego was definitely tolerable, with a bevy of high points. Las Vegas was decent until Trishelle’s STDs fogged up the cameras. Denver has potential, but if every episode revolves around drunk Alex, his weird alternate personalities and Colie, who’s hot, but after countless close-ups on her face, you start to think there’s something wrong, then I’ll be very upset. I’m not sure if it’s a Katie Holmes stroke victim facial tic, or just something disproportionate, but it’s awkward after two episodes.

Still, her waking up to find her new favorite boy toy and her roommate’s pizza burning in the oven while they hook up in the guest bedroom? That’s a fantastic opening episode, but the first ones always are great. It’s the consistency that’s hard to keep.

Chad’s sorta the expert on the series, and we both agree that the house is way too big. Has there always been a guest room? I remember Austin had that hidden editing studio, but nothing like a freaking Jeep bar. If they get over this Colie/Alex thing earlier, leaving us more time for the rest of the roommates to play a role. When the show revolves around only one or two characters, and those one or two characters are annoying/mildly retarded, then it doesn’t work. Here’s hoping we can make it two good Real World seasons in a row.

*

Movie bits from the last month, quick-as-possible.

Marie Antoinette: Very shiny, but any film shot in Versailles should be shiny. Loved the modern songs on the soundtrack – “I Want Candy” was perfect for the overindulging – but honestly, Sofia Coppola doesn’t know how to end a movie. If you’re rusty on your French history, you’d literally have no idea what was going on outside Versailles, because there’s only two references to helping the American cause and then wham, there’s affairs and riots and it’s over. Also, Kirsten Dunst has to portray a fourteen year old to start. That goes about as well as you’d think it would.

Borat: What can I say that hasn’t already been said? It’s one hundred percent absurdity, but the brevity of the movie means that it doesn’t ever go too flat. A lot of people say it’s not as good as the show, but I think that might be somewhat obvious, since there’s a big difference between five minute segments and a ninety-minute feature. Still, there aren’t many opening night experiences that’ll compare to the packed house for Borat, with the diverse demographic of people all dying as the nude wrestling scene unfolded. I don’t know how it will hold up on repeated viewings, but for one time through, it was awesome.

The Prestige: So incredibly dark, but definitely worthwhile. The Christian Bale/Christopher Nolan/Michael Caine trio can definitely be one of the more productive in cinema, as this makes two straight great movies. There are two twists at the end, both which struck me as unfair upon first viewing. After letting it sink in, one half of it is really well worked out and the other one just requires a leap of faith in the storyline and a total lapse in believability. Hugh Jackman also rocks the house while Scarlett Johansson does her usual, which is look pretty and not really add anything to the movie other than that.

Casino Royale: A little bit lengthy, but a great return to classic Bond. Daniel Craig was, as predicted on this site the minute he was named the new 007, fantastic in the role. Of course, any movie that features fancy suits, extended poker scenes and a freestyle-run chase scene through a construction site. My only gripe? No sweet action scene with the James Bond theme playing over it, although I guess they figure Craig has to earn that honor. Also, it seems that many ladies considered Craig to be “mad hott” in the role. Australian females agree.

That’s right, I called it from the beginning. He was awesome. Trust.

*

I’ll get into this a little bit later, but with Scrubs back on television and firing at all cylinders and How I Met Your Mother banging out fantastic episodes week after week, The Office needs to do some work if it wants to stay the best comedy on television. I’ve been less than enamored with this season, and the huge cast is meaning less of some good things (Dwight in the last episode). Still, Ed Helms and Rashida Jones have been great, as well as the expanded role given to Kevin and Crede. Season two was a triumph in great television, while season three has just been really funny.

(Also, how does anyone support Pam in the Team Pam vs. Team Karen battle? I love the character and I adore Jenna Fischer, but she had at least three opportunities – on the Booze Cruise and twice during “Casino Night” – to get Jim. She screwed it up. Now, if she wants to earn him back, I’m all for it, but nothing should be given in this situation.

*

Just as the Steelers were all but eliminated from playoff contention last week after getting drubbed the Ravens, the Dolphins slim playoff hopes were extinguished with a loss to the Jaguars yesterday. Ronnie Brown was hurt and the two problems that plagued the team all year – offensive line and secondary play – reared their ugly head again. I’m going to start rooting for football teams that have great secondaries and quality offensive lines, just for the change of pace.

*

I don’t usually have time during the semester to read anything that isn’t assigned, but during our Niagara trip over Thanksgiving break, I plowed through Michael Lewis’ latest, The Blind Side. What a totally fantastic book, as it takes a highfalutin concept for football – the evolution of offensive line play to account for the increased speed of pass rushers - and then applies a great story of charity, redemption and a first chance for someone who wouldn’t normally get it. Highly recommend it for your Christmas break reading, even if you only have a slight interest in football.

Maybe the best part of the book? Michael Ohler, the behemoth high school senior being heavily recruited to play left tackle, gets visits from the likes of Nick Saban, Phil Fulmer and Ed Orgeron. Reading about the different styles applied by each man was a joy, and let’s just say I’m happy the Phins are under the steady, smooth hand of Saban. If someone went and talked to a lot of top high school recruits and their families about their experiences with college head coaches, then wrote a book about it, what sports fan wouldn’t read it? Yeah, it might depress you to see how much money is actually spent in wooing seventeen year old boys, but that be a helluva read.

*

We’re going to get into some Christmasy stuff very, very, very soon, so fear not. I’m going to start keeping track of links again, and you’ll have something to help you procrastinate during finals. I promise.

Also wanted to give major love to the women's soccer team, who despite losing yesterday in the championship game 2-1, gave the university a fantastic season of dominance. They went a month without allowing a goal. A sad ending shouldn't tarnish what was a great campaign, although ESPN's announcers did their best to make everyone forget Notre Dame was actually playing in the game. They should have at least let me and somebody who understood soccer broadcast the second half for the legitimacy of equal homerism.

1) Time Travel 2) Curing Cancer 3) Creating a successful television series

This was originally going to be one of my “Where does the time go?” sentimental pieces, as I can’t even fathom how we’re already halfway through this semester. It truly does seem like yesterday we were rolling down to Georgia for Labor Day weekend. The main point of it was going to be “Despite the fact it’s going by so fast, we still have a considerable amount of college left to learn/party/embarrass Our Lady’s University.” I’ll probably post what I was working on at some point in time, but I want to discuss a few other things first.

Some of my roommates were surprised, after stumbling upon an USA Today television ratings summary, that The Office wasn’t one of the top shows in the country. In fact, Steve Carrell’s beautiful piece of television art isn’t even in the top 20. When Grey’s Anatomy – your number one show on television – ran a clip show before it’s season finale last month, the freaking clip show blew The Office out of the water. Maybe you’d like to blame My Name Is Earl, the lead-in, but Earl got higher ratings last Thursday.

That begs the question: How the hell do you make a successful television series? Notice I didn’t even say a “good” television series. Making a good television series isn’t easy, but it’s doable. There’s a lot of really good television on in primetime, almost to the point that there’s no way enough of it will survive.

To make a successful series, you probably need to start with a “good” program. Reality television proves it doesn’t have to be overly intelligent or world-altering, but you better make it entertaining. If you’re a comedy, be funny, if you’re a drama, have interesting characters or engrossing plots: just make it good. But once you have a critically-acclaimed show that everyone loves, where do you put it? You have to have an already established show for your new baby to siphon viewers from, which is how shows like CSI (fed off of Survivor) and Grey’s Anatomy (took the ball from Desperate and ran very far with it) become so damn popular.

Let’s say you’re The CW Network, and you have the best show on television. We’ll call it Victoria Mercury. It’s got smart writing, compelling storylines and beautiful women prominently involved. However, the problem is, nobody gives a crap about anything on your network. How do you possibly promote it, other than stashing it behind the failing, ancient Gilmore Girls and hoping enough people are forced into watching the first two seasons on DVD that you become successful again? Without an established show to draw viewers in with, you’re in trouble.

Of course, that isn’t always the case. When you look at the top twenty, the majority of shows grew from having some sort of power lead-in. There are non­-CSI and Law & Order exceptions, such as NCIS and Criminal Minds, but you can trace most everything else back to some greater entity that predated it. The two shows that I can’t remember coming from anything but major, major marketing?

Lost and Desperate Housewives, who emerged the fall of our freshman year in 2004 and took the television world by storm. Desperate, after slumping last year, is back hellastrong, third in the ratings and only a couple million viewers and two shares behind the monster it created, Grey’s. Why did Desperate get popular in the first place? It had the quality, tearjerking lead-in of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and then threw out a lot of beautiful women (mainly Eva – oh, Eva) and an interesting first season. People will try to deny it now, but the first season of Desperate contained some great moments and slightly-intriguing storylines.

Lost handled itself in the same way: huge hype, beautiful people, quality show (from what I hear), but something has terribly wrong this season: Lost is slumping. It’s lost a few million viewers from it’s second season premiere in 2005 and is only a few thousand viewers ahead of Criminal Minds. I’m not sure if you’ve ever watched Minds, but my mother is addicted to every CBS crime procedural, so I’ve seen a complete episode before. It’s terrible. My mom said the episode I saw was one of the worst, but I can’t imagine it ever being that good. Why is Lost flailing about so uncontrollably in the television winds?

Because while it’s a serial that requires viewers to tune in week after week, it’s not a serial that can actually solve it’s mystery and still exist: Once the show turns into Found, it’s series over. Shows like Desperate, Grey’s, Buffy, Veronica Mars and The Sopranos perhaps all have a season-long mystery or conflict they’re trying to resolve, but that can be wrapped up neatly at the end of the season so new, fresher pursuits can be made by the established characters. 24 almost was in the same problem as Lost, but they realized that if people believed all of that crazy, improbable stuff could happen within a single one-day period, they’d accept that in the ­24 universe it could easily happen again. Prison Break turned into Prison Broke, and while it’s not exactly a blockbuster hit, they made a necessary adjustment and didn’t lose that much steam.

Lost is stuck between revealing too much and satisfying fans into leaving, or trying to keep them trapped in with more and more mysteries. I refused to watch Lost because the established universe didn’t play by its own rules – there are slave traders and polar bears? – and because I knew stories of those that were burned by shows like Twin Peaks, Alias and The X-Files, where more and more mythology was heaped on and the show just collapsed under the weight of its own expectations. The longer you draw something out, the more exciting the revelation has to be. Invasion died last season, and shows like Jericho and The Nine appear doomed to follow in the same fate this season.

A well-written procedural, like Law & Order, CSI or House, doesn’t have to worry about such tie-ins. They can follow the same format every show, and as long as some emotion is attached to that episode’s case and the main characters remain interesting, people will tune in week after week.

So how in the world isn’t The Office more popular? It’s well-promoted, both on NBC and by word of mouth. It exists as both a procedural and a serial: you get much more out of every episode if you know the over-arcing storyline, but there’s still some pretty funny stuff a new viewer can identify with. It’s extremely well-written and manages to encompass some of the best comedy, along with some of the best dramatic sappiness, you’ll experience over the course of the week. It’s lead-in is a good show, but it’s facing stiff competition and probably the feeling from outsiders that goes along the lines of “I haven’t watched it yet, I won’t understand what’s going on”. While that was the case with something like Arrested Development, where someone who hadn’t seen the previous episodes would have no understanding of why David Cross was dressed up as a British nanny, The Offce is pretty accessible for anyone that’s ever been into the workplace. You have an idiot boss, lazy people and general malaise most of the time.

For the question of The Office, I’ll just stick with my tried and true answer anytime a series I love dies or doesn’t have the ratings it should, such as Veronica, Arrested or How I Met Your Mother (which isn’t in any danger of being cancelled, but is not rewarded for being the second best comedy on television):

America is stupid. They don’t understand quality, and would rather watch the Reality Show Flavor of the Week over a decent reality show, like The Amazing Race, or a quality piece of programming like The Office. The Oscars won’t nominate the best five movies every year, the best teams won’t always play for the national championship and television will neglect, to the point of cancellation, two or three great series a year.

~

I’m extremely excited for the idea that Notre Dame will probably end up in the Sugar Bowl this January, barring some sort of embarrassing collapse against UCLA, Army, Air Force, Navy or North Carolina. Beating Southern Cal would only assure us our spot in New Orleans, unless the dominoes fall the right way and we slip into the BCS Championship. But still, for not winning a national title, spending some time in New Orleans isn’t too bad of a consolation prize.

The Sugar Bowl is one of the later bowls, falling in primetime on January 3rd. It’s within driving distance, meaning that there’s the option of spending New Years in N’awlins and a few days of drunken wandering through the French Quarter before the game or the secondary option of New Years in Niagara, then taking off for the bayou. My Mapquesting tells me it’s around a sixteen hour drive, which is definitely doable in one day/overnighting. Again, I’ll be gleeful should we end up in the BCS Championship game (played in Arizona), the Orange Bowl (sweet, beautiful Miami), the Sugar or The Rose (while being the most expensive potential trip, it’s the freaking Rose Bowl, man), if I had to buy a plane ticket to fly to the desert for the Fiesta Bowl, no matter how nice everyone says it was in January for the Ohio State loss, I would not be a happy camper.

Thankfully, the predicted Fiesta Bowl game as of right now?

Boise State vs. Texas. Burnt orange and blue. Lovely.

~

Have yet to see The Departed, although I plan on seeing it at some point in time before fall break is over. Somehow, despite it’s general awesomeness, it still isn’t favored for Best Picture, which confuses me to no end.

Another film that will be definitely worthy, yet not nominated?

November 3^rd, and the exposure of countless pockets of American ignorance, is almost here.

~

It was a joy to settle in for an afternoon of NFL Sunday Ticket for the first day all season, since fucking Comcast hasn’t paid enough to the league to get this on their service yet. I’ve followed the NFL with less vigor this season then I have any other since I became cognizant enough of the world around me to memorize the divisional allocation in kindergarten (for the record, Dill doesn’t even know the divisions now).

I don’t like to do things half-assed, so I don’t want to go watching three games a week on Sunday afternoon – the majority of those involving the Colts, Bears and Lions – and stake a claim at being some kind of NFL expert. Sure, watching highlights and reading the Peter Kings and Gregg Easterbrooks of the world still help, but there’s nothing like watching a few drives from a team in crunch time and seeing for yourself if they’re the real deal.

Plus, the NFL isn’t nearly as fun since the Steelers won the Super Bowl, as nearly every broadcast somehow harkens to that dark February day. You’d think maybe this success would make Steeler fans smarter, but instead of their usual gusto, they were still worried about the Chiefs this Sunday. Why? Because they were using a back-up quarterback, perennially terrible wide receivers, a depleted offensive line and a banged up LJ against your stout run defense, allowing you to just put eight in the box and let Damon Huard try to beat you? Not to mention the Chiefs are consistently deplorable on defense and coached by Herm Edwards. What advantage did they possibly have?

And of course, after the 45-7 victory, it was all jubilation and redemption for Big Ben. “The Chiefs aren’t very good. Damon Huard is their starting quarterback. You need a good QB going against you to lose because it minimizes the effectiveness of the Blitzburgh attack. Why are you so happy and ignorant over this victory?” I ask, with only Terrible Towels slapping me in the face as a response.

~

Coming up next time: The merits and demerits of Washington, DC; a finger-wagging at Grey’s; the NBA is almost starting! musings; Departed reaction; and eventually, someday, the complete breakdown of what makes Veronica Mars so awesome.

A Long Time Ago, We Used To Be Friends...

That might be the longest break between blog posts since high school. Blame a combination of Notre Dame’s football implosion against Michigan and one of my roughest non-midterms/finals week of writing ever. But I’m here, and I have no interest in talking about Hamlet, Pennsylvania politics, the BCS, the role of women in medieval Irish literature, Jesus’ role as a dual agent or anything remotely-related to the Mario Manningham.

I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry. Matt said he was going to climb into cyberspace and burn down this site so clicking on it didn’t make him feel bad anymore. I’m back. Try to enjoy.

Grey’s Anatomy

That’s right, we’re going to return with some solid chick stuff. I really wish I enjoyed Grey’s more, but the truth is, I don’t. I find too many of the characters – or at least the leads – completely reprehensible. I can’t root for them. I don’t find it realistic. Although sometimes the random hospital patients are extremely likeable and therefore I find their stories compelling and tear-jerking, you understand that about fifty percent of them are going to die on every episode.

I’m paying attention to it now in the way you pay attention to the presidential election: maybe it’s not the most interesting thing to you, but it’s rather important in the area of television. It womped CSI in the first heads-up Thursday matchup, but after a rather weak premiere – ABC didn’t like the original, which was the second episode, so they ordered that one up – it picked up a little pace on Thursday night, although the lead between it and the bunch from Vegas grew a little slimmer. I don’t think CSI can pass Grey’s unless the quality bottoms out, if only because the former is a show you can Tivo and watch a few days later with little repercussions while the latter is a water-cooler/Internet discussion immediately after it’s airing.

Still, I don’t think I’ll ever enjoy the show beyond noting how completely selfish and terrible the characters portrayed by Patrick Dempsey and Ellen Pompeo are. I don’t like them. This is the couple we’re supposed to root for? A couple of homewreckers who sulk and whine most of the time they’re on the screen, taking responsibility for absolutely nothing they do? I read somewhere that they’re going to replace Ryan and Marissa as the couple nobody likes nor cares to stay together on Thursday nights, and I think that uncredited writer would be correct.

Fall Movies

We’re still a month out from Borat (why they didn’t release that in the summer when it would have been the hit is beyond me), but we’ve got the first big Oscar movie coming out Friday, with the absolutely wonderful looking The Departed. The first few reviews I read confirm the greatness, with Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Martin Sheen and Marky Mark Wahlberg all involved in the latest Martin Scorcese Oscar bait. How can you not be excited about that cast? Just look at the early reviews! I’m positively giddy just writing this.

Also, the Jude Law Curse continues as All The King’s Men flops horrendously. I think that’s karma from Sean Penn getting all snippy over Chris Rock’s Law/Tom Cruise comparison at the Oscars a couple of years back. Go and look at Law’s box office history sometime. Since he went on his crazy 2004 streak and tried to make a thousand movies in one calendar year, including great films like Closer, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and Alfie, he’s been the kiss of death for everyone. Jude Law, thanks for hexing Norah’s first cinematic venture. I hate you.

Also, just incase you somehow thought Dane Cook was still funny (he’s not), Employee of the Month should solidify the fact he is not. Still love the first CD to death, but success did not go well with the big guy.

Baseball

What’s that, you say? The Pirates season was a wash? Too bad you’re wrong, because Freddy Sanchez won the NL batting title! He also ended up leading the league in doubles and general awesomeness, all while rocking out a freaking club foot. Despite how completely dreadful the Pirates are year in and year out, maybe with Jose Bautista, Freddy and Jason Bay, there’s a little bit of hope for a nucleus next year. We’ll still probably lose close to a hundred games, but a guy can dream, right?

Also, very excited about the playoffs, although I’m pretty disappointed that the Cardinals ended up making it. Can’t wait to see the Padres try to get some vengeance for last postseason and eliminate the NL Central champions. Also, a couple of great pitching match-ups in the DS’s, as Johan Santana and Barry Zito open things up on Tuesday, with old friends and lovers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine going to the hill for Game Two of Dodgers/Mets. Plus, won’t every game of Yankees/Tigers be a David-and-Goliath-sort of war? No Red Sox, no White Sox and very sadly, no Phillies and no more Ryan Howard. Still, some nice distraction to get us to the NBA season.

The Office

Due to some misadventures with my credit and debit cards, I haven’t been able to get Season Two on DVD yet, but that countdown is clicking down rather quickly with a few shopping trips coming up this weekend with my dad coming to town. Simply put, the best comedy on television, and also one of the best dramas. Every show is a work of art, from the minor glances each character makes and general heartbreak surrounding some of the aspects of the show to the one-liners and Jim’s pranks on Dwight.

Season Three has been a hit and miss so far, in my opinion, with the season premiere being an A+ while the second episode left a little bit to be desired. Still, a bad episode of The Office – much like Arrested Development - is like a great episode of dozens of other shows, so it wasn’t a complete waste. Please please please borrow/buy/rent Season Two on DVD and get caught up, because your chances of getting a classic love story combined with gut-busting laughter are few and far between. Trust me.

Wordplay

When we were walking over to see this, MacKrell was angrily and confusedly asking if this was a movie about crossword puzzles.

“No Andy, it’s a movie about people. The crossword puzzles are just a theme for which to reach them.”

Of course, I had no idea for sure, but I could assume that the movie wouldn’t just be about the creation of crossword puzzles. Thankfully, it wasn’t. Instead, it was everything you could ask for out of a documentary – informative, yet crafted around a story and people you cared about. As cool as it was to see Jon Stewart, Bill Clinton and Mike Mussina extol the virtues of Will Shortz and the Times crossword, this film was really about the myriad of personalities competing in the National Crosswords Championship. That’s right, there’s a crosswords championship, and if you think I’m not going there at some point in time during my life, you’re crazy. It’s going to be me versus Patrick versus Sean versus MacKrell versus Caitlyn in a no hold’s barred square-filling war.

And the best part about the sensational 91 minutes of film? How about the fact that it’s directed by a Notre Dame grad and Dillonite? Patrick Creadon is going to accept his Oscar for Best Documentary and give a shout out to the Big Red and ND. How fantastic is that? Watch Wordplay. I demand it of you, somewhere between asking you to watch The Office and asking you to watch…

Veronica Mars

Which starts this Tuesday! WOOOO! Wanna see what the new intro looks like? Of course you do.

Now I’m not sure if I like the remix of The Dandy Warhols, as the original looked/sounded like this:

I’m a little scared about this season of Veronica. Not because it has to hold onto some of the failing Gilmore Girls ratings, but because this will be the first season where I watch it live. What’s it going to be like going a week between episodes, as opposed to my usual forty-five seconds when watching the DVD’s? Will I be able to make it? Who knows, but it’s going to be a painful journey for a while before we find out.

I’m going to dedicate an entire post to the genius of Veronica Mars, probably over fall break when I have nothing to do but read for pleasure, hang out around the Ranchero and catch up on Laguna Beach. Season One is just setting here in the room, waiting for some brave soul to risk their GPA and any sort of free time they have to watch it. It’s like crack, only crack addicts can go through rehab and eventually return to a normal place in society. Kristen Bell doesn’t allow for such regression to the norm.

~

Next post will be about some of the new shows this season – Studio 60, how I love you – and then maybe we’ll get onto some NFL stuff, although a lack of Sunday Ticket leaves me so unqualified to commentate. Still, what would be football season without some Dolphin lamenting (We suck) and Steeler bashing (you guys suck, too, but not nearly as bad as the orange and teal)?

If ever again a greeting I send, long and rambling to the soul I intend.