Confession of the Week

This is not a new segment on the blog. Don't get use to it. I just had a fun experience this week, but I'm starting to wonder if the after effects were worth it. Dammit!

You see, there's this local newscaster I use to have a crush on. I mean, who wouldn't? Dude is hot! I remember seeing him on TV many years ago. It was about three in the morning and I couldn't sleep so I did what most people do in that situation. I flipped on the TV. I found some odd show on at that ungodly hour that was about the paranormal and UFOs and stuff like that. He was the host. All I could think of was 'who is that and where has he been all my life?'

Of course as these things go I never saw another episode of that show. Oh I looked, but I seemed to catch the tale end of it's run. I tried to remember the host's name for future reference. But my memory being what it is, and was then - fat chance. You do what any normal human being would do; you move along. But you hope to see such loveliness pop up on your TV screen again in the possible future.

A few years later and I'm settled in my new apartment in Los Angeles, working on my morning routine - you know, wake up, turn on the TV, at some point roll out of bed and get dressed for work, etc. I go through morning routine TV phases. Could be a nationally broadcast morning show for a few years, could be no TV at all just to enjoy the peace and quiet. I mean who wants all that bad news to digest just after you wake up?

I like the balance I discovered with watching the local news. Especially one particular channel here in Los Angeles who pioneered the local morning goofy newscast. The serious issues of the city were leveraged with the teasing and prodding and joking the newscasters did with each other. One morning I woke up earlier than usual, flipped on the TV to this channel and guess who was hosting the early, early edition of this newscast?

Alas, I found him again! He was local. So local that the studio they broadcast from is less than two miles from my apartment. I searched his name on the Internet and, yes, it was the same guy who hosted that show I saw once in the middle of the night. From then on, sometimes I'd wake up earlier on purpose. Sometimes he'd be charged to fill in for someone on the later, early morning newscast. I wasn't complaining. What a lovely way to wake up every day.

Flash forward a few years - maybe it was because I was getting older, maybe I was stuck in a morning news rut, but I decided I needed a change from the goofy morning news thing. Oh, my guy was still there and as good looking as ever, but after so many years of crushing on someone from afar you begin to think 'what's the point?' It's a fantasy. He's out of your league. He's unobtainable. Add to that now you know he's taken. I found this out just after I learned he also likes to play the guitar (DUUUUDE! Could you be any more perfect?) I also remember one morning him mentioning he got a gift from his sweetie. For the record, his sweetie wasn't me. Then and there I decided to put my crush away.

For some reason this year I decided to return to the goofy morning news format I had given up so long ago. Okay, I know exactly why; 2009 hasn't been a fun year. At all. I've had tragedy and hard times in my personal life this year. It was depressing to turn on the TV every morning to hear everything else was going to hell as well. A couple months ago I decided to check in on my old local news. It was nice to hear about less scary local issues. It was nice to see, while a few faces in the newsroom had changed, the same goofy spirit remained.

It was also nice to see a familiar handsome face was still there. Although that didn't mean I was breaking my crush out of the mothballs. Nope. Now he was just that still great looking guy I use to have a crush on who is still anchoring the early, early local morning goofy news. Nothing more.

This week, to kick start the Thanksgiving spirit, the station got together with a couple fire departments around town to host a food drive. Great. I've had some boxes of mac n' cheese that I bought in bulk that I could donate. I bought them back when I had a relative living with me, for extra food to fix, but, honestly, I'm not the biggest fan of mac n' cheese. Once the relative moved out, the boxes sat there.

Double great. One of the fire stations that would be serving as a food drop stop was near where I work in West Hollywood. So I continued piddling around my apartment, getting ready for the day, news on in the background, trying to remember to drop off mac n' cheese stash on the way to work. One instant I look up at the TV and guess who had just arrived at the WeHo station to help out with the food drive?

'I should do it' I thought. I went from trying to remind myself to make the drop off to telling myself I should not miss this opportunity! I could go see my former crush in person, all in good fun. I could take look, maybe say hi, and then be on my merry way to work. No expectations. No ridiculous fantasies. I was curious if seeing him in person would reignite my crush. So what if it did? I haven't crushed on someone in a long time. In fact because of my luck lately, it would be nice to see someone I found attractive. I was beginning to think something was wrong with me.

Plus, me being older, more mature, and generally over the 'I can't live without you' kind of crap you believe when your young, re-igniting a fun little unobtainable crush wouldn't hurt anybody. At least I'd feel something again. Even better I'd understand it's place and not pretend there was anything more than that.

So I did it. I grabbed my bag of food to donate and drove to the fire station. I saw him and another newscaster in front of the station talking to each other as I drove up. I parked around the corner, hopped out the car with my little bag and went for it. Neither of them saw me when I first walked up. His back was turned to me while he was talking to the other guy. I thought, fine, I got a glimpse. I'll just drop of the food with the fireman manning the food table and just say hi on my way out if they happen to look up.

As I pass them on my way to the table I hear the other newscasters say 'Are you here to donate food?' Que deer in headlights look. 'Oh hey. Yeah, I'm here to donate food.' I'm looking back and forth between them, and back at the food table, and the other newscaster walks up to me to take the bag. I hand it to him with an 'uh, what do I do now' look on my face. He takes it to bring it to the table saying "great!", leaving me with "The Crush."

And my god, he's beautiful in person. He looks at me, puts out his hand to shake mine. We look each other directly in the eye, he shakes my hand and says "Thank you." I have no idea what I replied. Probably said "Sure!" I just know I had the biggest smile on my face. Then I noticed at that moment Mr. Unobtainable Crush from all these years was giving me a look that said he might not be so unobtainable. Holy crap!

We let go hands (my god, great hands!) and we both kind of shyly walked away from each other. I went back to my car, hopped in and went to work. I spent the rest of the day wondering did I experience what I think I just experienced? My crush is definitely back along with something more. Like if circumstances were different, or I had a stroke of dumb luck for a change, who knows? But things being as they are, I couldn't pursue anything without coming across as some crazy stalker. Damn, damn, damn.

It's just nice to feel something for someone again. Even if its a fleeting thing. And if I gain anything from this encounter, at least I've very much clarified what's my type.

Yeah, just my luck, he's probably gay.

Stoooookeeed!!!!

Is it sad I'm more excited about January than I am about Christmas?

Chuck as Monomyth - work in progress

So I've been hanging out with one of my nieces a bit lately. She's a 20 year old college student who reads a ton and who I've managed to get hooked on not only The Show, but also Chuck.

She's also well aware of my affinity for folklore and mythology. One weekend we were hanging out together and she begin asking me questions about the topic. I figured what better way to explain it than to give her a homework assignment. Take world renown comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey cycle or 17 stages of Monomyth and apply the to the show she and I discuss the most at the moment, "Chuck."

Here's what I've done so far. Didn't get as in depth as I could, because, you know, it's not like I'm writing a thesis. Chuck as Monomyth

Plus using Campbell's guidelines is kind of cheating since I'm sure many writers in Hollywood use them thanks to George Lucas and "Star Wars".

Hortencia Explains It All

At least Hortencia finds a link where someone else explains it all. An excellent compilation Decoding Hollywoodspeak

Something's Up

Got a feeling something is up and I don't know what it is. Hate that! Its nagging me.
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Here We Go Again

Every time I see the name "Sepinwall" I think it could've been the name of a rock band from the 70s
Someone else deconstructs the 'Will They, Won't They' myth

There's More?

We're on to you, television

EW.com - 25 Best "Will They, Won't They" TV Couples

Will They Won't They? Have I Been Scooped?!?!?

Soooo recently I had been thinking about the whole "Will They, Won't They?" Unresolved Sexual Tension dance a lot of TV shows like to do. Probably because it's that time of the year. Fall. The new fall season is here! That means our your current favorite TV shows are revving up for new episodes. (Even if my current fave won't rev until March, oh well, at least I just discovered Big Bang Theory.)

New episodes mean new and usually more convoluted ways to keep your favorite show couples apart. Showrunners will always say that they have to drag things out between TV couples to keep things interesting. That they want to avoid the "Moonlighting" curse. I've been through enough of these shows to feel this is bull.

I guess with the new fall season upon us, I'm not the only one rolling my eyes thinking about this. It all started today with Mo Ryan's Twitter rant...

MAUREEN RYAN - RANT ALERT: OH, JUST STOP IT ALREADY WITH THE 'WILL THEY, WON'T THEY'

NPR - WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO 'MOONLIGHTING'?

AV CLUB - GETTING HORIZONTAL WITH MADDIE: 22 SERIES NOT RUINED WHEN TWO CHARACTERS HOOKED UP

Curses! Scooped again! I was going to write about this for my last blog entry. In fact I started writing something to post here but didn't finish it. At the time I wasn't able to get my head around the subject matter enough to do it justice. But I'm happy this topic has popped up. I hope to add my own amateur two cents once I finish...whenever that will be.

My New Favorite Website

Since I've been pondering if the "Will They, Won't They" stuff TV shows pull really works:

How many dragged out relationships do you feel had a satisfying ending?

ChuckMeMondays: Chuck vs. The Sandworm; Chuck vs. The Alma Mater

Edited to add Chuck vs. The Alma Mater and Dr. Devin "Captain Awesome" Woodcomb taking the lead in the Full Blown Half Naked race! He goes topless for the Stanford-UCLA football game on the episode. Side note: Gotta love how the Stanford scenes (along with most other college scenes shown on tv shows) are filmed at UCLA. I get to play "I think I know that part of campus!"



Full Blown Half Naked Count: Awesome 4, Strahovski 3

---

Okay, I had to chime in on this episode merely for the full blown half naked count. That's because Captain Awesome goes above and beyond the call of duty (hey!) and is nearly full blow full naked in this episode! Halloween time and he goes as Adam. I salute you, Capt'n. For that you get 2 points. Not to be outdone Yvonne Strahovski gets 1 point for rockin' the Princess Leia slave girl outfit from "Return of the Jedi" almost better than Princess Leia did.

Full Blow Half Naked Count: Captain Awesome 3, Yvonne Strahovski 3, The Wookie 1



Just to think, in Season 2, even Chuck joins the Full Blown Half Naked Contest

ChuckMeMondays: Chuck vs. The Wookie

I think this will be my last ChuckMeMonday blog post for a while at least. I feel I've made my point and probably overstayed my welcome. I do love this show, though. Feel it has that rare magical/charm/heart quality you only get about once a decade. But there's only so far I want to go annoying people about it. However, I do reserve the right in re-watching older episodes to pop in here and comment on them from time to time. Then there's the whole Half Naked Count I want to keep going. Oh boy. Maybe I won't be able to get away from blogging about it?

I didn't start watching this show until it's second season. And because the first episode of Season 2 does such a swell job of (re)introducing the viewer to the entire premise of the show as well as the personalities and relationship dynamics of the characters, I kind of wonder if I would have gotten as hook if I had started watching from the beginning?

That's something I'll probably never know, but one thing is for sure - by the time vs. The Wookie rolled around I most definitely would have been hooked. It has to do with the Sarah Walker character. In the first two episodes the CIA agent comes across as a bit intense (understandable, she's a CIA agent) but I'm not sure she's really all that likable. By this episode you're all "Awh, she's a sweet kid! A sweet kid who kills people for a living, but...Awwh" Plus here they start laying the groundwork for how she and Chuck have a lot more in common than anyone would suspect. A lot of the fun of the series has to do with this gradual revelation, although the bulk of it occurs in S2.

So if you can get past the obvious T&A'ness of this episode, which frankly I thought was funny because it reminded me of watching "Charlie's Angels" back in the day (and this show is all about 80s and some 70s pop culture references) the visual gag of why this episode is called vs The Wookie is great... or gross... or both depending on your POV. If you're not hooked by the end, this really isn't the show for you.



There's already complications in the Half Naked count. Do I count random flashes of underwear or do I just count full blown half nakedness? Maybe half a point for random flashes?
Full Blown Half Naked Count: Yvonne Strahovski 2, Captain Awesome 1, The Wookie 1
with Random flash count added: Yvonne Strahovski 3, Captain Awesome 1, The Wookie 1

ChuckMeMondays: Chuck vs. The Tango

I had hoped to blog on other topics between ChuckMeMondays, but wasn't able to get around to it this past week. I have to say this episode is a treat and contains one of the funniest scenes of the entire series. Just what I need after a busy week and an exhausting weekend.



Time to start my "Who's Half Naked More" scorecard: Yvonne Strahovski 2, Captain Awesome 1. Honestly if I had the body of either of them I'd be half naked all the time as well.

Burn and Nurse

Continuing my new tradition of summer TV viewing I decided to check out "Burn Notice" and "Nurse Jackie"

I've heard a lot of chatter about "Burn Notice" as a humorous show about an ex-spy. Sounds right up my territory, but I have the say the show didn't hook me. I think I'll stick with "Alias" as my spy show of the summer.

"Nurse Jackie" had two things going for it before I checked it out - Edie Falco and the use of the 70s song "Jackie Blue" in the commercials. My co-worker was also in my ear with raves for the show this week. I was wondering if I'd ever get around to checking it out since I don't have any pay channels like HBO or Showtime (economy, ya know).

Luckily DirecTV aired the first ep on their 101 channel this weekend and I have to say I thought the show was great. It was funnier than I expected it to be, and intriguing in Nurse Jackie's moral ambiguity. Plus, as expected, Edie Falco absolutely rocks. Glad to see her back on television. Now I have to figure out a way to catch this show without the benefit (and added expense) of Showtime.

Which leads me to another topic - I love television far better than films. I barely watch any movies these days. That's another reason I gave up my pay channels. Since I rarely watched movies, if the channels were no longer airing a tv series I was interested, it was just a waste of money. (I do however miss my weekly does of Bill Maher).

Something about sinking your teeth into a tv series you love. Just having that to forward to every week, hanging out with those characters. Movies can't replicate that (takes too long for sequels). However, I do fear this may be more of the case - especially after my experiece in Fandoms:

For Some TV Cures Loneliness

ChuckMeMondays: Chuck vs the Helicopter

Yes, it's that time again. Just a warning, TheWB.com's video player sucks. So watching an episode online at the same time as all the other ChuckMeMonday'ers is not such a good idea. Watch it before. And then Twitter #ChuckMeMondays at 9pm EST/6pm PST.

This time out hilarity and ass-kickery burst out at the Wienerlicious. And a great cross show reference for any fans of 'Lost'.

Season 1, Episode 2: Chuck vs. The Helicopter

Not the best ep of season one but it's still fun. It does, however, feature the most awesome computer nerdy exchange, evah: "PCs? Linux? Chuck, we're MAC guys. We're IT artistes!"

ChuckMeMondays: Chuck vs. The Pilot

Hopping on the bandwagon here (or chuckwagon, if you will...har!) to help kick off ChuckMeMondays. Now that the show has been saved from cancellation, this is a concerted fan effort to keep it from ever becoming a "bubble" show again. Every Monday, starting June 1st, at 9pm EST people are encourage to watch an episode online on Hulu.com, NBC.com or TheWB.com (or on DVD if that's all you have). First season is available on TheWB.com at http://www.thewb.com/shows/chuck. Or right here on my blog:

Season 1, Episode 1: Chuck vs. The Pilot



Oh Chuck, you had me at "Bryce Larkin. Not an accoutant."

A Bit Twee

So they aired the first of the last three episodes of "Pushing Daisies" tonight. Honestly, I could never get into the show. Which surprised me because judging from the commercials when it was initially promoted it looked like something that would be up my alley. I tend to like stuff that's a little quirky, but "Pushing Daisies" kind of went beyond "a little" quirky. I think the best explanation I read about it was that the show was 'a little too twee.'

I know there's a lot of love for the show on the internet (at least the craggy little corners I hang around in) but something like that seems to work better as a one shot movie rather than a weekly series, I think. You know, during the holidays, where you're all set for something warm and fuzzy and a little bit twee. On a weekly basis, it's a bit much...even for me (which is saying something).

In other TV watching news, I decided to give "Alias" another try. I find that I have a tendancy towards spy stuff. Always have. But I gave this show a try once when it was on and didn't quite get hooked. That's okay. Some show's you just have to watch from the very beginning to really get a feel for them. Same thing happened to me with "Arrested Development". You have to get a feel for the characters.

Verdict? I like it. But not quite love though. JJ Abrams creates intriging storylines. Weird thing is Jennifer Garner. She's someone I've liked in other roles, and seems like one of those more grounded in reality, real person non-fame whore type celebrities. But in "Alias" she kind of bugs me. She's got skull face, looks like she's 12 and has the squeaky little girl voice. But maybe that the point - because of that she's the last person you'd expect to be a kickass spy. I guess it also works because she's a grad student still in college.

I will give her this - she does indeed kick ass. Kudos for the action scenes, Ms. Garner. You get the Princess Kickass blog gold ninja star of approval for those. Whether I'll continue with my "Alias" viewing is up in the air. I've heard the series gets pretty convolulted because the writers never had an end goal in mind. It suffered from what many TV series suffer from - make stuff up as you go along (i.e. are renewed for another season). Although there's hope out there as I'm starting to think a lot of tv series/writers are trying to avoid that particular pitfall. Anyway, "Alias" is going to be fun summer viewing at the very least.

How To Not Make It In The Music Biz

What are blogs for but to ramble on about the unimportance of your life. Paste it up on the big e-billboard that is the Internet and see if anyone gives a damn. Heck, I'm happy if someone finds my random crap the slight bit amusing. Or you can just completely ignore me and skip on to the next page. What do I care? Can't say I'm not use to that.

It is kind of fun reflecting on life experiences in a semi-anonymous fashion. Especially the ironic stuff. See, I'm a musician. I've always been a musician even before I could play any instruments. That's how much music means to me. It strikes me to the core of my being - to the point where I would say I'm a musician first, human later.

One thing I think I should do is reflect on my music experiences much in the way I'm blogging about fandoms. Wish I could remember my music stuff as well as the fandom stuff but I'm hoping this exercise will jog my memory. I've had fun times playing in bands for the last 10 years. I want to get back into it but this time with a less serious focus. Lack of success in the past has freed me from giving a shit about making it in music. I just want to have fun.

Of course with this new attitude and focus of mine comes the irony. As soon as I accepted the fact that a music career was not in my cards, and that I'm fine with that, I start meeting and befriending all these people who work in the music business. Mind boggling. A music lawyer here, a music publisher there, and yesterday I spend the afternoon chatting it up with one of the hottest record producers going right now (and a seriously cool, real, nice, nice fellow).

But his talk of shutting down NYC for a party, or hanging out on billionaire's yachts, and other fab and glamorous stuff makes me realize, yeah, that's so not the life I'd fit in to. I lack the skill set (totally stolen phrase there - but its my new favorite). I'm sure I lack it on a variety of levels. Whatever my mission in life is suppose to be, my dreams of record deals, touring and recording seem so misguided now. Well except for the recording part. I'd still love to do that, but in a small scale excellent studio with a great engineer. And for no greater reason than its fun to be creative. Who cares if anyone notices?

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Last Week In Chuck: Vs The Ring

Last week was Season Finale time. And honestly at the end of the episode, after all my going to bat for this show, I thought three words...Jumped. The. Shark. Damn it! Could it be? Say it ain't so!

Well it really isn't so. While the second to last episode of S2 was great. Maybe even the best episode of the series yet (and I'm coming around to that opinion as well, except I still think "Chuck vs. Santa Claus" is pretty fan-f*cking-tastic), this week's happened to hit all those occasional notes that kind of sort of bug me about the show. Here's a list:

The 80s references

Yes, I love the 80s references on this show, but sometimes I hate them. That's because I was in high school during the 80s and it's obvious the writers on "Chuck" skew quite a few years younger than me. While I was a teenager wishing there was some way, some how I could score tix from KROQ and a ride to see XTC at the Paladium (a show the band canceled and then ended up never performed live show again, but that's another story) the writers of "Chuck" were 8 year-olds watching crappy 80s movies like "Spies Like Us" in an endless loop on HBO... and loving it. (However, their use of Chevy Chase in the last 2 of 3 episodes has been inspired.)

Their 80s love is not quite the 80s I knew. And I feel I have dibs on those years. Yes, a song like "Mr. Roboto" is great cheesy fun. Heck, I had the 45 back then. But it's kind of an obvious 80s choice that other shows have mined already. I will grant them this - the song's lyrics do fit the theme of this show like a glove. Kilroy.

Ok, rewatching this I'm starting to love this scene

The Music

I, for one, am not usually one to complain about the music on this show. I frickin' love the music they use on this show. Cake's "Short Skirt, Long Jacket" as the show's theme song is perfect. And don't get me started on "Creature Fear" and the hand porn scene. I love the music so much that I've got a playlist on my Ipod made up exclusively of songs I've heard on this show. But there have been a couple episodes late in Season 2 where I've found the music intrusive and awkward. Maybe it's because I just didn't like the songs. Or it's just the case it felt like they were using too many songs, for too long and too loud during an episode. Particularly if the songs sounded like the crappy songs used in the movie "Juno," overplayed 80s classics or bad Bangles imitations. (I neither love nor hate The Bangles but they were a pretty average band, really. If you're going to imitate someone, go for greatness or improve upon the average.)

Sadly, no amount of "Friday I'm In Love" by The Cure (another obvious 80s tune, but still a great tune) could make up for the music miscues in this episode. Of course, your mileage may vary.

Chuck Fu

When I read discussion threads after an episode there's always that person pointing out "well that's not how that works in real life" and proceeds to tell you how it really would operate in real life. You just want to say, dude, STFU, it's a TV show. You're suppose to willfully suspend disbelief - especially on a show like "Chuck" or you'd never have any fun.

That is, until the show delved into two areas I know pretty well in real life. The band Jeffster perform "Mr. Roboto" at Awesome and Ellie's (first) wedding and manage to drown out the knife throwing, paratrooper crashing through sky lights, raging machine gun fight going on in the reception hall next door to the chapel...with no amplifiers! You'd need The Who's late 70s set up to drown out a battle royale like that, but I chose to forgive this one.

Later Chuck re-Intersects himself with an upload that does far more than the previous version of the program did. He's not only re-installed goverment secrets into his brain, he's also installed some physical abilities he never had before. They go all "The Matrix" on us, turning Chuck into Neo complete with the line "I know kung fu" (sorry I'm not the biggest "Matrix" fan). You don't pull off moves like that without conditioning your body to be able to handle it. You'd pull all kinds of muscles, tendons and ligaments. But, I've decided to give a pass on this as well because 1) Chuck is a young guy 2) he has shown quite a bit of physical agility in the past 3) the actor playing Chuck was able to pull off a lot of the moves himself with just a little training (including a pretty impressive drop kick).

But what really bugged me about this bit of character development was that Chuck always used his intelligence to get out of sticky situations since he didn't have the training or fighting abilities of the goverment agents charged with protecting him. I had hoped they were going in the direction of giving him some training to be able to protect himself a bit while keeping his greatest asset - his superbrain. Then again, I don't think the Chuck Fu will be a permanent fixture. It will be something that works sometimes, and not others. On the other hand it does save the show from getting stale with 'Chuck saves the day again buy doing something clever' storylines.

Over the Top Action

I've already noted the writers must have watched 80s movies on cable in an endless loop when they were kids. Nothing said over the top action like 80s movies. And you can tell the writers on this show love to revisit those gems. I'm game. I love action. I love action done well (but not action just for the sake of, well, action). It's one of the things I love about this show. They do action well. But I fear the writers love for all the things I've listed above could get out of hand and overshadow the things that make this show such a loveable, endearing, fun show.

Jumped the Shark? Nah

So untimately I had to rethink my Jump the Shark opinion. A lot of these peeves are really just my own personal thing. Upon rewatching the episode with this in mind and accepting it for its over the top basking in 80s glory episode that it was, it was a pretty damn entertaining well put together hour of television. A television action-comedy opera if you will. And seriously without "Chuck" (which is still a possibility as NBC has yet to renew it) where would I get my action, comedy, drama, suspense, vicious girl fights, romance, bromance, gun battles, and explosions?

Final notes:

• Bruce Boxleitner has aged really well. It's cool with the movie "Tron" playing such an important role on this show they actually got Tron to be on the show. Not to mention he played a spy on a show which had a similar premise to "Chuck" with the roles reversed.
• I love that since Ellie and Awesome are now married there are now two sets of Dr. and Mrs. Dr. Awesome's in the (Chuck)world.
• Of course Devon "Captain Awesome" Woodcomb's middle name would be Christian. It's perfect. And so is he.
• Speaking of which, one of my favorite lines from this season - Chuck to Ellie: "Don't go all crazy-doctor-sister on me!" - gets overlooked.
• Although I don't think the Orange Orange Yogurt shop will be around if this show gets a Season 3 (no more OOSuper Secret Liar), I did like that Sarah wore orange low top "Chucks" with her uniform to go along with Chuck's standard issue high top Converse Chuck Taylors he always wears. It's nice to see another show getting into couples clothing continuity.
• Speaking of couples - Really, who is Chuck's true love on this show? Sarah, his CIA handler, John Casey his NSA handler, Morgan is Best Friend Forever or Ellie, his sister he'll do just about anything for? Seriously, a case could be made for all of them.
• I hope Scott Bakula returns to the show playing Chuck and Ellie's dad. He was great. I loved that through him they revealed having an Intersect in your head may be damaging to your health in the long run. Nice way to raise the stakes.
• Chuck's absentee mom is so going to be a spy.

Ooh Midnight

Its 12:41am on a Friday night. I'm sitting on the floor in front the tv playing guitar (I'm playing guitar, not the tv). I look up. Its an infomercial, but oh my sweet lord, its an infomercial for The Midnight Special on DVD.

You just don't know. You just don't know! Before MTV and music videos, there was The Midnight Special. It was the show a young pre-teen rock-n-roll geek like me discovered when I managed to stay up really really late one night. And my word it was pure magic!

All the top artist of that day and age performing live on late tv. Performing live. Real instruments. Real singers. Real musicians at the top of their game. And now all that is being released on DVD. How can I be so lucky?
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This week in Chuck: vs the Colonel

2nd to last episode this season/series(?) And they jam packed it with so much stuff. Honestly, if the show completely ended at this ep it would work:

Capt Awesome vs. Agent Frankenstein - Awesome holds his own but Casey is one tough SOB. Luckily Sarah shows up with a well placed boot to the head to save the day. Best part - Awesome learns about his future bro-in-law's secret spy life. Its been sad to see Chuck so devastated that he can't share what's going on in his life with his sister. This is like the next best thing. And I'm so going to try to work in the line "Can you be awesome?" Into everyday life.

Agent Frankenstein vs The Smoking Hot Weiner Girl

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I've come to think of the Casey and Sarah part of Team Bartowski as Team Bad Ass. Because they are. They haven't fought against each other since early S1. But, yay, we get a rematch! Sort of. They actually spend most of their fight taking out Fulcrum agents (because they are Team Bad Ass!). Even better was the reason why they were fighting - Casey was mad Chuck and Sarah didn't include him in their rogue mission to save Chuck's dad. But that's a good thing or we'd have never gotten...

Hand Porn! (tm someone at TWoP)
Oh Chuck and Sarah with your fake relationship. Pretending to be together while at the same time trying to hide the fact that you want to be together...stuff like this is bound to happen.



Special thanks to Morgan for proving once again nothing comes between Chuck and Sarah /rimshot

Also special thanks to the show's music supevisor for keeping the second line of the chorus of the song used in this scene ("Creature Fear" by Bon Iver)... and for the sensors for not noticing. HA!

BuyMoria
A lot of people complain about the Buy More plots on the show. Me? I enjoy them. Although if they fazed out that part of the show, I wouldn't mind because there's only so much spy action that could realistically (at least as far as this show goes) take place at the Buy More. Anyway, loving "the Godfather" homages. That and Buster Bleuth constantly screaming out "Ass Man" for his new assistant manager Morgan. Somehow the slightly crass guy humor on this show works for me. Who'dve guessed? Morgan declares his freedom, quits the Buy More and takes Anna with him. Carry on my wayward little bearded manboy.

Intersect, out!
Chuck's dad eliminates the whole premise of the show by getting the Intersect out of Chuck's head. Okay, that means no more spy missions? No more Team Bartowski (or Team Bad Ass)? Everyone ends on a happy, promising future kind of note. But there's one more episode to go so you know they're going to blow things up with no promise of another season. Television, I love and hate you.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Spook

So, I had planned on doing more "Chuck" blogging last week, but sometimes real life gets in the way. 2009 is turning out to be one of those reevaluate your life's direction years. Sometimes you make changes in your life, sometimes life drags you kicking and screaming into those changes. Me? I like to pay attention to the signs and play along so I can take charge. But right now what direction I should go in is murky at best.

Which brings me to the little things in life. When real life gets tough, the trivial stuff and fluff looks extra ridiculous by comparison. Then you think about all the time you waste on that stuff when you should be doing more important things. But, I learned something recently. After dealing with some tough stuff, I sure do appreciate the trivial.

Its just nice to not have a care in the world beyond whether you've seen one too many Lindsay Lohan or Hannah Montana references on the Internet that day. Or to just come home to a quiet, empty apartment, kick off your shoes and fire up the DVR. I suppose I'm finding out there's a time and place to do and think of more important things, and there's a time and place to do and think of nothing at all. The key is the balancing act between the two.

So since I'm appreciating little things right now, I had an amusing Easter. Occasionally my Mom likes to give me strange gifts. It's not often, and the gifts aren't bizarre, bizarre or anything. It's just, for example, when I turned 30, she gave me a stuffed animal. A lion. Because I loved stuffed animals when I was a kid. Yeah, Mom, but... I'm 30!

Truthfully, I think I was a victim of re-gifting with that one. It was intended for my niece, and my sis put a kibosh adding to her daughter's overpopulation of stuffed animals. So Easter rolls around this past Sunday and my parents are giving out candy and toys to the grandkids when Mom says to me "I've got a gift for you." And she hands me this guy:


Immediately I'm puzzled. Okay, looks like a McDonald's toy. What? Have they been raiding Happy Meals lately? I know I'm the youngest in the family, and maybe because I'm the only unmarried kid, they don't want me to feel left out during holidays. But I'm 41. And I get a Happy Meal toy.

Then it dawns on me. It's a Spook! Holy crap! My Mom just gave me the coolest gift ever! And when you pull its legs down its eyes even light up! Mom gave me a spook.

So my excitement over receiving Spook needs a little context. If you haven't figured out by now, my Mom is kind of a colorful, somewhat unusual person. I have lots of funny stories about her which I've blogged elsewhere. As you can imagine her doling out words of wisdom is going to have some fun bent to them.

One of her pearls she passed along to a couple of my nephews when they first started driving was "Don't let no spooks ride in yo' car!" She was referring to not hanging out with, oh, what you may call hoodrats, thugs or undesirable "friends" albeit with less political correctness (call it racism within your own race). It's been my favorite Mom quote ever since. Just because calling someone a "spook" is so old school South. Which, basically, she is. Of course, my nephews are just so proud that their Nana is ghetto.

When she gave me Spook, I was baffled and then I burst out laughing. OMG Everyone, Mom gave me a Spook! This is so going in my car! And that is where he'll stay.

Anyone Else Watching "Chuck"? Part 2

Because it looks like I'm not the only one asking this question. As the 2008-2009 TV Season nears its end, and television bloggers are noting the shows that haven't been renewed yet but need to be, guess who is topping the list?

See for yourself. Television Without Pity has gone to bat for "Chuck" before (in fact it was an article I discovered on that website in December which encouraged me to check the show out on Hulu.com). Well they're at it again:

TWoP 10: Shows That Should Return Next Fall (But Might Not)

Guess who's #1? Just a week ago they posted this

Chuck: Seven Reasons It Deserves a Third Season

Seems some other TV bloggers are joining the chorus all spearheaded by GiveMeMyRemote.com:

Chuck vs. The Network Pickup

For the entire week they're asking other bloggers to join the fun to help bring attention to this great little show. Additional links to other bloggers', er, Chuck love can be found there.

Now, I know I'm moving into obnoxious annoying territory. We've all had that friend who just keeps going on and on and on about how great this one tv show/band/actor/actress/restaurant/movie is and we kind of roll our eyes and think ENOUGH ALREADY! STFU! But everyone once in a while, you decide, what the heck. I'll check it out just to shut them up. Instead you end up being pleasantly surprised.

I don't want to be that person who needs to STFU. But I do want you to be pleasantly surprised. If you're not, then you're not. Simple as that. If you are, you can thank me later.

I can't think of any better way to top off this post than with a tribute to Captain Awesome. Because I love Captain Awesome. And it's not just because they have him practically naked half the time (I really need to do a running tally called "Topless Awesome vs. Yvonne Strahovski's Underwear: Who's Half Naked More?"). Enjoy.

Chuck: Best of Captain Awesome



Warning: I've decided to be obnoxious and in need to STFU! for a little while longer. I'll be posting something "Chuck" related to this blog for the rest of this week.

Anyone else watching "Chuck"? Just me then?

Been a long while since I've blogged here. Life's been busy. Life's been rough. Gonna take a brief break from the Fandoms Saga for a moment, but this is kind of related.

Anyone else watching "Chuck"? I'm hooked on this show like I was hooked on "The Show." Not surprising since they're the same type of show. Somebody knows my number.

I bring it up because "Chuck" is close to getting canned. Just my luck. I hate the Nielsens.

So, save me some misery. Check it out Monday's at 8 on NBC. Watch it live. DVR "Dancing with the Stars" that way you can fast forward through commercials. They're blowing everyone out of the water anyway, they can take the ding.

PS Whoever is the music supervisor on "Chuck" I want to say thank you. I've downloaded nearly 40 songs used on the show. And here I was thinking there just wasn't any cool music out there any more.

PPS And no I won't being joining any "Chuck" fandom any time soon.

Season 1


Season 2


Apparently Television Without Pity agrees with me:

Chuck: Seven Reasons It Deserves a Third Season
by Angel Cohn March 30, 2009 2:11 PM

It's spring and upfronts are on the way, which means that it's time for the networks to decide which shows they want to keep and which get cut. Chuck falls into the "bubble" show category -- series that do passably well, but haven't gotten a pick-up for next year yet, meaning that the outlook is uncertain. Which is a shame, especially since it's NBC, a network that will have five less hours of primetime programming available next year (given that it decided to give Jay Leno that plum 10 PM spot), so finding space for its existing slate of shows, as well as new pilots in the works, is going to be difficult. We're concerned for Chuck's chances, but we've got all our fingers crossed, hoping that it will work out. Here's why.

1. It's well-written.
For a show that blends action and comedy, it features some of the smartest and most quick-witted dialogue on TV, throwing in pop-culture references willy-nilly amid techno-babble and spy speak. And yet, it all works somehow.

2. There's a fun nostalgia factor.
Which other show is going to find a way to organically work in "Africa" by Toto? I can't think of one. Nearly every episode has some sort of inside joke or homage to culty classics, like Back to the Future, Tron, Dune or Ferris Bueller. That's not even taking into account all of the comic book, TV and computer references that appeal to our nerdier sides.

3. The Chuck/Sarah relationship
Hands down the most angst-ridden on-again, off-again, pretend couple on TV. The sparks fly between these two, but the writers always find ways to keep them apart (she kills people in cold blood to defend him, there's rules against inter-office dating, she's pretty much out of his league) while forcing them to constantly be together. We root for Chuck to get the Intersect removed from his brain so that he and Sarah can be together... but watching their "almost" moments makes it worth the wait.

4. The action sequences
They know how to do good explosions, but the more impressive stunts are the hand-to-hand battles that involve intense choreography, but look so realistic. There's a lot of care taken to show Chuck's ineptitude, without making the fights too one-sided or silly to watch. And there's nothing like watching Casey shoot someone in the head, or Sarah turn around and roundhouse kick someone. It's what makes all the best spy shows work.

5. The awesome cast
From the top down, this cast is fabulous. Zachary Levi is geeky, but in a hot and endearing way. Yvonne Strahovski is as sexy as a Bond girl, but can make us believe Sarah would actually fall for a nerd like Chuck. The entire Buy More clan looks like they actually stepped out of a big-box store. Adam Baldwin makes a perfect agent. And lets not forget Sarah Lancaster and Ryan McPartlin (Ellie and Captain Awesome), who give Chuck a life outside of his day job and his secret-agent Intersect work.

6. They know how to handle guest stars.
We're not huge fans of stuntcasting, but we're slightly more amenable to it when it's done well. And this show knows how to handle big names without letting them take over their show. What could be greater than watching Sarah beat the hell out of Nicole Richie, or seeing John Larroquette as a debonair retired Bond-type, or Dominic Monaghan as another rocker? Our favorite appearance was Reginald VelJohnson reviving his Die Hard role, complete with Twinkies. Though Tricia Helfer is on tonight, so we reserve our right to change our minds.

7. It's gotten better as it goes along.
While the first season was good, this show has really hit its stride in its second season. It takes more chances and has upped its spy-game antics. The character arcs are getting more elaborate and intriguing, and even the B-plots with the Buy More have been better-integrated. It's living up to its potential, so it would be a shame for it to get nixed just as we're really getting to the juicy bits.

Here's hoping that the powers that be see fit to give this original (if a little quirky) show another well-deserved season, because we'd love to see a quality show like this get a chance to keep on shining, and we really want to know more about the Intersect... and we'll be mighty ticked off if we're left on a cliffhanger.

http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/telefile/2009/03/chuck-seven-reasons-it-deserve.php