alyson's association

[Vlogger] of the Week: Philip DeFranco

2012-01-31T16:32:00.001-05:00

So last week I was getting a little bored of just regurgitating facts about people I like; facts that could be found on IMDB pages or Wikipedia. I want to make this segment a little more personal, so from now on, [Person] of the Week will consist of MY top five favorite things the Person of the Week has done. That way I don't have to talk about things that someone has done, rather I can show you why I like them so much.

This weeks [Person] of the Week is Philip DeFranco, in part because he just launched a really great youtube channel called SourceFed. I owe Philip DeFranco a lot of thanks because he's the first youtuber I watched back in 2008 and I spent a weekend catching up on all of his old videos. And it was from him that I found other youtubers, and ultimately landed on the vlogbrothers and some of my other favorite channels to this day. Phil has shown up on Alyson's Association in the past, most recently on my Top 5: Youtubers Still Worth My Time, as being a consistent vlogger that still produces great content that I take time to watch.

Top 5: Favorite Phil DeFranco Moments:

5. The first sxephil video that I watched was on July 4, 2008. It was about Viacom, and someone linked to the video from a forum that I spent most of 2006-2007 on. I include it on this list because it was the first video I watched and it was what got me hooked.

4. Over the summer, Phil traveled through Europe for awhile, and during that time he did gatherings in a lot of the countries he visited. But because Phil is who he is, his London Meetup got WAY out of hand and had to be cancelled because it basically turned into a riot with way too many people. Therefore, when he got to Dublin he decided to put on an event at the Dublin Convention Center, and instead of doing a meetup where people fought each other to meet Phil first, he did a 90 minute Q&A session which was filmed and later uploaded onto youtube. I wasn't really planning on watching the entire thing, but an hour and 12 minutes later, I found myself finishing the video. So if you're a fan of Phil's already, or you're interested in online video & vlogging, then the next video will be of interest to you.

3. The next video was one that I was personally invested in because of it's subject matter. Which was Greg Giraldo's death. Which was a sad day for me and all of the other comedy nerds out there. But Phil took Giraldo's death and made it into a topic of why one person's death makes more waves than 1,000 deaths in this Look At Me Generation. And he also points out that George Lopez has never been funny.

2. In college, Phil said that "America is a Limited Edition Beanie Babie with a Big Mac in one hand and an American Flag in the other and when you flip it over it says Made In China" and he uses this past quote to discuss how different countries argue today, by calling out their stereotypes. The vlogging style in this video is vastly different than how Phil's videos are done today, but it's still entertaining to watch. This says a lot about how consistently good Phil has been over the years because a lot of vloggers have changed so much in the past 2-3 years that when you go back to older videos, it's excrutiating to watch them slowly talk to a camera about mundane things.

1. And finally, I'm going to include what Phil is doing with SourceFed. I'm putting this as the number one on the list because I'm currently obsessed with it, and it's new (premiered last week) and it's what inspired Phil as this weeks [Vlogger] of the Week. Basically, Phil is still providing us news commentary, only with the help of other hosts and in a slightly different format. Monday-Friday they produce 20 Minutes or Less, which is a series of videos throughout the day talking about Stuff That Mattered. Then on the weekends they do Curb Cash which is a hilarious game show in the vein of Billy On The Street and One on One which is an interview show. Last Sunday's was hilarious because it featured my favorite SourceFed host, Lee, being so funny in her interview with iJustine.

And BONUS: I've talked about it before as a Stuff Al Likes, but it should be mentioned here that Phil also runs an awesome company called FORHUMANPEOPLES that sells awesome, nerdy t-shirts and posters (that have to do with youtube, video games and TV shows). If you like the design to the right, then you can get it on a t-shirt by clicking on the clink above.

That's all for today. Hope you enjoyed the format a bit more than the past posts. Let me know, because I enjoyed putting this list together way more than I liked vomiting out information that you could have found by using Google so I'm pretty sure this format is here to say. Unless you say otherwise. And stay tuned for next time because I've got a new, monthly segment being released tomorrow because it's the last day of January.

Until next time...

P.S. Like Alyson's Association on Facebook if you're a fan of facebook and we can be best friends, okay?

Farewell Chuck

2012-01-27T23:20:00.000-05:00

Then and Now.

I've been preparing myself for the series finale of Chuck all week and I felt more sad with each passing day. Friday was a long day and I was a partial wreck, thinking about how it would feel to know that Chuck was over and this story that I've been involved with for five years would be coming to an End (capital E enforces the dramatics).

I'm not much for reviews of shows, unless their exceptionally good which mine would not be, but I did want to document my feelings immediately after watching the finale. I made sure to watch the pilot before watching the finale so those events would be fresh in my mind and I wouldn't miss any throwbacks that came along. Thank God because it helped, and I caught everything. From the shot-by-shot recreation of Bryce's escape (with Sarah doing all the ass kicking this time) to the Berlin Look-a-like Mexican restaurant.

The finale was satisfying in the way that it referenced its beginning and came full circle. I've been part of Chuck's audience for five years and it remained one of my absolute favorite shows during that entire five year run. I never stopped caring in the relationships between Chuck and Sarah and Ellie and Awesome and Morgan and Casey. And watching the finale was sad, super emotional, funny and rewarding.

The ending was open-ended, so I'll choose to believe, because deep down I want to be a romantic, that Sarah got back her memories back (if not by that kiss, then eventually just because) and Chuck got his soulmate back.

If you've never committed yourself to a TV show, or you're not much of a TV person (how did you find this website?) then you'll think I'm crazy or over-emotional and won't get it. But if you've ever cared about fictional characters and stuck with a story for years and years and you ate Subway sandwiches in order to successfully see your favorite show come back on the air then you'll get what I'm saying.

Goodbye, Chuck.

Until next time...

Stuff Al [Doesn't] Like: Oscar Nominations 2012

2012-01-27T10:00:00.000-05:00

I guess I should throw in my two cents about the Oscar Nominations that were released on Tuesday (rather than doing a standard Friday Pop Culture list). I don't want to regurgitate what has already been said but I do feel the need to provide some input on the subject. This may turn out to be a pretty cynical post but I'll do my best. Or you know, who am I kidding. The topic requires cynicism. Did you see the list of movies up for Best Picture? I'm sure you did. Let's get started.

First, let's just look at what's nominated: The Help, Moneyball, War Horse, Midnight in Paris, Hugo, The Descendants, Tree of Life, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and the one that will no doubt win, The Artist.

Now, let's look at which one's I have seen: The Help, The Descendants... and. Yep, my list ends there.

I want to see Moneyball, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (if only for my love for all things Sandra Bullock) and The Artist. And possibly Midnight in Paris because, you know, Woody Allen and all. But the others don't interest me in the least. I've heard Tree of Life is pretentious and War Horse is just so catered to The Oscars that I'm annoyed by the thought of it (though I guess you could say the same for a lot of films on this list, and no doubt about The Artist).

You'll always be #1 to me.

So what am I saying here? Can we not think a little outside the box? Why must every movie on that list be chosen for pure safety? And not one single comedy. I know I'm biased because I'm a comedy person and that's my area of study, but come.on. Hey, Academy, comedies can be smart and well done as well. Let's branch out a bit. Not only was Bridesmaids a great film, but Crazy, Stupid, Love was hands down one of the best films of last year. And it did so much more than other films- it proved that the family comedy, or rom-com, or whatever sub-genre you want to throw that movie into can be so rewarding. Not only that, but it successfully pulled off the Twist Ending. Something that is so cliche and mainstream these days, most trailers give it away before the film has even been released.

Last year, the Academy's planned to appeal to younger audiences by having Anne Hathaway and James Franco take on the role of Hosts. Totally bombed. How about instead, and this is just a suggestion from a girl who blogs in order to make her hobbies productive, we nominate movies that took chances and were still regarded as great movies. The Academy was doing a better job of choosing nominations over a decade ago. I feel like with every passing year, we're just taking a giant step back and before you know it, we'll have stepped too far. I don't think this will happen, but what could happen is that people stop caring because the whole show will have become such a huge predictable joke.

In ten years, is anyone going to remember Tree of Life or War Horse? I barely even remember them now.

I already have this love-hate relationship with award shows. On one hand, I think they're just spectacles where the entertainment industry takes itself way too seriously. No other profession can get away with having an award show where everyone dresses in hugely expensive, uncomfortable clothes and gets pestered by cameras and Ryan Seacrests.

Award shows also honor people who are already broadly praised. Do Woody Allen and Steven Spielberg really need more recognition for their work? At this point, we'll someday see "oh, Spielberg just released this film about this guy who works at a carnival but is also really afraid of clowns and at the end the clown saves his life so he becomes a clown himself" and the Academy will nominate it because it's a Spielberg film. (I just trademarked that idea. Don't you even dare!)

But then again, I watch the Golden Globes and the Oscars every year. I can't help it. I love to see what's being nominated every year. But this year, I don't even have to watch the thing to know exactly how it will play out. And that's boring and disappointing. Films that aren't necessarily regarded as "serious" can still be excellent and it's time that Best Motion Picture stops meaning Best Drama.

I think what I'm trying to say here is thank god Juno was nominated back in 2008.

Until next time...

Stuff Al Likes: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

2012-01-25T10:00:00.000-05:00

Last week I mentioned how Ready Player One was one of my favorite pop culture items I enjoyed during the week. So I wanted to write up a proper post about the novel for this week's Stuff Al Likes segment (which isn't actually a weekly thing... yet). Let's get started.

It's really difficult for me to explain what this novel is about, so I'll just copy a synopsis already written. And even this one is a little long. From Amazon:

At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, READY PLAYER ONE is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut—part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed.
It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.
Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.
And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them.
For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved—that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday’s icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes’s oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.
And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.
Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt—among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life—and love—in the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.

Still with me? Okay. So I would say that I'm more of a sci-fi fan than I even admit to myself. Like, I never think I'll enjoy a science fantasy novel, but Harry Potter changed my life, I adore books such as Brave New World, The Hunger Games is one of my favorite series ever, and that list doesn't even include TV shows. For some reason, I just tend to dismiss sci-fi as if I think I'm not going to like it, but once I do get around to reading a sci-fi novel or watching a sci-fi movie/show, it instantly becomes one of my favorite things ever. So I should probably just admit to being a huge sci-fi fan. Then again, I don't watch Battlestar Galactica (though I do intend to) and I've never seen an episode of Star Trek. And I'm only somewhat familiar with Star Wars. Wow, where the hell was I? I digress. Let me check again, still with me?

So Ready Player One follows Wade as he tries to find all three keys to win the contest, showing a few friendships along the way. And one thing that I found most surprising was how Cline dealt with Wade falling in love with Art3mis, a girl he has a crush on before the contest and then meets after collecting the first key in the contest.

Having had experience and a long history in online dating, I really could relate to how Wade felt about this girl he had never met, but connected with better than anyone in the "real world" that he belonged to. As Wade is spending more and more time with Art3mis inside of the OASIS, he says, "a river of words flowed between us" (177). I stopped and stared at that sentence for a solid five minutes before turning the page. And I didn't mark that sentence or anything, but as I'm writing this I recalled the page number from memory (although I could already remember the sentence) because it was that dead on. That was the perfect way to describe what happens when you start forming a relationship with someone through the internet (or in Wades case, the OASIS).

When it comes to my own experiences, I was definitely more of the Art3mis character in my own long distance relationship. The one who is wary of starting something, or the one who calls it off and disappears, the one too scared to meet in person. And it was so much fun to see Wade and Art3mis become friends, fall in love, call it quits, and then ultimately meet. At the moment that they meet in person I was anxious to see how it would go. I never got that moment in my own relationship (never overcoming the fear) so it was satisfying to see that first encounter with Wade and Art3mis as they saw each other's real forms for the first time.

However, the book is totally not about that. That was just my way of going into my own tangent. I mean, it is, but it's more about Wade trying to win the contest and beating the bad guys to preserve the OASIS.

The absolute best part about the book is the overabundance of 80's Pop Culture references packed into the novel. The entire contest within the book is based on 80's popculture, from video games to novels to music to TV and movies. The book covers it all. There's even a moment where Wade must play out the entire plot of War Games, a 1982 movie staring a pre-Ferris Bueller- Matthew Broderick. If you grew up in the 80's, or you're like me and you're just a huge fan of the pop culture that came out of the 80's (oh Blade Runner, how I adore you) then you won't be able to read this book fast enough.

Was that a good semi-review, despite my tangent about the development and problem with online relationships? I'm not a Review Pro so I try my best.

Until next time...

[Actor/Nerd] of the Week #3: Nathan Fillion

2012-01-24T16:47:00.000-05:00

Well woops. Last week I wrote a post about a book that I read and then scheduled for it to post this week. So I figured I had scheduled for that to post today, Tuesday, and then I would do a [Person] of the Week post on Wednesday. But of course, I had scheduled it to post on Wednesday so that I could to a [Person] of the Week post on the day that I always do them. Today. So now that it's already three in the afternoon, I'm going to post today. Whether you read it or not. Let's get started.

Sometimes I have an idea for who I want to talk about in advance. I mean, technically this is only Week Three of [Person] of the Week but like, I've done a few Comedians of the Week, and I always had someone in mind. But I hadn't thought of anyone to do yet until I was listening to an old Nerdist podcast with Nathan Fillion, and since I just caught up on the past two weeks of Castle over the weekend, I'm in a Nathan Fillion kind of mood (honestly though, is there a time that someone isn't in the mood for Nathan Fillion? I mean, the hair and the voice. Sheesh).

You guys do listen to The Nerdist Podcast, right? Like, I don't need to explain to you that Chris Hardwick is awesome (though I won't spoil him because he'll probably be a [Comedian] of the Week at some point) and you listen to basically every podcast in the Nerdist empire. I'll just assume that you do, because if you don't at this point, you should start now. We all caught up?

Anyhow. I will take the liberty of assuming you know who Nathan Fillion is.

The man is in some of my very favorite shows n' things and if he were ever to narrate an audio book I would probably listen to it every night as I fell asleep. (Fun fact: I googled this to see if he had, indeed, narrated an audio book before so that I could get my facts straight. He HAS. Kind of. He's read the first three chapters of a book called The Softwire, written by his friend, PJ Haarsma. You can listen to them for free. Ooh boy.)

If you're a reader of Alyson's Association, then I hope to god you're most familiar with Fillion as Mal Reynolds... *clears throat*... Captain Mal Reynolds from Joss Whedon's Firefly series (and the accompanying movie, Serenity). Since then, he's been one of Whedon's go-to guys on future projects (we'll get there in a minute). True story, today in class someone was trying to make a point about someone else's script and tried to reference it to "Dragonfly... or whatever it was called" to which three other people defensively said, "Firefly (you idiot)".

Fillion was then in Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog. Which probably has to tie with Firefly (don't make me choose) for my favorite Fillion role ever. I mean, Captain Hammer is just so cool. And seeing him sing alongside Neil Patrick Harris and Felicia Day is more than anyone can ask for. If you haven't checked it out yet, what the hell are you waiting for? It's fantastic. And all three of the stars sing great songs written by Joss and his brother Jed Whedon. If you buy it on DVD it has a great audio commentary where they sing even more songs (which I believe you can buy the soundtrack to now... yes? If I were more professional I would look this up myself). Hopefully there will be a second Dr. Horrible in the future. Fillion, and the rest of the cast, has stated in the past that they would love to do one and Whedon himself said he's writing it (in interviews and at Comic-Con where I heard him say it in person).

And more recently, there is this which also stars a number of other actors from the Whedon Universe. And I cannot wait to see it.

Of course, Fillion currently stars in Castle, which is just another cop show on TV but it's soso good. Fillion teamed up with Stana Katic, who plays Kate Beckett, is so refreshing and satisfying. I'm not one for cop dramas, but this show is one of my favorites that is currently on TV. You should check it out because his character Castle is very Fillion-esque (of course) and in (I think?) season two or three there is a great Firefly reference in their Halloween episode.

And for your enjoyment, this happened:

*swoon*

If you happen to see Fillion out somewhere, just nod your head, say "Captain" as if the two of you know something no one else does, and keep walking.

Until next time...

Stuff Al Likes: Pop Culture 1/15 - 1/21

2012-01-20T13:00:00.000-05:00

I've done a lot this week, finishing a couple books, taking on the task of reading Stephen King's new novel (11/22/63), catching up on Breaking Bad and watching everything in my DVR. So needless to say, there's a lot of things I'll want to talk about this week but I'm going to narrow it down. Let's get started.

First of all I want to mention that USA Today Pop Candy writer, Whitney, linked to my blog in her post about John Green's The Fault in Our Stars and brought a lot of new readers to this blog. If you are here from that link I want to say THANK YOU because her mentioning made my day. But it means even more to me if you stuck around to keep reading what I continue to write.

The best thing I read this week was Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I first heard about this book when Wil Wheaton wrote about it last year (in August, I procrastinate) on his blog and it sounded super interesting. Then, sure enough, the book started to get a lot of attention and ended up in Entertainment Weekly (among others). But I was super busy late last year taking way too many hours of classes so I never got around to reading the novel. Then I got it for Christmas, and finally just read it this week. I absolutely tore through this book, though I read it slowly (by which I mean it took me three days) so that I could catch all of the references and tech talk. I can't describe what the novel is about (trust me, I tried, and 30 minutes later I found that I had described every part of the book) so I urge you to just click the link above and read what it has to say about it on Amazon. If you are familiar with 80's pop culture and video games then you will love this book more than your mother. There, that's my quote.

My favorite Late Night Interview was from Wednesday night's Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. Watching Jimmy talk and joke with the legendary Bill Cosby was so enjoyable, I was smiling like an idiot the entire time.

Monday was also Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, and there was no better time to read his Letter from a Birmingham Jail. If you've never read it, then it's still a good time to read it.

I also discovered that you can watch a lot of great past Sundance Films over at Hulu. So there goes my weekend.

The Monday episode of WTF with Marc Maron with Todd Glass was fantastic. If you hadn't heard, Glass came out on the podcast and then used the rest of the time to talk about his issues with homophobic people, teenagers' suicides, and more. It was so deeply personal and he was so brilliant and passionate about what he had to say. It was clear he had thought about this a lot and once he could finally talk about it in a public forum he made sure to cover all grounds.

That wraps up the past week. I'm reading 11/22/63 so hopefully I'll finish that shortly so that it can be on next weeks list. And that'll be what my whole weekend consists of.

Until next time...

[Comedian] of the Week #2: Ricky Gervais

2012-01-17T15:35:00.005-05:00

I planned on writing about Ricky Gervais for this week's Person of the Week post, you know, because of him hosting Sunday's Golden Globes and all. And then I watched it and he wasn't as funny as last year. I really enjoyed the job he did last year. I know a lot of people didn't, and those people are people who don't get or enjoy comedy. I mean, maybe they do, but for you to get comedy I believe you can't take things too seriously or get offended. This could be a believe independent to my brain, but I think it's a good rule. Let's just all stop getting offended about things. Just stop it, you're taking life way too seriously. Laugh at yourself.

Anyway, I digress. And then the Golden Globes happened and I kept waiting and waiting for Gervais to really dig into the actors present and make fun of people by pointing out facts that may be true (I mean really, did anyone see The Tourist?) And it never happened. Gervais' opening bit made fun of the Globes themselves and then made fun of one of the Kardashian sisters (I'm being honest when I say I have no interest in their lives and have never paid attention to anything written about them. So I don't know who is who, all I know is one was married for 72 days or something. So he made fun of that sister) in a way that was really funny because it's easy to laugh at that family. But then, aside from asking Depp if he had seen The Tourist yet (to which Depp replied, "no"), he was surprisingly nice to a lot of the people he introduced.

But to hell with it, because Gervais is who I planned on writing about so I'll do it anyway. Even though he forgot to bring his balls to the Golden Globes and he wasn't as mean or funny as people prepared for him to be (maybe that's the problem. Too high of expectations).

For some reason that I have never really been able to pin down, I've been fascinated with Gervais since around the time The Invention of Lying came out. I'd known of the comedian prior to that movie but I had never paid much attention to him (this is also the same time I really started focusing on and studying comedy). And although I didn't care all that much for The Invention of Lying, the movie really fascinated me and I started digging into Gervais' other work.

I'd known that he was on the original Office and that he had created it, but I hadn't seen an episode despite loving the American version. The interesting thing to me is how different the comedy is on the British version of The Office. Because for awhile, I didn't really get it. I was watching it with the background knowledge of how funny the American version was. And the comedy was just different. It wasn't until I became obsessed with Fry and Laurie and their comedy that I began to understand the original Office.

Gervais was also on one of the first main-stream, super-popular comedy podcasts, The Ricky Gervais Show, which began in 2005. It was then turned into a TV show. I love comedy podcasts and Gervais' is no exception. It's wildly funny and focused a lot on stories of Karl Pilkington, a star of the show (along with the super hilarious Stephen Merchant). The podcast was then turned into an animated show on HBO. The podcast is really funny, and if you haven't ever checked it out I think you should. You have to pay for the full episodes now, which is kind of a bummer, but it's worth it to listen to a few of them. If you like other things that Gervais has done (especially with Merchant) then you'll enjoy it. And if you're a comedy podcast nerd, then this is definitely a show you should have on your iPod.

Recently, he's done An Idiot Abroad (again, with Pilkington and Merchant). Merchant and Gervais have Pilkington go around the world and experience other cultures... and of course, hilarity ensues. I have yet to see it in full but it is now out on DVD so hopefully I'll be able to watch that soon. And you should as well, of course. And An Idiot Abroad 2 is going to have Pilkington crossing things off of his bucket list.

I'm more interested, however, in Life's Too Short, Gervais' recent work. From Gervais' website:

Ricky and Stephen Merchant's latest TV comedy series stars Warwick Davis, one of Britain's pre-eminent dwarf actors, playing a fictionalised version of himself.

It is an observational comedy following Warwick's day-to-day frustrations, but still managing to find optimism and warmth in a small world where big things happen.

I've seen the clips with Johnny Depp and Liam Neeson and it looks so funny. The scene with Neeson finds him going to Gervais and Co. to get help started on doing comedy. Wanting to do a little improv, Neeson breaks all the rules and tries to use AIDS as the subject, as well as shooting down a lot of Gervais' ideas. It's hilarious and I can't wait to see the rest of the series.

Gervais has a lot of other work that he's done, including stand up (and the series Extras which has funny moments with celebrities much like Life's Too Short) but I don't have time to talk about it all and you wouldn't read it anyway. You probably already stopped reading, didn't you? I knew it.

Until next time...

Golden Globes Live-Blog

2012-01-15T20:02:00.023-05:00

I've been a fan of Ricky Gervais for a few years now because for some reason that I'm not sure of, he fascinates me. I know a lot of people don't care for him, but I definitely like him hosting an award ceremony that could otherwise be a lot of famous people patting themselves on the back for being so awesome. So I'm looking forward to see who wins and loses tonight, and who Ricky Gervais makes fun of. Let's get started on my first Golden Globes Live-Blog.

7:06- Gervais' opening monologue isn't too heavy on specific actors. So far he's picked on the Golden Globes themselves, and he's been pretty heavy on whichever Kardashian sister had that wedding. And a fun jab at Johnny Depp about the movie he ridiculed at last years Golden Globes.

7:07- Gervais to Depp: "Be honest... have you seen The Tourist yet?"

7:36- Some people have won some awards. Frasier Crane won an award for a show that isn't Frasier (Boss). And a lot of boring thank you speeches have been made (as well as Gervais making fun of how long they are). And I just got done eating dinner. So hopefully I'll update a little quicker now.

7:46- A foreign guy with a name I can't say, let alone spell, wins for the Best Original Score. I really thought Trent Reznor would win, but I mean... you better have good music if your film is silent.

7:58- Gervais needs to come back.

8:02- Michelle Williams beats others like Kristen Wigg for... lead actress in a movie? Sorry, I haven't been paying much attention since Gervais was last on screen. Seriously, someone find him or bring him back.

8:10- Ricky's back! Sipping a beer, as he does. "You're so much better than last years audience!" He says. Then nicely introduces George Clooney. Seriously, Ricky, make fun of someone already.

8:30- A commercial welcome Megan Mullally to Up All Night. Honestly, what comedy isn't she on these days? And then Gervais gives another nice introduction and a weird throat-clearing thing to Madonna.

8:45- Really good intro from Tina Fey and Jane Lynch. "And I'm nothing like Liz Lemon, I just can't think of any differences right now." Joey wins among a group of really random actors in a comedy/musical for Episodes.

8:47- And then a super handsome Bradley Cooper comes out to introduce actresses in... a film? And then Octavia Spencer wins for The Help and everyone goes nuts.

9:07- Tribute to Morgan Freeman for being in so many great movies over the years and being awesome. Some good jokes between him and Helen Mirren.

9:18- Gervais comes out with what I'm pretty sure is beer in a wine glass. And he's being nice to the next presenters. And whatever joke he makes is completely edited. Antonio Banderez counters with something completely in spanish and Selma Hayek says, "Ricky, I don't understand him either." It all leads to say that Modern Family wins for Best Comedy. And the whole gang heads on to the stage, with the three younger kids beating them all.

9:20- Sofia Vergara says the speech in spanish while Dan Harmon says it in english. The thank you speech is definitely the best of the night, with them making jokes about TV writers and film actors giving them their numbers.

9:28- Jean Dujardin wins for his role in The Artist. He gives a cute speech and says, as "George Valentin would say," then he silently mouths something. Very funny. I really love that guy.

9:34- Gervais is back to introduce Colin Firth, only making jokes like "what you don't know about him is that he's racist." Funny! And really, you can't truly say something bad about Firth so you may as well claim he's racist. Meryl Streep wins for whatever film she was in and she looks shocked. Shocked!

9:41- The Artist wins for Best Feature Film for a Comedy/Musical and the dog totally steals the show. So cute! So cute that I'm not listening to whoever's accepting the award. At the end, when the music starts to play over the guys speech, Dujardin acts as if he's playing a violin. I want to be his friend.

9:50- George Clooney wins for best actor in a drama, I think. Honestly, I wasn't paying much attention. But I loved The Descendants, so I approve of this win.

9:56- The Descendants wins for best film in drama. I'm actually surprised, I thought some bullshit, trying-too-hard-to-win-award movie like War Horse would win. This movie totally deserves it, it's awesome. "Our quarterback was George Clooney" says whoever it is accepting the award. Can I stop watching this now?

After thoughts- this show needed more Ricky Gervais and more good jokes. Surprisingly, the telecast didn't run over at all as it's not 9:58 and I'm turning my TV off for the night.

Until next time...

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

2012-01-13T08:00:00.002-05:00

I know it's Friday and I SHOULD be posting a Week in Pop Culture sort of post to tie the week up, but I can't do that right now. Because it's technically Thursday night and I have spent the last hour and a half finishing The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and I can't imagine thinking or writing about anything else but this book. So we'll just talk about 30 Rock next week, okay guys? And if you read this entire post you'll learn that I'm GIVING AWAY A SIGNED COPY OF THE FAULT IN OUR STARS to someone who comments on this post. Anyway, let's get started...

Fan made cover for The Fault in Our Stars.

I also can't imagine writing about this book because of the emotions going on in my head right now. I feel like I need a few days to just sit with everything, but I also want to write about it at this moment before the feelings go away and I'm left with memories of how amazing this novel is. So I will write about it right now, so I can tell you how amazing this novel is while still drying my eyes.

The Fault in Our Stars never had a problem with grabbing my attention. Which is hard for a book to do when it comes to me and three little letters (A, D, and D). But I've been waiting over three years for this book to be in my hands and Hazel's voice just jumped out immediately, starting with the first sentence, so I was just hooked from the start.

For those of you that do not know, TFiOS is a story told by Hazel, a 16 year-old girl with a form of lung cancer. Hazel meets a boy named Augustus who has a rare form of cancer as well, but after amputating one of his legs, the cancer goes away. The two are connected over a shared love for a particular novel and quickly fall for each other.

There was a point while reading TFiOS that I was concerned with the teenagers' dialogue, but then I quickly dismissed that thought because while it may not be Typical Teenage Talk, I'm not necessarily interested in Typical Teenage Talk. In fact, I don't like teenagers. So it's nice to think that there are 16 year olds who talk and analyze novels and poetry and search for metaphors in every day life and question the possibility of an afterlife. I want dialogue like that to happen, so reading it is enjoyable.

Another fan cover for The Fault in Our Stars.

John Green never fails to write powerful characters that I can't help but fall in love with and feel a connection with. I want to be friends with Hazel and Augustus. I want to experience what their experiencing. So there was no issue with me feeling emotionally connected to every page in the novel. With every page I flipped I got more anxious about what would come next and not wanting to say goodbye to Hazel and Augustus. I couldn't imagine turning that last page and having to say goodbye. Which is pretty much why I was an absolute mess for the last 40 pages of it. I cried harder than I cried at the end of Mockingjay (the third book in the Hunger Games trilogy). My emotions were all over the place.

And now that I've finished The Fault in Our Stars, I want to start reading it again. I don't want to move on from the story or the characters. I can't imagine moving on from Hazel or Augustus.

I don't say this lightly, because I've read Looking for Alaska more times than I cam remember, and the characters in that book are so close to my heart, but I'm fairly certain The Fault in Our Stars has just surpassed that as my Favorite John Green Book. I just... you guys need to read this book.

And because I feel very deeply that you need to read this book, I'm going to be giving a signed copy of The Fault in Our Stars to someone who comments on this post. I'll pick a random number depending on how this turns out (it's also a shameless way for me to get some of you to leave a comment. Honestly, I really like having a discussion about the things I write about. It's pretty much why I do this) and whichever comment the number lines up with will get an email saying you are the new owner of a John Green novel. The comment can be anything, just make sure I can find you somehow (if you don't want to include your email (evil spambots) then include your twitter or something) so I have someway to get in touch with you.

Until next time...

EDIT: Thank you to Whitney over at my favorite pop culture blog, Pop Candy for including my quote about The Fault in Our Stars and linking readers to the giveaway. Because of this, the giveaway IS STILL GOING and will continue until Friday, January 20. Good luck!

[Person] of the Week #1: John Green

2012-01-11T10:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Tuesday which means it's time for another comedian of the week. But since I've been a little busy this week I had an idea to do posts about anyone I like, rather than just comedians. I like comedians, but I also like some other people that don't make stand up comedy a career. Like, Aubrey Plaza hasn't done much stand up in the past but I freaking love her. Also, Beth Behrs is hilarious so maybe I want to talk about her one week. So, from now on, Comedian of the Week is now known as Person of the Week.

This week's Person is John Green, because his new book, The Fault in Our Stars, just came out yesterday and I could not be more excited about it. How excited was I? Well, my copy that I pre-ordered in June wasn't going to arrive until today. So I went to the store and bought another copy so that I could have it on its release day. I couldn't wait another day to start reading it. So now I have two copies and then a box set of John reading a limited edition of the audio book coming soon.

John has been my favorite author for four or five years now, and his writing totally took over my life slash changed it. His first novel, Looking For Alaska, is one of my favorite books of all time and definitely my favorite John Green book. It's funny and honest and heartbreaking and I've read it several times, always falling more and more in love with the book as well as its characters.

His second novel, An Abundance of Katherines, is probably one of his funniest books, if not the funniest. It's definitely the most different out of all John's other writing. It's about a kid who dates girls named Katherine and when he gets dumped he goes on a road trip with his best friend. It's a story about storytelling that includes math as the main character comes up with a formula for the outcome of a relationship. The book also includes many footnotes a la David Foster Wallace. Which is something I love in books, and you will too after reading 'Katherines'. Seriously, I know math and footnotes may not sound appealing to some of you but it's just sososo good.

The third novel by John is called Paper Towns, and it came out when I was a freshman in college. It's fitting that the last book out by John Green came out when I was just starting college, and now his newest one is when I'm just finishing it. Paper Towns tells the story about how people examine other people. The author has expressed that the book is an answer to Looking For Alaska, and kind of making up how the main character in that book imagines the girl he's in love with. Paper Towns was so funny and sad and thought provoking. Walt Whitman's poem, Song of Myself, is examined pretty closely in the book so if you're a fan of Whitman, or just a fan of human interactions and stories that include Sea World, then you'll enjoy it.

Now, John has just released The Fault in Our Stars. It's a book about teens dealing with cancer. And although I haven't read it, I can tell you that he deals with the serious subject in a way that hasn't been done before. It's his best reviewed novel and it's landed in Entertainment Weekly as well as many other places. It's also John's first novel written in the point of view of a girl. So I mean, you should probably be reading it.

John has also released two books that he wrote with other writers. One is called Let It Snow, where he writes a short story along with two other authors (including Maureen Johnson, another favorite). It's a novel that I read every year around the holidays. The other is a recent book called Will Grayson, Will Grayson that he co-wrote with David Levithan (also a favorite). Both are great, especially Will Grayson.

Once I finish the book I'll have a review (or something close to it. I'm not a great reviewer) up and we'll be doing a GIVEAWAY for a signed copy of The Fault in Our Stars. Yep, that's right. So come back later this week.

And, if you're a long time reader of Alyson's Association, then you're already aware that John Green is half of the extremely popular youtube channel, vlogbrothers, where he makes videos with his brother, Hank. If you don't already watch their videos, you should start because they're super interesting, entertaining and almost always insightful.

Until next time...

Stuff Al Likes: Pop Culture 1/1-1/7

2012-01-07T10:00:00.000-05:00

I definitely should have posted this on Friday but we like to get crazy here on Alyson's Association so I'm posting on Saturday. Yep. Sit down so you don't get whiplash. Let's get started.

My favorite pop-culture schtuff from the past week:

To be honest, I haven't ever watched too much late night TV so I haven't ever known too much about it. In an attempt to up my Entertainment Knowledge I've recently gotten super interested in it, though I'm starting out slow. And by slow, I mean I've been watching Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Conan for about a week now. I know these are probably not the late night shows I should start with, but I have forever loved Jimmy Fallon and Conan had some good guests this week. And I caught some episodes of Late Show with David Letterman because he interviewed some really great guests this week (Tina Fey, Will Arnett and Kristen Bell). So I'm really getting hooked on late night TV. Maybe some day I can start a feature for having my favorite interviews of the week once I'm watching enough.

This short comedy film by Todd Strauss-Schulson:

THE MASTER CLEANSE from ulteriorproductions.com on Vimeo.

I just got around to seeing Girl With the Dragon Tattoo in theaters and it was so great. If I ever get through the stack of books currently waiting to be read, I may actually have to read this one since I haven't already. Freaking great performance by Rooney Mara and totally cemented my love for David Fincher films.

There's a few songs from youtube musicians Jason Munday and Alex Carpenter that were released late last year but I just discovered them this week and really enjoyed them. The one I chose is because of its fun lyrics about dating in the internet age. If you get to the end you'll see the other videos that were released from the same album and the other videos are really gorgeous and fun so I suggest watching those as well. These songs are for dance music and love song fans.

This awesome diagram for surviving the apocalypse in 12 easy steps. The great thing about this list is that it was created by Parks and Recreation's Nick Offerman and Chris Pratt. The diagram could also be titled "12 Easy Steps for Living Like Nick Offerman" which would possibly be better.

And last but not least, Incase's Andy Warhol collection which I found thanks to Whitney over at Pop Candy. These things are awesome. I didn't buy any cases for my apple products, but I did download a few of the images to use as backgrounds on my computer. They're really neat, if you're a pop art or Warhol fan then you'll really enjoy them.

Self Portrait. One of the great images over at Incase.

What pop culture items did you guys enjoy this week? I'd love to see if I missed anything.

Next week, Alyson's Association first ever GIVEAWAY. What am I giving away? You'll have to wait and see. Also, 30 Rock returns so we'll definitely be talking about that soon.

Until next time...

Stuff Al Likes: Portlandia

2012-01-05T10:00:00.000-05:00

I kind of feel bad about today's topic because I feel guilty about not writing about this show sooner. But you know, better late than never and all of that stuff. So let's get started.

One of the absolute best comedies on TV right now is the Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein vehicle, Portlandia. If you like Armisen because of Saturday Night Live then... well, I would hope you've already watched all six episodes of Portlandia at least three times. But if you haven't, your life is about to improve so much. You're welcome.

The show is a sketch show that focuses on the culture in Portland, Oregon. Whether Brownstein and Armisen are commenting on bike-riding hipsters, feminists who own book stores, or the Etsy craze of putting birds on things (Put a bird on it!), every sketch is hilarious in its own right.

One truly great aspect to Portlandia is how a lot of the characters are reoccurring and the sketches often intertwine with the others. It makes for a sketch show that feels unified and satisfies viewers who loyally watch every episode. Some of my favorite characters are in the scene shown below:

After one episode you're going to be hooked and you won't know how you got through life without Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein satirizing often unnoticeable aspects of the culture we live in. If you haven't seen it, the first season is streaming on netflix. And if you have seen the first season, the second episode of the second season is streaming online (of you can wait until tomorrow for when the second season premieres on IFC). For non-netflix subscribers, there are a few episodes streaming on hulu.

And like I said, watch the second season starting tomorrow on IFC.

Until next time...

Comedian of the Week #5: Donald Glover

2012-01-03T10:00:00.000-05:00

I may reverse this decision later, but I was going to update Comedian of the Week and realized I started that blog back in 2010. And hadn't updated with a new Comedian since 2010. Whoops. So that blog is gone and (most of) the posts have been transferred over here. So that project is like, dead, or something.

And really, the title of this blog is there so that I can talk about whatever I'm interested. So why not change the idea around a little bit and just talk about comedians over here? Amirite? Yes, of course.

So the plan, for now, is to talk about one comedian every week. But only one day out of the week. So I'll pick a comedian, choose some of my favorite jokes or interviews and we'll talk about them early in the week. That way the project isn't so big that I'm overwhelmed and having to figure out what to talk about for five days about one person.

And instead of announcing the project with a date, we're just going to jump right into things. This comedian has shown up on Alyson's Association before because basically he is amazing, it's definitely time he gets a post dedicated to his stand up.

Donald Glover is a guy I've been aware of for three years now ever since Community first aired. He's my favorite character on one of my favorite comedy shows of all time so he's pretty high on the list of favorite funny people ever. The man is hilarious, but I'm not here to talk about how awesome Troy is on Community and how Troy and Abed is one of the greatest comedy teams of all time. I'm not even here to talk about how great Camp is, Glovers first album out by Childish Gambino. Nope, all I'm here to talk about is how hilarious his stand up is.

I was fortunate enough to see Glover live in September of 2011 (photo below) and it was one of the best experiences of that entire year. If you aren't aware of Glover, he only had a 30 minute Comedy Central special that aired a few years ago and that was all I could get my hands on before seeing him live. His hour long special hadn't even aired yet. So I hadn't heard much of his stand up before but I knew it would be hilarious and awesome to see him live.

I was dead right. Glover joked a lot about his childhood and growing up with foster kids and having a lot of brothers and sisters. He understands kids in a way that I find fascinating and it's spot on so it's guaranteed to be funny. He also jokes about the spider-man incident that happened a couple years ago.

In an interview on WTF Podcast with Marc Maron (if you don't listen to this podcast, your life is about to get so much better) Glover says that he was inspired by Chris Rock who told him that his comedy should "tell the truth in a way that people aren't ready for." And that's totally what Glover does. His jokes are not for kids, and he just tells the truth that no one is really saying. Whether it's calling kids assholes and saying he'd rather have aids or talking about how the N-Word should be common among white people's vocabulary, he's just joking about his experiences and observations in the world in an honest way that hasn't been said before.

Unfortunately, my favorite joke from Glover is one that I saw him do live and wasn't included in the hour-long stand up special that ran on Comedy Central late 2011, so I can't post it here. But he's got so many others. Here's a video to get you hooked:

Donald Glover: Weirdo

Donald Glover - Kids Positive

www.comedycentral.com

Comedy Central

Funny Videos

Funny TV Shows

And once you're hooked on Glovers stand up, you should check out all of his other projects, past and present. You can watch his movie that he made with Derrick Comedy, Mystery Team, on netflix (which is freaking hilarious and also stars Aubrey Plaza) and you can find clips from his old half hour stand up special that I mentioned earlier on comedy centrals website and well as more from his hour long special, Weirdo.

Also, while we're talking about Glover. Make sure to WATCH COMMUNITY WHENEVER IT RETURNS ON NBC. We are responsible for making sure that brilliance in the form of a TV show stays on the air.

Until next time...

In Which I Reflect 2011

2011-12-30T10:00:00.000-05:00

Last December (and the December before that and the December before that) I filled out a questionnaire that took a look at what the past year has been like. This year I'll do the same. It's been an insane year so it'll be interesting to take some time to look back and see how I ended up here. If you're interested in what I was up to last year you can travel back in time here. Or you can go WAY back and see how 2009 ended for me. Or, I assume you know the gist now, you can go back to 2008 to see what the heck I was up to back then.

1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?

I did a lot this year that I had never done before. I studied and lived abroad, I worked for a major network TV show, and I went to Comic Con.

2. Did you keep your New Years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't make New Years resolutions because I don't believe in them.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
One of my cousins had her first child.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Yes. For the first time in my life, a close relative of mine died.

5. What countries did you visit?
I went to Mexico in March for Spring Break.Then I studied abroad in London, England for two weeks, and then in Edinburgh, Scotland for two more weeks.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?

A college degree.

7. What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
June 2 because I flew to London where I would spend the next month and meet some amazing friends.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting pretty good grades ~~without trying too hard~~ and living abroad for a month.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Honestly, there isn't really one. I was kind of lazy towards the later part of this year and didn't do much writing. Other than that, this year has been really good.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Eh, no not really.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

My Comic-Con tickets for sure.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Honestly, no clue. My parents have been pretty awesome this year.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Republican Presidential Candidates.

14. Where did most of your money go?
It's possible that it was books. There were some great novels that came out this year including books by Maureen Johnson, Stephanie Perkins, Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling and Ransom Riggs.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
So many things. Going to London, going to Comic-Con and now I'm excited to graduate next May.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?
"Good Life" by OneRepublic and any song by Lelia Broussard.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

i. happier or sadder? Happier, by far. This year has been amazing.

ii. thinner or fatter? Definitely the same. Hopefully next year this will be a bit different.

iii. richer or poorer? Probably richer since I've still got my cash from my PA job sitting in my living room.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Writing.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
I don't know... there may not really be anything.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
With the family. And possibly seeing a movie.

21. Did you fall in love in 2011?
Oh yeah, big time. And by that, I mean that not a day goes by without be fawning over John Lithgow's amazing physical comedy and Ted Danson's amazing hair. (By this I mean I fell super hard for 3rd Rock from the Sun and Cheers.)

22. What was your favorite TV program?
Definitely Parks and Recreation because I fell in love with that show this year.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Not really. Dislike maybe, but I don't care enough to hate anyone.

24. What was the best book you read?
God this is hard because I read a lot of great books. Possibly Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. That was an amazing book that isn't something I would normally read. And I ate that book up, as did everyone I recommended it to.

25. What was your greatest musical (re)discovery?
Ummm... oh, hands down my greatest music discovery this year was Lelia Broussard who's album I listened to over and over again.

26. What did you want and get?
I got so many things this year. I really needed a new computer and I got one.

27. What did you want and not get?
Absolutely nothing.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
This is a hard one because there weren't too many great movies this year that I can remember seeing. I really, really enjoyed Crazy, Stupid Love and Horrible Bosses. Oh and how could I almost forget Bridesmaids which was probably my favorite film of this year.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 22 this year which is pretty weird. And I spent the actual day with my family going to the Melting Pot.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Succeeding in school, studying abroad, seeing some of my favorite actors talks about some of my favorite shows... god, what didn't make this year awesome?

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
Same old, same old. Only this year I swapped my zip-up hoodies to sweatshirts with no hoods. And I finally got a decent pair of Nikes for studying abroad that make walking actually enjoyable.

32. What kept you sane?
There wasn't much that made me go from sane to insane. But my family, B and my amazing dog just about did it. As well as John Lithgow and Ted Danson... so... yep.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Pretty sure I just answered that one... and I would totally add Aubrey Plaza and Donald Glover to that this because god. And, like, he may be a fictional character but Jack Bauer is the biggest badass in the world and I adore him.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Uggghhhh.... I really just don't know. There's a lot of stuff that could get to me but I try not to let it bother me too much because I'll really spend a lot of time and energy agonizing over things like that.

35. Who did you miss?
I missed my family, B and my dog while I studied abroad. I miss my best friend who is in LA... and that's about it.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
I would have to say my friend A who I became close with while studying abroad. We want the same things out of life and plan to get them together so it makes school way more bearable.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011:
Try not to worry so freaking much. It's the experiences that I'll remember far more than the grades I get. That kind of stuff.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
"If you feel just like a tourist in the city you were born / then it's time to go / And you find your destination with so many different places to call home" -Death Cab for Cutie, You Are A Tourist

"Woke up in London yesterday / Found myself in the city near Piccadilly" -OneRepublic, Good Life

God, it's been a great year. I can only hope next year is half as good. And I have a feeling it just might. Happy New Years. I'll see you in 2012.

Until next time...

Top TV of 2011

2011-12-29T10:00:00.000-05:00

Last year I wrote about TV without having any numbered lists or long explanations of why I thought something was particularly awesome. Though I did include most of everything I watched on the list, it's still fun to look back and see what was still on last year (RIP Party Down and Lie To Me). So I'll do it again.

The following list is in no particular order because it's a pretty long list of shows and I didn't want to take the time.

Best of 2011:

30 Rock

White Collar

Community

Chuck

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

Castle

Parenthood

Raising Hope

New Girl

Parks and Recreation

Breaking Bad

Homeland

Happy Endings

Vampire Diaries

Best Comeback:

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia- Last season was just "eh" and the latest season definitely bounced back and delivered one of the best episodes of the entire series (Chardee McDennis). The show is still going strong and won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

Biggest Disappointments:

The Office - What's unfortunate is that this was the show in this category last year as well. And the show is a disappointment to a lot of people. Jim and Pam? Annoying. Robert California? Creepier than Creed. Andy as Boss? Used to recycle a bunch of unused Michael bits.

Worst Cancellations:

I was really sad to see Better With You and Lie to Me cancelled. I'm pretty sure Lie to Me was officially cancelled this year, right? And Traffic Lights was pretty good as well, so I wasn't pleased to see that get the axe.

Best Person on TV:

Aubrey Plaza as April on Parks and Recreation. I just freaking love her and her character gives me more happiness than most others.

Worst Show I'm Embarrassed To Watch:

Glee - This show was under this category last year, and because the show just continues to get worse and worse, it'll stay on this list until I finally stop watching or it gets cancelled (which isn't impossible).

Craziest Finale:

Chuck- Yep, I'm saying it. It may not have been the craziest, honestly, but it was one of my favorites. With Morgan getting the intersect, I couldn't wait for the summer to be over.

Best Show You're Not Watching:
Being Erica- Hands down one of the funnest and addictive shows that nobody is watching is this hidden Canadian show. Unfortunately, it's fourth and likely final season will probably never see a home in the US, but most of the episodes are on Hulu. It's fantastical and yet the characters and story lines are hugely relatable. I truly wish more people were watching because the show got wildly good in its fourth season and I'll be sad to see that be the end of it.

Best Rewatching:

3rd Rock From the Sun- I blew threw all six seasons of this show really quickly and every day after that I was sad there were no new episodes to watch. That show really carved a place into my heart and it won't be long until I re-watch it.

That wraps up my year in TV pretty nicely.

Until next time...

2011 Year in Review

2011-12-28T14:20:00.000-05:00

For long time readers, you'll know I do an annual list of things that I'll remember associated with the year 2011. This consists mostly of big events that happened personally mixed with pop culture events that were significant. It's crazy to think I started this tradition back in 2008. I was a college freshman then. Now I'm a senior getting ready to graduate. This week I'm writing my last English Paper Ever. Insane.

So, let's get started with a basic, straight-up list of the things that will always remind me of 2011.

Scary Movie (1, 2, 3, and 4)

WTF with Marc Maron

Lola and the Boy Next Door

Roommate issues

Winning passes to AMC's 24-hour Oscar Nominated Movies Marathon

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Weekend at the lake house with friends

Seeing Donald Glover do stand-up live

Seeing Duff Goldman talk at my school

Comic-Con

Parks and Recreation

Lola and the Boy Next Door

24

The Name of the Star

Road trip of California

Route 66

3rd Rock From the Sun

London, England

Studying Abroad

Edinburgh, Scotland

Cougar Town hiatus

Community hiatus

Bossy Pants

Is Everybody Hanging Out Without Me?

Bridesmaids

Crazy, Stupid, Love

Horrible Bosses

Whitman and Dickinson

City and the City

Dog Park Trips

Trips to the comedy club to see people like TJ Miller and Dave Coulier

Zooey Deschanel in My Idiot Brother and New Girl

Late night TV- Fallon, Handler, and Conan (I know, right?)

Sleeping in hostels

Ready Player One

Road tripping from Savannah back home with my sister

Turning 22

B's 23rd birthday party

And you know what, that's good for a list. There was so much more but this list is already more than good enough. So with that, I'll say goodbye to 2011 and hello to 2012.

Until next time...

Top 5: AA Posts in 2011

2011-12-19T10:00:00.000-05:00

I've never done this before, but in 2011 I feel as if I created some pretty worthwhile blog posts, and in an effort to go back and look at those, as well as bring some attention to the archives I've created this Best Of List. In the past two weeks I've taken on the much-bigger-than-anticipated project of assigning a picture to every post so that the front page of this blog looks good, no matter how far back a reader might go. It's honestly taken hours, and while I've been doing that I've gotten to notice posts that I forgot about.

So let's get started on looking back on the best of 2011 from Alyson's Association:

April 13: Top 10 Favorite Nerd Things- Donald Glover inspired me to make a list of my favorite nerdy things, and creating that post was so much fun.

April 17: Scary Movies and a Review of Scream 4- 2011 brought me a love and two-month-long obsession of the Scream films. I saw all of them and then I bought all of them, and the series even created a desire to write some sort of scary movie that uses a similar format. I've never been a fan of scary movies but the Scream franchise totally changed that. Although I still haven't seen the Halloween movies, I want to. And that's different. I also don't review movies very often, so it was fun to talk about the new Scream 4 movie that came out in April.

April 25: Youtube Music vs. Mainstream Music- I'm realizing that I created a lot of pretty good content during this years BEDA. In past years, I've struggled to make anything that is suitable for this entertainment blog. However, on the 25th I wrote a pretty good post about how youtube music isn't constrained by the needs to appeal to radio listeners and they are creatively free from a record label that is tied down by the popular mainstream. To compliment this article, I'll have a Top 5 Youtube Musicians post up early next year.

August 22: Dear CBS, Fox, ABC and Whomever else it May Concern: Web Pullback Leads to Piracy Boom- A lot of the major networks on TV started pulling back from releasing their shows on Hulu the day after it originally aired. Shortly after this took effect, they saw a rise in the shows being pirated online. Hmm, wonder why. So, obviously I had feelings re: this and I wrote about them.

December 2: Holiday Film Plots- One of my favorite parts about the holiday season is that I can watch ABC Family for it's original holiday movies that are nothing more than the same plots with different popular-in-the-90s-and-early-2000s actors and actresses. I noticed that these movies use the same four plots and I wrote about it.

Fun fact: next year I'll reach 500 posts on this blog, so there's much more content coming in 2012. Happy new year.

Until next time...

Holiday Gift Guide: Entertainment Style

2011-12-16T10:00:00.000-05:00

Because my family knows me so well, most of the gifts I get on christmas have to do with entertainment. If you're like me, you like things in every medium of entertainment and it's hard to choose what exactly you want. I've worked up a short list of things that will look good under anyones Christmas trees (or, you know... other holidays...) this year. Let's get started:

Movies:

2 for $40 Paramount Blu-rays: Best buy has a deal where you can pick two Blu-rays (out of five Paramount Recent Releases) and get them both for $40. I suggest getting True Grit and Thor, but that's just me.
Who doesn't want to own The Help, which was one of the best films of the year? Doesn't hurt that it stars Emma Stone.
You need to own Bridesmaids if you don't already.

TV on DVD:

For fans of Smallville, or for people who stopped watching early in the game and want to catch up, I suggest checking out the complete series on DVD which includes some pretty incredible bonus features.

If you can handle Showtime shows and American remakes of British shows, Shameless was pretty great and now you can own the first season.

Music:

There were only a few CD's that I truly enjoyed this year, but one of them was hands down Watch the Throne, the brain child of Kanye West and Jay-Z.

Books:

If you like no-holds-barred biographies or you own an iPhone then you may be interested in Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. That is, if you haven't already read it.
If you like historical fiction, then you'll probably love Stephen Kings new book, 11-22-63, about a man who travels back in time to prevent the JFK assassination. Not for the light of heart, as it is a 1,000+ page tome.

If you want something way lighter and you enjoy comedy and/or The Office, then you'll probably laugh out loud reading Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (And Other Concerns) by Minday Kaling. Truly one of the funniest books of the year.
Or, in case you haven't read it already: I'll suggest catching up on The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins over the winter break so you'll be ready for the movie next summer. Honestly, it's light enough reading for an occasional reader, and amazing enough to enthrall a book lover.
For fans of ghosts, Jack the Ripper, YA, and/or Maureen Johnson: The Name of the Star. An amazing book that will keep you reading until you're finished about a young girl at boarding school in modern day London. On the day she arrives, murders start happening that mimic Jack the Ripper's famous killings.

I could keep going for quite a while but I think I've provided a pretty good list here.

Until next time...

Top 11: 11 Funny Guys on TV in 2011

2011-12-13T10:00:00.001-05:00

I thought listing my favorite funny women on TV was hard, but trying to put my favorite funny guys in order was almost impossible. In fact, I'm still not all that happy with how I've numbered them but I'll leave it as is. So let's get started on todays Top 11 List.

11) Garret Dillahunt- One of the best parts about FOX's Raising Hope, other than Shannon Woodward, is Dillahunt's character, Burt. He's stupid, hilarious, and a dad I would've loved to have.

10) Adam Pally- If you're looking for a gay character on TV who doesn't fit the standard TV-Gay, then Happy Endings is the show you need to be watching. Pally is great and outrageous, and he's even better when paired with Casey Wilson's character. His love for sandwiches, drinking, and made-up phrases makes me want him to be my gay boyfriend.

9) Charlie Day- Day had a really good year in 2011 with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia doing really well, Horrible Bosses doing really well, and getting to host Saturday Night Live. But his role on It's Always Sunny is one of my absolute favorites. He's disgusting and illiterate and all I want to do is drink in Paddy's Pub with him.

8) Alec Baldwin- 30 Rock will just not be as much fun once Baldwin "retires" (god I hope he stays) because Jack is one of the best characters on TV. He just does his thing and when he's being serious it's incredibly funny. He's also half of one of the best comedy duos on TV ever, and I never want to see him without Tina Fey by his side again.

7) Dule Hill- The best sidekick on TV is hands own Hill's character, Gus, on Psych. You know that's right.

6) Louis CK- Louis CK has finally found his groove on FX with his show Louie. Not only does he deliver great jokes about how crazy/stupid people are and the weird job of being a dad, but he creates the show on his own laptop.

5) Jim Parsons- Sheldon will always be one of my favorite characters of all time and five seasons in, he still brings the funny. His job in "Love Car Displacement" was particularly great and Parsons got his second Emmy in a row.

4) Nick Offerman- The best alpha male on TV is by-far Parks and Recreation's Ron Swanson. He loves drinking, building things, meat, and every other "manly activity" which makes me love him more and more each week.

3) Rob Lowe- Speaking of funny guys on NBC's Parks and Recreation, Rob Lowe's portrayal of the boss, Chris is so freaking funny, and I'll never hear the word "literally" ever again without hearing it in Lowe's voice. He's sweet and enthusiastic and it makes the rest of us looks like lazy assholes. And it couldn't be funnier.

2) Donald Glover- Not only is his character Troy on NBC's Community the best part about Thursday night, but his first hour-long Standup Special on Comedy Central was also hilarious.

1) Damon Wayans Jr.- Every time I get sad that Wayans Jr. couldn't stay on New Girl, I just remember that it was because Happy Endings got renewed and he could keep playing Brad, and I feel much better. Seriously, the man is hilarious in physical comedy and in his delivery of lines.

Who'd I leave out? Am I way off in how I ordered these hilarious guys?

Until next time...

Top 11: Funny Women on TV in 2011

2011-12-05T11:05:00.001-05:00

This years lists are (mostly) going to consist of 11 things because it's 2011 and that's just what everyone is doing. Are you okay with this? Awesome.

Clearly, I enjoy comedy, so I have feelings re: the funniest women on TV. Instead of ranting about unfunny people on TV (coughwhitneycummingscough) I'll talk about how there are amazingly funny women on TV week after week.

11. Alison Brie- Although Yvette Nicole Brown does an awesome job at playing Shirley, it's Brie who stands out as Annie on Community. Her need to be perfect and the moments where her voice gets high in defense of her ideas is perfect. And she's awesome enough to have kissed Abed in the season two finale.

10. Mindy Kaling- Not only did she write one of the funniest books of 2011, she's written some amazing episodes of The Office like "Michael's Last Dundies." Kelly Kapor is hilarious and my favorite part of every episode is the small part where she interjects a superficial line. The only thing I have to complain is that I want more of Kaling on my TV every week.

9. Beth Behrs-

A lot of lists similar to this one are including Kat Dennings on their list but for me, the funny woman on 2 Broke Girls is Behrs, who brings the funny every week. Don't get me wrong, I love Dennings, but on Broke Girls she's used as a mere joke vehicle with no other use. It's Behrs who strives at being an actual character and she does it hilariously.

8. Ellie Kemper- One of the upsides to Steve Carrell leaving The Office last season is that Kemper has seem some more screen time, and thank god for that. My favorite thing Kemper has ever done is a sketch that only die-hard fans have seen, but her character on The Office has come to be my favorite part about the show. Although it didn't air in 2011, Kemper has never shined brighter as Erin than in "Viewing Party" from season seven.

7. Zooey Deschanel- I've always loved Deschanel so it's undeniable that I was going to loveNew Girl. Deschanel has totally proved her ability to be funny by pulling off some amazing physical comedy without being too over the top.

6. Amy Poehler- No list would be complete without Parks and Recreation's Leslie Knope, who has had some great scenes with Adam Scott this year. Although I like her best when in scenes with Rashinda Jones so I wish there would be more of those this year. Regardless, Leslie Knope is my favorite politician and I will always love scenes where her enthusiastic personality contrasts with Aubrey Plaza's dead-pan April any day.

5. Desi Lydic-

I originally had Ashley Rickard on this list, but after writing about why she was funny, it was clear that her best scenes were the ones opposite Lydic. Awkward was one of the best new shows of 2011 and the funniest scenes were by far the ones that had Lydic playing the much-too-involved guidance counselor.

4. Aubrey Plaza- Boy do I love this woman, and every time she's on the screen during Parks & Recreation everything gets that much funnier. Her dead-pan style at looking at the camera or delivering hilariously unenthusiastic lines just gets more entertaining every episode.

3. Tina Fey- Needless to say, but saying it anyway. Although 30 Rock's sixth season has to wait until 2012, the last half of season five means Fey gets to be on this list. Not to mention that my favorite episode of a show from 2011 (and ever) is "Double Edged Sword" where Fey did an amazing job being stranded on an airplane.

2. Casey Wilson-

It's a shame that Wilson only got a shot at one season on Saturday Night Live because the woman could not be funnier. Fortunately, she did only get that one shot on SNL because now she gets to play Penny on Happy Endings. If I could, I would kiss the person that hired her in this role that she was clearly born to play. Even better, is that every scene with Adam Pally just makes her even more hilarious.

1. Kaitlin Olson-

Every single time she utters the lines "oh god dammit!" I crack up laughing. Dee takes a lot of crap from the three guys on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and only someone as hilarious as her character could do it so well. Her frantic delivery of lines is what makes Olson so funny to me, and she really is my favorite funny woman on TV right now.

Ordering this list was extremely hard, but it was based on episodes that have aired in 2011. Hence why Tina Fey isn't automatically number one (though she is in my heart).

Until next time...

Holiday Film Plots

2011-12-02T22:02:00.005-05:00

It's now December which means the year is almost over which means it's time to start making those end-of-the-year lists that I love so much. I love this time of year because I can lay on the couch with all the lights off save for the Christmas lights and a cup of hot chocolate and watch really awful holiday movies that revolve around the same plot points and are so fun to watch.

The Only Holiday Made-for-TV Movie Plots Ever Done:

1) Man or woman who is related to Santa Claus (or finds out they're related to Santa Claus) and needs to take over the big man's duties in order to make Christmas happen.

(No initial relation to Santa Claus, nor a made-for-tv movie, but fits this one category just fine and I can do whatever I want because it's my blog)

2) Woman who must go home for the holidays and doesn't want to go alone because of her overbearing mother who constantly negates her for being unable to "catch a guy" because that's what parents do. So she kidnaps a guy or pays a guy to go with her even though they fight all the time. But because it's the holiday and "love is in the air" they end up together.

3) Woman (or, sometimes, man) who is a workaholic, often wears her hair pulled back extremely tight (unless it's a man, in which case his fair is often slicked back) and lacks fashion sense (unless, again, it's a man, in which case he wears nice suits), gets a visit from ghosts or ex's and realizes that she (or he) needs to let love into her (or his) life.

4) Person gets stuck in an airport or their plane has to land in a random city because of weather so instead of spending Christmas with their families, they must spend it with a stranger. Their bad, rude behavior transforms during the course of the movie because of this stranger and they fall in love within an hour and thirty minutes.

Can you think of any other plots used for amazingly awful made-for-tv holiday movies? Or have I pretty much covered the bases?

Until next time...

Top 5: Shows Still Killing It

2011-11-14T22:04:00.005-05:00

Ever since I wrote that post about my Top 5 Favorite Returning Shows, it's been haunting me a bit because, 1) I hadn't seen every pilot yet, including Terra Nova which I'm really enjoying and, 2) that list wasn't so great. But it's not because I'm not watching good new shows. I'm watching everything. It's because nothing new is all that great. So it's about time I make a list of my favorite shows that aren't new and are still bringing it every week. Let's get started.

Top 5: Shows Still Killing It

5. Psych- It just returned a few weeks ago but Shawn and Gus are still one hilarious crime-solving team. Not to mention there has been, and will be, some really great guests and the relationship between Shawn and Jules has been handled nicely.

4. Castle- Doing better than ever statistically, the show is also really well in quality. Though I hate the new boss and everyone having to call the woman "sir," the tension between Castle and Beckett has never been better in thanks to last season's finale. Plus each murder mystery have been pretty good as well.

3. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia- Just hilarious this season. The last three episodes have been stellar (Chardee MacDennis, The Anti-Social Network, and The Gang Gets Trapped). So many episodes have had me laughing so hard and I've just been saving each one in my DVR because I can't bring myself to delete them. I want to watch them over and over again.

2. Parks and Recreation- I love this show unconditionally and although I wish there was more April and Andy and Ann. And maybe even more Chris. But that's just because I, literally, love Chris. But the show still brings the funny every week, and a show that brings me Amy Poehler, Aubrey Plaza, Rashida Jones and Adam Scott each week is a show that is always going to show up in a list of my favorite things ever.

1. Community- The show's been taking the camera away from the school and more into the gangs apartments which I'm really loving. Plus, some of the episodes have been great. "Remedial Chaos Theory" won me over a thousand times and Pierce hasn't been frustrating like he was last season. So this show earns top spot on the list because it just keeps.getting.better.

*NB: I didn't include shows still in their second season because it hasn't had enough time to solidify it's awesome-ness. This is especially noted with Happy Endings, which just gets better all the time but is still a young show. Also, shows that aren't airing right now like 30 Rock weren't included either.

Until next time...

FOX 2011 Premiere Look-Back

2011-11-08T22:55:00.002-05:00

It's been awhile since I did a Premiere Look-Back. If you haven't read them already, you can read the CBS look-back and the NBC look-back at their respective links. But anyway, I've still got two more networks to do so let's get started on taking a look at how FOX's new shows are holding up to my initial reactions.

Terra Nova

What I Said: I would tune in but I also thought it could go either way- it could be a hit or it could be the next Flash Forward.

Was I Right: Pretty much. I actually just watched the shows pilot last week and really enjoyed it. It's a good genre show that's fun to watch and (most of the time) pretty. It's also holding its own in the ratings on Monday nights.

New Girl

What I Said: Hell yeah would I be tuning in. Nothing can prevent me from watching Zooey Deschanel. She's just so damn charming. And I thought it could last.

Was I Right: Thankfully, yeah. Not only las it done well following Glee, but it's done better. It was the first show to get a full season order and though it was down in ratings after it's three-week hiatus, I'm sure it'll bounce back.

Allen Gregory

What I Said: I would tune in every now and then and it looked to be more promising than FOX's other new animated shows.

Was I Right: Hell. No. This show is awful. I don't know if it's just me, and I haven't read any critic's opinions, but I couldn't even sit through this shows entire second episode. The characters are despicable, and not in a funny way, but in a disgusting and uncomfortable way. There's nothing really appealing about this show and thankfully it's not doing so hot in the ratings to show for it.

I Hate My Teenage Daughter hasn't premiered yet.

Despite only three new shows having premiered so far, the network is sitting pretty with Terra Nova and especially with New Girl.

Until next time...

Top 5: Youtubers Worthy of My Time

2011-11-04T16:25:00.005-05:00

Back in '08, I was pretty obsessed with youtube vloggers. I was living in a dorm room and didn't have cable (and didn't watch all that much TV aside from old DVD's of FRIENDS. I know, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?) so I looked to youtube to procrastinate from my freshman year of college. Now it's almost 2012 and I've cleared out my subscriptions, I watch WAY TOO MUCH (is that a real thing?) TV and sometimes I even try to do some homework. So I don't watch near as many youtubers. Another reason for this is because a lot of them suck or they've changed to meet the rapidly changing youtube community and everyone just seems like a fake douche bag. Why is this important? It might not be, except that I'm going to MAKE IT important by making a list out of youtubers that are still worthy of my (and possibly your) time. Let's get started.

Top 5 Youtubers I Still Watch Regularly

5. Nerimon (aka Alex Day): Okay, so he totally fits into this fake douche bag category except that his douche bag-ness is just something I can't look away from. He's super into himself and he creates a lot of pretention things (read: music) but his videos are still interesting. I THINK it's because he bitches about things so I, myself being an avid pessimist, find it enthralling.

4. YouDeserveADrink (aka Mamrie Hart): I found this channel through number two on this list and have been completely hooked ever since. Not only does she mix cocktails but she does it while being amazingly hilarious. Mamrie would be higher on this list if I had watched her as long as the top three on this list. If you like drinking and comedy then you will never love anything as much as you love this channel. Proof:

3. Sxephil (aka Phil DeFranco):

Phil is the first "youtube vlogger" or "youtube celebrity" or "youtube channel" or "of the firsts" that I ever watched back in... possibly 2007, maybe early 2008. Since then he's continued to be just as funny and smart when dealing with the news. His production has grown and he's produced several different channels since then but his original show is still my favorite.

2. Dailygrace (aka Grace Helbig): Good lord, is there anyone funnier? If there is let me know because I would die. So maybe don't. Grace brings the funny Monday-Friday and does several different things with her channel. It's her facial expressions and the outrageous things she says that makes her hilarious. There are a ton of videos I could choose from to give you proof, and it's hard to pick just one video that will make you never need to watch anything ever again, but I tried with one of my personal favorites:

1. Vlogbrothers (aka John and Hank Green): Honestly, they'll always be important to me because John's writing has changed me as a person and a writer. Their videos keep me thinking and help me form opinions and solidify information so that when I say "the US penny is incredibly stupid" I can back that up with a more profound reason than using the word "stupid." Despite the number of nerdfighters they've amassed to this day, they're both still amazing guys who love making videos and talking about things that matter. (NB: If you haven't pre-ordered John's new book, The Fault In Our Stars, then WHY NOT?! I pre-ordered mine back in JUNE! While I was in class in EDINBURGH! He just spent months signing the entire first printing so that YOU could have your copy signed. No excuses!)

So there you go. That list is basically the entirety of the people that I watch on youtube nowadays. When I have free time I'll go and watch some other people, but it's these five that I have to watch their video as soon as I see it in my subscription box.

Until next time...

Top 5 Favorite New Shows This Fall

2011-11-02T11:22:00.005-05:00

I have so much to be doing in the next five days that I should be running around this library, arms flailing, and ending up in a corner under one of the large tables crying my eyes out because taking 18 hours in one semester is "too hard." I put this in quotations because on the surface it seems like it would be an unreasonable task, and too much for my attention deficit disordered brain to comprehend, but I'm doing just fine. Yep, I'm completely fine. I have a ten page paper due on Friday and despite only having an outline and the intro paragraph done, I'm drinking an iced coffee on this cold day and I forgot a sweatshirt and I don't even know hows jeans I'm wearing... and now I don't even know how this sentence started so I'm not quite sure how to end it. Let's just move on to whatever the hell I wanted to talk about.

Oh right. TV. So I never finished my Look-Back at this season's new shows because the two networks I had left to do still hadn't rolled out a lot of their new shows, so I decided to wait. Now, that has changed and I just don't want to talk a look at everything right now. But I intend to do that. At some point when I have a million things going on that I shouldn't be blogging but of course I am because procrastination is AWESOME.

Instead, I'll talk about my top five favorite new shows this season. Okay? Okay, good because that's manageable. Note that these are just the shows I like most out of the new shows this fall. It doesn't mean that I particularly love this, I just like them more than the other crap out there right now.

5. Suburgatory

I'll be honest here- I like most comedies that come my way (I stress most because for the love of god get Whitney off of my tv) so it was a fair bet I was going to enjoy this show about a girl and her dad who move from the city to the suburbs. And you're right, I do. The shows got a good mix of stupid funny (the over-the-top stereotypes of suburban families) and sarcastic humor (Jane Levy) so it's an equation I can get behind. The Halloween episode especially had me laughing with Levy "bumping it" and Allie Grant being a ladybug.

4. Once Upon A Time

The show is only two episodes in but I'm really liking it so far. In a season where I haven't connected with any of the hour-long dramas, this was a refreshing show for me. Despite all the controversy about Fables, I'm liking the show for what it is.

3. Ringer

It took awhile for me to get hooked on Ringer, but after the shocking end to an episode a few weeks ago, it got me. Like I said, I haven't connected with most of the hour long dramas this fall, so it's nice to have at least one to change-up my overdose of comedies in my DVR. The shows got enough going for me now that I'm willing to stick around from week to week to see what happens next, and that's all I ask for.

2. 2 Broke Girls

There is a lot wrong with this show. I'm praying that the writers are figuring their shit out and in the next few weeks we'll see some changes, but despite all of this the show has a lot of promise. The two leads work well together and the premise is good. Most of the jokes are stale or predictable, but there are some moments that shine (Max discovering Caroline's bedroom). It's these moments that they don't rely on Kat Dennings just spouting out one-liners that I'm really laughing. And if this show cleans up its act then I'm sure I'll love this show.

1. New Girl

This one tops the list because of last nights episode, where Jess walks in on Nick naked. The physical comedy in this episode cracked me up, something the previous episodes hadn't really done. The show still has a slight problem with Schmidt but I think the writers can work that out once they figure out what works and what doesn't with each of the roommates. And seriously, what's not to love about Zooey Deschanel?

Alright, I've spent 30 minutes on this post when I have a paper to be writing for so that's all from me this time around. I have a lot of work to be doing in the next month, so I have no doubt you'll be seeing a lot more of me as I procrastinate the hell out of studying.

Until next time...