Six Seasons and a Movie

 If NBC spent as much time promoting Community as it did with The Revolution, I would be watching the premiere of season 4 tonight. Curse you NBC! This makes me so Changry!

Till then fellow Human Beings, here are some videos to tide you over until NBC decides to leave the darkest timeline and gives Community a definitive premier date.

About Those Superbowl Commercials...

I actually didn't pay attention to the game that much. I basically used it as background noise while I got other things done. I did pay attention to the commercials and I have to say most of them were meh. I'm never fond of the GoDaddy commercials and I thought the Fiat and Telaflora ones weren't that great either. Here the ones that I did enjoy. 


I was just happy to see the cast of Community included in this NBC promo. 

Loki: "I have an Army"
Tony Stark: "We have a Hulk."
Can it be May 4th already?

What were your favorite Superbowl commercials this year and which ones did you not like?

Smash

While I'm still miffed that NBC won't say exactly when Community is coming back to finish it's third season, (just give us a date already!) I'm excited about one new show that will make it's TV debut on Monday, Smash. Executive produced by Steven Spielberg, it follows the creation of a new Broadway musical based on the life of one of Hollywood's iconic actresses.

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In the show Julia Houston (Debra Messing) and Tom Levitt (Christian Borle) on the suggestion of his personal assistant, decided to write a musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe. With director Derek Willis (Jack Davenport) and producer Eileen Rand (Angelica Houston) on board, they start the audition process on finding the right actress to embody Marilyn on the Great White Way. The two contenders for the role are Ivy Lynn (Megan Hilty), the actress that wants to break out of the chorus line and was the shoo in for the part (she's Julia and Tom's first choice for the role), until Karen Cartwright (Katherine McPhee) an transplant from Iowa who has yet to make it to the Broadway stage, gives a great audition and puts her in the running. 

Of course there are comparisons to Glee because it's a musical TV show. But that's where it stops.  Glee may be about the trials and tribulations of being a teenager in the midwest, it's small potatoes to developing a hit Broadway musicals. Much like movies and TV shows, it's not cheap to produce a show, new or revival. So you want to make sure that everything is perfect, from the book and lyrics to the choreography and casting. For every The Phantom of the Opera, which is currently the longest running show on Broadway, there's a Carrie. Yes the one based of the Stephen King book. It closed after only 5 performances in 1988. I've never been behind the scenes on how Broadway shows are developed (although that would be really cool to experience), so there's probably going to be more heightened dramatics in the show. But even with that, I enjoyed the first episode. It moved at a brisk pace, (in a way reflecting the life in New York City), the writing and acting was good and I enjoyed the musical numbers. The baseball number with Megan Hilty was my favorite and for me she's going to be the break-out star of the show. Also in art imitating life, she was just cast as Lorelei in this springs Encores! revival of the 1949 musical Gentleman Prefer Blondes, a role Monroe played in the 1953 movie adaptation. 

Right now you can watch the first episode on Hulu, YouTube and iTunes before it airs on Monday. I've already watched it twice and I'll probably watch it on Monday too. If you watched it, will you continue to watch future episodes?

Sunday Videos: Bueller's Back?

Ferris Bueller's Day Off is one of my favorite films, so I'm intrigued by this ten second clip with Matthew Broderick reprising his iconic role for Honda. The commercial is being directed by Todd Phillips (Hangover). Here's hoping it's as good as previous Super Bowl commercials and that Cameron and Sloan is also in the ad. 

Edit:
The commercial was released online today and I really like it. It's a nice homage to the movie and after multiple viewings, I even caught some easter eggs. Have you picked them out?

There's also teaser video for Volkwagen's Super Bowl commercial. Dogs barking the Imperial March theme, awesome. 

Some Funny Random Things...

It's safe to say that we are all done with the "Shit People Say" meme, but I just had to post this one because it's my favorite and I love Liz Lemon. You can also see the video here.

Saw this on Pinterest and it's so true (although Rachel isn't exactly the hot new girl since Ross knew her since high school.)

Source: geekfill.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Wonder Woman wouldn't need any Disney Magic.

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I totally did this two weeks ago when I spent my Saturday curled in bed finishing up season 7. 

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"Have you tried turning it off and on again?"

There will be times at work where you can't access your e-mails or certain programs, or you computer decides to crash as you are compiling reports that are due in a hour. So what do you do? Call the IT department of course. The IT department is an integral part of any company and we depend on them so much when technology betrays us. But as employees we tend to take them for granted. Probably because they might be 1,000 miles away at a call center or tucked away in the bowels of the basement of a shiny and massive corporate office. Such is the case behind the those who run the IT department in the British comedy series, The IT Crowd. 

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Created by Graham Linehan, (Father Ted, Black Books) the show centers around the three IT department employees in the London offices of Reynholm Industries; workshy Roy (Chris O'Dowd) who tends be apathetic about his job. His greeting when he answers the phone is "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" Maurice Moss (Richard Ayoade) who's an IT genius genius but can sometimes be socially inept, and their department "relationship manager" Jen Barber (Katherine Parkinson) who got the job without having any IT knowledge. Add to the mix their strange boss Denholm Reynholm (Christopher Morris) and his sexually inappropriate son, Douglas (Matt Berry) who shows up in season 2. 

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It takes a couple of episodes to find its pace, but once it does it's really fun to watch. In some ways it reminds me of another geek centric show I like, The Guild. Both involve a group of people that form unlikely friendships over that they do, (as in this case work in The IT Crowd and a World of Warcraft type game on The Guild.) while navigating through awkward situations. Although unlike on The Guild, the social situations in The IT Crowd always end up badly. Always. 

Interesting fact. There was a US adaption of The IT Crowd developed for NBC which was going to have a midseason debut during the 2007-2008 TV season. Richard Ayoade reprised his role as Moss with Joel McHale as Roy and Jessica St. Clair as Jen. The show ended up being scrapped and the pilot never aired. I found a clip on youtube that compares both versions:

However this isn't the last time that Ayoade and McHale worked together. Ayoade directed the season 2 Community episode, "Critical Film Studies" which McHale stars as Jeff Winger. 

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All four seasons of The IT Crowd is streaming on Netflix right now, as with most British shows, there are only 6 episodes in a season. It's the perfect show to watch in a weekend, or heck even in a day.

Some my favorite clips from the show:

Guest Posting Over at the Lovely Miss Megs

As part of Lovely Miss Megs October Blog Party, I'm guest posting on some of my favorite Halloween themed TV shows today. Some of them are old classics while others are new favorites. Go check it out and pay a visit to her wonderful blog.

Style Inspirations: What to Wear While Waiting For The Great Pumpkin

Have a Halloween event you have to go to and don't know what to dress up as. Well here are some ideas.

Shaun from Shaun of the Dead

As long as you don't get too much red on you, this is the perfect outfit to wear while running away from zombies. Remember to aim for the head and if you have to use your record collection as a weapon, use the crappy albums first. Then all you have left is to do is hide out at The Winchester, have a nice cold pint and wait for the whole thing to blow over.

Shaun of the Dead by somedaysmarter featuring short sleeve tops

Penny from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Everyone's favorite petition name collector. Lover of laundry and frozen yogurt. Dated a superhero.  Also... (highlight since it is a spoiler) the one person that had to die because Joss Whedon loves to kill off your favorite character.  Which is why to make it even more authentic you need to add a piece of shrapnel to the costume.  

Penny by somedaysmarter featuring frye shoes

Taylor Swift

All you need is a sparkly dress, cowboy boots, and a guitar and you're set. Curly blonde hair, being interrupted by Kanye West after winning an award, and a boyfriend who will you later write a song about not included. 

Taylor Swift by somedaysmarter featuring gold hair accessories

Pan Am Stewardess

There was a time where air travel was a glamorous event and not just another mode of transportation. Relive those days as a high flying Pan Am Stewardess. You won't see any of them making their way down the emergency slide with two beers in hand when the passengers get unruly.

Pan Am by somedaysmarter featuring kitten heel shoes

What are you dressing up as for Halloween?

Whovian Wednesdays: Some Other Works by Davies and Moffat

Now that season six of Doctor Who is over and after the Christmas special, we won't get to see him flying around space and time in his TARDIS until 2012/2013, you're probably wondering what you should watch to tide yourself over. Here are two suggestions that just happen to be from former and current show runners, Russell T. Davies and Steven Moffat respectively. 

Torchwood

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One of two Doctor Who spinoffs (the other is The Sarah Jane Adventures) created by Davies, Torchwood centers around Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) and his team and their daily battle against extraterrestrial and supernatural threats. Set in the Cardiff, Wales branch of the Torchwood Institutes (set up during season two of Doctor Who), Jack is the leader of the group that also includes,  Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles), Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd), Toshiko "Tosh" Sato (Naoko Mori), and Owen Harper (Burn Gorman). I like to call Torchwood "Doctor Who after dark" because not only is it a lot more violent, but there's also a lot more sexy times. Fun fact: Torchwood is an anagram of Doctor Who and was used as a way to disguise the preview tapes when they made the trip from Cardiff to London.

Sherlock

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The Doctor isn't the only clever man Steven Moffat writes about. There's also Sherlock Holmes in this new adaptation. Instead of solving crimes in late 19th century London, Sherlock (Benedict Crumberbatch) is now solving them in modern day London with his sidekick Doctor Watson (Martin Freeman). The writing and acting is just so good that the most disappointing part is that only three episodes were made. I thought having to wait a year for new Doctor Who episodes would be tough, it'll be almost two years until new Sherlock episodes premiere and with such a cliffhanger ending in the third episode, I just want it to come back now.

When Fandoms Collide

Last week I posted on how Community had a little spoof on Doctor Who called Inspector Spacetime. Well leave it to the Community and Doctor Who fandoms to take this 26 second clip and run with it. Not only does it have it's own page on TV Tropes, but there's also fan-fic and a blog called Inspector Spacetime Confessions, where people submit their thoughts about the "show."

Here are some of the submissions:

You can also buy an Inspector Spacetime t-shirt and poster.

Sometimes the internet does do good work.

Inspector Spacetime

So this happened on the season premiere of Community tonight...

 And I totally had a fan girl moment. A great Doctor Who spoof. I'm just surprised Abed being the TV/Movie savant, hadn't found out about Inspector Spacetime earlier.

There was also a Dowtown Abbey/Cougar Town spoof...

Community is one of my favorite shows and if you haven't watched it yet, you need to add it to your TV list.

On a somewhat related note, if you want to delve further into my fandoms, you can check out my Tumblr. But I have to warn you, it's not for the faint of heart. :P

Style Inspirations: Greek Gods and Warrior Princesses

Growing up, next to Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of  Superman, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys was one of the shows that I would watch with my family when it was on. The highly popular syndicated TV show that aired from 1995-1999 starring Kevin Sorbo even produced a spinoff Xena: The Warrior Princess that starred Lucy Lawless and aired from 1995-2001. Not only was Xena was the first strong female character I remember watching, but both shows were just fun to watch and I always wanted to know what was going to happen in the fantasy land version of Greece each week.  Oh to be a BMAF and fight with swords and bows and arrows. 

Xena: The Warrior Princess by somedaysmarter featuring brass cuff bracelets

 

Hercules by somedaysmarter featuring lace up boots

Style Inspirations: Nicktoons

Like any child growing up in the 90's, Nickelodeon was the one channel I always watched. One thing I looked forward to watching were the cartoons or as they were called, Nicktoons. I still watch them from time to time and I thought that these characters would make great subjects for this weeks style inspirations.

Doug Funnie by somedaysmarter featuring a sweater vest

Douglas Yancey "Doug" Funnie

Stats

Age: 11

Hometown: Bluffington

BFF: Porkchop and Mosquito "Skeeter" Valentine

Crush: Patricia "Patty" Mayonnaise

Nemesis: Judy Funnie, Roger Klotz, Mr. Bone

Favorite Band: The Beets

Alter-ego: Quail Man, Smash Adams, Race Canyon, The Chameleon, Durango Doug, Jack Bandit, Wafflestomper

Doug was the most straightforward character outfit to recreate. I ended up doing a more girly version of his sweater vest and khaki shorts outfit. This would be perfect to wear while running errands on the weekend. Also the feather necklace is a nod to Quail Man.

Rocko by somedaysmarter featuring denim skirts

Rocko

Stats:

Species: Wallaby

Hometown: O-Town

Originally from: Australia

BFFs: Heffer Wolfe and Filburt

Works At: Kind of a Lot O' Comics

Hang Out Spot: Chokey Chicken

For Rocko, instead of having the triangle motif on his clothing, I wanted to transfer it to the accessorizes, with the earrings and ring. I did stay true to the color scheme though when it came to his top and shoes. I also added the skirt because unlike Rocko, you can leave the house bottomless.

Angelica Pickles by somedaysmarter featuring diamond jewelry

Angelica Charlotte Pickles

Stats:

Age: 3

Hometown: Somewhere in California

BFF: Cynthia

Nemesis: Tommy Pickles, Chuckie Finster, Phil and Lil DeVille, and Susie Carmichael

Nicknames: Princess (by her dad), Yucky (by baby Dil)

I mimicked the bows on the dress from the bows in her hair. Instead of trying to find blue and polka dot green tights, I used the earrings and purse in place of that. Plus I'm thinking that when Angelica got older, she would have acquired a Chanel purse. Most likely from her mom.

Sponge Bob Square Pants by somedaysmarter featuring medallion jewelry

Sponge Bob Square Pants

Stats: 

Species: Sea Sponge

Lives: Bikini Bottom

Occupation: Fry Cook at the Krusty Krab

BFF: Patrick and Gary

Nemesis: Squidward 

Hobbies: Jelly-fishing and blowing bubbles

No tie for Sponge Bob here, but I did replace it with the necklace where it looks like some of the charms are tie shaped. Although this outfit would look well with a Krusty Krab hat.

Style Inspirations: Dressing Like The Doctor

Much like The Guild set I did a couple of months ago, I wanted to see what other characters can be translated to everyday fashion and I found it in a 900+ year old Time Lord. You might not have to run as much or deal with "wibbly wobbly timey wimey...stuff," but you can still dress like the Doctor without feeling like you're in costume. TARDIS, sonic screwdriver and companion not included.

The 9th Doctor by somedaysmarter featuring lace up heel boots

When the new Doctor Who came back to TV in 2005, The 9th Doctors (played by Christopher Eccleston) outfit was fairly subdued. There wasn't a ruffle, cravat, question mark or celery stick on this doctor. Instead he wore all black, with a leather jacket and boots. His outfit is so simple that in one episode he was mistaken as a U-boat captain.
For this look I took the same basic elements, black leather jacket, shirt, and pants. The heeled boots are stylish, but will definitely not cut it if all of sudden you need to run away from Daleks. If you don't care for pants, the skirt can replace that and give the outfit a more downtown edge.

The 10th Doctor by somedaysmarter featuring pinstripe pants

When the 10th Doctor (played by David Tennant) made his mark, his outfit more professor than U-boat captain. Although he wore a suit and tie, his running shoes of choice were good old classic Converse Chucks. Even when he had to wear a tux. You also can't forget his glasses and the way he puts them on during his run, the 10th Doctor can give Lt. Horatio Caine a run for his money.
This outfit can be something you wear to the office. Although, the Chucks might not be ideal office footwear, you can always switch them out with classic but bold red pumps. Keep them close by though. They'll come in handy when you need to catch the next train, bus or taxi. Also don't forget your long brown overcoat. Adds something extra to the outfit.

The 11th Doctor by somedaysmarter featuring heel booties

The show is currently on it's 11th Doctor (played by Matt Smith) and I lovingly call his style hipster grandpa, with his tweed blazer and suspenders and all. Also, who knew he could make bow ties cool again? Between him, Amy and Rory (with their plaid and puffy vests), they are the most hipster traveling team out there. Which makes this outfit perfect to wear while going to a show of a band that no one else has heard of yet. You can switch out the pants with a skirt and you can always wear the bow tie as a hair accessory. Or if you're daring, wear the fez instead. Just make sure River Song is nowhere around to obliterate it into pieces. 

Sunday Video: Ron Swanson is Awesomesauce

You may have seen this video on the interwebs already but I can't help but post it here again.

Oh and these too...

Everyone Needs Some (Robin) Sparkles in Their Life

To my blog readers up north, Happy Canada day! It's been almost 10 years since I visited Canada with my church group (we saw the Pope!) and I've been wanting to go back and visit ever since. Hopefully I'll be able to in the near future, but in the meantime I'll go buy a couple of Areo Bars and try to make poutine to celebrate. Oh and watch these videos of my favorite fake Canadian superstar, Robin Sparkles.

I couldn't embed this video, but here is the link for "The Beaver Song" from last season:

http://youtu.be/1hqklWJxUTo

Sunday Videos: Dance Jason Segel Dance!

Last night I was watching Freaks and Geeks on TV and it was an episode I haven't watched in a while, "Discos and Dragons" or better known as the last episode. Sniff, sniff, tear. Well in the episode, Nick (played by Jason Segel) starts dating a girl that's really into disco, so they both enter a disco dancing contest at their local bowling alley.  This was his dance...

As I was watching it reminded me of his dance in the club on How I Met Your Mother.

Then I thought, Jason Segel really likes to dance. It's proven more in this clip from the Freaks and Geeks reunion at the Paley Fest this past March where he proclaims his love of dance.

So yeah Jason Segel can dance anytime he wants. He's awesome like that.

Sunday Videos: Golden Age of Nickelodeon

Last week I featured YouTube clips of some of my favorite Disney Channel shows of the past. So of course this week I have to mention Nickelodeon. Even though I waxed nostalgic about the Disney shows, Nickelodeon was my channel. 

I always thought that Nickelodeon was the hipper older sibling or cousin. I knew of Iggy Pop and Michael Stipe because of Pete and Pete. I wanted to be friends with Clarissa Darling and Alex Mack because they were pre-teen (tween wasn't even in the vocabulary at the time) girls to look up to. Even though they were figuring out who they were, they never compromised their self-worth. Salute Your Shorts made me wish I went to summer camp, but Are You Afraid of the Dark? made me want to quickly dart to my room and hide under my comforter when my house was pitch dark. However I never did try to convince my parents to have us go on Family Double Dare and now I wished I did.

I dug up some classic Nickelodeon clips for you to enjoy and bring back memories of trying to finish your homework so you can watch TV. What were some of your favorite Nickelodeon shows?

Remember when Alex had a band for one episode?

Dude ranches are awesome

I sooo wanted to be on this show!

Before he was Kurt's Dad, Mike O'Malley was the host of Guts

Sunday Videos: Growing up on Disney

Last week, I had a Twitter conversation with Nicole regarding the old school Disney channel shows and movies we used to watch and it became a laundry list of different shows all pre Hanna Montana and HSM. On the top of my head I remember, The New Mickey Mouse Club, Kids Incorporated, Wish Upon a Star, Model Behavior, Flash Forward, Lizzy McGuire, Even Stevens, Alley Cat Strike, Halloween Town, and Quints. Ok, I'll stop right there because I think my head might explode from the fact I remember all of this. So after scouring YouTube, I found some classic Disney channel clips. Go grab your Dunkaroos, and Squeeze It, relax on your bean bag chair and enjoy these blasts from the not so distant past.

What where your favorite Disney shows growing up? 

Of course I couldn't forget the shows on Nickelodeon. Check back next week for that post.

New Girl

This week Upfronts are being held in NYC where the big Networks present their new fall schedules in order to incite advertisers. Today Fox had their upfront and one of the new shows that I'm excited to watch is "New Girl." Created by Liz Meriwether (No Strings Attached) and starring none other than blogger favorite Zooey Deschanel, it's about a teacher who finds out her boyfriend is cheating on her.  She then moves out their apartment and moves in with three guys. The first look trailer looks promising maybe because Zooey is so freaking adorable, so I hope it lives up to it's premise.