As Mrs. mentioned in a previous post, we’ve quickly become huge fans of the AMC show Mad Men. Our discussion of what a great character Don Draper is got me thinking about my favorite TV characters of all time. What follows is the list of my top ten all-time favorite TV characters, skewed a bit towards recent TV shows, either because there are better characters now or because I have a short term memory.
Counting down to 1:
10) Niles Crane – Frasier
A thin, uptight, balding, successful professional who faints at the sight of blood. It was like looking in a mirror. While the show was called Frasier, it was the awkward, geeky Niles that provided most of the laughs.
9) Dr. Perry Cox – Scrubs
Sarcastic, egotistical, quick-witted. In other words, everything I aspire to be. Calling J.D. by a girl's name, going on a long winded rant about everyone else's incompetence, hating Hugh Jackman, and saving lives . . . all in a day’s work for Dr. Cox.
8) Kevin Arnold - The Wonder Years
My junior high and high school experiences were nothing like 90210, the O.C., or any of the modern teen shows filled with drama and love triangles. Shows like The Wonder Years and Freaks and Geeks got it right. Kevin Arnold was the perfect reflection of a teenage wallflower, with a crush on the neighborhood girl, a slightly dysfunctional family, and a nerdy best friend.
7) Michael Scott – The Office
I’m not sure I would be better off with a boss like him, but I’m positive my work days would be more exciting (although less productive). Always good for a laugh (mostly at his expense), Michael keeps the office loose, but deep down he just wants to be loved. (That’s what she said).
6) Fox Mulder & Dana Scully – The X-Files
What's a great sci-fi show without a passionate alien seeking FBI agent obsessed with the paranormal and the apprehensive red-headed FBI agent who reluctantly keeps him in check? They investigated aliens, ghosts, vampires and a host of otherworldly phenomena, and then somehow acted the next day like nothing out of the ordinary happened.
5) Liz Lemon – 30 Rock
And not just because she reminds me of Mrs. (more than Mrs. would like to admit somtimes). Highly intelligent? Check. Extremely witty? Check. Judgmental of everyone? Check. Prefers to be on her couch in pajamas eating snacks? Check.
4) Cosmo Kramer – Seinfeld
Jerry’s hipster doofus neighbor is hard to ignore, especially when he's flying through the door. A smoking lounge in his apartment, a boycott of Kenny Rogers Chicken, a lawsuit against the tobacco companies. Giddyup!
3) Don Draper – Mad Men
Don’s a chain smoking, boozing, womanizing, cocky, mysterious ad executive. I didn’t even know him 4 months ago, and now we’ve started the countdown to Season 4, eagerly waiting to see what new layers of his character unfold.
2) Homer Simpson – The Simpsons
The donut eating, lazy, often dim-witted patriarch of the Simpson family may not always be the brightest character, but he's a devoted husband and loving father . . . albeit with a drinking problem. (D’oh!)
1) George Costanza – Seinfeld
Insecure, neurotic, deceitful, George has it all. Our short, stocky, bald friend goes from being jobless, wearing ladies glasses and being “caught” by his mother to doing the opposite of his every instinct, writing an NBC sitcom pilot, and working for the Yankees. He might be the "lord of the idiots", but he is the greatest TV character of all time.
May 2, 2010
April 30, 2010
It Ain’t Easy Being Green
When we moved into our house our guest room looked like this:
That summer many of the design magazines had pictures of these tropical looking, airy green rooms. I loved how they looked and convinced Mr. we should try to capture this look in our guest room. He agreed (of course) and, after many different paint cards from Home Depot, we decided on the color pesto. Two coats of primer, two coats of paint later, our room looked like this:
I can hear you cringing. Yes, we know now this choice was a major FAIL. My vision included lots of white furniture and black and white pictures to counteract the dark walls and let’s not forget there would be sunlight streaming in the window as it would in the Carribbean. Reality had my vision ending at some white curtains and a duvet cover from Target. As for the sunlight, the room faces west, has one window, and due to the proximity of our neighbor’s house (you can see their place through the window… ah.. city living), the actual sunlight coming in is limited. The only WIN after our hours of work ended up being the new white trim.
When people came over to see our house, they would see this room and say things like “Interesting”, “This is different”, and “Did you paint this room too?” which translates to “We think this color stinks but don’t want to say anything to offend so I am checking where I stand first."
Because the room reminded us of a cave, we stayed away from it and it soon was nicknamed “the graveyard” as we threw everything in there we had nowhere else to put (including the few guests we have had).
So finally, taking the bull by the horns over the past two weeks, we went to the opposite side of the color wheel and repainted said room moonlit yellow. We are so happy with how it turned out. Case in point:
It doesn’t even look like the same room. We have hauled out all the junk. The old TVs are going to Best Buy for a recycling. We are working on eliminating all of the left over furniture (like the TV stand in the corner). The only glaring blemish is currently the terrible ceiling fan but one thing at a time.
In the end, painting loud green rooms run in my family so at least we weren't alone.
That summer many of the design magazines had pictures of these tropical looking, airy green rooms. I loved how they looked and convinced Mr. we should try to capture this look in our guest room. He agreed (of course) and, after many different paint cards from Home Depot, we decided on the color pesto. Two coats of primer, two coats of paint later, our room looked like this:
I can hear you cringing. Yes, we know now this choice was a major FAIL. My vision included lots of white furniture and black and white pictures to counteract the dark walls and let’s not forget there would be sunlight streaming in the window as it would in the Carribbean. Reality had my vision ending at some white curtains and a duvet cover from Target. As for the sunlight, the room faces west, has one window, and due to the proximity of our neighbor’s house (you can see their place through the window… ah.. city living), the actual sunlight coming in is limited. The only WIN after our hours of work ended up being the new white trim.
When people came over to see our house, they would see this room and say things like “Interesting”, “This is different”, and “Did you paint this room too?” which translates to “We think this color stinks but don’t want to say anything to offend so I am checking where I stand first."
Because the room reminded us of a cave, we stayed away from it and it soon was nicknamed “the graveyard” as we threw everything in there we had nowhere else to put (including the few guests we have had).
So finally, taking the bull by the horns over the past two weeks, we went to the opposite side of the color wheel and repainted said room moonlit yellow. We are so happy with how it turned out. Case in point:
It doesn’t even look like the same room. We have hauled out all the junk. The old TVs are going to Best Buy for a recycling. We are working on eliminating all of the left over furniture (like the TV stand in the corner). The only glaring blemish is currently the terrible ceiling fan but one thing at a time.
In the end, painting loud green rooms run in my family so at least we weren't alone.
April 26, 2010
90 Days to Go!
I just found out the Mad Men season 4 premiere date is set as July 25th. I realize that I am a bit late to the game on this. Mr. and I are obsessed with Mad Men to put it lightly so I am a bit surprised we didn’t hear about this earlier.
Succumbing to all of the hype, Mr. asked for and received Mad Men season 1 from Sis R and BIL J for Christmas. After the first episode we were hooked and spent the entire week of Christmas watching every episode. As soon as we were done, we ran out (I never run so this is major), and bought season 2, finished that in about a week. And when season 3 was released in March, we ran out again, bought it, and finished that in about a week as well. We have spent countless hours analyzing Mad Men looking for parallels and symbolism. Mr. scours the internet for Mad Men blogs and then devours them. I am really starting to love 60s fashion and am slightly depressed hats are no longer en vogue. We are trying to get everyone to watch this show just so we can talk about it. Don Draper is the most well-written character of all time. We love him. Then, adding fuel to the fire, last week we discovered that AMC replays Mad Men episodes Sunday nights/ Monday mornings at 11PM central/ 12AM eastern and now stay up late watching it even though we do in fact have all the episodes on DVD and being overly tired is just want you want to be every Monday.
So let the countdown to season 4 start now! 90 days to go!
Succumbing to all of the hype, Mr. asked for and received Mad Men season 1 from Sis R and BIL J for Christmas. After the first episode we were hooked and spent the entire week of Christmas watching every episode. As soon as we were done, we ran out (I never run so this is major), and bought season 2, finished that in about a week. And when season 3 was released in March, we ran out again, bought it, and finished that in about a week as well. We have spent countless hours analyzing Mad Men looking for parallels and symbolism. Mr. scours the internet for Mad Men blogs and then devours them. I am really starting to love 60s fashion and am slightly depressed hats are no longer en vogue. We are trying to get everyone to watch this show just so we can talk about it. Don Draper is the most well-written character of all time. We love him. Then, adding fuel to the fire, last week we discovered that AMC replays Mad Men episodes Sunday nights/ Monday mornings at 11PM central/ 12AM eastern and now stay up late watching it even though we do in fact have all the episodes on DVD and being overly tired is just want you want to be every Monday.
So let the countdown to season 4 start now! 90 days to go!
April 25, 2010
Not Leather
We don't normally give each other individual anniversary presents but this year Mr. surprised me. He gave me a knock-down, drag-out cold that started mid-week and came to a head this weekend. It was just how I wanted to spend my days off. Next year he can keep his present.
Read This!
Why Shoot a Butler? by Georgette Heyer
This was my first Georgette Heyer mystery. The story begins with Frank Amberley lost on a country road stumbling upon a mysterious young lady near the recently shot butler, Dawson. Amberley soon finds his way and then takes over solving the case. There were a few twists and turns but I would rate Georgette Heyer’s style below that of Agatha Christie. It was a denser style and, while there were allusions to pieces of the puzzle, there wasn’t enough info to put two and two together. Part of the fun of mysteries is either being able to figure it out from the clues or being completely floored by the big reveal. Neither happened here. It was, however, worth my time so I am going to add Georgette Heyer to my rotation of mystery writers.
This was my first Georgette Heyer mystery. The story begins with Frank Amberley lost on a country road stumbling upon a mysterious young lady near the recently shot butler, Dawson. Amberley soon finds his way and then takes over solving the case. There were a few twists and turns but I would rate Georgette Heyer’s style below that of Agatha Christie. It was a denser style and, while there were allusions to pieces of the puzzle, there wasn’t enough info to put two and two together. Part of the fun of mysteries is either being able to figure it out from the clues or being completely floored by the big reveal. Neither happened here. It was, however, worth my time so I am going to add Georgette Heyer to my rotation of mystery writers.
April 23, 2010
Shoes Wanted. Please Apply. II
I asked. You answered. Thanks to Auntie D the elder who directed me to the Foot Smart website, I just bought this. I was given a similar device by my podiatrist that worked wonders but got funky after awhile. (It was not washable and had to be thrown out.) Let's hope this helps. One last note: I have to say that I think I hit a new "I am getting old" low when I ordered foot orthotics off a website. Am I 32 or 82?
April 21, 2010
The Leather Anniversary
Happy 3rd Anniversary to us!
We went to dinner and watched our wedding video to celebrate and reminisce. Three observations:
1) It's amazing how much marriage can age you in 3 years. Weight gain, hair loss...we were so young and innocent then.
2) April weather is a crapshoot. Our wedding day was 75 degrees and sunny. It was 39 degrees today. Of course, it snowed the week before our wedding...
3) The video has a lot of footage of us getting down to the latest hits. Fred and Ginger we are not. Word of advice if you hire a videographer - learn to dance or pay him/her to film someone else embarrassing themselves.
We went to dinner and watched our wedding video to celebrate and reminisce. Three observations:
1) It's amazing how much marriage can age you in 3 years. Weight gain, hair loss...we were so young and innocent then.
2) April weather is a crapshoot. Our wedding day was 75 degrees and sunny. It was 39 degrees today. Of course, it snowed the week before our wedding...
3) The video has a lot of footage of us getting down to the latest hits. Fred and Ginger we are not. Word of advice if you hire a videographer - learn to dance or pay him/her to film someone else embarrassing themselves.
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