Credits come up on a show I rilly enjoy and, as they are wont to do, disgorge a name of someone I know. First card natch. A very common one, but I idly look him up anyway. Turns out to be a (relative) tv comedy titan and responsible for one of the most enduring cultural references of my generation, no big. Meanwhile I remember him as one of the dourest, least funny people around, and kind of a prick. I went back to look and in the pictures I have with him he is rarely smiling and in one is flipping off the camera. Not even the funniest person in his own FAMILY...his brother remains one of the wittiest, sharpest, and most multi-talented, charming and generally delightful people I've ever met (and, it probably goes without saying, came out of the My Type factory) (I will admit his tragic flaw: narcissism) and while he's had success in a related genre it's nothing on the scale of his brother's. Just proves that in that business talent, diligence AND connections aren't enough. You have to get so lucky too.

Up All Night has been pretty good throughout. Funny enough that I'd almost probably have watched even absent Arnett. Both show off that they can really act - Arnett as a reasonably convincing normal-person straight man to Applegate and especially Randolph, Applegate as a reasonably convincing semi-dork who does not look like what Applegate looks like. Randolph has backed off the show-stealing antics of season 1 of late which is too bad as she reliably got the best lines. Finally this past episode though Arnett let a little freak fly, *WONDERFUL* *spins ecstatically in circles à la Sound of Music opening* but still within in-character bounds. The nice moment, flashes of GOB, when he guesses that Gene is 45 and can't believe he's 34, and especially his frantic multi-mimicry "bullet points" which brought back both Baldwin's unforgettable role-playing therapy mimicry and, at the end, unmistakable evidence of his friendship with Krasinski (real life, not Jim) in his identical timing and style.

To celebrate next week's commencement of principal photography on season 4 of my all-time favorite tv series: my favorite lines:

"Who'd want a bee as a gift?"
- Walters' disgusted delivery makes this

"DEAD DOVE DO NOT *EAT*" / "I'm not sure what I was expecting."
- the bizarre underlining of "eat" is *so* G.O.B.

"I don't care about *ostriches*."
- Lindsay in a nutshell. Also one of the times her lilting native accent slips through; love it

"What a fun, sexy time for you."
- IIRC this was ad-libbed. The word genius is perhaps thrown about overliberally including by me, but Cera, man. His terror and flinching at Buster's hook - sheer greatness

"I don't understand the question and I won't respond to it."
- epitomizes Lucille -- sneering, willful blissful ignorance

"Oh! Lindsay!"
- and the self-conscious way he looks around afterward, at once expectant as if someone should give him a prize and also checking to be sure his quick recovery fooled everyone. Just amazing
(Michael: Do you remember growing up with a sister?
G.O.B.: Sister? Uh...no, I don't... not really ... ringing any bells.
Michael: (nodding toward Lindsay who is standing RIGHT NEXT TO THEM) Other than Lindsay, of course.
G.O.B.: Oh! Lindsay!
Michael: Well, you might not be the most reputable source on this.)

I love when actors who are obviously smart (or so it seems to me) are such good actors that they can convincingly play dumb.  It has to be as hard as playing drunk, for the same reason:  you have to convey unawareness, and acting is nothing if not hyperawareness.  (Similar paradox to funniness - the way TRYING to be funny subverts itself.)  Reese Witherspoon's Elle Woods is an outstanding epitomic example.  And George Clooney's O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? character being a sample failure of same.  Anyway, thinking about this because lurve Paul Rudd's Bobby Newport so much... I actually believe that Bobby is a sunny dimwit.  Of course, his excruciating awkwardness in ROLE MODELS may have been even more astounding... dude's just great.  This thought also always brings to mind Brad Pitt's former-dork cameo performance on "Friends" - that man has never been a dork and, though IMO he has never before or since looked better than in that episode, I completely believed his character had long been a conventionally-unattractive dork.

Mildly obsessed with the actress who plays Nadia on New Girl. She is too good. I believe she is Kristen Wiig-level gifted; infinite comic potential. Have watched her date scene with Schmidt a dozen times and he's almost unbelievably funny, just as good a straight man as comic - but she is in some other galaxy of funniness. Everything about her performance in that scene - her timing, her use of her face, body language and voice - is optimally executed to an ultramicro level. Sublime. Saving for future giggles her list of likes about America:
salad bar
Despicable Me
Tosh 2.0
Connect Four
freedom of speech
David Fincher
sidewalk
1-800-SLIM
yo' mama jokes
strawberry
Wilmer Valderrama [mangled]
Leon J. Panetta
ice skating. For fun, not to save life.

And the McMouse thing... I almost passed out. It was like WHO'S ON FIRST on acid.

I'm mildly obsessed with Taco, but there are no good Taco twitter accounts to follow (that I've found), and LaJoie is so disgusting on Twitter that I just can't bring myself to follow him.

Storage space is becoming a problem on my various devices, but I can't be bothered to transfer, consolidate, etc.  Also can't get my jump drive to talk to any of them/vv.

Devoured Hunger Games series.  Probably the page-turningest written material I've ever experienced.  The first one for sure, anyway.

Friends visiting.  Wish my most favorite people weren't scattered across the globe.  Need a jet.

11/3:  [insert vicious hair-scorching invective here]  &^@#% LinkedIn.  My friend who runs IT security at a FS firm has confirmed via rigorous testing that it:
-- mines members' facebook accounts for connections (friends lists, and friends' friends - at least, if not deeper: he's still experimenting on that).  Unclear whether vice versa - he's working on it;
-- tracks your google searches, then later puts YOU on your search targets' "PEOPLE YOU MAY KNOW" section (if you are logged into LinkedIn at the time; not yet proven whether it happens even if you aren't); and
-- (if you are so gullible, like me, as to let it "sign in" to your eg gmail account:) EVEN IF you do not select to link to Person X, LinkedIn KEEPS PERSON X'S NAME + CONTACT, and puts you in the "PEOPLE YOU MAY KNOW" not only of Person X but of all of Person X's LinkedIn connections, out to at least the 2nd degree (3rd degree suspected but not yet proven).  Delightful result in my instance:   my stalker, from whom I'd successfully hidden for some time, viewed my profile today and now knows what city I'm in and where I work.  I *really* need to get a new job now, stat.
      -- EVEN BETTER:  even if you delete your LinkedIn account in a rage, LinkedIn will keep your name, full profile info & contacts, and permit people to search for you and ask to connect with you.  (Presumably the above activities continue as well.)
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11/2: "This is the second time I'm going to ask this today, sir: why is your hand up my shirt?!" - Ava, to new sound guy
================
11/1: "Wait - other people can see you?" - Brittany
"There's a bee in my bonnet, and that bee's name is government waste." - Sue
"...except on Facebook, and even then it takes years." - Finn
OMG let the Irish dude sing. Listen to that honeyed baritone. ETA ah, there ya go. Adorable.
"Why couldn't she have wished for Lord Tubbington to quit smoking?" -- Brittany, of course.  I do have a favorite.
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10/31: Even now, as often as it happens (like just now, twice), every time I see a not-obviously-of-Asian-descent person using chopsticks to eat food rather than to stick them in their mouths like buckteeth while pulling up the corners of their eyes and making ching-chong noises at me, I am filled with fondness and gratitude, having grown up around people who did not miss one opportunity, however slight, to point out how different/abnormal/inferior I was compared to them and mock me for it. *not still emotionally & psychologically affected by this as an adult, or anything* Seriously I am just realizing that this may be the reason that nothing, nothing, probably not even homicidal tendencies, will turn me off to a person faster & more irrevocably than anything even resembling mockery.
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10/30: Interviewer: Why did you stay away from this kind of character for so long?
Eddie Murphy: I was trying to anger my audience.
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10/29: Still watching Person of Interest. Still entertaining enough, if still too exposition-y especially in first showing us the mark-of-the-week. Also, Reese is ex-CIA; he'd use military alphabet, not "Greg, Henry"; it's so unlike these guys to get such a detail wrong. :/

Sometimes you put a pebble in your mouth and it turns out to be a candy, and its sweetness is so much the greater for having been unexpected. That's how I feel about the Cardinals winning the World Series. In fact Game 6 was somehow sweeter even than Game 7. (loved Freese quote after Game 7: "[I slept] 45 minutes last night, at like 8am. I didn't really understand what was going on." and his continued dazed humility and lip-chewing uncertainty even while hoisting his MVP trophy.) Same with 2006 NLCS Game 7 vs the WS, 2001 WS Game 4...etc. Funny how that is...must be that they're laced with the promise of more to come.
:(
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10/28: Today, dude on sidewalk: "Why'd you break up the Beatles?" Welcome to the United States, New York City, 2011. (Almost as fun as the normal-looking dude in my subway stairwell the other day who said politely as I passed by, some animal instinct keeping me from breaking my stride: "Excuse me, I want to take a video of myself jacking off. Would you mind holding the camera?") I do love men, really, a lot, as anyone who knows me knows. It's just the few.

Clearly the best coverage of the truly unbelievable, unforgettable Game 6.
- "Part of the magic of Mariano is the placid look, the slumped shoulders, as if this is all just a formality, as if he had already saved the game a few hours before and is only performing it once more for those people who missed it."
- "(La Russa had run out of bench players, of course)" LOL
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10/27: "He's going to be exhausted from smoldering all evening." - M, about E

"I'm number 8, between HG Wells and Billy Joel. Who ARE these people?" - Ava, UAN

"Hey guys. Good news: whatever I have, is NOT from the bird I kissed!" - Alex, HE
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10/25: Stepped back in time again tonight. Duck to water. Struck again by the microcosm-of-life lessons. Such as: the ones that look fantastic, tons of flash and style (eg: Brian [fedora, black shirt], & "COCAINE" tshirt guy) are usually more fun to watch than to dance with. :)

Notes so I remember for next time:

Michael J: You've known this guy before and the first time he was called Larry O'Keefe. They even kinda look alike for goodness' sake. RUN. RUN SCREAMING. *doesn't* *of course* *can't keep eyes off* *will probably follow around like a puppy* Seriously though: loose as a goose, with style and attitude to burn. Irresistible. Watch & learn.

Rivers Cuomo looking guy with Wes pants (Todd? Tom?): tight, precise j-bug/charleston style, GREAT FEET, great musicality, happy, even *laughing*, genuinely engaged & in-tune with follow. Very pleasing.

Cory (hat, white t): LOVE. Solid (in every sense), felt very in-good-hands, pays attention and adjusts, lead just right firmness. Limited variations, but might have been d.t. not knowing whether I'd know them?

Shay? Chad? (navy shirt, looks like a quarterback): gentle lead and meticulous technique (esp @ the cutback on 5&6 of closed circle 8-count, didn't fling me backwards into the wall). Seems new; promising. Height difference kinda prohibitive though... too bad...

Matt (Scott A. lookalike, maroon shirt): newbie, more enthusiasm than skill, a little bossy, bit too forceful, no sense of musicality (yet?), easily distracted/thrown off by my styling, but clearly learns quickly, obviously super cute, smells awesome, incongruous intriguing faint geekiness lurking around the edges of his personality. Continued investigation is warranted :D

Mark Zuckerberg looking guy (striped shirt): nice low & loose unorthodox gumby-legged style, but seems a little rhythmically sloppy and a very big fan of himself.

Arriving late to "Person of Interest", unaccountably given my love of its creators. Linus's (sorry, he'll always be Linus) delivery still stirs ambivalent unease...appreciating retroactively how good he/the writing for his character was. Not crazy about Caviezel's generic brooding thing....just being good looking isn't acting, sir.

ETA stylish. I like Henson. The direction is a little slack. The writing is a bit over-explainey.

"Eight pounds of lye. Heated to 300 degrees, the body will dissolve in 3 hours. Give or take."
"I will refrain from asking how you know that." lol

ETA I can't believe cbs hasn't posted 'back' full episodes AND they aren't available on-demand. Trying to outdo the record business in astuteness.

"interfere! I oughtta pull down your pants and spank your ass raw!"
[long, absolutely perfectly timed pause]
"I'm sorry- have we met?"

Could watch a billion times.

"You don't remember? Briefcase popping open? Drugs spilling everywhere?"

I just noticed - the only time in AD that I've seen Jason Bateman almost lose it (you see the physical struggle in his cheeks and eyes): in Best Man for the GOB, when he's sitting at his desk listening to Tobias, camera's tight on his face, and then they reverse angle and it turns out Tobias is sitting there shirtless.

In the "wearing the hell out of a suit" category, no one's likely to ever overtake the Bale's Bruce Wayne or Will Arnett in GQ, but it won't be for lack of Gabriel Macht's Harvey Specter trying.

AUGH, show, we don't carry freaking IDs! You gotta be kidding me.

Brad: So this code you can't break, but the "Don't apply for a boat license in my name" code is fair game?
Max: Well, how else am I supposed to rent a boat using your credit card?

Their chemistry is delightful.

Eureka: just realized: a major reason that - if forced to choose - Jenna and GOB are my favorite characters in their respective shows: = their shared trait of reliably giving socially incorrect responses - even (maybe especially) in fleeting, wordless reaction shots - to every thing that ever happens around them - including their own statements and actions.  Two favorite examples leap to mind:

Jenna (with wounded dignity): I never heard back about my audition for Everybody Loves Raymond. I'd wondered if you'd made a decision.
Phil Rosenthal: Yeah, 15 years ago. We went with Doris Roberts. ...But thank you for tying your headshot around a brick and throwing it through my window.
Jenna: [bashful proud half-smile, like a child who's just been praised for doing a minor task well]

(From possibly my fav episode of the entire series: model home kitchen; Lindsay is sitting at the counter on the outer side; to her right, GOB is standing, and to his right, Michael is standing inside the kitchen)
Michael: GOB, do you remember growing up with a...sister? [referring to mysterious "Nellie"]
GOB (mostly while looking directly in Lindsay's face): Sister? Uh... no, I don't. Not really... ringing any bells.
Michael: Other than Lindsay, of course.
GOB: Oh! Lindsay!!!
[GOB looks back and forth between Lindsay and Michael, looking super pleased with himself, like a dog expecting a treat]

"does Eliot have to fight with a, a, a dirt sword?" "Damascus, 2002!"
ETA lol it was even better than what I misheard: "Nobody's asking Eliot to fight a guy with a Nerf sword!"

"What, like you've never seen a man travel with a desktop?"

"Set Nate on fire?"

"Shame on YOU, shame on your MAMA, shame on your KIDS."

"You better readjust your peripherals!"

Yup just keep right on putting Eliot in uniforms. That is just perfectly fine.

Besides insisting on the flavorless Sophie/Nate thing (she has eleventy billion times more chemistry with Eliot), this show just keeps getting better - sharper, funnier, zippier.

Ugh, these flashbacks to Nate losing Sam are hard to take.

"who doesn't like me?!"

"I told you that in confidence over six cosmopolitans!"

"I'm gonna ask him about baseball."

Just the other night I was raving at my nbcu friend who DOESN'T WATCH THE SHOW (?!!!??) about how minutely detailed 30 Rock gets. And today I discovered this, which played at the fake nightclub where Liz met the 'perfect' dude who was just like her. Who goes to the trouble of writing (and performing) a song like this that no one is going to notice or care about? She blows my mind.

There appears to be no level of celebrity sufficiently minor to disqualify one from having a cable reality show.

Absolute scream, and a nice one-stop display of the range of his knowledge/interests/abilities, his florid visual imagination being my favorite. First one to move me to seek him out as I absolutely must know the rest of the last entry. Google Street View car passed by me a few weeks ago - I held up my purse in front of my face, causing driver to laugh, I imagine villainously.

Why does Gabriel Macht have no chemistry with anyone ever? BTW, Chris when you're done with my darling Christian, Macht has the perfect Batman mouth.