Good Television?

Today's topic:

A picture of the cast from your favorite show

I proudly admit that I am a product of my generation. Because of that I’m not going to sit here and try to say that the old classics are some of my favorite shows because, frankly, they simply don’t resonate with me. To the moon, you got some ‘splainin’ to do, or beam me up are not what make me tune in every week.

Oh, and anyone who knows me by now knows there’s (as my Wicked Step Mother would say) ‘a better chance of seeing God as we speak’ than me only posting one picture. Enjoy!

I really can’t begin to express my sadness over learning that Perfect Couples is getting kicked to the curb in favor of a new show with some washed up actor who hasn’t been on TV in 20 years. I’m bitter, and begging another network to pick this show up because it really deserves at least three seasons (I’m looking at you USA!). If someone gave it a chance they’d see the perfectly captured dynamic between these six characters. I think the network execs were just afraid because they identified with the “wrong” couple. Matt and I? Dave and Julia, all the way.

Okay, if we’re being 100% honest here I started watching the new Hawaii Five-0 for a couple reasons. First, the original aired in syndication super late night when I was a teenager and it got me through a lot of bouts of insomnia so I wanted to see if this new version measured up. Second, a favorite actor from another show on this list (Daniel Dae Kim) is in it. Finally…seriously, how hot is Alex O’Laughlin? I mean come on! Now I tune in for the witty humor and to place bets if McGarrett will be in cargo khakis with a navy blue tee shirt or a gray tee shirt.

I was twelve when Moonlighting first aired in 1985, probably didn’t get half the jokes, but seriously couldn’t stop laughing at Bruce Willis. A crime show that was also a comedy. They just don’t write ‘em like that these days, it’s all about psychological mind twists and realistic gore not sunglasses and the limbo in the office. A modern day take on (take your pick) “Taming of the Shrew” or “Beauty and the Beast” it sure was fun. Until the second they killed the sexual tension.

How could I not include Sex and the City? They were a little older than I was when it first aired but it couldn’t have resonated more seeing as though I was a single, hard working, slightly crazy, city girl also trying to find love through many (read: way too many) bad dates, relationships, fix ups, etc. If we’re taking the ‘who are you most like’ quiz I’m coming up as Miranda every time.

There was no theme music. There was only a very loose plot at best. There were about 20 actors no one had ever heard of before. There was a beach in Hawaii and a plane crash. And there was Lost. This show definitely was a love it or hate it type of animal. I know a lot of people who couldn’t get past the smoke monster, and that’s understandable it was a quirky plot line. Theology, Godliness, Heaven and Hell and simple, old fashioned true love made this show great. Well that and an encyclopedia’s worth of unanswered questions.

Remember the one with the Yeti? How about the one with the lesbian wedding? Maybe the one when Ross and Rachel took a break was your favorite? No matter which is “The One”, Friends was the one at number one for me. I was living in one of my first apartments (of course mine wasn’t half as nice as theirs but I’m also old enough to distinguish fantasy from reality ya know?) and going through the trials of love, friendship, family, work and life in my early twenties. It was perfectly cast, perfectly written and perfectly captured my generation’s struggle with adapting in a modern world. They grappled with everything from death and disease to marriage, babies, being broke, getting a dream job, making a fool of yourself, making a life for yourself, love, and so much more over the ten seasons it would take an entire blog to list it all. But no matter what they always did it through humor, and the six of them always faced it together. They were more than Friends, they were family.

Some honorable mentions that were close to making this list but I had to bump include Burn Notice, 24 (the first 3 seasons), Biggest Loser, Melrose Place and ER (the first 6 seasons).

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Catch up on anything you missed  30 Photos, 30 Days
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Sibling Rivalry

Immediately after posting yesterday’s blog I thought to myself ‘what in the hell have I gotten myself into?!?’ because I read through the list and there are some things in there I have no clue how I’ll make it work.  But screw it, “I’m in the mood to kick a little ass.”

Today’s requested photographic interpretation is:

A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest.

This is really tough because there are a couple different people I could pick for this particular category but in the end I really have to go with, my sister.

No matter where we’ve lived or how many months, weeks, days go by in between times we talk to or see each other, we can still share, literally, anything.  We started out, as most siblings do, in bitter rivalry -- mostly prompted by me who didn’t understand what the hell was going on and why there was another kid in the house after I’d had it to myself for so long.  As a young (like, really young) girl she was quiet to my loud, shy to my outgoing, sweet to my rebellion and I called her the “perfect child” in an effort to annoy the crap out of her and my mom. 

Most of the time it worked; but damn if she didn’t have one hell of an uppercut.  My early memories in our first apartment in Arlington certainly involve standing on the black and white, ‘70’s diamond printed sofa, ready to throw down and promptly getting my sorry ass kicked right onto the pea green carpet.  I knew just how to cut you down with my mouth, she perfected how to sucker-punch that mouth to shut it the hell up.

But as time went on we both came to realize we kind of didn’t have a choice but to be related, we were “in it together” so to speak, and suddenly we noticed that we were reading the same books and magazines, watching the same shows and movies, liked the same music, both loved to make up goofy dances and ate the same food.  We both came to appreciate the other for who we were and all of that pent up crap just kind of fell away.

It wasn’t like a switch got thrown and I can pinpoint the exact moment we stopped beating each other up, in our own ways, it just kind of happened.  One day I was watching the bulbous yellow lamp with its 24” shade whiz past my line of sight as I took a dive onto the floor while uttering something about hating perfect things, and the next we were building a fort, that spanned across our entire bedroom, out of all our blankets and listening to a Culture Club record while laughing.

And although maybe there have been some tears and major disagreements over the years, we stopped the verbal and physical hate that young siblings tend to experience and traded it in for a lot of love and common ground.  I’m looking forward to sharing even more with each other during the rest of our years here on this planet and now, as Matt and I make our way to the southwest where she has called home for well over a decade, we'll have more opportunity to do it face to face.

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Catch up on anything you missed  30 Photos, 30 Days
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A Thirty Day Revival!

For my blog that is! It’s been a terrible six months as far as keeping up with stuff like this but I keep narrowing down in my brain what’s really important to me and what isn’t. I keep coming back to this blog as something I miss doing. So because of that I’m going to give ‘er all I got Captain!

Over on Bridgete’s Facebook page she posted this little meme of sorts and I decided instead of cluttering up my Facebook I’d whip out the paddles and shock my blog’s heart back into beating again by taking on this thirty day challenge over here instead. I mean hell, if I can write an entire fracking novel in thirty days I think I can manage to post a few facts and pictures until the end of April right?

So I’m a day behind which means this will tip over into May but I really don’t see that as a problem, its not like this is required to be done in one calendar month or anything. Here’s the skinny:

1. A picture of yourself with 10 facts
2. A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest
3. A picture of the cast from your favorite show
4. A picture of your favorite night
5. A picture of your favorite memory
6. A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day
7. A picture of your most treasured item
8. A picture that makes you laugh
9. A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most
10. A picture of the person you do the most screwed up things with
11. A picture of something you hate
12. A picture of something you love
13. A picture of your favorite band or artist
14. A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without
15. A picture of something you want to do before you die
16. A picture of someone who inspires you
17. A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently
18. A picture of your biggest insecurity
19. A picture and a letter
20. A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel
21. A picture of something you wish you could forget
22. A picture of something you wish you were better at
23. A picture of your favorite book
24. A picture of something you wish you could change
25. A picture of your favorite day
26. A picture of something that means a lot to you
27. A picture of yourself and a family member
28. A picture of something you're afraid of
29. A picture that can always make you smile
30. A picture of someone you miss

So wow that’s quite the list of photos to conjure up! Maybe the photos and stories behind them will even spark up a story or two for May. Anyway, without further ado, here’s the pic & ten facts.

1. I’m addicted to white out line; it’s dry on contact and makes everything fresh and clean.
2. I really like seeing smiley faces or heart shapes occur randomly, like on my toothbrush holder with two round holes and a big wide hole across from them in a ‘D’ shape. It resembles the emoticon :D
3. I came within $54.69 of predicting the exact cost to do the recent repairs on my car. Those dollars were in my favor.
4. I believe it’s because I made it happen when I wrote it down, so now I’m writing down everything as I want it to be where our finances are concerned -- both income and out go.
5. There are twelve weeks & 1 day until we move to Phoenix.
6. That thought simultaneously elates and terrifies me.
7. Speaking of terrified…I got to study Poe in my last two classes (top five favorite writers of all time so it was quite cool to have the opportunity!) and realized how much it irritates me when people spell his middle name wrong. It’s Allan, not Allen.
8. Reading all this crazy stuff by Edgar is giving me nightmares; my psyche must be weaker than it was when I first discovered him in about seventh grade!
9. I’m growing my hair out and recently dyed it back to my natural color because I’m tired of dealing with it. Maybe I’ll get funky again someday but for now it’s just boring ‘ol, plain ‘ol brown-ish.
10. Matt and I plan to go to the beach every single weekend from opening day until the date of our yard sale two weeks before we leave for Phoenix. Who knows when we’ll get to see the ocean again!

So there you have it. Anyone else up for the blogging/FB/wherever you want to post it challenge?

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Catch up on anything you missed  30 Photos, 30 Days
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