Judging the 'Bors by what they Tivo

Did you ever see the movie Rear Window? I love that movie and I felt like I was the Cary Grant character today, except that, I didn't witness a possible murder of a neighbor... nothing like that. And unlike Cary Grant who was stuck in a wheelchair, I was stuck ironing my button-downs for an excruciating 2+ hours (I let it pile up for 2 mos, I know).

Anyway, in my rear window, I witnessed my neighbor watching TV. It wasn't difficult since the neighbor has a ginormous LCD TV and the crispness of it's HDTV-ness reached me, my ironing board and my steaming iron.

What was my neighbor watching? The Office. I love them already.



Ed's Note: After The Office, they watched '24' and 'Jon and Kate plus 8'... so maybe we can't be superduper friends, we can be OK friends... the type that gets invited over to watch Tivo'd 'The Office' eppies on their ginormous TV.

What happens when two of my favorite things in the world are put together?

How did I miss this??? I knew Steve Carrell was hosting, but I guess I just haven't been used to watching SNL for a while now, which explains why I missed this short (I heard most of the show sucked).

Anyway, enjoy --- this is like a dream come true for me:



Question: I know Anglophiles are people that love everything English, but what do they call Japanese culture-obsessed peeps like me? Nipponphile?

Need a paper bag...still hyperventilating

OMFG!!! ---> not trademarked by Gossip Girls yet, so I'm still free to use it. Maybe I should start a new acronym... hmmm, interesting thought.

Anyway, again, OMFG!!! I know I skipped on doing the recap last week and I'll try to work on that, but this one I have to let out before my heart bursts out of my chest (what a pretty picture).

Summary:

Michael and Jan called it quits. Michael was trying to find a new office chair in the supply catalog. He sees something he likes --- the chairmodel! He asked everyone to open their own catalogs and turn to the page where the chairmodel was. He asked everyone to use her as the template... for the ladies they will be setting him up with for dates. Everyone diligently follows, Toby gave an exasperated look. Andy and Kevin are deeply affected by the walk from the satellite parking lot to the office (Andy says 10 mins, Kevin says 30). They arranged for a meeting between the five top dudes from every office in the business park, Michael was so busy with the lady-hunt and entrusted Andy and Kevin to figure things out. Pam sets up Michael with her landlady. It did not turn out well. Jim hinted that Pam might be kicked out of the apartment. They tease each other back and forth about moving in together. Pam said she won't do it unless she is engaged. Jim asked her if he has not proposed yet. She says no. Jocular Jim said it was coming. She asks when. He won't tell, but she has been forewarned. Camera shows the weird, almost terrified look on Pam's face. Dwight takes Michael to the chairmodel's final resting place (oh yeah, Dwight found out she died of an accident). Michael does an impromtu re-working of "American Pie". Andy and Kevin successfully wins the parking lots back. *SQUEE ALERT* Jim and Pam walks toward the satellite parking lot. They were trying to figure out where to go for dinner. Jim suddenly goes down on one knee... Pam has a shocked look on her face... Jim opens his mouth and says, "Hey Pam, will you wait for me one second while I tie my shoe?". MUKYA!!! Pam says she hates him and embarassly walks away. Michael and Dwight jams through dusk.

This is nice, light episode compared to last week's nice but really dark and awkward one. Then again, Michael is not Michael without the awkwardness and we do witness that in the coffee shop scenes with Pam's landlady. This is totally a woman's episode, something of a mini-chick flick, if you will. I am glad I was at my sister's (she has DVR) because I was able to go back and forth, back and forth to the really cute Jam scenes. I think I did that four times.

Some other favorites from this episode:
- Kevin wanting to win so bad (my heart broke a little)
- Michael calling Oscar, "Oscar Mayer, wiener lover"
- Creed wanting Pam's chair so he can have two of the three he wants.
- Creed knowing Pam's name.
- The only time we see Toby on screen and he's shaking his head
- Andy's dance in the parking lot
- The exchange between Jim and Pam on their walk to the parking lot -- very real
- Andy whining about losing a penny in his loafer
- Andy's speech on the working man's need of a good parking spot

I give this episode a B+ for satisfying my Jam cravings!

Let me make this short and sweet...

The Office. Is. Back. Tonight. 9pm. NBC.

My prayers have been aswered...

No, I have not met Mr. Right yet, but this is even better:




I can't wait for The Office to come back on air!

Diff topic: A friend just got engaged!

Common Denominator: Happiness all around! YAY!

Projects Due

OK, so there are several things that I'm supposed to do that I have not:

• Office Recap - this is very emotional for me, I don't think I'll ever get around to doing this unless I hear that the season's back on.
• Poem Explication - I had to do three papers on Margaret Atwood's poem, Siren Song: a bio on the poet, an analysis of the poem, and an explication of the poem. I only did the first two. I am so tired and drained that I can't even get myself to write it (which also explains the lack of posts). I don't know if I'll ever turn it in. Probably, we'll see.
• Marriage Ceremony - it's this thing that I have to do for my friend. This one I really have to work on.
• Review for TOEFL - I was a FOB at one point so I have to take this exam so I can complete the requirements to transfer schools. I didn't think I had to review since I have a pretty good grasp of the English language, but then I tried one of the self-tests and I almost FAILED. Sad, but true... I guess I really am becoming an American.
• Christmas Stockings - we were asked to make a Christmas stocking at my part-time job. This one I'm all over... I'm too excited that I even volunteered to make some of my friends' stockings.
• Organize my Christmas list - I half-assed did this already, maybe I should revisit it and see if I could get away not giving gifts to some people. Not only am I cheap, I'm also broke. LOL.

Anyway, I'm sure there's a lot more things I can add to this list, and less things I could take off. Alrighty then, back to procrastinating.

Still grieving

I'm still grieving over the fact that Thursdays won't be the same anymore. Sure there's a couple more new episodes of 30 Rock (which has been totally brilliant this season), but Thursdays from fall thru spring won't be the same without The Office. :(

Then I see this news. Horrible.

Tomorrow, I'll try to write my uber-late recap of last week's episode. "Try" being the operative word.

Bittersweet Thursday

Sigh.

Tonight is the last new episode of The Office. Me really sad. :( I don't want to be selfish and all, and I'm sure I'm not alone hoping that the writer's strike end soon.

Anyway, I guess I have to go back and attempt to do homework now.

"No More S'mores, No More S'mores!"

I liked this episode. Although, I think this one of the episodes that would have flourished better in the 1-hour format. In addition to that, I like the "communal birthday party" dilemma better than the survivor man-arc of the episode. I'm not saying that the Michael Scott scenes weren't funny, I just liked the office dynamic in this episode. As an office bee myself, I can kinda relate.


This episode to me was short and sweet. Here are some of the scenes I loved about this episode:

• The cold opening. I loved how Pam, Phyllis and Toby reiterated that Michael wasn't invited to the Wilderness Retreat. The scene where Toby was doing his talking head and Michael knocked on the glass was hilarious.


• Dwight going around the office, showing the camera crew where he hides his weapons. Favorites were the Rambo-knife filed under "A.Knife" and the blow dart hidden in the toilet tan. I still can't stop cracking up just thinking about that.


• Dwight as the Overkill killer. Very creepy and very Dwight.


• Dwight hitting Michael with his shoe.


• Creed and his peach cobbler: "Tell him it's for Creed, she'll know..."


• Michael and his cut-up suit and the duct tape. Reminded me of The Simpsons episode where they joined a country club and Marge got a Chanel suit from an outlet store and kept on "re-configurating" it to fit in with the other country clubbers. (also, hmmm... sand wedge")


• Oscar giving the Jim-look.


• Pam's "Conference room?"


• Michael wearing a Battlestar Galactica sweater.


• Creed skipping around the room. LOL.


• The sweet exchange between Michael and Jim.

And my favorite of the episode... past birthday (surprise) montage:

Picture, again, courtesy of Best Week Ever.

(I was looking for a video clip, none available yet)

The last new episode is this Thursday. Me sad. Me very very sad.

I think I'm getting shunned

Ooops. I got too excited posting about The Office, and commented aboutlast night's episide "off-topic" on a post about "Kraft Single" . Anywho, the first time I get a sort-of reply from the editor and I get a slap on my typing-too-excitedly-about-The Office hands. Oh well.

Snap. LOL.

From the Frontline...

Hwaaaah! They've officially shut down production of The Office! Does this mean viewers will only get a short season? I hope everything gets resolved.

Anyway, here's a clip with Greg Daniels, Michael Schur (Mose), Mindy Kaling (Kelly), BJ Novak (Ryan) and Paul Lieberstein (Toby) explaining to us what's really going on.



These words from Michael Scott best explains how I feel about the whole thing:
“It feels like somebody took my heart and dropped it into a bucket of boiling tears and at the same time, somebody else is hitting my soul in the crotch with a frozen sledgehammer and then a third guy walks in and starts punching me in the grief bone and I’m crying, and nobody can hear me, because I am terribly, terribly, terribly alone.”

WGA vs AMPTP --- Let's get it on!

So what is this Writer's Guild strike we've been hearing so much about? How does it affect me? A regular person like me?

In a nutshell, this strike is causing a lot of TV shows, movies, etc. to halt production and it affects me because I am such a fan of the entertainment industry. I love watching TV and I enjoy going to movies (despite the ridiculous price tag). Movies won't feel the effect right now, but some TV shows are already playing re-runs since the strike started yesterday, November 5.

Late night shows that I love: Letterman, Conan, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report do monologues and satire on current events, so obviously they get hurt by the strike first. I mean, what if Britney accidentally chokes on a burritto while driving on reverse and wiping her windshield on a stuck paparazzo... who would make fun of her? My point exactly.

The other thing that I am nervous about this ongoing strike is The Office. Most producers of the show are writers as well, and three writers also play characters in the show. What happens then? News is, Steve Carrell and Rainn Wilson decline to come in to work because they are also members of the WGA. Greg Daniels joined the picket line, despite his executive producer spot in the show. As of this time, there is only one script that is left unproduced. I don't think that's necessarily good news.

I'm all for the writers receiving residuals on profits made from DVD's and new media, I think it's just fair. What I want is for this strike to end and that the writers and the producers/studios come to a happy agreement. It's a win-win-win situation, writers win, producers/studios win, and most importantly, I win. Besides, who wants to see reality shows taking over my TV. I am already living a reality, a real reality, not a fake, sometimes scripted (I'm talking to you Lauren Conrad!) reality.

For more info on stuff I don't really know much about, please click here.

“Wanted: Middle-aged black man with sass. Big butt. Bigger heart.”

I would have posted this last Friday, but I was not feeling entirely well… again! Over the weekend, I lost my voice and I have been coughing incessantly. Not feeling any better today, but I always feel like crap on Mondays anyway so what difference does it make, right?

Anyway, back to The Office. This episode it not my favorite, nor is it my least-liked. I am kind of confused on how I feel about this episode, to be honest. I like the fact that Karen was back. I’m Team Pam all the way, but Karen is a cool girl (in my head, she is the same Karen Rashida Jones played in Freaks and Geeks, who I think is so bad ass, by the way). I don’t like that this episode was a bit cartoon-y with the “panty raid” and fake moustaches, but I also like it because of the said “panty raid” and fake moustaches. So yeah, like I said sentences ago, I am confused.

Also, The Finer Things Club. A lot of viewers have been ragging about how they hate this idea. I liked the FTC, I wish I could be part of it someday, the same way I want to be part of an inside joke. Currently, there is a FTC in Facebook (started by a fan/blogger). I don’t have a Facebook account, but I might consider opening one just to be a part of the FTC. I have been invited to join Facebook numerous times by different friends, but I have not relented. Now, when I have to beg a stranger, I think I would, only to be a member of the FTC. Pathetic, no?

Here are some stuff I liked about the eppy:

• The Michael Scott dummy ala Ferris Bueller and Stanley’s opinion of it
• The FTC being the 2nd gayest thing about Oscar, the first being ‘having sex with men’
• Michael’s reaction to seeing Toby wearing a bow tie
• Pam slinking away after Michael got shot down by Ben Nugent
• Dwight’s Mr. Pringle-like ‘stache
• Dwight cutting his penis on the soda can lid
• Andy trying to get in the FTC, 2nd choice: Party Committee; Safety: Scrantonicity II
• The Karen-Jim awkward exchange
• Jim hiding the fact that he did not read Angela’s Ashes

My favorite, although totally ridiculous, was the walkie-talkie conversations between Michael and Jim. Too funny.

Pic courtesy of Best Week Ever blog

“Dunder Mifflin: The People Person’s Paper People”

As you can see, I did not write anything last week. It was my mommy's (yes, I still call her mommy, got a problem with that?) last week here in the States, she left for the Philippines last Saturday (sob), and we were all really busy. Also, I took a break from work, and work = internet access (shhh).

Anyway, last week, The Office went back to its 30-minute format. I guess I am one of the very few people who did not mind the hour-long episodes (or eppys as they are called in the internets). The hour-long episodes CAN be quite a drag, but I did enjoy the first four eppys anyway (and I totally gushed on the last 1-hour eppy). Going back to the 30-minute eppy was great but then it was as if something was missing. After 4 eppys that dealt with several plots, Local Ad left me wanting more. It was a good episode, don't get me wrong, but there was just something that's amiss.

Fine points of the episode, Local Ad:

• Andy figuring out what product the Kit Kat jingle was promoting


• Michael Scott's "zooming out" vision for the ad


• Creed, Andy, Darryl, Kevin and Kelly's jingle production - really catchy!


• Pam clearing Michael's phone


• Sue Grafton at the Steamtown Mall and Creed calling her "sexy hot"


• Meredith telling Jim to "Piss or get off the pot!"


• Michael inventing the unicorn at 5


• Dwight and Jim's Second Life avatars - I want Philly Jim!


• Creed eating Pam's hashbrowns


• Angela not liking mysteries


• Urban Stanley


• Just added: How can I forget the Phyllis-Dwight part of the Ad? "You have a son, and it's me."

and lastly, and what I thought was the best of all: Kevin as the Kool Aid Man. Best. Ever.

This week's eppy should be good. Karen's back!!!

I can't get the song out of my head, so let me share it (the glee or the pain) with you:

"In fact, um, I'm In Love with Italian Food"

Swoon. Squee. Swoon.

I told y'all that Friday's The Best Day Ever (and don't forget it's the same day they televise The Best Week Ever on VH1). However sucky everything else is, the memories of last night's episode of The Office just makes me all giddy. Sigh.

True, last night's episode did not give me a whole bunch of LOL's, but it did make me, sigh... sigh... and sigh --- in a good way. It was sad, it was heartwarming, it was awesome. Seeing Michael take the bus and go to his 2nd job was a little depressing. Seeing Dwight, altogether, was just heartbreaking. I did not heart Angela last night, especially after Andy gave her Garbage. PB&J? They evoked a completely different set of emotions from me, none of them distressing or miserable. Squee! The kiss was so reminiscent of the Casino Night kiss. It was just so great. The other officemates were great too... love the conference room debate on the propert use of who/whom --- I would never know what the answer is. :P

I heart Paul Lieberstein for writing and directing (his first!) this episode.

Just added: More Mose please! I would so stay in the Irrigation room myself.

"What is a Jim?"

Really, what is a Jim? A Jim is the hot awesome slacker from The Office, who, just recently, made the most coveted love story on TV (that's MY opinion, thank you very much) public. -Sigh!- Jim and Pam, Pam and Jim, Jam, now PB&J... -sigh!- I'm not saying that they're the best part of The Office, they're just great to watch. Last night was AWESOME! My favorite part: Andy singing acapella ABBA to Angela... it was too much, in a good way, if that's possible. My heart did go out to scruffy Dwight, but I'd have to say, Andy won big points for that number.

I have a confession to make: I only saw the last twenty minutes of the show last night. :(

I underestimated my teacher, I thought I could finish last night's test in under an hour, but I didn't. It was quite challenging. I underestimated myself as well, I thought I was just going to give up and hand my paper at 8:30pm so I can leave, but no, I didn't give up until I gave a better approximation (I was just guessing for answers at this point). I finished at a little past 9:00pm, drove home as fast as I can and enjoyed the last minutes of the show. OMG! The rooftop conversation... -sigh-.

The good part: I saw the whole episode online today... at work, Shhh. Don't tell.

Wednesday is the Second Greatest Day of the Week

Because, it is the eve of The Office night... which is Thursday, the bestest day ever! Or, maybe Wednesday is the third greatest since Friday is pretty good too, it starts the weekend (and additional greatness if payday falls on a Friday) and I always feel good on Friday after I have seen The Office. So yeah, scratch that, Wednesday is the THIRD greatest. Anyway, expect a bunch of The Office references in this blog. It can't be helped. Don't even get me started on "jumping the shark" issue this season. I will keep mum on that topic until we've reached halfway thru the season. And if that IS the case, you have to admit, it is still the best show out there, which tells you something about other shows... they suck? Although tonight, I think I will watch Pushing Daisies... it reminds me of Amelie and it's kinda Tim Burton-ish... see if it'll hold my interest.

Note to self: Buy "I Am America" tonight. And food for Didi, the prettiest guinea pig in the world! (Shhh! The building manager doesn't know, please don't rat me out!)