Thursday, January 28, 2010

RIP J.D. Salinger

This is not going to be long, or a list, I just felt that upon the passing of as great a literary giant as Salinger the very least I could do was write a brief blog post with my thoughts. I will be the first person to tell you that I am NOT and never have been in the biggest fan of Salinger's most noted work, The Catcher in the Rye. I have a tendency to find a large amount of hype very off-putting, and there is no book in the entire canon of American literature which gets as much hype as Catcher. It's a good book, a really good book even, and one that really appeals to teenagers, and has meant a great deal to so many people, and all of that is wonderful, but I do think the majesty of the novel gets blown out of proportion a bit. Kids in my high school would salivate over Catcher, decreeing it the only school-assigned book worth reading. I enjoyed Catcher, and I really enjoy Salinger's writing, but I personally feel that it comes out even better in Franny and Zooey, as well as in his collection Nine Stories. The characters of Franny and Zooey Glass, as well as the entire Glass family, have a had an immense impact on me, as a person, as well as a writer. They are beautiful, zany, complex, tragic figures, and they are so, so beautifully written. Salinger was a mysterious figure, but he gave the world a great deal of beauty in his life, and for that I thank him, and wish him a peaceful rest.


<3

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

a list of ways in which I am spending my time as of late

I've been anything but productive lately.
These are the pursuits towards which the vast majority of my time has gone lately.

  • Whatthebuck videos. I have watched so, so, SO many of Michael Buckley's fantastic youtube videos lately, it's really becoming an issue. Several of hours each day have been dedicated to watching and rewatching his hysterical pop culture commentaries over the past few weeks. If you have never watched him before, go check it out right now-- http://www.youtube.com/whatthebuckshow He's fabulous, and I mean, it's not that I consider watching these videos a waste of time, but it might be good for me to apportion my time just a little more responsibly, you know, considering I am in school and all...
  • 30 Rock! Have I mentioned my love for 30 Rock before? I mean.. have I? Have I discussed how Tina Fey is my idol and every single word that she writes is comedic gold, and that 30 Rock makes my little GOOD comedy hungry nerdy heart swell with joy? Have I mentioned this? Well, anyway, I like the show. It's wonderful. It's perfect. It should stay on the air forever. I basically am Liz Lemon, only without the awesome job and without Alec Baldwin to point out when I have crossed over from endearingly desheveled to a straight up mess. Also I have not dated Jon Hamm (yet.) I have season 2 on DVD here with me at school and I have spent quite a bit of time in the library watching it on my laptop (because I have that longggg break from 10:20-2:30 on Mondays and Wednesdays, no class until 2:30 on Thursdays, and various other weird hiccups in my schedule that leave me with random free hours.)
  • Painting my nails. I have repainted my nails everyday for the past week or so. It's kind of gross, I don't know what my problem is.
  • Reading. I'm actually happy about this one. I haven't really been doing THAT much reading but I did finish the book that my mom bought me for my birthday, The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton, which was cute. It's a female friendship type book, very enjoyable, but the back cover boasted, "Move over Ya-Yas" and as a massive YaYa series fan I can testify that it did not come close to fulfilling that statement. I'm now reading Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams, which is a collection of short stories, prose, and diary excerpts from Sylvia Plath and I'm only two stories in but it is PHENOMENAL (as would be expected, but still!) and a book called The Best of Everything by Rona Jafe which I am also only ust starting but it's set in New York City in the 1950s and focuses on five girls working together at a publishing company. Apparently I'm very into girly friendship books lately, I dunno. I'm enjoying it so far. AND I picked up Candy Girl, Diablo Cody's memoir on a whim a few weeks ago and then never started it, but I opened it last night and ended up reading about half of it in that one sitting. It's fantastic. She's fantastic. I thought Juno was overwritten and a little too quippy, but still clever, but Diablo (her real name is Brook Busey and I wish she'd go by that because I prefer it to her pen name, but that's irrelevant) also writes the AMAZINGAMAZING showtime series United States of Tara, wrote, directed, and co-produced the black horror comedy Jennifer's Body that I thought was insanely funny and awesome and am basically obsessed with, and writes an awesome column in Entertainment Weekly. Basically, she's rad, and I admire her lots. On top of this I am still working my way through my movie critics book (American Movie Critics: An Anthology from the Silents until Now) and still loving it, I just can't go through it too fast, or I feel like I didn't get much out of what I read, and end up going back. I've been doing it one or two criticisms at time and enjoying it a lot. I also recently bought Jon Stewart's America the Book: A citizen's Guide to Democracy. I'm embarrassed that I had never read it before, and will be getting to it very soon. It's been a good month for reading.
  • Starting blogs but not finishing them. I have a whole bunch of half done ones queued up waiting to be finished and published. It'll happen eventually...
  • Seeing lots of movies!!! I've recently seen lots of the Oscar contenders (The Hurt Locker is my very favorite of this season, and the most moving and well made piece of cinema I've seen in years. It's out on DVD now, please rent it.) which, of course, I'm loving. My friend Alyssa and I will be seeing two or three more while I'm home for the weekend. Probably, Crazy Heart, A Single Man, and maybe The Young Victoria. Excitedexcitedexcited. I intend to write a blog talking about my favorites and just various Oscar related stuff before the actual event but I can't guarantee that that will really happen.
  • Missing my friends from home a LOT :(
  • Loving my friends at school a LOT :)
  • Longing to cuddle with my kitttttttyyyyy
  • Writing lackluster poems for my Creative Writing class. Poetry isn't my thinggggg. I'm dying to finish this segment of the course and move on to prose.
  • Being amused by every single thing that my math professor says. He is an adorable and ridiculous man.
  • Never sleeping at night, but wanting to stay in bed all day. Damn you, abnormal sleep patterns!!
  • Working out!! We're trying to be very pro-fitness around these parts as of late, and I'm happy about it.
  • Listening to massive amounts of Lady Gaga. This isn't new, but it has gotten a bit out of hand recently.
  • Always wearing my glasses, but thinking constantly about whether or not I might want to put in my contacts. I just never get around to doing it, for various real and made up excuses.
I'm going to eat some Wheat Thins and do my homework now. Have a beautiful day!

listfully yours
xotess

Monday, January 25, 2010

a list of my favorite fictional couples/could be couples

I'm really silly and girly and obnoxious, and I watch too many movies, read too many books, and watch too much TV, all of which I am far too emotionally invested in. All of that being said, it's easy to understand why I am a HUGE shipper. I get embarrassingly sucked in by a cute fictional couple, and these are my favorites. This might, and by might I really mean will, be a grotesquely long list.

* Jack and Rose. Number one. I don't even care if that's cheesy. I have probably never been so truly and honestly moved by anything as I am by this romance. I've been obsessed with them since I was six years old, for god's sake. The spitting lessons, the flying scene, dancing in steerage, the car scene (obviously), the drawing scene, and basically any time they look at eachother throughout the last hour or so of the movie fills my heart up more than any other fictional pair ever has, and then tears it apart more painfully. I can't explain my attraction to this movie, or to this pair, but it's incredibly strong. That's silly, I know, but I can't help it. No matter how many times I watch the movie (and I have watched it A LOT) I still sob til I feel sick from about the moment they hit the iceberg, just at the thought of this beautiful, perfect, and magical love getting destroyed. God, I'm ridiculous. Plus, Kate and Leo are the most gorgeous and fantastic creatures I've ever laid eyes on, and I personally have always wanted them to be together in real life. Does anyone else feel that way? I adore them. I adore Jack and Rose. I'm getting teary just thinking about this now...probably going to have to pop in the movie as soon as I have the three hours to commit to it. Great.
* Ross and Rachel. This is a given. Everyone knows about these two, even if they've never seen an episode of Friends (blasphemy!) They're the model of the up and down will they won't they TV couple that every pair to follow is, and always will be, compared to. And they're just damn cute.
* Ron and Hermione. They are perfect for each other and don't you dare try to argue otherwise with me. Jo has spoken, H/H shippers. It never ever ever ever ever ever ever would have happened in a millions years. It's always been Ron and Hermione. Let it go, move on with your lives.
* Han Solo and Princess Leia. Oh. My. Gosh. That's all I can even manage to say about this. Actually no, I can also say that Han Solo is still the dreamiest man I have ever laid eyes on.
* Luke and Lorelai. Come on, any Gilmore Girls fan was waiting around for this to happen since the first of many banters across the counter of Luke's diner in the series premiere. While I will admit that I ADORED Max Medina, and, personally, would probably have chosen him for myself, it was always about LukeLukeLukeLukeLuke for our girl.
* Seth and Summer. One of my very favorites. They were just sooooo perfect for each other. The OC was great when it premiered, and while I will be the first to admit that it went down hill fast, and when it started rolling, it crashed at topspeed, but STILL, these two were adorable and lovely right up until their wedding in the very last episode.
* Marcus and Jessica. If you haven't read the Jessica Darling series by Megan McCafferty, GO RIGHT NOW and get Sloppy Firsts. Read it, then come back and we'll chat :)
* Jim and Pam. There's nothing to say. <3
* Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan. I adore plenty of literary pairings that are perhaps more likeable, or more deserving, but I just love everything about these two. I know that they're selfish and reckless, and that by rooting for them I am essentially rooting for lying and infidelity, but I absolutely do not care. Everything about the love affair these two characters share is beautiful and heartbreaking, and leaves me aching for more. Please, please, read The Great Gatsby if you somehow have not. Your life is little darker for not having the beauty of Fitzgerald's creation in your life. Really.
* Scarlet O'Hara and Rhett Butler. I'm a Gone With the Wind freak, in love with both the book and the film. The book is wonderful, but quite a hefty undertaking. While the movie isn't exactly any breeze either, at over three hours, it's stellar and passionate and romantic and I highly, highly recommend it to anyone. Especially anyone with a flair for melodrama, period pieces, and the South (me, me me!!) Also, Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh are incredibly beautiful throughout.
* Rachel Berry and a great guy. I'm not quite sure who I want Rachel to be with at this point, but I would very much like to see her with an awesome boyfriend. She could really use that, I think.
* Carrie Bradshaw and Mr. Big. Realistically speaking, these two are actually a REALLY terrible couple. Big is an asshole. He doesn't treat Carrie in a way that anyone should put up with, let alone a fabulous New York girl who writes a sex column for a living and is very clearly portrayed as an independent, suave, city gal. Don't get me wrong, I lovelovelovelovelove Carrie. She's one of my very favorite TV characters of all time. I'd like to BE Carrie Bradshaw. And, of course, Mr. Big is a complete dreamboat. And they're lovely together when things are going well. And they have spark and fire...but, in reality, Big would never really change into what Carrie needs him to be, and therefore the happily ever after ending (or until the movies...) that the duo finally gets (IN PARIS OF ALL PLACES ! <3) in the series finale is a little ridiculous. That doesn't mean that I wasn't praying for it, or that I don't fall all over myself giddily every single time that I see it. I LOVE Carrie and Big together, but this is one of the couples where you really, really have to just accept the complete disconnect from reality. Do that, and they're sensational.
* Joey Potter and Pacey Witter. Don't give me any of this Joey and Dawson crap. These two were lovely and real together and, quite frankly, the best parts of Dawson's Creek were almost always the one's the had the least to do with the whiny title character, and this couple is just one example.
* Jack Donaghy and Liz Lemon. Okay, they don't belong on this list at all...but I'm kind of interested in seeing something happen here? BUT I'M NOT SURE! Eeeeek! The idea is appealing to me but also makes me pretty nervous. Give it a shot for my sake, Tina?
* Heathcliff and Clair Huxtable. SUCH lovely TV parents. SUCH a beautiful marriage. Ugh. I can't even put my love for these two, their entire family, and just The Cosby show in general into proper sentences. Adopt meee?
* Jason Seaver and Molly Malone. On the trend of TV parents, the Growing Pains 'rents are another of my very favorites. They were great parents, and yet very clearly a couple first. Lovelovelove. Plus, this show was clever, and charming, and cheeky, and cute. The Seavers are awesome. And little baby Leo DiCaprio was in it! <3
* Walter Burns and Hildy Johnson. Go watch His Girl Friday right now. Oh my god. I want that in my life.
* Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy. A necessary inclusion on any favorite couple list, clearly. They're sensational in the book, but my very favorite incarnation of Liz and Darcy is in the BBC mini series starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. Perfection.
* Emma Woodhouse and George Knightley. On the Jane Austen note, they're another one of my favorites.
* Bones and Booth!! BONES AND BOOTH!!! <3
* Annie and Alvy. Annie Hall not even my favorite Woody Allen film, not by miles, yet still, you haven't really lived if you haven't seen it.
* Sarah and Derek. SAVED THE LAST DANCE OWNS MY HEARTTTT. that statement is slightly hyperbolic, but still. lovelovelove
* Katie and Hubbell. The Way We Were will get me every single time. EVERY time.
* Harry and Sally. Another beautiful movie romance :)
* Dwight and Angela. Obviously Jim and Pam own the title for best romance on The office, but I love Dwight and Angela almost as much because for all their weirdness, and there's A LOT, they do really love each other. Plus, they're the two creepiest people, they belong together.
* Melanie and Jack. In the sweet romantic comedy One Fine Day, George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer are absolute perfection. My one complaint is that the movie doesn't go on for another several hours so that I can coo over their sweetness.
* Belle and the Beast. <333333333 My first favorite romance.
* Mia Thermopolis and Michael Moscovitz. My one complaint with the wonderful, wonderful film adaptations of The Princess Diaries is that they didn't go anywhere with the Mike and Mia relationship :( But in the books, they're magical!! Michael is one of my biggest literary crushes to this day, and they're one of the most adorable couples! Plus to have Robert Schwartzman and Anne Hathaway playing the characters and to STILL not have them really get together, is a tragedy.
* House and Cameron. They're on of my should-be-together ships. They have never actually been a couple in any way (and the way things are going right now, probably never will be :( ) but I still love them, and I'm still pulling for it. If you watch the show you are probably either strongly House & Cameron or strongly House & Cuddy. Personally, House and Cuddy makes me want to projectile vomit a bit. Cameron is my favoritefavoritefavorite, and she and House would be so good for one another and so, so HOT. But I'm really not thrilled with the way this show is going lately so I really don't want to talk about it anymore, or I can guarantee this will turn into an angry anti-David Shore's stupid decisions rant.
* Catherine and Heathcliff. Wuthering Heights has recently become one of my favorite books. So, so, gothically beautiful.
* Pudge and Alaska in John Green's amazing novel Looking for Alaska. They were never exactly a couple but GOD did I want them to be <3
* Nathan and Haley. I haven't watch an episode of One Tree Hill in ages, and the fact that they got married in high school after like three months of dating essentially so that they could have sex without breaking Haley's no sex before marriage rule is completely ridiculous, but they're still super, super, super precious.
* Chuck and Blair!!! They're just fabulous, and dark, and devious, and sexy, and wonderful, and strangely sweet. I know that on a show like Gossip Girl all of this lovin' can't last, but I'll be eating it up with a spoon while it does.
* Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon on Weekend Update. Okay, I know they're not really a fictional couple AT ALL, but I have always been obsessed with SNL and Weekend Update in particular, and these two were my favorite anchors. For some reason, I always imagined them as a couple...and okay, I was like middle school aged so I'm not embarrassed to admit that maybe...well... I mean, maybe I..I... I wrote some Tina/Jimmy fan fiction. It wasn't about the real Tina and Jimmy but about their characters from Weekend Update. I have the distinct feeling that I will one day regret letting this piece of information out in the universe. Oh well...

on that note, I think this list is over. I'm missing a ton, but I'm tired, so this will do


In unrelated news, I am having a real Liz Lemon sort of day. I'm just a regular ol' mess, from FALLING OUT OF BED THIS MORNING (what am I, 3?), to very nearly spilling my scalding hot coffee all across the table in my math class, almost falling in a pile of spilled ketchup (EW!!), to losing a shoe in the middle of a busy walkway in the pouring rain...I'm doing well. Oh well, I just have to get through one more class, survive the super insanely intense spinning class because otherwise I'll spend the whole night feeling fat and gross, and curl up in bed for the new episode of House. It's so rainy out, and it's making me terribly agoraphobic. If I could stay in this room for the rest of the day I happily would.

My nails are painted a pretty bright purple today, and I'm loving it.
listfully yours,
xotess

a list of TV shows I intend to watch someday

I’m a huge tube head. I watch way more TV than I need to or should, and yet I always feel like I am missing out on a bunch of other great shows because they conflict with my the ones that I have already committed myself to watching, or because I was too young to watch while it was still on TV, or because I didn’t develop an interest until I was too many seasons behind to catch up, or sometimes because it just took me awhile to come around and embrace all they hype. I’ve seen a few episodes of some of these shows, and never even a second of others, but they are all programs that I would like to watch in their entirety someday…crazy TV on DVD binge-marathon style, of course.

The Sopranos
Ugly Betty - I've seen a few random episodes and decided that it was very possibly the cutest show on television, and right up my alley, but I just haven't ever been able to get in the habit of watching. I'm a Daniel and Betty shipper, though, just from what I've seen :)
True Blood (this one I would like to catch up on ASAP so that I can start watching in real time!)
Mad Men
Lost- Lately I have been really, really, REALLY wanting to start watching this, but I’m going to wait until I have lots of free time to watch it rapid fire (I’ve been told that will be preferable.) Probably this summer.
Chuck- Zachary Levi is just so cute. That is really my only interest in this show.
How I Met Your Mother
Ally McBeal -I’ve seen quite a bit of this one and really, really love it, but I definitely need to do a full Ally-immersion at some point.
Felicity
Nip/Tuck
Private Practice -huge Grey’s fan (well not so much lately, but still…) and I LOVE Addie, but I just never got around to watching this.
Arrested Development
Freaks and Geeks
My So Called Life
Doctor Who/Torchwood – because you can never be too nerdy.


There are probably more but this list will do for now. If you watch any of these shows, make a case for why I should start watching it sooner as opposed to later. Likewise, if you have any other awesome shows to suggest, have at it. (Yes, I realize NO ONE is reading this, and therefore my interrogative tone is pointless. It's fine.)

listfully yours,
xotess

Monday, January 18, 2010

a list of thoughts about the golden globe awards

My first thought is just WTF? I mean really, this entire show was once giant hot mess. I'm really annoyed, actually, so I don't want to get too into it, but here's a random assortment about my feelings on this little event.

  • Guiliana Rancic. What are you doing with your life? Seriously, did anyone watch her on the red carpet? She's always ridiculous and makes Ryan Seacrest look like a serious journalist, but this was was terrible (entertaining, but terrible.) She was screaming at George Clooney, asking Sandra Bullock about her sex life, and generally being complete chaos. Clearly girl needed to lay off the champagne.
  • I feel like I'm the only one who didn't find Mo'Nique's speech moving. I was just embarrassed and wanted it to be over. I was happy for her for winning...but, come on.
  • KATHRYN BIGELOW WAS ROBBED. This upset me more than I can express. She should have won. Everyone thinks so, including James Cameron. I was violently offended by her loss. wrong wrong wrong wrong. The academy better set things straight, that's all I have to say.
  • Avatar is gross and weird and did not deserve Best Picture. I had my fingers crossed chanting "Anything but Avatar! Anything but Avatar! Anything Avatar!" while waiting for them to call the winner, but alas, I did not get my way.
  • I was really really really really happy for Jeff Bridges :)
  • Lea Michele looked beautiful, and was my personal pick to win Best Actress in a tv comedy or musical, but I think Toni Collete is fantastic and very deserving as well.
  • 30 Rock is still the best comedy of TV, but that's not stopping me from being absolutely THRILLED to see the Glee kids take home the win! Tina & co are awesome, and they know it. There's nothing wrong with sharing the love with this awesome group of Gleeks.
  • I was pulling for Stanley Tucci :( He's wonderful and did amazing work in The Lovely Bones.
  • I loved Tina Fey's dress. Why did no one else like it?
  • I really don't understand why Chace Crawford was even there, but he looked too pretty for me to really complain.
  • Just seeing Kate Winslet up on stage presenting elevated the night for me. She's just wonderful. Favorite human.
  • I need to stress again that Kathryn Bigelow is an amazingly talented, brilliant, visionary of a director, as well as being a smart, beautiful, classy woman, and I admire her so much. She did breathtaking work on The Hurt Locker, which I think is one of the most important and best movies I have seen in years (it ranks up there with Milk for me, in terms of recent films that I truly loved/was in awe of) She absolutely deserved to win best director. end of story.
that'll about do it. my stomach is really hurting :/

listfully yours,
xo tess

Saturday, January 16, 2010

a list of things I am going to do this evening

These are the things that I am going to accomplish tonight. I'm really great at making to-do lists and shitty at finishing them so I decided to publish the list as an incentive to actually get it done.

  • Go to the gym with Katie and sweat off the sundae I had this afternoon. (plus some, ideally.)
  • paint my nails. I'm thinking black.
  • Work on the "Bad Romance" video dance. Yes, this is important and belongs on a to-do list. It is very important to me to be able to say "Yeah, I know the dance from the Bad Romance video, Gagalicious herself taught it to me the last time we hung out." (Okay, it's probably important that I never say that, actually, if I want to have any friends. But you get my point.)
  • Read for Creative Writing. I'm going to be a good student this semester, pinkie promiseee.
  • Clean up my room. It's really icky. I just have way, way, wayyyyy too much stuff.
  • Walk to the store and buy some hair dye. I've been feeling the urge to dye my hair for a while now, and I know that it's already five o'clock, and therefore dark out, but whatever. I'm a strong, independent woman! I can walk around in the dark! hmmmm
  • Shave my legs. I'm dressed in shorts for the gym right now, and I honestly have no right to do so. My legs are not looking cute.
  • Finish the blog post that I started yesterday.
  • Dye my hair. Maybe. Might save that one for tomorrow or Monday. (So that my hair will be all freshly dyed and purdy for class, duh.)
  • Make my official Golden Globes ballot.
  • Convince someone to go AC Moore with me tomorrow. I'm in the mood to make some silly stuff. I want glitter and feathers. Probably want some crazy makeup too. I wanna get all Gaga-fied forever and ever. I'd also like to tie dye.
Thaaat's about it I think.
There should be another post coming up later tonight if I follow through on my list, and I intend to liveblog during or after the Golden Globes, my favorite drunken award show, tomorrow.
listfully yours,
xoxoTess

SHOW ME YOUR TEEETH
<3

a list that sheds light on 18 years of obsessive TV watching

I don't know anyone who loves TV as much as I do. That sounds silly, but I mean it. It's not really that I watch TV in such high quantities (I mean I do watch a lot) but it's that I have always felt like I'm more invested in my TV shows than everyone else. I have always been someone who gets attached to things easily, and who is very drawn into fictional stories. Television has always been important to me, and I don't think that is something to be embarrassed of.

This video of Michael Buckley is probably as close as I can get to explaining the way I feel about television. <333 v="ygINv-ExYcM">Friends. I was never really that into kid's shows. I watched them, and I loved them at the time, but I never developed a real lasting attachment to any of them the way I do know. I started watching Friends with my mom when I was about five years old. We watched it religiously, and as an elementary school kid I was just as consumed in the will they won't they back and forth of Rachel and Ross (<33333)>
  • Providence. This is another show my mom and I watched together when I was too young to be watching it. It was a family dramedy and I ate it up with a spoon. It was great and I have been desperately trying to find it on DVD for years. NBC, GET ON THIS!!!

  • ER. Again, mommy and I were very into this way back when. Our interest waned as the seasons went on, but I love a good ER rerun to this day, and I bawled my eyes out during the series finale. Plus, I still remember everything about the episode when Carol had the babies, right down to the pajamas I was wearing.

  • Growing Pains. I watched this show in reruns on the Disney Channel, but STILL, I loved it so much


  • Saturday Night Live. I've been really into SNL since I was very young. I worship entirely at the altar of Lorne Michaels. I wanted (still want) to be a writer for the show someday. I used to make my friends reenact the skits, and of course I was in charge. Weekend Update has always been my favorite (I have special affinity for the Fey/Fallon Weekend Update era because they were on 2000-2004, which was the height of my obsession. Plus they're both fantastic.) I just think the very idea of it is so clever, serving up ridiculous (but real) news stories for comedy. Genius. I had the weirdo hobby writing my own Weekend Updates sketches. I would take magazines or newspapers and go through finding articles that I thought could be turned into comedy and then I would write them out, and perform them for an audience of...no one in my bedroom. I was a cool kid.


  • Boy Meets World. COME ON! I grew up with Cory Matthews & co (they were a little ahead of me but still) and I wouldn't have it any other way. I just have so much nostalgic love for this show. and for dreamy Jack Hunter.


  • Sabrina, The Teenage Witch. Who DOESN'T love Sabrina? That's what I wanna know.


  • 7th Heaven. I'm not what you would call religious, but man did I want this family to adopt me. This show died a long, painful death towards the end, but the first half or so of the series was pure schmaltzy, family TV gold. I can imagine watching this on DVD with my kids someday and having us all enjoy it. Is that weird? probably.


  • Gilmore Girls. probably the show that holds the biggest place in my heart. I just adore it more than anything. Lorelai Gilmore is one of the first TV characters that I really connected to and saw myself in (I know she's the mom and I was like 12 when I was watching, but still) and I love the snappy, hyper-literate dialog. It's just good ol' fashion fun. Sweet, charming, quirky, full of heart. That's the best way I can describe GG.

  • Dawson's Creek. Oh my godddddddddddd. That's all I have to say! Actually, no, it's not...I can also say, JOEY & PACEY FOREVER! <33>
  • The OC. Season one is TV dramedy gold. After that it was kinda mehh, but the charm of the Cohen family, Adam Brody's dorky cuteness, and the precious romance between Seth and Summer kept me hooked.

  • One Tree Hill. Um. I was like 14. That's my only explanation for this obsession.

  • Grey's Anatomy. It was really REALLY good back in the day. SERIOUSLY! (that's a bit of an inside joke for any fellow grey's fans)

  • The Office. Pure L O V E, in every single way.

  • 30 Rock. I worship Tina Fey. That's all I have to say about that.

  • Friday Night Lights. Brilliantly written, acted, and produced. It's just good. Purely good.
  • U.S of Tara. I have the biggest "career crush" on Diablo Cody. I was iffy about the uber trendy Juno, but this series that she created and writes is beyond phenomenal. (and Jennifer's Body was AWESOME!) Big, BIG props to Toni Collete for essentially playing five different characters, and doing them all fabulously.

  • Glee. Glee is my newest baby. A fluffy confection of saccharine soaked delight with just the right amount of snark and wit to keep things from getting too cuddly. Plus there's singing. And Broadway babies making it big on TV! awww, warms my little heart.

  • listfully yours,
    xo tess

    EDIT******
    I JUST STARTED WATCHING LOST! OH MY GOD!!!! CAPS LOCK IS SO SO SO APPROPRIATE FOR THIS STATEMENT BECAUSE IT IS PROBABLY THE BEST SHOW THAT I HAVE EVER EVER WATCHED. I love it so much. so so so so so so much. I can't even put into words right now because I'm blown away. I'm only about halfway through the second season (out of six) but I'm already completely addicted to it. It's just...beyond fantastic. GO WATCH RIGHT NOW! omg.

    Thursday, January 14, 2010

    a list that sums up the last month of my life

    Sooooo, I haven't posted a blog in over a month. Oops. I have no excuse other than it was a really busy month, what with finals, and moving home for break, and Christmas, and my birthday, and being home for a month and such. BUT, I'm back and school now so here is a list that sums up what has been going on in my life between when I last posted a blog and now.

    • I had my first experience with a college finals week. It wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. I will probably get struck down by lightening for saying that.
    • I had a really, really nice Christmas. I played with my cousins and ate cheesecake and didn't get into any fights with any of my relatives. And I got Gilmore Girls the complete series on DVD (along with lots of other great stuff! I'm lucky :) )
    • My brother and sister and I had a Harry Potter movie marathon. One day, six HP movies. Glorious.
    • I got to spend some much overdue time with my best friends <33
    • I watched four seasons of House in about two weeks. I am now COMPLETELY obsessed with this show. Starting off the new year by becoming addicted to yet another TV drama...good work, Tess.
    • I ate way too much and did not get to the gym often enough..ugh. Looking to turn that around now that I'm back at school.
    • Cuddled with my kitty so much.
    • Became obsessed with Jennifer Morrison (Cameron on House.) She is SO lovely!
    • Drove a lot. Drove on the highway. Scary.
    • Saw the film An Education with Alyssa, and loved it. Highly recommend it.
    • Had some boozy, messy nights that weren't as fun as they should have been.
    • Spent a lot of time at home and didn't care.
    • I did not leave the house for three days at one point...I was too busy watching House.
    • Packing my stuff to come back to school was really no better than packing it the first time. I am still, really, really useless at getting things together in any organized fashion.
    • I didn't sleep enough over break, and I have some serious dark circles cooking right now to prove it.
    • I turned eighteen on New Years Eve!
    • I had a really awesome laidback NYE night watching Glee and baking a cake with Melissa.
    • We fist pumped like champs when the ball dropped.
    • I had a cookie dough night with Alyssa and Monie like old times :)
    • I got several pairs of new shoes, all of which I love, yet have been wearing my chucks almost everyday lately.
    • I read three books at the beginning of the break, and then got bogged down in other things and didn't accomplish as much of my book list as I would have liked.
    This doesn't even begin to cover the past month in it's entirety but it's time for me to go meet my friends for dinner so this will have to do. I WILL blog again soon! I'm promising myself that.

    listfully yours
    xotess