Hey guys, remember Chicago Hope?

I do vaguely, and now thanks to the wonders of Hulu, I've watched the first part of the first season. Some thoughts.

1. This is like Grey's Anatomy before Grey's Anatomay, but with people that might be interesting. It's still too early to tell. There's an awkward marriage break-up, a crazy wife in a mental institution (Jane Eyre gothic much?), experimental procedures. And this is only the first season. I can't wait for more! (I think I'm serious about that exclamation point)

2. Hector Elizondo as Dr. Phillip Watters vs. Miguel Ferrer as Dr. Garret Macy. In a low-talking, gruff boss-off who would win?

Hector in Chicago Hope (Also, Mark Harmon with an eye patch? Wait, he's on this show?):



Miguel in Crossing Jordan:



I'm going to say I prefer the resonance of Miguel Ferrer's voice more.

3. I adore Adam Arkin. I love him as Dr. Shutt on Chicago Hope or as Adam on Northern Exposure or as Stanley Keyworth on The West Wing. Something about his fronted consonants is just so absolutely endearing even when he's hostile.

4. Mandy Patinkin as Dr. Geiger. [ed note: Totally not fired, he just left the show a few seasons in to spend time with his family]. I enjoy him and his motown singing in surgery. Actually, the singing in surgery is most of what I remember about the reruns of this show.

Also endearing:

Publish Post

Angrily tossing around a ball in Season 1 Episode 4 "You Gotta Have a Heart," proving he can be as brilliant and caustic as Toby or House. Geiger even has the requisite screwed up love life.

5. That's really all I have to say for now, but it looks like 342987045 actors that I'm familiar with were on this show, but it's never really talked about. I'm just excited for Mark Harmon.

I realize all I'm doing these days is posting videos

But too bad because I have another one. At least I got up and went to school this morning.

Anyway, this is a collection of pineapple references from the great USA show Psych. It's the kind of show that grows on you, featuring a West Wing favorite Dule Hill as Gus and the dream pop culture reference actor James Roday as Shawn. Mostly, I just love it when Shawn says, "Are you a fan of delicious flavor." Pineapple is delicious.

The Audacity of Rock: Part 3

Let's sing at a school pep assembly about angsty teenagers.

Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

Apparently this is the song that kicked off the grunge scene. While that's debatable, let's talk high school. My gymnasium was definitely not this smoke filled or creepy. And there was a lot less long hair and a lot more Abercrombie and Hollister. I never really connected with this song (I'm a little young to really belong to this era), although being raised in the Northwest I admit I have a special place in my heart for Nirvana. Anyway, some genuine angst.

Nirvana |MTV Music

My Chemical Romance "Teenagers"

I dare anyone to say this isn't a brilliant rock song. Not only is it totally catchy, it's not dark enough for me to feel guilty about not agreeing with its sentiments. Also, it came out once I was already in college meaning I was a little too old to belong to this era of rock. This is just to say I never got into the teen angst thing. Anyway, the video features another pep assembly from hell, this time with gas masks.



So in the Battle of Teen Angst: Grunge vs. Emo, I think emo wins out mostly because it doesn't sound angsty so much as anthemic. And I love me some classic rock throwback.

Questions to Ponder:
1. What's the draw of creepy cheerleaders?
2. Is high school supposed to suck this much? Because I missed out.
3. Why were the only "alternative" bands that put out teen angst songs when I was in high school Good Charlotte or Linkin Park? And how lame were they?


Part 1 and Part 2 of The Audacity of Rock.

I don't cough for my own amusement

Somehow I've managed to not wake up my roommate with my constant coughing tonight--I swear she would sleep through a bombing blitz without even moving. Anyway, I've only slept a few hours and can't breathe very well and wanted to find that clip from Pride and Prejudice where Mrs. Bennett is yelling at Kitty for coughing, but I couldn't, but I found the clip where Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth meet after Mr. Darcy has taken a dip in his lake (BBC version). Anyway, it made life a little better. In fact, I'm just going to watch the whole thing right now. It's not like I'm doing anything else with my time today...

Enjoy

Thank you Illinois.....the land of Linkin'

My fabulous friend Margaux makes awesome connections between feminism, Ibsen, the 1970s, and good child actors in film: La Reine Margaux

My sister's weekly US History posts fill my inner nerd with joy. This one's about Kansas: Blonder and Thinnerrrr

I don't think I mentioned this before, but I interviewed that awesome sister for a podcast about blogging for my campus's writing center. Here's the newest episode about comic books and graphic novels: Word of Mouth

Daniel Carlson at Pajiba writes a weekly recap of Lost that I find both amusing and insightful: "Namaste" (S5/E9) at Pajiba.

And video for you from a sitcom that's kind of comforting to watch, My Boys. It's coming back on TBS next Tuesday (3/31). In this clip, Brendon has gotten out of control after making it in a local magazine's list of hottest bachelors so the gang has a douchebag intervention:

Some great beards

Anyone who knows me or has read my blog long enough knows that I love a good beard. Maybe it's because I'm a little beard-deprived here in Utah, but I think I would love them regardless. Anyway, this is mostly an excuse to find picture of men with good beards. Here are five:

1. Harrison Ford. I found this picture years ago, and I have no idea where it is from (did he do a movie sporting this lovely beard?), but it certainly makes him manlier--if that's possible.

2. Christopher Maxwell as Vic Brody in Benjamin Button. If you recall, he and his twin were one of the best parts of the film for me. Also, it took a while to find a picture, so props hotflick.net for having a screen shot of him.


3. Joshua DesRoches as Rick Brody in Benjamin Button. The second part of of this awesomely bearded set. Again, hotflick.net provided me with this angsty screen shot.


4. Clint Eastwood as the man with no name in A Fistful of Dollars. He's about 10x more badass with this beard.


5. Bret McKenzie from Flight of the Conchords. I think he's usually my favorite of the duo because of this beard.