Top 5 Best and Worst TV moments of 2009

DISCLAIMER:

I'll put some white space because there are biiiig spoilers below. Also, this only covers the TV shows I watch...so nah!















5 Best TV Moments
5. Fringe Finale: Peter Bishop's otherworldliness
At the last scene of the first season of Fringe, we see Walter Bishop (main character) crying in front of his son (Peter Bishop)'s grave indicating he died years before. The only conclusion: Walter stole his son from an alternate universe to replace the one that died! Oh, and guest star: LEONARD NIMOY :).

4. Scrubs: Ted Jams to a little "Hey Ya"
The whole Jamaica two-parter was pretty good (I loved the Brady Bunch Tiki idol thingie), but during the marriage of the Janitor (Glenn Matthews, apparently ((or is it Tommy something...))) and Lady, Ted, the lovable dullard and musician, breaks out with an insipiring cover of Outkast's "Hey Ya." I nearly burst a stitch because it fit so perfectly in Scrubs fashion. Hats off to a great series.

3. Lost: Hurley attempts to preemptively write "The Empire Strikes Back"
Through a strange turn of events, the castaways (well, half of them anyway) from Lost get transported backwards in time to 1977 where they carve out a life among the denizens of that era. Hurley (the de facto nerd of the crew) decides that he's going to write "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes" back before George Lucas finishes it and make a few improvements. I thought this was a classic moment :)

2. House: "I see dead people"
Imminent Diagnostitian Gregory House has always been a little out there, but when he starts hallucinating that Wilson's dead girlfriend is hovering around helping him solve cases, things go a little wacky. To top things off, he finally sleeps with Lisa Cuddy only to find out that he hallucinated the whole night! Now, House is taking his issues to rehab to finally get off of his Vicoden addiction (and hopefully not discover that he has Schizofrenia). Great stuff.

1. The Office finale: Pam's got one in the oven
Well, I knew coming into this episode that there was supposed to be a huge twist coming, but I had no idea (until I put together that there was a big twist and Jim and Pam were in a hospital, yeah I called it a few seconds before ;). The thing I love about the Office is that it's hilarious, watchable, and doesn't contain the D-A-M-N drama that most shows find a necessity to keep people watching. Every single viewer wants Pam and Jim to stay together and they don't screw things up by adding unnecessary drama to the equation with this one! That's why it's number 1. :)

5 Worst TV Moments
5. Fringe: Need to defrag your episode schedule!
Fringe had an awesome first season, but I had to get back into it 4 or 5 times because they kept putting large breaks in between contiguous episodes. Why? I guess because they had production or actor problems, but come on Fox, get it together. I loved this show, but next season, they better keep it more together. There were several times I had to look up characters because I'd forgotten what they'd done!

4. Lost: What's Destiny got to do with it?
Can you change the future from the past? You can't? Ok...no wait, you can? Alright. Make up your mind Lost!!! I've grown tired of the tangents this show goes on about destiny and the future and the Island wanting this or that; I wish they'd just explain some things and get it out in the open. I suppose with next season being the last, that's exactly what will happen. But if it doesn't...that would suck.

3. House: Aloha (in the goodbye sense) Kutner
This wasn't badly done by the producers of the show, it was just horrific enough to make the list. I couldn't believe that he committed suicide, it sort of shocked me (relatively, of course since it is just a show) that his character was just gone. So, the past two season's we've had huge deaths on House, maybe next season will have a more upbeat ending (like Season 2 where House's pain magically disappeared).

2. Heroes: Out of their minds? Or out of budget?
It's likely that most Heroes watchers will agree that volume four really made up for all of the crapola in volumes 2 and 3, and the season finale had the potential to be a really great ending to a supurb volume. And it was really for the most part, except for one teeny, tiny thing...THEY LEFT OUT THE FIGHT BETWEEN NATHAN, PETER, AND SYLAR. Why oh why? The camera shoves Claire outside of the door and we see lights flashing inside. They let the fight happen completely off-camera. I was fuming at the end of that scene. With such a production-intensive show, they needed to at least give us something of that potentially earth-shattering fight. But no, nothing... Maybe NBC will give them a bigger budget for next season's finale *grumble, grumble*.

1. American Idol: Cross-dressing queens can be Johnny Cash? *cold shiver*
"Ring of Fire" anyone? Mr. Cash rolling over in his grave, coming back to life, seeing American Idol, and dying again from the shock and despair? Yeah that about sums it up. Wearing more makeup than Dolly Parton and the Girls Next Door combined and giving the rhinestone more screen time than a documentary on Rio's Carnival, Adam Lambert gave me a headache every time he got on the stage. And when he butchered Cash's "Ring of Fire", I couldn't stand it anymore. When he lost in the finale, my soul smiled a little.

Acceptable Male Tear-Jerkery

There are very few movies in which it is acceptable for Men to cry. At this point, some would say "Yeah, none, dur dur dur, Go make me a sammich", but I am of the opinion that it is OK for men to show emotion publicly when it's appropriate! At my Men's Fraternity Bible study last night, the preacher showed the end of Rudy and it got me thinking about movies that are actually on the following lists:
10 Films At Which a Real Man Can Cry (In no particular order)

• 10: Braveheart: Men in dresses??? NO, Men in kilts, big difference. It is completely unacceptable to cry during the love scene, but the ending is a real man's tear jearker if I've ever seen one. In fact, I'd say you aren't a real man if you don't at least feel a stirring at Wallace's final shout of "FREEDOM!"
• 9: Rocky: "Adrian! Adrian! ADRIAN!" If anyone can take a punch, it's Rocky Balboa. The whole fight scene leaves you emotionally vulnerable (as a man) because we all know that it's hard to take those punches and stay in the game. And then he's calling out the name of his girl, it rips out your already shredded heart...you know...in a manly way...
• 8: E.T.: All guys love Aliens, right? I do, I know that much. An alien movie is rarely a miss (let's just forget about Signs, ok?), but nothing comes close to the original Extra Terrestrial. If you've ever lost a best friend, you know how Eliot feels watching E.T. board the saucer...
• 7: Dead Poets Soceity: A mentor is very important, and very few of us get the chance to actually stand up against "the man!", but the students in Mr. Keating's class salute his educational forrays at the finale with a resounding "Oh captain, my captain." You'll have to fight back the tears, but don't do it...it's bad for your teeth.
• 6: One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest: Well if you don't experience the full range of emotions on this one, you're a Vulcan. And never are those emotions more potent than when Chief kills McMurphy and escapes. There's the notion, as the big Native American runs into the sunset, that something truly alive has died in that sanitorium.
• 5: Angels in the Outfield: Now, this one may be just me, but when the entire stadium stands up doing the "angel hand wave" at the final game of the season, it really gets me.
  
• 4: Homeward Bound: I have to admit, I've always had a soft spot for animals; in fact, I'm willing to get alot more emotional when a boy loses his dog than his best friend (but really aren't they the same??). There are two really rough patches in this one: Shadow in the hole, telling the other two to leave him and when Shadow finally comes over the ridge at the very end. (NOTE: I had a golden retriever growing up that I loved more than anything in the world so I might be biased here)
• 3: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: Spock dies, could this list really be complete without this one. Yeah, I know, he comes back in the next movie, but for two whole years, Spock was dead! "The needs of the many outweigh ... the needs of the one", and then the casket being shot out of the torpedo launcher to the sounds of "Amazing Grace"? Well, you see why it belongs on the list.
• 2: Life is Beautiful: My family watches this movie every year at Christmas, and it gets me every time. When he grabs his kids and the whole town pour in to give him the money, it's gut wrenching. "My teacher said that every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings" "Atta boy Clarence".
• 1: Rudy: It did spark this list after all. By the end of this film you are Rudy; you've been through his whole story. And he never gave up no matter what happened. When he makes that sack and they carry him off the field, it takes an emotional dam to hold back the waterworks.

So this is the end of the list, but in case you were wondering:
10 Films at which a Man is NEVER, NEVER, EVER allowed to shed a tear:

• 10: Beaches: Barbara is never allowed to get to you...EVER
• 9: A Walk to Remember: It's freaking Nicholas Sparks, come on
• 8: The Notebook: Ok, let's get this straight, every movie based on Nicholas Sparks belongs on the list, so I'll stop listing them
• 7: Jerry Maguire: Good movie. Crying at "You had me at hello": Unacceptable
• 6: Ghost: Because really, it's Whoopi Goldberg, not Patrick Swayze
• 5: Titanic: Shouldn't have to put this one on the list because once you get weepy at Kate & Leo, you're officially not a man anyway
• 4: Fried Green Tomatoes/Steel Magnolias: Isn't this the same movie?
• 3: Gone With the Wind: Frankly, if you cry at this one, I don't give a damn
• 2: Flash DANCe, Dirty DANCing (Anything with the capitalized four letters in the title in that sequence): The only time water should be in your eyes is after the giant yawn when that "impressive" dance move makes your girlfriend/wife go "Ahhhh".
• 1: Anything with Matthew McConaughey: I have to read several Textbooks just to get my IQ back up after one of these.
  

Blah Blah Blah, 25 things

Well, I suppose I should do this junk because lots of people I know have done it and I couldn't figure out what to post on my blog today!

1. I want children a lot more than my wife does
2. I sometimes get anxious about totally irrational things (i.e. I used to get really anxious thinking that someday in the future I might go crazy...)
3. I hate buying store-brand stuff at the grocery store (even though logically I think it's probably about the same as the name-brands)
4. I get really upset that people do things to hurt others without cause or reason
5. I could literally do nothing for an entire week but play video games
6. I'm usually happy when Danica is occupied with friends or other activities so that I have time to alone to myself, but if she's gone for very long, I get really lonely
7. I very rarely call anyone "just to talk" and I feel bad about it
8. I get excited when I'm programming and I think I'm most serene while I'm doing it (aka solving logical problems)
9. I got a sort of "minor" in philosophy (with engineering majors, we can't technically get a minor)
10. I believe in evolution, I also believe God designed evolution
11. My political views lean more toward Republican than I will ever admit to anyone (FYI, I still hate the party system more than anything else in politics)
12. I've never voted and I don't feel bad about it (maybe if I lived in a swing state...)
13. I will NEVER serve in any branch of any country's armed forces, but I would fight to death to save any of my closest friends/family
14. I love to cook, but have very rarely followed a recipe to the letter
15. I would love to do voice acting for animation/video games if I could
16. I can do (decent) impressions of: Mr. Bean, Kermit the Frog, and Mickey Mouse, as well as many different accents. I practice doing these when I'm alone.
17. I'm unashamedly a fanboy. The things I'm fanboyish about (Star Wars, Star Trek, Final Fantasy, Mega Man, Sonic the Hedgehog), I find the good in every part of it and don't criticize like most. (YES, that does mean I liked the Prequels, get over it)
18. I get obsessed with stories, I can't stop until I have the full story whether it's a comic book or video game series or the entire Star Wars Expanded Universe, I'm obsessed with knowing every intricacy of the universe in which the stories are set.
19. Bad grammar grates at me like nails on a chalkboard
20. I hate looking stupid so much that if you ask me if I've seen/heard of/know of something, I'll immediately say yes or nod, then if I have to confirm something about it, I'll nod along until I cannot maintain the facade any longer. I know, I know, this makes me look even more stupid
21. I love making lists of things. I have lists of books I've read, books to read, video games I've beaten, comic books I own, video games I want to play and what order to play them in, etc.
22. My driving philosophy is summed up easily: go when you can, stop when you must, 10mph over the limit isn't speeding, follow ALL traffic laws including BLINKERS(!!!!!), stay in the right lane until you need to pass someone, as long as you're going faster than the person you're passing on the left, there is no cause for anyone behind you to get mad, and, finally, do not let people out, go, or walk by because it only slows things down, they will go when they get their chance!
23. I'm incredible forgetful, I will go upstairs to get something and forget what it is by the time I reach the top of the stairs
24. I have a raging temper that I keep in control 99.999% of the time, if you know my dad, this is an inherited trait
25. I could probably do 100 things instead of 25, but no one will read them, so I won't

First Blog

This is my first blog since, well, I think Freshman year of college (man that shouldn't seem like it was so long ago). A lot has happened since those days, but I'm not here to chronicle the past. Rather I will look to the future and see what's out there to come. Geez, that's cheesy; the only reason I'm not backspacing is because I need something to put in this first post and anything's better than nothing at this point.

I suppose I'll pop out a few "currently"s to begin this new blog (ya know...to fill some more space).

CURRENTLY...

Gaming (console):
Little Big Planet
I'm just casually playing this right now... I plan on going back and getting all the goodies sometime later (maybe if Holland will come help me get all of the 2 player junk)









Gaming (PC):
Fallout 3
Currently Level 13 on this game (max 20), just finished "The Replicated Man" and "The Wasteland Survival Guide" quests. I like to focus on computer hacking and energy weapons :).









Gaming (Handheld):
Final Fantasy IV
On this one, you get three playthroughs before you can't save after the final boss. The only thing that carries over to the next playthrough is abilities and ONE UNIQUE SET OF EQUIPMENT. Unfortunately the pieces of this set are a pain in the ass to collect and take hours of grinding (thank goodness for the auto-battle). SO, I'm working on getting 2 Red Tails so I can get the best weapon for my two Damage Dealers on my first playthrough.


Reading:
Star Wars: Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight
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