30 Rock quote of the week -- 2/23

Jack, telling the nanny that she had to work late: "Just dab some scotch on your neck and turn your eyes the color of a winter crystal and she'll think you're me."

Jack: "When did we stop giving children cigarettes? It's the liberal war on Leap Day. "

Kenneth to Jack, seeing his daughter in the future, who was working at Habitat for Humanity: "She started experimenting in liberalism."

Best of 2011

It's the end of February, but with the Oscars coming up on Sunday, it's a perfect time to post my Best Of list for the previous year.
Uff! What a bad year for movies. I complain about this a lot, but truly, this year was not good. I can't even decide which to put at the top, so I'm just going to make a list in no particular order.

• Beginners


• Win Win


• Crazy Stupid Love (minus all the parts with the stupid babysitter and ridiculous teen-age son)


• The Artist


• Moneyball


• Tree of Life


• The Help


• Bridesmaids


• Martha Marcy May Marlene

Biggest disappointment: The Descendants (I know I'm alone in this, and I'm okay with it.)Another disappointment, but not a big one: The Muppets (I so wanted to love this movie, but it was just okay.)

Biggest surprise: The Artist (see previous post)

Best Actor: the guy from A Better Life.

Best Actress: Meryl Streep (Iron Lady)

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer (Beginnings) / Ryan Gosling (Stupid Crazy Love)

Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain (nominated for The Help but I liked her better in Tree of Life)

Best Director: Terrence Malick (Tree of Life)

Best Original Screenplay: Bridesmaids
Best Adapted Screenplay: Moneyball

Worst accents ever in a movie: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Best scenery in a movie: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Hey, I'm Swedish, what can I say?)

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The good news is that Television had a great year

Best drama: Parenthood

Best comedy: 30 Rock

Best new discovery: Louie (also fits in best drama and best comedy categories )

Best return of a character: Mr. Cyr to Parenthood

Worst return of a character: Seth, off the wagon, to Parenthood

Best character on an increasingly disappointing show: Blaine on Glee

Bummer: No Mad Men in 2011

Best mini-series: Downton Abbey (love it, love it, love it!)

Most improved: Parks and Recreation

New shows to love: Suburgatory, Happy Endings, New Girl

Still the best 22 minutes of each day, Monday-Thursday: The Daily Show

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As usual, I'm pretty much in the dark about new and/or popular music. But...

Adele, 21 -- totally jumped on the bandwagon with this one.
The only other CDs I got this year were Foo Fighters (thumbs up) and Beastie Boys (thumbs down -- no offense Estee)
Best concert -- Foo Fighters at Meadowlands & Prudential Center (Newark NJ)
Concerts to recapture my youth -- RUSH at MSG, Duran Duran at MSG
the only other concerts I saw -- Maroon 5 at Jones Beach and Bon Jovi at MSG

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Theater
The Book of Mormon -- yes, I saw it. yes, I loved it. I wish I could link a video to this song, but there is only the song.



Best Books I read this year
(two memoirs, but very different): Say Her Name-- Francisco Goldman
Bossypants -- Tina Fey
Fiction: The Ghost Writer ( I know I'm not supposed to like Philip Roth, but I so do)

Best Personal

• My tour of Scandinavia. So many wonderful memories of Norway and I am now able to forget all the bad stuff. I loved seeing Sweden, the land of my peeps, and Copenhagen, Denmark, one of the coolest cities. I hope to return soon (the plan is 2013).


• Also, I hate to say it, but I'm a convert. My iPhone has changed my life. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but I love it.


• Discovering podcasts.


• Having two wonderful sisters help me through the hardest thing I've done in my life.


• Reunions with mission friends. 1) my two favorite comps, Anne Lise & Sara in San Diego and 2) Jeremy, Pete, et al. in Utah. 3) Bowcutt in Bergen.

New Girl quote of the week -- 2/21

Welcome to my new blog feature, New Girl quote of the week. I have a few episodes saved so I may go back in time to post some old quotes. We'll see.

Jess, after making a joke about Schmidt's overnight guest: "I'm sorry, I want to banter with you guys in the morning and I just, like, panicked, and made a Hitler joke. I'm sorry."

30 Rock quote of the week -- 2/16

Liz on the subway: "That's not how it works. Let people off first."

Liz to Jack: "Am I the last one in this city still following the rules of being a person?"

Jack, explaining why he was wearing a tuxedo to work after getting mugged: "The mugger took my cuff links. All I have here are tuxedo cuff links and I'm not about the wear them with a suit... and... look like an idiot."

Jack to Liz, after throwing her into the garbage: "You're the only woman I could fight to regain my manhood."

30 Rock quote of the week -- 2/9

Jack: "I am a very powerful man. I can see to it that Transylvania never sees another episode of 'Friends.'"
Transylvanian UN delegate: "No! Monica and Chandler just slept together in London."

We've all been here, am I right?

... and if so, please tell me which show in the comments section.

30 Rock quote of the week -- 2/2

Jack to Liz: "And by your assistant, you mean you... with a British accent."

Jack in his tape on negotiating skills: "No one has won a land war in Russia. Not Napoleon, not Hitler. Not even Balki in the unaired ninth season of 'Perfect Strangers.'"

Liz: "You didn't realize that emotion could be a weapon? Have you not read the poetry of Jewel?"