6 posts tagged “veronica mars”

The "Lord of the Pi's" episode I mentioned below (dubious apostrophe and all) was more than an homage to The Big Lebowski.  In the episode, the kidnapped wife character (aka Bunny Lebowski) was played by Patty Hearst.  Yes, that Patty Hearst. Dude, I know.

In spite of the fact that Veronica's new school is called Hearst College, it was still one of those "OK, what is happening with this stunt casting?" situations.  Yet, after Tuesday's episode, and after I watched my old Ti-Beaued episodes last night, it all became clear.  I won't say any more about that on the chance that anyone is reading this who hasn't gotten a chance to see the show yet. 

But, with all this in mind, I'll give you this song, in honor of Patty herself.

 

Veronica Mars has been spot-on this season: it's still dark and funny and suspenseful, and the tiny little homages to The Big Lebowski don't hurt, either. The recent episode "Lord of the Pi's" contained a wonderful parody of the scene between Brandt and The Dude looking at the wall of photos -- in this case, the role of The Dude was being filled by Keith Mars, one of the best characters on the show. When the abominable sitcom Just Shoot Me was still on, I certainly never imagined I would like Enrico Colantoni as much as I do now.

Other highlights of this season include a snappy send up of stereotypical campus protesters who major in Women's Studies, "The Lilliths;" tongue-in-cheek uses of the word "frak;" and the adorable Chris Lowell as Piz. Isn't Piz the best name?

This week's episode. "Spit and Eggs," was pretty freakin' great, I have to say. It brought a resolution to one of the ongoing cases and launched what I assume will be the next big one. I kind of feel like going back and watching all of my saved episodes, marathon-style. Hmm. I think I have my plan for the evening. If you guys aren't watching this show yet, you should be! I highly reccommend the Season One DVDs.

All-Time Top Fives:

Books:

1. The Real Life of Sebastian Knight - Vladimir Nabokov
2. Absalom, Absalom! - William Faulkner
3. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
4. Pnin - Vladimir Nabokov
5. À la récherche du temps perdu - Marcel Proust
   

Films:

1. Harold and Maude
2. The Graduate
3. Blue Velvet
   
4. The Big Lebowski
5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
   

Music:

1. Dinosaur Jr.
2. Bob Dylan
3. Stevie Wonder
4. Frank Zappa
5. Ani Difranco

Top Five Things I am into Right Now, a Short, Multi-Media List:

1. Rilo Kiley - The Execution of All Things
2. Veronica Mars (Season 3)
3. The Zero Effect
4. Sugar - Copper Blue
5. The Office (U.S. version, Season 2)
   

In response to:

Books, movies, music; what's in your top 5 right now?

So, I decided to get the Comcast DVR that I was wondering about a while back, and oh man am I in love.  You know how some people call those non-TiVo DVRs "TiFaux"?  Well, mine is my "TiBeau." Shut up.  I love it. 

Here are the shows I will record all season:

Lost - One of my two favorite addictions -- the other one was Alias, which ended last year.  I do love some J.J. Abrams! I am just glad that the horrible Ana Lucia will not be stinking up the airwaves this year, and that we'll (I suspect) be seeing a lot more of this Henry Gale.

Gilmore Girls - Not sure what to expect since this year the original writing/producing team will be gone, but I'm sure we can still count on all the witty, referential banter.

Veronica Mars - Finished the Season Two DVDs this past weekend, and I am OH SO READY for the Season Three premiere! I love this show so much.

House - The dude is sexy, people. Sexy.  Also, I love the Holmes & Watson homage, detective fiction being one of my specialties.

Here are some I am just getting into:

Bones -  As with House, I love the  investigative aspect of the show.  I never watched this last year, as it conflicted with Alias in the schedule, but this year, with my TiBeau, schedules mean nothing to me!  NOTHING! Mwa ha ha ha ha.

Justice - Badass Victor Garber, formerly badassing it up on Alias, is now being a badass all over this show.  I just wish his role was bigger.  I don't need to see that much of the dude from Dawson's Creek, is all I am saying.

Project Runway - I hate jumping on bandwagons, but they had a marathon of this show the day I got my cable installed, and I got sucked in after about three seconds.  Sheesh.  (Also, how much do I hate Jeffrey?  Dude, he made some girl's MOM CRY.)

And some more I might check out occasionally:

Grey's Anatomy - I have been known to catch an episode of this show here or there, but I am not as enamored of it as the rest of the world seems to be.  It's pretty good, and all, but  Meredith's Voiceover needs to shut the Hell up already, am I right?  (It's one of those "explaining the obvious theme" voiceovers, like Mary Ellen's in Desperate Housewives, and I hate that shtick.  Like, hello, people, I am not so dumb I need you to explain the theme of tonight's episode for me not once, but TWICE.  Damn.)

Brothers and Sisters - Last night's episode (premiere?) seemed pretty good, and damned if they don't have a freaking great cast.  Two more of my former Alias badasses are here now: Ron Rifkin (do NOT fuck with Rifkin!) and Balthazar Getty, he of the one weird eyebrow.  Also Ally McBeal.

6 Degrees - So,I wanted to see this show, Loving all things J.J. as I do, but I missed the premiere.  Will have to check when it's on and command the TiBeau to go fetch it.

And that's basically it, except for those old standby shows I will watch whenever they're on, like The Simpsons, (not South Park, though, you couldn't pay me to watch that hackneyed old glop) and Seinfeld.

Dang, man, I love TV.
 

In response to:

What TV show(s) will you be watching this season? Why? 
Submitted by ducnly.vox.com.

I finally got a chance to finish the second season of Deadwood, and now am forced to suffer until the third season comes out on DVD.  I had forgotten (or maybe hadn't really noticed) that the first season only had twelve episodes, so when I realized that the second season only had twelve, I thought I'd gotten cheated somehow.  A twelve episode season?  Those cocksuckers!  I thought I'd have it finished as fast as Netflix could send it to me, but it turned out that it took me over a month.

It isn't the kind of thing you can watch quickly, handfuls of episodes in a row.  I like to let an episode or two simmer a bit before I move on, replaying E.B.'s hilarious soliloquies in my head.  I can't get enough E.B., man.  His accent sounds like every teacher I had in middle school.  Calamity Jane is another favorite--we prefer the same kind of bourbon, actually: "the kind that ain't previously been swallowed."  I can't fucking believe those hoopleheads cancelled this show.  Fucking cocksuckers.

On a brighter note, the second season of Veronica Mars is out on DVD now, and the first two discs should be arriving chez Katra tomorrow.  (Um, so much for the dissertating!)  If I hurry up, I can maybe get through season two before season three premiers on the new CW network on October 3.  (Now that they're on the same network, VM is going to be airing after Gilmore Girls on Tuesdays.  This means I will likely not be accepting phone calls or invitations on Tuesday, which will quickly become my New Favorite TV Night.) (I told you I was geeking out.)

I only started watching Veronica Mars last fall, after I had heard so many glowing comments about it. I got addicted to it in a flash -- it's witty, dark, and well-written, and oh HO, do I love detective fiction.  The hot hot motorcycle gang doesn't hurt either.  By the time I finished season one, though, the first half of season two had already aired on TV, so I couldn't really jump in.  (I hate missing episodes of shows with a continuing story arc, and BY GOD don't you talk to me about a spoiler!)  I have been anxiously awaiting the release of these DVDs since approximately November of last year, so you can bet I will be racing home from work tomorrow to get started. Yippee!

In other television geekitude, I am very excited for the premier of Lost, which is October 4 (but I'm sure all you Lost geeks already knew that). I have been without cable this summer, due to a tighter budget and a more expensive apartment. Now that I'll be raking in a little more with the stupid part time job, though, I can afford it again. (Gotta have it for my CW shows, man!)  I think I am getting digital this time. Question: should I rent a DVR from Comcast for $9.99 a month, or buy one? Anybody ever rent one of the Comcast ones? How are they in comparison to a TiVo or another brand?

What do you usually do on Sunday?

Sundays are usually a day for me to recover from the business of the previous week (not to mention the typical Saturday night festivities).  Lounging around, eating bagels, reading,  sometimes doing some laundry or housecleaning. 

Today hasn't been that much different.  My good friend O. is in town this weekend--back from a year in Australia and on the verge of starting his new job across the country.  A bunch of us were out last night engaging in the usual sort of debauchery (i.e. the kind that has us all saying the next morning that "it all would've been fine without all the shots!").  O. stayed on my couch, and this morning was spent lounging around, playing with the dog, and watching a couple of episodes of Veronica Mars.  We decided there should be a drinking game for the show where you have to drink every time someone says "motorcycle gang," or every time the motorcycle gang rolls up to save the day, all deus-ex-machina-like and stuff.  This morning, in lieu of drinking, we settled for shouting out "MOTORCYCLE GANG" and then giggling a lot. 

And now, the part of the day that made me tired of typing the word "impromptu" :  We went over to our friend B's house, where we had an impromptu breakfast and got to witness our friend P.'s hair, now in a mohawk after B. had given him an impromptu haircut last night.  Which would you rather have: an impromptu breakfast, or an impromptu mohawk?