That moment when you’re reading a book and you read a sentence that contains the title of the book.

-oceanspray:

(via foxy-grandma)

For British Eyes Only

I’ve been on a British sitcom kick. Here are a few shows that I recommend you add to your Netflix queue post haste! First, I’d like to thank my husband for introducing me to all of these shows. He is the one who discovers them and since he does such a good job, I pretty much just sit back to enjoy his findings. If there are any British shows that you recommend, please let me know!  

Peep Show (2003-present)

 
Peep Show takes a new approach to the sitcom. It follows in a similar path that The Office pioneered with the documentary perspective, but from the first person point of view of the characters. The first person visual perspective switches between all of the characters on the show, even nameless strangers, but you only hear the internal monologues of the main characters, Mark and Jez. It’s a modern day take on the Odd Couple with Mark, an uptight loan manager, and his roommate Jeremy “Jez”, a laid back musician. Their drastically different personalities often clash resulting in some ridiculous and hilarious situations. Access to their thoughts reveals insecurities, disturbing thoughts, but also some tender moments. 

The IT Crowd (2006 - present)

The IT Crowd makes light of the all too real situation in many workplaces of the necessary but abused IT department. In Reynholm Industries this department is isolated from the rest of the company in the basement. The IT crowd is Roy, the aloof nerd, Moss, the technologically brilliant but unpractical geek, and Jen, their computer illiterate manager. One of the most comical characters doesn’t show up until the second season: Douglas Reynholm is the dramatic, arrogant, completely inept CEO of the company that he inherited it from his late father. There was an attempt to create an American version of The IT Crowd but it was dropped before it aired. Why do we always have to try to one-up England with television?

Extras (2005-2007)

We can thank Ricky Gervais for creating the Office (now can we please put it out of its misery?!?!), and he is also responsible for the creation of another great show (untouched by America so far): Extras. This show is about the ups and downs of Andy Millman (Gervais), a struggling actor who is only able to get parts as a movie extra. It also features Andy’s scatterbrained friend, Maggie, who is in the same struggling profession and his terrible, terrible agent, Darren Lamb, who is probably responsible for Andy’s mediocre career. This show is (sometimes painfully) funny but also heartwarming. It seems that the reason for Andy’s downfall is his inability to fire his agent and his refusal to sell out. Sometimes, nice guys really don’t win. 

Spaced (1999-2001)

We only discovered Spaced about 10 years too late. This show was created by Jessica Hynes and Simon Pegg, years before Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Tim (Pegg) and Daisy (Hynes) pretend to be married in order to live in a cheap flat. Their attempt to keep up this facade for their landlady and live life as two single twenty-somethings is difficult and their strange friends often complicate this. Spaced reveals the difficulty of being young and single, something that is often idealized, but it also shows the hilarity.    

Did anyone else just read all of this in a British accent? Maybe I need a break…

International Women’s Day Feature: Maria Bamford

In honor of the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day I decided to feature one of my favorite comedians - who also happens to be a woman: Maria Bamford.

I recently re-watched the Comedians of Comedy and rediscovered my girl-crush on Maria Bamford which evolved into my watching all of The Maria Bamford Show again. Comedians of Comedy is a great documentary about some of the funniest comedians working today: Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn, Zach Galifinakis, and Maria Bamford. Patton Oswalt describes Maria as “a martian making racist jokes about earthlings.” She is a petite comedian who uses a wide range of voices and facial expressions to portray characters who are disturbingly similiar to someone you probably know. She is an outsider who mimics their strange behavior. Her naturally tiny and cartoonish voice can be distorted to sound like a judgmental elderly mother, a successful and condescending sibling, a high school arch-enemy turned cashier, a middle-aged woman who is overly zealous about Christmas shopping, etc. Bamford also portrays male characters and her awkward relationships with them but its her female characters that seem especially poignant.

Most of these characters come to life on The Maria Bamford Show. On this show Maria claims that she had a nervous breakdown in LA and is now living in the attic of her parents house while she “stabilizes.” She becomes the Cindy Sherman of the comedy world as she locks herself up in her room, dresses up, and records herself acting out her troubled relationships as if she was prompted to do so by a therapist. In each episode she confronts her depression and social anxiety and by the end of the show, instead of descending into a multiple personality disorder, Maria has pulled herself out of depression and goes back to work in LA. I really admire her as someone who confronts her anxieties and turns them into comedy gold, and as a woman who is successful in the still male-dominated comedy world and disproves the sexist exhausting claim that there are no funny women.  

Here is episode one of The Maria Bamford show so you can get hooked like I did:

Bonus: Here is a list of some of Maria’s favorite women comedians: http://www.mariabamford.com/funnywomen.shtml

Its Friday!

(via davidmitchelldaily)

Shoppers

This is my second post and, again, its about crafts. I didn’t plan on this being the only focus of my blog but I’m sure it will come up quite a bit. : )

My mom gave me her sewing machine since mine broke and she wasn’t using hers much. I have so many projects lined up! I thought I’d start with something easy first: shoppers. These are great for keeping track of coupons, which I never seem to be able to find when I need them. I’ve either stuck them in a drawer or they’re floating around somewhere in my bottomless purse amongst other coupons/receipts/to do lists/gum wrappers. Now, when I sit down to write grocery lists my coupons will be in the same place. 

I made this one for my mother-in-law on her birthday. She either really loves the crafty stuff I make, or she indulges me. Either way, I love her for it. 

This one is mine! I love this fabric. 

Obviously, the seams aren’t perfect but I’m learning!

These were fun to make and functional! I want to make a dozen more so maybe I’ll sell them… I’m wary of giving crafts as gifts unless its my mom or mother-in-law. Moms are wonderful like that - they still enjoy the silly things you make as a 24 year old as much as they liked the macaroni-noodle picture that you proudly gave them when you were 3 years old. : )

A Homemade Valentines Day

Okay, so I’m not a Valentines Day hater. Yeah, yeah, I’m sure a lot of it does have to do with the fact that I’ve had a valentine for 7 years. Also, this was our first valentines day as a married couple. : )

Mostly, I love Valentines Day because its a great time to MAKE things. Screw hallmark,  russell stover, and restaurants. This year we made everything - it was a lot more fun and felt more special. Sean had a night class so I prepared dinner by myself while he was gone. I made chicken basil spaghetti from scratch - my first time to make marinara from scratch! I also made a chocolate bundt cake for dessert. Sean offered to get me chocolates but I like baked goods and baking much more than candy. He did get me flowers though. They are my weakness. :)

We don’t get each other cards - cards are for our moms. I used to have fun and buy Sean a hebrew birthday card that he couldn’t read or a Christmas card when he was sick but now I just write notes or make a card. One of my friends had a valentines craft party and I had so much fun making them! Here is Sean’s:

And the back: 

I wrote the lyrics to Pheonix’s “Love Like a Sunset” inside and he put the same song on the mixed cd he gave me! 

Here are the rest of the valentines that I made for my Mom, sisters and nieces. 

I hope everyone else had a lovely valentines day too!