Betty's bad clothes and solid gold staplers

I'm listening to very loud music while I blog and I've got two people cleaning my place, one of whom seems very upset--and not so great either if the bathroom is any evidence. But better than I feel like doing before a party I'm having on Sunday. I never entertain because I hate to clean and my cats make messes and shed everywhere and I don't want to let anyone in without having it really clean--so I'm in a bind.

Anyhow, TV. The Office was more like old school Office last night I think--they were in the office, Jim and Pam were pranking each other, and everyone was taking sides over chairs or a copy machine. I would have gone with chairs myself--a bad back is part of the reason I hate to clean so much. Of course I also hate all the copy machines at my office which, on the rare occasions I try to use one, inevitably jam. I don't think we're going to have a surplus this year--nor is any paper company but hey, that's why fiction is fun. Somehow, when I read the description on TiVo, that the office mates were trying to decide how to spend a surplus, I was thinking of it more like when they had a surplus at Springfield Elementary and people were ordering solid gold staplers and stuff (I just searched for a good ten minutes and could not figure out which episode this was or precisely what they ordered), so I will say I was a wee bit disappointed to find them asking for such pedestrian things, although Michael's $675 man fur from Burlington Coat Factory, that he turned out not to be able to afford because he didn't get the bonus he could have for turning the surplus back in, but couldn't take back because an anti-fur activist threw red paint on it, was much closer to what I had in mind.

30 Rock was OK, but I'm not really sure I got the whole Liz being a bully thing. Yes, obviously her funniness comes from defensiveness, and I'm sure she muttered nasty things under her breath about the popular crowd, but who would have listened or cared? It's an interesting conceit to think they might have cared but what kind of wimpy popular crowd did that school have? Anyhow, the whole thing came off as mean spirited. Not my favorite, but interesting by being, I believe, the first episode this season without a celebrity guest. Just the core, plus Rip Torn who is semi-regular anyhow.

Ugly Betty--oh my fucking god what was she wearing. I honestly don't get it. She goes out with Amanda, and Amanda gets a fabulous $2000 dress for free (well, she pays for it, but keeps the tags in and intends to take it back) and scores Betty a scarf that same way that doesn't even match. I mean nothing on earth would have matched that monstrosity, but it was sort of teal and pink (I think--I was too blinded to really see it) and the tights another non-matchy color, and the scarf was a deep red. And her wig is terrible, and her braces binding (are Invisiline really that much more expensive?) and there was just no way those "Italian" guys would have picked her up if it wasn't some kind of trick--which it was since those guys dined and dashed. It's a good storyline to have her and Amanda teamed up, and Ignacio encouraged her to learn from Amanda, which I hope to god she will if only fashion-wise. It's driving me nuts. The ugly in Ugly Betty is not supposed to be literal, not after this many seasons.

Top Chef tastes pretty good, actually

I wonder if we'll ever really see what happens on Dirty, Sexy Money? It seems like they're building to something, but the chances that the producers didn't plan ahead or NBC won't even run all 13 episodes is pretty damn good, so it seems somewhat pointless to be watching it. Thank goodness I don't care about it. I do care about Pushing Daisies, but since I went to a going away party last night, I didn't get to watch it yet. Without Life on Mars, I have my choice tonight of watching it (and Stylista, ugh), or checking back in with ER, which I don't really want to do. I feel like Michael Scott saying, when Holly and he essentially broke up, "I just know I'll go back to Jan, and I hate Jan!" Anyhow, it seemed like more of the same--someone screws someone over and Nick ends up doing shit work and having a moment with Karen Darling. What. ever.

You know, I was dubious at first about Top Chef, since it bugs me that all we have to go on is personality and the opinion of the judges. We can't taste the food, and even if we could, with all that bacon and all those scallops, I wouldn't be able to anyhow. But it really is a perfect reality show. Just enough time spent on the Quickfire--which is much more interesting somehow than Pop Design, just enough on the elimination challenge, just enough at Judges table, much better music than on Top Design where there happy shiny music when someone wins gives me the creeps. I just wish they didn't start with so many contestants, since I still don't know most of their names, but it wouldn't be the same if no one got eliminated and this allows for a longer season, so I guess that's fine as long as I know the name by the time the show ends.

Damn, I just looked for a picture of the one I was going to root for to win, and got spoiled. I hate that. Almost as much as I hate Jan.

Best jacket ever

One of the most fun things about Gossip Girl is the way Chuck Bass dresses. It's always something different--not fashonable, but locating him in some sort of era gone by, be it the 1930s or the 1950s. Last night at the Snowflake Ball, he looked like what I wish my Ken Doll had looked like and was wearing this jacket I need to own but definitely couldn't afford. I wanted to put a link here, but so far haven't found a picture, but I will when I do. Black and totally glittery, and looked, needless to say, fabulous on him. Anyhow, that was probably the best thing about last night's episode--too much emphasis on Dan, Serena, and Jenny, and not nearly enough on Chuck and Blair, though certainly more than in the last two or three. Just get them together already--it's so artificial that they aren't because "they're not that kind of couple."

I did wonder about Serena wearing a sparkly sweater that looks a lot like the one I just ordered (see above) to high school. It's what I'm planning to wear for New Year's Eve. Hers seemed to have actual pailletes on it, though. Anyhow, it made me feel very poor that something I'd spend birthday money on for special occasion wear would be everyday wear for her, but that's the show, isn't it. The rich are different from you and me.

It's sort of interesting to me that last year there were four Chucks in primary roles on network television. Back to You, featuring Kelsey Grammer as newscaster Chuck only made it through last season. Pushing Daisies (sob) has been canceled, so relatively soon we won't have Charlotte "Chuck" Charles to kick around anymore. I'm very worried that putting House up against the show called Chuck on clusterfuck Monday will doom it, despite the full season order, which leaves Gossip Girl, which I assume isn't going anywhere and Chuck Bass. I wonder what the next shared name will be?

Otherwise, I haven't posted here in while, in part because with Thanksgiving last week was a bit lighter on TV. The Monk and Psych Christmas episodes were not very memorable, except that Monk was unbelievably rude to some homeless men, calling them "bums." I did enjoy a whole BH 90210 marathon of "Kelly's Leftovers" that they were still having commercials for yesterday. It's definitely clear when the show gets darker and the dialogue gets more unbelivable. This happened about 3PM, but before that I was enjoying it, even if I already know what's going to happen well before it does.