I could be your girlfriend

There was a period of time where I read a lot of Office fanfic. But I also quite enjoyed fanvids. This was during the Pam-Jim-Karen triangle, and one of my favorites was to Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend":



So much, I loved this video. To the point that I downloaded the song and still love listening to it.

Anyway, years go by. After Kristin Chenowith's recent stint on Glee, I found myself back on YouTube, looking for fanvids of Olive and Ned from Pushing Daisies. (I liked Chuck, sure, but there's no way she and Ned could have a real relationship. Plus, I have a ginormous soft spot for unrequited love. So I shipped Ned and Olive.) And what do I find? Same song:



Whee! I'll pretend it isn't totally lame that this completely made my night.

And holy crap. There are at least three for Veronica Mars, which is kind of odd, because of these shows, it's the one that really doesn't have much of a triangle. Sure, there are times that people get between Logan and Veronica, but most of the time, it's their own issues that are the problem, not other people. I don't care, though. LoVe videos are right up there with Jim/Pam ones for me.

Well, I can see Logan in politics...

I had a teensy bit of interest in HBO doing a show based on the whole Washingtonienne saga, but my interest skyrocketed when I saw that they had cast Jason Dohring, a.k.a. Logan Echolls from Veronica Mars. Looks like the show will be less about the lead's sexual conquests and more about working on the Hill.

In any case, it's not enough to get me to subscribe to HBO, but Dohring is so awesome, I hope it's successful. Also, with any luck, they'll do some shooting around here!

PCHer and MLB catcher

I've been trying to figure out why Dioner Navarro, catcher for the Tampa Bay Rays, keeps ringing a bell in my head. Since the Rays and the O's are both in the AL East, I've certainly seen Navarro enough, but now...his name just keeps sticking out in my mind! But why?

And then I realized. Navarro. On Veronica Mars, Weevil's last name is also Navarro. And since I just watched VM this year, it explains why I never gave Dioner Navarro a second thought last year. So I feel better now.

Go Rays!

A new addiction and ruminations on boys

I've known about Doctor Who for a while, but have managed to mostly avoid catching an episode. Not on purpose or anything, and I'd heard that the latest series is pretty good. The time travel aspects always interested me; I mean, he goes back in time! That's awesome! In any case, I wound up catching "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood," which are set in England in 1913. And it was fantastic. It's interesting, because I know little to nothing of the mythology of the show, but it's still pretty enjoyable.

Anyway, after watching that two-parter, I kind of didn't want to see another episode. For one thing, those episodes were really good. To the point where I was like, "Why watch another episode? It won't be as good as those." I've since realized the foolishness of that viewpoint. Good Lord. I certainly don't insist on quality in shows I watch (I have the recent ABC Family movie Princess waiting on my DVR to watch), and God knows that even if the rest of the run isn't as good as those two episodes, it'll still be pretty darn good.

The other reason is that this is totally the type of show I can imagine getting a bit obsessive over, a bad habit of mine. I mean, it's on all the time, between Sci Fi and BBC America. This can't happen. I'm still not completely done with Veronica Mars, and that started for me in...February or so. But I did wind up watching another episode tonight, and I have, like, four or five waiting on my DVR. Completely sucked in.

So I watching the episode tonight and found myself, not surprisingly, totally giggling about how cute David Tennant is. Nice eyes! Great dimples! Fab glasses! Seems tallish! Cute smile! Only 7 years older than me! And British! (Seriously. British men are totally my weakness. Love 'em.)

Which led me to thinking about the shows I watch, and how much I watch them because of cute boys. I'd probably obsess over Veronica Mars a lot less if it weren't for Jason Dohring as Logan Echolls. But then, that's really about good characterization, in addition to him being brutally hot. (Seriously, check "An Echolls Family Christmas" if you don't believe me.) I certainly have enough tv boyfriends, the big question is: Do I watch the shows because of them, or are they just a nice bonus?

It's a combination of the two. I did manage to come up with a show that I really like, but don't crush on anyone (How I Met Your Mother; while I'd love to date someone like Ted, I don't giggle over Josh Radnor). I do think it's a combination of good writing/stories and cute boys, with the emphasis on the substance of the show. Because there certainly are shows with guys I like that I haven't stuck with. So I kind of feel better about myself. I'm not that shallow. Just fairly shallow.

Why Barb Is Stupid: Television Edition

So I'm reading this book about Veronica Mars (shut up, OK?), and I get to a chapter about the voiceovers. Now, each chapter has a little introduction by Rob Thomas (who created VM), commenting on the chapter's topic, and for this particular chapter, he wrote that he wanted the voiceover to sound "Chandler-esque."

Naturally, I was like, "Huh. The voiceovers don't sound like Chandler to me." And then I realized, not Chandler Bing, from Friends, but Raymond Chandler. Author of such books as The Big Sleep.

Yeah. Brain? FAIL.

Welcome back, Logan

As has been documented, probably my favorite part of Veronica Mars was Jason Dohring as Logan. So I checked out Dohring's post-VM gig tonight, Moonlight. Coming into the show-mid-season, all I knew about it was that it was about vampires. And at first, I was completely underwhelmed. Part of the problem is that it is, essentially, a procedural. He's a PI who investigates crimes, with a twist. (Vampire!) (Only, actually not in tonight's episode. But whatever.) And I don't really watch those. I've managed to somehow have only seen maybe two episodes of Law & Order ever.

Anyway, the lead won me over. The voiceovers were a bit much a lot of the time, but the guy playing Mick came across as likeable, with a good sense of humor. And was not bad-looking, which certainly helped. The problem was the love interest. She just did nothing for me. I'm really hoping that the first episodes showed why Mick was so in love with her. Not that I advocate letting people die, but it was just kind of hard understanding why he would sacrifice himself the way he did for her.

It was kind of interesting trying to figure out the rules of vampires on this show. It's one of those cases that I'd have to watch more to understand, but it's always fun figuring that stuff out. It seemed kind of weird that one of the vampires appeared to be in daylight, but maybe he has some special glass in his office that protects him? Now I'm trying to remember whether on Angel, he ever hung out in Wolfram & Hart offices--with windows--during the day.

I totally let out a little squeal the first time Dohring popped up on screen. Yay, Logan! (And they evilly had a different character named Logan. Don't do that, shows! It's confusing!) And honestly, the character is Logan. Which is fine, because Dohring is awesome at that role. But I'd be very interested to see him in something different.

(I also admit that when I saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall last week, I wished for a Dohring cameo. I don't care. I'm going to pretend that Kristen Bell's character winds up with him in the end. Logan + Veronica 4ever!)

Right. Anyway. I'd watch it again, but honestly, I pretty much only watched it tonight because the O's game was postponed. It was enjoyable enough, I guess. They should increase the Dohring and lessen the love interest, and I'd be much more into it.

No one comes between Zack and Kelly!

I totally agree with the premise of this hard-hitting article: Professor Lasky was a big jerk. How dare he stand between Zack and Kelly?

It does amuse me that 13 years after playing Professor Lasky, Patrick Fabian went on to play Professor Landry on Veronica Mars. The first time I saw him on that, I was like, "He...looks familiar," and it was one of those things that stuck in the back of my mind as I watched. And then I had to double-check, because I came up with "Lasky," but was all, "No, that can't be it; it's too close to Landry!"

I'm just going to go ahead and assume that Rob Thomas and/or the casting folks at VM were big Saved by the Bell fans and wrote the part for Patrick Fabian.

That's Sheriff Vanlowe

Last week I managed to not only forget to record Lost, but I also missed that Reaper would be back. Fortunately I did record this week's, and boy am I glad that I did, because it guest starred Michael Ian Black and Ken Marino. I knew I recognized the name, but it wasn't until I saw him on screen that I started sputtering "Veronica Mars!" at the screen. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember his character's name. The show continued and I started frantically pawing through my DVDs, but none of the brief episode descriptions included his name. And my muttering of "Members Only jacket!" wasn't helping. All I could think was Cliff, but that was the wrong recurring character. It actually wasn't until just now, when I looked him up on IMDb, that I figured out the name (Vinny Vanlowe). I'm just happy because it looks like he'll show up at least in next week's episode, as well. Apparently my imploring, "Recurring!" at the screen did help.

And for some reason, I kept looking at Ray Wise and only seeing Leland Palmer which, as you can imagine, was more than a bit unnerving. The last thing I need before I go to bed is to think of anything that reminds me of Bob. (Spoiler alert, I guess, for anyone who doesn't know about Twin Peaks.) (Also, I just did a search for that, and I saw the images and my stomach just fell. Holy crap, Bob still freaks me out.)

Kiss me...

I'm not a huge fan of public displays of affection. Holding hands can be cute, and the occasional hug is OK. Kissing? Well, a peck every now and then is fine. Obviously there are cases when more is more than that is totally acceptable (weddings, picking someone up at the airport), but in general, I don't want to see other people making out.

Except on tv or the movies. Then I love it. The other night I was watching something when two characters kissed and I got giddy. I've watched--multiple times--a montage of Veronica and Logan making out. After the season two finale of The Office, I went back and watched the big Jim-Pam kiss countless times. Thinking about the clothes fluke makes me smile. Watching the end of Bridget Jones's Diary, I yell at Bridget for shying away as Mark Darcy nuzzles her neck.

So...why? Maybe it's because I'm involved in the fictional relationships at a deeper level. After all, as a viewer, I get to see the major points of these relationships--the big moments. I'm certainly more invested in them than I am with a random couple on the Metro. Or maybe it's just that usually by the time the kiss happens, I'm nursing a crush on the guy and that watching the girl kiss him is a way to live vicariously.

It's probably a combination of the two. Plus, the people on tv and in the movies are generally prettier than the people I encounter in everyday life. That definitely makes it easier to take.

I could always go back and search for the alpaca

I finished Veronica Mars on Monday night, though I kept it going through last night by watching all of the extras on the last disc. Now I'm trying to figure out what to do with my life. Good thing March is pretty full of travel and theater (and some work that I really should be doing, but keep putting off), and that baseball season is less than 3 weeks away.

Thoughts after completing it? Well, I'm very glad that I don't have to worry about stumbling across spoilers now. Obviously, I really enjoyed it. I loved the continuity, from little things like repeated callbacks to unicorns to much larger issues. It definitely gets props for not treating major events as if they happened in a vacuum; people have to deal with the consequences. I might not have always liked how they were handled (*cough*trial*cough*), but I appreciate that the show didn't just drop these threads. Of course, the continuation of these stories makes me want to go back and rewatch, just to see what I missed.

Ultimately, I don't necessarily find Veronica's journey, as a character, to be the most interesting--that would be Logan. Veronica isn't particularly likable a lot of the time (though she's certainly easier to relate to, perhaps, in the first couple of seasons). But man, she'd be cool to pal around with. Particularly since you know she won't burden you with her "feelings" and whatnot. (Downside: Close to Veronica = high chance of crappy stuff happening to you. Not quite as bad as your likelihood of being involved with a murder if you're friends with Jessica Fletcher, but still a definite possibility.)

I did watch the promo Rob Thomas and crew put together for the fourth season, with Veronica in the FBI. It just didn't work for me at all. Maybe it's because while I enjoy watching Veronica, I enjoy the other characters a lot, and the only familiar character was Veronica herself. I've heard that they talked about maybe bringing Logan in for a few episodes, but would Keith be in it? The Veronica-Keith relationship was the center of the show, really. I just don't know that it would be the same without him. Plus, it seems so abrupt to go from freshman year of college to being out of the Academy and already working for the FBI. If that's the way they would've gone, I'm almost glad it did last only three seasons.

Anyway, good times. With a very amusing fandom. I've laughed myself silly at this site about the Echolls' mystery alpaca. Now I just need to figure out what to do for the next few weeks. Maybe I'll rewatch Wonderfalls or Freaks and Geeks.

The benefits of DVD

As I was doing some work-related scanning of the forums on TWOP today, I realized that there are more benefits to watching television on DVD than just being able to watch a season's worth of the show in a few days. Watching an entire season in a compressed period of time takes away a lot of the frustration of finding out what comes next, and it also takes away some of the criticism a regular viewer might have.

As I've been watching Veronica Mars, I've been reading the TWOP recaps, and it's interesting when Couch Baron makes comments about reader reaction on the forums. I rarely reflect on any of the deeper aspects of the show; I don't really take the time to dissect character motivations or reflect on errors in logic. As I watch, I might nitpick a bit, but when an episode ends, I can just think "Holy crap!" and move on, being immediately gratified to know about the next twist.

In a lot of ways, it's good. I don't have the torture, and I don't have a week's worth of anticipation built up every time I turn on a new episode. I might briefly think, "That episode was meh," but I can quickly move on. It leads to less disillusionment, I think. I know that a lot of people criticized VM for being inconsistent, but I don't remember what they specifically had problems with. Sure, I think the first season was a bit better overall than the second, but I'm certainly still completely sucked in.

That having been said, I need to go finish off the second season.

Dean, Duncan...they both start with "D"

Does anyone else feel like the kid who played Dean on Gilmore Girls could’ve played Duncan on Veronica Mars? I realize he’s on Supernatural and whatever, but I feel like he could’ve done it.

And yes, I much preferred Dean to Jess.

Missed the Mars train

I don’t remember now why I didn’t watch Veronica Mars when it first aired. It was probably on against something I already watched, or maybe I had tap that night. I remember people discussing it, liking it…I liked Buffy, I liked Gilmore Girls, so VM is something that I’d probably like, too.

The DVDs came out, and I added the first season to my queue. In the years since then, I was spoiled for the first season, but that’s OK. And finally the first two DVDs came. And…wow. Hooked. Immediately. I’m tearing through it. (I wound up borrowing the entire series from a friend.) Last Wednesday I wound up watch the last six episodes of the first season, even though I should’ve been working.

The problem is that I have nobody to really talk to about it. Except for the friend who lent it to me, none of my friends have seen it. So I’m going through the old threads at TWOP and occasionally emailing the friend who lent me the DVDs. It just feels a bit silly to go over Veronica with Logan vs. Veronica with Duncan (I’m mid-second season; I understand why she’s with Duncan and I do like her with Duncan, but mmm Logan—there’s such heat there, you know?) (which is totally bizarre, by the way, because in general, I go for the good boys, not the bad boys—but Jason Dohring’s performance is just so awesome, and it’s such a great combination of jerkhole and vulnerability; plus, he’s not too hard on the eyes) when the debate is three years old.

(And I do see why she’s with Duncan. He’s safe and strong and consistent, if a bit closed off. After the past year, I can see why she’d fall back into a comfortable pattern. Logan is too unpredictable, too passionate, too challenging. And see the interactions among the three of them are fantastic.)

In any case, even though I tend to get obsessive about things, it is somewhat comforting to go to a place like TWOP and see that as obsessive as I am about these shows, there are people out there way worse than me.