Oh lists how you bother me so...

I ran across this "Best of" list on Entertainment Weekly's website today. Of course, no one will agree with any of these kinds of lists...it's easy to see the list is more heavily influenced by characters from the most recent years in the 20-year span, and many characters have yet to prove they will stand the test of pop-culture time. But I will concentrate on what were, for me, the two most glaring errors.

6. Rachel Green from Friends

I want to be clear here - I am a huge fan of Friends and always have been. My husband is a near addict, and I must confess to being his enabler. We talk about episodes and characters as if they were our actual Friends. Hell, there were times in college when the Friends WERE my actual friends. I love all my Friends equally...ok mostly equally. And by mostly I mean depending on which season we're discussing. Let's just say were I to hand out cookies to my Friends, I'd make sure Chandler and Joey got the biggest ones, and I'd sneak Phoebe a second cookie when the others weren't looking. This is no slight to Ross, Monica, and Rachel mind you - they would still get cookies. But back to the glaring error...

While I love the character Rachel (almost) as much as I love all the other Friends, I would not have singled her out as one of the top 100 characters of the past 20 years. Yes I know, Rachel abandoning her fiancé at the alter was the inciting incident for the series. Yeah, I know she did the whole spoiled-girl-strikes-out-on-her-own-and-gets-a-job thing. Believe me, I KNOW the Ross + Rachel will-they-won't-they-on-off romance will live on in TV infamy.

But what was so special about the character Rachel? What made her so iconic? Was it that her stylists gave her a haircut millions would emulate? Perhaps it was because Rachel was played by a beautiful actor? Maybe it’s because said actor would marry the most coveted man in Hollywood during her 10-year run as Rachel? None of these things make Rachel viable in the "best in 20 year" list. Let’s not confuse huge star with huge character. If we're talking greatest characters of the past 20 years EVER? No way. I wouldn’t say Rachel was the best character on the show, let alone in the past 20 years.

Not only are there regular characters on Friends that are greater (see who got the best/most cookies above), but there were some phenomenal guest characters as well. How about Eddie, Chandler’s short-lived crazy roommate? Who else could emote such feeling for a gold fish cracker, or delight so heartily in food dehydration? And – Oh…my…gosh, who could forget Janice? She could quite possibly be one of the most memorable girlfriends-you-just-can’t-stay-away-from-no-matter-how-much-you-want-to-kill-her of all time!

But the true beauty of Friends, the real magic, was never about one particular character in the show. Think about your favorite episodes…How would “The One Where No One Is Ready” “The One With The Embryos” “The One Where Everyone Finds Out” “The One with All The Football” “The One Where Ross Got High” or “The One With Chandler In The Box” rank on your list of favorites? There’s a reason why these episodes (and others like them) are listed over and over as favorites. In each of these episodes, all or most of the 6 Friends spend all or most of their time in the same location. These Friends were greater than the sum of thier parts, and they were always at their best when they were together.

Friends was about ensemble work, period. Hell, it’s all right there in the name. If this EW list pairs others as a whole due to the iconic tethering of their characters (see Thelma + Louise and Lorallie + Rory Gilmore) then so should they list the characters of Friends as a whole.

I posit spot #6 should be "Monica, Rachel, Phoeby, Ross, Chandler and Joey from Friends."


to be continued for the second glaring error...

So we're gonna watch movies like it's 1999

I was browsing a list on yahoo (100 Movies to See Before You Die: Modern Classics Edition) and noticed that 1999 was a banner year for modern film. Of the 19 years included (1990 - 2009) the year 1999 had more inclusions than any other - 10% of the 100 listed to be precise. According to Yahoo (who chose movies based on their artistry, originality, and pure cinematic entertainment) 1999's 10 prized films are:

All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre)
American Beauty
Being John Malkovich
Election
Fight Club
The Matrix
Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-hime) R
un Lola Run (Lola rennt)
The Sixth Sense
Three Kings

There are a couple on that list that I might not list as my all-time favorites, but they would qualify as runners-up (Election, Run Lola Run) and a few I thought were very good upon initial viewing, and still get sucked into when they're on the tele (The Sixth Sense, The Matrix). But if I were stranded on an island and could only bring 10 films with me, well, I'd have a very hard time narrowing the list to only 10...But 3 top contenders are on the 1999 list - American Beauty, Being John Malkovich, and Fight Club.

After seeing these movies, I remember thinking that the art of filmmaking was experiencing a renaissance. I thought, FINALLY Big Hollywood (BH) was opening up to story telling that didn't follow the same beaten path. After all, these weren't small indie films; they were big studio, big budget, big star movies. I thought the financial success of these fantastic films meant that American audiences were FINALLY relinquishing their hold on standard realism and opening themselves up to the possibility that great stories with incredible intelligence and heart could be told in non-traditional ways, and without the cookie-cutter BH happy ending. These films took so much "American Dream," cracked it wide open, and exposed its corrupt and deadening underbelly for all to see. And we, the audiences, looked at these film-as-mirror reflections and sighed with relief - "It's not just you" these films said "it's everyone. The insurance guy with the sterile IKEA apartment? The seemingly-perfect family? John Malkovich? Every single one of them is fucked up."

I wonder now, looking at this list, if 1999 was a special year in film because it was 1999. Was there some great underlying fear of Y2K pushing us (and BH) out of our comfort zones a la Lester Burnham? Was it turn-of-the-century collective conscience opening us all to a twisted search for self on the 7th-and-a-half floor of an office building in the middle of the night? Perhaps we were finally giving in to our own Tyler Durdens, and giving a big fat blow-up-the-credit-card-industry finger to our self-help loving, furniture-assembling, status obsessed culture.

I can’t say for certain that timing had any quantitative effect at all on the makings of these films – they were likely in some stage of concept or production well before the last year of the last century of the last millennium any of us will know to begin with the number 1. I do know these films were brave, they were letting it all out, partying like it was the year of their release, and if they taught us nothing else we should all remember this: if we are not our fucking khakis, then neither should be our art.

Conversation During the Grammys

Most people know what THE LIST is, but for those who don't (or who never saw that episode of "Friends") THE LIST is a record of 5 celebrities one is allowed to bed without retribution by one's significant other. It's pure fantasy, but apparently even my fantasy life needs rules. So, Kevin and I have a deal where by some list-nominees are sanctioned (Kate Bekinsale) and some are not (Jessica Simpson). And by deal I mean that after I rejected enough list nominees and even offered up a few suggestions of my own (Zooey Deschanel) Kevin finally gave in.

Kevin: I'm gonna have to add Fergie to my list.

Me: Fergie is not sanctioned.

Kevin: Why not?

Me: Well, she's drag-queenish and kind of slutty. Same reason Pam Anderson is not sanctioned.

Kevin: But she’s hot, and maybe the list needs some slutty.

Me: Your list is getting really long you know...

Kevin: So she’ll be second-string.

Me: You’re grasping.

Kevin: Besides I should have an older woman on my list...

Me: And Fergie's OLDER?

Kevin: Yeah she's like in her mid-30's.

Me: I want you to think about how old your WIFE is, and then think about what you just said.

Kevin: I love you…

That cute boyish grin gets him out of more trouble...


Stacy Ann Ferguson was born on March 27, 1975, a mere 3 months before said wife.

I just couldn't wait until Friday...

Back when I had grand visions of posting daily, I dubbed Friday my day to share interweb happenings that tickled me. But I saw this today and I just couldn't wait. Enjoy.

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good year...

In a few days I will mark the end of my 33rd year. I’ve long believed my thirties would be a time of tremendous progress for me - perhaps because I was once told by an acting coach that I’d really start to get work in my thirties, or maybe because I’m a perpetual late-bloomer. For reasons I can’t name precisely, I felt the year numbered 33 would be an especially auspicious age. 33 promised to be a year that would see previously illusive happinesses unfold themselves like long awaited late-blooming flowers, finally offering their full beauty. 33 would be the age at which I could finally release the breath I’d been holding all my life, sigh in great relief, and cross that line between the woman I longed to be and the woman I am.

I haven’t accomplished all I’d hoped to at this age, and often wonder if I’m too old for (fill in the various goal/activity/hairstyle/skirt length). New-to-me art forms call to me on a fairly consistent basis – a banjo or ukulele will say “play me” or a camera beckons me to view the world through its lens. Shouldn’t I, at my age, be content with performance and writing and sewing? I wonder if I’ve passed the stage in life when it’s acceptable/appropriate/possible to continue pursuit of my current chosen field(s) of art, let alone pick up new ones. What if I never star as lead in a comedy that’s both critically acclaimed and financially successful, become America's next some-where-near-the-top-of-the-middle singer/songwriter, and/or write the great American post-feminist novel all while winning a Tony® for best new play, mastering the fine art of baking French macarons and rearing the worlds most precious and well behaved children? Oh motherhood, who’s knock on the door of my belly is growing increasingly insistent - I swear I hear you! And yet...I can’t think of the past year without thinking all these potential ambitions and more (that's right I, said more) are in fact possible.

In many ways I was right about 33 being a water-shed year. I’ve been consistently active both behind and on stage, and became an artistic associate of a young theater company. I began plans to start a business with a fellow artist involving handmade crafts (on hold for the time being, but still a very new venture for me). I started this blog, a small step in becoming a more active writer. I’m taking care of my body in a much more healthy way than I ever have before, and I’ve started to realize I’ve finally reached that place of confidence in myself that prevents the opinions of others from inflecting any real impression upon my self-worth. I’m actively choosing happiness on a consistent basis. And the most wonderful of my year-33 happenings – I accepted a marriage proposal from the most wonderful man I’ve ever known. Not a day in this year has been spent without the sound of our laughter, and I eagerly anticipate the thousands of laughs we’ll share as we build a life together. Thank you year 33 for being so amazingly gracious and giving.

Bring what ya got year 34 – I’m ready.

Belated Valentine Contrition

did I ever tell you
that story?
seems I never
got around to it…
..............how the way you
..............looked at me was like
..............being home?
always seemed better
left for another time.
but the time I’d planned,
the minutes I’d store
in a jar --
..............how eclipsed the light of fire flies,
..............the first time
..............I saw you smile?
I never saw
how they’d escape,
and slip between the grooves.
funny, how the lid never fit.
but you fit me fine.
..............how I found in your arms
..............warm rare moments
..............of utter safety?
and were I to find
you were mine
(again)
even for a moment,
I’d store in you
the story
I never got around
to telling.

Merry Christmas

To cap off this holiday season I'd like to present you with one of my favorite Christmas songs, sung by one of my new favorite bands.