Liz Z’s Golden Globe Reactions

1. Best/Worst Dressed
I loved Anna Paquin’s dress—I’m a sucker for shiny things (Toni Colette’s outfit also caught my eye). And I’m so glad that Sam chose Lea Michele (see below post) because she looked GORGEOUS. Though I usually love her style, I wasn’t crazy about Diane Kruger’s dress. It reminded me of pink frosting and “cupcake” isn’t really an ideal object to be compared to while on the red carpet.

2. Winner you’re happiest about/Winner you’re fuming about
As a huge Chloe Sevingy/Big Love fan, I’m happy to see her take home the trophy. That said, I think it’s appalling that 3D-fueled special effect-injected Avatar beat out The Hurt Locker. Also disappointing: the unsurprising yet obnoxious Glee win…How the show beat out the comedic genius of 30 Rock and the increasingly amusing Modern Family is beyond me. Personally, I think Jane Lynch is the only valuable asset to the show between it’s musical numbers. While I find the show somewhat likable and the singers remarkably talented, the story-lines are straight-up fluff. That’s just not great TV. Sorry if that was way harsh, guys, but I feel like I’m missing something because I don’t love Glee. And that makes me angry!

3. Best Speech
Despite my disdain towards Avatar, I have a soft spot for James Cameron announcing that he’ll make it quick because he REALLY has to pee. And then he said that dorky/corny “I see you” in the alien language that he made up. And it was kind of like, aw—but also weird that you are talking in your own alien language right now. Plus he gave props to ex-wife/Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow, which seemed nice but—let’s try to put ourselves in her shoes for a moment—probably pissed her off so much. A pat on the head from her ex-husband? Gag. So, yeah, I appreciated the speech for achieving both brevity and depth—two valuable traits that Avatar itself failed to deliver.

4. Best moment overall
Robert DeNiro talking about his old pal, Martin Scorsese, who received the Cecil B. Deville award. It was just one of those funny almost-roasts that made you think, aw, they really are good buddies. What can I say? I love a good bromantic comedy.

5. Ricky Gervais: yay or nay?
Into it. Gervais’s off-the-cuff, improvish humor works for me. It makes the award show feel unscripted, and therefore exciting. And I’m really immature, so I get a kick out of some of the off-color, potentially offensive stuff that Gervais spews. At the Golden Globes, everyone is there DRESSED TO IMPRESS. It’s this whole ORDEAL. And Ricky Gervais, this stubby, lose-cannon of a British man, is kind of an odd, hilarious juxtaposition to that serious Hollywood glamor.

Best TV of ‘09

I am a TV-phile.  And I feel that this year, especially has been a groundbreaking year for TV.  I’m convinced that the storylines and character development of shows today easily rival movies of this year.

So with that said, here are my top 10 shows of 2009:

10: “Eastbound & Down”

I will watch ANYTHING that Danny McBride and Jody Hill do.  I’ve been a fan of theirs since FOOT FIST WAY.  The show is obviously driven by the outrageous one-liners and actions of “Kenny Powers” but the supporting cast is equally as hilarious.

Why watch?  Andrew Daly is hilarious as the naive boyfriend of Kenny’s ex gf, and Steve Little STEALS THE SHOW as Kenny’s potentially “slow” best friend/assistant.

9: “Parks & Recreation”

This show has had a definite resurgence, and there was no hesitation when NBC exec’s renewed it for a third season.  People may compare this show to “The Office,” but the main difference between the shows is P&R lacks subtlety and embraces its quirks.  Just check out why GQ named it their sitcom of the year.

Why watch?  Bacon.

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sam-d’s End of Year Questionnaire!

1) What was your favorite movie of ‘09… that you want everyone in the world to know you loved?

An Education. Carey Mulligan for Best Actress, peeps!

2) What was your favorite movie of ‘09… that you’re kinda embarrassed to admit you loved?

Bride Wars. The ending really left it open for a “Baby Wars” sequel… Just saying.

3) What ‘09 TV show could you not live without?

Glee—not sure how to make it to April without my fix of Sue quips, Quinn snarks, Rachel solos, Finn pouts, and Santana sexts.

4) What was your most played jam on iTunes in ‘09?

It’s a tie!—“Battlefield” and “TiK ToK.” 133 plays each. Real classy.

5) What was your single-most fave pop cultural moment of the year?

The lawnmower accident halfway through this season of “Mad Men.” Meticulously set up for weeks, I felt my world come together with a delicious gasp. As Joan so famously said—“That’s life for you. One minute you’re on top of the world, the next minute some secretary’s running you over with a lawnmower.” True words.

Honorable mentions: the first time I saw “David After Dentist,” Adam Lambert’s “Mad World”performance on “American Idol,” witnessing Gaga’s VMA Performance moments after the “True Blood” season finale, seeing “Next to Normal” on Broadway, seeing Mika in concert, the season finale of “Lost,” the road trip to New York episode of “Big Love,” those precious months when Swift and Lautner were dating.

6) What pop culture trend/phenomenon for ‘09 are you hoping stays in ‘09?

Susan Boyle. Hating on Kristen Stewart. Caring about the Jonas Brothers.

7) F*ck, Kill, Marry: Rachel Berry, Snooki, Lady Gaga?

F Gaga (clearly), M Snooki, K Berry.

We Love Santana Lopez

I recently discovered an amazing fact—the keyword that sends the most people from Google to VampWKNT is…”glee santana.” We have received around five times more Googlers who searched “glee santana” than searched “vampire weeknight.” I feel great about this, as Santana has quickly skyrocketed to become my Favorite Secondary Character on Glee (just ahead of her bff and sometimes lover Brittany).

Nothing would make me happier than becoming the Internet’s expert resource on all things Santana Lopez—but unfortunately all we have provided these Googlers is one lousy post documenting Santana’s shining moment of Season 1—her sexting speech to Quinn. But I want to give my Googlers more! So, I turned to the best source I know for Gleeformation: the incredibly janky yet somehow official Fox.com Glee wiki, which has an excellent (and janky) post about Santana!

So, here are eight fascinating factoids about Santana gleaned from the trusty Glee wiki:

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Golden Globe nominations were announced this morning, and, actually, there seems to be more good this year than bad!

YAY GLEE

Really the only consistent thing about the extremely inconsistent “Glee” is that the best parts of any given episode will be: a bombastic Sue Sylvester line delivery and a Rachel Berry song. So it’s fitting that Lea Michele and Jane Lynch were nominated, for Best TV Comedy Actress and Best TV Supporting Actress respectively. Def going to be hilarious to see Lea clenching her fists and like crying as Tina Fey offers an “over it” smile as they wait for the “Best Actress in a TV Comedy” winner to be read.

BOO GLEE

The basically intolerable Matthew Morrison, who plays Will, inexplicably got nominated for Best TV Comedy Actor. He is in the same category as Steve Carrell and Alec Baldwin, which is sort of like if Kourtney Kardashian was up for an award against Cate Blanchett. Also, the show was nominated for “Best TV Comedy” which isn’t like OFFENSIVE but is kind of weird considering the show is uneven and spastic 2 the max.

YAY FANGBANGERS

SOOKIE STACKHOUSE NOMMED FOR BEST TV DRAMA ACTRESS. Technically, Anna Paquin is the one nominated, but that’s not going to stop me from assuming she can read everyone in the audience’s minds when she’s up on stage.

BOO FANGBANGERS

Kristen Stewart was inexplicably, tragically not nominated for “Best Movie Drama Actress.” I will sit in an office chair and not speak or eat for five months in protest.

YAY SEEING DOUBLE

Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep were both nominated for TWO Best Movie Actress awards. Totally makes sense: Sandy’s work in “The Proposal” is authentic and transgressive and Meryl giggles A LOT in “It’s Complicated” but is still lovable. Seriously though, this is awesome.

BOO SEEING DOUBLE

“The Hurt Locker” is up for Best Movie Drama and Best Movie Director. This means that after like six months of hoping I could get away with not seeing it, I am now going to have to force myself to sit through this long (it’s gotta be long, right?) war movie with no celebrities in it at some point over the holidays.

[Also, yay for Carey Mulligan, “Basterd” love, Moore/Firth (haven’t seen “A Single Man” yet but just assuming I’m going to be obsessed with it), January Jones, “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “Modern Family.” And boo to “Entourage” getting nominated AGAIN (seriously WTF?!), no love for Amy Poehler/”Parks & Rec,” “The Hangover” getting nominated for a Best Movie award and NO NOMINATION FOR LEIGHTON MEESTER.]