brokenrecord (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
brokenrecord) wrote2008-03-29 12:05 pm
brokenrecord) wrote2008-03-29 12:05 pm
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(The images for Queer As Folk are really crappy because it's really difficult to find high-quality QAF caps so... just a warning there. I probably should have made the graphics smaller. Oh well.)
5. 2.04 - Pride parade
This is probably my only not-so-obvious choice (the others I'm pretty sure you could predict if you've ever seen the show. At least the top 3). I don't know, I just love the whole storyline of Brian helping Justin recovering from the bashing. And I love the step Brian makes here by dancing with Justin instead of finding some other guy. I mean, he still has a long way to go, but it's obvious even her how much Brian cares about him. (Well, ok, it was obvious in the previous few episodes, too. But still.)
Seriously, I just love everything about this episode. It makes me so happy. And I love how Brian and Justin are such a TEAM in this episode, and in the end of season 3. It's just wonderful. The end just makes me ridiculously happy.
Ugh, Brian telling Justin he loves him just kills me. I love that he says it twice and how Justin gasps like... Brian punched him in the gut, or something.
This episode might be my favorite of the show (it's hard between this and 1.22). I just love how happy and fun everything is. And the scene where they get back together is just brilliant. I love everything about it, with Brian making Justin promise never to play violin music in his presence ever again, and Justin telling him that he decided Brian should take him back. Just wonderful.
I only wanted to choose one moment per episode and I had a really hard time choosing between this one and well... everything that comes after this moment. And that's all brilliant too, but I ultimately went with this one. It's just so adorable how Brian shows up and how excited Justin is and how they dance the most awesome dance ever.
5. Hot Dogs (1.19) - "Moving on."
Oh god, I love this scene so much. I watched this scene so many times after it aired that I had basically the entire speech memorized and would doodle bits of it in my AP U.S. notebook when we were supposed to be taking notes because I was totally cool like that. Seriously, just. It's so awesome. And, of course, I LOVE the end, when he moves in to kiss her and she's like "What are you doing?" and he says "Moving on." asdlkfjlkjf so cute!
Oh, man. This was the first episode that I started shipping Veronica and Logan; I love all their interactions so much. But even moreso, somehow, I love the video Logan makes. The song fits perfectly, and I love all the moments in the video. I love how Jake Kane starts crying and I love the look Veronica and Logan share. Just so awesome.
I love this whole episode so much, but especially this moment. Poor Logan. I love how their relationship changes so much over the season. Even in just the previous few episodes. I love how Veronica isn't quite sure what to do when he first starts crying, but then kind of holds him and starts rubbing his back. So wonderful.
OH HEY LOOK NOT A VERONICA/LOGAN MOMENT. (I did try to limit them. But... I obviously kind of failed at that.) This might seem like a kind of odd moment to choose, but... I just love it so much. Everything about this scene is awesome. I love all of Veronica's lines, how Lianne says "It's not easy" about getting sober, after everything Veronica's been through that night, and Veronica's just like "I know it's not," in this voice and ugh. And right before that, Veronica's little speech about how she knows Lianne's drinking again, and she says "I bet on you and I lost. I've been doing that my whole life, and I'm through." Kristen Bell is just so amazing in this scene. Seriously, I can't express how much I love this scene.
Yeah, I'm so predictable. But even though I've seen this episode at least 5 times (and the kiss scene probably 5 times as many), I still get giddy and anxious every time I watch this episode. I love Logan trying to protect Veronica, and I love that she gives him this kiss as like... a thanks, and it's just a peck, but the look on her face after, like "...what the hell did I just do?" But even more, the look on Logan's face! Oh, god. It's like she's hit this switch, and he's like "Holy fuck, I really, really like her," and he grabs her arm and spins her around and they kiss and "Momentary Thing" is playing and it's just perfect. Oh, man. I love this scene so much.
honorable mentions: Duncan is Veronica's rapist and thinks she's his sister (1.21 A Trip to the Dentist), Keith is really Veronica father (1.22 Leave it to Beaver), Veronica thinks that Keith got blown up (2.22 Not Pictured), Veronica and Keith's argument about finding her mother (1.05 You Think You Know Somebody), all the flashback scenes about what happened at Logan's poker match (1.10 An Echolls Family Christmas), Veronica's dream about Lilly (1.22 Leave it to Beaver).
(The caps for Skins are really awful, like the ones for Queer As Folk. I'm sorry. There are apparently no decent Skins caps anywhere online. sigh.)
5. Sid (2.03) - Tony and Sid hug after Sid's dad dies
I love the friendship between Tony and Sid so much.
Ugh, I love them so much. I think I've loved them since Chris's episode in the first season when Chris was the only one to ask Jal how her clarinet thing went, and then Jal comforted him at the end about his brother and such. They are adorable together, and I'm so glad they got together. (sdfklj I really hope them making Jal pregnant doesn't screw everything up)
Oh, they're too cute together. I'm glad that he found her at the bench. (lksjf of course then everything gets screwed up next season. But it's nice and happy and lovely for a little while, at least!)
Ugh, Chris clearly has the most fucked up life of any of them, and... that's saying something. I think this is the only episode of Skins that I've actually teared up over. This is when I first started shipping them together. They're just so sweet and good for each other.
lksjf they're so cute! I love them!
honorable mentions: Tony gets hit by a freaking bus (1.09 Series Finale), Sid finds Cassie at that restaurant and kisses her (1.08 Effy)
5. Tami Taylor (Friday Night Lights)
Tami is seriously the best mom ever. I really wish I had a relationship with her like Julie does (at least in season 1). She's such an amazing wife and mother and she cares so much for all the kids at school. I don't really know what to say about her.
I'm not sure what it says about me that a serial killer is one of my favorite characters, but whatever. Dexter is seriously kick-ass. I love how much he cares about his sister and Rita and Rita's kids (even though he doesn't believe he has the capacity to love). I love his dry humor and how intelligent he is. I enjoy him ridiculous amounts.
The Doctor is just kind of amazing. He's intelligent, charming, witty, brave. I just love him.
I love Pam so much. I really love her transition through the series, how she goes from being a pushover and mostly quiet and doesn't speak her mind and doesn't try to follow her dreams to now when she's taking art classes and she's with a man she loves and who truly loves her and she's able to speak up for herself. I love that she can prank Dwight and make fun of Michael with Jim, but if either of them are truly upset or not doing well, she can be sympathetic to them, too. She is such a great character.
So, I'm basically just going to copy and paste what I wrote back when I made that ridiculously huge Farscape post: I love John with every fiber of my being. There is nothing that he did that I hated or that I couldn't understand. I just love everything about him. His character arc is amazing. I love how in the first episode he's totally clueless about everything that's going on, all this new technology and all these new species, and he's pretty incompetent in the first half of the season. But by the end of the series, he's so accustomed to everything that is going on. And not only is he no longer completely clueless, but all these different people are after him because of his wormhole knowledge. And even before he makes this transition, I love how just... optimistic, I guess, he is, that he has hope. He doesn't completely freak out about getting sucked through a wormhole and landing on this ship (this living ship!) of escaped prisoner aliens. He takes it all in stride. And no matter how many times he's beaten down, he always has this sliver of hope. He really should be much more broken and hurt by the end of the series after all the crap he's been put through, but he's not. And I really do love how subtle the transition is from being totally clueless about this new world, to actually being able to handle himself and understand what's going on. There was never a point where I was like "Hey, he's really competent here and able to defeat the bad guys and save the day, and in the very last episode, he was screwing everything up!" It was just totally organic and natural, and it always made sense when he knew what to do and when he didn't. And I love his love for Aeryn so much. He is amazing.
honorable mentions: Aeryn Sun (Farscape), Jim Halpert (The Office), Pacey Witter (Dawson's Creek), Jaye Tyler (Wonderfalls)
(By the way, this is probably not entirely reflective of my favorite characters of all time. It's just kind of a... at the moment thing. If you asked me again in a month, I'd probably come up with a totally different top 5. I'd even have different honorable mentions, I'm sure. This is pretty much true for most of these top 5s, honestly.)
5. Anwar Kharral (Skins)
Ugh. Ok, this is mostly a function of the fact that Skins is on now and so he's more recent in my mind. But just... he's really a terrible friend. He has a huge fight with Maxxie in the first season over Maxxie being gay (even though he's known this forever!) because of his Muslim principles, but he's totally fine with having sex with... basically anyone who will have him. And I love Maxxie so much, and Anwar totally does not deserve Maxxie as a best friend. I mean, it was bad enough that he got all homophobic in the first season, but to go on and start sleeping with the girl who is freakily obsessed with Maxxie and stalked him? Wtf? He's not even funny or entertaining in some other way to make up for it.
She's just... annoying. I don't know how to describe it. She just irritates me so much every time she comes on screen. I hated when she and Chief got together. I always hope that she's going to get killed off at some point. She's just... kind of pointless.
I think her character could've actually been ok (not the best character ever, but not so terrible, either) if she had been played by someone who could, you know, actually act. It was just painful to watch her scenes, though. And her character really was incredibly annoying and idiotic and I really didn't care about all her relationship problems. Killing her off the show was basically the best thing the show could have ever done, and it made season 4 completely kick-ass.
Phoebe was the first character of any show I truly hated. I remember arguing with people on Charmed message boards back when I was 12 or 13 about what a terrible character Phoebe was and idiotic she was and how she chose to join Cole on the dark side in season 4 and all that. And she only got worse from then on! She was actually not bad in the first two seasons, but after that... ugh. She was so self-centered. And I HATED that baby voice Alyssa Milano would use (which she used more and more as the seasons progressed). I hated how around season 3 or 4, the show because The Phoebe Show rather than a show about sisters. And it doesn't help that one of the rumors surrounding Shannen Doherty leaving the show is that Alyssa Milano went to the producers and said "Her or me." God, I wish it had been her and not Shannen Doherty.
Oh my GOD. If we're talking about self-centered, here is the most self-centered character in the universe. There are incredibly few moments when I can tolerate him during that show. I hate how angry he gets at Pacey for falling in love with Joey. I hate that he always proclaims that Joey's his soulmate for no other reason than they've been friends forever (and whatever, he totally never even cares about her or wants to be with her unless she's interested in someone else). He's just kind of a whiny bitch, too. I don't know why Pacey would ever be friends with him for so long, because he's just such an asshole. ugh. HATE.
(I went more with most brilliant than best since I thought it'd narrow it down a bit for me [because I think there are more episodes I consider "best" than "brilliant"] and because it'd make for a slightly different list. Also, I only went with one episode per show, because I could fill this up with Buffy alone.)
The thing that really pushed this over the edge for me is that Jim's confession and the kiss at the end aren't the only things that make this episode awesome. The whole episodes is hilarious. I LOVE the beginning, with Jim convincing Dwight he has superpowers (and I love how in tune with Jim Pam is. And that the reveal is simply her showing the umbrella with absolutely no dialogue. Just perfect). And Michael saying "I hate so much about the things you choose to be" about Toby is one of my favorite lines of the entire series. Also Toby's quote about why he didn't think it'd be a good idea to invite the Boy Scouts to Casino Night: "Actually, I didn't think it was appropriate to invite children since it's, uh, you know. There's gambling and alcohol. And it's in our dangerous warehouse. And it's a school night. And, you know, Hooters is catering. You know. Is that-is that enough? Should I keep going?" Hee! And of course, the scenes between Jim and Pam are totally brilliant. And I think the fact that they chose to reveal Jim's feelings to Pam and have them kiss was brilliant as well, because I think many shows would've kept Jim's feelings a secret for at least another season or two. But him telling her totally shook the show up, and you can argue that it wasn't for the better, but it was really gutsy, I think. Plus, the episode was written by Steve Carrell. I love him so much for that.
Really, the entire season was brilliant, and I kind of wish I could've chosen a season for this rather than an episode. But I love how everything comes together here. Rudy/Brian being the Ice Truck Killer isn't a shock (well I mean, we find it out episodes earlier. But when it is revealed, it isn't incredibly surprising), but the fact that he's Dexter's biological brother is just brilliant. And having Dexter have to choose between Deb and Rudy/Brian is just... devastating, but totally awesome. I don't really know what to say about this episode. It's just amazing how everything is tied together so well.
I seriously love this episode so much. I think the Cylons are fascinating, I love Caprica!Six, and I love her relationship with Gaius. Seriously, just everything about this episode is awesome. It's been too long since I've watched it so I don't have really detailed thoughts or anything, but... I really love it.
Ugh, I love this episode. It's not actually my favorite episode of the series (that would be Die Me, Dichotomy), but I think everything they did here is just brilliant. I love how from the start, you're not supposed to think that John's really on Earth. I love that he knows instantly, and he just figures that he'll just wait it out, but then it turns out that they weren't trying to trick him into believe it was real at all, they're just trying to break him. I love that this is the first really... crack in his sanity, I guess. It really lays the groundwork for the rest of the season. I love how incredibly dark it is; I mean, especially that scene with his dead mother. Geez. But I love that even though it is dark, it's also one of the funniest episodes in the series. Especially Crais's bits; those are some of the funniest lines in the series. lskdf seriously this episode kills me. It was wonderfully put together.
Ok, seriously, narrowing down a Buffy episode was the hardest thing ever. Because even as uneven as I felt the series was, there some absolutely brilliant episodes. My favorite episode is actually Becoming Pt. 2, but I thought that The Body was really just exemplary. I love the incredibly long takes at the beginning. I love how the acts are divided between characters/settings. I love the absence of music. I mean, I cry during other episodes of Buffy plenty, but I think this is the only episode where I just start crying from the beginning and don't stop all the way through. It's just a wonderfully done episode. (By the way, I had the hardest time actually deciding between this episode and The Wish, which I also think is an incredibly brilliant episode, and I'm kind of second-guessing myself now, but whatever. Just know that I also think that episode should be way up there.)
honorable mentions: An Echolls Family Christmas (Veronica Mars), Becoming Pt. 2 (Buffy), Hush (Buffy), Once More With Feeling (Buffy), Die Me, Dichotomy (Farscape), Won't Get Fooled Again (Farscape), The Wish (Buffy), 17 People (The West Wing), What Kind of Day It Has Been (The West Wing), The Parting of the Ways (Doctor Who), Pier Pressure (Arrested Development)
(All of that in honorable mentions was on my short list. You don't want to see my long list. The honorable mentions are kind of heavy in certain shows because I was going through all the shows I've watched and ones I knew weren't going to make the list I just didn't bother to think of any. Ones that I could immediately think of one, I would tend to start thinking of other episodes as well. Narrowing down the last seven was ridiculously impossible, by the way, and Pier Pressure and The Parting of the Ways could have eaily made it on. Also, narrowing down the Buffy episode. That was incredibly hard.)
This movie is ridiculously cute. I like that even though there's this love story, too, there's more to the story than that. It's just really a sweet, feel-good movie. And the colors are absolutely gorgeous.
Most infinitely quotable movie ever, yes? It's hilarious, charming, sweet, and just wonderful. I can't watch this movie too many times.
I really love this movie. It's brilliantly constructed, the acting is wonderful, the writing is amazing. It's just really beautiful.
I love how slow and quiet the movie is. It's beautiful. And the acting is just amazing.
This movie was the first I ever cried at. I think this movie really made me realize that there were really amazing movies out there that I wasn't watching, and it made me start seeking out really great movies. I think it also contributed to me getting into musicals, because before I hadn't given them much thought. This was the first movie I ever really got attached to. Plus, it has Ewan McGregor singing which I am a total sucker for. I just really love it.
honorable mentions: The Lion King, Lawrence of Arabia, The Truman Show, The Wizard of Oz, The Aviator, The Departed, Memento, A Very Long Engagement, Citizen Kane
(This is kind of of-the-moment and I'd probably come up with a different list tomorrow. Even the honorable mentions would probably change. This list would be very different if I was listing "Best Movies," too, btw, because some of these, even though they're my favorites, I don't consider them technically better than other movies. If that makes sense.)
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I'm now itching to do it...
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You should do it! I think it's a really fun meme.
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that makes perfect sense! that's exactly how i feel about bests vs. favorites. bests for me are like things that are really brilliant and blow me away, which is why i asked you that for TV episodes. and favorites are like the things i can enjoy over and over at any time. like, "the body" from buffy and "pegasus" from BSG are brilliant episodes, but they're hard to watch because they're just so emotionally raw. i have to like really prepare myself to watch them.
"tony getting hit by a freaking bus" would totally be on my list of best "skins" moments.
the doctor is definitely, definitely one of the greatest fictional characters ever. he is EVERYTHING. my friend and i have had discussions about how we really do not have an equivalent character in the U.S. and probably never ever will. he is very special.
anwar is the only character on skins that i hate. i totally agree with everything you wrote about him. he's really annoying, he's a horrible friend, his entire character is about nothing but sex, and at least he could be interesting to make up for it, but he's not.
oh if only it stopped at cally being annoying. but i seriously think she is also a horrible person. she thinks about absolutely no one except herself (and the chief, i guess, but it's never just about him, it's about her love for him), she's incredibly insecure, and when she's desperate, she just gets really angry and threatening, and it's not likeable at all. i really hope she kills herself. that would be appropriate for her. i'll feel horrible for the chief, 'cause he's my favorite character, but the idea that he loves her does not make me like her any better.
and i'm not even going to get started on dawson leery. UGH.
i just watched "downloaded" yesterday. it really is brilliant.
i love your favorite movies!
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I was really close to putting Tony being hit by a bus on my moments. I only wanted to put one per episode, though, and I already had put the bench scene on the list, so I figured I'd just give it an honorable mention. I did think that was an amazing moment.
Yeah, I really can't think of any U.S. character like the Doctor. It was hard for me to come up with anything to say about him because he's just... so many amazing things at once.
I think I only wrote about Cally being annoying because I haven't watched an episode of BSG in about a year now (very much looking forward to it coming back next week!). I cringe every time she comes on screen. It was bad enough when she was just an annoying background character who had very minimal screentime, but when she developed a relationship with Chief, I was just ridiculously upset because I knew that meant she'd be featured more prominently and get on my nerves even more than she already had been. ugh. I think Chief loving Cally actually makes me like Chief less, unfortunately, because I remember really loving him for all of season 1, but now I just don't care as much about him. (I mean, I still like him, and him being a Cylon makes me start to like him a lot more, but I definitely stopped liking him as much once he got together with Cally.)
What I wrote about Dawson is just like... the tip of my hate for him. Back when I was watching reruns of the show regularly, though, I'd write insanely long posts in my old blog about everything he did that I hated (which was a lot) and what a despicable character he was. There is just not a single moment of him that I enjoy in any way.
I really need to watch "Downloaded" again. I really need to rewatch all of BSG, actually. I've seen season 1 and the first half of season 2 twice (since I have the DVDs), but the second half of season 2 and season 3 only once, and it's been about a year, I think, since I've seen any episodes of it at all. I really need to rewatch it all at some point.
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oh, you definitely have to rewatch BSG! i've been rewatching selected episodes (which has actually turned out to be most of them), and i'm loving them even more this time around. and i definitely needed to refresh my memory of important plot points.