"Coup de coeur" of the Week #9

This is hilarious! Kristin Chenoweth on the Ellen Show!

Even if you don't know who Kristin is, you will laugh at this.

Friends

Deciding to watch the entire ten seasons of Friends was probably the best idea I ever had. I might have spent every spare second I had watching this during four months, but it was all worth it. I had seen some episodes here and there for years, but I had never watched the entire serie from the first episode of Season One to the last episode of Season Ten. I probably won't write anything you don't already know, as this show is so popular and loved, but after a brief summary of the show and the characters, I will post my favorite scenes and some quotes.

Friends aired for the first time in September 1994 in the NBC network on American television. It was created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman. According to the Wikipedia page, the series finale (the 236th episode), which aired on May 6, 2004 (almost 8 years ago! Don't we feel old now?), was watched by 51.1 million American viewers, making it the fourth most watched series finale in television history and the most watched episode of the decade. Filmed in front of a live studio audience in California, the show followed the lives of 6 friends for 10 years.

Rachel Green, portrayed by Jennifer Aniston, is a fashion lover and Monica's best friend from high school. Rachel and Ross Geller are involved in an on-again-off-again relationship throughout the series. Rachel's first job is as a waitress at the coffeehouse Central Perk, but she later becomes an assistant buyer at Bloomingdale's in season three, and a buyer at Ralph Lauren in season five. At the end of season eight, Rachel and Ross have a daughter, Emma.

Monica Geller, portrayed by Courtney Cox, is the mother hen of the group and a chef, known for her obsessive-compulsive and competitive nature. Monica is often jokingly teased by the others for having been extremely overweight as a child. Monica works as a chef in various restaurants throughout the show and marries Chandler Bing in season seven.

Lisa Kudrow portrays Phoebe Buffay, an eccentric masseuse and self-taught musician. Phoebe is ditsy but street smart and writes and sings (badly) her own quirky songs, accompanying herself on the guitar. She has an "evil" identical twin named Ursula. In the last season, she marries Mike Hannigan played by Paul Rudd.

Joey Tribbiani is portrayed by Matt LeBlanc. He is a struggling actor and food lover who becomes famous for his role on Days of our Lives as Dr. Drake Ramoray. Joey is a simple-minded womanizer with many short-term girlfriends throughout the series. He falls in love with Rachel in season eight.

Chandler Bing, portrayed by Matthew Perry, is an executive in statistical analysis and data reconfiguration for a large multi-national corporation (which all the others can't seem to remember). Chandler quits his job and becomes a junior copywriter at an advertising agency during season nine. Chandler is known for his sarcastic sense of humor and bad luck in relationships. He went out for a while with Janice (Maggie Wheeler), a very enthusiastic and loud woman with a nasal condition, and runs into her during the entire ten seasons. Chandler marries Monica in season seven, and they adopt twins at the end of the series.

David Schwimmer portrays Ross Geller, Monica Geller's older brother, a paleontologist working at the Museum of Natural History, and later a professor of paleontology at New York University. Ross is involved in an on-again-off-again relationship with Rachel throughout the series. Ross has three failed marriages during the series: Rachel, Emily, and Carol, a lesbian who is also the mother of his son, Ben (Cole Sprouse). He and Rachel have a daughter at the end of season eight and they confess that they are in love with each other in the last episode of the last season.



Favorite parts of the show:
Favorite episode: The One Where Ross Is Fine or The One With The Rumor. The first one made me laugh too much, David Schwimmer is just hilarious. The second one is the one with Brad Pitt, and I just thought it was hilarious that he hated Rachel, and he made me laugh a lot.
Favorite scene of the show: the Monica/Chandler proposal (The One With The Proposal). I know, I am a girl, but I cried and laughed so much at the same time during this scene that it is forever my favorite one.
Saddest scene of the show: Joey telling Rachel he loves her (The One Where Joey Tells Rachel). This scene was simply awful. I am not really a fan of the Rachel-Joey relationship, but this scene made me cry all the tears in my body. It was too sad.
Favorite male character: Chandler Bing, how could I not. His jokes were the best. And then, Ross Geller.
Favorite female character: Rachel Green. Although I love the others a lot, she was the best for me.
Favorite guest star character: Janice! I just loved how she came back around every season, she is hilarious.
Favorite relationship: Ross and Rachel, of course.

Memorable Quotes
Phoebe: [Right after playing a song in the coffee shop ] If you want to receive e-mails about my upcoming shows, then please give me money so I can buy a computer.

Rachel: Okay, no uterus, no opinion.

Janice: Oh... my... God!

Ross: We were on a break!

Reporter: What's your name?
Phoebe: Phoebe. That's, P, as in Phoebe, H, as in hoebe, O as in oebe, E, as in ebe, B, as in bebe, and E as in... Ello there mate.

Joey: Look at me! I'm Chandler! Could I BE wearing anymore clothes?

Chandler: The sun will come out tomorrow.. BET your bottom dollar that tomorrow.. THERE'LL BE SUN!

Phoebe: I'm Regina Phalange.

Joey: How you doin'?

Chandler: Woopah!

Phoebe: Smelly cat, smelly cat, what are they feeding you? Smelly cat, smelly cat, it's not your fault.

Ross: I bruise like a peach.

Ross: Your money is mine, Green.
Rachel: Your fly is open, Geller.

Ross: What are you doing?
Chandler: Making chocolate milk. You want some?
Ross: No thanks, I'm 29.

Rachel: I got off the plane.

"Coup de coeur" of the Week #8

I've loved Wicked for more than two years now, and this song is definitely one of my favorites, from any musical. I had always thought nobody could top Kristin Chenoweth's version of it, but I found this today. Megan Hilty is pretty spectacular on Smash and here she is before she was cast on the show, as Glinda in Wicked. She is so amazing! I loved this video so much, it HAD to be the video of the week! Enjoy!

Wild Child

Many may think this is a stupid movie, but I absolutely love it. It makes me laugh A LOT, and the music is really great. "Wild Child" came out in 2008 and was directed by Nick Moore. This film features Natasha Richardson's final on-screen performance.

Poppy Moore, a rich Malibu princess, is sent off to a boarding school in England after the last straw her Dad can stand. She arrives in this country-side all-brick school, full of girls who think more about their studies than trying to look fashionable, her complete opposite. She first cannot understand these girls, then, with their help, will try to do everything possible to get out of this school. One of her ways out is to 'snog' the headmistress' son, Freddie, who will of course become the reason why she will want to stay.

Emma Roberts plays Poppy, and she does an absolutely amazing job at it. I really love Emma Roberts, and most of the movies she is in make me smile. Freddie is played by Alex Pettyfer, and he is pretty handsome. Other actresses in the movie are Juno Temple, the late Natasha Richardson, Georgia King, Kimberley Nixon, Sophie Wu and Linzey Cocker. Most of them are not famous actresses, but they are all really great.

This movie appears silly and superficial but, as the movie unfolds, we discover a deeper side to it. The story is amusing and beautiful. I really recommend this movie if you are looking for something entertaining and really fun. Also, Alex Pettyfer is just too pretty to lose an opportunity to look at him for an hour.

There are so many of these lines that are just my favorites ever:

"I didn't start it, it wasn't my fault, and if this were America, I would sue." - "There's something about you Poppy, every moment I'm with you, I catch my breath." - "I'm afraid I can't explain myself, sir, because I'm not really myself right now, you see." - "When it comes to school, there is a hierarchy: headmaster, teachers, prefects, students, dogs, vermine, Americans."

Sonnet 14 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love’s sake only. Do not say
“I love her for her smile—her look—her way
Of speaking gently,—for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day”—
For these things in themselves, Belovèd, may
Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity’s wiping my cheeks dry,—
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love’s sake, that evermore
Thou may’st love on, through love’s eternity.

"Coup de coeur" of the Week #7

The best thing I saw this week was this. I could not stop laughing,

they are just too perfect. Enjoy!

Pearl of wisdom

And on this great pearl of wisdom, I wish you a great weekend.

Mine will be full of junk food, Spanish, friends and laughter. Love life!

Canciones pegadizas

Here are some Spanish/Spanglish songs that I seriously cannot get out of my head.

"Con la mano levantá" - Macaco & Estopa

"Niña Bonita"- Chino & Nacho

"Danza Kuduro" - Don Omar ft. Lucenzo

And last, but certainly not least...

"Qué difícil es hablar el español" - Juan Andrés & Nicolás Ospina

(find the lyrics here)

I think I have a PRETTY GOOD taste in Spanish songs, haha! It is always good to post about amusing things. And I would like to thank everybody who made me discover these songs. Really.

"Coup de coeur" of the Week #6

Ever since I started to like musicals, Idina Menzel has been there. She is Elphaba in Wicked, she is Maureen in Rent, she is Shelby on Glee. This woman is talented, funny and absolutely beautiful. Here is "Poker Face" from her Live dvd. She is perfect.

"South of Broad" by Pat Conroy

After having to read many books for college last year, I spent the Summer reading books I really wanted to read. Among those was South of Broad by Pat Conroy. Some friends had recommended me Beach Music but I could not find the book and the summary of this one seemed pretty good. I was pleasantly surprised. This book is deep and meaningful, I loved it.

South of Broad is a 2009 novel by Pat Conroy. It follows the life of Leopold Bloom King in Charleston, South Carolina. It ranges from his troubled childhood to his adult life with his close group of friends. Leo is the son of a loving father and an ex-nun mother. After Leo's older brother, Steve, commits suicide at the age of thirteen, the family struggles, and Leo, lonely and isolated, searches for something to sustain him. He then finds a group of high school seniors with whom he will become friends: Sheba and Trevor Poe, glamorous twins with an alcoholic mother and a prison-escapee father; mountain runaways Niles and Starla Whitehead; socialite Molly Huger and her boyfriend, Chadworth Rutledge X; Chad's sister not-so-feminine Fraser Rutledge; Ike, the football coach's fiery and talented son who will co-captain the team with Leo. Their liaisons will ripple across two decades - from 1960s counterculture through the dawn of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s.

The ties among them endure for years, surviving happy and troubled marriages, unfulfilled loves and unspoken cravings, hard-won successes and devastating breakdowns, and Charleston's dark legacy of racism and class divisions. But the final test of friendship that brings them to San Francisco is something no one is prepared for.

This book was beautiful, a real tear-jerker. I even cried on the bus reading it (although, I cry for lots of things, so I may not be a good example..). I really recommend South of Broad, even if it is about 500 pages long and it may seem like you won't even want to start it. But I can assure you, once you've started it, you will not want to put it down. Personally, the bigger the book is, the more I want to read it.

84th Academy Awards

I thought a lot about making it the "Coup de Coeur" of the Week, but there were too many videos I loved. What I love the most about the Oscars are the dresses everybody wears. They are all so pretty and inventive and the actresses all look so amazing in them.

But, this post will not be about all these wonderful dresses, but more about the speeches and the skits I liked. My favorites are definitely not very original and surely predictable, but that is just the way it is.

As I am from Europe and French-speaking, I cannot NOT love Jean Dujardin. I have loved this man for a while now, since around 2005. And I love how he "grew up" as an actor and how recognized he is now, on every continent. His speech made me emotional, and very happy. How he looked at his wife (Alexandra Lamy) and how she looked back at him, his accent, the "I love your country", the French part of his speech and how he dared to say "Putain" on American television.. he probably didn't know he couldn't. I love him, and I am so glad he received the Oscar for Best Actor. Bravo Jean, et merci.

The quality of this video is very bad, I apologize, but it's all I could find. I think Emma Stone is one of the funniest person ever, she is just so entertaining and pretty and amazing. This video made me laugh a lot, and I liked the fact that Ben Stiller was just very quiet.. not that I don't like him, but it was a welcomed contrast. This little skit was hilarious to me, and I just love Emma's dress.

Meryl Streep was winning the third Oscar of her career, and she is as beautiful as ever. I love her, and her speech was perfect. "When they called my name I had a feeling I could hear half of America going 'Oh nooo, oh come on, why, HER? Again?' ... But, whatever!" She is so cute and wonderful. This woman deserves all the awards she can get, she truly is the best actress of our time.

I am so happy about Octavia Spencer winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, I loved "The Help" and I am so glad it got at least one Oscar.

I didn't watch all of the ceremony, but I did watch some of the Pre-Show E! Red Carpet and I was VERY happy to find out Darren Criss was going to perform.. with Kermit the Frog. He was cute. And I'll just leave you with a video of their performance.. I cannot wait for the 85th ceremony of the Academy Awards!

"Coup de coeur" of the Week #5

Here is the video!

Smash! I discovered this show about a month ago, when the pilot first aired. It is just SO SO great! I love it. It is my "coup de coeur" of the week, because Nick Jonas is in this video. But I actually love all these actors: Megan Hilty, Debra Messing, Philip Spaeth, Jack Davenport, Christian Borle and (not in this video) Katharine McPhee and Wesley Taylor. The idea of the show is very cool and they made it amazing. Really a good show to watch!

Rent

"No day but today."

Rent is definitely one of my favorite musicals. I say that a lot, but it just means that all these musicals are so good, I cannot even pick one as my favorite of all times. I have to thank my beautiful Mississippian family for introducing me to this wonderful musical.

Rent was first a Broadway musical, then was made into a movie in 2005. The film follows the lives of seven bohemians and their struggles with sexuality, "cross-dressing", drugs and paying the rent. Mark, Roger, Collins, Angel, Maureen, Mimi and Joanne try to survive and create in the East Village of New York City from 1989 to 1990, under the shadow of AIDS.

Rent is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La Bohème. It opened off-Broadway in January 1996. Jonathan Larson died suddenly the night before the premiere. The show won a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Awards for Best Musical among other awards. The Broadway production closed in September 2008, after 12 years and 5,124 performances. The movie, directed by Chris Columbus, came out in November 2005.

Six of the original Broadway cast members reprised their roles for the film: Idina Menzel, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Jesse L. Martin, Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp and Taye Diggs. Rosario Dawson and Tracie Thoms took over the roles of Mimi and Joanne for the movie. In my opinion, they are all wonderful. Their voices are absolutely beautiful (Oh my goodness, have you heard Jesse L. Martin's voice? Listen to "Santa Fe"!) and they depict these characters amazingly.

It was very hard to try to pick a favorite song. They are all absolutely great. I have a soft spot for "Will I", "Seasons of Love", "La Vie Bohème", "Another Day" and especially "Goodbye Love". But they all deserve a listen. I also really really love the message on Mark and Roger's answering machine (I tried to find it on Youtube.. but I guess you'll just have to watch the movie to know what I'm talking about).

I really recommend you to watch this movie. The story is absolutely beautiful, it makes you think and it is the most important thing. It has a beautiful message. The songs are all wonderful and I just love all these actors. Go watch it!

"The Bargain" by Sir Philip Sidney

My true love hath my heart, and I have his,
     By just exchange, one for the other given.
I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss,
    There never was a better bargain driven.
His heart in me keeps me and him in one,
    My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides;
He loves my heart, for once it was his own,
    I cherish his, because in me it bides.
His heart his wound received from my sight,
    My heart was wounded with his wounded heart.
For as from me on him his hurt did light,
    So still methought in me his hurt did smart.
        Both equal hurt, in this change sought our bliss:
        My true love hath my heart and I have his.