I don’t know about anyone else, but I thought this season of “The Office” on NBC started out as great as all the others.  Then, enter the writer’s strike…  Many precious weeks of laughs lost.

After the writer’s strike I could see some rusty red-brown.

Not that is wasn’t funny.  Hey, I would take the worst episode of “The Office” over the best episode of “Home Improvement” or “According to Jim” any day.  It was just not AS funny.

But last night’s season finale was PERFECT.  Vintage “The Office”…  Jim & Pam, Dwight & Angela, Andrew Bernard…  AND MICHAEL!

The magic and chemistry (of the cast) that makes this show was back big time in the finale!

Watching Jim work so hard to keep Michael from moving too fast with the new Toby replacement — you know, the one Michael claims he loves!

Seeing the new Toby replacement (boy, I need to lookup her name — it’s HOLLY) interact with Kevin all the time thinking he is “special”.

Learning that Jan is pregnant, but not with Michael’s baby — she got some of the good stuff from the sperm bank because “maybe if I were younger, I’d let Michael be the father of one of my children, but not now, not when it counts.” (she’s getting older).

Then seeing poor Michael miss out on an opportunity too go out with a clearly interested Holly when she hints she would like to got out and get some desert.  She ends up going with Kevin.  You know, the “special” one.

Ahh, “The Office”.  This season reminds me of many a football season as a Chicago Bears fan.  They start strong then take a big loaf in the middle of the season…  Then, they start picking up momentum again only to end the season with a big win!  But, no playoffs.  Hey, that was the Bears LAST season!

Anyway, I will miss you Dwight, Michael, Jim, Pam, Inmate Ryan, Kevin, and others.  See you next season!

Finally after the casting issues have hopefully been taken care of, the rehearsal process for Little Women can finally get started.  Apparently, one cast member (that I am aware of) decided that she would rather not be in the cast.  Better to get that taken care of sooner than later.  Hopefully, there will be no further predicaments to present themselves.  Read through will be Thursday night from 7.30-10PM.  Thank heaven for DVR so I can watch new episodes of Smallville and The Office at a later time.  By the way, the second season episode “Booze Cruise” was absolutely tremendous.  I just appreciate how much character development can be placed in one-half hour show involving most if not all of the ensemble.

Back to theatre (sorry to go off on a tangent).  Today at work I had no less than 10 customers ask me when my next show is.  My next show?!  I told them all to keep June 20-29 open.  Then I get the customary person who has seen me before but just can’t place me.  Well, I worked at a major retail chain for like 6 years.  No…. that’s not it.  Well, I have been doing a bit of theatre…. That’s IT!!!!  Then, it is time for the character from Liswathistan to return.  BTW, my boss keeps telling me to say that my former place of employment stinks instead of going into my 2 minute speech about why I am not there anymore.  Always nice to have fans.

In my ongoing effort to catch up on old episodes of The Office, I watched a hilarious repeat from season 2 (two episodes air Tuesday nights on TBS at 9PM eastern time thank you DVR).  “The Client” featured a guest appearance by Tim Meadows of Saturday Night Live fame as a client who actually is receptive to Michael’s particular brand of customer interaction.   Also along for the  meeting at Chili’s was Jan Levinson-Gould (no Gould….HAHAHAHA).  “Awesome Blossom!”

While back at the Scranton branch of Dunder-Mifflin, Pam discovers a screenplay that Michael had written in which he changed some of the names of the staff into characters in a spy movie.  Agent Michael Scarn, Dwigt (his sidekick), “Catherine Zeta Jones” also appeared in the screenplay (surely as a love interest for Agent Scarn).

A very hilarious episode.

I see by the old Firestats Count that Morat’s Blog has had 1000 unique visitors from countries foreign and domestic. However unique the 5 or so repeat commentators may be, I urge even the casual passer-by to not be afraid to comment if you have any profound bits of wisdom to add. Surely my profound knowledge of even the most minute of trivia peaks enough curiosity to leave a few letters…. and some of those letters may even form a word or two. Even Morat himself has asked me to send greetings to everyone living in Liswathistan. And there must be other fans of “The Office” out there who would like to share their views as well as on movies old and new. Especially with the summer blockbuster season approaching despite the early word on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I heard reports that fans are not to expect too much… WOOLY SHEEP to you all who review movies months before they open.). Plus, The Dark Knight sounds like it will be fabulous.

Just reading the synopsis of last night’s episode even before I saw it made me laugh out loud:

Michael and Dwight decide a trip to the Big Apple is in order.  There, they hope to mingle with bigwig Ryan and his colleagues at the nightclubs.  Back in Scranton, the staffers must work on Ryan’s pet website project – on a Saturday, no less.

The episode was hilarious, as usual.  I won’t give too much away, except that I almost fell off my couch laughing when Earl or Hank (or whatever the security guard’s name ended up being) made a cameo – priceless!

For my friends who have just started watching the show, I don’t know about you, but I really like to read tvguide’s blog about the show the day after I watch it.  Go to tvguide.com, find the tab at the top that says “What’s on TV”, and then go to Tv Show Blogs under that and find The Office.  Here is a quick link to the tvguide write-up of this week’s episode.

I agree with the tvguide writer – I caught on to Ryan’s drug use pretty early in the episode, just before he ran for the bathroom sniffling, which only confirmed my suspicion.  But I think the writer of the episode (BJ Novak, aka “Ryan” himself) meant for it to be obvious that Ryan was experimenting with the nose candy.  And to answer the tvguide blogger’s question, yes, I think it will spell problems for him with corporate in the future.  He’s really been on my nerves lately, but in a good way, he is fun to watch and be annoyed with.  Now with his drug problem and the fact that his ‘perfect life’ facade is starting to crack, I feel badly for him.  It’s been fun to watch his transformation from temp to corporate bigwig, and along the way, he’s always been kind of a jerk, not a very likable person at all.  But that’s what is so great about the Office – as the tvguide blogger says, “The Office is a terrific show because most of its comedy is rooted in real human behavior (no matter how exaggerated)…” – I couldn’t agree more!

Well, friends, our favorite show The Office is back on tv after the awful hiatus that was the Hollywood writer’s strike.  The first new episode in months actually aired last Thursday, but since it was our anniversary, I was busy and also had other things to write about.  Last week’s episode was funny as usual, but probably the least funny Office episode in my opinion.  But put it in perspective; I’m such a huge fan of the show that that is not really a put-down, more of a note, really.  Either the writers were a bit rusty last week, or maybe moving the action from the office and into Michael’s home subtracted some hilarity.  Either way, have no fear, after last night’s uproarious episode, our favorite show is back on track!

First things first – addressing the rumors.  I had heard that Michael and Jan’s relationship was going to get rocky, but I was surprised to hear that they had already broken up by last night’s episode.  No long, drawn-out sit-com drama, barely a word about it…  which is something I really like about this show.  It’s less of a soap opera than many sit-coms let themselves evolve into.  Even with its continuing plot story lines from week to week, The Office is still all about the comedy, of which it has plenty.  So, if the rumors of an Office spin-off are true, is it possible it will revolve around GodZillary herself – the ice-queen Jan Levinson Gould ?  I would rather see it involve someone who is not on the regular show since I can’t think of anyone I’d like to see leave Dunder Mifflin.  Jan will be missed, but if she is leaving the show anyway because she and Michael broke up, then they might as well make the spin-off about her.  And on to rumor #2 – something ‘big’ was going to happen between Pam and Jim; one of four things – they would get engaged, start sleeping together, break-up, or elope.  Well, the big thing (as predicted from the beginning of the episode by my hubby – way to go honey!) was none of the above, but let’s just say it is a positive step in their relationship, and for that we are glad.  No one wants to see these 2 break-up.  They are the cutest tv couple since Ross and Rachael of Friends fame, and the writers beat that relationship into the ground with all the back and forth nonsense, so thank goodness that isn’t happening to Pam and Jim.

Now on to the plot synopsis of last night’s episode.  After finding out that the catalog model who was supposed to be Michael’s soulmate met an untimely demise, Michael demands and makes it a work order that everyone in the office suggests a woman for him to date.  Pam sets him up with her landlord, and in pure Michael Scott fashion, he is obliviously (and hilariously) rude to her on their date.  Meanwhile, Kevin and Andy spear-head a meeting with the CEOs of the Scranton Office Park in order to get their parking spots back, which have been stolen by the construction crew.  I hope you caught one of the best lines of the show, delivered so quickly by Andy it might have been easy to miss:  when asked where Michael was at the office park meeting, Andy replies, “He had an unforseen prior commitment.”  Such is an example of the subtle yet sidesplitting humor that has come to be the backbone of the show.

Last night’s episdoe did not disappoint – the show is back, and I have my Office fix…  at least until May when we have to deal with the summer tv hiatus 🙁
Until next week…

It may be cold and rainy outside, but the weather has not affected my emotional state inside!  I’ve had an awesome day!  It is our ninth wedding anniversary today, and so far, the day has been just short of perfect.  The only thing that could make it better is if we could be together all day, but of course with 3.5 kids to support, it’s unrealistic on a weekday to take off work.  Besides, we were able to have a fun family day together yesterday in between the dental work and the tantrums of our 3-year-old.

Today, my husband has left love-note post-its all around the house for me to find.  He sent me a sweet e-card, and I really love the church sign he put on tangents.org of our wedding day.  My almost 18-month-old daughter even let me have a peaceful lunch today – I didn’t even have to interrupt my own lunch once to get her anything and usually I have to get up between 5-15 times!  Oh, wait, I did have 1 lunch “interruption”, but I wouldn’t even call it that.  The doorbell rang with the delivery of a gorgeous vase of flowers my husband sent me for our anniversary!  And lately, the smell of fresh flowers has been completely relaxing for me…  it must be the pregnancy.  I’ve always loved flowers, but lately they’re almost like a drug when I smell them!  So, walking past the eye and nose candy on the dining room table is also keeping my spirits high.  We were going to celebrate with a nice dinner and a night out, then come home and watch the first new Office episode in MONTHS, but the other day, we found out tonight is the monthly meeting for the board of a community agency with which we volunteer – wouldn’t you know April’s meeting had to be tonight!  But no matter…  we can still go out around the meeting, go to the meeting together, and in the age of VCR’s, computers, and all of that, we will find a way to catch the Office later.  So thanks to all the well-wishers who’ve written and called – we’ve had a wonderful day and we will see you next year at the big 10-year anniversary BASH!

Definitely a full weekend this time around. My normal schedule is fairly busy as is, which is one drama and kid’s leader for two services (one same service as drama). Then I go to the worship service during the first Sunday service. This weekend was also a teaching weekend for me and I filled in for another drama member as well. What’s the difference between teaching and leading? Well, in a given service there are 30-40 kids in 4th/5th grades. That means several leaders are needed, at least one for every ten kids but the lower the ratio the better. These leaders lead discussion during small group time and of course all are on hand to assist whenever needed whether it be to take care of someone injured during game time, redirect wavering attention, whatever. There is only one teacher though who teaches the actual lesson during lesson time. Today that was me- I do it once a month typically. Today was actually probably the shortest lesson I’ve given in a long time, meaning more time for small groups. If only I could keep it short all the time that would be ideal. Moving through the Old Testament we focused on King Saul, and why he didn’t have a true heart for God. Next week will be focused on King David and how his heart was for God. King Solomon will follow the week after. Of course today the lesson started with how Israel wrongly wanted a King in the first place so God gave them the type of king they thought they wanted- tall and handsome. Just like the idols thrust before us today. Unfortunately good looks on the outside don’t equate to a good heart on the inside. Yes he did lead Israel to some victories, but he showed himself as one who shifted blame to others, was jealous, and was disobedient. Eventually God just removed his right to rule and selected a king for them that they should have wanted. I would bet that David would have been completely happy with just being a leader while God remained king, but since the precedent was set David would inherit the title of king once Saul was finally killed. This last thought is my opinion of course, so if it is wrong then don’t blame the Bible please.

The drama was about doing the right thing, in this case my role was typical of my real self- procrastination. My character knew he had to clean up the lab after a failed experiment, but let it sit instead for three days without doing anything about it, so now it’s showtime (remember, imaginary TV studio with live audience) and the place still isn’t clean! He almost gets fired when the studio owner calls and asks what’s up…

Anyway, now I’m home and three hours later writing this up. Now if you’ll excuse me I have some of The Office to watch- it is due today and I am not even finished with half the season! Good show, but it took a few episodes to get into it.

I betcha you’re thinking, wow, she thinks highly of herself…  I am Legend, geez…  but no, I was just realizing how it’s been a REALLY long time since I’ve reviewed a movie!  Part of it is because we aren’t watching nearly as many, just been pretty busy lately.  With the time change, it stays light out until 8, so we like to take family walks after dinner.  By the time the kids get settled after that though, there hasn’t been any time for movies, so we’ve been watching old episodes of The Office instead…  not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s been fun, but I just haven’t seen many movies lately.  The other night, we did manage to pop in “I am Legend“, an end-of-the-world movie starring Will Smith.  It chronicles the story of the very last man on Earth (well, kinda) as he strives to find a cure for the virus that is responsible for exterminating mankind.  I said he’s kinda the last man on Earth because he co-exists with these creatures who used to be humans, until the virus turned them into creepy, maniacal, flesh-devouring beasts.  Luckily for Smith, they can only come out at night because light proves fatal to them, so he spends his days collecting samples and information to study and do experiments in his lab at night, hoping to find a cure for the virus, a virus that interestingly mutated from what humans originally believed was a cure for cancer.

The movie was entertaining, though I have to admit when I first starting watching it, I had a bit of “Doomsday” dread – see my previous post of the same name about one horrible movie – if you dare.  However, “I am Legend” ended up only sharing generic end-of-civilization-as-we-know-it characteristics with the movie “Doomsday”, thank goodness for that.  Speaking of end-of-the-world movies, the creatures in “I am Legend” also reminded me a bit of the ravaging monsters in “28 Weeks Later“, but in a genre like this, I guess it’s difficult to be entirely unique.

It might seem lonely being the last man on Earth, but Will Smith’s character does have a faithful companion, a dog named Sam.  I’m going to risk a minor spoiler here so I can tell you what I really liked about their relationship.  In a moment of weakness, Will Smith is cradling his strong dog buddy Sam, and we learn that the dog’s name is actually Samantha.  The symbolism here is very well done and notably appreciated – you’ll have to see the movie to get it, even though I probably just spoiled that part for you – oops.

Overall, as I said, it was entertaining to watch, and pretty creepy at times.  The overuse of computer animation was annoying to say the least.  There were lots of animals in the film – beasts roam the deserted shell of what’s left of New York City – but they were all computer animated.  I agree with the person who reviewed the movie on imdb.com, I can live with the animals being computer generated, but the virus-addled humanesque beasts, now THAT was BEYOND annoying!  They could be pretty scary at times, but it was probably due to the snarling noises more than the way they looked.  During most of the action scenes involving the creatures, the computer animation was horribly fake-looking and even laughable, which of course takes away from the mood of a film such as this.

If you like the mankind-is-extinct type of movies or are a Will Smith fan, I think you should see this movie.  The best parts were the scenes of him roaming a deserted New York City – those were pretty cool to see.  But if you’re the type of person who doesn’t like the hopelessness or loneliness one might feel when imagining the end of the world, not to mention watching frightening creatures unleash terror and violence, skip “I am Legend” and go for “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” instead – classic Will Smith the whole family can enjoy!

Well, it has been awhile since my last post, so I will have to pick up the pace.  I had some insane idea that I would be able to post from my friend’s house when I was in Ohio for the last few days.  Of course the opportunity to ask really never presented itself.  If I was making more money I could have had a laptop with me, but as a poor substitute (no pun intended…) I am still trying to afford a new desktop to replace my old 1.1GHz one that stopped working last year.  Yes, I use another’s computer to do my blogging and other stuff.

Well, Ohio was entertaining, at least when we could decide on something to do.  On Thursday I was able to get some use out of my new phone with the camera feature.  I have yet to see if any of the pictures actually look any good full scale.  Once I transfer them to the computer I will show a couple of them.  Anyway, we were at the Toledo Zoo even though it was an overcast, somewhat rainy day (especially in the late afternoon- we got soaked!).  We were one of maybe a dozen families there enjoying the day.  Many attractions were closed but for some reason it still cost me the same $10 it would cost to enter on a bustling summer day.  Not all were closed, so we still saw a large number of animals.  Again, pictures will follow.  At night we watched some Office episodes and split up to go to bed.

The following day was the day of indecision.  We went to Defiance (yes, as in The Prizewinner from…) for the day and besides eating and playing some Highway 66 mini-bowling we did some shopping of all things.  The bowling was definitely different than the full-scale version, but I was just as bad at it. If nothing else, the shopping was good social time.  Speaking of social time, once we got back their friends started arriving shortly after (they were invited- they weren’t those sort of friends…) and we played a couple of games while the kids watched TV.  Finally, after bearing our souls in one of the social games I left for home (about an hour and a half after I wanted to, yes the game was fun) and didn’t get home until after 1AM.

At least the traffic was good, even through the city, until I encountered a bottleneck where the expressway was bottled to just one lane.  I have no idea what was going on- there were many trucks lined up on the other side of the highway but the side I was on was recently finished road work and so looked excellent.  Were they doing a late night inspection to see if the job was done right?  Anyway, that only lasted for a couple of miles so after that there were no problems.  I quickly got some things unpacked then I got ready for bed, so again, no post.

Today I was busy for much of the day so I am only now finally getting to the blog.  Well, time to end this post so hopefully you will get in some happy reading!