Dice not so lucky for me

A few days ago I wrote a post about the Finley Quaye song, “Dice.” Well, the song may be lucky for Marissa Cooper, Ryan Atwood, Chuck Bartowski, and Morgan Grimes, but Sports Kate, not so much.

I was driving to DC to visit my boyfriend for the weekend and got a call from a recruiter at a large agency I interviewed at a few weeks ago. I was pretty sure I wasn’t getting the job, but got the confirmation call while listening to Music from The O.C.: Mix 1*, track 10 (the very song that’s lucky for everyone else) en route when I got the call.

I’m OK with it. Honest truth is, rejection is pretty nice these days. Most of the time you don’t hear anything. People could be flushing my applications down the toilet upon arrival for all that I know. Or throwing my resume and cover letter in some gigantic weekly bonfire with all the materials from other rejected applicants. (If that’s the case, where’s my invitation? I’m a country girl for crying out loud, I love a good bonfire!) Or maybe they’re all getting flown around in some fancy spaceship for eventual deposit in some intergalactic landfill. Who knows.

All I know is that when I have my lucky phone call a song other than “Dice” will be playing in the background. What lucky song that will be is anyone’s guess. Oh well. One down, one less than infinity to go in finding out what my lucky song is.

*You can hate on me all you want for owning this CD. I own mixes 1, 2 and 4 from the show. All of them are quite wonderful. Alexandra Patsavas supervised music for The O.C. and now does for Grey’s Anatomy and Gossip Girl. The lady has good taste and her work introduced me to several pretty sweet musicians including Death Cab for Cutie, Jem, Sufjan Stevens and South. She knows what she’s doing and she’s more than welcome to bring her own iPod to DJ my next shindig.

Nothing can compare to when you roll the dice and play the same poignant song…

Is there anyone else who was both an avid The O.C. fan and watches Chuck?

I just started watching the latter a few weeks ago. (Sidebar: I was a huge fan of The O.C. when it first came out. It’s first season is certainly one of the best seasons of television I’ve ever watched. It fell apart for me sometime in the second season, though I still watched most of that season, but then quit sometime before seasons three and four.) My mom gave my dad Chuck’s first season for Christmas, and once they finished watching, it got passed along to me. I love the show. I’ve only seen the first season and part of the way through the premiere of the second season… thanks slow DSL and your long waits for buffering Hulu.

Anyway, I couldn’t help but notice that Chuck’s producer, Josh Schwartz, opted to use the exact same song, “Dice” by Finley Quaye and William Orbit, for a similar scene in Chuck as he had for The O.C., the show he had created and produced in 2003. It blew my mind. Take a look:

Earlier in the episode, Marissa (the girl at the party) accidentally let the L-bomb slip to her boyfriend, Ryan and they spent New Year’s Eve apart. Then it was a race against the clock for Ryan to make it to Oliver’s party to kiss Marissa by midnight.

On Chuck, Chuck is a Nerd Herder (think member of Best Buy’s Geek Squad) by day and secret agent by night. As one might expect this life poses constant conflict with real life and often drags him away from plans he’s made with Ellie, his sister, or his best friend Morgan. Every year Morgan and Chuck dress as a sandworm for their annual Halloween party. Once again, spy duty called for Chuck and it wasn’t looking like Chuck would make the party in time. But wouldn’t you know, he made it at the last second, and guess what song came on:

Did anyone else notice?

Also, here’s some more trivia: Josh Schwartz is also the producer for Gossip Girl. Let’s hope Chuck and Gossip Girl can maintain their momentum for longer than their Schwartzian predecessor. Maybe there will be more inside jokes to look forward to on the programs in the future.

Lil J’s hair is stupid

I don’t know what’s the dumbest though: the fact that I watch Gossip Girl, the fact that I’m blogging about it, or that I’m deluding myself into thinking I have any fashion sense, especially regarding hairstyles.

Here’s Lil J’s old look (as in up until a few weeks ago on the show):

Cute, wholesome, girl-next-door. If only she had a non-bratty, friendly personality to match.

Her new look:

“OMG, I’m like 15 and totally angry,” her hair practically screams at me.

While this can be a cute look, and very edgy designer-esque, it seems to just follow what the show does wrong — overemphasize stereotypes. When Jenny dropped out of high school in order to jumpstart her fashion design career, of course she started looking artsy and acting the part. OMG trendy haircut, and a new BFF that’s a model. And the photogs, booze, parties, sudden popularity! A whole new lifestyle and scene within a matter of moments of dropping out of her glamorous, uppity Upper East Side prep school. Because that’s how life works.

Just like Vanessa (worst character on the show by the way), Jenny now has so many “of course she would” moments. Vanessa couldn’t be any more stereotypically Brooklyn. She’s in the know about hipster everything — she works at a coffeeshop, is an aficionado of the arts, and always has a political agenda to stomp out whatever corporate mogul sets sight on her neighborhood. If that wasn’t enough, she delivers all of her lines with a permanent pout and holier-than-thou attitude. And wouldn’t you know it, everything she wears is over-the-top vintage. And she’s apparently a dazzling standardized test taker but is too cool for traditional education. Undercover book smarts. Of course. I wish I was making this all up. Gag.

Anyway, what do you think about Jenny’s new frock? I think the crazy eye makeup makes it less severe, but I still prefer the old look. In tonight’s episode she had her hair pulled back and it looked atrocious. Very much like my elementary school classmates in the 80s who had bangs starting past the midpoint of their heads. A real golden age in hairstyles if you ask me. Nothing like bangs harkening comparisons to ye olde mullet.

Well if you aren’t sold on how she looked before, here’s how she looks in real life with the new ‘do and without the help of the Gossip Girl makeup staff:

Yikes.

Lights out on NBC in Austin

So at midnight last night (this morning?) KXAN, Austin’s NBC affiliate turned off its airwaves to Time Warner cable subscribers. KXAN and Time Warner are in an apparent disagreement about subscribers fees, and were unable to reach an agreement before KXAN pulled the plug.

Who wins when this happens? Definitely not Time Warner cable subscribers. DirecTV certainly benefits from the situation. It’s been putting out ads trying to get NBC fans of Heroes, The Office, and 30 Rock to switch to their service, which still carries the network.

If I weren’t leaving Austin in three months I’d certainly consider the switch. As mentioned earlier, new Friday Night Lights episodes will only be available to DirecTV subscribers until February 2009.

If that weren’t bad enough, the rumor has it that the CW Austin has been threatening to drop from Time Warner cable as well. Which would mean no Gossip Girl. What does that actually leave me with? Mad Men (AMC), no My Boys (TBS) since it’s only a summer show, and ESPN and Food Network. Yeah, so basically my only show I’d have left is Mad Men. And How I Met Your Mother, which I keep stupidly forgetting to DVR.

I passionately hope that the CW split is just a rumor, though I’m 90% sure I saw a commercial the other day warning viewers that cable may longer carry the CW later in October. I’m not completely certain on that though. Let’s hope I heard and remember wrong!

Fear not though about all the NBC shows besides Friday Night Lights… they’re all available for free on Hulu. The newest Office episode‘s up already if you missed it last week. So glad it’s back!

What’s up in Mad Men, by Gossip Girl

What’s King D hiding?

Spotted. King D snuggling up to a mystery femme. Uh-oh. Looks like D is getting sloppy this season. He might be polished in the conference room, but how much longer will his extracurricular exploits remain hidden from view? Will his canoodling with all the ladies of Manhattan finally catch up with him?

Looks like Queen B’s talking to a shrink and may be on to D’s games. But has B taken a liking to the engaged man at the equestrian center? Or is it the other way around for Ms. Profoundly Sad? What does D think? Careful D, the perfect pitch might not get you out of this one.

Caught. P nuzzling with an unnamed model from a SC casting call. P might not be able to have children with T, but how many will he father outside his marriage before getting busted? Poor, sweet T. Little do you know you married a conniving, selfish slimeball.

Speaking of extramarital activities, how is our favorite mother, Lil P? With child and a shiny new copywriting job, but without allies, it appears Lil P might have gotten the big break, but has won no sympathies. Just because your motherhood is under wraps doesn’t mean you aren’t still a little girl in a man’s world.

And what’s that sparkle around the SC office? Why that’s the shiny Harry Winston on J’s hand; she and the doctor are finally engaged. What does R have to say about that? Guess everything isn’t sterling in the office after all.

XOXO,
Gossip Girl

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Key:

(King) D = Don Draper, SC creative director
(Queen) B = Betty/Bets Draper, housewife, married to D
P = Pete Campbell, SC junior account executive
T = Trudy Campbell, housewife, married to P
Lil P = Peggy Olsen, SC secretary turned junior copywriter
J = Joan Holloway, SC office manager and queen of the secretarial staff
R = Roger Sterling, SC partner
SC = Sterling Cooper, ad agency