Office favorites

Greg Daniels, the man who adapted The Office for American television, lists down his ten favorite episodes:

1. Health Care


2. The Alliance


3. Office Olympics


4. Performance Review


5. The Injury


6. Gay Witch Hunt


7. The Convict


8. Business School


9. Local Ad


10. Chair Model

Here's mine:

1. The Client - Jan and Michael hook up!


2. Booze Cruise - "You know what, I would save the receptionist."


3. Conflict Resolution - The part where Dwight enumerates Jim's pranks, and Jim explains them, still makes me laugh out loud.


4. Casino Night - "Not your fault. I'm sorry I misinterpreted our friendship."


5. The Convention - The scene where Jim 'fesses up that he left Scranton because of Pam still kills me.


6. Initiation - Love the end where Jim gets Pam on the phone accidentally, and they end up having this long chat.


7. Traveling Salesmen - The Dunder-Mifflin crew at their very best.


8. Branch Wars - "I think I cut my penis on the lid!"


9. Job Fair - Andy was hilarious at the golf course.


10. Goodbye Toby - The debut of the adorable Holly Flax

I know I've turned a couple of people who read this blog on to watching the show, so what's your favorite?

Labels: television, theoffice

- posted by jaemark @ 2/10/2009 02:33:00 AM   0 comments

Bill Buttlicker

I've been working on my backlog of the newest season of The Office, which has been awesome so far. I'd just finished the episode Customer Survey, which was directed by the British series co-creator (and all-around genius) Stephen Merchant. The episode contains what has so far been the funniest scene in the season, a scene that you could just imagine David, Tim, and Gareth going through:



There was one other great scene in the episode that rocked the PB&J boat just a little. The shot with Jim reacting to the developments was totally Tim and Dawn.

Labels: television, theoffice

- posted by jaemark @ 12/01/2008 09:36:00 PM   0 comments

Rashida spin-off

Coming off that spectacular season finale last month (as a friend of mine would say, Bangis!), there's buzz that the spin-off of The Office would feature Karen Filippelli.

This is great, great news because I absolutely love Rashida Jones.

Labels: television, theoffice

- posted by jaemark @ 6/13/2008 05:27:00 PM   0 comments

Office talk

I really don't know why I keep writing about The Office, because off the top of my head, I know only one person who reads this blog who also watches the show regularly.

I just feel compelled to try to turn as many people onto the show as I could, because it's a really brilliant show. I'm serious-- I have every episode and I'll gladly give anyone a copy.

I'm especially stoked about the episodes that have come out after the writer's strike, not only because the shows were excellent, but because there was renewed focus on the support characters. In particular, Ed Helms's Andy Bernard has really come into his own; at this point, I'm cracking up at every little thing he does. In the last episode, the best moments belonged to him:



I'm also loving Kevin, Stanley, and Kelly, whose "How dare you?" line in "Night Out" was probably my favorite line ever.

The last episode of the fourth season airs Thursday night (Friday morning Manila time, curious timing). Oh man, Pam's totally breaking Jim's heart again.

Labels: television, theoffice

- posted by jaemark @ 5/11/2008 10:05:00 PM   3 comments

Canterbury tales

My favorite movie from last weekend was the fantastic Simon Pegg action-comedy Hot Fuzz. Aside from being two hours of pure awesomeness, the movie was highlighted by random cameos from famous people, including Cate Blanchett, Bill Nighy, Peter Jackson, and The Office co-creator Stephen Merchant. My favorite cameo, however, was the one by Martin Freeman, whom you probably remember as the guy in the softporn shoot in Love, Actually, but who became famous for his role as Tim Canterbury in the original UK production of The Office.



I got hooked on the original series a few years ago, mostly because I was working in a job that I didn't like very much (I ended up staying less than a year) for a boss that reminded me of the buffoon from the show. It was laugh-out loud hilarious, and became one of my favorite TV shows ever, and until now I harbor deep affection for the people who were behind it. I also liked the fact that no one I knew got into it, and that not everyone got it, and that it was like this obscure little secret that I had all to myself. Of course, millions of people around the world loved the series, too, but they didn't really count. Like me, however, those millions of people who ended up liking the show count it as among their favorite things ever.

(It took me a while to warm up to the American version, but it got me in the end. Like the original, it's become quite obscure among my circle, with its handful of fans that I know being real fanatics about it. It's a testament to the show's lack of fans in the country that it's notoriously hard to find DVDs of the show anywhere. A few months ago, I spent three hours in Quiapo looking for copies of the third season, and I ended up having to pay close to a thousand bucks for a boxed set that only one stall in the whole place carried.)

The story of Tim and receptionist Dawn Tinsley (played by Lucy Davis, who starred in Shaun) is one of the greatest TV romances, and even John Krasinski, who plays Tim's American counterpart Jim Halpert in the US version, thinks so. What made the Tim-Dawn dalliance much sadder (and ultimately, more fulfilling) was the fact that, unlike Jim, Tim had nothing going for him. He was okay-looking, but he's not the hunk that Halpert is. He's stuck in a dead-end job and he'd just turned thirty, and in the most depressing manner, ended up celebrating it with work mates he didn't even like. He'd dropped out of college and is still living with his parents, and while he'd always talked about going back to school to get a psychology degree, everyone knows he'd never get around to doing it. The only ray of sunshine in his life was the receptionist, but she'll be leaving for Florida with her fiance Lee.

As much as I like the American version, there was nothing there (or in any other show) that was quite as quietly heart-rending as this scene from the final episode of the regular series of the British version. Tim just learned that Dawn was leaving, and he makes his last stand:



That was how it ended! And Ricky Gervais would have left it that way, too! What a cruel, cruel bastard!

Fortunately, they ended up producing a couple of Christmas specials (after fans threatened to burn down the BBC, I think). It was set three years later, Dawn had been living unhappily in Florida with Lee, and Tim was still toiling away at his office. The office was holding a Christmas party, and the documentary crew offered to pay for Dawn and Lee to go back and attend. It took them three years, but Tim and Dawn finally got their happy ending.



(Yazoo's hit song, Only You, was playing when they got together.)

Labels: television, theoffice

- posted by jaemark @ 3/26/2008 07:47:00 PM   2 comments

Friend is a four-letter word

Here's my favorite Cake song, playing along scenes from my favorite television show:

Labels: music, television, theoffice

- posted by jaemark @ 3/12/2008 11:00:00 PM   0 comments

Rashida Jones

While we're on the topic, Paul Rudd's next film has him starring in a movie with Rashida Jones. For those who don't watch The Office, Rashida played Jim's new girlfriend Karen Filippelli in the third season of the show. She won quite a few hearts (including mine) and threw a wrench into the show's main PB&J romance.

(I really, really loved Karen. It annoyed me no end that Jim kept pining for Pam while he was dating Karen. I was like, Let the fuck go, man! You kinda put it all on the line. Twice, actually. And she said no. Twice. YOU TRANSFERRED BECAUSE OF HER! Then he started dating someone who wasn't only smart, funny, gorgeous, but she was totally into him as well. Sure, it was a journey and Pam and Jim were really destined to be together blah blah blah, and good for him. It's not as easy for the rest of us. We need to move the fuck on.)



Anyway...

Rashida's going to be in a couple of films, and a new TV show:

The first one is with Paul Rudd, where she will play the female lead. The movie is entitled, “I Love You, Man” and it also stars Jason Segal (from How I Met Your Mother). It’s a story about a man who is bound for the altar and seeks out a best man for the wedding.

Rashida Jones is also set to shoot, “Chill” with Renée Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr. She will play best friend to Zellweger’s character, a big-city businesswoman who has to move to a rural town in Minnesota.

Her upcoming TV Series, Unhitched, on the Fox network is expected to premiere this year, too.

Labels: babes, movies, television, theoffice

- posted by jaemark @ 2/18/2008 07:00:00 PM   0 comments

DVD ma'am, DVD sir, DVD DVD DVDX!

Took a trip to Quiapo this afternoon, and my DVD-hunting session went well into the early evening. Here's the list of what I bought:

1. The Pianist


2. Out of Africa


3. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels


4. Full Monty


5. American Beauty


6. Four Weddings and a Funeral


7. Cleopatra


8. Platoon


9. Reservoir Dogs


10. Casablanca


11. Doctor Zhivago


12. The Office - The Complete Third Season


13. Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo


14. A 24-in-1 DVD with the following films:


• One More Chance


• A Love Story


• You Are the One


• Close to You


• Dreamboy


• You Got Me


• Dubai


• Paano Kita Iibigin


• Till I Met You


• One Percent Full


• My Kuya's Wedding


• Kutob


• Sukob


• The Promise


• Milan


• Blackout (Robin Padilla and Iza Calzado's indie film)


• Chopsuey


• I've Fallen for You (Piolo's indie film)


• Happy Hearts


• Angels


• Apat Dapat Dapat Apat


• Paraiso


• Feng Shui


15. A 6-in-1 DVD with the following films:


• Babae sa Breakwater


• Gamitan


• Prosti


• She Walks By Night... Ssshhh!


• Tatarin


• Unfaithful Wife 2


16. A 6-in-1 DVD with the following films/features:


• Sukdulan


• Warat


• Viva Hot Babes


• 1st Time


• Hot Babes in the Flesh


• Striptease: The Art of Erotic Dancing


17. Knocked Up


18. Hot Rod


19. Superbad


20. Blades of Glory

Now, my notes:

• I listed the DVDs *autobiographically* (that is, in the order that I bought them; bonus points for you if you got the High Fidelity reference).


• For the past few Christmases, I'd been giving people DVDs for presents (and I don't think anyone ever watches them; I also gave books and I don't think anyone read them). Anyway, the theme for our Christmas party this year are Oscar-nominated films, so I figured why not just give Oscar-nominated films away this year, which is why the list looks like that up top. I'll probably end up watching most of those films and even keep a couple of them.


• I got Reservoir Dogs and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking barrels for myself.


• I never really watch movies anymore. I'm the guy who hasn't seen 300 *and* Transformers. It's not that I don't like watching movies, or that I don't have a social life, it's just that I could usually find somewhere else I'd rather be doing. For example, over the past three months, I'd probably seen only one movie in the theater, but I'd gone to see three or four shows at 70s Bistro, watched the Pacquiao fight live at Megamall, went to see the local Avenue Q performance, attended a couple of PBA games at the Araneta, and a bunch of other stuff.


• I don't really watch television anymore, either. I mean, I still *watch* but it's usually just sports or Jeopardy or Startalk or whatever else is on. But I don't really follow any television show--I even stopped watching Lost and Heroes. My two favorite shows, The OC and Veronica Mars, were both cancelled last season and I don't have the energy to follow any show anymore, not even Gossip Girl or Chuck. I'm sure I'd love them if I ever watched (Josh Schwartz is the man), but I just can't be bothered right now.


• The only TV show I'm following right now is The Office. I was a huge, huge fan of Ricky Gervais' original, and I didn't want to bother with the American one. But then I got into the show (it's a looong story), and now I'm totally hooked. In fact, fan blogs like The Office Tally and Watching the Office are part of my morning reading list. To borrow the words of Jim Halpert, I'm really passionate about The Office. In fact, um, I'm in love with The Office.


• I'm still annoyed that Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo wasn't in the 24-in-1 DVD. Also, I can imagine how people would react when I show them that DVD. "Yuck, ang jologs mo! Uhm--pahiram pagktatapos ha."


• It took all the strength in my body to prevent myself from buying each of the Jeric Raval and Ian Veneracion 16-in-1 DVDs. Yeah, me too, I didn't even know Jeric Raval was in 16 movies.


• The two DVDs with the, uh, adlit content were on a rack going for 25 bucks each. I'm planning to give them away for Christmas presents too, probably to our office legal counsel. We call him "Att-horny". To be perfectly candid, I'll probably watch the DVDs too. But only to check if they're working.


• I'm also annoyed that I had to buy individual copies of the last four films. I mean, how could this happen? Aren't there any Judd Apatow fans in wherever the hell they put these things together? They can put out a compilation of all of the Michael Dudikoff's American Ninja films but they can't get all the Will Ferrell and frat pack movies in one disc?

Labels: boldstars, hehehe, movies, television, theoffice

- posted by jaemark @ 12/01/2007 10:23:00 PM   2 comments

Take a chance, take a chance, take a chance

Just finished reading Maureen Dowd's column last Sunday on the New York Times, which was written by Stephen Colbert. Can someone explain why JackTV still doesn't have The Colbert Report (pronounced 're-por' with the 't' silent as in Colbert) on its lineup? I've been a huge fan of The Daily Show for the longest time, even when it was only being shown (in a weekly global edition format) on CNN, but it seems like Jon Stewart has lost his fastball. I mean, the show still has its moments, but it's not the surefire laugh trip that it was a couple of years ago.

It's like all of the show's mojo went to the show's "reporters." Of course, Steve Carell is a superstar now, and deservedly so. The Colbert Report's clips are funnier than The Daily Show's. Even Ed Helms is doing his thing as part of Carell's ensemble in The Office; I was almost in tears while watching his performance in the latest episode this weekend:



If you change your mind, I'm the first in line
Honey I'm still free, take a chance on me
(Take a chance, take a chance, take a chance, take a chance, take a chance)

Labels: hehehe, television, theoffice

- posted by jaemark @ 10/16/2007 03:49:00 PM   1 comments