Just Watch.

TV Time: 25 Reasons We Love Liz Lemon

So hopefully you're fresh off of the season premiere of 30 Rock (yeah, you've probably already seen it on Hulu) and how much did you miss it? 

You could actually do a "25 Reasons..." for anyone on this show (with the exceptions of Lutz and Cerie -- they just don't do enough) which is a testament to the incredible acting and writing that makes this show miles ahead of... well, pretty much everything else out there. (To be honest, the number of reasons we love Jack Donaghy may be more like 50, with number one being he's actually a really good boss.) But the biggest soft spot in our hearts goes to the Lazy Woman's Halloween Costume (I am thisclose, people), Miss Elizabeth Lemon.

Lemon's something of a new breed in the sitcom world (though she certainly has her predecessors) a smart snarky Every/Wonderwoman who's dorky as all hell. So below, in something resembling descending order, 25 reasons why Liz is our kind of lady.

FYI, the "we" is my friend Emma and myself. We initially asked one of our gentlemen friends (like Bobbie Gentry said, be good them and they'll be good to you) to weigh in, but we had to stop as things started to get... pornographic. Any boys out there, we encourage you to give us any "Oh to be a pad on those glasses/That I might touch that nose!" materi that you've got. Just so you know, we reserve the right to excise any (OK, all) Sarah Palin references.

Here we go...

Whit Stillman is Alive! (And So Can I!): Metropolitan

What? WHAT?

I'm fine, by the way.

Now that I'm getting back on track here, I've decided that European Perv Cinema is too big and important a project to tackle in a weekend or a week, so we're just going to revisit now and then. Alright?

So let's just get on with this by talking about one of the great disappearing acts in contemporary cinema, Whit Stillman. During my radio silence, one of the most interesting developments came from watching Christopher Buckley on The Daily Show (sadly, Hulu doesn't have a clip of the interview, which was quite entertaining.) Anyway, in digging up more Google-mation on Mr. Buckley, which was a disappointment (just read the article) I found this very good news: Whit Stillman is alive! Not only that, he's directing the film version of Buckley's novel Little Green Men and a movie about ska in Jamaica in the '60s. I feel like I could explode just thinking about that awesomeness.

If you're a young chippy who did not acquire the viewing habits of a 40-year-old in the 90s, you may be womdering: who the fuck is Whit Stillman? He was a maker of two, let's call them existential yuppie comedies, Barcelona and Last Days of Disco. (True story: I took all my little girlfriends to see the second one for my twelfth birthday: Everyone walked out of it except Lulu and me, and there you have an indicator of what my teen years were like.)

So the "yuppie/preppy existential comedy" moniker might make his movies sound insufferable, and maybe if you really hate that kind of stuff, it is. (Although, seriously dude, maybe you should grow up a little bit. We're not in high school.) But they're very wistful and awkward; they have a unique sensibility that started out with his first movie, Metropolitan. Which you can watch for free on Hulu, here. 

Now I think I should confess that this movie perfectly encapsulates what I wanted my high school life to be like. Swilling cocktails all dressed up and talking about literature and social theory in well appointed apartments blessedly devoid of any adults? That was my idea of heaven. (I was a douchebag, I know. But since I went to a high school where half the kids had Jerry Garcia decals on the backs of their cars, I'm pretty comfortable with my place on the sliding scale of douchebaggery.) So this movie has a certain sepia-toned romanticism for me. Plus, the whole look of Metropolitan reminds me of my mother getting dressed up to go do fancy grownup things when I was a little girl, so maybe I can't be objective.