Julia Roberts, or How I wonder which Julia you are...

This all started from me feeling too much like Julianne Potter lately, and then my friend saying he was just more of a "Pretty Woman"-type of guy. So I want to know, what kind of Julia Roberts you are.

Are you...

...just a girl in front of a guy?

...a hooker with a heart of gold?

...unable to commit because you don't know how you take your eggs?

...just trying to be the best (step)mom you can be?

...a heinous conniving bitch who just wants to be loved?

...a firecracker with political leanings?

...always falling for the wrong (sized) guys?

...committed to a great social cause?

...a romantic at heart with family dreams?

...a chronically depressed married woman?

...that girl who used to be overweight?

...on the wrong side of the border?

...always scheming and two-timing?

...an inspiration to young minds?

Top 50 Films of the 2000s part 3, or How the 'best of' continues

TOP 50 FILMS OF THE 2000s

This is obviously a biased list of titles that range from Oscar winners to animated gems, and the only criteria I used was: "movies that I have thought about, have rewatched over and over again and which have stayed with me in one way or another." It's a "best of" list only in the sense that that 'best' is utterly subjective.

[Check out parts 1 and 2 here]

10. Pan's Labyrinth

Few directors could do the dazzling and gorgeous effects we see on screen in Pan's Labyrinth at the cost that Guillermo del Toro did them. Even fewer are able to seamlessly merge effects and good storytelling to great effect. This dark fairy-tale for adults (or really mature and violence-ready children) is one of those films I come back to time and time again. It works on so many different levels I'm always scared of flattening it: is it an allegory of Franco's regime? Is it an assault on storytelling in the face of cruelty? Is it a moratorium for fantasy or a redemption of it? Is it a great gothic story or an Alice in Wonderland for Franco's Spain?

9. Volver

The movie that turned Penelope Cruz from a beautiful Spanish actress making bad choices when it came to Hollywood movies to a gorgeous Spanish actress earning her first Oscar nomination for an Almodovar film and seeing her become an actress to be reckoned with. Almodovar's film is so sumptuous (no wonder it's obsessed with food!) and so funny and so heartwarming (that you forget it opens with an episode around child-molestation and murder!) it gets me every time.

8. Revolutionary Road

It's an unpopular film with some from a director that has polarized opinions about his work ever since he won the Oscar for (the still undervalued) American Beauty. And I'll say it now: Sam Mendes is a director that enthralls me. What others decry as his stylistic obsession (with perfectly calculated frames and shots that might feel stifling in their exactness) is what draws me most to his oeuvre. Adapting Richard Yates's bleak and unforgiving look at American suburbia in the 1950s, Mendes - reuniting a 'titanic' pair (Kate Winslet and Leo DiCaprio), creates what is to me a 50s tragic melodrama that stifles the viewer in order to mirror the claustrophobia April and Frank Wheeler experience.

7. Mullholland Dr.

Many of these films on my list I loved on first viewing. Not this one. But then, first-viewings rarely do David Lynch films any favours. The distorted, fractal, dream-like structure of Mullholland Dr is no difference. Here was a movie that captivated my thoughts and haunted me for weeks on end, demanding a reviewing - not for mere understanding (for how futile and thankless that would be) but for the joy of reliving the carefully calibrated experience of the film. Naomi Watts has never been better than here, embodying the fragile and yet cunning nature of her ephemeral character (what are Lynch's characters but mere shadows, mirrors and dream images?).

6. Amélie

Few films can pull off a suicide and milk it for laughs without seeming grotesque or unseemly. Yet this Jean Pierre Jeunet film strikes that fine balance between dark humour and light-hearted tone when it comes to things as death, sex, love and relationships. Amélie won many hearts upon its release (mine included) and there's no shortage of reasons why. Here was a visually stunning film with a truly magnetic lead whose 'fabulous destiny' (as the french title dubs it) is a joy to watch. The colours pop, the dialogue snaps and the blend of romance, humour and urban-fairy-tale style are hard to resist.

5. The Hours

The cast list alone would have secured this film's presence in this list, yet if films like Evening and () have taught us is that regardless of the strength of your cast, you need a good film behind them to make it work. Carefully adapting Michael Cunningham's novel of the same name, Daldry & co created a three-pronged meditation on writing, reading, living and breathing using Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway as both its center and end-goal. Meryl, Nicole and Julianne each command the screen and embody these characters with the pathos of womanhood - those close ups that Daldry privileges so much are only stunning because these three actresses can emote widely and subtly without succumbing to mere posture. That each is given juicy scenes (Nicole in the train station, Julianne and Toni's scene in the kitchen, Meryl's meltdown) with literate and awfully eloquent writing only helps elevate this great adaptation.

4. WALL-E

It's no surprise a PIXAR film made it to my Top 5. Six of their seven releases would have easily made it to a Top 25 list (Cars still ranks as my least-favorite PIXAR film and the only one I never saw in theaters) but to keep things fair, I restricted myself to only one in the Top 10. Andrew Stanton's Sci-Fi romantic 'green fable' film is not only gorgeous but a master-class in animation. To make the two protagonists as emotive as they are, able to convey as many emotions as they do without falling into the Dreamworks-like anthropomorphism we are so used to is a feat in itself. Part Buster Keaton, part Woody Allen and part Johnny 5, WALL-E is a character that became an endearing part of my life last year (just ask any of my friends how many times I use "EEEE-VAAH" in normal conversation). For showing how astounding PIXAR can be and bringing to fruition almost ten years of film-making, WALL-E deserves as spot in my Top 5.

3. Closer

I'm probably in the minority when it comes to my undying love for this Mike Nichols's film. But no other film has tapped into my feelings about relationships as well as this stage-to-film adaptation. It destroys me emotionally every time I watch it. You may deem it misanthropic (and I would agree) and you may claim its cold and unflinching in its portrayal of these mostly dysfunctional and mean-spirited characters (and I would agree) but there is something oddly familiar to me about Anna (the understated and undervalued Julia Roberts), Alice (the explosively sexy Natalie Portman), Dan (a meek and miserable Jude Law) and Larry (a frightening and cunning Clive Owen). That probably says more about me than about them, but I feel at home with these characters and Marber's script, with its stagey/Mamet-like dialogue punches me in the gut every time. And I love it for it.

2. Moulin Rouge!

This list is mostly about films who have stayed with me over the years. I still remember the first time I saw Baz Luhrmann's musical. I remember being rapt with awe in front of the TV (silly of me to have missed this in the big screen!) and knowing that I had found a film that I would never forget. From its sumptuous costume design and visual flair, to its modern re-working of vintage songs, to its by-the-numbers star-crossed-lovers plot, to its obsession with intertextuality and meta-drama, it felt like finding a cinematic soulmate. My love for Ms Kidman found its start here (I vaguely remembered her as 'that girl from Batman Forever, can you believe it?) and the Tango of Roxxane shot up to being my number one movie scene of all time (such choreography! such editing! such passion!) This is a movie I watch every couple of months and while it may have its flaws, it's a movie I know I could not live without.

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Picking my number one film of the decade was probably the easiest choice of the entire list. Michel Gondry's visually inventive and stunning film, working from an off-beat (and brilliant) Charlie Kauffman script is a wonder of a movie. Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey, as Clementine and Joel, give performances that feel real even when the situations around them are crazy (I particularly love the scene in Joel's childhood kitchen with Carrey making good use of his comedic chops playing a four year old version of Joel, while Clementine can't help but bask in the stylish 60s setting). This is most likely the greatest contemporary romantic comedy because dysfunction and the quotidian take front and center, eschewing rom-com staples like "platonic and idealized romance" as well as an unambiguously happy and hopeful ending. Joel and Clementine's relationship (and our experience of it) fractures and frames our viewing experience, so as to let us experience the highs as well as the lows without polishing or organizing them to make them feel cinematic.

Top 50 Films of the 2000s part 2, or How the 'best of' continues

TOP 50 FILMS OF THE 2000s

This is obviously a biased list of titles that range from Oscar winners to animated gems, and the only criteria I used was: "movies that I have thought about, have rewatched over and over again and which have stayed with me in one way or another." It's a "best of" list only in the sense that that 'best' is utterly subjective.

[Check out part 1 here]

20. Minority Report

Was there a better Spielberg film this decade than Minority Report? Sure, the Academy gave a nod to the otherwise under-appreciated Munich (which should be rewatched if only to catch Daniel Craig in some snug jeans...) but I think that this Tom Cruise film (his best film in a decade that saw him go from bona fide movie star to laughing stock) is one for the ages. Taking a solid dystopian/futuristic premise (in the world of the film criminals are arrested before they commit the crime) and wonderful supporting performances, Spielberg creates a beautifully rendered film that looks as slick as it works.

19. Adapation

I love Charlie Kauffman soo much. I have yet to revisit Synecdoche, NY (which I really think I should) but for making me enjoy a Nicolas Cage this much, he deserves mad props. Also, I'm a sucker for metafiction so this film about a book being adapted into a film that turns out to be the same film we are watching being adapted... (see? I'm confused already) is a triumph for me on several different levels. Spike Jonze's direction grounds the crazy premise in a fully lived-in world and offers his actors (Cage, Streep and Oscar-winning Cooper, not to mention the lovely Swinton and the underrated Greer) the room to stretch their thespian muscles and give memorable performances in a film as funny as it is sad and as entertaining as it is smart.

18. Children of Men

Sometimes I love films for their actors (see above) or for their writers (see below) and sometimes, it is the director that takes center stage for me in why I love a film. There's no denying that Alfonso Cuaron is one of the greatest directors working today and not content with giving us the greatest Harry Potter film of them all (and don't even try to make an argument for any of the others), he went ahead and turned a dystopian novel based on a world where no can reproduce into a strikingly beautiful melancholic visual journey. Clive Owen as Theo (given the task to protect the only pregnant woman on the planet - see how easily that could have devolved into Michael Bay/Bruce Willis territory?)

17. Erin Brockovich

Lately I feel like the only Julia Roberts fan/apologist around (it is no surprise that two of her films make my Top 25 even in a decade that saw her relegated to smaller roles given her choice to raise her family, but it seems she's gearing up for a comeback with two films lined up for release next year). But I dare anyone, fan or not, to watch Erin Brockovich and not relish the delicious way in which Roberts takes this real-life role and utterly makes it an iconic Roberts-role. Soderbergh's direction allows her to breathe and in its seeming simplicity (especially compared to his more showy work that year in Traffic) manages to keep her performance front and center (quite a gamble if you think about it). Good thing Roberts has the goods (comedic, dramatic and physical) to deliver - her 'numbers' monologue alone makes me love this film more than I would have originally thought possible (I mean, the story itself isn't the stuff of good films, now is it?).

16. Gosford Park

This is one of the films from this past decade that gets better with every viewing and whose grip on me didn't come from my first viewing experience but which crept on me as I kept revisiting in. Altman's whodunnit film, framed within the confines of English High society yet from the point of view of those who serve them (it is no accident that we are only privy to scenes with servants present) is a great example of a successful use of an ensemble cast. While Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith are the clear standouts (the former for her restraint the latter for quite the opposite) every single actor shines throughout, and they do so because the improvisational nature of the script and the wandering camera never let this feel like a film but more like an experience. Throughout we are invited as guests to this party and come to know the secrets behind the death that opens the conflict in the same way that characters move through them.

15. Kill Bill (Vol 1 & 2)

It might be a cop out to place 'both' these films under one spot but they seem so organically paired (they were supposed to be, after all, just one film) that while I enjoy Vol 1 and its Japanese-tone/setting more than Vol 2's spaghetti Western style/frame, I can't sacrifice one for the other. Uma Thurman's Bride is a character for the ages - at once wounded and broken yet with a resilience and a strength usually reserved for much more testosterone-fuelled heroes of action films. Much like with other films on this list, Tarantino's double feature won my heart with the Crazy 88s sequence which swings from high camp (the spanking with the sword) to full out gore (anyone ever count how many limbs are lying around?) to beautifully stylized fight choreography without lowering the stakes or sacrificing the driving narrative.

14. Thank You For Smoking

As Part 1 made clear, Up in the Air won me over (unsurprisingly) and while Oscar went ga-ga (or I guess Dia-blo!) over Juno, it is this Aaron Eckhart vehicle that cracks me up everytime when it comes to Reitman's filmography. A scathing look at capitalism, individualism, modern families and American 'values', Thank You For Smoking manages to take on controversial issues with mordant bite and witty humour. Maria Bello and Eckhart bring the house down as cut-throat corporate bitches with (maybe a blackened) heart.

13. Atonement

That green dress! I mean, I know there are more reasons to love this Joe Wright directed film, but that library scene alone makes me swoon every time I watch it. It's not just the fact that the erotics of Kiera and James are framed in such an apropos location (what is Atonement if not an exploration of the intersection between texts and sex?) but that the sex appeal of the scene is done mostly by suggestion with little or no nudity required to entice (and excite!) its audience. A breathtaking performance by Saoirse Ronan makes the first act of this film a gem in itself, and while it meanders and loses me quite a bit when it becomes a war film, Garai and Redgrave manage to salvage the film and make it one of my all-time favorite failed romance films this decade gave us.

12. Ratatouille

How do you successfully blend a story of a rat who wants to be a world-class chef, sumptuous animation and still manage to hit notes of 'being/finding yourself', 'family' and vermin? I have no idea, but clearly Brad Bird and his team over at Pixar know something I don't about making heart-warming, beautifully rendered films with off-beat premises.

11. The Devil Wears Prada

This might seem like a 'light' inclusion (it is, after all a film about the fashion world told through mostly formulaic comedic cliches) but Meryl as editrix Miranda Priestly, Anne as the plucky Andrea, Stanley as the bitchy () and Emily as...well, Emily, lift this adaptation (from a mostly grudge-driven and mean-spirited albeit hilarious novel of the same name) to another realm. Patricia Field's costumes alone and Streep's cerulean monologue make this a rewatch-staple every couple of months.

Top 50 Films of the 2000s part 1, or How the 'best of' continues

TOP 50 FILMS OF THE 2000s

This is obviously a biased list of titles that range from Oscar winners to animated gems, and the only criteria I used was: "movies that I have thought about, have rewatched over and over again and which have stayed with me in one way or another." It's a "best of" list only in the sense that that 'best' is utterly subjective. (Also, since these are my criteria, this explains why 2009 titles aren't as well represented - I need more time to digest and work through them).

25. Lilo & Stitch

What better way to kick off my list than with one of my all-time favorite Disney films? (Albeit one that didn't get the critical and box office love it deserved) It may not match the brilliance of the string of Pixar gems that peppered the 2000s or the buoyancy of the 90s renaissance of Disney musicals, but Chris Sanders's Lilo and Stitch has such an off-beat premise, such a gorgeous water-coloured palette and such an adorable pair at its center, that I can never refuse its charms as it blends sci-fi, Hawaii, Elvis and riffs on buddy-movies and advancing a beautiful theme surrounding "family" ("Ohanna means no one gets left behind").

24. 8 Women

It seems my idea of "Foreign Films" is restricted to French and Spanish language films (with the occasional Miyazaki thrown in). This is something I should work on, but I could do worse in finding two countries with a wider and more interesting filmic selection. Francois Ozon's 8 Women, while uproariously campy and unswervingly stylish (almost to its own detriment) it is such a joy to watch that I can't help but light up whenever the eponymous 8 women from the title (which include such French beauties as Isabelle Hupert, Catherine Deneuve and the luminous Ludivine Sagnier) burst into song and dance. Who knew there could be a whodunnit that could work just as well as a musical and as an actressexual dream?

23. A Single Man

In compiling this list I've realized how much respect and adoration I have for wonderfully aestheticized films. That's not to say that all "pretty" or "formally disciplined" films are good, but that when an attention to an aestheticized form is paired with the right tone and story, the results can be mesmerizing (just wait for my Top 5 - they all conform to this). Tom Ford's film - while recent in my memory, has been haunting me now for over two weeks. After watching it, I thought it was a good film with a heartbreaking performance by Colin Firth, if not the home run I wanted it to be (the film, not the performance). But the more I think about it, the more I fall in love with Ford's film: its European flavor, its gorgeous art direction, its meticulous shots, its obsession with the male body.

22. Up in the Air

In choosing another 2009 title, I didn't have to go far. It is not surprising any of Reitman's films would have finished in my Top 50: I love his style of storytelling and with this George Clooney vehicle he's hit all the right spots. Described as "Death of a Salesman starring Cary Grant" (by Roger Ebert, I believe), Reitman's film has us follow Ray Bingham as he finds the world as he knows it slowly ebbing away. If to travel is to live, as he believes, what happens when one is no longer in flight? With a pair of lovely supporting ladies (Farmiga and Kendrick), Clooney and Reitman's witty film is a joy to watch, even as its ending feels at once to hopeless and too hopeful.

21. Lord of the Rings Trilogy

I know it's a cop-out (see 15) but how can you really separate these three films that together they make one of the most daring cinematic achievements of all time, let alone the decade? Every time I talk about these films I feel I should re-watch them yet again (I've rewatched them here and there but never in a row, never in any systematic way) because every time I catch them on cable or at someone's house I am enraptured by the way Jackson & co. manage to make Middle Earth's conflict feel so epic and yet so grounded. If I had to choose one film to spotlight it would be Fellowship (Two Towers suffers from being the middle film and Return of the King for all its greatness feels too long and its multiple endings always feel less engaging than they should be). A great ensemble, enviable special effects, a gorgeous score and the lovely New Zealand canvas just add to the overall wonder that these films created over three years of my life (and for years to come, I'm sure).

Runners-up (in alphabetical order):

Batman Begins, Bring it On, Brokeback Mountain, Catch Me If You Can, Chicago, Duplicity, Frida, Finding Nemo, Hairspray, Legally Blonde, Mary and Max, Match Point, Mean Girls, Memento, Monsters, Inc., Notes on a Scandal, Once, Something's Gotta Give, Spiderman 2, Spirited Away, The Incredibles, There Will Be Blood, Transamerica, Unfaithful, X2.

TV in the 2000s or How Let's name ABND's Best Drama Actors/Actresses

Best Performances (TV Drama)

Narrowing the performance/actor categories was HARD. But I went with two things:

1. Do I like the actor/actress?

2. Do I like the performance?

Okay, maybe that didn't help 'em narrow them down at all. But I do have a crazy math system in the back of my head. Just don't make me explain it to cause I'm sure it would blow you away with its awesome and accurateness.

Best Drama Actor

What is it about male actors that keeps me from being wholly invested in them and prevents me from giving great praise to their work? I was planning on writing these men up but maybe it's the end-of-year fatigue coupled with the amount of schoolwork I have but I think they'll speak for themselves.

Jon Hamm - Don Draper (Mad Men)

"You are the product. You feeling something. That's what sells. Not them. Not sex. They can't do what we do and they hate us for it."

Peter Krause - Nate Fisher (Six Feet Under)

"None of us know how long we've got. Which is why we have to make each day matter."

Michael C Hall - David Fisher (Six Feet Under)/ Dexter Morgan (Dexter)

"Yeah, I'll be the strong one, the stable one, the dependable one, because that's what I do. And everyone around me will fall apart. 'Cause that's what they do." - David

"Viva Miami" - Dexter

Hugh Laurie - Dr Gregory House (House)

"It's Never Lupus!"

Victor Garber - Jack Bristow (Alias)

"Sydney, get in. Get in now... you can be stubborn later."

Runners up:

What would Battlestar Galactica have been without Edward James Olmos' raspy, Bale-doing-Batman voice and stern command? What would Big Love have been without its center piece in the form of Bill Paxton? Or, what would Joss's Angel had been without its leading cast member (David Boreanaz, now a staple at Fox's Bones)? Answer: not as good a show as they were.

Best Drama Actress

The ladies though, I couldn't leave without some commentary. Brief as it may be:

Mary McDonnell - President Laura Roslin (Battlestar Galactica)

"I won't compromise the success of this operation or the safety of this fleet to indulge the neediness of 12 perpetually unhappy representatives. I can't."

What to say about one of the most complex female political figures to grace TV this past decade? The younger cast may have given us plenty of eye candy (Tricia, Katee, Tammoh, Jamie) but it was truly in the duo of Edward James-Olmos and Mary McDonnell, that BSG soared for me. In Laura Roslin - a minister of Education thrust into the role of president after humankind is annihilated, McDonnell gave us a towering presence from the miniseries all the way to the end, when we finally saw her experience pure happiness. Here was a woman who knew what was best for humanity and in many odd ways managed to make me support and believe in the powers of dictatorship, torture, as well as ruthless political strategy without ever making me blink or doubt her. That alone was a feat in itself. The fact that despite this resolute nature of her was still imbued with tenderness and vulnerability (not only in the form of her illness but in her romantic engagement with Adama), without ever seeming at odds, shows how carefully McDonnell (a past Oscar nominee, let us not forget) crafted this character.

Sarah Michelle Gellar - Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

"I'm the thing that monsters have nightmares about. And right now, you and me are gonna show 'em why."

Probably my pick for the bravest and most fully formed character this past decade, there's no denying that Buffy Summers wouldn't have been the pop cultural icon it became without the strength of Gellar's thespian skills. Few can straddle the line between high camp and deep melancholy which this part required. Here was a conflicted woman torn between triviality (prom, dating, hairstyles, boys) and the transcendent (death, grief, demons, boys). "The Body" - the episode where Buffy's mom passes away (beautifully directed sans accompanying score by Joss Whedon) is one of the most affecting episodes this show ever produced. To see Gellar's close ups is to see a great actress at work, showing so much grief and so much pain yet trying to remain in control and composed: but how does a slayer deal with death when 'death is her gift' as that season constantly reminded us? But it wasn't just the dramatic scenes that make Buffy a great character and Gellar a worthy candidate for this award: her comedic timing (whether she's playing a robot version of herself, going all "cave-girl" because of beer, or playing up her ditzy blonde routine) is flawless, never missing a beat and always willing to be butt of the joke should the occasion require it. For that, Gellar remains one of my all-time favorite actresses, even if her filmography leaves much to be desired.

January Jones - Betty Draper (Mad Men)

"Sally! Go Bang Your head against the wall"

There are many detractors when it comes to Betty Draper. But one thing that is hard to argue is that, regardless how you feel about Betty, you have to give January Jones props for unflinchingly making Betty the ice-cold Nordic frazzled and childish queen that she is. While her storyline this past season fell mostly on the grating side, her season 2 arc is one of the most interesting examinations of female (and feminine) desire in twentieth century America I've seen put on screen (and here's someone who loves Revolutionary Road, Far From Heaven, The Women, The Hours and Almodovar's films). Betty may seem like a spoiled child (and there's no denying she is) but rather than see her as merely promoting this ideal, Weiner's show is clearly more interested in examining her as a symptom of the culture that bred her. Her mood swings are no less a consequence of here-and-there plot twists but more of a portrayal of the conflicting discourses that rule her life and which she cannot seem to comprehend. I am still waiting to see what they have in store for her next season (I, for one don't want Betty to go away) but these past three seasons enamoured me and while she's anything but lovable, she's fascinated and most of this is because Jones plays her so beautifully (her melancholy gazes, her hysterical fits, even her eerie calm resolve are always magnetic).

Jeanne Tripplehorn - Barb Henrickson (Big Love)

"We're never too far apart when we're holding hands."

This show is pitch-perfect when it comes to complex women (any of the other two wives could have easily made this lineup) but for me it's all about Barb. Maybe it's because she's the one I can relate to the most (and the one that most reminds me of my mother) but it's also because she seems to be the most fully formed and conflicted when it comes to her make-shift "family" and still its most staunch supporter (as evidenced by last season's storyline). She always breaks my heart but what Tripplehorn manages is to achieve this without falling into a portrayal that plays up her victim-like position (which is rarely promoted by the writing itself) but by braving the attacks on her family and her lifestyle knowing full well how she will always stand for what is right (which is why I love the quote that I chose): she may not agree with Margie or Nikki all the time, but she loves them. Family, as they say, always comes first.

Amy Acker - Winifred Burkle (Angel)/Dr Saunders (Dollhouse)

"This has been the best night ever. First, there's you taking me to ice cream, then there's the ice cream, then that monster jumps out of the freezer and you're all brave and, "Fred, watch out!," and then we get to chase it down into the sewers, which are just so bleak, and oppressive and homey. I-I could build a condo down here." - Fred

"You can't be your best. Your best is past. Your past you can't even remember. You're ugly now. You're disgusting. All you can hope for now is pity. And for that, you're going to have to look somewhere else." - Dr Saunders

This is probably my only left-field entry but I have a soft-spot for Amy Acker and I truly believe that her 2 (well, 4 if we're being specific) Whedon characters speak very highly about this young Sci-Fi starlet (it's no surprise she has several Saturn Award nominations and one win under her belt). From the quirky and lovable Winifred ("Fred") to the ice-cold alien nature of Illyria to the touching pitiable Dr Saunders (and then her creepy and touching turn as Whiskey), Acker showed great range, while still nailing the vulnerable and wounded aspects of her characters. "A Hole in the World" (the episode where - spoilers alert! - Fred "dies") still ranks as one of my all-time favorite Whedon episodes and most of it is due to Acker's performance because even as it could have fallen into cliche (dying words, sickness), her tenderness and humour weren't completely gone and made the scene when she finally dies that much more heartbreaking.

Runners up:

The Six Feet Under gals (Lauren Ambrose, Rachel Griffiths & Frances Conroy) for carefully adding much needed estrogen to the boy-ruled household. Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) for making Six a more complex and interesting cylon than most human TV characters this decade. The Damages pair: this show really works Rose Byrne and Glenn Close for all their thespian power and in the process we get two lawyers with more characterization than a mere procedural would ever require.

A Walk on the Education, or How I'm Seeing Double

I have no idea what this Diane/Viggo movie is about but while Netflix suggested I take a look at it, I couldn't help but think back to the An Education poster - don't they look alike?

TV in the 2000s, or How let's name ABND's Best Comedy Actress

Best Performances (TV Comedy) Part 2

Narrowing the performance/actor categories was HARD. But I went with two things:

1. Do I like the actor/actress?

2. Do I like the performance?

Okay, maybe that didn't help 'em narrow them down at all. But I do have a crazy math system in the back of my head. Just don't make me explain it to cause I'm sure it would blow you away with its awesome and accurateness.

Best Performance by an Actress (Comedy)

Lauren Graham - Lorelai Gilmore (Gilmore Girls)

"How beautiful are we talking? Catherine Zeta-Jones or the weird looking Hilton sister?"

If there was ever a TV character that could convince me to have kids, it'd be Lauren Graham's Lorelai Gilmore. Here was a cool mom who (implausibly, maybe) had a great relationship with her teenage daughter built on pop culture, fast-paced dialogue and an almost obsessive will to eat. In the hands of Lauren Graham, Lorelai became for me the type of person I wanted to sound like: no one rambles and rants and raves and meanders better than Lorelai Sr and while her diatribes might have made for a flat, unrealistic character, Graham's warmth and likability (not to mention her hair!) made her endearing, flawed and relatable. I suffered through her relationships, her economic hardships and her family woes, but to me the moments where Graham shined was when she was at her comic best - rat-tat-tatting references from Paul Anka to Robert Downey Jr that few people other than Rory fully got.

Megan Mullally - Karen Walker (Will & Grace)

"I thought, finally. A man who can make a woman feel like a girl. And who can make that girl feel like a slut. And who can make that slut feel like a woman."

What can be said about Karen Walker (and Megan Mullally) that has not been said before? I mean, here is a gay icon for a generation: she's a powerful, drunk, pill-popping, bad-mouthed white rich woman with a great rack. What else have gay men ever needed? And while it might be the one-liners that everyone remembers ("I love Stan. Stan loves ham. Ham I am!") or the way she always put down Grace for her outfits ("Oh honey, I thought we had talked about that blouse..."), the reason Karen was such a strong character for me was because Mullally did such a good job of keeping her grounded. For every zinger she got, Mullally knocked a dramatic (or a musical, or a serious) scene out of the park (her episode where she's alone in a prison cell talking to a camera about Stan is brilliant on all these levels, for example). Karen, despite her offensive outlook on life (including poor worker benefits for her maid Rosario and a poor work ethic at Adler designs) remains a character that we like because of the vulnerability with which Mullally played her ???

Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Green (Friends)

"Oh my God. I've become my father. I've been trying so hard not to become my mother, I didn't see this coming."

Her character may be best known for her early season hairstyle, which took the world by storm, but Jen Aniston's breakout role of 'Rachel Green' is one of the funniest and most well-rounded female characters to grace television this past decade (and yes I know, that means only the latter part of Friends makes the cut, but I truly believe it is her work on Season 8 when she was pregnant that really showcased her comedic chops). Rachel may have started as a spoiled brat running away from a marriage that was bound for disaster (as the 'What If' episodes showed us) but the series saw her grow into a professional in the fashion world with a child and of course, an on and off relationship with Ross. Aniston's comedic timing was always perfect - whether she was being cranky over not having delivered Emma yet, or frustrated over her feelings for Joey (a storyline I never cared for). She made Rachel feel 'lived in' and while off-putting at times (I mean, every Friends character had their moments of "just stfu ok?") she made me laugh whenever she was onscreen, whether she was making a beef-infused Thanksgiving dessert, or hitting on her younger assistant, or having the 'we were on a break!' conversation with Ross, or - my favorite - bickering with her sister over who's more spoiled.

Kristen Wiig - Assorted characters (SNL)

"George Washington is my natural father. I'm on the dollar bill, too. That's my eye in the pyramid." (Penelope)

Suze Orman. Penelope. The Target Lady. Kathy-Lee. Gilly. Judy Grimes. These are just a couple of the uproariously hysterical characters Ms Wiig has been amassing during her past couple of years at SNL as MVP (this coming from someone who despises sports metaphors). She is the one person who, even when the skit is horrid (most of the ones this past season, for example) she'll make me smile and sometimes guffaw so much I spill my drink. Most of her staples are crazy people and to see Wiig let go - of her vanity, her composure, her body, is a feat in it of itself. Yet, for all the crazy shenanigans of her characters (Kathie-Lee's drinking, Gilly's violence, Grimes's nerves, Penelope's one-upping monologues) Wiig never feels like she's mugging for laughs (as most of her co-stars do from time to time ::coughAndySambergcough::). For making SNL a joy to watch (even in the non-Palin skits episodes) this past decade, I had to commend her with this inclusion.

Tina Fey - Liz Lemon (30 Rock)

"Hey nerds! Guess who's got two thumbs, speaks limited French, and hasn't cried once today?"

Tina Fey is a triple threat: she can write, she can act and she can make more sandwich-centered jokes than anyone else on television. Liz Lemon is probably a great character because it is based on Fey herself, but the exaggerations are so crazy (her Leia costume to get out of jury duty, her love for bull-semen enhanced snacks) that one can't simply say Fey is playing herself. Over the past four seasons, Fey has managed a good mixture of zaniness, physical comedy and a knack for churning out great catch-phrases ("I want to go to there" being everyone's favorite of course but "nards!" "What the what?" "by the hammer of Thor" are also classic). Lemon's helplessness and cluelessness of course wouldn't be anything if they were not paired with Baldwin's Jack. Here's one of the greatest comedic duos of the decade. Fey may have said that she felt like the hat rack to Baldwin's Astaire, but she has proven that she can dance right along, albeit in a way that gives Elaine's dance from Seinfeld a run for its money.

Runners up:

The Sex and the City girls (Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Cattrall & Kristin Davis) for making female archetypes the norm when deciding what kind of NYC gal you are (I'm a Carrie, if you must know). The Desperate Housewives gals (especially Marcia Cross and Felicity Huffman) for humanizing what would otherwise be walking cliches in a soap-tastic show whose camp is only matched (and sometimes upped by): Vanessa Williams's 'Whilemina' in Ugly Betty - whose one-liners and eyebrow-raising have been a staple of the (albeit flailing) show. And last (but not least) the other SNL MVP that now has a brand new comedy on NBC: Ms Amy Poehler whose Palin rap will rank amongst the greatest SNL moments in the history of the show and whose Leslie Knope (Parks & Recreations) is slowly becoming a character to watch.

30 Rock, or How Hi-Def is HARSH

Last night's 30 Rock might have given us the best sight gag since Kenneth/Jack/Tracy's view of the world.

Behold, the power of Hi-Def cameras:

Liz looks horrid.

Pete looks old (and shirtless?)

Kenneth looks like a muppet (!)

& of course Jack looks younger.

TV in the 2000s, or How let's name ABND's Best Comedy Actor

Best Performances (TV Comedy) Part 1

Narrowing the performance/actor categories was HARD. But I went with two things:

1. Do I like the actor/actress?

2. Do I like the performance?

Okay, maybe that didn't help 'em narrow them down at all. But I do have a crazy math system in the back of my head. Just don't make me explain it to cause I'm sure it would blow you away with its awesome and accurateness.

Best Performance by an Actor (Comedy)

Sean Hayes - Jack McFarland (Will & Grace)

"They say Jack is a wise man, Jack is a dangerous man, Jack is a great man, no. - Jack is just a man. A man who knows men who like men."

Sure, Will & Grace was about that eponymous dysfunctional gay man/straight woman couple but we all know the laughs belonged to Jack and (see below) Karen. Is 'Jack' the ultimate gay stereotype? I don't know, but if he straddles the line between stereotype and accurate depiction (Oh, the many 'Jack McFarlands' I've met!) it must have worked that this character never took itself too seriously. Emmy Winner Sean Hayes embodied this character to the extent that seeing him play a hick on 30 Rock jarred me in a good way. From 'Just Jack!' to 'Just Jack 2000!' to 'Student Nurse Jack' to OutTV executive who sing-ed his eyebrow (one of my favorite moments of the show in the season 8 premiere, and no he doesn't mean 'singed' he meant 'sang'), Jack was always an adorable gay man who for all his (alleged) gay sexual philandering, had his heart in the right place. Just be sure to not distract him with polysyllabic words or shiny objects.

Alec Baldwin - Jack Donaghy (30 Rock)

"You go to that house and work it like a Chinese gymnast: wear something tight, force a smile, and lie about your age."

Two-time Emmy winner Alec Baldwin is that rare thespian who turned a solid movie career (including an Oscar nomination) into a great comedic vehicle (okay, so maybe it's not so rare anymore now that the Sally Fields and the Glenn Closes of the world have their own TV show). To cast Baldwin against a rag-tag of crazy secondary characters on 30 Rock and to make Jack Donaghy as the political opposite of Baldwin himself makes for the greatest reasons why he shines so much in his role. He is at once playing an exaggerated foil of himself and playing it straight to an army of crazy though we all know how crazy a comic Baldwin can be (he has hosted SNL 14 times, only one short of the record held by upcoming co-Oscar host Steve Martin). From 'El Generalissimo' to his therapy sessions to Tracy, to his one-liners, to his incredible affairs with women as distinct as Phoebe (a feeble-boned Emily Mortimer), a crazy Bianca (Isabella Rossellinni), la viuda negra (Salma Hayek) and CC Cunningham (Edie Falco), Jack has a spot in the greatest 'bosses of comedy' Hall of Fame (suck it Michael Scott!).

Will Arnett - GOB (George Bluth) (Arrested Development) & Devon Banks (30 Rock)

"Dad asked me to do this on the day he pleads not guilty, as a spectacular protest. A protestacular!" (Bluth)

"Celebrity snuff. Reality content made exclusively for your mobile phone: Oh what's that? MC Lyte just murdered Danny Bonaduce? Thanks, PHONE!" (Banks)

Does anyone play odd-ball better than Emmy nominee Will Arnett (aka. Mr Amy Poehler)? He has given us two characters this decade that merit mention. The first (GOB Bluth in Arrested Development) showed an actor that could go wherever the writers took him (and they took him to very very wacky places - need we say more than "Franklin Delano Bluth"?) and whose physical chops for comedy (whether as a magician failing at an escape trying to help his father escape or attempting to hang himself with a belt) were always in service of the crazy world of the Bluth family.

With Devon Banks, Arnett created a character (some say based on Ben Silverman) who will go any length to get to the top of the GE chain of command and get back at Jack Donaghy (including hiding his sexuality, marrying a woman he doesn't even stand, attempt to clog Jack's arteries with beef and wine and charm the Obama girls). HIs Banks is sleazy and power-hungry but also hysterically overblown, especially when using his 'gruff voice' to intimidate employees or seduce Kenneth the page while wearing a tiny hotel robe.

Neil Patrick Harris - Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother)

"Legen - wait for it... hope you're not lactose intolerant cause the second half of that word is -dairy!"

It's not just the catch-phrases ("Self-five! Phone-five! High five!" "Have you ... met Ted?") and it's not just the suits ("Suit up!") or about the seemingly aimless womanizing of a certain Barney Stinson. It's how effortlessly multiple Emmy nominee (and 2009 Emmy host!) Neil Patrick Harris marries Barney's nonchalant approach to women (let us remember he keeps cameras in his bedroom, the recent 'Playbook') and his high-dork factor (he does after all love laser-tag, owns a Star Wars stormtrooper and makes scrapbooks of the girls' he's slept with). Barney is a character that can romance a girl while wearing old-man makeup - he's as corny as he is awesome. Barney - for all its blatant heterosexuality might be the queerest member of this NYC group of friends (not because NPH is gay) but because he becomes the stand-in character in a marriage-plot driven sitcom for anti-marriage, anti-monogamy and anti-family. As a character, Barney is a foil to Ted's marriage-driven plot/life (which might explain why the greatest tension of the character was his coming to terms with what he felt for Robin including several spastic and schizo moments of 'I love her!' 'I want women still!' we saw and enjoyed last season and why their getting together felt at once earned and yet unsatisfactory).

Runners-up:

The Friends boys (Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer) for making come back to Central Perk every week be it for their awkward humour, their adorable idiocy or their love for paleontology. Erick McKormack (Will & Grace) for giving me a gay NYC neurotic as a role model so early on. Bret & Jemaine (Flight of the Conchords) for making Kiwis so folksy cool and writing 'Leggy Blonde' for to hum along on random mornings. And Ricky Gervais (Extras) for making awkward so funny and stellar.

First! or How the image will speak for itself

The following is an actual conversation via Adium with someone who I've no real contact (via blogs or otherwise) with and yet who thought giving feedback about this blog was his prerogative:

I appreciate constructive criticism as much as the next one (heck! the college writing course I teach basically depends on it) but this was... not quite what I have in mind. The internet, twitter, facebook, etc. have opened a world where everyone's opinion can be heard and distributed and that's great - but this (at least in my mind) went a bit far beyond mere "opinion." I don't even know why I'm posting this other than I found it an incredibly odd conversation to have had and thought I'd share it.

George & AJ, or How I love few things in life as much as PIXAR

Seriously. Not joking. I love PIXAR with an obsession that could only be put on film by Glenn Close or Demi Moore on an 80s or 90s "female be crazy" plot. Without harming rabbits or Michael Douglas, of course.

Here is an extra short film from Up (recently released on DVD). I love that even in its simplicity (and without the CGI feel) the short feels purely PIXARIAN:

Rated GaGa or How I'm Seeing Double

Young pop goddess tries to make lightning strike twice by having a black and white album cover where she sports a crazy hairstyle and only makes one of her eyes visible.

It's violent. It's scary. It's a throwback and overly stylized but in a minimalist way for full effect.

Spirited Lilo, or How I'm Seeing Double

What do these two animated girls have in common?

Other than having very interesting friends, of course.

They were both voiced by Daveigh Chase

(the former in its original incarnation, the latter in its English dubbed version)

30 Rock, or How it's aboot time!

Off to a slow start this a season (did they really have to spend so many episodes milking the 'Real America' jokes, funny as they were?) 30 Rock managed to crank out an episode that introduced the new guy (Jack/Danny Baker), saw Kenneth at his Emperor-worst, found Jenna and Tracy trying to solve problems and strengthened the (business) relationship between Jack and Liz. Basically: classic 30 Rock.

Things I loved about the episode:

dealbreaker. the books for you man no good by lesbian yellow-sour-fruit

Solvers. The Problem

Kenneth: Yes, embrace your anger.

Danny: WHAT? You know, of all the weirdos I have met around here you are the worst. With your creepy Don Knotts face. That ridiculous Hitler Youth haircut.

Kenneth: What about my chin?

Danny: What about your chin? I have seen bigger chins in premature babies!

And of course, Liz's sleeve on fire:

TV in the 2000s or How Let's name ABND's Best Drama Series

Best Drama Series

To say I don't watch too many dramas is an understatement. Maybe this is in part due to the fact that networks rarely stray far away from doctors, lawyers and cops (notice only one of the 8 shows I am about to mention fall into one of those categories), so while everyone this decade was entranced by a mob family (which I hear I really should give it a chance), a plane crash (which I'm scolded for not having given it a chance), McDreamy, all the CSIs and all the Law and Orders, I found a couple of shows that struck a nerve: a blond girl, an AdMan, a rag-tag fleet and a shark-lady lawyer are for me the best drama series this past decade. Find out why:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Joss Whedon's gift to the world came in the figure of a slender blonde girl from California who was a regular misfit (and occasional cheerleader) by the day but who was the 'Chosen One' by night (and also sometimes during the day). "Into every generation a slayer is born" might have ticked off a lot of people who don't see genre as a valid way to make quality TV, but for us geeks every season of Buffy gave us a newfound respect for the writers and actors in this show who took a metaphorical premise (demons in high school) to a new level, making Sarah Michelle Gellar a star (and spawning, among others, current TV staples both in front of the screen: Bones's David Boreanaz, Robot Chicken's Seth Green, How I Met Your Mother's Alyson Hannigan and behind it: BSG/Caprica's Jane Espenson, Grey's/Mad Men's Marti Noxon) way before Twilight, True Blood and every other vampire franchise that paired a young girl with a vampire as her romantic interest was even being gestated. Buffy's mix of humour, pathos, camp and drama can best be summed up in the episodes that have cherished by fans years after the show went off the air: 'The Body' gave SMG a chance to show her acting chops as Buffy dealt with the death of her mother, 'Once More With Feeling' will always be the 'musical episode' every TV show who ever attempts one will be compared to, and the Emmy-nominated 'Hush' (an almost-silent episode) is a master-class in writing and acting. For blending all of these aspects together and breaking new ground in terms of what it means to have a strong female role and spawning a franchise that extended to a spin-off show, several comic book titles, novels and infinite amount of forums around the internets, Buffy should be considered one of the greatest achievements in TV of the decade.

Mad Men

Is there a show on the air more elegantly crafted than Matthew Weiner's two-time Emmy winner Best Drama Series Mad Men? It may be the time period (1960s NYC) but the allure of the show doesn't stop there. Following the elusive and mysterious Don Draper as an Madison Avenue advertising man, Mad Men feels at once like a look back to simpler times and a stern look at how nostalgia itself does wonders for hindsight. Tearing apart the American quaintness of the period (with scathing social commentary ranging from critiques on femininity, marriage and class), the show in the three seasons it has aired, has shown that the American dream might have been at its most nightmarish while it rode high on the Camelot myth. Punctuated by nation-shattering events (Marylin's death, the Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK's assassination, the riots in the South after MLK's murder) the show has never lost track of its nuanced and well-paced style, favoring character studies over plot developments, creating simmering build ups rather than explosive melodrama. Emmy nominated thesps John Hamm, Elisabeth Moss and John Slattery, along with (sadly snubbed) January Jones and Christina Hendricks keep us entranced by these characters as they have been moving through the tumultuous decade of the 1960s, a time of change in America, not of course, without looking slicker and more glamorous than any other ensemble cast on television this past decade.

Battlestar Galactica

In a Hollywood world intent on remaking, rebooting and recharging failing and fading franchises, we should all look closer to Ronald D. Moore's Battlestar Galactica to see how it can be done. Taking the premise of the 1970s show of the same name (where a group of cylons - self-aware and intelligent robots - annihilate the entire human race save for one Battlestar), Moore's show took the concept, tweaked it (cylons in this version have managed to look like humans) and carefully constructed an allegory of America in a post-9/11 world dealing with issues of terrorism, suicide-bombers, torture, faith and spirituality in a way that never seemed derivative or exploitative. While many took issue with how the series was resolved, there's no denying that for 4 seasons (and two made for TV movies), BSG was one of the most engaging television series to grace the screen. That it featured a great cast (including Oscar-nominated Mary McDonnell & Edward James Olmos, as well as Jamie Bamber, Tricia Helfer, Grace Park, Katee Sackhoff and Tammoh Penikket didn't hurt either as they each brought a visceral vulnerability to characters that, in hands of lesser writers and actors, might have been lost in between the cylon/human fights and all the spaceship stuff worthy of a good Sci Fi show.

Damages

Not since Ally McBeal had I cared more about lawyers and their crazy shenanigans. But while that David E. Kelley worked the whimsy into courtrooms, Damages takes a slightly more terrifying and electric look at what happens behind close doors (mostly, in random alleys and under tables). From the first frame of the pilot you're hooked. But you stay for the great writing, editing and acting. Close and Byrne play to their strengths as Patty Hewes and her new associate Ellen Parsons, the former evoking the great crazy-ladies of Close's Oscar-nominated past and the former playing the ingenue (though as season 2 showed, us - not for long). With only two seasons under its belt I considered not placing it so high up, but its first season was so perfectly crafted and gripping that I couldn't not think of it as one of the greatest pieces of television I have seen this past decade.

Runners up:

Six Feet Under (a great cast, pitch-perfect dialogue and a somber and macabre mood sprinkled with dry humour made this a gem of a show - I'm sure it'll rank higher once I finish the entire series - confession: I'm only on season 2), Big Love (because this is what families are: a mixed-bag of crazy held together by the common filial bond of marriage(s)), Skins (showing that the Brits do it better - and sexier and edgier - this show gives us a glimpse of high school life without sanitizing it), Alias (sorry Zoe, I know this isn't the JJ. Abrams show you wanted me to shout out, I never truly watched Felicity) (not only for giving us Jennifer Garner, but for creating a fast-paced female centered show that rarely sacrificed storytelling for big bangs).