The best lead acting in a comedy series

My favorite female lead actor performances in a comedy series.

Runners up:

Toni Collette- The united states of Tara

The last two seasons were not as strong as the first, but Toni Collette always showed a lot of range playing Tara and her multiple personalities.

Tina Fey- 30 rock

It's always fun to see what neurosis we will see each week with Fey's Liz Lemon even when the show itself isn't at it's best.

Edie Falco- Nurse Jackie

It's hard to make a drug addicted nurse who cheats on her husband a character that you want to root for. Somehow Edie Falco makes it happen.


Amy poehler- parks and recreation

In the first season of this show Leslie Nope was an annoying ambitious character, but she wasn't very likable. In season two and three Amy Poehler has changed that part of the character while keeping her eccentricities intact. It has made for a better overall show.


But my favorite performance was:

Laura Linney- the Big C
How is a show about cancer funny? Thanks to Laura linnet's performance it is. Her performance is often laugh out loud funny but also heartbreaking and inspiring.

My favorite male actor performances in a comedy series were:

Runners up:

Steve Carell- The Office
The office has seen way better days, but one of the best parts of this season was watching Michael Scott going from a bumbling fool to a full fledge bumbling fool human being. I will miss this great character.

Alec Baldwin- 30 Rock
Even if 30 rock is past it's prime. Alec Baldwin always brings his A game even to the most ludicrous story lines. Baldwin's Jack makes the show still worth watching.

Matt Leblanc-Episodes

I would imagine it would be tough to play yourself. But playing yourself as unlikeable while still redeemable would be even tougher. Matt LeBlanc pulled it off with great humor.


Jim Parsons-the big bang theory. Even if an episode is weak, Sheldon is always a highlight. Jim Parsons makes him one of the great characters in the history of television. If you don't believe me witness Sheldon giving himself his first neck massage in the season finale!

My favorite performance was-

Ed O'Neil- Modern Family
Sure modern Family is an ensemble but Ed O'Neil is the center and heart of the show. His performance as the family patriarch is enough to make me forget about al bundy forever.

The best of the 2010-2011 television: the supporting comedy actors

Here are my favorite supporting male actor performers of the TV season

The runners up:

Eric Stonestreet- Modern Family Cam is one of the great characters in television. Everyone wishes they had a Cam. Cam is sensitive, flamboyant eccentric, loyal, and always hilarious!

Jesse Tyler Ferguson-Modern family Ferguuson doesn't get enough credit. It isn't easy to be the neurotic "straight" man to the scene stealing Cam. But he does it weekly, and if you listen to him very carefully you will notice that Mitchell gets some of the best lines.

Keir Gilchrist- the united states of Tara. Gilchrist did his best work yet in the final season of Tara. He was a heart breaker I stead of having his heartbroken. He suffered a tragedy, and he questions his loyalty to his mentally ailing mother.

Ty Burrell- Modern Family
Phil Would be a tough character to play. He has to be a buffoon but he still has to have some credibility as a father and husband. Ty Burrell makes the character funny but not a joke.

But my favorite was:
Chris Colfer- Glee

This wasn't a consistent season of Glee. But I knew if the focus was on Kurt it would be a good episode. Kurt dealt with bullying, a family illness, changing schools, and getting his first boyfriend. Chris Coifer pulled off all the drama, but he also sang some nice songs and told a light hearted joke or two.


Best supporting female actor in a comedy series

Runners up
Heather Morris- Glee.

Morris stole the funny from Jane lynch who was season one's MVP. Brittany started out as an occasional funny one liner developed into a full fledged funny but three dimensional character.

Sofia Vergara- modern Family

Gloria is a tricky character to play. She could be the stereotypical foreign bimbo married to an older man. But Vergara gives her heart. You can tell she genuinely loves her husband. Sometimes she is a stereotype. Sometimes she fights them. It doesnt usually feel like I'm laughing at her, but laughing with her.

Amy Ryan- The office

I didn't really like the office this season, but I watched to see michael's send off. When holly returned the office was better. I never thought they could create a character that would be a perfect match for Michael scott. The writers did it and Amy Ryan played her perfectly.

Julie Bowen- Modern Family
In season 1 Claire kind of bothered me. I wondered why someone ad uptight as she is would marry Phil. This season Claire was uptight but Bowen also got to show her kooky side

But my favorite was:
Mayim Bialik- the Big Bang theory

Who knew that the actress who played blossom would make comeback, and then who knew she would be so funny. Bialik made Amy Farrah Fowler the perfect sparring partner for Sheldon.

Another Martha meal and my crazy ideas.

I haven't been doing good about making my Martha Stewart recipes so far, but I did make her easy spaghetti carbonara recipe. It is essentially 7 ingredients. Spaghetti, salt,pepper, eggs, Parmesan cheese, bacon, and half and half. It did end up being really delicious. The recipe says to eat it immediately. I did not, and it was still great. I would suggest lots of black pepper because it really adds to the flavor. I would also say keep the bacon in bigger pieces than you get in restaurant carbonara. I was really happy with it.


While I was using the stovetop, I got the idea of using the self cleaning cycle on my oven to clean the inside of the oven. It didn't really need it, but we are about to get a new oven and I had actually never seen how the self cleaning oven works. And I was curious like the good little monkey curious George. Well basically it stinks and it gets really hot. Well today happens to be the warmest day of the year in Seattle. Probably not a great day to do that. But like I said I didn't know how it worked. And once I figured it out I was kind of locked into it. Lesson learned! It's hot in here!

Week 3 Food on the street: Lumpia World

My friend Teresa and I went on our weekly quest again for delicious street food. We were hoping to find the eve elusive Skillet, but I guess they are taking a long weekend because they were not parked at the Starbucks headquarters today. So we will continue with out pursuit of skillet. It better b good!

We tried out Lumpia world because we Hacé fascinated by it since it was parked outside one of our favorite bar. If you don't know Lumpia. It is a Filipino egg roll and for some reason I like it better than a traditional Chinese egg roll. We both ordered chicken adobo. This was essentially dark and white meet chicken stewed in vegetables and hens served over rice. It was a good sized portion, and I really liked the flavor profile of the sauce. Overall I likecD it. Teresa said her chicken tasted dry and she had lots of little bones in hers. Mine did not have that problem. So I think she ended up with more white meat and meat from around the neck which has little bones.

I ordered a Lumpia sampler. It came with four pieces of Lumpia of my choice. I chose pork, chicken, steak and a dessert banana one covered in chocolate. All of them were fine but kind of unremarkable. The three different meat ones didn't taste that different from them. I think I should have opted for no chocolate on the dessert one which would have made the fried banana one stand out more. I think maybe the problem was the Lumpia was so freshly made that the oil didn't have ti e to sink in and make it more flavorful like it is when my Filipino co-workers bring Lumpia in for lunch at work. It has had some rest time and is deliciousness.

So overall I enjoyed teresa's company and liked Lumpia world but I didn't live it.

THe best in television 2010-2011: the drama supporting actors

This year my favorite supporting amel acrots in a drama series were.

Runner's up
Craig T Nelson- Parenthood
I never liked the show .oath so I really did expect much from Craig t Nelson as the patriarch Braverman. But Nelson has shown himself to play to his gruff exterior while showing a vulnerable and loyal side when it comes to protecting his family

Irrfan Khan- In treatment
The final season three of In treatment wasn't the strongest stiffener, but the acting was strong as usual. Khan's storyline showed an underlying rage that built over the season to a suspenseful end.

Matt Ross- Big Love. ross's Albee storyline was one of the few highlights of a mediocre season 4. It looked like he might get some redemption, but en his male lover committed suicide and Albee was back in season 5 with a fiery psychotic rage. The character was never redeemed and was hated and complicated right to the end of the series

Dax Shephard- Who would have thought that the former punked star could bring so much emotion and versatility to Crosby Braverman the most dysfunctional Braverman on the underrated Parenthood.


And the best supporting actor in a drama series was :
Dane DeHaan in 8! Treatment

in one half hour episode DeHaan played a openly gay teenager who would move from pride to insecurity to seductiveness to being a compulsive liar. DeHaan's performance as the highlight of the final season of In Treatment.


And the best performances by a female actor in a supporting role were:

Runner's up

Debra winger- in treatment
It was so great to have Debra winger on television. She gave one of the best performances in a great career as an actress dealing with a terminally ill family member

Chloe Sevingy- Big Love.
No matter the quality of any given season of big love youmcould always count of sevingy as Nicolette "the middle child" wife to give an often funny sometimes touching performance.

Julia stiles- Dexter. I thought stiles was one of the most milquetoast actresses around so I didn't expect much from her arc on Dexter. Every time she was on the screen she surprised me

Christina Hendricks- Mad Men
Hendrick's Joan has always represented the woman of that era who was at times a feminist while able to play the traditional roles prescribed to her. Hendrick's had her best season yet as she deals with an unplanned pregnancy and then considering what she can do about it.

My favorite performance of the year was:
Michelle Forbes - The killing. On true blood Forbes played it appropriately over the top, but in the killing I was astounded by her as she gave a complicated performance as the grieving mother of the murdered Rosie Larsen.

It's Nicki b#%€£! (Sorry Britney !)

Last week I attended the Britney Spears concert. I like a lot of her songs, but I was not willing to pay full price for the ticket. I was able to get a ticket for half price through groupon. I didn't really have high expectatios, but I ended up having a lot of fun. Britney and her people put on quite a spectacle. My particular favorites were high energy performances of "If you seek Amy", "I wanna go", "until the world ends" and an extremely short version of "baby one more time". As for Britney herself I can tell you that she did do some singing despite reports that she lip syncs her whole show. I'm not so concerned about that in songs where the dance energy is high. Madonna, Cher, and Janet Jackson have all done some lip syncing during high energy numbers. It just seems that Britney gets the most criticism for it. However, I will say that britney's energy level was kind of lagging throughout the show. She certainly wasn't at her dancing best and the dancers around her were depended on to make up for a lot of her slack. Overall I would say that my 50 dollar seats 20 rows away from the stage were worth it, but I was glad I wasn't someone who paid full price for tickets.

Now who I would pay full price to see is Nicki Minaj headlining her own tour. She opened for Britney, and my expectations were lw after seeing her perform on Saturday Night Live. But in her 30 minute segment she exceeded my expectations. Her energy level was high and she performed as if her life depended on it. One song would flow into the next. I Wondered how they would handle all of her collaboration songs. They skillfully shortened the songs to make her rapping segments the highlight. On that night, Nicki Minaj provded to me that she was the A superstar. She stole the show that night from Britney. I'd give Nicki an A to Britney's B.

Week 2: eating on the street

Today my friend Teresa and I went to Queen Anne farmer's market to do our on the street eating. There were many potential choices for us there. But we chose to eat at "where ya at Matt?". This street truck is known in Seattle for it's Cajun influence cuisine. Teresa got a small bowl of gumbo, and I had a fried oyster po boy. It was delicious, and I run hot and cold on oysters. The bread was fresh, the fried oysters were tender, and there was a good amount of salad vegetables on it mixed with a tasty mayonnaise sauce. There were so many things on their menu I want to try. I definitely will go back to "where ya at, Matt?"

We also had homeade draft ginger beer from a local vendor, and we shared a dessert crepe at Gina's place at the market. It was a peanut butter, banana and raspberry jam crepe. Delicious! I left the market with some fresh mozzarella and bacon.

On another note earlier this week I went to a vegan bar called highline for a birthday party. They had great vegan cake, but I tried vegan poutine out of curiosity. Let's just say poutine should not be vegetarian!