Goodbye Europe!

I've had an eventful few days in Paris and am soaking up my last day here in Germany. I'll be back in the States tomorrow night and blog in more detail about the Paris trip later in the week. Here's a sneak peak...it involves lots and lots of food, a late night romp in search of the Hard Rock Cafe, and a $15 coke!!

Emmy Redux

I forgot my own rules!! I still say everyone on my list below is who should have won. But after fast-forwarding through the broadcast this morning, I was painfully aware that I didn't follow my own rules and that's just silly! If I would've done that, my picks would've been darn near perfect.

Case in point:
Dianne Wiest - Primarily a respected movie actor doing TV upsets the much more deserving Chandra Wilson for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.
Jean Smart - A beloved former television star coming back to a TV comedy upsets the more deserving Amy Poehler and Kristen Chenoweth. Samantha Who is one of my favorite shows, but Jean Smart is the least funny character on there...not that I don't love her! It's just that Amy and Kristen are much more funny in their respective performances.

And I forgot about the Emmy/Oscar rule of "if you should've won for a show/movie previously, we'll likely award you an Emmy/Oscar if you're ever nominated again whether or not you deserve it":
Bryan Cranston - He should've won for Malcolm in the Middle, but never did. I can't be certain this is the reason he won, since I've never seen his new show. But I've definitely got my suspicions.

Overall, the Emmys were a snooze-fest. That opening was horrendous! I mainly fast-forwarded through it to see the winners and doubt I'll go back and watch much more.

What did we learn?

1) TV hosts are not good Emmy hosts and pretending to have nothing to say is not funny (kuddos to Jeremy Piven for mocking them!).

1.5) Ricky Gervais, Steve Carell, Jon Stewert, and Stephen Colbert are comedy gold. Can we have them tag-team host next year?

2) We should all be Democrats because Republicans are idiots.

2.5) If you make a political movie about the absurdity of our government and primarily Republicans, you're probably gonna win over a much more deserving film (see Recount beating A Raisin in the Sun - I tried to watch Recount, but it was so not that good that I actually stopped...which is something I rarely do).

3) Ok, we get it. Jeremy Piven is really great on Entourage. I think it's about time for him to take his name out of consideration a la Candice Bergen.

4) Josh Groban is a talented dude. Not only can he do classical music, he can even do TV themes!

5) 30 Rock is the most awesome show on TV and Tina Fey rocks!!

Alright, that's all I got. In the vein of Kristin Wiig's character Aunt Linda on SNL, I give the 2008 Emmys a big "Oh, Brother!" and a "Ghaa!".

Turner Out!

Emmy Picks

We interrupt the German portion of the blog to bring you our 2008 Emmy picks.

Let me start off by stating that while I love the Emmys, I'm rarely happy with the nominations. The ATAS is a good old boys network, so the same boring people get nominated year after year. I'm pretty certain most of them don't actually watch TV. But, griping aside, this year was a little bit better than most, and I didn't cringe near as much when I read the nominees.

So, here we go...

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Jeremy Piven, Entourage
Kevin Dillon, Entourage
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother
Rainn Wilson, The Office
Jon Cryer, Two And A Half Men
My Pick: Neil Patrick Harris. I think this is his year. He's hilarious as Barney and you should all watch How I Met Your Mother if you don't already.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies
Jean Smart, Samantha Who
Amy Poehler, SNL
Holland Taylor, Two And A Half Men
Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty
My Pick: Kristen Wiig. Oh wait, she wasn't nominated was she? I love that they opened up the nominations to SNL. However, in my opinion, Kristen Wiig is the funniest person on SNL right now, and I wish she would've received the nomination. But I do love me some Poehler, and I think she'll take home the statue with Kristin Chenoweth missing it by a hair.

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
William Shatner, Boston Legal
Ted Danson, Damages
Zeljko Ivanek, Damages
Michael Emerson, Lost
John Slattery, Mad Men
My Pick: A big fat who cares! The only performance I've seen is Lost, but I'm gonna go with Ted Danson...solely for the fact that he's married to an Arkansan.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Candice Bergen, Boston Legal
Rachel Griffiths, Brothers & Sisters
Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy
Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy
Dianne Wiest, In Treatment
My Pick: Chandra Wilson. This is the only slam dunk of the night. Anyone else will be an upset. Chandra is the best thing on Grey's, and it's her year to win.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Tony Shalhoub, Monk
Steve Carell, The Office
Lee Pace, Pushing Daisies
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Charlie Sheen, Two And A Half Men
My Pick: Alec Baldwin. He's the funniest person on the funniest show, so naturally he should win.

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures Of Old Christine
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
America Ferrera, Ugly Betty
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds
My Pick: This is the hardest category for me to pick because all these ladies are great. Christina Applegate is funny on Samantha Who, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus is the best physical comedian on TV right now. But my pick this year is Tina Fey. She's unstoppable!

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
James Spader, Boston Legal
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Hugh Laurie, House
Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
My Pick: Jon Hamm. This is another category that I don't care that much about as I don't presently watch any of these shows. But Mad Men looks like something I'll enjoy once I get around to watching it, and from what I hear, Hamm is great. Plus he's cute, and I'm not gonna lie, that affected my vote.

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer
Glenn Close, Damages
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU
Holly Hunter, Saving Grace
My Pick: Mary McDonell, Battlestar Galactica. She's the best thing on TV, but evidently if you're on a show on the sci-fi network, you're not going to get a nomination. Too bad. This is one of those categories that showcases the Emmy rule of "if you're a big time star and you come do TV, we'll give you a nomination for no other reason than that." Following that rule, I'm going with Glenn Close this year.

Outstanding Comedy Series
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Entourage
The Office
30 Rock
Two And A Half Men
My Pick: 30 Rock. It's the funniest show on TV and deserves to win again this year. I don't know why Two And A Half Men keeps getting nominated. That show is mediocre at best. My nominations would've been 30 Rock, The Office, How I Met Your Mother, Flight of the Conchords, and The New Adventures of Old Christine.

Outstanding Drama Series
Boston Legal
Damages
Dexter
House
Lost
Mad Men
My Pick: Battlestar Galactica. Ok, ok, that's not nominated either, but it's still the best drama on TV. This is another category I don't care much about. Boston Legal's nominations are just ludicrous. If anything, it should be nominated as a comedy. I do love me some Lost, but I think Mad Men will win. It's the talk of the town, and it'll walk home with the Emmy.

So there you have it, folks. My 2008 Emmy Predictions. Enjoy!

Koln, Cologne...whatever!

Yesterday, we made the trek up to Cologne. It was the first big city I've been to in Europe. It was much more like the Europe I had envisioned. Much like I'm sure people envision the US as Los Angeles or New York and not Fort Smith!

A little history because I'm me and a post is not complete without some. Cologne is the fourth largest city in Germany, home to about 1 million people. Its most famous structure is the Cologne Cathedral. Construction began on the cathedral in 1248, but it wasn't actually completed until 1880. It houses the Shrine of the Three Kings, which supposedly holds the remains of the Magi. Everything in Cologne was demolished in a WWII air raid except the cathedral. You can google a picture to check it out because it's pretty neat (maybe neat's not the right word!). And lastly, Cologne is the birthplace of Eau de Cologne. For the record, I have to learn all of this stuff myself because my sister has very little interest in these things.

I don't have too terribly many pics to post. I took a gazillion pictures of the Cologne Cathedral, but I'm just going to post a few. It was absolutely gorgeous on the outside. The inside was beautiful too, but not as beautiful as the cathedral in Trier. But it definitely takes the prize for exterior beauty. When I got home I realized I neglected to take pictures in the walkplatz, though we did stroll around there some. We were very American and ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. But I had to get a guitar pin, so the trip there was necessary! I still haven't eaten at a German restaurant. But once Matt gets back in town, Jolee and I are going to go to one. I need me some schnitzel!

Without further ado...




The Cathedral

I don't know if you can get a sense of the intricacy of the cathedral from the above two pics. Below is a picture of one doorway. Notice that they are all individual people. This is but one example of the detail of the outside.

Inside the Cathedral

A dead dude

Jordyn literally stuffing a sock in itJolee discovering she's been pooped on! Pesky pigeons!
That's all folks! Tomorrow's stop...Belgium!

Castles, castles, everywhere!

Burg Pyrmont

Burg Eltz

Burg Cochem

And my favorite...Truffelburg!

Oh, and by the way, burg = castle. It's one of the many German words I've learned during my stay, such as kindergarten, restaurant, and hotel. Impressed much?!

Trier

Tuesday we went to Trier, which is the closest city to Jolee's town. Its claim to fame is that it's the oldest city in Germany, though there is some debate to this. Romans settled it around 30 BC, which is the oldest recording of the city. However, many people believe it was actually founded some 1500 years earlier by an Assyrian prince. Regardless, it's really old!! We meandered around the Hauptmarkt and did some shopping. At some point, we're going to go back to see the Roman baths and to find Karl Marx's home because, as an economics major, I absolutely cannot leave here without doing so. It would be a disgrace.





I call this one "Art", subtitled, "Reflections of God". Check it.

Yum!

Somebody sure likes Aunt Terri's cookie dough!


Maybe I should put it on the top shelf next time.

Luxembourg

Today, we made a quick trip into Luxembourg. I absolutely loved it! I wish we could've spent more time there. But we had three kids and it started raining, so we had to cut the trip short. Maybe some day I'll venture back and spend a bit more time.





Oh George! Must you follow me everywhere?!

Better...

...but still not great. I must have missed the memo that there was something wrong with the old uniforms. But this, at least, I can tolerate.

Something I don't ever want to see again...

...but fear I'm going to have to live with for the rest of the season. Let's hope they change back to the classic uniforms next year. I can't handle this new-fangled crap on my beloved Razorbacks!!

P-P-P-Pictures!!

Look! It's actually me...in Germany!!

Politics...look away if you must, though I hope you don't.

So here's the deal. Most of my blogs over the next month will be Europe related, but they will occasionally be interrupted by other topics. This post is one of those. It's going to be political, so go ahead and tune out now if you wish. I know my political blogs don't get as much response as my random blogs. People just aren't as interested/informed about politics as I think (wish?) they should be.

This is the second morning in a row I've awakened to a day of Palin dominated news in the States. Since she's a VP nominee, normally I would say this is fine. But what's dominating the news is her daughter's pregnancy, and this just pisses me off (pardon the language). Who cares about her daughter? She's not involved in this election! Get over it already. Kids make mistakes. It's a private family matter. Let it go! I feel like we've already started along the path of more things being debated about Palin because she's a woman. I honestly don't think this would be such an issue if she were a man, but I could be wrong. Let me summarize, stuff with Palin's daughter - not relevant. Stuff regarding the firing of her brother-in-law - completely relevant. Let's all keep a sane head on our shoulders and filter through this nonsense that the media often throws at us. I want to have faith in my fellow Americans!

In the meantime, I'm enjoying my time in Germany. You know, one of those crazy countries run by a woman.

Argh!

I was going to post a picture proving I was in Germany. But then I accidentally deleted all the ones I'd taken. Luckily, I'd only taken 6 or 7. I'll get some further proof. Stay tuned...