5 Things Friday: The Internet is Great.

Look, it's been a big week. We've had James Comey's hearings (whoa, btw), we've had lots of rain up this way, and all of that has made me a little Internet-browse-y for hilarious things. Luckily, I am a loser who spends just an inordinate amount of time on the World Wide Waste of Time, so I'm here to provide you with 5 things that will make you laugh or brighten your day. 

*Cheerleader style*

Ready? 

Okay! 

1. Snoop Dogg Narrating Planet Earth

If this doesn't make you laugh, I don't want to know you. I'm serious, let me know if it doesn't so we can stop associating with each other. 

2. Robert Irwin on Jimmy Fallon

This is the sweetest and best and Robert really is Steve reincarnated. Also BABY BLACK BEARS. Also also Jimmy Fallon is scared of the animal kingdom with is kind of hilarious. 

3. This family's story on Ellen

So I watched this in the car on the way back from my sister-in-law's wedding and I was just sobbing. Jordan thought something was medically wrong with me and was like, "Are you okay?? ARE YOU OKAY??" But I had headphones in so I wasn't listening. ...anyway it's incredible. 

4. Ellen's Staff Recaps the Ellen Episode of The Bachelorette

It's just funny and stupid and that girl reacts pretty much exactly like I do. 

5. Lil' Baby Aidy Being Adorable

Listen, I really only had four things, so this is a throwaway but also something that made me giggle. I love Aidy. And I love SNL. AND I HOPE YOU DO TOO. 

Have a great weekend, peeps! I'm going to my ten year reunion which makes me want to throw up that I've been out of school for ten years. Why?! WHY?!?! 

Celine Dion Will Make You Feel Things

I know, I know, I know. This song is the cheesiest. But last night at the Billboard Music Awards, Celine commemorated the 20th anniversary of Titanic by singing "My Heart Will Go On," and shut it on down. 

FIRST OF ALL, let's discuss the fact that it's somehow been TWENTY FREAKING YEARS since that movie came out. HOW!? I don't like that AT ALL. I was 8 when it was released and saw it in theaters twice. Lest you judge my parents for taking me to this movie at that age, everyone. was. seeing it. And yes. If everyone was jumping off a bridge, I would, too.

Seriously though, It blows my mind that it's been two decades since we all sobbed over Jack and Rose together. Also been two decades since I stood in front of my bathroom mirror and sang this song about 500 times in a row, complete with a vocalized version of the flute. How many kids did you know that learned the piano part to this song? How much did you want to blow your brains out when you'd walk into a choir room and someone would sit down and play those opening notes? "Dun dun DUN DUN...dun dun. Dun dun DUN DUN....dun dun." You know it. You're totally singing it in your head. 

Either way, when she took the stage last night, it transported me back to being in third grade. Celine is also just a hell of a vocalist, proving that you actually CAN age gracefully as an artist and still maintain your talent - if that's your priority. Lookin' at you, Mariah Carey. 

Celine, on the other hand, sounds pretty much exactly the same as she did twenty years ago, which is no small thing.

Secondly, let's discuss how sweet this song is given that Celine lost her husband rather recently to cancer, and how it has new meaning form her. 

Thirdly, let's discuss the fact that the crowd was basically in an ovation for a daggum half hour. 

Sorry for the weird, multiple versions of this video - Billboard hasn't posted an official one yet, but I'll change it if I find a better one. 

In the meantime, enjoy. 

Why "The O.C." is The Greatest.

This weekend has been a stormy one in Asheville, so Jordan and I were forced to resort to frozen pizza and marathoning TV shows. 

...okay, well, the truth is that Jordan spent a lot of time in his woodshop and only watched two or three episodes with me. But that is because he's a productive, non-vegetable. 

So we watched a few episodes of season 2 of Fargo (which, by the way, is one of the greatest TV shows that has been in on modern history) before he retreated to table-making, leaving me in the rainy weather having just watched a bunch of people shoot each other. At which point I needed something a little lighter. 

I surfed around on Hulu a little bit before making a fabulous discovery: all four seasons of The O.C. are there. 

By the way, didn't it seem like there were more than four seasons?? I thought so, too. But it's true. Only four. 

So I went for it. And you guys. It's as good as I remember. 

Sure, it's no Fargo or Breaking Bad or Mad Men. But I'd argue that it's some of the best of what it is: a melodrama geared at teenagers that doesn't totally suck. 

Let's run it down. 

1. Seth Cohen.

As characters go, it doesn't get much better than Seth. Razor-sharp wit, sarcastic, self-deprecating, and adorable, Adam Brody's portrayal of this complete and unlikely teen heart-throb is pitch perfect. Who didn't have a crush on him?? He was the perfect antidote to all the melodrama on this show - and there was plenty of it - and really served as the audience's voice cutting through the nonsense. Also the perfect pair to Ryan, who was almost always brooding and brow-furrowed. Laugh out loud funny and generally the best. And the fact that Seth Cohen grew up to eventually marry Blair Waldorf? Well, that's just too good. 

2. The music. 

Music on this show was crucial. In fact, the creator was quoted at some point or another as saying that he wanted music to feature so prominently that it was a character in the series. Mission: accomplished. How many of us heard Death Cab for the first time on The O.C.? (Oh, everyone else knew about them? I was just behind? Cool.) You can't think about Trey getting shot without playing Imogen Heap's Hide and Seek over and over in your head. You can't think about Seth sailing away in the S1 finale without hearing Hallelujah. I remember getting on iTunes (okay, Kazaa, because I was a little 15-year-old thief) and searching every song on the soundtrack at the end of each season. It was beautifully crafted and made such an impact that the show and its soundtrack are almost inextricable. 

3. Sandy and Kirsten

Come. ONNNNNNNNN. It doesn't get any better than these two. It just doesn't. As with most great shows, it's the B-couples that are way better than the A-couples. Give me Jack and Karen any day over Will and Grace. Give me Chandler and Monica over Ross and Rachel. Give me Seth and Summer over Ryan and Marissa. But maybe, over anyone, give me SANDY AND KIRSTEN. An honest picture of the ups and downs of marriage, complete with romance, struggle, addiction, forgiveness, and triumph. Get outta here with that. Heart melting. I don't even mind that Peter Gallagher is so much shorter than I thought he was. 

4. The fabulous early-oughts fashion. 

Please don't miss the fact that on-trend Summer has bejeweled her belly button in that bikini photo. Priceless. 

Watching the costume on this show takes me immediately back to throwing watch parties at my house every week in high school. It really encapsulates the horrible choices we were all making: layering necklaces, unfortunate hats, wearing polo shirts on top of other polo shirts, tube dresses, etc. And let's not forget that poor Mischa Barton was doomed to thousands of pairs of flats since she already towers over Ben McKenzie (one of my biggest pet peeves of that show. I can barely take him carrying her out of the car fire seriously because she's SO MUCH TALLER THAN HE IS). It's like stepping in a time machine to watch this show, and I love every minute of it. 

There are about a hundred more reasons why this show is fantastic - its self-awareness, its refusal to treat its viewers like stupid teenagers - but I know I have some fellow fans out there. What do you love about it? 

Have You Seen Hot Ones?

Okay, so. 

When Jordan and I were in Santa Barbara in January, it was rainy one day so we needed to stay in for the afternoon. Like magic, a friend of ours texted us recommending a YouTube series called "Hot Ones." Initially, we were like, "Hmm, okay, maybe." We decided to give it a try. 

The first video he said to watch was the Hot Ones episode featuring Kevin Hart. So we started there, ended up both laughing hysterically, and watching about ten more. 

The premise of Hot Ones: host, relative nobody Sean Evans, interviews various celebrities while each of them eats ten hot wings covered in increasingly hot and spicy sauces. So they'll both eat the wing, then Sean asks a question, and the guest has to answer the question as best they can while also trying to stay alive from the searing sauce dripping down their throats. 

The first few are always okay, but once they get to wing #6, things get dicey. Each hot sauce's ranking on the Scoville Scale is listed on the screen so you have an idea of exactly how hot these sauces are. 

It is extremely entertaining and you should watch it right now. I've linked my favorite episodes below. They're full of profanity, of course, so just be warned. 

Ladies and gents, I give you: Hot Ones. 

S-Town: A Review

Available on HuffPo, linked here: 

S-Town is Here!

Sound the alarm!! All seven episode of S-Town, the new true crime podcast from the creators of Serial, dropped today. 

This series is set in good ol' Alabama - here's how it's described on the website: 

"S-Town is a new podcast from Serial and This American Life, hosted by Brian Reed, about a man named John who despises his Alabama town and decides to do something about it. He asks Brian to investigate the son of a wealthy family who’s allegedly been bragging that he got away with murder. But then someone else ends up dead, and the search for the truth leads to a nasty feud, a hunt for hidden treasure, and an unearthing of the mysteries of one man’s life.

Brian, a longtime This American Life producer, started reporting this story more than three years ago, when he got an email from John with the subject line “John B McLemore lives in Shittown Alabama.”" 

Available for instant download here. I absolutely can't wait.