Top 5 Gilmore Girls Characters

Recently, Jimmy Fallon revealed that he'd been marathoning Gilmore Girls for the first time in preparation for the November 25th. 

(By the way NOVEMBER 25TH IS SO CLOSE OMG OMG OMG I'M SO FREAKIN' EXCITED.) 

He ran down his Top 4 characters, excepting the actual Gilmore girls Lorelai and Rory (because, duh). In case you don't have time to watch it, his were 4. Taylor, 3. Luke, 2. Kirk, and 1. Paris. 

Solid list. Solid. He also revealed that he's #teamJess, which is fine, because he isn't even through season 4 yet. Give it time, my son. Give it time. 

SO, I decided I'd do a "5 Things" on this very subject. Along with excluding Lorelai and Rory, I'm also excluding Emily, who is technically a Gilmore girl and would also easily be in my top 5.

 5. Kirk. 

When you think about threads running consistently through the show, Kirk is one of those threads. He's had about 85,000 different jobs in Stars Hollow and is a staple of the kind of off-beat, but overall harmless, eccentricity of that town. Favorite Kirk moments of mine include his weird and creepy "evolution of man" dance at Miss Patty's anniversary show, and Luke and Lorelai's first kiss being interrupted by Kirk streaking down the stairs with night terrors. Not to mention that Sean Gunn, the actor who plays Kirk, is seriously funny and committed to all his physical comedy gags. That guy knows how to play a weirdo really well. 

4. Logan. 

"And that's how we do it at THE DAILY NEWS!" One of my all-time favorite moments in the series. Listen, don't get me wrong - all the boyfriends served their purpose at the time they were supposed to. We just happened to catch Logan in a particularly adult season of his life, so it's not really a fair fight. At this point, Jess had turned out to be a decent person, so I get it. Jess doesn't suck either. But Logan's Logan. Love how he loves Rory. LOVE that he'll be back in the re-boot. For more on why Logan is the best, click here. 

3. Paris. 

Paris has all the qualities of an unredeemable character with one special quality that keeps us from hating her: we are her. Everyone has a little Paris in them - whether it's her totally inflated sense of self, her ruthless ambition, her bossiness, her suspicion that everyone is out to get her, her impatience - on our worst days, we all have one or more of these traits. Which is why it's so satisfying to see a character who is totally, unapologetically herself in every situation. And for all her undesirable moments, she's the only peer who can keep pace with Rory. Favorite Paris moments: her slovenly speech after getting rejected from Harvard, her pitch that "everything looks better in leopard," and her entire relationship with Doyle. 

2. Sookie. 

Of course we can't leave this list without Melissa McCarthy! Who knew that from Sookie St. James, we'd get that character in Bridesmaids? Thank you, Gilmore Girls, for launching this career. Seriously though, Sookie is such a long-suffering friend. And I mean that sincerely - Lorelai tends to be kind of a condescending ass to Sookie. She's so precious and bubbly, and, once again, we have to give some props to Melissa McCarthy for the insane physical comedy chops. Favorite Sookie moments include her date with Jackson's cousin Roon, she and Jackson smuggling bags of weed through the town, and her collaboration with Luke to throw the going away party for Rory. 

1. Richard. 

Why am I crying?!?!?! 

Ugh. Okay. I mean, this would be the case whether or not sweet Edward Herrmann had died. Richard and Emily are my favorite non-Rory and Lorelai characters for many reasons. I think maybe it's because, as the oldest grandchild on both sides, I've gotten to watch my own grandfathers go through a similar evolution to Richard's: initially, not entirely sure how to handle young children/girls again; eventually, softer-hearted than their wives. Richard loves Rory and Lorelai so much that it actually hurts me to watch. Favorite moments include "only prostitutes have two glasses of wine at lunch," his speech to Lorelai in the last episode, him enveloping Rory in a hug when she comes to see him after quitting Yale...basically everything he ever did. 

OH CRAP I FORGOT LUKE. Okay stick Luke in there somewhere. Damn. This is harder than I thought. 

How excited are we, people!? It's almost here. We've been waiting so long and it's SO CLOSE. Just a few more days. 

Us on Black Friday while the rest of the world is shopping: 

The Skimm.

If you don't know about this already, let me blow ya' mind. 

I'm going to list out a few problems, and you tell me if you identify with any of them. Are you: 

Constantly nodding and smiling when your co-workers discuss current events, when, in reality, you have no idea what they're talking about and hoping that no one asks you a follow-up question?
Overwhelmed and saddened by how depressing the evening news is?
Too busy to sit down and read a newspaper? 
Getting your news from Facebook, which has been proven to accidentally run as many fake news stories as real ones? 
Ambivalent about the goings-on of the world, but wish you knew just a little more? 

Mmhmm. I thought so. There's a solution to this. 

theSkimm. 

So a little personal background: 

I really like staying informed, but I'm not someone who reads the newspaper. I was feeling like a sorry excuse for an adult, because I'm also not a news junkie, nor do I follow political blogs or watch CNN at night. So this service, theSkimm, has really changed things for me. 

theSkimm is a newsletter specifically designed for millennial women. It was founded by these two cuties: 

Carly Zakin and Danielle Wesiberg. 

Carly and Danielle started their careers working as producers for NBC News and eventually collaborated to solve all of the above problems. They wanted to make news quick, accessible, and fun to read.

It's called "theSkimm" because it's just that: the equivalent of skimming a major newspaper and getting all the highlights. 

Some of my favorite things about this publication: 

1. It is delivered to my inbox by 7 AM every morning, so no matter how early I'm up, I can read it before I start my day in earnest. 
2. It is a pretty unbiased news source. It doesn't lean terribly left or terribly right. 
3. It reports on issues I care about: a solid mixture of pop culture, sports, and actual hard-hitting policy news. 
4. Their reporting is succinct and simply put. In fact, there are fun pop culture references scattered throughout each piece. 
5. If they're reporting on a complicated subject that I'll need a deeper understanding of an issue to grasp, they offer a link to a more in-depth explanation of said subject. 

Allow me to walk you through my Skimm from this morning with badly drawn footnotes: 

1. Cute and cheeky heading. 
2. Early delivery, as promised. 

3. They always tell us what they're doing while they were writing the next morning's post. This post, it happens to coincide with their advertiser. But other issues have featured "Skimm'd while marathoning Gilmore Girls" or "over a few bottles of wine." #relatable
4. They always feature a Quote of the Day. It usually doesn't pertain to anything else in the e-mail, but it's something culturally relevant and fun. Like this one. Thanks, Bob Dylan. 

Okay, so let's review how they report the news: 

5. They cite their sources. Throughout each section, you can click to find out more. 
6. They give you an introduction to the topic. On more complicated topics, they'll usually include a link that's titled, "Remind me?" and you can go back and read more about the issue.
7. Provides the most recent update. 
8. If you're too busy to even read a few paragraphs, if gives you the highlight in the section called "theSkimm."

This is only one of the four major stories they report on each day. The other stories discussed in today's issue were Philando Castile's murder trial, Facebook's recalibration of how it deems news stories "real" or not, and airstrikes in Aleppo. They also a few other short news blurbs. 

I'm just realizing that I failed to mention the VERY best part, which is that IT'S FO' FREE. FREE. NO MONEYS. 

Subscribe to theSkimm by clicking that photo below and never be clueless at the water cooler again. Being informed is sexy. So, you know, get informed. 

Beauty and the Beast Trailer

Let me start by saying that yes - there are a million things related to the election we could talk about. But my last three posts have been about the election, and this isn't a political blog. Gotta talk about other things from time to time. 

And what better thing to talk about than a video that had me in tears yesterday? 

In case you've been living under a Disney rock, Beauty and the Beast has been re-made into a live action movie with Emma Watson perfectly cast as Belle. 

Belle is, as many of you know, my favorite Disney princess by about a thousand miles. This is my favorite Disney movie of all time. I had a reeeeeeeeally high bar for what the new version should look like, and I wasn't disappointed. Not even a little bit. 

My original idea for this post was to do a shot-for-shot comparison of the trailer to the old animated movie, but upon logging into Facebook this morning, I discovered that my friends over at moviepilot.com (we're not friends, I'm just trying to sound cool) had already done that. So here's a tip of my hat to their fine work that I am about to steal and comment on. 

First, the trailer by itself: 

RIGHT? RIGHT?? DID YOU DIE???? 

Okay I know. It's so good. Everything is perfect. But follow me, nerds, as we take it a step further. The video below will take you through the entire new trailer shot-for-shot with the original movie. 

EVEN BETTER, RIGHT?? 

Proof that the Internet can still be a wonder place. 

Let's talk some stills for a moment, shall we? 

In the new movie, it looks like Maurice gets locked up for picking a rose from the Beast's rosebushes. Great casting here, as this guy 100% looks like he'd wander onto an abandoned, spooky ass property and start messing around with things. 

AMAZING. There's something about seeing these things in live-action that gives the the movie new life. Sure, it's easy to imagine talking furniture and appliances when it's animated, much like it's easy to imagine talking animals or talking toys. But when Lumiere and Cogsworth really look like a candlestick and a clock, then they start TALKING?? Enchantment is the only word. I just gave myself goosebumps. I am SO EXCITED. 

Along those same lines, MRS. POTTS, YOU GUYS. How perfect is that?? They even nailed the frilly edge along the top of the pot! I can't!! 

Sidebar, I also love that it sounds like they're taking a lot of the original movie verbatim into the new one. It's every 90's girl's dream.

Nailed it. 

Okay but really, NAILED IT. How can a human being capture the exact expression of an animated character? How? Tell me. All I know is he did. 

Now for the ones that choked your girl up.

WHO didn't love this scene in the original?? This is basically every nerdy girl's dream situation. It's the most spectacular. Emma Watson gets all the good parts. Also, in the same way we miss the true magic of talking furniture, we forget that the Beast actually has straight-up horns growing out of his head until we see them on a real life version. 

But seriously, the grandeur of the castle, the kind of dusty-light-through-the-windows...everything about this new movie seems pitch-perfect. 

Me when this part of the trailer came on: 

I'm just overwhelmed and SO excited that it looks like they've gotten it so right. Every choice they made in terms of casting, costuming, set design - it's all transporting us to a real-life version of this world we all wish actually existed. This is the epitome of Disney magic. 

WHY MUST WE WAIT UNTIL MARCH?! 

What do you think?? Do you love it or do you love it? 

(If you don't love it you gotta go somewhere else). 

I knew it. You loved it. 

Something to Uplift You.

I'll keep it short and sweet this morning. 

Yesterday, a reader left this video series in the comments section of my post. I watched and was so heartened, so lifted up, by both sides of this conversation.

First, by the fact that Van Jones, an African American man who was a policy advisor-turned CNN commentator, took the time, for free, to sit down with (entirely White) people with whom he knew he disagreed. He wasn't there to convert people, he was there to share his opinion and to learn about theirs. 

Secondly, by the fact that this group of White folks could express their beliefs, but also listen to and learn from him. 

People would have us believe that America is a completely divided place in this moment; that we can't sit and have a respectful conversation with people who don't share our beliefs. 

Don't buy it. 

Watch this, and I'll see you Monday. Love you. 

It's Going to Be Okay. But First:

I have written and re-written this post in my head countless times today. Not because I flatter myself that anyone is waiting to hear my opinion; rather, because I feel a compulsive need to express it and to express it well. I also want to acknowledge that I understand that as a White person, even as a woman who has felt discriminated against, there is a certain privilege I will experience, especially as the result of a Trump presidency. There are inevitably blind spots in what follows.  

I want to make it clear that this blog is neutral space. And to be extra clear: I am not inviting hateful, racist, xenophobic, sexist bigots to the table. There is no neutral space for that sort of rhetoric.

But for thoughtful, caring folks - conservative, progressive, and everything in-between - this is for all of us. 

I want to describe the 24 hours from Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday. And I want to talk about some rough things on the way through, but trust me -- this post is hopeful. Just stay with me if you can.

----

Monday, around lunch, I jumped on Facebook to see what people were talking about in response to the election. I saw a status written by a friend of mine who is Muslim and whose family immigrated to this country. The last line said:

"Donald Trump has made it clear that this country isn't for people like us. The ******* family needs a Clinton win because our lives will change forever without it." 
 

I also saw so many hopeful, joyful, fabulous statuses celebration Hillary Clinton's historic candidacy. Women all over the place celebrating the fact that they'd cast their vote for a woman. I felt I knew beyond a doubt that she would win the election. 

When Jordan got home, I went with him to vote (I had already done so through North Carolina's early voting option). When we got to the polls, I stayed in the car and watched a volunteer offer Jordan a Democratic sample ballot. Another volunteer offered him a Republican sample ballot. He took both, said thank you, and walked into his polling place. 

Minutes later, another car pulled up. A well-dressed White man in his late 50's or early 60's got out of the car with his wife. The Democratic volunteer approached him and offered him a ballot. He responded by saying: 

"If I had it my way, you would be shot. You people are a bunch of fucking Communists." 
 

My mouth fell open. From inside the car, I gave the volunteer a sympathetic smile and tried to be as kind to him as possible as the man and his wife walked in to vote.

Afterward, we went to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant and another man walked in with his wife. At that point in the evening, it was just Jordan, Tom Hanks (our dog) and I on the outdoor porch of this restaurant. The hostess came out to wipe off a few tables. He shouted at her, grinning:

"Excuse me! We're from immigration, and we're here to check for any illegals!" 
 

We came back home and went across the street to a watch party, which was supplied with adorable decorations, hats, pizza, and cookie cake.

We watched the returns roll in. We slowly realized what was happening. 

I went back across the street to our house and put the returns on. I kept falling asleep on the couch, waking up every time I heard Wolf Blitzer announce another projection. Trump. Trump. Trump. 

I went to bed around 2 AM when it was all over. Donald Trump was going to win. HRC's concession speech was set for the next morning. 

Jordan woke up at about 6:30 to make coffee. I had planned on sleeping in to make up for the late night, but I couldn't. I walked out to the kitchen and before I could even find the words I wanted to say, I found myself dissolving into tears and enveloped in Jordan's hug. 

It wasn't because my candidate didn't win. It had nothing to do with losing. I've lost before. I cried because Donald Trump has said and done some gruesome, terrible, frightening things, and because I had no idea that so many people in this country were hurting badly enough to elect him. It felt like learning that Santa isn't real, except Santa is the America that I recognize. The one that's inclusive and kind, that welcomes instead of wipes out. It's the "celebrate our differences" America, not the "build a wall" America. It wasn't the "choke up and move on" kind of cry. It was something deep inside me that kept welling up unexpectedly throughout the day. The dehydrating kind. It was heartbreak. 

I never, never, never knew that there were enough people in our country who were so unhappy, who felt so unrepresented, that this man would have even a shred of a chance. I read this post after Jordan left for work, written by a friend of mine who is gay, and it brought a new round of tears: 

And this brings me to the part where (and I hope they're still reading) many Trump voters began to make more sense to me. 

There are Trump voters who are terrible. They're racist, they're backwards, they're Alt Right, they've Twitter-harassed people, they say things like the folks above have said. It's not okay. It will never be okay. 

But there's another group here. These people who elected a man so many of us find deplorable - they themselves are not deplorable. There is a litany of reasons why a person would vote for Donald Trump. 

Maybe they couldn't stomach the thought of a left-leaning Supreme Court. 
Maybe they are so hungry for a candidate who will deliver on a promise to see them, acknowledge them, and hear them that they were willing to put aside a lot of what Trump said. 
Maybe they just couldn't bring themselves to trust Secretary Clinton or her message because she was too "establishment."  
Maybe they are lifelong conservatives who felt they had no other choice. 

I don't know why, but I do know who. You do, too. They're our friends from home, they are our immediate family members or grandparents, our co-workers, our friends from church. They are Americans, just like us. 

In the coming weeks, the waters are going to be choppy. I am not naive enough - or maybe I am no longer naive enough - to believe otherwise. Facebook is a warzone of declarations, excuses, defenses, cries for help. I don't want to tell you how to feel - you can bail on this post right now. But here's where I think we have a choice: 

If you voted for Donald Trump, you are going to have to give people a minute. The man you elected has wounded many of us on a level that no longer allows us to feel safe in our own country. The world is a scary place for me as a woman, and an even scarier one for my friends who are immigrants, Muslims, LGBT, or disabled. It is frightening to have a leader who has made us feel like we are disposable. You have to give us some time. You have to ask us some questions and make sure that we are okay. I don't think it's a coincidence that I've heard two unbelievably hateful things in the last 24 hours. I think this election has made people feel like it's acceptable to talk like that. And I think Donald Trump is responsible. So, you gotta understand - this is a tough one.

HOWEVER.

Voting for Trump doesn't mean you're a racist (or sexist, or misogynist, or xenophobe, or bigot). What it does mean is that you have an added responsibility to combat racism (and the like), because a Trump White House means that lots of bigots in our country are going to feel more comfortable saying and doing horrible, discriminatory things. Like this: 

I also want to say that I think I'm starting to understand how you have felt. I think you have been feeling what I felt on Wednesday morning - that this country is unrecognizable to you, that this isn't the America you know, that your voice isn't being heard - for years now. Especially if you are White and working class, you've been counted out. I know I have counted you out. It's a terrible feeling. I hope we can fix it together. 

If you voted for Hillary Clinton, take your time and grieve. And then, when we recover, we are going to have to do some listening of our own. Not to anyone whose rhetoric is like Trump's has been during this campaign; no. Never. We NEVER have to listen to demeaning, hateful, vitriol. Never. But there is something we've been missing, and here's how I know: a significant cross-section of the people who voted for Trump also voted for Barack Obama.

That tells us something very important: lots of Trump voters weren't voting based on policy or ideology. They were voting based on the change they want to see in Washington. They've voting for whichever candidate promises the more radically different version of America. They're hoping that this person who appealed directly to them is finally going to see them and hear them.

Something is wrong and we have to fix it. And we have to start by actually looking each other in the eye. Your only other choice is to stay stewing, bitter and hardened. We can't do that. We have to show up. Our presence is vital, just like theirs. The truth is, we have no idea what kind of President Donald Trump will be. He ran as a Republican, which, ideologically, he isn't. So we have to hope that his unpredictability will surprise us once again -- that the candidate he was isn't representative of the President he'll become. 

--

I don't know what's going to happen. Tuesday night taught me that lesson in the form of an enormous slice of humble pie. What I know is that it is a lot harder to hate people you know. It's a lot harder to fear people you've met and talked with. There is some hate and some fear that we've got to get rid of by sitting at the table together and talking this the hell out. In the last 12 hours, I have talked to and listened to two Trump voters who I love. One is one of my very best friends, and one is someone with whom I work. There were a couple of uncomfortable moments for both of us. But we did it. And we are on the other side of that conversation. And I have to believe it made us stronger. 

If you spent yesterday crying, I understand. I am here with you. I have never felt heartbreak like that unless it was the result of getting dumped unexpectedly (has happened more than a few times). 

If you spent yesterday celebrating, be patient. Look around. Would you celebrate in a room full of people who'd all had a beer thrown in their faces? You wouldn't. You'd grab a towel and start cleaning up. 

If you woke up yesterday in America, take heart: we're all still here. Don't get carried away in the emotional tidal wave that's headed straight for us. Don't allow yourself to get cynical about whether or not this country is beautiful. Don't let the hatefulness of a few people convince you that the world is a hateful place. Instead, I hope we can start to show that bullying is fundamentally un-American. I hope we'll invite hard conversations and hold on for dear life as they unfold. I hope you'll hug someone who you have a hard time loving. I hope we can all understand that, though it's hard to believe, there are folks out there who have a hard time loving us. 

So go home. Circle your wagons. Listen to people feel their feelings all out loud. And then take a deep breath. Wait and watch. The Next Right Thing always comes around the corner. It's up to us to have the courage - not the absence of fear, but action in spite of it - to do that Thing, whatever it is. 

It sure looks a lot like that Thing is returning to each other, reaching for each other, apologizing to each other, weeping with each other, and then building again. 

And in case no one has said it to you yet, let me: 

Everything is going to be okay. 

Let's Not Talk About the Election.

Are you just about at capacity? 

Oh my gosh. Me. TOO. 

Facebook has been a veritable war zone of think pieces, pleas, slams, and some downright angry rants. I have been feeling a mild, mounting anxiety - though it took me a long time to figure out why. Even though I've tried to shield myself from "candidate talk" (very different from "How awesome is it to vote?? SO awesome," talk, because voting is so awesome), I've still found myself reading post after post. And e-mail after e-mail. (HRC, I love ya, girl, but the 75 e-mails a day from your campaign are A LOT.)

It's like watching a trainwreck. 

Realizing that the pressure in my chest is coming from this election really gave me pause. Something amorphous, intangible, had created an actual physical symptom. How crazy is that?? 

So I gotta figure, it works the other way around. 

I want to be clear: I care about the election. I've had innumerable discussions about the candidates, relentlessly encouraged everyone I work with to vote, done my research, donated to a campaign, and voted. But for the past few days, I've been working on reversing the process.

Instead of allowing myself to listen to, read, or watch anything election-related (hell, I already voted and donated to a campaign - I consider my civic duty done until the votes are tallied), I've been turning that attention toward the world around me. 

Disciplining your thoughts is a powerful and challenging thing. I certainly haven't mastered it. But here's what I've been trying: 

• Not speaking negatively about anything or anyone - at all. This doesn't mean being fake, it just means choosing to only acknowledge the positive. 
• Being intentionally patient with everyone - cashiers, traffic, even Jordan. 
• Noticing tiny things throughout my day that are beautiful/wonderful/unique that I take for granted otherwise. 

Even just those three things have changed my mood and attitude. I've noticed: 

• The impulses to make negative comments or criticize things or people has significantly lessened.
• My blood pressure is just feels lower. So what if I'm stuck in traffic?? Who cares? What impact does that have on me? It doesn't. And it has felt good to let that go.
• Being so much more observant and grateful. Today, I noticed light streaming through the trees and onto the freshly fallen leaves and found myself laughing out loud at how beautiful it was. I like to think I'm a "stop and smell the roses" person generally, but this extra emphasis on noticing the wonder of the world has made a huge difference.

This election is important. There's no doubt about that. And by no means am I implying that the election is inconsequential or that caring about its outcome is a waste of time. 

What I do mean to say is that this election has gotten crazy as hell and I need a time out. And, for me at least, taking the time to disconnect makes my actual connection more meaningful. Stepping away from the coverage and re-charging has made me excited to re-engage on election night. 

So. Take a deep breath if you need to. Put down your phone. Turn off the TV. Look around. What's one thing you love so much it sends you into a giggle or grin? 

Let's give it some thought.