Thing of the Week: Kenneth the Page, Patti Smith's Advice To The Young, A Day Off From Work

LJ'S THING OF THE WEEK: Kenneth the Page

A few weeks ago, I started watching 30 Rock. Yes, I'll admit it: 30 Rock is a party I am extremely late to. But I regret nothing! I would always pick obsessively binge-watching an entire TV series in a creepily short period of time over watching it the shitty regular way, always having to wait a whole week, or summer, for the next episode. Boooooooring! I have better things to do with my time than sit around waiting for life to happen. 

I've seen a handful of 30 Rocks here and there over the years, but I never stuck with it, because I didn't think Liz Lemon was funny. I'm still not super-into Liz Lemon the way every other woman I've ever met seems to be, though she's grown on me. I like how she watches Top Chef. Mostly I relate to Jack Donaghy. My second-favorite moment of all 30 Rock ever was when Jack Donaghy told Dot Com, "Dot Com, your need to always be the smartest person in the room is off-putting." I don't know why I loved that so much. Here is young Alec Baldwin looking very hot in a whimsically-striped button-up:

I guess it's pretty obvious that my first-favorite moment of all 30 Rock ever is going to be a Kenneth the Page moment, since my Thing of the Week is Kenneth the Page and this is my Thing of the Week. I've only watched the first three seasons so far, though; I use the term "all 30 Rock ever" loosely. Anyway, it's when Kenneth the Page says: "There are only two things I love in this world: everybody, and television." 

I'm also really into Jack McBrayer in real life. I watch the clip of Jack McBrayer on Conan I've posted above at least once per day. The best part's when Conan says, "I don't worry about you at all; I think you're going to work constantly," and Jack McBrayer says, "At a restaurant!" Boom. I'm going to write a part into the new book I'm writing about how much I'd like for Jack McBrayer and I to be friends, so that when my book comes out somebody will tell Jack McBrayer about it and then he'll ask me to hang out  and my heart will thump the hell out of my chest but I'll say "Yes! Yes, Jack McBrayer, of course!" And such will begin a very exciting little chapter in my life, chock full of "Oh, I'm just meeting Jack for brunch" kinds of things. 

My two last 30 Rock/Kenneth the Page-related things I wanted to say are that 1) I was sad to find out that Wreck-It Ralph is a Pixar movie. I wanted to get to watch Jack McBrayer act in a REAL movie, and I hate Pixar movies more than anything in the world, they're so ugs, & 2) Last Friday was the day of the crazy blizzard and I spent the entire day lying on my couch watching 30 Rock, I probably watched about 20 episodes of 30 Rock, no jokes, until around 6 PM when I left my house to go buy a cheeseburger and fries and then I came home and sat cross-legged on my couch eating a cheeseburger and watching 30 Rock. It was SO CHILL. 

LIZ'S THING OF THE WEEK: Patti Smith's Advice To The Young



My friend Maria Cristina posted this video on Facebook the other day. It's six minutes long and I've watched it five times so far, which was a really solid way to spend a half-hour of my life this week. Patti talks about making art and how life is hard and beautiful and how we should all just do what we want and be happy, and she's wearing these cool fingerless gloves and there's this part where she says "Fuck you" and it's super-funny. I watched it for the first time soon after posting my big thing about Belly and was just like "Yes! That's totally what I meant!", which was comforting and encouraging. Sometimes I can't even believe Patti Smith exists because everything she says means so much to me and it's sort of overwhelming to have someone be so consistently wonderful. But she does exist! Patti Smith exists, you guys. Life is pretty all right.

JEN'S THING OF THE WEEK: A Day Off From Work

I have a day off from work today. Friday. This is me: