TV SHOWS:

Devin, except for the Simpsons, which I was probably watching while you were in diapers, I've never even heard of any of those shows.

We don't have a TV but we have at times watched downloaded shows on our computers. Therefore I must say by default that my favorite TV shows are all of the Star Trek series (TOS, DSN, TNG, Voyage, and Enterprise, in descending order of <3) and The Prisoner.

Someone loaned us the first two seasons of Battlestar Galactica once and I never made time to watch it, but to my astonishment my husband actually liked it, so if he liked it I probably would have been hooked.

Nevertheless I do not consider myself a SciFi fan.

Ooh, another show which I loved and loved and LOVED TO DEATH was the show "Avonlea" which used to be on Monday nights on the Disney Channel when I was about 12 or so. I think it was called "The Road to Avonlea" in Canada. It was not about Anne, it was rather roughly based on the characters in the other LMM novels The Golden Road and The Story Girl, but had some special appearances by Marilla and I think Rachel Lynde too. But OH MY GOD *LOVE* And I had the hugest crush on the guy who was Felicity's sorta boyfriend, Gus.

If I ever get mono again, I am totally sending Mr. Lothere out to buy me all the Avonlea DVDs, and I will do nothing but watch that and eat ice cream for a month.

MUSIC:

The Carpenters, Devin? Are these the same Carpenters my parents listened to?

I have a very hard time identifying my "favorites" when it comes to music, and still less so with "singers". I think the very question "What singers do you like?" frames its own answer. A lot of what I listen to either isn't sung or is a group effort anyway.

While writing I can't handle hearing words (that I can understand anyway) so I listen to a lot of film soundtracks. The soundtracks I have are mostly due to random luck of whatever I could download on a given day. I love the Massive Attack soundtrack to Danny the Dog. I also love the soundtrack to A Very Long Engagement. So wistful and sad and inspiring. The ones to The Scarlet Letter and The Cider House Rules aren't too bad. (AVLE is the only one of those movie's I've actually seen.)

Also while writing I mix in some medieval plainchant and generally a cappella singing in languages I don't understand. Like the Corsican polyphony, which I've already rambled about a lot, the Russian choir МГИЭТ, and various medieval / early Renaissance stuff.

(Mostly I don't like listening to music while writing however... I usually only do it when Mr. Lothere is watching a loud movie while I'm trying to write.)

While programming I tend to listen to a lot of French hip-hop for no good reason. This is kind of embarrassing to admit. I also like to listen to something like the Smashing Pumpkins. Maybe I need a beat when I'm writing code.

While Simming or generally doing things that don't require a lot of right-brained concentration, I listen to the rest of my music library. That includes all of the above, plus miscellaneous groups/singers like Portishead, Pink Floyd, Odessa Chen (check her out!), cocorosie, Dick Annegarn, Mathieu Boogaerts, Trespassers William, Simon and Garfunkel, and a whole bunch of other stuff that you can find on last.fm if you're stalking me.

I also went through a jazz phase and a Celtic music phase (all in Gaelic, if you please) and still have a ton of CDs to prove it. I still love jazz though I don't listen to it much any more since it would require ripping all my jazz CDs.

And if I had to pick one single CD that would be the only one I could take to a desert island (which mysteriously has a CD player) it would be the Bill Evans CD from the Jazz 'Round Midnight collection. His version of "Time Remembered" is so sublime it would transport me right off that damned island to anywhere I wanted to go, every time.

GUS! PIKE! Glad to know I'm not the only one. His accent made me swoooooon.

I love the Carpenters they had albums out back in the 70s and 80s.
Most of my favorite shows are on showtime and HBO. Back in the 90s I loved watching Star Trek with the silver man and the black guy from reading rainbow.

Besides the Carpenters are you vaguely familiar with the artists I Iisted?

Geordi LaForge is "that black guy from Reading Rainbow" to me too.

A couple of albums from The Cure recently made their way back into my music library and I was shocked to find that I could no longer stomach nearly all of it. I mean seriously stinks-like-a-wet-dog bad. How could my tastes have changed so much since I was 14? (Especially since the grunge & industrial stuff I listened to back then still suits me just fine.) Depeche Mode has had the same fall from grace, although less so. I find it very odd.

OMG he's still on reading rainbow
Penelope you like Sade and Bjork too. I forgot to put Bjork down but my favorite song of her's is Venus as a Boy and all of Sade's are my favorite mostly Lovers Rock and Your love is King.

Meryt I was hoping that we would have some singers in common.. The only French artists I listen to is Yelle and Edith Piaf.
I also forgot to put down Real World as one of my favorite shows.

TV (Still Running):

House -- funniest thing ever. Gotta love misanthropy.
Grey's Anatomy -- very much like a soap opera with better acting. Also, the main character's boyfriend is pretty hot, but his character has been a total dick lately. Fortunately, he is not the only hot guy on that show.
CSI -- even without Grissom, it's still a decently good show. A lot of my squeamish friends don't like it, though.
Lost -- love it. Enjoy the sheer complexity of the plot. I just wish they'd kill off Jack already; I hate that controlling bastard.

TV (Repeats Only):

Friends -- not gonna lie, I own every season on DVD. That show is just classic.
Seinfeld -- I own all of those too, except I haven't watched them all yet. I like the fact that it will make something funny out of pretty much anything.
M*A*S*H -- yes, I'm pretty sure that this show ended before my parents even met, but I love it. I actually got all the DVDs in a big package for Christmas one year. It was pretty sweet.
Everybody Loves Raymond -- there is just something about strange family dynamics that makes for a highly amusing television show. It would kind of suck to have that family in real life, though.
Frasier -- one of those shows that I was too young to appreciate when it was actually running, but the reruns have just been killing me lately.

I'll also occasionally watch The Simpsons or Family Guy, but not nearly as often as any of the above.

Music:

I'm not picky about music, as long as it ain't rap. I just find rap isn't really singing so much as talking really fast with a synthesized beat in the background. I even like country, believe it or not -- I grew up listening to country. I wouldn't say I have any definite favorite artists, although lately I've been listening to a lot of AFI, Alien Ant Farm, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Mostly I just really like a few songs from most artists, and then am impartial to their other stuff.

There are still reruns occasionally. But yeah, it ended the same year Friends did. I think it was 2004? I'm not entirely sure.

I feel bad that the only thing that I am commenting on these days is the forum, but that is because besides admiration over the great pictures and very similar emotions to what everyone else already eloquently says...I would just be repetitive. Which of course I have no qualms about, but until I finish the smoldering turd that is this semester it seems my comments will be limited. But this community will know what my favorite TV shows are!

Alright. So, Van, I found that I have a lot of similarities with you in that area. I think I'll just list the shows that I will sit down and watch or at least make an effort to TiVo:
House - Hugh Laurie. That is all. (And, I believe the medical facts are all legit! They actually helped me in a couple of my classes! Talk about educational television. )
Gossip Girl - Because everyone deserves a guilty pleasure. The one I'm thinking of has side-bangs.
Lost - The viewer (me) is lost. It is just a different experience having very little of a clue as to what is happening (I started watching the 4th season).
As for the sitcoms, I do not really make a gigantic effort...but if they're on they're fun to watch: Scrubs (more humorous medicine), Friends (yep, classic), Everybody Loves Raymond (other people's pain can be funny)
Though it may look like I watch a lot of TV, I have just learned to love the amazing power of TiVo. Then, when I do not feel like watching a full length movie, I have plenty of entertainment at hand.

Music would take me a very long time to explain and list, but very simply, I do not really listen to too much country or rap. I seem to love most things that come from England, with my favorite band, ever, being Coldplay. So Chris Martin is the singer. I am really random in music tastes otherwise, ranging from Red Hot Chili Peppers to Enya. Also, I play acoustic and classical guitar and a bit of piano, and music is a big part of my life.

Tada! And yeah I swear, I am just an awesome lurker, and you all are great.