100 Things I Love About Comics

Yes, the list making bug has hit hard -- first movies, then TV, and now, comic books.  Granted, this one will be a bit more niche than the last two, but for the three people who'll actually read it -- and the one of those who will actually get 98% of the references without the aide of Google -- I hope it's worth it.  Again, I tried to keep it as varied as possible, so it wasn't just me listing 100 things I love about The Legion of Super Heroes and Alan Moore. Now, for those of you who do read this, please, leave thoughts on your favorite things about comics as well.

1. Swashbuckling Nightcrawler
   
2. Finding some new layer or detail the first half-dozen times I read Watchmen
3. Old school Justice League/Justice Society team-ups
   
4. The Squadron Supreme
   
   
5. The Kessels' Hawk and Dove run
6. M.O.D.O.K.
   
7. Projectra's execution of Nemesis Kid
8. The art of George Perez
   
9. Blue Devil as weirdness magnet
10. Ms. Marvel
    
11. Ambush Bug
12. The New Mutants watching Magnum, P.I. 
13. Steve Ditko's Dr. Strange
     
14. Kurt Busiek's Astro City 
15. John Ostrander's Suicide Squad 
16. The reveal of who the Thunderbolts really were
17. The Green Lantern Oath
    
18. Spider Jerusalem's filthy assistants 
19. The Great Lakes Avengers
    
20. Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew
    
21. Constantine conning the devils to cure his cancer
22. Steve Gerber's Defenders
     
23. Havok's original costume and power signature
    
24. Ronnie Raymond/Professor Stein as Firestorm
25. Alan Davis
    
26. Babe the Blue Ox's fantasy life in Jack of Fables 
27. Ralph and Sue Dibney
28. "We have become like unto tiny refreshing gods!"
29. Tim Drake as Robin
30. The original Spider-Woman series, in all its oddball glory
31. The Dark Phoenix Saga
32. Gail Simone.
33. "One punch! One punch!"
34. Bill Willingham's Elementals 
35. Vril Dox.
36. Learning more about WWII from All-Star Squadron than I did in history class
37. Songbird
38. Tony Isabella's Justice Machine 
39. Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol
40. Beast and Wonder Man's bromance
    
41. Scourge taking out a whole bar of villains in one fell swoop
42. Barry Ween, Boy Genius
43. Phil Foglio's Angel and the Ape mini
44. Peter David
45. Pamcakes
46. Stupid stupid rat creatures in Bone
    
47. "Church and State" arc in Cerebus 
48. Wolff & Byrd: Supernatural Attorneys at Law
49. Mark Gruenwald's Quasar
50. The reinvention of Machine Man in Nextwave
51. Reinventing Arthurian legend in Mage: The Hero Discovered 
52. Joe Hill's Locke & Key 
53. Amadeus Cho
54. Alan Moore's Supreme
55. Paul Grist's Jack Staff
     
56. Star Trek loving demon Glumph in Boneyard 
57. Micronauts
    
58. Alternate timelines
59. Red Kryptonite
60. Legion of Super-Heroes tryouts
61. Tony Chu's interesting talent
    
62. James Robinson's Starman
63. Deadpool traveling back in time to Amazing Spider-Man #47
64. Parodying Dune and Harry Potter at the same time
65. Improbable team-ups
66. Frank Miller's Daredevil
67. The fact that Marvel decided to team up their Blaxploitation hero and Kung-Fu hero, and it actually turned out to be even more awesome than it sounds
    
    
68. Wise-cracking heroes
69. Dan Slott's She-Hulk 
70. Christopher Priest
71. Nova, the Human Rocket
    
72. Shared universes and continuities
73. Delirium of the Endless
    
74. T. Campell's Fans!
75. The sound effects in The Incredible Hercules
    
    
76. One-Who-Knows
77. Dynamic Duo
78. Warriors Three
79. Frightful Four
80. Fatal Five
    
81. The Secret Six
    
82. Salem's Seven
    
83. Offical Handbook to Marvel Universe
84. The Vision losing his temper
    
85. Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
86. Herbie Popnecker: The Fat Fury
87. The Tarot issue of Promethea 
88. Tenzil for the defense
89. Kitty Pryde
90. Barbara Gordon using her library and information sciences abilities to fight evil
91. Clan Apis
92. Thinly veiled hero/villain analogues
93. Unstable molecules
94. The Foot Soldiers
    
95. Warren Ellis' Global Frequency 
96. Marvel's "Cosmic" books
97. Aaron William's PS238 
98. Alan Moore's From Hell
99. Phil Hester's The Wretch
100. Avengers assembling.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

100 Things I Love About TV

Inspired by my previous list of things I love about movies, I have decided -- and by "decided" I of course mean "been obsessively compelled" -- to compile a similar list for my other great pop culture passion: TV.  Same rules apply:  no particular order, just the first 100 things to pop into my head.  I tried to keep it to one thing per TV show, otherwise it would be overflowing with moments from Joss Whedon, Aaron Sorkin, and Bryan Fuller shows. As it is, I feel like my TV list isn't quite as varied as my movie list.   Please feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments below.

1. Anya on Buffy the Vampire Slayer 
2. Coach learning geography via song on Cheers 
3. The evolution of Wesley Wyndham-Price on Angel 
4. Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother 
5. Londo's accent on Babylon 5 
6. David Cross as Slow Donnie on Just Shoot Me 
7. "Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal."
8. Phil Hartman
9. Evil genius Stewie on Family Guy
10. Ben Linus on Lost 
11. The "He said/she said" vampire episode of The X-Files 
12. C.J. Craig on The West Wing 
13. Steve's rants on Coupling
14. Paris on Gilmore Girls 
15. Dr. Cox's rants on Scrubs 
16. The pure craft evident in the first season of The Wire 
17. Mary Cherry on Popular 
18. Creepy Anderson Cooper on The Mole 
19. Teal'c and O'Neil in the time loop on Stargate: SG-1 
20. Jackie calling Donna a lumberjack on That 70s Show 
21. Jim Profit and the refrigerator box on Profit 
22. The Dragon's Graveyard episode of Dungeons and Dragons
23. Eric Close on Now and Again 
24. Dave Foley on Newsradio 
25. Walter Bishop on Fringe 
26. Olive singing "Hopelessly Devoted" on Pushing Daisies
27. Latka and Simka on Taxi 
28. Les Nesman on WKRP in Cincinnati
29. The Pepe Silvia bit on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia 
30. The rapid-fire banter between Jeremy Piven and Paula Marshall on Cupid 
31. The nearly overwhelming number of inside jokes and running gags on Arrested Development 
32. The evolution of Bright Abbott on Everwood 
33. Season (or series) long character and plot arcs
34. "Fuzz: The Musical" on Mr. Show 
35. The dollar bets on Ed 
36. Erik and Tami Taylor's relationship on Friday Night Lights 
37. Aaron Sorkin scripts
38. Matt Keesler as The Middleman
39. The finals week episode on Felicity 
40. Liz's inability to escape her "future husband" Wesley Snipes on 30 Rock 
41. Anyone calling Lana "Truckasaurus" on Archer 
42. Hank's sister on Terriers 
43. Captain Awesome on Chuck 
44. Fiona on Burn Notice 
45. The twisted humor of Titus 
46. E.B. Farnum on Deadwood 
47. Brittany S. Pierce on Glee 
48. Jeffrey Donovan on Touching Evil 
49. The tragicomic end of Mrs. Blankenship on Mad Men 
50. The Heck children on The Middle  
51. Zoe on Nurse Jackie 
52. The Evil Leaper on Quantum Leap 
53. Walter White's transformation into the hardcore Heisenberg on Breaking Bad 
54. Count A'ight on Greg the Bunny 
55. Mac on Veronica Mars 
56. Rocket Romano on ER 
57. Darlene Connor on Roseanne
58. "Actually, it's Miss Chanandler Bong."
59. Garrity's musical dream sequence on Rescue Me 
60. The Chance family on Raising Hope 
61. Sam Puckett on iCarly 
62. Jeff Probst stirring things up on Survivor 
63. "The mind wobbles."
64. Any time Tad screams like a little girl on Blue Mountain State 
65. "I'm Larry, this is my brother Darryl, and this is my other brother Darryl."
66. The Bennett/Givens feud on Justified 
67. Dolphin Girl on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip 
68. Sarah Drew
69. Bernice belting out "Black man! Black man!" on Designing Women 
70. People getting hit in the face by sneak attack obstacles on Wipeout 
71. Hyper-optimistic Rob Lowe is literally my favorite thing about Parks and Recreation
72.  "Well, she did save Chrismakuh."
73. Watching background characters evolve into featured characters over the course of a series
74. "City of Strangers" skit on Tracey Ullman Show
75. David Tennant's Doctor.
76. "Are you pondering what I'm pondering Pinky?"
77. The Biscuit's numerous tics on Ally McBeal
78. Jeffrey Combs as Weyoun on Star Trek: Deep Space 9 
79. Wyleen discovering the Drama Club on Boston Common   
80. The Scooby-Doo sight gag in the Spaced pilot
81. "Not the momma, not the momma!"
82. The Monarch and his minions on The Venture Bros. 
83. Brett Harrison
84. The Honors Students doing a production of "Hair" on Head of the Class 
85. Rockefeller Butts on Knights of Prosperity 
86. The evolution of Andy Sipowicz on NYPD Blue 
87. "I'm not being sarcastic; nooooooooooooooo, this is just a little speech impediment."
88. President Laura Roslin on Battlestar Gallactica 
89. Supremely sarcastic middle child Alex on Modern Family 
90. Ditzy sidekicks
91. Ms. DiPesto's rhymes in the early days of Moonlighting 
92. The Ophelia scene in Slings and Arrows 
93. The klutzy girl's constant cry of "Rock on!" in My Guide to Becoming a Rock Star 
94. The use of MacBeth and the Wyrd Sisters on Gargoyles 
95. Jaye confronting her stalker on Wonderfalls 
96. The Question on Justice League Unlimited 
97. Naive Hiro meeting bad-ass future Hiro on Heroes
98. Patrick Warburton
99. "My hovercraft is full of eels."
100. The joys of Mystery Science Theater 3000
     

100 Things I Love About The Movies

Inspired by a blog post over at Siskoid's Blog of Geekery -- which was in turn inspired by similar posts elsewhere --  I've decided to come up with my own list. The following is a hodge-podge of all sorts of different things I love about the movies, mostly unironically.  This is not an exhaustive list by any means, but just the first hundred things that popped into my mind over the last several days; please feel free to add your own thoughts or "You forgot"s in the comments.

1. The "Day O" sequence in Beetlejuice
2. "I am a leaf on the wind."
3. Cary Grant in Arsenic and Old Lace
4. Nicole Kidman's monologues in To Die For
5. Naomi Watt's audition in Mullholand Drive
6. The never-ending fist fight in They Live
7. Nightcrawler storming the White House in X2
8. Spike Jonze/Charlie Kaufman collaborations
9. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon mocking themselves in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
10. Fred Astaire's effortless dancing
11. Steve Martin's physical comedy in All of Me
12. Robert Downey Jr.'s narration in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
13. Amy Adams.
14. Peter Dinklage's "dwarf" speech in Living in Oblivion
15. Joan Cusack's "Barbie" speech in Addams Family Values
16. Terry Gilliam's dark and twisty worlds
17. Ennio Morricone's scores
18. Madeline Khan
19. Katherine Hepburn's "The calla lillies are in bloom again" performance in Stage Door
20. Kirsten Dunst in Interview With the Vampire
21. The power of the Coke bottle in The Gods Must Be Crazy
22. "Wheel of Fish" in UHF
23. "I drink your milkshake!"
24. Jim Carrey channeling "Amok Time" in The Cable Guy
25. Ed Norton in Primal Fear
26. The battle on Hoth in Empire Strikes Back
27. Edna Mode and the perils of capes in The Incredibles
28. The toy commercial in The Specials
29. Simon Pegg/Edgar Wright collaborations
30. The fight scenes in Bloodsport
31. Marty Feldman in Young Frankenstein
32. Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds
33. "I want my two dollars!"
34. Val Kilmer in Tombstone
35. The soundtracks to Quentin Tarantino movies
36. Hammy in Over the Hedge
37. The zero-g fight in Inception
38. The fight scenes in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
39. The structure of Memento
40. Christopher Guest's mockumentaries
41. Paul Rudd in Wet Hot American Summer
42.  Nic Cage in Vampire's Kiss
43. Jean Claude Van Damme's monologue in JCVD
44. Anna Kendrick
45. The Coen Brothers
46. The ensemble of future stars in Dazed in Confused
47. The ensemble of comedy geniuses in Clue
48. The alien in John Carpenter's The Thing
49. Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda
50. "Hey Boy" sequence in American Astronaut
51. The stylized worlds of Jean-Pierre Jeunet 
52. Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream
53. The interconnectedness of Magnolia
54. The alien in Slither
55. All the shenanigans in Super Troopers
56. The hallway fight in Oldboy
57. The merging of noir and high school in Brick
58. "We Both Reached for the Gun" number in Chicago 
59. The affectionate parody of 50s b-movies in Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
60. Random musical numbers in non-musicals
61. The Toon bullets in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
62. The affable spirits of the dead in An American Werewolf in London
63. Fast-paced banter in screwball comedies
64. Pigs as projectiles in District 9
65. The dialogue-free beginning of 2001: A Space Odyssey
66. "Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion."
67. Gollum arguing with Smeagol in Lord of the Rings
68. Michael Keaton's Coca-Cola addiction in The Paper
69. The affectionate parody of Blaxploitation films in Black Dynamite
70. The video-game aesthetic of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
71. Colin Farrell in In Bruges
72. The hologram campers in Jason X
73.  The anachronistic music of Moulin Rouge
74. Having a largely worthless film partially redeemed by an innovative/entertaining moment or scene
75. Will Ferrell in Elf
76.  Glenn Close in Dangerous Liaisons
77. "A Town Called Malice" scene in Billy Elliot
78. Lambda Lambda Lambda Rap in Revenge of the Nerds
79. Puppet Dracula musical in Forgetting Sarah Marshall
80. Johnny, king of the nonsense response in Airplane 
81. Will Ferrell and Adam Scott having the world's most uncomfortable sibling hug in Step-Brothers
82. Creepy little kids in horror movies -- bonus points if twins, super bonus points if gingers
83. Hobie's unreliable journal narration in The Sasquatch Gang
84. The Brawndo (It's got electrolytes! [gesture]) vs. water (Like out da toilet?) debate in Idiocracy.
85. The non sequitur internal monologues in The Informant
86.  Paul Verhoeven's Sci-Fi oeuvre 
87. "Ned?  Ned Ryerson?"
88. Game of Questions in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
89. Audrey Hepburn and Alan Arkin's cat-and-mouse game in Wait Until Dark
90. Max's nostalgia speech in Kicking and Screaming
91. The robot fist fight in Eurotrip
92. Bill Murray in The Man Who Knew Too Little
93. The litany of insults in Roxanne
94. Aaron Eckheart in Thank You For Smoking
95. The rave in Groove
96. Brad Pitt's accent in Snatch
97. Intricate but internally consistent time travel stories
98. The jerkin' subliminal messages in Josie and the Pussycats
99. "I am Jack's complete lack of surprise."
100. B-grade movies and below that allow me to practice my own MST3K skills