annakovsky | Check out my icon - STEVE WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?

I can't believe Jenna Fischer and James Gunn are splitting. Between that and Owen Wilson's suicide attempt, I don't even know, man. (Last night I was getting a pedicure and reading the most recent People magazine cover article about said suicide attempt. The article concluded that depression probably played a role. STOP THE PRESSES.) I always feel like such an idiot when celebrity news genuinely gets me down, but geez, I'm not made of stone here.

In more cheerful celebrity news, Stephen Colbert is the subject of an excellent Vanity Fair article, with pictures that -- well, no Sunday School teacher should look like this, let's just say. Sweet mother of mercy.

This new promo for The Office has made me SO PSYCHED for next season, you guys (VERY SPOILERY). Here's some brief Office meta that I've been thinking about over the summer, re: the show and fandom.

Post-"The Job" fic has been such a wasteland, I have to say, especially compared to post-"Casino Night." I mean, it makes sense -- just the thought of trying to write first date fic makes me about fall asleep where I sit, but it's still kind of sad. All summer I've been trying to think about ways I could write Jim/Pam fic and make it interesting for myself, but I have come up with nothing -- I've already written established relationship fic, and I don't really want to write about them breaking up, so... yeah. The only thing I can think of to try to get some conflict in there without depressing the hell out of me is to have them either a) attacked by zombies, or b) meet up with Xander Harris or something. Haha.

You know, I rarely think that the show missteps, but I have to say, as the show has gone on, I think they made a mistake with the character of Jim, as compared to Tim in the UK version. Tim is not cool at all -- he's short and not that attractive and 30 years old but still living with his parents. You totally understand why Dawn stays with Lee -- even Tim's Nana wouldn't kick Lee out of bed, ha. Whereas Jim -- well, Jim is a hipster, who wasn't cool in high school but realized in his 20s that with the right haircut and a working knowledge of indie bands out of Montreal, he could fake it. (Hee, I once saw an older fan citing Jim's hair as evidence he didn't care about fashion, which was vaguely hilarious.) And Jim in season 2 is practically genetically engineered to be your perfect boyfriend, so Pam staying with Roy makes a lot less sense. Of course, Jim in season 3 turns into every whiney ex-boyfriend you've ever had (in May, my brother the mathematician told me, "Jim Halpert is no Bob Vance." Haha. He's not wrong. He also said that Jim's half the man Dwight is, which I think you could definitely make a case for) -- which, by the way, I really hope they spend some time in season 4 redeeming the character of Jim Halpert after he was such a douche to Karen and Pam all year. Uh - where was I? Oh yeah, so Jim being cool not only throws off the Jim/Pam dynamic, it also really throws off the Jim/Dwight dynamic. When you watch the UK version, Tim is almost always really on the verge of losing his temper with Gareth. He's often just about to freak out at Gareth for how annoying he's being -- whereas I don't think I've ever seen Jim really on the verge of yelling at Dwight or at Andy. Jim always seems kind of coolly detached. And after awhile of coolly detached pranks, well, Jim starts seeming kind of like an asshole, the cool kid tormenting the dorks for no good reason. (Possibly my favorite sequence from the entire show is in "Conflict Resolution" when they're listing all of Jim's pranks on Dwight, and Jim's face falls as he realizes that he's kind of a huge dick. Too bad that self-realization didn't last into season 3.) I think the dynamic's gotten worse as the show's sort of institutionalized the pranks as cold opens, and has gotten away from the normal-person-being-annoyed-by-drudgery-of-job-and-insanity-of-coworkers aspects of the show. Anyway, I hope in season 4 they try to correct that dynamic a little bit, because honestly, at this point my sympathy is more with Dwight than Jim a lot of the time.

I was watching deleted scenes from "Gay Witch Hunt" and other episodes last night, and I gotta tell you. Back in season 2, I took Michael's man crush on Ryan as being only sort of gay - that Michael was mostly straight but weird about Ryan. But in Gay Witch Hunt Michael is SO terrified of anyone thinking he's gay that ever since then I've pretty much read him as closeted. And whoo boy, there are a lot of Michael/Ryan deleted scenes. (Speaking of closeted, you know who would have an awkward, closeted gay encounter in, say, a public restroom? Michael Scott and "Stephen Colbert" the character.)

Speaking of the DVDs, dude, did you guys see all the Jim & Andy scenes cut from Product Recall? GOLDEN. Also, there's one point where Jim, like, rubs Andy's back. HELLO. Why hasn't anyone written THAT?

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Okay, first? Your icon and that picture of Colbert do... funny things to my insides?

And your whole thing about Jim/Dwight, AMEN SISTA. Tim is such an endearing underdog kind of a character, from the way he loves Dawn so earnestly to how genuinely frustrated he gets with Gareth. Plus, his boss actually IS horrible, not just a big goof. With Jim more and more I feel like he's just picking on Dwight because he'd rather not deal with his own problems. It makes me a little worried for how things will be next season with Jim and Pam together again, because when Pam pranks Dwight on her own it is pretty innocent, but sometimes her and Jim together can be vicious (ex: Andy cellphone prank?). I really liked that Karen saw through that a little, like when she called Jim out about feeling bad about the pranks, and how in the Return deleted scenes she admits that she didn't find anything funny about Andy getting so upset that he punches a wall.

Wow, I am.. saying a lot of things and will stop now, haha.

I KNOW RIGHT. Colbert, Carell, call me! I'm sure we can work something out about your wives!

I really love Tim - he's such a loser, and yet he's so much braver than Jim Halpert. Remember when Dawn's coming back from Florida and Tim's like, "No, I wouldn't ask her out again. That'd just be embarrassing. She knows how I feel - she'd have to ask me." And then he pauses and kind of starts to smile and says, "I might ask her." OH TIM.

With Jim more and more I feel like he's just picking on Dwight because he'd rather not deal with his own problems.

God, YES. And I feel like he's always thinking, sure, maybe my life sucks, but at least I'm not DWIGHT. Even though Dwight is like 11 times happier than Jim. (Did you see the deleted scene from, I think, the Coup where Karen's telling Jim not to be such a suckup, and is all, you're the assistant to the regional manager and Jim's like, "Assistant Regional Manager" and then stops and gets this LOOK. Haha, eat it, Jim.)

And YIS, I was going to use the Andy cellphone prank as an example, because I think they were talking about it in the Andy community the other day, but - well, Andy WAS being really annoying. But still, you're an adult, Jim, IGNORE IT. GOD.

how in the Return deleted scenes she admits that she didn't find anything funny about Andy getting so upset that he punches a wall.

Oh my God, I haven't seen that yet, but that sounds amazing. I love how it sort of hints that Karen might feel a little protective of Andy, though, the way Jim and Pam can get a little protective of Michael. OLD TIMES FTW. (Also, I love Karen. I am totally on her side with the whole non-pranking stuff.)

Remember when Dawn's coming back from Florida and Tim's like, "No, I wouldn't ask her out again. That'd just be embarrassing. She knows how I feel - she'd have to ask me." And then he pauses and kind of starts to smile and says, "I might ask her." OH TIM.

You mean, remember my favorite moment of the Tim/Dawn story EVER?? Ugh that moment kills me. The first time I saw the "I might ask her" I think I made an audible sound, hahah. I love him.

Oh god, that Karen scene just made me love her even more <3 <3 <3 If Jim were my boyfriend I would get really annoyed with him pranking Dwight all the time too, and I love that she is sort of sticking up for Andy.

Yes yes yes SO MUCH YES. That moment, GAH. Tim is so much better than Jim for me personally as a character because he never lost hope, and his sad sack stasis is an actual part of his nature, his personality, not something born out of emo sulking. He lived with his parents, he had a horrible boss, he had Gareth, etc. BUT. He had Dawn. And his love for her saved him from everything else. And it was ALL about her. Lee was total crap? He comforted her, he didn't act all bitter, he just wanted her to feel better. Because he needed that, you know? She was a bit of sunshine in his life (sigh sigh infinite sighs). And then with Rachel, the minute he woke up, remembered that Dawn was still just IT for him, he ended it. He didn't cling to her as a shield, he ended it because of that infinite hope he had that one day maybe it would work out. And then still, THREE YEARS LATER. I just...honestly don't think that Jim would still have such hope, such feeling wrt to Pam if he was separated from her for three years.

Not to downplay the amazing chemistry of Jim/Pam, and how I do really really hope that they ultimately end up together. S2 Jim was wonderful, God's gift to woman (unless your name started with a K and ended with an -aty). But I think that the difference is that deep down, he expected Pam to one day own up and leave Roy for him. That's a big difference. Expectations and hope are two different things, and I think that if Jim didn't have his cool guy demeanor and that underlying expectation, S3 would have been different. I think that the CN rejection made Jim realize just how much he HAD been...

You know what? I'm going to stop there, hee. (Oh, and apparently I decided to stalk your comments and jump in randomly, kovsky, but you love me unconditionally so it's okay. Right? RIGHT?)

I DO love you unconditionally, as a matter of fact!

And YES, amen to everything you just said about Tim. TIIIIIIM.

Haha, poor Katy. And yeah, I'm totally still a HUGE JAMMER (haha) and all too, but I really hope Jim comes around again. I'd even just like it if they talked more about what a loser he is, like Kevin saying, "You never have plans."

God, I love Tim/Dawn. That and the moment he says, "She said no, by the way" just hurt my heart, I swear. (Hee, okay, and now I want to rewatch some of that. HMM.)

I really, really hope that Karen sticks around and gets to be awesome around the office, even though I'm sure she won't get to. :-(

Check out my icon - STEVE WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?

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