Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Costume idea: Liz Lemon of "30 Rock"

Halloween is right around the corner, and if you're looking for an easy, no-fuss TV costume, why not choose the First Lady of Couch Potatoes, Liz Lemon of "30 Rock"?






Dressing up like Liz Lemon is pretty simple. Start with her standard uniform of a button-down shirt under her "TGS with Tracy Jordan" hoodie.



Good news: you can snag the hoodie from the "30 Rock" NBC store. Bad news: it'll run you about $50. But come on, can't you think of a thousand other occasions you might have to wear it?! No? Well, come on, you can have it all! Including this sweatshirt. You can find a plaid-ish button-down anywhere, from the Gap to Goodwill, for not much cash. Throw 'em on with jeans and sneakers and you're ready to go!

Don't forget Liz Lemon's trademark glasses! Bonus if you already wear them (or, like me, are required by law to wear them while you operate a motor vehicle or take more than five steps in a row), but if not, just grab some cheapies from a drug store or dollar store and pop out the lenses if they're prescription. I was also "blessed" with naturally Liz-ish brown hair, so when I threw this costume together last year it didn't take much extra effort:



For good measure, I bought a cheapie "backstage pass" lanyard at iParty and wrote "Liz Lemon" on it, for any certified non-geniuses who couldn't already figure out who I was supposed to be. And voila! Suck it, nerds.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Places... from "Mad Men"

Game: Places
Origin: "Mad Men" episode 211, "The Jet Set", written by series creator Matthew Weiner.

When Don Draper (Jon Hamm) takes a business trip to Los Angeles, he meets a beautiful and intriguing woman named Joy (Laura Ramsey) and takes off with her. At dinner with her friends, the group plays a game called Places.

Screen cap credit: TakeSunset.com.


The point of the game is simple: one person names a city, and the next person has to name a different city that starts with the last letter of the name of the previous city.

For example:

Person A says Paris. Person B names a city starting with "s", such as San Diego. The next person names a city starting with "o", and so on.

It's not a complex or particularly thrilling game, but it would be a good time-killer in a situation where you're bored or want to seem sophisticated by naming a bunch of classy jet-set spots!