The Great Loves of Gilmore Girls: Coffee-Coffee-Coffee!

coffeecoffeecoffee

If you had to choose, would you pick coffee or Gilmore Girls?  For me, Gilmore Girls is like chicken soup, it nourishes the soul and comforts and more.  I’d give up chicken soup over Gilmore Girls, if I could still have chicken.  I might even give up chicken if they’d Extra Crispy Kentucky Fry something else.

Lorelai: Oh, I can’t stop drinking the coffee. I stop drinking coffee, I stop doing the standing and walking and the words putting-into-sentence doing.
Luke: I’ll make you some coffee.
(s04e20 Luke Can See Her Face)

From the very first scene in the pilot episode, Lorelai’s coffee habit is as ever-present as her mother’s disappointment:

Lorelai: Please, Luke. Please, please, please.
Luke: How many cups have you had this morning?
Lorelai: None.
Luke: Plus?
Lorelai: Five but yours is better.
Luke: You have a problem.
Lorelai: Yes I do.
Luke [filling her mug]: Junkie.
Lorelai: Angel. You’ve got wings, baby.

And is that her own mug she’s brought to the coffee shop?  Make of that what you will, but this woman loves coffee.  For heaven’s sake, she dreams about coffee alongside being in love and pregnant with twins (s03e01 Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days…) and she’s passed her addiction onto her daughter…

When Rory visits a psychologist after a boat-related misdemeanour, her emotional breakdown comes when thinking about her boyfriend – and that pesky coffee bean.

Rory: I… I don’t think I can take running into him every day in the halls and the paper and the coffee cart. Oh my God. I’m gonna have to quit drinking coffee – and I love coffee! [Sobbing and burying her face in a fistful of tissues]  I really love coffee.

Part of Gilmore folklore of course is that Alexis Bledel (Rory Gilmore) was not keen on coffee and drank cola instead.

The bean-focussed article at Sprudge wryly notes that:

Lorelai takes Luke’s coffee black while she adds cream to her work coffee and her refrigerated, pre-ground home coffee: a sure sign they are destined to break up and get back together weekly for the rest of their lives.

I have a little stove-top Bialetti percolator and I savour the ritual of it, screwing the thing together, waiting for the gurgling, the aroma filling the kitchen.  But I’d have Gilmore Girls over coffee and most food groups, any day of the week.

Finally, it wouldn’t be a coffee article without Lorelai’s immortal words:

Server at Weston’s: Here we go. Three coffees.
Lorelai: Oh, no, I’m sorry. I only ordered one.
Server: You said “Coffee, coffee, coffee”.
Lorelai: Haha no see I said “coffee-coffee-coffee”.
Server: Right.
Lorelai: As in I really need coffee-coffee-coffee. You know.
Server: No.
Lorelai: Coffee-coffee-coffee is a saying, like an exaggeration. It’s a funny, desperate cry for caffeine. It’s just my thing. ‘Cos everybody knows I drink a lot of coffee, so the day can’t start until I’ve had my jolt. It’s a bit. My bit.  It’s not a particularly funny bit unless you know me, then… You know what, three coffees would be great. What do I owe you?
(s05e15 Jews and Chinese Food)

Sometimes there’s nothing better than a slice of cheesecake and a cup of joe.  Anyone out there love coffee as much as Lorelai? 

First Trailer for Alexis Bledel’s new show: Us and Them

us staceyAlexis Bledel (who you may recognise as Rory Gilmore from Gilmore Girls) and Jason Ritter (recently seen as Lauren Graham’s romantic interest in Parenthood) have a new trailer for Fox’s new mid-season show, Us and Them.

Based on the cult BBC show Gavin and Stacey, the trailer looks promising and gives a good glimpse of Alexis with a new ‘do, starring as the sweet Stacey who travels from Pennsylvania to New York for a first in-person date with down-to-earth co-worker Gavin.

The supporting cast of friends and family is gagging with comedic talent and the series has solid roots.  Could be good; could be great.  What do you think?

Click for YouTube trailer: Us and Them

Pic ℅ David Johnson / Fox

How big a Gilmore Girls Geek are you?

yes that's meI own a Stars Hollow t-shirt and once wore it in a Facebook profile pic.  This was before I’d come out of the Gilmore closet and a friend of a friend – what we used to call a complete stranger – spotted it and outted me.  At first I was bashful but then I couldn’t help myself. All the pent-up geek came out. We started chatting on my friend’s wall about Stars Hollow and meeting up in Luke’s for coffee while our mutual friend watched with confusion.

In my book, a geek is anyone who cares for something a bit more than they think they ought to.  It might be a TV show, it might be Marmite.  It could be Mycenaen tombs or snowy owls, wine or dubstep, nose flutes or the works of Matt Damon.  It’s probably not sport.  Whatever it is, it’s about being passionate.

So here’s a confession.  I have recorded every single episode of Gilmore Girls on my Digital Video Recorder (DVR).  That’s not so bad, I hear you cry.  I’m on my third re-watching – that’s watching all seven seasons once, then three times more.  That’s a little concerning, I hear you say.  My DVR remote control uses the four coloured buttons to skip ahead a different number of seconds and I’ve set the green one to skip the length of the opening credits.  OK, that’s a little concerning, I hear you murmur as you back slowly away.

Gilmore Girls finished its original run six years ago in May 2007 but has shown, like the girls themselves, to have terrific legs.  Through international syndication, re-runs and an astonishing level of re-watchability, the series continues to pick up fans and turn everyday people into fully fledged Gilmore Geeks.  Like me.

I read (and loved) both the books Rory and Jess recommended to each other – The Fountainhead and a Hemingway – The Old Man and the Sea (which made me ponder that Logan seemed to spend more time sleeping than reading and I wondered how that would have affected his relationship with Rory the bookworm.  But I digress…)

I’ve shown you mine – your turn.  Do you stand up in the cinema and point at the screen when a Gilmore Girls actor shows up?  Do you own Stars Hollow merchandise?  Do you write GG fan fiction, or ever think to yourself WWLGD?

Just how big a Gilmore Geek are you?

Bunheads oppa Gilmore style

I love a bit of Gilmore with my Bunheads and it looks like I’m not the only one.

honey-glazed bunheads

Self-confessed Gilmore and Bunheads lover ‘ByCamz’ joined the Sherman-Palladino party late but has made up for it with a very respectful melding of the Gilmore Girls intro theme ‘Where You Lead’ with well-chosen and amber-fogged clips from Bunheads.  It’s really well done.

How much do you want Bunheads Season 2?  I am keeping all fingers and legs crossed.

ByCamz, we salute you.  Click Sutton’s gleeful face or here for the YouTube vid.

With a thankful nod to bazinga for the tip-off.

Gilmore Girls in the Movies

When was the last time your started lollygagging at the TV, pointing and gibbering at the screen because one of the Gilmore Girls alumni turned up where they shouldn’t? What, just me? Come on, ‘fess up.

lorelai and arlen

Sean Gunn (GG’s Kirk) turning up in Glee was a nice surprise, although he was criminally underused. And I always have a moment of re-acclimatisation seeing Kelly Bishop (Emily Gilmore) as the mother in Dirty Dancing. Uh, not that I watch Dirty Dancing over and over or anything.

They’ve had a fair run at the movies too, stand-outs being Milo Ventimiglia (Jess) in Rocky Balboa and Melissa McCarthy (Sookie) in Bridesmaids. Keiko Agena (Lane) recently won Best Supporting Actress for the short Lil Tokyo Reporter at the AoF Awards.

Prior to her blossoming career in publishing, Lauren Graham (Lorelai Gilmore) had a few good features under her belt. She was a Lorelai-a-like in the charming comedy The Answer Man (aka Arlen Faber), had a small part in the great Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, was underwritten in Evan Almighty and successfully played against type in Bad Santa.

Alexis Bledel (Rory Gilmore) carried on her Rory story in Post Grad, vacationed with her buddies in the enjoyable Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants and made the most of her baby blues in Sin City.

What’s your favourite non-Gilmore role from a Gilmore Girls actor? Extra points for anything really obscure.

Lauren Graham’s Book Countdown! Are you a True Graham Cracker?

Lauren Graham’s debut novel, Someday, Someday, Maybe is officially released one week from today, on April 30th.  On May 3rd, she’ll be in New York at the Random House Open House in the morning, then at Union Square Barnes & Noble in the evening.

the author-to-be, Lorelai Gilmore - I mean - Lauren Graham

I don’t know what they’ve done to her eyes in that picture but anyway, looks like tickets are still available for the Open House and if you need it in print, Nookbook, Kindle, or audiobook, there’s this thing called the internet.  Or better still, support your friendly neighbourhood bookstore, if you still have one.

How hardcore a Graham Cracker are you?  Have you pre-ordered the hardcover version AND the audiobook (unabridged and read by Lauren herself)?  Have you booked your vacation around both Barnes & Noble appearances, in NY and LA?  Can you spell ‘restraining order’?

I’m plumping for the audio version because a) at the speed she talks, it’ll be quicker than reading it myself and b) it’ll be like she’s reading me to sleep every night.  Night night, crazy Lorelai lady.  How about a trilogy next?

(Bonus! Through the magic of The Facebook, pre-ordering can bag you an autographed bookplate and an invitation to a video chat with Lauren on SSM Eve, April 29th.)

Thanks to the Sophie Kinsella for the RH heads up.  With friends like those…

Keiko Agena scores a guest spot… so what do you think Lane Kim would be doing now?

So whatever happened to Rory’s best bud, Lane Kim?  In the wild and wacky world of TV-land – where Jason Ritter dates Lorelai Gilmore, then her daughter Rory – Lane has become a high school grief counsellor.

Mrs Kim would be proud!  Maybe.

We’re sending some Gilmore-love and bestest wishes to Keiko Agena (Gilmore Girls’ long-suffering, hair-tousling, twin-toting bad-ass-drummer Lane Kim) who will guest spot in the upcoming ABC Family ‘mystery’ show, Twisted.  The show centres on a charismatic sixteen year guy just out from five years in juvenile detention, re-connecting with his two female best friends from childhood.  Sounds like he had a mum like Mrs Kim.

Might Lane have actually become a counsellor?  I can see her and Zack raising the twins to play rhythm guitar and keyboard and they play fusion country rock at family-friendly festivals with their loving, nutty uncles, Brian and Gil.  Freebird!

can't get hepper than this

Man, Lane and Zack’s twins, Steve and Kwan, would have just turned six years old.  But Keiko will always look 17.  We’ll have some of what she’s having, thankyouverymuch.

What was your favourite Lane Kim moment?  What do you think she’s up to now?

Pics c/o Chris Keiko Agena and hepalien