HIMYM ≠ legendary

Today a show’s nine-year reign over my heart as the best show ever ended.

I can hear your groans from here, but How I Met Your Mother started out as the promising show it grew to be in Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…and then it started wavering a bit. There was a lot of hits and misses for me after that, but what stayed constant and true was the hope and idea of true love that resonated with me in the protagonist, Ted Mosby.

Ted Mosby, I must admit, is not a likeable character. The first two seasons he was okay but then he got irritating. What got irritating was the fact he would always go back to Robin. I understand more than anyone that staying in touch with an ex is not always the best way to try and get over them. But it leaves you vulnerable to never changing and using that person as a “back-up plan”.

Now before I go on and ruin it for all you HIMYM fans out there I am warning you if you have not seen the finale yet and you don’t want to know what happens. DO NOT READ ON.

When Ted ended up with Robin my brain had to scramble to come up with conclusions to justify why I was so physically disgusted by this outcome.

My first conclusion was probably the most sane of the two. And it has to do with Robin being a “back-up plan”. In my mind Ted is so upset by his wife, Tracey, dying that he fell back on what was familiar and what had always been there for him. And that of course was Robin. I mean it makes sense, doesn’t it? Ted had loved Robin for so long and those feelings would have resurfaced after (what I assume) she had decided to pack it in and finally settle somewhere she was in constant contact with “the gang”. That makes sense right? RIGHT?!?

But then my second conclusion was just anger. Anger at the creators/writers for letting this happen to their show. I understand they had planned this ending years in advance, but they built this show on the idea of true love. They made us believe that NO ONE ELSE could compete with the mother. They built this ENTIRE show around how great she was and how she was the one for Ted. And through this made us believe that we were watching this show for a cause. But guess what? There is no cause. Just Ted, as always, thinking with his dick. It made you realise that all those years he spent growing as person to be worthy of the mother had just come undone in like four minutes. That’s all it took. It took you four minutes to realise that Ted is, and always will be, a fucking idiot.

Also I know there are some people out there who would have loved seeing Ted and Robin end up together. But let me say this. They’re no Ross and Rachel, from Friends. They never will be. It only worked with Friends because you were so emotionally invested in them. And that’s why I hated Ted and Robin getting back together because even though Carter Bays and Craig Thomas made us invest in the idea of Ted and Robin, they made us invest so much more in the idea of Ted and the mother. They cheapened their relationship by skimming over their emotional connections, the mother’s death and the aftermath. They cheapened Ted Mosby as a character and made him out to be someone who had probably killed his wife so he could conveniently get back together with Robin after all these years because he had loved her all along. Essentially Bays and Thomas made us feel like chumps – which I can never forgive.

The series finale of How I Met Your Mother was not legendary.

And today because of four minutes that was more disappointing than a man who comes early, it is no longer the best TV show ever.

 

A man for each era

Yesterday I was driving around Cleveland in the Sunshine State and listening to some great tracks from the 90s.

And it got me thinking about all the great TV shows and movies of my childhood they featured in.

Then this got me thinking about all the leading men I worshipped at these times and how my idea of the ideal man has changed over the years.

So here is a look back at all the men I have crushed on during my awkward years as a tween, a teen and everything in between.

Let’s start with my pre-tween years. During this time I listened to a lot of pop music in the vein of the Backstreet Boys, Hanson, *NSYNC and Blue (they came bit later but still a band I would lump into this era of heart throbs).

My main obsessions during this time were the enigmatic Carter brothers – Aaron and Nick. I loved them because they were super cute. That’s the only reason why…AND they were pop stars. Can you blame me?

Then when I arrived at my tween years and their careers came to a screeching halt, I started watching Lizzie McGuire. And old, reliable Gordo was the type of guy I wanted hanging around. He was smart, geeky and loyal…everything I thought a man should be and still do.

And in the end (The Lizzie McGuire Movie) he FINALLY gets the girl.

But for a majority of my teen years I sought the knowledge of a woman who probably knew more about what other women wanted than what she wanted herself. Though she never married I think Jane Austen knew the kind of men she wanted and she developed each hero to her own tastes and preferences at the time.

Throughout my teen years each Austen hero was my flavour of the week.The two who vied for my attention the most were Captain Wentworth and my absolute favourite Henry Tilney.

When it comes to men of fiction these are the two heroes I have adored for as long as I can remember.

I love Captain Wentworth for his constancy, his firmness of mind because he knew what he wanted even when Anne Elliot did not and his way with words. His letter in Persuasion made my heart stop.

As for Henry Tilney I love him for his wittiness, his playfulness and his all ’round sweetness. It was an ultimate squee moment when he came to visit Catherine Morland, after she was chucked out of Northanger Abbey by his father, to declare his love for her.

And during these last few years there’s been one man who’s captured my particular attention (other than my loving partner, of course). I’m sure there’s plenty of women out there who would agree with my choice.

Let me know what your childhood crushes were down below. It would be great to hear from you!

❤

New York City in pictures: Part Two

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New York City in pictures: Part Three (or the Upper West Side)

*DISCLAIMER: This is Part Three because I’m trying to establish some sort of chronological order. I didn’t write down what I had done after each day, and I’m trying to remember what happened during the week as I go. I was halfway through this post and realised this came later in the week…but happy reading all the same.*

A certain restaurant in the Upper West Side has had many famous diners come through its door, including US president Barack Obama and 2008 Republican presidential hopeful John McCain. But it is most famous for being the exterior of Monk’s Cafe in the NBC series, Seinfeld.

Though Tom’s Restaurant’s (located on Broadway and 112th Street) interior does not resemble in any way the inside of the cafe that put it on the map, it has the atmosphere of being at home. I’m not sure whether it is because of the extremely familiar and friendly wait staff, or if its the little old man sitting behind the cashier counter who reminds you of your grandfather. It might even be the delicious plates of home-cooked food that make it to your table as you catch a whiff of what’s coming out of the kitchen’s doors.

With the walls of Seinfeld memorabilia looking on, I feasted on a Reuben rye sandwich (homemade corned beef, sauerkraut and melted cheese), served up with a bowl of New York clam chowder and a root beer, while W had the pleasure of enjoying a cherry vanilla milkshake and a banana split.

Tom's Restaurant: It is often frequented by students of nearby Columbia University.

The Reuben: The best corned beef I have ever tasted.

Riverside Park: Definitely a park I would gladly take my hypothetical dog for a walk in and/or possibly go for a run in, if I was so inclined. Even in winter when the trees have lost their leaves and the park’s ground is covered with this dry brown foliage that you just have the urge to jump in to hear the crunch under your boots, it’s one of those places you’d find a bench to just sit to hear your own thoughts. It’s a place for reflection.

Tina Fey's character in 30 Rock, Liz Lemon, lives on Riverside Drive, where this park is located.

The Dakota: This is the apartment building the late John Lennon, former Beatle, lived and where he was shot in 1980. It is located on West 72nd Street and Central Park West. Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono, still lives there. Across the road in Central Park is the memorial dedicated to Lennon called Strawberry Fields, named after The Beatles song. The memorial was opened on October 9, 1985 by Ono and then New York City mayor Ed Koch. This date would have been Lennon’s 45th birthday.

The next post will be Part Two!

New York City in pictures: Part One

To catch you all up on the days I have missed, the few days before and after the night of Rockwood Music Hall up until now, in these next posts I will be uploading photos – some with an extended caption. There are so many places I have seen over these past days, I will be creating a saga of blog posts.

Chelsea High Line: This originally used to be a freight train passage but when it was threatened to be torn down in 1999, residents Joshua David and Robert Hammond fought for its preservation. When current mayor Michael Bloomberg came into office, he and his council committed to turning the High Line into the park it is today.

From this fascinating location, the view of New York City is one you cannot experience anywhere else. It runs through the city’s industrial areas and has some strangely beautiful sights to behold:

Chelsea Piers: From the High Line, you can see Chelsea Piers where some episodes of the Law & Order franchises were filmed. A street leading into Pier 62 was renamed “Law & Order Way” after the show in 2004. The location is also a sports complex, and was meant to be the final destination of the doomed ship, RMS Titanic.

After walking pretty much the entire length of the High Line, we decided to explore its surrounding areas – Chelsea and Greenwich Village.

My new home: These stairs lead to what I assume is another apartment hidden underneath the apartment on top of it. It reminds me of Will’s law firm office in Will & Grace.

Christopher Park: These statues were erected to honour the gay liberation movement, commemorating events which took place at the Stonewall Inn across the road from the park.

Gray’s Papaya: I had my first How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) moment here. The context: Ted and co went here to get a hotdog on New Year’s Eve in season one, episode 11.

And I had my second brush with HIMYM here at a later date:

Red Lobster: This is where Lily and Marshall went when they paused their end of season one fight. Much sadness was had by them here.

Then I saw another one of these on another day:

And on Friday night, I went to the bar that the HIMYM bar, McLaren’s, was modelled on. McGee’s (on 55th Street between Seventh Avenue and Eighth Avenue) was the bar the creators of the show, Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, used to frequent.

On an earlier night, we made our way to Peking Duck House on Mott Street in Chinatown and had ourselves some of its namesake. This chef was pro at carving up that sweet, sweet duck. He did it in way less than five minutes (I’m pretty sure).

If this was an audio cassette recording I’d be asking you to flip the cassette over to side B, but because it’s not…please move on to the next part…if I’ve posted it.