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New Season Awards

2011-10-03T20:22:00.006-04:00

OK, so now that I've gotten most of the new seasony stuff whittled down, here are some of the things that I have to say about it, a few "awards" if you will. Not all of them are positive

Best Pilot:

New Girl. Hands down, this show gets the award for best from moment one. I was a little skeptical, because it seemed a little too similar to a certain ignored TBS sitcom with the EXACT SAME PREMISE. (RIP My Boys...I will continue to sing your praises for all time.) But Zooey Deschanel is adorable, the guys are hilarious and really, can any of us really deny that we've been running around for the past two weeks singing, "Who's that girl? It's Jess!"

Best Comeback:

Glee. Let's face the facts, last season Glee was, umm, let's say it was distracted. Distracted is a good word. But it seems to be on it's way back. Who knew that all it would take was a breath of fresh air from Blaine, the return of Shelby Corcoran, and a new villain in the form of a tone deaf Vanessa Lengies, her character is named Sugar, but I'm just gonna call her Roxanne. Also, shifting the musical focus from top 40 regurgitation to interesting renditions of showtunes, classic pop/rock and standards. There have only been two episodes and we've already gotten six Broadway belts (Ding dong the witch is Dead, Hey Big Spender, Anything Goes/Anything You Can Do I can do Better, Somewhere and Something's Coming.)

Biggest Surprise
Ringer. I thought that Ringer was going to be awful. It isn't it's kind of wonderful in that guilty pleasure CW kind of way. Plus it's Buffy and Richard Alpert (Buffy and Lost related CSD is one crazy combo, and guarantees all kind of out there plot twists.)

Biggest Pilot Let Down
Free Agents. I wanted to love Free Agents. I really did. It has a phenomenal cast. I don't love Free Agents. I don't know how I feel about it. That kind of fits in really well with the spirit of that show though.

Biggest Post Pilot Let Down
Pan Am. I loved the pilot for Pan Am...I loved the concept. Mad Men, on a plane, with spies. But episode 2 was a mess. And Christina Ricci needs more attention. Her character is awesome. She's like, Joan Hollaway...but on a plane.

Best Comeback (Showrunner Edition)
Josh Schwartz. OK, so Chuck had a little bit to do with restoring my faith in Josh, but Hart of Dixie pushed it right on over the edge. If the adorable Rachel Bilson vehicle, and the spy comedy of all spy comedies have been where his focus have been, it explains so much of why Gossip Girl has been so sloppy and awful the past few seasons. And so Josh, I forgive you for Blair/Dan and Jenny/Chuck, so long as Zoe Hart sticks around.

So, that's what's happening in my head right now. What about some other thoughts on the new season?

West Side Stor-Glee

2011-09-27T22:37:00.004-04:00

OK, so I spent a good chunk of my life and I don't mean recently, I mean in my entire 23 years, analyzing, over thinking and casting and recasting West Side Story. So now that Glee is embracing this, the greatest of all musicals. (Seriously, it's THE BEST MUSICAL EVER)

So, here's my New Directions Casting of West Side Story (regardless of whatever maimed version Murphy, Falchuck and the other guy decided)

Tony: Blaine (the ONLY choice
Maria: Rachel (again)
Riff: Puck
Bernardo: Mike Chang (did you know that in the show Bernardo doesn't sing, but he has to dance like a Mofo?)
Anita: Santana
Action: Artie (I know he's directing the show, but really? Could it be anyone else in that club singing Officer Krupke?)
Rosalia: Mercedes
Anybodys: Tina
Baby John: Kurt
A-Rab: Finn
Graziella: Brittney
Chino: Ok, look there is no clear choice for Chino in New Directions and we're out of boys.
Velma: Quinn
The Shark Girls: The Cheerios
The Jet Boys: The Warblers

So yeah, that's how it should happen.

It probably won't.

Edit By Big Bro Mike: Finn as Riff and a random warbler as A-Rab solves a few problems. It allows Puck to play Bernardo and them you can shift Mike Chang to Chino. There DONE!

What I'm loving so far

2011-09-20T22:56:00.004-04:00

So, the new TV season is off and running, even if all the racers aren't in yet. Here's some of the stuff I like so far...

The new Sheriff on Sons of Anarchy and his no nonsense dealings with the club, and that dick US Attorney.
The return of Lea Michelle's bangs.
Two Broke Girls. Everything about Two Broke Girls. (Yes, even the horse and the bad puns.)
The cast of Up All Night, even if the pilot didn't totally rock.
That Dharma and Greg toured Charlie Harper's house on the Two and A Half Men premier.
Quinn Fabray's Gwen Stefani hair.
The impending domination of Fox and then the planet by the Deschanel sisters.
The impending domination of all of TV and then the less quirky parts of the planet by the cast of Buffy.
Speaking of Buffy, Ringer doesn't suck. So that's kind of cool.
Terry O'Quinn's character on Hawaii Five-0 is basically John Locke.
This season Robin is going to be chasing Barney, not the other way around.
Oh and Victoria is back on How I Met Your Mother. VICTORIA people! This going to be classic Mosby.
Finding out that Juice is half black and that the reason why he lied about it is the Sons don't accept black members. (Also, Juice gets a storyline, this almost makes up for the loss of Half-Sack...almost)
New Directions is putting on West Side Story.
Beercules.
Vanessa Lengies on Glee. (She can dance to one of Quinn's Donna Summer songs)

So, that's the beginning. After the rest of the week (through Sunday) I'll make another list. Excluding the shows I listed here.

Summer Lovin

2011-09-12T22:50:00.006-04:00

So I spent the summer finally watching two shows that I'd been meaning to watch for a while.

Mad Men and Chuck.

You do not get more different than these two shows. Or their leading men.

I have huge crushes on both of them.

Jon Hamm
and Zachary Levi

One, is a lovable dork who I would go on silly dates with and then introduce to my mother.

The other I would be terrified to speak to but would totally let him take me on a conference room table. (Has Don Draper done it on a conference room table? I feel like he has...)

Anyway, so I got two new TV crushes this year. YAY!

Plus both of their erm...side projects are equal deserving of my adoration, such as:

Really? Wouldn't you buy Jon Hamm's John Ham?

And Zach Levi's a GD DISNEY PRINCE! And the best looking one since Aladdin, I might add.

Oh, and um, speaking of people I'm in love with...

Thor comes out on DVD tomorrow....

SIGH....

See SAMCRO Ride

2011-09-07T07:30:00.006-04:00

I've decided to recap Sons of Anarchy's season premier last night in the same style as See Spot Run.

OK, not really, but that's what I kept thinking about...

You know:

This is Jax.

See Jax declare that he's leaving SAMCRO?

Declare Jax, declare!

This is Tara.

See Tara make terrible decisions regarding her relationship with Jax?

Make terrible decisions Tara, make terrible decisions!

OK...so it was more complicated than that. In addition to that Opie and Lyla got married and Opie said he couldn't wait to "add to their family" and then Lyla made a guilty face because you know, she had the abortion last season.

We met Tara and Jax's son, Thomas, and we saw Able toddle around and cause some kind of problem.

But really? Can we spend a whole fourth season with Jax brooding and waffling about leaving the club and Tara nagging him about it until Gemma does something to totally manipulate one or both of them so that they have to stay in Charming?

Manipulate Gemma, manipulate!

CSD: Fantasy Edition

2011-08-14T18:40:00.002-04:00

I just had a really upsetting bout of my Character Separation Disorder.

I've dove headfirst into George R.R. Martin's A Song Of Ice and Fire series over the past week, and last night and today finally finished out the first season of HBO's adaptation of the books, Game of Thrones.

After shutting off Thrones, I started flipping and found The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring on Starz.

I was horrified as I watched Ned Stark (Sean Bean) try to steal The Ring from Frodo. HORRIFIED! Of course, here Bean was not playing Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell, but Boromir of Gondor. And while Ned is you know, the man, and holds honor above everything, (except maybe the life of his teenage daughter...*sigh* Poor Sansa) Boromir is kind of a dick. But still ends up dead before the end of the first book. (Seriously, try playing a character who makes it.)

While the one thing that I've been assured is absolutely true in Martin's fantasy world is that no one is safe, I still find myself continually shocked when characters I love die.

Anyway, other ghosts of fantasy epics past who keep showing up in Westeros?

Osha, a Wildling (indigenous people) who befriends Bran Stark (the cutest little kid on the planet) is played by the same actress who played Nymphadora Tonks in Harry Potter. I do not want to see Osha die a horrible grisly Ice and Fire death, but at least I'll be prepped, having seen her do it before. (That sigh from before, for Poor Sansa, also applies to Poor Teddy Lupin).

It's also confusing to see Sarah Connor (or her TV version at least) running around ordering the death of direwolves and boinking her brother as she plays Queen Cersei. But, hey, at least she has a different hair color, such simple distractions make all the difference when you're suffering from CSD.

Game of Thrones in general is like begging me for a big ol' CSD attack, but I think I managed it pretty well.

E + Sloan TLF

2011-08-01T01:45:00.005-04:00

As a follow up to my post about last week's Entourage.

Sloan is moving to New York.

Which I'm interpreting to mean that the show is ending with E moving to New York to be with her.

And again, with the whining, if it's anything else.

Seriously? Look how cute they are. TLF!

I Wanna Be Your Superhero

2011-07-29T15:38:00.003-04:00

The time has come, as I always knew, hoped and dreaded that it would.

Entourage has begun it's final season.

Believe it or not, I'm more emotional about this than I was about Harry Potter.

I think it has something to do with the moment of the thing. Harry was an era. Vince and the boys, they're just a moment. A very distinct moment, that is now over.

Last season ended on a low note, even for Entourage. Vince was being arrested for coke posession after Eminem kicked the crap out of him. Sloan had just asked Eric to sign a prenup, Turtle's tequila deal was running away from him, Ari's wife had kicked him out and Drama was, well, Drama.

When we open for season 8, Vince is on his way out of rehab (relieved exhale), Eric and Sloan broke up (again, this story line is boring and they should get married already), Turtle's tequila was actually doing quite well, as was Drama's impending cartoon, Johnny's Bananas. (This is a bizarre flip in Entourage-land, when Turtle and Drama do well, and Vince and Eric don't.) And Ari's wife asked him for a divorce.

As much as I've appreciated the extra time with the boys, I think that the show was given a satisfactory conclusion in season 6, Vince leaving to shoot Ferrari in Italy, Ari getting the agency back on track after the disaster that was Andrew, and Eric choosing to stay in LA with Sloan rather than go to Italy with the boys.

Because for all that Vince gets the attention, Entourage is really the story of the team behind the man. This is Eric and Ari's story.

And if this story ends anywhere but with those two happy with the women they love, Doug Ellin will be receiving many angry letters from me. (Except he probably won't. But I will whine about it, a lot.)

The Star Spangled Man With A Plan

2011-07-28T09:20:00.008-04:00

There's something very, very right about the Marvel Studios movies of the last five years. I love Christopher Nolan's Batman Triology, I think they are master films. But somewhere on his quest to create a grim and gritty reality, Chris lost the, well, fun of seeing a guy in tights fight evil.

No fun allowed!

Marvel has yet to lose the fun. Their movies are bright, colorful, fast moving and at that, pretty remarkable bits of film making. Captain America: The First Avenger, directed by Joe Johnston and starring Chris Evans as Cap himself, continues well in this vein.

Evans has proven himself in the action adventure field fairly well. In fact, last year I dubbed him "Comic Book Man," having been the only good thing about The Fantastic 4 movies, and playing sell out Lucas Lee in Scott Pilgrim. But he's perfectly in his element as Captain Steve Rogers. CGI'd down to look like a skinny weakling for the first forty five minutes, Evans still shines through as the Brooklyn kid with a heart of gold who just wants to serve his country.

But then things get fun. The fangirl in me loves the Marvel Studio movies because they do very well on the hottie front! Not to sound like a bad stand up, but sometimes you just need a little eye candy, amirightladies? Now even once he's suped up on Dr. Abraham Erksine's (played to lovable perfection by Stanley Tucci) syrum which turns him into the perfect physical soldier, he's no Chris Hemsworth, but Evans is dreamy in that All American, throw a baseball, drink a beer, backseat of a Chevy kind of way. (As opposed to the Broody Norse God running through the rain kind of way...*sigh*)

Seriously, Sexiest.Thing.Ever.

Captain America ups the hottie ante, though, with Sebastian Stan as Roger's best friend James "Bucky" Barnes, and wait for it...Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark!

Close Second

Yes, that's right, not only is Howard Stark a prominent part of the film, but he's played by the absolutely smoldering Cooper, (who I've been mildly obsessed with since I saw him in The History Boys on Broadway.) If this is a fictional universe where Dominic Cooper is Robert Downey Jr.'s father, I WANT TO LIVE IN THIS UNIVERSE!

But back to the movie. Captain America fights The Red Skull, played by Hugo "Agent Smith" Weaving. Seriously, folks, when he opens his mouth even when he's playing an elf king or in this case a deranged Nazi scientist who's face has been mutated to look like a well, red skull, my CSD kicks into high gear and I immediately expect him to start dodging bullets and asking if he can speak to "Mr. Anderson." But still, he was awesome.

Rounding out the cast were Tommy Lee Jones as Agent K, um I mean Federal Marshal Sam Gerald...OK look, he was playing Colonel Chester Phillips, but really he was doing his Tommy Lee Jones thing, and doing it real well and Hayley Atwell as Agent Peggy Carter. I even almost forgot about that time she went to the fair with Dawson Leary she was so good. (I said almost. This is Dawson's related CSD, the deepest kind)

Of course, like all of these movies, Captain America was a set up. There's an End Game. And that End Game is The Avengers. And that's what's up next. When Steve brought down The Red Skull's plane in the middle of the ocean, his friends searched for him. They found the Tesserae (do I have that right?) but no Steve. He wound up frozen for 70 years, and was awakened in modern New York, by Nick Fury. The credits roll.

But this is Marvel, so you've got to stick around until the very last frame. After the credits we see Steve beating a hanging punching bag, which he then punches right off the ceiling. Fury enters the room and gives Steve a message. "It's time to save the world."

Then we see it in all of it's glory. The trailer for The Avengers, with it's amazing tagline "Some Assembly Required." I was too busy gaping (and I kind of had to pee) to take you through it blow by blow, but it looks fantastic. Plus I got a tingly when I saw Chris Hemsworth as Thor again, so we know that's not a passing thing...

I Open At The Close

2011-07-22T22:42:00.002-04:00

There's a quote from Neil Gaiman that I've always loved, that I think pertains so perfectly to the way that the Harry Potter series has touched me, and so many other people in my generation, "I would not be the person I am without the authors who made me what I am -- the special ones, the wise ones, sometimes the ones who got there first. It's not irrelevant, those moments of connection, those places where fiction saves your life. It's the most important thing there is."

We were children, all of us when J.K. Rowling first took us away from our world and drew us into another one entirely. A world where pictures moved and spoke, where broomsticks flew, owls delivered letters, and a small, ignored boy could be the most special person to ever live.

That was over a decade ago. And a full decade ago we saw that world for the first time. When we met the visual interpretations of Harry, Ron, Hermione and all the rest of them.

And now it's over. I mean, it's never over, because as Mr. Gaiman said, we all carry The Wizarding World with us. All of it Quidditch and wandlore, and horcruxes and hallows.

Can you guess that I just got in from seeing the second part of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows? I'm having trouble processing the movie. One of the things that I've always loved about Harry Potter in general is how it borrowed from, well, everything that came before it. The films just as much, if not more so, than the books. And everything about this movie was carefully crafted and borrowed.

The clash of green and red light between Harry and Voldemort, as well as the glowing reappearance of Professor Dumbledore reminded me, in a clear and distinct manner of Star Wars, much as Snape and Narcissa Malfoy's redemption always reminded me of Darth Vader's decision to save his son and soul over his own life.

As Voldemort's forces storm Hogwarts, suddenly I thought of Middle Earth, and Sauron's allies marched towards the riders of Rohan.

But there were other strange parallels that only the pop culture inclined would notice. When Snape demands that the Hogwarts students not aid Harry, I could only think of Alan Rickman demanding that a henchman bring him the detonators. And I thought I could see the glee behind Maggie Smith's eyes as she cast her final spells at Hogwarts.

But the greatest victim of my crowded mind, was The Dark Lord himself. Voldemort is played, after all, by Ralph Fiennes, who I'm pretty sure has never played a good character in his entire career. Or at the very least gave it up some times in the early nineties. Because, really, how do you move past playing the guy who camps on his Warsaw mansion balcony and shoots random Jews in his yard for sport? I'll tell you how, he plays Lord Voldemort. And in one moment in the final movie, he shoots a killing curse at a Death Eater when he's just pissed.

But there's so much more to what Harry Potter means to me than just it's exciting my pop culture sensibilities. As Harry prepared to go to the Forbidden Forest and sacrifice himself, Hermione hugged him and Ron smiled. I thought of Katherine and Jen, and Jenna, and Katie and every other friend I've ever had who knew what was better for me than I did. When Harry spoke to the ghosts of his parents, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, I thought of the adults who guided my way in subtle and unsubtle ways. Of my parents, and teachers, of David, the boss who took a chance on me when no one else would have.

I don't know how to separate criticism of Harry Potter from my own experience. I love this story too much. It's too much a part of me, or at least how I see stories. So it's over now. I'm ready for it to be over, but it keeps going because it's in me, it's in millions of people. So maybe that's all there is to say.

The Girl On Fire, The Son of Poseidon, The Boy Who Lived and Others

2011-06-22T20:29:00.007-04:00

I literally, a minute ago, put down Mocking Jay, the third and final book in The Hunger Games series. I've been completely blown away by the series, it was beautiful, terrifying and addictive. The story of The Hunger Games is that post apolcalyptic North America is separated into 12 districts and led by an autocratic capital, and the nation is called Panem. It's an ancient Roman model, with the Capitol overflowing with riches and the districts, like Roman provinces serving the Capitol in some way. Once a year "tributes" are chosen, two from each district and they enter an arena and fight to death in The Hunger Games, for Panem's entertainment. Katniss Everdeen, the heroine of The Hunger Games, goes off to the games in place of her younger sister Primrose, and inadvertently ignites a rebellion against the Capitol. Along the way she earns the love of her fellow tribute Peeta, which competes with the affection of her long time friend, Gale. There's so much more to it, but I absolutely could not do it justice. Read the books, they are completely worth it.

But allow me to put my reading of The Hunger Games into context. Many people are aware of the pop culture syndrome known as Post Potter depression. That is, people who find their summer's detached and meaningless without a new Harry Potter book to consume. I have proudly staved off this particular disorder, but only barely, and I've done it in a very specific calculated way. Rather than sink under the unbearable thought of losing Harry and friends, I've found myself other series to occupy my mind in the meantime.

The first one was Twilight. While Bella Swann and her hot monster love has about as little to do with The Boy Who Lived as possible, it did the job pretty credibly. I was consumed in who Bella would choose in the end (really? Do I need to get into my opinion on that one again?) almost as much as I wanted to find out if Snape was good or evil. I read all four books in one summer, I certainly didn't feel an empty longing to return to Hogwarts. Even if the finale was a bit of a disappointment, and not just because Bella was stupid and chose wrong, I appreciated what the books had to offer.

After Twilight, came Percy Jackson and The Olympians. Here I found what I really needed, a sometimes bumbling, homicidally brave, young male hero who had to save the world whether he wanted to or not. Plus he went on adventures, had a spunky smarter than him girl sidekick, and a hapless boy sidekick. He had rivals who turned out to be important allies, and parentage that isolated him from the rest of his friends. I actually had to wait a little bit for these ones, because the final book, The Last Olympian didn't come out until after I'd finished the previous four. AND there's a sequel series, The Heroes of Olympus which is keeping me in enough anticipatory excitement to fill a Hagrid sized void.

Post Percy was stranger. Nothing was showing itself to fill the void. Nothing to keep me from missing my favorite young witches and wizards. I tried James Patterson's Maximum Ride series, not for me. Even Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries, which were the basis of True Blood, which I adored didn't do it. But, what? What could possibly fill that hole, besides the endless indecisive whining of the world's most innocuous teenage girl beloved for unknown reasons by two hot immortals, or the epic adventures of teen age demi gods in New York city? Then it came, like a brief flash of glory...

WE ARE SEX BOB-OMB! 1...2...3...4!

Yes, his name was Scott Pilgrim. He was 23, he was dating a high schooler, he met the girl, literally, of his dreams, and had to defeat her 7 evil exes to win her love. Scott, Ramona Flowers, Knives Chau, Kim Pine et al, amused me sufficiently enough. And then this summer approached, and I made the decision, based on all the speculation about the film version, it was going to be The Hunger Games.

Anyway, being the freakish pop culture junky that I am, I imagined a little scene, in which Harry Potter, Bella Swann, Percy Jackson, Scott Pilgrim and Katniss Everdeen all sat down in some kind of hero support group:

Harry: Hello, you all know each other, but let's introduce ourselves anyway. My name is Harry Potter, and my parents were murdered by the most evil wizard of all time. I survived and became a celebrity, but I was raised away from that by my abusive relatives. Once I got to wizard school though, everyone thought I was awesome, and then lots of people died because of me. Next?

Bella: My name is Bella, and I fell in love with this mega hot guy at first sight, and it turned out he was a vampire and he loved me too, except, I don't know why because he is the greatest human to ever live and I am scum. Anyway, then he left me, because why wouldn't he, I'm awful? So, I started hanging out with this other guy, who fell in love with me, and I kinda liked him too, and it turned out that he was a werewolf, and then my boyfriend came back and I was all "See ya!" and I started a war and they both almost died and then I had the vampire's half vampire baby, and I became a vampire and then the werewolf fell in love with my baby, and we all lived happily ever after. Except for that whole, you know, vampire thing.

Percy: My name is Percy, my mom boinked the god of the sea, even though he wasn't supposed to do that anymore, so I was born and monsters were always trying to kill me, and then my mom got kidnapped by Hades and my Latin teacher turned out to be a centaur, and this guy who I thought was nice turned out to be manipulated by the Titan Kronos, and I had to lead a war against the Titans, and meanwhile, my best friend, who's mom Athena hates my dad was all in love with me, and I loved her too, except there was this other girl. That's not important, anyway, we won, but I still have to fight monsters a lot, and it sucks.

Scott: Hi, my name is Scott Pilgrim, and I'm awesome. I used to be in a band, and...I guess, I don't know, my girlfriend has seven evil exes, but it didn't start that way...I was dating this seventeen year old Chinese Girl, because my ex girlfriend became a rock star...but look, I got to use a SWORD, a ninja sword. And there was something about subspace...can we eat now?

Katniss: Um, I'm new, my name is Katniss. I grew up in a district of a totalitarian controlled super city, hunting in the woods with my best friend and singing bird songs with my father. Then my father died, and I had to take care of my little sister. Then she got selected to go to this tournament to the death and I volunteered to take her place, and it turns out the guy who they sent with me has always been secretly in love with me, which it turns out I love him too, except I also love my best friend and I really didn't have time to deal with those issues, because I was too busy trying to stay alive and stuff, and then they started calling me The Girl On Fire or The Mockingjay and I had to lead a rebellion when all I wanted to do was hunt and protect my sister and maybe figure out which guy I liked. And lots of people died and it was ALL MY FAULT.

Harry: I so get that. It's hard when lots of people die because of you. Also when they give you stupid names, like, "The Chosen One" or "The Boy Who Lived."

Bella: Who did you pick? That's the most important part!

Percy: Trying to stay alive when everyone wants to kill you is probably the worst thing ever!

Scott: What? I uh, fell asleep. Does my hair look OK?

And that friends, is how you beat Post Potter depression...

RIP Big Man

2011-06-19T00:59:00.003-04:00

It's been a while since I posted, and I could easily write pages and pages and pages about the unbelievable loss to music that the passing of Clarence Clemons represents.

I nearly burst into tears yesterday, before he even died, because I heard "Edge of Glory" on the radio, and while the song is good, The Big Man's work on it is haunting and gorgeous.

But really, I can't stop thinking about the first time I saw a Springsteen concert and it was just billed, "Bruce Springsteen with special guests The Max Weinberg 7."

I was 13 and I was terrified that Clarence wouldn't be there...and then thrilled when he was.

It's all terribly, terribly sad.

The change was made uptown and the Big Man joined the band
From the coastline to the city all the little pretties raised their hands
I'm gonna sit back right easy and laugh
While Scooter and the Big Man bust this city in half
With a 10th Avenue freeze out.
-10th Avenue Freeze Out - Bruce Springsteen

Summer Music

2011-05-24T11:34:00.005-04:00

So I'm graduating on Sunday (terrifying) and I'm kind of focused on that, plus next week my theatre group has it's auditions for The Drowsy Chaperone. (Details Here) So I'm a little busy, but I didn't want to leave the blog unupdated all week, so I've lined up a few guest bloggers.

First up, Mary, my sister, who I have oft referred to as "Rock Star" made a summer playlist to consider. I asked her to do it, because music is her thing, much more than its mine, (if I were to make a summer playlist it wouldn't be so much a playlist as "Play lots of Springsteen, Jimmy Buffett, Beach Boys and country music as loud as possible!") so here's Mary's significantly more nuanced and cool version.

From Mary:

So some of these songs have specific reasons for being included, which I added next to them. The ones with no comments are just on there because they kick ass. Enjoy.

Romeo - Sublime. because nothing screams summer quite like sublime
You Are a Tourist - Death Cab For Cutie. Their new single. It's going to be on the radio all summer so for those who don't listen to the radio you can feel like you're in the loop. Plus like all Death Cab songs I love it.
Desperation Song - carbon leaf
Awake My Soul - Mumford and Sons. Cuz a slow song every once in a while is necessary
Cult Logic - Miike Snow
The Set Up (You Need This) - Reel Big Fish. Because I've never made a summer playlist without at least one reel big fish song
Far - Coheed and Cambria. (Editors note: The Greatest Band EVER) Because I've never made ANY playlist without at least one coheed song
Casanova, Baby - The Gaslight Anthem. Because they're fun and i want to listen to them all the time
Stitch Me Up - fun. Awesome song that I just heard because it's only on the deluxe version of Aim and Ignite
Temptation Greets You Like a Naughty Friend - Arctic Monkeys. Because a little british punk never hurt anyone and the random rap in the middle is my favorite part.
The City - The Dismemberment Plan
Crazy (from The Basement Version) - Gnarls Barkely. Because everybody in the world should hear this amazing acoustic version of the song. And who doesn't love Cee Lo these days?
Satellite Mind - Metric
Diamonds in The Sky - Steel Train
Drumming - Florence and The Machine
Long Distance Call - Phoenix
Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear
Who Watches the Watchmen - The Prize Fighter Inferno. Because I said so.
Came Out of a Lady - Rubblebucket. Because every summer playlist needs a song that anybody can dance around to.
We Are The Few - Streetlight Manifesto Summer without ska is not summer at all.

Happy Summer Everyone!

Mary Nayden is my sister and is way cooler than I am. She will be among the first people to tell you this.

Making it new

2011-05-18T08:21:00.007-04:00

It was kind of a good year for new shows. Not a great one by any means, but there was a decent crop of new shows that made their way to us. And I picked up a few of them, two of which at least aren't coming back next year. (Hellcats we hardly knew ye...) And since I don't exist in a vacuum, where the only things that exist are my television, this blog and myself (I tried that once, it didn't work out), I asked some of my friends and family about what they liked best about that was new this TV season.

First, I'm going to talk about Mr. Sunshine, which did not get renewed, no absolutely no one's surprised. I enjoyed the show, Matthew Perry and Thomas Schlamme's little sitcom worked decently well, and if it had been given a chance to find it's stride I think it could have been really good. I was most excited about it because Perry was writing the show. While Matt had no comedy writing experience, per se, his reason for trying to write was because on Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, Aaron Sorkin cast him as a comedy writer and he wanted to give it a shot in real life. This got me thinking about other actors that might want to try out jobs that Sorkin once gave them. If Peter Krause hosted Sports Center, I might watch it more often, for example. Many a case of CSD has been caused about Martin Sheen being the president, and hell, perhaps Jesse Eisenberg would make an excellent CEO of Facebook. I do think it's funny that we got ten episodes caused by Matt's CSD about himself.

I wrote a whole post about how much I love Hawaii 5-0, and how I think everyone should watch it. It's nothing compared to my mother. Mom's as big a TV fan as I am, seriously, I come by this completely naturally. And we started watching Hawaii 5-0 for two simple reasons, Scott Caan, and curiosity. Sometimes remakes work, and Caan had already been involved in one that did (Ocean's 11!) plus he'd just had a pretty amazing run on my family's favorite show, Entourage. So we checked out Hawaii 5-0, and it really is fantastic. Remember how Law and Order used to be really awesome? It's like that, but in Hawaii. Also, after seven years, Grace Park managed to unseat Eva Longoria in my mother's mind as the Most Beautiful Woman on Television. If you've ever talked to my mother about Eva Longoria, you know what a really big deal that is.

My sister Mary does not watch as much TV as my mother and I, but she's still into it. When I asked her what she liked that was new this season, she had one answer, and one answer only, "Happy Endings!" Happy Endings is a late season replacement on ABC, about a group of six friends in their late twenties, navigating life in the big city. If it sounds familiar, please note that these friends are in Chicago, not New York, and they hang out in a diner not a coffee house. Also, there's a gay guy and a black guy. So see, it's different than that other show about six friends in their late twenties navigating the big city. When I asked Mary why Happy Endings was her favorite new show, (she still hasn't gotten over the loss of Scrubs. She hasn't loved anything the way she loved Scrubs, it broke her heart) she answered simply, "because, uhhh it's hysterical. Especially the gay guy. He's great...also I love that the girl from Scrubs (Eliza Coupe, and see, Scrubs) is married to a black guy, because on Scrubs she was hooking up with new black intern." You should know, this is because I demanded she expand and she did it on the fly.

Harry's Law might be my new favorite show of the season. I'm not alone by the way, it's also Katherine's favorite. In her words, (which I'm telling you are often the same as mine), "The lawyers work in a shoe store. And Brittany Snow is there. Do I need other reasons to love this show? Oh right, Kathy Bates. It's a wonderful, feel-good, underdog kind of story told in true David E. Kelley fashion and I cannot get enough." Kelley writes fantastic law shows. The Practice was always one of my favorites, and Ally McBeal had uhh...well, it had a really good cast. Harry's Law is following more in Ally McBeal's footsteps, in that it's a funny fish out of water, type show, but it's dealing with bigger issues than the length of Calista Flockhart's skirt and whether or not men and women should use the same bathroom.

Of course, that's just the stuff I was watching, but I do have to say, the fall season looks promising. Much more promising than this one, and this one was pretty good. Anyway, summer's coming, and with summer comes blockbuster movies, HBO, and lots of reading. I'm looking forward to it, aren't you?

Reasons Why You Should Watch Hawaii 5-0 Next Season

2011-05-16T22:10:00.005-04:00

It doesn't take a whole lot of outlining for this one. But I will say that 5-0 is one of the best new shows of the year. (I'm going to do a run down of my, and my family and friends favorites sometime in the next two weeks.) So I'm just going to jump into it.

1. Because Scott Caan is one of the funniest men to ever live. And possibly the most underrated of Ocean's 11.

2. Because they employ every Asian actor ever. Seriously. If you've seen someone Asian in a movie or on TV, chances are they have been or will be on 5-0. It's kind of cool for the diversity of TV.

3. James Marsters is the bad guy. He doesn't have the bleached hair, but it's still awesome.

4. For those so inclined, Grace Park.

5. For those otherwise inclined, Alex O'Loughlin

6. In case you missed Lost too much this year, Daniel Dae Kim runs around the jungle sometimes.

7. Larissa Oleynek seems to be sticking around. Which means that Alex Mack is taking down bad guys again. If you were born between 1984 and 1991, you know how seriously awesome that is.

8. Epic guest stars, including Dane Cook, Diddy, Nick Lachey and that girl he's marrying.

9. Jean Smart plays the governor.

10.
11. So far both Billy Walsh and Mrs. Ari have been murderers. I'm waiting for Sloane, Lloyd (being Asian he'll probably get in on the act) and any other recurring but important Entourage characters to show up.

12. More explosions per hour than a Michael Bay movie, and way better writing.

13. The guy that taught Jason Segel how to kill a pig in Sarah Marshall is a recurring guest star. (Seriously, EVERY ASIAN ACTOR EVER!)

Watch the show.

Take to the skys

2011-05-14T08:47:00.005-04:00

Smallville ended last night. And since my roommate and I decided to stay in, get drunk and make fun of it. (Neither of us had actually watched the show in about 3 years, but finales get exceptions.)

It was a 2 part finale and we were able to follow pretty well:

Part 1 was an hour long love letter to Smallville stupidity. I love some stupid shows, but Smallville is one of the stupidest of all. It has taken more completely retarded plot elements and elevated them to TV melodrama gold more times than every other teen drama before or since. Why? Because this one has superheros, so you get retarded superhero plots and retarded teen drama plots.

Part 1 featured Lois and Clark's aborted wedding, Clark having conversations with his dead father, Oliver being brainwashed by the remnants of Veritas (Yeah, that's are still around) and Lionel Luthor (who I thought was dead, but sure) reviving a clone of Lex by selling his soul.

Part 2 was way better. In my roommate Steph's words, "Wow, that made up for 3 years of complete sucking." And it really did. By 9:30 Lex was back, had made several speeches on "important men of history," and had relived his Smallville journey, losing his hair to the meteors, getting beaten by his father, baby Gabriel's death, getting bullied at boarding school, meeting Clark, falling in love with Lana, marrying Lana, etc. Plus he had told Clark he needed to save the world to fulfill both of their destinies.

Then Clark headed to The Fortress of Solitude, chatted with Jor-El and relived his Smallville journey, saving Lex, saving Lana from that Tornado (awesome), saving Chloe over and over and over, Saving Lois. He realized he had to embrace his destiny. And then he got the suit.

The suit, let's talk about the suit. First of all, it looked good on Tom Welling, I can't find a picture yet, but I'll update later in the day if I find one. It was way better than the Superman Returns suit, and it worked perfectly.

Anyway, then Clark lifted a plane, smiled at Lois and flew off into space to stop a planet that was hurdling towards earth.

Then came the scare. The picture changed and it became a comics drawing of Superman, and Chloe was holding it, reading it to a small blonde boy. For a second, you thought that the whole series had just been Chloe telling a story to her kid. Horrifying. Then you saw the kid look over at a quiver of toy arrows. (Oh right, did you know that Chloe and Oliver were married? I didn't but they were, so you know, cool, I guess?) That's when we knew the show was "real" Thank God!

The final, final moments took place in the best place possible, The Daily Planet offices. Lois exited Perry White's office while Perry yelled, she talked to Jimmy Olsen (who we can assume is real Jimmy, not you know his secret dead big brother, but was still played by an Ashmore, and I kind of hope he's the other one, because that would be funny.) Then she and Clark bumped into each other and quipped about their upcoming wedding. We saw on TV that Lex had been elected president and then Clark had to go to the roof and fly off to save the world.

And they played the Superman theme and it was over and it was epic.

We got all the iconography and it was epic. Well done Smallville.

The Ultimate Burn

2011-05-13T15:32:00.002-04:00

I have this strange feeling that we're all being Punk'd at the moment.

CBS, Warner Brothers and Chuck Lorre have announced that Ashton Kutcher is going to be replacing Charlie Sheen on 2 1/2 Men. I don't know how, no details have come out, but I have 3 theories:

1. It will be a Charmed-like scenario. Charlie will be killed off, or sent off or whatever, and we will find out that Alan and Charlie had a here-to-for unknown half brother, played by Ashton shows up. Much like Charlie he is a degenerate man boy.

2. Charlie's gone and to stay in the house Alan has to rent a room to Ashton. Much like Charlie he is a degenerate man boy.

3. The bizarrely large 2 1/2 Men audience tunes in that Monday night in the fall at 9:30 and we hear the theme music, you know "Men, men, men, men, manly men men..." and then we see Ashton standing in the living room and he looks into the camera and shouts. "Haha American Sitcom audience, you just got Punk'd!"

And then the audience cries like Justin Timberlake.

Classic

Down the Shore Everything's Alright

2011-05-12T14:56:00.001-04:00

As summer approaches I keep thinking about all of the stuff that I love about summer. Not being in my college town is a big one, (A place I never HAVE to go back to again, woo hoo!) my show with Tom-Foolery Theatre is another (email tomfoolerytheatre@gmail.com for details!) and the Jersey Shore is another. Now, let me make something clear...something that I've had to make way too clear to people over the past few years. My experience of the Jersey Shore has very little to do with these idiots:

Morons

Although like them, there is a lot of drinking involved. But there is where the similarities end. Let me walk you through what my shore vacation will probably look like, it lasts Sunday-Sunday, usually:

Sunday: Drive down to shore in packed up car with mother. Blare Springsteen. If lucky, use convertible, probably get sunburned because refuse to wear hat. Get "I told you so" from mother, but mostly just funny. Arrive at small, dark house on bayfront, with at least 2 beds to each bedroom. Bite tongue while parents have quasi argument over where to house beer. Drink lots of beer with sister while father or brother cooks hamburgers. Eat hamburgers, stay up late listening to more Springsteen, with possible Jimmy Buffett being rotated in.

Monday: Wake up excruciatingly early to either drive home/take train to NYC for work. Work. go home, or if get out of work early enough for it to be worth it, go back to shore. If go to shore at night, find several of sister's/parent's inebriated friends. Play Kings, watch father's face get more and more red from booze blush.

Tuesday-Thursday: Repeat Monday.

Friday: Repeat Monday-Thursday, but this time, ASK boss for afternoon off so can catch some sun. Make sure I have new Philippa Gregory/Meg Cabot/Jen Lancaster/whatever book for beach reading. Get to house, drink beers, go to beach. Sit on beach for several hours, swim in ocean. House still co ocupied by sister's friends (usually), so new round of kings.

Saturday: Wake up early, eat awesome shore baked goods for breakfast. Sit outside and read at same time as father. Go to beach around noon, tan, swim, read, listen to i-pod. Go home, shower, head to boardwalk, eat pizza and fried food. Come home, drink many beers.

Sunday: Repeat Saturday. Then pack, drive back to Bergen and go to bed.

So, that's the real shore, as I experience it. And since we're hoping to get a house this year, I'll get to experience this again! What are other people looking forward to this summer?

Pop Goes the Prom

2011-05-10T18:00:00.007-04:00

Tonight is the most epic night in the history of nights.

That's right, it's Glee's Prom Night episode. I try not to read spoilers, because I love to be surprised but I do know a few things.

Quinn is going to smack Rachel in her pouty little face.

and

JESSE ST JAMES is going to be back.

I won't even get into how much I love Jonathan Groff, (described by my sister Mary as "The Straightest Gay Man Alive") because this post isn't about how Groff has been playing dreamy broody teen boys for almost a decade now while living happily out of the closet, it's about the best proms in the history of pop culture (of which this will surely be one.)

10. Sunnydale Senior Prom, Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Why it ranks:
Because of the hellhounds that were unleashed, causing panic. Because it began the Anya/Xander relationship. Because Wesley kissed Cordelia and it was awful, but hilarious. Because Angel came, danced with Buffy and gave her the "one normal high school moment" she had been craving. Because the (at this point) adorable Jonathan presented Buffy with the "class protector" superlative. And it was awesome!

How Glee can beat it:
It can't...move on.

9. The Anti-Prom: Dawson's Creek

Why it ranks:
Because it was the height of Dawson's self righteous, "I'm the nice guy so Joey should love me" phase. Because Jack learned what a douche that guy he was dating was. Because it allowed for "Leary's Fresh Fish" to be shoehorned into the plot ONE LAST TIME before season 3 ended. Because Jen took Henry and they were adorable. Because it was the moment when Joey realized she loved Pacey. Because it finally removed the random and useless Nelly from any and all plot lines in the future.

How Glee can beat it:
Burt Hummel, who makes Mitch Leary look like a father who neglects his kid except when he hits him, so John Whitter, makes sure that Kurt can bring Blaine, thus allowing Brittney to bring Santana, or Brittney and Artie get back together.

8. Manny and Paige Showdown: Degrassi: The Next Generation

Why it ranks:
Because Paige and Manny showed up in the same dress and Paige arranged to have her win prom queen only to humiliate her. Because it was the first time Jimmy was back at Degrassi since he was shot. Because JT and Liberty were still a couple. Because I'm pretty sure Emma still had gonorrhea of the throat. Because Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes were there for no explicable reason (except that they were filming a movie at Degrassi.) Because Downtown Sasquatch played.

How Glee can beat it:
Downtown Sasquatch plays. Except that I think if Jonathan Groff and Jake Epstein are on film together it will rip a hole in the space time continuum, also Aubrey Graham is a little busy. But a kick ass surprise celebrity guest star wouldn't go amiss.

7. "You said you couldn't be with someone who didn't believe in you": Pretty in Pink

Why it ranks:
Because it's the only time John Hughes took on the prom, which means it must be the most epic prom of all time. Because after it all, Andie and Blane kiss in the rain by his car. Because Duckie wears a bolo tie.

How Glee can beat it:
Kiss in the rain. Anyone can kiss in the rain.

6. Two proms, one crazier than the last: One Tree Hill

Why it ranks:
Because at one of them, Peyton didn't show because Psycho Derek tied her up in her basement and tortured her with autotuned versions of her own podcasts. Because at the first one, Peyton had painted "whore" on Brooke's dress prompting Brooke to go rescue her from Psycho Derek. Because the second one was in the town that one the "best OTH fans contest." Because at the second one the whole cast dressed up in 70s clothes. Because at the second one Chris Keller was there. Because Haley was pregnant at both proms and no one blinked.

How Glee can beat it:
Terry kidnaps and tortures Emma by throwing dirt on her, and Will saves her. New Directions gets hired to sing at the Dalton prom, thus creating an epic "second prom" scenario for Glee, which I have already discussed is the same show as OTH.

5. "I just wanted her to have the perfect night": Gossip Girl

Why it ranks:
Because Serena and Dan went "as friends" which is always hilarious. Because Nate and Blair broke up amicably, in the first and only case of lower drama making for a better episode in GG history. Because the B storyline was a failed pilot for a spin off about Lily in the 80s. Because Blair was elected prom queen. Because it turned out the whole night was an elaborate manipulation of Chuck's to make sure that Blair had the perfect prom night. (And I cried and cried)

How Glee can beat it:
Rachel does the same for Finn. Or Finn arranged for Jesse to come to bring Rachel so she can have the perfect prom night.

4. "Dad, I'm going to the prom!" "Very funny sweetie!": 10 Things I Hate About You
Why it ranks:
Because Save Ferris and Letters to Cleo performed. Because Bianca punched Joey in the face. Because even though Kat and Patrick get into that fight you know he feels really bad about it. Because Bianca's prom dress is the most epically 90s prom dress ever. (Bright pink satin and her midrift is bared)

How Glee can beat it:
I think they might, because it looks like Quinn is going to punch Rachel in the face. Good for you Glee!

3. Donna Throws up in the bathroom and gets suspended: Beverly Hills 90210

Why it ranks:
Really? I need to lay this one out? OK, um, Because Donna got drunk, threw up in the bathroom, and got suspended. This paved the way for the epic "Donna Martin Graduates!" storyline. And some half assed message about underage drinking.

How Glee can beat it:
Much like Buffy, this one is just too epic and iconic. Nothing Glee does will touch it.

2. "Is that all I am to you Zach? Am I a bet? Am I a F*@#KING bet?": She's All That

Why it ranks:
Because half the student body knew a choreographed dance number. Because rather than bring another girl than the one he loved, Freddie Prinze Jr. brought his little sister (Anna Paquin). Because Paul Walker brings Rachel Leigh Cook to screw with Freddie Prinze Jr. (That is the most 90s sentence ever written.) Because the "cool hot girl" who was no where near as hot as Rachel Leigh Cook wore the second most 90s prom dress ever. Because Usher DJ'd the party.

How Glee can beat it:
Usher.

1. "Is this a party or what? LET'S DANCE!" - Footloose

Why it ranks:

Because of that.

How Glee can beat it:
Finn sings "Footloose." Also maybe Kevin Bacon shows up? I don't know. It's a thought.

So there you have it folks.

Fanboys vs. Fangirls

2011-05-09T18:34:00.004-04:00

I'm kind of into gender studies. In case that needed to be said. I'm a XCORE cultural and social feminist, (I espouse the belief that on a political and legal level men and women are equal in this country. There is no more institutionalized sexism, which is cool and all, except for that there are still sexists. Cultural feminism focuses on changing attitudes through cultural shifts to remove sexism.) But one of the big things to look at when it comes to gender studies is the difference between men and women, Mars and Venus and all of that.

While I was trying to write a coherent review of Thor that didn't just go: "And then we saw Chris Hemsworth's abs and it was glorious!" I started thinking about the difference between fangirls, and fanboys.

To the uninitiated, a "fanboy" or "fangirl" is an excessive fan of genre material, usually sci fi or fantasy. Usually, fanboys and fangirls are not exclusive to one franchise, but obsess about many different series. The Stars, Wars and Trek, tend to be exempted, since they're both so extensive, one can be a Star fanboy or girl, because there is so much information to take it.

But there are huge differences between fanboys and fangirls.

Fanboys tend to get obsessive about the minutiae of things. They're details guys. You know, they're the ones who noticed Greedo shooting first, and have written pages and pages and pages about Hayden Christiansen being edited into the end of Return of The Jedi. These are the guys who own The Animatrix on DVD, who tried to piece together every piece of the Lost puzzle. They go to conventions and post on Whedonesque. They collect things.

Fangirls obsess about the big picture stuff. They want to know plot details and are concerned with...you know what, forget it.

OK, here's the deal with fangirls, they want to know who ends up with who. They form "Teams," which are highly cultish groups of fangirls who support one outcome or the other. The most famous of these obviously come from Twilight, and the Team Edward and Team Jacob. But it's not the only one. I know as Lost was wrapping up, several fangirls started splitting into teams, and the same as Harry Potter approached it's finale. (For the record, here are my teams, Jacob, Sawyer/Juliet and Ron/Hermione Harry/Ginny I was also however briefly Neville/Luna.) Fangirls also bring this into things that are non genre, I know that Team Brooke and Team Peyton was a thing for One Tree Hill for a while, and I continually declare myself in the Nerena camp for Gossip Girl (So blonde, so dumb, so perfect!) But for the most part we stick with the genre. We're the girls who couldn't believe that Rachel was going to marry Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight, and were even more shocked when she died. (WHO WILL BRUCE MAKE OUT WITH NOW?) We have tee shirts and chat rooms and everything else.

Also, we really like seeing guys with their shirts off. I'm pretty sure fanboys also enjoy genre boobs, so that's something we have in common. That being said, I know girls who are more fanboy, and boys who are fangirl. I like to think that I'm somewhere in between, but I definitely lean more towards fangirl.

He who is worthy...

2011-05-07T09:41:00.012-04:00

Last night I checked out Thor in 3D. Here's the thing...I was going in very skeptical. I love superheroes. I really do. But I really wasn't sure that Thor warranted his own movie. I mean, I get it, they have the list of Avengers that Joss Whedon wants.

Joss wants magic in his comics movies. Also feminism

But really? Did we need a Thor movie? Did we especially need a Thor movie directed by Kenneth Branagh? Somehow I didn't see this working out well.

Something rotten in the state of Marvel.

I will say it when I mean it. I was wrong. This movie was fantastic. I didn't want to punch Natalie Portman in the face, which speaks a lot to how well written her character was, or how Branagh managed to reign her in. Maybe I just didn't know enough about Thor, so I couldn't see how it would work, and how the vision of a guy like Branagh could make it work.

The film begins with Jane Foster (Portman), a brilliant (and mondo hot, this is comics people, its worse than TV with everyone having to be absurdly good looking) astrophysicist on the verge of a huge discovery, racing through the desert with her assistants, Erik Selving (the AWESOME Stellan Skarsgard) and Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings, basically being every Kat Dennings character). They hit a man who appeared from nowhere. A beautiful, beautiful blonde shirtless man...

Sorry, I drifted off. With one, "Where did he come from?" We're transported to the magical realm of Asgard, and get regaled with Anthony Hopkins telling us about some war that the viking gods once fought against the Frost Giants? Then we meet Thor, his brother Loki, and their warrior friends who decide to go after the Frost Giants themselves, after Asgard is attacked.

After they get back is when I realized that Branagh was the man for the job. After his father Odin expells Thor from Asgard, and Loki finds out he's actually a Frost Giant and goes mega evil, that half of the movie basically becomes about Loki's epic power grab for the throne of Asgard, and Thor and friends trying to stop him. This is subject matter that works for Branagh, since he's a Shakespeare guy.

"Once more into the breach dear friends..."

The other half of the movie consists of Thor wandering around the New Mexico desert being baffled by modern conveniences and helping Jane take the next step in her research.

Also there's a scene where he runs around in the rain looking like this.

Throw in some S.H.E.I.L.D agents, a few throwaway one liners reminding us that the Marvel Film universe is alive and well, like when Loki sends down a destroyer after Thor, the S.H.E.I.L.D agents ask, "Is that one of Stark's?" and another says, "I don't know, he doesn't keep me up to speed." and when S.H.E.I.L.D. agents show up for the first time Erik gets worried, "I knew a scientist once, an expert in Gamma radiation. S.H.E.I.L.D. showed up and he was never heard from again." Don't forget to stay for the credits when we see the ultimate uniting.

The 3D was good, the movie was enjoyable and I'm looking forward the The Avengers. Overall I recommend the experience. It wasn't anywhere as strong as the Ironman movies, but it was definitely on the level with The Incredible Hulk. (The good Edward Norton one). Also there were trailers for Captain America: The First Avenger, Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and Green Lantern. It's going to be a really good movie season guys!

The Broadway Villain

2011-05-02T12:46:00.007-04:00

OK, so I've been thinking about Broadway a lot lately, and the things that make it up. For people who don't know a lot about musical theater, I have a little secret to tell you, musical theater is an incredibly depressing medium. No really! We just distract you with splashy production numbers, and love ballads and tap dancing and sequins. Those classic musicals that you make fun of? Really, really dark.

And as in other iconic genre based forms of story telling, the villains are often the most interesting characters. Comic book villains are always the exciting part of waiting for the next part. (We know Batman is going to be there, but who's he going to fight?) And the dark and scary bad guys of the Disney universes have their own armies of fans. My male cousins all spent large chunks of their childhood pretending to be Captain Hook, and my little sister thought that Scar and hyenas were the best part of The Lion King. (She would be wrong, because the best part of The Lion King is the obvious political statement they were making by having a gay interspecies couple adopt that cute little lion) But this is often especially true in musicals, because villains get these really awesome songs where they explore their inner turmoil or reveal their evil plans or whatever. And sometimes, the villain is the main point of the whole thing, like in The Phantom of The Opera, or Wicked. So, here are 5 of the coolest best musical theater villains, who bring about the neatest plot stuff in their shows.

5. Judd Fry from Oklahoma:

Let me let you in on another musical theater secret, that you might not have picked up on if you've only seen the Hollywood movie versions of these shows. Rodgers and Hammerstein shows are depressing as shit. They start off as perky little romps and then quickly spin into dark twisty messes that deal with horrible themes. Like in The Sound of Music, when Leisel finds out her boyfriend is a Nazi, or Carousel which is about a guy who beats his wife and then dies and feels bad about it from heaven, or South Pacific which is about a racist nurse who's in love with an Imperialist French douchebag. Anyway, this is most obvious in their first show, Oklahoma. People who don't know think that Oklahoma is about cowboys and beautiful mornings. Which it is, except that it's REALLY about this one cocky cowboy and a bitchy farm girl who are in love, and the creepy farm hand who wants to rape her. Even darker, that cocky cowboy tries to convince the farm hand, Judd, to kill himself. Nope, really. (I hate everything about Oklahoma!)

Except that I love Hugh Jackman, so I posted this video.

4. Velma Von Tussle from Hairspray
Hairspray is a fantastic musical comedy on many levels in that it is funny, has great songs and dances, deals with a heavy theme (racism and also being heavy), and it has a kick ass some what ambiguous antagonist is Velma Von Tussle. Just a dethroned beauty queen trying to relive her glory days through her dippy daughter Amber, Velma takes stage mom craziness to a new level, buying a TV station to showcase Amber's "talents" except for that it's really about her. Velma is such an awesome villain that Michelle Pfeiffer plays her in the movie, and her song "The Legend of Miss Baltimore Crabs" is so great that when the movie people wanted to replace it with a new song Pfeiffer threatened to walk.

3. Dr. Orin Scrivella DDS and Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors

There are two villains in Little Shop, the sadistic dentist Dr. Scrivella is one of them, the other is the evil man eating plant, Audrey II is the other. Scrivella beats his girlfriend, Audrey and uses laughing gas to get high before performing oral surgery. Here's Steve Martin playing him in the movie.

Audrey II is a smack talking man eating plant, that manipulates hero Seymour into feeding him blood and then eats everyone he loves. And is awesome.

2. Dr. Frank N Furter from The Rocky Horror Show

The song says it all.

1. Inspector Javert from Les Miserables

Javert is possibly one of the greatest antagonists of all time, and not just in theater also in literature, and on film. What's the best thing about Javert is that he's not evil at all. He's in fact doing his duty. Maybe he's a little mentally unstable, since he's spent his entire career chasing this one guy, but if that one guy was a sanctimonious little snot like Jean Valjean you'd get obsessed too. Javert gets three of the BEST moments in Les Mis:

"The Confrontation" between him and Valjean in the middle of Act I:

Stars towards the end of Act I:

And his suicide in Act II:

He's really, really amazing.

Here some runner ups that I couldn't quite come up with enough on the list for:

Society/"The Man"/The War from Hair, Papa Ge from Once on This Island, and Her Past from Sweet Charity.

Royal Wedding Clothes

2011-04-29T12:29:00.009-04:00

I was very careful this week to not get caught up in Royal Wedding fever. It would have been easy, since I watch far too much TLC for my own good anyway...but I stayed away, until this morning obviously, because like hell was I missing the main event.

I slept right through my alarm to watch it live, but I've been looking at video clips and pictures online ever since I did wake up.

There are a few things I'd like to comment on, mostly the fashion (Are you shocked?). Here is a picture of Her Royal Highness Duchess Catherine of Cambridge, (Formerly Kate Middleton) in her gorgeous Sarah Burton by Alexander McQueen wedding dress:

And here is a picture of Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco (Grace Kelly) in her wedding gown, specially made for her by the wardrobe people at Paramount Studios:

The dresses are incredibly similar, which is cool, given the kind of similar situations of the two princesses. Except that Kate Middleton was a college student and Grace Kelly was a famous movie star...but still, kind of cool with the whole, "commoner who becomes the prettiest princess ever" thing.

And here's a picture of Kate's sister Pippa and the other bridesmaids, adorable little girls. I love Pippa's dress and how elegant and gorgeous it is. Also, I was looking at other pictures of her and I think she might be my new style icon:

And here's a picture of Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie who look kind of like they picked up Lady Gaga's not shiny enough cast offs.

Although I do love Beatrice's dress. Just the hat is a big ol' no.

And my favorite, a picture of Prince Harry, looking like he wants to kill someone, while Prince William waves.

So, that's about all I have to say about the Royal Wedding...because honestly, all I cared about were the clothes. I've never been that into Wills, I've always preferred this guy:

That's Pierre Casiraghi, he's a prince of Monaco. Princess Grace's grandson. He even looks like her. And we know from precedent that the royal family of Monaco marries Americans. So there's that too. And him? Still single, no competing with Princess Shiny Hair. And our children would be GRACE KELLY'S GREAT GRANDCHILDREN! All around win.

Titans or Ravens...Does it matter?

2011-04-26T21:31:00.003-04:00

OK, so Katherine and I (soon, oh so soon, I will do an entire post about Katherine and how she is totally the genius behind all of my hilarity, because she is) have spent literally hours talking about the ways that Glee compares to the most generic (and awesome) show in television history, One Tree Hill. And trust me, it totally does.

Once upon a time there was a boy, and this boy was pure of heart and well intentioned and respected his lovely girlfriends, both the blonde and brunette and that Hispanic one that might have been a lesbian that time, and he was kind and good and heroic and everyone loved him, except that he kept doing terrible things so that we could be constantly reminded that he was in fact a teen age boy, and therefore awful. And what was that boy's name? Why it was Lucas Scott! It was also Finn Hudson.

There was once a sassy brunette girl in a high school, she was the leader of her clique. She had a super nice guy boyfriend. She was far too talented for the small town she grew up in. She realized at a certain point that she needed to get over her super nice guy boyfriend and find herself and develop her talent. She planned to go off to New York to pursue her dreams. That girl's name was Brooke Davis, it was also Rachel Berry.

There was a blonde girl, who was very pretty. She was kind of bitchy, but this was all to mask her terrible insecurities. She was truly deep and wounded and no one understood her except for super nice guy, and sometimes the brunette girl, when they weren't fighting with each other over super nice guy. Her name was Peyton Sawyer and also Quinn Fabray.

They had a dippy blonde sometimes friend (Bevin/Brittney), a teacher who was far too involved in their everyday lives (Mr Schu/Coach Whitey), a black sidekick friend, (Mercedes/Skills) and ridiculous things kept happening to them, involving ill timed pregnancies and lies and betrayal.

But tonight everything just got weirder! It turns out before she transferred to McKinley, Quinn was named Lucy and was chubby and had a different nose. I won't spoil how we got to this information, and I'm only revealing it here, because well, we've seen this before.

In season 3 of OTH we learned that bitchy new girl, Rachel Gatina had previously been a chubby outcast, at her last school. Then, after lipo, a nose job and boob job, she transferred to Tree Hill High, became the bane of Brooke and Haley's existence and made the best guy ever Mouth fall in love with her.

So, OK, I know I said that Quinn was Peyton before, but that's just for the case of the love triangle, in this case she's Rachel, and it's a really strange storyline to recycle.

If someone's emotionally abusive father comes back and shoots their uncle in the hallway, then we'll know something's really up....

Rebooting the Field

2011-04-20T12:16:00.004-04:00

I've made my general distaste for reboots and remakes known, but they are unavoidable in the current pop culture climate. With the news of the casting in Baz Luhrman's version of The Great Gatsby coming to light. (Toby Maguire as Nick Carraway? Yes please! Leo as Jay Gatsby? GOD YES!) Not to mention the I'm ignoring it news that Jennifer Garner is going to be playing Miss Marple (seriously, I'm pretending it's not there) I've been thinking about remakes and reboots I would be OK with, depending entirely on the casting I outline here:

Guys And Dolls:

This one gets special mention, based on the fact that the original film is subpar to the brilliant Broadway Musical it inspired. Also the fact that between the rise of Gleekers, Apatow friends and well, NPH the time is right for a second look. Acceptable Casting: Neil Patrick Harris as Nathan Detroit, Mark Salling as Sky Masterson (Seriously, watch the man sing Lady is a Tramp in season 1), Anne Hathaway as Sarah, Mila Kunis as Miss Adelaide, Jason Segel as Nicely Nicely Johnson, and the rest of the gang taking on the minor gangster roles (Jonah Hill as Big Jule especially.)

The Thin Man Series

Nick and Norah Charles are two of my all time favorite old school film characters. Basically they exchanged witty banter while drinking martinis in fancy hotel suites. They also occasionally solved murders. You know who needs to do those things? Ed Westwick and Leighton Meester. They already do it once a week, but without the murders. And really, it's only a matter of time.

The Vampire Chronicles

Let's face facts, we live in a Post Twilight, Mid True Blood world. The time might be right to resurrect Lestat, Louis, and Claudia and get another, more accurate look at Anne Rice's version of the blood suckers, with all of their gay innuendo bi contintental, rule defying behavior. I'm not touching cast for this one, because while the film Interview With A Vampire has some flaws, casting was not one of them, Brad, Tom and Kirsten rocked. Queen of The Damned on the other hand...

Buffy The Vampire Slayer
OK, so this one has already been announced, it's more about the casting for me. Apparently the new film version is going to be a Scooby free zone, but I'm not sold on that, or well, just about anything about the movie except for the fact that Joss seems to think it's a good idea. However, there are only two acceptable actresses to step into the chosen one's shoes. Emma Stone if they want to stick to teenage Buffy, or Kaley Cuoco if they want someone a little older.

Those are just a few of the possibilities. Any reboot ideas you would be OK with, readers?

Off the Wagon

2011-04-19T17:39:00.003-04:00

I don't think it will shock anyone to see that it didn't take much for me to get re-addicted to the show from which I stole my blog name. I can't help it, like the most epic couple in the history of television, Chuck and Blair, I can't seem to resist the pull of Gossip Girl.
Yes, that's right, I've fallen off the wagon. I have been sucked back into it.

All of it.

The bad puns. The ridiculous couture. The intrigue. The brooding stares.

All of it.

The current plot...um, Dan likes Blair (awful), Serena's dating some guy no one cares about (meh), Blair still loves Chuck but doesn't think that he's ready for a real relationship (always), Nate is sleeping with a random girl who has no perceptible personality (duh), and Lily is about to go to jail (AWESOME!).

I'm slowly getting caught up on the stuff I missed, with the help of recaps, and illegal watch sites, but there's only so much Gossip Girl you can take in a day before your head turns to mush, so it will take a little bit.

Last night was particularly epic, because Serena and Erik's dad and their grandma Cece both showed up. There's always epic awesomeness when Cece shows up. Plus a new character, Serena's cousin Charlie. Normally interchangeable cousins (which is what this girl is, she's Serena, but new) are a sign of cast changes. I hope this means that Blake's leaving. But it probably doesn't.

XOXO

Pop-cabulary

2011-04-15T16:20:00.006-04:00

I realized earlier today that when I said used one of my favorite made up words that my friends and I use to describe things in pop culture, or life in a pop culture context. So here's a quick index of some of those words:

Jimandpam- verb When a TV couple isn't even on again off again, simply will they or won't they. Derived from The Office, who went 4 seasons Jimandpamming us all over the place, with Jim and Pam.

Used in a sentence:
"I'm getting fed up with Glee and how they keep jimandpamming Will and Emma."

Entering OTH Territory - verb, meaning when a show leaves behind all pretenses of being grounded in reality, or at all original. Derived from the way One Tree Hill did around the middle of season 2, when Nathan had that dream where he and Lucas switched places.

Used in a sentence:
"When Liz Lemmon dumped Matt Damon on the plane 30 Rock totally entered OTH Territory."

McLaren's - noun, any bar that is located underneath a residence. Derived from the bar where they hang out on How I Met Your Mother, which is located under Ted's apartment.

Used in a sentence:
"Remember when Katie had that apartment in Hoboken and we went to McLaren's?"

Character Separation Disorder (CSD) - noun, A difficult personality disorder in which a pop culture addict cannot separate an actor from the iconic roles they have played. Derived from something that I do frequently, also when my brother suggested that Martin Sheen could get elected president, because people in this country are that stupid and oblivious.

Used in a sentence:
-My favorite part of He's Just Not That Into You is when Rachel Greene marries Holden McNeil. It's so nice that he's not a neurotic paleontologist, and she's not a lesbian.
-The thing is, in that example, you're not suffering from CSD, that's just how lazy the characterization in that movie was.

The Jacob - noun, the third, usually more awesome tip of a love triangle who for some reason the main person in the triangle doesn't choose. Derived from Twilight, and Bella Swann's inexcusable stupidity of choosing Edward Cullen over Jacob Black, particularly in the movie versions, where she is choosing Robert Pattinson over Taylor Lautner and it makes no sense at all what so ever

Used in a sentence:
In this whole forced, QuinnFinnRachel triangle Rachel is totally the Jacob. But in the PuckQuinnFinn triangle, it's Puck and in the FinnRachelJesse triangle, it's Jesse. (Glee works well for this one, because like Twilight, it's protagonists are really stupid and whine a lot.)

Those are a few examples, any others?

Awesome Sauce

2011-04-15T12:33:00.003-04:00

So in the most insanely random twist of a wedding since Naley got hitched in 2004, (I didn't even watch One Tree Hill back then, and I remember going, "WHAT?") last night on Parks and Recreation, April and Andy surprised everyone by throwing a dinner party that it turned out was actually their wedding.

Parks and Recreation in general snuck up on me, I hated the first few episodes, but often watched anyway, because of its time slot, and then somewhere in the middle of the second season I realized that I liked it, and then about three episodes into this season, I realized I loved it. What I love the most is the way it manages to wear its heart on its sleeve, and be completely hilarious at the same time in a way that few shows are able to do. Actually the only example I can come up with is The Cosby Show.

I particularly love the April and Andy relationship, and I'm thrilled that they've decided not to "Jimandpam" (a verb coined by my friend Katie, meaning "keep us waiting on a couple") them around for ever, and instead have created a "stable super couple" in the model of well, Naley, also Turk and Carla from Scrubs and Monica and Chandler from Friends.

The wedding made me cry, including the pair's character perfect vows:

April: I guess, I hate most things. But I never really seemed to hate you. So I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Is that cool?

Andy: I vow to protect you from dangers. I don't care if I have to fight an ultimate fighter, or a bear, or him...I would take him down. I'm getting mad right now from thinking about it.

Also, it pushed the Leslie/Ben flirting? forward, thank God, they're adorable, some killer Ron Swanson one liners, and Chris brought a vegetable loaf instead of a cake. So there's that.

Everything in Life is Only for Now

2011-04-14T14:45:00.003-04:00

I've talked a few times about my profound personal growth over the past year. And as a result of that growth, certain things have changed in my perception...Usually when that happens, at least as it relates to me and the pop culture that I enjoy, something that I previously loved, I realize that I don't, or something that I used to hate, I realize that I love. Rarely does this shift go from loving something to loving it even more.

But in the case of the musical Avenue Q, it definitely grew from love to well, absolute love.

I came across Avenue Q at first when I was 16, it opened on Broadway, won the Tony for Best New Musical, (Something I considered a grave injustice at the time, I full to the brim with Wicked love) and my parents took us kids to see it.

I found the show hilarious. If you don't know the premise, the idea was to create an "Adult Sesame Street," that is to use a mixture of puppets and real people to deal with difficult issues facing young adults, like lack of direction, romantic relationships, sexual identity, etc. The show features hilarious songs including, "It Sucks To Me," "The Internet is For Porn," "If You Were Gay," and "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist." It also has a few more contemplative pieces, like "There's a Fine, Fine Line," "What Do You Do With a BA in English?", and the finale, "For Now."

A few months ago I listened to the Avenue Q Original Cast Album again, and I was kind of amazed by a few things. All of a sudden, the stuff they were talking about wasn't just funny...it was real. It was exactly what I was going through. When Princeton muses that he "can't pay the bills yet, cuz I have no skills yet," I realized, dear God, when they hand me my diploma, that'll be me. Kate Monster reaches desperately for affection, only to realize there's more to love than that.

And especially the finale, "For Now," hits me differently now than it did then. At 16, the thought just made me sad. The friends, feelings and well, life, that was around me was going to fade? That somehow seemed, wrong, and terrible. Now though, the thought that every situation is only "for now" is comforting. Crappy entry level jobs, depressing poorly lit college apartments, the lonely single girl thing....this is all temporary. It will give way to a different stage of life. Who knows what that will be, that's not the point. As the song says, "Maybe you'll never find your purpose, lots of people don't..." but that doesn't mean that we're alone.

Monte Carlo

2011-04-13T19:10:00.001-04:00

So, I just checked out the trailer for the new Selena Gomez movie Monte Carlo....

Yeah, um, more importantly its Leighton Meister's new movie. It seems like a threadbare plot, but the fashion looks awesome (I expect no less of Leighton) and it's funny because we all know that Blair Waldorf is obsessed with Audrey Hepburn, and Audrey's breakthrough role was in a film called Monte Carlo Baby.

Just something I found funny, and the movie looks cute, and I keep waiting for the rest of the world to understand how much BETTER Leighton is than Blake Lively. It is Leighton who should be making out with Ryan Reynolds in a super hero blockbuster, Leighton who should be a Chanel style ambassador. But for some reason no one but me and my friend Katherine, and possibly my mother and sister, understand this. It seems that life has imitated GG that way...Blake gets all the attention.

Here's the trailer:

PS. CORY MONTEITH, and he appears to have some kind of Texas accent.

As we stumble along...

2011-04-09T11:05:00.003-04:00

Two years ago my best friend Katie and I conducted a little experiment. That experiment was called Tom Foolery Theatre. It's a self founded community theater group. We've done two musicals two summers in a row and we're getting geared up for our third...The Drowsy Chaperone.

In addition to putting on shows, we're a charitable organization. All of our proceeds go to groups outside of our own. Our first year it went to Guardian Angel Parish, and last year to The Rose Foundation of Haiti. Check out more about them here:

http://www.rosefoundationofhaiti.org/

This year we're going back to The Rose Foundation. They're an awesome group and Haiti still needs a lot of help. But that's not what this post is about. At least not directly. This post is about how now we're selling tee shirts on Cafe Press to raise that extra bit of cash we need to get this summer's show off the ground.

The shirt's simple, it features our logo and a quick little tag line based on something my dad said once. "Tom Foolery Theatre: Exceeding Low Expectations Since 2009" See, because we never expected this to work, when it worked spectacularly well, everyone was blown away.

Anyway, get a shirt, and help us out!

Alert The Media

2011-04-09T10:15:00.004-04:00

Last night I checked out the remake of Arthur, starring Russell Brand in the title role. The original is one of those movies that is so intertwined with my childhood and my general consciousness that I don't remember when I saw it for the first time. (Others like this include The Indiana Jones movies, The Star Wars Trilogy, Field of Dreams) And I've been charmed by Brand, due to his appearances on Conan and SNL, and his marriage to Katy Perry and the way they relate to each other, plus Helen Mirren is fantastic, so I had middling hopes that I'd at least enjoy myself.

I laughed a lot, and the movie definitely has a lot of heart. It has it's own story to tell, and tells it in a different way, so it feels a little bit more like Ocean's 11 in the remake way, rather than something like Sabrina.

However, unlike Ocean's 11, it doesn't actually improve upon the original. A preachy soul searching ending kills a lot of the fun. For Dudley Moore and Liza Minelli, having each other in the end was enough, bu Russell Brand and the adorable Greta Gerwig, they must be self actualized as well. (She becomes a children's book author, and he joins AA and stops running around New York in a top hat!)

The movie still has a lot of quotable moments, and I didn't mention Jennifer Garner, who does a good job of updating the role of Susan, Arthur's socialite fiance, (instead of a dippy social climbing ice queen, she's a tough as nails corporate ladder climbing ice queen), but I somehow doubt that in thirty years there will be grown ups who quote this movie to their children when they announce that they're going to use the potty.

Nothing makes you quit announcing that faster than ten adults saying in a snooty British accent, "I'll alert the media!" And then laughing for ten minutes.

To Scott with Love

2011-04-07T14:40:00.000-04:00

So, as the TV season starts into its final push, I'm getting ready for the end of The Office...

OK, the show's not actually ending, really. But what's the point of watching once Michael Scott, played by Steve Carrell makes his exit?

Granted maybe I'm not the most reliable. I am the person who still watched Scrubs after Zach Braff left and actually thought it was decent. (It was a dark time in my life, OK? And Dave Franco is really, really cute! And the Denise/Drew love story made me smile) And sure, as long as they don't make the same mistake Scrubs did and make the office about all new characters, except say, Jim and Ryan, who become supporting players and for some reason Pam and Kelly aren't even mentioned, it might be OK.

But for now, let us recall some of our favorite Michael Scott moments:

1. Threat Level Midnight: A running joke throughout the show, this season we finally saw Michael's action masterpiece, Threat Level Midnight, the story of Michael Scarn's defeat of the evil Goldface. Aside from the turdtastic movie itself, the fun here was getting to see some of the old minor characters return. Roy as a hostage, Karen as a bachelorette in a bar. Jan as a lounge singer, Pam's mom as a sexy nurse. Plus Andy's role as a bartender is actually a tour de force Ed Helms performance.

2.Prison Mike: When the Stamford people were still around (except Andy, obviously) it turned out one of them was an ex con. So to acclimate the group Michael performed an improv character, "Prison Mike" who stated that the worst thing about prison was "the dementors, they were always flying around and you couldn't be happy!" (Thanks to Mary for that one)

3. "Engaged Ain't Married": I always like it when Michael gets emotional, and in the episode Booze Cruise, when he encourages Jim to go for it with Pam, despite Pam's already being engaged is super sweet.

4. The Client: Another great thing they do on The Office is show why Michael was promoted, he is a buffoon, but he's also an amazing salesman. We see that when he scmoozes Tim Meadows over margaritas and a fried onion. Brilliant storyline.

5. "Snip Snap": The Dinner Party episode is one of my all time favorites. And Michael's freak out over the multiple vasectomies, and the general awkwardness of the entire episode is great. In fact the whole Michael and Jan relationship was such a hilarious disaster, it's hard not to crack up.

So those are my favorites, what are some of your guys'?

Rose Trees Never Grow

2011-03-25T20:50:00.004-04:00

I've been getting ready in the past month or so for my post grad life, and one of the things that is required in that is job interviews. So far, I've had two, which I know is a low number. (I spoke to one of my girlfriends who graduated last year and she talked about 40 interviews before she got any offers) The interviews themselves I don't want to talk about, suffice to say either job (both entry level internships) would be an absolute dream come true, one in fashion and one in theater. But that's not what I'm talking about here.

Both interviews have been in New York City. I don't know exactly when I fell in love with the city, but I know when I'm away from it too long I get sad, restless and feel disconnected. Even in the deepest, darkest moments of my depression, the months that I have next to no memories of, the trips to the city are memorable. A day at The Met Museum's Clostiers and a Broadway perfomance of Pygmallion with the rest of my English department, taking my cousin's then fiance, now husband to see the tree at Rockefeller Center for the first time, (Tyler walked around exaggerating his Alabama accent the whole time, "Wowie, Meag! Look at all the PURRRTTTY la-iii-gg-hts!" it's a pretty tough memory to lose, regardless of mental health).

My only two "real" jobs have been in the city. An internship with the biggest department store ever. (You know the one, trust me.) I hated a lot of the job but loved my lunch break, wandering around midtown. My other job, working as a customer service rep for a website that sold shoes. (BEST JOB EVER! And nicest people ever. BUY SHOES FROM THEM!) It was a wonderful six months. I loved commuting, I loved the occasional Happy Hour in the Chelsea or midtown bars after work, our office was nicely nestled in between the two areas. I loved meeting my two best girlfriends after work during Fleet Week and flirting with sailors in Times Square. I loved the cute boy who worked at the Pret A Manger around the corner from my office and always winked at me as I bought my iced coffee and croissant in the morning. (I nicknamed him Taylor, as in "The Latte Boy.") I loved everything about it.

What's the point of this, do you ask? The point is I miss The City. Every morning that I wake up in my little single bed, in my college town apartment, and walk two blocks to campus to go to the gym, I wish, just for a minute that I was stepping not out of an old converted house into apartments onto a small city street, but off of the escalator at Penn Station, my I-Pod in my ears, Midtown waking up to go off to work and feel a real connection to who I am.

I've applied to jobs other places, both in Northern New Jersey, which will always be home, no matter what, and in other cities, God help me, but I know what I want. I want to be back in NYC. So how do I cope with missing it? I watch movies and TV shows about the city, (Arthur being my latest favorite) I've created an I-Pod playlist of all New York songs to make me miss the city less.

Like Frank said, "If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere!" I've already made it there, and I'm just hoping to make my way back...

I'm Black and I'm Proud

2011-03-17T12:29:00.004-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In continuing with my series, which I'm tentatively calling "Random Pop Culture Crap My Family Loves" I'm going to discuss today one of our most obscure (on this continent at least!) obsessions. The Irish film The Commitments.
The Commitments is the story of a bunch of young Dubliners who start a soul band that plays in some bars and changes their lives, but not by making them rock stars, just by giving them something to do, for however long they want it.

Come to think of it, there's a little bit of Jimmy Rabbitte (the band's manager) in myself, seeing as I started my theater group on kind of the same principle.

The music of The Commitments is what got me first, since I'd practically worn out the film's soundtrack years before I was allowed to see the movie. My brother and I clocked it once and the say the "F" word once every minute and a half, which is pretty amazing considering it's only about two hours long and at least forty minutes of that is singing, where there are no "F" words.

The movie is sharp funny, and very Irish. The nation's history is summed up in a quote by Jimmy, when one of the other band members question whether they've any right to sing soul:

"The Irish are the blacks of Europe, and Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland. And the Northsiders are the blacks of Dublin. So say it once and say it loud, I'm black and I'm proud!"

Once, following that same logic my brother and I decided that we had every right to blues, because our family are farmers from Roscommon, so if Dublin is urban black America with soul, Roscommon is the Delta.

Built on Their Shoulders

2011-03-15T21:06:00.003-04:00

Glee was fantastic tonight and not just because the two original songs New Directions did at regionals were actually good. Which they were. Also Kurt and Blaine finally got together and had a super long boy on boy kiss which I'm pretty sure included tongue. My friends and I got REALLY excited about it. But let's not forget that Blaine and Kurt didn't get there by themselves. There are a few specific examples of characters that in my opinion paved the way for our two favorite blazered acappella guys:

Jack McFee: Dawson's Creek

In Season 2, after Joey and Dawson's romance totally imploded, she started dating mysterious new guy Jack McFee. About three episodes later, Jack wrote a revealing poem about his feelings and yelled at his dad about how he was gay. He then moved out of his family's house and in with Jen and Grams creating possibly the most functional family unit on that show. (Yeah, I know!)

After he came out Jack could get kind of preachy, and occasionally annoying...but um, well, if you've seen any of Dawson's, you know he wasn't alone there. They all got that way occasionally. But Jack was also a star wide receiver for the Capeside Minute Men, went through a douchey frat guy phase, and eventually settled in to life as a teacher, living with Pacey's older brother Doug, and the couple raised Jen's baby after she died. (CRY FOREVER! One of the best finales ever)

Marco Del Rossi: Degrassi: The Next Generation

Sure, it's a Canadian basic cable import, but Marco's storylines were always the best on Degrassi...with the possible exception of the EPIC Ash/Craig/Manny triangle, or that time Shawn and Peter were street racing, or when Emma got gonorrhea from going down on Jay in that van...anyway, Marco came out in season 2, but just to Ellie who then pretended to be his girlfriend for a while. Then in the season 3 premier Spinner figured it out, and they got into a big fight and Marco got beat up.

Then he dated Paige's brother for a long time, then he was a hustler in one episode. Also that time that Darcy's mean Christian friends tried to take him down and he shoved his cross in their face and talked about going to Mass every Sunday was awesome. And Marco wasn't the only gay teen on Degrassi, there was also Paige and Alex, but they just weren't as ground breaking.

Calvin Owens and Heath: Greek

I've been rewatching Greek, and really, Cal's awesome. A bit insecure when he first gets to CRU, he hooks up with closeted KT bro Heath. Then he dates TA Michael, but he's still got feelings for Heath, who's coming out remains one of my favorite moments on the show. Heath takes a deep breath and says he has something serious to discuss with pledge brothers Cappie, Beaver and Wade, and reveals his sexuality. The trio exhales, relieved, because they thought this conversation was about Beaver's hitting on Heath's 15 year old sister (Heather, who became a mini Rebecca, but that's a completely different story) at a family event. The brother's are supportive.

Additionally, when Cal gets past his initial insecurities, he comes out to best friends Rusty and Ashleigh, and his brothers at Omege Chi are mostly OK with it too, until he starts dating that douchey other gay Omega Chi, who's name I don't remember. But then he got back together with Heath, thank God!

So yes, Blaine and Kurt are exciting, but let's not forget that they didn't get there overnight.

Our time now

2011-03-08T17:55:00.004-05:00

3rd Post of the day...I'm going to have to cut back.

But I couldn't not discuss the end of something great.

Last night was final episode of ABC Family's completely awesome Greek. Yes, after four seasons, the guys of Kappa Tau and Omega Chi and the girls of ZBZ are gone forever. Except that they're on Netflix instant, and I think I'm going to have to watch the whole show from beginning to end again.

If you don't know Greek, I'm sorry for you, because it's one of the smartest, funniest bits of fluff to come out in a while. I've recently come up with a good way to view fluff. A lot of the stuff I like is literary and performance junk food. But it doesn't have to be the processed from a can or a bag kind. It can be hand crafted deserts, which while they don't exactly have nutritional value, are still delicious. Greek was like a Magnolia Bakery cupcake. Yummy as can be, but totally fattening, empty calories.

It centered around the lives of mainly eight members of the Cyprus Rhodes University Greek System. (Cyrprus and Rhodes are Ancient Greek cities. See, the show was already smarter than you thought!) There were the girls of ZBZ, the "number one sorority on campus," with every cliche that goes with it, Casey, Ashleigh and Rebecca, the preppy boys of Omega Chi, Evan and Calvin, and finally the misfit party animals of Kappa Tau, Rusty and Cappie. Plus, Rusty's nerdy roommate, and eventual Omega Chi pledge Dale.

What made Greek great was the way its characters were never exactly what they seemed. Casey seemed bossy and determined, but it turned out to be a compassionate soft touch. Evan appeared to be only the bad guy in a John Hughes script, but was actually an intelligent, conflicted young man. Cappie seemed only a stoner lay about, but was really a philosophical genius who would do anything for the woman he loves (Casey, btw). The love triangle between these three was the catalyst behind the show, but stayed away from the cliche of others because the three characters all also were fun to watch by themselves. Ashleigh could have been a throwaway sidekick but instead outshone Casey on several occasions. Rebecca's bitchiness stemmed from her desire to fit in. Rusty and Dale were nerds with hearts of gold, who didn't always do the right thing. Calvin was the most obvious twist, a gay football playing preppy, with a desire to change the world.

The element of Greek that I always loved was the realistic portrayal of the relationship between siblings Rusty and Casey. They had their insecurities about each other, Casey felt always intimidated by Rusty's high intelligence, and Rusty by Casey's golden girl status, but they always had each other's backs.

The finale did that thing that I love when finales do, it brought about closure while still giving a distinct sense that this world will continue. Casey and Cappie left CRU for Washington, after he graduated by accident, and we learned after his diploma that "Cappie" is in fact short for "Captain" which is his first name. Ashleigh and Rusty began a new relationship (not a storyline I was rooting for) Evan and Rebecca saw that they could maybe have a future together, Calvin headed abroad to do volunteer work with boyfriend Heath, and Dale began a real relationship with longtime fling Laura. Satisfying conclusions for all. Although the destruction of the Kappa Tau house was sad and did get me teary, I was thrilled that they brought back season 1 bad guy Jen K, and that Kappa Tau Pledge Peter "Spidey" Parker was actually good all along.

Goodbye Greek. I will miss you!

You make my heart sing...

2011-03-08T13:14:00.003-05:00

OK, I was planning on staying out of the fray, but it's starting to get impossible now...I don't want to seem a completely out of touch pop culture blogger so it looks like I'm going to have to comment on the antics of Charlie Sheen...

I'm a Sheen fan. And I don't just mean Charlie, I mean the whole freaking brood. True, I've never been as much of a fan of Charlie as some of the others. After all, he never lead a scrappy group of preteens to ice bound glory 3 times, like his brother did. Or inspired to nation with two little words like his dad, but he does throw a helluva fastball. And Two and A Half Men was funny for like, a season and a half. (Why people kept watching is beyond me, except that it had a good lead in for a while, between Everybody Loves Raymond, and How I Met Your Mother.) I think he's an immensely talented and clearly very troubled individual.

So here's my comment. Dude's been in some of my favorite movies, it makes me sad to see anyone so clearly in need of help and not getting it, or accepting it, whichever the case may be.

I am grateful that this means that show's gonna be off the air finally.

You're growing up like flower

2011-03-08T08:44:00.003-05:00

So, after how much fun I had writing about Starlight, I decided to report on some of the other random crap that my family loves but it seems like other people ignore. Obviously, I asked my family for suggestions, and my sister, the ever wise, and totally rock star Mary, brought up American Dreams.

OK, so American Dreams was on for 3 seasons. Which means logically, our household could not possibly have been the only one watching it, but it occasionally feels that way. Since anytime I bring it up to other people, they look at me like I'm insane.

American Dreams chronicled the lives of the Prior family, a working class Irish-Catholic family from Philadelphia in the mid 1960s. Father Jack, who owned and operated a TV and Radio shop, Mom Helen, who became bored with her housewife status so went back to school, oldest son JJ, a football star who harbored dreams of being an astronaut, Meg, the good girl daughter who defies her parents by dancing on American Bandstand, genius second daughter Patty and baby Will, who was his brother's reason to dream. Also included were JJ's longtime girlfriend and later wife, Beth, Meg's rebellious best friend Roxanne, Jack's assistant Henry and his son Sam, and Meg's revolving door of boyfriends. (The best being Chris, Milo Ventimiglia on a motorcycle!)

American Dreams was kind of innovative and ahead of its time. Aside from covering the same time frame as the now massively lauded Mad Men, it also featured current reinterpretations of classic songs, since the guests on Band Stand were often played by modern stars, singing the songs, including Kelly Clarkson as Brenda Lee, Usher as Marvin Gaye, Jennifer Love Hewitt as Nancy Sinatra a la Glee. Plus it introduced the world to Brittney Snow, who played Meg quite adorably. Even though Meg was often really unlikeable, Brittney made her feel real.

The show covered some pretty heavy issues, including JJ's stint in Vietnam, were he went MIA, as Beth found out she was pregnant, Sam and Meg being continually attracted to each other, but knowing that even their friendship was taboo, because he was black and she was white. Also, Helen went on the pill after multiple miscarriages, had a gay coworker and helped a classmate after she had an abortion.

Every Sunday the Nayden family gathered for American Dreams. And really, sometimes it did feel like we were the only ones watching.

Which was unfortunate, because MILO on a MOTORCYCLE! With a Beatles haircut. Yeah, you're sorry you missed that.

I am the Starlight...

2011-03-03T23:46:00.001-05:00

"What's scary about Starlight Express isn't that Andrew Lloyd Weber wrote it. He is insane. We knew this. What's scary to think about is that there were men in suits in an office somewhere that gave him money to do it." - Allison Andresini, 2004-ish

Ollie: You do know that this is a singing play right? Because one time, Daddy went to go see a singing play and then everybody was on roller skates.
Gertie: Cool!
Ollie: Daddy didn't think so.
-Jersey Girl

"It's just like Joseph but on roller skates. And instead of characters from the Bible, they're all trains. But other than that, it's like exactly the same." - Mike Nayden, anytime he tries to explain it to people who don't know what it is beyond that sketch on Family Guy

"I had this dream, that instead of doing Annie Get Your Gun, Mike convinced us to do an outdoor version of Starlight Express...I'm not sure what that means." - Katie Wiegl, Summer 2009

"Well, I don't know if I can take a whole night of ABBA and it doesn't sound like that subject is appropriate for my 9 year old. This is Andrew Lloyd Weber! The kids liked Cats, they'll like this too." - Irene Nayden, Summer 1999, London, England, Justifying her decision to take her children to see Starlight Express instead of Mamma Mia! (Good Call Mom!)

So, my earlier post today, about Joseph got me thinking about what may be my ultimate guilty pleasure...the musical Starlight Express. If you're unfamiliar (most people are) it's a post Cats pre Phantom of The Opera Andrew Lloyd Weber musical about trains.

Yes, you heard me right. Trains. And all of the characters are on roller skates. Does it sound bizarre? That's because it is. It's also fantastic.

And when I say I love Starlight, I don't mean it in an ironic, it's so kitschy, isn't that funny kind of way.

See, it all started in the summer of 1999. My family took a trip to Ireland and drove around the country for two weeks in a van. Lots of stories there. We ended the trip with four days in London. I was 11, I was in a foreign country for the first time. I was naive. My parents decided to indulge their burgeoning theater geek children by taking them to see a show on The West End, London's answer to Broadway.

Everyone was talking about this revolutionary new show, that took the music of an already established band and built the musical around it. Apparently, this show was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Unfortunately the band it was built around was ABBA, and my parents believe that disco came from Satan. Plus it was about a girl with 3 possible father's and my mom thought it would be inappropriate. So that was out. (In the future, I would often grumble about how I didn't get to see Mammy Mia like four years before anyone in the US had even heard of it)

Instead they got tickets to some show that my dad saw in the 80s and remembered vaguely enjoying and that the concierge at our hotel assured them, "the children would enjoy."

And enjoy it we did. This show had everything! Singing, dancing, roller skates, laser lights, power ballads, spelled out curse words in a a country song, a flimsy plot about a train race, a rap song, a convoluted and illogical love story, jokes about Sylvester Stallone movies...I think you get the point.

And we continued to enjoy it for years. We bought the CD and listened to it over and over and over again. Then high school hit and we got realllllllyyy into theater, and it turned out that this show which we loved, was actually considered a joke. A big stinking turd of a joke. I had many conversations with people who tried to convince me to change my mind, and my response usually went something like this:

"But, but, but, roller skates! And lasers! And...OK, yes, the trains are stupid, but it's for kids! Who cares?"

OK, so before writing this post, I read the Wikipedia article for Starlight Express. Um, it's turns out it wasn't supposed to be for kids. The original plot was way darker, and totally weirder. And then it got edited and changed around and became family friendly. Also apparently, Electra, the electric train, (Nobody sprained any muscles naming these characters, Rusty is an old steam engine, Dinah a dining car etc.) is supposed to be bisexual. Which is what his first song "AC/DC" is about. My 11 year old brain did not process that.

Also, although Americans think that Starlight is a big turd, Europeans love it! It's like the longest running show in German history, and it ran for 7,000 performances or something on the West End. So there.

I did listen to the CD again before writing this too. And I still think a lot of the songs are really good. But yeah, most of it is pretty awful.

Plus when you're just listening, you can't see the lasers.

And almost 10 years later, when we went to go see Mamma Mia! my mom totally loved it.

Any Dream Will Do

2011-03-03T12:07:00.004-05:00

It's funny how the simplest offhand comment can set your mind going...

Yesterday, my horoscope was about dreams, and how great leaders often looked to dream interpreters as the wisest, and honored them...

Which prompted my mother to comment, that my horoscope recounted the story of Joseph, from the Bible. Or um, if you're me and my mother, (who both love the Bible, don't misinterpret!) from Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice's Pop Opera Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

My CD copy of the 1993 Canadian Cast Recording, featuring Donny Osmond as Joseph (Don't let the words, "Canadian" and "Osmond" automatically put you off, it's widely regarded as the best version) went missing ages ago, and I can't find any downloads of it, legal or otherwise. Which means I'm probably going to have to place an Amazon order for a new hard copy, since I doubt I'll be able to find it out in the real world either, so I've had to rely on Youtube clips to assuage my craving.

Anyway, if you're not familiar with the show, get yourself familiar. It's easily some of Weber's best music (written while he was still in school, I believe) and Tim Rice's lyrics are as always flawless. Even at my snobbiest theater geek levels, I remained a staunch Weber apologist. Sure, he can you know, go astray. (*cough* Starlight Express *cough* whichialsokindoflovebutthatsanentirelydifferentstory *cough*) and the show has some pure camp moments that can get kind of cringy...but it has two of his best ballads, "Any Dream Will Do" and "Close Every Door" as well as the camptastic but awesome "Benjamin Calypso" and "Song of The King" where an Elvis impersonating Pharoah tells Joseph his dreams.

Just a little slice of life and thought that I've been having...

Bringing The Pretty

2011-03-01T14:50:00.002-05:00

I was fourteen I started falling in love with vintage clothing. The thing is, I have a build that isn't always suited to vintage. I have what's called a "curvy" build, I've always been a little overweight and I'm five feet seven inches tall. Most vintage clothes that survived are for girls about half my size, so as much as I love the stuff, I've been forced to wear "vintage style" clothes not the real originals.

However, I do check out EBay occasionally to see if the rare real vintage dress in my size can be found. This weekend I was lucky enough to find one, and I won the auction and the dress is to die for. It also doesn't hurt that I've been running at least two miles a day for the past month and stopped eating between meals so I'm down a size.

Here's a picture of the dress:
I'm hoping to wear it for my graduation in May, although two of my cousins are currently engaged, so I figure there will be plenty of functions to wear it to. I got the dress from Trendy Hip Buys, and her eBay store is a wealth of larger size vintage goodies! I had to restrain myself from bidding on some of her other auctions and I'll definitely be keeping an eye on her stuff!

CSD - Oscar Edition

2011-02-28T08:55:00.004-05:00

Last night's Oscars were pretty much predictable, (Although The King's Speech taking home the biggie over The Social Network was kind of a shock) but the whole time my pop culture addled brain was completely thrown off, I will give you a glimpse into the confusion...

As the night kicked off and Mia Thermopolis and Harry Osbourne led us through the night's best picture nominees,I giggled a few times. It wasn't Oscar's best opening sequence, but it wasn't terrible either.

As the night continued on I couldn't put my finger on things, like why was Jackie Burkhart presenting an animation award with the guy from "D**ck in a Box?" And how did Princess Giselle lose yet another Oscar? She's been nominated every year pretty much...

Then some writer won for Best Adapted screen play and gave a speech that sounded exactly like something President Bartlett would reassure the nation with and I felt like I was going crazy! And everyone kept showing shots of Bellatrix LeStrange and I was thinking "OMG! Why hasn't anyone captured her?" Viola De Lesseps sang a country song.

Finally Jack Kelly won an Oscar and then later Padme Amidala got up there and she was pregnant, and I was all..."But you already had the twins!" and then to top it all off Mr. Darcy got up on stage and made the whole ballroom fall in love with him.

Character Separation Disorder is a very serious disease that affects pop culture addicts the world over. Learn more about it here, and please, spread awareness and if there is a pop culture addict in your life, give them a good shake and tell them that it's not real. These people are just actors. Just actors...

How We Met Barney's Father Part I

2011-02-26T17:14:00.002-05:00

OK, I teased it in the "Relations" post, but here it is. The plot for the Gossip Girl/How I Met Your Mother crossover that my friend Crystan and I discussed. Granted, there are some problems to negotiate, like two narrators, that grand divide of Central Park (Ted and Gang live on the Upper West Side, not East) and obviously, who meets up with who. But I think I've got it. This is different than my Glee/How I Met Your Mother crossover, where it turns out that Mr. Schue is the mother.

Opening:

Ted's Voiceover: Kids, sometimes something miraculous can happen, that changes everyone's lives. And sometimes it starts with something very small. That's what this story is about.

It all started when a mysterious blogger started following Barney's Blog, and I had two new students in my architecture class.

While sitting in Ted's apartment the gang makes quips about something fun and inane.

Barney: Hey! This weird blog that links to mine is talking about Ted's stupid architecture class.

Gossip Girl's Voice Over: Hey there Upper East Siders. Who knew that gen ed requirements could lead to such juice! Looks like B and N are taking a class that has lead us to some interesting information about C. Their new Intro to Architecture Prof is often mentioned in a little site I've been watching regarding C's late daddy's other interests. Here's the link!

Barney then "accepts the challenge" to figure out who the mysterious B, N and C are.

In the Bass/Vanderwoodsen/Humphrey Apartment suite whatever

Serena is dressed in an evening gown first thing in the morning lounging on the couch of the apartment where she no longer lives. Someone is making waffles, obviously. She quips to Lily who is drinking a cup of coffee about how pathetic it is the Gossip Girl is still harping about Bart Bass almost three years after his death. Lily looks worried and asks what it says.

Serena: Oh something about his other interests and how it relates to Nate and Blair's new intro to architecture professor or something.
Lily: Do you know this professor?
Serena: Just that he's in his early thirties and Blair says that he thinks he's really funny, oh and he's dating that woman who just divorced The Captain, Zoey.
Lily: Oh no, I wouldn't have thought...
Serena: Mom, what's wrong?
Lily: I don't, you can't tell Charles, Serena, but well, before he met Charles's mother, Bart had another son...

So that's part I. What do you guys think?

Let It Go!

2011-02-24T11:50:00.008-05:00

Let me preface the following post with this:

I think that Joss Whedon is brilliant. I have made that abundantly clear in various posts. I love Firefly and Serenity. My coat may not be brown exactly, but it's definitely a deep deep tan.

OK, so there's been kind of a weird story going around the internet, started by this CNN.com article in which Nathan Fillion said that if he had the money he would buy the rights to Firefly and distribute possibly new content on the internet, and that he would definitely play his role of Malcolm Reynolds again.

The small but loyal fanbase of Firefly have now started an internet fund raising campaign to get Nathan that money. I'm not planning on donating.

Look, do I think it sucks that Firefly got the plug pulled? Yes. Do I wish that Joss could have gotten a chance to fulfill his vision for the show? You betcha! Do I think that people take those sentiments too far? Absolutely!

Firefly is hardly the only "gone too soon" show that people loved. But for some reason it's the only one that it's fans won't let go of. Twin Peaks fans don't continue to create web petitions to return to that tiny weirdo town. Aaron Sorkin's hardcore fanbase doesn't continue to whine about how unfairly NBC treated Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip. Jason Segel, Seth Rogen and James Franco don't make mad declarations about how they want to revive Freaks and Geeks. (Although they could probably afford it.) So seriously what's so special about Firefly?

I honestly don't know. And I like the show. It's a nice little piece of Sci Fi. But it wasn't a perfect show, by any means. And it was probably really expensive for Fox to produce and it had next to no mass appeal. And Joss Whedon has moved on, Summer Glau has moved on, Morena Baccara has moved on. Everyone has moved on except for one tiny pocket of fans, and evidently Nathan Fillion.

By the way, those people that did move on? You know, those other shows I mentioned? Those people haven't been doing so poorly:

Kyle MacLachlan, the star of Twin Peaks has had a steady career, including paying Charlotte's first husband on Sex and The City and Bree's second on Desperate Housewives and has a recurring guest character on How I Met Your Mother. Not too shabby.

The Studio 60 gang? Um, well the creator, Aaron himself is doing OK. He's just the odds on favorite to win the Oscar for Best Original Screen Play this weekend for a little movie he wrote about some website. (I don't think that many people even saw it!) And two of the show's stars Matthew Perry and Nathan Corrdry are on two of the best mid season replacements in a while, Mr. Sunshine and Harry's Law respectively.

And the crew behind Freaks and Geeks as well as it's cast? Uh...yeah, look if you don't know what they're up to, climb back under that rock you where you were clearly living before reading this post. You'll be happier there, but before that watch Knocked Up, you won't be sorry.

So what's my point? Let Joss make The Avengers in peace. Let Morena be an evil alien overlord. Let Summer keep kidding herself with network sci fi show, after network sci fi show, after network sci fi show. Let Nathan solve crimes and quip away. Please people. Let it go!

Hang In There Kiddo

2011-02-22T17:45:00.005-05:00

One of the things in my new, perky be positive lease on life requires is ways to stave off, what our friend Holly Golightly calls "The Mean Reds." Oddly enough, Holly is one of those ways, but that's not what I'm talking about today. Today, I'm talking about the "Hang In There" kiddo playlist I have on my iPod. I can't put the whole thing here because it's 67 songs long, but here are some of the highlights.

Taylor The Latte Boy - Kristin Chenoweth
Halo - Beyonce
Don't Stop Believing - Journey
Livin on A Prayer - Bon Jovi
Vienna - Billy Joel
That's The Way it Is - Celine Dion
Just Haven't Met You Yet - Michael Buble
The More Boys I Meet - Carrie Underwood
The Song Otherwise Known as Forget You - Ceelo Green
Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen
Firework - Katy Perry
Just Dance - Lady Gaga
Breakfast At Tiffany's - Deep Blue Something (See, Holly comes into play!)
Last of The American Girls - Green Day
Here Come The Sun - The Beatles

Like I said there are a lot more, but those are the top ones. Over the next few months, I'll be putting up some of my other cures for the mean reds, including 90s sitcoms, lattes, and chinese food.

Relations

2011-02-17T22:18:00.003-05:00

One of the things that I've been noticing a lot lately are the stock characters that populate me favorite TV shows. So I've assembled some of my favorite sets here.

*NOTE* I decided to only go with shows that are currently on the air. If I wanted to fish back into the cancellation zone, this list would be far too epically long.

Andy Dwyer (Parks and Recreation), Finn Hudson (Glee), and Marshall Erickson (How I Met Your Mother)

These three have truly been cut from the same midwestern doofus cloth. Sure, Marshall has risen above the other two, after all he's a top corporate lawyer in New York. And while Finn is still in high school, let's be honest, he's probably not going to get past mid level insurance agent. And Andy is a shoe shine boy at a tiny city hall. But there's something that all three of them have in common, they're adorable, funny, and unfailingly sweet. OK, Finn not so much lately, what with the whole stealing Quinn from Sam thing, but generally, super sweet.

Chuck Bass (Gossip Girl), Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother), and Ari Gold (Entourage)

Where to begin? The "I am so above you attitude?" Check. The catch phrases? "Let's Hug it Out Bitch?" "Legen...wait for it..." "I'm Chuck Bass!" "DARY!" Check. The deep seeded insecurity that creates the bravado that masks a heart of gold? Check and check! Honestly, this one is what got me thinking about these connections, when my friend Crystan proposed the theory that Bart Bass was Barney's father, and that there should be an epic cross over between GG and HIMYM. (Other storylines include a Serena/Ted hookup, because he reminds her of Dan, but maybe someday I'll outline the entire plot in a post!) Ari comes in for two reasons, like Chuck he is a ruthless business man, and like Barney, he's a pig, but oblivious to it, and therefore still kind of lovable. Also, the suits. Which are really important.

Rebecca Logan (Greek) and Alice Verdura (Hellcats)

These two are quite literally the exact same character. They even look the same. They manipulate their respective systems to stay on top. (Bex the Cyprus Rhodes Greek system and Alice the Hellcats) But when it comes down to it, Rebecca would do anything for ZBZ and Alice would do anything for the squad. That's why we don't want them to go away. That's also why Santana Lopez (Glee) wasn't included on this list. Because as much as I love her, she'd probably sell New Directions down the river if they got too much on her bad side.

Mac (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and Brendan (My Boys)

Aside from the looks again, these two have a few other key characteristics in common. An affinity for tee shirts, they both own bars, they both get caught up in oh so many hijinks. Plus they both have strong sexual tension with their best friend/roommate. Of course it's slightly less dysfunctional in Brendan's case, mostly because PJ is not a sociopath and Dennis is.

Andy Bernard (The Office) and Rajesh Kuthrapali (The Big Bang Theory)

Both men add an element of innocence and happiness to their respective groups. Both are socially awkward and unaware and both belong to distinct social groups. (Geek and Prep) Both are probably my favorite part of both of their shows.

Brooke Davis (One Tree Hill), Blair Waldorf (Gossip Girl) and Rachel Berry (Glee)

Can't win for trying these girls. Although Brooke finally got married and Rachel finally realized that she needs to focus on her career and well, OK I stopped paying attention to Gossip Girl because it got terrible, but I'm sure Blair will get it together. Last I watched she had just started Columbia. Also, Rachel will never ever be happy until she realizes that she and Puck need to get together unless she ends up with Jesse St. James.

Sheldon Cooper (The Big Bang Theory) and Commander Steve McGarret (Hawaii Five-O)

At first sight, maybe not. But then when you think about it, they're both socially awkward, incredibly good at their jobs and dependent on a group of people who are less effecient than them to do their jobs. Which of course leads right into:

Leonard Hoffsteader (The Big Bang Theory) and Danny "Danno" Williams (Hawaii Five-O)

They spend most of their time correcting their brilliant counterpart, in the snarkyest way possible and dedicated to a pretty blond girl. Sure, Leonard it's his ex girlfriend Penny, and Danno it's his daughter Grace, but the idea is the same.

So, those are mine, any to add?

A Surprising Gift from Hell...cats

2011-02-16T21:26:00.003-05:00

During my blog hiatus, I got hooked onto a new brand of CW branded crack, right after I kicked my Gossip Girl addiction, unfortunately. But that crack, was the cheerleading themed soap Hellcats. Like One Tree Hill before it, it seduced me with promises of being something vaguely different. It seemed like it was going to be like the original Bring it On movie, but a show. It quickly spiraled into a standard "anything can and will happen to these people but they'll all rally around something innane to get through these nutso situations," kind of show. Just like One Tree Hill, actually.

But really, what I'm grateful to Hellcats for doing is giving us the character of Savannah, played by Ashley Tisdale. First of all, I've always felt that Ashley was kind of underrated. Yes, I did used to refer to her as "That blonde from Zach and Cody with the unfortunate nose." But now she's a brunette and got a nose job, and now that she's dealing with slightly more grown up material, she's doing really well. I'm glad to see it. But it's not just Ashley's bloom that makes me happy about Savannah.

Savannah is a devout Christian, and it's a key part of her character. She's saving sex for marriage, puts her trust in God, and oh, did I mention she's not considered, crazy, weird, preachy or stupid. She's the captain of the Hellcats cheerleading squad, on a scholarship to college, was dating a nice guy, goes to parties and is a normal and functioning human being.

As someone who considers her faith paramount to her identity, and gets increasingly frustrated at how people of faith, particularly women of faith, are portrayed, usually as one of two categories, idiots and hypocrites and they're all shrewish and overly opinionated and set to convert the world. But Hellcats is giving us neither, they're giving us a fully fleshed out character, or as fully fleshed out as anyone on The CW is. Last night's episode cemented it. Because as the rest of the squad whined about how they were going to lose everything when Marty revealed that football star Jake robbed a pharmacy and framed her law professor's client causing him to be convicted of his "third strike" and put in maximum security prison for like ever or something. (See, I told you anything and everything!) Savannah insisted that whatever happened was God's plan and then got on her knees to ask Him for guidance, in the privacy of her dorm room, without pushing this element on any of the other Hellcats. It's too bad that not that many people are watching.

A Little Story

2011-02-16T18:30:00.002-05:00

I just want to tell everyone a quick story, and then make an announcement:

Once upon a time there was a very unhappy princess, who decided that it was shameful that she was so unhappy. After all, she lived in a beautiful castle, the king and queen loved her very much and denied her nothing. She was given beautiful gowns and jewels, books to read to both entertain and educate her, and what she didn't understand, the greatest wizards would come and explain to her. She had many courtiers who made her laugh and smile, and although she had not yet met her handsome knight in shining armor, she knew that any day he could come riding in and they would live happily ever after.

But still the princess was unhappy, and because she decided that this unhappiness was shameful she told no one of it. She went away on a quest, where she met many more kind and wonderful people who were happy to help her along her way. As she neared the end of her quest the princess's unhappiness grew and began to present itself as a terrible dragon. The dragon mocked the princess and told her that she should be ashamed. Because she was afraid of the dragon, the princess hid in a dark cave, with only those books that entertained. She turned away her friends and courtiers and the kind wizards who had taught her so much. She hid in the worlds of the books where there was no dragon to torment her.

Finally, the wisest and kindest wizard who had tried to help her on her quest had enough and sent the princess home to the king and queen, with the instructions to not return to her quest until she learned how to slay her dragon and could complete her quest unfettered. Despondent, the princess hid, but when she returned home to the king and queen they also sent her away. She then found a village, where no one knew she was a princess, and she spent her days there, coming home at night to be with her parents and the one most faithful lady of her court, who along with the people of the village taught the princess that the dragon was not so scary, and she was certainly not the only princess in the world to face such a dragon! There was still no knight, but the princess was beginning to accept that perhaps she did not need a knight to be happy. After all her mother and many of the wizards had always taught her to be an independent and strong princess who did not need the support of any man, as all princesses should be taught.

After many months, the princess marched back out on her quest and when the dragon mocked her she laughed at it. For she had learned that she was not alone, and that if she was unhappy occasionally that was not shameful, but she had learned the difference between ignoring that unhappiness and choosing not to feel this. And so the princess slayed the dragon, though she kept one of it's teeth to remind her of the ordeal, and she moved closer to completing her quest. She also learned that while it was alright for her to enjoy the entertainments, she could not hide from her life and unhappiness in them.

Um...so I'm the princess, and this blog and my obsessive TV watching were the books, and the quest was my college education...the dragon was the pretty tough bit of depression I've fought through and uh, I think you can figure out the rest. (The Village was my job after I was kicked out of school temporarily.) I'm still trying to find balance in my life, but I'm going to try to start blogging again. I miss it. I'm still focusing on pop culture, but I'm going to make it more about my opinions and stories, than just straight up recap. Hooray!

I know, I'm sorry

2010-07-27T20:49:00.002-04:00

So, here's the deal, Popgirllives is on a hiatus for a while.

Because I've started a new blog! It's much more focused and project oriented than this one, so hopefully I'll be less neglectful but check it out please!

The Reading List

Check it out! Read it, comment. It'll be great!

Best and The Worst

2010-06-16T07:16:00.005-04:00

So, Glee is over for the year. And here is my list of my ten favorite, and least favorite musical moments from the show this season.

Best:

10. "Highway To Hell" Episode 14: Hell-o

We'd already been introduced to the hilariously dramatic Jesse St. James, played with soulless intensity by Jonathan Groff a few moments before when he sang Lionel Richie's "Hello" with Rachel, but this was the real world's true intro to Groff (this performance matched the intensity of his Spring Awakening stuff) and it actually sort of made me root for him and Rachel to be together, since we'd already been subjected to the awful/awkward version of "Hello I Love You" from Finn in this same episode.

9. "Don't Stand So Close to Me/Young Girl" Episode 10: Ballad

Anytime Mr. Schu gets his performance on it's special. But this particular mash up, which was meant to warn Rachel off of her crush on him, was that perfect mix of energy and charisma. And of course it failed miserably, because if Matthew Morrison sang to you, would you stop having a crush on him?

8. "The Lady Is A Tramp" Episode 18: Laryngitis

OK, so here's the deal. I love Puck. I love everything about him. I love the stupid things he says, I loved his mohawk. But I especially love that for some reason, no one on the show has acknowledged what a superior performer he is to Finn, except for the producers, who gave him this number (Sammy Davis Jr's version, "He was a back Jew, you know.") to help Puck win Mercedes affection. Why? Because we will not rest until Puck has at least made out with every girl in Glee club!

7. "Don't Stop Believing" Episode 1: Pilot

You never forget your first time. While yes, there were other glimmers of greatness in the pilot, it was in this rousing version of everyone's favorite power ballad that I knew I had found my new favorite show. Plus it introduced us to some New Directions choreographic staples, moving lines, walking with purpose...uhh, Artie sitting off to the side and bopping.

6. "Alone" Episode 5: The Rhodes Not Taken

Link Larkin and Galinda are singing a duet! Let me repeat, LINK LARKIN AND GALINDA ARE SINGING A DUET! So there was that. Also, just amazing.

5. "Set Me Free" Episode 7: Throwdown

In an episode full of great musical moments, it also included the pitch perfect ballad "Keep Holding On" (my sister's favorite moment all season) I had to pick Quinn's breakout moment as my favorite. It might just be because I LOVE Quinn, but it really was a great performance.

4. "Dream on" Episode 19: Dream On

NPH, Matt Morrison, Joss Whedon, Aerosmith, a community theatre production of Les Mis. Nothing about this moment was wrong. It was pure Joss, and pure Glee at the same time. (Which just further proves that they are a match created by the TV gods!)

3. "To Sir With Love" Episode 22: Journey

Maybe it's because I love the song. Or maybe it's because it was just lovely, especially compared to the club's winter finale tribute to Mr. Schue, Kelly Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You." The moment preceding the actual song, where they all talked about how Glee changed them, who could help from crying.

2. "Dancing With Myself" Episode 9: Wheels

Glee does reclaiming the 80s better than most things, and this song was not an exception. Artie's jazzy aucoustic interpretation of the song, which turned out to be his way of expressing his crush on Tina, was lovely, touching and just perky enough to keep us from doing more than just welling up.

1. "Don't Rain on My Parade" & "You can't always get what you want" Episode 13: Sectionals

For me, this was the definitive Glee moment. While a few months later their regionals performance would also be good, nothing will ever beat New Directions first competitive set, Rachel's exciting run down the aisle (which Lea Michele then repeated at the Tonys this past weekend) and the tears in Will's eyes as Emma held up a cell phone so he could hear his kids was so beautiful.

And now to the worst (some are just awesomely bad, but still)

10. "Run Joey Run" Episode 17: Bad Reputation

OK, so it was supposed to be bad. Rachel's bizarre music video to this terrible song was ridonkulously awful. And that was the point. But I had to mention it, just because after the episode aired, I had the song stuck in my head for 48 hours.

9. "Like A Virgin" Episode 15: The Power of Madonna

The performance was really good, actually I really like the version of the song, and I'm totally on board whenever Santana sings, but I was so uncomfortable during this montage of the shows three virgins, Emma, Rachel and Finn, singing to their possible first times, with Will, Jesse and Santana respectively (Only Finn and Santana actually did the deed) as they all writhed around on beds in era inappropriate nighties that I had to mention the spot.

8. "Hello, I Love You" Episode 14: Hell-o

Again, I don't mind the version of the song, but it was just so heavy handed, the "Gosh Mr. Schu, I guess I can learn something about myself and do my Glee assignment" lead in, Finn singing while dribbling a basketball (Love him but he is not the Zefron) staring at Rachel, Santana and Brittney and then stalking Quinn down the hall. It was weird, and not good.

7. "Bohemian Rhapsody" Episode 22: Journey

I loved the song. I think it was a perfect fit for Jesse and Vocal Adrenaline at Regionals. But doing the WHOLE song? Not necessarily the most time effective idea. And splicing it in with Quinn's labor? Just BAD. Both scenes would have been great on their own, but they did not work together.

6. "No Air" Episode 7: Throwdown

Probably the only time I've been out and out bored during a number on Glee. And the wind blowing Finn and Rachel's hair as they walked down the hallway didn't help matters much.

5. "Pink Houses" Episode 18: Laryngitis

Again, it was kind of supposed to suck, and it was kind of funny. But just no.

4. "Tell Me Something Good" Episode 21: Funk

It was UNCOMFORTABLE and BAD and put pictures in my head that will NOT GO AWAY AND I WISH THEY WOULD!

3. "Poker Face" Episode 20: Theatricality

You have Lea Michele and Idina Menzel staring at eachother and they're singing an acoustic version of Lady Gaga? Really? That's where you went? And who would sing Lady Gaga with their mom? I mean, really?

2. "Last Name" Episode 5: The Rhodes Not Taken

I should have loved this number. It was Kristin Chenoweth singing Carrie Underwood. I should have loved this number. I didn't. Again, it was just awkward.

1. "This is a Man's World" Episode 21: Funk

OK, we get it. Quinn's pregnant. She's a good girl who made a mistake and got pregnant. We get it. Did she have to do pregnant ballet? It was weird. It would have really been enough to have her sing the song. As Artie put it, "This is just, inappropriate."

So, those are mine, anybody have any different opinions?

In a world where supernatural beings do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING

2010-05-02T14:30:00.002-04:00

So, here I am, two weeks later finally getting around to writing this review for New Moon on DVD.

Let me preface it by this. Obviously I watched the movie again. I did not enjoy the second viewing. I think the Buffy/Angel binge I went on over the past few months completely ruined Twilight for me. Which is why I'm waiting until after Eclipse comes out (in 18 days) to watch more of Buffy and or Angel. I want to enjoy the film version of my favorite book in the series.

It's just so frustrating to see them all do nothing but mope, but Taylor is still beautiful. So there's that.

Moving on to the special features. The extended scenes were worth the extra ten bucks for the special edition. They included more things from the book that I didn't even know I missed until I saw them, as well as more Emmett, which is nice. Because I love Emmett.

The cast interviews and red carpet were all pretty good, especially the ones with the wolfpack and the "Making of" documentary, which focused mostly on Christ Weitz and his special effects team was really good.

Overall though, I wouldn't suggest investing in the DVD unless you're a hardcore fan. Even more hardcore than me, because at this point, I'm really thinking I should have just rented it.

I'm back

2010-04-18T15:55:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone! I know it's been forever since I updated, and I'm going to try to get back in the groove of updating in the next week or so. Just to explain my long absence, my life has changed a lot in the last few months.

I'm out of school. At least for a little while, I'm going back in the fall, but for now. No school. It's a long, complicated story, that if you want to know, I might tell you someday.

I have a full time job, that I love. It takes up a lot of my time, and it's in New York City, so between actual work and the commute I'm really tired at the end of the day, plus I don't always have time to analyze the way I used to, so I haven't been blogging.

But, I do have some things that I want to talk about, and so in the next week I should be writing them and getting those posts up!

1. I finally got the New Moon DVD, I got the Borders Exclusive 2 Disc Special edition. I'm still sifting through the special features (there are a lot of them on this version) before I get a full review done.

2. I'm in love with The Pacific. LOVE it. I'm going to wait until the series is over to really get into it, but I plan to deal with it.

3. I read the Percy Jackson and The Olympians series and OH MY GOD they're amazing. Again, I plan to extoll their virtues over time.

4. I'm into Idol, this season I think Crystal Bowersox is amazing but I think Lee DeWyze is going to win.

5. I'm mad at Gossip Girl, and unenthused by it. If things don't pick up soon, I'll keep watching but probably won't write about it.

6. GLEE IS BACK!

So over the next week I'll write about this stuff, or try to, just to get used to blogging again. If anyone's still reading, obviously!

Friends and Lovers

2010-03-09T20:04:00.002-05:00

GOSSIP GIRL IS BACK!

And thank God for it! I missed it so very much. Last night's return from what felt like the longest hiatus ever (Although Glee's is longer and just as frustrating!) was in the tip top shape, although no Erik, so that kind of sucked.

First of all, I was doing Nerena happy dances the whole time. They're a couple! And if this episode was any kind of indicator, they are doing it right! Yes, you know what a Nate and Serena couple-ness should look like. She has to say "I've changed" over and over again, although her behavior continually shows that she hasn't at all. He looks bewildered and brooding. And WE LOVE IT!

Chuck and Blair have a storyline! Or, Chuck does, he's looking for his mother. Who was supposed to be dead. But who cares because CHUCK AND BLAIR HAVE STUFF TO DO! There is spying to happen and intrigue and...it's going to be good.

Jenny and the drug dealer progressed. Don't care...

And I've figured something out. Gossip Girl will not allow for more than two happy couples at once. So right now, we have Chuck and Blair and Nate and Serena. Which means that Lily and Rufus are going to have trouble.

I just can't wait to see what happens next!

Time to connect some dots

2010-03-01T19:02:00.002-05:00

In season 4 of Desperate Housewives, when we first met Katherine Mayfair, she was married to a young handsome gynecologist named Adam. Adam was played by a roguishly handsome actor named Nathan Fillion.

Her current story line revolves around a lesbian affair with a woman named Robin, a former stripper who moved in with her as a roommate. Robin is played by a beautiful blonde actress named Julie Benz.

What do these two people have in common, might you ask? I mean, besides sex with a fictional uptight housewife?

Well, they're both Whedonites of course! Fillion played a villain on Buffy, and then of course Captain Mal Reynolds in Firefly, and then Captain Hammer in Dr. Horrible.

Benz played Darla, a vampire in both Buffy and Angel. Darla was Angel's sire, and crazy evil. Eventually she and Angel had a baby (second least explained storyline in the Buffyverse, number one being Dawn...) Then she died.

So, I don't know, that amused me.

Vancouver

2010-02-12T09:50:00.004-05:00

Let's talk Olympics.

I love The Olympics. I love the ceremony, I love the ridiculous sports that you never get to watch any other time. I love the medals, and the pomp and circumstance.

I love Olympic athletes, and the way that they become rock stars for two weeks a year. Sometimes more.

Apparently I'm in the minority, but I much prefer the Winter Olympics to the summer. In the winter you get figure skating, and ski jumping, and speed skating and biathlon.

What's biathlon? It's a combination of cross country skiing and crossbow shooting.

Yes, crossbow shooting. Ridiculous! And amazing! Of course they don't shoot each other. That would be ideal. They shoot targets. But still.

Oh right, and the Winter Olympics also give us this guy.

Oh Apolo...

Questions to be answered.

2010-02-02T09:34:00.003-05:00

Oscar noms out today. But having not seen any of the nominees, I don't have much to say about them. (Seriously folks, I still haven't seen Avatar)

So let's talk Lost.

Epic final season begins today and I'm insanely psyched up for it.

Questions that I'm dying to have answered in this final stretch of story.

What are the numbers?
What is the monster?
Who is Jacob? (My friend Mark's theory is that he is Jacob, you know, Israel, of the book of Genesis? And the other dude is Esau, the brother that Jacob disinherited. I took it further then and asked if Richard was Joseph...Mark wasn't so into that theory.)
Charlie was destined to die, even with the reset, does he die?
If they never go to the Island, do Desmond and Penny still have their baby?
Does this mean that they won't get to the Island?
If they remember what happened will Sawyer kick Jack's ass for killing Juliet? (PLEASE SAY YES!)

Anyway, we shall see tonight. I'm hoping to get my mind blown!!!!

Swan Song

2010-01-30T10:16:00.003-05:00

Alright, I know I've been a bad blogger. And maybe someday I'll finish out the best of the decade. But right now, there's just one thing that I have to write about.

Dollhouse finale!

I just finished watching it on DVR. I was thoroughly satisfied, especially for a show that I watched every episode of, but didn't ever love.

I knew what to expect going in. This is Joss Whedon, there are certain markers. Main characters were going to die. Redemption would be found. Vagueness would ensue.

The finale picked up where the unaired "Epitaph" left off, with Felicia Day, that guy and Molly from Heroes racing away from the zombie like "butchers" in LA to find Echo and the others. They were eventually captured by Rossum soldiers, one of whom was Paul. I knew not to expect things to be the same, but it seemed odd that Paul would be with Rossum. As it turned out it was all a plan. Rossum had kidnapped Topher to create a sort of mind bomb, that would wipe the entire world. Already a little bit unstable, for having been Topher, they drove him completely insane by shooting a someone in front of him every time he messed up. After rescuing him, Echo shot Clyde in his latest form and the fugitives headed to a farm, where Prya and Adelle and a young boy were picking strawberries. We find out that the boy is Prya's son. Anthony is conspicuously absent.

After explaining what was done to Topher and why, Topher reveals that he figured out a way to do the bomb but backwards, restored anyone who was ever wiped to their original "actual" status. Thrilled by the prospect of a returned world, but worried for their own existence, the gang realizes that they need to get someplace underground. They need to return to the dollhouse. An alarm goes off, and every one panics, fearing Rossum found them. But instead a group of Mad Max style fighters show up, speaking russian, among them is Anthony. As it turns out a small group of people have enhanced themselves further to help fight Rossum, allowing themselves to download various skills, but only able to keep so many at a time they wear the imprints around their necks in flash drives. We soon find out that although they had the child together, Anthony's decision to become one of these super soldiers, and forever revert to Viktor, drove a wedge between him and Prya. They head to Los Angeles, and the Dollhouse.

Paul and Echo talk on the trip, about how for ten years they've been dancing around their feelings. He asks why she only ever lets him in when she thinks their about to die, and she blows off the question. When they reach LA, they get ready to fight the butchers, there's some awesome gun mowing down and Penny, uh, I mean Mag (Felicia Day) gets shot in the legs. Paul runs over to check her and is immediately gunned down. Echo seems unshaken and other guy throws Mag over his shoulders and they head down into the Dollhouse.

The Dollhouse seems unchanged, dolls wander around it, one commenting as soon as they enter, "I try to be my best." But the biggest surprise comes when it turns out the person looking after all of them is Alpha. He teases Viktor about his face, and when Viktor playfully calls him a psycho he responds that he's "lapsed." So now, Spike, I mean Alpha is a good guy. The super soldiers try to take control of the situation but Alpha and Echo outsmart them (ah duh) and Prya begins smashing the flash drives angrily. Echo loses it on her, reminding her how lucky she is to have Anthony, and that he'll always love her. Echo finally admits to loving Paul, and Prya introduces her son, T, to his father.

Meanwhile with help from a video of Bennet, Topher builds the bomb and tells Adelle and Alpha that he has to actually explode it himself. Adelle offers to go with him, but he tells her that he "has to fix what we did to their heads, you have to fix the rest of the world. Your job is harder." She hugs him and Alpha takes him upstairs.

Adelle and other guy get ready to take the dolls to the surface, and she and Echo say goodbye. She tells her that Alpha went to destroy the tech and then hide, not knowing if he'll revert when the bomb goes off, but that he's leaving the chair. She tells Echo that the last fantasy the Dollhouse will fulfill will be Echo's. Echo responds that she has no fantasy. Adelle hugs her and they head to the surface. Topher sets the bomb off, and the dolls all collapse and wake up disoriented. Molly from Heroes sees other guy and asks what happened. He tells her he'll explain it. Back in the Dollhouse Echo finds a envelope with her name on it and a drive inside sitting on the chair. She sets up the chair and lies down. As it turns out, it's Paul's imprint. This way he can be with her always. She walks down into the house, past Prya, Anthony and T, and reclines in her pod, finally at peace.

OK, analysis time. Like I said, I saw certain things coming.

Paul's death: As soon as Paul and Echo all but said "I love you" in the truck, I knew one of them had to die. It was that simple. I didn't expect it quite as soon as it happened, but thus is the way of Whedon. He giveth Wesley his Fred and then he taketh Fred away.
Topher's redemption: Someone had to sacrifice themselves to save the world. Spike, Cordie, Shepherd Book, now Topher. Plus, in Topher's mind, the only way to redeem the destruction which his tech brought about, was to pay with his own life.
Human element over tech: It's the old Return of The Jedi model. The Ewoks and rebels win with heart. Maybe this is because I just watched Buffy season four, where magic beats technology, but I'm starting to see a theme.

There were some other Whedon-y touches that I noticed.

The scene where they start to fight the butchers was almost exactly like the final scene of Angel. I half expected Echo to grab an ax and say "Let's go to work"
The butchers themselves bear a remarkable resemblance to the reavers of Firefly and Serenity.
Vague ending with a sense of continuation...We could get a Dollhouse movie, or comic. (I don't want one. I'm glad it's over. DR. HORRIBLE 2!!!!!!)

Surprises

Anthony and Prya got to live happily ever after. My dad and I were trying to figure out their tragedy, and guess what, there wasn't one! They have a kid. They get to be happy. I'm still not sure what to do with it.
Alpha's a good guy now. I was happy, because between this and V, I was sure that Alan Thudyk was going to be the bad guy forever. And that would make me very sad.
Didn't end on a battle that we never get to see. It was kind of a nice sweet romantic ending. Way to grow Joss.

Anyway, did anyone else watch and have an opinion?

Best of A Decade: 2006

2009-12-20T10:25:00.000-05:00

Between finishing high school and starting college, you'd think that I wouldn't have had a lot of time for movies. You would think wrong. This was the year I really started becoming a pop culture junky. My obsession with musical theatre began to wane and I was hooked on the silver screen!

Tristan and Isolde

Ahh James Franco. So beautiful. By taking the magic that makes the story of Tristan and Isolde interesting though, they just made a nice little take on Lancelot and Guenivere, which is fine. Because I like that story too.

Cars

Notice there have been a lot of Pixar movies here? I love Cars. I love Paul Newman voicing the old Paul Newman car. I love George Carlin as a hippie VW bus. I love Jeremy Piven as Lightening McQueen's agent, Ari Gold, I mean Harv. I love it's quiet little story line. I love everything about it.

Take The Lead

Antonio Banderas does the tango...do I need to say more? I will, mostly about Lauren Collins as a debutante. Because Paige in a private school uniform is still Paige, is she not?

John Tucker Must Die

I love movies that were clearly made ten years too late, and this is one of those movies. It fits on the shelf quite nicely next to Ten Things, and Drive Me Crazy. And Brittney Snow is adorable, as is Penn Badgely. (BTW, in flashback, Brittney plays Penn's stepmother Lilly on Gossip Girl! Funners!) Sophia Bush is hilarious as Brooke Davis, I mean, some other girl who is nothing like Brooke at all whatsoever. Oh right and Jesse Metcalfe has his shirt off almost as much as Taylor Lautner in New Moon. And he's legal.

Clerks II

While hardly the best of the man's work, I do like this particular entry in Kevin Smith's catalogue. It was nice to see Dante and Randal back behind the counter, and Elias, the socially retarded born again kid, obsessed with the Transformers and Lord of The Rings, is one of Smith's better comic creations. Also pillow pants.

Accepted

I love Justin Long. There I said it. Plus this was the first movie I saw with my college friends. And it brought Jonah Hill to our attention ("Ask me about my weiner!) and Blake Lively was actually likable in something. It's a silly little romp, but it's a lot of fun.

The Devil Wears Prada

The clothes, the shoes, the Emily Blunt, the Meryl Streep! Yes, the adorable Anne Hathaway is the least of the good things in this gem of a chick flick. Streep won a Golden Globe for her performance as Miranda Priestly. (A mistake in my opinion, but I'll get to that next.) And did I mention the clothes?

Dreamgirls

I'm sorry, I drifted off for a minute thinking about this movie. It's probably the best of the new era musicals. Beyonce was robbed of a Globe and Oscar nom (see, I said I would get to it.) And Eddie Murphy was unreal. And shall we talk about Jennifer Hudson's Oscar winning performance as Effie?

Rocky Balboa

Not the best movie in the series, but it beats out Rock V. Also, Milo Ventimiglia fulfilled the prophecy put down by Amy Sherman-Paladino all those years ago..."I know Jess seems exciting, because he's dark and brooding, and he's seen a lot of Stalone movies!" "Nothing wouldn't happen to wear a leather jacket and do a convincing 'Adrian!' would it?" Plus there's the whole Milo-Philly correlation. In Gilmore Girls, Jess ends up in Philadelphia. American Dreams takes place in Philadelphia and then this. I'm just waiting for Peter Petrelli to head to the city of brotherly, love.

The Departed

If I watched this movie one more time, I'm pretty sure my roommate Jen was going to kill me. But it's just so good! It's all star cast shines and Scorcese finally won his best director Oscar. (He probably should have gotten it three years before for Gangs of New York.) It's always interesting to see a movie where everyone but one character ends up dead at the end.

Best of A Decade: 2005

2009-12-17T20:38:00.000-05:00

In Good Company

This is one of those highly underrated movies that people tend to forget about. Topher Grace stars as a synergizing business wunderkind who gets moved into a sports magazine ad department, previously dominated by Dennis Quaid. What follows is a story about life, business, family and friendship. Grace's Carter becomes infatuated with Quaid's daughter, played with cutey sex appeal by Scarlett Johansson, and eventually learns the value of hard work and ethics. Plus any movie that uses Peter Gabriel's "Salsbury Hill" deserves notation.

Sin City

"You go down the right alley in Sin City, and you can find anything." Robert Rodriguez is BRILLIANT! Seriously people? It's called Desperado. Also Planet Terror. Anyway, Sin City is the beginning of Rodriguez's partnership with comic God Frank Miller, on Miller's iconic stories of Basin City and it's underground. The second film is in the works, but his one focuses on stories, "The Hard Goodbye," "That Yellow Bastard," "The Big Fat Kill," and "The Customer is Always Right." The style, all green screen was later adopted for other comic adaptations. But Sin City was the first, and by far the best.

Fever Pitch

Apparently this movie is supposed to be a fluffy romantic comedy. I think it's a tragedy. I remember watching the second half of it with my hands over my eyes. Also this only furthered my brother and my theory that the 2004 Baseball post season was a large media conspiracy intent on destroying everything Yankee fans held dear.

Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of The Sith

On multiple viewings, not a favorite. But I walked out of the theater and said "WOW! Thank God!" The first twenty minutes are a return to the joy of the original Star Wars trilogy. Actually the first two hours are really good. It's the last half hour (minus the kick ass duel fights between Sidious/Yoda and Obi-Wan/Anikan) that kill it. Plus, Jimmy Smits? Really?

Batman Begins

"Why do we fall?" "It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me." "I don't need to kill you, but I don't need to save you either." I could just keep quoting it, but I won't. It's just awesome. Nolan's vision of Batman is so clear it's hard to talk about much else. The movie isn't perfect. (The Scarecrow? Really? That's your villain choice) But the flaws are minimal. As great as The Dark Knight was, I prefer Begins. I love origin stories.

Sky High

I don't care that it's one of the lamer Disney tween movies of the decade. It has a character in it named "Warren Peace!" Get it? That's comedy man. Also a punk girl who can shapeshift into a Guinea Pig. And Michael Angorano is one of those underrated young actors who people never think of, but when they see him always love. (I adore his work on Will and Grace as Jack's son Elliott.)

The 40 Year Old Virgin

Judd Apatow. I think the man is one of the best writers out there. I'm serious. Watch the movies that he wrote, not just produced and be awed by what he does. The absurdity of his vulgar sex comedies are offset by such incredible heart and reality that you can't help but root for his out there protagonists.

Wedding Crashers

Hello world, meet Isla Fisher.

Walk The Line

You'll notice that Reese Witherspoon is on this list a lot. She's one of my favorite actresses. But Walk The Line gets its note because of, well everything. It was released in a time when music bio-pics were flooding (Ray is the other really good one) but it stands out because of it's heart and the greatness of the music. Oh, right and Joaquin Phoenix and Reese did their own singing, so you know, cute.

Corpse Bride

Yay Tim Burton doing it right! I miss when Tim Burton got it right. Don't you?

Serenity

Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillion. Big Screen time and budget. Oh and um, this:

Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire

Back before Edward Cullen and his whole not showering thing, I had a major crush on Robert Pattinson because of his performance as Cedric Diggory. By far the most faithful adaptation of the six movies so far, it's not the best, but it's my favorite book. Shut up! I like exploring the "world" of a fantasy universe. And this one does that more than any of the others. Plus VIKTOR KRUM!!!!!

Pride & Prejudice

Although not the definitive adaptation of Jane Austen's most famous novel, it is the one you can stand to watch more than once a year without tons of chardonnay to aid in the six hours of exact translation. Not that this is something I've done. Ever. *cough* But I do love Ang Lee's interpretation. Kiera Knightley and Matthew Mcfayden's Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are adorable and awkward as their romance blossoms.

Rent

Yes, I went the day it opened, and I wore a jean mini skirt, pink fishnets and black leather boots. Yes, I quacked at the screen when Aaron Lohr started singing "Will I?" (If you don't get it leave!) And yes, I cried, a lot. It's not a perfect movie, but before they released the final performance on DVD, it was all we had OK?

Coming in 2006: Tristan and Isolde, Clerks II, Dreamgirls, The Departed and more.

Best of A Decade: 2004

2009-12-14T23:30:00.000-05:00

2004 was a lean year for new movies for me, because I spent a lot of it catching up on stuff I missed in 2003. But there were definitely some stand outs, and here they are.

Garden State

I think that Garden State is one of the most romantic movies ever made. Plus I love a good behind the scenes story, and Garden State has one of the best. When Zach Braff got the job as Dr. Jon Dorian on Scrubs he immediately quit his day job. When he found out it would be a year before he would actually be working on the show, he sat down and wrote this little beauty. Plus it made me not hate Natalie Portman, and got me listening to Frou Frou.

Jersey Girl

One of the things that I love about Kevin Smith's movies is that there isn't an ounce of pretension in them. They are exactly what they are, with no apologies. Jersey Girl is a soft, sweet, marshmallow of a movie about fatherhood, family and being who you are. It doesn't try to be something else and that's what makes it great. Also Ben Affleck and that little girl singing Sweeney Todd. That's good too.

Saved!

"I am filled with Christ's love!" Let's face it, Born Again Christianity is funny. Most religion is funny, when you employ comedy. This movie, about a perfectly behaved born again girl who's boyfriend tells her he's gay, so she has sex with him to prove he isn't (one is the lesser sin!) and then finds herself pregnant and ostracized. And as good as Jena Malone is in this as Mary, it's Mandy Moore owns as the meanest mean girl you'll ever see. One who thinks she's doing God's work.

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

Ben Stiller's character in this movie is just an R rated version of his Heaveyweights character from the 90s, but what makes this movie great are in the fact that the characters are all so out there that Vince Vaughn is the strait man. Also it ends with the heroes receiving a trunk full of gold labeled "deus ex machina." I love a good Greek drama joke, don't you?

De-Lovely

OK, another one of those not that good movies that the experience of made it for me. I went to go see this Cole Porter bio-pic with the cast of a production of Anything Goes I'd just finished. We all sang along and it was very nerdy and very fun.

Spider-Man 2

The first movie was better. But it didn't have Alfred Molina in it as Doc Oc. Therefore there wasn't that wonderful visual that I get every time I see it...That of him singing if "If I were A Rich Man," and doing the Tevye shimmy with all of those mechanical arms. So funny!

Shaun of The Dead

I love Simon Pegg. I love him. I love this movie and it's gory funny, perfectness. A lot of laughing.

The Incredibles

As good as superhero movies get, they're not better than The Incredibles. Everything about this was funny.

Finding Neverland

I'd watch Kate Winslet in anything. But I really love this movie, and James Barry, the author of Peter Pan. Less because of Winslet, and even less because of Johnny Depp and more for Freddie Highmore, as Peter, the precocious boy whose name Barry steals for the play.

Coming in 2005: Episode III, Walk The Line, Rent and more!

Best of a Decade: 2003

2009-12-11T11:39:00.000-05:00

I was finishing out my first year of high school, and I still maintain that 2003 was the beset summer of my life. That being said, I didn't see a lot of movies, which is why this is a slightly shorter list.

Bend it Like Beckham

Kiera Knightley and Parminder Nagra are fantastic in this girl power comedy about soccer, family and finding yourself. But without this movie we probably never would have gotten Neela on ER.

The Lizzie McGuire Movie

I've mentioned my Duff-love, no? I loved this little gem of a Disney tween flick. When Lizzie and crew head to Rome for the summer and she becomes a pop star it's absolutely perfect. And she and Gordo get together at the end, and Kate and Ethan do too. Plus try getting that song out of your head. "Have you ever seen such a beautiful night? I could almost kiss the stars for shining so bright..."

X2: X Men United

The first X Men movie brought about the era of comic book movie blockbusters. This one proved that they could be amazing movies. With the mythos of the X-Men established the movie was allowed to dive into the characters. Centered around a combination of stories, including Wolverine's quest to piece together his past, Jean Grey's growing powers, and a government sponsored researching wanting to take revenge on Dr. X and the other mutants, it makes for an extremely compelling action flick. Plus you know, HUGH JACKMAN!

Down With Love

A more modern take on the screwball comedies of Doris Day and Rock Hudson, starring Ewan McGregor and Renee Zellwegger. The clothes and look are divine, the script is pithy and bantery, and of course, it ends with a song. The twist ending is kind of out there but nothing says "Battle of The Sexes" like that montage where we hear the Sinatra version of "Fly Me To The Moon" mashed up with the Astrud Gibrelto version (in that battle, Frank wins. Frank always wins!)

Finding Nemo

"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..." Pixar has magical powers. I've always admired how well they tell stories. Nemo is not an exception. Brightly colored, fast moving and lovely, the story of the little fish and his dedicated father is beautiful. I still haven't yet figured out if Marlin and Dory are supposed to be a couple at the end. Also, I love the sharks. "Fish are friends, not food."

Camp

As a Sondheim obsessed, overly critical sixteen year old, I truly felt that this was the greatest piece of film ever. My friends and I still quote it incessantly, although we do feel that it's probably not the cinematic masterpiece it once was. And a few of the Camp alumni have done pretty well for themselves. Anna Kendrick, is well, Anna Kendrick. Dequina Moore has done some really great work on Broadway and Robin DeJesus...well, "Lights up on Washington Heights..."

(He's the little kid in the hat!)

Pirates of The Caribbean: The Curse of The Black Pearl

"They're making a movie based on a Disney ride? That'll never work!" Guess what? It worked. The first Pirates movie was unbelievably brilliant. Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow is one of his greatest method creations, and Geoffrey Rush's Captain Barbosa is still my favorite part of this whole series. Orlando Bloom is even decent in this first one, and Elizabeth was still really cool and hadn't gotten annoying yet. Work has begun on a fourth installment (Without Will and Elizabeth) but nothing will ever beat this first go round, probably because it was such a surprise.

School of Rock

Jack Black is a comic genius. This is a movie that showcases every minute detail of that. Not to mention the music is very very good. And Adam Pascal plays the lead singer of the band that kicks Black out. And Sarah Silverman is great as the annoying girlfriend. And Miranda Cosgrove...just Miranda Cosgrove.

Elf

Instantly quotable, warm, fuzzy. Jon Favreau's instant Christmas classic, gave us everything we like about Will Ferrell without all of that stuff that's annoying. Not to mention it introduced everyone to Zooey DesChanel's singing voice. "The best way to spread Christmas Cheer is singing loud for all to hear!"

The Lord of The Ring: The Return of The King

Sometimes movies become events. Sometimes event movies tie themselves in with a moment in our lives and we can't ever untie them. This is one of those movies. My sister and I went to go see it not two hours after hearing that our Uncle Billy had passed on, to escape from what we were feeling. We laughed, we cried, we were those obnoxious people that chanted "Rudy, Rudy, Rudy!" as Sam carried Frodo up Mount Doom. It was a good three hours.

So that was 2003.

Coming in 2004: Garden State, De-Lovely, The Incredibles.

Best of A Decade: 2002

2009-12-10T12:39:00.000-05:00

I finished out middle school and headed to high school. My taste started to grow up a little, and I think it shows in the movies that come in the rest of the decade.

A Walk To Remember

My friends and I went into this movie with every intention of mocking it. After all, Mandy Moore could dye her hair brown but that didn't make her an actress! We left weeping, and stayed that way for hours. I'm not a huge fan of the way Nicholas Sparks's stories tug on the heartstrings, but Walk is the exception. It's just so lovely.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

My father is one of six. My mother is one of five. I have many cousins who are all up in each other's bussiness. We're Irish, not Greek. But still. I relate to this movie. Anyone with a big family does.

Divine Secrets of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Another movie that I took to, purely out of relatability. I grew up with three best friends. Get it? Also Ashley Judd and Maggie Smith rock hard!

Austin Powers in Goldmember

Mike Meyers remains one of the most influential people when it comes to my taste in comedy. The first two Austin Powers movies were brilliant. This one was fun. I saw it like 3 times in the theaters. For volume alone it warrants a place on this list.

The Importance of Being Earnest

The summer before high school I went to theater camp. We did a scene from The Importance of Being Earnest. I fell in love comedy of manners. I continue that love today. Also, Oscar Wilde was amazing.

Sweet Home Alabama

This was the first social outing of my high school life. The first Friday of high school, the girls I had been eating lunch with and I went to go see this. I really liked it because I love anytime people get to use their real accents.

8 Mile

I love Eminem. I know! This comes as a shock to many people. 8 Mile is a big part of the reason why I love him. I admire hip hop in general for the way they lay everything out on the table, but Marshall really did it in this movie, which is inspired by his life as a poor kid in Detroit. Rabbit, Em's character is tortured and sad, he fights the only way he can, with his words. The movie's theme "Lose Yourself" was the first hip hop song to win an Oscar. Though two years later "It's Hard out Here for a pimp" would get more recognition, I still maintain that Em gets boxed out by the hip hop community because of his whiteness, and his refusal to play the game.

Gangs Of New York

Scorcese's epic tale of the birth of New York street gangs during the Civil War is violent, dirty and unbelievable. 30 years in the making, every detail is exquisite. Plus it revealed Leonardo DiCaprio as a man, and started a partnership between him and Scorcese that would define both artists for the decade.

Chicago

Moulin Rouge! was the birth pains and the baby cries for the new era of musical films but Chicago was it's first steps. A high profile cast of incredible talent, a large budget and an incredible new voice in director Rob Marshall gave this movie everything it needed. The idea of having the musical take place inside of Roxie's head as a real movie happened on the outside was beautiful and made the whole thing more accessible to modern audiences. A well deserved Best Picture.

Drumline

Another movie that makes the list because of the sheer number of times I saw it. My middle school friends, who went to our public high school, while as I went to a neighboring town's Catholic, were all in marching band. So they loved this movie. I like it a lot. I like Nick Cannon.

2003's list includes: Pirates of The Caribbean, School of Rock and Finding Nemo!

The cinder or the shiny apple of it's eye.

2009-12-09T22:37:00.001-05:00

Tonight's Glee was unbelievable tonight.

Lea Michelle doing "Don't Rain on My Parade," was so unreal.

I don't know how I'll make it until April waiting for new episodes. But I guess I'll have to.

Best of a Decade: 2001

2009-12-09T10:38:00.000-05:00

In 2001 I was thirteen. It was a year of slumber parties, bar and bat mitzvahs, lounging by the pool without any care in the world. It was also a year that we rented a lot of movies.

Save The Last Dance

White girls can dance hip hop too! No really they can! Julia Styles had already worked her way into our hearts with 10 Things but this just made us all love her more. The story of a ballet dancer who moves to the south side of Chicago, and achieves her dream of attending Juliard, and meets a hot black future doctor! Actually it's a really sweet little across the tracks love story with some nice characters inside of their ghetto stereotypes.

Sugar and Spice

I was very into cheerleading in middle school. This movie was about a cheerleading squad who's captain gets pregnant and so they rob a bank. It's really funny. Diane, the pregnant one, and her boyfriend Jack (get it?) are clueless and perky about their situation. Also Jack is played by a young James Marsden. So there's that.

Get Over It

Before HSM there was Get Over It. It could be filed into the strange world that was late 90s early 00s teen comedies, but this movie, which was actually a full blown musical is much better than that. It's transcended by Martin Short as a crazy kept down drama teacher. Not to mention the fact that the production they're working on is A Midsummer Night's Rocking Eve, an adaptation of Shakespeare that feature such great numbers as "It's fun to be a fairy," and "Hermia, why don't you love me?" Also, Sisquo of Thong Song fame is the token black guy. And Shane West does a really bad English accent.

Josie and The Pussycats

I was Val for Halloween this year with two of my friends being Josie and Melody. Obviously, I look the most like Rosario Dawson (that's a joke, by the way!) But this is one of those movies that you love when you're a tweener, and then watch again once you understand that it's actually a satire of the music industry and laugh even harder. Plus the soundtrack is pretty rocking.

Moulin Rouge!

It brought musicals back to life. Or it was at least the first jolt. Plus who knew that Obi-Wan and Nicole Kidman could sing? Another one where the music is unbelievable. "Tango Del Roxanne" is incredibly powerful and the original song "Come What May" is as touching a love duet as Broadway has come up with in the past twenty years.

Shrek

Remember when Shrek was like really cool and slick and new and funny? Before they ran it into the ground. My sister and I saw it in the theater and we could not stop laughing. Eddie Murphy's performance as Donkey just made everything better.

Pearl Harbor

This movie always gets the short end of the stick. Sure it's a little overblown, but aren't epics always that way? I still get choked up just thinking about the end when Rafe and Evelyn are standing on their farm and the little boy runs out and he says, "Danny, do you want to go up?" Weeping!

Legally Blonde

Another movie that was brilliant and then ruined by lesser sequels and a Broadway musical that we don't talk about. (I don't CARE how good it was! Was Reese Witherspoon Elle? Don't care!) Everyone fell in love with Elle Woods and the fact that she solved the big case and got the guy (not the guy she came for, but LUKE WILSON!) and then graduated from law school, all while being herself was great. Plus you know, "The other day I saw Cameron Diaz at Fred Segel and I talked her out of buying this really heinous orange sweater. Whoever said orange was the new pink was seriously deranged!"

Ocean's Eleven

Coolest movie ever. George Clooney in a tux 80% of the time. Brad Pitt and George Clooney call Matt Damon "The Kid" most of the time. This is the movie that got Matt promoted to the cool kids table. (I have this theory that Hollywood is just like middle school. See, Ben and Matt used to sit at the nerdy table, with Kevin Smith and Jason Lee and the other Askiewers. Ben's back there...except for when he's with his cool girlfriend. Matt doesn't talk to them in the halls anymore, because then George and Brad wouldn't invite him to the cool parties.)

Coming in 2002: The Divine Secrets of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood, 8 Mile and Chicago.

Best of A Decade: 2000

2009-12-08T10:25:00.000-05:00

There's a lot of talk about the "Best Films of The Decade" going on right now. Me, I'm focusing on my favorites from each year, each in their own . These may not be the greatest movies, many of them didn't make money, or win any awards. These are just the ones that mean something to me. Sometimes, these are bad movies. I was twelve when this decade started, and my taste reflects it. These are the movies that mean something to me, they have some special significance.

Or they're just awesome

High Fidelity

John Cusack, Jack Black and an amazing soundtrack. Plus a cameo from Bruce Springsteen. This is a movie that calls up lazy Saturday mornings sitting in my PJs with my sister and my dad, creating our own Top 5s.

All I Wanna Do

This is a movie about an all girls boarding school where Kirsten Dunst, Rachel Leigh Cook and the girl that played Abby on Dawson's have great haircuts and awesome sixties clothes. Also they call penises "the hairy bird." This is a slumber party movie, especially when you go to all girl's school and consider yourselves to be social outcasts, like me and my friends did.

Keeping The Faith

A priest and a rabbi both fall in love with their childhood friend...guess how that ends? Really this movie is just the perfect example of why Edward Norton should do more comedy. I love this movie, because it talks about that idea that me and my youth group friends dealt with that so many people don't acknowledge exists, the young attractive priest. They are out there, and we are very sad every time we see them.

Almost Famous

"Listen to Tommy with a candle burning, it'll change your world." Cameron Crowe's opus to life on the road gives us something to think about. Can rock and roll save the world? Crowe seems to think so, but only in it's purest form. The "industry of cool" that is shown as developing in the movie cannot. But the movie that introduced us to Kate Hudson, and made "Tiny Dancer" a bus trip staple deserves it's place in movie greatness.

Meet The Parents

My friends and I saw this movie the weekend it opened. We laughed harder than we had in a long time. Robert DiNiro turns his icon status into comic gold and Ben Stiller's angry neurotic is better than ever here. Blythe Danner is fabulous too, as Pam's blissfully adorable mother.

Pay It Forward

One of those movies that I loved the first time I saw. Haley Joel Osment is adorably unflappable, Kevin Spacey is smart and interesting and Helen Hunt manages to feel both real and unreal at the same time. The "pay it forward" concept is important, the idea of doing three favors, and saying that all the person need do is do three favors for someone else could change the world. A real pay it forward movement would do this world good.

Miss Congeniality

Sandra Bullock has this amazing ability to be tough and feminine at the same time. Miss Congeniality is prime example of this. Even deeply undercover as a beauty pageant contestant Grace Hart is tough, but she's beautiful. Not to mention this has one of the best supporting casts in the world. Michael Caine, Candace Bergen and William Shatner are spectacular.

Coming for 2001: Save The Last Dance, Legally Blonde, Pearl Harbor and more.

The River don't flow

2009-12-05T10:14:00.002-05:00

OK, let's caveat before I start here.

Summer Glau is really good at what she does. Seriously, she does that whole slightly crazy, tilt of the head thing, combined with her sweet littleness, it's terrifying and wonderful to watch.

It really worked on last night's twin episodes of Dollhouse.

I don't love Dollhouse. I never really have. I like it, I'm relieved that it's ending next month, because it means that Joss can move on to other projects (Dr. Horrible sequel!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Anyway, last night's episodes focused on the senator who has been claiming that he has evidence to take down the dollhouse. He does, and the evidence is Madeline aka Melly aka November.

It turns out that the senator himself is a doll. Well, not exactly, he was a political dynasty playboy who Rossum "enhanced" to become the ideal advocate. The plan was to take down Adelle and the LA Dollhouse, giving their tool the political leverage to keep Rossum safe forever. After some trickery on Topher's part, the LA Dollhousers figured out the plan and tried to break it down.

This is where Summer came in. She played Bennet, the genius programmer at the DC Dollhouse. Basically, she was River Tam, her character from Firefly but a more nutso sociopathic River. Like in that episode where she stabbed Jayne, or whenever she heard the code word in Serenity.

I have to admit she did a great job, and I was scared of her. As it turned out Bennet was working with Caroline before Caroline became Echo, and she abandoned her injured, leaving her arm paralyzed. As a result, Bennet is bent on revenge. She tortures Echo to pay for Caroline's crimes.

The real joy came though when Bennet and Topher met and worked together, in a giddy sociopathic nerd love thing. They're really into each other. Meanwhile, with Adelle and Topher off in DC trying to save the dollhouse, Topher left Victor behind, imprinted as him. This was hilarious, and pure joy for me. I've always wanted more Xander....I mean, Wash...I mean Topher.

Anyway, I think Dollhouse has set up a good home stretch for itself.

And it was nice to see River again. We nerds miss her.

A Glimpse of the Future

2009-12-04T09:49:00.003-05:00

This week's Glee definitely took the show to a place it hasn't gone before, and I place I'm pretty sure it will go again, if it wants to transcend itself at any level.

While I love Glee for the music, the laughs and the quasi surreal aspects. But even me, the queen of Sunshine and Butterflies television, was getting frustrated with how clean everything was coming off (and I don't mean clean, like sexless clean, I mean clean, everything wraps up neatly at the end of the episode clean.) but this week Glee went to what my creative non fiction professor refers to as "The Dark Place." (Hi Dr. Krauss!) I used to pull my hair out trying to get there, because I didn't understand what he meant. It's the kind of thing you don't know until you see it. And this week, we saw it.

Will found out that Terry was lying about the pregnancy and we saw not only a side of Will that we've never seen but I side I wasn't sure Morrison had. OK, I'll admit it, Musical Acting is mostly smiles and nodding. There, I said it! So excuse me for thinking that's all Mr. Link Larkin had in him. He doesn't. The scene where he found out was so crazy intense I got what I call the Schindler's giggles (When watching Schindler's List for the first time my body had no way to release how uncomfortable I was watching some of the scenes, namely the one where they march everyone out of the ghetto and the Nazis pull randoms out of line to shoot them, and I got a severe case of the giggles.)

The episode was also about yearbook photos. Principal Figgins decided not to include the glee club, because the picture always gets vandalized. After a lot of hemming and hawing, Quinn manages to blackmail Sue into giving up one of the Cherrio's pages for glee. However the final scene of the show was of the football players drawing all over the page.

Why am I sure that the show will go there again? Well because of this man silly:

(That's Joss Whedon!)

You might just make it after all.

2009-12-02T16:48:00.003-05:00

God bless Hulu.

Really. Today I was going to watch an episode of 30 Rock on a study break, and saw recommended on the bottom The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

It's been years since I watched Mary Tyler Moore. It's one of my mother's favorites, and we watched it all the time when I was little, back when Nick at Night showed shows that hadn't premiered when I can remember them or were even cancelled before I was born. (I remember watching the first seasons of The Nanny, George Lopez, Malcolm in The Middle and Everybody Hates Chris.)

It's hard to argue how influential Mary Tyler Moore was. If you watch Mary and Rhoda discuss their single girl blues and add some F bombs and more specifics about what goes on between them and their men, you'd have Sex and The City. Mary's dedication to her career and dealings with her misanthopic boss and wacky coworkers clearly inspired Tina Fey and her alter ego Liz Lemmon.

Let's not take away from the show itself though. It's ridiculously funny. Also Mary's miniskirts are so mod and adorable!

And I called it!

2009-11-25T09:42:00.002-05:00

Donny Osmond was crowned the winner on Dancing with The Stars last night.

It's not really a shock to me.

The Osmonds are all powerful.

I'm actually pretty happy. While I'm not hugely into them, ther can really be no objection to the Osmond squeaky clean form of entertainment. Someone like Donny Osmond suits DWTS very well. And I love Kym, and I'm glad she finally got a win.

Next season I'm pulling for Edyta, since Julianne still isn't coming back.

For EC's consideration

2009-11-23T14:47:00.002-05:00

I'm not quite done tearing New Moon apart just yet. I mean, I pretty much am, but this is something I've been aiming to write for a while, but never got around to.

Movieline posted this little piece about what Edward Cullen could learn from other B-Movie vampires. Me? I'm just talking about those of his kindred, the good vampires. Those who share in his "boo hoo, woe to me who has eternal life," philosophy. That being said, his brothers have some stuff to teach him too. A lot actually.

Bill Compton: True Blood/The Southern Vampire Novels

Lesson for EC: Drinking your beloved's blood is A-OK, so long as she says so.

Bill feeds off of girlfriend Sookie Stackhouse all the time. She's fine and they have a mostly functional relationship. Plus having her blood in his system makes him more attuned to her. He can sense when she's in trouble. For Edward, who sees himself as Bella's protector, that's got to be appealing.

Stefan and Damon Salvatore: The Vampire Diaries

Lesson for EC: As a teenage vampire attending high school, you can socialize and participate in school activities normally. Truly!

Stefan goes to parties, and hangs out with his classmates, he even joined the football team for an episode (then his brother Damon ate the coach, but you know, whatever) He befriends love Elena's buddies, and even makes nice with her ex boyfriend Matt. Even Damon, the evil one, socializes normally in Mystic Falls. He's buddies with the sheriff (he boinked her daughter) and haunts the neighborhood bar. The Cullens could learn a thing or two from the Salvatore brothers, when it comes to interpersonal relations.

Angel: Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel

Lesson for EC: You ask before you start climbing in your mortal lady's window, thank you very much.

Granted, like most every vampire but Edward, Angel requires an invitation to enter someone's home, but even once he had unfettered access to Buffy's place, Angel always asked permission to come in. "I'm just trying to be polite." He often explains. Not to mention for all of his skulking and brooding, he never out and out stalks the poor girl. Sure, that time he sat in the sewer and watched her before they met in LA was err, odd, it wasn't a pattern. Get the difference Edward? Angel never stayed up and watched Buffy sleep all night, because really, ew.

Louis: Interview with A Vampire

Lesson for EC: Brooding and guilt will get you nowhere, except lonely talking to a reporter in a hotel room.

Louis became a vampire out of his guilt for the loss of his family. Then he made Claudia into a vampire out of guilt for killing her mother. Then he let Claudia "kill" Lestat out of guilt for turning her into a vampire. Do you get the picture? In the end where did it land him? Alone, in a hotel room telling Christian Slater his life story. Oh and Lestat was TOTALLY stalking him. Quit brooding Eddie not everything bad is your fault.

Lesson from all of them: Lightening up is totally allowed from time to time. Really.

Even Angel and Louis, the broodiest of the broody find time for some fun. Angel likes to listen to Barry Manilow, plus he makes eggs for Cordelia when they solve a case, and Louis goes to the movies. Stefan, as we mentioned plays football, also pool, and he has a best friend named Lexi, who apparently hooked up with Jon Bon Jovi once. Bill unwinds with a nice cold TruBlood at Merlotte's or he plays his Wii, (seriously, apparently vampires love Wii.) How does Edward unwind? He composes melancholy music about Bella or plays chess with Alice. Sorry, not gonna cut it. Even his brothers do better, Jasper and Emmet wrestle with each other in the garage.

Two Households, Alike in Dignity

2009-11-21T09:43:00.003-05:00

I got back from seeing New Moon at around midnight. I immediately sat down to blog about it and found myself unable to string together any sentence more coherent than, "It was awesome!" Now that I've had a night to sleep on it, I'll try to do more than that.

First of all, I have to say it is a huge step up from the first film, it's funny, fairly well paced and well shot. The performances are stronger, particularly Kristin Stewart's. I was right in what I said about a year ago, Weitz's experience with teen sex comedies definitely made for some of the best scenes. The awkward trip to the movies where Bella finds she's on a date with Jacob and Mike at the same time, both unintentionally reads better and funnier than anything in Twilight. The decision to have the narration this time around be a result of emails that Bella is sending to Alice (always bounced back, but she uses them as a kind of journal) was brilliant and more engaging than just being in Bella's head.

I was impressed by the performances this time around. While I still find myself struggling with the Robert Pattinson/Ed Westwick method of hiding the English accent (I'm going to whisper whenever I start to slip!) Over all Pattinson's performance was more relaxed in this one than in the first. He seemed more at ease. Maybe it was just his lack of screen time that did it.

Like I said, Kristin Stewart really stepped up her game. She looks hollow and ghostlike during her depression, she is immediately at ease when she starts spending time with Jacob, and she's actually angry from time to time, even engaging. I have to admit I had my doubts about her being able to do anything but the awkwardness she played one note in the first film but she pulled it off. The "voting" scene, where Bella asks the Cullens their opinion on her becoming a vampire, she's downright assertive, a side of Bella that I didn't think she got across in Twilight, and one of my favorite aspects of the character. Once again, I no longer despair Breaking Dawn, I mean, I do, because I don't love it as much as the others, but I know that she'll be able to pull off Bella's changes. I wasn't sure before.

Taylor Lautner was unbelievable. As has been said by the cast in several interviews, he takes this movie and runs with it. From the moment he walked on screen he commands every scene. For one thing he comes on the scene much earlier, showing up at Forks High to give Bella a birthday present. When he hugs her and shoots Edward a dirty look over her shoulder, like a child playing with another kids toy without permission, it's wonderful. When Bella starts hanging out with him, he's giddy about it, just wanting to be with the girl who he's clearly been crushing on since childhood. The negotiations of their relative "ages" is one of my favorite parts of the book series and it's done beautifully here. The first time Bella sees Jacob after his transformation is heartbreaking. You see him fighting with everything he has to keep himself under control. The chemistry between Lautner and Stewart is wonderful, way better than the chemistry between Stewart and Pattinson.

OK, on to my favorite part, of both Twilight, and now New Moon. The smaller roles, and how good they were.

Billy Burke again steals all his scenes as Charlie Swann. He balances quiet intensity and goofy young dad-ness perfectly. When Bella disappears and Sam finds her the tenderness when he takes her from him is amazing.

Big points once again go to Anna Kendrick and Michael Welch, who execute Mike and Jessica with humor and heart. Kendrick is about to burst into her own with Up in The Air but her performance here is once again scene stealing, as she and Bella walk out of a movie theater together and she rambles about "What's wrong with consumerism? I like shopping!" I couldn't help laughing very very hard, not quite as hard as I do at this but still:

Anyway, she was great. Welch was also great, particularly in the movie scene that I described earlier.

The Wolf Pack was great, if underused. I understand people are there for the love triangle, but the depth of the minor characters is what I think takes the saga above what it should be. And I was also annoyed because The Volturi and the Cullens get that depth and the wolves don't.

Which brings us to the Volturi. The scenes in Volterra were captivating, Dakota Fanning was terrfying and Michael Sheen did an excellent impression of Tom Cruise in Interview With A Vampire. The scene was amazing, particularly a special effect when Felix cracked Edwards head against the marble floor. I can't even begin to explain it.

The final confrontation between Bella, Jacob and Edward was cutting. And ending it exactly as Edward proposed rather than showing the argument between the pair was a brilliant way to bring excitement from Eclipse. Which is coming June 20. Seven months. There was already a teaser poster in the lobby of the theater. I'm excited, to say the least.

So overall, though it has it's problems, New Moon is a better put together and cleaner film than Twilight. The action got stepped up and I have high hopes for Eclipse, it's my favorite book in the series, so I'm prepped for disappointment.

Howl at the Moon

2009-11-20T12:41:00.007-05:00

So here's the big one for the week! Werewolves haven't ever gotten the glamorous treatment that vampires have in pop culture. They are distinctly less sexy. But they're often times a whole lot more fun. Face it, while vampires have cornered the market on brooding and sexy and all of that, werewolves are more savage, they are literally the animal within. So let's explore that shall we?

Scott Howard: Teen Wolf/Todd Howard: Teen Wolf Too

Played by Michael J. Fox and Jason Bateman respectively, these wolves, like many get their wolfiness from a genetic quirk. While Fox got the better movie, both take into account the hilarity that can come from a teenage boy sprouting lots of body hair, and like a couple of the witches here, it's all just a metaphor for puberty. Plus watching Michael J Fox Dunk is effing hilarious.

Tommy Dawkins: Big Wolf On Campus

Just like Fox and Bateman Tommy found wolfdom more fun than anything. Plus he used it to become a super hero. Or maybe not. I really don't remember details about this show. But I thought it was awesome when I was ten. I do remember one time he time traveled and then ended up back in our time, but because he interfered with something in the 80s The Communists took over. So, he interfered with the past and changed the future, also like Michael J. Fox. Oh, also, Rachel LaFevre was on season 1, and now she plays Victoria in Twilight. So there's that.

Remus Lupin: Harry Potter

Lupin was my favorite character. He was awesome. He was by far the best defense against the dark arts teacher. Probably because you know, he was his subject. I'm still not over the fact that he died. Not at all. Seriosuly. The first time I read Deathly Hallows I cried for like a half an hour. Not joking. Anyway, one of the only traditional werewolves in recent memory, Lupin changes at the full moon, and only at the full moon, also if he doesn't drink his potion he goes crazy and tries to eat Hermione.

Daniel "Oz" Osbourne: Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Oz became a werewolf when his little cousin bit his finger. To keep himself and the other Scooby gang members safe he locked himself in the rare book cage in the Sunnydale High library. He started out as a traditional werewolf, but after time focused the powers and could become a wolf at any time. Plus he was in a band.

And finally, you knew it was coming:

Jacob Black: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn

A result of the strange genetic quirk in the Quilieute people, brought about to protect the tribe from vampires, Jacob is a shapeshifting werewolf with lots of angst to go along with it. Granted the angst is less about his wolf state and more about how Bella doesn't love him, but still. Jacob eventually leaves the Quilieute pack behind in Breaking Dawn, because he disagrees with leader Sam Uley's decision that the pack will kill Bella and her unborn half vampire baby, who as it turns out is Jacob's soul mate. (I don't really care for Breaking Dawn. I think it's kind of a stretch) After imprinting on Rennesme, the Cullens accept him as one of their own. (Except Rosalie, because you know, bitch!) and he even forms his own little mini pack with Seth and Leah Clearwater. So that's pretty cool.

Why I miss HS sometimes...OK a lot of time

2009-11-18T16:13:00.003-05:00

Today on twitter I had some really fun exchanges with my high school friends about New Moon. Well, not so much New Moon as Taylor's hotness, and the fact that we are WAYYY creepy for being this sprung over a 17 year old boy. Do guys feel this creepy when they're all into teenage girl stars?

Anyway it began like this:

Me: Just watched Taylor Lautner interview on Jay Leno. I'm going be watching New Moon entirely with my hand over my mouth.

Me: Please Note, this is to prevent squealing and hysterics, not vomiting. Although maybe some vomiting.

Responses:

Katie: I will squeal & get hysterical... and then realize his age ends in 'teen'...and THEN I will vomit.

Ali: Personally I thought he was way hotter with the long hair.

Me: Yeah, but he didn't have his shirt off with the long hair. It's a trade off. In Eclipse we get both if they stick to the book.

Ali: And he'll be legal by then. This could be an all around win! #wearecreeps

We used to have conversations like this all the time. Ah youth!

And just for posterity. Shirtless Taylor Lautner!

So close!

2009-11-17T19:09:00.003-05:00

So, last night on Gossip Girl Nate and Serena almost got together, and then she hooked up with his married cousin instead.

Serena is a big big whore.

And the Gossip Girl writers are cruel to me.

In other news, the NYU kids did a quasi-ironic cabaret musical of Snow White set to the music of Lady Ga-Ga. Which is the single most realistic thing Gossip Girl has ever done!

Plus now Dan is in love with Vanessa and she's crushing on a gay guy. (We don't know that he's gay, but I think it's a safe bet)

I'm sad to see Hilary go, because I love her, but I was sick of Olivia.

Jenny's new drug dealer boyfriend is going to be amazing, especially once Erik gets a hold of it. But I am not a fan of this new Jenny/Chuck dynamic, because I am very afraid of where they'll take them. Blair and Chuck need to stay together so that there can be a fabulous series finale Blair/Chuck wedding.

Through the Wardrobe, Looking Glass, In The East

2009-11-17T11:28:00.008-05:00

As part two of my exploration into the world of the supernatural comes in alternate worlds. To be specific, I'm not talking about alternate universes here. That's Sci-Fi, and they need their own series of in depth posts. Hell, just the ones in the DC comics universe alone would need like three! These are mystical worlds that work and operate next to or instead of ours. Usually there's magic involved.

Narnia: The Chronicles of Narnia

The granddaddy of all of magical worlds is C.S. Lewis's world through the wardrobe. Narnia is a place where animals talk and children rule (literally, the greatest rulers of the realm are the Pevensie kids, Peter, the oldest is twelve.) Take with it a healthy dose of Biblical allegory, and you've got a recipe for the kind of place that every kid wants to be and that's good for them. It's like apple juice. Little kids love the stuff, and it gives them nutrients. Plus in Narnia, Jesus is a lion and Moses is a horse! Which is so much cooler than a carpenter and a dude with a beard. And the seven deadly sins are represented by seven islands. (Dawn Treader is my favorite book in the series.) I can't write fully on most of the theology, since when I read the books I went to a public school where Jesus was a four letter word, not because you're taking the Lord's name in vain but because you might offend one of the four non Christian students in your class, and we didn't go into those elements of them, but Jen, I'm counting on you here to fill in the blanks!

Middle Earth: The Hobbit, The Lord of The Rings

Meant more to be a stand in as a magical version of our Middle Ages, making it more of an alternate world than a magical realm, it nonetheless makes the list. JRR Tolkien's world is rich with history and it's own cultures. Magic here is a lot like Narnian magic, it's not a thing possessed by some, it's a force of it's own, that certain people (elves, wizards, to a degree dwarves) can harness. Plus dragons. There are dragons, or one dragon.

The Wizarding World: Harry Potter

What's interesting about JK Rowling's alternate world is that unlike others it exists in the same space as ours and we just can't see it, or as characters often say, "Muggles don't look properly." It's a brilliant way to ground Harry Potter in reality. And luckily for us, Universal Studios is providing us the chance to go to these places. No really. See?

Wonderland: Through The Looking Glass, Alice in Wonderland

Lewis Carroll's creation of Wonderland wins for trippiest alternate world. Although the original book wasn't the result of an acid trip, although I think there was Opium involved, most of the subsequent adaptations were made with hallucinogens. Wonderland, like Narnia is meant to teach lessons, mostly about being yourself, but not disobeying authority, except when the authority is stupid. Or something. You know what? Just look at the pretty flowers.

Avalon: Every adaptation of Camelot ever, except Jerry Bruckheimer's King Arthur, which sucks really badly anyway, so who cares?

Avalon, like The Wizarding World, is unique in that it exists physically in our world, and it's shrouded in mystery. In some versions, Avalon is merely an island, in others it is a place beyond our world where The Once and Future King, Arthur, goes to wait until it is time for him to return. (Confused? Yeah, there are academics who dedicate their whole careers to trying to figure out this mess.) It's certainly the residence of The Lady of The Lake. Who's magic. We think. Unless you follow Meg Cabot's interpretation. Then she's a teenage track star who likes to hang out in her pool and has a thing for quarter backs.

So there you have it. I realized after I wrote the entry that all of my examples are literary, but I think it's because these places are easier to create in books than on film. Even the film adaptations of these books have trouble translating them. Metaphor doesn't always work visually.

It's Witchcraft

2009-11-16T11:48:00.009-05:00

With New Moon finally opening on Friday (has it really only been a year since Twilight? How are Ironman fanatics dealing with having to wait three years for their sequel?) I have a laser focus. I'm in a twisted joy and fear based swirl of excitement around the supernatural.

So I've decided to write about it. I could write about vampires, (I've been working on a "favorites" list) but New Moon isn't about vampires, I mean, they're there, but it's really about the other.

Today, I'm talking witches. Not real witches, the kind that pop culture has taken and elevated to super status. Here they are, my favorite magic makers here.

The Halliwell Sisters: Charmed

I loved Charmed. I watched season 1 again recently and realized it really doesn't exactly hold up. But for pure The WB late 90s early millenium nostalgia, it's the best. Plus Alyssa Milano is amazing. I personally think the show suffered when Shannen Doherty left and was replaced by Rose McGowan as a formerly unknown fourth sister (not because I prefer Doherty to McGowan, let me make that clear, McGowan is way better! I didn't like the way Piper functioned as oldest sister) The Charmed ones were great and the epic scope of their mission is always good.

Willow Rosenberg: Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel

Willow started experimenting with Wicca at the end of season 2, in an attempt to restore Angel's soul. She later developed incredible powers which consumed her by season 6. Willow's magical solutions to Buffy and the rest of the gang's problems proved helpful, even if Giles consistently disapproved.

Samantha Stevens, Endora, Tabitha Stevens: Bewitched

Without Sam, as a pretty good witch on this quasi misogynistic classic there would be none of the others on this list. Samantha's mother Endora was constantly making trouble for poor Sam and her much put upon magic-phobic husband Darrin. Then came adorable daughter Tabitha, who manifested her magic powers early, and also made plenty of trouble.

Sabrina Spellman: Sabrina The Teenage Witch

A direct descendant of Samantha's, Sabrina's magic was much more about hijinks and hilarity than anything else. Plus it was a metaphor for puberty, so that was cool. Sabrina's magic caused her no end of problems, she had to lie to her friends about it, and even when she came clean to high school sweetie Harvey about it, it took him five more years to come around. But didn't we all wish when we were tweens that we could point our fingers and summon up a dance lesson with Britney Spears, and then watching reruns now, wish we could point and get the couture that Sabrina does.

Jean "Jinx" Honeychurch: Jinx

In Meg Cabot's less successful novel, Jean is a powerful prophesied witch who has to escape to New York City relatives when she turns the most popular boy in her small Iowa town into a crazy stalker with a love spell. When Jean's cousin Tory starts thinking that she's the one who's the witch, it spells difficulty, when they have their sights set on the same boy, who really only likes Jean. In the end it's Jean's commitment to not misusing magic that saves her. Personally I'd have rather seen Cabot turn this into a series rather than the too big for it's britches Airhead Science Fiction story.

The Wicked Witch of The West, Elphaba: The Wizard of Oz, Wicked

She struck fear into the hearts of children everywhere for generations, then she was the center of a heady confusing novel, and then she touched the hearts of freaky girls everywhere in her own musical. The shrieks of Margaret Hamilton's green witch are terrifying, right out of play pretends about the mean old neighbor. I've only read Maguire's novel once, but I didn't really get it. Then came Idina Menzel taking on the icon in Wicked. If your heart doesn't break as she sings "I'm Not That Girl" you need to get a new. Thankfully, we're in Oz, which means we could probably find you one.

Hermione Granger: The Harry Potter series

The talent behind the men. Hermione was the one who found the ways for Harry's plans and hijinks to make them legendary. If it weren't for the her and her bizarre ability to memorize thick volumes, (Hogwarts: A History) they never would have found the Sorceror's stone and Voldemort would have come back full force four years before Harry was ready and smacked his ass. Of course then Cedric Diggory might have been spared, but I digress. Hermione's book smarts are absolutely the driving force behind Harry and the success of his adventures.

So those are my witches. Coming before the end of the week, alternate worlds, mythological creatures and of course, werewolves!

"Big Wheels Keep on Turning"

2009-11-13T18:02:00.002-05:00

I've been hoping for a few things from Glee and I got them this week.

I really wanted to look more deeply into Artie and Tina. I was getting frustrated by the lack of exploration into characters with potential. I like that we've gotten to know Puck and Quinn, but I as feeling jipped out of getting to know the characters we met in the pilot.

The episode focused on Will deciding to get the kids to empathize with him by having them all ride around in whellchairs at least 3 hours a day. And then a romance between Artie and Tina. I nearly fell over I was so happy. Tina admitted that she's only been pretending to have a stutter because as a shy child she didn't want to talk to people. Upset that they no longer had their need to overcome something in common Artie walked (or rolled) away. It was extremely touching, and Chris Colfer's rendition of "Dancing With Myself" was beautiful.

There were two other smaller stories happening, including Kurt and Rachel trying for the same solo, "Defying Gravity" from Wicked. Because my mom and I have been calling Lea Michelle "Little Idina" since the show began, I was extremely amused. There is a resemblance between her and Idina Menzel. A big one.

Anyway, this storyline wouldn't have been much if it hadn't been for the interaction with Kurt's dad, played by one of my personal favorites, Mike O'Malley. O'Malley starred in one of my favorite shows, the much maligned Yes Dear, and would you know it, he can actually act. I love the way they're showing that although he's still trying to understand his son's sexuality, he loves the kid and is going to do what he can to help his son. Also, it reminded me of my dad, trying to understand glee club in terms of sports...he still calls intermission "half time" because he knows it bugs me and my brother and sister.

The third story had me crying. We got a deeper glimpse into Sue's life. Principal Figgins ordered her to hold open tryouts to fill Quinn's spot on Cheerios, and ended up giving the spot to a girl who has Down's Syndrome. Will, and I'm sure the audience were all trying to figure out what her angle was. As it turned out, she didn't have one. In a big reveal Sue has an older sister with Down's, who she goes to visit and read to on a regular basis. I was crying really hard. Down's has impacted my life in very personally, one of my cousins is Downs and I've said many times that he is the best part of our family. He's our heart, and I loved the portrayal that this was the case for Sue too, and it made me weepy.

The final number was "Proud Mary," you know, "Big Wheels Keep on Turning!" Which was a really great song choice, considering the fact that the whole show was about both wheelchairs and being out and proud ("Proud Mary" hi, really easy to make that connection thanks!)

Plus the episode gets bonus points for repeated use of the word, "handicapable" which is the most ridiculous PC term ever and one of my favorites."