slowly recovering

I love the ability to create wishlists on tivo. I have wishlist after wishlist. One of these wishlists is for anything having to do with Russia or the Soviet Union. And after having to sit through Excess Baggage and Rachel Getting Married, I was ready for something to redeem my holiday movie watching. Thought about Revolutionary Road ... but went to the wishlist pick and picked Transsiberian. Wow, good choice!
Woody Harrelson plays this doofus who is with his wife in China and they decided to take the Transsiberian railroad from Beijing to Moscow for an adventure. It was awesome! Total suspense, a little blood, gore and good old fashioned torture .. this is the former Soviet Union afterall. And Ben Kingsley! Dude cannot make a bad film.

Having travelled to Russia when it was still the USSR and during the month of January in 1990, seeing the scenery ... winter in Russia ... dang, it made me cold. Kind of like how Fargo made me shiver because the cinematography was so real ... very Roger Deakins.

Maybe Revolutionary Road will be tonight's post dinner viewing.

I have Inglorious Basterds to watch on Blu-Ray at some point, but i need to really psych myself up to watch it so I can take proper notes. Tarantino in HD ... yahoo!

I HATE pretentious films

Yes, ugh! I hate pretentious movies and boy did I see one last night ... Rachel Getting Married. Why did I watch it ... I have no idea really, all my other shows are on a break, and I heard about what a great movie it was ... ok, so I had to check it out. Plus, I finished watching what could possibly be one of the worst films of all time earlier in the evening, more on that later, so maybe I was seeking balance.

did I mention that i hate pretentious films and that Rachel Getting Married was one of them?

Anne, love me because of my big doe eyes, Hathaway is this stupid loser with an even more stupid haircut (I think the hype was more about how Anne Hathaway looked in this screwed up haircut than anything else) ... ooooo, look at Anne Hathaway.. he hair is cut so spikey ... ooooo, give her an Oscar. Ugh, and this stupid too cool for school family ... geez, who wrote this film ... obviously someone from a privileged background ... writing what they know about because they can't relate to anything else.

ok ok ... so Hathaway plays this woman named Kym ... pretentious spelling of KIM!!!! She's this drug addict in rehab who comes home to wreck havoc on her sister's wedding ... some Hindu shindig, when both are not hindu ... or appear not to be hindu ... again, PRETENTIOUS CRAP!!! Oh and this family is just so cool ... there are a couple scenes that made me want to vomit. There's this scene involving loading a dishwasher that is just pointless ... i mean, who the heck has a contest to see who can load a dishwasher faster than a pretentious family who are desperately trying to look like an unpretentious family? This scene took forever and the climax of the scene was supposed to be sad and poignent, but since they were busy trying to act like an unpretentious family, the climax turned out like a flat tire.

Now, I'm a big sap when it comes to crying in movies. And this stupid film was trying desperately to make people cry and guess what, it didn't work on me ... IT DIDN'T WORK ON ME! so what does that say? it says THIS FILM IS A PRETENTIOUS MANIPULATIVE PIECE OF DOO DISGUISED AS ART, written by a pretentious twit who obviously has family ties to the business.

The cast was great. And even Bambi eyes Hathaway gave a great performance. My favorite character was in the very first scene ... this guy who is in rehab with Bambi let off a couple zingers that gave me hope for the film. So basically, i liked the first scene. The rest of it was pretentious crap. The guy who played Bambi & Rachel's dad is Mr. Noodle from Elmo's World, who should really stick to mime ... and then Robyn Hitchcock ... the ever pretentious Robyn Hitchcock ... ok ok ... geez I think i'm making my point. I hated this film.

And the film I watched before Pretentious Rachel getting hitched in an equally pretentious wedding, was ... oh man ... Excess Baggage. Yes, Excess Baggage. Why? Benecio Del Toro that's why.

You really see what actors have to do to get into the business when you see drivel like this. He had to know that this stupid movie was way beneath him. Chris Walken will do almost any film .. he admits it. he's a working actor and I love him for it and I'd like to think the reason Del Toro did this film is to be able to work with the master that is Christopher Walken. Walken acts with no effort ... he's just a natural and he's fabulous even in horrible movies like this. And tell me please ... why does Alicia Silverstone have a career in hollywood??? someone someone??? Is it the hair? the pouty mouth? I don't get it. There are so many good actresses in hollywood, and she gets parts? I mean, this movie was as much of a chore to watch as Rachel Getting married was pretentious. But while Rachel was trying desperately to be a good film, Excess Baggage wasn't even trying, so in that respect, it was easier to watch.

I may try to watch Revolutionary Road tonight. Fingers crossed that it will be good.

what have i been doing???

Watched Taken. Liam Neeson playing a former CIA operative ... at least that's what I think he was. Anyway, he was a total badass who was forced to rescue his less than brain blessed daughter from Albanian sex traders. I don't think it's a big stretch, or spoiler when I say that Neeson wins. It wasn't on my tivo, I flipped onto it and it wasn't a bad 2 hours to spend at all. I guess you could say I was pleasantly surprised.

And then came The Wrestler. Wow. ok, big Mickey Rourke fan. not ashamed to admit it. This guy is amazing. The story was amazing. Yea, it's about a wrestler and Mickey Rourke is the wrestler, but there's more to it than that. After seeing both Milk and The Wrestler, well, I have to say that Rourke was robbed for the Oscar. Sean Penn was great at Harvey Milk, but the physical demands of The Wrestler and the acting job ... again Mickey got robbed. You can really see how mickey rourke made it into The Actor's Studio in 1 try. The one weak spot was the stupid Evan Rachel Wood. Why is it that she has a career again? Seriously. Her scenes with Rourke were so one sided, it was hard to watch. mickey could have done those scenes with a wall and it would have been better. Marissa Tomei was great as a stripper. I remember when Demi Moore was being an attention whore showing off how she went to strippers to learn the tricks of the trade and showing off her new moves. It made me want to vomit ... what was that dumb movie? Showgirls? no .. Striptease ... ugh! Demi Moore is awful and that movie, thankfully, bombed and so has her career. Anyway, Tomei could kick Moore's butt in the stripper department. She was much more believeable and did it with little to no fanfare.

Started watching Men of a Certain Age. How can you not like Ray Romano? Such a loveable dork. The first episode was good ... 3 college buddies in various states of middle aged malaise. Andre Braugher, mr. intensity. Seriously, he makes me sit up straight when he's on screen. i wonder if he could do comedy. probably not. Scott Bakula is a washed up actor ... has a weak spot for the young ladies ... blah blah blah. Romano is a gambling addict who owns a party supply store. The pilot was good enough for me to record the second episode.

Californication had a great season finale. mia came back and screwed everything up. She's one of the worst villians ever written. Hank ended up in the back of a cop car for beating the tar out of Mia's boyfriend. Well, hopefully that will guarantee a return for next season. I hope Kathleen Turner doesn't get any recognition for her performance this season. It was so faked and cartoonish. She can do better than that.

how 'bout these for heavy films???

But first! Modern Family is simply the funniest show of the season, if not on network tv. It's bad when I can't iron while watching this show because I'm laughing so hard, the water comes spilling out of my iron and I have to put it down to laugh because I can't iron straight. Serioulsy, every single character, even the annoying husband who thinks he's Mr. Cool Dad has his moments. This is the funniest sitcom since Arrested Development and we all know how that one ended ... at least IFC is rerunning the entire series, yes, I'm tivo-ing that one too.

Californication is turning into a show that is more about Hank's witty little ghetto talkin', which is amusing, but after awhile, it seems like the show is dependent on it.

Nip/Tuck is sputtering to a close. I still think that Julian McMahon would make a fantastic Montgomery Clift.

30 Rock ... I still find Tina Fey annoying, but all the other characters, even Jane Krakowski is funny ... but I wish they would stop inventing scenes for her to sing in. That gets old. More Kenneth!!!!

Ok ... movies.

I watched Slumdog Millionaire. Ok ok ok ... yippee .. yes yes yes, it was good! But the hype machine behind it, ugh!!! It almost took on a Titanic feel. That being said, the film was wonderful! But what is it with Danny Boyle and poop? Seriously, dude has a poop fetish. In both Trainspotting and this film, the main character ends up covered in poop. In Trainspotting, a guy comes out of a toilet covered in poop so he doesn't lose his drugs ... in slumdog, the main character jumps down a toilet in order to get an autograph from a hero of his.

I guess what I liked about it was the way the story was stitched and woven together scene by scene. Each question had to do with something that happened to him and he won the girl! I loved the dance at the end.

And in my revolutionary film festival, I watched Che. Where to start with this film ... this piece of art ... well, we'll start with a criticism. Hellloooooooooo!!!!!! Belgian Congo?????? Congo????? Where was this segment of his life????

ok, this film altogether is 4.5 hours long. It was directed by Stephen Soderbergh, with whom I have a love hate film going thing with him. He makes art like this film, Bubble & Traffic, but then he makes pure crap like Erin Brokovich and Ocean's movies ... blech. But here's my biggest beef ... WHY WASN'T BENICIO DEL TORO NOMINATED FOR AN OSCAR FOR THIS FILM??? Seriously. This was a role of his career and he played it flawlessly. He doesn't speak one word of English either. The film is in Spanish.

It's split into 2 parts ... the first part takes place during the Cuban Revolution and focuses on his speech to the UN, which, again, was magnificent. You can feel any way you want about Che Guevara, but you cannot deny that this film was powerful and the performances were career making. Shoot, even Matt Damon had a cameo as a Bolivian man who didn't want Guevara's men to come to their village.

Part 2 takes place entirely in Bolivia. Again ... Congo????? Part 2 had a completely different feel from part 1. Part one, you felt like Che was in total control, but in part 2, you really see how it all falls apart and it's really sad. The fighting scenes which take place in the jungles of Bolivia are incredibly realistic. But the most masterful scene of the film was his execution. Masterful in a sense that I've never seen an execution filmed in such a way. It's like the executioner is shooting the audience. There's such a sense of finality in that scene ... it sounds corny, but it's true ... it was truly over. The film was over, Che was over, the revolution was over. This is easily in my top 10 films of all time.

I knew, but I watched it anyway ..

Boy in the Striped Pajamas ... I knew it, I just KNEW this movie was going to make me WEEP. But I guess I'm a masochist when comes to Holocaust films. The only one I didn't weep while watching was Schindler's List because, well, I hated it. Now, the Pianist was the best film about that tragic period of European history. And all you Polanski haters can hate all you want, he richly deserved that Best Director Oscar, which was presented by Harrison Ford in France .. the Pianist is one of the best films ever made, period.

ok ok ... The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. A German family is moved to the countryside because the father, who is in the SS was promoted. The kids had no idea what his Dad was going to be in charge of. They lived in this huge mansion, walled off from everything, except for the little boy could see through his window, the barbed wire of the concentration camp that his dad was in charge of ... so there ... recipe for me weeping uncontrollably. And wouldn't you know ... the boy in the striped pajamas was a little boy, the same age as the German boy, only he was a prisoner ... the boys meet almost on a daily basis separated by barbed wire. They manage to play games through the barbed wire ... but you just know this can't end well ... it just can't. But man, it ends SO SO SO HORRIBLY. It's worse than what I thought it would be. These two little boys united in friendship by a horrible tragedy .. well, I won't give it away ... let's just say that I cried and cried for a good 20 minutes in the bathroom after watching the movie. I mean, I wept. I wept worse than when I wept during the entirety of the Pianist. At least the Pianist had a little bit of a happy ending. The Pianist was about survival.

And then ... I watched The American Experience on The Dust Bowl. What a tragedy that was. So many children died from pneumonia from breathing in all that dust that was swirling around. The pictures of the oncoming dust storms were truly amazing to see. The interviews were mesmerizing and the people who survived this catastrophe are testiments to longevity. One of the ladies lost her little brother ... he was no more than 5 when he died from what they called Dust pneumonia. She still can't talk about it. So sad. So very very sad. I didn't weep, but I cried.

Watched Terror in Mumbai. FRIGHTENING isn't the word. First of all, it was narrated by Fahreed Zakaria, the most brilliant commentator in the world. Truly. He can boil down any international topic and be not only objective, but explain it so it can be understood by anyone. Apparently, the Indian government intercepted dozens of phone calls that came out of pakistan to the terrorists and they shot their way through Mumbai. And yes, arrests have been made in Pakistan. There was even someone arrested in Chicago for conspiracy! Chicago!!!! The phone calls were so very scary to listen to. The controller was very calm and directed the terrorists in what they were to do and these young men carried out the orders without hesitation. One was captured alive and they interrogation was again, fascinating and scary. He'll be hung, no doubt ... but the audio and video of the attacks and their aftermath were something to see. The Mumbai police ... so incompetent and ill equipped to handle this type of, heck, any type of terrorist attack. I just hope that for the sake of the citizens, they've learned their lessons.

Curb Your Enthusiasm's season finale was magnificent. Jerry Seinfeld deserves an Emmy for his performance. He and LD have such a great synergy together. I hope they don't bring any of the former cast members back again. It was a great run. And I loved how LD made reference that this reunion was to make up for the Seinfeld series finale that was supposedly so bad ... which ... I guess I'm a whacko because I liked it. I also like the Sopranos series finale. Just color me kooky.

And here's a tidbit ... the slurpee capital of the world is Winnipeg, MB ... who knew????

Milk

Great film. Sean Penn IS a great actor, whether you like him or not. Shoot, I liked his narrating Dogtown & Z-Boys ... excellent documentary, by the way. Yep, big Sean Penn fan here. Guilty.

Watched Milk last night. I remember when he was killed. It was surreal because it was shortly after the Jonestown massacre in Guyana and the assasination of Leo Ryan. I remember feeling like there was too much bad crap going on and it all seemed to eminate from San Francisco, wonderful San Francisco. Jim Jones's people's temple was in the Bay Area ... Leo Ryan was the congressional representative ... but funny, the film, Milk, never once made mention of the other events and they happened less than 2 weeks apart. I guess that's my only issue with the film.

Sean Penn's performance was incredible, but I have to say, every single co-star was equally magnificent. And of course, there's Diego Luna!!! Watching him ... sigh ... he should be a bigger star than he is. But then again, he had plenty of practice kissing a man with Y Tu Mama Tambien ...

Josh Brolin, another one who must be really picky or something because his performance in both No Country for Old Men and this one ... he has range!

Emil Hersch playing a rent boy ... and then he also played the main character in Into the Wild .. directed by ... Sean Penn!!!! oh I love that kind of stuff.

American Experience started up again, as did Frontline (the most important show on television). AE did a great show about the Civilian Conservation Corps and how errily similar the opposition backlash was to the CCC to all the backlash of today ... government takeover! Too much money!!!! The CCC really started the environmental movement in the country. If you visit most state or national parks, the CCC have all left their makes. The built bridges, cabins, planted trees, cleared brush ... and they also trained millions of men to be able to transition into the military and serve in WWII ... thank you FDR!!! Glad you stayed strong.

Frontline had a program on called The Warning. Apparently, there was a woman by the name of Brooksley Born, who was in charge of the CFTC, who warned congress about these derivative swaps, only to be run out of DC by Greenspan and laurence Summers ... I'm sure she doens't enjoy being right on this issue, but she was and Summers is still in government.

I hafta say ...

Bored To Death was quite a pleasant surprise. The first episode wasn't good, but as the show moved along, it got better and better and the season finale was good enough that I hope HBO brings it, rather than Hung, back for a second season. If they bring back both, that's ok too, but if they have to choose between one or the other, I'll take Ted Danson and Oliver Platt over that googley eyed woman ... Jane ... Addams ... anyday.

And on a completely different rant: Notre Dame football. I was recently taken to task because I am not a graduate of ND, therefore, I have no right to be a fan, defend the team, the coach, cheer for them, or criticize anyone for bashing them. Well, I give a hearty state bird of New Jersey to them. I've been a fan of ND for my entire life. As have most of their fans, those who both attended and didn't attend. This incident happened a while ago and I'm still incensed. Anyway, here's my rant:

Unless Jon Gruden takes the job, they need to stick with Charlie Weis. I read all these silly opinions about this no name guy called Brian Kelly from Cincinnati ... didn't even know they had a football program. I only have heard of them because of their dismally corrupt basketball program ... and I fear that their football program, considering how good they supposedly got so quickly ... nope, Brian Kelly can use ND as a salary negotiator to go take the U of Michigan job if they ever wise up and get rid of Rich Rodriguez, which would only serve him right for what he did to his very own alma mater, West Virginia. ND plays by the NCAA rules and I'm becoming more and more convinced they are the only ones who do. They hold their athletes to just as high an academic standard as they do the rest of the students at ND. You can't be a dummy, even marginal and get into ND. I'd be surprised if any of the Cincinnati players would even get wait listed at ND. They need a coach who "gets" that aspect of ND and I can guarantee you that this Brian Kelly probably doesn't.

Nope, ND, stick with Charlie. He's a proven recruiter, which to be honest, college football is all about the game of recruiting anymore, which stinks, but it is what it is. Tyrone Willingham single handedly caused ND to go down the tubes recruiting wise, well now Charlie has top talent wanting to spend their college years in south bend ... that's saying something. They are getting guys to choose ND over USC, FLA, UT ... Tyrone couldn't do that.

My gut tells me that Gruden is positioning himself to take the Bears or Lions job before he'd consider ND.

rant over.

I gave up on that stupid Dallas Divas and Daughters show. Seriously ... it was just awful. The moms and daughters should be ashamed of themselves and I don't see how they can be seen in public for their terrible displays. They are just bad bad bad people and it's just shameful that the style network would continue to waste their time with this show.

Still getting through my many 1000 Ways to Die episodes. Sometimes it's hard to watch ... I fast forward through some of the deaths.

Modern Family is simply the best new show of the season. Ed O'Neill deserves the Emmy now. Al Bundy who???

oh and did I mention that WGN didn't renew their contract to run Corner Gas????

Mad Men is done for the season. Seriously awesome show. Every character had a twist and if they could give an emmy for the best season finale, this one would be it. Jared Harris was magnificent and I can't wait to see if the snooty wife leaves him because poor little missy can't stand America. The season went so fast .... oh well, have to wait until next summer to see what happens. Should be interesting as they should cover the British invasion. And I also don't think that Betty is going to go through with the divorce. That's my main prediction.

Nip Tuck, from what I've heard, is wrapping up for good. I think it's time.

Gossip Girl seems to be on a little hiatus as well. So now I can watch Lie to Me again.

1000 Ways to Die

Wow, wow, wow ... this show is indescribeable ... seriously. It's completely gross and I love it! I first heard about it while flipping around and landed on some The Soup type show, can't remember which one and they were describing what the show was about. It's exactly as the title suggests, it's about people dying in strange ways. I tivo'd one episode and boom, I was done, season passed that sucker! Being a Tarantino fan, this show is completely up my alley ... that doesn't sound good does it. Well, anyway, you can't help but to laugh because they have this narrator who sounds really really serious and then you have actors reinacting the death. There's one about a supermodel who eats herself to death ... yea, they show what happened ... some guy gets high on shrooms and ends up getting killed because he tried to have his way with a bear. Some guys throws a javelin and ends up running into it with his eye .... his EYE!!! They have doctors get into the medical reasoning about how they died. Seriously, it's a perfect show! Did I just type that? Since I season passed it, I have a ton of them to catch up on ...

Nip/Tuck is getting kind of meh. I don't like Rose McGowan as Teddy ... I'm just not a fan of her. Seriously, chicky chick ... the goth thing is over ... yawn! I like Gossip Girl better than I like Nip/Tuck at this point. And THAT is a sad thing to write.

Happy Halloween!

Too much reality!

So this stupid stupid stupid show on Style Network called Dallas Divas and Daughters is just AWFUL!! And from what I'm reading elsewhere, the true socialites in Dallas have no clue who these women are! I know nothing of Dallas, never been there ... really no reason to go there. But when I think of Dallas, I think of Jessica Simpson types and none of these women and these things they call daughters are anything like that. There's this one woman who has an unnaturally lipsticked mouth of a carp whose hair looks like it's laquered to her head a mile high ... I cannot begin to think what that thing looks like in the morning! And her daughter just doesn't understand why her mom attracts losers .... poor kid. Then there's a woman who claims to be an aristocrat, who, in reality, it seems is a new monied former loose teenager who is raising a daughter who is clamped down on so hard that this poor thing is going to run off to college and get into some major trouble when mommy isn't around. Who the heck gives hickeys anymore??? Yuck. Then there's this leather faced plump amazon who has been labeled a wannabe ... yea, that's how I'd want to be labeled on a reality show! She's awful!!!! She and the so called aristocrat go at each other and to be honest, it looks incredibly fake. And then there are these bratty daughters ... ugh!! Can't blame them though ... their mothers sowed the seeds of these brats.

I'm starting to watch The Property Shop of HGTV. It's one of those real estate agent shows. The main agent is this poodle haired, but really cool lady from Montreal named Tatiana Londano ... she's fun, the city is beautiful. It's good fun.

The new season of Whatever Martha started a few weeks ago. This season, they must have told Alexis to focus more on her childhood with Martha. Jennifer is superfunny this season. She has the best laugh on television. Alexis doesn't seem as hateful as she has been in the past. Maybe all this catharthsis on the show is mellowing her out.

Californication is awesome this season. Hank is now teachind writing at the university ... yea yea yea ... he's typical Hank. But this season seems to be really focusing on the comedy. Hank is like a kid in a candy store. Runkle is trying to get back together with Marcy and Kathleen Turner is Runkle's new boss... sigh ... time hasn't been kind to her. I understand she's had a lot of health problems and it looks like she's on steroids because she's really puffy and that voice is really bad now. She's not the same Kathleen Turner from Body Heat. She's still funny as heck though ... foul mouthed sexpot is what she is now.

Finished watching Jules et Jim and ugh!!!! Such a piece of arthouse crap. The woman who Jules et Jim were in love with was a horrible horrible woman ... I don't get it at all. Why would anyone want anything to do with that stupid woman, much less get into a car alone with her? Jules et Jim were dumb ... near as I can tell, the only thing this movie had to offer were interesting camera shots, but other than that ... it was oh so european and oh so stupide!!!

Margot at the Wedding ... what do you get when you mix Nicole Kidman as a bitter old NY writer with a son with hair as long as hers, Jennifer Jason Leigh playing her typical Jennifer jason Leigh character ... someone who is so incredibly messed up that you just say ... yep, that's Jennifer Jason Leigh ... and .... and ... JACK BLACK ... yes, jack black trying his gosh darned hardest to be a dramatic lead ... freaking A ... I'll tell you what you get ... A STUPID MOVIE!!! I'm glad it was less than 2 hours long.

Mad Men ... chugging along ... I think there are 3 episodes left.

Curb your Enthusiasm. My god, Larry David has no shame. He dates a woman in a wheelchair .. and yes, he tried to get romantic with her ... yes, they showed it.

My pleasant surprise has been Bored to Death. It's gotten better and better as we go along. I really like the bushy beard guy ...G-finkis guy from the Hangover. jason Schwartzman is such a goofball that he's worth watching, but Ted Danson .... what is it with this guy ... he goes silver and all of a sudden, he plays these scumbags to a T. It's amazing!

Househusbands Reunion Show ... LAME!!!!!

that was LAME!!!!! That host was the worst! Scumbag Chahlie looked like he didn't want to be there at all. All they talked about was the fighting ... which got really old and I'm sick of Shortfuse Grant and Barberidoll ... OK GUYS, WE KNOW YOU HAVE SEX, yippee skippy for you!!!!!! It was so freaking lame.No Billy ... no Billy ... get that beard back ... he didn't look right clean shaven.Hayhair is terrible! I actually felt sorry for Dannyboy ... the day he STOPS making excuses for her crappy attitude toward him, is the day they will get a divorce. She loves having a servant with benefits in the house and it's really sad that Danny doesn't get it. Yep, no baby yet ... ha!Tempestt and Daryl are so cute. Tempestt didn't seem like she was keen on the show either ... I also heard that Fox Reality is going away. Not sure if I want to see those guys another season ... been done.

Househusbands season finale ... meh!

What a cheesy finale ... boooooo!!!!

Scumbag Charlie ... oooooo ... confessing to the in laws ... big effing deal dude!!! I really wonder what it was that he did. He acts like he was a sidekick to Sammy the Bull or something. I have a picture in my head of H.I. McDonough from Raising Arizona. Again, I think he watched Reservoir Dogs a few too many times and thinks he's Mr. Yellow, the guy that got cut out of the film.

Shortfuse Grant came off as a giant dbag this episode .. enough of the "bro", "dude", talking like a poor man's Jeff Spicoli .. duuuuuuuude!!!! That webisode idea is LAME!!!! And those women are pathetic hanging all over Grant like that ... gross. And how funny is it that Barberi-doll doesn't know how to change a freaking diaper!!! Seriously!!!!

And are you kidding me??? Who the freak tells people "hey everyone, we are going to try to get pregnant!" Those two are like high school kids tee heeing about the birds and the bees. What a couple of losers. Do they not realize that they are setting themselves up for a monthly phone call to see if she's late??? I pray for Danny's sake that she get preggers PRONTO!!! If he thinks the whining about not having kids was bad? Oh my .. can you imagine what it's going to be like when she's constantly saying "Dannyyyyyyyyyy, I want to have a baby in my bellyyyyyyyyy, Dannnyyyyyyyy!!!!" I wanted to jump into the tv and pull that stringy hair of hers when he actually rah rah'd herself for wearing Danny down ... yea, I can see her nursing at 2am .. yea right! She'll try to figure a way out to find a drug that will make Danny lactate.

Billy and Daryll are the best. Can't say enough. Billy has the heart of a lion. I think that Billy & Daryll should figure out something to do together in the sports field. He's so much bigger than Daryll, it would be cute!I guess I was expecting more ... sigh.

Will there be an Andy Cohen mozel tov reunion???

Trying to get through the Truffaut film, Jules et Jim ... and I know I'll end up sounding like a complete idiot when I'm done. So far, it's just odd, almost uncomfortable to watch. Is that the same Francois Truffaut that was in Close Encounters???

Reality Television .. nooooo!!!!

I cannot believe I'm getting sucked into reality tv. And it's not the mainstream stuff either. Here's a list:

Giuliana and Bill: Why do I watch this? I did watch Rancic win the first Apprentice and he's a Chicago guy, so I get to see my beloved city a lot while watching and I did just stumble on in while channel flipping a few weekends ago. Giuliana ... I have to say that on first glance, I wanted to pop her one, but she's actually not half bad. She and Bill make a great couple. It will be interesting to see if or when they ever have kids ... they act like a couple kids right now.

Househusbands of Hollywood: Still watching this one. It rocks though, I say this hanging my head in guilt. The season finale is this weekend. Billy Ashley and Darryl Bell are the only reasons to watch this show. They are beyond sweethearts and at least Darryl Bell's SO, Tempestt Bledsoe, really gets him. Billy's wife, I call her IAM29DAMMIT, appreciates her husband, but she can be a selfish twit too. There's shortfuse Grant, who is married to the ever so dreadful Jillian Barberie ... the nutrisystem "look sharp Golic" chick ... please! Then there's this complete doof named Danny ... call him Dannyboy, who is married to this woman who has abnormally straight blond hair ... looks lile well groomed hay. She's awful! She's an attorney who prefers to keep her husband at home, but she'll never admit it. Dannyboy dropped out of premed, which is just a fancy way of saying he changed his major ... dude ... so he can pursue his dreams of being an actor. So far, all he's done is a gameshow and Shakespeare, which hayhead proceeded to whine about ... I think she just likes having a houseboy.

Watched the first episode of Dallas Divas and Daughters. Whoa, what a bunch of wannabes. Well, there's one seemingly proper Dallas hoity toid, but the others are all rather trashy. Their daughters are spoiled rotten. The hoitytoid daughter seems to be parented somewhat ... don't know how long I'll keep up with this one.

Here's what else is being watched:

Curb Your Enthusiam ... awesome. LD reunited Seinfeld and pretty much proved that reunion shows, as a rule, suck. I liked Seinfeld, but I love Curb.

Bored To Death: This past weeks episode was hysterically funny. It had nothing to do with the stupid PI storyline, they should keep doing episodes like that. Ten Danson is doing everything in his power to kill off Sam Malone with every new role. Must be the silver hair.

Mad Men: YUM! This is the most perfect show on television! Betty is completely nuts and Don doesn't know what the heck to do with her. Pete is back to being Pete and I'm expecting a new spawn of Pete by the end of the season. Peggy slept with Duck ... euwww! I just love this show.

Gossip Girl ... yea, I'm still watching ... but I wear dark sunglasses when I do!

No more Corner Gas :( WGN America didn't renew their contract to show it ... curse you WGN!!!!

Watched 2 foreign films. Moi & Toi is a ... duh .. French film about a magazine writer and her half sister who is a cellist. It's hard to describe, but I really liked it.

Rudo y Cursi stars Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal. It's a comedy about 2 country bumpkins who become professional soccer players and the madness that ensues. It was really funny, very vile, lots of cursing ... loved it. The one thing that bothered me was the in the end, a drug lord wins ... this would never happen in American films. Still liked it very much though. After The Nigh Buffalo ... had to have a different image of Diego Luna.

The Night Buffalo

Ok, so that was a really disturbing film. Diego Luna is awesome, but I didn't like the character he played. It deserved it's NC-17 rating too .. yikes!!!! I'm still not too hep on the ending ... all that stuff that happened for what, just to have his ask the equally crazy girl if she loves him and boom, that's it??? Sorry if I spoiled it, but that was the least disturbing scene.

Also watched a documentary called Someone Told Me About Carla Bruni. Sorry, but she's the hottest first lady in the entire world. She has that aloof French thing, but she's Italian. She's not a bad singer either. But I think her voice sounds like she's fresh out of bed, and maybe that's a turn on for some. But you cannot tell me that she's not gorgeous. Nicholas Sarkozy is one lucky dude. I have a feeling they will be divorced when he stops being President of France though. She has many famous men in her wake, Clapton, Jagger ...

The new fall season ...

I have to say that I haven't laughed as hard as I laughed last night as I did for a .. gasp ... network show! That show would be Modern Family. Unfortunately, for Glee, I'm going to make the choice to put that show on pause so I can see more Modern Family. So let's see, before, the only network show I watched was 30 Rock, so now I'm watching Modern Family and Community, although, I think I may stop with Community after the second episode because it totally jumped the shark on episode 2! Isn't that sad?? But, I will say this, there was this spanish rap at the end of the episode that was CLASSIC:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mgg9uVcK-ZU

Curb Your Enthusiasm started the new season ... wow, that was a truly cringeworthy episode! Catherine O'hara played this mental patient who's name was ... and I am not kidding ... Bam Bam .. yes, Bam Bam! I know the emmys were on at the same time, but they might as well have given her the emmy right there! She played Funkhauser's sister and I will always be amazed that the guy who plays Funkhauser, Bob Einstein, is not only Super Dave, but also Albert Brook's brother. And Larry is great ... such a buffoon, borderline a-hole. So happy this show is back on.

Watched a new show after Curb called Bored to Death. It's been getting bad reviews, but doggone it, I liked it! Jason Schwartzman and that grizzly guy from the Hangover ... some long Polish name that starts with a G ... it's really quirky, dry, strange .... fits Schwartzman to a T. He's a loser who's girlfriend dumps him, so he becomes a private eye ... yea, I told you it was strange. Again, I was expecting stupid, but it's not. I mean, if HBO can give Flight of the Conchords a couple seasons, this show can certainly be given the same. It's way better than John from Cincinnati ... still trying to figure out that one.

True Blood ended. Looks like Bill is either dead or is going to be dead soon. Maryann died a horrible death ... thank god ... so glad that storyline is OVER!!!!

And Mad Men was rather Tarantino-esque ... guy got his foot chopped off by a lawn tractor ... ha!

And Californication starts up this weekend ... dang! I'm back to being a full on addict again.

And Gossip Girl is back ... I hate to say this, but I actually chose to stay with GGirl over Lie to Me. Gossip Girl is so easy to watch, so silly .... I don't have to think about it. Hopefully the networks will change the times or days for Lie to Me and Glee, or I'll catch them in rerun ... sigh.

I'm watching a Diego Luna film called La Buffalo de la noches ... I'm sure I butchered that, sorry. It's The Night Buffalo. The movie jumps back and forth and in the beginning, I didn't recognize Diego Luna ... he looked like heck, skinny ... blech ... turns out, he's a drug addict in part of the film. In the flashback scenes, he looks normal. Good movie, so far.

Watched a great documentary called Afghan Beauty School. It's about a beauty school in kabul, partially funded by Anna Wintour from Vogue. I guess Afghan women love getting their hair and makeup done, who knew? It was very uplifting and positive. Good work going on there.

Daily and Keith are rounding out my viewing. Stewart had Blago on last night and Blago is so whacky, you want to believe him, but man, he's just weird.

Awesome video!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVgOl3cETb4

For some reason, I can't seem to upload the video real fancy like ... so just click on it! My buddy over at the greatest radio on the planet, WHUM, sent this to me!

Glee!!!!

What an awesome show!!! I can't believe the same guy who created Nip/Tuck created this show. It's about a subject that I ridiculed "muchly" in High School, show choir. Ok, I'm guilty about it now, mea culpa. But do check it out. It's totally worth it, especially since Nip/Tuck may be going bye bye as a result. Don't know how Ryan Murphy can produced 2 quality shows at the same time.

And Corner Gas is gone!!! Where's my favorite quirky Canadian show???? Curse you WGN America CURSE YOU!!!!

Started watching a Terrence Malick film called The New World. Sigh ... it's really good so far. Colin Farrell (another actor that I rank right up there with Brad Pitt as being very underappreciated) is John Smith. He has barely any dialogue, so his acting is true acting and he's really really good. My attitude toward him turned when I saw In Bruges, another quality film. Terrence Malick films are strange. Along with Thin Red Line (cough cough .... Joel ... cough cough), The New World is very nature-y. Malick is obsessed with the setting of his shots, like nature takes precedence over the actors, which ... ok, that's kind of cool if you can pull it off, but I expect to see the PBS logo pop up on the screen during some scenes. Well, The New World is shaping up to be better (in MY opinion!) than Thin Red Line.

I know I'll forget things ...

Daily has been on hiatus for a couple weeks. Oh well, it gives me a chance to catch up on other things. Accoding to my ever faithful tivo, it will be back next week.

Community radio ... I love community radio. I love THIS community radio station: www.whum985.org. You can stream it. Commercial free, crazy play list, awesome stuff! Check it out if you can!!!

Watched Tropic Thunder. Uhhh, ok ... yea, it was what it was. I love Steve Coogan, so it was worth watching for the few minutes he was actually in the film. I suppose there were a lot of inside acting jokes, but of course, they went over my head. I did like Danny McBride's character. Man, that guy just burst onto the scene ... East Bound and Down on HBO, Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express (watched that one too) ... he's funny, I like him. Of course everyone made a big hairy deal about Robert Downey Jr's part, which was funny, but I guess I was underwhelmed since there was so much hype. Ben Stiller .. meh ... still want to punch him in the face. overall, the movie looked like it was conceived over a drunken poker game "hey, let's call as many people that would be cool to work with and see if they'll make this movie". Good thing it worked out because the cast is the only reason to watch this film.

Pineapple Express. Another Apatow thing. Watched Apatow on Inside the Actor's Studio. Lord .. dude, we know you love your wife, but please, STOP!!! The show ended up being more about her puking in 40 year old virgin and Lipton salivating "ohhhhhh it's so hard playing a drunk" ... what? Are you kidding me? I'm no actor, but I think pulling off a drunk would be one of the easier assignements. I don't know, I like his movies, but after watching him on that show, he's kind of a loser. A rich loser, a talented loser, but seriously, I put him in teh Ben Stiller category, I want to punch him in the face. Anyway, the movie was stupid as heck. All this James Franco hype ... yea? So? He's playing a stoner .. so? I've not seen him in anything else. It was so obvious he was channeling Brad Pitt's Floyd character from True Romance ... dude, can we try to be more original? It was just over the top stupid.

Mad Men is the best, man! I can't even begin to describe it because this post would go on forever. Every single character should win an emmy. last week, Betty's dad died and it was horrible to see. Grandpa made a connection with Sally right before he died and now Sally is a mess. I hope they turn her into a pot smoking yelling teenager just to drive Betty crazy!

Househusbands of LA is my new guilty pleasure! The people are awesome!!!
I noticed that scumbag Charlie is a producer of the show ... just figures!

Ok, scumbag Charlie just can't stop trying to play an angle can he? And as much as he talks about his shady past, there aren't any specifics ... ok, he spent time in the can, ok, he robbed ... robbed what? I have a feeling he's watched Reservoir Dogs a few too many times and thinks he's Mr. Charlie. And I'm certain that he has something on Ryan O'Neil in order for him to agree to appear ... he looks so uncomfortable.

Grant. Bravo Grant!!!! They have babies who's futures need to be taken care of. Sorry, but going to neiman markup or sacks of cash avenue 7 times in 1 day blowing 7K IN ONE DAY ... he had every justification to go off like he did on her. She's an irresponsible spoiled brat who doesn't realize that entertainment careers are fleeting. It's ok to spend, but she has a big problem. She needs to grow the freak up and stop acting like she's single without responsibilities to other people. It's not just about her anymore.

Awwww, and how cute are Darryll & Tempestt? Seriously, they are flat out adorable. They should have their own show! They are the best matched couple. She's so down to earth and level headed and Daryll knows he can be a bit of a piece of work ... they are good for each other!

Danny boy and barbie doll ... sigh. I give it 2 years. She'll find some high fly-ah who is already in the biz and kick poor submissive Danny to the curb. Then maybe he'll go back and be the doctor that he planned on being all along!

IAM29DAMMIT is one damn lucky woman. He does everything for her and he does it with a smile and love in his heart. Did you see his ham hands trying to tie those silly charms on those bottles??? That's a man and IAM29DAMMIT doesn't appreciate it, going out for drinks with Bratty Barberie ... argh!!!! And those daughters of his are cut from the same cloth as mom ... Billy is the best.

What Would Brian Boitano Make

I was serendipitously (is that a word?) channel surfing and came upon one of my go to channels .... Food Network, I was hoping that my goddess of all things pretentiously delicious, Ina Garten was on ... and caught this show called What Would Brian Boitano Make. Ok, I got the South Park reference, ha ha, but the show is an absolute SCREAM!!! Here's Brian Boitano, former awesome skater and here he is in his kitchen whipping up stuff ... that even I think I could make! The dude has some serious comedy chops ... pardon the pun ... too. He nails perfectly the basic comedy rule of self deprication. Yea, South Park has their way with him, but he uses it to his advantage. I sat there laughing my head off because he is so dang funny. I love it when I can stumble on a new gem on tv. Made my day.

And my new guilty pleasure show is Househusbands of Hollywood. Again, I found myself laughing out loud at these fellas. They have no clue and they aren't ashamed to admit it. This is such a fresh contrast to the housewives shows where the women are overly concerned with image and keeping up. These guys are in survival mode. They are competing in a woman's world. There are 2 childless househusbands. One of them is Tempest Bledsoe's boyfriend, who was on Different World. He's going to be a great father. He's all about having fun and relaxing, letting the kids direct the fun. The other one, Danny, the henpecked houseboy, is a sap. His uber lawyer wife wants to be impregnated and he's just not ready and he's losing the battle ... poor thing. He's such a bottom.

I think the season finales for Hung, Nurse Jackie and Penn & Teller are coming up this week. We have 3 more episodes of True Blood ... sigh, then it's time to see what new shows I need to start watching.

In my Afghan film festival, I watched The Kite Runner. It was good ... not as great as Osama, but it was good. Never read the book, so I couldn't tell you if it's different, but the Taliban regime is truly brutal. I cannot fathom how anyone with an ounce of sanity can follow such a misguided view of Islam.

Nurse Jackie was a very pleasant surprise. I think what I like about it the most is that Nurse Jackie isn't the reason to watch the show. It's all the other characters in the ER. Edie Falco is great, don't get me wrong, but the cast is all very balanced and each character is very well developed for not having very many episodes.

And ... sigh, Mad Men. So happy it's back on the air. The Brits are now in charge and the first episode's main thrust was UK v America. I'm sure this will be a recurrent theme throughout the season. Don, I'm sure, will be fine, Ken will outstay Pete, but he's such a weasel, I think the show would have a big hole without him. Peggy, also, I see big things this season and it will all work in her favor. Sometimes it's hard to watch, but from what I understand, it truly is true to the time period.

Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist

Sigh ... double sigh ... triple sigh. I really had high hopes for this film. As far as gawky teenage movies go, this one isn't very good. The one thing this film conveys incredibly well is NYC. This is a very Manhattan movie. I like Michael Cera as an actor. He plays that boy on the verge of being a man character very well. You saw glimpses of it in Arrested Development and really saw it in Juno, Superbad, not so much, but I still liked it. Maybe I'm just an old fogey, but I kept wondering what kind of parents would let their high schoolers run around NYC all night like that? I know mine sure wouldn't! And I guess I was expecting the music to be better. The whole infinite playlist thing got shoved aside I guess. It was worth watching for Michael Cera and his bandmates, but the rest ... meh.

Mad Men started up again!!! Wooo hooooo!!!!! I'm about halfway through the episode and ... let's just say I'm so happy this show is back on tv again.

Watching a new guilty pleasure show, Househusbands of Hollywood. It is an absolute hoot!!! This show kicks all these Bravo housewife shows in the butt. You have these husbands of actresses and one supremely henpecked husband of an attorney that you just feel sorry for. This guy can't do diddly squat without her yammering and bullying him. There's one husband who is really gross ... his best friend is Ryan O'Neil, euuuuu! He robbed banks and sat in the can for several years and is now married to a psychologist and takes care of their daughter. There's a former LA Dodger who is helping his makeup artist wife launch her business while he takes care of their daughters. They're all good guys overall and a lot more fun to watch than the housewives. They aren't mean to each other, they just want to have a good time and be good dads. There are some women on these housewife shows that I wonder how much they want to me moms.

I have a good excuse this time!

My computer totally died ... not sure why, only speculative at this point. But now I'm back.

Here's what I've been watching:

Keith
Daily
Hung
True Blood
Penn & Teller Bullshit
Being Human
Heartland Highways
Globe Trekker
Parklands of the Midwest
Corner Gas ... lots and lots of Corner Gas
Z-Rock
Dirty Sexy Money

Ah, Corner Gas. I wish that WGN would move on from the 2007 season. I've seen several over a couple times now. Not that it's a bad thing, every episode is worthy of several viewings. But come on ... there are something like 6 or seven seasons ... let's get going!

Penn & Teller did a great show about the stupidity of the organic food movement! They set up food experiments at a farmer's market and almost 80% of the time the people couldn't tell correctly which food was organic versus mass produced. Now, I'm all for supporting the local farmer. I do it at least twice a week by visiting my wonderful farmer's market. But some people get too jazzed about the whole thing. In fact, one of their experiments cut a mass produced banana in half and people insisted that one was organic and the other wasn't ... it was hilarious! They had another episode about the US tax system. That was a stretch proving that the system is bullshit.

Keith Olbermann has new glasses and I don't like them.

Watched a film with Diego Luna called Criminal. The only reason to watch it is for Diego Luna. It's about a petty thief played by John C. Reilly, who sucked, and I hate writing that. His dialogue was forced and I just wasn't feeling it. And I also don't get the appeal of Maggie Gyllenhal. Seriously, I don't. She's such a shrew in everything she's in and I really got annoyed when everyone was hyper about how she was robbed because Sherry Baby wasn't nominated for any oscars ... boo hoo! I won't watch the movie for that reason alone. I won't be hyped into watching any movie .. so there! So anyway, Diego Luna really needs to work in more American films because he's just as good as his buddy, Gael Garcia Bernal.

Bollywood Hero. Chris Kattan is another one of those fellas that I cringe at whenever I see them. But ... but ... BUT!!!!! Bollywood Hero was fantastic. It was on IFC ... a 3 part miniseries. Kattan played himself, frustrated with getting crappy roles, so he goes to Mumbai with the promise of being a leading man in a film. I was incredibly surprised by how good he was ... seriously. This is the same head bobbing dork from SNL .. that Mango guy .. he's a good actor!

This season of Z-rock was the best. The guest stars alone were worth the time to watch.

Dirty Sexy Money ended on a total wimper. I felt obligated to watch the rest of the shows, but it was STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I guess I have a vampire thing going. Between True Blood and Being Human ... sigh. True Blood is good, as usual. Being Human is a total surprise. It's on BBC America and it's about 3 roommates .. one, a vampire who is trying to surpress his urges, a werewolf who is trying to figure out how to be more normal and a ghost who was killed in the flat where the 3 live. It's a little weird because the vampire can be in the sunlight and he really can't survive without feeding, but still, it's a good show.

Summertime Blues ...

Ok, so Keith Olbermann has been off for the past couple weeks. I'm not going to complain about it because the last time I did, I found out it was because his mom died. So, here's what I'll do ... I'll complain about the fill-ins. David Schuster, a fellow Hoosier, but I complete dork during Countdown. Howard Dean, the dude's face does NOT move when he speaks into the camera! Maybe he's one of those creepy Japanese robots they seem to be cranking out on a weekly basis. And then there was Lawrence O'Donnell ... NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! He was the worst .. worse that Schuster! The only fill in allowed is Richard Wolfe. Seriously, he's the only one that is a good replacement .. a temporary replacement. I can watch him without cringing or wondering if he's alive. He's smart as a whip ... maybe even smarter than Keith, yea, he's definitely smarter than Keith. So hey, MSNBC ... Richard Wolfe only from now on, please!

Finally watched Sicko. I can't say I'm a huge Michael Moore fan. I liked Roger and Me, but everything else was ... Meh. Sicko is very timely. It's over the top, as usual, but the current debates over healthcare made watching it more relevant now. He touched on the one big issue in the healthcare debate ... health insurance companies and their stranglehold on patients, doctors and our elected officials. I can't say that I'm gung ho about the movie, but it's a good place to start to make our healthcare system work better for everyone.

Started watching another vampire show called Being Human. It's on BBC and it's about 3 friends, one is a ghost, the other a vampire and the other is a werewolf. The three of them live in the ghost's apartment and take care of each other. It's quirky and smart. True Blood is getting very violent, very gory ... Being Human is a nice alternative. It takes me several minutes for my ears to adjust to the British accent, so there's lots of rewinding.

Nurse Jackie, Corner Gas, 30 Rock (old shows I never saw before), still plugging along. Dirty Sexy Money is running out the rest of the series and it's just crap. I'm only watching because I've been with the show since the beginning. It looks like they hired a bunch of wannabe writers. The actors aren't even into it anymore. It's sad because this show truly was one of the good ones at one time.

Daily Show completely PWND Bill Kristol .. Kristol kept blathering about how the military gets the best healthcare in the world and Stewart seized upon it and wondered why he's opposed to national healthcare since the military healthcare is already government run .... oh it was poetry! And then having to listen to the dope Josh Bolton actually say that he feels the only country that should be allowed to have nuclear weapons is the US ... what a pig!!!!

A couple movies

I don't understand why anyone would make a film about Mark David Chapman. I've seen two now and with both, I kept asking myself, first, why am I watching and second, what's the point of making these films to begin with. I saw Chapter 27, with Jared Leto playing MDC. It was a stupid film, that seemed to try to make the audience sympathetic to his motives. Hey, guess what his motives were ... HE'S A FREAKING PSYCHOTIC LOONIE. There, that's it. Why make a film about it??? I fast forwarded through some since the script was just him rambling, rambling rambling ... I mean, I've seen movies on disturbing topics, but this one just takes the cake. Heck, watching Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer didn't tick me off as bad as Chapter 27.

Blindness was a film from last year. My tivo picked it up as part of my effort to watch everything that has Gael Garcia Bernal in it. It's about a world where a mysterious blindness takes over the world affecting everyone but 1 person. The film starred Julianne Moore, who I usually loathe as an actress ... she usually plays annoying harpies and I deplored her Maude character in Lebowski. I guess I never saw what the big hairy deal was with her. But in this film, she was really really good as the one person who didn't go blind. Apparently, when this film came out, advocacy groups for the blind were all in a tizzy, which was really stupid. Kind of like how the Catholic Church got their noses bent out of shape because of the DaVinci Code ... seriously, some people need to chill out. Anyway, the film was very graphic and depressing. It was easy to imagine how it would be if something like this really happened. Gael Garcia Bernal kept up his choice to play really unsavory characters. Why does he do that????

I've been watching a lot of Ovations tribute to African American artists .. I think I mentioned Jimi Hendrix earlier. I watched 2 shows about Miles Davis. First, The Miles Davis Story was a 3 hour show about his life. Came from a very middle class background, trained at Julliard (!!!!) and then onto greatness. Ok ok, I'm not a big Miles fan. I like So What (who wouldn't), but once he went electric, his music was ... I don't know ... mush. I tried listening to Bitches Brew once ... it's probably better appreciated while high, but I don't get it (at least I can admit it). Another show was called Miles Davis Electric. Apparently, Miles did to the jazz world what Boby Dylan did to the folk world, he had the gall to introduce electric instruments to jazz, including eletrifying his trumpet. I can understand the big hubbub behind it, but I still don't get the music. It's all very jam session-y ... who knows, maybe it was supercool live. The show concluded by playing his piece "call it anything" from the Isle of Wight festival in 1970. I think I like the idea of Miles better than Miles himself.

I'm slacking ... I know I know

Maybe it's because of all these celebrities dropping dead. Who the heck would have thought the oxyclean guy would pass away ... who knew!!!!????

I watched a few movies. The Chocolate War .. hmmm ... strange, unfinished. I have a feeling that if I actually read books, this is one where I'd say "ahhhh, yes, the book was much better than the movie". It seemed to be a very dark version of Heaven Help Us, which I loved. About the only person I recognized was the spazz kid from Weird Science, not Anthony Michael Hall, the other one. I don't know, it seemed to be very self important and unfinished. Again, if I ever feel the urge, maybe I'll check out the book ... it seemed kind of Lord of the Flies in Catholic school ...

I'm with Lucy was part of my Gael Garcia Bernal film festival. He was great, the movie was silly fluffy crap. Not that there's anything wrong with silly fluffy crap (I'm in the midst of What Happens in Vegas ... trying to keep my dinner in my stomach while watching). I also watch a good silly fluffy crap movie called We Married Margot and it was freaking hilarious. So if you're in the mood for silly fluffy crap, watch I Married Margot .. it's actually based on a true story about 2 guys who married Margot and their subsequent breakups. Wow, that was a tangent.

Watched a supecool show about Jimi Hendrix. It's part of Ovation tv's tribute to African American music legends and yes, indeed, Jimi Hendrix is one of them. They showed Jimi's entire performance at Monterey Pop ... just amazing. Not only was he a superb guitar player, he was a master showman. I also watched one on Count Basie ... I'm getting into jazz in my old years. Jumpin' at the Woodside is a great tune .. it's the song that Gene Gene the Dancing machine danced to on the Gong Show ... theres your useless trivia for the day ... and now you have the song and the visual going through your head! HA!!!

Burn After Reading. Coen Coen Coen. The film is only 1:40 minutes long, so it was bearable. The first 35 minutes were bad. George Clooney was bad .. Brad Pitt .. sigh ... bad. He tried too hard to be stupid. It was hard to believe he's the same guy who should have won an Oscar for Jesse James. Frances McDormand was asleep at the wheel. Malkovich ... the only reason to watch this stinker film. There's a twist in the film about half way through that's worth watching. It's a great story arc that makes the rest of the film worth watching. It had a similar "well, that's it folks" ending like no country for old men had. It's kind of obvious that first of all, Ethan Coen wrote the script in a day and that they made it to make money for their works of art, which I'm sure one is coming soon. I call it the Steven Soderberg approach to filmmaking. It's ok as long as they can redeem themselves by the next film.

A tragic day

A death trifecta

Ed McMahon
Farrah Fawcett
Michael Jackson

I guess it's no surprise that Ed died. He was in dire straits physcially & financially for a long time. I also think that he never recovered from Johnny Carson passing away. Farrah ... tragic tragic tragic. She suffered so needlessly from a cancer that I've never heard of. I didn't watch her special, but thought it was brave of her to be so public with her illness. Michael Jackson ... wow ... didn't expect it, but I can't say I'm surprised at all. I'm already thinking suicide, which again, wouldn't surprise me one bit. Tortured soul doesn't begin to describe Michael Jackson. Robbed of his childhood, tried to buy it back too late.

How long before Walter Cronkite passes ...

So ... on to television!

Watched an awesome Frontline on the bank collapse. A pox on Henry Paulson, what a tool! Talk about a power hungry bully. I'm not defending the greedy bastards in the banks, but Paulson really screwed the pooch by forcing the banks to take government money. The episode focused mainly on the forced merger of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch. It was as much about the cultures of the 2 banks. BofA in Charlotte and Merrill in NYC ... it was about as odd of a merger as Morgan Stanley merging with Dean Witter ... anyone remember that one? Oh, and it was about as sensible as Mercedes merging with Crysler .. ha! There's another match made in heck.

Z-Rock is much much better this season. Very funny, great guest stars. The guys seem to be more at ease with the show. I'd hire the guys for a birthday party in a minute.

Nurse Jackie. Wow .. what a great character driven show. Edie Falco's first tv show since Sopranos. She plays a drug addicted affair having ER nurse. She's brilliant! No hint of Carmela Soprano here! The first episode was dry .. kind of a snoozer, but the last 2 episodes have been kick butt. Each character, the head game playing ER doctor, the hauhty former nurse administrator, the new nurse on the floor who is scared poop-less ... but I have to say the character I'm digging the most is Peter Fancinelli's ... yep, Jenny Garth's husband ... he plays this ultra young doctor who is a complete loon. Loonie in the young doctor sense. He's smarter than he thinks he is. I see Jackie and Coop having a torrid affair at some point. Great show on Showtime. I still can't forgive them for cancelling Huff! and Dead Like Me, but Nurse Jackie is a good start.

Watched American Masters. I have to say that this one should have been called NORTH American Masters because it was about ... errrr, aboot ... ha! Neil Young. I love this guy. I can't say that I'm a big fan of his music. His fanbase is very rabid, I'm not that way. I think I'm more a fan of the person than the music. Neil Young is totally about HIS music. He's a selfish artist. He leaves people high and dry and doens't really care because for him, it's about music, not people. Look at his career ... started out as a surfer guitar guy, went folk, went new wave with Devo, went electronic with Trans, rockabilly (I'll always love that album, particularly, the song Wondering), back to his roots ... fans be damned. All Neil Young cares about is making music that he likes. This man is neither a hypocrite or a sellout. I can respect that. He's a true artist.

The Daily Show has been fantastic. Stewart had a civilized discussion about abortion with Mike Huckabee. Yes, I said it, civilized! Both of them are to be commended, yes, I said that too. Mike Huckabee was civil! The best though is Jason Jones's trip to Iran. Unbelieveable! What's sad though is that some of the journalists and leaders that he spoke to are now in jail. I really hope some kind of award is bestowed upon them for this wonderful reporting. The funniest was Jones interviewing Iranian citizens about American history and they knew more about American History than Americans did! Sad!!!!! They had this old guy who could name all the presidents backwards ... American presidents! He's Iranian!!! Good stuff!

I'm starting to hit all the repeated Corner Gas episodes now. I understand that they ended production in April, so I'm hoping that I can see the series in it's entirety at some point. What a great show. My kids even dig it.

Globe Trekker, Keith Olbermann ... Total Wrecklamation seems to have gone, which is sad. I have a ton of movies to catch up on .. oh, and Penn & Teller's new season of Bullshit started this week too ... will report back.

Life After People

I watched the 2 hour show called Life After People about a year ago and now it's a weekly series. I'm very conflicted about the show. On the one hand, it's kind of cool to think about the world and all we've left behind after we're all gone, and then I think ... holy crap, I'll be dead, which really bums me out. The show doesn't go into out people left ... the world is just deserted. All that's left are animals and the stuff we built. Each segment starts with "x" days or years after people. And well, it's not good. After about 50 years, all our buildings are falling over (the Sears Tower is particularly spectacular ... not in a good way). Then you think about all the animals left in houses .. well, you know how that's going to end. Shoot, even cows in pastures are going to die because they depend on us ... grrrrrr, humans! I can give you the big conclusion ... nature wins. Trees win, kudzu wins ...

Watched a great Spanish/Mexican movie called Don't Tempt Me. Penelope Cruz should work exlusively in Spanish films. I've not seen her in an American movie I've liked (Vanilla Sky, Blow ... haven't seen Vickie Christina Barcelona yet though). My tivo picked this film up as part of my Gael Garcia Bernal film festival. Cruz plays a demon sent back to earth to tempt the soul of a boxer. She's met by a rival angel who is also trying to save the soul of the boxer. Bernal plays the ... chuckle .. operations manager of hell .. yea, operations manager! There's one for heaven too, but his role is great and it's in English. Dang, he needs to be a bigger star than he is ... well, after that stupid Jimmy Fallon interview, I wouldn't blame him for ever wanting to make an American film .. thanks Jimmy, you putz. Anyway, there's a power struggle in hell .. another chuckle ... and good wins out and there's a clever epilogue where you find out what happens to everyone involved. Penelope Cruz was a mafioso when she/he lived on earth (her punishment in hell was to be turned into a woman who is a waitress). So after she does her part in helping the power struggle in hell, she enters a new circle of hell and she becomes javier bardem ... Penelope Cruz's real life boyfriend ... clever clever clever film. A great surprise.

my tivo is empty!

That time of year methinks. All of my shows are done for the season. I bailed on Bill Maher ... I've watched the HBO show from the beginning and I'm just not feeling it anymore. Maybe it's because President Cheney is gone. I don't know. I get more enjoyment out of Keith and Daily Show now. At least Daily makes me laugh and I find Keith's Oddball segment funnier than Maher's New Rules. Maher needs to retire. He's taken the bitter hat off George Carlin's head and trying ... not very well, to pick up where he left off.

All the Corner Gas's are repeats, I haven't seen any new Total Wrecklamations (ahem, Planet Green?????), 30 Rock, Housewives (I can only stomach the NYC show), Lie to Me, Conchords, Party Down ... done. Life on Mars, gone too soon.

True Blood is starting up this weekend and so is Nurse Jackie. It's a new show with Edie Falco. Can't wait to see how that one is. It's getting good reviews! FX is starting to repeat The Riches, so that's probably coming back soon. I don't know, there's just not a whole lot to write about at this point.

Oh wait ... I promised a rant on Bret Easton Ellis. Ok ok ... I met him once. Well, it wasn't a proper introduction, it was at a book signing at the Chicago Public Library. Glamorama just came out and production was wrapping on American Psycho. I wrote a lengthy paper defending the publication of American Psycho when I was in graduate school, even though it was a stupid book .. yes, I read the damn thing. In the process of writing the paper, I read his other books, Less than Zero and Rules of Attraction. I liked Less that Zero .. beginner's luck methinks. Rules of Attraction stunk! I'm convinced that Ellis was ticked that Attraction didn't sell as well, so he went for broke on Psycho just to sell books, just my theory. Anyway, I watched the movie version of Rules of Attraction and you know .. it wasn't bad. It wasn't great. I thought the movie version of Less than Zero was great. Roger Avery directed Rules of Attraction. I generally enjoy his stuff. I liked Killing Zoe and his work with Tarantino .. he even managed to get a Tarantino mention in the movie .. yes, I'm that much of a geek to notice that, groan! Anyway, Rules could have been so much better if they would have cast ANYONE ANYONE ANYONE other than James Van Der Beek as Sean Bateman (Patrick Bateman is the main character in American Psycho). Seriously, the movie was ruined because I had to sit there at watch Jimmy Dorko Beek makes stupid faces for the duration of the film. It ruined it! He's a terrible actor, what were they thinking??? Everyone else was decent and I'll never be able to listen to Harry Nilsson's, Without You in the same way again .. very disturbing. So anyway ... yes, I met Bret Easton Ellis and he was as pompous as all the main male characters are in his book, only he didn't make stupid faces. He signed my book, thank you, but the book was terrible, barely got through it and from what I understand, Avery has bought the rights to make it into a movie. Sigh ... not again ... well, not with James Vanderbeek I hope. Dang, I hate it when 1 actor ruins an entire movie.

Oh well, it at least introduced me to a really cool song by The Rapture called Out of the Races and on to the Tracks ... very very cool song.

how could I forget

Glee!!! What a great show .. well, it was a great pilot. I'm not a musicals type person and, shamefully, I held my high school's show choir in about as high regard as landscaping rock. Really, the only reason I tuned in was because it's a Ryan Murphy show. I guess since Glee is on board, Nip/Tuck is out then? It was funny, all the characters were excellent .. no one person stands out, no one person is annoying. Now I'm ticked because I'm hooked now and I have to wait for the fall to see more ... damn you fox!!!!

I've been really bad

I can't keep up!!! Alas, some of my shows are ending, Reaper, for good, unfortunately, ends this week. Gossip Girl's season finale was pretty good with Gossip Girl saying that she was going to follow them to college. We'll see how that goes .. Brown one week, Yale the next and then NYU? I just think it's hilarious how people think that NYU is some kind of safety school ... ha! I guess there is going to be a spinoff of Lilly when she was a wannabe groupie. I have no choice to not watch it.

And how in heaven's name is it that Jimmy Fallon has a career? Please someone, enlighten me. This guy is worse than Will Ferrell ... at least Will Farrell has an ounce of talent, but this Jimmy Fallon guy is a joke. He had on 2 of the finest actor out there, Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna and all Fallon could do was stammer his way Beavis and Butthead style going on about their accents, har dee freaking har ... duh, dude, they're from Mexico. And then Fallon acts surprised that Mexico has quite a film industry ... ok, it may not be common knowledge, but A, they do and B .. any douche with half a brain in THE BUSINESS should know! Seeing Jimmy Fallon makes me think that I could do what he does. Does he not prepare for interviews, or does he think that he's just so darn cute, THAT will get him through everything? I'm sure Bernal and Luna were not amused. I know I wasn't.

We Shall Remain is one of the best documentary series ever made. Seriously, it covered the history of Native Americans with grace and respect. The final episode was about AIM's taking over at Wounded Knee. It left me sad. The indiginous peoples have been given the shaft for centuries. We owe them more than any other group.

Been watching WWII Behind the Scenes .. it's a breath of fresh air. I am forever grateful that I was taught by revisionist historians in college because now it's all making sense. The series is mainly focusing on Stalin's relationships with England and Germany .. good stuff.

Lots of Corner Gas watching ... lots of Keith Olbermann and Daily Show. Lie to Me ended. It's good, not great. I watch it for Tim Roth only.

Real Housewives ended, thankfully. They had 2 reunion shows and I guess there's a third in the works ... why????? I was pretty disappointed how IAMSTILLTHECOUNTESSDAMMIT was given a free pass for all her crap behavior. I'm sure she's ticked that Alex dumped her for a real princess. No lie! He's now with an Ethiopian princess! Not much else to say about them overall. All are annoying as warm snot, Jill's the worst though ... materialistic yenta. Her husband gets her a loaded Mercedes SUV and she throws a fit because there's noplace to plug in her stupid Ipod. Please. Give the thing to me! There's nothing to say about Kelly other than hopefully she won't be back next season. She was a waste. Bethandthecity is pathetic ... just pathetic. She's not funny at all ... her schtick got old this year and her voice sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard. No wonder she can't find and keep a man ... I couldn't imagine waking up to that nasally voice everyday.

In Treatment is over. I still need to watch the Walter and Gina final episodes. It was good this season. I can't say that I was drawn to any particular patient this season. Allison Pill as the girl with cancer was really good and I think she was the only one who benefited from therapy this season. Hope Davis's Mia character was unnerving. The best though is Oliver, the little boy who's parents are divorced ...

I'll probably riff on Brett Easton Ellis next ... have the movie, Rules of Attraction on the tivo next.

What is it with My Sweet Lord???

I'll the the first to say that George Harrison was compeltely rooked when he was sued and lost his case regarding copyright for his wonderfully uplifting song, My Sweet Lord. I remember hearing it as a child and it making me feel happy inside. I'm not religious, the song bridged religions ... kind of like George did during his lifetime. I remember when he died, I had a dream about him shortly after where he hugged me. It was one of the most vivid dreams I've ever had. I like the idea of dreams meaning something, but I usually say it with a degree of snarkiness, but when George appeared in my dream, I felt better ... I don't know, it's whacky. Anyway, My Sweet Lord seems to appear on the radio, on my Ipod, during very sad or stressful times. My Dad had open heart surgery and I was driving around town on the morning of his surgery and My Sweet Lord came on and I burst into tears ... it was totally spontaneous ... tears out of nowhere. Dad's ok, btw. Then earlier this year, my mom had to have heart surgery ... again, on the morning of the surgery, My Sweet Lord came on the radio ... out of nowhere, again, spontaneous tears ... she's ok now too.

In the past 2 weeks, we've had the horrible experience of having to put down 2 of our beloved cats. Last Tuesday, was the first one. I had WXRT streaming on my computer and as luck/fate would have it, My Sweet Lord played. And again, today ... we had to put our second cat down and My Sweet Lord literally just finished playing on my Ipod ...

So George, what the heck???? I know you were into the Krishna's and reincarnation and all, but man ... this has got to stop!!! All I do is weep when I hear My Sweet Lord!!!

must be spring

My fingernails are in a pepetual state of dirty ... taking multiple showers a day to get the dirt off my knees and hands and where I wipe my face with said dirty hands. And the blahg is feeling lonely ... I think I've been doing this for about a year now ... I think .. BUT, my veggie garden is almost all planted, need to tend to my garden beds, one in particular is getting overgrown with what used to be pretty little purple flowers, unbeknownst to me ... are weeds.

I'm thiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to giving up on Bill Maher's show. The only reason I stuck with it this week was because he had Barney the blowhard Frank on ... sorry, but he amuses the snot out of me. He looks so canine to me. But he also had Fareed Zakaria on and he's just a brilliant person who makes everything sound easy to understand. Such a gentleman ... let Barney the bulldog blather on and on, but managed to come out looking much smarter in the end.

Watched Run Fatboy Run ... hilarious. Simon Pegg is hysterically funny. I think that Shaun of the Dead is one of the best horror movies ever mad. Didn't realize Fun Fatboy Run was directed by David Schwimmer, but how hard could that movie have been to direct? Plus, I wonder if I'm the only one who wonders if David Schwimmer is as big of a douchebag as he appears to be. Seriously, dude, you're known as Ross from friends, but I have a feeling that you'd completely dress someone down if that character is mentioned to your face ... don't know, but he just doens't seem like a very nice person. Maybe that's why he's directing. That way he can be a douche, but be the boss. Wonder how much of a jerk he is to work for as an actor???

I've watche 3 parts of We Shall Remain. It's just amazing. The episode about Tecumseh was particularly great because most of it takes place in Indiana. He was a true warrior and I'll have to add Prophetstown state park in Lafayette as a destination to see. The latest episode was about the Trail of Tears .. it's America's version of ethnic clensing ... around 4,000 native americans died being foreced off their homeland and moved west. Just so sad. The Cherokee seemed to be the most powerful nation of them all and it's wonderful that the language is still spoken today ... a truly deep rich culture that refuses to be wiped off the face of the earth. The next episode is about Geronimo. I have to say, this series does my history heart proud. I hope this is being shown in high school and college classrooms because this is an area of history that is being completely ignored .. probably because of the atrocities committed against them ... sad, but this subject needs to be discussed and learned about.

The series, Party Down is just ok. I doubt it will be picked up for another season. But maybe the actors in the series will be able to use the show as a step to bigger and better things.

I heard that Reaper is going to be cancelled. Major bummer.

And where are the new Total Wrecklamations??? I've seen one new one!!!! Come on Planet Green and Discovery Communications ... bring more Jodi!!!

Ok, back to digging in the dirt ... not the peter gabriel song either.

How could I forget this one?

One of the first shows I watched when we acquired Satellite television was the documentary, Grey Gardens. I was strangely fascinated by it and probably watched it more times than I should have. It probably has to do with my fascination of all things old money new york ... Vanderbilts, Astors. The documentary was incredible and let Big Edie and Little Edie just be themselves. No commentary, just the Beale women being themselves, which by themselves, I mean ... eccentric. Big Edie was Jackie Kennedy Onassis's aunt ... Edie's maiden name is Bouvier. Little Edie was Jackie's cousin. The Beale's lived in NYC and then moved to the Hamptons and Big Edie had no interest whatsoever in living in the city anymore at that point. Little Edie wanted to stay in the city, but they had a strange co-dependent relationship which resulted in the 2 Beale women living together at Grey Gardens (the Hamptons home). Little Edie never married, she lived with her mother and they ran out of money and the house became completely dilapidated and overrun by critters. The county health department came in and condemned the place and Jackie came to their rescue and took over supporting them and fixing up the house. Still .. they lived in squalor. Big Edie was accustomed to having a staff take care of the house ... in any event ...

HBO took the documentary 1 step further and made a movie about it and it was amazing. Drew Barrymore ... DREW BARRYMORE ... in the role of her life, played little Edie. She was simply amazing. You could tell that she really studied for this role. She didn't speak out of the side of her mouth, her diction was almost perfect and she LOOKED like Edie, it was scary. Just give her the emmy now ... it's over. Jessica Lange, who I continue to be amazed that she got her start playing in the horrible version of King Kong from the 70's ... talk about having a tremendous rebound. She was equally amazing as big Edie. Jeanne Tripplehorn, who I haven't seen forever, played Jackie O .. ok, just give 3 emmys to them all.

It's playing all this month on HBO. It's definitely worth checking out, whether you've seen the Grey Gardens documentary or not. You'll feel like you have.

Another show

I started watching what will probably be one of the best series on tv. As much as I feel that Frontline is the most important show on television, American Experience is up there too. American Experience started running a series called We Shall Remain. Everyone should be required to watch this moving series. I think most Americans tend to forget that we (specifically, the English, Dutch & French settlers) were the oppressors of the indiginous people who lived in America for centuries prior to their landing. The first episode deals with the ramifications of the Mayflower landing. The series is told from the native people's perspective and it's amazing. It makes you wonder if anything could have been done to stop the massacres of tribes in what is now Massachusetts. I don't think so. Between the diseases the Europeans brought and their weaponry and sheer numbers ... the indiginous people were going to have to join or die.

I urge one and all to watch. You can watch entire episodes on their website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/

Long break

No good reason for not blahgging.

Watched Y Tu Mama Tambien. I think that Gael Garcia Bernal is a fantastic actor, but he plays unsavory characters ... this one isn't too bad in terms of unsavoryness (is that a word?). He plays a teenager, well, he acts like a teenager. He and his friend (who is played by Diego Luna ... gotta see more of his films) go on a roadtrip with a lady and ... well ... it doesn't take a genius to figure out what happens. BUT there is a rather big surprise at the end ... most of the movie takes place in a car and the dialogue is f this and f that f-er ... immature teenager stuff. I actually fast forwarded through some of it because it got boring. The ending is swift .. the last 10 minutes of the film made the entire film worth watching.

I've been watching this Starz series called Party Down. It's about a group of actors who work as servers for a catering company. It's interesting for me because the cast is made up of people you see and say "hey, I saw them is some movie for a few minutes, who is that?" It seems like a show that people who are actually actors doing day jobs would get more out of than someone, like me, who is not. I feel the same way about Scrubs ... I think doctors get more out of it than non-doctors.

The Housewives keep going and going. Seriously, I'm tired of even writing about them. They're all pathetic, but I just can't stop watching.

And a big thank you goes out to MSNBC for calling these silly people who are supposedly protesting taxes, teabaggers! Seriously, these people have no clue what the boston tea party was about and how much tea was wasted? How much garbage was created by these whacko, less than intelligent people. The Boston Tea Party protested taxation without representation. I think these teabaggers don't understand what it is that they are protesting. All this came about after a former futures trader went off on a self important rant ... yea, remember Rick Santelli .. biggest puss of the century? Where is he now???? They certainly don't have a grasp of American history, that's for dang sure. I'm all for protesting, but when you call your protest something that it's not ... you look like stupid idiots. Why don't they just call them what they are ... "we hate the government" parties. So all you teabaggers out there ... grow brains!

Another thing .. the future of the Republican party is Meaghan McCain ... read up on her.

It looks like there is going to be a new episode of Total Wrecklamation ... FINALLY!!!!! I'm getting tired of re-watching old ones over and over again.

Keith, my condolences

I have a big mouth. I was complaining about how Keith Olbermann has been taking days off and therefore, I don't feel like watching Countdown. Well, last night, I found out why ... his mother died ... so Keith, sorry man, sorry for your loss ... your tribute was sweet, your mom was a tough broad ... I guess we can blame her right? Again, sorry.

I watched Sex and the City for it's entire run and loved it. The movie was horrendous! Or maybe it was just a mistake to make it. I watched a half an hour and was bored with it. It was just a rehash of everything and it was boring. I felt bad at first, but every character was annoying. All of them were extra whiney, gee, I wish I had it as bad as them, please! It's one of those things that should have been left alone. I liked how the series ended, but watching that half hour of the movie really made me question why I watched it in the first place. Maybe it's because I'm older. I don't know ... I just hated the movie.

Watched this show called Monsters. I had no idea this show existed. Seems to be a Twilight Zone type show. I saw an episode from 1990 that starred Steve Buscemi, of all people. He looked so young ... seemed to be an actor needing a job at that point. It was an incredibly STUPID story about a guy in a motel (Buscemi) and him getting involved with a woman who is trying to get away from her husband who is a pig ... a real pig ... I mean an oinker pig ... the lady playing the wife was HORRIBLE. Laughingly horrible! I bet everytime Buscemi sees this movie, he cringes and wishes it would never see the light of day.

I've seen all the new patients for this season of In Treatment. John Mahoney is magnificent as a CEO who has panic attacks, a sweet little boy who doesn't understand why his mom and dad are getting a divorce and his weekly sessions with his mentor, Gina.

And I have 3 episodes of Corner Gas to catch up with ...

Reign Over Me ... Meh

I'm a tepid fan of the Who. But one of the songs that I hate more than any other is Reign on Me from Quadrophenia... I think about the song and that stupid screamy hitmeovertheheadwithaballpinehammer chorus goes through my head for the next week ... arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh reignnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn on meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee whoa whoa ... shoot me now.

That being said, the movie that was written by Mike Binder, kind of hit you over the head until you bleed movies, dang ... he's just so unnecessarily heavy handed, is called Reign Over Me ... maybe the Who wouldn't give them the rights to use the song title. Anyway ... it's so bad that I have to have my playlist going in order for me to be able to type this out (Hey Ya by OutKast is on right now).

The story could have been great. Tragic story of a 9-11 widower. The cast was better than the movie. Don Cheadle, who deserves an Oscar pretty much everytime he's on screen, is great as the lead character's college roommate who tries to help him cope and come back to reality. The lead is played by Adam Sandler, who is just ok. He had a great scene where he confronts his in-laws about what is going on with his inability to WANT to remember the family he lost. But pretty much, he ambled through the entire film as a cross between Ratzo Rizzo and a face puff. I liked Sandler in Punch Drunk Love, Spanglish & Click ... basically any movie where he isn't talking in some baby voice. I wonder what the Coen Brothers would do with him? Hmmmmm, I'll ponder that. I mean, if Paul Thomas Anderson made an actor out of him ... hey, who knows? Anyway, was the movie good? yea ... maybe ... no ... I don't know. It could have been so much better. I guess Tom Cruise was offered Sandler's role first, thank you for turning it down Turdy Tom. Then Brad Pitt was considered ... THAT would have been interesting! Cheadle was great, Sandler, ok. Allen Klein, great, Donald Sutherland, supercool ... Binder? yea, he was ok.

In Treatment started up again last night. Gabriel Byrne is incredible. We have 5 new storylines, one of which is going to involve John Mahoney, who I love! Last night, we found out that Dr. Weston is being sued by the family of one of his patients who died ... the attorney representing Dr. Weston is a former patient, who it appears has had a relationship with in the past. Dr. Weston now lives and practices in Brooklyn. The second story involves a young college student who has cancer and refuses to tell anyone about it. Between In Treatment and Corner Gas ... lots of episodic television to watch in the coming weeks.

Life on Mars ended. The ending was wrapped up neatly in a red bow and delivered. All are on a spaceship to Mars ... Keitel is Sam's Dad ... he was supposed to go back to 2008, not 1973 ... I don't know ... sigh. It's just too bad the show didn't catch on.

I'm falling behind

It's unprecedented! I'm sleeping more ... not waking up so much in the middle of the night. It's cool, I guess, because hey, man, sleep is great, but not so much for my tv viewing ... I'm conflicted. In any event, here's what I've been watching as of late:

Daily Show and Keith. Daily isn't as edgy lately. It seems like the show has lost a little air since Cramer v. Stewart. He did have rather amusing diatribe on Limbaugh leaving New York. Same goes for Keith ... there's just not enough rancor in DC to really get something going. Plus, Keith leaves at odd times, like for one day during the middle of the week and although my fellow Hoosier, David Schuster, is capable ... it's just not Keith.

I watched a great show called "Indiana Aria" ... I have a wishlist on the tivo for anything that has "Indiana" in the title or descrpition (how librarian of me right?). Indiana Aria was picked up (so it works!). It follows 3 Opera students at IU's school of music (their opera program is rated number one in the nation .. beating Julliard ... amazing huh?). I remember when I was a student at IU ... I would walk past the music school and hear practices, it was something to behold. It seems that the music school at IU is known more outside of Indiana that in the state, which is sad. Anyway, these 3 students, to my completely untrained opera ears, were amazing. But then you hear their teachers and the people they are auditioning for ... well I don't know squat. All 3 were beyond dedicated and I can't imagine the pressure they are under. If they can't get pro gigs by the time they are 30, they're done .... it's over. Glad I was a history major.

I'm getting 6 episodes of Corner gas now per week. Each one is freaking hilarious. It truly is a Canadian version of Seinfeld. What's nice about it is that the kids can watch it with me. It's about the only thing that they can.

Started watching the film, Y Tu Mama Tambien. I've yet to see a film with Gael Garcia Bernal where he isn't some kind of numbnuts. In Babel, he was a horrible person ... The Science of Sleep, he was a moron and in this one, he's being a real jerk so far. He's a good actor though.

Real Housewives ... why why why do I put myself though it? Kelly and Bethandthecity have a catfight, Bethandthecity wins .. 2 pathetic women, seriously, both are just pathetic in their own ways. To be honest, writing about it is getting really boring. About the only interesting thing is that IAMACOUNTESSDAMMIT is getting a divorce! Seems that the Count is getting a little sumpin' sumpin' with an Ethiopian woman in Switzerland!

Watched the most depressing Frontline ever. It was called "Sick in America" .. man, this country is screwed. No hope whatsoever. Yea, all these talking heads are trying to sound optomistic, but nothing is going to change, nothing. Canada sounds better and better everyday ... the land of Corner Gas and the Red Green Show! Better polish up my passport!

The Powder and the Glory

I don't wear makeup ... ever. Never interested me to be honest. The most I've ever put on my face is Noxema and cherry Chapstick .... I guess I'm weird that way. I had friend's whose mothers loved dolling me up and I sat there and played along. Never liked the result and a good face washing made me feel better. Maybe I'm lazy, I just never took the time to learn how to apply makeup because it would mean I would have to spend even more time in the bathroom, which I hate doing. In any event, I watched a great documentary about that very subject, makeup. The Powder and the Glory is about Helena Rubenstein and Elizabeth Arden. These ladies developed the makeup industry ... they came before Max Factor, Revlon, Maybelleine .. these women created this huge industry at the turn of the century. They were competitors who never ever ever met, never spoke. Their salons weren't far from each other either. It was a fascinating story, this coming from non-makeup-y me!

East Bound and Down and Flight of the Conchords is over for the season. Conchords was hit or miss ... Murray is so annoying. East Bound and Down was really funny. I hope they bring it back.

One more episode of Life on Mars, sigh.

I wish Planet Green would put out new episodes of Total Wrecklamation!!! Come on!!!!

And a book! I'm reading a book! It's called Babylon by Bus. Heard about it on This American Life. It's about these 2 kind of slackers who took of to Iraq to work for the CPA. Just read the first few pages ... I have a month to read it!

And the rest

Bill Maher got back on track this week. Back to 3 panelists and I have to say that I was impressed by the actress, Kerry Washington. He's had actors on in the past and they've been snoozers. But every once in awhile, he'll have on a good one ... Jason Alexander is great, Bradley Whitfield is too .. the best part was Keith Olbermann made an appearance. Loved that! Both he and Maher went to Cornell ... so did Ann Coulter .. oh well.

Starting next week, I'm going to get 6 episodes of Corner Gas a week!

Daily is on hiatus this week.

I wish that One EskimO songs would be available on the US version of Itunes .. anyone out there have any pull in that department???? Here's the song I want:
Hometime - One eskimO


Life on Mars has 2 more episodes. Again, shame on you ABC.
It was cool to hear Jason O'Mara's real accent on the last episode though, silly me had no idea he was Irish (O'Mara ... duh!!!) ... it is amazing to me how many European actors can do amazing American accents.

I'm still watching Gossip Girl too ... I don't admit that a lot. And to round out my CW network viewing, I also watch Reaper. Reaper is great. Gossip Girl, not so much, but it's like Melrose Place or 90210 ... I just have to watch it. I'm sure that Reaper will be cancelled this year ... that would be my luck.

The Housewives ...

All I gotta say is WOW!!!

CricketsKelly is a real piece of work. Remember back in the heyday of supermodels (Cindy, Linda, Christy?) Their whole line of "models aren't stupid" campaign? Well, Kelly manages to prove them wrong at every turn! But I'm conflicted by her because, on the one hand, she's just dumber than a bag of hammers with her "cute" comment, referring to Allie as a "nice kid" ... and then her unwillingness to be named on the invitation .. gasp, that would make her accountable ... can't have that! Oh, but you just know that if she were involved in a "save hot men" charity, her name would be all over it like rats in a subway tunnel. And her skin ... it's just so bad. And then she wants people to think she's a writer because she writes for Page 6????? Page 6????????????? blech.

Now here's where I'm conflicted ... I love that she brings out the worst in Bethandthecity. See, Bethandthecity and she aren't that much different ... Bethandthecity wants to be worshipped too and she gets a rise out of how Jill and her mom fawn over her. Bethandthecity is so insecure and needs to be the center of attention, with her pithy/bad Seinfeld script commentary (sorry, but her Madonna comment to CricketsKelly was way out of line). Bethandthecity is really jealous because unlike her, CricketsKelly has exactly what Bethandthecity wants, men and children. It's going to be interesting to see the catfight next week. As dumb as CricketsKelly is, she's a capable fighter amongst her own herd and she'll win against the incredibly insecure/smartaleck Bethandthecity.

Any bets???

Leacherous Simon is getting creepier and creepier .. blech. He's positively OBSSESSED with Duhmona. I think he has the hots for her, otherwise why would he care about getting her approval? If I were Fangface, I'd be concerned about this because she may find him trying to liplock Duhmona in the coat closet and then we'd see Mario doing a perp walk for assault. I'd be worried if I were Duhmona and consider getting a restraining order.

Jill and Bethandthecity are perfect for each other, both co-dependent insecure girls. Jill and her "please love me" "see how cool I am, I belong here" attitude is tiresome. Allie is more mature than her mother.

We got a bit of a break from IAMACOUNTESSDAMMIT this week. But I bet she sure is sorry that she PRESSURED CricketsKelly into doing charity work.