I've Got Soul But I'm Not a Soldier -The Killers, All These Things That I've Done

Blue Valentine

2012-02-01T12:51:00.002-05:00

I heard this movie was supposed to be great and I really like Gosling and Williams as actors, but this movie sucked. Sorry, it just did. The script made Gosling sound like a cheap Travis Bickel from Taxi Driver. Williams was good, but she couldn't carry the film all by herself. I should have known when all the movie was known for it's sex scenes ... whoop dee doo.

Dance Moms is hilarious. On the one hand, I respect Abby Lee Miller. She's tough as nails and she is a leader and leaders can't be nice sometimes. The moms are each nuts in their own way. Holly is the most sane, except she is hyper sensitive that her daughter is being deemed as ethnic, which I'm not sure is true. Christie and Kelly are seasoned Abby moms and they new ones, Jill and ... can't remember Peyton's mom's name ... are flat out stage moms.

Raising Hope is still incredibly funny. No shark jumping yet. I was afraid it would get worse as Hope aged, but they are incorporating a growing up Hope into the story lines very nicely.

I {{{heart}}} Steve

2012-01-28T13:30:00.002-05:00

I am now Apple'd up. iPod, iPhone, iPad, Mac ... yaaaahoooooo! I now affectionately refer to this machine that I am typing on as "Steve" and I think Steve is cool. I have a great spouse who keeps me current with technology.

I've watched a lot of television, probably too much, as usual. Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is done except for the reunion show, or shows.

I started watching a movie called Cedar Rapids this morning. So far, it's kind of annoying ... why does Hollywood make we midwesterners so extreme? You have the main character as this total rube and another character that is over the top. Oh yea, it's comedy. I find Ed Helm's character not funny though. He's the rube. I'm sure he has a hookup with the hooker in the end and becomes a much better man for it. Am I right? So far, it's like the hick version of the Hangover.

I watched another Errol Morris documentary called Tabloid and was it strange ... totally strange. It's about this strange woman named Joyce McKinney who allegedly kidnapped a mormon missionary, claiming that he was kidnapped and brainwashed. Chaos ensued and eventually settled. Then she clones some puppy called Booger and more chaos ensued. Where does Morris find these subjects????

The Adjustment Bureau was interesting. Not much else to say other than it was interesting.

Watched the new AMC show called Hell on Wheels and I liked it even though the main character's brooding was tiresome toward the end. Looking forward to the next season. Also watched Walking Dead. The season was boring as sin until the final episode ... and now I want to keep watching. Thank you AMC. Mad Men is supposed to be starting up again soon!!!!

The best series I've watched so far is Boss. Kelsey Grammar plays the mayor of chicago and he completely deserved that Emmy! And once again, another fab performance by Martin Donovan. I hope Ezra isn't dead.

Californication continues to be my favorite show based solely on dialogue. The scuzziness of the story lines ... blech. I love the scripts of every episode. That keeps me coming back.

Shameless season 2 has started and it's better than last season. William Macy stealing the candle offering box was so wrong, yet hilarious. Fiona isn't as annoying this season. The kid who plays Ian must have grown 2 feet between last season and this season.

I stopped watching Daily Show and Olbermann. I'm tired and bored with politics. Stewart was funny, but watching the same thing over and over again is such a chore. Olbermann seems to be throwing a hissy fit on Current, which is sad ... I sneak a peek at Rachel Maddow for a little while, but I get bored with all this crap now. Maybe in September I'll tune in again. But for now, I'm happy with the break.

sigh ...

2011-10-23T20:05:00.002-04:00

Who knew getting a puppy would completely overtake my life? Yea, a stinking puppy. I've had to alter my tv viewing significantly ... I catch Keith when I can, I don't watch Daily Show anymore because by the time they are on, I'm so exhausted, I can't stay awake to watch. Ugh ... puppies suck. I hope he turns out to be a great dog because I'm feeling all Tony Hayward ... I want my life back. I've been a mix of depressed, anxious ... even have the valium to prove it.

So maybe once this dog turns 1 in April, I'll be more coherant.

wow ... march 27th ... really?

2011-06-25T09:02:00.002-04:00

Where does time go??? Well, it gets sucked up into tubes called school, sports and exhaustion. And now it's summer vacation and it's the end of freaking June and I still am up to my eyeballs. I'll stop whining. It's all good.

I watched The Social Network early early early this morning and wow ... I loved it. Well, I love that Fincher directed it. Have I seen a movie of his that I didn't like? Hmmmmm ...

I heard a lot of negative press ... it was all a work of fiction. Well, yea, prolly ... it's a movie that's supposed to make some money. It's about a lawsuit ... boring! But this is what I took away from the film:

Mark Zuckerberg is one lucky SOB. A smart, lucky SOB. Did he steal the idea for Facebook from those Winklevoss douchebags? yep. He sure did. Did he steal their code? Nope, don't think so. The underdog in me loved that the Winklvoss twins got the smackdown from everyone. They still made a wheelbarrow of money ... like they needed it in the first place. There was a line in the film that said something to the effect of the reason they are suing Zuckerberg is because they were told no for the first time. Bingo. Those 2 spoiled trustafarians were denied and they threw a hissy fit. Loved the scene where Larry Summers put them in their places. Ha! Ok, so there's my rant on social status. I felt sorry for the guy who was Mark's friend who was screwed over by that Napster crackhead. Justin Timberlake was great! He's a good actor! Who knew? Note to Mark Zuckerberg ... high five man. You're just socially awkward enough to come off as eccentric and I hope you keep making billions. Keep it up. Just make sure if you ever have twin boys .. don't let them act like Winklevi.

Keith Olbermann is BACK!!! Woo hoooo!!!! He hasn't changed a darn thing except he now calls ... I can't even remember what it used to be called ... the segment where he highlights weird news ... well, in any event, he now calls it Time Marches On. That's it ... that's all that's changed. Thank you Directv for giving us Current! I hope it stays on the air. It's great to have him back. And if you don't like him, shut up and watch something else.

Jason Priestly has this show on Directv's network called Call Me Fitz and boy is it weird. He plays an over the top used care salesman .. I mean, way over the top in every way. He's a scumbag. But there's this dumb character called Larry that I wish they would just kill off because the other characters can pull this show off. The Larry character brings the whole show down.

Wilfred ... Elijah Wood plays this sucicidal lawyer who befriends a dog named Wilfred. But to him, he sees Wilfred as a grown man in a dog costume and he's as rude and scummy as Priestly's character in Call Me Fitz, only it's worse because Wilfred does things in the dog costume that should be against the law. It's much funnier than Fitz. Will keep tuning in.

And the Louie started up again and the first episode was laugh out loud funny ... like seriously, funny funny funny. But then again, I find flatulance funny. I can't stop laughing at it. And there was at minute long flatus in the first episode that had me crying. He also had this conversation with his daughter about what is and isn't fair that was so dang spot on ... wow. Good stuff. Glad he's back.

Yea, Real Housewives of NYC are back and I'm over it. Seriously, they need to bury it in Grant's tomb.

I've started watching Larry Sanders for the first time. I can see why it was so popular back when it was on HBO. Love Scott Thompson's character. I find Shandling to be .. hmmm ... constipating?

I'm also watching this show called My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. Give me a break. These scumbags and their damn weddings? There is a reason why the word "gyp" means cheating. These people are disgusting grifters and this show tries to pretend that they are just a culture who wants to be left alone. Yea ... well, leave the rest of us alone and stop cheating honest people and we'll leave you alone. Blech. What a horrible group they are. The Riches was better and it actually made them seem likeable, but this show and their child brides who dress like hookers, ohhhh, but they don't have sex before marriage ... I'm supposed to feel sorry for them when they can't conduct themselves in a reasonable manner and the cops bust them? Give me a break. They can all just rot. They want us to leave them alone ... well ... pikeys ... leave us alone! Make money honestly.

Won't Get Fooled Again

2011-03-27T08:44:00.002-04:00

Been listening to that song a lot lately. It's the first song on my "I hate running" playlist on my Ipod. It gets me to get my chubby butt in gear and getting moving. I've grown to appreiciate the Who more as I get older. What a foursome ... love how Roger Daltry had to work so hard to keep up with Townshend and Moon .. and failed ... ha ha ...

I've switched from Tivo to DVR .. it's still a process. I like Tivo's search capabilities better than DVR, but the "you're wrong and stupid for pushing that button" sounds are better on the DVR. I don't feel so stupid now. I had to remember all the shows I had setup .. missed a couple :( But now I think it's all taken care of.

Being Human is great. I didn't like the romance crap between Annie and Mitchell ... and I know how this season ends and I'm not going to like it. Oh well. I think the show will go downhill after, but we'll have to see.

Mr. Sunshine is Matthew Perry's new show. He's an older version of Chandler Bing, wow, such range this Matthew Perry fellow has . Allison Janney is magnificent ... she and her doof of a son are the reasons I'm tuning in anymore. There's a pathetic love triangle ... boring!!! Can't wait for them to bring in cameos from Friends ... that will be the end of the show.

Still waiting for Keith to come back on ... supposed to happen in May.

As Roger Daltry wailed ... meet the new boss, same as the old boss <----- one of the best lines ever written.

DANG!!!

2011-02-15T20:58:00.002-05:00

I'm beginning to suck at this blog stuff!!! Mucho apologies.

I thought my tivo caught Paranormal Activity ... that's what it said on the "now playing list". As I was watching and reading plots online, I figured out that it was Paranormal Actvity, but Paranormal Entity. Apparently, this was a rush to video ripoff. It was still kinda scary, but now I still need to see Paranormal Activity.

Watched a 5 1/2 hour movie called Carlos and it was AMAZING!!! It was about Ilych Ramirez, a Venezuelan who was one of the most wanted me in the world. He was a terrorist, well, he was an inept terrorist. It's a fascinating story because he's still alive and in prison in France for killing 2 French agents in the 70's. They finally caught up to him in the 90's. He fancied himself another Che Guevara, but he wasn't. He was a wannabe Guevara. I think Che would have shot Ramirez in the head for being a douchebag. Great film.

Keith Olbermann up and quit, got fired, whatever, from MSNBC. He'll be back on Current. I'll check it out. I wish he would have gone to Showtime to give Bill Maher a run for his smug money. I would love to hear Keith uncensored.

Tried watching a movie called (Untitled). Couldn't make it through 20 minutes, it was so awful. Adam Goldberg has to be the most annoying working actor in Hollywood. I don't see how he gets roles ... they are always the same ... a loser schlub and not a funny loser schlub like Seth Rogen .. I can deal with him. But Adam Goldberg was funny in Dazed and Confused only because he was new and his schtick was funny. Not so much now. Marley Shelton looked like she was trying so darn hard to act well ... but Goldberg ruined it. Ugh ... yucky yucky yucky.

Watching the PBS series, Pioneers of Television. Tonight is Late Night talk shows. Saw programs on Westerns ... meh .. not too interested. The one about Children's shows was awesome. Bozo, Ray Rayner, Romper Room ... took me back. Next week is sitcoms.

Total and Utter Guilt ...

2011-01-01T09:03:00.002-05:00

Ok ... here goes:

I'm a fan of Pauly Shore. There I said it. I love Encino Man .. I'll watch it everytime I see it's on TV. Love it love it love it. And know what else? I love his movie, Pauly Shore is Dead. I laugh at it ... I laugh at HIM. I think he's funny ok? PSID is the best cameo laden film I've ever watched. But it's Pauly that makes it funny for me.

There, mea culpa. Happy 2011 folks!

End of the Year Folks!

2010-12-31T19:40:00.003-05:00

Well, I may as well close the year with a post.

The Road. Yea, it was a heavy film. The 2 lead characters were amazing. Viggo Mortenson is probably second to Brad Pitt as the most underrated actor working. One day, he'll get that Oscar he so dearly deserves. The film itself was incredible. I guess it's pretty real to the book too, which probably makes it even better and why it didn't do so well because it went over everyone's heads. I thought the ending was very optimistic. Most probably see it as a film about a boy who's dad dies ... too bad because it was much more than that.

Saw Hurt Locker and wow ... amazing. I'm now starting a Jeremy Renner festival. Dahmer is supposed to tivo tonight. I'm happy that he was able to overcome playing Jeffrey Dahmer ...the guy who played Henry in Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer still gets creepy parts as a result. too bad because he's a good actor too. He's Michael .... ugh, can't remember .. Rooker! Yea. He's in The Waking Dead, which was just ok, not great. 28 Days Later and .. well, The Road .. seemed to be much more realistic in terms of apocalypic pictures. I like that Hurt Locker didn't get into the politics of that stupid war. Just men doing jobs. Loved Ralph Fiennes cameo. I looked and looked, is it??? Yea!!!!

Saw a great Elia Kazan film called A Face in the Crowd. Olbermann has been calling Glenn Beck, Lonesome Rhodes Beck for a long time, so when my tivo picked up Kazan movies, I saw that this is the movie he's referring to and wow, spot on Keith! Andy Griffith plays this complete scumbag who spouts off all kinds of crap and gets drunk on the power that his words bring. But unlike Beck, Lonesome Rhodes's career comes crashing down quickly. Patricia Neal was stunning as the woman who made him a star. Glad I watched it.

And on my Glenn Gould fix. American Masters went North American again with their 2 hour show about Glenn Gould. It was awesome. And since 32 Short Films about Glenn Gould is one of my favorite films, it was a great way to fill in what was confusing to me in the film.

Happy New Year all!

The Road

2010-12-05T18:18:00.002-05:00

Still formulating coherent thoughts ...

The Lovely Bones and The Killer Inside Me

2010-11-29T09:30:00.002-05:00

Caught up on a lot of tivo viewing over the turkey day break. I've been watching Real Housewives of BEVER-freaking-LY HILLS ... wow, what a trainwreck that show is and it's because of one person ... Camille soon to be ex wife of Kelsey Grammer ... that woman, seriously, is the most unintelligent person on the entire series. She makes KellyHIEEEE on NYC look like a rocket scientist. Methinks she wanted to do the show to puff herself up and then garner sympathy in the wake of Kelsey dumping her stupid keester and it's backfiring! She gets no sympathy from anyone ... she's an insult to the female species.

Celebrity Ghost Stories ... watched it on a fluke and it's awesome! Who knew I'd get caught up in these celebrities talking about their experience with the other side? Who knows if it's even real, they are actors afterall, but it's still so stinking interesting! My favorites so far are Diane Ladd, Daryl Hannah and Connie Stevens. Marilyn Manson and Michael Rappaport's are also very cool. Great show.

And on my Michael Winterbottom fix .. sigh ... blech ... The Killer Inside Me. Can't decide if it's the subject matter or the inherent creepiness of Casey Affleck. Thought he was great in Jesse James, stole the show in fact, but in this one, yuck ... just too creepy. Wish they could have cast someone else in his role. I guess the one thing I couldn't get was the dialogue ... oh the mumbling! God, it's annoying! I couldn't keep anyone straight because whenever someone was explaining why someone was doing what to whom,I missed it. In any event ... Winterbottom, this movie SUCKED. You're lucky I saw The Shock Doctrine a week earlier because I still have faith in you.

The Lovely Bones. Still marinating ... it was good, great? I'm glad that Peter Jackson lightened up on how Susie died and didn't really show it. The scenery was magnificent. Stanley Tucci really took a risk with his character and he really pulled it off. It made me hopeful that there's more to life after we leave earth. It liked it a lot better than that Robin Williams movie about death and dying ... What Dreams May Come? Yea, that one ... definitely better than that. The girl who played Susie was magnificent. Hope to see her more! She has the most piercing blue eyes I've ever seen.

Undeclared

2010-11-22T18:35:00.002-05:00

Since I've now watched the entirety of Freaks and Geeks, I'm now watching Undeclared ... the next Apatow television effort. It's nowhere near as good as freaks and geeks. The casting sucks!!!!! Ugh, the main guy is awful, the main girl is equally awful ... the only decent casting call was Seth Rogen's character and this show is beneath him. Glad it only lasted 17 episodes.

Raising Hope is still the best comedy on tv this year. I'm growing bored with Modern Family and I can't place my finger on why I feel that way. It's still funny ... but it's so contrived I guess. The newness is gone and it's just a routine show now. Snoozer.

Watched a Michael Winterbottom documentary called The Shock Doctrine. For the first time in my life, I'm not very happy with the University of Chicago ... wow ... Milton Friedman is evil incarnate. And he's so damn smug about it. Oh well, I guess I'd be smug too if I could go around screwing up latin america and then deny deny deny and get the freaking Nobel Prize for the screwy ideas that are in your head. Now I understand why Henry Kissinger can't travel to many countries in Latin America ... with good reason!!!! Thank you Michael Winterbottom!

In Treatment ... The Walking Dead ... Boardwalk Empire ... all plugging along. I wish that Boardwalk Empire would just end already! The Walking Dead is decent ... getting boring .. can only watch so much of the same old same old .. oh yea, more close up shots of zombies eating guts ... uh oh .. there's another one getting it's head blown off ... sad when we get desensitized. In Treatment is kind of boring this year. I'm on week 4 and I'm still waiting for something meaty. This may be it for this series.

The Big C was fabulous! The season finale was surprising and I'm glad they have re-uped for another season!

Bored To Death ended and the finale seemed to be a series ender, which made me sad because this season was hilarious. It really found it's groove. I read that there will be a third season .. yea!

Eastbound and Down wasn't long enough. The story concluded and I got a really cool song to download to my ipod called "He's Alright" by Kurt Vile.

Cadillac Records

2010-11-21T19:10:00.003-05:00

Watched this film and 2 days later decided it sucked. Well it didn't totally suck. Any scene with Adrien Brody sucked because his character, Leonard Chess, founder of the great Chess Records in Chicago, was totally fabricated.

I will say, Jeffrey Wright is one of the most underappreciated actors in our time. The guy played Muddy Waters so amazingly well. Heck even Beyonce was passable as Etta James. Take Brody's character out, and you have one of the finest movies about the foundation of the Chicago Blues scene ever made.

Been watched Celebrity Ghost Stories and I'm hooked. The whole concept is corny .... celebrities from A-listers (Chazz Palminterri) to no-listers (Don Most)talk about their paranormal experiences and they are fascinating. Vince Neil's visitation by his 4 year old daughter was particularly heartbreaking, yet heartwarming.

Oh ... my ... gosh ... Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Doh! Camille Donatacci ... soon to be Kelsey Grammer's ex wife is one of the dumbest people breathing air right now. Seriously ... wow ... can't even begin to express what a vapid famewhore she is. And I come to find out that Kelsey didn't have a prenup with her ... dude! The other wives are cake compared that this pelletheaded simpleton. It's not even worth going into the rest of them ... well, there's a Maloof woman ... owns crap all over the place. Then there's this carp mouthed wannabe... Taylor ... yuck ... and then former child stars, Kim and Kyle Richards who are the Hilton sister's aunts ... woooooooo!!!! Kyle's pretty cool, she's probably the best looking of every housewife in the entire franchise. But this is DingDongatacci's show .. wow ..

Cloverfield

2010-11-10T13:48:00.002-05:00

Watched it a couple days ago, thinking it was going to be some cheesy Blair Witch ripoff ... I didn't think it was. In fact, I dowright liked it ... A LOT! That monster was an effer! Wow. And when Lizzy Caplan blew up ... yow! That was really gross. I guess you could say this film is begging for a sequel and I hope they don't do it. The other thing that bothered me was the location. I wonder how people in NYC received it, given this was a post 9-11 movie. Did they really need to see their city under attack again? But, since I'm not in NYC ... I liked it.

Raising Hope is the funniest new tv show. Hands down. It's more realistic to The Middle than The Middle. The only reason I watch that show anymore is because of Atticus Shaeffer. He's great. They are making Patricia Heaton's character more dull and desperate. And again ... they don't sound like Southern Indiana people at all!

The Big C was a real bummer this week. I can't believe Marlene killed herself :( That was so very sad. I loved her character. The show won't be the same without her.

And anytime they want to kill off Running Wilde ... please do it quickly. Ugh ... so bad, so bad.

In Treatment started up again. As usual, it sucks until week 3. This is week 3. He has a new therapist and I'm as frustrated with her as Paul is. I have to wonder why he keeps going back. She's not babying him like Gina did.

Starting to watch Infernal Affairs. It's the movie that Scorcese remade into The Departed. So far, the original is terrific. It's really too bad that reading puts me to sleep so quickly. It will take me month to get through it.

Once Brothers ...

2010-10-17T16:11:00.002-04:00

Yesterday morning, I watched a documentary called "Once Brothers". It's the story of the friendship between Vlade Divac and Drazen Petrovic. One of the most fascinating periods in history, for me, is that dealing with Yugoslavia and it's implosion. Divac is Serbian and Petrovic, Croatian. They essentially grew up together as national team basketball players. Toni Kucoc as also featured. He, like Petrovic, is Croatian. Vlade and Drazen were drafted into the NBA at the same time and were close friends as strangers living in America. Divac made a huge splash in the NBA with much success. Petrovic, not so much. He hated playing for Portland .. it was only when he was traded to New Jersey did he start reaching his potential, only to have his life cut short in a car accident in 1993. During the beginning of the NBA tenures, the civil war broke out when Croatia declared it's independence from Yugoslavia. Divac insulted the Croatian players when he grabbed a Croatian flag from someone at the end of a championship game ... That ended his friendship with Petrovic and Kukoc ... the entire thing is just so damn sad. Politics and sports should never interfere with each other. The final scene is Divac travelling alone to Zagreb to visit Drazen's mother and have peace with her and to Drazen's grave ... I was in tears by then. Powerful, moving ... amazingly well done and lovely documentary.

Watched Ira and Abby .. ummmmm. Ok? It was funny? I think so. Jennifer Westfeldt plays this overwhelmingly cute and innocent girl named Abby who meets and marries this neurotic guy named Ira within a week. Get married, get annuled, get married again, gets divorced ... still in love ... makes no sense.

Can't remember if I mentioned that I watched Up in the Air .. I liked it a lot better than Ira and Abby ...

Watching:
Raising Hope ... hilarious. The main character is so likeable and sweet. his mom and dad, played by Martha Plimpton and .. Dilahut?? great stuff. Love it!

The Middle: funny, but annoying because they get southern indiana so incredibly wrong.

Modern Family: on auto pilot, good auto pilot

The Good Guys: Getting funnier as we go along. More Bradley Whitford!!! Even Colin Hanks is getting funnier. Lose the t&a prosecutor though, boring!!!!

THEY WON!!! THEY WON!!!

2010-09-26T20:29:00.002-04:00

I don't know if any of you took my urgings to heart, but if you did, thank you! WHUM won the best FM radio station in the Indianapolis area! They tallied almost 110,000 votes! Thank you! It truly is the best radio station on the planet.

Watched 2 Women. It's a De Sica film starring Sophia Loren and Jean Paul Belmondo (yum!). Very powerful, again, using the formula where you have to sit there and watch for an hour only to have the entire film come crashing in on you in the last 20 minutes, thereby making the entire film worthwhile. Sophia Loren won the Oscar for best actress for good reason, wow. Thought it was nice that she presented Roberto Begnini with his best actor Oscar for Life is Beautiful.

New tv shows have started. Watched Running Wilde ... hilarious! It's Arrested Development part II. Excellent first episode. Will Arnett is a great comedian. Wish I could say the same for his wife.

Watching Freaks and Geeks on IFC. Great show. Going to start watching some new show on IFC called Todd Margaret starring David Cross ... he was on the pilot episode of Running Wilde too. Watched the Kids in the Hall thing ... miniseries? called Death Comes to Town. Weird is not the word for that show. It was just plain bizarre. Stuck it out because I like the troupe, but man, it was just strange.

Watched the first episode of Boardwalk Empire ... yawn. Nah, not so much. Steve Buscemi is one of my favorite actors too, which bums me out, but he is not a leading man in any way, shape or form. Nope, doesn't work at all. Will watch again just because I know I should like it.

Mad Men, awesome.
Eastbound and Down, starts up again tonight
Bored To Death, starts up again tonight

I'm in the middle of Letters from Iwo Jima and this is a wow wow wow movie. Didn't know what to expect, but so far, it's incredible! I read that the companion film, Flags of our Fathers, stunk, so I'm glad I'm watching this one first. Iwo Jima tells the story of the invasion of Iwo Jima from the Japanese perspective, hence the film is in Japanese. Flags tells the same story from the American perspective. I find it rather funny that Flags was panned, but Iwo Jima was universally praised. Wonder if Clint intended for it to be that way????

WHUM is Number ONE!!!!

2010-08-29T13:08:00.003-04:00

http://wrtv.cityvoter.com/whum-radio/biz/371980?ref=short

This is just unbelievable! This wonderful TINY community radio station is beating the megawattaged up Indianapolis competition! If any of you have voted as a result of seeing my humble blahg postings, thank you!!!!

Movies,

Watched Coco Before Chanel. It's about .. ta daaaa .... Coco Chanel, she of my favorite perfume and whose clothes I could only wish to afford, much less fit into. What a little force she was! This woman single handedly changed women's fashion .. corsets? NOPE! She made fashion more comfortable and for that I am grateful. Good movie. Understated, as most European films are.

In the Loop is a British film that is one of the best I've seen in a long time. I think the last time I said that was after I saw Che. Man, was it hard to understand. I had to tune my accent ears for about 20 minutes before I got it. There's this foul mouthed Scotsman who was the highlight of the movie ... totally stole it. James Gandolfini plays this general who is anti-war, but gets sucked into it after the British PM speaks out of turn resulting in a frenzied back and forth between London and Washington. The script was nominated for an Oscar, with good reason, it's just THAT great! Probably should have won.

Can't remember what else I've watched ...

WHUM is holding steady at #2!!!!!

2010-08-21T11:36:00.000-04:00

To all of you who have voted: Thank you very much! Just thought I would show you where we stand this fine morning, & also ask you to see if you can have all your friends, & family vote too: http://wrtv.cityvoter.com/whum-radio/biz/371980

This is the most brilliant status line on Facebook EVER

2010-08-14T10:12:00.001-04:00

From a great friend on mine!

I'll criticize Barack Obama or any other part of the government
whenever I damn well please. My loyalty is to democracy and the public
good, not a person or a party. Meaningful political engagement is not
about cult of personality. No people anywhere owe any politician
anything except an occasional kick in the ass. We are not obligated... to
thank or praise our public servants.

Forgot to mention Gasland!

2010-08-14T09:56:00.002-04:00

Watched Gasland earlier this summer. Most excellent documentary about the process of Fracking ... is that how it's spelled? In any event it is about how natural gas speculators drill miles below the earth and fracture the ground to release natural gas ... they also pump hundreds of chemicals into the ground, thus contaminating drinking water to a point where you can bloody light in on FIRE!!! yea, FIRE! You see it! It is corporate greed out of control! Amazingly sad and enlightening film done by a guy who's land is at risk. It wasn't as preachy as a Michael Moore film (I'm in the middle of Capitalism, A Love Story) and has more personality than an Erol Morris documentary ... wow ... truly worthy watching.

Mad Men is the best! This is the best season so far ... Cannot begin to describe it. Everything is changing around Don. Betty is married to someone else now, new agency ... he's now calling on hookers who smack him around .. woot!

True Blood is exceptionally bloody this season. More vamps getting staked and turning into Karo syrupy goo. And now we have werewolves to contend with and a very creepy king of Mississippi ... And ok, when are they going finally come out with it ... Sookie is a fairy! God, just do it already!

Hung ... so so ... kinda slow

Watched the pilot of The Big C ... it is AWESOME! Laura Linney, who I can't really say that I enjoyed, has really found her dream role! She plays a woman who just found out she has stage 4 melanoma ... so there you go, this show cannot go on forever ... jumping the shark probably isn't an option since the endgame is already built in. And oh how I love Oliver Platt! This guy can play any role and making it fabulous. I set it up for a season pass before the first episode was over. I have to stick with this one. Showtime has really developed some great series.

Movies Movies Movies

2010-08-13T20:37:00.003-04:00

Finally, after years of waiting, I was finally able to add another puzzle piece to my Jim Jarmusch puzzle and that film is Down By Law ... made in 1986!!! And it was fabulous, and that's no surprise. But what is fascinating to see is that this film was one of his first ... this guy put Roberto Begnini on the world map! Look at the stark simplicity of Down By Law and then watch one of his newer films, like the most excellent fabulous Limits of Control and you see that this man is the one and only director who has yet to sell out! Seriously, Jim Jarmusch is as true to his filmmaking now as he was then. It's a beautiful thing to see.

Watched a rather strange film called Women in Trouble ... one of those multi storylined films that are intertwined by one big thing ... in this case, a pregnant porn star, played by Carla Guigino. It was ok ... wouldn't tell anyone to go out and watch it. It wasn't terrible ... well, there was one porn star that was really entertaining .. .kinda looked like Charlize Theron and her character was really the only fascinating one.

(500) Days of Summer. Good? Great? Hmmmm .. you know, there are just some films where you relate to it on a scary level. I think I've been in both situations as far as relating to the main characters. The main female character was played by Zooey Deschanel ... she's not a terribly good actress, but she made Summer into a believebly horrible person. The kid from third rock from the sun ... something something something .... Leavitt ... Gordon Leavitt ... well, HE was great. I'd watch it again to see him. Joseph Gordon Levitt. Apparently, he was in Women in Trouble, but gosh darned if I remember seeing him. He probably wants it that way!

And finally, my love hate opinion of Richard Kelly has turned back to love. Donnie Darko .. one of the best films I've ever seen, then Southland Tales was one of the worst films I've ever seen, so I was tepid about seeing his third film, The Box. Yippeeee! It was GREAT! Freaky as heck though ... Frank Langella plays one of the most frightening people I've ever seen in film. It wasn't just his physical appearance, he just has a scary presence in the film that made you shiver. And just as Donnie Darko made me go "whoa, Patrick Swayze can act!", Cameron Diaz did it for me in The Box! Sista can ACT! Yea! Great film.

And don't forget .. vote for WHUM:

http://wrtv.cityvoter.com/whum-radio/biz/371980

Vote!!!!

2010-08-11T13:55:00.002-04:00

I've been watching a lot of movies lately:

Down By Law
The Box
500 Days of Summer

I'm sure I'm missing others and I'll chat about them later, but today, anyone who peeks in here ... please take some time to vote for the best radio station on the planet using this link:

http://wrtv.cityvoter.com/whum-radio/biz/371980

Feel free to stream it too ... www.whum.org, click Listen .. you'll hear me!

Don is BACK!!!!

2010-07-26T08:33:00.005-04:00

Mad Men started last night! It was INTENSE!!! Betty and Henry are now married and she's an even bigger twit. They were at Henry's mother's for thanksgiving and it was a disaster and Henry's mom nailed Betty perfectly ... the kids are scared of her and she's silly and it's obvious why Henry wanted to have her ...it's all beginning to crash down though. Don's had it ... he's kicking her out of the house and she's acting like some spoiled little brat. Can't wait to see him kick them out of his house, or make Henry buy the thing! Sally is the best. She spit out sweet potato at the Thanksgiving table and Betty yanked her away and Sally yelled that she was being hurt!

And we see that Don likes to be punished .. hee hee.

But the best scene was the final one. Don goes rogue and when Nashville Teens version of Tobacco Road came on, I pumped my fist and said "Don is back, BABY!!!!"

The new agency seems to be learning to crawl. Peggy has a sweet new hairdo. Pete is still a sniveling weasel, but Don is different now. He's really taking control and playing the game a little bit more. This is awesome!

Being Human started too and it was great. George turned his girlfriend into a werewolf and Annie can be seen and works at a bar. Mitchell is tormented as usual and now he needs to protect George from all the vamps coming in because George killed Harrick, so there's a bounty on his head. I still don't understand how Mitchell can be in the daylight .. must have missed that, but I'm so happy it's back!!!

Strike me down

2010-07-21T21:26:00.003-04:00

I don't think I've ever watched an Ang Lee film that I've enjoyed. I know, it's a terrible thing to admit. I thought Brokeback Mountain was just ok. Oooo, Jake Gyllenhall and Heath Ledger are lovers!!! Big whoop dee do. It was a stunning film to watch, but the hype over these 2 good looking guys getting it on while tending sheep was a snooze. Hated the Ice Storm ... blech. But I really hated Taking Woodstock. Seriously??? Seriously? What a load of crap that movie was. The guy who played Michael Lang was cool ... dead ringer for the guy, but that's about it. Eugene Levy was cool as Max Yasgur, but those 2 characters do not make this film worth watching, period! Am I horrible for not liking any Ang Lee films? I feel kinda guilty for admitting it. Hopefully he'll make a movie I like someday. But the ones I've seen ... blech.

I'm bummed that Starz cancelled Gravity. It had so much potential, but alas, anything good is certain to be cancelled. There was even a cliffhanger, dammit! Not surprised they cancelled Party Down ... it was lame this season. Jane Lynch's departure killed that show. She's excellent. She's the only reason I watch Glee. I fast forward theough the show tunes and I can't stand the guy who plays the teacher and that crazy little bird woman who plays his ... girlfriend? Ugh. Jane Lynch is the only reason to watch Glee, in my opinion.

Best news though ... Mad Men and Being Human are firing up again!!!! Woot!!!

Season 4 of True Blood is confusing as heck. So many new characters to keep up with. Love Franklin ... he's awesome. Bill and Sookie seem to be taking a backseat to the new vamps and weres. Eric is becoming more central, which is cool! Maybe at some point, I'll read the books to see what those are like, but I'm enjoying the show for now.

Hung's second season is getting better with each episode. Love Tonya's nickname, teabrain. But it's funny that a woman with a name like Lenore would give it to her!

Funny People

2010-07-17T15:55:00.002-04:00

Watched this ... hmmmm ... movie? I don't know, I find the Apatow thing getting annoying and sappy. Does this guy make movies just so his annoying voiced wife and children can be seen by everyone??? Had high hopes for Sandler because I liked Punch Drunk Love (one of probably 3 people), but he's just a gigantic douchebag. Seth Rogan ... again, a loser douchebag, sigh. He was at least funny in Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Why is he always cast in roles where he ends up with some gorgeous female? Knocked Up ... Zack and Miri ..

Anyway, Adam Sandler playing a guy who thought he was dying was an interesting bit ... hiring Seth Rogen as his assistant, again, interesting. But then along comes Mrs. Apatow and his kids ... boom, game over. I remember James Lipton salivating over Mrs. Apatow, that pretty much says it. Blah blah blah.

And here's what I don't get. IFC is rerunning Freaks and Geeks and it's great! Too bad Apatow went hollywood because now he sucks.

Watching a lot of little shows ... Penn & Teller Bullshit (great as usual), 30 Days (preachy), Keith, Daily, I'm behind on movies .. have many that are probably going to be deleted automatically because I can't keep up.

Can't remember what else I've been watching ... summer brain I guess.

Movies and more

2010-06-13T12:37:00.003-04:00

Let's see if I can list the movies I've watched over the past few weeks without having to pause:

Yesterday Today and Tomorrow .. Sophia Loren looking mighty fine. Vittorio DeSica directed ... he of Bicycle Thief fame. It's a trilogy with Loren and Mario Mastro-inoni, or however it's spelled. The first story with Loren playing a feisty woman who is bucking the system so she avoids jail for not paying her debts was great. The other 2 stories were just ok.

Tigerland: Colin Farell is becoming the new Brad Pitt ... underappreciated great actor. I do believe this was his first American film and he was GREAT. It's a Vietnam film .. kind of like Full Metal Jacket. It's about infantry soldiers who are in training in Louisiana. Farell plays an anti-war guy who gets others out of the war, much to the chagrin of the officers. I'm not a big fan of Joel Shumaker films, but this one is the exception. It was really good.

The Hangover ... funny, vulgar, Apatow stuff. Did he have anything to do with it?

Zack and Miri Make a Porno ... funny, vulgar, typical Kevin Smith crap.

W ... exactly what I thought it would be. Simpleton gets in over his head. Nice to see marley shelton though. Not as conspiracy theory-ey as most Oliver Stone films.

And finally:

The Limits of Control. WOW!!! I LOVE THIS FILM. Don't even know where to begin. I love Jim Jarmusch films. My Gael Garcia Bernal and Jim Jarmusch wishlist picked it up on tivo. Typcially, it's hard to describe. It's not easy to describe like Ghost Dog (BRILLIANT!) .. it's about a nameless assasin who travels through Spain gathering clues with every visit from a stranger ... and finally completes his task. But it's so much more than that. It's about art vs. corporations (played by Bill Murray ...). The cast ... the assasin is someone I've never seen. But, Tilda Swinton, Bernal, John Hurt ... it's one of those movies that moves really slow, but about 3/4's of the way in, you have this a-ha moment. I love films like that.

Total Breakdown ... very sad to watch

2010-05-21T17:54:00.001-04:00

I usually really riff on these ladies, but last night's episode ... wow. I can't even say that KellyHIEEE is a mess ... I can't say that she's batcrap crazy. She's seriously unstable. She has such deep seeded issues and I think they are all due to the breakup of her marriage. Something tells me that she actually thought that guy would stay with her forever and she is still not over the fact that he left and has moved on a couple more times. I think she's ashamed that her marriage failed and that she is a single mom. She is terribly paranoid and I wonder what happened with her daughter because she seemed very stressed out by the conversation she had with her daughter and it was all downhill from there. I have a feeling that Gilles Bensimon has nothing to do with their children and that makes KellyHIEEEE really depressed. This would explain why she doesn't like emotions, she doesn't like to talk about the past. But at the same time, she acts like the little schoolgirl that Giles Bensimon married and thought she would be with forever.

What we saw was a total breakdown and it wasn't funny anymore. This was beyond Bethandthecity being mean. I think that KellyHIEEE sees Bethandthecity as the person she wishes she could be. Outwardly confident and successful on her own terms, expecting a new baby and is engaged. After KellyHIEEE got burned last summer, she's completely lost because she probably feels like her womanly mojo has been zapped.

I hate to say it, but I kinda feel sorry for her.

And onto the snarkfest!

OK, WTF is it with Bethandthecity ... seriously? She can't come up with a personalized gift other than a big fat tax deductible Skinnygirl bag? Really? I would have been hacked .. I mean, come on dude! This is a girl's getaway, not a stinking food convention! Bet she has those same bags at food conventions! Seriously ...

Fangface really held her own. It was uncomfortable watching the photoshoot though. It was obvious that Fangface wasn't comfy with a camera in her face. Why couldn't a nice posed beach shot do? Duhmona and Sexpot were getting jiggy with it though ... and what the heck is it with Duhmona's obession with her own a$$? Ok, girlfriend, you're 50-ish, with a smokin' bod, but please, hunny bunny ... you are your biggest fan it's pretty obnoxious!

Sexpot Sonja was excellent. She is the grande dame of the group! I think that Fangface just wants to hide in a sand dune, but Sexpot is willing to try to diffuse the situation. Fangface is over it.

And Yenta Jill ... just can't stop being a Yenta. Oy! Next week looks to be hysterical! She is just not the brightest bulb in the bunch. I hope Duhmona goes postal on her.

Ok, I'm gonna ZIP it now!

When You're Strange

2010-05-18T21:14:00.002-04:00

Wow .... this is one of the best documentaries I've seen in a long time. American Experience on PBS does it again. Johnny Depp narrated this excellent documentary on the Doors. What these 4 guys did in 5 or so years is stinking amazing! All those songs. Yea, I know they had a lot of great songs, but man, they had a lot of great songs! Jim Morrison ... what can I say that hasn't been said. The man was meant to be a rock star. The show had this dead ringer for Jim Morrison, it was pretty scary.

I've also watched bits and pieces of a few movies over the past few days.

Zack and Miri make a porno. What is it with Kevin Smith movies? I like them for the most part, but Kevin Smith seems to want to make films only to push the limits. He has an affinity for feces, which is funny ... I dig a good poop joke as much as the next person, but this porno movie really took it too far. Loved Tracey Lords in the movie. She was funny.

I forgot that George Clooney was in From Dusk Till Dawn ... what's wrong with me?

and on the OMFG I want my 2 hours back ... The Proposal ... argh!!!! I'll go ahead and say that I cannot believe why in the world she won an Oscar for the Blind Side ... ok, I haven't seen it, but I have a feeling that the scenes they show over and over and over and over are pretty much it. She plays some rich woman with a badass attitude ... big whoop. So this proposal movie ... stuuuuuuuuuuuuupid!!!!! She plays some tragic bitchy woman who is going to be deported, so she dupes her stupid assistant into marrying her .... and it goes straight to stupidland from there. Awwwww and they finally end up being in love. Blech. Now I'll say, Betty White was cute, but it's no reason to waste your time!

It was a HOT MESS again!

2010-05-14T19:00:00.000-04:00

Couple thoughts pop out immediately:

No Yenta Jill!!! Woot Woot!!!

And THANK GOD FOR TIVO!!! I was able to fast forward through that god awful IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT'S recording session with that freakazoid blond mohawk guy smooching her hiney every second he could ... seriously? Was he really into it that much, or just inflating her ego to get at least a recordable song out of popeye the sailor? I also FF'd through the smooching the gay guy stuff. Seriously, Mr. gimme some sloppy sugar is lighter in the loafers than Simon!!!

Argh! money can't buy you class! argh!!!!
Ahoy there dahling!

Bethandthecity was AMAZING!!! Seriously, as duhmona would say, "kadooz" to her, "she's like white rice".

And KellyHIEEEEE ... oh my feathery god! This woman is as shallow as shallow can be. She's an unemotional unfeeling nitwit. Boy, that Bensimon must have raked her over the coals, or she agreed to give him her emotional capabilities. She hurls insults to Bethandthecity about how she's not a chef, she's a cook and then she can't back the poop coming out of her mouth UP! And then ... oy! She doesn't understand that making lemonade out of lemons is a GOOD THING! She meant "making a mountain out of a molehill", but she probably thinks a molehill has something to do with Cindy Crawford. Wow, I felt like Fangface was an incompetent arguer last week? The only thing wrong with Fangface is that her timing is screwy ... KellyHIEEEE is just plain screwy!

And den dere's Duhmona!!! Dun Dun Dunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn ... Drunk Duhmona is not a pretty Duhmona. And did you notice how she struck these stripper poses all over the boat? I have to say, I thought her swimming with a noodle was cute as pie though AHMMMMMMMMMMM gggonnnnnnnna shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhoooooooooooot 'er down! I'm jus gonna shhhhhhhhhhoot 'er down! CLASSIC Duhmona!!!

And ok ... folks ... how many of you agree that sexpot sonja wanted a little Kelly HIEEEEE action??? Anyone? Anyone???? And did any of you see that cod lip from her profile ... euwwwww!!!

RHWNYC ... getting more and more ridiculous!

2010-05-08T10:50:00.000-04:00

Note tor Bravo ... why don't you just go all in and rename the show The Jill Zarin House of Fun? I'm sick of that homely yenta and her yap yap yap.

I wanted to smack Bawbee too ... I mean, it's great that he went a little caveman, defending his woman, but are you kidding me? "Jill doesn't cry" .. it's painfully obvious that Bawbee doesn't live in that blue and silved gilded thing they call a condo because Yenta Jill has been the biggest baby on that show since day one. And even then, Bawbee tells Fangface to talk to Jill and what happens? She refuses like the petulant little high school girl that she is! OMG!!!

Fangface ... ah, Fangface. Girlfriend, you have ZERO confrontation skills. ZEEEEE-ROOOOOOOOOO. She breaks out in red splotches and she goes off topic and she does it in the most inappropriate of venues with mixed company. After the confrontation with "you're a mean girl in high school" ... I mean, c'mon! Fangface, alas, is as incompetent at getting her point across is a tense social situation as she is indulgent in raising her children. You got a preview of how she's going to end up being a raving loonie when those monster boys are teenagers ... she can't handle an issue with Yenta Jill? The woman is a weak minded drama queen ... those are easy!

And Yenta Jill .. how dare she! Getting hacked at Duhmona for not telling her about Bethandthecity's Dad passing away .. what a hypocrite! She claims in front of Fangface that "well, she just doesn't know what their relationship is" and then to go postal on Duhmona and go hide in a pantry to sulk? And then there's IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT ... oy vey, her utter fakeness and complete ignorance when it comes to potential suiters ... why does she feel the compulsion to insert herself into anything that has to do with Yenta Jill, but then, she makes it about HER!!!! I thought Fangface handled her confrontation with IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT just fine. It's pretty crystal clear that Fangface was the stranger in this group from the get go, because they certainly want to shove her out of the group now. And know what .... it would be for the best. And oh, didn't you just love Yenta Jill's "you'll never work in this town again" BS line about how they just cannot run in the same social circles? What a stinking egomaniac little miss homely Yenta Red is! Hey Yenta Jill ... Fangface never ran in the same social circles ... Bravo inserted her into yours .... and it's an easy fix. And then ... ugh! Yenta Jill makes me want to vomit. Did you hear the chuckles when Fangface mentioned that she's in Brooklyn? What the F is wrong with these people????

Duhmona came off as the completely sane one this week!!!! Only a few eye pops and I thought she handled Yenta Jill's boo hoo brat act very well.

Heart goes out to Bethandthecity ... but she had closure.

Can't wait to see Yenta Jill try to crawl back into Bethandthecity's good graces. You all know that Bethandthecity will never EVER speak to Yenta Jill again. And B will handle it with grace, while J will get all Ginger and yap and poop everywhere letting everyone know what a horrible person Bethandthecity was to her.

Cannot WAIT for the reunion show!

Oh, KellyHIEEEEE was on this week? Was she even there? Oh yea, she was HIEEEEEE-ing all over a dog, running into a pantry and literally getting into the middle of Yenta Jill and Fangface's confrontation!

And then there's Yenta Jill being annoying as dry snot counting KellyHIEEEE's "likes" ... like like like like she's some homely schoolmarm trying to teach propah enunciation to her new "project" ... RUN AWAY KELLY!!!!

And Avery is being a bit of a little brat with regard to this whole renewing vows thing. She's not into it and Duhmona just doesn't see it.

Money Can't Buy You Class - Countess LuAnn De Lesseps - FULL SONG

2010-05-01T10:10:00.001-04:00

Holy crap! It's sings!!!!! This song will rattle in your heads for at least a couple hours, you have been warned! Yea, money can't buy class ... it obviously didn't buy you voice lessons either!

Hot Mess! Real Housewives!

2010-04-30T20:27:00.001-04:00

Wooooooo-eeeeeeee!!!! yea ha!

Yenta Jill ... yea, she's one hot mess!! She's one hot mess of a freaking hypocrite!!! She gets on her high horse telling Bethandthecity to keep HER email private but that stupid freak doesn't think twice about sharing the voicemail that she creepily kept in her voicemailbox with anyone who would listen
?????? And then there she is bubbie-ing Bawbee on tv making him look like a total put#. But he sure loves her. If I treated my dear husband that way ... well, he wouldn't be my husband for long! Bawbee is a saint. And there she is saying that IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT and sexpot sonja that THEY are out Yenta-ing her? Yea, hun ... guess it takes one to know one.

As for Fangface ... and she even admitted it ... she may regret the delivery, but she doesn't regret the message. And Fangface was really projecting her own anger toward Yenta Jill by being Bethandthecity's consigliere.

Sexpot Sonja ... I about spit out my pepsi when I heard her actually mutter the words that she doesn't everything in moderation! That's rich!!!! Here she is bragging about how she's doing the horizontal hootchie with whomever because she doesn't want to dry up ... yea, that's moderation baby! And that mouth! That botoxed upper lip!!! IEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! And what about that toothless homeless person that she uses as a psychic? Sexpot Sonja must not pay her very much because and I thought it was funny that she offered to talk to her surgeon about a b00bie lift ... hey Sonja, pay the psychic to get a new pair of choppers!!!! And a new coat! I have to wonder where she found this stringy haired freak ... and I wonder where she goes after she's done at Sexpot's townhouse ... oh oh oh ... and did anyone else get weepy when she described how much she had to give up in the divorce? are you kidding me? She obviously has enough to pay the toothless stringy haired homeless woman to blow sunshine up that taught rear end of hers!!!!

And back to Yenta Jill ... did I mention what a classless twit she is? IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT nailed her but good! Late, talking while IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT is trying to talk, twittering ... SO &^%$#@! RUDE!!!!

I hope that Yenta Jill is looking over these episodes and getting a clue about what a horrible person that she is.

And I truly felt bad for Jason II ... anyone care to guess who leaked the info to Perez Hilton? I'm surprised they didn't focus on that a bit more ...hmmmmmmmmmmmmm wonder if it was someone at Bravo???

Next week is going to be another hot mess!!!!

Marriage Under Construction

2010-04-29T21:49:00.002-04:00

So I've been watching this show. I can't really say why either because Nat and Rod are annoying as snot. And now Nat is pregnant and man is she as haggy as Rod is fat. Seriously, he looks awful and he's not going to make it to their baby daughter's 5th birthday unless he goes on a doctor assisted weight loss program. And Nat is just awful. She's weird AND awful. She nags Rod, whines to Rod and then she's kissy face ... the woman is psycho. I wish them well they seem to genuinely love each other, but man, they have a weird relationship.

The house ... where the heck did they get all this money to gut that place? I mean, they were living in something they called the frat house and all of a sudden, they are gutting this big old house ... hate their master bedroom ....closets are dumb, you can see the bathtub from the bed .. no wall separating the bathroom from the bedroom. And then there's this huge rooftop deck and what does Nat say? She imagines what it will be like to have the baby up there! Oh man, it's obvious that they are first time parents!!!

But let's back up a bit. So they are living in the frat house, Nat whines and whines and whines while Rod gets fatter and fatter and his facial hair changes with every scene. Rod is a big child ... much to the annoyance of Nat, who goes on a shopping binge to punish Rod ... real mature! Ugh! Ok ... so Nat is whining about the frat house, they buy this big old house ... they bully the designer and contractor into making an apartment in the basement where they can live and Nat can stop whining about the frat house, while the renovations are being done. The basement apartment was kick ass too! All new stuff! Again, where are they getting this cash??? So, they are living there for awhile and boom, she's pregnant and since the renos are going the way Nat wants to, she just can't live in that kickass basement anymore and they move back to the frat house!!! No wonder Rod is getting bigger and bigger.

So anyway, the master bedroom is done .. it sucks, but it's done. Oh yea, and have fun hauling that baby up and down those 3 flights of stairs!!! Bwahhhhhhhh!!!!! Nat is going to be such a haggy mom ... poor Rod ... he's going to be 500 pounds by the baby's first birthday.

The World According to Monsanto vs. Food Inc.

2010-04-25T11:06:00.003-04:00

Watched over the last week. The Monsanto film made me want to go through our refrigertor and and pantry and throw any that has any corn or soy products in them into the garbage. But I didn't ... what the heck would I eat? It's truly amazing how Monsanto products are EVERYWHERE, IN EVERYTHING in such a short time. Round Up ready soybeans have only been on the market since 1996 and now they control over 90% of the market and 90% of the farmers ... who are watched like hawks and threatened with lawsuits if they don't submit. Just unbelieveable. Food Inc., on the other hand was good, to a point. They had to try to make Wal-Mart look like some great corporate citizen in their efforts to go organic. Give me a break. They still sell Tyson and Smithfield ... 2 big targets of Food Inc .. so they buy yogurt from Stonyfield and we're all supposed to hold hands and say ... awww, Wal-Mart is great? I don't think so! Phooey on Food Inc. You guys had me until Wal-mart.

Monsanto has to be one of the most evil companies on the face of the earth. But we can't get away from any of their products ... sigh.

onto mindless tv.

Party Down started up again ... first episode ... meh .... better get better. Now the show on immediately after is great. It's called Gravity and it's about a support group for suicide survivors. The cast is formidible. Glad to see Ving Rhames back in action! Peter Sheffer too ... where has that guy been? I'll stick with Gravity, but Party Down is hanging by a thread.

Missed RHNYC this week ... ugh! Damn tivo! Will have to watch and write up at some point in the future!

Love that Jon Stewart is going after Bernie Goldberg with a vengeance!

And Kirstie Alley has finally gone scientologist on us! Her handyman, Jim, got sick and Kirstie sweetly nursed him back to health. She's a nice person and seems very real to me. But she explained to Jim "in my religion", one gets sick because something upset them ... wahhhhhhh? Do germs only attack people that are upset by something? Do germs only go after people that have these aliens in them? Oh my ...

Oh yea, watched Religulous ... Bill Maher's film about the hypocrisy and danger of organized religion. Well, yea, he was preaching to the choir, but the one thing I loved ... well, a couple things. I like how he lit up and smoked with a guy in Amsterdam ... but I also love that he lost that smug crap look he gets on his face when he delivers a punchline. It made the movie a lot more tolerable. He refers to religion as a neurological disorder, which I find rather amusing.

Ode to the Real Housewives of NYC

2010-04-19T12:37:00.003-04:00

The Real Housewives of NYC Reunion

2010-04-19T12:37:00.002-04:00

And Then There's High Society

2010-04-17T13:19:00.003-04:00

This week's ep of High Society was a ... can't even think of a good word for it.

Apparently, Tinsley Mortimer can't comb her own hair or put on makeup. Damn, I want to live like that! She's the biggest whiner ..... boo hooo ... everyone's so mean to me. What can I do about all the mean things that people say? Wahhhhhh Wahhhhhhh! She's like a 16 year old girl!!! And this homely Devorah Rose is a piece of work. She's her biggest fan, and Jules Kirby got the best line in of the night. Devorah Rose was having this party launching this line of bikinis and *gasp*, Jules Kirby just happened to show up .... what a coincidence, NOT! Words were exchanged and drinks were thrown ... and Jules says that for a man, Devorah looks good in a bikini! I about fell off the couch laughing. Good one Jules! Too bad you're such a deplorable excuse for a human being otherwise. Here's 2 words that Ms. Kirby should learn, Personal Responsibility.

I'll give Dale some credit this week. I love how mama bear she is! She took homely Devorah Rose to the woodshed and reduced her to tears without raising her voice! I loved it!!!! Now THAT'S as suthun' belle as it gets!

And thankfully, there was very little of that gross, self important boob JPC ... he's as disgusting as Jules Kirby in the personality department. And this Tommy girl is a trainwreck. He's very together when he's sober, but turns into a sobbing little sorority girl when he drinks. Maybe they are made for each other.

The most level headed person so far is Tinsley's sister, Dabney. She's the most mature person on the show! More of her!

Weekly Housewives Recap

2010-04-17T07:27:00.001-04:00

What an episode!

Duhmona takes the cake this week! That woman is a bigger trainwreck as the weeks go on! OMG, the oyz!! The oyz!!!! But first, the big fat question for Mario! WTH was that about? She was dressed like a call girl ... the shrimp cocktail looked ultra yummy! And then when she finally said that she wanted Mario to think about what she's going to ask ... he had this look on his face like "OMG, she's dressed for some hanky panky ... she wants another baby! Nooooooooo!" And then she lets the lead balloon out of the bag ... renewing marriage vows ... whoop deee doo! What's there to think about Duhmona! Is Mario going to say no? The worst part of that scene was that THEY FREAKING LEFT THE SHRIMP COCKTAIL BEHIND to go get busy in the bedroom ... WHAT A WASTE! And then the Kodak party. Is Duhmona the biggest buzzkill or what? This woman cannot be happy for anyone! If it's not about her, she's going to do everything in her power to take a giant dump on the event. And KellyHIEEEEE was a force to be reckoned with in that arguement. She PWND Duhmona completely!

Yenta Jill. Well folks we saw exactly how wannabe she was in this episode! And we saw it with the introduction of Sonja Morgan. Sonja Tremont Morgan ... this is the trophy wife de tutti trophy wife. This is a woman who used to be receptionist for a hoity toid italian restaurant who managed to get her lunchooks into a descendent of JP Morgan AND John Adams! CHA-CHING!! And I can see why she and IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT are friends ... they both married old fogeys and spawned heirs and divorced ... both came from nothing and married into society ... Yenta Jill, not so much! Yenta Jill has never heard of Sonja Morgan! Boom!!!! If Yenta Jill were truly connected, she'd know who Sonja Morgan is ... and IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT would have introduced her sooner! Hmmmm ... is IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT ashamed of her friendship with Yenta Jill???? Maybe IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT is slumming it with Yenta Jill!

And then Yenta Jill acting all Countessy at Brooklyn Fashion Weekend. How dare she! What a snob! She shouldn't have even shown up! And while Duhmona was wrong for hijacking Yenta Jill's moment in teh spotlight, Yenta Jill's holier than thou behavior in Brooklyn ... taking a Yenta dump on the event that Fangface worked very hard on ... NO CLASS!!!

And hmmmm ... I found it interesting that Bethandthecity keeps pregnancy tests on hand. First of all, they're expensive, I only ever bought them after I was late ... AND WE WERE TRYING TO GET PREGNANT! And did we really need to see the side of her toches? Really??? I'm no prude, but my god people ... do we really need to see the yellow urine on the pee stick? I thought her reaction was sweet. Been there, done that!

Bawbee is such a dork. He really wants to tell his wife to GTFU with this Bethandthecity situation but knows he can't. Too bad ...

And I thought KellyHIEEEE dressing Simon was ADORABLE!!!! Simon has shed his pretentious euro trash image and that makes me happy. And KELLYHIEEE should never ever ever ever ever wear strapless ... or bright yellow .... EVER!!!! Wow, whoever matched her with that outfit should be given 40 lashes with a wet noodle. And did I mention THE OYZ THE OYZ????

Kirstie Alley's Big Life and Personal Che

2010-04-12T12:44:00.003-04:00

I've been watching Kirstie Alley's Big Life on A&E. I also watched her Showtime series, Fat Actress. Big Life is better. Fat Actress was funny, but Big Life is more of a true reality show. It's not only about her either. She has some very interesting people who work for her and they are all part of the show. Her personal assistant (who has an assistant) is such a pretty and smart woman ... but she's horribly shy. The assistant's assistant is hilarious and a tad clueless. The best of her menagerie of staffers is her chubby buddy, Jim ... Jim??? He's on his way to a massive heart attack and it's interesting to see the process and how HARD it is to lose weight! It's not about losing weight per se, it's about changing your lifestyle ... that's the hard part. Of course, she's shilling her weight loss program. Fortunately, it's not the focal point of the show. Neither is Scientology! I am constantly amazed by her kids! Wow, they are soooooo normal, it's just unbelieveable. Obviously, she has raised those kids right! Kudos and I hope she can take off the weight.

We have this new channel called the Doc Channel, which is like heaven for me since I'm such a documentary freak. I watched Personal Che. It's about how the legacy of Che Guevara lives on today. The saddest part of the movie was how diluted Guevara and his message have gotten over the decades since his execution in Bolivia. There are actually people who pray to him as a saint ... hello people. Guevara was an atheist. And then when someone told them of Guevara's hatred of religion, the people stood there dumfounded and didn't believe them. There are also people in Cuba who didn't believe he was killed. The filmmakers showed the death photos and the people, again, couldn't believe it. Sigh. And then there was a Salvadoran man in NY who sells Guevara tchochkes, t-shirts, etc, which I'm sure would make guevara nuts if he saw it. The man was walking down the street and was accosted by Cubans who immediately attacked him verbally. Fortunately, there was a Cuban woman who told the men that this is America, he can wear a Guevara shirt if he wants and to leave the man alone. It was a great documentary and I'll have to keep my eyes open to see what else comes on this channel.

Mr. Death

2010-04-10T15:44:00.002-04:00

Again, Errol Morris is the best documentary filmmaker alive. I watched his documentary on the completely whacky, but incredibly blunt, Frank Leuchter. He improved the electric chair, which lead to him making an efficient lethal injection machine, which lead him to build a more efficient gallows .... sigh. I'm anti-death penalty, btw, but listening to him rationalize what he does was scary. He's being humane and dignified ... I don't know. But his real claim to fame is that he is a holocaust denier. He went to the death camps and chipped away at the gas chamber walls and had them alazyzed and claims that they were not gas chambers because there wasn't any residue in the concrete walls. First of all, desecration of a historical place ... NOT COOL DUDE! Second of all, really? Well, I guess his just deserts was that his career went into the dumper as a result of his "study". Great documentary.

Sons of Tuscon, over it.

Modern Family ... awesome

The Middle ... still ticks me off, but it really is funny. The Middle is for blue collar families what Modern Family is for white collar families. A good combination, good thing they are on back to back.

Been watching this show on HGTV called Marriage Under Construction. It's based in Toronto. It's about this married couple who buy their first house and renovate the crap out of it. Ok, where are they getting all this money? Seriously, the deck and backyard probably cost as much as my minivan. And their basement probably cost half as much as my house! The couple, Rod and Nat, are an interesting pair. She's pretty acerbic and he's ... hmmmmm ... well, he's a chef ... and I always say, never trust a skinny chef, but Rod really needs to get healthy. But Nat and Rod seem to be very compatible. It's a good show.

Also watching 30 Days on Planet Green. It's a continuation of the guy who did Supersize Me ... can't remember his name ... ugh! Sperlock ... yea, Morgan Spurlock. Each week, he takes people out of their elements for 30 days. A Christian had to live as a Muslim ... there's one where Spurlock and his girlfriend have to live on minimum wage ... should be interesting

Oh those Housewives ...

2010-04-09T22:05:00.001-04:00

so I'm watching it on my tivo RIGHT NOW ...

So we open with Duhmona going all Duhmona on Bethandthecity ... wtf???? Seriously, Duhmona is a complete lunatic. I actually felt sorry for Bethandthecity. Duhmona doesn't even know what she's saying. She's as impulsive as a 3 year old. It was like "whew", there Alex and Simon! NEVER did I ever think I'd write those words.

And then there's yenta jill ... oy! Isn't it obvious that she's always been the homely girl in the group and she's dragging LuAnn down into her homely world and LuAnn loves it. Seriously, Jill is u-g-l-y you ain't got no alibi. She's acting like Ginger ... next, she'll start smelling like Ginger by the end of the seaons.

And I really feel bad for Bethandthecity. You have to admit, as ascerbic (acerbic?) as she is, she doesn't play games. She never says anything to get approval. Everything coming out of her mouth, she means. She did mean it when she told Jill to get a hobby. Her Dad is dying and she's completely screwed up over it. She's hanging by a thread and she has enough class not to throw it in everyone's faces. And what about Fangface? She should become a therapist! And I'll give props, their Cobble Hill place looks AMAZING! Much better than the liberace inspired hovel that Yenta Jill lives in.

And then back to Duhmona ... that piece of crap is the biggest crap stirrer on the show. She's the leaker, she wants Yenta Jill and Bethandthecity to fight like cats and dogs because she gets a rise out of it. And I forgot about last season when Yenta Jill AMBUSHED Bethandthe city with Kelly last season!!! So now Yenta Jill is not only a homely size FIVE, but she's also a flaming hypocrite!!!! And know what, if Bawbee had his frickin' "throat cut open from he-ah to he-ah", why would Bethandthecity want to talk to him??? I think that Yenta Jill was looking to dump Bethandthecity and she set her up to fail so she could act like a victim when the friendship was ov-ah.

Uh oh .. here comes Bethandthecity ... her dad wouldn't see her .. wow, that's heartbreaking. Doorbell ringing .. and then there's IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT ... you talkin' to me, you talkin' to me ... what, is she Travis Bickle now .. Bickle's voice is higher. What a twit. IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT is acting like a scorned little girl. OMG, there she is listening in the door. I don't know why Bethandthecity is even wasting her time. and then Duhmona lies about asking Bethandthecity to the apt??? And then IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT gets all pitbully in a tizzy and makes it all about her!

Bethandthecity, sweetie give it up. Don't waste your time. Yenta Jill's day of reckoning is nigh when IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT finds herself a new apartment and a new man. Then what ...

Oh those "housewives"

2010-04-02T08:28:00.001-04:00

Yenta Jill: where to start. SHE'S HORRIBLE!!! Between her totally embarassing and stage mothering Ally and acting less mature than Ally when it comes to Bethandthecity ... oy!!! She's a lying sack of matzo who is acting like, for the first time in her life, that she's a popular girl. I think, by far, this show has gone to her head in the worst of ways. Seriously, she acts like she's the homely girl who just got asked to the prom by the star quarterback. Can't wait to see what happens when LuAnn finds herself a new marriage ... as long as Yenta Jill has a "project", she's like a freaking peacock prancing around full of self importance. She's managed to completely alienate herself from everyone on the show. Can't wait to see her downfall ... it's sad that she doesn't even realize what she's doing. And with her "choose who's side you're on" is going to really bite her in her in the a$$. How immature is she???

IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT: Did you see the look on her face when Victoria bluntly said that "papa has obviously moved on" ... !!!!!!!!!!! Wow! Victoria is awesome! She has more class than all these pathetic women put together! Hey, I have an idea! She needs a pied a terre? Since Bethandthecity is going to move in with JasonII, IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT should move in!!! There, problem solved!

KellyHIEEEE!!!: Was Kelly Byeeeeeee! This week! She's such a twit! And yea, get a freaking haircut, or wear your hair in a ponytail, a headband!!!! Know what, I'd love to see it .. bet she would still try to move her hair out of her face. I feel bad for that reporter ... he's beneath the ex husband? I'm sorry, who is he again? The only reason I know his name is because of her. What about that weird guy she was fawning over at the bar? What about that guy who sued her for assault? Were they beneath Gilles Bensimon? Last I read, KellyHIEEEE, you were his THIRD WIFE and the old coot has since moved on 2 more times ... girly girl, get over yourself, he has.

Bethandthecity: I actually felt kinda sorry for her, for the first time! I don't know what else to say because that sentence renders me speechless!

PlanetAlex: Is she looking more and more like skelator or what??? Sweetie ... EAT!!!!! She is handling herself so well, though. She actually has good business sense and can cut through the irrelevant BS and right the ship. And ok ... did ANYONE ELSE NOTICE how close that guy in charge of Brooklyn fashion WEEKEND sat to Simon???? It was like 2 gay magnets. And I'm not saying that Simon is gay ... just saying that this guy was obviously attracted! I really hope that KellyHIEEEEE and Bethandthecity drop it already because those 2 would mop the floor with the 2 bitter old hags. We already know that PlanetAlex is going to give it to YentaJill ... I hope that Bethandthecity and KellyHIEEEE give it to her as well.

Duhmona: Ok ... you all do realize that it was HER that leaked the story to the Daily News right? She's a sanctimonious shew and man, give this woman a glass of pinot grigio and the EMOTIONS FLOI! She needs to step back and be happy that her Father gave her closure and made an effort to be a nice man to her. And how nice of SuperMario to make that happen! Duhmona needs to take her final visit with her father for what it was and be happy.

And then we have High Society ... sigh. As bitter and old haggy as the "housewives" are, these Mortimer Tinsley people, including her vapid mother, are like children! Can Mortimer Tinsley do anything for herself??? Is this the sure fire sign that you've made it? Having people pick out clothes for you? And this JPC is one pitiful mofo. I loved it when Tins literally called another stylist right in front of him and then the guy shows up and he has to see Tins gush! Note to JPC's mommy ... cut him off lady! Stop enabling this sorry excuse for a human being! And there's nothing to say about Jules Kirby. She's evil, ugly ugly evil.

Devorah Rose ... why? Sorry sweetie, you're going to lose your battle with Tinsley Mortimer. As immature as Tinsley is, she's in a much higher class than this homely boobie wannabe.

And the Middle actually made a lame attempt at trying to Hoosier it up by focusing on the final 4 in Indianapolis. Nice try, no cigar. I almost wish they could spin the show off for the kids only. They're the reason to watch. They need to have a show where one of the kids starts talking like someone from Southern Indiana and then maybe we can get some answers.

Modern Family, hands down, best sitcom on tv right now. Every single character, even the creepy vampire dad guy had some good chuckles and you had to feel sorry for him because of his birthday gone awry. Manny and Gloria .. chess huslters! awesome. And I just want to go up to Cameron and give him a big hug. Such a loveable character. I think this show needs a former librarian guest star!

RHWNYC ... High Society and Sons of Tucson

2010-03-26T12:18:00.004-04:00

Woo! I was exhausted after watching that episode!

Duhmona is hands down one bat crap crazy beyotch! Here's Duhmona: "oh, oim not gettin' involved", "so did you have your breasts re-done Kelly?", "hey, LuAnn, you're a liah! Oim just sayin, Pinot Grigo! He-ah, now!" Oh LuAnn, let me kiss your hand ...wow, she's just out of her freaking mind!

Jill ... poor Jill ... pathetic yenta Jill. That popeye sounding mom of hers is a real piece of work! Jill's sister is so nice. She seems very LEVELHEADED!!! Oh Glahh-ria, EQUAL, EVERYONE EQUAL!!! And did you see how she went all agony aunt on LuAnn ... ding ding ding ... she's the new Bethandthecity for Glahhh-ria! Oh, don't worry de-ah, you'll come out a much betta parson on the otha soid. OY!!!! And did any of you get an acid flashback when Jill said that "mommy isn't happy?" Yenta Jill said that same dang thing when Bawbee failed to get a Mercedes SUV for her with an MP3 jack???

And KellyHIEEEEEE!!! Did you see her in all her HIEEEEEE glory at that Perez Hilton thing? And what a freak that mofo is!!!! The guy is a freaking BLOGGER!!!! A gossip blogger!!! And he's treated like a celebrity! And I could have sworn that KellyHIEEEEEE said she was going to meet Paris Hilton, not Perez Hilton. Do you think that Duhmona would have been so quick to put poor Avery in a cab ALL BY HERSELF if she knew she was going to meet Perez Hilton???? Poor Avery. She's such a pretty girl too ... the look she gave Duhmona from the cab was so sad :( And I'll give props to KellyHIEEEEE for actually thinking that Duhmona was a jerk for doing that to her daughter.

And that Saks party. Duhmona was absoutely spot on ... Jill's dress looked like her apartment!!!! I about fell off the couch when she said that.

LuAnn is a snake. She's stooping down to a level that she was never on while she was in hermarriageof16years. SnaggletoothAlex had every reason to be hacked at Yenta Jill and then catching her and IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT in a lie! Oh man, the reunion show is going to rock!

Don't know if any of you are watching High Society, but I thought it was HYSTERICAL that there's Duhmona and Bethandthecity (and if I have to see her schilling for that dumb margarita every frickin' show ... ) sat at the BAR at Phillippe? The BAR!!!! Here's the difference between the classes of these wannabes. Tinsley Mortimer ... she gets the chef's table for a freaking BLIND DATE! Take that wannabe socialites! You've got a long long way to go!

Speaking of High Society ... ok, so please tell me what the point of this show is again? I get Tinsley's point .. she's schilling her handbags .. ok, not that I like it, but I get it. Jules Kirby is hands down one of the most evil children I've ever seen. Period . JPC ... what a mess that boy is. He has the mental capacity of a flea and he thinks he's hot? He's a skinny little runt. That personal trainer is using him for publicity ... can't blame him either! Opportunity knocks! Can't wait to see his skinny little rear end get the boot! He's going to cry like the little baby that he is! And then we meet this new person .... Devorah Rose? Wow, she's one homely thing. Not ugly, just homely, which is worse. At least Jules has good looks, well, kind of good looks. Even Tinsley's mom is a child ... please, Tinsley's mom, get over it, Tinsley is out of the Topper family!!! She doesn't want back in! She's dating some dude from American Idol now ... bet that drives mama nuts!!! At least Cazzie is gone ... yeesh, what a creep!

Started watching Sons of Tucson ... has the scraggly funny guy from Reaper ... Sock. It's funny ... well, Sock is funny. These 3 kids hire Sock to pose as their dad, or guardian, or whatever while their real dad is in the can. The kids are strange ... not very funny, but Sock is funny, so I'll keep watching since I'm still in deep denial that Reaper was cancelled.

High Society ...

2010-03-20T08:43:00.006-04:00

So I make it a sport to mock the Real Housewives of New York City. Yep, that I do! But I started watching a new reality show that TAKES THE FREAKING CAKE, MAN! It's called High Society and this show makes those commoners over on Bravo look like mature human beings!

Why do I watch ... well, I've always been fascinated by those of the monied class in NYC ... so sue me. If I could go back in time, I'd be a rich girl in NYC between 1920 and September 1929. I watch Gossip Girl too. It's just hard to imagine having the opportunity to live that way and I'd like to think that I'd be a lot more classy about it than the Housewives, but really, Tinsley Mortimer's show takes it all!

Poor Tinsley Mortimer .. born into Manhattan wealth (in Virginia!)... marries young, marries a rich guy (now divorced) who's relation ran Standard Oil ... not a Rockefeller though. She's in her 30's and whines and moans and dresses like she's 16 years old. This girl needs a GROW THE FREAK UP pill. But then she has this delusional mother, wow, she's a piece of work! She's one of those mothers that people make that scary face behind her back and then say "but she means well". Scary woman. She wants nothing more than to for Topper (!!!!!!) and Tinsley to get back together (according to her, Topper is an American prince ... ha!). But the best reason according to her is "they have the same initials!" For every sarcastic remark I've ever made about my mom .. I'm glad she's my mom ... Dabney Mercer is a loonie. Tinsley apparently graduated from Columbia with a History degree ... would love to talk shop with her sometime. Wonder what history she knows ... "oh, like I know the history of like Park Avenue" ... hmmmmmm. Oh look, poor Tinsley is so heartbroken because her husband didn't like her parading around NYC getting photographed. No, Tinsley, I'm sure there was more to it than that ... could it be those horrible friends you hang around with?

Jules Kirby. Talk about a girl in sore need of a good butt kicking ... her parents should be ashamed at the horrible trashy and ugly person that they managed to create. She's racist, downright mean .. maybe she has a mental disorder ... no, I won't make excuses. She's just a horrible person.

Then there's this over the top guy who is a doppelganger of Jules, some weirdo ... JP .. PJ ... Calderon????... they are mirror images of each other. He's mean too, he's also been caught stealing ... asks his mom for $50K out of his trust fund so he can get an apartment. She indulges him by giving him $25K and he immediately orders a hotel staffer to "draw me a bubble bath" and, I'm sure, blew through that money in one night. OH, but the best is that he claims that all he wants is a husband and a family! Oh Ma Gawd! He thinks people like him and want to photograph him, but what the press wants is to catch him looking like the foolish twit that he is and he DELIVERS!!!!

And then there's Tinsley's equally immature sister ... she has to take a break from helping Tinsley unpack (and did I mention that Tinsley unpacks wearing 6 inch heals because she just CAN'T DO FLAT SHOES!) so she can do her nails!

bottom line ... this show is a complete train wreck. OH, and I forgot to mention that Tinsley is in Looooooooooove with this German "prince" ... she acts like a 14 year old girl with a school crush. This guy, Casimir ... Cazzie as she calls him, is a meanie too. Total control freak, throws a temper tantrum because the camera wasn't getting him from the right angle and that they were going off script (ooops!!!!). And then there's meddling mama going to some library to look up information (she can read!) and finds some book and gets terse like she's found some major skeleton. No, she probably found a book on German history and got to the WWII section and immediately thinks Cazzie's Dad was Adolph Hitler.

Seriously ... this show ... wow ... I don't watch Jersey Shore, but I think this show may be the rich version of Jersey Shore. But you know what they say:

MONEY CAN'T BUY CLASS!!!!!

Real Housewives!!!!!

2010-03-19T10:51:00.001-04:00

OMG ... what an episode: I think I'll do my synopsis in the first person(s)

LikeKellyHIEEEEEEE: Ok, like yea, so Bethenny was asked to post nake for PETA, so what? Like, I got like, Playboyyyyyyy!!!! Yea, I'm a member of PETA, and like, so what ... I like meat and I like wear fur ... so, like, what? And like, my like, agent ... yea, so? I'm in Playboy and I'm like 41!!!! Like like like like like.

oy! Her children are more articulate than her!

Yenta Jill: So, Bawbeeee is can-sa free! Wahhhhhhhhhh! Yea, we'll go celebrate! But let me reach over Bawbee so I can love on moy dawg because I just love her so much! My dawg will nevah leave me! wahhhhhhhhhhh! And that Bethenny ... yea, I'm going to save that voicemail FOREVAH! How dare she! She cashed out of the friendship bank, Oh LuAnnnnnnnnn! Can I introduce you to my mutha? Ohhhhh Bethenny, oi just can't get into this right now, YOU TOLD ME TO GET A HOBBEEEEEE!!! LuAnn, save me! Protect me! Kelly, get me outa he-a.

Bethandthecity: Ok, so like I'm going to completely act like a white trash inarticulate Joisey goil in front of all of you and curse like a longshoreman and have some cutesy one liners that I am now apparently famous for .. oh! how can I keep up ... mother****, go **** your boyfriend instead of going to the diner ... oh just proportion out the turkey and have a gay man's tv dinner ... oh wait, I really hope you're gay ... oh ****. Hey Jason, here's my immitation of your annoying Joisey boy friend .. weaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh wewaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ... what Jason, it's FUNNY! weaaaaaaaaaah weeeeeeeeeeahhhhhhhh ... that's what he sounds like!!!! C'mon!!! It's funny! I'm funny!!!!!! And how many of these ********** strapless dresses am I going to wear and constantly adjust in public ... see my b00bies!!!!

Poor Jason

IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT: Ok, this season I'm going to say "honey" instead of "darling" ... and I just have to restrain myself from breaking out into joyful cheering because MY DAUGHTER'S TEENAGE FRIENDS THINK I'M HOT!!!! Yep, take that Alex and your ethiopian princess!!!! TEENAGE BOYS THINK I'M HOT!!!! Oh, and IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT, you WILL kiss me on both cheeks! And nope Bethenny, I am now Jill's underdog project, be gone!

Duhmona and SuperMario: Yea LuAnn, you call me crazy eyes without an apology ... heck to the no is Mario going to apologize for something you evesdropped on! Shut up Jill ... you're so negative and you're bringing me down.

And as for Planet Silex .... Alex has every right to be hacked for how IAMASTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT and Yenta Jill are fawning over LikeKellyHIEEEEEE's playboy shoot ... what a couple of hypcrites! And what a couple of manipulators! They are using Alex as a conduit to Duhmona ... and IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT ... what a white trash uncultured dimwit ... 'WHO'S SIDE ARE YOU ON HERE!" Wow ... just wow!!! And message to both of them ... YOU'RE CHILDREN ARE SPOILED ROTTEN! If you can't have a conversation without every other minute saying "not now" ... stop saying it. The reason they are doing that rude crap is because YOU ARE INDULGING THEM BY CONSTANTLY ANSWERING THEM. They're not bad parents, just over indulgent parents. Their "it's them, not us" attitudes are still annoying, but this season, they are proving to be the calm in this season's storm.

2 surprisingly good films

2010-03-18T10:53:00.005-04:00

After having a "meh" experience with The Reader, I mananged to prove once again, that it's not the films that win awards or do well at the BO that are true quality pictures.

Ok, I'm biased, I love most .. not all Michael Winterbottom films. Just couldn't figure out that silly Tristram Shandy movie ... if anyone cares to explain it to me, I promise not to appear completely stupid. Wonderland was alright, but then he makes masterpieces like Road to Guantanamo, Welcome to Sarajevo, Mighty Heart and In This World. But he'll always have a fan in me for 24 Hour Party People ... yeeee ha!!!! I Haven't seen all of his films ... The Claim is still on my playlist ... because for some reason, American movie channels just don't play his films often.

Watched his 2003 film, Code 46. Incredible. It's a modern, futuristic Oedipal Complex film ... It's hard to follow and I ended up having to read a synopsis to have my "a ha!" moment, thank you Wikipedia. It's a futuristic authoritarian society where people are told where to live, when and if they can travel and who they can have sex with ... it's bleak to say the least. The issue I had is that the film is so short. This would explain why it was so hard to follow because everything was rushed, nothing was explained and the dialogue was hard to hear. The soundtrack, as with all Winterbottom films was wonderful. And Winterbottom just films well ... everything flows cinematically. The big problem was editing ... it was edited to death. The film's main characters were played by Tim Robbins and the ever waifish Samantha Morton, who plays damsels in distress like no other. The problem there is that Robbins is like 8 feet tall and Morton is about 4 feet tall, so their love scenes were clunky. Wish they could have made the film a full 2 hours, it would have been better.

Years ago, I watched American History X with Ed Norton as the main skinhead ... great film, btw. But I think I may have found a better one called The Believer, only this time Ryan Gosling, who has to be the strangest actor on the planet. He does mainstream stuff and then he does downright WEIRD movies like Lars and the Real Girl ... what's up with that?? And then does crap like The Nooooooooooooooooootebooooooooooooooooooook ... blech blech blech and kicks butt in The United States of Leland ... tried watching The Slaughter Rule and Stay, but found them boring and kept falling asleep. Maybe I'll try again. Anyway, The Believer is based on a true story ... don't think X was. Gosling is much scarier than Norton was. Would love to see them work together sometime. Gosling is a jew who hates jews and you find out why he has such hatred for them as the film goes on ... justified? Well, it's up to the viewer. I can understand why, but I don't agree and maybe that was the point. Good film.

Watched The Middle last night too ... ugh ... would somebody PLEASE tell these dumb writers that if they want to portray Indiana ... please get it right ... Warsaw is not in southern Indiana you idiots!!! And yea right ... the Dad drove Sue up to Gary to sell cheese and sausage .... for god's sake. What a load of crap.

RHWNYC and The Reader

2010-03-16T10:18:00.002-04:00

Watched last week's epi last night ...

IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT is an old twit. You know, what's funny is that SHE is the one who wanted this show ... she's the one who recruited people and look at her ... this show has blown up in that face of hers! I will say though, her kids are beautiful and I hope they are doing fine ... no, they are ... their lives are still jet setting, only this time popeye the sailor voice isn't with them. So she lost that dollhouse in manhattan eh and rosie along with it. Don't know ... Rosie seems a lot happier without having to deal with IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT, but she has enough CLASS not to rub it in her face because Rosie is a good person. And Victoria and NOLE, not No-el, couldn't have given a rat's rear end to hang with Rosie.

Bethandthecity ... poor Jason ... here's a tidbit:
Bethenny's Famewhore Wedding Being Filmed! PerezHilton.com
And geez ... now we get to see her cutsie little catchphrases WITH TEARS! Oy vey! Again, poor Jason.

Yenta Jill, really not much to say other than she needs to get over it. She and IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT make a good pair.

Leatherface ... ok, so when she graced LuAnn's party with this hush hush big secret ... I thought it was going to be something really major .. she's engaged, she eloped ... she's pregnant ... I mean, Playboy .. whoop-dee - doo! She's acting like this is a big hairy deal, like it's Farrah Fawcett over 40 part II .. please! I love how Bawbee put it into perspective ... yea Leatherface, people like Bawbee, old Bawbee, married old Bawbee are going to be looking at your leathery shortcomings ... and how stupid is she that oops! She didn't think of that part! And judging from the previews for next week, her kids could care less! What a self centered overblown ego that one has! Blech!

Ok, so Alex is growing on me now ... she's the most level headed of the group ... it took 3 seasons, but I have to say, when I see Alex and Simon now, it's actually a breath of fresh air.

Duhmona and Supermario ... Mario should just apologize already and be done. and Duhmona is right ... IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT is just as guilty of calling duhmona names. I think IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT is bitter because seriously, Duhmon and Supermario have a good marriage. I bet those 2 have been solid their entire marriage. It sounds like the DuhLesseps had a crappy 16 year marriage with loads of infidelities.

Watched The Reader, the movie that they newly separated Kate Winslet (marriage #2 down the pooper .... is she 30 yet?) won the Oscar. Much deserved compared to Sandra Bullock getting it for The Blind Side ... please! I kinda liked the film. Just kinda. The story was intriguing. She was a guard during WWII and was brought to trial for a fire that killed hundreds of Jewish women. She was railroaded into taking the wrap for the entire thing. I guess for me, I just didn't understand why she would target a teenage boy for a relationship. That, I just didn't understand, so that's why I just kinda liked it. Her performance was great and the best scene was when Ralph Fiennes completely lost it toward the end of the film (he played the grown up version of the teenage boy). In terms of holocaust movies, this one wasn't that great.

Real Housewives NYC is back baby!!! And movies ... and Olympics ..

2010-03-05T13:26:00.002-05:00

Oh my god! It's back!!!!

ok ok .. gotta dust off my nicknames:

Duhmona ... wow, what a piece of work. I mean, it's nice that she'll defend mario to the death, but she made it all about her. She should have first of all told IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT, that while she understands how upsetting what mario said was, that she wanted to focus on having fun with friends and that they can clear the air in private off the boat. She's such a little child. But it's interesting, I think she has always been a child because of this supposed horribly abusive father she had ... I thought she always focused on how horrible her mother was, now it's daddy's turn now that he's dead (CLASSSSSSAYYYYYY). So anyway, it's obvious that Duhmona has never progressed beyond her childhood and now that howible mommy and daddy are no longer awound, she can finally GROW THE EFF UP ... poor Avery.

IAMSTILLACOUNTESSDAMMIT ... little miss (truly MISS now!) just can't keep up. She's been locked away in her purchased title for all these years and now she's trying to get out in the world amongst the proletariat. If I have to hear the preview of her catterwalling one more time, I may have to puke. She sounds worse than that blond dimwit from Atlanta! Hey, there's a thought, they could do an album together and they can play it as a replacement for torturing terrorist suspects!

Bethandthecity ... awww, she's in LOOOOVE!!!! Oh but that supposed clever wit of hers, man, how can Jason (wasn't that the name of the bald guy from season 1?) take it? And enough of the skinny girl advertising! Seriously! She cannot be making any money because every cent has to be turned around and put on some trinket or tchotchke or CAR ... blech. Bethandthecity, with this "fame" has just turned her already mile wide suit of armor of denial even thicker. She's a lost soul on the same emotional wavelength as Duhmona, only Duhmona doesn't push it away.

Alex .. NO SIMON!

Kelly ... awwww poor Kelly. Yea right. She's still a halfwitted narcissistic dork. And don't you love how IAMACOUNTESSDAMMIT just doesn't want to hear or relate to anyone who has been through a divorce ... MYMARRIAGEOF16YEARS darling ... phooey! Ok Countess, keep playing that card and it's going to flip right back into your face and it's gonna hurt!

And finally ... yenta Jill. You know, she has the best husband on the show and she cannot even appreciate it. She loves sticking her nose into other people's misery to make herself feel better. She can't do that with Bawbby because he's a self sufficient man who is very cool. And now that Bethandthecity has found some happiness, she doesn't need to be bubby'd to death ... Bethandthecity isn't crying anymore over the void and she doesn't need a yenta to feed her soup and pat her head and say "it's gonna be ok" and unfortunately, Yenta Jill doesn't know how to be a friend who just listens and supports and has fun, she must meddle to make herself feel useful. Now, Bethandthecity telling her that she needs a hobby ... kinda not cool ... but in essence is right on. And yenta jill is now going to go superyenta and throw that into her face and in every conversation she can, which is really stupid. Hey jill ... Bethandthecity has moved on ... accept and support her or let her go!!!! I think that Jill needs major therapy to deal with her abandonment issues.

Watched some Stephen Rea movies, ones where he doesn't have the Irish accent. The first was a tv movie, Citizen X, based on the capture of the Ukrainian serial killer, Andrei Chikatilo. Since it was a tv movie, the blood and gore were minimal. The story was better than the acting. It's an incredible story that has as much to do with the BS that was the USSR as much as it did with the actual serial killings. You can surmise that the regime actually kept that whacko on the streets for as long as he was killing. The killings started in 1978 and continued until 1990. Ironic how he was finally apprehended so soon after the USSR collapsed. Anyway, Rea and Donald Sutherland's russian accents are pretty bad, but I guess given the storyline, I'll be ok because it really is a great movie.

The other Stephen Rea movie is called Stuck. I read the synopsis on the channel guide and it said a man gets stuck in a windshield ... hmm, ok ... how seriously should I take that? But it's true! Rea plays this homeless guy who gets run over by Mena Suvari's character and he is literally stuck in her windshield for a good portion of the movie. Now, I'm not terribly queasy, but this film was way over the top on the blood, gore, bones sticking out ... pulling windshield wipers out of yer guts action ... so gross! So I watched it and .. ok, it was good and then I find out it was based on a true story. Yes, it says so in the beginning, but so does Fargo. But this incident apparently did happen in Dallas a few years ago. Rea has this rather strange American accent. Again, not good, but the movie is still good.

Olympics are over .... I have to say, gotta give it up to the Canadian hockey teams. Thumbs up Canucks! The closing ceremonies were freaking weird! It looks like it was thrown together after having too many Molsons and bagels. One of the most hyped new post olympics shows was Parenthood ... STUNK! Couldn't even get through 15 minutes of it. Blech. Had high hopes for it too because I tend to like Peter krause and Lauren Graham. They even have the little kid from Daddy Daycare who ruins eddie murphy's bathroom ... growing up, but still the same face and hair. When Peter Krause's character left his house and started jogging ... I groaned ... gee, that's right out of Six Feet Under! Dumb dumb dumb ... dumb.

it's melting, it's melting!

2010-02-26T08:21:00.002-05:00

As the snow withers away, and my internal sleep schedule continually wakes me up at 3:30 on the nose ... ugh ... I'm watching lots of Olympics! I love that NBC has Olympics on at least one channel 24/7 ... but I'm also watching other things too.

Watched Judgement at Nuremburg .. in HD, btw ... and it was SPECTACULAR. What a film ...
what
a
film

the politics abounding in the film aside. One can debate those forever, but the performances. Seriously ... Montgomery Clift .. sigh ... just love him and I wish he could get the recognition he so deeply deserves. Judy Garland ... wow, best performance of her career ... Tracy .. Dietrich ... Schell ... Widmark ... Lancaster .. shoot, even William Shatner!!!! It's an intense 3+ hour film and it is timeless. I guess I'd have to say that my favorite performance was by Clift, but I'm biased too. You can tell how sick he is, in real life. It was one of his last films. I have to wonder if Tarantino challed Stanley Kramer when he was writing Inglorious Basterds.

I've been watching the show The Middle and I have a big issue with it.

Ok, it's really really funny, well written and the kids are the reason to watch the show. The Dad is played by the janitor from scrubs and he's about 10 feet tall and the wife is played by the wife from Everyone Loves Raymond and she's about 3 feet tall, so that's funny right there. The kids are all nuts. Oldest son runs around in boxer shorts, middle daughter is a loveable loser and the youngest, named for a building product, is strange, but in a good way. The storylines are always funny, the acting is good. But here's the issue ... this series is supposed to take place in southern Indiana. The dad works in a quarry, the mom sells cars. They are also several generational residents of this small southern indiana town. The parents have WisCANsin accents! Nobody has any hint of a ketuckiana drawl that most native southern indiana folks have. Oh wait .. there was one character who had a ketuckiana drawl ... a guest character played by Brooke Shields, who was a ... skanky, to say the least, white trash, probably drunk and drug addled neighbor who's equally gross boys terrorize the neighbors .. who are also winCANsin accented. No, the white trash lady has a wonderful southern drawl!!!! Really???? That's just really demeaning to those of us who live in southern indiana ... accented or not. I don't know if there are any writers from indiana on this show. I'm going to hope not because if there are ... shame on them for depicting southern indiana people is such a derogatory (Brooke Shields) and unrealistic (the family and neighbors) way.

snow snow snow

2010-02-15T17:06:00.006-05:00

Well it looks like we are getting our annual mega dump of snow ...

poor birds:

At least I have the Olympics to keep me warm. Ahhhhhhh, I'm so glad that I only have to wait for 2 years to get my Olympics fix. Found myself jumping up and down cheering for ... the nordic combined? And just think, Curling doesn't start until tomorrow!!!

I've been watching the latest Erroll Morris documentary called Standard Operating Procedure. I'm about halfway through it and it's hard to watch. Here, for your viewing pleasure, are most every picture from Abu Ghraib and it's just gross. Morris managed to collect most everyone involved in the picture taking too ... Lindie England being the most telling. Listening to her retell the story of how she got involved with that sick b-word, Charles Grainer ... wow ... that guy should stay in jail. and what's up with all the thumbs up pictures? I don't know. Several of the soldiers involved as well as at least 1 army intelligence guy was interviewed (he was dishonorably discharged) and Janice Karpinski, who was the person in charge of the jails in Iraq sounds just as flummoxed by the entire ordeal now, as she did when it happened. What I like about Morris films, unlike the bang you over the head nature of michael moore films, is that he passes no judgements. You feel both sympathy and pure contempt for Lyndie England. I feel like she's just not that bright and did get railroaded into making really bad choices. Again, she's not that bright. I'll have to report back on the second half.

Nip/Tuck is winding down, with a wimper ... Kimber is dead ... maybe. They haven't found her body anyway. Sean and Christian's characters are going through the motions ... I'm sure they just want it all to be over too. I'm sticking around to see if there's any big whoop dee doo series finale.

I'm back to watching Damages. I didn't watch season 2 ... can't remember why ... was it because it was too dark? I don't know. I'm sticking around because of the 2 comedians who are taking dramatic turns and are quite impressive. Lilly Tomlin is playing the spouse of a Bernie Madoff character and Martin Short is their defense attorney. It's really cool. The character of Ellen is so BORING!!! Seriously, she's never happy ... always dour, blah blah blah. Glen Close looks like she's having almost too much fun with Patty Hewes' character. Boy, who knew one bad girl character would typecast her! What happened to the sweet mother from World According to Garp???

Watched a movie called the Break with Stephen Rea and Alfred Molina .. meh.

Started watching The Middle. A friend recommended it and it's pretty good, not great. It's the lead in for Modern Family, which is the best sitcom on tv. The Middle is supposed to take place somewhere in southern Indiana. The husband works at a quarry ... no quarries north of Indianapolis, so that's why I'm guessing southern Indiana and they talk about going to French Lick. It's pretty good, but it's not really believeable ... again ... I'm living in southern indiana right now and I'm sorry, if this family is a multi-generational southern indiana family ... husband works in a quarry ... that entire family would have kentuckiana accents and the sure as heck don't. I'm not entirely thrilled with the mom and dad ... they're kind of boring actually. The kids who play their kids are worth watching the show, as is Chris Kataan. Wow, Saturday Night Live didn't do Kataan justice. He's so much better now. I'm glad that I watched his turn in Bollywood Hero, because he was really funny in that. He would make a fantastic Charlie Chaplin.

Modern Family and 30 Rock are chugging along. I love Modern Family. Cameron has to be my favorite character. So loveable and sweet. Jay is next ... Ed O'Neil is a great actor and it makes me happy that he's left Al Bundy in the dust. He's so much better now. Hopefully many many awards will be coming it's way. 30 Rock is reaching institutional status. Still not a big fan of Tina Fey ... she tries too hard at being pathetic. It's incredibly obvious that she grew up privileged and was a mean girl and uses her role as Liz Lemon as a mea culpa. I watch the show for every character except Jenna and Liz ... everyone else is hysterically funny. Tina Fey just rubs me the wrong way.

ok, one more snow picture for the road:

In praise of Haiku Tunnel

2010-01-30T15:14:00.002-05:00

about 8 years ago, I had an infant daughter who, like most infants in general, would wake up in the middle of the night because they are hungry. So, being the dutiful mommy, I would go downstairs get a bottle ready sit on the couch, feed the baby and end up dozing off just as the baby dozes off during the bottle.

Fortunately, we had a plethora of movies to choose from on cable during these feedings. One night, I flipped onto a movie called Haiku Tunnel. It's about a guy, Josh, and his misadventures as a law firm temp. While I was never a law firm temp, I was a law firm support staffer and this movie hits every single nuance of what it's like to work in a law firm as a support staffer. Weird partners, especially of the tax variety, spooky office managers, squawky secretaries and the best .. SUMMER ASSOCIATES!!! Oh my gosh, Josh completely nails summer associates and they way they are ... I still laugh just thinking about it.

Well anyway, 8 years later, my tivo picked it up and I watched it and guess what ... 8 years later, it's still freaking hilarious!!!!

So Josh Kornbluth, I dedicate this posting to you!

2 movies last night

2010-01-25T08:38:00.004-05:00

I'll get the crappy one out of the way first ... ugh.

The Darwin Awards. What and why????? I picked it up because i want to watch movies with Tim Blake Nelson (o brother where art thou and Wonderland ... actually liked him better in Wonderland). This had to be one of those movies that everyone knew was going to stink, but did it because it would be a couple days work, in and out. The cast ... joseph Fiennes, Winona Ryder, nelson, David Arquette, Josh Charles, Juliette lewis, Chris penn (had to be his last film) ... it also has a neat cameo by the mythbusters guys, of which, I'm sure the film pulled inspiration from. Fiennes plays the disgraced detective who starts working as an insurance fraud investigator ... it was stupid beyond stupid. There was one snippet involving metallica that was pretty cool, but Fiennes and Ryder ... blech ... Tim Blake nelson was ok too. But wow, this movie was really really bad.

I know i listed my favorite movies in the previous post, but I watched one last night that may sneak in. Our local paper had a movie decade in review type thing and on the list was a film called The Lives of Others. German film, won best foreign film at the Oscars in 2006 ... dealing with Stasi spying during the GDR period. Thought I'd have a look, tivo'd it and .... wow. it's a long film ... it's German! And yes, it details how the secret police spied on perceived enemies for, this one in particular, a very selfish reason. There are very few films where I cry because of a happy ending ... well, not happy in the traditional sense, there was tragedy behind the ending, but still .. I was starting to get ticked because I was afraid the ending was going to be with the artist seeing his spy, after the wall fell down walking down the street and never confronting him ... that's what i expected, but no ... that wasn't the end and the ending was PERFECT. Serioulsy, a perfect ending to a film. That's rare. The best scene, other than the final one was when the workers got word that the wall came down and the GDR was no more ... it was incredibly low key (German film!) and completely appropriate and efficient (German film!).

Yea, it's on my list. This film is simply perfect.

My Favorite Films ....

2010-01-24T14:41:00.006-05:00

don't know if I've ever listed them. I won't rank them except for my favorite film of all time. until a film effects ... or affects me like The Bicycle Thief did ... it's still number one.

Ok The Bicycle Thief ... contextually, it's a perfect film. The story is so simple, but the feel, the feel of post-war Italy ... they lost the war too you know and they suffered as well as a result. The ending, so sparse, so final, so heartbreaking ...

and in no particular order:

Che ... my most recent addition. So congratulations Soderberg, you did it. You completely made me have faith that you are able to make great films. Ze Good German was very good and I'll say that watching that one gave me a glimmer of hope, but Che hit it out of the ballpark. Of course, it was IGNORED by the American cinema going public, which is a damn shame. Even the glaring skipping over of Che's time in the Belgian Congo ... Che is a masterpiece of biographical cinema and should be watched by every student of history and film.

Pan's Labyrinth ... a historical setting ... Franco's rise in Spain. A little girl with a very active imagination .. she needed one. The scariest monster ever on film, the pale man. Just a magnificent piece of art ...

Unbearable Lightness of Being ... it's personal for me. First, my mom is Czech. Second, i watched this a day after i came home from the Soviet Union. The gray/green atmosphere of the Soviet era cut me to the core and I wept for half of the film because it took me back to how i felt and the smells of the Soviet union.

Donnie Darko. Richard Kelly has yet to write and direct anything comparable. Incredibly original screenplay and concept of the world coming to an end. Great soundtrack and who knew that Patrick Swayze had acting skills! It's Jake Gyllenhall's best work as well. I can watch this film over and over again and it will marinate in my head for a week. it's a shame that so far Richard kelly seems to be a one trick pony because his second effort, Southland Tales was one of the WORST films I've ever seen.

These next two are grouped together because for the life of me, I cannot pick out my favorite:

Anything Coen Brothers. Still waiting to see The Serious Man, but I'm sure it will go into my "classic" file. The only 2 Coen films that I say "meh" to are Hudsucker Proxy and Burn After Reading and I really can't understand why they bothered with Intolerable Cruelty. I know I shouldn't feel that way toward Hudsucker, but I do ... I'm not a big Tim Robbins fan and I'm REALLY not a big Jennifer Jason Leigh fan ... ugh, she's just so annoying to watch. For her, it's about putting on some fake voice, felt the same way about Mrs. parker and the Vicious Circle, but anyway. Wish they could do a do over on that one, but there was no saving Burn After Reading. Hoping that they can come up with something that is Brad Pitt worthy. The first Coen Brothers movie I saw was Raising Arizona when I was in college and I was blown away by the sheer originality of it. Only the Coen Brothers can make kidnapping a baby funny. The Man Who Wasn't There, I would have to say, is my favorite. But it may be eclipsed when I see Serious Man. I even enjoyed their remake of Ladykillers, despite Tom Hanks dumb performance ... everyone else made it acceptable. Fargo didn't win enough Oscars. That's one I can sit and watch and shiver. just like when I watch No Country for Old Men .. it makes me sweat.

Barton Fink
Lebowski
Blood Simple
Miller's Crossing
O Brother Where Art Thou

my goodness, these 2 guys are amazing, can't say enough.

Anything Quentin Tarantino. I adore every single on of his films and it would make me happy if he would take his script for Natural Born Killers and have a re-do because then every QT script would be a masterpiece, burn in hell oliver stone, ya putz. I saw Reservoir Dogs when I was working in Chicago and all these gearhead U of Chicago law students were talking about it, so I checked it out and just went "gawwwwwww". QT is a master of the tribute film, but he does it so well that the audience doesn't realize it. I saw Pulp Fiction on opening night ... even used the new fangled service of buying tickets over the phone with my credit card just to guarantee I would have a seat. I went into the movie a little tired and came out so jonsed up that I stay awake most of the night. I still watch it and am amazed how the film fits together like a masterpiece by Mozart, even though the story jumps around. Tarantino revived the careers of Travolta, Keitel, Grier and made major movie stars out of Sam Jackson and Uma Thurman. And Inglorious Basterds ... wow ... QT won the Oscar for his Pulp screenplay, but he should take it all home ... I'm talking best picture here ... for Basterds. I wish more people would appreciate he and Robert Rodriguez's tribute to Grindhouse features because Death Proof was totally awesome. I also can't wait to see the third volume of Kill Bill, coming in 2014!!!!

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford ... the name of the film killed it. But it's just an amazing piece of cinematic art. Each performance is beautifully muted. Brad Pitt is frightening as Jesse James and he deserved at least an Oscar nomination. Casey Affleck got it instead, which was ok since the entire film was incredible. Roger Deakins cinematography work in this film was a sight to behold. Seriously, I took one scene and paused it frame by frame and each frame looked like a portrait from the period. It's no wonder the Coen Brothers work with him exclusively.

Animal Crackers ... yea, Animal Crackers. Comedy is about timing and this one is a masterpiece of timing. Groucho Marx's monologues, Chico and Harpo's slapstick ... timing timing timing and funny funny funny. There's a plot somewhere in this film, but I just watch it for those 3 going from one bit to another. Charlie Chaplin was also a master of comedic timing, but the marx brothers had to time time it 3 ways. Now I won't discount Chaplin because i adore his work as well and if anyone can get through the chase scene from The Kid without crying their eyes out, well, there's something wrong.

The Matrix. The first one. Again, this is a movie where what was presented was so new and cutting edge and freaking cool! I remember walking out of that film thinking "oh my god, I get it now" ... seriously, I thought the matrix was for real. James Cameron and his blue people can stuff it. The Wachowski Brothers, even the one who is a woman now can do better than Cameron and could probably whoop his butt. The other 2 installments weren't good at all ... which is too bad. This is why i specifically only list the first one.

The Blues Brothers ... ok ok ... it's not THAT good of a film, but it's just fun. Great Chicago picture. I can watch it over and over again and still laugh and recite every line from the Mall scene. As far as Chicago pictures go ... Blues Brothers, Ferris Bueller, Adventures in Babysitting ... all choice. But The Blues Brothers really put Chicago on the film map.

Marty Movies, that's what I call films by Scorcese. Goodfellas didn't win enough Oscars, neither did Raging Bull. Those are my 2 favorite Marty Movies. I watched The Age of Innocence a couple years ago and was amazed by the beauty of it, not necessarily by the performances. I'm convinced that marty's oscar for Departed was a makeup for his snubbing in previous years, especially for Raging Bull. I'm not quite sure what his deal is with DiCaprio right now ... seems like every marty movie has leo in it anymore.

Empire of the Sun. Spielberg's best film, period, but it doesn't get the love it deserves. Schindler's List ... blech ... stupid, manipulative and false. Christian Bale didn't get the recognition he deserved for taking on such a massive role at such a young age. The story is rich and incredibly well executed from start to finish. The final scene makes me sigh in relief everytime I see it. You want so badly for his mom and dad to see him. I think I may have actually shouted "There he is!!!!!!" at the screen when I saw it for the first time.

The Pianist ... Roman Polanski's masterpiece, hate him all you want for what he did with that 13 year old girl, but this film simply is the best Holocaust picture ever made and again, like him or not, Roman Polanski deserved that best director Oscar (given to him by Harrison Ford) and Adrien Brody deserves the best actor Oscar for the next 10 years for his performance. This is one of the few films where I wept from start to finish ... didn't weep a bit watching Schindler's List ... didn't deserve my tears.

And as long as I'm riffing on Schindler's List ... I'll tell you, I almost gave up on Spielberg after that stupid movie. He redeemed himself when he made Munich. This film was excellent and unlike Schindler, didn't manipulate the audience at all. i'll keep watching Spielberg films because of Munich.

No Man's Land ... a film about the war in Yugoslavia and how confusing, even for those who are fighting each other, that war became. it also manages to squeeze a few chuckles out of the audience when they introduce the media into the mix. 3 guys in a trench. 2 from one side, one from the other and one of them is laying on a landmine ... it's a trip. There aren't enough films made about this incredibly sad time in history. But then again, it may be too soon. Another good film about the war in yugoslavia was called Welcome To Sarajevo by Michael Winterbottom. Very very good and again, the media is a major character in the film.

ok ... that's all I can think of for now ... maybe i'll add more as time goes on.

revolutionary road ... so disappointing

2010-01-07T09:42:00.003-05:00

Watched Revolutionary Road. i guess i expected more. I'll say this, I liked it better than Rachel Getting Married, which doesn't take much!

I cannot reconcile Leonardo DeCaprio as a leading man. he's a good actor, no doubt. But he has the face of a 10 year old boy. What show was he on .. Growing Pains? yea, he still looks like that only with his head planted on a man's body. And i'm going to spoil the movie during this drubbing, so if you don't want to find out what happens at the end, stop reading ...

now.

kate winslet's character was horrible, just horrible and when she died at the end of the film, I acutally clapped. DeCaprio's character was better off without her pathetic self centered immature butt. I WANNA MOVE TO PARRRRRRRRRRRRRRISSSSSSSSSSSS ... ugh ... what a stupid stupid stupid storyline. I read that this was such a tragic tale ... no .. it was stupid. I really rolled my eyes when Winslet took the kids out into the yard to tell them that ... booo hoooooo ... they weren't moving to Paris and the kids STOMPED OFF . Bullshit ... sorry, but that was bullshit. Those kids would be THRILLED to not have to leave all their friends, their house, everything they know ... in fact, their kids were 10x more mature than winslet's pathetic character. Now, the one part of the film that was relevant was the overarching theme of a woman's right to choose. Her character gave herself an abortion and died as a result. That was the reality back in the 50's ... women had no choice and we'll never know how many women died like she did. But still the movie SUCKED!!!!!!! Why Roger Deakins lent his amazing talents to this movie, i'll never know.

So Transsiberian turned out to be the best movie of all the ones I watched over the holiday.

I started out the new year by watching Inglorious Basterds (again, spoilers below). First, I think I jumped up from my seat and jumped up and down for joy at least twice and then when the film was finished, my hand were aching from clapping so loud. Basically, i was like a child who has just been given the key's to santa's workshop. I'm still marinating on whether or not this was QT's best ... it may very well be when all is said and done, but as of now, Pulp Fiction is still my favorite ... i did manage to watch the final hour of it while flipping channels the other night ... Don't Jimmy me Jules ... and Ving Rhames cool send off to Bruce Willis in the dungeon ... man, I'll always find something to rave about in that movie.

Basterds. Ok .. my prediction. It will be nominated for the following Oscars:

Best Picture
Best Screenplay
Best actor -the guy who plays Landa
Best Director

Brad Pitt SHOULD get a best supporting nod, but he'll be snubbed as usual. he easily delivered some of the best lines ever spoken.

over half the movie is subtitled and I be darned if that's not Steve Buscemi on the stairs in a nazi uniform during the Operation kino scene ... i swear it is! And I also dig Sam jackson as the narrator and keitel as Pitt's superior officer ... voice only. Damn, i watch too many QT films. And yes, when Shoshanna died, she did the exact same fall and death face as Uma did in Kill Bill. Geek ... yes, I am!

That film was simply the BEST revenge fantasy film ever! i need to watch it again.

slowly recovering

2009-12-29T17:42:00.002-05:00

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

2009-12-28T09:34:00.002-05:00

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???

2009-12-15T15:29:00.002-05:00

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???

2009-12-04T13:04:00.003-05:00

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 ..

2009-11-24T19:49:00.003-05:00

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

2009-11-17T12:08:00.002-05:00

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 ...

2009-11-13T11:56:00.003-05:00

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

2009-10-31T10:55:00.002-04:00

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!

2009-10-20T16:17:00.003-04:00

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!!!!!

2009-10-18T09:05:00.000-04:00

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!

2009-10-11T19:28:00.002-04:00

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!!!!

2009-10-07T16:04:00.002-04:00

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

2009-09-29T15:51:00.002-04:00

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 ...

2009-09-24T16:48:00.003-04:00

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!!!

2009-09-20T13:54:00.002-04:00

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!!!!

2009-09-11T13:45:00.002-04:00

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 ...

2009-09-10T15:31:00.003-04:00

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

2009-08-23T14:59:00.002-04:00

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

2009-08-17T15:46:00.003-04:00

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!

2009-08-16T08:59:00.005-04:00

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 ...

2009-08-02T12:50:00.002-04:00

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

2009-07-21T14:52:00.002-04:00

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

2009-07-09T19:37:00.002-04:00

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

2009-06-25T19:24:00.003-04:00

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

2009-06-13T07:56:00.003-04:00

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!

2009-06-04T18:37:00.003-04:00

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

2009-05-27T12:39:00.003-04:00

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

2009-05-26T12:28:00.003-04:00

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???

2009-05-11T13:31:00.002-04:00

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

2009-05-05T08:44:00.003-04:00

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?

2009-04-21T08:57:00.003-04:00

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

2009-04-20T15:02:00.005-04:00

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

2009-04-20T09:14:00.004-04:00

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

2009-04-07T18:23:00.002-04:00

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

2009-04-06T11:37:00.002-04:00

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

2009-04-03T08:21:00.002-04:00

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

2009-03-30T13:49:00.004-04:00

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

2009-03-26T09:11:00.004-04:00

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 ...

2009-03-26T09:11:00.001-04:00

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.

More things

2009-03-19T09:13:00.002-04:00

I think I need to keep my Real Housewives posts separate ...

Watched Righteous Kill with DeNiro and Pacino. It was ... ok ... not great, just ok. Not sure if there was supposed to be a twist, but I figured out early on who was doing the killing. I will say though, Carla Gugino and DeNiro together, in the Biblical sense? Makes my skin crawl.

I still can't believe that Life on Mars is going to be cancelled. They are already gearing up "don't miss the series finale" ... and what was up with the episode from last week that was a carbon copy of an episode of Swingtown (another ABC cancelled series). I mean, for heaven's sake ABC ... if you kill a series, don't rehash it in another series.

Jon Stewart really gave it to Jim Cramer on Daily Show. Cramer didn't fight back, which I think took Stewart by surprise. I have to hand it to Cramer, he took it like a man, unlike that wuss Rick Santelli ... what a jerk.

I think I need to invest in the entire series of Corner Gas. Thank you WGN for broadcasting it down here. They are also running ALF, a show that I always watched in college. I hate to admit it, but I still find it very funny.

My ladies, back again!

2009-03-19T09:12:00.000-04:00

Watched last night ... oy!

YentaJill ... bless her heart. She's a good egg. She had every right to be ticked at her gay husband and I thought it was great of her to leave Ginger with them! And I love how she just let fly with Ginger Nip and Fangface.

GingerNip and Fangface ... well well well, what a pair of trollops Fangface and gingernip are, it's true! She was looking for some bootycall online and found Gingernip and that wahh wahh wahh "you have my heart" ... did anyone hear my laughter? I hope those boys are up to date with their tetanus vaccinations. And I just love Duhmona's pure animosity toward them. Who introduced Gingernip as the owner of the Chandler? Are you kidding me? And they just let them do that? Mais oui!!!

Duhmona-she's great. Seriously, this season, she's awesome, even though she did backstab Jill, that's just Duhmona because Jill won't play tennis the way she wants her to, what a brat. When she and Bethandthecity were walking their dogs, Duhoma was looking her age though. Mario is a hoot. I loved how he chucked the dog doo back at her! Avery is going to be one stunning girl. She's a bit gawky right now, but boy ... she's going to really be a stunner by the time she's off to college, if Duhmona let's her go! And then there's

IAMACOUNTESSDAMMIT-wow, what an insipid twit. Victoria is ready to go! And what's up with calling her son by the feminine pronunciation of Noel? It's Nole, not No-elle. Poor kid is gonna get the tar beat out of him a la Francois. Both of those kids are beautiful, but you'll be reading about Victoria in the social pages about her party exploits. IAMACOUNTESSDAMMIT is going to be one lonely lady once those kids are off to boarding school and she's home alone because HEISANOLDERMANDAMMIT is off microfinancing in Asia ... poor Rosie. And I'm sorry, does that townhouse just seem incredibly thin? I'd live in the Hamptons full time, at least there's space! Did you see that grave they set up for the hamster? And IAMACOUNTESSDAMMIT didn't even notice? She must have been off "my loving" and "my darling" someone.

Bethandthecity-what a pathetic woman. She has a great date with a great guy who is obviously into her and she wants nothing to do with him. Know why? I'll tell you why ... he's chunky, he's not GQ .. she's that shallow! It's really sad because this chef guy was really nice, but he's as bad as her. He wants the supermodel/Vogue type too. Both will be lonely and bitter for the rest of their lives until they grow up.

Kelly- her skin is terrible! See how she's all over the chef guy and treats her children like crap? Wonder what would happen if she had boys instead of girls.

Duhmona is the best!

2009-03-12T09:11:00.002-04:00

She is pure id. No filter on this one ... all googly eyed id. She completely PWND that episode. And my oh my ... little insecure about the fact that you did indeed, Countless LuAnn, marry an older man? Sweetie, he was 15 years old when you were born ... sweetie, he was 33 years old by the time you were legal to marry ... sweetie, get over it ... she's insecure about being the 4th Countess DeLesseps, and who the heck cares if he's older than you ... so what? I mean, she went off on Duhmona, who, in DUHmona fashion, blurted out that the Count is twice the Countless's age ... it's DUHmona LuAnn ... boy did she get on her classless, etiquetteless haunches ... the hipocrisy of it all ... she's wrting this manners and etiquette book to prove to the world that she deserves to be a countess. She's an idiot. Duhmona is just Duhmona.

And Bethandthecity needs to get off it too ... wow, I don't know who is more insecure ... she CANNOT let things just go. Everything is a fight with her .. everything is a crisis. She needs chill pills. It's one thing with the classles countess, but Bethandthecity is ALWAYS like that. What a b-word to hijack LuAnn into that lunch to tell her about some off the cuff comment and how stupid of LuAnn for first of all, just sitting there (I would have left) and then getting defensive saying that she was protecting Bethandthecity? Dang, those two are in insecureville.

I'm so tired of AlexSimon ... mr. ginger nipple and fang face ...

Corner Gas is awesome. I look forward to my 3 weekly episodes that tivo every tuesday morning. Found some bloopers on Youtube and to be honest, the show is funnier. I may need to get all the episodes on DVD for my collection. Seriously, it's a great show.

forgot!

2009-03-10T13:35:00.002-04:00

I watched another movie ... a Steve Buscemi movie, called Interview. I've never had any luck with Sienna Miller movies, but in this one, she was great. It's a remake of a Theo Van Gogh movie. Now I need to see the original .. sigh. Most of the film takes place in one room, so I could imagine this being a stage play.

Flight of the Conchords is just getting weird. The focus seems to be off Jermaine & Brett, which is bad for the show. Murray makes my skin crawl and Mel's character is just blah blah blah now. They're about ready to lose me.

East Bound and Down is crude ... funny, but crude.

I do watch other things you know.

2009-03-09T08:39:00.002-04:00

I know I've been blahging a lot on Real Housewives ... guilty pleasure methinks. But I am watching several other shows/programs, which proves beyond a reasonable doubt that I am a tv addict.

Keith Olbermann actually made reference to There Will Be Blood ... the drinking a milkshake line... which I probably reversed and played again quite a few times. I like to chase the intensity of Keith with Daily Show. Oh man, Rick Santelli really got a drubbing for our man Stewart. It was just classic. The beeps were flying and I was loving every single one. I was drinking them like a milkshake. Real Time With Bill Maher has started up again. It's a show I've been watching since it's inception on HBO. I was never a big fan of Politically Incorrect, but ever since he was railroaded out of ABC (what a farce), I support him .. he used to have Coultergeist on a lot, but she won't do his show anymore ... coward! This past week was a snoozer, actually deleted it halfway through. I also skip over his opening monologue because I don't like how he mugs for the camera during his punchlines ... it's annoying. He doesn't do it as bad with the panel.

More on Maher, the most pretentious show on television is on the most pretentious network on television, Sundance. It's called Iconoclasts. The concept is interesting ... get 2 celebrities together and film their day together and have them talk about themselves and each other. I liked the one with Laird Hamilton and Eddie Vedder, but for the most part, it's just stupid. The latest on intrigued me, Bill Maher and Clive Davis. It was good, not terribly pretentious. Clive Davis seems like a genuine fellow and Bill Maher, was Bill Maher without the mugginess. Both come from humble beginnings ... educated and have had their fair share of successes and failures. They didn't act self-important, which a lot of times, this show denegrates to that level. The theme music is annoying as snot ... staccatto piano, like "this is the most important show on television" ... blah. I ususally check out who is on and decide to record it.

THEY CANCELLED LIFE ON MARS!!! Shame on you ABC ... Keitel & Imperioli are too good for you and your stupid network.

Movies ... I'm on a John Cusak kick right now. Watched Martian Child. Very sweet movie. About a widower (Cusak) who adopts a kid who thinks he's from Mars. It's very very sweet and all is well at the end. The kids who played the Martian Child was excellent. It's a departure from what I usually like to watch. Also watched 1408. Not a big fan of horror, I'm a wuss. I actually had to turn it off right at the beginning when he was in the room and things started happening ... it was one of those moments where you can picture it happening to you and just how scary hotel rooms can be. But then it denegrated into the stupid ... cheap horror film crap that wasn't scary. I wonder why Cusak agreed to do this film? Hopefully it was because he just wanted to try horror films.

I tivo'd and deleted 2 films that I just couldn't fathom watching any further. Wet Hot American Summer was a completely horrible rip off of Dazed and Confused. What was really sad was that the cast wasn't a bunch of unknowns. It's about some summer camp shenanigans after all the kids leave. Just dumb beyond dumb. I think I watched for 8 minutes. If this film has anything worth watching past 8 minutes, let me know, I'll watch it again. The other one I deleted was Vatel. It's part of my Tim Roth film festival. It's supposedly about one of the King Louis's chefs falling in love with one of the king's mistresses. Gerard Depardieu seems to have been the only frenchman cast because Uma Thurman's french accent was ... bad? No, beyond bad, it was nonexistent. Literally, she would deliver one line in a poor french accent and then the next in a poor german accent. It reminded me of Costner playing Robin Hood and how laughable that accent was. I only saw Tim Roth in one scene before I deleted the thing. I think this movie could be good if it was played by french actors with subtititles.

More Roth ... I've been watching Lie to Me. It's a very good show and it's because Tim Roth carries the show. There is really only one other character that's worth watching and it's because he can't lie. Pretty much everyone else is kind of blah. His number 2 person though .. I can't even remember he name nor character name, is really really annoying. If it wasn't for Roth, I wouldn't watch.

Still watching Flight of the Conchords and Eastbound and Down. Talk about two diametrically opposed shows! Conchords is highbrow compared to Eastbound, but I like them both.

More of my housewives!

2009-03-04T15:25:00.003-05:00

Just watched the latest trainwreck. I really think it's getting redundant to keep complaining about AlexSimon, but seriously, there are absolutley no redeeming qualities to either of them. They were in their luxious Hamptons hovel and the owner of the house is a masseuse and a tarot card reader. She put them both into a sauna and Simon leacherously exclaims how great it was to be in a small hot dark room with Alex. Not "my wife" ... Alex. As if he's shared the sauna with someone else. I think he just likes the unisex nature of his wife's name. Naughty naughty.

And the Countesssssssssssssssssss ... what a schlub. She hijacks her daughter's luncheon to go over etiquette, completely embarassing her really pretty daughter who is off to boarding school in the fall (yea for her!). She talked down completely to one of her friends about the proper way to cut up chicken on a plate ... I mean really!

Duhmona. I have to say that this season, she's probably the least annoying .. no, wait ... I don't mean that, she's just as over the top as she was last season. Everyone else is ramped up, so maybe she's just more normal. She actually got competitive with the Gov. of New York over who is more blind .. or as she would say "bloind".

Kelly ... ahhhhh Kelly ... She completely blows of Duhomona for a guy who is obviously worshipful of her ... she is the rudest of them all. Each week, my hunch is more and more right. She hates women.

Yenta Jill gets left out in the cold during ther lunch with Duhmona and the Countessssssssssssss and I'm sorry, but her daughter is just getting bigger and bigger. I understand that her meds for her rheumatoid arthritis may cause weight gain, but Ally just looks soft.

Bethandthecity is getting boring ... there's nothing to say. She's pathetic and then she said the line that says it all "don't touch me". Girlfriend has touching issues ... no wonder she's not married. Hey Bethandthecity, married people, dating people ... people who want to date .. want to touch you! Get over that and maybe you'll hook someone.

Whew ....

Insanity!

2009-02-28T15:14:00.002-05:00

The second episode of Real Housewives of NYC was off the hook. AlexSimon are just plain whack. Oh dear! They blessed everyone on the Hamptons with their presence ... and trust me, they felt that THEY were doing the blessing! Oh, the Atlantic is just soooooooooooooo much more cold and choppy ... oh, Francois and Johann just wouldn't like it here at all ... and then the banana hammock! Simon wears a speedo because it's just so european and we common folk in America just can't handle it ... no Simon, we can handle it, YOU can't handle the laughter eminating from everyone who is embarassed by seeing your junk hanging in the wind. Please dude, everyone who calls you gay is insulting every gay man on earth. What a sad sack of a human being you are. And the fangy wife Alex ... I wonder what color the sky is on Planet Alex??? Sweetie, you grew up in Kansas, not the Carribean ... you went to Northwestern, not the Sorbonne ... you're a regular girl, with fangs. The shopping spree! They spent 8K on a bunch of clothes that the store owner made 2 shopgirls help haul into their car ... I don't know, that 8K would have bought nice flooring for that hovel they call a house in Cobble Hill.

Duhomona, believe it or not, is actually proving to be the nice person of the season. Bethandthecity is just a mess. Seriously, if her food is anything like her life, do not eat it. Yenta Jill is a total co-dependent. That chunky Ally couldn't wait to get the heck away from her! She's spending the summer in Paris. I bet she comes back looking completely healthy and gorgeous. She needed to get away from Jill ... yuck, talk about overbearing mother.

And the DisCOUNTESS. First, she orders a pizza and tell them that her name is Countess DeLesseps. She's joking right? Please tell me that she's not serious. She gets an award from a cancer society and she literally interrupts and tells everyone to shut up and listen and then she tromps back to her table and proceeds to chit chat! She's the queen of hypocrisy!

Kelly .. still too soon to tell. But my theory on her hating women and only seeking the worship of men was on full display. She trotting around like a little schoolgirl at this party, from one group of men to another. It was kind of embarassing to see. It was like she was taking in man energy and left when she was full.

Watched a movie I haven't seen in awhile. Albert Brooks's, Mother. Debbie Reynolds is just too cute. This movie was made in 1996, so seeing the computers, the phones and a younger Lisa Kudrow, basically playing Phoebe, was a hoot.

Also watched bits and pieces of The Cell & The Breakup. I'm not convinced as to why Jennier Aniston and Vince Vaughn ever hooked up ... but then again, she's still with the big dork, John Mayer. Sigh.

The usual, lots of Keith, lots of Daily Show.

I drink your milkshake!!

2009-02-21T10:04:00.002-05:00

What a great movie!!! There Will Be Blood is fantastic. And it's worth every minute for the final 5 minutes. I'm not kidding. The 2 best lines in the film happen during that final scene ... "I drink your milkshake" and "I'm finished". The way Daniel Day Lewis delivered both those lines was pure genius. No Country for Old Men and There Will be Blood were filmed at the same time in the same general locations. Both endings were abrupt ... Loved them both.

I wrote this on another website for more on my real housewives:

I watched my tivo'd episode yesterday afternoon ... wow, this season is going to be completely psycho!

AlexSimon are positively the 2 most horrible people on this show. Those kids of theirs are completely out of control ... did you see how she was holding him in the backseat? Yea, there were cameras in the front seat, then freaking rent an SUV you idiots!!!! Frank wasn't in a carseat! And that rental???? And the sliding door for the pool? And then the whole tv rant by Alex ... man, she is completely batsh^%. Jealous of Jill ... yea right. I've always maintained that people who speak like that are really speaking into a mirror. I've never seen more jealous wannabes than AlexSimon. Alex's fangs ... Alex's fangs!!!!

Bethandthecity .. she's on this show why? Anyone catch her new b00bies and lipo'd belly? Her head is getting more and more square shaped as we go along. She's more of a character than a real person. Again, she's on the show why????

Jill is basically the same. Bawbee is a saint. I really like him. Those 2 are the most in tune couple on the show.

The Countesssssssssssssss ... she's really threatened by the new "wife". She's writing a book on etiquette, but thinks nothing of backing out of a promise she made to Jill and says nothing about it??? She gets up in Jill's grill about how to handle the Page 6 thing, but she doesn't hold her children to the same standard? Jill was wrong to just let that one go. She should have called the Countesssssssssssssssssssss on her poor manners.

Duhmona ... she's 52 people! She looks awesome for 52!!!! But those googly eyes are just too much. She's a case study for the people at the show "Lie to Me". All her emotions and future moves can be seen by her googly eyes. And why is she so askeered of AlexSimon? Seriously, she absolutely frightened of them. Is she still bunched up over the nude photos?

The new wife is going to be awesome. Looks like she is going to go to the mat with Bethandthecity and I, for one am going to love seeing it. She needs to be dropped a couple pegs.