"Nothing makes a smart man stupid like a quest for vengeance."

I cannot believe that it is almost September. I feel like this year is flying by and I am a little sad that summer is already over. The only good thing about the start of Fall is that it also means my TV shows are back! Here is my list of returning and new shows that I will be watching...

Returning Shows:

Arrow
Castle
Elementary 
Grey's Anatomy
Hart of Dixie
Homeland*
How I Met Your Mother
Nashville
New Girl
NCIS
Once Upon A Time
Parenthood
Raising Hope
Scandal
Sons of Anarchy
The Carrie Diaries
The Good Wife
The Vampire Diaries
The Voice
The Walking Dead
White Collar

New Shows:

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Almost Human

The Black List

The Crazy Ones

Dracula

Enlisted
Hostages

Masters of Sex*

The Michael J. Fox Show
Mom

Once Upon A Time In Wonderland

The Originals

Reign

Sleepy Hollow

The Tomorrow People

Trophy Wife

I seem to add a ton of new shows to my schedule every year, but always manage to make it all work. Shows that I have dropped since last Fall include Blue Bloods, Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23, Happy Endings, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Revenge and Suburgatory. Several of those were canceled and the others just lost my interest, but I have plenty more to check out!

"I'd like to think there's more to a person than just one thing."

Last week, the Austin Film Society screened The Spectacular Now at the Marchesa Hall & Theatre followed by a Q&A with Director James Ponsoldt and I was lucky enough to attend.

Based on the book by Tim Tharp, this film is about a troubled, hard-partying high school senior named Sutter that gets dumped by his girlfriend and starts hanging out with Aimee, a quiet, "nice girl" from school. He keeps telling himself that she is just his rebound, but eventually they fall in love and she changes the way he looks at his life and his other relationships. 

While the relationship between Sutter and Aimee is the main focus of the story, it is really about a young man who is not happy and uses alcohol to block his pain. As someone who often projects a happier persona and uses movies and television, as opposed to alcohol, to distract me from my life, I definitely identified with Sutter. In one of my favorite scenes, Sutter is talking to his teacher and he says, "I don't see what's so great about being an adult. Are you happy?" and the teacher has no response. Sutter would rather live in the moment than have to think about his future. He pushes away the people that love him and care about him because he does not want them to see that he is miserable.

2013 Fall Movie Preview

Thanks to arrival of my Entertainment Weekly Fall Movie Preview, I now present you with the list of movies that I am most looking forward to seeing over the next few months. I have provided the trailers for each movie, when there has been one available, but a few have not yet been released.

September
20: RUSH (Chris Hemsworth, Olivia Wilde, Natalie Dormer, Daniel Bruhl)


20: THANKS FOR SHARING (Mark Ruffalo, Tim Robbins, Gwyneth Paltrow, Josh Gad)


27: DON JON (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Tony Danza, Julianne Moore)


Other September possibilities include SALINGER (9/6), ENOUGH SAID (9/20) and PARKLAND (9/20).

October
TBA: DIANA (Naomi Watts, Naveen Andrews)


Other October possibilities include RUNNER RUNNER (10/4), 12 YEARS A SLAVE (10/18), THE FIFTH ESTATE (10/18)