tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78897127846078634962024-03-13T15:29:24.179-05:00Aye, Tortuga!the chronicles of a Hollywood girl trapped in the body of a Philly girl livin' in AustinCatherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.comBlogger196125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-7296783551786067582014-04-03T10:03:00.002-05:002014-04-03T10:03:42.054-05:00Veronica: Can you do me a weird favor without asking any questions?<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Wallace: Isn’t that the bedrock upon which our friendship was founded?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dear Friends, Readers, and Random Strangers,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I started this blog in 2007 as an outlet for all my random TV and movie knowledge and I have had a great time writing it, but over the past few months I have felt very unfocused and in need of a re-branding. So, with the help of some of my ATX Television Festival family, I am starting fresh! My new blog will focus solely on television and can be found here: <a href="http://mytvfamily.com/">mytvfamily.com</a> </span><br />
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thank you for reading and coming along on this adventure. I hope to see you on the new site!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">xoxo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">c</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">----------------------------------- </span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-75600404771208761832013-12-19T16:03:00.001-06:002013-12-19T16:03:18.619-06:00"Guys, I know Kung Fu."<a href="http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/chuck-cast-s5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/chuck-cast-s5.jpg" height="345" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few months ago, I decided that it was finally time to start watching Chuck. I have now watched all five seasons and would consider myself officially part of the Nerd Herd.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am not really sure why I never watched the show when it started in 2007. I do know that I did not yet have DVR, so I was probably watching How I Met Your Mother instead. I actually do not really remember thinking about it much when it was on. I loved Adam Baldwin in Firefly and Sarah Lancaster in What About Brian (also, Saved By The Bell: The New Class...shhh), and probably recognized Zachary Levi, but none of them were enough to interest me in the show. This was also about the time that I was *not* watching <a href="http://ayetortuga.blogspot.com/2010/10/nathan-im-not-strong-enough-for-this.html">Friday Night Lights</a> either so, clearly, I was not thinking straight.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To be honest, the reason I did start watching Chuck was because of Orphan Black. I know that sounds weird, so let me explain. As I have mentioned <a href="http://ayetortuga.blogspot.com/2013/07/i-threw-my-pie-for-you.html">before</a>, I watched all of Orphan Black after last year's ATX Television Festival and was instantly obsessed. Shortly after watching the whole first season, the cast went to San Diego Comic Con, at which they did a panel for Zachary Levi's <a href="http://www.thenerdmachine.com/">Nerd Machine</a>. Once I discovered the Orphan Black panel online, I then watched many of the other Nerd Machine panels throughout the weekend that were streaming on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/NerdMachineTV">YouTube</a>, including one with Levi himself, and soon came to the conclusion that I should at least give Chuck a try.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only way that I could watch it initially was to get the discs from Netflix, so the first two seasons took me quite a while to get through. (And when I say, "quite a while," I mean about two months.) I was just starting to lose steam and then, as if they knew exactly what I was thinking, Netflix made the whole series available to stream </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the following week and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I flew threw the last three seasons.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I enjoyed the characters from the start, but I did not really get hooked on the storyline until the end of season two. In seasons one and two, Chuck was a little too whiny and never seemed to learn how to not get in the way when Casey and Sarah were on a mission. He was much more interesting and the plots were more focused once he became a real part of the team in season three. You also have to get past the fact that, despite this being a show about spies, it is completely unrealistic. It is, however, a lot of fun.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have become a big fan of Zachary Levi as an actor. I find him highly entertaining and he has great chemistry with the entire cast. After getting into the show, I also discovered an <a href="http://www.relevantmagazine.com/culture/tv/features/19756-the-life-and-faith-of-zac-levi">article</a> where he talks about his faith and, while I will not go into detail (you can click the link and read it yourself), I respect and agree with most of what he had to say. It made me like him more as a person and as an actor that I want to see succeed. He is currently starring in First Date on Broadway until the beginning of January, which I was hoping to see while I was on the East Coast for the holidays, but it does not look like I will actually have the chance. He is also in Thor: The Dark World as Fandral, which was just in theaters.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rest of the cast was incredible as well. As I said, I loved Adam Baldwin on Firefly, but also knew him from Angel and Independence Day. He gave John Casey a lot of heart and an impressive High C. Yvonne Strahovski, on the other hand, is someone that I had never heard of before this show, but I really enjoyed her a lot. Sarah Walker is a total badass and it was fun to see her be the dominant person in most tense situations. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chuck's sister Ellie and her boyfriend Devon, a.k.a. Awesome, are played by Sarah Lancaster and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ryan McPartlin. I really enjoyed this relationship because even though their lives look perfect from the outside, they still have real issues that they deal with and work through as a couple. They kept the show grounded in family. On the other side of that spectrum, was the equally amazing</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> supporting roles from Mark Christopher Lawrence, Bonita Friedericy, Vik Sahay, and Scott Krinsky.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I have to say that Joshua Gomez might have actually been my favorite of the cast. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Morgan happens to be my grandfather's, father's and niece's name, so I may have been a little biased towards the character from the beginning, but t</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">he friendship between Chuck and Morgan is so great and it always made me laugh. With their banter and chemistry, it really feels like these two guys have been friends since childhood and would do anything possible for the other. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although, it did take me until about halfway through the series to realize that he is the younger brother of actor Rick Gomez (who was also in What About Brian with Lancaster). You do not have to say anything, I am already very disappointed with myself.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The show also included some fantastic guest stars including, but definitely not limited to: Tony Hale, Brandon Routh, Linda Hamilton, Matt Bomer, Scott Bakula, Timothy Dalton, Lauren Cohan, Carrie-Anne Moss, Kristin Kreuk, Jordana Brewster, Morgan Fairchild, Robin Givens, Ray Wise, Chevy Chase, Rachel Bilson, Gary Cole, Nicole Richie, Isaiah Mustafa, Stacy Keibler, Mark Sheppard, John Larroquette, Steve Austin, Mark Pellegrino, Rick Hoffman, Ivana Milicevic, Vinnie Jones, Robert Patrick, Fred Willard, Craig Kilborn, David Koechner, Cheryl Ladd, Michael Clarke Duncan, Michael Strahan, Tricia Helfer, Dominic Monaghan, Andy Richter, Rob Riggle, Eric Roberts, Mark Hamill, Ben Savage, Diedrich Bader, Olivia Munn, Mircea Monroe, Ana Gasteyer, Angie Harmon, Bronson Pinchot, Tim DeKay, Rebecca Romijn, Bo Derek, Melinda Clarke, Brooklyn Decker, Lou Ferrigno, Stan Lee, Danny Pudi, Jenny McCarthy, Summer Glau, Harry Dean Stanton, Dolph Lundgren, Christopher Lloyd and Yvette Nicole Brown. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am not really sure how I felt about the series finale. It definitely made me really sad, even though the final scene ended on a positive note. There is talk about doing a Chuck movie at some point in the future and I would be excited to see that, if only to see where everyone ended up. I just feel like the episode was very bittersweet and I prefer less ambiguity in my series finales. That being said, I really enjoyed this show as a whole and I definitely recommend everyone check it out immediately.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">xoxo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">c</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-------------------------------------------</span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-31249142951631625062013-12-09T16:56:00.000-06:002013-12-09T16:56:37.770-06:00"I'll put my privates up against your privates any old day."<a href="http://assets.fox.com/shows/enlisted/photos/Cast/ENL-PAS-R7-01DJ3-photos-lightbox-tbd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://assets.fox.com/shows/enlisted/photos/Cast/ENL-PAS-R7-01DJ3-photos-lightbox-tbd.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks to the <a href="http://www.atxfestival.com/">ATX Television Festival</a>, I was fortunate enough to see a sneak peak of Fox's new show Enlisted last Friday night at the Alamo Drafthouse with cast members Geoff Stults, Parker Young, Angelique Cabral and creator Kevin Biegel.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The show is a family workplace comedy revolved around three brothers, their workplace just happens to be the military. They are part of an Army Rear Detachment Unit in Florida, which is comprised of the soldiers who try to keep the base in order. The Rear D's main job is taking care of deployed soldiers' families. I</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">n the event that something happens to a soldier overseas, the Rear D troops break the news to the family. However, they also mow lawns at the base, sort mail, wash tanks and find lost dogs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stults (7th Heaven, October Road, The Finder) plays oldest brother, Sergeant</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Pete Hill, who gets sent to Rear D after assaulting a superior officer. He now must lead a dysfunctional squad of soldiers that includes his two younger brothers, Derrick and Randy, played by </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Young (Suburgatory) and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chris Lowell (Veronica Mars, Private Practice). </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cabral (Friends with Benefits) plays Sergeant Jill Perez, who leads the other Read D unit on the base and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Keith David (The Cape, Grey's Anatomy) is base commander Sergeant Major Donald Cody. They are also surround by an incredibly hilarious supporting cast. Along with Biegel (Scrubs, Cougar Town), it is being executive produced by Mike Royce (Men of a Certain Age, Everybody Loves Raymond).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We screened the first </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">two episodes, as well as a third episode from later in the season, and I am now even more excited for the series to start.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The entire cast has amazing chemistry on and off screen and t</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">he writing is funny, but it also has a lot of heart. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They are incredibly respectful of the men and women who serve our country and at no point do they minimize the work that our soldiers do every single day. I would say that i</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">t is a cross between Scrubs, M.A.S.H. and Police Academy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The show was originally supposed to air this Fall, but was pushed back so that the network could promote more (if you have watched any football this month on Fox, you have probably seen the commercials) and it will now premiere </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">at 9:30/8:30c on </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">January 10th.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can also check out the highly entertaining Q&A from this past year's ATX Festival <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/enlisted/id455020248?i=168422177&mt=2">here</a>, courtesy of the Nerdist Writer's Panel.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am usually pretty picky about the sit-coms that I watch, so believe me when I tell you that you MUST check out this new show because it is fantastic. I laughed out loud through all three episodes (and maybe shed a few tears...I mean...there was something in my eye!) and very much look forward to seeing more soon.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">xoxo</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">c</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">----------------------------------------------</span></div>
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Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-24428908036057107192013-12-08T16:58:00.001-06:002013-12-08T16:58:57.497-06:00"When Khrushchev pushes the button, you can have the morning off. Until then, you're still my secretary."<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Several of my shows are already on winter hiatus and most of the rest have their winter finale this week. Here is what I will be watching:</span><br />
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</b></span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Sunday:</b> Masters of Sex - Virginia finally voiced out loud that she and Dr. Masters had an affair and subsequently quit working for Dr. Masters to help Dr. DePaul with her uterine cancer study. Margaret Scully has also figured out what exactly her husband has been up to and asked for a divorce and Dr. Langham discovers that one of the women with which he had sex for the study is now pregnant. I enjoy this series more and more each week and I am interested to see how these characters respond to all these new circumstances</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><br />
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Watch Live: Once Upon a Time</span><br />
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<b>Monday: </b>The Sing-Off - The entire season will be aired over just two weeks, with several new episodes per week. Also, judge Sara Bareilles has been replaced with Jewel this year. I love a capella and I am so glad that NBC has brought this show back!</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/9GINGq3ZTLw" width="640"></iframe><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Watch Live: The Voice </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DVR: Almost Human and Sleepy Hollow </span><br />
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</b></span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <b>Tuesday: </b>Sons of Anarchy - I am equally excited and nervous for this season six finale. After Juice's breakdown last week, I am worried he might not survive the episode. I am also concerned for Tara's life. I am pretty sure she is going to end up either dead or in prison. I am hoping for the later. Creator Kurt Sutter never disappoints so, if nothing else, this final episode will be just as fantastic as the rest of the season. I will make sure to have tissues handy, just in case.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Watch Live: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Voice </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DVR: Trophy Wife and The Goldbergs </span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Wednesday: </b>Arrow - At the end of last week's episode, Oliver had been drugged and Barry Allen had been brought in to Team Arrow to help save him. (</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I <i>was</i> looking forward to seeing Allen turn into The Flash later this season, but now it looks like they will save that for his </span><a href="http://www.deadline.com/2013/11/cws-the-flash-to-do-standalone-pilot-instead-of-arrow-backdoor-pilot-episode/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">spin-off pilot</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.) Oliver still has yet to figure out what Brother Hood is up to or even who it is that is under the hood. Malcolm Merlyn is still lurking around threatening to tell Thea that he is her father and there has also been speculation on the internet that Isabel Rochev is the daugher of Ra's al Ghul. Hopefully, some of these things will be answered this week.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Watch Live: Mob City </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DVR: The Sing-Off, The Tomorrow People and Nashville </span><br />
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</b></span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <b>Thursday: </b>Scandal - I kind of figured that Olivia's mom was the real bad guy a few weeks ago, but I still cannot believe that Sally Langston killed her husband! The Huck and Quinn scenes also made me a little uncomfortable, but I am happy to see Quinn back working for the home team. Will she kill Command? Or will Huck be able to call her off in time? Also, will James really leave Cyrus? On the one hand, I love their chemistry, so I kind of hope he stays. But, on the other hand, Cyrus really treats James very poorly, so he really should get out while he still can. I have no idea where things are going, but I am on the edge of my seat every week and I love it!</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Watch Live: The Sing-Off and The Crazy Ones </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DVR: The Vampire Diaries, Ground Floor, Parenthood, Elementary and White Collar </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Friday: </b>The Carrie Diaries - This show just makes me so happy. I do not really have anything specific to say except that, if you are still not watching it, you are really missing out. The entire first season is available to stream on Netflix and all of season two's episodes are available on The CW's website.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Watch Live: Raising Hope</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have pretty much given up on Homeland this season. I might catch up eventually, but I am currently very far behind with no real interest in watching the episodes I have missed. However, I am still enjoying my rewatch of Spartacus each Saturday on Starz.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also, if you have not seen my 25 Days of Holiday Clips each day on Facebook and Twitter, all of those can be found <a href="http://ayetortuga.blogspot.com/p/25-days-of-holiday-clips_9016.html">here</a>.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">xoxo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">c</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">----------------------------------------------</span></span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-58289824782221195162013-12-01T17:17:00.002-06:002013-12-01T21:45:32.999-06:00Dorian: I thought you wanted to meet someone.<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">John: I meet plenty of women. I don't need your help.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dorian: I ran a bio-scan and it looked like your testicles were at full capacity.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">John: You're scanning my balls?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dorian: I didn't enjoy it. I just...I can't help but notice. You're backed up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">John: What is the matter with you?.....Don't scan my testicles, ever again.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dorian: Copy that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have not done this in a few weeks but here is what I will be watching on television this week. I hope that everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Sunday: </b>The Good Wife - Tonight is the 100th episode of the show and it looks like it is going to be another great one. Former client, Matthew Ashbaugh, has bequeathed Alicia millions of dollars, but Lockhart-Gardner contests the will on behalf of his widow. Elsewhere, Kalinda is still looking into Damian's background and Florrick-Agos throws their first holiday party. Returning guest stars include Melissa George, Jason O'Mara, Stockard Channing, Nathan Lane, Mike Colter, Kurt Fuller, John Noble and Donna Brazile.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Watch Live: Once Upon A Time, Masters of Sex</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DVR: Homeland, Witches of East End</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Monday: </b>Almost Human - I am really enjoying this new show more than I thought I would. Right now most of the episodes stand alone but, I am hoping that the further we go, the more background we will get on the Syndicate and how John's ex-girlfriend is involved with them. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The chemistry between Michael Ealy and Karl Urban is fantastic and the supporting cast of Mackenzie Crook, Minka Kelly and Lilly Taylor are great. If you are not already watching this show, I definitely recommend you check it out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DVR: The Voice, How I Met Your Mother</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Tuesday: </b>Sons of Anarchy - There are only two episodes left of this season. Clay is (finally) dead and Jax's plan to get out of guns and out from under the Irish is in motion. This season has been so crazy, I cannot even imagine what is going to happen next. Will Tara decide to take Patterson's deal and betray her husband and the club? I am believe that at least one more member of the main cast is going to die before the end. Who will it be?! I pretty much hold my breath from commercial break to commercial break each week and things are just going to get more intense....I CANNOT WAIT :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Watch Live: The Originals, The Voice</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DVR: Trophy Wife</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/tv/2013-09-09/8968bcd3-395d-444f-9f4e-c229d6587280_TNT_MobCity_TeaseH-2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/tv/2013-09-09/8968bcd3-395d-444f-9f4e-c229d6587280_TNT_MobCity_TeaseH-2013.jpg" height="272" width="400" /></a><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wednesday: </b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mob City - This new TNT series looks fantastic. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Based on the real-life accounts of the cops and gangsters of 1940s Los Angeles, this is the story of the violent crime underbelly of America's most glamorous city and those who wanted to control it. It stars Jon Bernthal, Ed Burns, Neal McDonough and Jeremy Luke and was developed by Frank Darabont. The first season is only six episodes and will air over three weeks. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Watch Live: Arrow</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DVR: The Tomorrow People, Nashville</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Thursday: </b>The Sound of Music - A three hour live performance on NBC starring Carrie Underwood, Stephen Moyer, Audra McDonald, Laura Benanti and Christian Borle. How can you <i>not</i> tune in?!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DVR: The Vampire Diaries, Grey's Anatomy, The Good Ones, Elementary, Scandal, White Collar, Ground Floor</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday: </b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spartacus - Starz is airing the season two finale of Gods of the Arena as well as the first two episodes of season three, Vengeance. At the end of season two, Batiatus is mourning the death of his father and Oenomaus the death of his wife, Mellita. Batiatus and Gannicus are plotting revenge against Tallius as the new arena is set to open in Capua. Season three continues after the gladiators have escaped from the House of Batiatus. They continue to gain followers and attack the Roman Republic. Following the death of actor Andy Whitfield, Liam McIntyre has taken over the role of Spartacus.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will also watch The Carrie Diaries and Raising Hope live on Friday.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">xoxo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">c</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">---------------------------------------</span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-49278534263228088162013-11-10T18:41:00.000-06:002013-11-10T18:41:52.619-06:00Adam: When it comes to you and the laundry, there are no accidents!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beverly: I always wash new clothes. You don't know who tried them on before you, could have been a drifter!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Adam: What kind of drifter shops at the Willow Grove Mall?!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beverly: Well, what kind of drifter needs to buy new clothes when he already has perfectly good ones?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Adam: A drifter with a mom who drove him to drifting! The open road was his only way out!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-----------------------</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Sunday: </b>Once Upon A Time - In tonight's episode, we return with Ariel to Storybrooke. She is there to get something for Mr. Gold who is now working with Regina to take down Peter Pan and save Henry. Last week, Emma, Mary Margaret, David and Hook rescued Neil but, in order to do that, they each had to reveal their darkest secrets to the group. It will be interesting to see how these secrets affect them on their own quest to get Henry back and get out of Neverland.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Watch Live: The Good Wife, Masters of Sex</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DVR: Homeland</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Monday: </b>Castle - While Castle, Beckett and company do not keep me on the edge of my seat like they used to, I still get pleasure from this show each week. The only real explanation for that is Nathan Fillion and the chemistry between the cast. I also look forward to a potential Castle-Beckett wedding in the near future...just hopefully not one on a space ship :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Watch Live: How I Met Your Mother, Sleepy Hollow</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DVR: Hart of Dixie, The Voice</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Tuesday: </b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Goldbergs - I am really enjoying this new sitcom a lot more than I expected. The creator, Adam Goldberg, is from the Philadelphia area and since the show is based on his family that is where it takes place. We all know how biased I am about anything related to Philly, so seeing older brother Barry rock Flyers and Sixers gear every week makes me like this show even more. However, it is actually incredibly funny and you should all be watching it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Watch Live: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Trophy Wife, Sons of Anarchy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DVR: The Originals, New Girl, The Voice</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Wednesday: </b>The Tomorrow People - Last week, Ultra ambushed Cara, John and the others when they attempted to enjoy a night out among humans. Stephen continues to help his new friends while working undercover for his uncle, but has now revealed his powers to his best friend Astrid. We have seen small glimpses of John and Cara's backstories and I look forward to learning more about them and also hopefully Russell and Jedikiah. This show started off strong and continues to get better each week.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Watch Live: Arrow, Nashville</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="http://i.cdn.turner.com/v5cache/TBS/Images/Dynamic/i89/GF_fullcast_705x376_101020130207.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/v5cache/TBS/Images/Dynamic/i89/GF_fullcast_705x376_101020130207.jpg" height="212" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Thursday: </b>Ground Floor - This is a new TBS show from Bill Lawrence, the creator of Scrubs and Cougar Town. It stars Skylar Astin and Alexis Knapp from Pitch Perfect, as well as John C. McGinley and James Earl. Astin plays a young successful banker who falls for a woman who works in his building's maintenance department. I actually have only seen one trailer for this show yet, and while it does look very funny, the combination of the cast and that it comes from Lawrence make me want to tune in without knowing much about it.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Watch Live: The Vampire Diaries, The Crazy Ones</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DVR: Once Upon at Time in Wonderland, Scandal, Parenthood, Elementary</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Friday: </b>Raising Hope - I only started watching this show last summer after learning that stars Lucas Neff and Shannon Woodward were coming to the <a href="http://www.atxfestival.com/">ATX Television Festival</a> and now it is one of my favorite shows. Last season, Jimmy and Sabrina finally got married, Burt was Bar Mitzvah'd, the family found Maw Maw's mother and many other crazy things. I look forward to seeing what other shenanigans the Chance family can get themselves into this year.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Watch Live: The Carrie Diaries</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Saturday, I continue to rewatch the first season of Orphan Black on BBC America and The Spartacus Saga being replayed on Starz.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think I have given up on Dracula. I really wanted to like this show and continued watching it even after the terrible pilot in hopes that it would get better, but it did not. I have also stopped watching The Walking Dead and, sadly, NCIS.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">xoxo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">c</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">------------------------------------- </span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-30240511568349552262013-11-03T17:41:00.001-06:002013-11-03T17:41:35.885-06:00"Living is not for the weak."<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I missed last week because I was in Philly for a few days and forgot to post my picks, but here are the episodes of television that I am most looking forward to for the week of November 3rd. As always, I warn you of potential spoilers ahead if you are not caught up.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/2012/06/masters_of_sex_pilot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/2012/06/masters_of_sex_pilot.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Sunday: </b>Masters of Sex - I am loving this new show on Showtime. Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan play Dr. William Masters and Virginia Johnson who pioneered the science of human sexuality. Bill's wife has just had a miscarriage and he blames himself because he was anxious about being a father. Virginia is still trying to figure out how to work and support her children and their colleague Ethan is dating the provost's daughter. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The acting and writing are fantastic and I look forward to each and every episode.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Watch Live: Once Upon A Time, Homeland</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DVR: The Walking Dead, The Good Wife, Witches of East End</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Monday: </b>The Voice - It is finally time for the live rounds! I do not have any favorites yet but, in general, I tend to root for Team Christina. The performances so far this season have been great and I really enjoy the chemistry between the original coaches. Shakira and Usher were fine, but I prefer Christina and Cee Lo and I hope someone from one of their teams wins this round and takes the crown from Blake :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Watch Live:Castle</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DVR: How I Met Your Mother, Hart of Dixie, Sleepy Hollow</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Tuesday: </b>New Girl - Three words: COACH IS BACK....also, Taye Diggs is guest starring. This is pretty much a no-brainer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Watch Live: Agents of SHIELD, Trophy Wife, Sons of Anarchy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DVR: The Originals, The Goldbergs, The Voice</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Wednesday: </b>Arrow - Last season was a little under-whelming for me. I enjoyed the show, but it definitely did not blow me away. The episodes so far this season have been increasingly better and I now actually get excited for this show each week. Oliver is struggling with trying to keep his family's company afloat while also protecting the people of Starling City. As the vigilante, he has enlisted the help of his sister's boyfriend Roy Harper to dig up dirt for him, while keeping his identity secret. He has also discovered that Laurel's sister Sara is still alive and it looks like this week we will find out how that is possible and how she is connected to the League of Assassins and Ra's al Ghul.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Watch Live: The Tomorrow People</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Thursday:</b> The Vampire Diaries - The end of last season was getting a little too complicated for me and I had started to lose interest just a bit. However, I am really enjoying the new characters this season and the interactions between the original cast. I still am not really a fan of Silas and that whole storyline, but the discovery of Katherine's daughter and Dr. Maxfield's experiments intrigue me so I am starting to get excited about this show again.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Watch Live: White Collar, Parenthood</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DVR: Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, The Voice, The Crazy Ones, Grey's Anatomy, Elementary, Scandal</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Friday: </b>The Carrie Diaries - I love Samantha Jones. I love the way Walt is discovering himself. I love Carrie's clothes and am still obsessed with her purple toile wallpaper. I just love this show and wish more people were watching it!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DVR: Dracula</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In general, I am just really excited about television right now. Some of my old shows are better than ever and there are a few really fantastic new shows that you all should be watching.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">xoxo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">c</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-------------------------------- </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> </b> </span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-29647847791033070362013-10-20T17:50:00.000-05:002013-10-20T17:50:38.200-05:00Simon: I knew there was a reason why the inspiration wasn't coming to us. Your spirit is blocked and you blocked us all. Burn it!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sydney: Wait, Dad, I don't think that's a really good idea</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Simon: No, no, we have to burn it, honey. Listen to me. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The creative gods are angry. They need blood. They want sweater blood. In the name of Mister Rogers, I command you!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Andrew: I don't know if this is a good idea</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Simon: Oh, come on now, Andrew. You've become a slave to wool. You're trying to pull the wool over our eyes and these fibers are as unnatural as this ruse of a relationship. Burn the demon fiber and set yourself free. Set us all free!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">----------------------------------</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are the episodes of television that I most excited about for the week of October 20. As with last week, I warn you of possible spoilers ahead.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Sunday: </b>Witches of East End - I really was not planning on watching this show. I like the actresses in it, but it honestly looked a little silly. However, after the premiere lots of people were talking about it, so I thought I would check it out and I actually really enjoyed it. It is not perfect, by any means, but it is a lot of fun. It is about two sisters living in Long Island, both of whom do not know they are witches just like their mother and aunt. When someone starts trying to kill off each of the women, their mother must admit to them what they really are so they can defend themselves. It stars Julia Ormond, Jenna Dewan-Tatum, Rachel Boston and Mädchen Amick. As we all know, I am not a fan of scary things, but I do like witches, so this is right up my alley.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Watch Live: Once Upon A Time and The Good Wife</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">DVR: The Walking Dead, Homeland and Masters of Sex</span><br />
<a href="http://img.ibtimes.com/www/data/images/full/2013/09/20/410423-how-i-met-your-mother-season-9-cast.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://img.ibtimes.com/www/data/images/full/2013/09/20/410423-how-i-met-your-mother-season-9-cast.JPG" height="286" width="400" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Monday: </b>How I Met Your Mother - Since this is the final season of the series, I was hoping we would see a little more of The Mother, but otherwise I have really enjoyed the episodes so far. I do not really know why but I find the "Thank you, Linus" running gag to be hilarious. I also love that we have seen more of different guest stars from past seasons like Ranjit, Barney's brother James, Patrice and Tim Gunn. I am sad that this show is coming to an end, but look forward to whatever they have in store for us as we make our way to that end. I am also a little overly excited about The Last Slap. When will it happen?!?!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Watch Live: Castle</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">DVR: Hart of Dixie, The Voice</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Tuesday: </b>Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - While I still feel that this show needs to find its footing a little bit, I have really enjoyed the first few episodes. Right now, each episode seems to stand on its on with very little continuing storyline, but I am hoping that once we get into it a little, there will be more connecting each episode besides just the main characters. I know that they will not tell us for a while what exactly happened to Coulson, but I am enjoying the little clues here and there that they keep dropping. I am also interested to see what is going on between Agent Ward and Skye. Is there anything going on? And will we ever actually see any of the Avengers? We have already seen brief cameos from Maria Hill and Nick Fury and, I am not really expecting Dr. Banner anytime soon but, it would be pretty cool none-the-less.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Watch Live: New Girl, Trophy Wife, Sons of Anarchy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">DVR: The Originals, The Goldbergs, The Voice</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<strong style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wednesday: </strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nashville - I was a little worried about this show at the end of last season. It seemed to be going in a direction that I was not enjoying and the season finale included a car accident that put my two favorites characters' lives in danger. I always hate when a TV show tries to make you think the lead character is going to die when they obviously will not because then the show would be over. No one is killing off Connie Britton...at least not at the end of the first season. However, I am happy to see that things seem to be getting back on track. I really like the story line with Rayna's voice troubles and I think it will be interesting to explore what could happen to her career if she can never sing again. I also like that Liam is back and hope he sticks around a little longer this time.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Watch Live: Arrow, The Tomorrow People</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><strong>Thursday: </strong>The Crazy Ones - I am loving this new CBS comedy. Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar play father and daughter and together they run an advertising agency in Chicago. The rest of the main cast includes James Wolk, Hamish Linklater and Amanda Setton who are all equally entertaining. The ensemble has great chemistry and Williams does not steal the spotlight like I thought he might. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The show just got a full season pick-up which means more episodes and more hilariousness, which the world could use more of.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Watch Live: The Vampire Diaries, Elementary</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">DVR: Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, Scandal, Parenthood</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Friday: </b>The Carrie Diaries - I really loved the first season of this CW show and do not understand why more people are not watching it. The show follows high school aged Carrie Bradshaw living in the suburbs before becoming the Sex and the City Carrie Bradshaw that we all know and love. It takes place in the '80s, so there is awesome fashion, and the stories are sweet and just really a lot of fun. Last season ended with Carrie's boyfriend cheating on her with her best friend, so she spent the summer in New York City with her gay friend Walt. This season starts with Carrie meeting new friend Samantha Jones and I cannot wait to see what these two get up to!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Watch Live: Dracula (series premiere)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong>Saturday:</strong> Spartacus - Starz is replaying the entire Spartacus series starting with season one, Blood and Sand. This show</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"> is based on the real story of Spartacus and how he became a gladiator. It is graphic, both with blood and sex, but it is mostly driven by the stories of its characters which are very compelling. If you did not see this series when it originally aired, then I highly recommend you check it out because it is FANTASTIC.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Watch Live: Orphan Black</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">What will you be watching this week?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">xoxo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">c</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">ps. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have really only gotten feedback from one person about the past couple posts, so I hope people are actually reading and enjoying them. The person I speak of happens to be my best friend and she is probably a little biased, so hearing from non-best-friends would probably be helpful :o)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-----------------------------------------</span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-72218236755023202842013-10-13T18:04:00.001-05:002013-10-13T18:04:53.141-05:00Icabod: Surviving death, separated by time, tests the bonds of love. The moment I saw her I knew, the bravest love is born again with each new day...<div id="yiv6519408956yui_3_7_2_27_1381199480777_49">
<span id="yiv6519408956yui_3_7_2_27_1381199480777_55"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">...The kind of
love that makes the mundane a marvel, that bewilders with its
magnificence until fate's cruel hand intervened and in the blink of an
eye Katrina was lost to me.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span id="yiv6519408956yui_3_7_2_27_1381199480777_59"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yolanda: I am so, so sorry.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span id="yiv6519408956yui_3_7_2_27_1381199480777_61"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Icabod: I
offer this tale, no matter how cruelly he may have treated you, to
suggest that you do not give up, nor give in to anything less than
certainty in matters of the heart.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span id="yiv6519408956yui_3_7_2_27_1381199480777_63"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yolanda: No one's ever said it like that. Thank you.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span id="yiv6519408956yui_3_7_2_27_1381199480777_65"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Icabod: It
is I who should thank you, kind woman, for unlocking this vehicle from
afar and showing me how the entertainment system operates. Farewell,
Yolanda.</span></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_82_1381237642034_70">
<span id="yiv6519408956yui_3_7_2_27_1381199480777_67"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yolanda: Thank you for calling NorthStar Assistance.</span></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_82_1381237642034_70">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">---------------------------------------------</span></div>
<br />
<div id="yui_3_7_2_82_1381237642034_70">
<a href="http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/35000000/Season-4-Promo-Poster-the-walking-dead-35070776-960-712.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/35000000/Season-4-Promo-Poster-the-walking-dead-35070776-960-712.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I realized that my post last week was a little vague because I was trying to avoid spoilers. This week, I am warning you now that I am not holding anything back. If you are not caught up then I suggest you either stop reading now or skip the section about that show. I have also listed the other shows I will be watching live and DVRing for each day.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>Sunday:</b> The Walking Dead - A lot happened at the end of season three. The Governor stabbed Milton and locked him in a room with Andrea so he killed her after he died and turned. After the Governor's plan to attack the prison backfires and his people refuse to keep fighting, he kills most of them on the road back to Woodbury and leaves with his top two guys. With the Governor gone, Rick and the group from the prison bring all the remaining people in Woodbury back with them. In general, this show has not been very consistent. I go back and forth between loving it and finding it a little boring. With their third showrunner in four seasons and a new plan to bring the focus back to the individual characters, I am interested to see where they go this season. Where did the Governor disappear to? How much longer can Rick and his group stay in the prison? Will we see a Maggie/Glen wedding? I guess I just have to watch and see.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Watch live: Once Upon A Time and Masters of Sex</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">DVR: The Good Wife, Homeland and Witches of East End</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>Monday: </b>Sleepy Hollow - I was not sure if I would like this show going into it, but it has quickly become my favorite new show of the Fall. I love the chemistry between Icabod and Abby. I am also fascinated by the mythology. They have taken the original story of Sleepy Hollow, intertwined it with events in American History and combined that with the Bible's Book of Revelation and brought it to the present time. I think there is definitely something going on with Captain Irving, there is more to him than meets the eye. I also think that Abby's ex is going to play a part and I wonder if we have seen the last of John Cho's character. The writing is smart and witty and I really have no idea what is going to happen next.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Watch live: Hart of Dixie and Castle</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">DVR: How I Met Your Mother and The Voice</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Tuesday: </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Sons of Anarchy - Yes, again. This season has been so good. Kurt Sutter is literally blowing everything up and it is fantastic. How will the MC deal with the destruction of their clubhouse? What exactly are Tara and Wendy up to? Does Gemma really believe Wendy is on her side? What will Jax do when he finds out that Tara is trying to take his kids? Is Bobby going Nomad, or is he working on something else? Will Nero go to jail for the death of his girl? There are just so many questions still to be answered and I am on the edge of my seat every single week!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Watch live: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., New Girl and Trophy Wife</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">DVR: The Originals, The Voice and The Goldbergs</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Wednesday: </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Arrow - Oliver has decided that instead of avenging his father, he needs to honor Tommy and be more of a hero for the people of Starling City...and he needs a better name than The Hood. Wednesdays are usually a pretty slow night for me television-wise, but I enjoy this show each week. It is entertaining, there is always a lot of fun action scenes and Stephen Amell has nice abs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Watch live: The Tomorrow People, Nashville</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>Thursday: </b>White Collar - The new season starts with Peter in jail after being framed by Neal's father James for killing Senator Pratt. James is gone and Neal must figure out a way to get Peter out. I love the relationships on this show between Peter and Elizabeth, Peter and Neal, Neal and Mozzie, Mozzie and Elizabeth. They all have different but great interactions and chemistry. I also look forward to Neal getting back into business with Mozzie, he is more fun when he's being bad. In general, I just look forward to another great season. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Watch live: The Vampire Diaries and Scandal</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">DVR: Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, The Crazy Ones, Elementary, Parenthood and Grey's Anatomy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>Saturday:</b> Orphan Black - BBC has been replaying all of season one and this Saturday's is my favorite episode. Paul knows that Beth is actually Sarah, Vic knows that Sarah is not really dead, Allison thinks her husband is her monitor and Felix is still gay and fabulous. This episode takes place during a neighborhood party at Allison's house in the suburbs and is a lot of fun. If you are still not watching this show, it is really time you get caught up and join the Clone Club already!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Watch live: The White Queen</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">What will <i>you</i> be watching this week?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">xoxo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">c</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">----------------------------------------------</span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-27598061772748259372013-10-06T19:39:00.000-05:002013-10-06T19:39:12.419-05:00"Don't end up hating me."<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I meant to post this earlier in the day, but got distracted by episodes of Hart of Dixie on Netflix. Regardless, I have decided to try posting my episode picks each week. These are the shows that I am most looking forward to for the week of October 6th, 2013:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong>Sunday: </strong>The Good Wife - I was starting to waiver a little on this show, but it got a lot better towards the end of last season so I decided to keep watching and I am very glad that I did. The season premiere was awesome and made me very excited to see what is going to happen next with Alicia and Cary leaving Lockhart Gardner.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong>Monday: </strong>Hart of Dixie - Last season ended with Zoe leaving for New York City with Jonah Breeland and George going on tour with Lily Anne Lonergan. Now, Zoe is back in Blue Bell and must help track down George and bring back the Founder's Day Parade. I love the characters on this show, they are fun and endearing and I enjoy every episode. I am excited to see where this season goes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong>Tuesday: </strong>Sons of Anarchy - Even though there are a lot of things happening, I still feel like much of the plot is setting us up for the end of this season and the final season. A few of my favorite characters were killed off last week but this is one show where I still cannot wait to see what happens each and every episode. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<a href="http://images.cwtv.com/images/cw/show-about/the-tomorrow-people.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.cwtv.com/images/cw/show-about/the-tomorrow-people.jpg" width="242" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong>Wednesday: </strong>The Tomorrow People - This is a new CW series from Julie Plec and Greg Berlanti based on a British children's science fiction series from the '70s. It is about a generation of humans who are born with the special abilities of telepathy, telekinesis and teleportation. They are being hunted by a group of scientists known as Ultra. It has a great cast and looks like it could be a great new show.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong>Thursday: </strong>Glee - I stopped watching this show a while ago because I felt like every week was turning into a lesson of the week. However, I am interested to see how they remember Cory Monteith in this Finn Hudson tribute episode.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong>Saturday:</strong> The White Queen - I have really enjoyed this Starz mini-series. You can read my review <a href="http://ayetortuga.blogspot.com/2013/09/she-is-my-queen-of-choice.html">here</a>. There are two episodes left and while, I know historically what is going to happen, I still look forward to seeing how the story plays out every week.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I am not currently watching anything on that airs on Friday, but cannot wait for Enlisted to start in January.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Of the <a href="http://ayetortuga.blogspot.com/2013/08/nothing-makes-smart-man-stupid-like.html">new shows</a> this fall, I am still watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Crazy Ones, Masters of Sex, Mom, The Originals, Sleepy Hollow and Trophy Wife. Despite it's rave reviews, I have already given up on The Black List, as well as Hostages and The Michael J. Fox Show. I really wanted to like these shows, but I just could not get into them. I also started watching The Goldbergs, which is surprisingly hilarious, and there are a few new ones that have yet to premiere.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">What has everyone else been watching? Is there a new show that I should be checking out? I would love to hear from you either in the comments below or on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ayetortuga">Facebook</a> or <a href="http://twitter.com/ayetortuga">Twitter</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">xoxo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">c</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-------------------------------------</span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-75834102818222911122013-09-19T16:27:00.000-05:002013-09-19T16:27:18.381-05:00"She is my Queen of choice!"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://seriable.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/the-white-queen-710x400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://seriable.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/the-white-queen-710x400.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Am I the only person watching The White Queen? I find it incredibly interesting, but no one else seems to be talking about this summer mini-series. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The show is based on The Cousins' War book series by Philippa Gregory and focuses on Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV, Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry Tudor, and Anne Neville, wife of Richard III.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The story begins in 1464 during the Wars of the Roses. The House of York and the House of Lancaster are at war over who is the rightful king of England. With the help of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, also known as "The Kingmaker," the Yorkist </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Edward IV</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">has taken the throne and soon falls in love with and secretly marries a Lancastrian commoner named Elizabeth Woodville. Warwick feels betrayed by this marriage and threatened by Elizabeth's family and soon starts to make new plans to regain power. Part of this plan involves using his daughters </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anne and Isabelle as bargaining chips. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Still loyal to dethroned Lancastrian King Henry VI, Margaret Beaufort believes that her son is destined to one day be king and does everything in her power to keep him safe from the Yorkists who would seek to destroy Henry's line.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My one major complaint about this particular series is that, aside from the changing children actors, no one seems to age on this show. They are definitely moving through Edward's reign fairly quickly, but sometimes you can only tell how much time has passed by how pregnant the Queen is every episode. (Elizabeth and Edward had ten children together and we have only seen four so far.) I get that it is difficult to change a person's appearance significantly over the course of filming just ten episodes of television, but </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Edward ruled from 1461 until 1483,</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> he and his wife did not look exactly the same for 20 years. Isn't that what hair and make-up departments are for?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the other hand, the acting performances are impressive, especially considering I have never heard of the majority of the actors. The cast includes Rebecca Ferguson, Amanda Hale, Faye Marsay, Max Irons, Aneurin Barnard, Janet McTeer and James Frain. Irons is the son of Jeremy Irons and has been in a few other films, including Red Riding Hood with Amand Seyfried, but I have not seen any of them. The only actor I know from several things is Frain who was on The Tudors, The Cape, True Blood, had guest appearances on several popular shows and was Forney in Where the Heart Is. I would say that among them, I have not seen one weak performance.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I really just find the history fascinating. I understand that a lot of British history has been sensationalized by Hollywood, but most of it is fairly accurate, at least in terms of who were the people involved and how the rulers came into power. There is a reason why they keep telling stories about these people and I love it all. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At some point I will watch all the movies and TV shows in chronological order, starting with The White Queen and including The Tudors, both Elizabeth films, The Madness of King George, The Young Victoria, The King's Speech and The Queen. And </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">I am sure there are many others that I am missing that could fill in some of the gaps between rulers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Only five of the ten episodes have aired, so you definitely have time to catch up before all your Fall shows really start. If you are a fan of the drama of the British monarchy and enjoyed any of the movies listed above, then I definitely recommend you check out this show on Starz.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">xoxo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">c</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">------------------------------</span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-72303227652954373882013-09-17T12:00:00.000-05:002013-09-17T12:00:41.362-05:00"Happiness isn't happiness without a violin playing goat."<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been really lonely this past year and a half. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last February, I moved to a city where I knew about three people and it has been a lot harder than I anticipated to make friends. I spend a lot of time alone in my apartment watching TV (which is not a whole lot different than what I was doing before I moved, but now it's because I actually do not have anything else to do). I miss my friends and family in Philly, but I also do not feel like there is anything for me to go back to right now.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To be honest, I have felt pretty lost for a while now. I thought by moving to Texas I would find....something. Something that would make me happy. I guess I have just never really been a happy person. Actually, I think I was happy when I was younger, I just can't remember when or why I lost that feeling of looking forward with anticipation instead of dread. Before I moved, someone actually said to me that they could sense my unhappiness and felt like a light had gone out. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The problem is, I am not really sure how to turn it back on.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only bright spot I see is that I have this hobby (for lack of a better word) that I love. Unfortunately, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to turn it into something that will also support me financially.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I like movies and television because I can always find something to fit my mood...a world to get lost in. If I just need something to make me laugh, I can visit my friends the Huxtables or get some coffee at Central Perk. If I need a good cry, I will build a house with Kevin Kline or go on a road trip with Whoopi, Mary Louise and Drew. If I just feel like punching someone, I hop on my Harley and ride into Charming. If I just need to completely lose myself, I head into Westeros or Middle Earth. My "comfort food" is spending time in Stars Hollow or Neptune and, most recently, I have been shopping a lot at Buy More. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whatever I am feeling or whatever emotions I need justified, I can either find someone who feels the same or can make me feel better.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don't get me wrong, I am SO thankful for everything that I have and the opportunities that have been given me, I guess I just always thought my life would be...less ordinary and I felt like I needed to vent a little.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes though, you just have to face reality...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will never marry Bradley Cooper. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">T</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">he girl does not always get the boy...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">or the dream job...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and she doesn't always save the world. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">xoxo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">c</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">----------------------------------------</span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-89771920730621605342013-08-28T20:37:00.001-05:002013-08-28T20:37:37.256-05:00"Nothing makes a smart man stupid like a quest for vengeance."<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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...</span><br />
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></b>
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Returning Shows:</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<a href="http://www.superherohype.com/images/stories/2013/August/arrow_season_2_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.superherohype.com/images/stories/2013/August/arrow_season_2_poster.jpg" height="400" width="275" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Arrow</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Castle</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Elementary </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Grey's Anatomy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hart of Dixie </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Homeland*</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">How I Met Your Mother</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Nashville</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">New Girl</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">NCIS</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Once Upon A Time </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Parenthood</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Raising Hope </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Scandal</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sons of Anarchy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Carrie Diaries</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Good Wife</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Vampire Diaries</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Voice</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Walking Dead</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">White Collar</span><br />
<br />
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>New Shows:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Almost Human</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Black List</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Crazy Ones</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Dracula</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Enlisted </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hostages</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Masters of Sex* </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Michael J. Fox Show</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mom</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Once Upon A Time In Wonderland </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Originals</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Reign</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sleepy Hollow</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Tomorrow People </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Trophy Wife</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">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!</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know I sound like a broken record, but I am seriously excited about the new seasons of Sons of Anarchy, Parenthood and The Vampire Diaries. I keep thinking that these shows cannot get any better, and yet they continue to surprise me every year. I only mention them again because I feel like the majority of people (or <i>my</i> friends anyway) are still not watching them. They are each very different, but all well-written and well-acted and highly entertaining. Fortunately, Parenthood and SOA do not air at the same time anymore, but now Parenthood airs opposite Scandal and Elementary, so Thursdays may get a little interesting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I am also looking forward to the second seasons of Elementary and The Carrie Diaries. I was not sure how I would feel about these shows when they started, but I actually really enjoyed their first seasons a lot. The Carrie Diaries was fun and fresh and I cannot wait to see what happens this season, especially with the arrival of the Samantha Jones character. I pretty much love anything 80s, so this show just really makes me happy. With Elementary, I was not sure how it would compare to other Sherlock Holmes projects, but I really enjoy the dynamic between Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu. I also like that the show pays homage to the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories, but is not trying to recreate them in any way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The new shows that I am most looking forward to are Agents of SHIELD, The Crazy Ones and Enlisted. Agents of SHIELD is a Joss Whedon show, The Crazy Ones stars James Wolk and Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Enlisted was created by Kevin Biegel so they are all pretty much no-brainers for me. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to see the Enlisted pilot at this year's ATX Television Festival, but if the hilarious Q&A is any indication then this one will be a lot of fun. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have heard great things about all three shows, so my expectations are pretty high here.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whether or not I will actually be able to watch Homeland and Masters of Sex will be determined by whether or not Time Warner and CBS can get their shit together and work out a deal. I currently do not have my Showtime channels, so I am hoping they will be back by the end of the month. It is not looking good, but I will keep my fingers crossed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which shows are you most excited about this Fall? Are there any you think I need to check out?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As usual, I will try my best to update <a href="http://twitter.com/ayetortuga">Twitter </a>and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ayetortuga">Facebook</a> with premiere dates, but you can see the full list here: <a href="http://ayetortuga.blogspot.com/p/tv-premiere-dates.html">TV Premiere Dates</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">xoxo</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">c</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b> </b></span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-49351141012576848012013-08-15T14:36:00.000-05:002013-08-15T14:36:00.612-05:00"I'd like to think there's more to a person than just one thing."<a href="http://www.thenewsfly.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Movie-The-Spectacular-Now.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.thenewsfly.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Movie-The-Spectacular-Now.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last week, the <a href="http://www.austinfilm.org/">Austin Film Society</a> 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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Based on the book by Tim Tharp, this film is about </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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. </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In o</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ne 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. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He pushes away the people that love him and care about him because he does not want them to see that he is miserable.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/wceaLzbtuDY" width="640"></iframe></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only minor issue I have with the film is that there does not seem to be any repercussions for Sutter's destructive behavior. His boss is the only adult that even says anything to him about his drinking problem, but he does not actually do anything to help him. His mom seems to be oblivious, as does his teacher. The teacher at least notices his lack of motivation, but does not do or say anything to try and figure out what is the real issue. There is even a rather large car accident at some point and no one questions him or his girlfriend about being intoxicated.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller are excellent as Aimee and Sutter. After seeing <a href="http://ayetortuga.blogspot.com/2011/12/little-girls-shouldnt-be-told-how.html">The Descendants</a>, I knew that Woodley was a much better actress than I first thought and I am happy to see her career blossoming the way it has been. I look forward to her upcoming films The Fault In Our Stars and Divergent. The only other project of Teller's that I have watched is the <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://ayetortuga.blogspot.com/2011/10/this-country-was-built-on-bandanas.html">Footloose</a></span> remake, which I really enjoyed, but it was nice to finally see him in dramatic role. He will also be in Divergent with Woodley next year.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Overall, this is a very sweet, real story that was incredibly moving and I enjoyed it very much. It is currently only in limited release, but I highly recommend seeing it if you have the opportunity.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">xoxo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">c</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">----------------------------</span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-7057549639271094212013-08-10T19:40:00.002-05:002013-08-10T19:40:26.206-05:002013 Fall Movie Preview<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks to arrival of my <a href="http://www.ew.com/">Entertainment Weekly</a> 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.</span><br />
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</span> <b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">September</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">20: RUSH (Chris Hemsworth, Olivia Wilde, Natalie Dormer, Daniel Bruhl)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">20: THANKS FOR SHARING (Mark Ruffalo, Tim Robbins, Gwyneth Paltrow, Josh Gad)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">27: DON JON (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Tony Danza, Julianne Moore)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Other September possibilities include SALINGER (9/6), ENOUGH SAID (9/20) and PARKLAND (9/20).</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">October</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TBA: DIANA (Naomi Watts, Naveen Andrews)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Other October possibilities include RUNNER RUNNER (10/4), 12 YEARS A SLAVE (10/18), THE FIFTH ESTATE (10/18)</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></b> <b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">November</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8: THOR: THE DARK WORLD (Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">22: THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Sam Clafin, Elizabeth Banks)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">27: GRACE OF MONACO (Nicole Kidman, Tim Roth, Parker Posey, Frank Langella, Milo Ventimiglia,Paz Vega)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">27: FROZEN (Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Other November possibilities include ABOUT TIME (11/1), ENDER'S GAME (11/1), THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (11/15) and HER (11/20)</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">December</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">13: THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (Martin Freeman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ian McKellen, Evangeline Lilly, Orlando Bloom)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">13: AMERICAN HUSTLE (Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner, Louis C.K.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">13: SAVING MR. BANKS (Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Bradley Whitford, B.J. Novak, Jason Schwartzman, Paul Giamatti)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/nijccxWvyXU" width="640"></iframe></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">18: THE MONUMENTS MEN (George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Cate Blanchett, Hugh Bonneville, Jean Dujardin)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/CreneTs7sGs" width="640"></iframe></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">25: JACK RYAN (Chris Pine, Kevin Costner, Keira Knightley, Kenneth Branagh)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Other December possibilities include DALLAS BUYERS CLUB (12/6), AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (12/25), LABOR DAY (12/25), THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY (12/25) and LONE SURVIVOR (12/27) and PHILOMENA (TBA).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have no desire to actually see ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES, but I know many people are excited for this movie to come out on December 20th, so here is the trailer for that as well:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What are you most looking forward to this Fall? Let me know!</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">xoxo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">c</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">--------------------------------------</span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-1919377984077604912013-07-23T10:12:00.004-05:002013-07-23T10:12:58.543-05:00"I threw my pie for you."<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I follow a lot of entertainment-related people on my Twitter account. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also tend to follow people that I agree with </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">so, sometimes my perception of what the majority of people are actually watching and enjoying is a little skewed. From my Facebook feed, it seems like most of my friends have not yet discovered my two new favorite shows so I thought I would try to change that, especially considering those same friends compose the majority of my readers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over the past month, my Twitter timeline has been a constant love-fest for new shows Orphan Black on BBC America and Orange Is The New Black on Netflix. I was not initially planning to watch either, but I could not ignore the loud voices telling me how amazing these shows are and I am very glad that I gave into the peer pressure. They were right and you should all be watching them as well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While it was actually airing, I had only seen a few posts here and there about Orphan Black but again, mostly from entertainment writers and bloggers and mostly from the same few people. However, after hearing about Tatiana Maslany for four days straight at this year's ATX Television Festival, I decided I should probably see what everyone was talking about.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The pilot starts with a woman named Sarah Manning standing on a train platform when she sees another woman who looks exactly like her jump in front of a train. Sarah steals this woman's purse and identity and plans to clean out her bank account before leaving town with her own daughter and foster brother. However, she soon discovers that there is much more to this woman, Beth Childs, and their identical appearance than she first thought and she soon meets Katja, Alison, Cosima and Helena. They are all clones and are trying to figure out where they came from.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Maslany plays all of the clones and is absolutely fantastic. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You forget that the same actress is playing all of these characters because they look and act and sound so different. It is rather remarkable. I had only ever seen her in one episode of Flashpoint and she was great in that small role but, after watching this show, it is baffling to me that she has managed to stay under the radar until now.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.addic7ed.com/images/showimages/Orphan%20Black.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.addic7ed.com/images/showimages/Orphan%20Black.jpg" height="227" width="640" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The rest of the cast is equally fantastic and includes Jordan Gavaris, Dylan Bruce, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Kevin Hanchard, Michael Mando, Skyler Wexler, Inga Cadranel and Matt Frewer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The second season unfortunately does not come out until April 2014 but, luckily for you, the first season DVDs were just released! That means you have plenty of time to catch up on this amazing show!</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">With Orange Is The New Black, even though I am a fan of Weeds, I had no intention of watching it right when Netflix put the episodes online. I thought I would get to it eventually, but was not planning to binge watch like I had done with House of Cards or Arrested Development. However, after two days of every one on my Twitter feed raving about how good this show is, I decided I better check it out. I ended up watching every episode over the course of three days because it was just that good. The best of the Netflix shows so far, in my opinion.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Based on Piper Kerman's memoir of the same name, the show is about the fifteen months she spent in a women's prison for helping an ex smuggle drugs. Piper is played by Taylor Schilling and the rest of the main cast includes Laura Prepon as her ex-girlfriend, Michael J. Harney as her prison counselor, Michelle Hurst and Kate Mulgrew are fellow inmates and Jason Biggs is her fiance.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every one in the main cast are great, but it is the phenomenal supporting cast that is really the heart and soul of this show. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It includes, but is certainly not limited to, Deborah Rush and Michael Chernus as Piper's mother and brother, Todd Susman and Kathryn Kates as her future in-laws, other inmates are played by Natasha Lyonne, Taryn Manning, Dascha Polanco, Samira Wiley, Yael Stone, Laverne Cox and, my personal favorite, Uzo Aduba who plays Crazy Eyes. The prison staff includes Pablo Schreiber, Matt McGorry Joel Garland and Catherine Curtin. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. I could list every single actor in every single role because they are each amazing and essential to the story.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The episodes give you some back story about how Piper and her fellow inmates ended up in prison as well as how they deal with relationships inside of prison and with family and friends on the outside. It is especially interesting to see how Piper views her fellow inmates when she first goes in and how she feels about them and herself by the end of the season. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/nryWkAaWjKg" width="640"></iframe><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This show is a comedy, but it has a lot of heart and definitely says a lot about how we view prisoners as a society. If you have Netflix, I suggest you start watching it now, and if you do not have Netflix, either get yourself a subscription or find a friend who does and invite yourself over to watch this immediately.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I have already watched every episode of Orphan Black twice and plan to start rewatching Orange Is The New Black very soon. Also, in case you missed it when it aired on the USA Network, Political Animals is now streaming on Netflix. The show itself, along with actors Sigourney Weaver and Ellen Burstyn were just nominated for Emmys. It is only six episodes, but I highly recommend checking it out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This post was a little longer than I intended when I started, so I hope you made it all the way to the end. And, I know I say this all the time, but I really am going to try my best to get back in the habit of writing more regularly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">xoxo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">c</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">------------------------------------</span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-48354616394069603902013-06-05T12:02:00.001-05:002013-06-05T12:02:12.222-05:00"There is nothing to hold onto but reality, to realize the present whatever it may be."<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am very excited to be volunteering for Season Two of the ATX Television Festival here in Austin this weekend! Just like last year, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">this festival
will bring together actors, writers, directors, producers, music
supervisors, studio executives and fans to talk about the past, present
and future of television.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There will be screenings, panels, parties and live music with some of the industry's leading professionals.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/arrested-development-season-4-poster-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/arrested-development-season-4-poster-2.jpg" height="320" width="219" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tomorrow's opening night screening and party is presented by Netflix and will feature a few of the new Arrested Development episodes followed by a Q&A with the cast. Other screenings going on throughout the weekend at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz and the State Theater are Scandal, The Riches, Hart of Dixie and The Vampire Diaries, as well as the new season premieres of Falling Skies, Hell on Wheels, Perception and Sullivan & Son. We are also excited to be premiering AMC's new Summer drama Low Winter Sun and Fox's new Fall comedy Enlisted.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> But that's not all! On top of that awesomeness, there will also be cast reunions for My So-Called Life, Party of Five, Boy Meets World and American Dreams! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This year's panels include Veronica Mars: a TV show...no wait, a movie!, Directing in a Writer's World, Structure of a Sitcom and the Rise of the Anti-Sitcom, Creating the Sound of a Show and Casting Deconstructed. Michael Jacobs will also reflect on his career, which includes shows like My Two Dads, Dinosaurs, Boy Meets World and the new Disney show, Girl Meets World. Panels and screenings are being moderated by Meg Masters from TVLine, Robyn Ross from TV Guide, Ben Blacker from Nerdist, Jarett Wieselman from ET online, Laura Prudom from The Huffington Post, Ryan McGee from the AV Club and a few others.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can hardly contain my excitement! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Similar to last year's Children's Hospital Marathon, the Alamo Drafthouse is also hosting a NTSF:SD:SVU:: Mini-Marathon. Paul Scheer, Martin Starr and Brandon Johnson will be in attendance to show you their favorite episodes of the show, as well as exclusive looks at the new season and two new pilots from the NTSF team. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For more information on how to get tickets to this, there is a link at the bottom of this page. </span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the closing-night screening, HBO is presenting the premiere of it's Marilyn Monroe documentary <i>Love, Marilyn</i> and it looks amazing:</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oij1KTgVsPU" width="640"></iframe><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Friday Night Lights Outdoor Screening is also happening again this year at the Hotel San Jose. There will be live music from The Good Mad, Graham Wilkinson and Phoebe Hunt to start off the evening and the episode will start after the sun has set. This year, the fans got to vote on which episode they wanted to see and they choose the season one finale, State. I am very much looking forward to a group slow clap from the audience at the end of the episode...which will probably make me cry, if I'm not already :)</span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I told you last year it would be a weekend you did not want to miss and I was right. This year is even more awesome, so really, it's your own fault if you are not here to witness it for yourself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will be working all weekend, but will try to update <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ayetortuga">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/ayetortuga">Twitter</a> with information and pictures as much as possible.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Texas Forever.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">xoxo</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">c</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For more ATX Festival information:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.atxfestival.com/">www.atxfestival.com</a></span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For NTSF:SD:SUV:: Marathon information:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://drafthouse.com/movies/alamo_and_atx_fest_present_ntsfsdsuv_mini_marathon/austin">http://drafthouse.com/movies/alamo_and_atx_fest_present_ntsfsdsuv_mini_marathon/austin</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">RSVP for AMC Screenings:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Low Winter Sun - <a href="https://www.blogger.com/goog_599270648">http://lowwintersun</a></span><a href="http://atx.splashthat.com/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">atx.splashthat.com/</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hell on Wheels - <a href="http://hellonwheelsatx.splashthat.com/">http://hellonwheelsatx.splashthat.com/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">---------------------------------</span></div>
Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-43430286910240674692013-06-04T15:33:00.000-05:002013-06-04T15:33:09.032-05:00"If you ride like lightning, you're going to crash like thunder."<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the past month, I have seen Iron Man 3, Star Trek Into Darkness, The Hangover Part III and Furious 6 and they were all good. If you liked the previous franchise movies, you will probably like these as well. However, I am not going to review them here because most people have probably already made up their minds about whether or not to see those. Instead, I am going to talk about The Place Beyond the Pines and The Iceman, which were fantastic and I am not sure these films are on most peoples' radar.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To be fair, I mostly saw these two movies because of who is in them (Bradley Cooper, Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans), but I am glad that I did and now think you should too! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The trailers for The Place Beyond the Pines made it seem more like an action movie and, while it did have a few fast-paced scenes, I would call it more of a character study. Similar to director Derek Cianfrance's most recent movie, Blue Valentine, it is about the how these peoples' lives intersect and how each action affect those lives.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <a href="http://erwinreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/The-Place-Beyond-The-Pines.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://erwinreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/The-Place-Beyond-The-Pines.jpg" height="215" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The movie is split into three acts. The first act focuses on the character of Luke, played by Ryan Gosling, a motorcycle stunt rider who starts robbing banks in order to provide for his son. The second act follows Bradley Cooper's character, Avery, who is a young cop in a small town police department run by corrupt detectives. Avery and Luke's individual stories only overlap once, but that small interaction has huge consequences, which you see fifteen years later in the third act of the movie between their two teenage sons. It is an intense story and very well done.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The acting is great all around, as is to be expected from all involved, but I was especially impressed with Eva Mendes. She is the only actor that is in all three acts of the film and normally I am not a huge fan of hers, but she actually surprised me in this.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> And, of course, I would get my wish of having Cooper and Gosling in the same movie only to have them be in only one scene together. C'est la vie.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Iceman is also pretty intense, but not really in the same way. It is based on the true story of Richard Kuklinski, who was a contract killer in New York and New Jersey from 1964 to 1986. He murdered over 100 people before he was caught and sentenced to life in prison where he died in 2006. He was called The Iceman because he used to freeze the bodies of his victims before disposing of them. It is based on the book </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The Iceman: The True Story of a Cold-Blooded Killer</i> by Anthony Bruno.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Michael Shannon is phenomenal as Kuklinski and he plays the character so dynamically that I actually felt a little sad when he got caught in the end. Winona Ryder plays his wife and is also fantastic. I love that she is making good movies again, I always enjoy her performances. The cast also includes Chris Evans as another hitman and Kuklinski's partner Robert Pronge aka Mr. Freezy (named that because he drove an ice cream truck), as well as Ray Liotta and David Schwimmer.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="351" scrolling="no" src="http://movies.yahoo.com/video/iceman-annabelle-201815000.html?format=embed&player_autoplay=false" width="624"></iframe><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will warn you that while the majority of the movie is blood-free, there are a few scenes that caused me to close my eyes, including one where Kuklinski and Freezy are cutting up dead bodies. The gore does not dominate the film, but it is something for which to be prepared. It is necessary for the character and did not impede my enjoyment of the film at all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am not saying that you should *not* see the new Iron Man, Star Trek, Fast and Furious or Hangover movies, they are good summer blockbusters, but if you do not go to the movies often, or if you are looking for something with some substance, then I highly recommend both of these if you can find them playing in your area.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">xoxo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">c</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-----------------------------</span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-9052380649907016582013-04-13T20:17:00.002-05:002013-04-13T20:17:47.742-05:00Summer Movie Preview 2013<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Entertainment Weekly Summer Movie Preview has arrived! We all know how excited that makes me so, without any ado whatsoever, here is a list of the movies that I am most looking forward to seeing over the next few months.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">May</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">3 - Iron Man 3 (Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Kingsley, Don Cheadle, Paul Bettany)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> - The Iceman (Michael Shannon, Chris Evans, Winona Ryder, James Franco, Ray Liotta)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">10 - The Great Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">17 - Star Trek Into Darkness (Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Benedict Cumberbatch)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">24 - The Hangover Part III (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">31 - Now You See Me (Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson, Mark Ruffalo, Morgan Freeman)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8Z1EDW784Qk" width="640"></iframe><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XJAuiVZQLZU" width="640"></iframe><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Depending on reviews, other possibilities for May include: Epic (5/24), Before Midnight (5/24) and Fast & Furious (5/24).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">June</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">7 - Much Ado About Nothing (Alexis Denisof, Amy Acker, Nathan Fillion, Clark Gregg, Fran Kranz)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">14 - Man of Steel (Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">21 - Monsters University (Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Hellen Mirren)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KT8TWSJYrJU" width="640"></iframe><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Arial;">Other possibilities for June include: The Internship (6/7), Rapture-Palooza (6/7), The Bling Ring (6/14), The Heat (6/28) and White House Down (6/28)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">July</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">3 - Despicable Me 2 (Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Al Pacino)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">12 - Pacific Rim (Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">19 - Only God Forgives (Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">26 - The Wolverine (Hugh Jackman, Rila Fukushima, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Will Yun Lee)</span><br />
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FAgirTtfobk" width="640"></iframe></span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Arial;">Other possibilities for July include: The Lone Ranger (7/3), Girl Most Likely (7/19)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span> <strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">August</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">16 - Kick-Ass 2 (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jim Carrey, Christopher Mintz-Plasse)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">TBA - The Lifeguard (Kristen Bell, Mamie Gummer, Martin Starr, Amy Madigan)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/sDdguwKzyWE" width="640"></iframe><br />
<br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Arial;">Other August possibilities include: Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (8/7), Lovelace (8/9), Elysium (8/9) and Don Jon (TBA).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Is there anything not on my list that is on yours?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">xoxo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">c</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-------------------------------------</span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-6225160559398605652013-03-13T16:47:00.000-05:002013-03-13T19:59:39.929-05:00"You need to go see the wizard. Ask him for some guts."<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The <a href="http://ayetortuga.blogspot.com/2009/08/veronica-mars-is-smarter-than-me.html">seventh blog</a> I ever posted was about my love for actress, Kristen Bell. If you have read any of the subsequent posts you probably know that I have continued to follow her career over the years. I am currently enjoying her character Jeannie Van Der Hooven on Showtime's House of Lies and really liked last summer's Hit and Run, which was written and directed by her fiance Dax Shepard (and also happened to star my other love, Bradley Cooper).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This morning at 10:35 a.m. EST, <a href="http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/03/13/veronica-mars-movie-kristen-bell-kickstarter/">Entertainment Weekly</a> announced that Kristen and Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas had created a <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/559914737/the-veronica-mars-movie-project">Kickstarter</a> campaign in order to raise $2 million so that they can FINALLY make the Veronica Mars movie that I have been waiting for since the show went off the air in 2007. In less than five hours, they raised half their goal and at the time of this post were at about $1.5 million. <em>Update: They are at $2 million and counting!</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I think that Warner Bros. should refund the Kickstarter donations if the goal is reached in less than 24 hours as an apology for doubting the fandom, but that's just me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Here is the video explaining the project:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/559914737/the-veronica-mars-movie-project/widget/video.html" width="640"> </iframe><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And here are all the links you need for anything else you might want:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Kickstarter: </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/559914737/the-veronica-mars-movie-project">http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/559914737/the-veronica-mars-movie-project</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Facebook: </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/VeronicaMars">https://www.facebook.com/VeronicaMars</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Twitter: Kristen - <a href="https://twitter.com/IMKristenBell">https://twitter.com/IMKristenBell</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Rob - </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/RobThomas">https://twitter.com/RobThomas</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The WB (to catch up on episodes): <a href="http://www.thewb.com/shows/veronica-mars">http://www.thewb.com/shows/veronica-mars</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mars Investigations (in case you can't watch videos at work but still want to catch up on episodes): <a href="http://marsinvestigations.net/">http://marsinvestigations.net/</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am so beyond excited that I have pretty much not gotten anything done at work today. So, if I get fired, I guess I will just have to go to LA to work on the movie :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">xoxo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">c</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-------------------</span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-41373412852268567682013-02-23T17:32:00.002-06:002013-02-24T22:56:13.653-06:002013 Academy Awards<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here are my annual picks and predictions for this year's Academy Awards:</span><br />
<a href="http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/about/awards/images/side_oscar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/about/awards/images/side_oscar.jpg" width="176" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Best Actor:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My choice: Bradley Cooper</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prediction: Daniel Day-Lewis</span><br />
<em><span style="color: red; font-family: Arial;">Actual Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis</span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Best Actress:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My choice: Jessica Chastain or Quvenzhane Wallis</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prediction: Jennifer Lawrence</span><br />
<em><span style="color: red; font-family: Arial;">Actual Winner: Jennifer Lawrence</span></em><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Best Supporting Actor:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My choice: Robert De Niro</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prediction: Tommy Lee Jones</span><br />
<em><span style="color: red; font-family: Arial;">Actual Winner: Christoph Waltz</span></em><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Best Supporting Actress:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My choice: Anne Hathaway</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prediction: Anne Hathaway</span><br />
<em><span style="color: red; font-family: Arial;">Actual Winner: Anne Hathaway</span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Best Animated Feature:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My choice: Brave</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prediction: Brave or Wreck-It Ralph</span><br />
<em><span style="color: red; font-family: Arial;">Actual Winner: Brave</span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Best Director:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My choice: David O. Russell</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prediction: Steven Spielberg</span><br />
<em><span style="color: red; font-family: Arial;">Actual Winner: Ang Lee</span></em><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Best Picture:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My choice: Argo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prediction: Argo</span><br />
<em><span style="color: red; font-family: Arial;">Actual Winner: Argo</span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the second year in a row, I will be live tweeting the awards show <a href="http://twitter.com/ayetortuga">here</a> and will update this page as winners are announced.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">xoxo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">c</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-------------------------------------------</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-58297155474772698022013-01-07T14:47:00.002-06:002013-01-07T14:47:53.693-06:00"Even though some of you are pretty thin, you all have fat hearts and that's what matters."<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2012 is over and I have finally gotten around to completing my list of favorite movies from the past twelve months. These are not necessarily the movies that are going to win any awards, but they were the ones that entertained me the most</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Avengers</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you are at all surprised that this is on my list, then you clearly do not know me that well or read my blog at all. I adore Joss Whedon and everything he does and this movie just proved that, if you let him do his thing, magic happens. Expectations were very high for this movie and I definitely think the cast and the story exceeded those expectations, at least for me. I just hope that the S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot actually gets turned into a full series, mostly because it brings Agent Coulson back to life, but also because it will be awesome.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Argo</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ben Affleck showed us he was a great writer/director with The Town and Argo proved once again that he continues to be a triple-threat. I enjoyed this movie not only because it was well-written, directed and acted, but also because I learned about a piece of U.S. history that was not well-known. I was not actually alive during the Iran Hostage Crisis, but even my mother does not remember the story of these six fugitives coming home. (And if you know my mother, that is a rarity because she remembers EVERYTHING.) However, even if you do not care for the historical aspects, it is still a great, high energy story. I particularly enjoyed the characters played by Alan Arkin and John Goodman and their tagline: Argo fuck yourself! </span><br />
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</b> <b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pitch Perfect</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was really excited to see this movie before it was released. I am a pretty big a capella nerd and the cast is also filled with actors that I love: Brittany Snow, Anna Kendrick, Anna Camp, Rebel Wilson and Elizabeth Banks, to name a few. It is hilariously funny and smart and it is definitely a must-see. I saw it twice in theaters, bought the blu ray for myself for Christmas and have already watched it two more times.</span><br />
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</b></span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>End of Watch</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena play two Los Angeles police officers who stumble upon drugs and money belonging to a local cartel during a routine traffic stop. It is shot mostly on hand-held cameras and, at times, can be a little intense. Gyllenhaal and Pena are terrific, as are their supporting cast which includes Anna Kendrick, America Ferrera, Natalie Martinez, David Harbour and Frank Grillo. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was not sure going into this what to expect, but I thought it was realistic, very well done and completely underrated.</span><br />
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</b> <b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Silver Linings Playbook</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This movie was filmed in Philadelphia and starred Bradley Cooper, so I was a little biased going into it, but I really enjoyed it a lot. I think it is one of Cooper's best performances and he has already been nominated for a Golden Globe, alongside co-star Jennifer Lawrence. If you have not already seen this movie, then I highly suggest you check it out. I just wonder how the Solitano family would react to the news that Eagles Head Coach Andy Reid has been fired. :)</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Honorable Mentions: The Perks of Being A Wallflower, The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spider-Man, Safety Not Guaranteed, Cabin in the Woods, Bernie, Les Miserables</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have not seen Lincoln, Life of Pi, Skyfall or Django Unchained and while the first two I would like to see eventually, I have no real interest in seeing the others in the theater. I have never been a huge Quentin Tarantino or James Bond fan and am fine watching both films when they come out on blu ray.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What are your favorite movies from this year?</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hope everyone had a fun and safe New Year's Eve and I wish you all a happy and healthy 2013!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">xoxo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">c</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-------------------------------------------- </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> </b> </span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-88030621616947956282012-12-31T19:03:00.000-06:002012-12-31T19:03:01.377-06:00"There you go, finding a hidden advantage in an unfortunate circumstance...<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">...using pain to take you to the next level. Those are the things that turn players into kings."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wanted to post this last week while I was home in Philadelphia, but my mother's computer has gotten so slow that it would have taken me all week to finish. So here now, only a little delayed, are my favorite episodes of television from the past year. As I remind you every year, I do not think that they are necessarily the BEST episodes from the year, just my favorites. Be forewarned, there are plenty of spoilers ahead.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">So, without further ado...</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://cf.badassdigest.com/_uploads/images/26129/soa-s05-e03__span.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cf.badassdigest.com/_uploads/images/26129/soa-s05-e03__span.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Sons of Anarchy "Laying Pipe"</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">This episode completely destroyed me. I was literally in a ball on the floor crying my eyes out by the time it was over. All that really needs to be said is that Ryan Hurst is a warrior and gave an incredible and heart-breaking final performance as Opie Winston. His presence on the show will be sorely missed but he went out in stellar fashion. I really enjoyed the entire season, but this hit me harder than anything else this year and really intensified everything else that happened the rest of the season. It will really set the tone for who Jax ultimately becomes. I said it last year and I will say it again, Kurt Sutter is a crazy genius and he has a phenomenal and totally under-rated cast backing him up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Vampire Diaries "Memorial"</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another episode of television that made me cry. I loved the whole episode, but I especially enjoyed the end where they released the Chinese floating lanterns in memory of all the friends and family they have lost over the past four seasons. And then, of course, when Damon refused to participate, he went to the cemetery to rant at Alaric's grave and as the camera pans out we see ghost Alaric sitting beside him listening and he says the best five words of the whole episode: </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I miss you too, buddy." </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> So good.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Parenthood "One More Weekend With You"</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This show has really stepped up its game this season. Parenthood has always been a great hour of television, but season four has been absolutely amazing every single week. A breast cancer storyline and a new character who is an Iraq War veteran has upped the stakes this year and every single actor has risen to the challenge. Monica Potter, Peter Krause, Mae Whitman and newest addition Matt Lauria are all especially mind-blowing in their performances. I liked this episode the best because it showed Kristina going through her first chemo treatment and the reaction she has from it in an incredibly realistic way. It also shows us for the first time, the real struggle that Ryan is going through after having lost one of his military buddies and how Amber deals with him and his situation. I really love the characters on this show and all of the actors that portray them. There really is not one weak link. It just continues to make me wish I were a Braverman.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Suits "High Noon"</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I said this in my <a href="http://ayetortuga.blogspot.com/2012/12/you-made-me-senior-partner-i-always.html">post</a> a couple weeks ago, but I really was not sure that I would like this when it started, but it has become one of my favorite shows on television right now. The season finale was just so good, I couldn't not put it on my list. Everything comes to a head in the finale. Mike is dealing with the death of his grandmother, the firm votes to replace Jessica as managing partner, Harvey and Mike discover what Hardman has ultimately been up to and Rachel tries to get back together with Mike only to find him in bed with his married ex-girlfriend. All that is fantastic, but it is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mike and Harvey getting stoned and plotting to pee in Louis's office that may be one of the best moments of the series.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Newsroom "5/1"</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was at home in bed watching the Phillies v. Mets game and checking my twitter feed on my phone. I do not remember who it was that first tweeted the news, but as soon as I saw it I opened my laptop and checked CNN to confirm that Osama Bin Laden was in fact dead. As the news spread through Citizens Bank Park, the fans started chanting "U-S-A" over and over again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My favorite part of this episode is when Don is throwing a fit on the plane because he does not understand why he is not being allowed off the plane or why it is such a big deal that he addresses the entire cabin. Then he sees the stripes on the pilots shoulders and that he is flying on United Airlines and he realizes why he cannot do those things. He tells the pilots and the stewardess that Bin Laden is dead and I tear up every single time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Where were you the night you found out that Osama Bin Laden had been killed?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Honorable Mentions:</strong> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">House of Lies "The Gods of Dangerous Financial Instruments," </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New Girl "Eggs," Shameless "Fiona Interrupted," Justified "Slaughterhouse," Hart of Dixie "The Big Day," White Collar "Stealing Home" and Last Resort "Blue Water."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The entire season of Breaking Bad as a whole was amazing, but I could not pick an individual episode that I enjoyed the most. The same goes for The Walking Dead and Homeland. I tend to enjoy those shows in their complete form but usually do not find specific episodes that I can watch over and over again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The theme this year seems to be that lots of shows made me cry and I liked it :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What are some of your favorite episodes from TV in 2012? Please share them with me!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">xoxo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">c</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ps. I will try my best to have my list of favorite 2012 movies up tomorrow or the next day, at the very latest.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">------------------------------------</span>Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-3693370982060148612012-12-13T10:57:00.000-06:002012-12-13T10:57:08.061-06:00"You made me Senior Partner, I always repay my debts. I'm a Lannister."<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8J9D3DYr5r7HlNMR6K1fMoTLDsW1H5nH7owyTQ20cpV7YBUYGoE9J1FiP3gdkgjDhiKDgasEj9h3MN3CqWECZ_rY8-vrCkd-eiGjpqWDY-cLY9VDScpK1HdqrYyIvmaO7rUaXCfsK4aY/s1600/Suits.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8J9D3DYr5r7HlNMR6K1fMoTLDsW1H5nH7owyTQ20cpV7YBUYGoE9J1FiP3gdkgjDhiKDgasEj9h3MN3CqWECZ_rY8-vrCkd-eiGjpqWDY-cLY9VDScpK1HdqrYyIvmaO7rUaXCfsK4aY/s1600/Suits.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few years ago, I joined Entertainment Weekly's Front Row Panel. I honestly do not remember exactly when or how I heard about it, but it is a community forum where the editors of the magazine ask about different entertainment and pop culture topics. They are interested in knowing what their readers think about movies and TV shows that are out and also about what we like and do not like about the magazine itself. They have a section where you can grade new movie releases and take a weekly pop culture quiz and often send out surveys about specific topics.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More recently, they have joined the Twitter universe and regularly ask their followers to retweet information about TV show premieres and help promote different products. They then choose one of these retweeters to win DVD sets and other fun things!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last week, I got an email telling me that they were giving away a TV show to a certain number of lucky people. Not knowing what show it would be, I was happily surprised when seasons one and two of the USA Network show Suits arrived in the mail. I was already a fan of the show and I have since re-watched both seasons.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For those of you who do not already know, Suits is about a college-dropout with a brilliant mind named Mike Ross who gets a job as a lawyer at a New York City law firm. He is hired by the firm's top attorney, Harvey Specter, and together they must keep Mike's secret from the rest of the firm. Patrick J. Adams and Gabriel Macht (pictured above) play the two leading men. The cast also includes Harvey's assistant Donna Paulson (Sarah Rafferty), Managing Partner Jessica Pearson (Gina Torres), Paralegal Rachel Zane (Meghan Markle) and Junior Parter Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The cast is phenomenal and the writing is fun and smart. I was not sure if I would like it when it started, but I very quickly became addicted and I CANNOT WAIT for the new episodes to start again on January 17th!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Side note: I think Janel Moloney and Sarah Rafferty need to start their own club called, "Actresses Who Play(ed) Kick-Ass Assistants Named Donna."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I highly recommend checking out this show and, if you are a huge entertainment nerd like me, I also recommend that you join <a href="http://frontrowpanel.com/join.html">EW's Front Row Panel</a> immediately.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">xoxo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">c</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ps. In the spirit of the holiday season, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">I also ask you to remember that there are still many people struggling after Hurricane Sandy. Here are a few sites where you can donate money and find places to help volunteer:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><a href="http://www.statenstrong.com/">Staten Strong</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><a href="http://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/pda/">Presbyterian Disaster Assistance</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><a href="http://www.redcross.org/templates/render/render.jsp?pageId=11400031&scode=RSG00000E017&subcode=bingdonationsbrand&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=american%20red%20cross&utm_campaign=bingdonationsbrand">American Red Cross</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><a href="https://www.habitat.org/cd/giving/one/donate.aspx?link=470&source_code=DHQOD1211W4001">Habitat for Humanity</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><a href="http://www.121212concert.org/give-now">Robin Hood Relief Fund</a></span><br />
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Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889712784607863496.post-41349462704003387242012-11-30T14:31:00.000-06:002012-11-30T14:31:20.810-06:00Jack: I love getting tossed in a sack and shoved through a magic portal.<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
Santa: Oh, good, that was my idea!</div>
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Over the holiday weekend, I got a chance to see both Silver Linings Playbook and Rise of the Guardians.<br />
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<a href="http://cdn.eurweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/rise-of-the-guardians-2012-wide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.eurweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/rise-of-the-guardians-2012-wide.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a>My mom came into town for Thanksgiving, so Wednesday night I introduced her to the Alamo Drafthouse. While she was not used to eating in the dark, she enjoyed her first Drafthouse experience and we both really liked Rise of the Guardians. I had heard a bad review on the radio and was not sure about it, but it ended up being fantastic.<br />
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When the Boogeyman, aka Pitch, tries to take over the world, the immortal guardians must join forces to stop him before children stop believing in the guardians and they disappear. If you have not already figured it from the picture, the group of guardians is comprised of Santa Claus, Jack Frost, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and the Sandman voiced by Alec Baldwin, Chris Pine, Isla Fisher and Hugh Jackman respectively (the Sandman does not speak) and the Boogeyman is Jude Law. I also quite enjoyed the elves and the yetis, who help Santa in his workshop.<br />
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While the plot was fairly predictable, my mom and I both thought that it was funny and very entertaining. It was visually beautiful, the dialogue was witty and it is just a great holiday adventure for the whole family.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>On Sunday, after my mom went home, I took myself to see Silver Linings Playbook, which has been getting fantastic reviews since it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Even before it was released, I had wanted to see it for two reasons: 1. I love Bradley Cooper; and 2. It was filmed near where I grew up outside of Philadelphia and the trailer featured a diner that my friends and I frequented in high school. It totally lived up to expectations and is probably one of the best films of the year.<br />
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Cooper plays a bi-polar former history teacher, Pat Solitano, who has just been released from a mental institution and is set on getting back together with his ex-wife. He meets Tiffany, played by Jennifer Lawrence, and she agrees to help him if he helps her with a dance competition. Pat has also moved back in with his parents who are big Philadelphia Eagles fans and his dad thinks that Pat is his lucky charm. He keeps trying to get Pat to watch games with him because, of course, they are America's team :)</div>
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Along with Cooper and Lawrence, the cast includes Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, Julia Stiles, John Ortiz and Chris Tucker and all of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">performances were fantastic. Each </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of the characters has their own quirky quality but the whole cast works together well. I would be very surprised if this film did not get a few Oscar nominations in January.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Silver Linings Playbook did make me a little homesick for Philly, but I highly recommend both of these movies. I have not been able to get to the theater as often lately, but these were two films that I wanted to make sure I saw and I am really glad that I did.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">xoxo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">c</span><br />
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Catherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15614528454889420783noreply@blogger.com0