"Serve, protect and don't screw up."

A lot of networks have started introducing new shows in the summer, which I appreciate, however summer TV can sometimes be tricky. For starters, not everything premieres around the same time.  A few shows started right after the regular season shows were over and some do not start until August. Also, many summer TV shows are just really bad.

I tried really hard to like The Good Guys with Bradley Whitford and Colin Hanks. I enjoyed that Whitford's character was so totally different from Josh Lyman and Danny Tripp. However, after a few episodes, it just got repetitive, so I have stopped watching. Although, I do still really like his mustache :o) I also tried to watch The Gates and Memphis Beat, but I just could not get into either of them. They were just plain boring. Seeing as I usually enjoy vampire related things, I was hoping The Gates would be good, but it felt very mundane. Almost like Desperate Housewives except with vampires, werewolves and witches.  With Memphis Beat, I do not know what it was, the writing just seemed slightly awkward at times, like they could not decide if it was supposed to be funny or serious.

I am, however, really enjoying Rookie Blue. I like Missy Peregrym (mostly because of Stick It :o) and Life As We Know It and Reaper were canceled prematurely, so I really hope this show sticks around for a while. I like it because it is not trying to put a new spin on the cop-show genre, it is just looking at it from the view of a rookie. I would say it is more like Grey's Anatomy, but with cops...and a lot less sex...so far anyway. 

The Glades premiered last night on A&E and it was excellent. White Collar and Covert Affairs premiere tomorrow night on USA, which I am super excited about. Also, Mad Men starts on AMC in two weeks and the last season finale was the best episode of the series yet, so I cannot wait to see what happens next.

While my TV schedule has been relatively light, I have been trying to cut down my Netflix queue a little.

My watching of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia hit a slight snag as the first disc that I got was scratched. However, I received replacement discs and am now through the second season. (Considering there are only seventeen episodes in the first two seasons combined, this is not a huge accomplishment.) Aside from being overly excited by the opening credits and the occasional mention of places in Philly that I know, my initial reaction was that the show is pretty funny. I would not say that I laugh hysterically at every episode, but it is more of a subtle humor, if that makes any sense. With every episode though, it grows on you more and more.  I have three more season to get through, so I will keep you updated.

In terms of movies, I watched Silkwood, Dreamgirls and 300.

Silkwood starred Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, Cher, David Strathairn, Craig T. Nelson and Fred Ward. And even with a mullet, Meryl Streep's performance is excellent. She plays Karen Silkwood, a woman who, while working at an Oklahoma nuclear power plant, becomes exposed to massive amounts of radiation. She starts to investigate what is going on at the plant in regards to worker safety but dies in a mysterious car accident before she finishes. It is based on a true story and is definitely worth seeing.

Dreamgirls, the play, was playing in Philadelphia and even though I had not seen the movie, a friend offered me tickets so I went. The individual performances were good, but I was not very impressed by the overall production.  The movie had gotten nominated for so many Oscars, that I thought maybe it was just the play that I did not like, so I decided to give the movie a try.  It was just as bad as the play.  Jennifer Hudson's performance was impressive and definitely worthy of her Oscar, but the rest of the movie was just not great.  The only thing that I really enjoyed was the brief cameo by Jaleel White at the very beginning :o)
As much as I enjoy hots boys with 8-pack abs, wearing leather speedos, I have to say, 300 was pretty bad. It had basically no plot, as well as a totally unnecessary sex scene and pretty poor dialogue. And sadly, as my one friend pointed out, this really is the only one of Gerard Butler's movies worth seeing. I have no idea why there is so much hype around this movie. I mean, it was visually pretty cool, but the rest of it was just not good. It must be a boy thing.

On a completely seperate note, Emmy nominations came out last week and I am very upset that Timothy Olyphant was not nominate for Justified. Even Michael Ausiello at Entertainment Weekly agrees with me!

Anyways, I hope everyone had a FABulous Fourth of July! If you are missing me too much in between posts, remember that you can always follow me on twitter and facebook!

xoxo
c

As always, here is my regular plea for all of you to donate to these amazing causes:
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
Habitat for Humanity
United Way
AmeriCares
StillerStrong
The Nature Conservancy
National Wildlife Federation
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"Hang on, everybody - I wanna try something I saw in a cartoon once!"

Since all of my regular season shows have finished and the new summer seasons are just now getting started, I have not been watching a whole lot lately. Also, because of this ridiculously hot weather, I have been spending a significant amount of time by my aunt's pool READING! Shocking, I know, but it does happen from time to time :o)  I have also been watching lots of the World Cup.

I did finally get around to watching An Education the other night when my mother ordered it OnDemand. It was a good film, well acted, etc. I just was not very excited by it. Carey Mulligan's performance was definitely excellent. However, I am not sure that it was more deserving of an Oscar nomination than Emily Blunt's role as Queen Victoria. I do love Emily Blunt though, so I am little biased.  I was, however, excited to see Olivia Williams from Dollhouse as the teacher. I would not say that everyone HAS to see this film, but it was well-done, so if it looks like something you would enjoy, then you will probably like it. I know, that was not super helpful, but it is pretty much all I can say.

The A-Team, on the other hand, was SO MUCH FUN! I did not go into this movie expecting much more than a typical action film. The special effects did leave something to be desired and, while the scene was hilarious, the idea of "flying" a tank is not exactly what I would call realistic. However, if you were a fan of the TV show then I think you will definitely enjoy it. I used to love watching this show with my brother when we were younger and I was happy to see that my favorite characters were as entertaining as I remembered them being. And if you do go see the movie, make sure you stay until the credits finish! Definitely a fun summer flick!

It also made me happy to see Bradley Cooper wearing Phillies shirts in two different scenes. It obviously does not take a whole lot to make me happy, especially when it involves Bradley Cooper. To be fair though, I loved him before most people and while I did try to track him down while he was filming The Dark Fields though in Philly last month, I was unsuccessful. C'est la vie!

Season three of Deadwood was just as awesome as expected. My only complaint would be that, because it was canceled, the finale left some unanswered questions. I have no idea if it was canceled after the season was finished filming, so it is possible they thought they were coming back for another season. Regardless, it was an excellent series overall and I highly recommend everyone watching it at some point. Timothy Olyphant and Ian McShane are obvious stars, but it is really the supporting characters that really make this show shine. Just be prepared for lots of people's throats getting cut :o)

I am now planning to catch up on It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. I have heard that this is a hilarious show and after learning that Chase Utley and Ryan Howard will be in an episode of the upcoming season, I decided it was time I started watching. In fact, one of my friends has threatened to cut me off unless I watch the show, so I guess I better get started :o)

I never did see Sex and the City 2, mostly because it got horrible reviews, but also because I just never found the time.  I do, however, still really want to see Toy Story 3, so that is on my to-do list for next week.  I have also added Despicable Me to my list of movies that I might see depending on reviews, because the previews look really funny.

xoxo

c

So many places still need our help after all the devastating natural and unnatural disasters that have happened, please consider donating SOMEWHERE. Here are my suggestions:

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance

Habitat for Humanity

United Way

AmeriCares

StillerStrong

The Nature Conservancy
National Wildlife Federation
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"If you don’t have faith that the world will turn in your direction then it just simply never will."

After letting it sit on top of my Blu-ray player for five months, I have FINALLY watched Rachel Getting Married. (You are all very proud of me, I know, you do not have to say it :o) Anne Hathaway plays a recovering addict who is getting out of rehab just in time for her older sister's wedding. As I had been warned, there were a couple scenes where you feel the awkwardness of the situation, which always makes me physical uncomfortable, but overall it was an excellent film. I especially liked that the music was not like a normal soundtrack, that the musicians were actually playing live while the scenes were being filmed. It made it much more natural that the wedding musicians, who were also friends of the family, were either rehearsing on the porch or just messing around in the other room while the family was interacting elsewhere in the house. The performances were fantastic and because of the realness of the characters and the way it was filmed, you really felt like part of this family. Anne Hathaway's performance is amazing and should not be missed!

On the complete opposite end of the movie-spectrum, I also recently watched Dear John. It was pretty much exactly what you would expect from a Nicholas Sparks book made into a movie (ie. A Walk to Remember and The Notebook). It was not horrible but it was not that great either. It also had this autism sub-plot that was not really developed all that well and just made the story more convoluted than it needed to be. Channing Tatum's and Amanda Seyfried's performances were fine, I just wish they would choose better movies to make. They are both good actors, they just happen to make some crappy movies.

I have completed Deadwood season two and it continues to be amazing. I am a taking a little break before starting season three two watch a few movies, but will get back into it very soon.

From Netflix, I have gotten Quantum of Solace and Silkwood.

The only James Bond movies that I have seen are the Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig versions. I have never really found them to be anything extraordinary. I watch them because they are fun and there are crazy action and fight sequences. But I have never found the plots to be all that interesting or believable. After watching Quantum of Solace, that tradition lives on. Maybe the earlier Bond movies have more to them, but I am going to guess that they probably do not. I did enjoy Quantum of Solace, as it was pretty much exactly what I had expected it to be. It was also very cool to see Siena, Italy at the beginning of the movie after having been there ten years ago with my Ya-yas :o)

I never got the chance to see MacGruber :o( It did not get very good reviews and did not do well in theaters, so it is already out of theaters near me. I just never had the time to get to see it so I will, unfortunately, have to wait until it is out on DVD. (Sorry JGE!!!)


On a completely non-entertainment related note, there are a lot of things going on in the world right now. The people of New Orleans, Haiti, Chile are still recovering from natural disasters. The Gulf Coast is also dealing with the on-going issue of the oil spill. There have been earthquakes, tornadoes and flooding all over the world, as well as in our own backyards. If you are feeling as completely hopeless and useless as I am and want to know where you can send money and aid, here are a few of my suggestions:
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
Habitat for Humanity
United Way
AmeriCares


I will be celebrating my 27th birthday this Sunday, so in honor of...myself...I leave you with this funny clip :o)



xoxo
c

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Christina: There’s a club. The Dead Dads Club and you can’t be in it until you’re in it....

You can try to understand, you can sympathize, but until you feel that loss… My dad died when I was nine. George, I’m really sorry you had to join the club
George: I…I don’t know how to…exist in a world where my dad doesn’t
Christina: Yeah that never really changes
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I finally saw Iron Man 2 and it was just as awesome as the first movie. Do not expect it to win any Academy Awards, but for a comic book movie and a sequel, it was completely entertaining and just what I needed right now. I do love Robert Downey Jr and I cannot wait for The Avengers movie, especially now that it also involves Joss Whedon :o)

Other summer movies I am looking forward to are MacGruber, The A-Team and Toy Story 3. I will see Sex and the City 2 and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, but am not expecting anything spectacular, considering the previous films were not that good. I also might see Dinner for Schmucks, The Switch and Eat, Pray, Love depending on the reviews.

I still have not watched Rachel Getting Married. This time it is mostly because there have just been other things that I have wanted to watch more. I have had the disc from Netflix since January, so I should probably get on that. Most of my TV shows have ended this week, so I should have lot of free time coming soon. I promise I will watch it and get back to you!

I also just watched The Messenger with Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson, which was an excellent film. I meant to see it when it was in theaters but it did not play at very many and it got lost among all the other Oscar nominated movies that I was seeing. Being a Casualty Notification Officer must be the hardest job in the military. I cannot even imagine what it would be like to have to tell family members that their loved one has died and I have tons of respect for the men and women that do it. The movie was human and artful and also had something to say, but was not political. It was more about loss and how different people deal with that loss. It is about the people that have to do the thing that nobody wants to do, but the job that has to be done. I know I say this a lot, but everyone seriously needs to see this movie.

With Cool Hand Luke, it took me a little while to get into the movie, because it is very slow moving. However, after adjusting to the meandering nature, I really enjoyed it and totally understand why it is considered such a classic. I also now understand the "shake that bush" reference from A Perfect Getaway :o)

I am still watching Deadwood and am in the middle of season two. It is still awesome and I cannot wait to see what happens, but I do not think I would have watched it when it was on TV. I just do not think I would have appreciated it as much I do right now. So I guess it is good that I did not try to watch it then because I am loving it now.

In current TV news, I loved the finales of Private Practice (even though it made me sob), The Vampire Diaries, Parenthood, NCIS: Los Angeles and Brothers & Sisters. The Good Wife and Grey's Anatomy were phenomenal. How I Met Your Mother was funny, but kind of lame in terms of a finale. NCIS was mostly confusing and I thought could have been better considering the full season build-up, but is always good. And I could care less about the series finales of Lost or 24, as I did not watch either show. This summer I am looking forward to new seasons of Mad Men, Dark Blue and White Collar.

Since I was in Montauk for my brother's wedding this past weekend (I have a sister now, yay!) I did not see MacGruber opening weekend, like I had hoped, but it is on my to-do list for the next week.

xoxo
c

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"If I knew things would no longer be, I would have tried to remember them better"

This is most definitely not the "Year of Me," as I had hoped it would be in January.

For those of you who read this and do not know me personally, my father passed away last week after being diagnosed with lung cancer only two and a half weeks previously. It has been a hard couple of weeks and is bound to get harder, but my family is doing the best that we can, especially considering that my brother is getting married next weekend. I am devastated, but I actually do not think that it has fully hit me yet. I am not sure when it will, but until then, I have been trying to keep myself as distracted as possible.

Since I went through all of Grey's Anatomy while my friend was in the ICU a few months ago, I have been using Gilmore Girls for this crisis. Seasons one and two over the course of three weeks (not including the first season's Christmas episode, for obvious reasons to those who watched the show). I have been watching all my current TV shows, along with a few movies here and there and I have been getting the show Deadwood from Netflix.

As you can see, I am not flying through Gilmore Girls like I did with Grey's Anatomy. Mostly because ABC Family reruns the episodes every day, so it has not been as long since I have seen them all. My mother usually makes fun of me for watching things over and over. "Haven't you seen this?!" But if I really like something, then why wouldn't I want to watch it again. Plus, she is just as guilty with NCIS, all Pirates of the Caribbean and Harry Potter movies, Shakespeare in Love and Gosford Park. Clearly, it is genetic. The craziness must increase exponentially with each generation, which means my future children are in big trouble :o)

Deadwood is a show that I really wish I had watched when it was on the air because it is awesome. It is set in the town of Deadwood, South Dakota during the gold rush in 1876. I am only through the first season so far, but Season 2 Disc 1 comes in the mail today and I CANNOT wait :o) The entire cast is phenomenal, especially Timothy Olyphant and Ian McShane.

I was not planning to watch A Perfect Getaway because it looked like a scary movie, and as we all remember, I do not do scary. However, in my efforts to see more of Timothy Olyphant, I decided to risk it and was actually pleasantly surprised. It turned out to be more of a thriller than a scary movie, which I can handle, and was not as awful as I thought it would be. My only real complaint about this movie is that Steve Zahn was not quite his normal funny-self. I would not say that it is a fantastic movie, but it was entertaining enough that I watched it twice. If only because once you know how it ends, you pick up on all the little clues and "red snappers" that you did not notice the first time through.

I also got Avatar on blu-ray the other day and rewatched it. I have to say, as amazing as it was in 3-D, I am just as satisfied with the 2-D version. I am already so over the 3-D thing and unfortunately, the madness is just beginning.

Anyways, I thought I would keep this relatively short since my last couple posts have been pretty long.

As a side note to the beginning of this posting, if you are reading this and are not a personal friend, please say hi in the comments section! I would love to know who is actually paying attention to my rantings and not just doing it out of friendship to me :o)

xoxo
c
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