"There is nothing to hold onto but reality, to realize the present whatever it may be."

I am very excited to be volunteering for Season Two of the ATX Television Festival here in Austin this weekend! Just like last year, 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. There will be screenings, panels, parties and live music with some of the industry's leading professionals.

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. 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!

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.

I can hardly contain my excitement!

"No one's killin' any folk today, on account o' we got a very tight schedule."

After three straight days of "all ATX Festival all the time," I needed a few days to recuperate and process my weekend. A few days turned into a few weeks and I am sorry that I am just now getting around to posting about my experience. I went through a bit of withdrawl the week following the festival, but it seemed as if others who attended had the same reaction (and are still craving queso and bbq three weeks later). The overall consensus is that everyone had the BEST. WEEKEND. EVER!

The festival kicked off Friday night, June 1 at the State Theater with a red carpet and screenings of USA Network's Suits season finale and Royal Pains season premiere. After the screening, Robyn Ross from TVGuide moderated a great Q&A with Suits Executive Producer David Bartis, Royal Pains Executive Producers Michael Rauch and Andrew Lenchewski and actress Reshma Shetty. The Opening Night After Party was held at the Stephen F. Austin Intercontinental and included amazing performances by Landon Pigg, Mae Whitman and Alpha Rev with a special guest performance by Jason Ritter. I also got a chance to hang out with Ken Marino and a few of the guys from Children's Hospital as well as Robert Maschio and Neil Flynn from Scrubs.

Saturday morning, after getting about three and a half hours of sleep the night before, I headed back to the Stephen F. Austin where all of the panels were being held. My job for the weekend was to make sure that all the panelists showed up and made it to the correct room at the correct time, which basically means I was running around like a crazy person starting at 9:30 a.m. until the panels were over at 4:00 p.m. trying to track people down. (I may forever be referred to as "the girl in the green dress.") However, it also means that I got to talk to all of the panelists that were there! Everyone was extremely nice and very easy to approach. Saturday's panels were: TV Fantasy Goes Mainsteam, The Creators, Friday Night Lights Revisited, Women on Television, TBS very funny, Book to TV Series, One Tree Hill Says Goodbye, a Love Monkey Retrospective and The Stages of a Television Writing Career.

There were also screenings and Q&As going on at the Alamo Drafthouse and State Theater throughout the day, but if it did not happen at SFA, it was not on my radar.

After an Industry Reception at Austin Studios on Saturday Night, everyone headed over to the Hotel San Jose for the Friday Night Lights Outdoor Screening. Before the sun went down, there were musical performances by cast members Dora Madison Burge, Alicia Witt and Jesse Plemons. This event was free and open to the public and everyone was encouraged to bring their lawn chairs. Once it was dark enough, the crowd got a chance to see the premiere of the new Explosions In The Sky music video and then the cast of Friday Night Lights introduced the screening of the series finale episode. Following the screening, we headed back to the Stephen F. Austin for the Children's Hospital Marathon After Party. Although, I did not stay very long for this because I was so tired from the day that I almost fell asleep halfway through my Tito's Vodka Texas Sipper :o)

"Here's to God and football and, ten years from now, good friends livin' large in Texas. Texas forever."

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that I watch a lot of television. However, my obsession did not really start until college. I watched a lot of TV in high school, but never really paid much attention to specific actors or directors. While it mostly started out as a way to avoid studying for my college courses, it eventually turned into something more than that. Once you start watching a lot of television, you quickly learn to decipher between good shows and bad shows. That is not to say that many bad shows cannot be entertaining, but you begin to recognize the different calibers and styles of acting/writing/directing/etc.

I eventually became the person that all my friends turned to when they wanted to know about new shows or when they recognized a guest star on Grey's Anatomy and could not figure out what else they had seen that actor on. There are more of us TV nerds out there than you probably realize and now we have some place to celebrate that, just like all you movie and music lovers :o)

This weekend I have the esteemed pleasure of volunteering for the first annual ATX Television Festival here in Austin. Beginning tomorrow night, June 1, and running through Sunday, June 3, 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. Operating similarly to a film festival, there will be screenings, panels, parties and live music with some of the industry's leading professionals.

To kick things off on opening night, ATX is screening the season premiere of USA Network's Royal Pains along with an episode from the first season of Suits. Also in attendance will be the executive producers from both shows, David Bartis and Michael Rauch, and Royal Pains cast member, Judy Greer. A few other shows screening this weekend are: Life Unexpected, Parenthood, The Vampire Diaries, True Blood, Firefly, Criminal Minds, a few Web series and even some Hasbro cartoons.

The panels throughout the weekend include Women in Television, TV Fantasy Goes Mainstream, a Love Monkey Retrospective, Music in Television and a final goodbye to One Tree Hill. There will be a discussion between Bill Lawrence (creator of Spin City, Scrubs and Cougar Town) and a few of his friends about what it has been like to work together over the years. Jason Katims will also reflect on his career, which started on My So-Called Life and also includes Boston Public, Roswell, Friday Night Lights and Parenthood. Moderators for these panels and screenings include Meg Masters from TVLine, Robyn Ross from TV Guide and Ben Blacker from Nerdist.

And if all that was not enough to make your head explode with excitement, the Alamo Drafthouse is hosting The Ultimate Children's Hospital Marathon on Saturday afternoon. Cast members Rob Corddry, Rob Huebel, Ken Marino, Erinn Hayes and Executive Producers David Wain and Jonathan Stern will all be in attendance.



However, the event that I am probably most looking forward to is the Friday Night Lights Outdoor Screening taking place on Saturday night at the Hotel San Jose. It is open to the public and includes a screening of the Pilot and Finale episodes and will showcase music from cast members Alicia Witt, Dora Madison Burge and Jesse Plemons. A few of the other cast members who will also be on hand for the event are Scott Porter, Gaius Charles, Michael B. Jordan, Matt Lauria and Louanne Stephens. It should be tons of fun and I cannot wait!

This weekend, there is really something for everyone and if you are not in Austin you are definitely missing out on what is sure to be a FABulous time.

Like I said, I am working for the festival Friday through Sunday, but I will try my best to update Facebook and Twitter with behind-the-scenes info and pictures. And if I manage to meet Kristen Bell, it has been nice knowing you all because, I will probably die of excitement :o)

xoxo
c

For more ATX  Festival information:
http://www.atxfestival.com/

For Children's Hospital Marathon information: http://drafthouse.com/movies/the_ultimate_childrens_hospital_marathon/austin
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"Sometimes there's honor in revenge."

And now I give you my favorite television episodes of the year. These also happen to be a few of my favorite shows on the air right now. Are there any episodes you think I missed? Please let me know in the comments section below!

Friday Night Lights "Always"
I was incredibly sad to see this phenomenal series come to an end. However, the finale was one of the best series finales I have ever seen. They wrapped everything up perfectly and you got to see where each of the main characters was heading in their future lives. The East Dillon Lions win the Texas State Championship, Vince is the captain of the new Dillon Panthers super-team, Coach and Tami move to Philadelphia for Tami's new job, Julie moves to Chicago to be with Matt, Luke heads off to the Army and Billy and Tim start building Tim's house. Over five seasons this show gave us a lot of heart and it will definitely go down as one of my favorite series ever. Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose.

Sons of Anarchy "Hands"
The entire fourth season of Sons of Anarchy was awesome, but this was my favorite because it was the biggest game-changer. The club does not know that Piney is dead let alone that Clay killed him, ATF has Juice in custody and Sheriff Roosevelt is starting to question their methods. By the end of the episode, Tara has lost her career and the only thing that kept her from becoming completely immersed in Old Lady-life, Jax is more determined to take his family and leave Charming and Gemma has lost faith in her husband and knows he must be killed because he cannot be saved. This show is so well-written and even better acted. It has become about so much more than a motorcycle club and every season it just keeps getting better and better. Kurt Sutter might be crazy, but he is a crazy genius.

Happy Endings "Spooky Endings"
It took me a couple episodes to get used to the humor of this show, but now I love it. In this particular episode, Jane and Brad spend Halloween in the suburbs house-sitting for friends and end up having to defend the house against mischievous teenagers. The rest of the gang go to a warehouse costume party where Penny and Max dress as a mother wearing a baby bjorn, Dave dresses as Austin Powers but keeps getting mistaken for Elton John and Alex dresses as Marilyn but is sick and gets mistaken for a man. This show is pretty awesome and I find it even more awesome after each episode.

"To me, being perfect is not about that scoreboard out there. It's not about winning....

It's about you and your relationship to yourself, your family and your friends. Being perfect is about being able to look your friends in the eye and know that you didn't let them down because you told them the truth. And that truth is you did everything that you could, there wasn't one more thing you could've done. Can you live in that moment as best you can, with clear eyes, and love in your heart? With joy in your heart. If you can do that gentlemen, then you're perfect."
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The Philadelphia Film Festival is going on from now until Monday, November 3rd and last night I got the opportunity to see the film Friday Night Lights. After the screening, there was a Q&A with director Peter Berg and H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger, who wrote the book on which the movie was based, moderated by WIP radio host Glen Macnow. I thought I would share some of this experience with you.

I have to say, and I think I have said this before, I did not like the movie the first time I saw it. I watched it when I was in college and I just do not think that my taste in movies at the time was developed enough to enjoy it, if that makes any sense. And, even though I knew that it was based on a true story, the ending really irritated me at the time. I liked the movie much better after the second viewing. Knowing how it ended and understanding the pace and tone of the film from having watched the TV show really helped a lot. It is not your typical light-hearted sports movie, it is actually more realistic and genuine. If you have not already seen it, I highly recommend checking it out because it excellent.

If you are a fan of the TV show but have not seen the movie, you will see a few cameos. For starters, Connie Britton plays the coach's wife in both, although they are different characters. You also see Brad Leland aka Buddy Garrity as one of the Boosters and Timothy F. Crowley aka Coach Crowley as one of the referees in the championship game.



"This country was built on bandanas!"

None of the new movies out this weekend was particularly appealing to me. I think I will eventually see The Mighty Macs, but it is not on the top of my list. There are few other movies that have been out for a while that I would like to see first. One of those movies was the Footloose remake, which I saw yesterday.

For those of you born after the 80's or for some unknown reason have never seen the original, this movie is about Ren McCormick, who moves from Boston, Massachusetts to Bomont, Georgia to live with his aunt and uncle after his mother dies. When he gets to Bomont he learns that dancing in public and playing loud music are illegal. Ren challenges the law and in-turn makes an enemy of the local pastor, Reverend Shaw Moore, while simultaneously falling for the pastor's daughter, Ariel.

It has been a while since I have seen the original starring Kevin Bacon, but I really enjoyed the new version. It was a lot of fun. They really tried to reinvent the moments you love from the first movie without trying too hard to copy them exactly. While the dialogue was a little corny at times, I think they really captured the spirit of the original movie.

"Note to self: Hold the trophy like it's The Lion King baby."

I did not watch the Emmys live last night because I was at the Phillies game. Instead, I DVR'd the show and stayed up until 2am watching it. Here now is a list of some of the things I liked about the show and a few things I could have done without:

Likes:
-All the Friday Night Lights love! I got a little overly excited when Zach Gilford, Jesse Plemons and Michael Jordan were featured in Jane Lynch's opening number, even though you only saw them for about 30 seconds. And, even though I knew they were coming because I had checked twitter from the game, Jason Katims winning Best Writer for a Drama and Kyle Chandler winning Best Actor in a Drama made me ridiculously happy as well.

-Cee Lo Green having trouble with his chair from The Voice made me laugh, probably harder than it should have.

-The Best Actress in a Comedy beauty pageant was hands-down the best part of the show. All the ladies standing onstage holding hands, then all hugging when the winner was announced and Melissa McCarthy actually being crowned and handed a bouquet of roses was awesome. I have loved McCarthy since Gilmore Girls but I do not actually watch Mike & Molly, so I really could not say whether she deserved the award or not, but the presentation of the award was hilarious.

-Clifton Murray, who plays one of Channing Tatum's friends in the movie She's The Man, is apparently one of the Canadian Tenors who sang Hallelujah during the In Memoriam montage. I found this to be incredibly random and I am probably the only person on the planet who realized that. It made me smile though :o)

"If you don't believe in even the possibility of magic, you'll never find it."

As I have done the last two years, and with the start of Fall TV upon us, I will now share with you the shows I plan to check out. There are a lot of new shows this year that appeal to me and many returning shows as well, so I am going to be very busy this year.

Returning Shows:
Blue Bloods
Castle
Community
The Good Wife
Grey's Anatomy
Happy Endings
Hawaii Five-O
How I Met Your Mother
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
NCIS
NCIS: Los Angeles
Parenthood
Sons of Anarchy
The Vampire Diaries
The Walking Dead

"So raise to me a parting glass, good night and joy be with you all"

Last month, I got the chance to see an awesome performance by Glen Hansard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He played as a celebration of the exhibit "Guitar Heroes: Legendary Craftsmen from Italy to New York." The event was presented by Spectrum, which is an initiative organized by the Met to provide fresh perspectives on the Museum's collections and special exhibitions.

The entire performance was posted by Spectrum on YouTube. It is an hour long, but I have reposted it for you here in case you have any interest and could not make it to the show. It was fantastic and I highly recommend you take the time to watch the entire thing. And for all you Friday Night Lights fans out there, you will especially enjoy the song at minute 33:20.



I hope that everyone has a FABulous weekend!

xoxo
c
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"I traded my pig for you!"

Since everyone else on the internet seems to be making these lists, I have decided to share with you who I would pick if I could vote for Emmy nominations.

Actor Drama
1. Charlie Hunnam - Sons of Anarchy
2. Timothy Olyphant - Justified
3. Mark Harmon - NCIS
4. Kyle Chandler - Friday Night Lights
5. Matt Bomer - White Collar
6. Donal Logue - Terriers

Actress Drama
1. Katey Sagal - Sons of Anarchy
2. Connie Britton - Friday Night Lights
3. Jennifer Beals - The Chicago Code
4. Mirielle Enos - The Killing
5. Lauren Graham - Parenthood
6. Julianna Margulies - The Good Wife

Supporting Actor Drama
1. Josh Charles - The Good Wife
2. Ron Perlman - Sons of Anarchy
3. Walton Goggins - Justified
4. Matt Czuchry - The Good Wife
5. Joel Kinnaman - The Killing
6. John Slattery - Mad Men

Supporting Actress Drama
1. Michelle Forbes - The Killing
2. Margo Martindale - Justified
3. Archie Panjabi - The Good Wife
4. KaDee Strickland - Private Practice
5. Mae Whitman - Parenthood
6. Christina Hendricks - Mad Men

Best Drama
1. Sons of Anarchy
2. Justified
3. The Good Wife
4. Parenthood
5. NCIS
6. Friday Night Lights

Actor Comedy
1. Joel McHale - Community
2. Josh Radnor - How I Met Your Mother
3. Jim Parsons - The Big Bang Theory
4. Zachary Levi - Chuck
5. Steve Carrell - The Office
6. Charlie Day - It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Actress Comedy
1. Mary-Louise Parker - Weeds
2. Kaitlin Olson - It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
3. Tina Fey - 30 Rock
4. Kaley Cuoco - The Big Bang Theory
5. Amy Poehler - Parks and Recreation
6. Melissa McCarthy - Mike & Molly

Supporting Actor Comedy
1. Chris Colfer - Glee
2. Neil Patrick Harris - How I Met Your Mother
3. Danny Pudi - Community
4. Jason Segel - How I Met Your Mother
5. Eric Stonestreet - Modern Family
6. Adam Scott - Parks and Recreation

Supporting Actress Comedy
1. Heather Morris - Glee
2. Kristin Wiig - Saturday Night Live
3. Alyson Hannigan - How I Met Your Mother
4. Alison Brie - Community
5. Busy Philipps - Cougar Town
6. Jane Lynch - Glee

Best Comedy
1. How I Met Your Mother
2. Community
3. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
4. The Big Bang Theory
5. Chuck
6. Weeds

I do not watch a lot of comedy shows, so some of those choices are a little random. They mostly came from liking specific actors in other projects that they have done. I also only watch about three reality TV shows, so I did not list my choices for that at all.

Do you agree/disagree with my selections?! Let me know! The actual nominees will be announced July 14. Make sure you are following me on Twitter and/or Facebook for that.

xoxo
c
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Damon: I took away your suffering once before. I can do it again, but it's your choice.

Jeremy: Look, I know you think you took it away, but it's still there.  Even if I can't remember why, I still feel empty...alone.  And making me forget won't fix it.  It won't fix what's really wrong.
-------------------------------------------------

So here they are, my favorite TV episodes of 2010.  It was hard enough to pick these, let alone put them in some kind of order, so they are pretty much just listed as I thought of them :o)

Community "Cooperative Calligraphy" While I did love "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" a few weeks ago and last season's "Contemporary American Poulty" and "Modern Warfare," I think this was my favorite episode this year.   Annie accuses someone of stealing her pen and the entire group goes on lockdown in the study room.  There is nothing flashy or fancy about the episode, it is just the actors in a room being funny.  Plus, there is a Puppy Parade at the end!

Dollhouse "Epitaph Two: Return" Joss really started to hit his stride in season two of this short-lived series.  Network executives should know by now not to mess with the genius.  Alas, it was canceled before it's time, but not before giving us an AWESOME finale.  What happens ten years from now when the tech gets out of control?  Hopefully not what happened on Dollhouse, as I am hoping there is no one out there wiping people's memories and imprinting them with new ones.  But you never really can be too sure :o)

Justified "Fire In The Hole"  In the series premiere, Federal Marshall Raylan Givens is reassigned from Miami to his childhood home of Eastern Kentucky.  The episode sets up the character of Givens perfectly as an old-school Marshall living in modern times where, even in Kentucky, his cowboy-look is out-of-place and his quick-draw is not always warranted.  He is not where he wants to be and he now has to deal with all the things that made him leave Harlan in the first place.  The new season starts February 9 and if you are not watching this show, you really should be.

The Vampire Diaries "Founders Day" or "The Return"  It is hard to say whether or not I liked the finale of season one or the premiere of season two better.  The finale was action-packed and tied up the story of the tomb vampires, leaving us with three possible-death-cliffhangers.  Whereas the first episode of the second season gave us the infamous Katherine in action.  When this show started, I really did not think that it was going to be anything special but it continues to get better every week and is never dull.  I know the thing a lot of TV critics point to is the amazing acting of Nina Dobrev, but she really is phenomenal in her dual roles and the show would not be nearly as successful without her.  It also does not hurt that the ENTIRE cast is gorgeous :o)

Grey's Anatomy "Death and All His Friends" The reappearance of Denny Duquette in season five made me wonder if I should continue watching Grey's Anatomy.  But, my girlfriends and I endured (with the help of a few margaritas) and were rewarded by a great season six and an awesome season finale.  With a shooter on the loose in the hospital we saw many shocking losses and some heart-wrenching acting performances.  Shonda Rimes said early on in the year that the season finale would be a "game-changer" and she was definitely right.  We are still seeing the repercussions in the current season and I am glad to say that the show has rebounded nicely from its tumor-induced-hallucination.

White Collar "Copycat Caffrey" Neil and Peter discover that there is a Criminology class at a local college that is studying Neil and the work of several other white collar criminals.  The problem is, they are not JUST studying them but copying their heists.  Neil goes undercover as himself, minus the FBI job, and tries to get in on the students next con in hopes that it will out the professor as the leader of the group.  I pretty much love every episode of White Collar, but this one really made me laugh.  The dynamic of the Peter/Neil relationship, the return of Alex and the always-lovable Mozzie make for a very good time.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia "The Gang Gets Stranded in the Woods" This episode has guest appearances by Ryan Howard and Chase Utley.  Do I really need more of an explanation for why I love it?! :o)

Friday Night Lights "The Son"  Why this show has been nominated for so few awards is beyond me.  The whole series is phenomenal, but this is the best episode of this year.  It is not just about a boy whose father dies as a soldier in Iraq, leaving him to take care of his grandmother.  It is about a boy who struggles with the emotions of his loss and reconciling them with the fact that he hated his father for abandoning the family when he volunteered to go back to Iraq in the first place.  It really is a shame that more people, including myself, did not watch this show from the start and I will be sad when it is over at the end of this season.



Honorable Mentions: Spartacus: Blood and Sand "Kill Them All," Accidentally on Purpose "Speed," Mad Men "The Suitcase" and The Glades "Pilot"

What were your favorite episodes this year?!  Please let me know in the comments section!

I hope everyone has a very, Merry Christmas!

xoxo

c

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"Why spiders? Why couldn't it be 'follow the butterflies'? "

Halloween has come and gone and, while it is not my favorite holiday nor do I enjoy scary movies, I did want to share a clip from my favorite Halloween movie:

Not scary, but definitely awesome. :o)

I have not written in a while but have actually been pretty busy watching a lot of different things. Netflix: Watch Instantly is evil and has allowed to me to watch many more movies and shows in a shorter amount of time :o) If I talked about all of them right now, this post would be ridiculously too long, so I have split them up and will post again in a few days.

So let's get started....

I had heard some great things about the show Spartacus: Blood and Sand, so I decided to give it a try and it was FANTASTIC. It is the real story of Spartacus and how he became a gladiator, but is only loosely based in history. It is shown on Starz, so it is kind of graphic, both with blood and sex, but it is mostly driven by the stories of its characters which are very compelling. The entire series is shot in front of a green screen and the blood and guts have a fake, Kill-Bill-like feel to them. I am extremely interested in seeing where season two takes us, especially considering how season one ended (which I will not spoil for you) and the fact that their lead actor is being replaced because of medical reasons. I HIGHLY recommend you watch this show, if you are not already.

On the more family-friendly front, I am really irritated that ABC Family, after only ONE month, stopped playing reruns of Friday Night Lights. They kept it at 6 p.m. for about two weeks before moving it to 11 a.m. for another two weeks and are surprised that not many people could keep track of when it was on. That, combined with the fact that the final season is being played on DirecTV before it airs on NBC (probably next spring or summer) means I have to take over one of my friend's televisions in the city every week to get my Tim Riggins fix. Lucky, I do not watch anything else on Wednesday nights, so I have the time. The things I do for my TV shows!

In terms of movies, I have finally watched MacGruber, Inception and Rebel Without A Cause.

Even though it got pretty bad reviews, I was sort of hoping that I would like MacGruber. Unfortunately, that was not the case. I had not seen the Saturday Night Live sketch, but understood what the concept of the character was about, however the only thing I found funny about the movie was Kristen Wiig.  Sadly, I would say that this is a movie you can skip seeing.

Rebel Without A Cause sat on top of my bluray player for about three weeks before I finally got around to watching it. Made in 1955, it stars James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo as three teens who all have issues with their parents, as teens tend to do, and the trouble they get into. It was well done and definitely worth seeing, if only because it was the last thing Dean made before his unfortunate death.

I really was not planning to ever see Inception.  I mean, I probably would have eventually, but I had no plans to do so.  However, under the guise of carving pumpkins, I was lured to my friend's house a few weeks ago and forced into watching the movie. Okay, it was not quite as scandalous and devious as that, but I did not know that is what we were going to be doing that night.  And I do have to say that the movie was pretty good. I would not say that it totally blew my mind, but it was definitely interesting and different and not anything that I could have ever come up with on my own. One problem with seeing it so far after everyone else and reading too many reviews was that I knew that there was going to be some big twist at the end, so when it happened, I was not surprised. It was well done and definitely worth seeing, but I do not think I would go so far as to say it is the best movie I have ever seen.

Well, that is it for now.  I will return shortly to talk about The Tudors, Due Date, The Social Network and a few other things.  I hope everyone is enjoying the Harry Potter Marathon Weekend on ABC Family and this lovely fall weather :o)

xoxo

c

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Nathan: I'm not strong enough for this...

My whole life, I've willed myself to face things.  Anything that was bigger than me, anything that defeated me, I just kept going until I beat it.  Not this.  This is too big.  I never really understood what you faced when you lost your mom until today.  I'm not strong enough, Haley
Haley: Yes, you are, and when you're not, you have me
-----------------------------------------

All of my shows have premiered and I am ridiculously over-scheduled this year.  Luckily, there is not much to watch on Wednesdays, so I have a day to catch up on what I DVR'd Mondays and Tuesdays :o)

I really enjoyed Lone Star and am very sad that FOX has canceled it after only two episodes.  Although, I am not terribly surprised because FOX has a habit of canceling really good shows (ie. Firefly and Dollhouse).  I really liked James Wolk and am hoping he will land an even better role.  Of my other new shows, I have also really enjoyed Blue Bloods, My Generation, No Ordinary Family and Hawaii Five-O.  Nikita, on the other hand, despite its continued good reviews, I just could not get into.  I love Shane West, but it just is not holding my interest at all.

Other new shows that I have checked out OnDemand include: Terriers, The Event and Chase.  The jury is still out on The Event.  I really, really liked Terriers with Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James and it has now been added to my list of shows to watch.  I was hoping Chase would be better, because I like Cole Hauser, but it was just not.

My newest TV obsession these days, though, is Friday Night Lights.  I did not like the movie with Billy Bob Thornton very much so, when the show started in 2006, I had no interest in watching it.  I am also not a huge football fall in general, so I figured it was a show that I could skip.   Over the past couple years though, it has gotten really good reviews from the critics and it seemed like maybe I should check it out, but I was already watching way too much television, so I continued to ignore it.  But then, a few weeks ago, ABC Family started playing the entire series from the beginning every week day.  So I decided, now was as good a time as any to see what all the hype was about and, from the first episode, I was hooked.  The show is focused around the town of Dillon, Texas and their obsession with high school football, but it is really about the people of this town and how they deal with every day issues.  As one of the actors, Scott Porter, put it in one interview, "You can't build a show around a sport, you build it around the people."  It is beautifully shot on location in Austin and the writing is simple, but brilliant.  I am a little disappointed that I waited so long to find this show, but highly recommend you watch it.  

As you can tell, I have been mostly occupied with television the past two weeks, but I did get out to the theater to see a couple new movies: The Town and Easy A.

The Town was awesome.  It was gritty and exciting and everyone should see this movie.  I was particularly impressed with how good Blake Lively was in her role.  I enjoy her on Gossip Girl, but...well...it is Gossip Girl, so who is really expecting all that much?  Her part was not very big, but she played it very well.  Jeremy Renner and Jon Ham were phenomenal, as usual and Ben Affleck did a great job directing and starring.  If this does not at least get nominated for a few Academy Awards, I will be shocked.  Seriously, go see this movie.

I also found Easy A to be very well done and pretty hilarious.  While I was not a huge fan of the theater full of obnoxious teenagers, the movie kept me entertained throughout.  Emma Stone is great as Olive, the modern-day Hester Prynne, and Amanda Bynes is great as the pious antagonist.  I think my favorite characters, however, were Olive's parents played by Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson.  How Stanley Tucci does not have an Oscar is beyond me, because he is amazing in every role he plays, no matter how small.  Some of my favorite lines from the movie include:

Brandon: Is there an Olive here?
Olive's mom: There's a whole jar of them in the fridge!

I know, totally corny, but it made me laugh, as did this:

Olive's Mom: No offense, but you kind of look like a stripper
Olive: Mom!
Olive's Dad: A high-end stripper, for governors or athletes

This movie is not going to win any awards, but if you want to be entertained and/or just need a good laugh, then this is the movie for you :o)

Starting next Wednesday, my Phillies start their run at world domination...or a World Series, either is fine with me :o)  I will, therefore, be distracted by baseball for a little while.  Also, make sure you check out my dream Phillies movie cast.

I hope you are all enjoying some new fall TV shows and please let me know if there are any movies you think I should be seeing!

xoxo
c
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