"Who doesn't like hot girls who carry guns?"

This week my DVR was extremely busy and I watched A LOT of television. So much that is all kind of mush in my brain right now.

My returning shows that started this week were How I Met Your Mother, Castle, Hawaii Five-O, Glee, NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, Community, Grey's Anatomy and Blue Bloods.

Glee seems to be reverting back to season one quality, which is a good thing. If it continues on this path I will continue watching it, if it goes back to where it was last season, I may have to stop watching it because last season got a little crazy. Hawaii Five-O is the same quality as last season, which is not necessarily a good thing. I do not love this show, but it is entertaining enough to keep watching for now. However, it might get dropped this season if my schedule gets too crowded. The same thing goes for Grey's Anatomy. I just do not love this show as much as I did the first couple seasons. I mostly continue to watch it out of obligation to the friends with whom I watch it. On the other hand, Castle and Blue Bloods continue to be great, and Community and How I Met Your Mother are both still hilarious.

My only real complaint is with NCIS. This is one of my favorite TV shows and I watch the reruns on USA every time they are on. My complaint is that over the past couple seasons the major plots for each season have gotten too convoluted. The acting has been as great as it has always been, I just feel like they are trying to do too much with the storylines and it is just gets confusing. This also applies to NCIS: Los Angeles.

"He is really hard to kill"

Since last April, I have added another 10 pages to my quote list word document. I have also started an additional document for Sons of Anarchy quotes and added to my list for The Vampire Diaries. So, I have decided to share with you a few more of my favorites.

The most recent addition was from last night's Castle season finale:
Captain Montgomery: There are no victories. There's only the battle. And the best that you can hope for is that you find some place where you can make your stand. If this is your spot, I will stand with you.

"You know, I was two years in Vietnam. Do you know what I thought about, what I dreamt about?...

Is coming home and having a family, having grandkids. I dreamt you, Amber. And Haddie, and Drew, and Sydney, and Jabar, and Max. We almost lost you, Amber. I know you've had some bad breaks, not feeling good about yourself, didn't get into Berkley. Well, boo-friggin-hoo. You gotta suck it up, girl. You're a Braverman. You got my blood in your veins. And if you ever do something like this again, you even think about doing something like this, I will personally kick your little butt all the way from here to the Golden Gate Bridge. You do not have permission to mess with my dreams! Are we clear?

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I know it has been a while since I have written an actual post, so I apologize if my television reviews are a bit of old news.  I am also going to be making a conscience effort to post significantly more during the month of May.  Hopefully it will be every day, but it will at least be a few times a week.  I am attempting to increase my followers and pageviews, so we shall see if this works.  Also, if you know of anyone that you think would enjoy my blog, please share it with them!

In terms of recent television, the Grey's Anatomy musical and the season finale of Parenthood stick out the most to me. One was amazing and the other...not so much.

The musical episode of Grey's was not a complete disaster, but the musical part of it also did not really make sense within the episode.  I think it was supposed to be part of Callie's mind, but then why were people singing when they were not near her? Sometimes they were not even in the hospital. And sometimes it seemed like when one person was singing, no one else in the room was aware of it. Yet other times, like when Owen was trying to get them to figure out a plan, he was singing and everyone seemed to know he was singing but did not think it was weird. However, I did enjoy the actual music itself.  There were good songs and they were well sung.  I just do not think Grey's was the right forum for a musical episode.

The Parenthood season finale, on the other hand, was awesome and was hopefully not the series finale.  Lauren Graham and Mae Whitman delivered phenomenal performances and Craig Nelson had one of my favorite monologues of the TV season so far. (See above). He says this to his granddaughter after she was in an car accident because her friend was drunk driving. Not only is this a great show about the inter-workings of a big family, but it has also done a great job of showing a realistic portrayal of a child with autism.  I love this show and I cannot understand why more people are not watching it. Since the finale had improved ratings, it is likely to get renewed for another season, but nothing is ever for sure.

As far as getting to the movie theater, I have not been in a few weeks.  I am trying to avoid seeing the mediocre movies that are out right now so that I can save my money for all the potentially amazing movies coming out this summer.

The last new movie that I saw was Source Code and I thought that it was really good. Although, it is difficult to really talk about the movie without giving anything away.  Basically, Jake Gyllenhaal plays a soldier who wakes up in the body of a stranger and has to relive the same eight minutes over and over again until he finds the bomber of train heading into downtown Chicago. If this movie proves anything, it is that Jake Gyllenhaal continuously proves that he is an excellent leading man.

I also finally saw Coco Before Chanel from Netflix, which was definitely interesting.  It was well acted but just lacked something.  I do not feel like I learned anything from the movie about Coco Chanel that I could not have read online somewhere.  It was just very bland.

In a totally unrelated topic, apparently, according to my Google stats, Henry Cavill seems to be the thing that brings the most people to my blog while searching on the internet. I love him too, so I understand the draw, I just thought it was an interesting fact.  So, if you are here in search of Henry Cavill, I unfortunately do not have any new stories about him today, but if you type his name into the little "Search This Blog" box in the top right corner, you will be taken to my other two posts where he is mentioned.  Enjoy! ;o)

As always, if you have comments or questions for me, please let me know below. If you feel that there is a TV show that I should be watching or an issue I should address, I would love to hear about it!

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter and a Happy Passover!
xoxo
c

Another horrible natural disaster has hit our country, so I have once again listed some places where you can donate money for relief efforts:

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
American Red Cross
Habitat for Humanity
United Way
World Vision
StillerStrong
The Nature Conservancy
National Wildlife Federation
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"I've got a theory, some kid is dreamin' and we're all stuck inside his wacky Broadway nightmare"

In light of the upcoming musical episode of Grey's Anatomy, my girlfriends and I were discussing other TV shows that have done musical episodes and I could not think of all of them.  So I looked them up and compiled this list for your viewing pleasure.  I did not watch most of these shows, but thought you might enjoy the clips.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer "Once More With Feeling": the entire town starts spontaneously bursting into song and dance, some people are dancing so much that they burst into flames.  It turns out that someone had summoned a demon that is causing all the chaos:

That 70's Show "That 70's Musical": Fez imagines song and dance numbers while preparing for a school concert

Scrubs "My Musical": a patient with a brain disorder hallucinates that everyone in the hospital is singing

How I Met Your Mother "Girls vs. Suits": this was not an entire episode, just one song, and was part of Barney's imagination when asked by a hot girl to give up his suits

Northern Exposure "Old Tree": a pregnant Shelly wakes up one morning in her own musical

Pushing Daisies and 30 Rock also did musical episodes, but the Pushing Daisies clips could not be embedded and I could not find any useable clips for 30 Rock.

Even some of the popular cartoon series have done musical episodes including Daria, Futurama, South Park and several episodes of The Simpsons.

I am a little nervous about the musical episode of Grey's Anatomy.  I have a feeling it is going to be a huge train wreck.  Hopefully, I am wrong and it will be FABULOUS :o)  We will just have to wait and see!

xoxo

c

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.
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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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"I do believe in killing the messenger. You know why? Because it sends a message."

Just like I did last August, I have decided to give you a list of the TV shows on my schedule for this year. My list seems to be significantly longer than last year, so I either will not have much of a life or several shows will eventually get cut. Needless to say, my DVR will be a blessing, as usual...and who am I kidding, I do not have a life :o)

My Returning Shows:
The Vampire Diaries
Gossip Girl
One Tree Hill
Life Unexpected
Parenthood
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
How I Met Your Mother
Castle
Glee
NCIS
NCIS: LA
Community
Grey's Anatomy
Private Practice
Brothers & Sisters

New Shows:
Nikita
Lonestar
Hawaii Five-O
My Generation
Blue Bloods
No Ordinary Family

I am super excited about the start of The Vampire Diaries, Castle and Community. Grey's Anatomy, despite the AWFUL Thanksgiving/Christmas/NYE episode, was getting really good again last season, so I am hoping that trend continues this season. I am not sure that I will get into Nikita or Blue Bloods, but Nikita has been getting good reviews and Blue Bloods has Tom Selleck, Donnie Wahlberg and Will Estes (who you may remember as JJ Pryor on American Dreams), so I will at least give them a shot.

Greek is also one of my shows that I will still watch this year, but it does not start again until January, so I have not included it on my list.  I also do not know when the second season of Justified is starting.

Tonight is the season finale of White Collar and my other shows will probably be wrapping up over the next few weeks. Nikita and The Vampire Diaries start this week on the CW and the rest of the premiere dates can be found at TV Guide.

What shows are you excited about this season? Are there any shows you think I should be watching that I am not currently watching? Let me know and maybe I will check them out.

I hope everyone had a good Labor Day weekend! Happy Start of Fall TV!
xoxo
c
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“Great movie quotes become part of our cultural vocabulary...

When you consider that any phrase from American cinema is eligible, you realize this is our most subjective topic to date. We expect nothing less than a war of words as we reignite interest in classic American movies.” --Jean Picker Firstenberg; CEO of the American Film Institute
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I keep a list of quotes in a word document on my computer. It is mostly things from movies and TV (obviously) but some of them are from books and some are from real people. It is single-spaced, size 10, times new roman and is currently 47 pages long.

I also have separate lists for Joss Whedon projects and Aaron Sorkin projects, and the TV shows Friends, Veronica Mars, Gilmore Girls, The Black Donnellys, Grey’s Anatomy and The Vampire Diaries.

The very first quote I ever saved was from Ferris Buellar's Day Off, said by Ferris to the snooty maitre d':
"It’s understanding that makes it possible for people like us to tolerate a person like yourself."

The most recent addition to my list was from last week's Private Practice, from Sam to Addison:
“You want to have your cake and eat it too, but you know what, you can’t because I’m the cake and from here on out, I’m taking the cake away. No more cake for you. I’m good cake too, double-chocolate, cream-filled with the little raspberries on top, so. No more cake for you, so just shut-up.”

And here are just some of my random favorites:

MOVIES:

Hook
Tinker Bell: You know that place between sleep and awake? That place where you still remember dreaming? That’s where I’ll always love you, Peter Pan. That’s where I’ll be waiting.

Empire Records
Gina: Attention Rex Manning fans, to your left you will notice a shoplifter being chased by night manager Lucas. This young man will be caught, deep-fried in a vat of hot oil and served to our first hundred customers. Just another tasty treat from the gang at Empire Records.

Liberty Heights
Ben: If I knew things would no longer be, I would have tried to remember them better.

Notting Hill
Anna: Happiness isn’t happiness without a violin-playing goat.

Ratatouille
Linguini: Ratatouille. It's like a stew, right? Why do they call it that? If you're gonna name a food, you should give it a name that sounds delicious. Ratatouille doesn't sound delicious. It sounds like "rat" and "patootie." Rat-patootie, which does not sound delicious.

Life As A House
George Voiceover: I’d always thought of myself as a house, that was always what I lived in. It didn’t need to be big, it didn’t even need to be beautiful, it just needed to be mine. It became what I was meant to be, I built myself a life, I built myself a house.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Sam: It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The one’s that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end, because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But, in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it’ll shine out the clearer. Those are the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But, I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now, folk in those stories had lots of chances of turnin’ back, only they didn’t. They kept goin’, because they were holdin’ on to somethin’.
Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?
Sam: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fightin’ for.

The Boondock Saints
Priest: We must always fear the wicked. But there is another kind of evil that we must fear the most, and that is the indifference of good men.

The Hours
Laura Brown: What does it mean to regret when you have no choice?

Velvet Goldmine
Brian Slade: Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he'll tell you the truth.

Boys on the Side
Elaine: That’s what you get in life, you know? You get whoever you end up with. Whoever is willing to stick by you, and fight for you, when everyone else is gone. And it ain’t always who you expect. But you just have to make do.

Pirates of the Caribbean : At World’s End
Captain Barbossa: You have to be lost to find the places that can’t be found.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
Penny: Sometimes people are layered like that. There’s something totally different underneath than what’s on the surface
Dr. Horrible: And sometimes there’s a third deeper level and that one is the same as the top surface level
Penny: Huh?
Dr. Horrible: Like with pie

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Buffy: All I want to do is graduate from high school, go to Europe, marry Christian Slater, and die. Now it may not sound too great to a sconehead like you, but I think it's swell. And you come along and tell me I'm a member of the hairy mole club so you can throw things at me?

Serenity
Wash: This landing is going to get pretty interesting
Mal: Define interesting
Wash: [dead-pan] Oh God, oh God, we’re all going to die?
Mal: (on loud-speaker) This is the Captain, we have a little problem with our entry sequence so we may experience some slight…turbulence and then…explode



TV:
Good Morning, Miami
Jake: There’s something about your eyes and your smile. It’s not just that they’re beautiful and it’s not just that they light up a room. They’re like a gateway into a world that I want to be a part of.

My So-Called Life
Angela: This life has been a test. If it had been an actual life, you would have received instructions on where to go and what to do.

Battlestar Gallactica
Number Six: Life has a melody, Gaius. A rhythm of notes which become your existence once played in harmony with God's plan.

NCIS
Ziva: It’s like shooting fish in a pond
John: Haha, I think you mean a barrel
Ziva: Why would fish be in a barrel?
John: Uhm, I-uh, that’s a good point, I never really thought about it before

Accidentally on Purpose
Davis: Dude, you were born to be a chef, okay?! When the stork brought you, you grabbed that bird and cooked it into something delicious!

Ugly Betty
Betty: I’ve had to say ‘good-bye’ more times than I would have liked, but everyone can say that. And no matter how many times we do it, even when it’s for the greater good, it still stings. And though we’ll never forget what we’ve given up, we owe it to ourselves to keep moving forward. What we can’t do is live our lives always afraid of the next ‘good-bye,’ because chances are they’re not going to stop. The trick is to recognize when a ‘good-bye’ can be a good thing, when it’s a chance to start again.

How I Met Your Mother
Barney: (After blowing his nose) I’m fine. My nose is just over-flowing with awesome and I had to get some of it out.

The West Wing
President Bartlett: I was watching a television program before, with a kind of roving moderator who spoke to a seated panel of young women who were having some sort of problem with their boyfriends - apparently, because the boyfriends had all slept with the girlfriends' mothers. And they brought the boyfriends out, and they fought, right there on television. Toby, tell me: these people don't vote, do they?

Sports Night
Isaac: If you’re stupid, surround yourself with smart people. If you’re smart, surround yourself with smart people who disagree with you.

Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip
Wes: Living where there’s free speech means sometimes you get offended

The Black Donnellys
Tommy: We’re gonna need some scotch, and a lot of it, but we’re not gonna be able to pay for it, you see
Store Owner: Get outta here
Tommy: I think you’re gonna wanna give it to us
Owner: Oh yeah, and why’s that?
Tommy: Because your daughter has a crush on Kevin, he’s gonna date her if you don’t

Friends
Rachel: C’mon, Daddy, listen to me. It’s like, it’s like all my life everyone has always told me, “You’re a shoe. You’re a shoe, you’re a shoe, you’re a shoe” and then today I just stopped and I said, “What if I don’t want to be a shoe? What if I want to be a-a purse, you know, or, or, or a hat”….No, I don’t want you to buy me a hat! I’m saying that I am a hat - It’s a metaphor, Daddy!

Gilmore Girls
Sookie: Jackson’s sleeping with the zucchini tonight
Lorelai: What’s that? Farm jargon?
Sookie: No, he’s sleeping with the zucchini
Lorelai: But what does that mean? “Sleeping with the zucchini”?
Sookie: It means he’s sleeping with the zucchini
Lorelai: Uh, Sookie, fill me in here. Where’s Jackson?
Sookie: Well, he checked the weather forecast today and there’s a potential cold front coming in from Canada and he knows how important the zucchini is for opening day menu, so..
Lorelai: Are you saying that “sleeping with zucchini” means…
Sookie: He’s sleeping with the zucchini
Michele: She said it four times, you are very slow tonight
Lorelai: Oh, my god!
Sookie: Well, you said to do whatever it takes to make sure we have fresh zucchini
Lorelai: Within the realm of reason!
Sookie: Oh, now you add that!

Grey’s Anatomy
Meredith: We're adults. When did that happen? And how do we make it stop?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Giles: So we have a threat against the students on their big night. A hellhound trained to attack people in formal wear
Cordelia: Oh, are we all catching up now?
Giles: This Tucker is planning to attack the prom tonight
Oz: Once again the hell mouth puts the 'special' in 'special occasion'
Xander: Why do I even buy tickets for these things, I ask you!
Willow: I wonder if I can take my dress back
Buffy: Don't you dare!
Willow: But Tucker's gonna...
Buffy: No! You guys are gonna have a prom, the kind of prom that everyone should have. I'm gonna give you all a nice, fun, normal evening if I have to kill every single person on the face of the earth to do it!
Xander: Yay?

Angel
Angel: What’s going on?
Wesley: We’re being attacked
Angel: I thought you had double-protection sanctorium spells!
Lorne: I do and they work. It’s a thing with the door and the stairs and the world and a thing. Never mind!
Gunn: Apparently, you can be outside and chuck stuff in
Lorne: I just said that

Firefly
Mal: Zoe, why do I have a wife?
Jayne: You got a wife? All I got is that dumbass stick, sounds like its raining. How come you got a wife?

Dollhouse
Topher: I am obsolete. This must be what old people feel like…and Blockbuster

The Vampire Diaries
Tyler: Look, there’s Elena and her new boyfriend. Oh, what are they doing? Oh, they’re walking…walking…walking…yup, right into the sunset.

Veronica Mars
Veronica Voiceover: I think we all learned a valuable lesson about faith. You give it to the people you love. But the people who really deserve it are the ones who come through even when you don't love them enough.

REAL PEOPLE:
"During your life, everything you do and everyone you meet rubs off in some way. Some bit of everything you experience stays with everyone you’ve ever known, and nothing is lost. That’s what’s eternal, these little specks of experience in a great, enormous river that has no end." --Harriet Doerr

“Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen.” --Conan O’Brien

“The purpose of life is a life of purpose.” --Robert Byrne

“We should never separate the lives we live from the words we speak. To me, the most important goal is to live a life consistent with the values I hold dear and to act on what I believe in.” --Senator Paul Wellstone


I usually save things that make me laugh or make me think or mirror things I am feeling at the time. It is one of the many reasons that I love my DVR because as soon as I hear a line that I want to save I can rewind it as many times as I need to get the words right.

I am not really sure why I keep the lists, I guess it just gives me something to do :o)

xoxo
c

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"You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret, all the best people are."

The past week and a half, I have been very distracted. My friend's older brother has been in the hospital and they are not totally sure what it is. they think it is transverse myelitis or vasculitis. He is intubated and semi-conscious and he has been getting better but it is little each day. I have known the family since I was three and he is like a brother to me, so it has been really scary and I have been spending time at the hospital, helping the family in any way I can and just trying to keep myself distracted so I do not think about it too much. Basically that involved a lot of Grey's Anatomy. In some weird way, it has helped. I do not know if it is just because it was familiar and meant I did not have to think very much or if the medical stuff had some kind of reverse effect and calmed me.

I had forgotten just how good this show used to be. I think it slowly started to get worse right around the time when Meredith died and then came back to life. Aside from the Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year's episode, the most recent season has been much better, but I still miss the original episodes.

I am not really sure how it helped, but it helped, so I kept watching. Seasons one through three in a week and a half. I did not get much else accomplished.

However, before my mental break-down, I did watch a few other things...

I went 19 for 24 with my Academy Award picks - I think that might be my record. However, it was a pretty predictable year, so I do not know how impressive it is :o)

I watched Michael Jackson's This Is It. I have to admit that, even though I was a child of the 80's, I did not really follow popular music. My mother mostly listened to show-tunes, classical music and sports and my father was an oldies man. I did not start listening to popular music until I was in middle school and I needed to know it to be part of the conversation. I obviously knew who Michael Jackson was, but I was not really a fan. By fan, I do not mean that I did not like his music, I just did not know it. I do remember watching the Thriller video at my best-friends house with her brothers, but I would not say that Michael Jackson shaped my childhood very much. That being said, I have since come to love his music and appreciate his influence in the musical community.

To be honest, over the past couple years, I have not even paid much attention to what he was up to. I think everyone heard about him holding his child out of a window with a towel over his head and about him potentially molesting children, but I feel like he had pretty much kept to himself these past couple years. And after hearing about how many drugs he was on when he died and how many issues he had, I did not know what to expect when I started to watch This Is It, and I was blown away. He could still sing! And he could still dance! It really is a shame that he did not get a chance to tour the world one more time, but I am glad that we got to see this last movie. The movie itself was nothing spectacular. It was literally clips of him and his dancers and band rehearsing. But if you like Michael Jackson's music or grew up in the 80's then you should definitely see this movie.

My mom and I also went to see Alice In Wonderland. The imagery was amazing and typical of a Tim Burton film and Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham-Carter and Anne Hathaway are always awesome. However, it was not quite as good as I was hoping it would be. Do not get me wrong, it was a good movie, just not as good as I expected.

I have also discovered an AWESOME new TV show. I know what you are thinking. How could I possibly watch more television?! Have I mentioned how much I love my DVR? :o) Anyways, it is called Justified and it is on FX Tuesdays at 10pm. It stars Timothy Olyphant, who you might recognize as Sam, the hot "twenty-something" that Carrie makes out with for an entire episode of Sex and the City, or as Fritz, the best-friend of Jennifer Garner's dead fiancee, in Catch and Release. In this new show, he plays U.S. Marshall Raylen Givens who is reassigned from Miami to his hometown in Kentucky. He now has to deal with an outlaw father, a church-bombing white-supremacist who is also an old friend and an ex-wife who works in his building, among other things. If you are not watching this show, you absolutely should be.

It has been a rough couple of weeks, but I have kept myself distracted and my friend is slowly starting to get better. All I can hope for is that his progress continues and he does not have too many more set-backs. Otherwise I might have to go out and buy seasons four and five of Grey's Anatomy :o)

xoxo
c

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Love and joy come to you...

In the spirit of the holiday season, I have decided to talk about some of my favorite holiday movies and TV episodes. When I started to write this I did not realize how much I had to say, so I ended up having to split this into two separate blogs.

So let's start with my favorite Christmas TV episodes. These are in no particular order :o)

First up is "An Echolls Family Christmas" from the first season of Veronica Mars:

The reason this is on my list is because it is a Christmas episode, but it also happens to be one of my favorite episodes of the series. Logan hosts a poker party at his house but when Weevil wins the $5,000 pot it mysteriously disappears. Weevil starts taking things from the other players (ie. laptops, watches, Faberge eggs) until finally Veronica is asked to help track down the money. Meanwhile, Logan's parents are throwing their annual Christmas party and Keith is asked to figure out who is stalking Logan's movie-star father. Fabulously witty dialogue, a good mystery and Harry Hamlin & Lisa Rinna as Logan's parents make for a good time all-around. If I listed all of my favorite lines from this episode I would pretty much have to write the entire script, so you might as well just go watch it yourself :o) Here is a clip to get you started:



My next choice is "Noel" from season two of The West Wing:

The Christmas after Josh is shot, Leo makes him see a psychiatrist about the events of the last three weeks: Toby hired musicians for the foyer, an Air Force pilot disobeyed orders, Yo-Yo Ma performed at the White House, and Josh managed to badly cut his hand. All of these things bring up issues of post traumatic stress that Josh has not dealt with since the shooting. Again, this episode is not so much about Christmas as it is about Josh, but the writing on this show is so good that I had to put it on my list.

At the end of the episode Leo says something to Josh and it is one of my favorite line from the entire series:

"This guy's walking down the street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can't get out. A doctor passes by and the guy shouts up, 'Hey you, can you help me out?' The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up, 'Father, I'm down in this hole can you help me out?' The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a friend walks by, 'Hey, Joe, it's me, can you help me out?' And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guys says, 'Are you stupid? Now we're both down here!" The friend says, "Yeah, but I've been down here before and I know the way out.'"

My third episode is "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" from the second season of Grey's Anatomy:

Christmas brings a range of reactions at Seattle Grace, from excess cheer to acting like a Scrooge. Burke and Yang have a heart transplant for a boy who does not believe he deserves it, which brings up their different philosophical perspectives. The interns help Karev study for his medical boards which he failed the first time. Izzie gets mad at first that everyone is helping him (seeing as Alex cheated on her with one of the nurses), but Meredith likens him to "Dirty Uncle Sal" and eventually Izzie comes around in the spirit of the holiday. When Alex asks her why she is helping him she says one of my favorites lines of the series:



Also in this episode, Derek is depressed and admits to Addison that Meredith was not just a fling and that he was in love with her and is still. He tells her that he has been depressed because "Christmas makes you want to be with people you love."

And finally we have "So-Called Angels" from My So-Called Life:

This episode always makes me cry and as a teenager I really did not like it because it depressed me so much and I did not fully understand what it was about. Watching it later in life, I realize how much it truly affected me and was a part of who I was and who I have become. The episode starts with no one really appreciating the true meaning of Christmas. At one point, Angela questions her parents about why they do not go to church to which her younger sister replies: "Do we have to keep talking about religion? It's Christmas!" Rickie is getting beat up at home, has no where to go and ends up at an abandoned warehouse with other homeless teenagers. Angela is concerned about him and tracks him down with them help of a mysterious homeless girl. Rayanne and Sharon volunteer for the teen help-line and Brian's parents leave him home alone while they go on a cruise over the holidays.

I love this episode because it is about helping others who are less fortunate than you. It is about being thankful for your family and friends and all the things in life with which God has blessed us. The episode ends with the family all ending up in a church together, not "finding God" but more, realizing the importance of being together and inviting others into their home who have no where else to go. It is about the true spirit of Christmas, which I think gets lost among the all the shopping and commercialism of the season.

It helps remind us that the holidays are not about presents, but about being with the people in our lives who are most important to us.

This is my absolute favorite time of year and I hope this helps you see why.

Do you disagree with my selections? Or have any of your own to add? Let me know in the comments section below.

I will try to get up the list of my favorite Christmas movies sometime in the next week. Until then I hope you enjoy this magical holiday season!

xoxo
c

"Leave the gun. Take the cannoli."

I know I'll probably get yelled at a lot, but I am going to say this anyway, I don't really understand what the big deal is about The Godfather.

The first Godfather movie was well done...excellent acting and interesting story...but long. The second movie also had excellent acting and it was interesting to see the two stories side by side but was ridiculously too long and I ended up watching it in several sittings. Also, sometimes it was hard to follow what was going on. It must be a boy thing because I just totally don't understand why people are OBSESSED with these movies. Am I missing something? I mean, they were good, but I was definitely not blown away by them at all.

I prefer Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman or Angels in America.

I still have to watch the third one, but have heard it is not as good as the first two.

In between the Godfathers, I also watched The Soloist and Taken.

The Soloist had Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx and was good. I don't remember this getting very good reviews when it came out, so my expectations were pretty low, however, I really enjoyed it. I thought it was a touching story and both actors gave awesome performances. I have not seen very many of Jamie Foxx's movies but I love Robert Downey Jr. My favorite Downey movie is Heart & Soul but I also loved him in Ally McBeal, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man. I am super excited about Sherlock Holmes and Iron Man 2.

Taken was pretty cool, action-wise, but did not excite me very much. Liam Neeson was totally bad-ass and I think the movie would have been worse without him, I just think the plot needed a little bit more...I really know what...just more of something. Maybe it was a movie better seen in theaters, but I just could not really get into it. I am looking forward more to seeing Neeson as Hannibal in The A-Team next June.

In the world of television, my DVR is definitely getting a work-out this year. I am loving new shows Accidentally on Purpose, Glee and The Vampire Diaries. NCIS: LA has been pretty good but not quite as good as the original. Last weeks Grey's Anatomy was probably the best one in a long time and Dollhouse has just been getting better and better as the season goes on.

Unemployment is helping me get through my Netflix queue and stay up-to-date on my TV shows. If only I had time to look for a job! Joking. I am capable of multi-tasking :o)

I have gotten my queue down to 215 and after watching the final Godfather movie I will move on to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

I will also be watching my Philadelphia Phillies in the WORLD SERIES!!! Keeping my fingers crossed for a repeat championship :o)

xoxo
c

"When you're wearing pantyhose on your head, never wear control top."

As the fall season approaches, I thought I would share my fall TV schedule with everyone. I forewarn you, if you have not figured it out on your own, that I watch a lot of television. I usually try out a few new shows but do not necessary follow them all season. I also sometimes stop watching old shows that have jumped the shark.

My Returning Shows:

Greek

One Tree Hill

Gossip Girl

Castle

How I Met Your Mother

NCIS

Grey's Anatomy

Dollhouse

Brothers & Sisters

Ugly Betty

New Shows:

Glee

NCIS: LA

Cougar Town

Community

Accidentally on Purpose

Eastwick

Vampire Diaries

V

I am super excited for Greek, Castle, HIMYM, NCIS and Dollhouse to begin again. Grey's, B&S and Ugly Betty I just kind of watch out of habit now. They were not all that fabulous last season and I am hoping they can get back on track this season.

I am a little nervous about One Tree Hill returning without Hilarie Burton and Chad Michael Murray and the addition of several new characters, but I will at least start the season watching. I am also interested to see how Gossip Girl addresses the issue of their characters starting college. I always find it a little illogical that an entire group of friends would all end up at college in the same city, or even all at the same college, but sometimes the writers can make it work. It did not go well on Dawson's Creek, but worked out on Veronica Mars, so we'll just have to wait and see.

I am not particularly excited about Eastwick, Vampire Diaries or V and they may be the casualties of my over-scheduling, but I will give them a shot.

Anyways, there is it. Greek starts tonight (ah woo hoo!) and then it's about two more weeks until everything else starts up.

xoxo
c