busy Wednesday

Busy night last night-I finished reading The Dive From Clausen's Pier; Trish came over for dinner (enchiladas and coffee cake for dessert); and Pat and I watched Boondock Saints (sorry, Rand, I couldn't wait!) and Heroes.


I gave Boondock Saints three out of five stars on Netflix, so that's an "I liked it." Here's why:

• I thought I had the ending all figured out, but I didn't, and I was totally surprised by the twist with The Duke. I like to be surprised on occasion.
• Cute guys with Irish accents and tattoos.
• I liked some of the...I'm not sure what to call them...filming techniques? Well, specifically, I liked when Willem Dafoe was re-creating the crimes and the scenes played out around him. They do a similar thing sometimes on Criminal Minds, but that just doesn't work for me (or impress me) the way this did.
• Speaking of Willem Dafoe, his character (and the way he played him) was...I don't know, I'm at a loss for words. For his performance alone, I highly recommend that you see Boondock Saints, if you haven't already.

Still, I didn't "really like it" or "love it," though. The plot itself didn't really do much for me. Also, the cat? Was that necessary?

Heroes, aka This Show is So Awesome and I Can't Believe We Have to Wait Six More Weeks for Another Episode

I'm going to stick with the list format because I think that's the only way I'll be able to sort through my reactions.

Hiro...just when I was thinking, "Wow, I'm getting bored with Hiro--say it ain't so!" Then, Ando showed up and saved the day.

Nathan...another morally ambiguous character like HRG. You know he is trying to do good, protect people, but as soon as Linderman makes the promise of power, he rolls right over. Don't go to the dark side, Nathan.

Nathan's Mama...I didn't see that coming. I love the way this show makes sure everything is connected, that nothing ever happens without a reason, without affecting everything else. Well, except "Wireless." Where is she? Why bring her in at all then just have her disappear? She better come back, or I'll be disappointed. But, I digress. I'd like to learn more about Nathan and Peter's dad and how he plays into this whole thing. And how does Linderman know about the powers? And where was Sulu this week? Which side is he on?

That girl from Stick It...Cool power. Total bitch. Also, if you were really trying to convince someone that you work for a paper company, would you dress like a goth Catholic school girl? Wear some color, put on an actual skirt. Also, why are people with powers so willing to help out HRG's organization?

Niki/Jessica...normally, my least favorite storyline. I like the Jessica is starting to fight back in little ways, though. Still, she's just too far on the periphery of the web of interconnectedness for me to care too much, yet.

Mohinder/Sylar...personally, I prefer the storylines involving HRG's organization and Linderman and the Petrellis and the threat that poses to the heroes to the storyline involving Sylar's threat to the heroes. Like Niki, this seems peripheral and distracting. Also, never ever ever keep the bad guy alive. As soon as you've got him doped, kill him. Duh. You could just as easily get his DNA and solve your little formula puzzle once he's dead.

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more on The Black Donnellys

I forgot to mention one thing I did really like about last night's episode, which I failed to notice in the premiere: the casting of Capt. Janeway as the Donnelly brothers' mother. She's perfect for the mother whose sons are a bunch of good-hearted hoodlums and the widow of a murdered union man. She's got the right voice and there's something about the way she carries herself that really works.

Monday TV (well, some of it)

Caught up on The Class and The Black Donnellys last night. I haven't gotten to Heroes, yet, but I figure I've got time since there won't be another new episode for six weeks.



As a season finale, The Class was alright, but as a series finale it totally stunk, and at this point, no one knows for sure which it was.

I love Richie and Lina (well, mostly Richie), but isn't it a bit early for them to get engaged? Isn't he probably still legally married to Darlene? Also, what was Perry doing there? Technically, I know the answer: the actress who played Holly wanted out, but Perry played well with audiences because gay stereotyping is sooo hilarious. Blah. My favorite "couple" on this show might be Kyle and Ethan, so I like that they had some screen time, and I liked the scenes with Nicole/Yonk/Duncan. I'm glad to see Nicole is feeling a little more torn about adultery and divorce than Richie. I get that his marriage was totally awful and he's better off now, but as with my reaction to Little Children, I wish he'd left Darlene before starting something up with Lina. I'm not sure how I feel about the Kat/Ethan/Duncan storyline. I knew the Kat/Duncan thing was happening as soon as he opened the door and she was there. As a season finale, it's okay that Kat and Ethan were kept apart, but if this was the end of the show, I really wish they would've gotten together.

As for The Black Donnellys...I'm not even sure what to say. Did anything relevant happen at all or was this whole episode just an excuse for gratuitous nudity and violence? I don't mean to be a prude; In fact, I'm all for nudity and violence (although Tommy is that weird kind of too muscular that freaks me out). This just seemed so pointless. The only even slighly important thing that happened was Jenny rejecting Tommy after she slept with him. Interesting timing on that. Also, I can't decide if I think it's funny that Joey keeps inserting himself in the story and the brothers react or if it's just really annoying. I also found myself being really nitpicky about this episode. For example, both Tommy and Kevin happened to be wearing entire outfits that came from the same store and that same store happened to have all of that clothing still in stock and in their sizes, so it was no problem to replace everything. Really?

Last week, I was totally gung-ho about this show. This week, I feel like I could take it or leave it, leaning more towards the latter.

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another article about "meh"

I love it.

Meh - the word that's sweeping the internet

weekend reviews

Saturday, I watched American Dreamz, the Hugh Grant-Mandy Moore movie about reality television and terrorism. Yeah, it's as bad as it sounds. Not that I was expecting cinematic greatness, or anything, but I thought it had potential to be cute and funny. The storyline involving Omer, the undercover terrorist, was okay, but otherwise...awful. I expected more from a cast that included Willem Dafoe, Marcia Gay Harden, and that woman from Legally Blonde and Best in Show. Interesting side note, though: Shohreh Aghdashloo is in it. A week ago that name would've meant nothing to me, but I recently read that she's going to be in an upcoming episode of Grey's.



I also watched Psych. This was probably my least favorite episode yet. Although, I am bummed there won't be any new episodes until July. Psych is good mid-level TV: TV that's not too soapy (Grey's), or scary (Criminal Minds), and you don't have to watch every week (although I do), and yet isn't totally vacuous like reality TV.

I also finished reading Little Children by Tom Perrotta. The movie, starring Kate Winslet, was nominated for three Academy Awards (I didn't see it.). The book wasn't that great. I mean, it wasn't bad. If it had been, I would've stopped reading it. I'm not one of the many people I know who feel compelled to finish reading a book once they start it. The book kept me reading in the first half because I thought it had potential for a big payoff in the second half, but then it mostly disappointed. The storyline involving Ronald James McGorvey, convicted sex offender, took some interesting and disturbing twists, but otherwise nothing unexpected happened.

Little Children was depressing to me. It's important to note the difference between depressing, as in the case of Little Children, and sad, as in the case of The Time Traveler's Wife. For one thing, it's very easy for a book, movie, or show to make me feel sad. I'm a cryer. Also, I like to feel sad sometimes, especially about books, etc. It's very cathartic. On the other hand, I hate feeling depressed. In Little Children, there is not a single happily married couple. It focuses on 3 very unhappily married couples, but manages to highlight at least four other unhappy marriages throughout the course of the novel. I'm not just being a wide-eyed idealist here. I'm not looking for perfection; In fact, I find that in fictional characters imperfection is usually preferred. But, Perrotta seems to be making some greater commentary about marriage as the end of happiness, and I'm just not willing to accept that.

At first, I was going to give Tom Perrotta credit for making me feel something, even if it was just depressed. Generally, I think having an emotional response to a book is a sure sign of good writing, even if you don't like the book. Take, for example, Catcher in the Rye (That's right, I just said I don't like Catcher in the Rye. In fact, I hate it. What are you going to do about it?). If I ran into that punk-ass imaginary brat Holden Caulfield on the street, I'd trip him. But seriously, I've got to give it to J.D. Salinger for creating a character that irritates me so thoroughly. But, back to Tom Perrotta. By the end of the book, I realized it wasn't really anything in the book that made me feel depressed. In fact, I've got about zero sympathy for any of the characters. I simply find the idea that there is no such thing as a happy marriage depressing. The book itself was mostly just...m'eh.

There was one thing I really appreciated about the story at the end. SPOILERS AHEAD!! I like that Sarah and Todd don't end up running away together. I was rooting for them a little, I admit. But, in general, I'm not a huge fan of books or movies romanticizing adultery. As much as I get sucked into those fictional relationships, I'm always aware of just how distasteful I find them to be in real life. If Sarah were my friend, I'd definitely want her to leave Richard and to be happy. But, I'd want her to do it before she slept with someone else. And, I can't help but imagining myself on the other side: as Todd's wife Kathy. Working all day, supporting my husband while he has a summer fling with someone else. Anyway, I was glad it didn't work out. It seemed more true-to-life to me. (I know, I know, I was just griping about how Perrotta didn't give me a single "happily-ever-after" couple. And it's true, I probably would've liked it a little if Todd and Sarah had been that couple. But, I liked the way he resolved it.)

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random movie trivia

Thanks to ALOTT5MA (check out the link to the right), I learned today that Dirty Dancing and The Princess Bride were released the same year (1987). They were also both nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song, Dirty Dancing for "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" and The Princess Bride for "Storybook Love." Dirty Dancing won the Oscar.

Incidentally, Mannequin was also nominated for Best Original Song that year for "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now." Okay, so it's no Dirty Dancing or The Princess Bride, but I'll confess to it being a guilty pleasure movie for me.

1987 was a good year. I was 5.

For real this time.

The Black Donnellys

I really did not want to add another television show to my DVR's repertoire. I even went so far as to not DVR The Black Donnellys while I was out of the house at Trivia Night on Monday. But, then the Tuesday buzz got to me and I couldn't help myself. I went to Randi's to watch it on her DVR. Thank goodness I have a friend that's a TV addict like me! Rand, you are a fantastic enabler.



After the first ten minutes, I was thinking, "M'eh." It moved too fast and I couldn't figure out which brother was which. That made it hard to follow the action and hard to care about anyone since they all kind of melded into one generic Irish-American trouble-maker. Although, I did learn pretty quickly which one Kevin is. He has pretty eyes. Then, I found myself getting into it. Still, with as few as 10 minutes left, I said to Randi, "I can walk away. It's good, and I could definitely get sucked in if I wanted to, but I can also walk away." I was feeling good, no more new TV for me! But then...

Then, Tommy ran over Jimmy, sending Tommy on the straight and narrow and Jimmy down the...curvy and wide? And then, then they switched. Jimmy went to rehab and Tommy...Tommy killed a bunch of guys. And it was cool.

This show is great on a purely visceral level. No thinking necessary. Not yet, anyway. It's got good-looking "Irish" guys (I don't really know if any of them are authentic); a narrator good for some funny one liners (A lot of people think the Irish are a bunch of drunken brawlers. That kind of stereotyping just makes you want to get drunk and punch someone. ); semi-organized crime; and sex and violence. What's not to love? I'm hooked.

Incidentally, I made myself feel better about how much TV I watch on the walk home from Randall's (isn't rationalizing another sign of addiction?). I actually only DVR 10 hours of TV a week, which is less than 1.5 hours a day. And of that 10 hours, 1.5 hours of it are shows I don't watch consistently. My real problem is that I too often watch TV indiscriminately. I come home from work and turn on PTI, which seamlessly goes into SportsCenter, and then I might as well catch those Scrubs reruns on Comedy Central, etc. Saturday mornings, Pat and I get sucked into The Soup and Best Week Ever.

In case you're curious, here's my DVR line-up:

Monday

How I Met Your Mother
The Class
Heroes
Studio 60.../The Black Donnellys

Wednesday

Criminal Minds (This is one I don't watch consistently anymore. The new woman bothers me and I think they are setting up the departure of Reed, who's one of my favorites. Still, it's hard to resist Mandy Patinkin, so I still watch most weeks.)

Thursday

My Name is Earl
The Office (I watch this sporadically.)
Scrubs
Grey's Anatomy
Ace of Cakes (I don't think this is actually on every week.)

Friday

Psych (Dule Hill somehow goes on to do a show I like way better than that other one with those people from The West Wing. Plus, the Psych-outs are awesome.)

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