Monday night revelations

I've never blogged from my phone before and it will probably take a month to type and be riddled with errors but I have learned so much on the last hour that I can't help myself. Sadly, most of them are about The Bachelorette.
First off, how can anyone think these people are for real? Where do I begin?! Guys sitting around talking about each others dating strategies? No. This girl is super cheesy. Why does anyone want to date her anyway? Of course she is beautiful but everything she says is irritating.
I think this show would be leaps and  bounds better if they let me narrate it and mock them. Like when the single dad is crying about his kid I could be in the bottom right corner making faces like a crying baby rubbing his eyes and laughing that Rob Zombie wife laugh. She has the best make fun of you laugh on the planet.
Another idea I had was to be the next bachelorette. Now hear me out. Yes, I'm married and no I don't actually want to make out with those clowns. But it would be fun to hear their lame-o lines and to catch them in their insincerity. We could take it from vanilla to cotton candy pop rocks.
Side note that I just shamefully recalled: when my husband proposed he said "will you accept this ring?" and I made a Bachelor reference. DURING MY PROPOSAL. A moment I had dreamed about and I tainted it with this filth.
Ok, back to the rose ceremony and to eagerly awaiting the potential gem of The Glass House.
P.S. I just scored a 108 point word in Words With Friends. Booya!

N.O.E.M.

There was just no way for me NOT to share THIS POST from Jezebel. It confirms (with actual scientific studies) a theory I have struggled with for a long time. Basically, that morning people are happier than people like me. I have written about this a few times that I can remember, particularly in a recent post about circadian rhythms and as evidenced by the fact that one of my "label" options for posts is "I'm really not a morning person".

 It's clear to me that morning people are happier because I have always lived with such creatures. My mother wakes up at like 4:30 in the morning to go to work. When I make any plans to meet up with her on the weekends, she always wants to get going way earlier than I ever even see the numbers on the clock with an AM next to them. And she is one of the cheeriest individuals I know. After living with my mother, I somehow married a morning preferring person, too! He is one of those weirdos who doesn't even need an alarm clock. He can need to wake up at 6am one day and 730 the next and somehow his body just internalizes that fact and wakes him up on time. Meanwhile, if left to my own devices, I would sleep until soap operas were starting. The only benefit is that I can also stay up pretty late so I get to learn about all sorts of exciting infomercial products. (I still really want to try Pajama Jeans). He, too, is one of those people who others universally describe as "nice" and "happy". I'm pretty sure those are not the top two words that come to mind when people have to describe me. Something akin to cantankerous might be a better fit for me.

This article also gives a really simple, logical answer for why morning people are happier. If you are already going to be awake, you don't mind going to work as much as those of us who would rather be sleeping. Perfect answer. Ya, if you are all bright eyed and bushy tailed at 730, why not go get stuff done? Me, on the other hand...I don't want to get things done until about 11 am so those 9 am meetings are a bit more challenging.

Anyway, I get really excited about this topic because I really feel like I should start a night owl equality movement. NOEM. We can pronounce it like "gnome" because the Travelocity gnome is a big hit and that movie from the 60s or 70s, "the gnomemobile" is a classic in my book. Who's with me?

Nothing tastes as good as thin feels....except a Blizzard

It amuses me that I can go three weeks feeling so overwhelmed that I consider never writing a blog post again and then one day I wake up and think of all the things I want to blog about. Therefore, I am now officially considering blogging a sign of health. If I feel good enough to want to blog, my stress level must be manageable.

Last week my stress level was not manageable. I was in one of those places where you are either very hostile or crying. One of the themes this blog revolves around is self-care. It's a very social workery term but it's got a great meaning that everyone should adopt. Self care is what it sounds like: taking care of yourself. But it's really more about the awareness of the ways you are already doing it or making a conscious effort to do more. Or, really, acknowledging that you need to take care of yourself because things are hard and taking care of yourself helps.

For example, yesterday I had a crappy afternoon of working with a struggling mom and facing stupid restrictions from big systems that are supposed to help such as the welfare/homelessness system. As I was driving away from a maddening meeting, I turned on the radio to help distract me. The first verbal commentary from the dj was about how it's  hard to believe Rihanna playing a "tough girl" in the movie Battleship after "you know who did you know what". If I began to tell you how infuriating I found this, it would be a very long, very unfunny post about social injustice so I will spare you but I really hope anyone reading this recognizes how un-okay that is! Someone isn't weak because they were victimized.

Needless to say, I needed to do some self-care STAT. Lucky for me, I just happen to drive by a Dairy Queen on my way between jobs. A good friend often jokes about "eating her feelings" and that's so what I did. And you know those people who say "nothing tastes as good as thin feels"? They lied. You know how you look back at pictures and think "wow, I looked good" but you remember that, at the time, you didn't think you looked good? When you are thin, you often don't feel thin enough. That doesn't feel good! But a Blizzard....it really did feel good. By the last spoonful I was even dreaming up new Ryan Gosling Tumblrs!! That's a drastic turn around and you can't even deny it.  

Summer Concerts are Lining Up!

Last month, when I found out I had to have minor surgery I was unnerved but held it together. It wasn't until I looked at my calendar and realized I would miss two Counting Crows shows that I already had tickets for that the tears finally flowed freely. Luckily, great friends helped me get my money back for the tickets and also sent me pictures and reports on the shows I missed. It kind of felt like when you sponsor a kid from a different country and you get updates and pictures. And yes, I felt that connected.

Usually when a band has just come around, you can't expect to see them until at least the following year so I just assumed I had lost my chance for 2012 and hearing Adam Duritz sing songs from the new album, released last month. Well wasn't I just ecstatic when I got, of all things, a facebook application request from a friend referencing the Counting Crows releasing more tour dates. Long story short, the more people who "shared" the app, the faster tour dates were revealed. Yesterday when I looked, the closest venue to me was almost three hours away. Still, I mapquested directions and was prepared for the journey, if need be. But today more dates and venues were released and two of them are not only within driving distance and great show venues but they are also just days before my birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

I restrained myself and only bought tickets to one show, which is totally unlike me but it allowed me to splurge on the tickets a bit more. Like lots of ladies I know, once you are spending a little, you may as well spend a lot. With this thinking in mind, I also looked up tour dates for Micheal Franti and Spearhead because I knew they were coming my way soon, too. So I snatched up tickets for that, too! Those are less than a third of the price but the show is at my all time favorite venue, Lupo's in Providence, RI. And Providence is just a really cute place for a night out with it's vibrant college scene and hearty Little Italy district. I'm so excited!

One show I missed because I was totally out of the loop was the Neon Trees. They are newer and I am not a cult follower as I am with the Counting Crows but I like where they come from in life, I like their music a lot, and I have really loved hearing their live/acoustic music when they performed for a local radio station. To me, the ability to be better live than on your album is a true measure of talent and I appreciate that above great dancing or outfits or something like that.

I also missed the boat on the Newport Folk Festival. It's sold out already but it looks amazing so I "liked" them on Facebook so I won't miss out again next year. It's a 2.5 day festival held at historic Fort Adams in Newport, RI, already a stunning location before the first note has been played. Picture bringing your own picnic blanket and chairs and sitting on the coast, surrounded by perfect white sailboats in the beautiful New England summer weather. Now add a solid lineup of less mainstream bands, especially Of Monsters and Men who are breakout artists all the way from one of my fave spots, Iceland. You have probably heard their popular song "Little Talks". Their cd came out on a Tuesday in March and I saw them the following Saturday at the House of Blues in Boston and not only really loved all their music but really enjoyed their charm. They were friendly and energetic, humble and funny. Any band that brings out an accordion wins me over, I have learned.

So that's my music run down for the day. Which shows can you NOT MISS?

Things that blew my mind this week

1. By now, you have probably already seen this piece about a NJ mother who brought her daughter tanning. It's trending on Facebook and a lead story on Yahoo. Of course the obvious main theme is that taking your kid tanning equals bad parenting but why aren't more people talking about the mom's face? Holy tanorexic!

2. One of the gems of being off of work to recover from my minor surgery is a plethora of free time to watch lots of tv. How has no one told me about the channel "Hub Tv" yet? It's an 80's baby's dream come true. Today, alone, I watched The Facts of Life, Fraggle Rock, My Little Pony, Pound Puppies and Strawberry Shortcake. Ok, the last three are remakes and didn't totally do it for me because I wanted the real thing. But Facts of Life was enlightening. It was like an experiment in tv evolution. They spelled the message they wanted me to learn out and then shouted it at me. No subtlety at all. But did I still almost shed a tear? But of course. Yet to come? Wonder Years is being DVRd in the very near future. Oh, and they are showing Gremlins 2 as their Saturday night movie.

3. Another treasure I stumbled upon is Total Black Out on the SyFy. While I discovered that I completely detest host Jaleel White and he annoyed me pretty much every time he spoke, this was a wonderful combination of hilarious and scary. It's like fear factor to the nth degree. Four contestants begin and the first challenge is to individually go into a pitch black room and stick your hand into four containers and identify what you are touching. Rats and snakes are not out of the question. They learn who is eliminated by all jumping on a platform, one of which gives way and dumps the person down a black hole. Awesome.
The next round is smells. The three remaining players have to go up to holes in glass, sniff things and identify them. What would be the worst thing you could imagine sniffing? Now imagine you are doing that in the dark, through a hole, while being filmed to air to the world. Yup, that happened. A man bent over on the other side of the glass with a hole cut out of his spandex and the contestants walked up to the hole and inhaled. Interestingly, everyone got that one. Other smells to identify included hard boiled eggs off someones breath, dirty socks, and shoe polish.

4. Commercials. Those smoking commercials about stomas are clearly effective as they really disgust me each and every time I see them. More amusing are the Michael Jordan commercials on Sports Center with which my husband is obsessed.(Yes, I just changed that line to be grammatically correct even though a normal human would never say it that way. Unless that person was a professor in England because I think they have different rules).  It follows a plain, boring man named Michael Jordan as he interacts with people who know his name and, thus, expect the celebrity.

5. Did you know on Conan's show when they show a website on the bottom of the screen they actually show a picture of Guns and Roses' Slash's face instead of putting in the "/" slash? He is just so cool. His cousin taught me a government class in high school, btw.

6. Which reminds me...I got the most noteworthy text of my life this week. A friend sent me a text to let me know she was at a party with Meryl Streep!! Really?? Her hubby is in an Off Broadway play in NYC and the post opening night party. But really, who goes to party where Meryl Streep shows up? My friend, evidently.

MTV Movie Award Nominations

You can find a complete article and list here.
Here you will just find my opinions about Fan voting opened yesterday so you can have an opinion, too.
Movie of the Year
» "Bridesmaids"
» "The Hunger Games" This would be my choice to win. From this post and this post, you already know my thoughts on this movie, good, bad, or otherwise. Was it the best movie of the year? No. But this is MTV. The criteria is different. The Help won the fancy award already. Hunger Games deserves to win based on hype and popularity alone. » "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2" (I should at least admit I didn't see this)
» "The Help"
» "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1"
Best Male Performance
» Daniel Radcliffe, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2" Didn't see
» Ryan Gosling, "Drive" He is always a winner for hotness but this movie bored me to death, even on an airplane.
» Joseph Gordon-Levitt, "50/50" Didn't see
» Josh Hutcherson, "The Hunger Games" Based on the fact that this is the only movie I saw to completion, Josh has to get my vote. I do appreciate that he loved the Hunger Games books prior to being cast so I have a soft spot in my heart for him in the role. I'm a little shocked in this category, though. I see a lot of movies, how am I so ignorant in this area?
» Channing Tatum, "The Vow" Didn't see
Best Female Performance
» Jennifer Lawrence, "The Hunger Games"
» Kristin Wiig, "Bridesmaids"
» Emma Stone, "Crazy, Stupid, Love" I liked this performance the most. And I'm far more qualified here, having seen all but one movie in this category.
» Emma Watson, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2"
» Rooney Mara, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"Even though it wasn't my favorite and I actually am still haunted by it, I do think Mara deserves the award most. Probably because I am still haunted by it. This movie had THE MOST graphic rape scene I have ever seen. I actually detested it and don't think movies should get that graphic; it's not needed. But because it was in there and she acted through some really horrific stuff, she should win.
Best Comedic Performance
» Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids" There are a lot of great candidates in this category and I actually saw ALL of these movies. This is a close one because Wiig and Jonah Hill are both really worthy, too. However, if I had to choose just one, which is the way these things work, I have to give it to McCarthy for the bathroom scene and puppy stealing. She really made this movie shine as her small gestures and comments and ambiguous sexuality added something to every scene she was in.
» Kristen Wiig, "Bridesmaids"
» Zach Galifianakis, "The Hangover Part II"
» Jonah Hill, "21 Jump Street" For the record, this was one of the best movies of the year and I don't think it got enough hype, except from people who saw it and loved it. Even my mother laughed her way through this one and she probably didn't get half of the references and was super offended at the end.
» Oliver Cooper, "Project X" Also for the record, this movie should not even be categorized as a comedy. Me and hubby went to see it one night because it was pitched as funny and, more so, because it was playing at the Premium Cinema and we could get free soda and popcorn. I felt like ripping out my uterus after this movie. Immediately, my number one priority in life became making sure my 14 year old nephew never saw this movie. The whole thing is about kids throwing a big party but it's not the fun teen party of 90's movies like Can't Hardly Wait or that one with Freddy Prinze Jr. This one has lots of naked underage breasts and violence. Bottom line: it was icky.
Breakthrough Performance
» Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids"
» Rooney Mara, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"Again, I didn't like this movie much because of the rape scene but this girl acted her pants off. Literally. Admittedly, I did not see Super 8 or The Descendants (although the latter is on my list) but of the other three, Mara did the most actual acting and was more of a "break through" than the other two, who had roles at least some people knew about before.
» Liam Hemsworth, "The Hunger Games"
» Elle Fanning, "Super 8"
» Shailene Woodley, "The Descendants"
Best Cast
» "Bridesmaids"
» "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2"
» "The Hunger Games"
» "21 Jump Street"Again, this one is close. The Bridesmaids ladies were a great team and the ladies of The Help were the most talented but as it's the MTV awards, we can give street cred points and 21 Jump Street was oozing with that. Not just Jonah Hill who is funny and Channing Tatum who is yummy, but all the additional appearances are what rounded this cast out. The guest appearances by original cast were fun highlights.
» "The Help"
Best On-Screen Transformation
» Elizabeth Banks, "The Hunger Games"
» Rooney Mara, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
» Johnny Depp, "21 Jump Street"
» Michelle Williams, "My Week With Marilyn"
» Colin Farrell, "Horrible Bosses" To take such a ruggedly attractive man and make him into a greasy creeper is a feat. This transformation should win for it's makeunderness. And let's just compare: Banks just had a wig and some makeup, which she is used to for other roles, just less extreme. Mara had fake piercings. Depp dresses up all the time to be a pirate. Williams is already blond. Farrell's normal hotness was turned into a balding, ugly older man with bad habits. Win.
Best Fight
» Daniel Radcliffe vs. Ralph Fiennes, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2"
» Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson vs. Alexander Ludwig, "The Hunger Games"
» Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill vs. Kid Gang, "21 Jump Street"
» Tom Hardy vs. Joel Edgerton, "Warrior" I didn't see this one but I still want to vote for it because I wanted to see it SOOO bad. The only other two I saw were HG and JS and neither one of those fight scenes blew my mind. I'm sure this would have. This just makes me mad at Redbox for not having it anymore and at Netflix for only putting tv shows on instant watch. Grrr. Btw, where do Redbox movies go when they are not in the boxes anymore???
» Tom Cruise vs. Michelle Nyqvist, "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol"
Best Kiss
» Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, "Crazy, Stupid, Love"I'm going to give this one my vote because any kiss, really, involving the draw joppingly hot Gosling and the charmingly humble Stone is magical. 96% of women in the US would cause a loved one bodily injury in order to kiss Ryan Gosling. That's a scientifically derived statistic. And Emma Stone is so relateable. Hands down winner.
» Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2"
» Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, "The Hunger Games" This kiss was weak. Don't give credit where it's not due just because when you were reading the books, you pictured a way hotter kiss.
» Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum, "The Vow"
» Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1"This is another series I really like, embarrassingly enough. This whole movie was about them trying to have "safe sex" so there was a lot of kissing. But the wedding kiss wasn't hot. I guess I'd have to know exactly which kiss they were referencing in order to make an informed decision.
Best Gut-Wrenching Performance
» "Bridesmaids" (Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McClendon-Covey and Ellie Kemper) If they mean gut wrenching in reference to pooping in the street, this one wins.
» "The Help" (Bryce Dallas Howard) But if they mean gut wrenching in bringing the audience through a range of emotion, feeling happy, sad, raw, thoughtul and moved, then The Help has to win. Really amazing.
» "21 Jump Street" (Jonah Hill and Rob Riggle)
» "Drive" (Ryan Gosling)
» "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" (Tom Cruise)
Best On-Screen Dirtbag
» Bryce Dallas Howard, "The Help"
» Jon Hamm, "Bridesmaids"
» Jennifer Aniston, "Horrible Bosses"
» Colin Farrell, "Horrible Bosses"
» Oliver Cooper, "Project X" I don't think any of these dirtbags were the most horrible. I guess my vote has to land here because this movie was just dirt, overall.
Best Music
» "Party Rock Anthem," LMFAO ("21 Jump Street") Who can help themselves when they hear this song? And with the commercial with the hamsters, to boot? Also, I saw a really tall, solemn, white cop bust out to this at a wedding and my life has never been the same since.
» "A Real Hero," College & Electric Youth ("Drive")
» "The Devil Is in the Details," Chemical Brothers ("Hanna")
» "Impossible," Figurine ("Like Crazy")
» "Pursuit of Happiness," Kid Cudi (Steve Aoki remix) ("Project X")

It's here!

Tv Worth Watching, Part 2: Guest Post from Something Clever 2.0

TV shows worth watching, Part 2

My friend Maureen writes a blog called Aspiring to the Middle. I guess it would be classified as a “lifestyle” blog; she writes mainly about her lifestyle passions, which include travel, reading and a smattering of home decorating. I highly encourage you to check it out.

Yesterday, she wrote about a lifestyle topic that is very dear to my heart, television. (Please read it here.) She does not claim to be an expert, and focused mainly on reality shows. I, however, do claim to be an expert, and offered to fill in the gaps for her.

In the tv watching system, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the reality tv fans, who know why Ice loves Coco, and the drama fans, who get this reference. These are their stories.

For those of you who know about Maureen’s noble profession, it’s understandable that she wouldn’t want to watch a lot of drama, since she sees enough of that in real life. What she doesn’t see enough in real life is “reality,” at least, reality as it’s presented by Mark Burnett and the good folks at VH1.

My noble profession as a stay-at-home mother (and no, I will not use obnoxious acronyms) is all about watching a short person act a fool, and occasionally say something funny. So you can see why I don’t need Snooki in my life.

The following are my drama recommendations, with some comedy mixed in, because hey, everybody needs that.

Sunday:

“Harry’s Law” – Kathy Bates is hilarious. If you haven’t seen her since “Misery,” give this a shot. It’s a procedural, so you can jump right in anytime. Yes, it’s a lawyer show, but it’s funny as hell. They specialize in lawsuits that are completely bananas, like a little girl with Conversion Disorder who was expelled for basically turning into a demon at school, or a woman who kidnapped a gorilla and fought to have the state grant him “personhood” status.

“Desperate Housewives”- Oh, shut up, it’s fun! These broads just get into the silliest predicaments. As of this writing, there are only two episodes left, so I’m sure I’m wasting my time, here, but at the very least, I can urge you to get on board with the fabulous Marc Cherry’s new project, "Devious Maids." I don’t know a thing about it, but the man gave us “Popular” and “The Golden Girls.” He deserves our respect.

“GCB” – For those who are current fans of “Desperate Housewives,” and looking to fill the impending void, GCB has got you covered. Way less sex, way more church, Texas accents, and my girl from the aforementioned “Popular,” Leslie Bibb. Who plays her mom? Sugarbaker Designs alum Annie Potts! It’s too perfect. And don’t get nervous when you see Kristen Chenoweth in the credits; she almost never sings (praise Jesus.)

Monday:

“Bones” – If you get grossed out easily, skip it. I love gross stuff (except farts), and will often force my husband to watch the cold open of this show, when they find an impossibly disgusting body in a stage of decomp you have absolutely never heard of before. Normally, I can’t stand when procedurals try to throw some cop’s personal life into the mix, but this one does it delicately enough that you never retch.

“Eureka” – It’s on SyFy. Haven’t shut down your computer yet? Ok, cool. I’m pretty sure this show is why they have no budget left for those movies; please don’t let “Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus” sour you on the whole channel. Eureka is a serial about a small town in Oregon that’s like super-secret DARPA. It’s in its last season, but you can probably get the DVDs for $5, since I’m the only one who watches it.

Tuesday:

“Cougar Town” – The awful name is a running gag on this show. They know, don’t worry. And please don’t judge a show by its title card. I'll make you a deal, and I’m being completely honest here: watch one episode, and of you don’t like it, contact me and I will mail you one dollar. If you do like it, you have to come back to this post and comment that I was right. It’s just some friends who drink wine and make fun of people, just like you and me... Maybe just me. Maybe I shouldn’t extend this offer to Maureen’s readers, since I don’t really know if they’re into that. Oh, well, the genie’s out of the bottle now.

Wednesday:

“Law & Order: SVU” – If there’s one thing that can be said for TNT and me, it’s that we know drama. This is the big bad mamma-jamma granddaddy of them all. If you don’t like L&O: SVU, you don’t like drama. Disclaimer: do not watch while pregnant, or for at least two months post-partum. Trust me.

“CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” – It’s the show that single-handedly ruined the jury system! You should see me watching this show; it’s a thing of beauty. I have to translate for my husband. What’s a GC mass-spec? What does it mean when they “put out a BOLO”? At what stage in decomposition to blowflies first appear? You’d know, too, if you watched. If you’re not a pro, you might want to start with the dumbed-down “CSI: Miami,” or the super-duper dumbed-down, spell-everything-out-for-you “CSI: New York.” Once you know what DNA stands for, come play with the big kids in Vegas.

Thursday:

“Missing” – I must confess to pulling a Maureen on this one; I have the entire season banked on my DVR and cannot bring myself to start it. Ashley Judd is cute, and all, but it just seems like a TV version of that Liam Neeson movie I wasn’t interested in. Has anyone seen this? Should I bother? Please comment.

“Person of Interest” – Jim Caviezel is so BA in this show. He’s like a real-life Batman. And I mean just Batman; the Bruce Wayne half is played by Michael Emerson (Benjamin Linus from “Lost”). Basically, Bruce’s computer tells him someone will be involved in a crime, but there are no details. We don’t even know if this person is the victim or the perpetrator. Then he sends Batman in to protect/foil the… person…of interest. Oh, okay. Now finally I get the title.

“The Mentalist” – Imagine a fake psychic so charming you’d gladly hand him your wallet, then make him a cup of tea. Imagine said psychic gets too cocky, taunts a serial killer on national tv, and has his wife and child murdered as payback. Patrick Jane is the phony psychic in question, and he atones for the deaths by working with the police, using the observational skills he honed as a crook to fight for the good guys. In case I made that sound to corny, I should add that he totally plans to murder the guy who killed his family, once he finds him.

“Awake” – This premise is as high-concept as they come. A happy family has a car accident. The wife dies. Then, the husband goes to sleep and awakens to an alternate reality in which the son died, not the wife. Each day, he toggles back and forth between these universes, unclear on which one is real. He sees two different shrinks in each universe (one played by the super-rad B.D. Wong, of L&O: SVU), who both insist that the other universe is a dream. Oh, and did I mention he’s a detective, and has to solve crimes on top of all this? And that he gets clues to the crime in Universe A while he’s in Universe B? And his boss (Laura Innes, from “The Event”) is super-shady, and possibly involved in the accident/double universeness? Yeah. Here’s a tip: to remember which universe he’s in, he wear a rubber band on his wrist- red in the one where his wife’s alive, green for his son (their favorite colors, respectively). The entire color tones for the show follow this rule; wife-universe is shot in warm tones, and son-universe is in cool tones.

Friday:

“Grimm” – Another high-concept cop show. Nick Burkhardt is a Portland detective who just learned that all the fairy tale monsters we grew up hearing about are sort of real. And he’s a Grimm, a person tasked with keeping them in line. Big Bad Wolves are dudes who turn into wolves and eat little girls. The Three Bears kill trespassers. And so on. Unfortunately, Nick got the memo a little late, just before his great-aunt dies, passing on way too little information before she did so.

“In Plain Sight” – Inspector Mary Shannon is a grumpy U.S. Marshall, charged with handling witnesses for the U.S. Federal Witness Protection Program. She takes no guff, but gives plenty. I wish she was real, because I desperately want to be her friend.

I hope this rounds out your viewing schedule. These are only a handful of the 80+ (no joke) shows that I regularly watch, so if that’s not enough, I can always write a Part Three.

TV shows worth watching

Let me first begin by saying that DVR is the greatest invention of my generation, hands down. Ya, the internet has lots to offer but do you remember when you had to find a "tape" to record your favorite show so you could go out on a Wednesday night? Or worse, when you forgot to set up the tape or had to call your mom to hit record right at 8? The stress of that PLUS actually having to understand the Dewey Index System in order to research your book report....kids today shouldn't be having the troubles that they do because they don't even know what stress is!

So with unending gratitude to my DVR, I am able to sample lots of shows and decide which ones stay and which ones go from my weekly regiment. I won't kid you; most stay. There's a whole ranking system of what has to be watched on the night it airs vs. what can wait for the weekend and what needs my full attention vs what can be on in the background. Some shows are best enjoyed fresh while others should be savored marathon style when a few episodes have accumulated.

Let's dissect, day by day, what you should consider adding to your DVR repertoire.

Sunday: Mob Wives, Once Upon A Time, Tough Love, NYC 22
This is just right now. Two months ago, the #1 Sunday priority was clearly Downton Abbey.
For now, I stick with Mob Wives mostly out of loyalty, something very important to the ladies' way of life. Admittedly, I am like 5 episodes behind and have not enjoyed this season nearly as much now that new characters have been introduced to the posse. I'm a little mad at VH1 for assuming I will just accept them with no warning or introduction.
Once Upon A Time is really cute. It doesn't suck me in or get priority status but it's something Hubby and I can watch together and it'd definitely creative.
Tough Love New Orleans just started a couple of weeks ago. Week 1 was really great. Week 2 was vanilla. This will only be week 3 so the jury is still our. Generally, though, this show is a fun one and Steve Ward's no nonsense style is right up my alley.
NYC 22. I haven't actually watched it yet but I keep DVRing it in the hope that I will sit down one day and get into it. I think I initially set the recording for Hubby because it looks like a lot of the shows he has loved in the past but he has been watching them on demand so I don't know if this will stay on the list for long.

                                                            image from Wikipedia

Monday:How I Met Your Mother, RuPaul's Drag Race
HIMYM is one of the few sitcoms I care to follow regularly. New episodes are infrequent, it feels, but even catching a rerun is a good time. Let's be real, it's this generation's Friends. Good humor, characters you care about. Except Robin. I really don't like Robin. Am I supposed to?
RuPaul's Drag Race is super underrated. This show is the best combination of all things. It's funny and fluffy, catty as all competition shows should be, but also sneaks in valuable lessons about bullying and social equality. Not only that but they have their own lexicon that helps me feel like one "the girls".

Tuesday:White Room Challenge
This one is new to the list. Tuesdays were empty for a while after Teen Mom ended. I just can't do 16 and pregnant; even I have limits. It feels like it's one of 3 or 4 different depressing scenarios playing out each week. So I just discovered White Room Challenge on HGTV. It's an hour of fun with four designers tasked with one of the favorite challenges from each season fo HGTV's Design Star. They each have to transform a plain white room into something amazing using random things: sometimes it's restaurant supplies, sometimes it's flowers.

Wednesday:Survivor, Criminal Minds, America's Next Top Model, Couple's Therapy
Survivor is classic reality tv and I love it. Kudos to them for always trying to change some dynamic to make each season feel different, too. This season is filled with idiots and unlikeable ladies but it's still a priority.
Criminal Minds gets taped if there's time and space. It's totally not priority but can be a good compromise when Hubby wants to watch tv with me. It's a good show, don't get me wrong. But I don't need to follow it each week.
Top Model is also kind of weak this season with it's "British Explosion". But the weird photo shoots and crazy things that come out of Tyra's mouth keep me coming back for more!
Couple's Therapy is the first season of a new VH1 show. There are people who love reality tv Bravo style and then there are VH1ers, of which I fall into the latter category. I give most of what they throw at me a try. This show combines the therapeutic elements that we knew and loved from shows like Celebrity Rehab and it does involve D list celebrities, which is interesting because you get to see a totally unexpected side of their personas. I like this show most for the therapeutic interventions. Since that's my line of work, it's really cool to me to see how they "work" with the couples.
Wednesday is my favorite tv night of the week.

                                                                 Image from Wikipedia

Thursday:The Big Bang Theory, Touch, The Pauly D Project
Big Bang is just funny. Like HIMYM, it's just a sitcom that is just as good to watch as a rerun as new. It always brings a smile.
Touch is more for Hubby. To me, it's background tv. It's clever but I don't think dramas are my thing.
Pauly D. is one of those best devoured as a marathon shows. It's not Jersey Shore. It's not wonderful by any stretch of the imagination. I kind of hope it doesn't get a second season. But on a day when you don't really want to think, you can down a few episodes effortlessly. It's the Skittles of the tv world.

Friday:Who Do You Think You Are, The Ultimate Fighter
I feel really passionate about each of these shows in totally different ways.
Who do you think you are inspired it's own blog post once. It tracks the genealogy and stories of relatives of celebrities. It's fascinating, enriching, and often brings me to tears. It's also really frustrating because so much hard work is done for them and I am jealous. There, I said it. I want to be on the show.
The Ultimate Fighter is the only sport I care about. It's Mixed Martial Arts fighting. All the guys live in one house and train as two teams under pro coaches, who also fight at the end of the season. The fights are live and exciting. I like that it shows that these guys have real heart. They are not just meatheads wanting to be violent; they have dynamic background stories and you see more of their personalities than what gets to the ring. It's such an odd thing for me to adore and I don't even watch it with my husband. But I'm a super fan and this gets priority.

                                                            Pic from MMA weekly

Saturday: nothing
Saturday is meant for catching up on last week's shows! Maybe watch some HGTV shows, a little Storage Wars, some Golden Girls or Roseanne.

Let me close by cautioning that my DVR is 70-80% full most of the time because I don't really get to watch all of this tv every week. I only feel safe revealing all of this to you because you know that I am not a 659 lb man that sits on the couch only reviewing the above shows. I read, travel, exercise, go to work, live an otherwise fulfilling life without all of this "junk". But I believe tv is great self care; sometimes you need to shut down your own head for a bit and watch the drama that ensues on the screen. That's my rationalization, at least. What are your priority shows?

Book Boyfriends

1. I hate that Facebook sends me a text message when I try to log in from a "new device". Really?? My home computer that is 2.5 years old and way too slow is new to you?

2. I am not digging the new blogger interface. Maybe if I took the time to read about it I wouldn't be so cranky about it but I'm here to write, not to read. I totally sound like one of those people complaining about a new Facebook layout and "how can I get back the old version?". I think with Blogger there's actually a way but, again, that would require work I am not yet willing to expend. Complaining is so much easier. It's always been my go-to first course of action. People love that about me.

3. I found a new book boyfriend this weekend. His name is Chase Jennings and he lives in the book Article 5. I wrote a long,enthusiastic review on Goodreads already. You can find it here. If that let's you into my personal Goodreads page, my bad. If you want to impersonate me as a reader, at least make me look smart, please. But back to the important stuff: this book was radtastic. It was one of those books that makes you sad when you are finished because you like "spending time" with the characters so much. I didn't love the lead girl, Ember, so much. Her thought process was all wrong a lot of the time but it created more tension. In my review I likened it to Rhett and Scarlett in Gone With the Wind, how you just want to shake them and make them communicate more effectively and stop hurting each other. The lead male, my favorite book boyfriend to date, Chase, was just yummy. Surly and strong yet wounded and sensitive. Standing up for his girl and caring for her more than himself. That's the way it should be done!

4. Now I'm just killing time until Insurgent, the sequel to Divergent by Veronica Roth, arrives on my doorstep on Tuesday. I like the boyfriend in that, too. Four. For how many fears he has. I hate most of the character names in young adult books. I think that trend has something to do with all the weird names kids get now, an attempt by their parents to make them unique. As someone with a non-traditional name (but in a Golden Girls, old lady way and not a state-turned-name-replacing-an-i-with-a-y kind of name way), I will tell you that it's really frustrating as a kid to go to the dollar store or the Christmas Tree Shoppe and to not be able to find a pen/mug/key chain with your name on it. I think I have gone on this rant here before so I apologize....the scars of youth surface so quickly:) Anyway, I kind of like the name Four, contrary to all logic I just stated. And I like the character Four and am looking forward to him filling the book boyfriend spot on Tuesday that Chase left vacant this afternoon.

5. Maybe I will only write numbered posts from now on. They are good for my brain.

Friday Thoughts

I'd like to start one of those "Thankful Thursday" or "Favorites Fridays" kinds of posts but I know as soon as I did, I would forget to post the following week and would feel too guilty and it would never work. Therefore, today you will get a jumble of list like items that I might have wanted to tell you about if I were able to gather all my thoughts consistently on one day of the week.

Also, I'd like to express my shame and sorrow at being the worst about posting travel pictures. When I am traveling, I am often thinking of how great it will be to blog about x,y, or z. But then I get home and life happens and it sweeps away all my good intentions. At least I have all these fun pictures, cool experiences, and totally accurate opinions to one day share with the world.

My most recent adventure was NYC last weekend. I firmly believe that it takes your next trip to make you fully appreciate your last trip and that was 100% the case for me. Being in New York made me able to complete some thoughts I had about Paris and fully form my experience of it. The two cities are similar in many ways so it was easy to draw comparisons. One area that NY wins, hands down? Pizza! I've been in search of the perfect fresh mozzarella Neapolitan in the Boston area since my return. (To be fair and give Paris an area in which it deserves a gold star, their Metro system is the most user friendly public transportation I have ever met. I kind of miss it.)

So I have been home recuperating from a little minor surgery this week and when I am not dozing from the meds, I have watched about a zillion episodes of Storage Wars, finished another YA novel, and discovered an amazing new website I need to share with you. It's called Forever Young Adult and it's for readers who are "a little more A and a little less Y". Perfect! They review all sorts of YA novels in a very cute way, rating whether the lead character is bff worthy, how swoonworthy the romance is and how intense of a relationship they want to have with this book. For example, they want to be buried with the Hunger Games while they just have summer flings with other books. Meanwhile, the book I finished was Birthmarked and I kind of wanted to leave it out in the rain when I was done. Too bad it the sky was clear.

In a final thought before I go consume a good portion of a pint of Ben and Jerry's Late Night Snack, I want to just express gratitude for my faith community. I really wish everyone had one because they are so helpful! Not only have they brought lots of great meals and daily homemade bread but daily visits and check ins have made what could have been a boring week much more pleasant. I love that an experience that most people view as negative such as surgery can turn into a great week for me!

My Hunger Games Movie Review: Part 2

After listing all the things I thought could have been done better in the Hunger Games movie, I felt a little bad. It's not a fair representation to list only the criticism. I guess I embrace the nay-saying comments more strongly because so many people really loved the movie and I don't feel it is deserving of such strong praise. But to balance out my gloomy Gus-ness of yesterday, today I will put a Pollyanna spin on the movie and list the things that were done really well.

1. Behind the scene of the Games. Hands down, this is what the movie did the best. Even better than the book, really, although maybe that's just my imagination's fault. I knew the games themselves were ripe for development on the big screen but was extra impressed with the communication of how the gamemakers manipulated the environment. The creation of the muttations was a highlight for me.
2. The Violence of the Games. A lot of people had opinions about this matter, especially curiosity before the movie was released. How do you show kids dying on screen in a tasteful way? They nailed this. The chaotic music, the screams, the blank eyes and yet only one image that sticks out in my mind as graphic. This was a tough one to balance and I think a middle ground was perfectly struck.
3. Peeta's camouflage. This detail, alone, might be enough rationale to make books into movies and balances out at least half of my negative comments from yesterday's post. The richness of the visual is what movies are all about and on screen this detail really came alive for me.
4. Katniss's dress. Another visual detail that only the big screen can really make you wrap your head around. I appreciated that it was not over the top.
5. Lenny Kravitz. He was just so good to look at. Enough said.

Photo credit to Lionsgate

6. Stanley Tucci. His look, his smile, his interviews. It just all felt right. In fact, I think he was way stronger than either of the leads when it came to the interviews. I absolutely adored when he appeared in the woods in Katniss's hallucination; it was so Willy Wonka-esque. He was over the top in the right way.

As a final note, I can't add Jennifer Lawrence to either list and I think that's noteworthy. Going into the movie theater, I had a lot of doubts about her as Katniss. Having seen her at the premiere and on magazine covers, she didn't appeal to me as an actress as the person to play such a pared down, humble character. She dresses and presents herself as more sexy than I would like a young adult female lead to model for the target demographic. Admittedly, I like the Twilight books and movies, too and feel I have been spoiled by the fact that Kristen Stewart and her character Bella seem relatively interchangeable. But when all was said and done, Lawrence did a decent job with the role and it's not part of her job to appear a certain way outside of filming.

I'd love to hear your opinions about the goods, the bads, and the Capital fashions!

My Hunger Games Movie Review: Part 1

What did Siskel and Ebert call their movie reviews? Because it feels pretty lame-o to title this blog post "Hunger Games Movie Review". So uncool that I smiled and it felt hipster cool. Funny how that works.

But let's get down to the meat of things since this review is already nearly a month after the movie's release date. To people who read the series, the movie is still relevant even if it's a few weeks old so I still feel within my limits to rant about it.

The best way I can sum up my feelings about the movie is to say that I loved it the way that you love an alcoholic parent; it's all you've got so you cling to it. The Hunger Games trilogy of books were some of my favorites ever. Classical literature? Perhaps not. But compulsively readable? Totally! I legit locked myself in a spare room with snacks so I could totally focus (and keep my energy up) for hours at a time. I remember finishing one of them at like 2 am and instead of finally going to sleep, I went downstairs to retrieve the next one and start in on that. The point is I loved those books, the storyline, the characters... and I was pumped to see it come to the big screen.

Image from IMDB

I saw the movie three times. First, I took a day off from work and went with my cousin who had also read the books. We talked about book/movie comparisons enough to get shushed by the old lady in front of us. I almost threw down but I didn't want to miss any of the movie. My first impression was mostly positive because I really wanted to like it. The second time I went with a friend who had also already seen the movie. It was playing in the 21+ theater that includes popcorn and soda and we were hungry and thirsty and seeking some escapism. It was then that I started to dislike the movie. The third time I went with my husband who did NOT read the books and I wanted to see if he understood the flow or if he would want to read the books after. There were some pretty big gaps in the relationship development and I wanted to see how he perceived it all. I also wanted to see if he jumped when the muttations came out of the woods. He was a wonderful test subject and didn't disappoint on any of the test variables.

So what's so hard to love about this movie? This requires a list.
1. Katniss and Peeta's young love. Let's just start with the biggest. The development of this relationship is pretty essential to the whole series so to mess that up feels like a big deal to me. I felt like the movie didn't make Katniss's ambivalence clear enough or explain it enough. In the book, it's much more clear that she is playing up the romance based on Haymitch's advice but that gets really glossed over in the movie.
2. Rue and Katniss's relationship. To be fair, the movie did a good job conveying the grief Katniss felt about Rue. I think this issue was more about time; the inevitable lack of time a movie has to get across so many nuances. There wasn't enough time in the movie to give a lot of air to create more depth to this relationship. However, it could have been more spelled out that Rue reminded Katniss of her sister.
3. Haymitch's air time. Woody makes a great Haymitch, don't get me wrong. While I read it, I pictured more of a Robert Downey, Jr, to be honest but I was not disappointed with the casting choice. Nor can I justifiably complain about how  he played the role or developed the character. There were just a few more details that felt important to me while reading the book that were omitted. Again, I recognize that the movie had quite an undertaking to capture the whole story and edits were needed. That being said, Haymitch falling off the stage and then when Peeta put him to bed so Katniss didn't have to felt like they would have been easy enough additions. Especially the putting to bed part because it helped develop the relationship between Peeta and Katniss.
4. The reaping. Two things about this, one of which is partially resolved. The clothing and setting seemed very antiquated. A futuristic setting was not translated. Even in a really poor community, I would think the hand-me-down clothing would be more from our current day and age than what appeared to be from the 50's. And the black and white pictures?? This is the one that is partially resolved for me, though, because my husband hypothesized that simple, handmade clothing would be cheaper as would non-colored photography so that was what I was seeing. I'll take it.
The one that is not yet resolved for me is when Katniss volunteers in the book, Effie makes a bigger statement about participation in the games being an honor and that she didn't want her sister to steal the glory. A little detail, a simple scripted line, but it really drove home the Capital's lack of understanding the population, an especially valuable point in relating the Capital to our own government and times when the collective "we" don't feel we are represented.
5. Gale and Katniss. Well, Gale at all. He was good to look at but we didn't see much of him. And for  my taste, the feeling that the two were romantically involved was more strong than I took away from the book. This relationship will also be key in subsequent movies so I am curious as to how it will be handled.
6. President Snow. He was a villian in this movie in a clearer way than I felt when reading the book. And so many of those conversations didn't actually happen. To be honest, I don't know totally why some of them were added to the movie. Some, I know, were added to move the plot along but others could have been omitted to make more room for some of the things I listed above.

Ok, so this is really long and I haven't told you the positives yet. I'm just being a Negative Nancy and that's not fair because, overall, I am still really grateful for the movie. I enjoyed the hype and will still be super excited for #2. Despite the myriad of evidence in this post to the contrary, I'm not mad at how the movie came out, overall. Which makes me think that tomorrow's post will tell you all the things I enjoyed about the movie. Because I'm a glass half full kind of gal and want to leave you on a high note:)

Book Crack

The way I usually feel about travel is the way I am currently feeling about books. My inbox is usually very full of travel deal emails that I enjoy pouring over when I need to decompress. Lately, though, my most exciting emails are my Goodreads updates, the Barnes and Noble "What we've been reading", and the Amazon price alerts for deals on books on my wishlist.

I fully confess that I am way too into young adult dystopian novels, especially trilogies, right now. Why are they all trilogies?? And because they are fast reads, I am more frequently in search of my next fix. I read other people's reviews and keep a lengthy to-read list, doing my research the way I would if I were searching out a good hotel for a trip. Ok, I admit it. Even more than I would do for a hotel.

It's actually been really enlightening to note that I go on book theme kicks the same way I do with certain foods. In college I was obsessed with red Jello-they kind you buy premade, not the looser kind you mix yourself. I loved it and ate at least one a day, often washed down with red Kool Aid, another kick at the time. It was a very distinct time and then it just ended. I very rarely have Jello or Kool Aid anymore (that line would fit perfectly in an elementary school kid's primer, huh? because I think they are the only people who should really be uttering such a statement).

Historical fiction, specifically English Tudor court history was a big kick for a while. It was my red jello. I read Philippa Gregory like she was a guru. I wrote her book release dates in my calendar and made sure to work a trip to the bookstore in on those days. Now, I just pre-ordered Insurgent, the follow up to Divergent by Veronica Roth, to get delivered to my door the day it comes out. Clearly, I am regressing and morphing into a 14 year old girl again. Which reminds me that I still want to write about my thoughts on the Hunger Games movie!....expect that tomorrow:)

Catching up...I seem to need to do this a lot

I haven't written a post in forever but it's not for lack of thinking about it!
First, I spent a week in Paris. I don't like to publicize my trips before I go just for home security and such so I couldn't share all of my excitement leading up to what I considered the trip of a lifetime. I had been dreaming about all that Paris would be since middle school. Well, it wasn't all that I dreamed it would be. It was different than I expected but once I let that settle in, Paris was certainly charming and I am looking forward to sharing pictures and writing much more about which sites I think you could bypass and which excursions are not to be missed.
When I first returned home from my trip, I was hit with some challenging news that would impact family finances. So another big trip may not be in the cards for 2012....although I won't rule anything out yet!
Then I started writing a review of the Hunger Games movies. And even though it will be stunningly outdated by the time I post it, I still plan to. It brought up a lot of feelings for me as I looooved the book series and was so curious to see how it would translate on screen.
But I am finally here now and as superficial as this post may be, it's  my entry back into blogging. Just laying the ground work to start sharing my thoughts again......
So happy day after Easter! And we will be conversing again soon!