WSOPC: Big Bucks, No Whammy

So, B-Mart alluded to my weekend plans with her and GMYH over on her blog. I can tell you with great ease that I am filled with equal parts fear, doubt, hope, thoughts of world domination, and pop culture. I really have no idea how this will play out. All I can hope for is that we frakkin' bring it. I know I plan on being as on my game as I can be. Either way, I imagine copious amounts of alcohol will be imbibed following our trial by fire. Wow, if you read that sentence you might think I was taking the ACT and not a quiz about movies, music, and television.

In other news, I am all caught up on the brilliant Battlestar Galactica. There really are just no words for how frakkin' awesome this show is. As I called, season three made so much more sense to me once I had seen the miniseries and the first two seasons. Now I wish I had bought that Frakkin' Toaster shirt Glarkware had on sale a few months back. My only hope is that they offer it up again sometime soon. I really can't wait for the upcoming episodes which I am calling "The Passion of Gauis." Seriously, is James Callis rocking the Anglo-Jesus look or what?*

So, Gilmore last night. B-Mart, I am sure we are to disagree as you like the Chris and I do not. So, I was glad to see him leave, although it was quite babyish. However, I kind of felt badish for him last night reading that letter. It was more like an exasperated, "DUH, tard boy. How did you not remember that you were never a father to Rory. God. And aren't you the tool who frakked Lor three seconds after she left her fiance'? How are you not the rebound guy? Sigh. Why do I take this stuff so seriously?" Also, poor Grandpa Gilmore. They better not hurt him or else.

Lastly, I finished the Jane Eyre miniseries on PBS. As someone on TWoP said, Toby Stephens is "TEH SEX and I want to lick him." To that I say, "word". Now, I am watching the Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejuidice. I've never seen it before. And nobody plays stick in the mud like Firth. So far, part one was pretty darn good. Unfortch, the wet shirt scene is in part two. Why does Netflix vex me so? And, since Bill brought up Bridget Jones, I thought those of you who like P&P might find this piece from the cutting room floor wherein Bridget interviews Colin Firth (like in the second book) pretty funny.


*Sorry to possibly spoil Bill but you can't get me addicted to a show and then expect me to never speak of it.

Jane Eyre: Part Deux

A while ago I gave you some of my thoughts on the novel Jane Eyre. I must say that reading the book I never thought that Rochester was all that dashing. Witty? Yes. A good match for Jane? I wasn't sure I bought it. Like I said last time, my best gal pal Angie believed this was due to my modern ways and thoughts. I could and do agree with that to some extent. Last night though, I changed my mind.

For those of you who don't know, PBS has a new Masterpiece Theater entitled Jane Eyre. Okay, first of all Rochester is played by the brilliant Toby Stephens who I loved in Twelfth Night. Secondly, they do all the spooky stuff really well. If you've read Jane then you will know that it's a bit of a ghost story and a love story. Masterpiece Theater does a good job of making things a bit eerie without going overboard. Thirdly, I don't know if it's Toby Stephens or what but Jane was right about that Mr. Rochester. He's dreamy. Fourth, they made Adele as annoying as I thought she might be. Finally, I just love the casting of Jane Eyre. Ruth Wilson isn't a beauty or at least not one of those women who you look at and say wow, she's hot but she's cute and she does Jane proud. In a way it reminds me of Ugly Betty. She's not a girl who is "traditionally" beautiful but in reality she is. The last finally part, the beyotchy Blanche Ingram is played by the evil girl from What a Girl Wants. Shut up. I can't help it that I am a sucker for all things Colin Firth (especially movies where he puts on leather pants and dances around). Anyway, I think I might be a closet Anglofile, much to the dismay of my darling Squatter. He's very anti-Anglofile.

So, Part One was last week and Jane has just left to go see the dreadful Mrs. Reed. I can't wait to see the ending. Yes, I know that I know how it ends. I don't care. I am anxiously awaiting what is to come. If you love all things BBC, like I do, then you won't be disappointed. Check out part two or wait for the dvd. I know it's going on my Amazon list. I think I need to reread Jane Eyre.

Drinking, Smoking, and Screwing: A Review

I just finished the book Drinking, Smoking, and Screwing: Great Writers on Good Times. This book is a collection of poems, short stories, and book chapters that deal with, well, drinking, smoking, and screwing.

I liked this because it was easy to read at lunch. Sometimes when I am reading a book at lunch it's hard to find the right cut off point if a chapter is particularly long. Not so with a book like this one.

I also got to read the work of some people I have never read before like Charlie Bukowski and James Thurber. The book also reminded me why I like Dorothy Parker.


Books Read in 2007:

Drinking, Smoking, and Screwing: Great Writers on Good Times ~ edited by Sara Nikles
Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood ~ Ann Brashares

Happiness, thy name is Berlanti

OMG! Ausiello is reporting that Emily VanCamp (forever in my heart as Amy Abbott) is going to play Rebecca on Brothers and Sisters. Woot! I love it when my former Everwoodies get acting jobs and on shows that I even watch and like. I actually gasped in my office reading the news. Bless you, Ausiello for starting the rumor, keeping it going, and never giving up hope that it would come true. I am just happy to see Emily back on a Greg Berlanti show. Now we just need Gregory Smith to show up and my little heart might just burst with happiness.

As for Gilmore Girls last night, I am reserving my thoughts for a later time. I want to watch the episode a second time. But, I did love the Monkey, Monkey Unperpants line (hee) and the long awaited return of my beloved strummy strummy la la music. B-Mart, what did you think?

Team Henry!

It looks like Christopher Gorham is going to be a regular on Ugly Betty. Woohoo!

Now, it's time to get rid of Walter. No offense to Kevin Sussman or anything but I just love Chris Gorham. But you already knew that because I told you so.

Speaking of telling people so, I hope you all go out and watch Lauren Graham's new flick, Because I Said So. Lauren stars opposite Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore in this movie that is sure to be a chick flick. I don't care about that. I just want Lauren to have a flourishing career after Gilmore Girls ends; whenever that happens.

Walkout

This weekend I didn't do a whole lot. There are a couple of reasons for that but mostly it's because I just didn't feel much like going out.

I did get to see my family on Saturday. One of my nieces turned three and so I went to a little party for her. Watching a three year old unwrap presents is pretty entertaining. Then, I had an impromptu slumber party with my oldest sister who didn't want to drive home in the snow only to turn around and drive back to the city for work on Sunday morning. That was fun.

I also watched an interesting HBO docudrama called Walkout on Saturday. Walkout is the true story of the Chicano student movement of 1968. The movie focuses on the core group of student demonstrators but especially on a girl named Paula. With the guidance of a Chicano teacher, the students build support in the, then, five high schools in East L.A. to get equal education for the students. The movement gained momentum and eventually support when the walkouts continued to happen. It was a pretty inspirational film and just goes to show that collective action can make real changes or at least it used to. The following school year the number of Chicano students enrolled at UCLA increased from 40 to 1,200.

I did get to watch Rome last night. It was pretty bitchin'. I am sad to see that Max Pirkis will not be back for the rest of the season but I suppose Octavian needed to age at some point. Also, Cleopatra totally checked out Pullo and I think realized that he's the real father of her child and not Caesar. Again, can't wait for next week.

I am waiting before watching any new episodes of Battlestar Galactica until I get all caught up on the story. I have the last two dvds of season 2.5 to finish and then I am rewatching season 3 and completely being caught up. It's been hard to not click on the TWoP recaplet this morning.

Otherwise, my life is Arabic homework and studying for the World Series of Pop Culture auditions.

Forever in Blue

Forever in Blue:The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares

I have been anxiously awaiting the final installment of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series since about three minutes after finishing book three.

Book four picks up the summer after Carmen, Bridget, Tibby, and Lena spent their first year apart at college. Rather than wearing the pants only in the summer the girls wear them year round since they are always apart.

I don't want to ruin all the details for you but I thought Brashares did an effective job of describing how people often lose and find themselves when they enter that freshman year of college. These girls and their bond remains but rather than it just being there, well, they have to work on their friendships to make sure they the sisterhood remains. Sometimes they excel at this but often they falter.

As usual, I tend to feel Carmen's story more than the others. I seem to relate to her the most. And, as usual, I laughed and cried along with the girls. Also, there were definitely some more adult themes (read: sex) in this book than in the others. Looks like my niece won't be getting these from me for a few more years.

This book is a fine ending to a touching series. I only wish we could get one more book about five years in the future so I could see where these girls end up after college.

Books read in 2007:

Forever in Blue:The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares

Rome-a-licious

Well, as I previously wrote about, Rome is back. If it's possible, it is better than ever. I spent a good part of the last week rewatching season one to get back into Rome. It's funny how a year will change your perspective. When I first watched season one I really hated Atia. I thought she was quite a loathsome creature. She was a nasty, scheming beyotch. This time around, while I still found her quite loathsome, I was shocked at how much less I liked Servillia. I have little to no sympathy for her. But, I suppose the old adage is truer here than in most cases, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Servillia proved that maxim over and over again. I can't wait to see Servillia get her seriously deserved comeuppance.

So, season two. Mikey T. seems to think there is more swearing this go round. I am not sure I agree or rather, I didn't notice it. I was really impressed by the first episode and when it was over I couldn't quite believe an hour had passed. I wanted more.

So, the run down....

The Awesome:

Vorenus going a little bat shit crazy and Pullo being the one to bring him back to life. Talk about some role reversal.

Vorenus and Pullo slaughtering Erastes Fullman's crew and then Erastes himself. Who deserves a beheading more than Erastes? Well, Servillia but I will settle for Erastes. For now anyway.

Mark Antony's slaying of Pompey's son, Quintis. Good riddance, Lt. Harry Welsh.

Calpurnia's brash face spitting reserved for Servillia. That shit was great.

Octavian assuming his new role as Caesar's heir. I loved how it kind of pissed of Mark Antony. I get the feeling there will be more of that to come.

Mark Antony kicking Brutus, Cassius, Cicero, etc. out of town and then forcing Servillia to stay behind. Nice work, MA.

The Bad:

Pullo and Eirene's engagement. Hands of my man, you slave wench. Hee.

Also, Pullo was fully clothed this whole episode. Seems a little unfair to me.

The Sad:

Niobe's funeral pyre was terribly sad. It was made more so by the fact that her children were not there. Which leads me to...Vorenus damning his children and then Erastes kidnapping the kids and violating them. I was crying during Niobe's funeral.

Caesar's funeral pyre was quite moving too.

Can't wait until next Tuesday to find out what happens next. Why Tuesday you ask? Well, because of BSG's move to Sunday. That's why.

Speaking of BSG, well, I am almost half way through season two. I also tivoed yesterday's season three marathon and I plan to rewatch all those episodes after I finish season two. They will probably make a lot more sense to me.

The one where I try to be entertaining but I don't quite think I pulled it off

Today I received one of the funniest emails I've gotten in a very long time. I laughed out loud several times. Now, most of my dear readers may not find any of these things funny for a couple of reasons. Those reasons are as follows:1) you never worked at HC and 2) you do not actually know the people I am talking about. But I can say with great ease that this group of folks are the only reason I maintained sanity while living in SoInd (that's my attempt to try to make Southern Indiana sound cooler like SoCal only it's not quite as catchy sounding).

Nota bene: To keep the anonymity of all persons involved, I am using what are commonly known as the porn names of my pals (i.e. Childhood Animal + Street you grew up on) with a few exceptions.

And now on to the show.


Cheap Beer: A farce in five acts.

Setting: The Broadway on a cold Wednesday night. The rag tag team of scholars and collegiate workers sit in plastic chairs in front of a "fireplace" drinking many a beer. Many, many a beer. Although, I understand that Rico Suave did not drink enough to cover the drinking habits of himself, myself, and Poochie Goldenrod as he specifically agreed to do. Punishments will abound for this lax treatment of alcohol. Possibly food was eaten but not near enough to soak up the beer. And really, that's the way it should be.

Act One:
Rico Suave stands in the lobby of the Broadway awaiting a table. Another couple comes in and sees a brown man. He must work here and not actually be a professor. Couple: IS THERE A TABLE AVAILABLE, HISPANIC, ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT MAN? Rico: Que?

Act Two:
As our rag tag team sits down, Salty and Smoky Nuts is trying to decide if he should take his nuts to his mother's home so they can be enjoyed over a rousing game of football. Deucey Idlewild, well known for only half listening to Salty and Smoky Nuts, asks if his nuts are Salty or Smoky. An innocent question for sure, until Butterscotch West gets involved. Butterscotch inquires, "wouldn't you be the best judge of that, Deucey?" Butterscotch is alluding to the former relations had between Salty and Deucey. Does Deucey ever get an answer? Will Deucey beat down Butterscotch? Tune in next week.

Act Three:
As it goes with beer drinking the conversation tends to get out of hand. Someone, probably Yukon Locust, calls for a song. Butterscotch and Snoopy Missionwood can not let this challenge go. As if they had been practicing for weeks, they begin belting out the chorus to the old standard "Dick in a Box." Butterscotch and Snoopy remind us how one gets their dick in a box with this, "One: You cut a hole in a box. Two: You put your junk in that box. Three: You let her open that box. And that's the way you do it." Soon after Salty and Smoky Nuts asks for pen and paper to write down these instructions.

Act Four:
Yukon has gone home to take care of his child, Madison the Second. But never fear because Rosey Goldenrod swoops in to take his place. Someone asks innocently, "why does Bovine Jaw not let his employees have family pictures on their desks?" Rosey Goldenrod replies (rather smartly I might add), "who knows? Bovine Jaw does like to swing his miniature p***s around." To which I say, brava.

Act Five:
Poochie Goldenrod, well known for her penchant to move houses on average of once a year or so, has decided that the Goldenrod family will once again be moving. Poochie recreates the scenario where she tells her mother-in-law about the move.
Poochie: Guess what? We are moving again. Isn't that great? Not as great as my ta-tas but great none-the-less?
MIL: Are you trying to kill my son?
Poochie: Yes, but only in the bedroom with my inner thighs.

Round One goes to Poochie and her ta-tas.

Finale:
The rag tag team of scholars and collegiate workers stumble back to their homes. It's a good thing the Goldenrod's are related to the town po-po.

HC folks, I miss you all.

ETA: Sorry for the Deucey misspellings.

Jake 2.0

I've liked Chris Gorham since I saw him in the awesome and campy show Popular. When he showed up on Ugly Betty as the super cute Henry I squeed along with all of the other fan girls. But then I went a step further. I made a Chris Gorham wish list on my tivo and set it to record all things Chris Gorham. See, this is why I love tivo!

Anyhoodle, tivo picked up reruns of Gorham's now cancelled show Jake 2.0 on the SciFi channel. The show is kind of like Alias only with a cute boy instead of Sydney. Also, Matt Czuchry (aka Logan on Gilmore Girls) stars as Jake's best pal in the pilot. Who knew? Not me.

Jake 2.0 is pretty fun so far. The premise is that Jake, a computer tech, gets caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. He becomes infected with nanites that turn him into this super soldier/agent guy. There is of course the requisite long time unrequited love Jake has for Sarah (a pal from college); the cute but dorky scientist who oversees Jake's metamorphosis and harbors a secret crush on Jake; Jake's hard nosed partner with a past and probably a heart of gold; and the uptight head of the department.

SciFi is running the entire series over the next couple of Friday nights. You will have missed the first three episodes but it's not hard to pick up the plot. And if it is you can always read the TWoP recaps linked above. I feel like this is one of those good/bad things. I am sad to see that Jake 2.0 is no more but then if it hadn't been cancelled, who would be playing Henry? I don't want to even think about that.

THIRTEEN!

For those of you who don't know, I kind of LOVE the HBO show Rome. What I love most is that season two (and the final season) begins on Sunday. You can spend this week catching up on season one via ondemand or just regular ol' HBO. The previews look crazy intense and the scheming seems to have only begun.

Rome has everything any great television drama should have. It's got sex, greed, double dealing, power plays, a bit of the funny, a lot of nudity (some girl on girl action and a naked Marc Antony [woot!]), some gore, and some fantastic writing. Also, Pullo is hot. I would happily become a citizen of Rome for that brute with a heart of gold. Also, Octavian (who later becomes Caesar Augustus) is played marvelously by the young Max Pirkis. I hope this kid has a great future ahead of him as an actor.

I know that Mikey T. shares my Rome love but really, if you've got cable, you should totally check this show out. I mean, it's not like you don't know what's going to happen. It is history afterall. But the latin scholar inside of me cannot stay away. And really, neither should you.

A new favorite

Maire comes through again.

Check out John Green's, author of ya books Looking for Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines, video blog with his brother. Some of the funniest stuff I have seen in a while.

I actually laughed out loud at work. Some of the catalogers looked at me strangely.

Five things you don't know about me

Maire tagged me.

1. I was born with black eyes.

2. Until I was thirteen I wanted to be a soap opera actress and/or singer.

3. The first cuss word I ever said was in farsi and I was two years old. Ha!

4. Swimming laps is my favorite exercise but I have no access to a pool.

5. I could really use a professional pedicure.


I am tagging Bill, B-Mart, Handrew, and Mikey T.

An update

You may notice that I signed up for Blogger beta. Or not beta anymore. Whatever. All I know is that I lost a bunch of customization. So, don't be offended if you aren't on the scroll bar right this second. I am redoing my customization as I type this.

The year ended and I'm a little late

I know I haven't blogged in a while but that's mostly because I haven't really had much to say. However, I've read a couple of books, seen some telly, and a movie or two. And I plan on telling you all about these things.

So, first things first; the books.

Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

Herland is a novel about a feminist utopia. Gilman sets a story where there is a land inhabited only by women (located somewhere in South America, I assume from the story). Three inquisitive American men go looking for this no man's land. What they find is something akin to a socialist society where women have learned to reproduce (they only have girl babies) without the aid of men. In Herland, everything is done for the good of society rather than for the individual. Two of the men embrace Herland, while one man cannot fathom how women could get along without men for some 2,000 years. Inevitably the story ends badly with the men having to flee the utopia.

I am not sure I can totally get on board with this book, mostly because the little things like spontaneous reproduction is never really explained in a way that made sense to me. But otherwise, it was an interesting read. Gilman was quite a shit disturber back her day; you go girl.

The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye

The Far Pavilions tells the story of the life of Ashton/Ash/Ashok. Ash is born to two British nobles in India. His mother was an adventurous woman and his father a noted scholar. Both of his parents die before he is 6 years old; leaving him in the company of Sita (his nurse). Since Ash looks more like an Indian than a Brit, Sita passes the boy off as her own. And the tale begins. Ash saves the young future Raj of a provincial area and becomes the boy's body servant for many years. During that time he makes life long friends with the horse master and his family and more importantly, with Anjuli, the sister of the young Raj.

When Ash's life becomes endangered at the palace, he escapes and makes his way to his real family. He gets shipped off to England. But India never really leaves Ash. He becomes a soldier and is returned to India. Ash is involved in many skirmishes throughout the country and is often used as a spy because of his intricate knowledge of a variety of languages. Eventually Ash runs into Anjuli again. Love ensues. Ash also ends up in Afghanistan fighting against the Russians.

This book was huge! It was over 1,000 pages and many times I was like enough already. But M.M. Kaye does describe things in intricate detail. This book was originally published in 1978 and the dead on description of tribal life in Afghanistan could be describing today just as easily as it could 1870 whatever. For that I give Ms. Kaye her props. This was an interesting read but it just took me forever to get through it. Maybe I will netflix the movie version.

Why Moms are Weird by Pamela Ribon

I know that Marissa reviewed this book for her blog but I cannot resist saying something about my beloved Pamie's book.

This time around Pamie focuses on the nuances of that often illusive mother-daughter relationship. When Benny's mother and sister are in a car accident, Benny leaves her life in L.A. to help out back home. While helping out, Benny finds out some things about her mother and sister and herself that she never expected.

It's not a shocker that I loved this book. It was an easy read. I pretty much finished it in a day because I couldn't put it down. I think I related a little too much to Benny. I could see aspects of her personality that reflect my own. Anyway, it's a good read.

And finally,


752 Things We Love to Hate and Hate to Love about TV by Tara Ariano and Sarah D. Bunting

This book is arranged in alphabetical order and contains some pretty funny analysis of people, ideas, and shows on and off (aka no longer on) television. Check out a little preview of the book here.

This is a book I picked up for a couple of reasons. First, Wing and Sars wrote the damn thing. It's going to be funny and possibly annoy me at the same time. Heh. Second, it's a nice addendum to my prep work for the World Series of Pop Culture auditions coming up in a frakkin' month. But mostly, I love this book because it just emphasizes all the reasons why I love and hate TWoP. Plus, an entry on Clone High. Stamos!

Wow, this is going to be a long post.

On the television front, well, it's been Battlestar Galactica all the time. This is not a bad thing. I finished Season One of BSG last night. I have to say that starting things in Season Three (as I did) left me with a shit ton of questions. Often the show would end and I would say well, that was pretty awesome and also, HUH? But now that I have seen season one I have many less questions. Can I just say that I love and hate Starbuck? I mean, sometimes I just want to smack her but then I get to watch her in a girl fight with Three and all I can think is poor Starbuck. Also, Baltar is so evil and funny at the same time. He may just be my favorite character.

I watched all of the extras and such. Jamie Bamber's real accent is awesome. It's a shame he doesn't get to use it on the series. I loved him trying to say bugger American style. Heh.

Right now, I am eagerly awaiting the hotness that is Sam Anders. He must show up in season two.

And now, on to movies.

I finally saw Borat. All I can say about that is I love US and A. Hee. I won't bore you for two long with my thoughts. However, I have to say that I probably would have laughed more had I not heard so many of the jokes ahead of time. That said, I did laugh quite often. Of course, this movie not for the politically correct or the faint of heart. I was disturbed many times but I mean that as a good thing. Also, Pamela Anderson has a much better sense of humor than I ever gave her credit for. Go Pam!

Anyhoodle, I promise to be better about posting in the days and weeks to come.

Happy New Year!