Converted becomes converter

So, those of you who read this drivel on a regular basis have, no doubt, noticed my ever growing love and admiration for all things Battlestar Galactica. Again, many thanks to Beth and Bill for all of the arm twisting, etc. that "forced" me to become addicted to this great show. Once I became addicted to BSG I thought it might only be fair to force my addiction on others. I made Squater watch BSG (and some Ugly Betty) while he squatted with me for ten days over Xmas. He now frequently asks me about BSG and claims to want to watch more. But my true feat of accomplishment is getting Angie addicted to BSG. My assault was subtle. "Just netflix the miniseries that leads to the series", I would say. If you don't like it, then you have only wasted two hours of your life. But I knew she would be hooked after that and I was right. So, one more converted BSG lover exists. Aren't you proud of me Beth and Bill?

Last night I watched The Departed. It was actually very well done. I usually am not a big fan of mobster stuff. I mean, I like the Godfather series but I have a hard time telling you the difference between Casino, Good Fellas, and the like. I don't know why I don't really like them. I mean, I like movies where people get killed; I like getting the bad guy; I like bad boys with accents. But I digress. I really wasn't sure I was going to like this film mostly because I can't say I have really loved Leo DiCaprio in anything, with one exception being Catch Me If You Can, since his stint on Growing Pains where he played that homeless kid the Seaver's take in because Kirk Cameron said Jesus wouldn't let him play a bad boy anymore and the show really needed that cute, bad boy character. Anyway, I thought Leo really acted the shit out of this role. Matt Damon as a baddie was nice to see too. Usually he plays the good guy and I bet it was fun for him to play and double-crossing asshole. Jack Nicholson basically does what he's been doing for the last thirty years. I did love that Martin Sheen is in the film. Anyway, the story was very compelling and the movie didn't drag for me at all.

I know that Little Miss Sunshine and The Departed are both up for Best Picture Nominations at the Academy Awards but honestly, I am not sure how one chooses between these two films. They are so vastly different and evoke different emotions. I would say personally, I enjoyed LMS more but I am not sure it's the better film. Now I just have to watch The Queen, Babel, and Letters from Iwo Jima by Sunday. Ha!

The Damn Millionaires

B-Mart sent me the very awesome cd, Be Sure Your Sins Will Find You Out by The Damn Millionaires, for my birthday. Thanks, B-Mart.

I admit freely that I was mainly interested in this cd because of it's close ties to two of my favorite TWoP recappers. The lead singer of The Damn Millionaires is the super fab Al Lowe and she recaps all things Gilmore. The lead guitarist, Vince, is married to AB Chao who recapped all things Everwood and therefore is in my heart forever. I figured that with these two ladies somehow involved that I would never be steered wrong. Shockingly, I was right.

Be Sure Your Sins Will Find You Out is a lovely "alt-country"/bluegrass/folk cd. I really hate the term "alt-country" but this cd is not what I would classically calls country, bluegrass, or folk but it's not rock either. It's a beautiful mesh of all these things. Al's voice is great. The songs themselves are pretty and the cd is over before you know it. Which is good and bad. You know, because sometimes less is more and sometimes I think, I could use another song or two.

Really, the best compliment I can give The Damn Millionaires is that they remind me of Alison Krauss and Union Station. In case y'all don't know, I love me some Alison Krauss.

I really like the songs Magic City, My Reasons, House on Fire, Brand New Year, and even with it's obvious religious overtones, the a capella I Have Decided to Follow Jesus. So, that's like half the cd.

This is definitely a cd I would take with me on a road trip.

Late to the party

Well, last night I finally sat down to watch Little Miss Sunshine. Man, I am sorry I waited this long to watch this fabulous movie. I know that Beth reviewed this flick months ago but LMS just got lost in my overflowing netflix (which, btw, I am sure to never get through and is most likely the reason why I never read books anymore) queue .

Anyway, to recap, Little Miss Sunshine is about a family that travels to California so the daughter can compete in the Little Miss Sunshine competition. And, since it's a road trip movie you just know some bad things are going to happen. I don't want to give away any details for those still waiting to watch this film but the talent competition was so damn funny. I haven't laughed that hard since I last watched that episode of Arrested Development where Mrs. Featherbottom took a spill off of the stairwell into the living room.

I am trying to watch all of the flicks nominated for best picture this year but I am not sure I am going to get to do that. I loved this film and hope it gets some award recognition. So, go check it out.

I am not Sorkin's bitch anymore

Last September I sang the praises of Studio 60. Well, I am here to say that every once in a while I am wrong.

Studio 60 and I are breaking up. I am done. I don't care about Matt and Harriett. I don't like Danny as a stalker who woos the girl with his stalking and then wins her. WTF? I don't like that Simon feels superior to Darius. I just want to throw things at my tv when this show is on. The only people who make this show bearable are the characters of Jack, Lucy, and Tom. And they are barely in the thing. I get it, Sorkin. You are pissed because Chenoweth dumped you. Get over it. Not all of us think that blonde girls who try to play both sides of the religion fence are HOTT. So, I quit.

Sorkin, you lost me on your ego tripping, axe-grinding, pandering to I don't know who. Oh right, it's YOU. Also, I am sick of you telling me that I am stupid for liking Project Runway.

Go frak yourself, Sorkin.

I am going to use the next few Monday nights to watch more things on netflix. Then I am going to give The Black Donnellys a try. Because dude, BOB's Toye is in it. I just love seeing the guys from Band of Brothers (btw, if you haven't read the TWoP recaps for BOB you are missing out) acting.

All hail the Gauises/Gauii

As Beth pointed out, Sunday is the night of Gauises (or is it Gauii?). Rome and BSG give me my fill off all things Gaius. And, while Rome will end this season, I just found this gem online telling me that BSG is getting a fourth season. "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition", to quote the Dixie Chicks.

Yesterday was my birthday. Thanks to everyone who sent emails and called with birthday wishes. I had a pretty low key b-day as snow was predicted last night. But all cannot be lost when I get to watch a new BSG (didn't get to watch it on Sunday).

And now, I will review a b-day prezzie.

Here is the newest Justin Timberlake cd entitled Futuresex/Lovesounds. Well, I can only say that this will be a bit of a love fest. The songs are tight and they flow well into each other. Plus, it's JT so you spend half the cd dancing. I am chair dancing in my office right now. Picture that, my friends.

I love the songs Sexyback (what's not to like about a song where the video is clearly a messed up version of Alias?), What Comes Around (actually not about BritBrit but Elisha Cuthbert who broke JT's best pal's heart), and Damn Girl the best so far. Of course, I've only had the cd about four days. Give me time to listen to it another seven hundred times like Justified and I will be able to fall in love with the whole disc. Anyway, all you JT haters out there just shush it. I love the cd and you can mock me all you like but it won't change my mind. Or change the fact that I am still chair dancing. Why couldn't they ask a JT question on the WSOPC quiz?

Speaking of the WSOPC quiz, I am taking the online quiz tomorrow night. I figure with multiple choice questions I have a much better chance of getting on this show. In fact, the plan is that B-Mart, Andrew, and I all make in on our own and then reform our team, Sink the Biz, for the show. Wish us luck.

Dear Joss

Dear Joss Whedon,

Hello. My name is Jalehlabad and I love you and your shows. I admit that I came late to the Joss Whedon party. I admit that I once even mocked Buffy but that was back when I was young and stupid. I am now a convert and I apologize for being very wrong in the past. But enough about that.

I read online that you are no longer doing the Wonder Woman movie. So, I just have one question to ask you. When are you coming back to television, Joss? Your fans love and miss you and the joy you bring to our telly sets. I would like to add my house to the number of people who watch you in real time as I have never been able to do that with one of your shows.

Please come back soon. Television misses you, Joss.

H and K,

Jalehlabad

Lost: Am I Over It?

Last night was the "premiere" of Lost and I have to say I am kind of meh about it. I didn't watch last night but I did tivo it. I am not sure I am on the Lost train anymore. I feel like they are going to pull an Alias and never really answer the big questions. I don't know whether I care all that much about the characters, the story, the mythos, the islands, etc. So, I am going to watch these two episodes and then decide whether or not to keep on watching. Since their hiatus I have been using Wednesdays to watch netflix stuff and it's worked out really well. Did any of you tune in last night? If so, what did you think?

Instead of watching Lost last night, I watched some of Cambridge Spies (something I netflixed) starring the wonderful Toby Stephens and some other people who are quite good. Cambridge Spies is a BBC mini series about four Brits in the 1930's who are recruited to become Russian spies. The production quality is great and the story is quite engaging. I haven't finished all of disc one but I plan on doing that tonight. The story is based on true events that happened in England. It's interesting to me that these young men believe the only way to fight Fascism is to become a Communist. But I have to say that the naked Toby Stephens scenes more than makes up for the flaws I find in the thoughts of these Cambridge gents. It's interesting to see the lengths to which these four men will go to fight for their cause. They give up the loves of their lives, pretend to be straight, pretend to be the antithesis of who they are in order to fight for the cause. I wonder how many of us have a cause we would give up everything for?

In other awesome news, I got one of the best birthday presents ever (I think that my washer and dryer is the only gift that tops this but now that I think about it that was actually a graduation present). Maire bought me an ipod shuffle. How fab is that? It's so frakkin' cute and green. I loves it. It even has my name on it. Whee. Plus, now my Rio Forge, which I still love, looks huge next to the shuffle. I will be your maid of honor every time you get married. Hee. Just kidding, Corey.

Ask and ye shall recieve

It seems like it was only a few days ago that I pondered when Glarkware would reproduce new Frakkin' Toaster shirt. Oh wait, that's because it was only six days ago! It looks like I must have been in sync (as opposed to 'NSync) with Wing and Glark since my wish was granted.

Now, go buy a frakkin' toaster shirt. All the cool kids are doing it.

Take my voice away

Well, this past weekend left the taste of Aleve cold and sinus in my mouth. It started out brilliantly with me getting a speeding ticket about 15 miles from home on my way up to Chicago. (I don't want to hear it, Hanover Crew.) This was just a harbinger of things to come. Some of you may have read over at B-Mart and GYMH's blogs that we failed to pass the VH1 test and therefore will not be dominating the WSoPC. I still am calling bullshit on that one. Le sigh. I would like to post on our activities after our failure but I really think that it would be hard to top Andrew and so I will leave it to him. However, see picture above. And know that I was laughing very hard. Pictured above two persons who can only be a FauxXander and someone channeling Vlad the Impaler. I am still mourning our inability to capture a picture of the douche guy and the girl who looked like she popped out of a really bad Eightie's video.

My body rebelled the next morning by virtually depriving me of all vocal abilities. Therefore, I was not able to adequately yell about the IU loss to Iowa. However, I was able to silently squee at the afternoon trip to Ikea and gasp at the retardedness of the nightly viewing of one of the worst movies of all time, Beerfest. Wow, that was a bad movie. Although, now I am glad that I can delete that crapfest from my netflix queue.

On Sunday, I saw a tie for the worst film of the weekend, Because I Said So. I don't know that I have ever wanted to actually murder Diane Keaton before (even when she chooses to dress like Annie Hall on crack) but I did after wasting those two precious hours of my life. I will never get them back. The only redeeming qualities about this film were Lauren Graham, Mandy Moore, the very cute Gabriel Macht, and a cameo by Tony Hale (aka Buster Bluth). But even all of that does not make up for the utter shit fest that was this movie. The script was crap and again, no one likes a shrill Diane Keaton. NO. ONE. I can say that as a lover of chick flicks that even this one will not go on my secretly watch on Saturday afternoons but tell people I am watching PBS list, like say Bring It On. I think this really illustrates the level of badness, especially when you couple that with my love for Lauren Graham (it knows no bounds, my friends).

I have to say that overall, it was a pretty fun weekend. Many good times were had and I "laughed" as best I could (it really sounded more like wheezing) about all the funny things that happened. Plus, who doesn't like to see friends that they haven't seen in over a year and some friends they saw at X-Mas (Hi, Ang!)? Although, you know you spent the weekend somewhere cold when you come home to the StL and the weather is 11 degrees and you think, "man, it's warm out here."