This episode takes place immediately after the end of the prior episode, when Annie and Naomi were arguing outside Annie's birthday party, and a guy walked up and introduced himself as Sean, Harry's and Tracy's son.
Annie brings Sean inside and introduces him to Henry and the rest of the family, who grill him on his past. Tracy arrives shortly thereafter and gushes over him.
Kelly gets Naomi and Annie into her office to try to resolve the bad blood between them, and Kelly says that friendships are a huge thing, and it's not worth ruining them by fighting over boys. Since I'd seen the previews of the episode and knew what Brenda was going to be telling Kelly later, I knew Kelly's little lecture was going to come back and bite her in the ass.
Since all of Naomi's group (including Adrianna) is with Annie and Ethan, Naomi looks for other people to hang out with. She sits down at a table of girls, either juniors or seniors, who are obviously incredibly full of themselves. They say they don't allow freshman to sit with them, but Naomi talks her way in by promising to get them reservations to an exclusive restaurant that they want to go to. She then hits up on Ozzie to get the reservation, since his family owns it.
Kelly catches up with Brenda after seeing her in a production of The Scottish Play, and Kelly says that Brenda hasn't returned any of her calls. Brenda says she's been really busy, and when they later meet for lunch, Brenda says that they don't really have anything in common anymore, so she's not sure there's any reason for them to continue to be friends, other than for purely nostalgic reasons. Kelly gets up and leaves.
Harry is supposed to be going to dinner with Tracy and Sean, and Debbie was going to stay home to give them time together, but Tabitha tells her a story that basically says that whatever Harry is involved in, Debbie should be involved in too. OK, so this is the second time Tabitha's actually been nice to Debbie. What gives? The dinner ends up going ok, with Tracy bragging about having taken Sean to this and that swanky place, and Debbie invites Sean to stay with them for a little while, that she can cook for him, and Harry wants Sean to come to a lacrosse game. Sean seems good with all that.
With Harry spending so much time with and worrying about Sean, including at lacrosse practice, Dixon is feeling very left out, especially when there had been an earlier discussion about how much Sean looked like Harry's family. Dixon has already expressed some insecurity about not being Harry's biological son.
Silver is at Annie's while Annie is trying to figure out what cute outfit she's going to wear to the lacrosse game. Annie realizes that she's changed, and that she's changed her focus, that she never cared about clothes and stuff before and how stupid was it to worry about what to wear to a lacrosse game. Silver says no one is making her be different if she doesn't want to. (Annie also noticed that Ethan was none too happy with her earlier when she was dissing Naomi's clothes at school.)
At the lacrosse game, Silver is there with Adrianna, but Ethan can't find Annie. Ozzie asks for payback from Naomi for getting her the best table at the restaurant, and he wants her to kiss their school mascot - a wildcat - in front of everyone. Naomi does it - and it's then revealed that Annie is actually in the mascot costume. Ethan is surprised to see her, and she says that's more her style, which Ethan is perfectly ok with. Naomi has cemented her in with the new group, so I guess we'll be seeing more of the vapid girls in episodes to come. Not really interested in that myself.
During the course of the game, Dixon's anger and frustration about Harry and Sean come through in his play, and he tells off Harry on the field. When Harry later confronts him, Dixon tells him what and how he's feeling about Sean, and Harry actually has a very nice conversation with Dixon.
Kelly gets a call and leaves for the hospital - it turns out Brenda fell off the stage and Kelly was still listed as a contact for her. Brenda jokes that she must have fallen off because she actually said the name of The Scottish Play (I loved that whole bit, btw). Brenda admits that she's been trying to distance herself from Kelly and pushing her away, and then she admits that she slept with Ryan. Kelly says not a word, takes her purse, and walks out. Deja vu all over again. See, I told you so.
The Wilson family have arrived back home, and everyone is settling in for the night. Harry and Debbie tell Sean where his room is, and as he heads there, he calls someone on the phone and says he's in. Hmmm, who did he call and what's up?
Saturday, December 6, 2008
"The Big Bang Theory" - November 24, 2008 episode
Sheldon runs into Penny at the mailbox, and his attempts at "hip" sayings and small-talk delivered deadpan completely discombobulate her. He tells her that Stephanie is the only woman Leonard has dated that Sheldon likes, and he wants this to work out, so he wants Penny to stay away so that Stephanie doesn't perceive her as a threat. And can I just say that I find "peace out" to be a really weird goodbye unless it's done in the right context anyway, so it was really weird and funny for Sheldon to use it.
Leonard and Stephanie are supposed to be having a nice quiet romantic dinner at his apartment, but Sheldon has joined them because he doesn't want Leonard to mess things up. Sheldon is particularly happy with Stephanie because he wants her to be McCoy in their "Star Trek" group.
Leonard and Stephanie are at the movies when Sheldon comes in and interrupts. He makes a comment about Leonard's cryptic invitation, and when Leonard asks him to elaborate, Sheldon says the note Leonard left said "going to the movies" but didn't indicate which movie at what time at which theatre, and Sheldon said he had to go through Leonard's history on his web browser on his computer to figure it out, to which Leonoard looks at him kind of scared. Sheldon then goes around to various seats making weird noises to find the best acoustic seats - only to discover that Leonard and Stephanie are right in them. It was funny to watch the other people in the theatre stare at Sheldon as he made his weird noises. I don't even know what I'd think if I were to encounter him, but I'd certainly never agree to go to a movie with him if I knew that he did that sort of thing.
Of course, Sheldon has no idea that his efforts to "help" are actually setting up obstacles that Stephanie and Leonard have to overcome.
Sheldon goes to Penny's to ask her what went wrong with her relationship with Leonard so that he can be sure Leonard doesn't do that with Stephanie. Penny proceeds to tell him a story - which is actually the plot of "The Lake House" - which Sheldon says Penny forced him to watch. Later on, Sheldon apologizes for asking inappropriate questions of her and tries to start again - but when he asks about her menstrual cycle, she shuts the door in his face.
I did think it was funny but hadn't noticed before that Sheldon does the " Penny" (or Leonard, if he's knocking on Leonard's bedroom door) thing three times. One of the times he tried to do that, she opened the door after the second round, so he had to still complete the last cycle, quietly and as she was staring at him.
Sheldon is again interrupting a dinner between Leonard and Stephanie, and Sheldon tries to make Leonard appear to be a big strong man by having Leonard open a jar of something for him, but Leonard can't and ends up breaking the glass and cutting himself, and they all go to the hospital so Stephanie can stitch him up. Stephanie tells him that she doesn't mind that he cried, even though he denies crying.
Leonard has an account on Facebook, and he discovers that Sheldon has hacked into his account and changed his status to "taken". Leonard thinks that might be too fast and worries about what Stephanie thinks, until the others show him that Stephanie has also changed her status - to indicate that she's now dating Leonard.
Leonard and Stephanie are supposed to be having a nice quiet romantic dinner at his apartment, but Sheldon has joined them because he doesn't want Leonard to mess things up. Sheldon is particularly happy with Stephanie because he wants her to be McCoy in their "Star Trek" group.
Leonard and Stephanie are at the movies when Sheldon comes in and interrupts. He makes a comment about Leonard's cryptic invitation, and when Leonard asks him to elaborate, Sheldon says the note Leonard left said "going to the movies" but didn't indicate which movie at what time at which theatre, and Sheldon said he had to go through Leonard's history on his web browser on his computer to figure it out, to which Leonoard looks at him kind of scared. Sheldon then goes around to various seats making weird noises to find the best acoustic seats - only to discover that Leonard and Stephanie are right in them. It was funny to watch the other people in the theatre stare at Sheldon as he made his weird noises. I don't even know what I'd think if I were to encounter him, but I'd certainly never agree to go to a movie with him if I knew that he did that sort of thing.
Of course, Sheldon has no idea that his efforts to "help" are actually setting up obstacles that Stephanie and Leonard have to overcome.
Sheldon goes to Penny's to ask her what went wrong with her relationship with Leonard so that he can be sure Leonard doesn't do that with Stephanie. Penny proceeds to tell him a story - which is actually the plot of "The Lake House" - which Sheldon says Penny forced him to watch. Later on, Sheldon apologizes for asking inappropriate questions of her and tries to start again - but when he asks about her menstrual cycle, she shuts the door in his face.
I did think it was funny but hadn't noticed before that Sheldon does the "
Sheldon is again interrupting a dinner between Leonard and Stephanie, and Sheldon tries to make Leonard appear to be a big strong man by having Leonard open a jar of something for him, but Leonard can't and ends up breaking the glass and cutting himself, and they all go to the hospital so Stephanie can stitch him up. Stephanie tells him that she doesn't mind that he cried, even though he denies crying.
Leonard has an account on Facebook, and he discovers that Sheldon has hacked into his account and changed his status to "taken". Leonard thinks that might be too fast and worries about what Stephanie thinks, until the others show him that Stephanie has also changed her status - to indicate that she's now dating Leonard.
Friday, December 5, 2008
"Rachel Getting Married" - spoiler movie review
I'd heard about "Rachel Getting Married" because Anne Hathaway was getting rave reviews for her performance. Good reviews in and of themselves don't necessarily matter to me, but when I looked up the subject of the movie, it did sound interesting. And while I haven't been particularly enamoured of Anne Hathaway in the past (though I did like her in "The Devil Wears Prada"), I really enjoyed her performance in "Get Smart", so I wanted to see what this film was like.
The main story of the film is about Kym, who has been an addict all her life and gets out of rehab just in time for sister Rachel's wedding. Kym is a bridesmaid but is elevated to maid of honor after she throws a fit to Rachel. And that's just the start of the troubles that Kym brings with her. But she has a guilty secret that we don't learn until later in the film - she is responsible for the death of her baby brother because she was high when she was supposed to be watching him, and her neglect caused his death, a death that no one in the family has gotten over.
This is definitely not an easy movie to watch. There are so many times where it's very uncomfortable because of how the characters react to each other and the resentments and dysfunctions that arise. One of the things that I really liked is that while addict movies have certainly been done before, most of them function almost exclusively on the addict, on how they feel being back in their normal life, about the struggles they face. While that's certainly one part of the story, it's just that - one part. This movie looks at all facets of the addict's life, including how the addict's actions have affected everyone else around them. As the story unfolds, you can see that because of Kym's addiction at an early age, the entire family's life and structure have revolved around that. They've been so focussed on dealing with her struggles and addiction that Rachel has largely been ignored because she didn't cause any problems - but Rachel is resentful that everyone coddles Kym and that Kym gets all the attention. Kym is also resentful of her mother, who she thinks should have known better, should have known about Kym's addiction and shouldn't have entrusted her with the safety of her baby brother. But her mother refuses to acknowledge any of that and is mostly detached. While it's always acknowledged that an addict's behaviour certainly affects their family, this is the first time that I've seen where we're shown first hand exactly what kind of damage it's done to each member of the family.
During the rehearsal dinner, how incredibly awkward was it when Kym, bored and annoyed that she has no one to talk to, basically moves her chair so that she's then sitting in between Rachel and her soon-to-be-husband? Kym is so used to being the center of attention, even bad attention, that she can't stand not being the center of attention, even on the occasion of her own sister's wedding.
And the scene with the physical altercation between Kym and Abby was *really* difficult to watch. Kym then drives off and deliberately into a tree. When she eventually makes it back to the house the next morning, it's Rachel, on her own wedding day, who ends up having to help Kym get ready rather than the other way around.
Anne Hathaway really does an amazing job in this film. I've not seen her do gritty, and she went all out here, oftentimes with emotions that are incredibly raw.
Rosemarie DeWitt is also very good as Rachel, who has to share her wedding day spotlight with Kym, and who goes above and beyond in being the supportive sister.
Debra Winger is also very good in a smallish role as Kym's and Rachel's detached mother, Abby. Her performance reminded me a lot of Mary Tyler Moore's mother role in "Ordinary People", though not entirely quite as severe.
The good buzz about the film seems to have been cemented by the announcement this week that the film has been nominated in multiple categories for The Spirit Awards, the sort of Oscar equivalent for independent films. The film was nominated for best picture, best director and best first screenplay, with Anne Hathaway getting a nomination in the lead category and both Rosemarie DeWitt and Debra Winger receiving a nomination in the supporting category.
The main story of the film is about Kym, who has been an addict all her life and gets out of rehab just in time for sister Rachel's wedding. Kym is a bridesmaid but is elevated to maid of honor after she throws a fit to Rachel. And that's just the start of the troubles that Kym brings with her. But she has a guilty secret that we don't learn until later in the film - she is responsible for the death of her baby brother because she was high when she was supposed to be watching him, and her neglect caused his death, a death that no one in the family has gotten over.
This is definitely not an easy movie to watch. There are so many times where it's very uncomfortable because of how the characters react to each other and the resentments and dysfunctions that arise. One of the things that I really liked is that while addict movies have certainly been done before, most of them function almost exclusively on the addict, on how they feel being back in their normal life, about the struggles they face. While that's certainly one part of the story, it's just that - one part. This movie looks at all facets of the addict's life, including how the addict's actions have affected everyone else around them. As the story unfolds, you can see that because of Kym's addiction at an early age, the entire family's life and structure have revolved around that. They've been so focussed on dealing with her struggles and addiction that Rachel has largely been ignored because she didn't cause any problems - but Rachel is resentful that everyone coddles Kym and that Kym gets all the attention. Kym is also resentful of her mother, who she thinks should have known better, should have known about Kym's addiction and shouldn't have entrusted her with the safety of her baby brother. But her mother refuses to acknowledge any of that and is mostly detached. While it's always acknowledged that an addict's behaviour certainly affects their family, this is the first time that I've seen where we're shown first hand exactly what kind of damage it's done to each member of the family.
During the rehearsal dinner, how incredibly awkward was it when Kym, bored and annoyed that she has no one to talk to, basically moves her chair so that she's then sitting in between Rachel and her soon-to-be-husband? Kym is so used to being the center of attention, even bad attention, that she can't stand not being the center of attention, even on the occasion of her own sister's wedding.
And the scene with the physical altercation between Kym and Abby was *really* difficult to watch. Kym then drives off and deliberately into a tree. When she eventually makes it back to the house the next morning, it's Rachel, on her own wedding day, who ends up having to help Kym get ready rather than the other way around.
Anne Hathaway really does an amazing job in this film. I've not seen her do gritty, and she went all out here, oftentimes with emotions that are incredibly raw.
Rosemarie DeWitt is also very good as Rachel, who has to share her wedding day spotlight with Kym, and who goes above and beyond in being the supportive sister.
Debra Winger is also very good in a smallish role as Kym's and Rachel's detached mother, Abby. Her performance reminded me a lot of Mary Tyler Moore's mother role in "Ordinary People", though not entirely quite as severe.
The good buzz about the film seems to have been cemented by the announcement this week that the film has been nominated in multiple categories for The Spirit Awards, the sort of Oscar equivalent for independent films. The film was nominated for best picture, best director and best first screenplay, with Anne Hathaway getting a nomination in the lead category and both Rosemarie DeWitt and Debra Winger receiving a nomination in the supporting category.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
"Tarzan" in San Jose in February 2009 - EPIC FAIL
So I've known since the beginning of the year that I will be going to San Jose in February of 2009 to see the revamped stage version of "Tarzan". I've had it on a post-it in my calendar to check monthly to see when single tickets will go on sale. Finally, the magical date was published - December 4, 2008. OK, great. Then, additional details were published - ticket sales start at 12:01 AM on December 4, 2008. OK, that means I have to stay up until midnight on Wednesday night to buy tickets. Fine.
So I talked to the husband about when would be the best time for us to go and first, second and third choices of show dates so that I could look for the best seats available.
At about 11:30pm Wednesday night, I went to the tickets page of American Musical Theatre of San Jose to make sure I had the right page up on my browser when tickets went on sale. I'd gone earlier in the week just to check it out, and it had all the right links for the "Tarzan" show. This time, I was confused because on the "buy tickets now" page, there was no listing for "Tarzan". Hmmm, that's odd.
I browsed around to their schedule, and they still had the information for "Tarzan" listed on the "on our stage" section.
OK. But that's still odd. So I had remembered that when I'd gone to the tickets page earlier in the week, it had sent me to Ticketmaster, so since I knew Ticketmaster was selling the tickets, I went there and did a search for "Tarzan". What I found was not what I expected to find.
The show was supposed to play in South Carolina and Atlanta before coming to San Jose, and all the South Carolina and Atlanta shows were listed as cancelled. Whiskey.Tango.Foxtrot. This was still before midnight, so the San Jose dates were still listed as going on sale at 12:01 AM on December 4, 2008. OK, so I clicked on one of those links. That would usually take you to the purchase page which would say that tickets aren't yet on sale, but it would have the show information and sale date up. Instead of going to that page, though, the link took me back to a page on American Musical Theatre's site that said there was no further information. Not good.
So I went to Google and looked for news. And boy, did I find news.
I had thought that the revamped version of "Tarzan" was being done by Disney, but from what I've read now, it looks like the property was licensed by Disney to outside vendors, and the financing for the show was shared among Atlanta's Theater of the Arts, American Musical Theatre of San Jose, and Dallas Summer Musicals, which was supposed to have gotten the show after its run in San Jose.
Somehow or other, the show didn't materialize. Monies were advanced from the San Jose and Dallas groups to the Atlanta group, but the Atlanta group seems to have unilaterally decided to shutter the show. Oh, sure, they're claiming that the show has been "postponed indefinitely", but that's like saying it's being put on "hiatus". The CEO for the San Jose group is claiming that the Atlanta group used the advances to pay for other underperforming productions, and if that's true, I can't imagine a theatre group doing that sort of thing. But if you're in a partnership with two other groups, how do you fire all the actors and show personnel without even consulting your partners, without letting them know that you've even considered taking the move of firing everyone, without going to them as soon as you knew something was wrong?
So I'm sad that I won't be seeing "Tarzan" after all. But I'm really sad about the further fallout from all this. With the loss of "Tarzan", the American Musical Theatre of San Jose is closing down.
This information from the article is what's most striking to me.
Tickets for the show have already been available to subscribers, which is what I presume "advance ticket sales" means, and the "additional ticket sales" would be people like me who were waiting for single tickets to go on sale. A hit of more than $1.5 million would be hard for any organization, but for a smaller theatre company, that's devastating. And to me, it's all the more difficult to absorb because a partner theatre company is at fault.
Here's a story about how Atlanta's actions directly contributed to the demise of the American Musical Theatre.
Here's another article about American Musical Theatre's closing, but this article says they're filing Chapter 7, not Chapter 11 as the other articles say.
I love theatre, so to hear that a 73 year old theatre group is going out of business is sad indeed. American Musical Theater has posted a statement about the closure on their website. In case it's taken down in the future, I'm duplicating it below.
What a loss to the people of San Jose and anyone who has gone or has been considering going to a show there.
So I talked to the husband about when would be the best time for us to go and first, second and third choices of show dates so that I could look for the best seats available.
At about 11:30pm Wednesday night, I went to the tickets page of American Musical Theatre of San Jose to make sure I had the right page up on my browser when tickets went on sale. I'd gone earlier in the week just to check it out, and it had all the right links for the "Tarzan" show. This time, I was confused because on the "buy tickets now" page, there was no listing for "Tarzan". Hmmm, that's odd.
I browsed around to their schedule, and they still had the information for "Tarzan" listed on the "on our stage" section.
OK. But that's still odd. So I had remembered that when I'd gone to the tickets page earlier in the week, it had sent me to Ticketmaster, so since I knew Ticketmaster was selling the tickets, I went there and did a search for "Tarzan". What I found was not what I expected to find.
The show was supposed to play in South Carolina and Atlanta before coming to San Jose, and all the South Carolina and Atlanta shows were listed as cancelled. Whiskey.Tango.Foxtrot. This was still before midnight, so the San Jose dates were still listed as going on sale at 12:01 AM on December 4, 2008. OK, so I clicked on one of those links. That would usually take you to the purchase page which would say that tickets aren't yet on sale, but it would have the show information and sale date up. Instead of going to that page, though, the link took me back to a page on American Musical Theatre's site that said there was no further information. Not good.
So I went to Google and looked for news. And boy, did I find news.
I had thought that the revamped version of "Tarzan" was being done by Disney, but from what I've read now, it looks like the property was licensed by Disney to outside vendors, and the financing for the show was shared among Atlanta's Theater of the Arts, American Musical Theatre of San Jose, and Dallas Summer Musicals, which was supposed to have gotten the show after its run in San Jose.
Somehow or other, the show didn't materialize. Monies were advanced from the San Jose and Dallas groups to the Atlanta group, but the Atlanta group seems to have unilaterally decided to shutter the show. Oh, sure, they're claiming that the show has been "postponed indefinitely", but that's like saying it's being put on "hiatus". The CEO for the San Jose group is claiming that the Atlanta group used the advances to pay for other underperforming productions, and if that's true, I can't imagine a theatre group doing that sort of thing. But if you're in a partnership with two other groups, how do you fire all the actors and show personnel without even consulting your partners, without letting them know that you've even considered taking the move of firing everyone, without going to them as soon as you knew something was wrong?
So I'm sad that I won't be seeing "Tarzan" after all. But I'm really sad about the further fallout from all this. With the loss of "Tarzan", the American Musical Theatre of San Jose is closing down.
This information from the article is what's most striking to me.
Tarzan was the tent pole for American Musical Theatre's season. By losing it, Miller said, his theatre lost its $225,000 down payment, $800,000 in advance ticket sales, and a projected $500,000-$600,000 in additional ticket sales.
Tickets for the show have already been available to subscribers, which is what I presume "advance ticket sales" means, and the "additional ticket sales" would be people like me who were waiting for single tickets to go on sale. A hit of more than $1.5 million would be hard for any organization, but for a smaller theatre company, that's devastating. And to me, it's all the more difficult to absorb because a partner theatre company is at fault.
Here's a story about how Atlanta's actions directly contributed to the demise of the American Musical Theatre.
Here's another article about American Musical Theatre's closing, but this article says they're filing Chapter 7, not Chapter 11 as the other articles say.
I love theatre, so to hear that a 73 year old theatre group is going out of business is sad indeed. American Musical Theater has posted a statement about the closure on their website. In case it's taken down in the future, I'm duplicating it below.
Dear Friends,
It's with a heavy heart that we inform you of the demise of American Musical Theatre of San Jose. We are sorry we were not able to talk to all of you personally but time does not permit us to at this time. It has truly been an honor and pleasure to work with all of you and we sincerely hope our paths cross again soon.
On behalf of all of us here at AMTSJ...warmest regards,
Michael Miller
CEO & Executive Producer
American Musical Theater of San Jose Ceases Operations, Effective Immediately
The American Musical Theatre of San Jose today announced that it is ceasing business operations, effective immediately. The theatre's upcoming productions of Tarzan and 42nd Street have been cancelled although the touring production of Chicago will be performing as scheduled, all tickets will be honored. We are currently in communication with the producers of Avenue Q, to achieve the same result as Chicago.
"We received a telephone call a few days ago from our co-producer for Tarzan, which was the Theater of the Stars in Atlanta, Georgia basically telling us that they used the funds that we had paid them towards the production for other things," said Michael Miller, CEO and Executive Producer of AMTSJ. "In essence, they cancelled the show without giving us any warning, and we discovered that the funds we had paid for Tarzan were spent on another production of theirs, which lost a significant amount of money," Miller continued.
Added Robert Nazarenus, AMTSJ's Chief Financial officer: "The cancellation of Tarzan meant nearly a two million dollar loss to us. The disappearance of the six figures that we paid to Atlanta's Theater of the Stars in good faith coupled with the huge loss of revenues we anticipated from Tarzan was just too much to overcome, particularly in these economic times." Nazarenus went on to say "Despite the harsh economic times, we were operating prudently, and had a solid strategic plan in place. We have always found a way to succeed, with quality productions, patron loyalty, and community support. This season was no different. But, when you in essence lose nearly two million dollars, it is impossible to recover. What makes this even more frustrating is the fact that this is caused by the wanton actions of another theater company."
AMTSJ's local attorneys, coupled with strong legal representation hired in Atlanta, are pursuing aggressive action against Atlanta's Theater of the Stars. Miller and Nazarenus indicate that they will pursue AMTSJ's claim to its successful conclusion. "We are devastated for this community, our staff, and most of all for our loyal patrons," Miller said. "It is especially frustrating because of how hard we have worked, how sound our plan going forward has been, and because of the history and heritage of the American Musical Theatre of San Jose. This is a sad moment for all of us. We will aggressively pursue our claim against the Theater of the Stars to recover whatever money we can to pay the City of San Jose, our vendors and our loyal patrons for their good faith investment in AMTSJ."
What a loss to the people of San Jose and anyone who has gone or has been considering going to a show there.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
It's a small Twitter world after all
So, I follow Wil Wheaton on his twitter feed. And I laugh at the stuff he tweets. I generally don't understand the responses he sends to people, but that's because I don't know what prompted the response. But I was amused the other day to see that Greg Grunberg of "Heroes" had contacted Wil through Twitter since Greg is on Twitter as well. And I got to see the love-fest between them. And they were really funny as they bantered back and forth. There was this whole thing where Greg said Wil would be great on "Heroes" and that he'd talk to the people there.
Here's Wil's first blog post about the subject.
But, stuff happened, or more correctly, stuff didn't happen, as Wil expected it wouldn't. Here's his followup post about the subject.
OK, so maybe that would have been cool, and having Wil on an episode might have gotten me to actually watch that episode as opposed to me not caring about "Heroes" anymore and at most half-listening while the husband watches the show in the other room.
And then Wil had a blog post today that included a link to this comic strip and commentary. Too frickin' funny!
BTW, "Anne" is Wil's wife. What I really want to know, though, is whether all three of them actually use Apple computers!
On a different note, I laughed really hard at Wil's last tweet today.
Here's Wil's first blog post about the subject.
But, stuff happened, or more correctly, stuff didn't happen, as Wil expected it wouldn't. Here's his followup post about the subject.
OK, so maybe that would have been cool, and having Wil on an episode might have gotten me to actually watch that episode as opposed to me not caring about "Heroes" anymore and at most half-listening while the husband watches the show in the other room.
And then Wil had a blog post today that included a link to this comic strip and commentary. Too frickin' funny!
BTW, "Anne" is Wil's wife. What I really want to know, though, is whether all three of them actually use Apple computers!
On a different note, I laughed really hard at Wil's last tweet today.
Thought I'd lost my keys earlier today. Looked for them for an hour. Turns out I'd left them in my car. In the ignition. At the mall.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
hitching a ride
Cats do some of the weirdest things. Well, this little kitty thought it would be fun to hitch a ride on a roomba. The coloring on this kitty looks very much like the coloring on our cat Orkid. But I can't imagine Orkid sitting on a roomba. I think she'd be more inclined either to run away from it or chase it around the room, depending on her mood.
Monday, December 1, 2008
I don't have to hide from Star Wars anymore!
Because I'm a fanatic when it comes to avoiding spoilers, I have taught myself not to visit certain sites even though they have information I will eventually be interested in. Well, I've been doing that with "Star Wars" since the announcement that they were going to be making Episode 1. I've got that mentality so ingrained in my head that it wasn't until a couple of days ago that I realized I don't have to do that anymore. There aren't any more feature films on the horizon, and the only thing on TV is "Clone Wars", which I can't watch because I don't have cable, and I've already seen the movie, so that's not an issue. So, that means I can read the official Star Wars blog any time I want to. YAY!!!!!!
I've previously mentioned the puppy cam, but apparently [sic], puppies like "Star Wars" too!
I've previously mentioned the puppy cam, but apparently [sic], puppies like "Star Wars" too!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
"Changeling" - spoiler movie review
I'd seen the trailer for "Changeling", and it looked kind of interesting, but I wasn't sure if I was going to see it. However, the more I kept hearing about it, I found myself drawn further in, so I went to a sparsely-attended Friday afternoon showing of the film.
The story is about Christine Collins, a woman whose son goes missing, and the Los Angeles Police Department is put on the case. They claim that her son was found in another state, but when he's brought back, she says it's not him. They insist that he is, even suggesting that she "try it" for a few days and see how it goes. The L.A.P.D wants the good press from having found her lost son, so her assertion that the boy they found is not her son falls on deaf ears. And if they've claimed to have already found her son, no need to keep looking, right?
I absolutely loved the film. It was top notch in all aspects. I'm not a particular fan of Angelina Jolie's, but she was just spectacular in this film. She played all the notes just perfectly, and despite what press stories might come up about her, there's no denying the talent she displays on screen. I also loved the period look of the film, and that they used the old Universal logo at the beginning of the film.
I'm interested enough in the story that I might try to find out what actually happened as opposed to what was shown in the film. The attitude and treatment by the police officers was just atrocious, not to mention the so-called doctor at the mental institute. During those segments, I wondered if Angelina Jolie flashed back to her time shooting "Girl, Interrupted".
Clint Eastwood does a terrific job directing the film (in addition to providing the score/music for the film), and I was surprised that the screenplay was written by J. Michael Straczynski, of "Babylon 5" fame. John Malkovich also does a good job in the movie as Christine's only advocate.
The story is about Christine Collins, a woman whose son goes missing, and the Los Angeles Police Department is put on the case. They claim that her son was found in another state, but when he's brought back, she says it's not him. They insist that he is, even suggesting that she "try it" for a few days and see how it goes. The L.A.P.D wants the good press from having found her lost son, so her assertion that the boy they found is not her son falls on deaf ears. And if they've claimed to have already found her son, no need to keep looking, right?
I absolutely loved the film. It was top notch in all aspects. I'm not a particular fan of Angelina Jolie's, but she was just spectacular in this film. She played all the notes just perfectly, and despite what press stories might come up about her, there's no denying the talent she displays on screen. I also loved the period look of the film, and that they used the old Universal logo at the beginning of the film.
I'm interested enough in the story that I might try to find out what actually happened as opposed to what was shown in the film. The attitude and treatment by the police officers was just atrocious, not to mention the so-called doctor at the mental institute. During those segments, I wondered if Angelina Jolie flashed back to her time shooting "Girl, Interrupted".
Clint Eastwood does a terrific job directing the film (in addition to providing the score/music for the film), and I was surprised that the screenplay was written by J. Michael Straczynski, of "Babylon 5" fame. John Malkovich also does a good job in the movie as Christine's only advocate.
"Survivor: Gabon" - November 20, 2008 and November 27, 2008 episodes
November 20, 2008 episode
Bob is sort of on his own, so he seemed to feel comfortable telling Sugar that he made a fake immunity idol. I thought that was odd for him to volunteer. I'm wondering if there's some other kind of interaction they had that we haven't been shown.
It's auction time as each contestant is given $500 to spend, with no pooling of resources or sharing of items. Ken bids on an item which turns out to be a note, which says that he can send one person to exile and then he gets all of that person's money. He chooses to send Bob to exile, and since Bob hasn't spent anything, Ken gets all of his money. But then the weird thing is that Ken never actually ends up buying anything else.
Sugar buys chocolate and peanut butter. Susie buys a bath and clean clothes, and Sugar is amazed that Susie gets out before her time is up because she says she would have stayed in there until they told her she had to get out. Matty gets cheeseburger and fries.
Corinne had decided that she didn't need food but rather, a way to stay in the game, so when there is a mystery note that would help in the game, she goes for broke and pays all her money for that. Jeff says she will read it at the next immunity challenge.
Randy ends up getting the most stuff. He started off with peanuts and beer and then also gets spaghetti and wine. He then buys cookies for the tribe, but Sugar can't conceal her dislike for him and turns down his offer. When Randy has one cookie left and offers it to Sugar again, she takes it this time - but then hands it over to Matty, which makes Randy mad since the last cookie was his that he had offered to her. I get that she doesn't like him, and turning him down was one thing, but I did think it was pretty mean to then just give it to Matty.
Bob at exile still decides to take the clue rather than comfort since he hasn't figured out that the idol is gone, but when the clue is one he already had last time, he decides to just enjoy the scenery and takes a lovely walk of the sights. Back at camp, Matty is targeting Bob as the next to go.
Randy is still mad about the cookie and also for whatever reason just decides to go crazy and warns Corinne about it. He bad mouths everyone and behaves oddly, painting the biggest target on himself. He and Corinne are for some reason counting on the fact that Bob will get the hidden immunity idol on exile. Randy is hoping that Bob will give the idol to him, and then when they go to tribal, he can blindside Susie and vote her out.
At the immunity challenge, there's this two-part elaborate obstacle course they have to do. Corinne opens her note, which gives her a pass on the first round and takes her automatically to the final round. Yeah, it was kind of nice, but just because you're in the final round doesn't guarantee you anything. Ken and Matty win the first round and join Corinne in the final round. They have to stack dominoes so that they'll fall to trigger the winning move. It's a close race between Ken and Matty, but Ken ends up winning.
Sugar comes up with the idea for Bob to give the fake immunity idol to Randy, and Bob plays along, probably because he's got no in with anyone anyway, and he wants to stay in her good graces. Randy is thrilled when Bob offers the idol to him, and he looks forward to the fireworks at tribal. Corinne is still making derogatory remarks about Sugar, and once again, she underestimates Sugar. She's never going to learn that lesson.
At tribal, the votes are being cast, and Sugar is having trouble containing herself. I was wondering if she'd told the rest of the tribe. After Jeff gets the votes, Randy plays the idol, and he's grinning smugly from ear to ear. Jeff explains that it's not a real idol and throws the idol in the fire. (I was really surprised about that. Unlike the dumb stick previously, this was actually a nicely crafted fake idol that Bob spent a lot of time and effort on, and they usually do some kind of auction at the end of the show, and I think this would have been a nice collector's item.) At this point, the rest of the tribe, except for Randy, Corinne and Bob, are laughing outright - yep, Sugar told them. Randy is voted out, and Corinne is stunned. I'm thinking she's going to be pretty mad at Bob. I was surprised that Bob actually voted for Susie though.
November 27, 2008 episode
This wasn't a regular episode, but rather, a recap episode with stuff not previously shown and extras. They showed the audition tapes for some of the contestants - Sugar's was pretty bizarre. I'm glad she got rid of the rings in her nose - so not flattering at all for such a pretty girl. And Ken looks like he's 8 in his audition tape. They also recounted the disaster that was Fang and the triumph that was Kota. And while one of my co-workers hates Corinne, I've thought she was ok, but in the extra footage they showed of her, she's really not a very nice person. She has continually talked down about Sugar, mostly for superficial reasons, and she's even been kind of weird with her own tribe mates. It seems she bonded with Randy over their mutual dislike of Sugar, which is why Randy told her he was going to go crazy, which made me wonder why he told her, but that makes more sense now.
Bob is sort of on his own, so he seemed to feel comfortable telling Sugar that he made a fake immunity idol. I thought that was odd for him to volunteer. I'm wondering if there's some other kind of interaction they had that we haven't been shown.
It's auction time as each contestant is given $500 to spend, with no pooling of resources or sharing of items. Ken bids on an item which turns out to be a note, which says that he can send one person to exile and then he gets all of that person's money. He chooses to send Bob to exile, and since Bob hasn't spent anything, Ken gets all of his money. But then the weird thing is that Ken never actually ends up buying anything else.
Sugar buys chocolate and peanut butter. Susie buys a bath and clean clothes, and Sugar is amazed that Susie gets out before her time is up because she says she would have stayed in there until they told her she had to get out. Matty gets cheeseburger and fries.
Corinne had decided that she didn't need food but rather, a way to stay in the game, so when there is a mystery note that would help in the game, she goes for broke and pays all her money for that. Jeff says she will read it at the next immunity challenge.
Randy ends up getting the most stuff. He started off with peanuts and beer and then also gets spaghetti and wine. He then buys cookies for the tribe, but Sugar can't conceal her dislike for him and turns down his offer. When Randy has one cookie left and offers it to Sugar again, she takes it this time - but then hands it over to Matty, which makes Randy mad since the last cookie was his that he had offered to her. I get that she doesn't like him, and turning him down was one thing, but I did think it was pretty mean to then just give it to Matty.
Bob at exile still decides to take the clue rather than comfort since he hasn't figured out that the idol is gone, but when the clue is one he already had last time, he decides to just enjoy the scenery and takes a lovely walk of the sights. Back at camp, Matty is targeting Bob as the next to go.
Randy is still mad about the cookie and also for whatever reason just decides to go crazy and warns Corinne about it. He bad mouths everyone and behaves oddly, painting the biggest target on himself. He and Corinne are for some reason counting on the fact that Bob will get the hidden immunity idol on exile. Randy is hoping that Bob will give the idol to him, and then when they go to tribal, he can blindside Susie and vote her out.
At the immunity challenge, there's this two-part elaborate obstacle course they have to do. Corinne opens her note, which gives her a pass on the first round and takes her automatically to the final round. Yeah, it was kind of nice, but just because you're in the final round doesn't guarantee you anything. Ken and Matty win the first round and join Corinne in the final round. They have to stack dominoes so that they'll fall to trigger the winning move. It's a close race between Ken and Matty, but Ken ends up winning.
Sugar comes up with the idea for Bob to give the fake immunity idol to Randy, and Bob plays along, probably because he's got no in with anyone anyway, and he wants to stay in her good graces. Randy is thrilled when Bob offers the idol to him, and he looks forward to the fireworks at tribal. Corinne is still making derogatory remarks about Sugar, and once again, she underestimates Sugar. She's never going to learn that lesson.
At tribal, the votes are being cast, and Sugar is having trouble containing herself. I was wondering if she'd told the rest of the tribe. After Jeff gets the votes, Randy plays the idol, and he's grinning smugly from ear to ear. Jeff explains that it's not a real idol and throws the idol in the fire. (I was really surprised about that. Unlike the dumb stick previously, this was actually a nicely crafted fake idol that Bob spent a lot of time and effort on, and they usually do some kind of auction at the end of the show, and I think this would have been a nice collector's item.) At this point, the rest of the tribe, except for Randy, Corinne and Bob, are laughing outright - yep, Sugar told them. Randy is voted out, and Corinne is stunned. I'm thinking she's going to be pretty mad at Bob. I was surprised that Bob actually voted for Susie though.
November 27, 2008 episode
This wasn't a regular episode, but rather, a recap episode with stuff not previously shown and extras. They showed the audition tapes for some of the contestants - Sugar's was pretty bizarre. I'm glad she got rid of the rings in her nose - so not flattering at all for such a pretty girl. And Ken looks like he's 8 in his audition tape. They also recounted the disaster that was Fang and the triumph that was Kota. And while one of my co-workers hates Corinne, I've thought she was ok, but in the extra footage they showed of her, she's really not a very nice person. She has continually talked down about Sugar, mostly for superficial reasons, and she's even been kind of weird with her own tribe mates. It seems she bonded with Randy over their mutual dislike of Sugar, which is why Randy told her he was going to go crazy, which made me wonder why he told her, but that makes more sense now.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
"Repo! The Genetic Opera" - spoiler movie review
I'd only even heard of this film on a Friday, but we just had to see it, so we got together with our twisted friends and went to an early afternoon showing of the film on the very next day.
It's definitely not a film for everyone, even less so than something like "Tropic Thunder" or "Hamlet 2", but I really loved this film with all its quirkiness.
The main story is that organ failure is fairly common in society at this point, but it's too expensive for most people to afford an organ transplant. A company is willing to do the operations on credit and a repayment plan, but if they default on their payment, then a repo man is sent to repossess the transplanted organ(s). Yeah, did I mention it's pretty bloody and gory?
The film is shot in a very stylized fashion, with some bits done in comic-book style, but I really liked that. There were parts of the style that also reminded me of "Moulin Rouge". You get the main story, but then you get the background story of the side characters and learn their relationships to the other characters you already know, and in the end, everyone's got some kind of relationship with everyone else.
Anthony Head was really terrific in this film, and I loved watching him belt out some of the songs. I loved the balance of him playing doting father Nathan and the terrifying repo man.
Alexa Vega was absolutely terrific as Shilo, Nathan's daughter. She was previously known for being in Disney's "Spy Kids" franchise, so this is definitely a departure. I loved her songs, especially in the fantasy sequence in her bedroom. (Here's a segment of that scene.) She's really the key to the entire story.
Paul Sorvino was pretty good in this film as well, though I was surprised that he actually sang.
Terrance Zdunich, co-writer of the film and co-creator of the original play upon which the film is based, does a fabulous job as the graverobber and sort of narrator and Greek chorus.
Both Sarah Brightman (as Blind Mag) and Paris Hilton (as Amber Sweet) were great in this film - perfect casting! Oh, there's a segment with Sarah in a hooded cape - she so looks like Christine from "The Phantom of the Opera" in the segment when she's going to visit her father's grave!
Here's a segment of a sequence with Shilo and Blind Mag.
Here's a short segment of a song done by Amber Sweet and the graverobber.
There are reports that this is intended as the middle segment of a trilogy story, and I'm definitely on board for any sequels. I thought I might want the CD, but after seeing the movie, the songs don't really lend themselves to regular singing, so I think I'll just settle for the DVD and whatever extras might be on there.
Here's the trailer for the film.
Here's the official website.
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