Battle Of the P's!

Look! No video clips! Although this is a somewhat boring piece about Pride and Prejudice. You can't have everything.

So, anyway, my move collection battled Saturday night.

Well, that's not true at all.

See, I came home, my whole family left, and I had the whole house to myself to eat leftover chinese food and curl up and watch a movie with the dogs. (I know, exciting.)

And Joni Mitchel's "A Case of You" was playing on my ipod that morning so the logical film choice was "Practical Magic." I even picked the case out and took it downstairs. But then I suddenly NEEDED to watch "Pride and Prejudice." I don't even know where that came from. But then, as I was walking back up the stairs, I started thinking about how "Persuasion" was the better Jane Austen.

Battle of the P's!

(And the entire time, the only remaining P-movie on my romantic comedy shelf, "Price of Milk," was all "Dude, I'm a trippy-ass New Zealand fairy tale featuring 147 dairy cows, I'm staying out of this mess.")

Pride and Prejudice (the Kiera Knightley movie version) won.

And by winning, I mean it got to be played in the dvd player while I ate chinese food, knitted a hat, cuddled with Pepper, and took a couple of naps. Not much of a victory, really.

I don't think I'll be needing to watch it again anytime soon. I still love that proposal in the rain. ("Are you laughing at me?") And there are a million little visual cues and touches that I love as well. Especially the one that shows how enamored Bingley is by Jane that has Jane walking through a ballroom absentmindedly and Bingley literally clutching at the ribbons at the back of dress to be near her. It's a tiny bit, but I love it.

But I'm just not very fond of most of the cast. A lot of them overact and stand out way too much. And some of the original Austen dialogue is flat and terrible and just plain bad. I've always liked Pride and Prejudice in it's various forms, but I don't love it. I think I'm going to give it a rest for a couple of years and then see where we stand.

There's too many mother uckers ucking with my shiiiiiiiiiit. Too many to count. Mother uckers!

I haven't watched a single Flight of The Conchords episode all of the way through besides the Bowie one, but when I catch pieces, I'm usually amused. Like now.

My favorite part is that Brett's tirade about apples is so explicit that the only words not beeped out in the middle are "Granny Smith," "avocado," and "mango." Heh.


Oh, and as a bonus, here's a ridiculously awesome Footloose tribute/parody. Oh, Kevin Bacon.

I Call Shenanigans

Burn Notice is one of those shows I enjoy when I see it, but I don't follow regularly (which is becoming more common for me, actually). I should catch up with the season 2 dvd's.

Michael's "How To Be A Spy On The Cheap" tutorials are easily my favorite parts of the show. So, in honor of new episodes starting to air tonight, you get a clip of one of my favorites:



http://www.hulu.com/watch/30453/burn-notice-bad-blood?c=1645:1737

Blackpool!

It's been a long while since I've been completely obsessed with something... and then my friend A. had to go and discover Blackpool. And we spent the whole weekend watching it. And re-watching the you-tube clips. And listening to the soundtrack repeatedly in the car. (Those last two were mostly me, though).

Oh, Blackpool.

So frickin awesome.

For those not familiar with random-ass british television. Blackpool is a 6-episode musical drama series revolving around bastardly gaming-house owner Ripley Holden, his family (unhappy wife, whiney daughter, and drug-dealing teenaged son), a murder, and the investigating detective.

The twist? Did you catch the word musical?

Oh yeah. Each episode contains 3-4 musical numbers/fantasy sequences featuring the cast members singing and dancing along with (mostly) well-known tunes. And more than half of those numbers feature middle-aged men singing women's parts and dancing with each other. Yeah, totally awesome.

Odd as hell. But totally awesome.


As for clips, YouTube doesn't have my favorite one (Ripley breaking out into The Supreme's "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" in front of the planning commission) but it does have most of the ones featuring David Tennant.

So, the one with the best song (and most hilarious ending) is here:

The one with the best choreography is here.

And the only one featuring two men angrily tangoing to a country music standard is here.

To Paris, With Love (Whatever that means)

Happy New Year!

But before I depart, I have to share the strangest movie trailer I've seen in a very long time.

It looks like a buddy-cop movie staring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Yeah, I just said those two names together.

Makes no sense, right?

And I didn't even get to Travolta's bizzare bald/beard combo and bazooka-shooting penchant.



Seriously, what the hell was that? Probably really awful. Possibly totally awesome.

Again, happy new year.

Man, I want to see this movie. I'm such a sucker for underdog "man with a dream" tales. We all know how I feel about "Hustle and Flow." I'm sure if it's playing around New Years in Ithaca that A. would go see it with me.

Also, that Springsteen song playing over the trailer? Damn.

"Tell me, friend, can you ask for anything more?"

I know that if you dissect Springsteen songs up, they're mostly very simple, repeating melodies with easy rhyme schemes. But that's always been the key to Springsteen. I like to think of them as lean, instead of simple. It's like there's nothing superfluous or showy tacked on that doesn't belong there. It also helps that Springsteen's got such a full voice that it ebbs and flows and fills in any gaps. Man, I love that voice.

Proof? I downloaded a goddamn Christmas song the other day because of Bruce.

I even managed to find a single youtube video featuring the version I downloaded. My favorite part is when he can't stop laughing at the member of his band doing the "ho, ho, ho" bits.

One of these days, you'll get an entry without youtube videos. Probably not soon, though.

Doh!

So, we're at the dinner table tonight and I said yes to something and the boys erupted into a fit of "yes, yes, yes!" and "no, no, no!" I couldn't place the reference and Blue-Eyes' only response to my question of "where's that from?" was "you" so that wasn't very helpful.


Much googling finally presented by elusive prey.



Yeah, I pretty much have that entire movie memorized. I am such a dumbass sometimes.

And Blue-Eyes was right, he's never seen "Singin' In The Rain," so he got the reference from me.

You would think, given the amount of television I watch, it would be near impossible for me to discover shows on dvd that I haven't yet seen.

I'm currently totally enthralled in the demon-hunting adventures to be found in "Supernatural." I just finished the second season, am waiting for netflix to send me the third one, and am mostly caught up on the current fourth season.

The show is basically a never-ending male-bonding road trip revolving around two seriously attractive brothers who drive around in a totally awesome car, listen to a steady stream of classic rock, and... oh yeah... hunt demons and other supernatural baddies while trying to connect with their rogue father who has spent the last twenty years being singularly obsessed with tracking down and killing the demon who murdered his wife and burnt his house down.

Most episodes find the brothers investigating paranormal crimes (most often grisly murders), lying through their teeth with only charisma, fake IDs, and occasional costumes (see photographic evidence below) at their disposal.

I tuned into the first handful of episodes when it first came out (it's currently in a looming-apocalypse-themed 4th season). It was entertaining, but I didn't get hooked and eventually wandered off. I found the first season entertaining but didn't get hooked until the ridiculously awesome first third of season 2. The show can be kind of uneven. For episode that's ridiculously awesome there's one that's flat and cheesy. But the awesome ones are totally worth it.

Dean Winchester? Easily one of my favorite tv characters ever.

Here's a quick sample clip that not only showcases the funny, but a little bit of the brother interaction as well:

And this seriously cheesy link's for my friend C. and her remarkable ability to capture hilarious screen captures of attractive men, because the middle of the video features approximately 30 back-to-back shots of Dean pouting:

I'd like to write about...

how much I liked the new Hulk movie...
how awesome Georgette Heyer books are...
the great tv I've been watching lately...
how Meg Cabot's book tastes and mine eerily coincide...

but instead...

you get a video featuring a ridiculously awesome puppy prison break



Thems the breaks.

I know I've been posting a lot of videos lately... but this one's particularly hilarious.

They changed the words to Aha's "Take On Me" to match what's going on in the video and sung them to the original tune.

So funny.

Especially "Watch out for them. They're gonna beat you up with that pipe wrench."

Enjoy.

Tis the Season

Well, the fall tv season is in full swing now.

I'll definitely be watching every week: Gossip Girl, Privileged, Dirty Sexy Money, Friday Night Lights

Will keep tuned into: True Blood, Fringe, Pushing Dasies, 30 Rock, Top Design

At least, that's the line-up for now. We'll see how the season goes.

And yes, to respond to a comment Laura made, I'm interested in watching "Tabatha's Salon Take-Over" because Tabatha Coffey is awesome. She's smart and talented and a seriously entertaining bitch on wheels. And us Tabatha's stick together. I just haven't gotten around to it yet, but I can imagine watching a bunch in a row on a slow Sunday afternoon or something.

I want to talk about how Gossip Girl is crazy-mad-fucking-awesome this year. (Evil Serena! Impending cat-fight of terror! Woo!) And about how Privileged is fluffy adorable fun. And how Fringe is kind of boring me but I'm really hoping it starts to explode all over the place oncethe building blocks are establshed. And lastly, how Top Design is seriously entertaining this time around. But, I also want to watch the Dirty Sexy Money premiere, clean up my i-pod for tomorrow's Ithaca-bound road trip, pack my red duffel, put my laundry away, and go to sleep within two hours... so no more blogging tonight. Probably.

Song Of The Day

A new feature for the blog: song of the day.

The song of the day usually being something that played on my i-pod that just struck me.

The inaugural song of the day is an old Springsteen ditty.

"Badlands"



Like most Springsteen songs (and really, most songs in general), I have no real idea what it's about. However, I still love the way it sounds.

My favorite passage is easily:

"Workin in the fields till you get your back burned
Workin `neath the wheels till you get your facts learned
Baby I got my facts learned real good right now"

Massive Book Review Round-Up

My goal this year was to read 75 books. I really wanted to hit 100 but I think that was just too lofty a goal. I got really bad about keeping track in the middle, though, so here's a rough guess at where the count is at. I'm definitely missing a few, but hell if I can remember what they are.

Also, my well's running dry so if you have any recommendations, please feel free to comment. I need some fresh ideas.

43. Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
44. Just One Of The Guys by Kristan Higgins
45. Wife In The North
46. Cruel Summer
47. Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks
48. Northern Lights by Nora Roberts
49. Born in Ice by Nora Roberts
50. California Demon by Julie Kenner
51. The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer
52. The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot
53. Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot
54. Every Boy's Got One by Meg Cabot
55. Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde
56. Babysitter's Club: Kristy's Big Idea

And I've currently got the fourth Thursday Next book ("Something Rotten") and Heyer's "Frederica" jockeying for my next read.


One (or Two) Sentence Reviews:

43. I had forgotten how much fun The Watch series really was. And boy was I glad to finally read a Pratchett I could follow again (the Death books are all twisty and stuff).
44. This book made me cry at points and I didn't like it as much as previous ones.
45. Blog turned memoir that I really found myself getting into. I really loved the ridiculous number of times she ran out of gas and cursed her husband.
46. Diary-framed YA novel that was a bit derivative but sweet nonetheless. Nobody does YA diaries like Meg Cabot, though.
47. Interesting YA with a strong, unique, feminist heroine. Alpha's drunken letter at the end was easily my favorite part.
48. Engaging read about a man finding a fresh start on life as a Sheriff in Alaska.
49. Very popular old-school Nora Roberts romance novel. Not bad, but I like my heroines feistier and my male leads less douche-y.
50. Very fluffy, not much substance. Good books to read in the tub, but not worth much more effort.
51. So Damn Awesome. Sophy totally rocks.
52. Fluffy chick lit written all in e-mails and the like. The first, and best of the series.
53. Retread of the first in the series. The leads in this were less like-able.
54. Really horrible. Didn't like it at all.
55. Finally completed after borrowing from the library at least 5 times. No evil time-traveling Frenchman though... so, damn!
56. Ridiculously cute. Love the artwork in this graphic novel re-working.

The horror!

Now, crap-tastic music is always playing in the store. "Mambo #5" was playing when I was in the bathroom the other day. And I had to listen to "beating down the walls of heartache, bang bang, I am the warrior" every damn day for four months.

But the other day, it reached a new low. So low, in fact, that I was certain my ears were going to spontaneously bleed from the torture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wJ-VPqFzy0

Yeah...

Now, it's well known that I'm not a fan of John Mayer. Elliott once asked me why I didn't like him but then answered the question himself with "Ah, the misogyny, right? Yeah, I see that." Force me to listen to even a few seconds of "Daughters" and I'm ready to punch holes through walls out of anger.

But that?! Ugh. Whole new level of awful.

Just watch the cheesy 80's Tom Petty music video. You'll feel cleaner, I promise.

Hysterical Ammounts of Racism

Alec Baldwin is absolutely hysterical on 30 Rock.

For those who haven't watched the show previously (I'm assuming anyone reading this), the only set-up you need is that Jack (Alec Baldwin) is an NBC executive, Tracy Morgan is the bat-shit crazy star of a popular sketch comedy show, and Jack's dragged him down to therapy because he's been acting out and doing whatever Jack tells him not to (all "you're not my father!").

The poor therapist has to sit through the following in sheer horror:

"Mind your own damn business, Mrs. Rodriguez!"

"Lady, just because I'm an ignorant black man and you paid me a nickle to bust up your shifarobe doesn't give you the right to call me ridiculous just because I'm proud of my son."