It's coming back. Quicker than I could have imagined! Sometimes, living under a rock has its advantages (like not worrying about when one of your favorite shows is returning). The show in question this time around: "The Tudors."
I know Colleen isn't a fan because the history, costumes etc aren't particularly accurate but I can't help it: I love the soap opera. The romances gone wrong, the affairs, Charles Brandon, Trevor Morris' brilliant score, the set design and costuming - it's all my cup of tea and I inhale it like it's on the brink of extinction which, strictly speaking, it is.
The fourth and final season of the show hits the airwaves on April 11th and I'm a bit saddened by the whole thing. I was hoping for a longer running show and the first few seasons set it up as a season per wife. Since he had six of them, I assumed we'd get six seasons of awesome but that's not to be and this will be the last we see of Henry VIII, at least for now.
Just saw the new preview/behind the scenes promotional video for the last episodes and am impressed (as usual). Looks like more action, more sex, a new queen (or two) and lots of Charles Brandon who, if you haven't figured it out yet, is none other than the superbly handsome and talented Henry Cavill.
Did I really just post back to back pictures of the smoking hot Cavill? Why yes I did! Hope Keanu and RPattz don't get jealous (not to mention hubby).
Where was I again? Those images keep distracting me.... oh yea, "The Tudors." Here's the preview video Cavill for Season Cavill 4. Mark your Cavill calendars for April 11th!
I don't consider myself too much of a sap but there are some combinations that always get a tear out of me. Usually it's some romantic thing that manages to pull at my heart strings (this happens more often that I care to admit) but sometimes, it comes unexpectedly.
Case in point, this commercial for Tim Hortons which started airing before the Olympics kicked off last week. It features Canadian Hockey Icon Sidney Crosby (known to many as Sid the Kid). It made me shed a tear the fist time I saw it and it still pulls at my heart string now even though I've seen it hundreds of times.
Warning: you may want to have the kleenex handy just in case.
I know. All you want is a break from "Twilight". I promise you that break for at least this post though I'm not sure how long the interlude will really last.
I'd like to take a moment to share two things. The first is that I've just read the first two books of L. J. Smith's soon to be TV show "The Vampire Diaries". I don't love the books but have been convinced that the fourth book in the series ends in a spectacular scene and so I will slug my way through book three to get there.
You may recall that before I picked up the books I speculated that the show might be a winner. I still think it has potential but I'm decidedly more on the fence now than I was before. I did however, just stumble on this promotional still which has my senses tingling. It's a very racy image which suggests more "Gossip Girl" which as far as I'm concerned, is a good thing. See for yourself:
And if you'd like to hear me wax poetic on the the novels and the show's potential, you're in luck. Episde 19 of Before the Dawn has just gone live and is all about "The Vampire Diaries". Be sure to check us out!
As for the "True Blood" lover in me...I think I'm slowly starting to lose my mind. What on earth did I ever see in Vampire Bill? Seriously, even his name now rubs me the wrong way. It's something about the fact that he seems inwardly creepy and shady. Erik on the other hand...he may be evil but it's all on display. And I'm sorry, when you look like this, it's impossible to imagine anyone could look away.
You already know that I'm at the movies, a lot, but that's not what I'm referring to. Does anyone even remember the TV show "At the Movies"? It's what they started calling the show that was once "Siskel & Ebert At the Movies" and then "At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper". I stopped watching the show when Siskel passed on. I gave Roeper a chance and heck, even watched a few episodes when I stumbled on the show while flipping through channels but I never searched it out.
When Roeper gave up on the show, ABC decided to take it in "a new direction" and hired Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz. I don't know Mankiewicz from a hole in the wall, but I've always thought of Lyons Jr. as a quote whore over exaggerator who can't talk about a movie at anything but surface level. I hadn't been watching the show for a while so these news didn't bother me though I felt sorry for people who actually listened to these two for movie recommendations.
After merely a year of work, the Ben's have received the proverbial boot and been replaced by a duo that may actually bring me back to "At the Movies". The new pairing of A.O. (Tony) Scott of the The New York Times and Michael Phillips of the The Chicago Tribune have years of experience and are writers I read on a regular basis which immediately has me interested. The fact that they'll "battle it out" on TV for 30 minutes once a week is simply a nice bonus.
I was taking a browse over Peter Sciretta's well written article on this new age of "At the Movies" when he made a few comments which made me stop and consider this entire TV review business.
Overall this is good news, but I honestly don’t believe there is a place for a half hour movie review show on television anymore. To me a television movie review show is almost like the movie listings in the Sunday morning newspaper. Who uses the movie listings in the paper anymore?
I fully understand where Peter is coming from and for the most part, agree. It seems that even the most rudimentary internet users have figured out how to navigate movie times at their favourite spot which also, usually, includes links to reviews or a star rating. That said, "At the Movies" may not be serving the same purpose it did 10 years ago (namely a listing of what's coming out and what to watch/avoid) but it is providing something else: a discussion.
I tune into movie podcasts because I love the discussion and even if I can't participate, they usually bring up points which spark other conversations. In the case of websites, you can interact with the podcasters and other listeners directly and I think "At the Movies" can provide a similar service. I'm looking at this new embodiment of the show as an extension of the writer's reviews and a chance to take in differing opinions bounced off each other. True, 30 minutes doesn't give you a whole lot of time for in depth discussion but it's a nice springboard and as a film lover, the opportunity to see Scott and Phillips engaging in discussion is enough of a selling point to tune in. I wonder how many others feel the same way?
I'm sure that at this point, most people that are interested already know about CW's upcoming new show The Vampire Diaries. Based on LJ Smith's popular series, before even seeing any material from the show it was obvious the reason for the production was to capitalize on the "Twilight" fandom. I've been curious about the show and had every intention to check it out when it airs on September 10th but I'd yet to see anything from the show.
Earlier today, fellow vampire fan and all around fabulous ProgGrrl posted a link to some new art for the show and I was surprised to find it a little more risqué than I initially anticipated. See for yourself:
Admittedly this isn't very steamy but it is suggestive. Much more suggestive than I would have thought. And then I was sent this:
Instantly, I'm much more interested. My first thought at this second image: fabulous! It's like "Gossip Girl" meets vampires! And we all know how much I love "Gossip Girl"...
I did a little digging and found that a very resourceful YouTuber has cut together the various sneak previews that have been floating around the web and after seeing this, I'm a little shocked and very excited at how much this resembles "Twilight". The look, the feel and even the music... One of the characters (who I'm assuming is a vampire) even resembles Edward...Im' completely and utterly sold.
What I'm wondering now is whether I should go ahead and pick-up the series to read or if I should wait for the show. I was under the impression that I had "The Vampire Diaries" on the shelf but it turns out to be another LJ Smith series called "Night World" which I have started and am enjoying a great deal.
Suggestions?
And if you're interested in finding out more about the show and/or the Smith's world, I recommend taking a browse through the very awesome Vampire-Diaries.net.
I heard an estimate on the CBC news this morning that by the end of the day today, more than 30 million people will have seen Susan Boyle's amazing performance on Britain's Got Talent. And if you haven't, have you been under a rock or something? Just in case, check it out.
Now that you're back, I want to share another video, one from last year's show which puts a smile on my face every single time I see it. On the worst of days, this is what makes me feel a little better. Who would have thought?
I hope it makes your day a little brighter. Enjoy.
Admission: I’m not a Dr. Who fan but I know there are many who are and for this reason, I’d like to pass along a little information.
The local Dr. Who Meetup is hosting a little get together to celebrate 45 years of the good doctor and I’m helping spread the word. Event is Sunday, November 23rd at La Fontana in Burnaby and the group will be watching the pilot of the show along with whatever else they can dig up.
So if you’re a fan and want to celebrate with other fans, be sure to head over to the Dr. Who Meetup Group site and check out all of the details of the event. You may also want to join the group to stay up to date with other Dr. Who related events!
We picked up the MIL at the airport on Saturday. She needed a bit of a break from work and decided to come out to see us. It’s always nice to see her – she’s a super sweet lady and a very “no maintenance” house guest. It also turns out that this is the most she’s seen of either Hubby and I over the last few years since the few other times she’s come out we’ve both been insanely busy.
On Remembrance Day, we spent a big chunk of the day cruising the malls. You see, MIL decided she wanted to buy us our Christmas gifts before heading back to Calgary this weekend. Anything you *really* want is what she said. I thought she was kidding but apparently not.
I’ve been pining for a DSLR for some time but until this point, they’ve been way out of my price range and even at the current prices of $600 for an entry level camera is higher than I’m willing to pay but she insisted. I held back the first time but the second time she offered, I didn’t look back. The result, I’m now the proud owner of a Pentax K200D. Pentax is not the first brand that comes to mind for most people when you talk about DSLR cameras but I picked this one because Hubby has two AF lenses from an old Pentax and talking to the super knowledgeable staff at Kerrisdale Cameras and finding out that one of our old lenses would cost about $400 to replace, we figured this was the camera to go with.
Of course, I got home and started playing with it immediately and wow, what an experience. I haven’t used an SLR since high-school but this baby has a completely automatic setting but the pictures it takes are awesome. In the process of experimenting, I took what is, to date, my favourite picture of hubby:
Needless to say, I love, love, LOVE my new camera. I can’t wait to make even more use of it this weekend though I must admit, if I’d known today was going to be this beautiful, I would have packed it and made my way down to Coal Harbour during lunch for a few shots. Who knows, maybe tomorrow will be as nice.
As for hubby, he decided that he didn’t want anything. Yeah, he’s a bit strange that one. Eventually, we did convince him to pick something out but not exactly what I’d expected. He decided he wanted a new TV stand. He’s wanted to mount the TV since we bought it but I refuse to put holes in the wall. The result is a TV stand with a built in mount. He spent the better part of Tuesday night putting the thing together.
I must admit, I love the finished product. Makes the room look even bigger and to boot, we have room for all of the electronics without having to double stack!
So yes, we’re feeling mighty spoiled. Now that we have toys and a new stand, I can use the Christmas money I was putting aside for the new stand to good use on something else. Maybe a new carpet…
I don't watch a whole lot of TV but having just seen Episode 9 of "True Blood" (TB love!) and realizing there are only another 4 episodes left before the end of the season, I was reminded of a list I stumbled on a few weeks ago.
Sci-Fi Wire posted their list of Top 10 brilliant but cancelled with "Firefly" (duh!) topping the list. Rather unsurprisingly considering my lack of consistent TV watching, I haven't seen any of the other shows on the list though I'll admit to having picked up the complete "Alien Nation" series thanks to hubby's recommendation (though we've only seen a couple of episodes) but pocking around I note that "American Gothic" is also on the list. I remember skipping through the show a few times while it was on but never settling for long enough to get pulled in. I'm thinking this is going to be my next project once "True Blood" goes on hiatus.
Also worth noting that one of the other shows I discovered and came to love that was also cancelled, "Moonlight" is no where on the list. Shameful! ;)
Very rarely do I hear an ad on the radio that makes me search out the TV spots but that's exactly what's happened with this most recent Nation Wide Campaign from Burger King.
It's called Whopper Freakout and it's a viral marketing campaign put together by Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Essentially, they removed the Whopper from the menu of a Minneapolis Burger King for one day and taped the entire thing. It sounds much more fun than what it really is, for the most part the reactions are not all that funny but there are a few good ones. In keeping with the viral nature of the videos, all the clips are available to embed and for the sake of it, I'll add the "Documentary" clip below because it has some of the better reactions.
What I've found really funny is the take offs on the clips, particularly this one which had me laughing pretty hysterically. Warning: This clip is probably NSFW. There's a fair bit of swearing involved...right off the top.
Looks like the campaign is successful; they've got people talking about Burger King and riffing on the commercials.
I haven't had HBO for a while now but I'm thinking I may need to start letting my fingers do the walking to jump on the bandwagon of the network's new show.
Created by "Six Feet Under"'s Alan Ball, the show stars Anna Paquin as a waitress who falls in love with a vampire, creatures that are accepted members of society now. The show is based on a series of books by Charlaine Harris referred to as the Southern Vampire Mysteries.
This sounds like it could be fun. Plus Ball is already in my good books for bringing me one of my favourite show of the last few years and with Paquin on board, I'm definitely more than willing to give it a shot.
No footage from the show yet but the boys at AICN have delivered the poster and it's delicious.
Hopefully we'll get a look at a "trailer" soon. I'll keep you posted.
UPDATE: Looks like "True Blood" will also be a comic. More details at Dread Central.
It's not surprising that evangelist Billy Graham has converted 2.5 million people - he's a charming guy. I don't agree with many of his beliefs but he has an energy that is hard to dispute and when you're looking and open to suggestion, it's easy to buy into what he's selling.
Reading TED today, I stumbled on this YouTube video of directory and self-proclaimed atheist Woody Allen interviewing Graham in the 60's. It's an interesting and respectful conversation and rather unsurprisingly, good natured and pretty funny. Allen shells out the soft hits and Graham takes them with a smile and responds with charm. This guy is the best of salesmen.
This is pretty funny. If you've been visiting for a short amount of time, you may not know that I'm a fan of "America's Next Top Model". I can't help myself. The cat-fights are priceless. But Tyra is being upstaged, this time by the BBC.
I was reading an article at AV in which they're discussing The BBC's new show "Britain's Missing Top Model" about models with physical disabilities - namely missing limbs. It's an odd sounding premise for a show and frankly, the video has me curious, if a little disturbed.
This would go nicely with Nick Stahl's new film Quid Pro Quo in which Stahl portrays a semi-paralyzed radio reporter who is sent out to investigate a story that leads him into an odd subculture. Check out the trailer to see for yourself what that odd subculture is:
I'd actually seen mention of this somewhere else late last week but managed to forget to post about it. Better late than never!
Trent Reznor, one of my favourite artists, is working with producer Lawrence Bender to create a TV series based on material from one of NIN's recent albums "Year Zero".
The concept of Year Zero centers on a bleak, Orwellian future approximately 15 years away, with the U.S. a religious dictatorship and the world on the brink of environmental and social collapse.
I, for one, will pretty much watch/listen/buy anything Trent puts his hands on because I have yet to be truly disappointed.
On a related note, it's worth mentioning that Reznor is also one of the biggest acts, along with Radiohead, to remove himself from the traditional studio music system. I am completely behind his ideas that we need to move beyond the old non-functioning system but I must also point out that it's much easier for him or Radiohead, both bands with rabid, deep rooted fanbases, to take this approach and much harder for small, upcoming bands to follow down the same path. Still, I do appreciate what they're doing for their fans and I must say, I'm loving the regular blog posts, YouTube videos and Flickr uploads that come directly from Trent and crew rather than some dude in the marketing department at some big ass record company.
Growing up in Portugal had a lot of perks, mostly to do with small town living where everyone knows everyone else. Though that can be a bit of pain when you get older, as a child, it means lots of freedom to roam around town and someone will always know where you are. The one drawback is that I didn't have the same level of exposure to TV and music as folks living in the city. Music wasn't so much of a problem because Dad has always been a big collector, and books - well, we read everything we got our hands on and thanks to the traveling libraries, that meant lots of books but there was one TV in the house and it was in the kitchen and Grandpa had rule over what we watched.
Except for an hour a day and a two on Saturday when we got to watch cartoons. This is where I discovered and fell in love with She-Ra and He-Man and The Smurfs but my favourite show had to be "A Menina das Flores" which translates into "The Flower Child". A few of the boys and I have been bantering back and forth about recent news of a Smurfs film in the works and I mentioned I'm pretending not to have read those news mostly because there aren't a lot of TV shows I watched as a kid and they're all pretty precious to me. That's not to say I won't see a Smurfs movie, but I'm not thrilled about it.
I decided to put my fingers to work to track down some info about my favourite of those shows and I've come to discover that the American title of the show was The Flower Child Lunlun though it looks like the show was more of a hit in Europe than in NA. Still, as soon as I saw a picture I knew that was the show. My sister and I were OBSESSED.
I can't wait to show this to my mom. She's going to love it!
I came upon The Big Bang Theory earlier this week when flipping through the channels. I really just stopped because I noticed it was the guy from Roseanne so I wanted to see what he was up to now and wow, was I impressed. The show centers around these two geeky dudes, Sheldon and Lenard who live across the hall from a girl of average intelligence. That's what the description says but watching it was like seeing people I know up on the big screen. OMG, it's hysterical.
I have to do a little more work to figure out when it's on up here but I'm thinking I'll be investing in the Season 1 DVD when it's released in September.
For now, here's a little taste:
There's an entire official YouTube Channel so if you're looking for more, that's the place to start!
They're the only 'news' channel out there that would resort to actually discussing a sexual position/practice on the air. Good god.
I was checking out Empire's list of small movies to watch this summer and at #4 they have this film called "Donkey Punch" and the description says "Never heard of the titular sex act? Ask the seediest person in the pub or Google it (warning: Do NOT try an image search if you value your eyes)." So what do I do? I Google it. With pictures. Except the pictures aren't bad. What the hell are they going on about?
While doing my "research", I found this YouTube clip of the Fox News folks talking odd sexual acts. It's funny on two levels: 1) the woman seems freakin' clueless and 2) they're doing this on national TV.
One of the other videos everyone was talking about from the MTV awards on the weekend was the Seth Rogan and James Franco weed smoking incident which was, apparently, hilarious. But because the folks at MTV are lame asses, anyone outside of the US wasn't able to see the "official" clip care of the MTV crew. For some reason, this one also took a little longer to pop up on-line (in decent quality) but I just saw it this morning and frankly, it's simply not that funny - though Franco does NOT disappoint. Yum.
Shortly after posting my thoughts on Whedon's upcoming TV show, I got an email from a friend urging me to check out another show on the horizon: J.J. Abrams' "Fringe". I'd heard some vague rumblings about this project when the trailer came online but not following any of Abrams' other shows, I sort of wrote it off but when pushed, I figured I'd check it out and I'm happy I did. The show centers on a female FBI agent who is forced to work with an institutionalized scientists in order to rationalize a brewing storm of unexplained phenomena. Watching the trailer I'm reminded of "The X-Files" and of "Lost"...even though I've never seen an episode of it. Weird.
The other good thing is that it brings local guy Joshua Jackson back to TV and though I don't recognize the woman, I get the sense I've seen her somewhere else as well. For good measure, they also threw in Kirk Acevedo who was one of my favourite guys in the long running "Oz".
The trailer is pretty interesting and certainly has me curious about the show. Thoughts?
Since I'm already at it, also worth mentioning that Brit actor James D'Arcy has been cast as the lead in "Virtuality", a new show from BSG god Ronald D. Moore. Sources say the show is "set aboard the Phaeton, Earth's first starship, on a 10-year journey to explore a distant solar system. To help the crew endure the long trip, NASA equips the ship with advanced virtual reality modules, allowing them to assume adventurous identities and go anyplace they want."
I'm only mildly interested in this but I have to admit that the fact that Peter Berg is directing the pilot gives me great hope and has me more than a little curious. We'll see when that one comes around.
Finally, I'll leave you with some thoughts on the TV that has kept me mildly entertained the last two nights, A&E's "The Andromeda Strain". I had high hopes for the show which was produced by the Scott's but now that I've given them four hours of my time, I wish I'd just skipped it. Most of the special effects were TV budget, which is fine, the acting was actually better than I expected but the story was crap. It's been years since I've seen the film and I've never read the Chriton novel but I'm willing to bet they've taken their share of liberties with the story - also fine, as long as things still make some semblance of sense or that the audience can buy.
I thought things were getting odd with the ending of the first two hours but it only got worse in the 3rd and 4th hours and though I give them a little credit for incorporating some pretty wacky sci-fi ideas, it didn't work for me within the context of the show. I wasn't impressed.
I've lived much of Joss Whedon's work over the years though nothing has met my love for "Firefly".
I've recently been hearing a lot of buzz around Whedon's new TV series titled "Dollhouse" and starring the ever fabulous Eliza Dushku but now that I've seen the trailer, I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. I'm definitely going to give this a chance but I'm not 100% sold, mostly because it reminds me of a mix between "The Pretender" and "Dark Angel". Granted, there could be worse things the show could be based on but we'll wait and see how exactly it plays out. My limited understanding is that the show will be a mid season replacement and will air in January.
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