Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Blankets with Sleeves!!!

Caught this commercial a couple weeks ago and it sent me into quite an uncontrollable fit of laughter. Witness the blanket with sleeves!



While I get what they're going for, how hard is it really to just reach out of the blanket to grab what you need? I don't think the sleeves are necessary. Plus, they make the wearer look like a member of a cult. The shot of an entire family sitting around the campfire, all wearing these blanket/coats? Eerily similar to a sacrificial gathering. (It also reminded me of the Season 2 episode of "Angel" where there was a vampire cult pyramid scheme and all the members wore colored robes to signify their level.) I don't think that's what the makers were going for!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Tagged: Alphabet Meme


I got tagged over at the Random Ramblings Blog to list a favorite movie for each letter of the alphabet. For those of you who were reading my blog earlier this year when I did my Favorite 100 Movies, many of these selections will be familiar, but there were a few letters for which I had to do some digging. Rules are below, hope you enjoy! (And this game originated at the Blog Cabins blog!)

The Rules


1. Pick one film (your favorite film) to represent each letter of the alphabet.
2. The letter "A" and the word "The" do not count as the beginning of a film's title, unless the film is simply titled A or The, and I don't know of any films with those titles.
3. Return of the Jedi belongs under "R," not "S" as in Star Wars Episode IV: Return of the Jedi. This rule applies to all films in the original Star Wars trilogy; all that followed start with "S." Similarly, Raiders of the Lost Ark belongs under "R," not "I" as in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. In other words, movies are stuck with the titles their owners gave them at the time of their theatrical release. Conversely, all films in the LOTR series belong under "L" and all films in the Chronicles of Narnia series belong under "C," as that's what those filmmakers called their films from the start. Use your better judgement to apply the above rule to any series/films not mentioned.
4. Films that start with a number are filed under the first letter of their number's word. 12 Monkeys would be filed under "T."
5. Link back to Blog Cabins in your post so that I can eventually type "alphabet meme" into Google and come up #1, then make a post where I declare that I am the King of Google.
6. If you're selected, you have to then select 5 more people.



Here are mine:


Almost Famous

Before Sunrise

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Dazed and Confused

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Fish Called Wanda, A (almost was The 40-Year Old Virgin, but I felt like tooting Wanda's horn)

Gosford Park

High Fidelity

It's a Wonderful Life

J
unebug

K
ill Bill (if I had to choose, Vol. 2)

L
.A. Confidential

M
oulin Rouge

N
ewsies

O
nce

P
rincess Bride, The

Q
ueen, The

R
oyal Tenenbaums, The

S
ideways

T
itanic

U
pside of Anger, The

V
irgin Suicides, The

W
hat's Eating Gilbert Grape?

X
-Files: Fight the Future (it was either this or copy X2: X-Men United)

Y
entl (yes, it's Barbra Streisand and I love it!)

Z
odiac


This post brought to you by the letters J, N, Q, U and X, all of which kicked my ass! (And unsurprisingly, I had way too many options for the letters M, B, L, S, T and W - duh squared!)

I'm supposed to tag 5 other people to do this, but I only have about 3-4 real friends who consistently read my blog and only 1-2 have a blog of their own, and I know you guys aren't crazy movie bloggers. So if you feel so inclined, Heather and Damon, feel free to participate and list your fav's alphabetically - but no pressure!

Heather at Married to the Game
Damon at Hart Burned

This Week in Chuck...


Last night was another fabulous episode! My Blair love i
s quickly rising back to Season One levels (although Dan stumbled a bit after last week's impressive showing and is now almost a douche again). Now that Blair and Chuck have declared an armistice they are back to cute snark and co-plotting, just the way I like it, and she was freaking hilarious last night! I missed last week, yet again, so you get two entries this week (again).

Winner #1: From last week's episode, Chuck actually wore a pretty fab gray/green suit with awesome lapels and piping, but you can see that in the photo from the episode in my
"Best TV Week Ever" post. So instead I'm going with the pretty lavender sweater. Not too crazy, but how pretty is he in that color? Love it!


Winner #2: Chuck only wore 2 outfits in last night's episode, so lucky for us one of them was this amazing, plaid blazer. Seriously, I spent a good five minutes gushing about this thing while I was watching the episode. And every time he came back onscreen led to another round of, "Oh My God, that jacket is fucking awesome!" Apparently I'm easy to please; all you need is a plaid jacket and healthy dose of smarm.


Monday, November 3, 2008

Best Week of Television Ever!

Well, maybe not. But I was so in love with most of my shows last week I have to gush!

MAD MEN

It was the season finale of this excellent show and I was immensely satisfied. It took place against the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, and most of the characters felt like taking risks and deciding what really mattered. In this vein there were 3 really entertaining and important developments:

1) Don more or less admitted his infidelity and disrespect to his wife Betty in an attempt to get her back. Don is a pretty awesome character but he has struggled this season to own up to his shortcomings and be honest, so this was an important first step towards repairing his marriage. He also got the upper hand in the Sterling-Cooper merger allowing him to finally put Duck in his place. Which brings me to number 2...


2) Duck boils himself in a stew of his own making. After setting up a risky but extremely lucrative merger for the company (which will land him a position as President, finally giving him seniority over Don) Duck makes a pretty grand faux paux. First, the alcoholic has started drinking again, leading to some cutting comments and yelling in the big meeting. But second and most entertainingly, his supposed triumph over Don was entirely contingent on Don being forced to stick to his contract, giving Duck control and the upper hand. The kicker is that Don doesn't have a contract and is free to quit and work for rival companies if he doesn't like the way Duck runs the office. So now Duck has made a fool of himself and completely overestimated his hand, landing him in deep, deep water with the senior partners. It was a great scene.

3) The most touching scene was the long-awaited reveal of the fate of Peggy and Pete's love-child. We've known all season that Peggy gave birth to Pete's child at the end of l
ast season, but we weren't sure where the baby ended up and we've been waiting for Pete to find out that his casual dalliance with Peggy resulted in a child. A buzzed Pete finally sits Peggy down and honestly admits that he's in love with her and wants to be with her, his marriage be damned. And Peggy sadly and kindly informs him that she had his child and gave it away because she wanted more for herself. She wanted the big career which she has pretty much achieved and she no longer wants Pete the way she used to. He is so devastated in this scene and both Elizabeth Moss and Vincent Kartheiser were fucking amazing in the scene.



GOSSIP GIRL

This was definitely one of my favorite episodes of the season. I liked just about every development and really cheered on a few characters that I have never cared for. Like Jenny - usually a spoiled brat wannabe, but tonight, while still being a baby, she was at least an interesting baby. Fought Eleanor Waldorf for control of the dresses she designed and almost got into some trouble with a shady model and her annoying photog boyfriend, but then! NATE TO THE RESCUE!!! While the attraction between Nate and Jenny seemed kinda sudden (not to mention Chace Crawford is 23 and Taylor Momsen in only 15, eww?) I like their chemistry, we need to see more half-naked Nate, and I liked their kiss. Can't wait to see what Blair thinks about this! Jenny screwing over Blair's mother, then picking up with her ex, ooohhh, can't be good.


In other news, I finally liked Dan! Really, really liked him! I want to, and God knows Penn Badgely is adorable, but Dan is just such a judgmental ass most of the time I just can't get on board. But this week he genuinely tried to see others as actual human beings with feelings and really helped Blair out. I really like Dan and Blair scenes together - they have a great chemistry. I don't want them together romantically because I love her with Chuck too much, but I like them interacting. Even when Dan reverted to sanctimonious jerk for 5 minutes (Damn you, Vanessa!) I at least understood why, and he faced down Chuck Bass to make it right! Bravo!


Also, yay for Chuck and Blair pretty much admitting they are in love with each other. It's about time! Totally my favorite couple, they actual got all vulnerable with each other and decided they don't want to risk a relationship because they're afraid they'll screw it up. It was tragically and beautifully sad (oh, they way they held hands!) but here's hoping they get back to some friendly scheming together now.


Oh, and Serena's got a new love interest and I find him intriguing, plus he totally reminds me of pretentious smarties with boho looks like Blake. This could be interesting!


GREEK

I'll keep this short(er) but in the midseason finale I gave up on Evan and Frannie. This season's evil power couple showed lots of promise as characters last season, but now Frannie is officially beyond repair. She steals half of the ZBZ house to start her own sorority, why - because she can't be president of ZBZ. What an evil wench! And she is totally using Evan for him money and connections. Which is fine because Evan is a douche! What happened to the nice guy who wanted to be more than "Evan Chambers" in those freshman year flashbacks??? He had so much potential. But this week, in the long awaited street fight between the Omega Chai's and Kappa Tau, Evan hit Rusty in the face with a pledge paddle - HARD!!! Ostensibly as payback, but please! He's humiliated Rusty plenty already, and it's RUSTY! (Just look at him) You just don't do that to Rusty - he's cuddly baby who is made of awesome! So glad Cappie punched Evan back. And hope that Calvin finally opens his eyes and sees that Evan is crap. I have decided that Cappie has to be Evan's salvation. Until those two make up and Cappie helps Evan remember how to be a human being, I have written Evan off for good.


Also, like that Rebecca wants to be Casey's friend, glad that Casey chose herself over a guy, but love that Max may be sticking around because he is a sweetie and a dish and until Casey and Cappie get back together, I'm loving Max! Can't wait for March!


SONS OF ANARCHY

Anyone else watching this? It's a new show on FX and I am officially hooked. What initially caught me was Charlie Hunnam (really cute British actor from the UK "Queer as Folk" and Judd Apatow's show "Undeclared") but I'm really starting to love everything about it. It's about a biker gang in a small town and they basically are the law. They run guns and keep the peace, but they're all fucked up. Honestly, I don't think I can explain the entire dynamic. Clay (Ron Perlman) is the leader and his stepson Jax (Hunnam) is second in command, and the rest of the club is just filled with great character actors. It's really one of the best ensembles I've seen in a while. Gemma (Katy Segal) is Jax's mom and Clay's wife, and she is a force to be reckoned with - she and Perlman are acting superstars. Anywho, love this cast, love the momentum of the last couple episodes, love the diversity of characters, the conflict, Jax reuniting with old love Tara, the Hamlet-like undertones to the Clay/Gemma/Jax relationships, the dark humor, and on and on. Definitely my favorite new show of the season. And since it's about a rather misogynistic, violent and illegal enterprise, it's gotta be doing something right to have me hooked.



All in all it was a very satisfying week of television for me. Here's hoping this week is half as good!