Tag Archives: Entertainment

Once Upon a Time

 

 

I am so late to this show. I guess, I was afflicted with a little ABC snobbery, I don’t expect much from them since they cancelled Detroit 187. But Once Upon a Time is excellent. I watched the entire series on Netflix. Yeah, I can be one of those people who once I latch on to a good story I refuse to let go till I reach the end. Stephen King books ruin my life for at least a week because I won’t let those gabillion page novels down till the last word is read.

In Once Upon a Time the show bounces between the fairy tale characters we love in their world and the modern world in set in Storybrooke, Maine where those characters were transported by an evil queen. In this new world the characters have no idea who they are but the queen does and she rules as mayor of Storybrooke. Her adopted son knows she is evil and after his teacher gives him a book of fairy tales he connects the dots. He goes in search for his real mother who is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, and the savior for all of Storybrooke and can release the curse.

The writing is awesome and the acting good. I could nitpick if I wanted to but overall the show is solid entertainment. My biggest critique would be that twenty-two episodes is too long. As with most drama serials the show really starts to lag around the eleventh episode and I can see why viewership dropped till the season finale.

Season two premieres tonight on ABC at 8pm. I will be watching and I hope the writing surpasses the first season.

You can watch all of Season One on ABC.com or Netflix, like I did.

Bloody Hell!

I can’t say Bloody Hell without hearing Ron Weasly squealing it in every Harry Potter movie. I try to say it with a British accent but my British accent sucks, pretty much like when American tv tries to duplicate a popular British show.

Something gets lost when a television show crosses the pond. I don’t know of many successful transplants, actually only a few come to mind, Sanford and Son (Steptoe and Son), Three’s Company (Man About the House) and of course The Office. I believe what made these shows popular is the idea was borrowed but our originality was added. I’ve seen all three of the British version of these shows and maybe because I watched the American versions first and fell in love with their characters it was difficult to see them any other way. I do, however, think the original Office with Ricky Gervais does have the slight edge on our American version and I think it’s because they wrapped the show up in two seasons. We have dragged our version on way pass it’s jumping the shark moment, which for me is when Pam and Jim get married.

A few  years ago MTV borrowed a popular teen drama Skins from BBC. I watched the Brit version on BBCAmerica and really liked it. I found it quite original and shocking. When MTV said they were using the script, the very same script I figured what could go wrong. I guess everything, for me anyway. I found it completely flat and contrived but it was the same script. I can’t explain it. Earlier today I caught another MTV borrowed show, The Inbetweeners. I like the original show and obviously MTV did as well so they used the same script but again it was flat and contrived. I’m not getting  down on MTV because they do have a very funny show Awkward which I think  it is quite good and its original.

One show I did like that crossed over here was BBC’s Life on Mars. It was about a cop that is struck down by a car and lies in coma in one world but is transported back to the 70′s in another.Again, the script was basically the same but the characters remained fresh and kept the aesthetic of the original series. Maybe because I am a huge Michael Imperioli but this show, which only ran one season on ABC, kept the juice it needed from the BBC version. I was not so happy with Prime Suspect (NBC) with Maria Bello as the flawed detective Jane Temoney that originally starred Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison. The lead characters name was changed which made no sense to me. Both characters were trying to forge themselves as relevant in a male dominated police force and although both had their personal issues Bello just never mustered enough compassion from me that made me root for her like I did Mirren. Another fail.

Syfy picked up Being Human. A show based on a ghost, a vampire and a werewolf who are trying to make it in the world despite their ‘abnormalities’. Most people I know had no idea that there was another version and love the American version of the show. I couldn’t. The actors just didn’t bring the full round of emotion, especially the conflict of Mitchell the vampire. In the American version he is such a whiner. Who falls in love with a whiny vampire?

Showtime seems to have been able to keep a lot of the grit of Shameless, something I know would have definitely been lost on network television. I was not a huge fan of the Brit version of Shameless only because this was one show I had a really hard time understanding the language! I blame myself for that but the American version which uses the same script clarifies a lot of the jokes for me and William Macy just owns any character he plays.

Now there is talk of bringing the new version of Sherlock Holmes to the networks. If  you haven’t seen the updated version of Sherlock Holmes with Benedict Cumberbatch which bring Holmes into the present day, you may  catch it on Masterpiece Theater (PBS). I’m afraid for this show. Jonny Lee Miller, who is British, will play Holmes and they will move the action from the streets of London to the streets of New York city. Le sigh. It gets worse, Lucy Liu plays Watson. Its due out this fall so I’ll reserve my opinion until I see a few episodes because maybe by changing location and gender to a character they could be creating another great version. I doubt it but I’m trying to keep an open mind. Bloody Hell, just bring Brit shows across the pond and let us watch them unfiltered, and unchanged. Most Americans have no idea what its like anywhere but their own neighborhood. Bringing the shows intact gives American a clean view of how others leave and you know how badly some of us need to know other cultures and countries.

A list of some of my favorite Brit Shows now and where you can catch them:

White Chapel (BBCAmerica)

Luther (Netflix and BBCAmerica)

Doc Martin (PBS)

Outnumbered (PBS)

Ashes to Ashes (PBS)

Top Boy (Netflix)

Commander (Netflix)

Snuff Box (Netflix)

 

 

Movie Tuesday

I love a day off and I love a day off when I can do anything I want like watch movies. Four cool movies from four different countries. AWESOME

*All movies are subtitled and available on Netflix

Thailand Horror. In the early dawn before I put foot to floor. DORM(2006)

I love a good Asian horror movie but this was not horror. Sure, there is a ghost but one sad ghost that begs a mom’s heart for a hug. Yes, I’m a sucker like that. This movie is more of a coming of age tale for Ton who is sent away to boarding school. He’s an angry kid who is taunted by his schoolmates and discovers a friend in ‘dead’ schoolmate. I loved this movie. It was very moving and sweet. Amazing how children are children no matter where they come from, what color their skin, or language they speak. Great flick Netflix has the subtitles but the trailer does not. Highly recommend.

Unable to lay in bed I move to the kitchen with a cup of coffee. Any other Tuesday morning I’d be in the shower prepping for work. How about a movie from Belgium? Thank you Netflix. Vampires(2010). A mockumentary from Belgium. A camera crew follows around a Vampire family from their high decadent lifestyle to their fall and exile from their community. Funny? Yes. Yes it was. LMAO

Now off to Norway but I’ve moved to the couch with my breakfast. Buddy(2003) Video diaries can be scary. It brings up visions of Jackass in my mind. Thank goodness this film was better than that. Its just what the title says a Buddy movie. Young billboard hanger is dumped by his girlfriend and his life needs and injection. Filming the everyday and not so everyday of his life with his two roommates is the shot his life needs. He and his buddies lives are changed but what they really seek in life is far simpler than what they thought. You know the classic friendship and growing up tale. Loved it

America and the Amazing Spiderman! I had to leave the house for this one no illegal bootlegging for his movie lover!

OMG I loved the new Spiderman. The story was great. The actors were pretty good and there was not that big damsel in distress scene! I don’t know about any of you but I hate women in most superhero movies. They start off as smart intelligent capable women and end up stupid, screaming and stumbling in a pair of high red bottoms. Die Dumb Chick DIE! Spiderman was better than that. Yay Spiderman.

Tuesday Movie Night

When I see a child about two years old have a complete melt down in a store I don’t bat an eye. I give the mom what I hope is a ‘it will get better, we’ve all been there look’ and keep it moving. Sometimes our little precious will really show their ass but most times their behavior is pretty predictable and you, as a loving parent, should work with their nature not against it.

 

Why as a parent would you want to add stress to your life by dragging your four-year old child to a 7:30 movie on a Tuesday night? I don’t blame the child for their constant outbursts, screaming Go Iron Man, and commentary every ten seconds. I blame the parent. First, shouldn’t that child be winding down for bed at 7:30? Second, weren’t you stressed when people kept looking back at you sucking their teeth and shhhhhing your child? You could not  have enjoyed the movie and neither did we.

I hate it when parents get indignant when their child misbehaves in a movie theater or restaurant that is not age appropriate for their attendance. Are you kidding me? You get angry with us for being upset when your two-year old hurls a ketchup bottle to our table…yes, that REALLY happened and I would not have been upset except that it was 8:30 in the evening.

Seriously folks, I know how much as a parent you still want to do the things you used to enjoy but give us a break and get a sitter.

Would it be rude for me to start a petition that after 6pm there be two designated theaters, one for parents with children under twelve and the other for adults who don’t want to hear a six month old screaming for a bottle but those adults have to STFU too?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trinity: A Novel

 And not just any novel, a novel written by my dear friend Patrick Fox. Trinity is now available on Amazon.com for the U.S. price of $2.99. Why should you buy it? Because it is awesome that is why!

Well, of course I WOULD say that because I rode the literary train with Patrick for a good deal of his editing this book and I feel attached to it, like it is my neice. I am immensely proud of him and all of his hard work. He painstakingly went over this book a million times making sure every comma was in place and he was giving you, the reader, an exceptional entertaining read. He is meticulous that way.

Despite my prejudice, Trinity is truly an interesting piece of fiction, so if you are looking for a humorous, romantic, very well written book about an imaginary friend returning to guide his old charge, who is now a fully grown man, well Trinity deserves a read. 

What, you say, an imaginary friend? No way. Yes, Patrick brings back, Trinity, the imaginary friend of Ben Rider twenty-five years later to sort out his mess of a life. Trinity in Ben’s youth was cowboy and when he pops up in Ben’s kitchen one day…well the adventure begins.

 

Ms. Aretha

Ms. Aretha

I had the pleasure of catching the Queen of Soul at the Fox Theater in Atlanta Monday night. Thanks to my dear friend and her husband who bought us tickets for her birthday. It was worth flying down south from Providence to see her.

Honestly, I didn’t expect an awesome show. Ms. Retha is 69 years old. I thought she’d do most of her singing from a stool but sistergirl came out in her heels and rocked the mike. I mean my girl ROCKED!!!! She did her little two steps, her shimmies, and moved those hips. She ROCKED!

I’ve always appreciated her as the Queen of Soul, I have several of her cd’s and since I was a child my favorite Aretha tune has been Rock Steady. I gave her the title Queen of Soul because everyone else did and I respected her position in music but I didn’t know how truly she deserved that right till I heard her live! Her voice is majestic! I tear up thinking how beautiful it was to hear her. I tear up with pride at being blessed to have a piece of her in my life. She is simply amazing and I cannot tell you how much I adore her, respect her, and I am inspired by her. Seeing her the other night makes me want to do better, be better, fulfill all my dreams or at least work as hard as she did and does. I’m so proud to be a black woman like her.

Now the best part of the whole night was when Ms. Aretha ended the show and walked off the stage waving and blowing kisses and sent her stage manager back out to get her purse she left on the stage! OMG the whole audience erupted because we all have an aunt, a grandmother, someone who carries their purse with them EVERYWHERE! My own aunt even would carry hers into the bathroom in her own house LOL
Ya’ll know!!!

watch?v=eSNE-WPBcXM

My favorite Aretha tune Rock Steady. On my sixth or seventh bday my mom bought me my first record player, it had animals on it, and at my party I played this back to back at least a hundred times. Then one of my little monster cousins broke the needle on my record player. WOMP WOMP

E ‘stato un po’

It’s been a bit. That is as close to ‘It’s been awhile’ I can get in Italian…

It has been awhile since I featured a foreign film on my blog and I saw a really heartwarming one a few nights ago.

Quiet Chaos (2008) via Netflix

Pietro Paladini is off enjoying the day at the beach with his brother when two women in the water cry out for help. His brother saves one and Pietro the other. The insane irony is when he returns home to find that his wife has fallen off a ladder and is dead in their garden.

Pietro is left to raise their daughter Claudia while dealing with her silent grief as well as his own. Dropping her off to school he tells her he will wait on the bench till she gets out, he decides to do this everyday. Pietro goes through is day working from his car oblivious to a big merger as he developes small relationships with the people surrounding his daughters school.

Low key with a few twists but very touching.

SN: Why doesn’t English sound as lyrical as other languages?

Around the Way Girl-Whitney

I think its the only thing I’ve discovered about getting older that I really dislike…seeing people I love die and I’m not even old.

I was very sad to hear the news about Whitney. She was labled the girl next door by the media when she came out and she was but…she was really the girl around the way.

I want a girl with extensions in her hair
Bamboo earrings, at least two pair
A Fendi bag and a bad attitude
That’s all I need to get me in a good mood
She can walk with her switch and talk with street slang
I love when I woman ain’t afraid to do her thang
Standin’ at the bus stop, suckin’ on a lollipop
When she gets pumpin’, it’s hard to make the hotty stop
She likes to dance to the rap jam
She’s sweet as brown sugar with candied yams
Honey-coated complexion
Music camay
Let’s hear it for the girl
She’s from around the way

I can’t describe her any better than the way than LL described us back in the day. I thought it was a tribute to us then and I still do to this day. I love our black girl swagger and I will miss Whitney’s. I will definitely miss Whitney’s.

never achieved this hair though :(

I used to style my hair like hers and dress like her. I thought she was stunning and her voice simply made me envious that she got it all and my vocal cords just suck!

Two of my favorite looks of hers . Yes, I cried.

Perm in your hair, or even a curly weave
With your New Edition/Bobby Brown button on your sleeve
I tell you come here
You say meet me half way
‘Cause brothers been poppin’ that yang all day
Around the way, you’re like neighborhood jewel
All the homeboys sweat ya, so you’re crazy cool
Wear your gold in the summer with your biking shorts
While your watchin’ all the brothers on the basketball court
Goin’ to the movies with your homegirl’s crew
While the businessmen in suits be hawkin’ you
Baby hair pumpin’, lip gloss a-shinin’
I think you’re in the mood for whinin’ and dinin’
So we can go out and eat somewhere
We got a lot of private jokes to share
Lisa, Angela, Pamela, Renee
I love you, you’re from around the way