(no subject)

Before I make breakfast and then meet with agent to go apartment hunting this afternoon, actually flat makes more sense - since it is a flat in an apartment not an entire apartment, a quick post.

Reading flist...came across a charming and rather hilarious Interview with Jennifer Beals on Craig Fergueson. I'll spare you watching the whole thing and reprint here the bit that made me giggle:

Craig:So have you ever bought anything on the internet?
Beals: Well no, not really. Just a book from Amazon.
Craig: Just a book -
Beals: And a few Buffy the Vampire Slayer Magnets
Craig (double-take - "huh"): Buffy the Vampire Slayer magnets? Uh and why would you think you'd need something like that?
Beals:Well I had a little crush on Spike and wanted my own little part of...well you know.

*snort* I rather like Beals, always have. Enjoyed her in The L Word. And in Flashdance. She hasn't done a lot though. Also can't blame her for her crush on Spike, had one myself. Okay have.

Saw this week's Vampire Diaries - outside of the Alaric/Damon scenes - I was a bit bored. This episode and last week's were a bit on the weak side of the fence writing wise and acting wise. Not that I expect all that much out of a show like the Vampire Diaries. Shakespeare, it ain't. More like
a penny dime novel, but hey, fun.

Mr. Sunshine, Being Erica, and Vampire Diaries...

Got a reprieve - seeing the flats tomorrow after Church, which is much better. So not in the mood to do it today. Also there's more availability, because apparently no one likes to show them on Saturdays.
The sermon at Church this Sunday is on Buddha - which was much better than last Sunday, in which it was on well donating money to the church - which makes me feel guilty, because ahem, still not quite a member as of yet. But hey - I'm doing a newsletter and I pay at each service - granted that amount is split with a local charity and it's not that much, but still.

Sorry, as you may have noticed, I'm in an incredibly snarky mood this weekend. Probably in direct response to the bad work week I left behind me.

On the tv front - saw Mr. Sunshine, Being Erica and Vampire Diaries within the last 24 hours.

1. Mr. Sunshine - disappointing. It's probably worth noting that I'm a fan of everyone involved in this venture - in particular Matthew Perry, the guy who played Hugo on Lost, and Allison Janey, but the comedy felt forced as did the writing and personal interactions. None of the actors have any screen chemistry. And it feels as if Perry is trying too hard. Comedy is brutal. Not an easy art form to pull off. While I like Perry's somewhat snarky self-deprecating, wry wit - it at times falls flat. But - the set-up has a great deal of potential. So, since this is just the pilot? I'm giving it five episodes. It's not a stinker, it's just flawed. Also, I did laugh once during it - it's the scene, assuming you saw it, where Allison Janey freaks out over the clowns with axes entering her office and tries to hurl a small child at them in self-defense. This - I found absurdly amusing. (Yes, I have a dark sense of humor - we already know this.)

2.Being Erica - continues to be my comfort show. It's just an adorably comforting fantasy show about a woman finding herself through time-travel therapy. It also examines psycho-therapy in a way I've never seen done before, along with time travel for that matter. Two of my kinks with one stone.
The episodes this year have been a bit weaker than last year. ( spoilers sort of )

3. Vampire Diaries - it's slowed down a bit from the fall. But it has to, in order to build again. IF you think I'm crazy for watching this - well people thought I was nuts for watching and loving Buffy too and whole host of other tv shows. It's fun. It's campy. And at times hilarious. I don't take it seriously - I watch it for much the same reason people watch 30 Rock - to laugh and be mindlessly entertained. ( somewhat snarky review of it with spoilers )

A Serious Man - not really a review

I finally watched the Coen Brothers film A Serious Man - last years Oscar nominee. After I watched, I wandered over to read this review by Liel Leibovitz (thanks to beer_good_foamy for providing the link. And then via a commentator on that review - headed over to The New Yorker's review by film critic David Denby (who by the way hates most films - he's as bad as Pauline Kaul used to be). Needless to say the two reviews are the exact opposite of each other, and the first one references the second thusly:

If drama, as Alfred Hitchcock neatly put it, is life with the dull bits left out, metaphysical musings—the kind involving God, the universe, and our reasons for being—can too often seem like the dull bits with the rest of life left out. What unfurls on the screen lacks a particularly defined plot, any semblance of character development, or any of the other tropes that constitute cinema as we know it. Which, of course, has sent some critics reeling: the film, they argued, was too bleak, the protagonists too stereotypical, the narrative too lackluster. A viewer about to see A Serious Man would do well to ignore these voices and, like Gopnik, get ready for some serious grappling.

And this is what the New Yorker states:

The Coen brothers in their black, bleak, belittling mode, and, except for a few moments, it’s hell to sit through.

and

Shot with mainly local actors in a super-hard-focus style by Roger Deakins. As a work of film craftsmanship, the movie is fascinating; in every other way, it’s insufferable.

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/arts/reviews/film/a_serious_man_coen#ixzz1DnZBiN9t


Where do I fall? Somewhere in the middle. ( cut for very vague spoilers )

Misfits S2 - up to episode 6 (saw up to 6, haven't seen 6 yet)

Made it up to episode 6 of S2 Misfits - and whoa, it does get really good in the second season.
What hits me is how sexually risque it is and it appears to be on broadcast tv in the UK. I mention this, because in the US - Skins has run into all sorts of problems. Two advertisers have pulled out already. And the PTC - Parents Television Council (a watchdog group) has asked for an investigation into whether Skins distribution violates child pornography laws. (I'm guessing they haven't seen the UK version? Neither have I - but I did see previews and heard about it. Skins is too young to grab my interest.)

( vague spoilers for S2 up to episode 6 )