In case you're not subscribing to this magazine (which you really should! I love it!) Jack Bauer tells Esquire magazine what he's learned
Thursday, December 21, 2006
A cute interview with Tina Fey (30 Rock) and Jenna Fischer (The Office). And Jenna got turned down for Dancing with the Stars!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
February means chick movies
I know I'm a sucker for romantic comedies, but the trailer for Music and Lyrics, with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, is looking pretty cute
It's a sad state of affairs when Mandy Moore gets higher billing than Lauren Graham, but what can you do? This movie has already earned a place on my Netflix queue.
My only wish
There's a campaign to show Britney how much you love her (or maybe just the old her) by having everyone buy her Christmas song My Only Wish, today, to try to get it to be #1. It is the best holiday song EVER. I have to admit, I listen to this song year round and I always sing along.
Sex And The City Movie Back On!
After we had pretty much started to forget about this show, it turns out that the Sex And The City Movie might go forward...
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
O Holy Night
If you liked the version of O Holy Night that was performed on Studio 60, you can download it at the NBC website.
I have to admit that I finally watched the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders reality show and I was totally sucked in. Sigh.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Shrek trailer
There's a new trailer for the next Shrek movie
And I have to say that the thought of Martha Stewart and Howard Stern talking? Bizarre.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Flickr account changes
Flickr raises the file size quota for free accounts and gets rid of the monthly upload limit (previously 2 GB) on pro accounts. This means that if I ever get going on my digital photo library project, I can really go crazy!
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Friday, December 08, 2006
More on The Wire
An interview with Michael from the Wire. Apparently, they are shooting the final season of the Wire starting next March, and hopefully the final season will be out in late 2007 or early 2008. There are a few hints on the season finale which airs this Sunday, but there aren't really spoilers.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Dirty Dancing reality show
Yes, there will be a Dirty Dancing reality show with normal women dancing with professional male dancers. And it's hosted by Cris Judd, an ex of J.Lo...
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Skype-a-celeb
I could bid to talk to Rachel Bilson, or Jenna Fischer or a number of other celebrities. Funny! And why does Rachel Bilson's headshot look like a candid photo from a fan?
Monday, December 04, 2006
Surprisingly, Criminal Minds wins the post-Super Bowl slot. I think this is the first time in a while that I'm not watching the show right after the Super Bowl...
Friday, December 01, 2006
Thursday, November 30, 2006
News on Veronica Mars
Veronica Mars may be giving up the overarching mystery stories, which may be a good thing since I haven't found the last two mysteries that compelling.
Les Mis!
Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Segal from How I Met Your Mother perform a scene from Les Mis. I was laughing out loud at this.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
TomKat Wedding Photos
As odd as the whole TomKat romance has been, one must admit that the wedding looks amazing. I love both of Katie's dresses.
A new Wizard of Oz
Can a SciFi channel remake of the Wizard of Oz work? Who can really say? Sounds like it might be a bit scary, much like Return to Oz.
Amazing Race: All-Stars
Amazing Race All Stars has been confirmed and I think the race just started last week, which means you should look for racers in airports near you. Rumor has it that Rob and Amber, Joyce and Uchenna, and David and Mary from Kentucky are on the list. I'll be a bit sad if Rob and Amber are on *again*. But I'm very excited about this!
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Arrested Development!
You can watch Arrested Development episodes (the first five so far, more to come) on MSN. There's a site for the episodes, and there's a forum, which even includes a section of Family Fiction, which is really a terrifying thought. Really, is Tobias fan fiction really necessary?
Monday, November 20, 2006
Movies exclusively at Blockbuster
Weinstein movies (the Weinsteins are producers, I think) like Bobby and the Nanny Diaries, will be available exclusively at Blockbuster. Weird. I guess that means I probably won't watch them...
TomKat wedding
In case you thought the TomKat epic love saga could not get any scarier, here's news that he serenaded Katie Holmes with You've Lost that Loving Feeling.
Friday, November 17, 2006
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Friday, November 10, 2006
Thursday, November 09, 2006
News on Studio 60 and Smith
Looks like Studio 60 has gotten picked up for a full season so hopefully it will be long enough for it to stop being so self-important. And the remaining episodes of Smith will be streaming online, if you want to see the rest. There's a synopisis of what would have happened over the first season on their website, in case you want resolution to the storylines. Now if only they would have posted something like that for Dead Like Me.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Britney news
The news that we've all kind of been hoping would come: Britney gets a divorce. I'm sad that it didn't work out for her, but here's hoping that Brit will be back to her good-looking, slightly kooky, but endearing self. Bring on the album! I can't play Toxic forever!
Monday, November 06, 2006
Another midseason replacement cut down
Alicia Silverstone's midseason replacement show order has been cut down. I was kind of excited about this one, because Alicia's previous show Miss Match was actually pretty entertaining, and this one's premise is around people who meet at a singles table at a wedding. Not sure if the order got cut because NBC has too much to pick from, or because the pilot is sucking. Hmm.
OC Moving to Wednesday This Week
The O.C. moves to Wednesday at 9 pm this week, to avoid the ratings tragedy they had last week against CSI and Grey's, and Supernatural. This will allow me to watch, but unfortunately, will be one more hour of TV stacked up on poor little TiVo. I've made it down to only about 15 hours of archived TiVo, so I'm doing good. Woo!
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Drive
More plot/premise info about the upcoming Fox show, Drive, which the tomcat is very excited about.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Car show
Fox has some crazy show slated for spring about an illegal cross country race. It's scripted, but maybe it will have a bit of the flavor of Fastlane, which was the tomcat's favorite show...
Monday, October 30, 2006
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Fantasy TV league
I'm in the second to last week of my tv fantasy league and it's actually been pretty fun. Sadly, both totoro and the tomcat were either a)not paying enough attention or b)screwed in the draft such that they did not make the playoffs (called sweeps in this league). It'll be a race to the finish. And I think gecko may start her own league with her sister, so I might get roped into that as well. I'll have to poll the current league to see if they're actually interested in doing it again.
Roswell's Liz will be in a pilot
USA has a pilot starring Shiri Appleby (Liz on Roswell) as a girl searching for her real father, and finds out that said father is a contract killer, which makes her abandonment issues make sense, and may decide to become a contract killer. How can I not watch? It sounds completely insane!
Friday, October 27, 2006
Studio 60 hangs on
Studio 60 hangs on a bit longer as it gets scripts ordered, and sadly, I was pretty excited about the midseason replacement Traveler, based on reviews, but it looks like its order was cut down to eight episodes.
A cute interview with Cheryl Burke from Dancing with the Stars and more info about the actual tour. Sadly, I think I'll be out of town when the tour comes to my city.
Crazy!
This is not TV/Netflix/media related, but this is hilarious. You have to see it to believe it (it involves a pelican and pigeon).
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Battlestar to NBC?
There have been some rumors lately that Battlestar Galactica may be moving from the Sci-Fi channel to NBC. This page appears to think that the move has been confirmed, but in a very indirect manner. I'm not sure if this is good news or not, but it would mean that it receives a wider potential audience and that you should be able to see it in HD, and even off the air for people who do that sort of thing.
Pop culture game
Ooh, there's a pop culture game by the makers of Cranium, and they have an online version. I'm definitely going to spend some time playing with this. Maybe I'll put the game on my Christmas list!
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Grey's on-set drama fallout
Apparently there was some rumor-mongering that Burke might be recast due to the drama that occurred on the set last week. Apparently, Shonda Rimes was offended that people felt that black actors are interchangable. But seriously, how awesome would it have been if Burke got recast as some totally different ethnicity and everyone acted like it was the same person? I think that would be incredibly humorous.
The Dark is Rising series to be made into movies
Via Defamer, I find out that one of my favorite young adult fantasy series, Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising will be made into a movie or movies. Narnia wasn't that compelling, but I have to say that I love these books, so I'll remain optimistic until terrible reviews convince me otherwise.
Scrubs is back Nov 30
Holy cow, the good news is that Scrubs is back on the schedule, the bad news is it's on Thursdays at 9 pm. NBC moves Scrubs and 30 Rock to the 9 pm hour on Thursdays to make that time slot a total blood bath against CSI and Grey's. The relative upshot is that it's after sweeps, which means that Grey's and CSI may go into reruns, which may give NBC's shows decent ratings. I'm very excited about Scrubs being back though.
Fametracker's latest Celebrity Vs. Thing
In a discussion of Kirsten Dunst vs. Coasters, there's a very funny evaluation of the appeal of romantic comedies, and how even if you don't really like Kirsten Dunst, you may have managed to see almost all of the movies in her resume.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
NBC survey on Studio 60
Oh dear, this can't be a good sign for Studio 60. NBC has an intensive survey about Studio 60 and each of the characters and relationships. Oy. Don't let the audience choose what should happen! I haven't fallen in love with the show, but I always find a few extremely funny moments that make me laugh out loud.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Gwen Stefani samples from the Sound of Music (the lonely goatherd song) on her next single, Wind it Up Yes! This is just as awesome as sampling from If I Were a Rich Man! Maybe she's going to make her way through Broadway and musical hits! Maybe we'll hear a song from Beauty and Beast or the Little Mermaid, or the Music Man!
Friday, October 20, 2006
Thursday, October 19, 2006
There's a new word TiNo, which is when you TiVo something, but don't watch it. The rest of the article is about running out of time to watch shows and having to let them get deleted. I'm certainly in that boat (which is probably a good thing - if I bumped the Tivo up to the full 80 hour capacity, I'd really be in trouble), mainly because of too much Amazing Race in syndication and the upcoming MI-5 marathon. Damn you, A&E, for not just showing one show per week for the next eight weeks.
A fun interview with Angela from the Office, although you should beware that one of the other headlines on the page spoils Project Runway's winner.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
I'm intrigued by the good reviews that Showtime's new show Dexter is getting and you can watch the first episodes streaming online. The show is pretty grisly and is about a police investigator who is also a serial killer, but only kills people who are unredeemable.
via the Chicago Tribune TV blog, there are rumors that the next season of the Amazing Race will be an all-star season. I would be pretty darn excited about that. I guess I'd need to get through watching all the old seasons before that season premiered. Luckily, season 4 is currently airing on GSN, so I'll be able to get going on that. Although tragedy struck with the season 3 finale and Tivo didn't get it, so I guess I'll have to watch the finale on my computer. Sigh.
The fourth season of 'The Wire' is out in the world, if you want to find it, but beware that HBO seems to definitely track down and send nasty letters to those it knows are pirating its shows.
CNBC has a documentary on American Airlines, which sounds a bit intriguing, just for the little behind the scenes details of the airline.
I watched an episode of Signe Chanel last night, about the creation of Chanel's couture collection, and it was fantastic. The seamstresses and the way they all interact with Kurt Lagerfield is fascinating. I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the series.
And finally, Runaway, got cancelled so I guess I can delete that off my TiVo, along with its season pass. I had heard good things about the show, but it got low priority with respect to all the other crap I'm watching, so I never got around to it. And there's no point now, so that's one more hour freed up on TiVo.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
One of the leads from High School Musical has covered Kiss the Girl from the Little Mermaid. It's a hilarious poppy version of the song.
Monday, October 16, 2006
Friday, October 13, 2006
Sara Evans quits Dancing with the Stars. I wonder if they'll bring back Willa Ford, or whether they'll just not have an elimination this week.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Mideseason replacement scheduling has started early this year. And Smith has reached a sudden and unceremonious end.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
More airplane movies
I just got back from a long plane trip, which meant that I got to see a bunch of crappy movies (although that's not much different from my Netflix queue). Anyway, first off, I saw the Lake House, with Sandra Bullock and Keanu. I have to say I was very excited about this movie after hearing that it was hilariously bad from a friend. Sadly, the video system was not video on demand, so I wanted it Memento style and slighly out of sequence, although given the two simultaneous times (Sandra is two years ahead of Keanu, but they can communicate with each other - huh? Yeah), that wasn't affecting it much. There were actually a couple cute scenes, I'm sad to admit, but overall, the movie made pretty much no sense. Time space continuum! Things in the past affect the future, but only sometimes! I think I've decided that pure romance films should not include time travel/science fiction in the modern day. Too weird.
Next up, the Sentinel. Eva Longoria has character traits that never play into the movie (you speak four languages, but it never goes into the plot? Okay!), Michael Douglas - I had no idea he was in this movie, Kiefer playing Keifer. At least it was a decent way to pass the time on a nine-hour flight.
And lastly, the Breakup. Yes, I'm sorry, I watched it. Tragic.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Netflix's one meeeeellion dollars
Netflix is offering a $1 million prize for a program that will improve their recommendation system. Word on the street is that this system is already pretty good, what do people think?
Monday, October 02, 2006
The premieres of some of Showtime's shows will be streaming on Yahoo. If only they would start selling some of their old shows, like Dead Like Me online, then I could start forcing people I know to watch them.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
I continue to really enjoy young-adult fiction, so here are some recommendations for recent books if you also enjoy the genre. I've gotten a rave recommendation for Twilight, by one of the authors on that list, but I'm trying to restrain myself and wait for the book to come from the library. Hopefully I'll be at the top of the wait list soon.
Friday, September 29, 2006
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Someone has noticed that Harriet's last name from Studio 60 is Hayes, and there was an Ainsley Hayes on the West Wing. And seriously, if I could have Ainsley back on this show, that would be so awesome! Of course, she's too busy waiting for Horatio Caine to make overly dramatic statements over at CSI: Miami.
I watched the second episode of Studio 60 and I have to say that I found it to be more charming than the first one. But I'm still not sure why I'm supposed to like or even care about Amanda Peet. Her character is just so ... enh.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
DeathWatch - Fall '06
Nyanko recently posted about this, but for people who might be wondering what the best new shows to watch this television season may be, this may be one way of figuring that out. Bravo's Brilliant But Cancelled contest involves placing bets on what you think the next show to be cancelled will be, and there's some thought that maybe even some television execs are involving themselves in this. The DeathWatch website gives a list of shows and odds on each show, providing a good idea of what shows people think have the best (and worst) chance of lasting.
For example, "Ugly Betty" and "Men in Trees" have the best odds, and are probably not long for their respective Fall schedules. On the other hand "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" and "Heroes" are looking at ~200 to 1 odds for being the next to go.
This leads me to my next point. I recently checked out the "Studio 60" pilot episode, and it looks promising. However, Amanda Peet needs to stop with the smirking. Smarmy guys are bad enough, I'm not sure I can take smarmy guys and smarmy girls all together in the same show talking as fast as possible.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Two Fox shows, Happy Hour and Justice, have already been put on hiatus. We may have winners for the first two shows to go.
Friday, September 22, 2006
Since the WB went under, their promo voiceover guy had to find another job, and apparently, it's as the voiceover for the new Jessica Simpson movie. He's got to pay the mortgage somehow... And seriously, if he could say things like "Tonight, on a fresh Charmed" and "mother and daughter fight and make up, tonight on Gilmore Girls!" or "her choice changed everything. Joey something something something Dawson Pacey blah blah", then he can certainly handle the drivel that anyone else hands him. Though, thinking about this, it would be pretty awesome to be the copywriter for WB show promos...
the sports guy + the wire
Bill Simmons (ESPN's The Sports Guy) gives a pretty lengthy spiel about his love for HBO's The Wire in a recent column, calling it things like "the most important television show of all-time."
The article starts off being a commentary on the mad-lib nature of modern sports movies, and the fact that people (like me) still find them appealing. I've commented on this before (though not in such eloquent fashion), and the corresponding fact that every new heart-tugging Disney sports movie can easily put out a trailer that makes me at least consider shelling out to see it in the theater.
The second part of the article is all about The Wire, and it ends with a decidedly un-Simmons-like ending.
My exciting news is that I managed to win the first week of the fantasy tv league, mainly due to the tomcat's ineptitude and the fact that he didn't know we were starting so he had a totally crappy lineup. So yay for me! Sadly, my opponents in the coming weeks will not be as clueless so I might have to work to stay in the game.
Gecko, the tomcat and I watched Grey's Anatomy and my question is what the hell happened to Grey's Anatomy? I really liked the first season and most of last season, and I understand for things like the finale, the Super Bowl episode or the season opener, you have to be over the top, but seriously? Seriously. Last night's episode - not the Grey's Anatomy that I love. The whole subplot with Bailey talking to the guy through the door, where their emotional state is supposed to be parallel about wanting to save someone? Awkward. Bailey saying goodbye to Denney's body? Weird. The subplot about the chief and his wife? Random and wedged in. The show got great ratings, but it may quickly lose me if it doesn't cut down on the total crazy. Gecko will probably never watch with me because the show was bad enough that I turned to snarky mode and was laughing/hiding in pain during the supposedly sappy scenes. And my standards for sap-susceptibility is so low, that I'll be all sad for anything, so if you can make me not want to cry with you, there's a problem.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
A lot of times, the extras on DVDs aren't all that entertaining, but I have say that I loved valley girl version of this scene from House. It makes me giggle. I'm positive that I would not be able to memorize a whole bunch of lines and then valley girl-ize them without totally screwing it up.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
See, I'm not crazy, Fametracker rips out all the subscription cards, cardboard ads, and perfume strips too. And they're funny, so since we so much alike, I'm funny too, right? Right?
I'm all set up with my digital cable now and I've been having a blast with it. I watched the first episode of the Wire through On Demand, and I have to say that the interface for OnDemand slow and rather annoying to use. I might watch a few more things through OnDemand, but I'd rather TiVo them and then watch via the TiVo since the fast forward/pause/rewind buttons are much better on TiVo. The Series3 is starting to seem a lot more appealing since I don't think I'd have much use for On Demand. I'm also getting the Amazing Race from the Game Show Network, and happily season 3 starts in two weeks. I'll finally get to watch it, even though I've had it on my computer for probably about two years. Sigh.
Monday, September 18, 2006
I personally think it's hilarious that there's NY Times profile of one of the producers of the Office that completely gives away the cliffhanger from last season. It's just funny when someone is completely oblivious to the implications of what they're writing; it's not like this is earth-shattering, but it would pretty weird to be reading along and suddenly found out the answer to a long-awaited season premiere.
Updated to fix a typo.
The digital cable box has arrived! Woo! I think I've managed to get the IR blasters set up correctly, and now I'm loading up the info. It's very exciting. The on-demand is also working, so I think tonight's fun will be watching the Wire! Yay! I'm so excited. The IR blaster is being a little weird so I think I might have to troubleshoot that a bit more, but so far, so good. We'll see if it actually records my shows tonight (fingers crossed).
And in other news, a few of us are doing a fantasy TV league (don't be hurt if we didn't invite you since the league is limited to 6 people, which was disappointing, and most of us haven't actually read all the rules yet so we're just flailing about so it didn't seem worth it to alienate all of our friends in one go). But we've created a monster in gecko since she actually is monitoring and managing her team. I still haven't figured out who exactly is in my league... But we'll let you know if it's actually fun, and if you should check it out! And since our readership is quite small, there's a decent chance that actually all the people who read this post are actually in the fantasy league... Heh.
Friday, September 15, 2006
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Series3 is here
Tivo press release concerning the new HD Tivo Series3.
THX certified, dual HD tuners (ATSC or CableCARD), OLED front-panel display that can show you what it's recording, 32 hour HD/300 hour SD capacity. $799 price tag.
Somebody get one already and tell us how it is.
The fourth season of MI-5, the British spy drama, will be airing on A&E starting this Friday. It's an excellent show, so if you're looking for something interesting to watch, you should definitely check it out.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Fantastic! The Wire has been renewed for a fifth and final season. Hmm, maybe I'll keep my digital cable long enough to see that. Of course, if the gap between seasons is a long time, I won't still be on the discounted get-'em-hooked rate from the cable company.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Monday, September 11, 2006
I decided that stalking my friends with HBO was going to be too complicated so after finding out that it would only be $20 more per month to get HBO, I'm upgrading our apartment to Digital Plus with ON DEMAND! (Surprise, gecko!) The possibility for tragedy is pretty much endless since it includes the Game Show Network (maybe I'll finally get around to watching seasons 3 and 4 of Amazing Race) and the Sundance Channel. We'll be getting twice as many channels. Friends, if I don't call you back, it's because I'm too busy cleaning down my TiVo. Sorry. The $20/month deal only lasts for a year, so I guess I'll get back to you then. Just kidding. I hope.
Friday, September 08, 2006
An interview with the uptight doctor guy from Firefly (Seah Maher), and apparently, there's still an outside chance that there could be another Firefly movie... Or at least the option to create another one hasn't expired yet...
Thursday, September 07, 2006
MGM is crazy. They simultaneously announced plans to do Legally Blonde 3 (without Reese, although based on LB2, I might have to pass on this), Into the Blue 2 (I blame the tomcat for making me watch this crap - Jessica Alba is annoying!) and (total yay!) The Cutting Edge 3. It's always funny when you greenlight a third movie, when most people haven't seen or even heard of the second one...
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
There's a reality show about how Chanel's couture line gets created. I wish I got the Sundance channel.
There's the possibility that Tobias Funke could appear on Scrubs, as Tobias Funke. That would be so awesome.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Happily, the TSA has updated their restrictions on what liquids can be carried on. Contact solution, and solid lipsticks and deoderants can be carried on. Woo! Reading this list is actually pretty entertaining.
In other news, I finally reached TiVo zero for the first time this summer, which makes me very happy. And since I finally got around to watching Project Runway (which I've been recording for probably the past seven months), I actually finally got somewhat hooked on it, so I'm watching pretty much the entire season now since Bravo is running a bunch of marathons. Hopefully I'll be done with the season three backlog by the time the new shows really start.
American Eagle is starting a new chain that will be aimed at the 25-40 year old market. So nicer than AE, but also pricier. It also looks like J.Crew is starting a twenty/thirtysomething brand as well... Is it bad that I'm pretty excited about this?
Battlestar Galactica webisodes start today. I hope these will be better than the Office webisodes...
Sweet, you can see sneak peeks of some of the CBS shows, courtesy of TiVo. I'll definitely be watching Smith; I'll have to check some reviews to see if I'm interested in any of the others.
Friday, September 01, 2006
An endorsement for the Wire
The Sports Guy gives a rousing endorsement for the Wire. (number 17 on this list) No, seriously, it's good.
In other news, I finally found the new equivalent for the Blog This button in the Google toolbar - it's the Send to button, which allows you to send to Blogger. Took me quite a while to figure it out, there's no help documentation on it, and boy, was I angry.
And lastly, the tomcat has become a total Gilmore Girls junkie. I think he watched four episodes last night. Max just broke with Lorelei. Of course, I was sitting on the couch playing the DS Lite, while bawling because I'm the biggest sucker for Gilmore Girls... Sigh.
And I have friends who have HBO so I'm starting to test the waters to see if they will be my HBO hookup so I can watch the new season of the Wire which starts shortly! We'll see if I'm successful. I might end up breaking into their house in the middle of the night just to watch! That's how addicted I am to the Wire.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Watch some of the CW shows online before their premiere. If I have time, I'll watch Veronica Mars and Runaway early.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Celebrity Duets
Gecko, the tomcat and I watched Celebrity Duets last night and it was both entertaining and completely a train wreck. Lots of plastic surgery going on with the older folks. Little Richard is completely (and I do mean completely) incoherent in his reviews - we started fast-forwarding whenever he talks. Jai, the Queer Eye guy, is good. Carly Patterson, Olympic gymnast, not so good. Lea Thompson, pretty good. And there were some great musical guests, including Smokey Robinson (woo!), Peter Frampton and Gladys Knight. It was pretty funny, although if it doesn't improve, it might get dropped in favor of more exciting fall fare.
Fun with Flickr
You can now geo-tag your photos. Hmm, this could be very fun! And since it's almost September 1st, I'll have a bunch of projects to do with my photos...
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
See what celebrities are watching on TV; interestingly, Joey Pantoliano likes Gilmore Girls. Actually, the tomcat has only recently seen the light about GG and has started tearing through the first season DVDs which he borrowed from a friend.
And TiVo helps you track when new shows are starting...
Ongoing rumors that this season of Scrubs will be the last. It seems like Zach Braff may want to move on.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Wedding Crasher reality show
This is playing with fire: a reality show about improv actors crashing weddings. Seriously, no one should mess with a bride.
Also as a side note, I upgraded to the new google toolbar, and now I don't have the Blog This! button. I'm seriously pissed. I wonder if I can revert to the old toolbar. I guess I'll have to investigate that.
Tivo Series3 pricing?
Engadget has the scoop that the Tivo Series3 may be coming out within a few weeks, for the low, low price of $799.
The big news here is that the Series3 does HD, and apparently does it quite well. The other big news is that apparently this thing is going to cost more than an HDTV would.
Well, this is one more reason not to watch CSI. Apparently, they are encouraging K-Fed. Sigh. Whhhhy?
Friday, August 25, 2006
Yahoo! TV Fall Preview 2006
I just received a tip from our resident Yahoo! spy concerning a Fall 2006 TV Preview site that has just opened. Based on the press release, it will have the full series premieres for "Jericho" and "Heroes" and is also providing the premieres of "Vanished" and "Prison Break" which have already aired.
I browsed the site briefly and it seems to have some decent quality video with good loading times and an overly fancy animated interface. Many of the new shows mentioned on this blog thus far seem to be involved. My main hope is that this isn't as far as the site goes (I have no idea what plans are). If this could be expanded to a full, regularly updated site over the course of the season then this could be a very interesting resource. I can imagine a consolidated location for looking at trailers for upcoming episodes, archives of old episodes/clips, and whatever else the typical TV junkie (such as most of our readers) desires.
There are plenty of resources on the web already for text-based data about TV shows, such as schedules, (p)reviews, episode recaps, cast listings, or whatever else, but there are very few well-consolidated locations for video content. Youtube and other self-upload video archives used to be okay for this, but with recent crackdown by the various production companies, much of the stuff you'd want to see gets taken down quickly.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Who says the new generation doesn't read?
Apparently, there could be a MySpace magazine. Speaking of quickly failed magazines, I don't think I ever saw a second issue of the Martha Stewart Blueprint magazine... and only one issue is shown on the website. Perhaps newsstand sales weren't enough for them to do a second issue.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Tom Cruise vs. Paramount
An article on the bizarrely public breakup of Paramount Studios and Tom Cruise. Everyone loves a catfight played out via press releases and interviews in major media outlets.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
TeeVee Review: Studio 60
TeeVee reviews Studio 60, and it sums up much of what I thought of the pilot, but in more detail and much more eloquently. I'll definitely watch, but Aaron Sorkin could do better.
DVR season passes
Don't forget that since either the old UPN station or the old WB station has changed (or maybe both?), you'll need to recreate season passes for some of your shows. You don't want to miss that cliffhanger resolving premiere of Gilmore Girls or One Tree Hill!
Monday, August 21, 2006
Premiere of Vanished is tonight
Fox's fall season starts tonight with the premieres of Prison Break and Vanished. Vanished is getting middling reviews, so I'm going to pass on it, in a vain attempt to cut down on the TV I'm watching. I'm down to 13 hours left on the TiVo so I'm hoping a marathon week, and continuing neglect of the Netflix, will pay off with a clean TiVo. Of course, the DS Lite is not helping things...
Friday, August 18, 2006
Scrubs musical episode
Scrubs will have a musical episode. And the songs will be done by the guy who did Avenue Q, so I'm totally looking forward to it.
Interview with Everwood's Chris Pratt ...
Here's a cute interview with Everwood's Chris Pratt. He talks about dating Emily VanCamp and his character on the O.C. I think I'm going to have to start watching the O.C again...
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Spreading the DS Love
My roommate gecko was saddened to realize that all she is to me is additional TiVo recording capacity (because seriously, why would you live with someone if they don't expand your DVR possibilities?), so I decided to make it up to her by getting her hopelessly addicted to Brain Age on the tomcat's DS Lite. Okay, I'm not sure if she's addicted, but she was definitely still playing when I went to bed last night. I'm a swell roommate.
Two new trailers
A trailer for Material Girls, the Duff sisters movie, dropped two days before the release of the movie, and yet the trailer is far less tragic than the trailer for the Rachael Leigh ("I lack the gene for fear") Cook movie, My First Wedding, also releasing on Friday.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Football v. the Amazing Race
If you live in the eastern time zones, you should also note that you might want to pad your Amazing Race recording times, because occasionally football runs over and pushes back the start time of the prime time shows.
I'm pathetically excited about Celebrity Duets, so I'm going to go home and see if I can create my season pass tonight!
Getting ready for the fall season
Shockingly, the fall tv season is right around the corner. In fact, Prison Break starts next Monday... So what are you doing to prepare yourself? Today, the tomcat and I sat down and reviewed the fall grid, circling the shows that we'll need to add season passes for, as well as figuring out how to prioritize the season passes. I'll also have to figure out if and when I can utilize gecko's tivo to record conflicting shows. We also used this guide to determine which additional shows are worth a try, aside from the ones that are getting lots of hype like Studio 60 and Heroes. I'm looking forward to Sept 1, when I can download the Heroes pilot and figure out if it will in fact earn the season pass. Sadly, I still have not gotten to tivo zero yet this summer, which means that I may never achieve that until December or January. This has necessitated finally bumping the Netflix down to one per month, unlimited. Sigh.
Tivo = Tupperware
You can evangelize Tivo by throwing a Tivo House Party. Unfortunately, most of the people I know now have TiVos and they got them before the referral system started... Maybe this Tivo House party role can become a career, much like being a candle party person or an eBay seller...
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Platinum Weddings & AOL searches
WE strikes again with another fascinating sounding wedding show: Platinum Weddings. I think it's basically My Super Sweett 16, but with weddings. Damn you Comcast for not carrying this channel. I want it, but I think I'm still too ashamed to write my cable company and ask them to carry it.
This may be a bit old, but this analysis of the logs of AOL searchers is pretty funny. Thankfully TiVo aggregates their data so you can't pull out the behavior of an individual TiVo, but if they did, I might be super dork/schamltzy Tivo user 6,482 or something like that.
Office Romance
Ryan the temp and Kelly (his crazy clingy girlfriend) are going out in real life. That's cute and kind of funny. (a number of items down; beware spoilers for other shows)
Monday, August 14, 2006
The CW's Mall Domination Tour
The stars of CW shows will have to go on a mall tour to promote the CW. Heh. And it's called Mall Domination. That's funny. I should go check out the madness.
XBox + Battlestar = True Love
The Battlestar series recap will be appearing on the XBox Live section of XBoxes. This does seem like marketing synergy. (via tvtattle)
No Aguliera reality shows in our near future
Christina Aguilera says that she doesn't want to do a reality show, which is probably something of a relief to most of us, since she seems nice-ish, but also a bit drrrrty. I mean, does she wear the 40s style makeup at home? That would be scary. So I'm sure I don't want to see what her home life is like (though I'm sure it's very sweet), but I'd still be compelled to watch. So thank you Christina, for saving me from myself. (via tvtattle)
Fox TV shows and Movies can be purchased at MySpace
Fox will start to sell movies and tv shows through MySpace as well as other Fox websites (via tvtattle) Hmm, maybe if this is actually a good implementation, I might start being interested in MySpace.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Review: KIdnapped and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
My copy of the preview DVD with Kidnapped arrived last week and I finally got around to watching it. I was also quite happy to find out that Studio 60 on Sunset Strip was also on the disc so I didn't have to get the discs separately and waste two Netflix on it. Two in one! Everyone loves a good deal. I watched Studio 60 to have some comedy first, and it was pretty good. There have been a number of reviews that talked about Studio 60 being overrated, but overrated or not, it's still an Aaron Sorkin show. So, if you like Aaron Sorkin shows, which I have to admit I do, you'll enjoy this one. It was like a hit parade of people from other Aaron Sorkin shows, including Felicity Huffman, Danny Kincaid from West Wing, and of course, Bradley Whitford. It also had the ballet teacher from Center Stage. There are some sweeping shots that seem Jerry Bruckheimer-ish and a bit self-important (they worked better on West Wing), but the writing is good, and Amanda Peet is surprisingly likable. So, I'm actually really excited about the season. I give it a season pass!
Onward to Kidnapped, which was thoroughly enh. The characters and plot weren't all that compelling, and the show seemed to be trying very hard to make Jeremy Sisto seem very badass, with his resonant deep voice and unshaven scruff. I almost wonder if they redub his lines with the same thingie the Wizard of Oz used. The tomcat and I both agreed that it was pretty mediocre, so sadly, I think the preview disc convinced me that I'm going to skip the show altogether.
Friday, August 11, 2006
My Nike+iPod review
Many of you know by now that I received a huge combination present for my birthday from a set of people too numerous to name (well, I could name them all, but it'd take too much effort to come up with amusing blog names). Said gift consisted of an iPod Nano, a Nike iPod Nano armband, the Nike+iPod Sport Kit, and a gift certificate for some shoes (which I used to purchase a pair of Nike+ shoes). Basically all of my ranting about the gadgetness of this rubbed off and people got sick of it and just got me everything. Furthermore, my sister threw in a Puma jacket for good measure. Now I'm really out of excuses.
My first test run involved dragging everything across the country to New Jersey, and then doing some short sessions on the treadmill in my effort to avoid the east coast humidity, which I have managed to do for the last 9 years or so. The first thing I discovered is that the sensor that goes in your shoe starts off as being on, and you're supposed to turn it off by using a pen to press a tiny button for 3 sec. Oh, and the instruction book says that you are supposed to turn it off on the plane. Hmm.
Getting it setup was really quite easy, I just dropped the sensor into the shoe, plugged the receiver into the iPod Nano, and told it I wanted to do a 3 mile run. I programmed in my approximate weight for calorie-counting purposes, and then it asked me to walk around a bit to link with the sensor.
I set the treadmill for a medium pace and then started off, and after the first half mile I could tell that the distance calculations on the iPod were a bit off. When you set it for a distance goal, it will give you audible cues every now and then, and in this case the iPod claimed that I had run the first half mile when the treadmill said it was only about 0.45. After finishing the full 3 miles, it was clear that it was off by about 8-10%, which is fairly significant but apparently within the estimated range. There is a decent FAQ which covers most questions gadgeteers will have about this.
Upon returning home, my first action was to head to the track and calibrate the system to my stride. They allow calibration to both a run and a walk speed, and so I did both around a quarter-mile lap. After calibrating, the distance calculations seemed rock solid (at least around the track again, since it's the only place I can run where I really know how far I'm going).
Running with the whole setup is pretty fun since you can push a button at any time to get distance/time/pace, but even better than that is the ability to sync your runs to a site to track your progress. Here is some idea of what the Nike+ site looks like, it's actually a pretty nice UI (though Nyanko may have some things to say about that) with decent functionality.
This is the "My Runs" section, and you can mouseover each session to see the summary for that, then click to get details, like this:
Here you can see your pace through the whole run, with mouseover details at milestones. Note the huge dropoff in pace at the end here, this was my first run and I thought I had ended the workout already and started walking to cooldown. The screen (and I think the voice too) always says "Press Menu to end your workout" when in fact they mean "Press Menu and then scroll to the End Workout option and press the center button to end your workout."
No laughing at my small distance/slow pace runs, at least not yet. When I haven't improved in a few months then you can laugh. I think I've now fulfilled my blog quota for the next 12.4 weeks with this one.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Friday, August 04, 2006
One more reason to love Rachel Bilson
How can I not like Rachel Bilson? She loves Target too! She's just like me! We'd be BFF if we met. Heh. Okay. Not really.
MySpace obsession
The tomcat has become completely obsessed with searching MySpace, and finding people he knows, and on the way, serindipitiously finding all sorts of tragedy in the pages people put up. And then he is sending me links to the super crappy pages. Happily the super powerful search is only for members, and since I'm not a member, I can't use the search, which if the tomcat is any indication, has some cracklike addictive aspects.
Dead television pilots are surfacing
Lots of pilots that did not get picked up are surfacing on YouTube. Honestly, it would be interesting to see a full batch of pilots from a network season to try and see if you can figure out why the net picked up what it.
Ranting ringtones
The thought of a Mel Gibson rant ringtone, or actual sound clips from other schizo celebrity moments is a pretty funny. Certainly better than the chicken clucking ringtone.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Who's smirkier?
Logan on Gilmore Girls has been cast as the half brother of Logan on Veronica Mars. It's going to be a snark-off. Oh wait, Logan on GG isn't that snarky. Okay, it will be the biggest spoiled rich boy-off. But that doesn't mean they're not cute and infrequently, but inexplicably likable.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Amy Sherman-Palladino's new pilot
Amy Sherman Palladino is developing a pilot about estranged sisters who reconnect after one agrees to be a surrogate mother for the other's baby. Huh. I'm sure it might be funny, but it's hard to see the super funny immediately...
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Miami Vice recap
Television Without Pity never lets us down. How do I know this? Because they have recapped the Miami Vice movie. Ignore the Big Love header, if it's still on top.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Watching TV on the web
If you're bored and want watch TV on the web, here's a whole bunch of ideas on where to look.
You have a myspace page?
I am sad to admit to you all that it turns out that the tomcat has MySpace page. Yes, he does. No, he's not a 14 year old girl who is obsessed with Teddy Geiger because "He'z so HHHHHOTTTT!!!!!!!" He claims he created the page because one of his "friends" also has a myspace page in order to talk to some girl that he was e-set up with. But seriously, how do you not mock someone for a myspace page? Also, please note in the comments that the tomcat has finally given in and his comments show as up as the tomcat. I've broken him down.
My impression is that I don't think I know many people with myspace pages. Am I wrong? Am I wrong to mock? The self-doubt is beginning to creep in. Perhaps I am the only one not on myspace? What if there is so much fun to be had on myspace and I'm missing out, or no one liked me enough to invite me? This could be crushing to my self esteem. Luckily, I've done quite well on the Big Brain University games so at least I have a big brain weight to fall back on.
Girlfriend Getaways
I love perusing the magazine rack and the latest weird find was Girlfriend Getaways. There have been a slew of new magazines coming out, but I'm not sure if they'll last. I flipped through this one, but it wasn't even compelling enough to purchase. But I just thought it was funny that there could be an entire magazine on girlie trips. I think there is a definite market for girlie vacations, but do you need a magazine? Not sure on that one. The best quote ... "as long as no one gets arrested, anything goes." Okay, I'm not sure I want that type of girls vacation.
'Heroes' pilot will appear on iTunes
You will be able to download 'Heroes' for free on iTunes before it premieres on NBC.. I guess I'll be able to space out watching some of the new shows since the networks appear to be in some contest to the death to get their shows out first. Maybe someone will just show their premiere early just to try to get a jump on thing.
Although I have to say that offering it free definitely seems like the way to go. I can't believe they're actually charging for Aquaman. I mean, they killed the show before it went to series, so it can't be that good. Why would I want to pay $2 for something that is already dead?
Disney Afternoon
If you were a fan of the Disney Afternoon or Saturday morning cartoons, you might be excited to know that the Gummi Bears series is coming to DVD. Sadly, I'm rather excited about this.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Big Brain University
Now that the tomcat has achieved the perfect brain age of 20 and refuses to test himself again, in case he gets a lower score, he has now purchased Big Brain Academy to continue the fun. I think I might have to steal his DS before he goes home.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Cathy: Spokescartoon for USPS
Oddly enough, the Cathy cartoon is apparently the way that the United States Postal Service wants to talk to you. Who knew that that was going to be the voice the post office would use? If I had my pick, I'd have James Earl Jones, or at least Woodstock from Snoopy be my voice. "'' ''' ''''' ' '''" (translates to "Put your name on your damn mailbox if you want to receive mail in an apartment building"), which is what I think my "friendly" postal delivery person would say.
TiVo gathers data on skipped ads
TiVo is gathering data on what ads are skipped. It will be interesting to see if this affects how people design or position in the ads within the commercial breaks to get people to watch. I have to say that I do brake for movie trailers, if it has an actor that I kind of like.
What's My Brain Age?
The tomcatt recently got a Nintendo DS Lite and has been trying to persuade me that I would like it, although since I hadn't seen it, it was hard to judge. However, this weekend, I finally got my hands on it, and started playing Brain Age and I have to say that I'm kind of hooked. It appeals to my super-competitive side, and I'm out to beat the tomcat. My brain age (which sadly started at 54) is now down to 31, and I think I can beat out the tomcat shortly (he's 30 as of yesterday). I'm also striving to take the high scores! Luckily, he never reads my blog so he won't know about my evil plan. Maybe I'll have to get a DS Lite of my own.
Review: Lovespring International
I'm embarrassed to admit that I actually TiVo'd a show on the Lifetime channel. (Although the WE channel with Bridezillas and the Macy's reality show is starting to see rather appealing...) Sigh. So, I watched Lovespring International since I had seen a few positive reviews and since I liked Miss Match, which was also about a dating agency, I thought I might like it. Anyway, it's intermittently quite funny, but uneven enough that I revoked its season pass after watching four episodes. The vapid secretary was probably the funniest character. The upside, I also forced the tomcat to watch a couple episodes so he's completely emasculated now.
A celebrity Stanford fan!
Hilary Duff is a Stanford fan! Or, uh, knows someone who goes there and got it for a freshman year Christmas present.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
The transcript from the Comic Con session for Veronica Mars. No big spoilers. VM will run for nine straight episodes in the fall (no reruns will break it up!) and then will return for a straight run of new episodes in 2007. And apparently, there was some fan there who is living in Kristen Bell's old apartment and delivered a package to her. Heh.
The Aquaman pilot, the Smallville spin-off that didn't get picked up, will be available on iTunes. Perhaps this will start a trend for next year where normal people can watch pilots and vote on whether they should go to series. Of course, democracy isn't always good in things like this, so the good shows still might get left behind, or might get left behind even more...
Monday, July 24, 2006
Comic-Con and TV
Here's a link that squishie pointed me at which talks a bit about the increasing importance of Comic-Con to popular culture outside of its original purpose, which of course is comics.
Shows like Heroes will obviously have a direct link to the audience of Comic-Con, but it seems as though the annual San Diego convention is becoming an increasingly important venue for initial promotion of all kinds of things that readers of this blog are particularly interested in. I am so going to go one of these days.
Is it bad that I'm drawn to Duets, the fall reality show which will pair normal people with singers so they can perform duets? I guess this doesn't have that same element of danger that Skating with Celebrities really had...
Heroes: Pilot review
I took a look at the pilot for NBC's Heroes, one of the new shows in their fall lineup. Nyanko has blogged briefly about this show already, specifically posting to a preview on thefutoncritic.
I'm not going to get into anything that actually happens in the pilot, since that'd be spoilery, and you are all going to watch this show eventually so that wouldn't be very nice. Heroes is bound to draw some comparisons to Lost, and I believe one of the producers left Lost to join this show.
In case you haven't figured out yet, Heroes is about some ordinary people who seem to suspect something is different about them, and end up discovering that they have superpowers, basically. These are not all good people, and all but a couple of them so far wish that they didn't have these powers, or don't even know what to do about them.
It's always fun to watch regular people be awesome and fight crime, but Heroes is much darker than you might expect. It starts off with some spiel about how these heroes will do more than just save the world, so you expect some fight against alien invaders, but it obviously isn't so sci-fi. The darkness comes from the fear and lack of understanding that most of the characters have concerning their powers, and of course there is always the overarching mystery that covers the series. Oh, and there's blood.
In this series, the big overarching mystery is not just how they got their powers and what will they do with them, but the fact that everyone is linked somehow, and there seems to be a mysterious organizing out looking for them. I suspect subsequent episodes will reveal more about their powers and how they learn to harness them and reveal them to others, as well as more about who's out looking for them, most likely trying to control them for their own diabolical purposes.
Heroes is premiering September 25th, airing on NBC Mondays at 9 pm. This blog was not paid for by anyone, unfortunately.
Although it is always embarrassing when you tape a show on WE, Oxygen or Lifetime, this reality show about how Macy's is run looks kind of interesting. Although I don't think WE is part of my cable package. Sigh.
Tragedy alert: A Duff sisters movie with a title drawn from a Madonna song that the sisters have also rerecorded.
Update: No trailer is posted on the site. That cannot be a good sign.
Transcripts of the TV show panels at Comic Con. Posted so far are Heroes, Lost, Battlestar (pretty spoilery, although I'm not sure if all the stuff is shown in the season three trailer). Veronica Mars will be posted eventually as well.
Friday, July 21, 2006
More info on the upcoming season of Battlestar, including the fact that there will be webisodes starting soon. Uh oh, the blog is beginning to look a lot like a Battlestar fan blog. I better find some other things to write about, and fast!
Is it bad that I find this blog post about a Canadian take on different reality shows very funny? Driving in Montreal! "... in or ooot." Gotta love those Canadians.
Nobody's Watching, the pilot from the creator of Scrubs has been resurrected and given a six script order after it surfaced on YouTube and got watched by lots and lots of people. (via tvtattle) I guess I really should sit down and watch the pilot. Or maybe I can wait if it makes it to series...
The season three preview of Battlestar is on YouTube. I have to credit totoro for finding this, and I haven't watched it yet because I'm trying to decide if I can resist the spoilers or if I should just give in now.
I should apologize for the recent fixation on Battlestar and the Amazing Race. TV news is a bit bleak because of the summer. The news from the summer press tour has been interesting, but not really interesting enough to blog about. And I've been working a bunch so I haven't had time to watch much truly terrible stuff. I watched Rize last night, which was interesting but not great. And Princess Diaries 2 is on tap, which totoro totally warned me away from (he watched it on a plane), but it has the actor who played my favorite character in Dead Like Me, so I clearly have to watch. It's inevitable.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Apparently, there was a preview for the new season of Battlestar in the series premiere of SciFi's Eureka. (Spoilers in the detailed description of the preview. Duh.)
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
The NBC pilots Studio 60 on Sunset Strip and Kidnapped will be available on Netflix starting in early August. I just added them to my queue. (via tvtattle)
Update: I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed that the pilots are on separate discs and that they will take up a disc in my queue. I'd like it if there was just one disc, and that you could get it as a freebie on your queue since NBC is using it as an ad campaign. I also hope that there won't be a really long wait to get the disc, because I might just give up in that case.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
I went on a fairly rigorous hike with my roommate gecko this weekend and the last part of the hike, we were both feeling a bit grumpy because the hike was pretty steep going up and thus pretty steep coming down, and the trail had gravel so it was like walking on ball bearings. Anyway, we were getting tired and started talking about Treasure Hunters, where one of the contestants, Kayte Fogel, is always complaining extremely loudly. On the last episode, she kept screaming (while crying), "I'M IN SO MUCH PAIN. I CAN'T GO ON!" I actually thought she might be hurt because I couldn't figure out why she would be yelling and crying that much if she wasn't actually hurt. And since it's a reality show, you really can't tell. But it honestly seems like maybe she's just a drama queen. Anyway, FYI, if you're feeling kind of grumpy while hiking, doing a fake-screaming impression of Kayte Fogel is surprisingly entertaining. I think that entertained us for at least 15 minutes. Yes, I know, we were doing Treasure Hunters impressions. It really is a sad state of affairs.
Apparently, a few of the ABC and CBS pilots have surfaced on BitTorrent, if you're still using that. If anyone gets their hands on these, you'll have to let me know what you think. (via tvtattle)
Monday, July 17, 2006
I had heard that the SciFi channel was debuting a pilot online and letting fans vote on it. The show is called The Amazing Screw-on Head, but this review is the first I've heard that it might be fun and good. So maybe I'll have to check it out sometime this week.
CBS will have ads printed on eggs. Scary.
Also, congratulate totoro on finally finishing season 2 of Battlestar. He's all caught up so I can gossip with him about the season!
The tenth season of the Amazing Race begins in Seattle and features a very diverse set of teams. I'm already so excited!
You can read a running live blog of the summer television press tour, which all the major networks are doing this week. There are details about each session (each show has a session), including some gossipy bits about tension between the different CSI shows, and some snarky comments on the crappy shows.
The premiere dates for Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars have been set for Sept 26 and Oct 3rd respectively. I guess that gives me an extra three or four weeks to clean down my TiVo and check out some of the other new shows on the fall slate.
Friday, July 14, 2006
Is it bad that I'm a bit of an Ethan Hawke fan still? Anyway, the trailer for One Last Thing also looks like it might be kind of entertaining.
This is a total aberration for me, but I actually like the trailer for The Holiday, even though I usually do not like Cameron Diaz and Jack Black, but the trailer makes the movie seem really sweet. At least I'm not running screaming from the trailer, like say for My Super Ex-Girlfriend.
Continuing in the tweenybopper theme, I watched High School Musical last night. Apparently, the original Disney movie is a hit with 8 to 14 year olds and a sequel is already in the making. It was actually pretty cute and the songs are catchy in a generic pop song/musical kind of way. It was funny in a kiddy kind of way and I enjoyed it. So if you like kid-approved romance, dancing and singing, you'll enjoy this one.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
The actors from the Office modeling Puma golf clothes. So cute (the pictures and the clothes!).
I watched the two Office webisodes, and I have to say that they weren't all that. They are the right length (two minutes) for furtively watching at work, but don't really capture the hilarity that most of the real episodes actually have. I guess I'll just have to hold out until the fall. Or until they replay the last season two episode that I missed.
I watched two episodes of the VH1 World Series of Pop Culture show. Any thought in my mind that I might have a reasonable grasp of pop culture were dashed, when I was watching the rounds. Unfortunately, I was not pop culture-y enough when I was a kid, so I need another twenty years before I'll have a broad knowledge. Of course, if the category was Lindsay Lohan exploits, I'd probably do embarrassingly well, because she's so overexposed. Anyway, the show is reasonably well structured (but not great), and the questions and categories are fun, although the contestents seem weird and largely annoying (I don't think they get out enough - too much TV and movies, I guess). So it's a fun show to watch while you're eating dinner or doing your ironing.
I ended up watching a bit of The Hills because gecko and her friend pl were watching, and now I really have no qualms or questions in my mind about what I'm missing. What I'm missing is the equivalent of sitting at a restaurant next to people who are having the most annoying conversation EVER. There was conversation about a six month anniversary, and whether a girl should talk to a guy she went on one date with. It was the most painful thing ever.
I definitely wonder how much MTV is setting up situations with the main character's job to mess with her, and how much input the actual teenagers get into the plot/situations. Anyway, I'm now going to run screaming from any episodes of Laguna Beach and the Hills.
The Guardian: Hilarious or Earnestly Touching?
I want your opinion! Go watch the trailer for the Guardian and tell me whether you think it's going to be terrible, fabulous or if it's going to make you a lifelong Ashton fan.
Sadly, I'm a big fan of teenybopper movies, and this was one of my first forays into tweenybopper movies. Last night, I watched Aquamarine, which had Emma Roberts (niece of Julia), Jojo (the pop star, who looks Lindsay Lohan circa The Parent Trap) and Sara Paxton (the crazy girlfriend from Summerland). The main characters are eighth grade girls, so obviously, we're skewing pretty young here. But I thought the movie was cute and sweet. It's predictable and sappy, but not too painful and seems appropriate for the age range. For instance, [SPOILER] (heh) the romance plot does not directly involve the eighth grade girls - they help the mermaid, who is presumably older, find love. So the secondary story mostly revolves around the friendship between the two girls. Also, Arielle Kebel (Dean's wife from Gilmore Girls) is the villain and has now appeared in my posts on two consecutive days. I guess I now know what she's been doing since Gilmore Girls.
Anyway, you might not seek it out, but if it ends up on the Family channel and you're home sick, you might enjoy it. Who doesn't love mermaids? Also, the shell phone/cell phone pun from the trailer? Always funny.
Michael Ausiello reviews the fall pilots (at the very bottom of the article). Beware of spoilers within the column though.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
So, the trailers before the Devil Wears Prada were an extremely mixed bag. First up, and the most sensible match for the movie's audience was John Tucker Must Die, which actually seemed like it might be funny and was notable for starring a bunch of women who are mostly marginally famous. It was the girl from American Dreams (Brittany Snow), the girl who played Dean's wife on Gilmore Girls (Arielle Kebel), the girl who got the quickie divorce from Chad Michael Murray (Sophia Bush), and some other girl (Ashanti Douglas) who may or may not be the singer. But the trailer was interesting enough that I'd put it on my Netflix queue.
Second at bat was My Super Ex-Girlfriend. This should have been a good match (stars Luke Wilson and has a girl superhero), if the trailer didn't suck so much that even if it got fabulous reviews I still probably wouldn't watch. That's how scarring this trailer was. It was painfully long, not funny, and Uma's character is a psycho girlfriend. So, the question is who wants to watch this? Most women don't like to admit they are nuts, so I'm not sure they want to go, so maybe the target audience is men who think it will be funny to see Luke Wilson get stalked by a superhero. Hmm. Maybe?
And third up, and the most surprisingly entertaining was the trailer for the Ashton Kutcher, Kevin Costner action-drama The Guardian, about Kevin training the newbies for Coast Guard helicopter rescues. The money quote: "How do you decide who gets to live?" I don't know, Ashton, how do you? Kevin says he "just swims as fast as he can, until he can't swim anymore." The trailer is brilliant. I can only hope that it reaches the level of hilarity and super cheese that Armageddon does. I am so there.
So my friend SC and I went to see The Devil Wears Prada last night and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. SC knew three people who had actually liked the movie, which overcame our fears about the mixed reviews the movie had received. The movie was cute and entertaining, and everyone looked beautiful. And of course, my takeaway from this is that I need to go shopping.
The actual message/moral of the film seems pretty muddy - I'm not quite sure what it is and I'm not sure if I like the message (since the friends seem to chastise the main character for taking her job seriously). There was this assumption that the main chracter had sold her soul, but if she had, that wasn't communicated very well in the movie.
I also really liked Anne Hathaway. She's all grown up! Princess Diaries + sequel (so painful!) and Ella Enchanted didn't cement me as Anne Hathaway fans, and her part in Brokeback Mountain wasn't exactly something that makes you go "Ooh, I love Anne Hathaway movies", but I think this one might have done it for me. I'll have to see what else is on tap for her. Gotta have a new girlie idol since Rachel McAdams has decided to live a normal person life and just go to the grocery store and walk her dog with Ryan Gosling. Maybe Rachel will have a spectacular wedding with adequate coverage in InStyle Weddings to make it up to me.
In closing, if you like entertaining chick flicks, and you aren't too nitpicky about weird and gaping plot holes and character development (and really, what chick flicks are really good at this?), you'll enjoy this movie.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
I hadn't realized that Adrian Grenier was in the Melissa Joan Hart movie Drive Me Crazy, which means he also ended up in the Britney Spears' Crazy video. (It's at this point that I have to apologize yet again to my friend CS for dragging him to see this movie because I was convinced that Britney was going to be in the movie. I was apparently delusional, because I wouldn't have dragged anyone to see this movie on its own merits.)
I'm a Mac/PC
Engadget has a nice post about some VH1 spoofs of the ubiquitous Mac/PC commercials that Apple is putting out these days. I really think that Apple is shooting themselves in the foot with these commercials, all they do is reinforce the stereotype that Mac-lovers are pretentious geeks with a superiority complex.
Original Apple ads
Engadget post
Direct link to the Best Week Ever spoof
Since I'm always into crime procedurals, I of course watched the USA show Psych which premiered last Friday. The verdict is that it's entertaining and pretty good. Some of the coincidences/plot contrivances to get the main character to be a police consultant were hokey, and I'm still not quite sure how the mystery was really solved, but believablity is not key to this type of show. The writing is fun and Dule Hill's character is particularly entertaining. I also love the little European-size car they drive - I think it might be a Yaris. Anyway, the show isn't brilliant, but it's pretty fun and I'll keep watching.
In other news, I think Treasure Hunters appears to have the worst luck in terms of random, but somewhat serious injuries to contestants. It's not fun to watch people getting treated by medics. However, they do have a hilarious twist to the game in the latest episode where [SPOILER] they make the teams choose whether they would like a time advantage and will leave behind one member of their team for the rest of the show/game, or whether they want to take the time to pick up the third person on their team. Cold!
Apparently, my two favorite puzzle games have released new versions - Bejeweled and Eggstreme, which is just making me want a smart phone. However, it's probably a good thing that I don't have access to these, because I would pretty much guarantee myself a case of repetitive stress injury. I even fall prey to the cheesy game that comes on the TiVo that is surprisingly fun.
Monday, July 10, 2006
I remember either tomcat or totoro telling me I should enter VH1's World Series of Pop Culture, but alas, I did not. However, I think I may have to watch!
Pirates and Trailers
Well, I made my contribution to the record-breaking weekend for Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest. The movie was much more popular than I would've expected, especially considering the mediocre reviews. As an extra bonus, we got to sit next to someone who greatly resembled Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons.
The movie was not bad, and I was entertained for a good period of it, but one of the highlights was the set of previews before the movie, possibly one of the better trailer lineups in recent memory.
First of all, there is Invincible, Yet Another Cheesy Feel-good Disney Sports Film, this time with Marky-Mark as a regular guy who becomes an NFL player. I continue to be a sucker.
Next up there is Fearless, billed as Jet Li's last major martial arts film, and again with the time-tested plot of one man up against great odds. In this case it's Jet Li up against a bunch of thuggish looking Westerners who want to break the spirit of China, or something.
Finally, there's Rocky Balboa. Highly anticipated "end" of the Rocky franchise, and a trailer that is not yet online. More underdog story goodness. I don't remember seeing Milo in the trailer, but Jess as Rocky Jr. has got to be funny.
There is a hilarious Save Marissa (from the OC) campaign and the blog for it has possibly minutes of entertainment. Oh, I don't think they intend to be hilarious, but that just makes it even more funny.
The summer TV press tour, which hypes the fall season, begins today, so we should be seeing lots of news about the upcoming shows.
To go with my obsession with Domino magazine, there's now a Domino Home Registry so that maybe you can con your friends and family into getting you home items that you want.
The SciFi channel is airing Dark Angel, in case you missed it the first time around. Watch where Jessica Alba really got started, see the guy she was engaged to when she was like 19 (Michael Weatherly) and watch the absurd brilliance of having Jessica's character go into heat (James Cameron - genius!).
Friday, July 07, 2006
There's going to be a totally 80s version of Trivial Pursuit. Woo! Although I think I would do better on the one on the 90's or the pop culture one...
I have fallen into the evil clutches of Flickr. The tomcat and I have been looking at friends' Flickr albums and enjoying browsing their pictures, so we decided to get on the bandwagon and put all our pictures up. We're in the midst of editing and tagging all our pictures since we went digital, which means that we are very close to already running over our upload quota for the month (we're sharing one pro account). And this has prompted me to consider scanning all of my existing photo albums and making them digital. It might be fun... So that may be my summer project. Gecko, the roommate, may also join me in a photo-themed summer project as well, to put all her pictures in albums. At least it will give me something to do while I'm cleaning the last of Charmed and Gilmore Girls off the TiVo... Anyway, if you want to see the pictures, they're marked private so email me and I can hook you up.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Timberlake
I don't think I've seen or heard anything about him (unrelated to Cameron Diaz) since the infamous Super Bowl incident several years ago. It seemed as though he was going down the route of Gavin Rossdale and planning to spend the rest of his days hanging with his famous significant other.
Guess not: Justin Timberlake Brings Sexy Back
Heh. "FutureSex/LoveSounds"
Is that supposed to be like "Love.Angel.Music.Baby" or... who knows.
I know that nyanko is going to download this as soon as she sees this post.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
You know it's a slow news day when Alexis Bledel's love life gets covered. It's not like she's regular front page tabloid fodder... And to add insult to injury, Milo Ventimiglia doesn't even get his name mentioned in the title of the article. He's just 'boyfriend.' That's kind of sad, because seriously, it's not like she's way more famous than he is. Although she is a star on a show, albeit on a netlet...
Online Celebrity Gossip
There seems to be a proliferation of celebrity gossip type blogs these days, many of which are mostly indistinguishable from the others. The best way to describe these is a type of US Weekly with the occassional NSFW picture and captions that you could only find on the internet. Those of you who are interested may be want to check out sites such as:
http://www.idontlikeyouinthatway.com/
http://www.thesuperficial.com/
http://www.wwtdd.com/
http://www.socialitelife.com/
The first 3 are basically the same site with approximately 70% overlapping content and even somewhat similar commentary. The last one is less scathing and seems to have more variety.
Feel free to add your own.
Warning: Be prepared for an excessive amount of content concerning Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Simpson, and the other top tabloid stars of our day.
I keep getting sucked into whole bunch of new magazines that have come out recently. I pretty much just buy one issue when I see something new, but it's been kind of fun. The latest one I looked at was travel + romance, which is basically travel + leisure, but with a wedding spin, and if you know me, you know that I am a sucker for wedding "porn" and have been subscribing to wedding magazines for years. Unfortunately, the magazine was pretty light on content and on wedding info, which was very disappointing. They had features on some beautiful locations though, including a few that I haven't really thought about as vacation spots. But really, it ended up being more interesting for fun vacation information, so I think a real travel magazine would be a better resource and more fun to read.
The other magazine that I'm totally obsessed with is domino. I am so excited when it comes in the mail (although I just flipped through the latest issue and wasn't as excited about this one, so try another issue before judging). Anyway, I'm so excited about someday buying a house now! Plus, it has the great little post-it-like stickers for marking pages, which is borrowed from its sister magazine, Lucky.
I looked at the first issue of the Martha Stewart magazine Blueprint, but thought it had quite a bit of overlap with domino and wasn't as exciting as domino. Plus, the Martha Steward ethos isn't as appealing to me.
And in case you're also looking to indulge in reading about weddings, the classic good wedding magazines are Martha Stewart Weddings and InStyle Weddings
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