After Oscars

After months of hype and tons of awards show leading up to THE awards show, it's all over, just like that. OK, maybe not just like that, there were hours and hours of arrivals and then hours and hours of the actual show. A lot of people thought the show was boring but I was live blogging on FB so I was having my own Oscar party online. No matter what was happening on the screen, I was having fun. 

I only read one review about Seth MacFarlane and it was positive. I felt the same way. On FB it seemed like a lot of people didn't like him but I found him funny, charming and game for anything. I could have done without the William Shatner bit in the opening but I still enjoyed the opening with Channing Tatum and Charlize Theron dancing and then Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Daniel Radcliffe dancing and singing with Seth. It was old/new school Hollywood. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Not many, if any surprise winners. They acted surprised but they were all the front runners for each category they were in. That being said, I loved Daniel Day-Lewis' speech. This was his third Oscar, he could have been blasé about the whole thing, instead he was incredibly moved and his speech was beautiful. I felt like this year, with his Golden Globe and Oscar win he really let his emotion and personality shine thru. 

Before the awards season I was a big fan of Anne Hathaway and was totally rooting for her but her speech at the Golden Globes turned me off, it was soooo long and then when Les Mis won she took over the mic to thank an agent she forgot. Really? I'm also not digging this gosh darn, I can't believe I won attitude she's projecting. I just don't believe it. 

Now someone I am loving is Jennifer Lawrence. She looks like someone who doesn't play the Hollywood game. She is so genuine in everything that she does that we're even charmed by her falling down to get her Oscar. I love her honesty and freshness. I'm posting a video of her at the end of this post that is just another reason to love her. 

Don't boo me, but I didn't think Argo was the best movie of the year. Unlike most years, I've actually seen a lot of the movies that were nominated, Silver Lining Playbook, Les Miserablés, Life of Pi and Argo. I have to say, of all of the movies, I enjoyed Argo the least. I'm not saying that I didn't like it, I did, I just liked the others more. There was an emotional element that was missing from Argo for me. I would have been happier if any of the other movies won. That being said, my favorite speech of the night was Ben Affleck's. Nothing moves my somewhat cynical heart (who am I kidding? I'm mush) more then true emotion. I love how far Ben has come in his career and how appreciative he was about it all and it's pretty cool to see him up there with George Clooney. 

The Oscars are really just a reason for people to dress up and for us to judge them for it, so on to the fashion!

I liked a lot of the fashion this year, no real disasters (Helena Bonham Carter is always a disaster, so I don't even bother with her). The top two dresses were my favorite of the night. When I saw them onscreen they took my breath away. The stills don't really convey the beauty of their dresses since part of the magic was in how their dresses moved. I haven't always agreed with Jennifer Hudson's style choices but this dress and the one she wore when she performed Dreamgirls were flawless. Her body looks magnificent in the dress which shimmers and shines when she moves. If you get a chance to see Stacy Keibler (aka George Clooney's gf) in her dress on video, you will see why I love it. On tv, her dress moves and looks like it's made up of a ton of necklaces. There's a metallic look to her dress and it's not a flat material, so it reflects light and adds dimension. Just stunning. 

On camera Naomi Watts dress looked more green/bluish but that could be because her dress is so shimmery and glittery that the lights are all reflected. Sparkle was the theme of the night and I was a huge fan. This dress fit Naomi like a dream and it was something new. Nicole Kidman also had on a fitted glittery dress that she looked divine in. What I love about Octavia Spencer is she knows how to dress for her body. I know she's good friends with Melissa McCarthy, she should really give her some tips. Octavia's dress doesn't re-invent the wheel but it's glamorous and romantic at the same time. I'm a sucker for tulle. If I could get away with wearing tulle every day I would. 

When I first say this dress by Halle Barry I didn't like it. But then she walked on stage and it was so extremely flattering to her body I revised my opinion. That being said, I'd love the dress whole heartedly if it wasn't for the squared shoulders. But since she has those shoulders she's my transition to the dresses I didn't like. 

I know Reese Witherspoon recently had a baby but I'm just not enjoying the fit of this dress. It pooches at her belly and hey, if that's her belly then she could have worn a different dress. I also don't like the two toneness of the dress. Kerry Washington wore a black and white one on Scandal the other day that I loved, this I didn't. She did have my favorite hair style of the night tho. I have admitted to my love of Jennifer Lawrence but I was disappointed in this dress. On tv you can't see the details in the material of the small back draped necklace that she has on. So add a veil and this is a wedding dress. I have loved a lot of what she has worn during the awards season and I can understand wanting to dress like a princess (or in my case a Queen), I just wish she hadn't looked like a bride while doing it. 

On my tv Kerry Washington's dress looked red, add to that all of the jewelry at the top of her dress and she just looked like she should be under a Christmas tree. I'm just not a fan of bedazzaled clothes overall. Anne Hathaway was my biggest disappointment of the night. She's very fashion conscious. I expected more out of her. The darts at her nipples drove me crazy. You know I have no problems with nipples but the dress just didn't flatter and the darts were distracting. She said she chose the dress 3 hours before hand. She should have gone with her other choice. Maybe if the dress didn't have a weirdly placed seam at the waistline it would have looked better. I don't know. It just seemed like a hot mess to me. 

Speaking of hot messes… This falls into the what was she thinking category? The dress doesn't look like it fits her, it adds 20 lbs to her and her hair doesn't help matters. I am a fan of the Pricilla Presley do, just not here. Melissa McCarthy needs to either hire a stylist or fire one. 

All that being said, fashion is subjective. You might like what I hated and vice versa. I would love to hear your thoughts on the Oscars and the Oscar fashion, there were a ton of other great dresses. 

But before you weigh in, check out this so cute video. Jennifer Lawrence is interviewing with ABC when Jack Nicholson comes up to compliment/hit on her. Her reaction is priceless and this is why I love Katniss. 

Happy Valentine's Day from the Winchesters

Last night I caught up on Supernatural with last week's and this week's episode. So far am loving this season. Thrilled that it's already been renewed for next season.

My fave from last night:

Dean telling Sam why he is the one who will do the 3 trials to close the gates to Hell:

I want you to have a life — become a Men of Letters, whatever. You, with a wife and kids and grandkids, living until you’re fat and bald and chugging Viagra. That is my perfect ending and that’s the only one I’m going to get. So I’m going to do these trials, and I’m going to do them alone. End of story.”

At the end of the ep when Sam saved Dean and did the first trial, Dean wanted to re-do the trial but this was his response:

Sam: “I see light at the end of this tunnel and I’m sorry you don’t. I am. But it’s there. And if you come with me, I can take you to it.”
Dean: “Sam, be smart.”
Sam: “I am smart, Dean, and so are you. You’re not a grunt, Dean; you’re a genius — when it comes to lore, to– You’re the best damn hunter I’ve ever seen — better than me, better than Dad. I believe in you, Dean. So please, please believe in me, too.”

I just love moments like this, makes my heart melt. Happy Valentines!

Supernatural: As Time Goes By

As much as I loved last week's episode of Supernatural, I loved this week's even more. One thing about Sup fans is they're vocal, for as many fans that were excited about exploring the Winchester side of the family, there were just as many who were complaining, before the episode even aired! That drives me crazy. I'd rather have a weak ep of Sup then no Winchester boys on my screen and I feel like this season they've really hit it out of the park. I feel like it's been a renaissance.

Supernatural may be all demons, angels and monsters but what it's really about is family so any episode dealing with daddy issues is going to be gold. Especially when it delves into the mythology of the show. Turns out John Winchester was supposed to be a Man of Letters, not a Hunter. Huh? Exactly! The boys have never heard of this either but Grandpa Winchester came forward into the future looking for his son John (who has died) and finds our favorite Hunters (which he likens to apes, LOL) instead.

Henry went to the future and never made it back to his son so John was never introduced to that side of his dad. John came from a family of knowledge, Mary came from a family of hunters, brains and braun,  Cupid had said that they were destined to be together.

I think this new twist adds an exciting element to the future of the series. The boys are going to have access to a vast wealth of knowledge and from what the EP said, it will be their new home base. I can't wait to see the rest of the season.

FYI, Charlie will be back before the end of the season, something else to look forward to.

What did you think of this week's episode? Are you as bummed as I am that Henry is no longer with us? As Dean said, there family tree has a whole lot of dead in it. Heartbreaking!

The Americans

Are you in or out? I was really looking forward to this show because the premise was interesting (2 KGB agents undercover in Cold War America) and it was executive produced by Graham Yost who is the EP of Justified, and you know how much I love that show.

Turns out, I didn't love it. It was ok. Part of what makes Justified so awesome is the humor and dialogue. This show doesn't break up the levity with moments of humor. The lightest moment of the ep was the family going for ice cream (I do love me a soft serve). 

I thought Keri Russell was amazing in it and Matthew Rhys more then held his own. He's the sympathetic character and I loved him. Whenever I see Noah Emmerich (the FBI neighbor) I think of the movie Beautiful Girls which I loved so it's always fun to see him but for me, overall, the tone was way too dark. 

There was a problem with my cable and I wasn't able to watch the last 15 minutes of the show which tells me right there, I wasn't really invested because I didn't care that much. If I missed 5 minutes of Justified I'd be ranting and raving, and then watch the repeat the next hour, LOL. I didn't bother with the repeat of The Americans.

Not to say that this is a bad show. I think, for me, it's one of those shows that needs to grow on you and since my Wed nights are pretty packed, I don't know how much I'm going to be watching it. Depends on how tired I am that night. 

BTW, the 20 year old flashbacks were hard for me to believe because Kerri Russell looks the same. I was like, how could this be 20 years ago?

Did you watch? What did you think?  Will you be watching again?

Go Dead Yourself!

The Walking Dead has a web page where you can go dead yourself. It's hilarious! I love it, so many cool options. What is great is you can still tell it's me, even as the undead I have a cheesy smile! Go here and Dead yourself too. I'd love to see the fruits of your labor so email me your results and let me know if you want me to post it so others can see too. Thank you Lisa for posting this link on your FB!

I told Lin to stay away from Su's food. Su doesn't share well. 

Mia looks like such a sweet zombie, well, until those chompers bite into you. 

Downton Abbey Broke Our Hearts

I am late to the Downton Abbey bandwagon. It was on PBS so I never saw commercials for it, once people started talking about it, it was too late for me to join the party, or so I thought.

My sister has netflix and we were just hanging out so we decided to check it out, with some encouraging from my friends, and spent an entire day watching Season One.

A couple of weeks later I bought the second season on Amazon and spent a night watching Season Two. Man, Downton packs a lot of punch in their short seasons. While in the US a normal tv season is 22-24 episodes, in England a normal season is 8 to 10 eps. Cable television has been prepping us because they have adapted the short season schedule but at least they break it up so we get 2 seasons in one year. By the time I start to miss a show, it's back. I love cable!

I totally planned on watching season 3 live but my friend sent me the third season and I was weak. I watched them all in 2 days, along with the Christmas special. Did I mention how weak I was? Because I devoured the eps, I haven't been blogging about them since I know what happened during the season but this ep I have to talk about.

I'm a total spoiler slut so even before I watched this ep I knew what was going to happen but even knowing doesn't prepare for the actuality of it. It might even make it more poignant knowing what is going to happen.

Lady Sybil has always been the heart and soul of her family and Downton Abbey. There are some people who are just so good that you don't trust them, people just aren't that good. Then there are people like Lady Sybil, who are so inherently good and kind that it makes people like Thomas cry when she dies. She touched everyone's life with her kindness.

When Sybil passed I had the sore throat kind of crying going on. Not just a tear or two but the pain of holding it in type of tears. To watch her family react and beg her to breath, beg her to live, beg her to not leave them, beg the doctor to do something. It was heart breaking. I was so moved I had to watch it again afterwards. I know, a little masochistic of me, but the scene was so emotional and moving, and the acting was so awesome that I had to put myself thru it again. Just talking about it makes me want to watch the episode again.

Have you recovered from Sunday's episode yet? What did you think?

BTW, I read somewhere it was a surprise that the cast won the SAG award for best ensemble, as soon as heard the nominees I knew Downton would win. Their shock at winning was fun. Yes, that's the housekeeper who is accepting the award! Who knew she was so beautiful?

The Following

The Following replaced the lead agent from the pilot with a new one, Annie Parisse, most people know her from Law and Order, I remember her from As The World Turns (I miss that show!). It's a good thing they did because a week later and I don't even remember the other chick, Annie will definitely be a welcome addition.

The main antagonist of this series is obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe. When I was younger I would read everything I could get my hands on, including EAP. I can't believe I used to read him considering what a scaredy cat I am (and yet I watch shows like this). It's interesting to be revisiting Poe thru this series. I'd forgotten how much of his stuff I've read and I'm surprised by how much it's stuck with me. That's some wonderful intense writing. I'm tempted to read him again but I think I'll just stick to wikipedia'ing the stories.

The scene that made me jump out of my skin was when he was in the room with the Poe masks. I thought it was creepy before that guy jumped out at him. Holy he*#! I did not see that coming. I did see the chick killing her mom, you so knew that was going to happen.

My question is, are these the worst security guys ever? First last week a house full of cops and the woman is kidnapped and killed and guess what, this week, a house full of cops and feds and what happens? They only send one guy up to check the perimeter and he's taken out. What's his face's cult would be less successful if the cops weren't so inept. I think they need to smarten up the cops, or it will become a farce.

What did you think of that last scene? Some people think she's working with him, I think it's more like she's trying to get into his mind. Your thoughts?

TV Week in Review

I'm way behind on my tv blogging so am going to do one mega post on the past week's tv shows, if I miss something you watch that you want to talk about, please feel free to post about it.

Let's start off with American Horror Story: Asylum. Last night was the season finale. I remember how ticked I was at the end of season one. I was going to boycott season two. I hated that the entire family died. People argued with me that they got their happy ending, to me, that wasn't a happy ending. Ryan Murphy was a smart man, he opened the season with my boyfriend Adam Levine, how could I not watch?

We found out who cut off Adam's arm on the finale. Was there any doubt? That was the most suspenseful moment of the night. We knew what was going to happen. The tension and knowing really made that scene.

This Snatch is Off Limits

My favorite line from last night's Justified. I have to admit, I thought last week's season premiere was a little slow but this episode really got into the groove of things.

I loved having Art go out on a job with Raylan and Tim. Turns out the marshal's office has mandatory retirement at 57 and Art just turned 56, people are starting to show up sniffing about his job. One of my favorite dynamics is Raylan and Art, throw Tim into the mix and it gives me a marshal stiffy. The more these three interact the better. I've read that we're going to see more of Tim this year which we've all been clamoring for. This is how Art describes him, a former Army sniper, with probable PTSD, looking for the next chance to shoot someone who's probably an alcoholic. He left out how cute he is. He also loves to bust Raylan's balls.

I loved the Truth family! I'm sad to hear that they won't be in another episode this season, hopefully we'll see more of them next season. A bunch of rednecks who are willing to shoot pervies (government men) over their father's disability check. They're ok with dying, they're surprised they lived this long. There's a dead guinea pig lying around their living room, to help paint the pic of who they are.

Boyd stopping by the Last Chance Holiness Church tent was pure gold. After all, he tried and failed at trying to find religion but he's great at preaching. Looking forward to seeing more of this story play out.

If you aren't watching this show you are missing out! If you are watching, what was your favorite part of last night?

Big Bang Funny

The Big Bang Theory hit a new ratings high last night and scenes like this are the reason why. I was literally laughing out loud watching this. To set the scene, the boys were on their way to a mini-comicon when they decided to make a stop and take some photos in an area where a lot of Star Trek scenes were filmed. They were not in costume in the car which makes this scene even funnier.

New Walking Dead Poster

This looks awesome! Can't wait!

Is it October?

It certainly feels like it with all of the new and returning shows. Whereas mid-season replacements used to be where shows were thrown to see if they stick, there seems to be a real effort to have quality shows all year long, which I appreciate.

I think a lot of that is due to cable television. There are a lot of great shows on cable and they usually go with a shortened season broken up into two parts and it's working. As soon as a show I love goes on hiatus another comes on and then my other show is back before I've really missed it.

The hard part is figuring out what of the new shows I'm going to watch and to remember when my faves are on. There's no such thing as a regular viewing schedule anymore, if it wasn't for FB I'd forget what was on what day. One of the problems of not having a show I watch for 9 months a year.

Justified

Justified is one of my favorite shows on TV. It's so good that when it's on, I usually watch the repeat right after it airs. It's so good that FX just recently ran a marathon of episodes in the middle of the night and I stayed up until 5am watching it, even though I had seen every episode!

Raylan Givens, as played by Timothy Olyphant reminds me of Doc Holliday as played by Val Kilmer on the movie Tombstone. He's a tall drink of cool water and I'm thirsty. Raylan is a US Marshall in Harlan County, KY where he grew up which makes for complicated relationships with his father (a petty criminal) and the main antagonist, Walton Goggin's Boyd Crowder who used to be Raylan's best friend.

Darlene Love

It's not Christmas until Darlene Love sings "Baby, Please Come Home" on Late Night With David Letterman. It's a holiday tradition for Dave and it's a holiday tradition for me. This is one of my favorite Christmas songs and I love that she sings it every year. She still looks fabulous and sounds amazing. Now, it feels like Christmas to me.

Reality Roundup - The finales

Sorry I haven't been blogging as much as usual. I don't normally have insomnia for more then a day but this last bought has been going on for weeks and you all know, even under the best of circumstances I don't have energy, factor in not being able to get to sleep and I'm a walking zombie. Hopefully this passes soon. A girl needs her sleep. My plan is to shut down the computer sooner and read a book, it won't help me shut down my brain, if I'm reading a great book I'll keep reading but at least I'll be spending those wee hours into the morning catching up on my reading.

Now on to the fun stuff! First finale on the list is Survivor. I watched the first couple of episodes this season and then jumped right to the finale. If nothing else is on, I'll watch the finale of Survivor because I usually follow the recaps online even if I don't watch and since nothing else was on, I watched all 3 hours. Wow, they really drag it out. I think the reunion show flies by the actual final 2 hours of the show has a lot of filler in it.

About Last Night: Thursday Quickies

Big Bang Theory: I love this show. My sister doesn't think it's funny at all. She's cray cray. Amy was a bad girl so Sheldon had to spank her. I have a feeling Amy will be a bad girl a lot now. How hilarious was her reaction?

Glee: A great night of singing, the only one that didn't do it for me was Brittany and Sam, I like them as a couple, trouty mouth and all but I didn't think they sounded that great together. I loved Rachel's call to Finn. My favorite song of the night was Rachel singing "Oh Holy Night." One of my favorite Christmas songs and she sung it beautifully.

Scandal: Wow Fitz and Olivia are smoking. I can't think of two characters who ooze chemistry more. Supernatural should take note. Was shocked by the shooter, were you? My theory was Norm Lewis' character was behind it because he seems too good to be true. Can't wait til next week!

About Last Night… Wednesday edition

Supernatural went on their mid-season hiatus and I have to say, I wasn't wowed by tonight's episode or cliffhanger. Doesn't make me countdown the days until it's return. Maybe if they had done a better job of making me care about Sam and Amelia, but I don't and because of that, the ending was weak sauce to me. 

I hear it all the time online how awful Supernatural is when it comes to women and I think I have to agree. I am a total romantic so I should love it when Sam and Dean are in a relationship but whenever they bring on a female for more then one episode the chick makes whoever they're involved with weaker, and we don't want to see the Winchester brothers weak. We want them alpha and bad ass but with a soft emotional center. Same thing with Dean and Lisa, no interest at all. My favorite girl for the boys was Bella who apparently the fan base hated. She was strong and she kept the boys on their toes. I was looking forward to her hooking up with Dean, it never happened. I am enjoying Dean's relationship with Benny, thought that was wrapped up a little early in the ep, should have known better. I think Sam is jealous of their relationship. He should be. Course, those we love the most also have the ability to hurt us the most.

The Voice: And then there were 4

Do not read if you don't want to know who The Voice Final Four are. Even though I am rooting for Teem CeeLo, because I think he's an awesome coach and I love Trevin Hunte my Adam Levine loving heart is breaking for him. Did you see the prophetic commercial where Adam said there was a possibility of both of his team members going home? 

I really thought Amanda Brown had what it took to take it all the way. She was beautiful, she could sing rock, she could sing ballads, her voice was powerful yet she knew when to tone it down. I fully expected Melanie to go home but not Amanda, oh no, not Amanda!

The Walking Dead Winter Finale

It's the winter finale, 2 more months until we find out what is going to happen on The Walking Dead. Will Daryl and Merle survive? Will Andrea finally figure out the Governor isn't all he's cracked up to be (heads floating in a fish tank are a good clue, IMO)? Will Tyrese live up to the hype? And will anyone figure out that Rock is cuckoo for cocoa puffs? RIP T-Dog's replacement, we barely knew you, thanks to Rick's  hallucination of Shane. 

Here are couple of teeny tiny video previews of the next episode of TWD.  I guess waiting 2 months is better then waiting a year like we have to for Game of Thrones.

The People's Choice Awards

Before the age of internet I used to wonder who in the world the people were that were voting on the People's Choice Awards, now I know, teeny boppers!

OK not really but based on some of the categories, they definitely cater to the teen sect. I don't think they limit how many times you can vote either so if you have a large and unemployed fan following, your chances of winning are strong.