Film: I Love You, Man

My husband and I went on our first date to the movies in 6 months to go see "I Love You, Man" and it was definitely worth the time away from our baby.   I was incredibly nervous that I was setting my expectations too high.  I've been watching the trailers for this movie as soon as they were released online and hyping up our first date for MONTHS.  I'm glad to say I was definitely not disappointed! 

Some critics say that this is traditional frat-boy fare.  There's a bit of that... fart and masturbation jokes.  But there's so much more to this movie that is refreshingly new.  The main premise, for one, seems fresh and real: there are definite difficulties in making new friends once you get out of school and especially if you don't have any real possible candidates at work. Plus, what's not to like about a father-son best-friend relationship, a super-macho gay brother, and a protagonist who loves going down on his fiance.  

  

And the quirky ramblings of Rudd's character are absolutely addictive: I challenge you to avoid repeating "slappa da bass" or "totes mcgoats" !!

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FIlm: Yes Man

Trapped under my napping son, I reached for the remote and rented "Yes Man" starring Jim Carrey from On Demand.  

This movie was good-enough to be perfectly happy being stuck on the couch.  Although I believe I only had one LOL moment, I can say that I spent a significant amount of time smiling.  For one, Rhys Darby from Flight of the Conchords plays a significant supporting role, and he is, naturally, endearing and funny.  

Also - Zooey sings! (I love her "She and Him" album.) And she sings songs with kooky lyrics.   : ) 

One weird thing: the uber obvious product placement, especially during the first half of the film.  After you realize it's happening, it's hard to notice anything else. 

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TV: American Idol 3/25, 3/26, 3/31, 4/1

We have a lot of catching up to do re: American Idol.  

Let's begin with Motown Week.  Adam continues to be amazing.  I watched his version of "Tracks of my Tears" two times on YouTube, which is my version of incredibly high-praise.  Danny and Lil continue to be completely lame and might I add PITCHY, but receive only mild criticisms.  I just want to shake the judges by their shoulders until they realize that COOL PEOPLE DON'T LIKE GOKEY or LIL, and you want to be COOL, right?!  Stop insisting on being lame.  Kris, Matt, and Anoop all had nice performances, as well as Allison.  Scott, Michael, and Megan?  Bad times.  

I think the surefire sign that Michael was going home was when Smokey critiqued him in the mentor segment.  Smokey only critiqued one person, giving all the other contestants incredible (if not always deserved) praise.   And Michael did go home, so yay.   Matt was in the bottom three, and that was a Boo. 

Then we had the totally bizarre "popular downloads" week.  (I liked that there was no description for what made a song a "popular download."   Classifications make for clarification, people! )  This show was a hot-mess.  Anoop struggled with looking comfortable and confident.  Matt was true to himself and sang rock, but the judges have determined that he can only sing R&B.  How frustrating for him, but I agree that he sounds better on more soulful numbers.   Megan hula-d her reggae tune, and it was ridiculous.  Danny and Lil were... guess what? Lame and pitchy!  Scott was incredibly true to himself, singing his beloved Billy Joel, and it did nothing for me.  Kris was great behind the keys and I hope he is in the final three.  Allison dished out a new, worrisome look, and stumbled a bit on the words of a song perfect for her voice.   Adam went insane and chose, out of all the songs ever deemed "popular," "Play that Funky Music White Boy"... inexplicably!  He sang well and was entertaining, but what the heck?

During the results show, Danny continued to be an ass.  Whereas Allison and Anoop were endearing with their impressions, Danny came off as mean, comparing Matt to a goat.  God I hate that guy! 

Allison, Megan, and Anoop are in the bottom three.  I think it's very sad that Allison may very well go home before Scott or Matt or Anoop.  Anyway, this was Megan's time to go home.  The judges, I think, did the right thing by telling her upfront that they were not going to consider her for the elimination.  I think that should be part of the whole results show process: the judges discover who is the lowest-vote-getter, determine if they are even going to consider them for the save, let the contestant know, and then the contender either sings for his/her life, or sings a swan a song.  

Next week is songs from the year you were born: meaning a lot of '80s!

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TV: Big Love Finale

It's been a long time since I've had a chance to post, so we have some catching up to do... 

Let's start with the finale of Big Love. What an incredible year! This show's first two seasons played to our outsider interest in a polygamous household's bedroom politics and those kooky kooks from the compound.  Season three first looked like it was going to continue this theme by adding a fourth wife, further exploring issues of marital jealousy and household issues.  Abruptly, this storyline ended and I really had no idea what to expect from the rest of the year.

Concentrating way less on earthly issues such as wife-feuds and business proposals, the show turned it's focus to the heavens and started tackling the concept of religion head-on.  Bill thought he had lost his connection to God, for how could the heavenly father have let his family grow so distant? A letter declaring that polygamy was supposed to be recognized by the Mormon Church brought Bill hope, but it turned out to be a fake.  Barb was heartbreakingly ex-communicated.  In the finale, Bill took a cue from no one other than Roman and decided that it was time for him to "take authority from God" all on his own.  So Bill brings his family together and starts a new Henrickson Church!  Looking forward to seeing how strong the Church becomes in Season Four. 

But for me, Season Three was really all about Nicki.  The year, Nicki got a flavor for the outside world and she liked it: she used birth control, got a job, went on dates, and kissed a crush.   She lost faith in her mother and father, and distanced herself from her husband and sister-wives.  In a big reveal, we learned that she has a more dramatic backstory than we previously knew.  She was married at a very young age to Wanda's brother and has a teenage daughter she abandoned.  At the end of the episode she admitted to Barb that she hated herself... will she be able to find peace now that she has embraced her lost daughter?  I think this will depend on whether Bill and the rest of the Hendrickson's welcome her back into the fold, or lose her to the compound.  

But seriously, it would be an unforgivable crime if Chloe Sevigny doesn't at least get nominated for an Emmy. 

And as for the big major death? Well, we all saw that coming... 

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Book: The Year of Living Biblically

I just finished A.J. Jacobs' "The Year of Living Biblically" and I loved it.  In this book, A.J. pursues living by Biblical law, attempting to obey every law printed in Scripture.  

The take-home is that everyone is a "Cafeteria Christian" (or Jew).  This is a common term used by fundamentalists to discriminate against more liberal Christians.  They pick and choose what rules to follow, and leave the rest on the table.  However, once you read all the rules the Bible truly presents, you understand that it is almost impossible to follow every rule and you'd be hard pressed to meet even the most die-hard Fundamentalist Christian who can keep up to code.  For example, they would not be able to say "Thursday" because that day is named after a Greek God, and you shall not mutter the names of other Gods.    And furthermore, if they did claim to keep to each law presented in the Bible, those laws are often up to an incredible amount of interpretation, and their adherence would be highly debatable.  

This book has inspired me to read the good-book, because I never have.  I'll let you know how that goes, too. 

In the mean-time, might I also recommend Jacobs' first book, "The Know-it-All," which is about his mission to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica series.   

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TV: Lost - Charlotte Age Screw-Up

You've got to feel bad for the writers of Lost.  They have an awful lot of information to keep track and a whole bunch of plot elements to tie together by the end of next season!  

Inevitably, there are going to be screw-ups in continuity, and here's the latest example:  Charlotte's age.  In one episode, Ben listed-off all of Charlotte's personal information including her birthdate: July 2, 1979, meaning she'd be 28 in Lost time.  However, in a more recent episode, we see a young Charlotte running around in 1974, tricky! 

Horrendously, the executive producers blamed the screw-up on the actress who plays Charlotte, saying that she didn't want to market herself as a 37-year-old, and in the confusion of meeting her demands, the scrip continuity got messed-up.  

The actress Rebecca Madar fired back on Facebook that this was untrue and she was being blamed for a writing mistake.  The producers eventually came clean that this was all just a boo-boo and it had been wrong of them to make Madar a scape-goat. 

So the conclusion is, despite what Ben said, Charlotte was actually probably born on the Island in the year 1971.   They could probably let this issue go un-addressed in the show, but it'll be interesting to see if they come up with some excuse in a future episode.  

In another potential screw-up, the fans are all aflutter that there might have been an Easter Egg in the last episode, Namaste, for those who watched Lost on an HD television.  Was there a ghost in Jacob's cabin... or was it just a production staff member caught in a shot?  Take a look for yourself...   It doesn't look like Claire to me, and it also looks like a graphic-tee, which doesn't seem fitting.  I'm going to say this was another boo-boo. 

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TV: Bones and Family Guy Cross-Over?!

Umm... What?  Here's the latest from our friend Ausiello at EW:

Apparently in an upcoming episode of Bones, Booth will hallucinate and see Stewie from Family Guy chilling around.  Supposedly this is based on a real disease where people can see cartoon characters.   

Also revealed, Bones will ask Booth for sperm so she can have a baby.  Booth will see Stewie while in the sperm bank.  

And positively absolutely Booth and Bones will have sex in the season finale, and it will NOT be a hallucination. 

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