General Hospital

That's right. Don't adjust your screen. General. Hospital.



So, I saw on Hulu that James Franco was guest starring on General Hospital. How do you not at least check it out after that?! So I watched a couple of episodes and that show is CRAZY! Absolute insanity. Nothing even makes sense! There is some god-awful acting (Maxie is unforgivable), some ridiculous plots, and some ridiculous dialogue.

However, I got totally sucked in. Here's a little bit of an explanation, if you need one. I watched General Hospital somewhat regularly when I was about 16. Maybe even younger. I was watching when Jonathan Jackson quit playing Lucky and I was watching when Nikolas Cassadine first showed up.

So, Jonathan Jackson just recently returned to the show as Lucky after probably ten or more years off the show. So, it kind of felt like I had never stopped watching. Obviously a lot has changed. Many, many people have died, cheated on their significant others, lied about whose child their baby was, etc. But there is a sense of continuity. It is exactly the same show it was when I watched it last.

Plus, they've got a Veronica Mars alum, and a Battlestar Galactica alum on the show now as well, which equals even more points for the show.

Like I said, I haven't been watching, but this might be kind of a little golden era for General Hospital. Despite a lot of bad actors, there are actually some good ones as well. Although James Franco is just creeping me out. His storyline is completely ridiculous and weird, and hard to believe. But I'm going to keep watching.

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TV - V

Now THAT is how a show should start. None of this dilly-dallying. Get right into the meat of the show is an hour-long pilot. Well done. Keep reading for more.


I had serious concerns when they pulled the whole, "Where were you when JFK was shot? Where were you on 9/11?" crap at the beginning, but this was a stellar pilot. I don't know how I'm going to feel about the show going forward, but this was definitely the way to start off right.

This was only an hour long, but it felt like two. It was jam packed with information and action, and only minimal exposition and back-story. I especially liked that they not only set up the splinter group, who believes that the Visitors are reptilian aliens who have been hiding among us for years, but also firmly established that the splinter group is right. A lesser show *cough* Flash Forward *cough* would have dragged that out for weeks, until you were so annoyed that you didn't even care about the reveal. Also, I'm glad that they have told us upfront that not all Visitors are evil and that there are "traitors" out there who will help the humans.

Really nice performances, too. Gotta love Elizabeth Mitchell. Scott Wolf is perfectly cast as a half-smarmy, half-sincere broadcast journalist. Morena Baccarin is fantastic, and fantastically unsettling as Anna, leader of the Visitors. The only misstep, IMO, is Alan Tudyk. Dollhouse just pulled a similar switcheroo with him last season, so I saw it coming as soon as he appeared on the screen. The man is insanely talented, don't just use him to trick people.

I could care less about Elizabeth Mitchell's son and his hard-on for the blond alien chick. I hope that storyline either gets way better or falls into the background.

I'll definitely keep watching for awhile. Especially since Tuesday is useless otherwise. Read more!

TV - The Office - Subtle Sexuality Webisode

If you guys haven't checked out the latest webisode series from The Office, it's a must! Especially the third chapter featuring the awesome music video for Kelly and Erin's band's single "Male Prima Donna." Read more!

TV - American Idol - Adam Lambert Cover Art

Here's Adam Lambert's cover art for his upcoming album:

Some people are saying that this super glam-y Glambert cover art will alienate his older home-Mom fans from Idol, but I don't really think so. For one, I think people knew that this boy was a David Bowie inspired superstar when they voted for him on Idol. For another - who really cares about album art? When you buy an album on iTunes it's not the same as buying the CD and constantly fiddling with the CD case. But this was definitely worth showing because it makes me so happy! Can you stop giggling? I can't. Read more!

The Office Episode "The Lover"

"tb" makes a great point that a point about last week's episode of The Office, entitled "The Lover," most certainly deserves a blog post! I will go as far as to say it was my favorite episode in recent memory. The Pam / Michael storyline was hilarious: there is now the potential for Michael to become Pam's stepfather, and that is AWESOME.

But really the best part of the entire episode (season... show history?!) was Dwight asking Michael if he would like him to give him "the chills". There's an egg on your head and the yolk is pouring down... The last time I heard that I was in fifth grade on a playground in that weird sleep-over day-spa dynamic that little girls have where we were all rubbing each other's backs, braiding hair, and painting nails. I laughed until my stomach hurt, and it's been a while since that happened.

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Run, Fatboy, Run

Cute movie. Exactly what I was in the mood for last night. Light, funny, not too much thinking involved, Hank Azaria. Click to keep reading.


We rented a movie for the first time in a very long time last night. We actually rented two, but we haven't watched the other one yet.

Run, Fatboy, Run was a perfect rental for me. It's something I missed in the theaters and it's just fun. Basic plot: Loser guy leaves gorgeous and talented pregnant fiance at the altar on their wedding day. Five years later, he's still a loser. He sees her and their son regularly, but she's moved on . . . to a successful hedge fund manager who runs marathons for charities. The next marathon is a month away. Naturally, loser guy decides that to win back the girl, he has to run in the marathon. Let me tell you from my husband's experience. You cannot train for a marathon in three weeks. No way. I thought that was going to be a huge issue. But, trust me, when you see how he runs the marathon, his training regimen is not a problem.

It's a cliched happy ending, he finishes the race - kind of - and the hedge fund guy turns out to be a jerk. They don't 100% tell you that he and the girl get back together, but it certainly seems to be heading that direction.

What makes this movie really worth watching are very good comedic performances from Simon Pegg, Hank Azaria and Dylan Moran. If you're looking for something fun and light to rent, this is a perfect choice.

The other movie we rented was Blood Diamond. Somehow I don't think it will be as much fun. Read more!

Book - The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Any talk about the Twilight books being "potato-chip literature" can now be thrown out the window. I can't remember if "The Da Vinci Code" was written this incredibly poorly, but let me assure you that there have been "Choose Your Own Adventure" books with more linguistic nuance than Brown's latest page-turner. That being said, "The Lost Symbol" takes the reader on a fun and exciting journey into the real-life world of American Freemasons and Noetic Science.

You don't watch the "National Treasure" movies for the method-acting, and you don't read Dan Brown to build your literary chops. You do it for fun! And while at the same time you might find your brain getting squishy from reading the phrase So-and-So "did a double-take" or "it's so obvious! How could we not have seen it before?" over and over again, or when you realize that that man has been described as "elegant" enough times that you have to assume he's actually a swan, the book actually does teach you a little about American History.



Another interesting note about this book... I can't help but wonder if Dan Brown is throwing a middle-finger at the production studios trying to turn this into another blockbuster movie. There are a lot of aspects to this thriller that will make it difficult to translate to screen. For one, we need to be shocked about the powerful members in our society who are actually Freemasons, and that's going to be hard to do in a short period of time without actually casting prominent political figures. There's also a weirdo death and resurrection scene and perhaps most difficult for a movie adaptation, one of the most exciting chase scenes takes place in absolute pitch-black darkness. 10 minutes of looking at a black screen might make for a strange cinematic experience... Read more!