I'll take Pop Culture Potluck for 100,Alex!

I'ld thought that I would finish off the week with some random tidbits from the pop culture scene-
mainly to clear my head for the weekend. Ok,let's go:

Tv:Loved the season premiere of Smallville last night-everything about it was great. Many of the
fans flipped out,I'm sure,with the Superman II style for the Fortress of Solitude and Buffy fans
hopefully noticed Season 4's Leonard Roberts(Riley's buddy,Forrest)as one of Kyptonian Krusaders as well as a very brief glimspe of James Marsters at the end. Alot of questions were
set up(wonder how Chloe's going to explain to Lex about winding up in Antartica?)and I'm eager
to see the answers.

Also enjoyed the season premiere of Veronica Mars(will more than likely get the Season 1 set to catch up)-really good cast there. Favorite line:"Get it yourself,kid-do I look like I can cook?" Yep,
Charisma Carpenter in an older High School Cordy mode. Kevin Smith's making a cameo next episode(he really has a jones for high school shows-he was on several Degrassi:the Next Generation episodes with Jason Mewes and how they kept Mewes from saying something too
outrageous is a miracle of editing) . First time I ever saw a literal cliffhanger on a show-pretty sweet.

Movies:

Little Sister and I checked out A History of Violence(we were torn between that and Serenity-for once,two great movies were actually playing at a theater near us) and
we both found it to be amazing. Cronenberg manages to shock with low key tones .
There is no flinching from the gore that results from the character's actions but some
of the real tension moments come out during the more emotional scenes. The last scene of the film alone(no spoilers,don't worry)has no dialogue but the actor's expressions speak volumes.

Viggo Mortenson should get an Oscar nomination for AHOV but chances are,he won't. It's the
kind of film Hollywood ignores at award time. The Road to Perdition(which Tom Hanks did better work in than the other Oscar winning roles he had)makes a great bookend to this movie.
A History of Violence is definately worth your hard(or hardly)earned money.

DVD:

I picked up the Outsiders:The Complete Novel on two disc DVD. It's Coppola's cut with different music(he used his dad's instrumental out of courtesy) with 22 minutes restored,plus featurettes on the cast and readings of the novel by cast members. I always thought the movie was OK and S.E Hinton one of the coolest writers for teens. My favorite Hinton novel was Tex(liked the movie,too) and now she's writing books for an adult audience. I plan to see this over the weekend and review it,so stay tuned!