With so many holiday films overwhelming us,it's a good idea to step back and look towards the future,despite the hovering thunderclouds of a lengthy writers' strike looming upon the horizon.
For starters, coming this February is the big screen version of Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl which has Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson as the sisters who forever changed the court of Henry the VIII,even only one of them was officially recorded as Queen(and the first to die of Henry's many wives):
Another hugely hyped film is Cloverfield,the J.J. Abrams flick about the ultimate monster mash upon NYC,due out in January. Not much info has been released about the plot(the better to lure you into the theater,my dear)but it seems to be a high tech-trying-to-look-low-tech tale of average folks dealing with diaster.
This is the first official trailer for the movie(the second one is alittle hard to link up here,at the moment)and it's very effective,I have to say. Could be an action movie version of The Blair Witch Project on our hands here,folks:
The follow-up to Batman Begins is officially titled The Dark Knight,which will have Heath Ledger as the Joker and Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent in a pre-Two Face role. While this trailer is really more of a teaser,it does get your motor running for Summer of 2008 to hurry up and get here so we can see this bad boy go to work!:
Yep,they made a fourth Rambo movie,gang. This not-long-awaited sequel has Sly Stallone kicking ass in Burma,to save poor Julie Benz and her fellow do-gooders. Are things this bad that we needed a new Rambo? Well,maybe for Stallone's bank account,I guess.
Wonder if this movie does well,will we get more angry warriors-from-the-eighties sequels? Surely Chuck Norris could use some face time in the multiplex:
Last ,but maybe not least,is The Eye,a remake of an Asian horror film(you don't get alot of those these days...NOT!)starring Jessica Alba as a blind woman who recieves a double corneal transplant. She has her vision restored but sees more than she wants to of some damn strange stuff,which of course makes her doubt her sanity. Sounds like a fun film for the whole family...
Project Runway started their fourth season a little differently this time;instead of having the designers whip out an outfit with wacky materials,they were taken to Bryant Park and allowed to chose high end fabrics from three tents. The goal was for everyone to create an outfit that reflected who they were as a designer.
I immediately fell in love with Rami's Grey Goddess gown,which was simply stunning in it's basic elegance. The judges agreed and gave Rami the win,plus immunity for the next challenge. I also loved Chris March's shimmering purple and gold creation(which was good enough to get him thru to the next round.
When it came to Elisa's dress,Motormouth Mabel says it best-"Papa Tooney,We got ourselves a Looney!". She not only ignored the advice Tim Gunn gave her during the challenge,she declared herself to be "finished"(with two hours left to work)and went off to take a nap! Also,her model nearly tripped over that insane scrapheap of a train(why didn't someone make her change her footwear before the runway walk? Those boots made it even harder for the poor girl and didn't go with the dress at all).
Simone was the one,however,deemed to be Out with her mismatched looking jacket and bland dress combo that Michael Kors said appeared to be a case of "dressing in the dark". I have to concur with that,plus the sewing was truly sub par.
I still would've sent Elisa packing-I don't know what was funnier,the look on Nina Garcia's face as Elisa gave a rambling explanation of what her dress meant to her or Heidi going over her notes during the judge's discussion and reading one that said"The dress looks like it's pooing fabric!" Good one,Heidi!
Round Two of the Amazing Race took the teams to Amsterdam,where no one had time to check out a hash bar or get a Royale With Cheese,as they had to choose between Hoisting five pieces of furniture up to an apartment or Hunt for a pair of matching colorstriped bikes in a parking garage. Ronald and Christina(aka Team Who's Your Daddy)had a tough time,since Ronald decided to become the most annoying parent on the planet and waged a campaign of constant bickering at his daughter.
Early signs of Ronald's nagging showed up as they went online with Kate and Pat(who wound up being Philimated at the end-sorry to see you go,ladies)to find tickets and later at another airport,Ronald got mad at Team Grandpa after watching the younger one being pushy at the ticket counter. Granted,the kid was bothersome,which only made their clerk work even slower(be nice to the clerks,people!)but it wasn't Ronald's place to correct him on that.
I felt so bad for Christina,who went on TAR to better connect to her father and was really being browbeaten for her troubles. It was so bad during the Roadblock that I wouldn't been shocked if she smacked him with that pole just to shut him down. I really hope that things get better between them:
HEY,DAD,WOULD YOU DO ME A FAVOR....
....SHUT THE *&#$ UP!!!!
Heroes went back into the past,showing us that Four Months Ago,Niki developed a new personality named Gina(who got D.L. killed at a nightclub),Maya's Black Eyes of Death first launched an assault at her brother's wedding to an unfaithful bride and Peter was duped into becoming a willing prisoner of The Company,where Elle was his sinistersexy jailer and Adam was his next door cellmate. Many questions were answered and Kristen Bell was able to spread her wild woman wings as she shared more than her taste for electrically charged foreplay:
No doubt the shippers will be happy with this scenario,and are eager for these two to meet up again. While I'm sure that will happen at some point,the results may not be very romantic,especially since Peter now has total recall of his abilities:
Random Notes:
Nip/Tuck: We're up to Episode Three and what has happened so far? Well,Sean is dating an actress from Hearts N' Scalpels who had him give her an extra tummy tuck and who still has a nasty eating disorder that lead to her losing bowel control in a hot tub with him. Julia is in town,with her new girlfriend(Portia De Rossi)who has a slutty daughter named Eden macking on Sean and stomping all over what little self confidence Annie has.
Christian,meanwhile,is getting over sulking about Sean's fifteen minutes of fame by posing for a centerfold spread which gave him some unexpected attention,slept with two Marilyn Monroe impersonators and seduced Julia yet again,after hearing Liz declared she wasn't,in her opinion,serious about being gay. Julia was serious about taking her new lover's advice to "get Christian out of her system" by having another romp in the hay with him,which bummed our dear Dr. Troy out so much that he went along with a lonely woman's confusion of who was her gigolo and performed said services himself.
That covers just about everything..oh,wait,Matt and Kimber are back in the picture and are hitting the pipe together,isn't that sweet? Next week,Rosie O'Donnell shows up and has her mouth sewn shut,which will please quite a few folks there!
Ugly Betty: Glad to see Justin get over his rebel phase and swoon all over the Slater/Meade wedding,which was nearly overwhelmed by Posh Spice's guest appearance as herself stealing all the attention from poor Wilhemina. Thankfully,the ongoing Meade family drama took center stage instead,giving Amanda a chance to demonstrate why her milkshake can still bring the boys to the yard:
Another literary loss to report this week,folks...Ira Levin has passed away. His name may not be familar to some,but if you've ever used the phrase"Stepford Wife" or "Rosemary's Baby",he is the reason why. Levin wrote for television and theater as well as novels and was the creator of the long running play,DeathTrap(which was turned into a film starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeves). Other works of his that have been adapted into film include The Boys From Brazil,A Kiss Before Dying and Sliver.
Levin was one of the few modern writers in the horror/fantasy genre who used slow and steady pacing in order to build up the tension in his books. Usually,his story climaxes were not huge,splashy showdowns but the true fears of the lead character realizing that he/she has just allowed themselves to be surrounded by their worst nightmares and befriended their real enemies.
Subtley and clever wordplay from any writer is something to be cherished,and Levin's work had that in spades. Not every book or film adaptation he created did well(the film version of Sliver is godawful;as much as I would like to blame Sharon Stone and William Baldwin for that,it's not fair to do so. Joe Eszterhas screwed up that screenplay.)but the ones that did have clearly made their mark on the world.
Let's look at a few of Ira Levin's creations at play:
ROSEMARY'S BABY: Mia Farrow's most memorable performance as the unwitting mother of the AntiChrist is only one of the high notes of Roman Polanski's film. Ruth Gordon raised the roof as Minnie,a chief enabler of Satan's spawn and John Cassavetes was the ultimate career husband who belonged in Hell. This early trailer for the film leaves some rather haunting images,to lure folks in:
STEPFORD WIVES: This chilling tale of the ultimate feminist fear has inspired several sequels and a lackluster remake but the original movie still packs quite a punch:
OLD SCHOOL
NEW SCHOOL
THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL: Gregory Peck played against type here,as Dr. Mengele who has decided to create what Ed Wood would call"a race of atomic supermen!"(actually,Hitler clones). James Mason and Sir Laurence Oliver also round up the cast which,believe it or not,includes a young Steve Guttenberg(listed as "Steven Guttenberg"). I must confess that I haven't seen this one but will definately make amends for that soon:
A KISS BEFORE DYING: Matt Dillon is damn scary as a murderous hustler who is desperate to cover his tracks concerning the "suicide" of his pregnant rich girlfriend and devious enough to start wooing her unsuspecting twin sister. Sean Young was pretty good here(despite the double Golden Razzie noms she recieved for the movie)and even tho this is a remake,I remember it as being very well done:
One of the big family films coming out soon is Enchanted,about your typical animated Disney musical characters being trapped in modern day New York. Amy Adams stars as Giselle,who is destined to marry her Prince(James Marsden) before the evil queen(Susan Sarandon,who is pretty unrecognizable here) pushes down the dimensional portal to our world.
Interestingly enough,Giselle and her fellow former cartoons seem to possess some of the abilities they had back home,like bursting into song at a moment's notice and commanding woodland creatures to help with the housework.Oh,and Patrick Dempsey's the straight man for this story:
While it sounds like a sweet little satire on the whole live action/animated movie crossover genre that's had it's ups and downs over time,it could also be a sticky sapfest of a flick as well. Nevertheless,I do hold a special place in my heart for this type of blending of movie magic,particularly if the animation is of the old school hand drawn variety(every time I see a trailer for Beowulf,it looks more and more like a video game).
With that in mind,let's go over a few good,bad and"oh well,why not?" takes on When Film Worlds Collide. To start things off right,we have to pay tribute to Who Framed Roger Rabbit,the most successful of these hybrids,not only technically but in terms of plot and entertainment as well. Part of the fun was watching Warner Bros. and Disney favorites appear together,like Daffy Duck and Donald have that devilish piano duel at the Ink & Paint Club.
Both birds wind up being shown up,however,by an original character,Jessica Rabbit,who is still one of the biggest icons of that film. By the way,even tho Kathleen Turner did the voice of Jessica,it's Amy Irving who croons "Why Don't You Do Right?" in this memorable movie entrance:
Another hard to forget cartoon siren is Holli Would,the seductive star of Ralph Bakshi's Cool World(voiced by Kim Basinger),who lures jailhouse cartoonist Jack Deebs(Gabriel Byrne)into the "Doodle" realm in order to become human herself via a little bedroom metamorphosis. Baskhi's animated films were real groundbreakers(I highly recommend American Pop)but this foray into the live action/cartoon mix suffered from compromise and loosey goosey plotting.
It is something to see(definately not for the kids),especially Brad Pitt as a human cop who monitors the Cool World and longs to truly be with his cartoon lover. Too bad that the whole movie was as fulfilling as a bowl of Cool Whip in the end:
While some movies only had one animated crossover sequence,they were still effective in making genre points. One of the more amusing levels of TV Hell in the movie Stay Tuned had hapless leads Roy and Helen(John Ritter and Pam Dawber)become cartoon mice fleeing for their lives from a persistant Robo-Cat. Chuck Jones was the supervisor of this section of the film and it is a great tip of the hat to his work:
The scary side of being a human in a cartoon world was briefly but well captured in one of the sections of Twilight Zone: The Movie. In the retelling of the classic episode "It's a Good Life",Anthony doesn't send those who displease him into the corn field-instead,they wind up on television as meat for the animated beast onscreen. The girl in jep here is played by Nancy Cartwright,the future voice of cartoon bad boy Bart Simpson. Bon Appetit!:
And finally,to round things out is the Don Bluth created animated scene for Xanadu. One of the most odd moments in a movie that has plenty of them,it's amazing to me that not only is this sequence completely random,the leads never ever mention it to each other for the rest of the story! You'd think Sonny would've said to Kira"Was it just me or we did share some crazy dream about turning into cartoon fish and birds last night?" Oh,well,the song is nice:
Norman Mailer passed away this weekend,at the age of 84,and while there are many literary folks who are more than willing to honor his memory,there are a few who feel that enough attention was given to Mailer during his controversal life and times without more accolades being placed on his grave.
This mix of reactions to this news is truly reflective on the type of man Mailer was-someone who projected a larger than life ego,which attracted and repelled equal numbers of readers and critics alike. Whether you loved or hated him,it's hard to ignore the impact he did make on the literary world. His books are still going strong and while not every one of them was a homerun,enough of them managed to worm their way into the mindset of American culture.
I haven't read alot of his work,but one of his books did open up my eyes and mind to both the criminal thought process and the intricities of the legal system was The Executioner's Song,his "novel" about Gary Gilmore,which was made into a made-for-TV film starring Tommy Lee Jones and a Pulitzer Prize winner. I had the huge mass market paperback edition,about the size of a decent doorstop,with rather small print that nonetheless kept me hooked. I was in a serious phase of true crime reading and it,along with Helter Skelter,was a major league influence upon how I felt about crime and punishment.
I never read,nor ever care to,In The Belly of the Beast,the book that impressed Mailer so much that he helped Jack Henry Abbott get an early release from prison. Mailer did alot of damn stupid things in his life,and getting Abbott out(who later on killed again)should be in the man's Top Ten there. To be fair to Mailer,he did express regret over that whole sad business and perhaps he felt that he was just giving a kindred soul another chance at redeemption. God knows plenty of us have had experiences with misplaced trust,hopefully with less tragic results.
I did go onto The Naked and The Dead,but once was enough. I remember my father trying to read Ancient Evenings(my dad was big on Egyptian history and mythology,so he really had high hopes for this book)and telling me how repulsive he found many of the passages and descriptions of violence in it. I gave Ancient Evenings a whirl myself but didn't get very far.
Mailer still kept plugging along with his writing,despite the reception his books attracted over the years-up to the time of his death,he was working on a follow-up to his last novel,The Castle in the Forest,which was his take on Hitler. Even at an age when he could easily sit back on his laurels and just watch the world go by,he had to have his share of the conversation:
Also,Mailer could still be counted on to do the unexpected. A couple of years ago,he made a guest appearance on Gilmore Girls(with his son,Stephen,playing an interviewer)in an episode titled "Norman Mailer,I'm Pregnant!". Feminists and Norman Mailer tended to get along like the Hatfields and the McCoys,but he did have some appreciation for the show,even comparing Lorelai Gilmore to one of his own daughters. You can't teach an old dog new tricks,as they say, but sometimes,they can decide to take a new turn for themselves:
So,here's to you,Norman Mailer-one of the last of the literary renegades. You made friends,enemies and scandals that most would sell their mothers to have a piece of the infamy of. One thing is certain,that you will not be quickly forgotten. I sincerely doubt that you were a fan of Kansas,but this song seems to be the proper salute to your massive persona and memory:
Opening up today is the latest entry in the Christmas comedy movie catagory,Fred Claus,starring Vince Vaughn as Santa's older brother(Santa being played by Paul Giamatti)who clearly has issues about his younger sibling's fame. It seems like every year around this time,we get a goofy comedy about Jolly Old St. Nick and his associates that ends up sweetly promoting the holiday spirit.
While I have no interest in seeing Fred Claus(and apparently,neither do most of the critics),it does make me think about some of these flicks and which ones are really naughty or nice. So,let's make a list but we don't have to check it twice of Santa mythos movies that are meant to make you belly laughs that shake like a bowl full of jelly(these corny Christmas lines are addicting,I swear!):
THE SANTA CLAUSE
I'm not a big Tim Allen fan and have not watched either one of the sequels to this film(especially not the third one,with Martin Short as an evil Jack Frost)but I must 'fess up to liking the original film. It was a cute little number,about a divorced businessman becoming closer to his son and being less of a jealous jerk about the new stepfather in his child's life by reluctantly giving into his fate as the new Santa Claus.
My favorite character in the film was Bernard,the head elf(David Krumholtz,currently one of the leading men on Numb3ers). He had the right blend of by the book,let's get cracking practicality with the sincere spirit of the season:
ELF
I caught this movie on USA last year and damn if Will Ferrell didn't make this sitcom concept so amusing. The man truly has a flair for making naivety work for him in almost any crazy character based storyline(but it may be wearing a tad thin as a movie schtick). As Buddy,a misplaced human raised as a elf in Santa's workshop who goes to New York in search of his birth parents,Ferrell is quite the merry maypole that all of the other characters in the film dance around.
Some of his best scenes take place in a department store,where Buddy gets a job as a holiday helper,but he's not very helpful when it comes to backing up the store's own Santa:
BAD SANTA
Full disclosure: I haven't seen this movie but after watching a few of the clips from it on YouTube,I may have to add this sucker to my Netflix queue(see,Hollywood and Prince,how YouTube can be your friend when it comes to promoting the old as well as the new?). Billy Bob Thornton plays one of the worst store Santas to ever be allowed in contact with children who ironically winds up being a mentor to one sad sack of a kid,who endlessly Q&A him about Santa lore.
In reading up on this film,I was surprised to learn that John Ritter made his final live action film performance here(not too shocking since Ritter played a key role in Slingblade)and that Gilmore Girls' Lauren Graham plays a love interest of Thornton's. Neither one of them appear in this medley of moments from the movie(which is so not work and/or kid safe)but knowing that makes me definately decide that Bad Santa belongs on my rental list:
HEBREW HAMMER
This is another "not for the kids" holiday movie,with Adam Goldberg starring as the bad ass detective assigned to save Hannukah from Santa's evil anti-Semite son Damien(played by Andy Dick),who wants to wipe it off the Yuletide landscape. Most of the jokes are big and broad,not to mention that most of the punchlines are stereotype based,but that doesn't mean it's not good. It's an acquired taste,to be sure.
The movie really didn't get much of a theaterical release(most of it's fans probaly caught it on Comedy Central,like I did)but it is available on DVD and occasionally on cable. If you're in the mood for some unorthodox laughs,look no further:
SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS
Finally,what Christmas comedy list would be complete without this classic so bad it's good campy delight,with Pia Zadora as a Martian girl so fascinated by Earth's St. Nick that her daddy has him kidnapped and taken to their planet to cheer her and her brother up. From the shriekingly cheerful theme song to the pathetic attempts at f/x,this cult film is fun for all.
The best way to watch it is with the MST3K crew,who jump on it like a dog to a soup bone. The original gang of Joel and the bots are at their finest form in movie mockery,along with Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank. Believe it or not,there are rumors floating around about a possible remake of this film but I sincerely doubt it could be any more entertaining than the godawful goodie bag of holiday hijinks that was first made back in 1964:
Season 12 of TAR had the contestants go off to Ireland,where they had to catch ferries,ride a high wire bicycle across a ravine and deal with some troublesome donkeys. Interestingly,only two of the teams had any real probelms with getting their donkey to walk with them and those teams were the most obnoxious ones(animals know good from bad instinctly,folks)like Nathan and Jennifer,who went on the race to try and patch things up after Nathan cheated on Jen. Yeah,an international romp on a reality show is just the ticket for healing the wounds of adultery,altho,it doesn't help much when your fella berates you for not being as fast as the other girls he's dated:
My early favorites,Goths Kynt and Vyxsin(pronounced "Vixen"),did very well by coming in second at the Pit Stop. They also seemed to be rather nice people and good players at this point. They were certainly better than Ari and Staella,who had already tempted fate in the beginning by Ari's declaring that "Karma is a bitch,but I'm a bigger bitch" and then stealing a cab right under the noses of one of the other teams at the airport in Ireland.
Not surprisingly,Ari and Staella wound up with donkey trouble(Ari even made some nasty threats to the poor little guy),which lead to them getting Philiminated. Nice to see such a worthy dismissal this soon:
The Hiro in Feudal Japan storyling wrapped up this week on Heroes,which appears to have been a set up for Kensai to become the Mr. Sinister of the series. I'm glad that we finally have Hiro Nakamura back in the game but it looks like he unwittingly created his own worst enemy in the bargain. Kensai's plans for Peter are not on the up and up,I suspect.
Also,how stupid was it of Mohinder to let Toby in on his double agent dealings with Bennett there? Clearly,Mohinder is not a guy who does well under pressure there,geez! Speaking of pressure,Claire is really letting some of West's snottiness rub off on her(maybe that flyboy should run into Sylar,just as he's getting his powers back online-just a suggestion!)as HRG is determined to have the family hit the road again:
It was a good week for Matt,as he faced off on his Nightmare Man Daddy and saved Molly from the mental trap she has been locked in. The only downside was that he didn't do it in time to keep Niki from resorting to jabbing herself with the virus to break the nightmare spell controlling her. It was truly one of Matt Parkman's finest moments of the series:
Next week,the show is going to answer a few of those nagging questions that have been on the minds of fans like"How did Peter wind up naked and confused in Ireland?" and "Who is Elle and what is she up to?" Should be a good one!
Instead of a photo shoot,the girls on ANTM were part of a music video with Enrique Iglesias,posing as Gothy vampire babes in an underground club. Lisa and Heather were given featured parts with Enrique while most of the girls had background stuff to do(that really annoyed Bianca,who keeps bitching about how Heather"can do no wrong"-gee,it wouldn't happen to be that because Heather is not a bitch,now would it?). Heather did a great job but passed out for a moment during the filming due to not eating anything that day and getting overheated. Fortunately,she was fine but Tyra and the judges' panel didn't even ask her about that,which was weird to me.
The model to go home this week was Sarah,mainly because the judges thought that she was losing too much weight to be the "plus-size" model that she was touted as being upon entering the competition. First off,I don't know what fun house mirror these people are using to determine sizes but they must be in need of serious corrective eye wear since there's no way in the world that Sarah was at all plus size!
The photo of Sarah that I have here on the right is from the first week of competition; for the past couple of weeks,the judges have keep asking Sarah if she has lost weight and harping on that big time. It was clearly affecting her photo shoots and making the poor girl insanely self conscious. Here is a picture of Sarah(posing with Saleisha) during the music video:
It's tricky to tell from her position but my best guess is that she might've dropped five pounds or less than that. Why is that such a major league concern here? Yes,I know that weight flucation can affect how clothes fit you but come on! She wasn't a really big girl to begin with and giving her a complex like that is not helpful,Tyra! Mixed messages are bad ones to deliever!
Random Notes:
Moonlight/Blood Ties: Both shows are now setting up storylines where vampires from the past are popping up to plague our bloodsucking heroes in the present. Nothing wrong with that concept(pretty inevitable,actually) but a tad odd that this particular plot point is being set in motion at about the exact same time here. Since Blood Ties is based on a book series that already has this as part and parcel,I have to give Moonlight the fish eye look on this.
Don't get me wrong,Moonlight,I like the way you're going so far but do you really have to jump into this already? I know that your timeslot is perilous but plenty of shows would kill to be on after Ghost Whisperer(even with the writers' strike going on) and I think it's more important to keep building up the character relationships than to go for a seemingly copycat series shocker. I could be wrong,this could all be coincidence but this is just too close for comfort here.
Smallville: Tonight,Lana does the electro switcharoo with Clark and uses her new found super powers to wail on Lex. Hate to admit this,but the storylines on the show this season are getting goofier and goofier,with Kara having flashback memories of Clark's Kyptonian mom getting macked on by her dad(nice Helen Slater cameo)and this whole "Is Lana becoming Evil Cordelia?" theme. I'm just going to wait for Brainiac to return(he's due to,in January)and really letting the wild rumpus start:
With all of the hoopla and fan love given to My So-Called Life(a show that never held any interest to me),now currently out on DVD yet again,I feel that someone should point out another short lived teen show whose cast had a few future stars. Yes,I'm talking about Square Pegs,the CBS sitcom that ran for only one season and had the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker,Jami Gertz and Tracy Nelson as well as SNL writer Anne Beatts who created the show and based Sarah Jessica's character on herself as a teenager.
Square Pegs focused on two girls,Patty(SJP) and Lauren(Amy Linker) who were desparate to be in with the in crowd at Weemawee High School. The girl's biggest setbacks(according to them) were Patty's glasses,Lauren's braces and that they're weren't friends with Jennifer DiNuccio(Tracy Nelson),the snobby Valley Girl who ruled the cool kid clique. It didn't help Patty and Lauren's cause to have aspiring class clown Johnny "Slash"(Meritt Butrick) and New Wave fan Marshall(John Femia) pal around with them either:
Patty and Lauren would try just about anything to gain acceptance,such as audition for the school play,which is a bizarre musical called "A Cafeteria Line". Patty gets the lead but is overwhelmed by the part,especially since it involves kissing Jennifer's boyfriend,Vinnie:
Lauren also had her share of romantic troubles,such as the time she had a serious crush on the substitute janitor. To be fair,the guy wasn't too hard on the eyes:
What's a teen show without a current,hip band making a guest appearance? Devo showed up as themselves,performing at Muffy's bat mitzvah which Patty and Lauren were not invited to,but managed to attend nonetheless:
Square Pegs is sadly not available on DVD,which is a crying shame. If they can put out several seasons of Saved By The Bell and fans of Freaks And Geeks get to relive the glory days in one complete box set,there's no reason that we can't have a nice two disc edition of Square Pegs,particularly since Sarah Jessica Parker is still riding on the crest of her Sex and the City fame.
What I liked about the show was the realistically rendered geek girl look of the main characters(even with the questionable fashion sense of the early 1980's)and the sincerity of their performances. Sure,the plots were mostly either romcom or "hey,our brilliant plan went off the tracks!" and the canned laughter didn't add much to the punchlines,but it was,at it's core,a tribute to true friendship amongst girls and trying to not sacrifice their self esteem in search of social acceptance. It wouldn't hurt to see some of those themes being revisited for this upcoming generation:
Playwright Eduardo Machado spent most of his early childhood in Cojimar,Cuba,where his family prospered and the only major dividing line between his relatives was the way his grandparents chose to prepare meals;his grandmother Cuca would make simple,earthy fare like Newspaper Soup(a recipe taken from a daily paper sans the original title)and his grandfather Fernando whipped up decadent spicy fare,with lobster,shrimp and brandy but his best dish was his legendary Arroz Con Pollo.
In 1958,when Castro took over,both sides of the Machado family found themselves in jeopardy and made plans to leave Cuba. Eduardo and his younger brother Othin were placed on a Peter Pan flight that sent them alone to Miami,where the boys went to live with relatives they had never seen before and introduced to American foods like Spam(in the huge industral Army rationed cans),Velveeta cheese and White Castle hamburgers.
Machado's parents eventually were able to rejoin their children in Miami and moved to L.A.,where Desi Arnaz was at the height of his popularity which gave Eduardo atleast one familar face in the media to identify with(as well as amuse his new friends at school with his Desi imitations).
It took time for everyone to adjust to living in America,especially Eduardo's mother who was frustrated by the lack of proper ingredients available in the local supermarkets for her to prepare meals the way she did back home. Even finding coffee that was considered by all to be "real" cafe con leche proved to be tricky.
Food and it's good,bad or just bland flavorings are major components in Machado's memoir,Tastes Like Cuba,which is co-written by Michael Domitrovich. Machado recounts his life and longing for the Cuba of his youth with passionate descriptions of what he ate as a boy ,along with other culinary discoveries he made over the years. He also talks about his struggles to become an actor(which his family vehemently objected to)and then later a playwright in New York,which lead to him returning to Cuba in 1999 as part of a film festival to showcase a short film he made and his reconnection to his former childhood home and haunts is one of the strongest sections of the book.
Recipes of the dishes mentioned thru out the book are included at the end of each chapter and while I'm not a big league chef by any means,these looked pretty easy to replicate in your own kitchen. Just the fact that all of the necessary foodstuffs listed in each recipe are readily in stock at most supermarkets today is a small sign of progress in keeping the old school Cuban culture alive and well in our melting pot of a society.
So,if you're in the mood for a trip down memory lane filled with flavor and drama of all kinds,Tastes Like Cuba should certainly satisfy your literary appetite. While this is a story that can be enjoyed all year round,it also makes for a great read as you get ready for your family's regular Thanksgiving feast(as well as a few ideas on how to spice things up a bit). After all,Thanksgiving is a celebration meant to honor the blessings of those who dared to travel to a new country in search of a better life for their loved ones and if this book isn't appropriate,I don't know what is.
We're officially into November which means one big thing,time to rev up for Thanksgiving Day! I know that the trend has been to give Turkey Day the bum's rush and treat it as a prelude to Christmas/holiday shopping season,but I for one really enjoy Thanksgiving and want to slow down and savor the rich heady goodness of the day.
Thanksgiving is more than just an excuse to eat turkey and watch endless amounts of football;it's a time when families and friends can get together to celebrate what's good in their lives and bask in the glow of more yet to come. Pop Culture used to support this attitude and I think it's time that we look to it again to recclaim the true Thanksgiving spirit. Let's look at this visual feast that I've prepared to whet your holiday homecoming appetites:
GILMORE GIRLS GRAVY GOODNESS
Thanksgiving is very flexible to all traditions and a good example of that is one of my favorite GG episodes,"A Deep Fried Korean Thanksgiving",where tofukey is the main event on the Kim family menu and Lane's potential boyfriend is playing music in the background:
BUFFY'S POTATOES ALA PANGS
Holidays can be stressful,especially when your Scooby gang is debating on the politically correct way to dispatch some angry Native American warrior spirits out for blood and ear removal. Buffy only did one Thanksgiving episode but it was done just right:
TOP CHEF TASTING MENU
Even reality competition shows can appreciate the reason for the season-one of the more pleasing to the palate episodes of Top Chef's second go-round was the Thanksgiving Day "cutting edge" challenge. The guest judge was Anthony Bourdain,who is as subtle as a sledgehammer about what he does and doesn't like on his plate:
A PLETHORA OF PEANUTS
Setting up the table for dinner is a big part of any Thanksgiving ritual and Snoopy's battle to create the proper mood outdoors is a classic example of what many gourmands struggle with on a daily basis. Personally,I don't know why Peppermint Patty was so fussy about the food-I wouldn't turn down a plate of popcorn,toast,jelly beans and pretzels. No wonder that Snoopy decided to share some turkey and pumkin pie with his best buddy,Woodstock(it is kind of creepy to see Woodstock eat turkey,now that I think about.):
YOUR CHOICE OF DEVIOUS DESSERTS
To cap this off,here are two slices of silliness with a Turkey Day tone to them. One is for the grown-ups(Eli Roth's slasher parody trailer from Grindhouse)and the other is pretty kid safe(with a side of smirk,the musical prelude before the Summer Camp Showdown in Addams Family Values). Enjoy one or the other,have both if you wish! It is Thanksgiving,after all:
On Heroes,as Wonder Twins Maya and Alejandro get further along in their travels with Sylar at their side,things are starting to get rather hot and bothered in all sorts of ways. Sylar's sinister attraction is working on Maya bigtime(clearly her brother is the brains of the pair)and altho this is not the first time we've seen her willingly use her lethal black eyes as a means of escape,Gabriel's encouragement is just fuel to a potentially worse fire yet to come. If I were Alejandro,I'd get some English lessons on the double since Sylar is slick enough to have a Plan B that involves his sis:
In other plotlines,Mohinder refuses to de-activate Monica simply for the sake of science,Papa Bennett and his good Haitian buddy are back to their old tricks and Claire is coming down with a serious case of the stupids with her new flyboy West. Granted that the bitchy Cordelia running the cheerleading squad deserved a smackdown but faking a murder with superhuman abilities is a tad much there!
My danger signals started going off when West was saying stuff like"You have a power...that,by defination, makes you better than her." and "I can fly...parental guidance is pretty much a non issue." All I'm saying is that if Magneto was looking around for some recruits to join the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants,West would definately be tapped on the shoulder and offered a pamphlet. Why is it that guys who can fly on this show are also the biggest jerks as well*cough*Nathan*cough?
However, that Hiro in feudal Japan business is fortunately moving ahead with some love triangle troubles as Yaeko realized who romanced her with those cherry blossoms earlier. I hope Kensai can get over his jealousy and disappointment,not to mention do a reversal on that betrayal of Hiro since the future reprocussions of that could be nasty. Speaking of nasty,next week has a chilling vibe as Peter and Caitlin zap to the future and find a wasteland that's literally plagued.
Reaper had a Halloween themed episode this week,and it was the best one I've seen so far this season. Having Patton Oswalt guest star as one of the escapees from Hell who manages to charm Sam's best buddy Sock into letting him loose certainly was a plus but the characters are truly gelling together on their own,which is key in keeping a core audience. I also liked seeing Sam get more confident in his dealings with the Devil and Andi(who really needs to make the first move in that relationship).
Glad to see that Christine Willes is a semi-regular cast member(she makes a great DMV demon)and that one of next week's guest stars is Harmony Kendall herself! Nice to see a Whedonverse face around the place.
Nip/Tuck started season five off right,as Christian and Sean are open for business in L.A.,but nobody's buying until they hook up with Lauren Hutton as their savvy PR woman who not only gets aging romcom actress Carly Summers(Daphne Zuniga,the first of Christian's Cali conquests)to sign on for a "feather lift" but gives the boys a shot at major stardom as medical consultants on a TV drama called Hearts N' Scalpels. The fellas fanagle their way into getting some onscreen time but Sean becomes the hot new sensation which makes Christian all mopey and jealous-my man,green is so not your color,seriously.
I think that this season looks to be alot more fun,with tons of Hollywood cliches to smash upon the satirical rocks. Julia,Matt and the rest of the regulars will be showing up at some point but hopefully not too soon. The boys need some alone time for now:
Random Notes
Ugly Betty: I really like where this season is going,but I hope Justin's rebellous streak cools off soon. It looked that way last week,with Hilda finally taking notice of how he's been dealing with Santo's death. Don't get me wrong,both of them fully deserve their grieving time but Justin is in serious need of parental guidance here:
The Amazing Race: the new season kicks off on Sunday,and I already have a favorite team to root for; the Goth couple whose names I can't even spell! Just watching to see how long they can keep up the black and pink hair/makeup thru several countries will be interesting to say the least:
