Springing into March and April with a bouquet of books

While winter is still dragging it's feet as spring is about to turn the corner,the best way to keep your spirits warm is by looking forward to all of the delights of the new season to come.

For many of us, those anticipated joys include books and there are plenty to go around. Whether you prefer something on the magical side or would rather embrace a more down to earth read, the handful of upcoming titles here should offer you a little of each and then some:

FLOWERING FANTASY

Author Helen Oyeyemi blends the classic fairy tale of Snow White into her latest novel,Boy,Snow Bird,which is set in Massachusetts during the 1950s.

When Boy Novak moves into town, she's hoping for a better and more beautiful life that she once had in New York and by marrying Arturo Whitman,her dreams promise to come true.

Becoming the stepmother to his daughter Snow,however,brings it's own challenges and upon the birth of her own child Bird,a dreaded secret threatens to be revealed that can and will transform all of their lives. This tale of how fragile a family becomes due to perceptions and prejudices from the outer world is more haunting than any fairy tale foe could be(March):

In Stephen Leigh's Immortal Muse, a married couple become immortal due to creating the perfect potion but their love proves to be less than eternal.

Nicholas Flamel and his wife Perenelle wind up spending their extra long lives as adversaries due to her desire to thrive as artistic inspiration for others and his dark need to bring death and suffering along for the ride.

The two of them chase each other throughout the centuries,assuming different lives and personae during their travels, until a fateful encounter in modern day New York has the potential to bring their private war to an end. Yet,the price for that peace may be dear,not to mention deadly. This flight of fancy could be a real boost for your imagination to take flight(March).


FUNNY LADY

Comedienne Carol Leifer offers her take on the business of show in her memoir How to Succeed in Business Without Really Crying,where she chronicles her life and times in entertainment.

As one of the women who came up in the comedy clubs during the late  eighties, Carol has had her share of the boys' club mentality amongst her peers but refused to simply give in to any of the pressures from that front. This collection of essays recounts many of those troublesome times with her bit of sage advice for others following in her funny footsteps.

Her writing skills have been on display for such shows as SNL,Seinfeld and Modern Family but in this book, the real Carol gets to stand up and show us what she's got and it's definitely worth taking a seat for(April):

SPRINGING INTO SUSPENSE

Laura Kasischke's Mind of Winter has mother Holly judge spending Christmas day being suspicious of Tatiana,the daughter she and her husband Eric adopted thirteen years ago from Siberia.

Trapped indoors with Tatiana during a violent snowstorm,where Eric and his parents are unable to come home from the airport, tensions rise between Holly and her moody child,who she is convinced is the source of some sort of evil.

Are Holly's fears due to a real threat or a delusion to explain away her current emotional malaise? Either way, this chilling suspense ride has quite a few surprises in store for any literary traveler (March).

Emma Donoghue returns to her historical fiction roots with her follow-up from the amazing Room in Frog Music,which takes place in 1870s San Francisco.

Burlesque dancer Blanche decides to look into the murder of Jenny Bonnet, a friend of her who died before her eyes. Jenny's independent ways may have been a motive for her death and a few of the suspects include Blanche's lovers.

There are plenty of other folks who had reason to kill Jenny,who didn't take to her interfering with the baby farms that poor offspring were packed into or her helping abandoned children. Donoghue's past performance in the historical fiction genre  with such works as Slammerkin and Life Mask is given a larger stage with this crime drama that exposes more than one dank area of life in those times that still resonates today(April):

BRANCHING OUT

 
While Maeve Binchy is no longer with us, her enduring tales are still on the shelf ready to be read and Chestnut Street is one last gift to be shared.

This set of previously unpublished interconnected stories is set on familiar ground, in the neighborhood of St. Jarlath's Crescent where the lives of it's average folk are not as simple or unrelated as they seem to be.

I've been catching up to a lot of Maeve's later books since her passing and while her take on intimate dramas may appear to be standard fictional fare at first glance,she put plenty of hard work into keeping the world of her characters as fresh and relatable as possible,something that I think a good number of so-called "serious writers" would do well to emulate. In any case, Chestnut Street promises to be a friendly place to call home this season(April):

Past and present collide in Yvette Manessis Corporan's debut novel When the Cypress Whispers, as restaurant owner Daphne tries to revive her spirits by going to visit her grandmother(called "Yia-yia") in Greece.

With the death of her husband and the struggles to raise her young daughter alone,Daphne hopes to recapture the security of her youth with her beloved Yia-yia,the woman that inspired her to become a chef.

However,her grandmother has more to give her than a few reassurances as an incident from that good lady's past is brought into the light as an example of what security really means. A heartfelt story that many people of all nationalities can and will relate well to.(April)

A CABARET LIFE 

Francine Prose weaves historical fact and fiction into her latest novel,Lovers at the Chameleon Club,Paris 1932,in which leading lady Louisianne "Lou" Villars is at the heart of more than one complicated relationship.

Working at the Chameleon Club introduces Lou to a number of offbeat characters, such as the Baroness Lilly de Rossignol,a patroness of the arts and Lionel Maine,a snarky American writer. Those friendships,as well as romances,evolve over time and are retold for a biography being written by Natahlie ,her great niece.

 Lou's life tends to take many different turns as her career changes from cross dressing nightclub entertainer to race car driver to a spy for the Nazis leads her to very unexpected ends. This intriguing look into a world both far away and yet so near to our times should be a very moveable feast for readers to partake in(April):

I hope that spring will arrive soon,making it easier for all of us to go out and about,especially if your local book club is back in session. Just don't have any spoiler fights with your fellow readers because no one is a winner when it comes to those:

Drawing the curtains at Downton Abbey,Chopped Canada and revving up for Rupaul's Drag Race!

The fourth season of Downton Abbey is nearly at the end,with several plot line being tied up while others get an extension.

Speaking of extensions,I love how Countess Violet zeroes in on the truth about Edith(something that her own mother seems incapable of-really,is a charity bazaar so distracting that you can't see the anguish your daughter's going through right under your nose?!) and reluctantly admitting that Rosemund's plan to take an extended vacation in Switzerland where the baby can be adopted far from England is a good one:

 Also glad that horrid Mr. Green is dead,mainly for Anna's sake(and yes, Mary,if Mr. Bates had anything to do with it,you should let him get away with it) and I hope that is the end of that sad storyline.

There's a lot of potential romance in the air(not surprised about Rose and Jack breaking up,as she clearly was motivated by the need to shock her elders rather than true love and he deserves better than that) and with Tom and perhaps even Isobel finding a little love interest,next season may have some real delights for us in that department.

The finale is this Sunday,with Shirley MacLaine making a return appearance as Cora's feisty mother and Paul Giamatti making his Downton debut as Harold,the feckless enterprising brother. That ought to be rather amusing indeed to see such a snarky fellow up against the likes of Countess Violet:

For the past few weeks,Food Network has been airing Chopped Canada, the version of one of their most popular programs as done by our neighbors to the North.

The set-up is pretty much the same,with the main difference being the host is Dean McDermott(a winner of Rachel vs. Guy Celebrity Cook-off) and judges from that part of the world.

 I will say that I really like the warm earth tones of this Chopped set and the pantry section seems to be laid out a little better than the US one. Some of the food choices for the mystery baskets are local Canadian items,which is interesting because one of the joys of any Chopped show is finding out about edible goods that don't turn up in your neighborhood grocery store.

As someone who doesn't know much or seen anything other than episodes of Degrassi about Canada,this is a fun foodie way to learn a bit more about that neck of the woods. It airs on Thursday nights and I hope it becomes a regular part of the FN rotation:

Arriving at long last is the new season of Rupaul's Drag Race,
starting next Monday on Logo. The fresh crop of queens eager to fight for the crown will certainly warm up the small screen and chase away these dire winter blues.

Yes,it is a campy reality show but when done right,is oh so fun,especially by the time they get to the Snatch Game(you gotta see it to believe it). Plus,how can you hate on the strong sense of humor that Drag Race about itself,I ask you?:

RANDOM NOTES:

GAME OF THRONES: Season four is coming soon than winter is leaving us and for those who feel torn up by the Red Wedding,take heart in the payback that is yet to come:

Jennifer Chiaverini settles a score with Mrs. Lincoln's Rival

Author Jennifer Chiaverini,best known for her series of Elm Creek Quilts novels,has been expanding her literary scope lately with a trio of books that highlight previously unknown ladies of the Civil War era,the newest one being Mrs. Lincoln's Rival.

The young lady of the title is Miss Kate Chase,daughter of Salmon P. Chase who was once the governor of Ohio. With her father being a widower three times over,Kate has had to become his political hostess using her considerable charms to woo support for his greatest ambition,the Presidency of the United States.

However,despite his prominence and merit,Chase has to watch on the sidelines as his party gives their preference and votes over to Abraham Lincoln,a rising star on the campaign scene. Sharing his disappointment,Kate joins her father in resigning themselves to playing what parts they can in doing their best for the new administration. Kate's challenges,however, are more on a social level as she winds up competing for status amongst the grand ladies of Washington with the First Lady herself,Mary Todd Lincoln:

Gaining popularity over Mrs.Lincoln turns out to be rather easy at the beginning,due to many people finding the First Lady's melodramatic flair and lavish spending habits a ready source of material for gossip and sniping.

Kate's brief encounters with Mary Lincoln(where she feels slighted and unduly snubbed) further encourage her to indulge in listening to numerous tales told by acquaintances such as John Hays about Mrs. Lincoln's interfering ways that earn her such nicknames as "The Hellcat" and "Her Satanic Majesty".

While Kate does wish to give Mrs. Lincoln the proper respect due to her, she also relishes the thought that someday she'll be the one to reign supreme in the White House when and if her father achieves his true political dreams:

Yet, other more important concerns arise that manage to put this unspoken rivalry aside as the Civil War begins between the North and the South. As Secretary of the Treasury,Salmon Chase has much to do in keeping the troops going and his daughter is with him nearly every step of the way.

Kate hopes that the war will be quick and result in ending slavery,another campaign that she and her father are most passionate about.

 Along with the tension that this major upheaval brings for the nation comes signs of true love for Kate as she has an on-again,off-again romance with William Sprague,the "Boy Governor" of Rhode Island who she eventually marries. While Kate is torn between smoothing the path for her father's ultimate goals and following her heart, the overall impact of the War Between the States puts everything into it's true perspective:

Chiaverini caps off her trilogy of Civil War heroines nicely with this slowly engaging story of a behind the scenes mover and shaker in skirts during that era. This portrait of a young woman being made to choose between daughterly duty and personal desire lifts this story beyond the expected level of cattiness between her and Mrs. Lincoln.

 Kate Chase may have the same type of overbearing confidence that  Jane Austen's Emma Woodhouse possesses but takes somewhat of a different journey in seeing the error of her ways and yet,like that particular Austen heroine, her vulnerabilities are the greatest part of what makes her a strong woman in the end.

 Even if you haven't read Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker(which shares a few references here) or The Spymistress ,Mrs. Lincoln's Rival offers plenty of historical and emotional insight into two great ladies of that age and is worth reading for it's own merits:

Having a Jane Austen Valentine's Day

For Jane Austen fans,Valentine's Day is naturally a huge deal-it's sort of our Super Bowl of the heart,if you will. Celebrating this special time without a touch of Austen would be like not having a Christmas tree or going to bed at 10:30 on New Year's Eve or...(insert your particularly special holiday tradition here).

So,my plans are definitely Jane inspired with tonight's entertainment spotlight falling on Austenland,which happily arrived from Netflix just before the latest snowstorm hit my particular neck of the woods.

 Yes, I know the reviews for this weren't great but I did enjoy the Shannon Hale novel that is based upon and some of the casting choices are sweet,with Jane Seymour being very bitchy British and several of the gents being rather fetching eye candy.

One particular leading man on board here is JJ Feild,who has played an Austen love interest before and this time,he's the "resident Darcy",a role that suits him well indeed:

Speaking of Feild, I intend to make this a double feature by watching him in the 2007 version of Northanger Abbey(which is part of my permanent video library) and I happen to be rereading the book as well.

It's been some time since I went to Bath with Catherine Morland and it is most refreshing to see it again through her young and eager eyes. Plus, any novel that celebrates the joys of reading is always a welcome sight for world weary eyes.

The other  charms of this book include some very witty passages regarding the social pretensions of the day(some of which are still present even in this social media era) as well as the delights to be had in the company of Henry Tilney. Granted, he's not my instant go-to for an Austen man but spending a bit of Tilney time tonight should melt a good deal of the current chill from this bothersome bout of winter weather away:

Another Austen themed title that is now on my regular reading rotation is Mr. Darcy Forever,the third book in Victoria Connelly's Austen Addicts series. This one has a bit of a Sense & Sensibility vibe,as the plot focuses on a pair of sisters,Mia and Sarah Castle,who both share a love of Austen's books but not the same viewpoints about men.

The girls have not spoken to each other in three years,due to a falling out about a man and yet are bound to run into one another at the Jane Austen Festival in Bath,which they are attending separately.

 I'm mid way through and really hoping for these sisters to reunite as bonds of love that Austen's work showcases is not limited only to the romantic;sisterly devotion is shown to be just as vital to achieving true happiness in life as well:

My Austen Valentine adventures would not be complete without a shameless plug or two for my own JA themed work so here is a gentle reminder that my newest ebook,Fanny Price:Slayer of Vampires,is now on sale and that the giveaway goodness that will win five lucky Austen admirers a pair of Fanny Price pins is under way(just leave a comment either here or here to enter,US residents only).

Also,my other Austenesque ebook,The Austen Avenger,is currently available as a free download and if you like superheroes as well as Jane Austen,this is the surprise inside slice of cake for you! Happy Valentine's Day to one and all and may all of your dreams be Darcy ones:

Edith's choices on Downton Abbey,Chopped's latest food themes and The Amazing Race All-Stars!

As I feared,Lady Edith of Downton Abbey is most definitely pregnant and this past week,came rather close to having an abortion. Her last minute hesitation is understandable due to such procedures being seriously life threatening in those days,even with the connections to a higher quality of medical care she had available to her.

What is really the saddest of all is that Edith had no one to confide in for such a dilemma,other than her Aunt Rosamund(not the warmest of people) who seemed resigned to be taking this position. Part of Edith's whole problem in maintaining any sort of romantic attachment is the lack of emotional support given to her by her family- I'm not even sure she has any friends outside of that particular social circle!

 This disinterested display of affection from her immediate family for most of her life,with just about everyone either invested in Mary or Sybil(mainly Mary,who rarely misses an opportunity to slam her Jan Brady of a sis) and only making a fuss about her marrying a much older man out of concern for how it would look to others, it's no wonder that she suffers from an extreme lack of self esteem.

Don't get me wrong,Edith has had her bitchy moments(that letter from season one) and is prone to be quite as snobbish as any Crawley can be. However,she also has talents that have been lately giving her the freedom to break away from those lower expectations and find a new life in London,which I hope continues.

With Edith deciding to keep the baby for now(I suspect a dubious plot maneuver in mind to somehow allow her to stay "respectable" as it were), her road will be a rather hard one to walk on. Yes,Mary is finding new love just about everywhere, including muddy patches while watering pigs(a very cute moment there,I grant you), but would it be too much to ask for Edith to get a break in this department just once?:

In the meanwhile,it does appear that new love is blooming below stairs as Moseley is becoming rather smitten with the new lady's maid Baxter,from what I gather in this preview clip.

Baxter seems nice enough and Moseley deserves to be cheerful about something for once,so I hope it will work out. Then again,Thomas does have some sort of hold on Baxter  which means trouble is just around the corner...:

The gang at Chopped is trying to keep things interesting,so one of their latest themes is making their quarter of chef contenders make one type of dish for all three rounds, like pizza,burgers,bacon(due this weekend) and this past week it was chocolate.

I find that kind of fun,especially since it's pretty hard to make certain things work-how would you make a dessert pizza or a dessert burger?  Plus,the judges also take a whack at these culinary challenges for the online series Chopped: After Hours and it certainly is satisfying to see them put their talents up to the same task as the contestants:

Coming soon(as soon as February 23) to Sunday nights is a fresh new season of The Amazing Race All-Stars,which gives some of the former fan favorite teams another shot at winning.

While it's great to see such likable pairings as Harlem Globetrotters Flight Time and Big Easy or cowboys Jet and Cord(not to mention lifelong buddies Mark and Bopper) back in the TAR saddle again,plenty of obnoxious folks are also on board here.

*sigh* I had hoped to never again see the likes of  Big Brother players Brendon and eternal whiner Rachel or the sneaky "Twinnies" Natalie and Nadiya but I suppose you have to take the bitter with the sweet here,in order to make things interesting. With any luck, a really deserving team will take home the big money and a good time will be had by all:

RANDOM NOTES:

THE WORST COOKS IN AMERICA:  Season four of this instructional competition starts next Monday and as past participants can tell you, Chef Anne and her current co-chef challenger Bobby Flay insist that their teams talk the talk as well as cook the food right:

Celebrating Fanny Price,Slayer of Vampires with some giveaway goodness

Today is the official publication date of my new Jane Austen themed ebook entitled Fanny Price,Slayer of Vampires, and I hope that admirers of Mansfield Park(which celebrates it's 200th anniversary this year) will enjoy this fang in cheek take on the story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

My main goal in taking on this much debated novel was to showcase Fanny in a format that would allow her natural heroism to shine though. Yes,she is one of the meekest and milder Austen leading ladies but her strength of character is just as noteworthy as Lizzie Bennet's in my humble opinion.

Part of the fun is in having Fanny face off against her literary foes with not only a stake in hand but plenty of knowledge gleamed from a very special book. Her quiet demeanor does not conceal her keen mind or sense of fairness and consideration,traits that may not make her appear to be exciting but do offer plenty of food for thought there:

I do confess that I also took great pleasure in turning Mary Crawford(along with her brother Henry) into a vampire. They are not the only blood drinkers in this bunch but more than that,I shall not reveal!

 Back to Miss Crawford, I found that her sultry scheming ways make her the perfect vampy villainess and while many people prefer Mary over Fanny, at least in my book one is not in danger of having their shirt collar torn apart when spending time with Miss Price! It is hard to deny that Mary with her dark looks and sly verbal manner is inimitably suited to be a vampire queen:

To celebrate the arrival of Fanny Price,Slayer of Vampires,I am offering a specially made promotional pin to five lucky folks that features artwork from the cover designed by my sister Stephanie.

As the picture on the left shows,this is a square button about 1.5 inches and starting today, I have ten to give away(two for each of the five winners) and all you have to do to enter is leave a comment either at this post or The Austenite Adventures Facebook page.

This is a US only giveaway,as I am a lady of limited means, and you have from now until February 25 to comment on either Mansfield Park or your favorite vampire characters or which Jane Austen character you wish was a vampire(besides Mr. Darcy,of course!). Prizes will be sent out in early March when hopefully the last of the many snow storms attacking the East Coast(where I reside) will be at an end!

Currently, Fanny Price:Slayer of Vampires is now on sale at Barnes & Noble and Smashwords,with arrivals at other fine online retailers(as well as subscription services such as Scribd and Oyster) due very soon. I thank you all in advance for any good wishes sent my way and one of my wishes is that Fanny Price gets the recognition for her heartfelt devotion that she deserves:

I'll take Sinister Sweet Love Songs for 800,Alex!

I get musical crushes from time to time,you know how that is when you can't resist playing one certain song over and over again. My latest lyrical love affair is with Lana Del Ray's cover version of "Once Upon a Dream" from the animated Disney classic Sleeping Beauty.

Lana's rendition is meant for the upcoming live action remake of that movie entitled Maleficent starring Angelina Jolie as the iconic Bad Fairy. To be honest, I'm not much of a Sleeping Beauty fan and while I do appreciate the elegantly evil look of that story's villainess, my wicked heart belongs to the Evil Queen who tried to take out her Snow White competition armed with a Magic Mirror and a poisoned apple.

However,the gorgeously gloomy tones that Lana gives to this song(which is really intended as the original title princess' lovelorn lullaby) turns this sweet little number into a haunting anthem for the femme fatale fairy taking over this new version of the story. Certainly makes me more interested in seeing the film this summer,that's for sure:

So,along with the fact that Valentine's Day is less than a few days away, I thought that this new take on Sleeping Beauty's signature song was the perfect excuse to share some of my other eerily romantic favorite tunes from fantasy themed films. Quite a mouthful there,I know!

First up is Siouxsie and the Banshees with their contribution to the Batman Returns soundtrack,"Face to Face",a song that plays in the background of a pivotal scene as Batman and Catwoman recognize each other outside of their costumes in public.

The song is incredibly lush with it's fluid rhythms and angst ridden lyrics that purr-fectly reflect the tormented romance between the two so alike it's scary leads:

Next on my list is one of David Bowie's alluring Goblin King songs from Labyrinth and while "As the World Falls Down" is more out and out romantic, the dark undercurrents of "Within You" always get me going.

Granted,the attraction between the almost teenage Sarah and the Goblin King is more of a metaphor for early notions of romance for young women, you do get the sense that Jareth relishes the attention from her and in many ways,needs it desperately.

After all, magic requires belief and by luring her into a reality created and fueled by her escapist desires,Jareth remains in power. His hold on her is fragile at best and this menacing plea displays that push-pull nicely:

Last but far from least is "Old Souls" from Phantom of the Paradise. There are a good number of love songs in this film but this one in particular has a bittersweet irony to it.

For one thing,it's the song that Phoenix,the leading lady of the title character's affections,gets her chance to perform after the gruesome demise of the star attraction to make her famous. He gets no thanks from her,alas and if anything,she is determined to embrace all that this unexpected taste of fame can offer.

 That leap into the spotlight,however,spells her doom as the evil music mogul Swann fulfills her desire for fame and prepares to destroy her for the sake of sales. The Faustian themes of the plot are very well expressed in this haunting tune as well and yes,Jessica Harper does her own singing here:

It'll be some time before we find out if Maleficent is a good retake on the Sleeping Beauty story or not but at least we have a great new twist on a familiar fairy tale tune from it. The Snow White remake film frenzy is over and done with for now but who knows, the Evil Queen may rise again to strut her stuff in song someday:

A pair of serious pop culture situations to consider

This past weekend, two major items of pop culture(as well as human interest) news hit the media in full force and while most everyone has had their say on both matters already, I took some time to gather my thoughts about each one.

By now, most of you out there have read either about or the actual open letter that Dylan Farrow wrote regarding the contention that Woody Allen sexually abused her when she was a child.

 This case came to light during the time that Woody left her adoptive mother Mia for Soon-Yi Previn,another child adopted by Ms. Farrow. Yes, Woody Allen was not officially charged and he still maintains his innocence in that matter. However, this sincerely brave letter from Dylan has opened up the floodgates for people to debate and speculate about the entire Woody/Mia/Soon-Yi affair.

It's very telling to me that while Mia Farrow has pretty much disappeared off the Hollywood radar since that terrible time, people are all too willing to forgive and forget when men like Woody have such stains upon their reputations that are never really cleared up. One well known example is,of course, Roman Polanski but Charlie Sheen still gets work,not to mention Mel Gibson and Arnold Schwarzenegger....you get the point.

What I think may be getting lost in the discussion is what happened to Dylan and the lifelong consequences of that encounter. Regardless of what you believe did or didn't take place,(for the record,I believe her) this is a young woman in serious emotional pain whose main motivation is to be heard in order to help other victims. She's been treated for PTSD and while she is now an adult with a family of her own, her struggles are painfully familiar to many just like her out there.

All that Dylan is asking for is to be listened to and taken seriously,which I believe we should do her the courtesy of.  It's not about what Woody and Mia's relationship was or was not,it's not about anyone who has an Oscar nomination for Blue Jasmine having his or her chances ruined for a win, this is about Dylan. I don't think it is too much to ask that we give her the respect that she was denied so many years ago in letting her side of the story be given as much of a spotlight as anyone else involved in this sad circumstance:

Also,we learned of the death of Phillip Seymour Hoffman whose untimely end came from losing his long term battle with drug addiction. This loss is most grievous to his family and friends,especially to his partner Mimi and their three children,and my condolences to all.

PSH was long known for his character actor roles,both on screen and stage, even before he took home an Oscar for Best Actor in 2005 for Capote and he was one of those nondescript performers whose talents would make him the center of attention in any scene.

He was versatile enough to move from big budget to indie films and still make time for theater work which earned him a lot of praise and respect amongst his peers,along with audiences. He will be greatly missed by his fans yet left a strong artistic legacy behind him.

Some out there in the media make mention that talking about his tragic death might be seen as "glamorizing" drug abuse but being found dead with a needle in your arm is hardily anyone's Hollywood fantasy. What Hoffman did hope was that if he succumbed to his addiction,his sudden departure would wake up others teetering on the edge of their drug abuse abyss. With any luck,some good will come from his sad demise. Meanwhile,there is nothing wrong with mourning such an amazing actor who had so much more to offer us all:

Top Chef's less than flavorful finale,Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. upping the stakes and looking in on Lady Edith at Downton Abbey

The second half of the Top Chef finale aired last night,with the last challenge being a mini version of Restaurant Wars.

 Each chef was given a local eatery to take over and create a four course menu.Since Nicholas won the prior Elim,he was allowed first choice to pick his kitchen crew from amongst their former competitors.

 He went with Brian,Louis and Jason(a rather obnoxious fella who was rightly kicked out early on) and two of his three choices were not bad. Nina chose Shirley(the bond between those two ladies is so amazing to see),Stephanie and Travis(not my ideal choice but,hey,Nina likes him).

The chefs had at least two days to pull everything together and the judges broke up into rotating teams that went to each finalist's restaurant.

Special guests joined the regular judges such as Iron Chef's Morimoto and Paul Bartolotta,lending their culinary opinions as well and I do wish some of them had been on the panel as well. For some reason, it took the judges an extra long time to chose a winner and why they went with who they did,I'm still not completely sure.

Nicholas' first dish, a hamachi and tuna crudo with green apple,tasted good but needed salt,a constant issue with his food. Even Padma pointed this out awhile back and yet, he made it this far.

I'm sorry but for someone to reach the Final Two level and still have trouble making sure their seasoning is done right,especially something as basic as salt, is just ridiculous.

 Not to mention that Nicholas kept snapping at his wait staff and at one point, yelled at someone in the kitchen loud enough for everyone in the dining room(including the judges!) could hear him. We've seen him lose his temper before and to me, that is a sign of being unprofessional.

Nina,on the other hand, went out of her way to do well here by adding two extra courses such as breadfruit with whipped foie gras butter,plus took extra time for her goat meat to be properly braised and it came out beautifully.

Her swordfish course was too busy in terms of flavor but that wasn't as bad as Nicholas' duck dish that Emeril received that was nearly raw. However,that was not the one that got her in trouble with the judges.

Dessert seemed to be the defining course,as it has been for many TC contenders before. Nina had planned on making ice cream but the restaurant she was assigned didn't have one,so she went with chocolate zeppoles instead.

Those zeppoles were served after a skewer of dragon fruit with frozen melon, a mild yet satisfying end to the meal. Yet, Judge Tom pretty much held that against Nina and insisted that her extra courses not count. Based on what was shown on TV,it was Judge Tom who wanted Nicholas to win and so Nick did.

His dessert,by the way, was a panna cotta that didn't fully gel. Nicholas had had trouble with that dish before and hoped to make this a redemption moment. Didn't work out based on taste but nonetheless, Judge Tom persisted in championing him.

Granted,I can't eat either one of these treats(due to my diabetes) but I would take a chocolate mini donut over a half assed panna cotta any day of the week. So would most of the folks on the panel but Tom was dead set on Nicholas being the winner. Well, Tom, I'm not angry just disappointed.

So,congrats to Nicholas and best wishes to Nina. She did at least win the Fan Favorite prize of ten grand,which makes this bitter pill easier to swallow. As to Nick,I've seen worse people win and he does have talent but needs to work on some of his flaws. I know folks are saying that they're never going to watch this show again but we'll see how true that is when next season begins.

 Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is going all out to keep things interesting,as the latest episode had Melinda May pulling a knife out of her own wound to take down her torturers, plus Coulson and Ward having a heart to heart about May and Ward hooking up(a nice pause in the action packed proceedings there).

 The other big developments were  poor Mike Peterson becoming a reluctant cyborg assassin(Deathlok,which I know makes some fanboys and girls happy) and Skye taking two bullets to the gut.

Skye isn't the most beloved character on this show but seeing her go all Mr. Orange like that was rather disturbing. No doubt the show is far from done with her yet but we have to wait until March for another episode,which I find to be crazy! Come on,guys, you made us wait until February and now with such a huge cliffhanger,we have to hold out until March?! Some of us have been loyal viewers here,okay?:

Out of the many character arcs on Downton Abbey this season, Lady Edith's love life is taking another sad turn as there is no word of Gregson(who went off to Germany to obtain a divorce) and it appears that she might be pregnant.

Edith has been the Jan Brady of the Crawley family and seeing her become a more worldly woman by seeking a life outside of Downton has been great but it now looks as if she may be saddled with the "fallen woman" scenario.

*sigh* Poor Edith's heart has been yanked away more often than Charlie Brown's football and it's high time she earned a shot at true love and happiness here. Why must all of that be hoped for only for Mary? Yes, Edith has made mistakes but give the girl a break here! Bad enough that she's forever being compared to Mary and either falls for men who have no interest in her or picks losers, that whole jilted at the altar deal last season was heartbreaking as hell.

If Edith is pregnant, her options will be slightly better than for a middle or lower class woman of that time period but not by much. Hopefully, her family will rally around her and be as caring about Edith as they are for Mary(especially you,Lady Cora-you have more than one daughter,you know!):

RANDOM NOTES:

SUPER BOWL COMMERCIALS:  The ads for the big game tend to cause quite a pop culture stir and while we have a sweet puppy/horse bond for a beer ad which folks love and a Coke ad that is controversial for very confusing reasons, my favorite has to be the Cheerios follow-up ad featuring Gracie and her now expanding family:

M.D. Waters builds a new Archetype for sci-fi suspense

In M.D. Waters' debut novel Archetype, we first met our heroine Emma as she lies in recovery at a hospital in a futuristic America that is seemingly run only by men.

Her personal physician,Dr. Travista and the man claiming to be her husband,Declan Burke,inform her  that she's been in a terrible accident which also caused the loss of her memories. Emma is willing to believe them yet has nagging doubts that she keeps to herself at the insistence of another persona called Her.

Emma has no recollection of her past,yet her frightening dreams appear to be memories that perhaps belong to the other Her,visions of being suspended in water in a different recovery room as well as spending her youth in a "women's training center" where young girls are rounded up to be sold as fertile mates to the highest bidder:

While Emma receives love and encouragement in her new found talent as a painter from Declan,both he and Dr. Travista are still not willing to tell her everything about her "accident" or share much of what is happening in the outside world.

Via her memory dreams and some limited inaction with another female patient,Emma learns that the part of America she lives in has a desperately low birth rate and that that women in this society are only valued by their ability to have children. Women are expected to accept their roles assigned to them by the male ruling class,who are at war with opposing forces in

 Men in positions of power like Declan are seeking a cure for infertility yet all the while turning the most viable birth mothers into their personal chattel,even branding those "wives" with a particular mark that labels them as taken. Emma,however, has no such marking and wonders how that happened as well as why her supposed love match with Declan is hard for her to recall. More disturbing is the need to play the part of the good little wife,not only for Declan but suspicious others as well at the behest of Her:

Emma's guilt at having to deceive Declan is made worse by constant memories of being in love with another man,Noah,who was her husband in a life where she was a rebel leader fighting along side him.

She even finds herself falling in love with Declan,who declares undying affection for her and persists in saying she has always been his wife. With such a mental war raging on within her,Emma becomes even more conflicted as certain freedoms granted to her are bringing her in contact with those who clearly know her from a time before.

While she is so unsure of who and what she is,Emma does know one thing and that is her "accident" was no accident;more than likely it was an injury sustained in battle with the real enemy:

With such different versions of her past life being offered to her, can Emma discover which one is true before all of her choices for the present and future are wiped away from her?

M.D. Waters(the m stands for Misty) makes quite an engaging debut as she mixes romantic suspense with sci-fi in a blend that slowly becomes an intensely emotional ride. In many ways, Archetype is like an old fashioned roller-coaster with it's steady climb up with the characters and situation until they reach a point where they take off at breakneck speed.

Waters develops Emma as an understandably frustrated person at first and as she goes forth in her brave new world of sorts, she becomes more complex and relatable as the story goes on. The dystopian elements of the plot are nicely handled, with no risk of overwhelming the true focus on Emma and her inner/outer struggles. I can truly say that Archetype is a real page turner and yes, I did stay up late at night to finish it. That was time well spent,in my opinion and hopefully your reading experience here will be the same.

Archetype is being released this week and should be a welcome relief from the bitter blasts of this wintery season. Things will be far warmer by the time the follow-up to this book,Prototype, hits the shelves this July. Seeing how Emma's true self comes together promises to be a real blockbuster entertainment worth waiting for:

 

 

The Year of Freddy Fear makes murderous music with The Phantom of the Opera

Welcome to the second installment of our Year of Freddy Fear(intended as a salute to the Nightmare on Elm Street series on it's 30th anniversary) and since Valentine's Day is on the horror horizon for this month, our feature film focus is on another Robert Englund role as a classic literary villain in 1989 's The Phantom of the Opera.

By this point,Englund was well established as Freddy Kruger,with the fifth NOES movie having been released earlier in August of that year. Phantom of the Opera was clearly meant to be a star vehicle for him but it became a real Thanksgiving turkey instead at the box office upon it's initial November release.

I suspect that a good portion of the problem that audiences had with this film is that it wasn't quite what most Freddy fans were looking with all of the opera singing going on and those into the Phantom finding it too gory for their taste.

The film tries a few interesting twists as it begins in modern day New York where hopeful singer Christine Day(Jill Schoelen) is searching for an unique piece of music to audition for a major part with.

With the help of her gal pal Meg(played by future SNL comedianne Molly Shannon), Christine stumbles upon  a set of burnt sheet music entitled"Don Juan Triumphant" that bleeds when she starts to perform it. You would think that blood sprouting sheet music would be a major warning sign that anyone would heed, but not our Christine there!

As she sings at the audition, a stage accident knocks her out and via a shattering mirror, Christine wakes up in London during the 1800s and seems to be reliving a past life where she was also a potential young singer under a mysterious mentor. The past life/time travel motif crops up during the end sequences of the film and it's not a bad concept yet it's not as well developed as it could've been:

The majority of the film takes place in the past,as Christine's rising career is given gruesome aid by The Phantom,aka Erik Destler,a composer granted somewhat supernatural power to create beautifully memorable music but cursed with a brutally scarred face.

Instead of the typical mask, this Phantom sews flesh(presumably from his victims) onto the molten sections of his face and with the additional help of theatrical make-up, is able to make semi-public appearances in order to promote his protege such as visiting a critic who gave her a bad review(at the urging of the theater owner played by a pre-Underworld Bill Nighy) at a local spa. Erik is quite the smooth talker but really doesn't like to take no for an answer as that snooty writer found out the hard way:

As the Phantom's kills get more outrageous(he loves loping off heads!) and his deadly intentions towards Christine become all too clear, our maiden in distress starts to fear her "angel of music" and clings to her boring suitor for protection.

Schoelen was pretty much the go-to girl for generic heroines around this period, making prior appearances in such genre fare as 1987's The Stepfather and 1989's Cutting Class,with later starring roles in fear flicks like Popcorn(which is actually a fun little movie) and When a Stranger Calls Back. She's a decent actress but her whole performance is pretty much girl tied to the railroad tracks(even the fight back moments that her modern day counterpart has are far from convincing).

 While Englund gives this part his all, Schoelen's blandness doesn't give him much of an opportunity for a real give and take between the characters. She does well enough with the role but a more nuanced actress might have been a better choice in terms of giving the villain a formidable match:

The main flaws of the film,however, can not rest on Schoelen's shoulders. Other plot problems include no real explanation of how Christine ever came into the Phantom's sights in the first place and many of the death scenes are such over the top gore that attempts the tone of a Hammer film but makes no overall sense in story telling terms.

One prime example is a sequence where Erik buys himself a lady of the evening(who he insists on calling Christine) and then afterwards,is followed by a band of ruffians into a dark alley where he makes quips and carves them into pieces. How does that fit into the main story, you might ask? Well, it really doesn't, other than to keep horror fans looking for typical Freddy jokey kills in their seats!

 As the body count grows and Christine goes missing, a team of police(along with Christine's real boyfriend) goes into the Phantom's underground opera lair search of them and our boy Erik has fun hunting them down while trying to keep his reluctant love interest at his side. Things had been falling apart by this point and they just tumble right down into a melodramatic mess:

Don't get me wrong,there is entertainment value to be found as Englund really has a romp with this character and the twist with the modern day versions of Erik and Christine towards the end had some promise but was quickly blown up into a grisly cliche reveal that went nowhere fast.

I did see this when it first came out in theaters and upon viewing it again, don't find myself having too big of a film experience from it. Englund's Erik does share a few physical traits with Winslow Leech in the 70s incarnation of Phantom of the Paradise but even that movie was more subtle that this half hearted horror show. Basically, not a bad movie but not a great one either.

Tune in next time when we head back to Elm Street and check out Part Two: Freddy's Revenge. As for the Phantom, I wouldn't recommend it for a Valentine's Day date night viewing unless your intended lover is into all too real blood lust: