With the few last episodes of True Blood being pretty solemn, it's only understandable that the gang at Bon Temps would want to shake those sorrows off with a good old fashioned house party.
Granted, drama still crashed the festivities in both good ways(Andy proposing to Holly,nice!) to bad(Willa getting stabbed by a desperate for vampire blood Lettie Mae) to potentially dangerous (Jessica having revenge sex with Jason and his hyper maintenance girl friend Violet's seemingly calm reaction. That's not going to end well at all).
The best part didn't even happen at Sookie's, as Eric and Pam figured out where Sarah Newlin would be that evening(a political fund raiser to beg her parents for help). The Yazuka broke in during the rally and ran into Eric just as he had Sarah in his clutches, which caused Eric to spare her for a moment as one of the hitmen had killed a lady friend of his in the past. I do wish he had disposed of Sarah first but it still was an awesomely awful moment there.
The misery isn't over yet, as Bill found out that he has an active strain of the Hep V virus and next time on True Blood, things are looking dire for Eric and Pam as well:
A team challenge was given to the culinary contenders on Food Network Star this week, after each person had a chance to enjoy a one of a kind dining experience in Vegas.
The challenge was to make a four course meal that had a theme and a special presentation added in during service. Emma and Sarah were team captains, due to their being on the bottom last time, and Sarah's group did well enough to not only redeem her but head to New York for the final stage of the game.
Emma,however, gave the judges a lackluster experience despite having Lenny and Loreal on her team. It seemed to be that Emma's theme of "food of the gods" didn't click with them and that was clearly reflected in both the food on the plate and the intros to each dish. Lenny, I'm rooting for you yet you have to be more flexible as time goes on in order to win! Next week, they all have to go through the Racheal Ray gauntlet(it's become a tradition on FNS) and Lenny should do well here:
Oh, Big Jim, I knew you couldn't be a good guy for long. On Under The Dome this week, he and new hench woman Rebecca had plans to get the local population down to a minimum in order to keep what resources are left by spreading a homemade virus.
To be fair, Rebecca did the initial dirty work on her own accord but it wasn't hard to convince Big Jim to get on board with the program. Fortunately, Julia was on the case and had the two of them hauled off to jail before any major damage was done. Still, I have the feeling that all too soon, the notion of "thinning the herd' may start to sound good to a lot of the town folk and that Big Jim will find a way to work that to his advantage:
RANDOM NOTES: TOP CHEF DUELS: Arriving this August, past competitors will have one on one battles in the kitchen to see who is truly the best. For fans of TC, this is a summer TV treat to savor:
There has been a lot of advance attention given to California,Edan Lepucki's debut novel,thanks in part to Stephen Colbert,that many people will naturally wonder if there is something worth reading here. Well, I'm happy to tell you that there most certainly is.
The story takes place in a not-too-distant version of America, where society has been slowly yet surely disintegrating over the years. Due to drastic changes in weather and economic breakdown that has driven the social classes miles apart, people are either abandoning the major cities to find a new life out in the wilderness or holed up in specially guarded "Communities" to avoid dealing with the chaos growing outside of their doors:
When we meet husband and wife Cal and Frida, they have been living on their own for about two years now, with very little contact from the wider world.
Thanks to Cal's skills in gardening, the two of them have managed to make a somewhat livable home for themselves. The nearest neighbors having died mysteriously, Cal and Frida have taken over their house and look only to the occasional trades with August, a traveling peddler, for any possible upgrades to their current semi-primitive lifestyle:
Their secluded existence is in need of change,however, once Frida suspects that she's pregnant. Based on some knowledge passed on to them from their former neighbor, they head out to search for any signs of society still left.
When they come across The Land, a small contained community that lives rurally but peacefully, Cal and Frida strongly hope that this is their ticket to a better place to start their family. Despite their initial awkwardness as they try to fit into this new set of people, many unspoken things are causing doubt about The Land becoming their permanent home.
Even with the somewhat happy discovery of a presumed to be dead friend and relative amongst the residents, they both grow suspicious of certain elements such as no children to be found at all and an unusual fear of the color red. As they each learn on their own more about what has happened to the collective group on The Land that lead to their present way of doing things, Cal and Frida began to wonder if there is truly safety in numbers after all:
Yes, I did buy this book from Powell's, in sympathy with Colbert's cause but regardless of how it came about, I was pleased to stay up late at night to complete California.
While at times the secretive actions of certain characters seemed to be put in place to prolong the plot, the pace of the book was steady and purposeful, earning it's interest in what would happen next with a honest sincerity.
Lepucki also provides some engaging food for thought as her indirect descriptions of what caused the world as we know to appear to end with a whimper mirror many of the issues we're facing right now. This blend of genre material with literary fiction has an interesting flavor, much like the cakes that Frida finds herself being able to bake for her friends on The Land; a fanciful recipe made into a home style treat for all to enjoy.
California does make for a thoughtful read and many book clubs are sure to list it amongst their selections this season and beyond. It is good to find that a strongly hyped book can live up to it's press as well as offer the reader a glimpse of a lost world that,with any luck, will one day never be ours:
Over the last several years, the whole concept of "the song of the summer" has gone from a subjective thing to a major league pop culture concern. Most of that shift in entertainment emphasis is due to the money to be earned from claiming such a title but it can also be a way of drawing taste lines as well.
As I've said before, my musical preferences are rather mainstream at best(people like me are the reason Greatest Hits CDs exist) but as I'm not a teenager or completely out of touch with what's going on in that section of pop culture, my picks for best song of this summer season are quite the mixed bag to be sure.
HAVING SOME MANDATORY FUN: For the past week, Weird Al Yankovic has been releasing a video a day from his new album "Mandatory Fun" and his level of hilarity is both as high and low as always. A good number of the songs are pitch perfect parodies of popular hits,such as Iggy Azlea's "Fancy"(which has been deemed by some to be the SOTS) and Pharrell Williams' "Happy".
While I enjoy his take on "Royals" by Lorde, I do agree with many of Weird Al's fans that the best of the bunch is this righteous riff on grammar that plays off that obnoxious "Blurred Lines" in a most engaging manner:
MALEFICENT MISUNDERSTOOD?: With parodies in mind, one of my pleasures this year has been discovering the AVbytebrothers and their collection of Disney princess themed mini-musicals on YouTube.
Released just in time for the Angelina Jolie version of Sleeping Beauty this past spring, this singalong of classic Disney villainesses lamenting their bad press is charmingly wicked indeed:
A MARVELOUS MOVIE MIX: Songs from movies have been prime SOTS material, even when they use old school hits and the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy film is playing this dance card nicely.
Since one of the characters,Peter "Star Lord" Quill , happens to be an Earthling kidnapped by space aliens as a kid, his lingering connection to our world is in the mix-tape in the Walkman that he managed to bring with him.
Peter protects that tape at all costs and it's a good thing,too as the tunes assembled on that tape are an awesome collection of songs, including "Cherry Bomb" by The Runaways and Norman Greenblaum's "Spirit in the Sky".
However, the mix-tape tune that played in the very first GOTG trailer was "Hooked on a Feeling" by Blue Swede and interest in that 1968 classic was reborn, putting it back on the Billboard charts. One of the many signs that this movie may be the surprise hit of the summer, not to mention getting a new generation to appreciate some excellent rock n' roll:
L.A. LADY OF COOL: Lana Del Rey's latest album, Ultraviolence, has gotten a number of mixed reviews but I still say she has some sweetly scary pipes.
One of the singles from Ultraviolence is "Shades of Cool", which has a shimmery sound that highlights the languid allure that the singer has for the man of her dreams here.
The video features well known tattoo artist Mark Mahoney as the object of affection and the entire look and feel of it puts me in mind of David Lynch, if he had directed the previous season of Mad Men, that is:
Finally, if you pinned me down to it, my true pick for the SOTS for 2014 is John Legend's "You & I(Nobody in the World)".
The song was released this past April,off of his 2013 album Love in the Future and the video(which came out on July 10) has received much acclaim for it's portrayal of all physical types of women and girls celebrated for their own brand of beauty.
It doesn't hurt that Orange is the New Black star Laverne Cox is featured here but the overall impact of both the song and video is beyond her celebrity presence. I applaud John Legend for taking what could have been a typical love song for the woman in his life(his wife, Chrissy Tegen) and extending that sentiment to all women everywhere. Kudos to you, sir, for bringing a touch of true class to your art.
Even without the video, the song itself is a tender and touching melody that celebrates the love and joy of being with that special someone in your life and given the real world tragedies occurring all around us these days, this is an emotion that we need to hold fast to,folks. It may too romantic for some but hey, a little romance can only help,not hurt and that's true for all seasons:
A lot of big changes being announced in the comic book world lately and two of them were introduced on very mainstream forums. The ladies of The View were privileged to reveal that this fall, Marvel would bring us a female Thor.
The new story line will debut in October and as the folks at Marvel put it, she is not "Thorita, Lady Thor or She-Thor", this warrior maiden will actually be the new incarnation of the Norse god(or goddess, in this case).
For those of you wondering how this is possible, it's important to remember that the power of Thor lies within the hammer Mjolnir that bears the inscription "whomever holds this hammer, if he be so worthy, shall possess the power of Thor."
That caveat will now include women and there is a precedent for this as Wonder Woman herself was once able to wield the hammer during a Marvel/DC crossover a few years back. Much like Green Lantern's power ring or the sword Excalibur, the hammer of Thor is an object that reflects the inner nobility of a person and only then it will allow him or her to use that power for the good of others. Quite a change-up and one that definitely has people talking:
A few days later, a new Captain America was announced on The Colbert Report, as the current plot line has Steve Rodgers losing his super serum abilities and rapidly aging.
Therefore, his partner in arms The Falcon(aka Sam Wilson, who many of us first met on screen in Captain America:The Winter Soldier this spring) will take up the "mighty shield."
As Sam is African American, this is another major switch-up and a welcome one. Much like Thor, someone else has had to take over for the original Cap(Bucky Barnes,aka The Winter Soldier) and it is a choice that makes sense.
The essence of Captain America is in his determination to protect the innocent and enforce justice for all and yes, the costume and weapons are easy to pass on,much like Batman. These new versions of Thor and Captain America won't be reflected in the current movie versions but hopefully some day, Hollywood will catch up to the comics.
Diversity in such iconic pop culture figures as these are truly needed to reflect all segments of the audience and not just the stereotypical white male nerd out there. Nothing against those guys, but they are not the only paying customers waiting in line and pre-ordering tickets, media moguls. Wake up and smell the century,people!:
Speaking of keeping up with the times, a sorrowful event has occurred in all places, Archie comics. In the spin-off series, Life With Archie, the title character has been killed by taking a bullet for his friend Kevin Keller, a gun control advocate who was about to give a speech.
As the regular teen Archie series will continue, along with an Afterlife with Archie(yep, he's a zombie in that one), the character is still around but this act of self sacrifice is a sadly beautiful salute to why fictional folk matter.
By showing us the best as well as the worst in human nature, they can inspire their readership to strive for the better in real life. No doubt plenty of people are grousing about the "politics" of the situation(much as they did when Kevin Keller was introduced as gay and later married his life partner in a highly controversial issue) and grumbling that this isn't the same safe Riverdale High gang they grew up with.
Well, you know what? Any form of long term entertainment needs to reflect the reality outside of it's pages in order to hold anyone's interest, particularly new generations of readers and I for one applaud Archie comics for refusing to stay in the way back machine.
And yes, Riverdale may not be the same sweet safe haven it once was but neither is our world, folks. This isn't the first time the comic book realm has talked about the consequences of gun violence*cough*Batman*cough* and maybe this story is only a drop in the bucket here, but with enough drops, that bucket can become overflowing mighty quick:
Change to any familiar form of pop culture can be hard to adjust to and yes, sometimes those changes are temporary in order to rack up sales and revive interest among old fans and new. However, the good that can come about from these transitions is all worth it,as new creative ideas are allowed to spring forth and take us in amazing directions that will lead to better adventures for us all.
So,whether it's a new story arch, persona or simply a different actor taking over a role, the best way to deal with comic book changes is to embrace them sincerely. Singing the same old song can get boring and that's the last thing a comic book should be:
Finally,the gang on True Blood acted smart this week and made plans to take down the Hep V vamps hiding out at Fangtasia(it took them long enough!). They got some unexpected help from Eric and a very reluctant Pam, who stopped by on their way to find Sarah Newlin and do what Jason should've done last season.
Seeing the origins of Fangtasia in flashback form was fun, as it turned out that the place was originally a crappy video rental joint(assigned as punishment by the Authority) and future flunkie Ginger was once a budding film scholar who had most of her brain power zapped by Pam's constant glamoring.
Also helped to see that secret back way into Fangtasia that came in handy for the rescue. Eric is still awesome, even in walking dead mode, and hopefully Willa will get over herself to make peace with him before all is said and done.
What was best of all was seeing Sookie going forward in a take-no-prisoners stride . Her blunt talk with Jessica about getting over her self starvation as penance for draining Andy's three fairy daughters was just the right slap in the face that Jessica needed. Don't get me wrong; it was a shame that those girls fell prey to the whole fairy blood allure for vamps but as Sookie succinctly pointed out, there are way bigger fish to fry at the moment:
This may be the start of a strong upswing for the show,which I'm keeping my fingers crossed for. Even with the immediate threat gone from Bon Temps, there is still more trouble ahead and perhaps a cure that will save Eric in time(a girl can hope,can't she?):
The remaining contenders on Food Network Star made it to Vegas,where they learned that their number would increase as Luca rejoined the competition. He didn't seem to be the most likely guy to survive Star Salvation but I guess he improved greatly since we last saw him.
Once that was settled, the culinary contenders were tasked to make a dish for a pool party that had all of the guests given handheld meters( known as "the dial of doom") to register their approval or disapproval of each person's presentation. Then, booths were set up for the food to be handed out, along with poker chips to place in a counter at each station. The contestant with the highest amount of chips would be declared the winner.
That honor went to Lenny, for his tasty sliders and keeping his promise to belly flop into the pool. A bit much, perhaps, yet the guy has such an infectious good nature that you can't blame him for playing to the cheap seats on this one.
Going home was Chris, who is a nice enough fellow but just can't get across his foodie passion in promos like this. It was a pretty close decision, as Emma and Sarah were on the chopping block with him( I would have sent Sarah home, due to her barely getting anyone to taste her food). Oh, well, the show must and will go on as the next challenge requires even razzle dazzle from the cooking crew still here:
Masters of Sex began it's second season with it's two leads carrying on with their lives separately in public while meeting together in private, as in a regular standing appointment at a hotel under false names.
Bill's career path seemed to be halted for awhile but with the help of his wife and the husband of a former study subject, he landed a brand new position that will fund his study as well. It would be nice if he tried to warm up to his newborn son and stop being bitchy to his well meaning mother but hey, one thing at a time.
Virginia, on the other hand, has to fend off creeps at work who think she's open for business,so to speak, and sell crappy diet pills to make ends meet at home.
Clearly, she's getting the worst of this deal and while I can understand her deep attraction to Bill(not to mention the social conventions of the time period), she does deserve way better than this and I hope that we don't have to wait too long for her to either receive that or realize that by the end of this seasonal run:
RANDOM NOTES:
UNDER THE DOME: Dwight Yokam showed up this week, as Lionel Chumley, a local barber who still holds a torch for the late Mrs. Big Jim. It looks like he might stay around awhile and not just because of the dome but due to a mysterious message to Junior from his perhaps still among the living mom(knew Sherry Stringfield wasn't just a one shot cast member here!):
One of my pop culture goals this summer was to catch up with the first season of Orange is the New Black, the acclaimed Netflix series that has just been nominated for several Emmy awards.
Since I don't have the streaming option on my Netflix account(which will be discussed further in a moment) and have a one disc at a time deal with my rentals, it took me some time to watch the entire season on DVD,plus read the memoir by Piper Kerman upon which this show is based. With both book and show completed, I have a few talking points to go over.
No, I don't intend to do a full recap or run down a list of plot line preferences and favorite characters since that has already been covered both online and off. Instead, I have about three topics that reflect my initial impression of the show and hopefully not sound too newbie to the seasoned fans:
BOOK VS. SERIES: I started reading the book(on loan from Booksfree) about three episodes into watching the adaptation and yes, there are differences between the two.
The show is a somewhat fictionalized account of Piper Kerman's(called Piper Chapman here) real life incarceration for slightly over a year, thanks to being named by a former lover for being a courier of drug money ten years prior.
Many of the dramatic story lines played out on the show didn't exactly happen to real world Piper yet you can see the inspiration for some of them within the pages. Also, most of the names were changed for the series,which is somewhat ironic given that they were already changed in the book to protect the women's identities.
However, I don't see that as a flaw. I'm at the point in my reading and viewing life where such transitions are acceptable if well done and they are in this instance. Piper's retelling of how actual life in a women's prison is nothing like the exploitation movie nonsense that often comes to mind when this subject comes up and offers a real nuts and bolts look at how the system does and doesn't work for these women once they're in and out of jail.
Piper Kerman is a consultant on the show and has no problem with the more TV drama approach taken with the source material, since it makes the whole subject much more relatable to people. I quite agree and glad to have read the book,which tells it's own compelling tale, as well as being entertained by it's TV bunkmate:
COMEDY OR DRAMA?: As I mentioned earlier, OITNB has been nominated for the upcoming Emmy awards this summer in several categories,including directing(yes, that Jodie Foster!) and most of the actresses along with leading lady Taylor Schilling.
However, OITNB is competing in the comedy section and most folks would agree that the show is more of a "dramedy", that hybrid of humor and pathos that many of our beloved hour long series fall into such as Mad Men and The Sopranos. The reasoning behind this is simple show business as the drama categories are heavily packed as it is and the chances for a win are far better in this arena.
If I had to be forced, I would say that OITNB is really a drama with some comic relief moments than a comedy with serious scenes attached to it. The show does and can flip the script on that tone,often in just one scene alone, and if this strategy works to get some of these talented folks their trophy, more power to them. If Laverne Cox doesn't get an Emmy,I won't be alone in throwing my pie at somebody(unless of course, one of her co-stars such as Uzo Aduba gets it instead):
DVD VS.STREAMING: Even tho I am a lady of limited means, I could probably switch over to streaming but then I would have to give up my DVD option on Netflix and that I can't do.
I know streaming is the "in thing" and all of that, yet I do have a TV with a DVD player built in(and yes, I don't have Blu-Ray either) and it would be such a waste not to use that. Plus, taking my time with a show like this has plenty of pop culture benefits.
For one thing, it allows the viewer to savor the rich nuances of the characters as they interact with each other and have a moment of their own, along with the ongoing story lines, plus build up a hearty appetite for what comes next. While finding out what happens to Piper and Alex or Red and the kitchen crew is only a search engine click away, holding off from such easy answers is a test of discipline( I must confess to looking up season two highlights once I finished with S1).
I'm not knocking binge watching,particularly since OITNB is as hard to put down as a bag of nacho cheese chips. I did spend a few weekend nights with the ladies of Litchfield and it was a blast yet it was good to have some down time,too:
So, I look forward to season two when it hits DVD and even season three, which is due out sometime next year(no official date has been confirmed yet).
OITNB is and was excellent TV/web series that is changing the face of entertainment and I'm happy to finally be in the mix. It's nice to discover that something so trendy is actually worth all of the hype and then some.
The real cherry on top of this saucy sundae is how many wonderful actresses from old school diva Kate Mulgrew to indie darlings like Natasha Lyonne and Taryn Manning and fresh faces like Uzo Abuda, Samira Wiley,Dascha Polanco and the lovely and amazing Laverne Cox are given their turn to strut across the stage. It's a pity that it took a show about prison to set many of these emerging talents free and with any luck, Hollywood will sit up and take notice:
Another main character bit the dust on True Blood this week, as Alcide was shot through the heart during a rescue attempt for the botched bait plan that Sookie and Bill dreamed up to find their missing friends.
Seriously,people-get to Fangtasia already! Isn't it fairly obvious by now where the horde of Hep V vamps are hanging out and storing their portable meals? *sigh* Poor Alcide; Sookie was right when she told Bill that her love for him wasn't as strong as hers,which made his passing all the more bittersweet to bear:
As much as you're expecting a good sized body count for the final season(so long, Mrs. Fortenberry,see you Under The Dome!), it was a shame that Alcide didn't get to do much more here. Then again, he got more time than Tara and yes, still not completely over that!
Anyway, from the promo for the next episode, it does look as if someone finally realized that Fangtasia might be a good place to check for those pesky Hep V vampires. Hopefully, the rescue squad gets there in time to actually save somebody,geez!:
On Food Network Star, the contenders had to get very commercial as their challenge was to create a product for marketing,including a 30 second spot to be filmed.
Their ads were done before a green screen with the catch being that they had to use a randomly assigned background. That threw off some folks like Lenny(The Great Wall of China overwhelmed him a bit) and Emma,whose French persona in Paris came across like a bad Pepe Le Pew cartoon.
Chris,however, had a good product idea with flavored butter coins and pulled his Indiana Jones style promo off well enough to earn a win for Best Concept. Loreal won the challenge by using her natural wackiness for the giant tomato farm setting she was given(plus, naming her sauce DANG! was cute and catchy). Reuben was sent packing for fumbling his moon landing presentation-dude, all you had to say was "The flavor(of my sauce) is out of this world!" to at least stick around a little longer. Such an easy A,seriously.
Well, next week the remaining contestants head to Vegas and find out who survived Star Salvation. Maybe they'll see Reuben again, maybe not:
Another sci-fi centered show appeared on the CBS summer line-up this week and it's debut is rather promising. Extant stars Halle Berry as Molly Wood, an astronaut in a not too distant future who has just returned home after a year long solo mission in space.
As she is adjusting to being back on Earth,not to mention home and work, a shocking surprise turns up in her blood work;Molly is pregnant. Due to her isolation and infertility, the only possible answer to how this happened lies with a 13 hour time lapse on board the ship during a solar flare incident.
Molly is determined to keep a lid on this strange new development from both her superiors at work and her husband,who is busy trying to get his new line of empathic robots(the prototype he has been raising as his son) the funding to expand further. So far, there are a good number of plot balls being juggled in the air but the cast and writers seem to have a good grip on them for now. I'm going to keep up with Extant and hope that the signs of intelligence that are flashing here stay steady and strong:
RANDOM NOTES:
UNDER THE DOME: With his near death experience, Big Jim appears to have turned a new leaf and is actually cooperating with his former enemies. I don't think that will last long but it should be interesting to see how much of the "New Big Jim" we and the rest of Chester's Mill can all take:
I am as far from being a sports fan as Bobby Flay is from being a vegan,however I do have some some insight into what makes people so diehard invested in that arena and that is partly due to Nick Hornby.
In 1992, Hornby published a memoir called Fever Pitch, which chronicles his life as a fan of the British soccer team Arsenal(which has a success rate similar to the New York Mets from what little I know). His interest started as a kid first as a way to keep a reluctant bond with his divorced father but it was not before long that he didn't need that as an excuse to watch the games.
The book has been made into a film twice, with the 1997 British version being the preferred one for my tastes and granted, I haven't seen the American one but for a Jane Austen gal like me, Jimmy Fallon can in no way replace Colin Firth.
Hornby wrote the screenplay for the first adaptation and turned the basic story into a romantic comedy, where affable schoolteacher Paul Ashworth winds up in a relationship with new colleague Sarah(Ruth Gemmell). She, of course, finds his interest in soccer to be sophomoric at best yet can not help falling for him all the same:
Sarah does try to accommodate Paul's sports love needs but does get exasperated as Arsenal appears to constantly be number one on his priority list. Even the news that Sarah is pregnant seems to only moderately shake up Paul's world.
While he's happy to get married and start a family, his laid back approach to preparing for that huge life change gets on her nerves. She really wants him to be as passionate about their relationship and long term goals as he is about Arsenal making it into the championships(the story takes place in 1988-89, which was a "miracle" season for the team) and it's a classic case of miscommunication between the two of them:
This may sound like the typical boy vs girl type of plot but as time goes on, you get the sense that Paul's devotion to Arsenal is not all about clinging to a childhood level of emotional comfort.
Paul's love for his underdog team is a testament of faith, much like someone's devotion to a church or political stance or even a comic book franchise. It can be overindulged in at times and be a substitute for what's lacking in your life but it can also be a touchstone that guides you towards your better nature and keeps your hopes alive in the midst of unexpected chaos. Paul and Sarah both seem to realize this separately and by the time the big game is on, a whole community of other people in their lives are also connected by this one possible shining moment.
Hornby was smart to make his personal story over in a fictional fashion and while I don't know how successful the US version was in that regard, a true bonus to the first film is having Colin Firth. He brings not only his own special brand of charisma to the role but a nice down to earth, regular guy energy to the part that makes it stand out completely from his Mr. Darcy persona. Speaking of Darcy, Mark Strong is also in this movie as Steve, Paul's soccer buddy. For Jane Austen admirers, this is a special treat to have both Mr. Knightley and Darcy together onscreen:
So, with all of the World Cup hoopla going on as we speak, I watched the movie again(yes, it's part of my DVD library as the book is in my personal book collection) and it still holds up nicely.
It is available at Netflix in DVD format(buying it may be tricky but not impossible) and if you are wondering what all of the fuss is about with the World Cup these days, the 1997 movie does explain it all for you. Reading the book is also a viable option and yes, doing both is highly recommended.
"I am so sick of hearing about soccer,why should I watch a damn movie about it?!" is a reasonable question to ask but if it is on your mind that much, this is a perfectly fine pop culture way to purge that urge.
One time many years ago, I left my house in frustration over the World Series taking over the TV time, a big annoyance when there's only one television available, and wound up at the movies seeing, you guessed it, a baseball film. Believe it or not, the movie(which if I recall correctly was Major League) did actually entertain me and made going back to a household of cheering men more bearable. The hair of the dog and all of that.
Plus, Colin Firth is that spoonful of sugar that makes the sports medicine go down rather smoothly here. Even if you're not into Jane Austen or sports, Fever Pitch does offer a rousing good time that entertains as well as enlightens you about a whole side pocket of fandom that unites more than it divides,which is what such devotion is truly about:
For the past couple of months, I have asked Jane Austen fans to declare their allegiance for one of the leading men of Mansfield Park or in simpler terms, are you Team Edmund or Team Henry?
Part of the reason for that is due to this year being the 200th anniversary of Mansfield Park, the one novel in Jane Austen's cannon that causes the most kerfuffles amongst readers and critics to this very day. With all of it's misgivings, it still has enough resonance with it's themes of moral judgement and guidance that there is plenty of food for thought to be had on this small shelf in Austen's literary cupboard.
The other reason is my Pick Your Mansfield Man contest, where one champion from each corner would win a free copy of my e-book Fanny Price,Slayer of Vampires(currently on sale this month,more about that in a moment).
Well, the dealing is done and for Team Edmund, the winner is Wordy Nerdy Sarah, for her great essay on why "We Should All Give Edmund Bertram A Break"-thank you,Sarah for your thoughtful and spirited defense of Edmund(who I must confess,I favor here also):
While I find Henry Crawford to be quite the scoundrel as well as being more in love with the idea of being in love with Fanny, I am willing to give that charming devil his due,along with his ardent fans.
After all, I made him a vampire(along with his sister Mary) in my MP monster mash for that very reason; his smooth operator style and easy manner with words as well as women. Yes, I know that there are Darcy vampire stories but in truth, does not Henry Crawford seem to be more suitable to that True Blood night life? Maybe it's just me.
So, for Team Henry, the winner is AGreatReader who makes a good case for the merits of Mr. Crawford and the good that could have come from a long lasting relationship with Fanny:
Thank you AGR, for your share of the conversation and congrats to you and WNS -to claim your prize, please send the e-mail address of your choice to me at livingreadgirl@yahoo.com so that I may send you both a gift copy of Fanny Price,Slayer of Vampires to download from Smashwords.
Speaking of Smashwords, they are holding a big summer sale in July for many of their titles and Miss Price was bold enough to join them. From now until July 31st, FP:SOV is available at half price( from $1.99 to 0.99) with the coupon code SSW50-this discount only pertains to Smashwords, as they are my publisher, and I hope that many of you who have yet to explore this dark side of Mansfield Park will take this opportunity to do so.
Thank you to everyone who took part in this contest and any MP discussion out there. I wish you all a happy and not too overheated summer and do remember that there are plenty of Jane Austen men to go around,so let us not quarrel amongst ourselves too much:
The title of the season two premiere episode of Under The Dome is "Heads Will Roll" and two of them certainly did,thanks in part to Stephen King who wrote the script(plus a nifty little cameo).
First one to go was Linda,due to the newly whitened Dome becoming magnetized which put her in the path of an out of control car. At least she went out doing something heroic as her sacrifice spared Barbie who had just been saved from his public hanging in the town square-talk about nine lives there! Fare thee well,Linda-you will be missed.
The second death came at the very end, with Angie getting the axe in more ways than one. Since she lasted longer on the show than she did in the book, I'm not feeling too bad about this one but Angie's murder will raise a lot of hackles amongst this already cabin fevered crowd.
Some new characters were introduced,such as Big Jim's brother-in-law and a seemingly savvy high science teacher but the main newcomer is the girl that Julia rescued from the lake. That mystery gal and her long walks are what lead Angie to her untimely end but was that on purpose or sheer coincidence? We shall see soon enough but my theory on who she is is this: she must be a "hatchling" from that mini dome egg.
Think about it; she came up out of the lake at the precise spot where Julia tossed the egg and what is the purpose of an egg in the first place? To bring a life form to term and if the show is going to go down the space alien route, it sort of makes sense that a new species would want to protect it's surroundings as much as possible, even to the point of isolating an entire region.
Also, the science teacher mentioned that the magnetic pulse of the dome was similar to the rhythms of a woman giving birth and that was not a throwaway line,folks! Not from Stephen King! Well, sorry anyway, Angie-hopefully, your demise will lead to an interesting story line this season:
The challenge this week on Food Network Star was to do a live demo at Knott's Berry Farm and have a Fourth of July theme on deck. Well, some of the contenders took to this like a duck to water while others floundered.
Lenny,for example, did great with his showmanship but didn't have a lot of info to offer due to cooking all of his fish beforehand(keep on trucking,dude,I'm rooting for you!) . On the other side of the savory spectrum, Christopher really screwed up by spending most of his time talking rather than demonstrating his cooking techiques.
Sounds like he forgot the important part of show and tell, which is that you have to do both at the same time! He wound up going home this time out but will make a stop at Star Salvation first. Not interested in seeing him return, the guy didn't have much pizzazz,in my opinion. Next time out, it's all about marketing and since another commercial challenge is part of the deal, maybe it'll be more fun than the last ad job they had to do.
On True Blood, Sookie lead the local forces of law and order to a nearby small town to learn more about what the Hep V vamps are up to and all they found was death and desertion.
Look, I try to be very forgiving of some of the story telling loop holes that crop up from time to time on this show but it's getting annoying that no one,particularly Sookie, has thought to head on over to Fangtasia by now.
Hello, it's only the best known vampire bar in the entire area and more than one of you has been there at some point! Sookie, you've set yourself up as a vampire expert, you should have been the first person to bring it up,already-what, are you waiting for Jason's powers of pizza detection to put you in the right direction?!:
With this being the last season, now is not the time to get sloppy with the plot lines, people!
Bad enough that Lettie Mae is becoming a vampire blood junkie and Arlene was on the brink of getting her friends freed from the Fangtasia basement they're chained up but her school teacher savior melted into a puddle of goo at the last moment, distracting Sookie and her Bon Temps Scoobies from completing a simple rescue like this is simply stalling tactics here.
Yes, the whole town going vigilante is a decent narrative thread to weave yet does it have to be so shoddily woven? *Sigh* at least we get some sign of Eric,even if he has Hep V. Hopefully he comes back to town in time to set a few things straight with his straight shooting:
RANDOM NOTES:
COOKING CHANNEL: Just got this on my cable dial and it's a very welcome addition to my foodie TV tastes. While it is more heavy on the instructional shows that it's older sibling Food Network is during prime time hours, the quirky approach taken with the culinary arts is warmly inviting and they should have some interesting tips for your Fourth of July meal plans:
Our salute to the Nightmare on Elm Street film franchise and it's monstrous main man Robert Englund,aka The Year of Freddy Fear, takes a step back from Elm Street this month to check out another one of Englund's horror flicks,this time based on a short story by Stephen King.
The Mangler came out in 1995 but didn't set up shop for long. Englund played one of the villains of this piece and his name was one of the big head line attractions for this film. In addition to Stephen King(who had no say in this pathetic production), Tobe Hooper was on board as director and as a horror fan, you might reasonably,"Hmm, three top names in the business,should be a good show!"
Well,that is far from the case here. The basic plot line has the title machine,which is a central piece of equipment for a laundry service in Maine, being demonically possessed and literally running folks thru the ringer.
Englund plays William Garvey, the owner of the Blue Ribbon Laundry,who goes around wearing an old fashioned three piece suit complete with leg braces(due to a much hinted at injury from the mangler) and when he's not having verbal stand-offs with either his workers or reluctantly nosy police detective John Hunton(played by a rather bored looking Ted Levine),he's leering at one of his female employees in a manner that Human Resources would not approve of.
Hunton and his goofy brother-in-law who happens to be a college professor that studies mythologies figure out that the mangler has a extra special demon attachment and make plans to perform an exorcism(they do a warm-up one on an old fridge that came in contact with the mangler and yes, that does sound way too convenient for story telling purposes there).
Garvey,meanwhile, has some scheme to sacrifice his virgin niece to the mangler with the assistance of his harassment suit waiting to happen worker who is suddenly his hench woman! Yep, a lot of movie making mess is going on and trust me when I say that the nicest word I can think of to describe the experience of watching this film is wretched:
I don't have a lot of clips from this film to showcase,as it's far easier to find videos of people talking about The Mangler than actual scenes from the movie and believe me, that is a small mercy.
However, there are a few things we can chat about here such as why are there so many terrible adaptations of Stephen King short stories like this? That is due to a number of them from King's first anthology,Night Shift, having been brought up in the early 1980s by a film producer who intended to make a Twilight Zone type of TV series with them but wound up selling them off instead to who ever wanted to make a quick buck from a horror movie with King's name plastered all over it.
Yes, King has made a movie from one of the stories in Night Shift,the incredibly wacky Maximum Overdrive, and does allow student filmmakers to make short features from this book for the low rate of one dollar from time to time but the majority of the adaptations from this collection were never meant to be feature films.
One movie that King did manage to get his name taken off of was 1992's The Lawnmower Man,which basically cut and paste the bare minimum from the original source material to pass off their virtual reality Frankenstein meets Charley script as a King project(the movie's not bad but it was right to remove King's name from it).
Most of the Night Shift stories would work as part of a Tales from the Darkside kind of show and many of them are good,creepy reads. However, this is an object lesson about being careful who to sell your media rights to,hopeful young authors out there. Don't just grab the first handful of cash offered to you or part of your literary legacy could include a ton of unintended sequels moldering away in a DVD bargain bin. The Children of the Corn movies alone are plentiful enough to fertilize the entire state of Iowa's farm lands:
Believe it or not, there are two follow-ups to The Mangler,particularly since the first film crashed and burned at the box office. Then again, they were direct to video releases,which explains it all too well.
The Mangler 2 actually has no true relation to the first film,much like The Lawnmower Man, in that the "mangler" here is a computer virus that takes over a rich kid's boarding school. The Mangler Reborn claims to be more in line with the original story but it's simply about a repairman who buys what's left of the laundry machine and starts feeding it blood.
I have no intention of watching either one of these bad boys and while there are a couple of other Robert Englund non-Freddy films on my list for later this year, I'm hoping that this is the worst one out of that lot:
Then again, I may have spoken too soon as August has The Year of Freddy Fear team up with Bad Movie Month's Sorry Sequels selection with Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare(why is it that when the word "final" pops up in a horror movie title, chances are that it's never really the last one in a series?). Until then, stay cool and get your King on with Under The Dome(trust me, even the weirdest episode of that show is far better than The Mangler):
