This is the New Year

In keeping with the traditions of this holiday, I want to take some time to reflect and share my best discoveries from this past year.

10. This blog!
Why? Because it's been good to share my perspectives with others over frivolously fun things.

9. The Detroit Red Wings
If you didn't know, I think its time that I inform you about how awesome they are in a clutch! Plus they also have one of the best histories as a team in hockey. So I fell in love the moment I went into the Joe Arena and was able to see their mad skillz up close and personal, while having the chance to learn about the amazing players!! And hanging with even better fans!

8. Zuko
So, I've never been the type to side with the "bad guy" in all things and granted I discovered the greatness of Nick's Avatar" The Last Airbender a few years ago, but this summer with the closing of the series and some insights into the character of Zuko I was able to put his past disgression asides and take a look at the masochist that he is. And who can say no to that! No honestly he was necessary for the success of the Avatar and he was so complicating interest that you could never forget him. Unlike Sokka who always had a place in my heart since day one, Zuko shoved his way in there too.


7. Board Games
I know, not something I talk about often, but their a great way to learn a new skill. Bond over the suckiness that always exist when competition comes into play. Finally the best way to get to know someone and spend some extra time with friends!!

6. Prince Caspian
What's not to love? Ben Barnes. William Moseley. And for Mind Grapes Skandar Keynes. Besides the hot main character with his sexy fake Spanish accent and the boldness of the Susan and the ever lovable Aslan with all the action and more of the first film. What's not to love (I say again)?



5. President Elect Obama
More precisely this is in reference to the election and the great exhibition of skill and intelligence that was exhibited and look forward to the 20 days until his leadership is made official. I am truly excited and ready to see where he will take our country.

4. Chuck
LOVE Him!!! There is nothing that can ruin this adorably cute and complicated character for me. I can't wait til he returns in February!! Without Chuck on the TV landscape life would be very dimly lit.


3. Ingrid Michaelson
I am so enamored with this woman's lyrics, because every time I listen to her CD I gain something new each time. Ever since I first heard her uniquely melodic voice I felt that she understood a hidden part of my mind and heart and was able to connect from the very first song. I can't even chose one song as the ultimate song from her collection, that's how good she is to me.

2. Battlestar Galactica
It's just too amazing to sum up in a paragraph. But simply put it always leaves me desiring more and its just so exciting and twisted. Along with all the underlying issues of who has the right to survive? Do we as humans truly deserve it or do some toasters with legs deserve to make the universe theirs? It's a lot more complicated of a decision than you would think. Finally I must leave you with this:



1. Veronica Mars
Besides the brillance that is Kristin Bell and even Jason Dohring and my undeniable urges to share the sublimeness of this show with everyone. I mean come on I even had an embarassing outburst in a crowded food area with the glee of Veronica on my brain. I will truly miss the look she gets on her face when her plan is executed!


I look forward to the great discoveries of 2009! Happy New Year!

The Christmas Song-List: Part 1: A "Winter Song" for You

Hello dear readers,

It is now less than a week before Christmas, and that means lots of snow (12 inches in fact; it looks like a Norman Rockwell landscape outside of my window), a sorely needed break from school, and a myriad of other lovely things, one of which is loads of Christmas music!! Now, I know we all know about the standard fare (the classic Christmas carols), and those are all well and good. It wouldn't be Christmas without them. But, every now and then, new artists get together and actually create a Christmas song that breaks the mold--i.e. Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson's new song, "Winter Song," which I've placed right here for your viewing/listening pleasure.

This song is so beautiful that it gets a 5 out of 5 hot cocoa mug rating from this blogger. There's actually a rather cute music video that's on the Sara Bareilles YT channel, but the "embed video" feature was disabled, so I couldn't post it here. However, if you want to watch it, you can by clicking here.

It's also on the new album out called: The Hotel Cafe Presents...Winter Songs

Not only are Sara B. and Ingrid Michaelson present, but there are also few other female singer-songwriters that you might recognize, such as KT Tunstall, Katy Perry, Fiona Apple, Colbie Caillat, etc.. There are a few gems on the album, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend buying the whole thing (In my hastiness, I did anyway). If you're an singles-downloader, I'd recommend the newly written songs like "Winter Song" and "The Heartache Can Wait" by Brandi Carlile and "All My Bells Are Ringing" by Lenka. Some of the new renditions of old classics aren't too shabby, either. "Silent Night" by Priscilla Ahn, Fiona Apple's "Frosty the Snowman," Catherine Feeny's "Christmas Song," and "Auld Lang Syne" are still enjoyable listens. And my apologies to all the Katy Perry fans out there, but...the only song that made me regret my "complete my album" iTunes purchase was her version of "White Christmas." The stripped down production doesn't suit her well, and the reverb on her vocal does not cover up the fact that she sounds inebriated and bored singing this old classic, which has been done way better. She could learn a thing or two from Mr. Bing Crosby...(like how to sound classy and not like a loose woman who's had one too many rounds of egg nog. Sorry, that was a bit too mean.). Anyways, I digress. Despite a couple of flops, "The Hotel Cafe Presents...Winter Songs" still has a lot to offer listeners who are looking for something new this Christmas season, and many of its songs will prove worthy additions to any music lover's collection.

Album Rating: 3.5 hot cocoa mugs out of 5.


Any Christmas songs you think are absolute must-listens???

Call Me "Sir"

Okay!

So Mind Grapes was discouraging me from watching BSG, cause she thought I wouldn't like it. And she was right....cause I LOVE it!!!!

When I began watching the miniseries I at first was like, this is lame, a total rip of Bladerunner, Terminator, The Matrix ect. But then I got into the good, amazing stuff!!! I mean it has a great plot line, decent characters and has actual conflicts and consequences that viewers can see, the true purpose of a story.

First impressions. Admiral Adama a total dipstick. Then I saw how much he really loved his son and that changed my whole perspective on him! Cpt. Lee "Apollo" Adama, a total cutie yet a follower of protocol. Starbuck pretty BAMF! The first scene she's introduced in she's a puches a superior out! Guys for being so brillant I'd have to say he's a total failure! Six total manipulative and sexy fembot (pretty typical with this genre). Oh yeah, General Tigh, total drunken "superior asshole"

I have to say what got me hooked was the story between Lee and Starbuck and the issues they had over how he died along with the not knowing who's a cylon or not. Total Shock Moment!! When you find out Sharon is one of them...and that's totally depressing cause she seems like she's a cool character except for her moments of yelling and attempting to prove how right she is...

Ultimately, I'm excited to see how it goes down and hopefully Guys
I'm ready for more travels on the Galatica, off to watch the more of the wars!


BATTLESTAR GALACTICA WATCH IT!!!!

Veronica Mars Season 3: The times they are a changin

Oh, Season 3....I don't really even know where to begin with you. Season 3 of Veronica Mars took a show I was obsessed with and turned it into a show I could barely finish because of the problems I had with it. And it really pains my heart to have to admit that. I had heard bad things about season 3 before starting, but when the season started off strong, and I was enjoying where it was going, I just chalked it up to people being annoyed with all the changes in the show. Because I liked the changes. I liked that there were three smaller mysteries that made up the season instead of one season-long one. I think this actually solved one of the problems of season 2 with not being able to sustain interest in the season-long bus crash mystery because they had to stretch it out so much. I thought the rape mystery and both of the murder mysteries were extremely well plotted, interesting, and had great resolutions (I don't think I guessed a single culprit). They also allowed for Veronica to be fully invested in each case, and by proxy, we were too. So there are no complaints when it comes to the big mysteries. I even really liked the new characters, Piz and Parker, and thought that they added a lot to the show. Heck, even the fact that she was in college and was in a different setting didn't bother me at all. So what did bother me? Where do I start?

First, the characters, or perhaps, the lack of characters. While there were a lot of characters on the show, it felt like a lot of them got the short shrift this season. I thought that Veronica and Keith got a ton of story lines and development, which was really great and not enough can be said about the awesomeness of Kristin Bell and Enrico Colantoni. But quite a few of the secondary characters who had bigger roles in the other season seemed to be tossed to the wayside. I was excited when the season first started because there was all this potential with Wallace and Piz and Parker and Mac, but I was disappointed in the end with the amount they were on screen. Wallace, if he was even in an episode, would only be on for like, a minute which really bummed me out. I missed him. And I just felt all around that the other characters, even poor dead Sheriff Lamb (who I kind of loved in the end), were wasted. The only secondary character who I did think got enough screen time and whose extended screen time greatly improved the show was Dick Casablancas. Not only is he hilarious, but his sadness and his growth over what happened to his brother as the season went on was pretty much the only link from this season to the other, better seasons, which always reminded me of how much I used to love the show.

My other problem? Logan/Veronica. Oh yes, I'm going there. And ok, I admit it, I'm a huge LoVe shipper so I'm incredibly biased, but I just thought that a lot of their story line was handled poorly. I was really excited to see them together at the beginning of the season, and was looking forward to seeing them happily together for a while (we haven't really gotten much of that in the other seasons), but instead, the writers had to find ways to make them fight every single episode over extremely stupid things. Couldn't they have just been happy for a while? And if it was painful when they were together, it was even more painful to see them apart. I think those two deserve each other and would have ended up with each other in the long run, but having them not be together in the finale, and only sort of reconciled? That hurt. As far as Logan is concerned, I really think they should have gone the route of season 2 and given him his own story line separate from Veronica. Because I love Logan so much, but his story line this whole season was Veronica, and because of that he became kind of...sappy. He lost a lot of the snark and bite of the old Logan we all know and love. He was still my favorite character, he was just different. And because Veronica was the one doing most of the dumping, there were times when I was really upset with her, and I didn't want that to happen. I expected a lot more on the Logan/Veronica front this season, and while they gave us a lot of them, it wasn't what I wanted and therefore, the end of the season wasn't as enjoyable.

Even though season 3 had a lot of things I wasn't too happy about, I still did like it, and it was still better than most things on television. The truth is, I was so upset with the end of the season it took me 3 weeks before I could watch the finale, "The Bitch is Back". But once I did, I felt a lot better about the season I had just watched. I know it ended on a cliffhanger, but the finale gave me some kind of peace, because while watching, I was reminded why I had once loved this show so much. This episode was like a checklist of things that had once made this show so great. There was Leo and Clarence Wiedman. There was Jake Kane and memorials to Lilly and pictures of Duncan. There was Mac hacking computers and Wallace helping out on a case. There was Logan acting completely reckless, but doing it all for Veronica. But most of all, there was a detective and his daughter, one who he loved so much he was willing to sacrifice his job over, and one who loved her dad just as much back. Veronica, she was back, but more than that, Veronica Mars was back. And when Veronica walked down that street after voting for Keith in the election, I may have gotten a little emotional. Because I finally realized, I wasn't ready to say goodbye to one of the greatest shows on television.

Farewell Veronica Mars! And thanks for all the memories...

Heroes 3.12 "Our Father" and Chuck 2.10 "Chuck Versus the Delorean"

Heroes:  I have to admit, I kind of feel bad for writing all of that horrible stuff about Heroes in my last post, because this episode?  Probably the best episode of the whole season.  Of course, it wasn't without huge plot holes and annoyingness, but I actually really...enjoyed it!  Claire, for the first time in a very long time, wasn't bothering me, and the scene with Hiro and his mother was one of the best scenes this show has ever done.  It brought tears to my eyes.  I really liked everything with Hiro this episode, and was so glad he got his memories back, because 10 year old Hiro was a bit annoying.  Sylar was FANTASTIC!  That's the Sylar I know and love!  Although I wasn't able to really, truly enjoy evil, psychotic Sylar, because his character changes never make any sense at all and happen so quickly and frequently I can't keep track of them all, it doesn't really matter because dear lord do I enjoy watching Sylar be evil (and hilarious "Hm...It does tingle").  There were of course, some bad things (like, is Hiro really stuck in time again? Can you think of something a little more creative next time, writers?), but I was really kind of happy with this episode, and I hope that the rest of the season continues down that path.

Chuck:  This was maybe my most favorite episode of the whole season!  It had a perfect blend of humor and character moments, and it involved all of the characters and settings wonderfully.  I especially liked seeing Sarah's emotions over her dad, and having Chuck comfort her, proving in the process that those two really do love each other.  This show and its characters are fantastic, and I can't wait until the Christmas episode next week!

It's been such a long time...

I feel really bad about not writing on the blog for as long as I have, but school lately has been kicking my ass. This is the first time I'm able to finally sit down and have a go at the blogging for a long time.  Because of this, this post is going to be a roundup of all the things I've wanted to talk about the past 2 weeks, but haven't been able to because of being busy.

Things That Are Happy Making:

• Adam Baldwin as agent John Casey on Chuck.  I love Chuck.  I think it's a really funny, cute, clever little show that more people should watch.  But my absolute favorite part of the show?  Casey.  Adam Baldwin can say more in Casey's signature "grunts" than most actors can say in words.  This is my favorite Chuck scene, by the way.
• The last episode of Fringe was by the far the best episode of the whole show.  I like Fringe, but I normally don't really pay that much attention to it while I watch, but this episode had me on the edge of my seat.  I was actually really upset that we have to wait until January for the new episodes.  Walter and Peter are still the best parts of this show, and I find that their relationship is really interesting and kind of sweet (in a twisted sort of way).  Ya'll need to become acquainted with Walter.  He's a riot!
• Speaking of best episodes of television shows, the True Blood finale.  Fantastic.  Normally for me, this show is a mixture of cheesy badness and sort of goodness, but the finale was all goodness.  Sam and Tara are still my favorites, and I can't wait to find out what's up with Admiral Cain.  (I really hope Lafayette's not dead though!).  For the lols: Sookie...can you feel my influence?
• The oldest ever Lolcat!  From 1905!  And it still can't get a cheezburger!  Words cannot describe how awesome this is.
• HBO has bought the rights to turn the "A Song of Ice and Fire" book series by George R R Martin into a television series!  I love these books!  I just finished "A Clash of Kings" and I'm already on to "A Storm of Swords".  If they do it right, this show is going to be awesome!  Tricia Helfer for Cersei!
• New promo for season 2 of Flight of the Conchords:

• Twilight in Fifteen Minutes: SAY MY NAME, BITCH!  Also, OMG LEIK HI MAH NAME IS ISABELLA SWAN.  Plus, OMG EDWARD IM SO BORED IM SERIOUSLY GOING TO DIE OMG.  The Twilight fandom can be pretty amazing sometimes.
• I don't know guys, I may be more excited for Lost to return than Battlestar Galactica.  I don't know what's wrong with me, but I've been on such a Lost kick lately.  I can't wait until the DVDs come out!  New season 5 promo pic.
• Now, this doesn't mean I'm not excited for Battlestar.  Oh my freaking god am I excited for Battlestar!  Here's the new promo for the season:
• OMG ADAMA IN THE AIRLOCK, WHAT?  Here's a mysterious website with mysterious clues for the upcoming season: You will know the truth.  These last episodes are going to be epic.
• Prince Caspian on DVD.  For Narniaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!
• The Killers' and Kanye West's new CDs.  Music is good too, people!
• Hugh Jackman in Australia.  Rugged...

Things That Are Sad Making:

• So, I knew I would have to mention this sooner or later, but Pushing Daisies has been cancelled.  I think I felt like if I didn't mention it, it would make it not true, but alas.  This is especially hard because the last few episodes have just been amazingly good.  Our drunk, Twilight-watching friend, The Derelict, has a wonderful rant about the subject here. 
• Heroes.  This is the stupidest show on TV at the moment and I can't believe I keep subjecting myself to it every week.  I liked this show during the first season.  I didn't love it by any means, and I always felt like people praised it way more than it deserved (I love this article: News Flash: Heroes Was Always Bad), but I enjoyed it nonetheless, mostly because it was something new and fresh and exciting and I really liked some of the characters (Ando! Nathan!).  Now that all the newness has worn off however, it's just...bad.  And it gets my blood boiling more than any other show.  This show has crappy dialogue, annoying characters, horrible acting, inconsistent characterization, and totally indiscernible plots.  And don't even get me started on what the show has done to Sylar.  That, my friends, is the worst crime of them all.  It's gotten so bad, I was happy that Elle got killed off so Kristin Bell can be free of this crappy show.  Fly away, Kristin Bell!  Fly away, to bigger and better things (like a Veronica Mars movie).  And yet, I keep watching out of some sick hope that maybe it will get better (or for the fact that it comes on after Chuck so I just leave the TV on out of habit).  I can't wait until 24 comes back in January so I will have no choice but to stop watching.
• House.  Why?  Why do the writer's love Thirteen so much? WHY?!  You know, I didn't hate Thirteen when she was first introduced, but the fact that she is shoved down our throats constantly every single week has made me LOATHE her.  She has freaking more screen time than House for gosh sakes!  Her character isn't even that interesting, and Olivia Wilde isn't even that great of an actress!  So why do the writers insist on giving her so many story lines? She makes me miss Cameron....and I used to hate Cameron!  I know this sounds silly, but Thirteen is ruining this show for me.  I was way more interested in this week's episode of Fringe than I was House.  And that makes me sad, because House was a show I used to consider a favorite, and now I barely care about it.  Go DIAF, Thirteen!  Even professional television critics agree with me!
• The saxophone.  Tis the devil's instrument.