Cat, 60 Minutes, Weekend Movies & Reality TV Roundup
I have a pair of jeans with a drawstring that I’ve worn many times. Guess cat didn’t notice them until this morning when I was getting dressed. He took one look, thought TOY!!! and was on his hind legs batting at my drawstrings in the blink of an eye. I couldn’t tell him to get down. All I could do was laugh. It was a fun start to Monday morning.
Okay, reality check here - was it just me, or did Andy Rooney come off sounding like he was trying to get away with being a racist prick by tossing out a bunch of names, including his own (and note to Mr. Rooney -- I think both our Presidents named Andrew sometimes went by “Andy”), to obscure the fact that he can’t envision a person with a (non white anglo-saxon protestant) name such as Barack Obama as President? If it’s not just me and that’s really what he was doing, I hope someone calls him out on it.
Is it wrong that I kind of wanted to punch Mr. Rooney in the face last night?
Weekend Movies:
Now and Then
This is another one of those movies that I can’t remember why I put it on my queue in the first place. I think maybe the ads for it looked kind of cute back in ... 1995? Ack. But I am not particularly crazy about three of the 4 adult actresses in it (Demi Moore, Rosie O’Donnell and Melanie Griffith) and even though I’ve been a big fan of once-Indie-It Girl Christina Ricci, she’s generally not enough to make me like a movie. Add on that this is another weepy chicky soapish chick flick and it just doesn’t sound like something I’d enjoy. So when I put it in my DVD player and it kept skipping around and pausing, I took that as a sign from the DVD gods, removed it and sent it back to Netflix unwatched. I was feeling generous, so I gave it two stars unseen. That was mostly so Netflix wouldn’t keep bugging me to rate it.
Hostage
Now, this was more like it! Hostage was nice and tense and keep me on edge until the end. While the ending was pretty obvious all along, and the previews gave a lot of the story away, I still wasn’t sure how they were going to get there. The movie had a little more graphic violence than I usually like, so I can’t give it 5 stars. But the writing was nice and tight and the acting was excellent. The child actors are even non-annoying, which was very nice. And there’s at least one semi-explosion. I thought this was a very good movie, overall.
Reality TV Roundup:
It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted about what I’ve been watching. Might as well play catchup! Some of this concerns my reactions to a few shows that have been over for a while.
Survivor China
Mostly I just want to say I hate the final 3 concept. It changes the nature of the show in ways I don’t like at all. I dislike intensely that 4 of them got to go through that little ritual they do where they recognize all the bootees. That should be something special and exclusive. It would be better to only let the final 2 do it if they had to make a change there. Mr. Burnett, can we please, please, please go back to a final 2? Thank you.
America’s Next Top Model and America’s Most Smartest Model
I really can’t say much of anything about either of these shows without becoming enraged. I love reality tv. I really do. I hate to see it being fixed to this extent. In both cases, I think the FCC needs to investigate. I’m actually more disappointed in Tyra Banks than I am in Mary Alice Stephenson. Stephenson is a nobody, and really doesn’t matter, and the show was part of VH-1’s sleezefest, so I don’t think anyone expected it to be legimate anyway. But it didn’t have to be that gross. ANTM and Tyra, on the other hand, were despicable this time around. There’s simply no excuse for what happened. None. Probably because I love reality tv so much, when someone as well-associated with it as Tyra does something that unethical, it makes me extra angry. This is the stuff people who hate reality tv point to, and she’s just giving them ammunition. I never liked her anyway, but now I want to see her fined, or maybe even in prison. Okay, maybe that’s over the top a little, but still! See, I can’t talk about it without frothing and ranting.
The Amazing Race
*sigh* Last night’s episode almost made me very, very happy. I have actually come to dislike the hippies even more than Nate and Jen, mostly just because they are hippies (yes, I have had an anti-hippy prejudice since childhood, I admit it) and because of TK’s hair and his stupid moralizing about the U-Turn and because I suspect at least TK, if not both of them, of being drug users, and because I really dislike their non-competitive approach to competition. It just bugs. I was almost rid of them last night. *sigh* I was very happy to see Ron & Christina get the first place.
And the storyline is obviously that Nate and Jen are frustrated wrt being first until that last time, when it counts, so I’ve come to a zen place about them probably winning this. At least some of the teams still in it are likeable, and I am so very proud of Don and Ron for getting this far. However things shake out next week, it’s going to be the furthest along an older person’s ever gotten on the race.
I almost got worked up last night over having too many shows to watch, then I realized Food Network was going to repeat ICA, so I could watch Battali and Jamie Oliver probably 15 times or more over the next week, so I gleefully settled in for the two hour cheesefest that was
American Gladiators
Joy! I loved this show so very, very much in the 1990s. I mean loved it! And I am so happy to see it back in all its cheesey glory. It’s gone slightly more high tech, but it’s still the same in spirit and still just as awesome. I like Laila Ali as a host very, very much. Hulk Hogan I don’t like quite so much, mostly because of his mustache. But it did a good job with commentary. I love that they’ve added some water events. I love that my favorite event of all time, Assault, is still part of it. I like the new Eliminator. Actually, I just loved it all. I really feel for the contender who banged her head. Ouch! But overall, I am just a very happy Liz because this show is back. Yay!!!! And I get more of it tonight!!! Yay!!!
Project Runway
I’ve missed posting about so many episodes that I’m just going to say I’m really enjoying this season. I do kind of wish Victorya had gotten auf’ed last week instead of my darling Elisa, but I knew Elisa was probably going soon anyway, so I was prepared. And her departure was one of the classiest I’ve ever seen on any reality tv show.
I think this is long enough for now. I still need to write my review of Princess Tutu and a course by course review of the meal peach1250 and I had at Abacus, but I’ll save those til tomorrow.
ETA a Quiz swiped from beeej:
86% Hillary Clinton
86% Barack Obama
85% Chris Dodd
83% John Edwards
81% Joe Biden
72% Mike Gravel
71% Bill Richardson
69% Dennis Kucinich
62% Rudy Giuliani
47% John McCain
42% Mitt Romney
42% Tom Tancredo
35% Ron Paul
34% Mike Huckabee
26% Fred Thompson
2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz
Yep, that's quite accurate. Though I consider myself a left-leaning Libertarian, I am exactly torn between Obama and Clinton at this point. Can we have both?
Okay, reality check here - was it just me, or did Andy Rooney come off sounding like he was trying to get away with being a racist prick by tossing out a bunch of names, including his own (and note to Mr. Rooney -- I think both our Presidents named Andrew sometimes went by “Andy”), to obscure the fact that he can’t envision a person with a (non white anglo-saxon protestant) name such as Barack Obama as President? If it’s not just me and that’s really what he was doing, I hope someone calls him out on it.
Is it wrong that I kind of wanted to punch Mr. Rooney in the face last night?
Weekend Movies:
Now and Then
This is another one of those movies that I can’t remember why I put it on my queue in the first place. I think maybe the ads for it looked kind of cute back in ... 1995? Ack. But I am not particularly crazy about three of the 4 adult actresses in it (Demi Moore, Rosie O’Donnell and Melanie Griffith) and even though I’ve been a big fan of once-Indie-It Girl Christina Ricci, she’s generally not enough to make me like a movie. Add on that this is another weepy chicky soapish chick flick and it just doesn’t sound like something I’d enjoy. So when I put it in my DVD player and it kept skipping around and pausing, I took that as a sign from the DVD gods, removed it and sent it back to Netflix unwatched. I was feeling generous, so I gave it two stars unseen. That was mostly so Netflix wouldn’t keep bugging me to rate it.
Hostage
Now, this was more like it! Hostage was nice and tense and keep me on edge until the end. While the ending was pretty obvious all along, and the previews gave a lot of the story away, I still wasn’t sure how they were going to get there. The movie had a little more graphic violence than I usually like, so I can’t give it 5 stars. But the writing was nice and tight and the acting was excellent. The child actors are even non-annoying, which was very nice. And there’s at least one semi-explosion. I thought this was a very good movie, overall.
Reality TV Roundup:
It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted about what I’ve been watching. Might as well play catchup! Some of this concerns my reactions to a few shows that have been over for a while.
Survivor China
Mostly I just want to say I hate the final 3 concept. It changes the nature of the show in ways I don’t like at all. I dislike intensely that 4 of them got to go through that little ritual they do where they recognize all the bootees. That should be something special and exclusive. It would be better to only let the final 2 do it if they had to make a change there. Mr. Burnett, can we please, please, please go back to a final 2? Thank you.
America’s Next Top Model and America’s Most Smartest Model
I really can’t say much of anything about either of these shows without becoming enraged. I love reality tv. I really do. I hate to see it being fixed to this extent. In both cases, I think the FCC needs to investigate. I’m actually more disappointed in Tyra Banks than I am in Mary Alice Stephenson. Stephenson is a nobody, and really doesn’t matter, and the show was part of VH-1’s sleezefest, so I don’t think anyone expected it to be legimate anyway. But it didn’t have to be that gross. ANTM and Tyra, on the other hand, were despicable this time around. There’s simply no excuse for what happened. None. Probably because I love reality tv so much, when someone as well-associated with it as Tyra does something that unethical, it makes me extra angry. This is the stuff people who hate reality tv point to, and she’s just giving them ammunition. I never liked her anyway, but now I want to see her fined, or maybe even in prison. Okay, maybe that’s over the top a little, but still! See, I can’t talk about it without frothing and ranting.
The Amazing Race
*sigh* Last night’s episode almost made me very, very happy. I have actually come to dislike the hippies even more than Nate and Jen, mostly just because they are hippies (yes, I have had an anti-hippy prejudice since childhood, I admit it) and because of TK’s hair and his stupid moralizing about the U-Turn and because I suspect at least TK, if not both of them, of being drug users, and because I really dislike their non-competitive approach to competition. It just bugs. I was almost rid of them last night. *sigh* I was very happy to see Ron & Christina get the first place.
And the storyline is obviously that Nate and Jen are frustrated wrt being first until that last time, when it counts, so I’ve come to a zen place about them probably winning this. At least some of the teams still in it are likeable, and I am so very proud of Don and Ron for getting this far. However things shake out next week, it’s going to be the furthest along an older person’s ever gotten on the race.
I almost got worked up last night over having too many shows to watch, then I realized Food Network was going to repeat ICA, so I could watch Battali and Jamie Oliver probably 15 times or more over the next week, so I gleefully settled in for the two hour cheesefest that was
American Gladiators
Joy! I loved this show so very, very much in the 1990s. I mean loved it! And I am so happy to see it back in all its cheesey glory. It’s gone slightly more high tech, but it’s still the same in spirit and still just as awesome. I like Laila Ali as a host very, very much. Hulk Hogan I don’t like quite so much, mostly because of his mustache. But it did a good job with commentary. I love that they’ve added some water events. I love that my favorite event of all time, Assault, is still part of it. I like the new Eliminator. Actually, I just loved it all. I really feel for the contender who banged her head. Ouch! But overall, I am just a very happy Liz because this show is back. Yay!!!! And I get more of it tonight!!! Yay!!!
Project Runway
I’ve missed posting about so many episodes that I’m just going to say I’m really enjoying this season. I do kind of wish Victorya had gotten auf’ed last week instead of my darling Elisa, but I knew Elisa was probably going soon anyway, so I was prepared. And her departure was one of the classiest I’ve ever seen on any reality tv show.
I think this is long enough for now. I still need to write my review of Princess Tutu and a course by course review of the meal peach1250 and I had at Abacus, but I’ll save those til tomorrow.
ETA a Quiz swiped from beeej:
86% Hillary Clinton
86% Barack Obama
85% Chris Dodd
83% John Edwards
81% Joe Biden
72% Mike Gravel
71% Bill Richardson
69% Dennis Kucinich
62% Rudy Giuliani
47% John McCain
42% Mitt Romney
42% Tom Tancredo
35% Ron Paul
34% Mike Huckabee
26% Fred Thompson
2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz
Yep, that's quite accurate. Though I consider myself a left-leaning Libertarian, I am exactly torn between Obama and Clinton at this point. Can we have both?