(I feel like I should point out that there is not actually an exclamation point in the title of the show. I'm just excited.)
I've got some more information on the cast and plot over at TheTelevixen, so head on over!
Thursday, December 20, 2012
More on Vikings!
Here's the embeddable version of the teaser:
(I feel like I should point out that there is not actually an exclamation point in the title of the show. I'm just excited.)
I've got some more information on the cast and plot over at TheTelevixen, so head on over!
(I feel like I should point out that there is not actually an exclamation point in the title of the show. I'm just excited.)
I've got some more information on the cast and plot over at TheTelevixen, so head on over!
Trailer: To the Wonder
"Impressionistic love story" is a phrase that would usually make me run screaming, but on the other hand, I looooved The Tree of Life, so maybe I'm a Malick fan? I do not know.
Morning Coffee (12/20/12)
Yesterday President Obama was named Time Person of the Year, and you absolutely must take a look at this profile of his photographer, Pete Souza, and accompanying slideshow.
!!!! Bradley Whitford is guest starring on Go On, which of course stars his Studio 60 costar Matt Perry. !!!!
Check out the Fug Girls' 25 Best Red Carpet Moments of the year.
You must read Sarah Rees Brennan's parody of The Hobbit.
BBC America has picked up a whole season of the Nerdist TV show. Whee!
Literary gingerbread houses!
That Indiana Jones package mystery was solved.
They're making an Irish-language version of Cheers. Awesome.
!!!! Bradley Whitford is guest starring on Go On, which of course stars his Studio 60 costar Matt Perry. !!!!
Check out the Fug Girls' 25 Best Red Carpet Moments of the year.
You must read Sarah Rees Brennan's parody of The Hobbit.
BBC America has picked up a whole season of the Nerdist TV show. Whee!
Literary gingerbread houses!
That Indiana Jones package mystery was solved.
They're making an Irish-language version of Cheers. Awesome.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
The End of Gossip Girl
(Series finale spoilers starting in the second paragraph.)
Gossip Girl ended this week, and . . . I'm sadder about it than I expected. Yes, the show got completely ridiculous, in a bad way rather than a fun way, in later seasons. And yes, some of its plotlines (especially the treatment of Chuck and Blair's relationship) were incredibly problematic. But it used to actually be really good - I swear - and the retrospective preceding the finale was so warm and fuzzy, and it probably had more literary references than another other show on TV. And really, when a show has been part of your life for so long, it's sad when it goes away, even if it's had its ups and downs.
I saw the finale late last night, and I still haven't decided exactly how I feel about it. First, let's get this out of the way: The things that were terrible (again, specifically Chuck and Blair's relationship, but also a lot of other people) remained terrible. I held out hope for way too long that the writers were deliberately portraying an abusive relationship and were going to do something with that eventually, but . . . nope. So. Yes. The way that ended was awful. I'm not necessarily thrilled about MOST of the endings, except maybe for Nate's. (As I've been saying for a while, I love how seriously he takes Being An Adult.) The whole Sort Of Murder Thing was also ridiculous and overwrought, even for this show. And don't even get me started on Ivy and William and all the layers of THAT mess.
But what I'm somewhat conflicted about - but mostly like - is the Gossip Girl reveal. (Though I completely loved the cameo-filled sequence of people reacting to it - hands down my favorite part of the finale.) I absolutely wish that the writers had had a plan (or at least the identity) from the beginning, because at this point, there was literally no solution that would have worked perfectly. But I think that given the corner they'd painted themselves into, Dan was the best option. And the fact that he'd constructed this entire thing as a ploy to get Serena is kind of brilliant. As my friend Marisa Roffman remarked, "[the reveal]'s so ridiculous that it actually circles back to awesome." Dan says in his confession that the Upper East Side is like something out of Fitzgerald, and he himself is clearly Gatsby, with the Gossip Girl blog as the virtual equivalent of Gatsby's parties. I love that. (I would have loved it more if the ending had been more similar to Gatbsy's ending instead of "and they all lived happily ever after.") Even though there are some continuity errors, the fact that the solution basically works and simultaneously reframes the entire series is pretty great. It made me want to rewatch the series from the beginning, which, in a way, is the best thing for a finale to do.
xoxo!
Gossip Girl ended this week, and . . . I'm sadder about it than I expected. Yes, the show got completely ridiculous, in a bad way rather than a fun way, in later seasons. And yes, some of its plotlines (especially the treatment of Chuck and Blair's relationship) were incredibly problematic. But it used to actually be really good - I swear - and the retrospective preceding the finale was so warm and fuzzy, and it probably had more literary references than another other show on TV. And really, when a show has been part of your life for so long, it's sad when it goes away, even if it's had its ups and downs.
I saw the finale late last night, and I still haven't decided exactly how I feel about it. First, let's get this out of the way: The things that were terrible (again, specifically Chuck and Blair's relationship, but also a lot of other people) remained terrible. I held out hope for way too long that the writers were deliberately portraying an abusive relationship and were going to do something with that eventually, but . . . nope. So. Yes. The way that ended was awful. I'm not necessarily thrilled about MOST of the endings, except maybe for Nate's. (As I've been saying for a while, I love how seriously he takes Being An Adult.) The whole Sort Of Murder Thing was also ridiculous and overwrought, even for this show. And don't even get me started on Ivy and William and all the layers of THAT mess.
But what I'm somewhat conflicted about - but mostly like - is the Gossip Girl reveal. (Though I completely loved the cameo-filled sequence of people reacting to it - hands down my favorite part of the finale.) I absolutely wish that the writers had had a plan (or at least the identity) from the beginning, because at this point, there was literally no solution that would have worked perfectly. But I think that given the corner they'd painted themselves into, Dan was the best option. And the fact that he'd constructed this entire thing as a ploy to get Serena is kind of brilliant. As my friend Marisa Roffman remarked, "[the reveal]'s so ridiculous that it actually circles back to awesome." Dan says in his confession that the Upper East Side is like something out of Fitzgerald, and he himself is clearly Gatsby, with the Gossip Girl blog as the virtual equivalent of Gatsby's parties. I love that. (I would have loved it more if the ending had been more similar to Gatbsy's ending instead of "and they all lived happily ever after.") Even though there are some continuity errors, the fact that the solution basically works and simultaneously reframes the entire series is pretty great. It made me want to rewatch the series from the beginning, which, in a way, is the best thing for a finale to do.
xoxo!
Maybe I'll watch The Voice.
I generally don't watch reality TV. I have nothing against it philosophically or anything (in general; certain shows are despicable in various ways), but I have to draw a line somewhere, and I just watch so much and reality stuff usually just interests me less so I ignore it. But I've been thinking I should watch a season of a music competition show, because they've become such a cultural thing. I guess I want to know what I'm missing. And I think that show will be The Voice, which ended last night but starts up again already in March, because a) a completely unscientific skimming of my Twitter feed suggests that people are general more positive about it than its competition, b) I have a few friends who cover it regularly so I might as well understand what they're talking about, and c) all else equal, the music show that puts Adam Levine's face on my TV seems the logical choice. (No, I actually like his music, too. Seriously.)
And hey, here's an adorable promo for season 4! Warning: This will earworm you.
And hey, here's an adorable promo for season 4! Warning: This will earworm you.
The Ultimate 2012 Earworm
I cannot even imagine the work that goes into making things like this. I am in awe. (This is floating around everywhere; I originally saw it via Marisa.)
Vikings!
I can't find an embeddable version yet, but Entertainment Weekly has the first exclusive trailer for the History Channel's new historical drama, Vikings. And the trailer includes a premiere date: March 3! Whee! My thought process as I watched the trailer:
- Well, this could be pretty terrible. But it doesn't look DEFINITELY terrible yet.
- There will be SO MANY HISTORICAL ISSUES to nitpick!
- OBVIOUSLY I WILL WATCH EVERY EPISODE.
- SOMEONE wants to look as much like Game of Thrones as possible, huh?
Morning Coffee (12/19/12)
Here's a handy resource to check whether your senators support an assault weapons ban.
If you're feeling badly about being single for the holidays, Patricia Steffy has some good reasons why it can be a positive thing.
Taylor Swift and the Eurozone Crisis
This article about the history of Barneys is long but really fascinating.
Game of Thrones beer! I repeat, GAME OF THRONES BEER.
Scandal at the OED!
Fringe fans should really check out the Fringe Benefits Project and vote!
This Doctor Who/Winnie-the-Pooh mashup cake is ridiculously adorable. And that is a sentence I never thought I'd type.
If you're feeling badly about being single for the holidays, Patricia Steffy has some good reasons why it can be a positive thing.
Taylor Swift and the Eurozone Crisis
This article about the history of Barneys is long but really fascinating.
Game of Thrones beer! I repeat, GAME OF THRONES BEER.
Scandal at the OED!
Fringe fans should really check out the Fringe Benefits Project and vote!
This Doctor Who/Winnie-the-Pooh mashup cake is ridiculously adorable. And that is a sentence I never thought I'd type.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
A thought on last night's HIMYM...
(Sorry for the vague title. This is your spoiler warning!)
I've known for a while that I care about Barney and Robin's relationship on How I Met Your Mother much more than I do about Ted and the mother, but last night's huge episode got me thinking about why that is. And I know this is ridiculous to say in the wake of an episode focusing on an elaborate, impossible scheme, but Barney and Robin just feel more real. I suppose this is yet another way of saying that, after years and years of Ted's interminable mother-meeting story, it just feels like a gimmick, rather than an important thing in the life of a character I care about. On the other hand, even given all the artifice of Barney's scheme and proposal, Barney and Robin have had plenty of character moments that feel completely genuine, up to and including the rooftop scene.
I actually loved the way that played out, because I thought making "The Robin" Barney's last big play was the perfect way to let his character move on to the next stage of his life - because his schtick was getting thin - while remaining true to the character and not changing him too much too quickly. (He had, of course, been changing gradually for years.) And "The Robin" also left room for Barney to use his lying and scheming skills in the future toward ends other than making strangers sleep with him. Ted and Marshall considering un-jinxing him to get him to lie them out of a bad situation was another nice nod to this potential future. Sure, Barney's single antics are over. But I'm looking forward to seeing what antics Barney and Robin can get up to together.
I also, by the way, love this song that played over the end scene.
I've known for a while that I care about Barney and Robin's relationship on How I Met Your Mother much more than I do about Ted and the mother, but last night's huge episode got me thinking about why that is. And I know this is ridiculous to say in the wake of an episode focusing on an elaborate, impossible scheme, but Barney and Robin just feel more real. I suppose this is yet another way of saying that, after years and years of Ted's interminable mother-meeting story, it just feels like a gimmick, rather than an important thing in the life of a character I care about. On the other hand, even given all the artifice of Barney's scheme and proposal, Barney and Robin have had plenty of character moments that feel completely genuine, up to and including the rooftop scene.
I actually loved the way that played out, because I thought making "The Robin" Barney's last big play was the perfect way to let his character move on to the next stage of his life - because his schtick was getting thin - while remaining true to the character and not changing him too much too quickly. (He had, of course, been changing gradually for years.) And "The Robin" also left room for Barney to use his lying and scheming skills in the future toward ends other than making strangers sleep with him. Ted and Marshall considering un-jinxing him to get him to lie them out of a bad situation was another nice nod to this potential future. Sure, Barney's single antics are over. But I'm looking forward to seeing what antics Barney and Robin can get up to together.
I also, by the way, love this song that played over the end scene.
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