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True Blood: And When I Die (2011)
Shark Jumped
I'm sick to death of this.
If this is the best they can do, I'm out of here.
Sad, stupid plotting. I'm so sorry this show has run out of ideas.
Killing off the psycho(s) is fine.
Destroying the Big Bad is fine, though the way it was done was lame beyond belief. (Though seeing Gram again was cool, though it only reminds me how lame a lot of the remaining actors are in comparison.)
We don't need Gram to remind us that this is now nothing more than a sad melodrama. Once it was fun.
Sad.
She's Crafty (2007)
Wonderful show. Gone too soon.
Love this show. I'm glad it is on Ion Life (as of 2/2010).
The crafts are festive. The guests are myriad and full of great ideas for making your crafts look great.
And the host is absolutely a delight. She's a natural at what she's doing. Friendly, playful (her repartee with her sister is so much fun), and not afraid to let bloopers get on the air. In one she confuses a bird feeder with a bird house. Her guest razzed her about it, and she laughed at her confusion. Not that she's a dippy lady, but she isn't afraid to be seen as making an error.
Her crafts are by and large inexpensive (which is great for folks on a budget). And the outcome is uniformly professional looking. Do I make these crafts? Not usually. But that's not the point of these shows.
I make sure to catch the show every time I can.
Away from Her (2006)
Stop the PRESSES!!
First things first: Thank you Fresh Air and Terry Gross for having Sarah Polley on a while back. Without that I would have never heard of this wonderful film.
During that interview Ms. Polley indicated Julie Christie had disclosed she has memory issues. So this role was sort of an ironic choice.
Ms. Christie, who is so beautiful here that it the poor actress who plays her as a younger woman pales by comparison, is the consummate actor. After you get over how amazing she looks, you soon forget this and sink into the part of Fiona. She's so much wiser and grounded than her husband (played with depth and clarity by Gordon Pinsent). So as her mind begins to go, she is the one who steelingly pushes for her hospitalization.
And while the outline of the plot can sound like a made-for-Lifetime movie, this is one of those movies that literally leaves you with your heart in your hand. It doesn't hand you the 'moral' and the final scene, which devastates without being obnoxious, reminds all of us that this disease is so insidious.
I lost several caregivers to this disease.
I remember sitting with my Aunt Nod and watching as her perception of me rotated between being myself to being her grandson to being her son to being my long dead grandfather and then my biological father then back to me again. After nearly an hour of this I told her goodbye and her son and I went outside. It was heartbreaking. Twice she referred to me as being dead (a belief based on my being taken away from her care when I was a child). That was the last time I saw her. She entered a home the next week and died not long after.
So this film affected me a bit more than some. But my best friend, whom I've never seen cry, was so affected by the simple message of love and loss that he actually started crying after the film was over.
I'm sure there are going to be some who dig their heals in and complain about this or that. But while this isn't perfection, it is an amazing movie.
Ms. Christie (who abhors celebrity and the commodification of talent) had better get our one of her vintage gowns out of storage, because she's gonna be at the Oscars this coming year.
Thrillville (2006)
TONS of mini-games
I love this game. Primarily because of the vast number of mini-games. My friends come by and we waste robots, play mini-golf, ride bumper cars, play a variety of old-school video games, rewire electrical devices or drive a variety of vehicles. I personally love the ability to create coasters (and to a lesser extent racetracks).
Not really into the 'Entertainer' mini-game/cheerleader employee training. Sort of DDR without the step-pad. Cleaning up vomit is an acquired 'taste.' This thing has a wide variety of coaster types/mechanics (from standard wood and steel to wonky monorails and this really cool mouse design that has the car whipping around like a tilt-o-whirl). Plus it has these cool interfaces (on the PS2 version) where it will either put in special track presets or will actually figure out how to complete your Masterpiece for you. Lots of control, and some wild physics. Love making those park guests wobble around.
Lot of fun. About 30 hours to finish most of it. But the mini-games will keep you coming back again and again.
Closer (2004)
Don't care...
Saw this piece of undercooked tripe last evening, very disappointing. My whole crew was nonplussed. I for one couldn't see why anyone would recommend this "movie" to anyone, a dullard's view of love and intimacy. Characters that are either paper cutouts posing as actual people or (in the case of Clive and Natalie) so damaged you could hardly stand to watch after a bit. That they hurt everyone they loved (as did Jude and Julia's characters) was actually boring by the end of the seemingly never-ending flick.
The play might be filmed outside, but it is still just a play, without the artifice of a play's staging it was confusing to tell what was happening and when.
The language was so insulting, trying to sound "adult" by describing in course and adolescent terms the basest of human physical interactions. I am not a prude, but I found the language demeaning for all involved.
Strange that I've been hearing "buzz" about this one, but as it is Julia's last potential Oscar-winning role for what is likely to be the rest of her life (she already looks more like a little old lady here than anyone her age has a right to). I think Cate Blanchet did her no favors leaving this complex role to Julia's two facial positions: anger and a sort of blank, wounded stare. She goes through some tough times. But I didn't care.
Law, who is violently over-exposed at this point, gets the short, and I mean short end of the stick. I know so little about his character by film's end that I can scarcely write about him. He is a man who uses other people over and over again. And who ultimately pays the highest price in the film. But I didn't care.
Portman's "nude" scene is a trick of the camera; she wears a beaded bikini with long tassels at one point which she removes off camera. You don't see so much as a nipple. I disliked her character, because she seemed to be more a plot point than a person. That nobody knew her or understood her was sad. But I didn't care.
Owen's character is such a sucking sound it is amazing they didn't just employ a vacuum cleaner and save the price of an actor. Manipulative, childish, vapid, dull, the gentleman playing him did a fine job making him look like the bully and jerk that his is. And I really didn't care.
Not even a bit.
This one will have you watching your watch, and if you paid for it you'll be wondering if you can get your money back. Because I doubt you'll care for these folks, or their movie.
SimCity 4 (2003)
Were are all the comments on this game?
I want to say, this is one of my favorite games. Though I admit I don't use it for the intended purpose too much. I bought it last year when I heard you could use it to create neighborhoods for The Sims 2. So I did the mayor thing a couple times, but primarily I've used it to create wilder and wilder places to download into The Sims 2.
And while I dislike the lack of scale control on some of the God Mode stuff overall it is way cool. The one thing I really wish it had was an "undo" button. I hit the erosion button once and wiped out all my trees and a goodly portion of my mountain range. Bad.
Now I have actually used it to import into The Sims 2. I'm disappointed. The roads, which are so cool in SC4 are flattened out around hilltops and all the skins are removed. Not so great, but I still like the game. One other thing I forgot to add before is that I love, and I mean LOVE the music. I even imported it into The Sims 2 so I have better music than they gave that game.
But all and all, a really fun game. Even if I never play in Mayor Mode again.