Movies for School

I love being a film student. A big part of our curriculum is watching movies. Can't do better than that!

So today I watched Memento. A movie that I had heard about but never had a real desire to see. But for my script analysis class I had to. It actually wasn't that bad, a bit strange but interesting in its ways. The main character Leonard has a short term memory problem and can't remember anything past his wife's murder. But things aren't as they seem and the only thing he has to go on are notes, tattoos on his body and Polaroids. Worth seeing:

The other movie I watched for today was Casablanca. Which was of course incredible, it's Casablanca! A nice reminder of what the film industry was once capable of. I had seen bits and pieces over the years but never actually sat down and watched the whole thing. Until today that is. A great film, recommended for one and all:

Also watched Hocus Pocus! A favorite from childhood. Found it for $9 at Wal-Mart and just couldn't resist. Really just put me in the mood for Halloween.

Of course Hocus Pocus put me in the mood for Bette Midler so I put on First Wives Club. However, this is just putting me in the mood for a Goldie Hawn movie so I foresee Banger Sisters in the near future or Foul Play (Depending on my mood). Of course I still have Sudden Death to watch from Netflix. It's an action movie with Jean Claude van Damme that takes place at a Penguins game in the 90s. The trailer is basically a Die Hard rip off. Similar shots, same song. Still excited to watch it because of my love of hockey and action movies.

That's all for this moment in time.

On the off chance that someone reads this, enjoy the rest of the weekend.

--Geek Girl

Friday in the House

Slow day. Drove down to campus to go see the sketch comedy show that I want to try out for. Got there early, had some lunch and no one ever showed up to do the show. My friend and I waited for about half an hour, nobody even showed up to say that it was cancelled. So I drove 40 minutes to campus, on a day when I don't usually have to, had lunch and then turned around to come back.

On the plus side, swung by Target on my way back and picked up House season 5.

A fantastic season for many different reasons:

1) It's House, how fantastic is that!

2) Some of the best episodes and guest stars (Meat Loaf!)

3) My most favorite: The year of House and Cuddy! Vindication for "those crazy Huddy fans"

4) The Kutner thing, which was an episode I had missed and was stunned by.

Such a great season and I'm hoping for some gold at the Emmys this year.

And that is that for this moment in time.

Enjoy some geekin' during the weekend... that did not work like I hoped it would.

--Geek Girl

A Long Lapse

It has been almost two years since I've posted anything here. Stumbling across this link and discover that I remember the password! This prompted me to start up again. I figured that I would use this to write about movies, TV shows, other geeky stuff on a regular basis (Hopefully).

So Netflix has been my boyfriend lately. Nice and reliable, I always get an email if something's going to be delayed, really quite delightful.

Yesterday I received The Last Days of Disco (which was just released this past Tuesday) and season 3 of a Canadian show called Robson Arms.

The Last Days of Disco was enjoyable enough. Any movie that has a soundtrack that features disco music makes me happy, so right of the bat there was that. The cast was great too. The main characters are Alice (Chloe Sevigny, pre-Big Love) and Charlotte (Kate Beckinsale). Alice is still developing her personality and starts off as a very "kindergarten teacher" type girl. But she slowly comes out of her shell (sex with Robert Sean Leonard gets that ball rolling). Charlotte is a self indulgent bitch that you want to hit at various points through out the film.

Fans of Gilmore Girls will be amused to see Chris Eigeman (aka Jason) as Des, one of the club owners who is on a downward spiral. We're first introduced to his character as he is going through different women, breaking up with them by convincing them that he's gay. He takes an interest in Alice, but has a personality similar to Charlotte's. This adds to irritation.

There's the minor part of Rex, filled by Mark McKinney. Sadly he's only there for a few fleeting minutes.

Overall the plot is a bit fuzzy and there's a lot of random jumping around. But it's fun to watch the interaction between these different characters. And it's a different portrayal of the 1970s, which was surprising considering that it was made in 1998. While it's not a must see, it is worth seeing.

Now Robson Arms, a great Canadian TV show about an apartment building in Vancouver and the intersecting lives of the people who reside there. I enjoyed the first season and had originally gotten it because Mark McKinney (Kids in the Hall) and Megan Follows (Anne of Green Gables) both had parts in it. As well as William B. Davis AKA The Cigarette Smoking Man from X-Files.

I haven't seen Season 2 but I was trolling Netflix the other day while I was in a Dave Foley mood and saw that he was in season 3 of Robson Arms.

In this season the building has new owners from America, played by Dave Foley (as Chuck) and Allison Hossack (as his wife Trixie). There is of course the usual stereotype of the Americans, but there's something about Dave Foley's way that keeps me from being annoyed.

If you enjoy dramedies this show is worth checking out.

While on the topic of Dave Foley and Mark McKinney, The Kids in the Hall have started to film Death Comes to Town!!

http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/08/21/kids-in-the-hall-reunite-tv-series/

And on that happy note, I've got 20 minutes till Conan starts.

Until next time, keep geeking =)

--Geek Girl

New Years Eve and Other Misc

Taking a break from staring blankly at the script I'm working on for my application to the film program. Also waiting for a guy to call, which is a new experience for me. A guy calling me in general is rather astounding to me, waiting for it to happen is rather tedious. It reminds me why I've gotten to the age of 19 without too much of my time being spent like this. 

So Christmas was rather nice. Got Guitar Hero III for Wii. Incredibly awesome. I spent most of Christmas day playing and was able to beat the easy level. Also Christmas brought something that I've wanted for a long time. My first turn table. It's a portable one. Numark, which means nothing to me but it works well.

Found this the other day: http://swiftywriting.blogspot.com/2005/11/in-defense-of-fanfiction-guestblogger.html 

Interesting to say the least. The guy responding to the original attacks is brilliant. I think the most ridiculous claim is that writing fanfiction is damaging to someone who aspires to being a professional writer. That's crap, to put it simply. If anything fanfiction encourages writing. The claim that it's unoriginal and insulting to the fandom is unfounded. One thing that fanfic does is help the fanbase grow. Somebody likes the original work enough to want to expand on it, to want to spend their free time thinking about it and striving to create something that does it justice. How is that a bad thing? 

Alright, back to script writing and Law & Order Criminal Intent watching (gotta love USA Network for the all day marathon.)

Oh and good news for any late night fans. January 2nd marks the return of the late night shows. Conan O'Brien will be back on! Yowzer.

WGA Strike Support; Plea From a Fan Girl

Right now if you were to look at my livejournal page you would see that my profile icon, in the font of Law & Order, proclaims:

No CHA-CHING equals no DOINK-DOINK.

Law & Order: CI fans support the WGA strike.

For those who don't dig the whole Law & Order scene, the Doink-doink is that noise heard through out the show. (I'm sure that explanation provoked a collective "oh!")

And yes I do support the strike. As an aspiring TV & Film writer I absolutely support the strike. I think that by striking the writers have proven just how important they are to the entertainment industry. Often portrayed and referred to as the low man on the totem pole, or at least that's how it seems to be in my film classes at school, the writers are finally getting some attention. 

TV shows are running out of new episodes and some films have had to shut down production without access to a WGA approved writer. There are two new episodes left of Law & Order: CI. As of right now there is only one more new episode of Numb3rs being spoiled on Spoilerfix.com. So having establishing my support, I now would like to establish my, as well as many other TV addicts, incredible need for the strike to be resolved.

On Tuesday afternoon I'm sitting in an English class. It's one of those instances where you would rather be anywhere else in the world or maybe banging your head against a wall. Just because it would be something else to do. About twelve minutes in to class my mind has wandered off to the episode of House that will be awaiting me after an hour and a half spent in traffic. After House is the latest episode of Law & Order SVU. Granted I haven't been quite as excited lately because of the obvious and painful lack of Richard Belzer's character John Munch. However that is another rant for another time.

Thursday all I can think about is Law & Order Criminal Intent. The entire day has become dedicated to this show thanks to the USA Network and their all day marathon. I wake up, watch a few episodes, leave for school, get back from school and watch a few more reruns. The new episode beginning later that night. My fangirling of Vincent D'Onofrio is also part of this process.

And let us not forget the late night shows. How I miss my Conan O'Brien. Week nights just aren't the same. There's no new Jay Leno to mock, no Lettermen to annoy. No new Conan to giggle over. And by giggle I of course mean laugh insanely hard to the point that I wonder if I've woken some one up.

It has become a slightly sadder world for those of us addicted to Television. Although I have been catching up on DVDs I had been putting aside because, silly me, I had purchased them on a night of new episodes. Of course I'm also running out on DVDs to catch up on now.

So this is merely a blind plea. Give as much support as you can to the WGA. However, at the same time hope for a resolution soon. Cause I want to see House and Cuddy get it on.

--Moony

Emmy Night part 2

Some surprises and some disappointments.

Two delightful moments though:

1. Late Night with Conan O'Brien won for outstanding writing. Fangirl-gasm. I'm still beyond words excited. I really can't say much more on it because I'm not sure what to say because it's just so wonderful for that writing staff to finally get recognized after 14 years on the air.

2. The Sopranos. How great for them that their last season brought them an Emmy. Also there was an awesome tribute to the show with music provided by the B'way show Jersey Boys. What a great way to end their 6 season run.


Okay. Seacrest not the world's greatest host (my love remains with Conan), Jon Cryer should've gotten the Emmy, and a little disappointed by some of the others. Please God give me one awards show that doesn't involve Al Gore. Focus a show that awards entertainment with... oh I don't know... the entertainers. Just a thought.
Really happy for James Spader winning the best actor, although I still would've liked to see it go to Hugh Laurie or James Gandalfini.


All in all it was an alright show.

Emmy Night! Part 1

It's that time of the year again. The Primetime Emmys! It's very exciting... for me anyways. Even though I'm not crazy about this year's host. Especially in compairison with last year's host: Conan O'Brien. Some how we've ended up with Ryan Seacreast... yeah not excited about that one. However many of the shows I love are nominated and many of the actors and actresses I love are nominated. So here we go with what I hope will happen:

Comedy Series: Two and A Half Men. This show has just gotten funnier as it has gone along and really deserves some recognition. If it actually gets it... well who knows.

Drama Series: I'm torn. I love House like no other but at the same time The Sopranos is nominated for what will be the last time now that the show has wrapped up.

Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: Really no preference here. If Tony Shalloub wins again for Monk that'll be great. Ricky Gervis is also nominated which would prompt an interesting acceptance speech I'm sure.

Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Torn once more. Hugh Laurie is nominated for House and James Gandolfini for The Sopranos. Both play incredible characters so I'm happy if either one wins. I also wouldn't be disappointed if James Spader walked away with the award... just because I thnk he's pretty.

Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie: So we meet again category that has scorned me before. If you have ever wondered why I hate Al Pachino this category is why (Meredith remembers that night well. I was very angry). I'm pulling for Matthew Perry who is nominated for The Ron Clark Story which was a great movie from TNT.

Lead Actress in a Comedy Series: No real preference here. I think it would be great is America Ferrera won again for Ugly Betty.

Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Mariska Hargitay is nominated once more for Law & Order Special Victims Unit, I'm always happy if someone from SVU wins. However Edie Falco is nominated for The Sopranos. Both are incredible actresses. But honestly gotta say that I'm hopeful for Mariska.

Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: Jon Cryer no question. He's so funny and so underrated. The poor man's Matthew Broderick as he has been called. Please give him the Emmy.

Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: I'm really hoping for Michael Imperioli for The Sopranos. He's just great.

Variety, Music, or Comedy Series: It's been 14 years. Give the damn award to Late Night with Conan O'Brien already! For as long as I can remember Jon Stewart has won this award. Change this year! Give it to Conan for the love of God. This is the 12th nomination. Give it to him.


Those are my thoughts right now. I'll be back later on with Part 2.