Hey,

Its a sunny day in Ohio, warm too. The point however was not to discuss the weather.  We all know those people who are just on the very edge of those cultural, and fashion curves. Perhaps even a bit off it. Most are proud members of this “group” persay, and will glady flaunt it with pleasure. That guy in your work place who only istens to bands that NOBODY on the planet has ever heard of, and his favorite band changes bi-weekly. Or that chick in your bio class who wears all the colored tutus, and claims that Pushing Daisies and Aressted Development were the best shows ever on, as they bop along happily to to the Flight of the Choncords tunes. The sort however, that bothers me the most are the ones who decide they no longer like something because everyone else is into it. In claiming to have individuality they tend to lean more towards the “shock-factor” because they need to be noticed. Not that my own opinions dont change on a regular basis, I just like to shape my own without the pop culture curve. Donnt get me wrong a little bit of abnormal taste is good in completly immersing one’s self in culture, but constant exposure and desire for attention is harming to a persons self asteam. When we leave high school, nobody really cares about the “shock-factor” anymore. And the so called “hipsters” will need to find a new source of attention. Hopefully for the better. This post was inspired to me by John Harrington, an editor of our school’s paper The Crimsonian. So thanks to John for his article, glad to use it as research for my post. If you dont like it, this is Ohio wait 5 minutes. Feel free to leave your comments and opinions in the comment box.

I believe I will make this my recommendations blog addition.  I’m out of updates and not feeling especially rant-motivated this morning and there is most definitely a short-list of wonders that have amused me of late.

First up, before I even talk music or movies, have you seen this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr9_5uZn6ds  Ricky Gervais has to be one of my most favourite people of all time and if you haven’t spent a good amount of time with the British Office then please do.  Awkward has never been so delightful.

The second thing I’m going to recommend is the short, but sweet and perfectly quaint Pushing Daisies series.  The banter is witty, the look of it is beautiful and the story is full of whimsy.  It actually makes a zombie story read  like a fairytale.  Bravo.

So, in my quest to find something a little more pop-esque and uplifting on the music side of things, I discovered Anya Marina (Slow & Steady Seduction: Phase II.)  Now, I’m not usually one for chick music (and I mean that with the greatest respect to chicks and chick musicians everywhere) but there’s something about this woman’s vibe I really dig.  Sometimes cute and child-like, sometimes impossibly sexy…it’s just a fun album to have on while, oh say, curled up on your wee couch with your mac on a rainy Thursday morning. http://www.myspace.com/anyamarina

And, to keep with an earlier thread, I’m going to suggest that if you haven’t seen Zombieland yet, do.  I know, I know, looks kinda stupid, but it’s the most fun I’ve had at the movies in a long time.  I’m also wondering if anyone’s read Dave Eggers’ Wild Things?  I’m such a fan of his writing and it was such a beautiful film…I’m guessing the book’s gotta be the touching masterpiece I’m imagining, but I haven’t picked it up yet.

Final and most delicious recommendation: if you’re in the GTA and are hittin’ up Leslieville for brunch, it is worth the wait in line to go to Lady Marmalade.  It’s one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had (avocado, brie & bacon eggs benny…am I right?) and the coffee delicious, the atmosphere warm.

Voila, some of my most favourite things (well, this morning anyways.)

Siden jeg skal jobbe litt 15.00-21.00 vakter fremover tenkte jeg at da kan man stå opp tidlig og få litt ut av dagen, men så sov jeg til typ 13.30, fikk det travelt og derfor rekker jeg bare informere dere om at jeg har oppdatert “ønskelisten” med en DVD fra platekompaniet.

PS: Eddie, nå har jeg fikset 7 kalender gaver til deg. Jeg er genial!

Har dere sett denne serien?? Er den like bra som den virker?

I’m a hypocrite.

I said I’d be back and then just didn’t update.

Its not that I didn’t want to but lack of time, inclination and topics prevented me.

I’d already decided a while ago that unlike previous outings, I wasn’t going to share anything too personal on this blog. So a lot of stuff has been going on that was too personal to share, and which made me not in the blogging mood.

I might need to do NaBloPoMo again to get back into the blogging groove!

Anyway, apart from things I can’t talk about what I can talk about are my shows. And god they are good.

I am well and truly addicted to True Blood. Sookie and Bill are a lot more ADULT than Angel and Buffy. God, those were the days! Forbidden love and good storytelling had been missing from a lot of shows these days. The last time was Pushing Daisies and that got cancelled.

Also addicted to The Family which this year is following an Asian British family. MUCH more watchable and funny than last year’s.

Perfect Bride is meandering and I just wish it would end already. Pati, Patni Aur Woh continues to remain a firm favourite though.

I’m dropping the serials as well cos they’re just getting boring and into ridiculous story lines.

I’m quite excited about Eid on Friday! I spent the whole day just sorting through our recycling which has been piling up, and with the days so short and stopping for prayers every so often, it just seems to be going by so fast.

And can you believe its nearly Christmas? And you know what that means?! No, not Santa and Turkey, DR WHO! I LOVED The Waters of Mars. I didn’t think Russell T Davies was capable of such a dark and complex episode, which is why I am looking forward to the 11th Doctor because with Stephen Moffat at the helm hopefully we’ll get some really scary episodes like Blink, which I can’t watch again cos it scared me so much.

I was watching some TV spot *Cough Film 2009* on Paranormal Activity and it looks genuinely scary. I think the things you don’t see are far scarier than what you do see.

The weather is turning unseasonably cold and once again in a fit of boredom I rearranged my closet. My mum and sister were happy, cos I FINALLY gave away some clothes I was holding onto for the past 10 years. Hey I LOVE my clothes, and its not exactly cheap to buy clothing these days. And with my current financial situation, even harder. But, out with the old and in with the new.

My closet can finally breathe again!

And that’s it for now! Any new things you’ve discovered. Good blogs. Recipes. Oh yes, I am addicted to cooking these days so any suggestions, especially for Indian Cooking recipies but any type of main meal recipes, snacks or desserts are most welcome!

Presented by Ophélie and Benjamin

Presentation :
Pushing Daisies is an American television series created by Bryan Fuller. This series deals with a pastry cook, Ned, who has got the mysterious ability to bring dead things back to life by touching them. But the second touch allows him to kill these things.
Someday, he hears that his childhood sweetheart is dead. He decides to resurrect her but he will not be able to touch her again

Characters :
Lee Pace as Ned
Anna Friel as Charlotte
Chi McBride as Emerson Cod
Kristin Chenoweth as Olive Snook
Swoosie Kurtz as Lily Charles
Ellen Greene as Vivian Charles

My opinion :
This series is both funny and boring. In the episodes, I like when Ned touches the people to resurrect them and  to kill them again specially when he touches the person whom he doesn’t wish to kill. For example, in the first episode with Ned’s mother’s death. She dies because she kisses her son before that he sleeps.
But I hate the second episode with the song. If there is something that I can’t stand, it is this. It is boring, long and tiresome. I looked forward to seeing the end of this sequence.
To conclude, my opinion is divided. On the one hand I like the supernatural side of this series with Ned’s talent, on the other hand, I find the episodes very boring.

My Mark:
10/20

Despite my best efforts to not sink into lethargy and dribble away my better-spent time watching television, I can never seem to pry myself away from the glittering glisten of a shiny new season box set.  And thus, I’ve frittered away countless days watching season after season, series after series, pining for the quell to a confounding cliffhanger or unanswered quandary.  But alas and alack, not all of those questions could be answered.  Nay, many of my favorite shows are among those that have lived and died in the 2000s, and so – ah, yes – they shall be chronicled in list form.

10.  The Tick (2001-2002)
This quirky brainchild of a half-baked show, spawned from the cult comic book created by cartoonist Ben Edlund (and, inversely, a short-lived animated version), garnered less than a few rave reviews from the critics.  However, a dutiful crew of bandies have kept the legend alive, making sure that a blue body-suited Patrick Warburton (perhaps better known in the Seinfeld universe as Puddy the face-painter) made it to DVD.

09.  Wonderfalls (2004-2005)
The wonderfully pretense-free Wonderfalls operated on its own oddities, condoning the likes of apathetic twenty-somethings in less-than-turbulent times.  Protagonist Jaye – a likably dispicable underacheiver with a penchant for talking to inatimate objects – somehow begs the audience to cheer for her through her trials and tribulations of mediocrity.  Think Dead Like Me’s George Lass with a bit more wit and it’s clear to see why it’s a tragedy that this little engine that didn’t feel like it never stuck.

08.  Coupling (2000-2004)
It’s no wonder creator Stephen Moffat employed his own wife in order to write this hilariously uncomfortable British romp of a sitcom, nor is it a surprise; Coupling thrives off the chemistry of its quirky components – why, couples, of course.  It’s Ross-and-Rachel riddled with sexcapades and stickiness, all topped off with quick writing, dry wit and a hideous laugh track.  Perhaps America just wasn’t ready.

07.  Firefly (2002-2003)
Take Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillion, and experimental spaghetti sci-fi and throw them into a kettle-drum of a spaceship.  Add a few felonies and that Whedon whimsy to the mix and you’ve got a cult classic that never deserved (though, understandably got) the axe.  At least those fine folks in following managed to snag a DVD release, complete with four never-aired episodes the ‘verse just couldn’t do without.

06.  Undeclared (2001-2002)
It’s surprising to learn that two – yes, TWO! – of Judd Apatow’s star-studded series perished before season two renewal, perhaps because, well, no one was actually a star just yet.  After the untimely demise of the exorbitantly clever, bleak, and nostalgic Freak and Geeks in 1999, Apatow employed the help of a few familiar faces and chronicled the lives of many an awkard college freshman in the incredibly enjoyable and under-appreciated Undeclared.

05. Extras (2005-2007)
Ricky Gervais’s cringe-fest chronicling the pathetic happenings of hapless movie extras made us all appreciate a bit of unadulturated dry humor. Juxtapose Extras‘ brilliance with the tongue-in-cheek laugh-track-ridden show-within-a-show our protagonist unwittingly creates, and you’ve got a hideously hilarious gem (riddled with the likes of many a self-effacing celeb).

04.  Gilmore Girls (2000-2007)
Say what you will about the apparent chick-fest that is Gilmore, but don’t you dare glare at those gleaming smiles and frothy-colored DVD cases and judge this series by its cover.  Truly, not many more shows pack the heft, heart, and hilarity this one so earnestly offered up before we sadly had to bid adieu to our favorite dysfunctional family (that somehow, seemed to function just fine).

03.  Pushing Daisies (2007-2009)
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, Daisies didn’t deserve to go.  However, cancellation upset was no stranger to the talent behind this lush and lovely dramedy, as former Wonderfalls alum – Bryan Fuller and Lee Pace – bled their hearts into this little ditty as well.  But it’s condolence enough to have those two fateful seasons archived in bursting, blooming box sets, as this ever-resting series is a simple joy to obsessively rewatch.

02.  Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009)
There are no casual BSG fans. Nay; to know Galactica is to love it, and to love it is to live it.  There’s nothing about this show that doesn’t catch you and keep you, love you and leave you.  Alright, so I’m being ridiculously dramatic, but it’s perhaps warranted – and this not-so-guilty-pleasure has its cultish following clamouring for more.  So if you can swing the ridiculous overpricing of the multiple half-season DVDs, you might just understand what everybody’s frakking about.

01.  Arrested Development (2003-2006)
I don’t mean to be bold, but there are few things that will ever be able to stack up to the likes of AD. From the lunacy to the brilliance, the quirky to the questionable, the innuendos that stretched the seasons to the incessant pop-culture references, nothing can compare to the odd integrity of it all.  And perhaps that’s exactly the way it should be.  Rest in peace, Bluths, if you can.

Hier zwei WPs in der Größe 1280×1024

I don’t usually get into TV shows that are on before midnight, but it seems like when i actually do, those shows get the boot. Right now the only show that I watch regularly are True Blood, which is entertaining.

My previous favorites were canceled in there second season; Pushing Daisies and Dead Like Me( both created my Bryan Fuller). I miss these shows, and I wish they would get picked up by another station.

Just in case you are not familiar with either show, here’s the run down:

Pushing Daisies: Is about a man named Ned, who can bring the dead back to life for one minute by touching them. He has to touch them again before one minute is up, or else some one will die in their place.

It sounds odd, but it was a great show, with excellent performances by, Lee Pace(Ned), Anna Friel(Chuck), Chi McBride(Emerson), Kristin Chenoweth(Olive), Ellen Greene (Vivian), and Swoosie Kurtz (Lily).

Dead Like Me: An unhappy girl is killed by a toilet seat from a space station. After finding out she is dead she is assigned a job as a grim reaper. She has to reap a certain quota of lives before she well be able to “pass on”.

Really Really miss this show, and once again we are now missing out on fantastic performances by: Ellen Muth (Georgia), Callum Blue(Mason), Jasmine Guy(Roxy), Mandy Patinkin(Rube), and Laura Harris(Daisy).

Come on Networks, pick up this shows! Please

~Nicole

I hate movies with misleading titles. But I like movies that can tell an effective story in an hour and a half.

When my wife made me watch “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day,” I thought I was getting some sort of fantasy movie where the character ages uncommonly a la “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” or a murder mystery where the titular character has only 24 hours before the bad guy strikes.

What I actually got was a screwball romance set in pre-WWII bombed London.

The movie would more accurately be titled “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Lot of Days, One of Which is Presented Here for Comical Effect.”

How do I know it was a screwball comedy? In an early scene the characters run around an apartment to the soundtrack of a clarinet and high-hat cymbals. Nothing says zany like a high hat cymbal.

Here’s an example where the right instruments set the mood for the movie. Add staccato violins and bass and you’d have a suspense movie. Throw in a banjo and a moonshine jug and we’d have a getaway scene from “Bonnie and Clyde.” I think they were saving the horns and tympani for the sequel: “Miss Pettigrew Conquers the Huns.”

The apartment-scurrying characters are Pettigrew and her new employer Amy Adams. Pettigrew is an out of work nanny who thinks she’s about to babysit Adams’ child but soon realizes she has to untangle three of Adams’ suitors. There’s Nick, a nightclub owner who provides Adams with luxury, Phil a theater producer who can offer her fame, and Lee Pace as a jilted fiance who is Adams’ only chance at finding love.

Adams doesn’t know what she wants; fame will get her a career, riches will get her clothes and love with get neither of the two. Frances McDormand’s Pettigrew urges her to chose Pace’s penniless piano player.

Pettigrew herself is struggling to understand the world Adams so desperately wants to inhabit. One where a silk scarf is a casual castoff to one character but a prized possession of another and where cucumbers are not for eating but to keep the eyes puffy.

As she untangles Adams’ lovers, she herself falls under the affection of a lingerie-designer (played here by Ciaran Hinds, who was also Caesar from HBO’s “Rome”). Whenever I recognize character actors from other movies or TV shows, I wonder how the old characters would fare in their new situations. For example, would Brutus be so quick to stab Caesar if he knew of his penchant for making negligees or men’s socks? Would Adams be so quick to run off with Pace if she knew he had the ability to raise the dead as his character had in “Pushing Daisies?”

I realize this practice easily drifts into the fanboy area of IMDB-philes such as myself. Rather than speculate who would win in a fight between captains Kirk and Picard, I imagine if how McDormand’s Pettigrew would fare if she switched places with McDormand’s character from “Fargo.”

But I digress.

This being a movie set in the pre-war era, we know everything will be settled with fisticuffs in a nightclub against a background of hot jazz.

Pettigrew’s main fear is her new-found friends will discover her frumpy, street urchin past, despite the fact that she has made little effort to hide this. The inevitable conclusion is reached when the secret does come out and everything ends happily for the characters who deserve it, Pettigrew included.

But as she walks off with Caesar, I mean the lingerie designer, I’m left to wonder, did the title just refer to the event’s just shown to us or is there something more sinister ahead.

When I told my wife this, she said I need a new hobby.

Seabird is back with a new single entitled “Don’t You Know You’re Beautiful” which hit all digital outlets November 3. The track is pulled off of their sophomore album, Rocks Into Rivers, which releases on December 15. And now you have the chance to download “Don’t You Know You’re Beautiful” here!

A follow up to Seabird’s 2008 critically acclaimed label debut, ‘Til We See The Shore, Rocks Into Rivers features top-notch production by Paul Moak (Mat Kearney, Sixpence None The Richer) and Matt Hales from Aqualung. The band split its time between Ocean Studios in Los Angeles and The Smoakstack in Nashville, honing what brothers Aaron and Ryan Morgan are calling their most exciting project to date.

Cincinnati-based Seabird comprises brothers Aaron (vocals/keys) and Ryan (guitar) Morgan as well as Preston Lane (drums). The band signed with Credential Recordings in late 2007 and released its debut label project,‘Til We See The Shore, June 24, 2008. A collaborative effort with producers Jacquire King (Modest Mouse, Kings Of Leon, Tom Waits, Switchfoot) and Allen Salmon (Mute Math), the album received phenomenal national publicity, featured on episodes of “Numb3rs,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” and promos for ABC’s 12-time Emmy-nominated series, “Pushing Daisies.” The band was also recognized by its hometown as “Artist of the Year” at the 2008 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards and toured with artists including Barcelona, Meese, and Jars of Clay throughout the spring and summer of 2009. (Read Backseat Writer’s interview with Seabird’s Aaron Morgan, “Seabird Sees The Shore“!)

LISTEN TO AND/OR DOWNLOAD “Don’t You Know You’re Beautiful” BY SEABIRD HERE! (This will take you to an external link.)

No costume for me this year, so please enjoy some moderately to not-that-well executed costumes from Halloweens Past: Pushing Daisies’ Charlotte Charles (when I wasn’t holding the props, it was a pretty big fail), Clue’s Mrs. Peacocok (win!), and Vampire with a Cocktail and Fake Nails (as per Mean Girls: Halloween is the one night a year when girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it).

By Steven Zeitchik and Borys Kit – The Hollywood Reporter

The men in black are massing.

Sony is moving forward on “MIB 3,” the third pic in its sci-comedy franchise.

“Tropic Thunder” writer Etan Cohen is penning the script, and Barry Sonnenfeld, who helmed the first two films, is said to be attached to  the new  installment, though there is no formal deal or offer as yet.

The studio is eyeing a 2010 start date and could go as soon as the spring.

The X-factor remains Will Smith. The A-lister, who starred  with Tommy Lee Jones in the first two, has not committed to the pic,  though in recent days the buzz in development circles has been that he  is now interested in returning. Smith does not currently have a go  movie lined up.Tommy Lee Jones’ involvement is uncertain.

Sony announced in April that it would bring back the tale of covert, pseudonymous agents who stalk the earth fighting disguised aliens, zapping beasts and memories as they go.

“MIB” has proved to be one of the most successful comedy franchises of all time. The two pics — which came out in 1997 and 2002, respectively — combined to earn nearly $1.1 billion worldwide. The $250m domestic of the first film reps the second-highest total of Smith’s career.

The addition of Cohen, who is said to be deep into his draft, signifies the  studio’s intention to continue the franchise’s top-tier status.  The CAA-repped writer is a hot commodity, penning the sequel to  “Madagascar” and the Will Ferrell-toplined Sherlock Holmes project, thje latter also for Sony, as well as “Thunder.”

Ed Solomon wrote the script for the first “Men in Black,” while Robert Gordon and Barry Fanaro penned the second film.

The WME-repped Sonnenfeld has been concentrating heavily on TV of  late, inking a deal with ABC and ABC studios, and exec producing dark  comedy “Pushing Daisies.” His last feature was the Robin  Williams-starrer “RV.”

These are in no particular order; picking a favorite TV anything (in my world) is like choosing a favorite kid when you’re the mom of about four really talented, awesome, and eloquent children.

1. Bones- S1 E1- “Pilot”

Collide Montage- when Brennan is piecing together that totally fragmented skull using Elmer’s glue and the music of Howie Day. This sequence is beautiful- I especially love all of the closeups, swooping camera angles, and the progression of time. Good work, cinematographers.

(couldn’t find!)

2. Pushing Daisies- S1 E7

Morning Has Broken- this might not technically be a montage, but it’s a scene I love undyingly, if that’s a word. The swimming, Vivian’s voice…magical. Why Pushing Daisies ever got canceled, I have no idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv0klnEAZmM

3. The Office- S6 E4- “Niagara”

Wedding Dance Montage- I think you guys have already heard about my adoration for this sequence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jqk5I236DQ

4. The X-Files- S9- “Trust No. 1″

Black and White Photo Montage- This is beauty on film, kids. The piano…the WORDS…I memorized this once to use for a monologue. Love it.

(couldn’t find this montage…but this video has the words, just some really awkward footage in the background. )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5QYsoBbllc

I planned on having five, but I’m sleepy. Give me a fifth one–do you guys have any favorites? Comment with suggestions.

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GREAT NEWS: 3rd Screening Added!

Vancouver International Film Festival

October 16, 12:20PM at Granville Cinemas!

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A third screening has been added at The Vancouver International Film Festival for At Home By Myself… With You due to popular demand. The film has been receiving fantastic reviews and a sold out audience this past Thursday. If you are in the Vancouver area PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go see this amazing film that I was lucky enough to production design. In one review I read, they likened the cinematography and my art direction to that of the recent Art Direction Emmy Award Winner, Pushing Daisies! Here’s another review I quite liked from Row Three: VIFF 09 Review: At Home, by Myself… With You.

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Rose XO.

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Putting off writing and poking around Etsy.com recently, I redirected to the web page of that day’s featured seller. There I found a recipe that tugged at my fall harvest baker delusions. I don’t know if this is common, but autumn gives me urges that I don’t fully trust or understand. Kitchen urges.

I know how to cook … some things: eggs, sandwiches, tortilla-based meals, veggie Thai curries, salads. But rare is the day I venture into the complex chemistry of baking. It’s easy to mess up, and it’s time consuming, meaning it’s best left to professionals (like my former housemates in Portland). Fall emboldens me. It makes me think about cupcakes, cookies and yes, even pies.

Ginger honey pears and mapley cinnamony apples

Some blame also may lie with the “Pushing Daisies” DVDs that keep showing up from Netflix. I was unsure of the show at first, but by the end of the first disc, I just wanted the big bright pictures to keep on coming. And I had more strange pie-baking desires.

Mini pies; beer bottle rolling pin

I don’t have a pie plate or a rolling pin or a very long attention span, but I persevered with this (easy) recipe and made a decidedly edible mini pie tart thing. The recipe lives here (Mini Fall Galettes) where it is beautifully explained and executed.

Ta-daaaah!

I succeeded with a couple of lessons learned: The cupcake pan needs liners or they’re a bitch to get out (also I just reread the original recipe, and it says to use a cookie sheet). Second, the TeeVee ain’t always wrong. Freestyling from an idea in the pretty shiny pie show mentioned above, I put some sharp cheddar crumbles on my mini pear pie, and hot damn, if it wasn’t a tasty little tart.

Perhaps this means the fall harvest baker is satisfied and will hibernate until next season, or perhaps I will go on a multi-day baking rampage which can only end in high fructose fruit cake. For now, I’ll just eat my tarty pie and hope someone in this house gets an uncontrollable urge to wash dishes.