Friday, March 31, 2006

The Office – Michael’s Birthday

It’s Michael’s birthday and he can cry if he wants to. Apt since everyone else in the office wants to. Kevin is waiting upon results of possible skin cancer, but Michael makes sure that the entire day is about himself, going as far as sneaking in donuts as a gift to himself from another co-worker and taking advantage of Dwight and his party planning committee on Dwight’s “most important day of the year”.

Mindy thinks Princess Diana’s funeral was the saddest ever…oh, but along with her sister’s funeral, and Ryan overhears Angela and Dwight planning a “meeting” which leaves him literally speechless. Michael gives the courier girl a tip, thinking she’s the “surprise” stripper he mentions to the party committee that he wants, and Pam and Jim sneak off to the local store to buy gifts to cheer Kevin up, including 69 Cup of Noodle Soups, because, he loves Cup of Noodles and 69 is his favorite number.

Poor Toby keeps getting abused by Michael, and finally gets body checked at the ice rink when Michael takes the whole office to go skating, allowing him to show off his skating skills. Kevin’s results end up being negative, but Michael rips off his fake LIVESTRONG yellow bracelet in empathy for Kevin, not realizing a Negative result is good. Pam said she had a good day (shopping with Jim).

Another FANTASTIC episode! Man is this show moving up the list. Why couldn’t they make the US Coupling as good as the original?


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Survivor – Panama : Exile Island

The two teams merge into one tribe, leaving it 6 Crazies to the supposedly 4 strong team. Will Crazy Bruce jump over to the other team? NO STUPID BRUCE. DON’T DO IT.

Terry wins the immunity, which means either Austin or Nick will go. Nick tells the camera that all he hopes for is that he will make it past this round so that he will end up in the final Jury at the very least. Nick? You just jinxed yourself.

The crazies unite, sort of, still squabbling over who to vote for. At Tribal council, Austin and Nick basically spill out their entire weak strategies to the group, possibly making them the WORST PLAYERS EVER. This is SURVIVOR. You LIE LIE LIE. Anyways. Nick gets sent packing as Bruce does not desert the crazies, at least not this time.

Now, why Terry will reveal he found the Exile idol next week? I’m not sure, since by my calculations, next week is still the only safe week that he could fool the crazies into voting for him, use the immunity, and thus, the three votes left from former La Mina can oust a former Casaya member. Cause if not, the following week, if Casaya was smart, they could throw 4 to Terry, 2 to the other remaining La Mina tribe member, and at least tie the two votes coming from La Mina. Or something like that…

When did Nick become a pseudo philosopher with his exit speech? Lame.
I’m still hoping Cirie and Aras are final 2. Why is everyone loving Terry? He’s second most popular right now behind Cirie. I don’t get it. He bugs the hell out of me.

Although I can't believe Crazy Bruce, Crazy Shane and Crazy Courtney will all be in the jury now. Crazy!


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Thursday, March 30, 2006

Shameless Plug

It's actually pretty good!!! Whew! Clichéd yet still enjoayble and "grittier" than a regular feel-good movie. Posted by Picasa


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Wednesday, March 29, 2006

On-The-Go iPod Playlist – Canadian Edition

In honour of this Sunday’s Junos, here’s an all CDN edition of things to download (while avoiding Shania, Alanis, Nickelback, Celine, Bryan Adams, Barenaked Ladies, Avril, Simple Plan, Sum 41 and The Tragically Hip) (why can all our females be known with only their first names?).

Neverending White Lights – The Grace
Stabilo – Flawed Design
Gordie Sampson – You (or Somebody Like You)

City and Colour – Save Your Scissors
Hedley – Trip
Massari – Real Love *
(I know, I would usually HATE a song like this but this one is somehow addictive)
Rex Goudie – Run *
Aaron Lines- Lights of my Hometown *
INXS – Afterglow
*(I know, not CDN, but JD Fortune is, so I’m going to count it)
Feist – Mushaboom
Feist – Inside and Out
Tomi Swick – A Night Like This *
Theory of a Deadman – Santa Monica *
Michael Bublé – Save The Last Dance For Me *
Michael Bublé – Home *
Daniel Powter – Bad Day
*(even though it’s now overplayed by American Idol)
The Arcade Fire – Rebellion (Lies) *(even though I’m kinda over them now)
Kathleen Edwards – In State *
Hot Hot Heat – Middle of Nowhere *
The Philosopher Kings – Castles In the Sand *
Mobile – Out of My Head

The Stills – Still in Love Song *
The Stills – Lola Stars and Stripes *
Amanda Stott – She’ll Get Over It *
Amanda Stott – Song On the Radio *
Boy – Same Old Song *
Three Days Grace – Just Like You
*(New Album coming soon!)
Johnny Reid – You Still Own Me *
k-Os – The Man I Used To Be *
Lindy – Beautifully Undone *
Melissa O’Neil – Speechless *
Metric – Dead Disco
*(I love and I hate this song at the same time)
Projet Orange – Tell All Your Friends *
Ron Sexsmith – Whatever It Takes *
soulDecision – Kiss the Walls
*(I know. I’m very ashamed)
Andy Stochansky – House of Gold

* New to List


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American Idol – Top 10 21’st Century Night

Creed? Something about chains? Of all the songs out there, they pick THOSE songs?
That was possibly one of the worst Song Choice nights EVER

First of all, listen Lisa, you do NOT borrow from the First American Idol Lady Ms. Kelly Clarkson. You just DON’T. I know she retracted her statement about not letting Idol use her songs, but even with it being open game, you just DON’T. And now because you did, we will have to bid you adieu tonight.

As for everyone else? I was as grumpy as Simon Cowell as pretty much everyone underwhelmed me (yes, Mandisa, I love you, but CHAINS? Chris Daughtry, CREED? One of the worst bands EVER?) until… thank you Elliot Yamin for saving it this week… this is why you are still one of my top 3 faves despite that bad hairstyle you sport.

Paris actually did a decent job with Beyoncé, but something about her still irks me. Katharine was okay but I felt Simon’s only positive statement that she was the best so far that night, was more a comment on the entire night than it was on her actual performance. You know I love Kellie and her whole look-at-me-I’m-a-silly-dumb-blonde act that I would usually hate, but listen to Sara Evan’s original “Suds in a Bucket” because it’s an AWESOME song that Kellie sort of just warbled to, which all three judges blamed the song for. It’s not the SONG. At least not this time tonight.

I was also partially disturbed by Paula’s blatant Corey Clark molesting of Ace right there on live television, until we saw the recap and I noticed Ace basically pleasuring himself and his scar while (barely) singing. Paula, I know you’re usually crazy but this time, I’m with you. How can you not notice that scar when Ace is doing his male stripper routine? By comparison, Taylor somehow looked super classy by following Ace.

So, I thought on the whole, last week’s 50’s night was far superior to the modern day songs, which is kinda sad. I’m STILL thinking about Chris’ Walk the Line (yes, I know that arrangement had been done before, but damn, Chris still rocked it).


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Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Everwood – Ghosts, Lost and Found

Nina dumps Jake but ends up taking him back, Harold and Rose realize the realities of adoption, Will Cleveland (James Earl Jones in former episodes) die, which ends up bringing back Ephram’s need to play piano again, which incidentally, his whole former piano cockiness seems to be mirrored by Kyle (Steven R. McQueen, Steve McQueen’s grandson). Delia and Andy fight like teenage daughter and father. Andy also reveals that Julia had cheated on him before she passed away, partially causing the continuing sadness in him, that Irv points out in his thinly disguised novel. Edna has some panic attacks while Irv is away on the book tour. Amy puts the breaks on hold between her and Ephram, despite still having strong feelings for him, meanwhile, volunteers at Planned Parenthood to take her mind off things, but only stirs up a huge disagreement with Hannah, slowly fracturing that friendship. The argument about abortion and the availability of condoms at PP is what this show does best, so people… WATCH EVERWOOD. And I haven’t even talked about Bright yet, possibly the best dumb-blond jock character ever written (and I’m not the only one calling him dumb, even his loving father Harold calls him out in the Lost and Found episode, in one of the funniest lines of the whole show).


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Monday, March 27, 2006

New Eps for this Week (March 27-April 2)

Monday March 27
Everwood – RETURNS (FINALLY) – The WB 8pm (2hrs) (VANCE'S #1 Show of 2005)
Prison Break – Fox/Global 8pm
24 – Fox 9pm, Global 10pm
The New Adventures of Old Christine – CBS/CH 9:30pm

Tuesday March 28
American Idol – Fox/CTV 8pm
Scrubs – NBC 9pm
Sons & Daughters – ABC/City 9pm
House – FOX/Global 9pm
Out of Practice – CH 9pm
Teachers – SERIES PREMIERE – NBC 9:30pm
The Amazing Race – CBS/CTV 10pm
Boston Legal – ABC/CH10pm

Wednesday March 29
Lost – CTV 8pm, ABC 9pm
Everwood – RETURNS (FINALLY) – Achannel 8pm (2hrs) (VANCE's #1 SHOW of 2005)
Bones – Fox/Global 8pm
Out of Practice – CBS 8pm
Freddie – ABC/SunTV 8:30pm
American Idol – Fox/CTV 9pm
Veronica Mars – UPN 9pm
The Bedford Diaries – SERIES PREMIERE – The WB 9pm
The Loop – CH 9:30pm

Thursday March 30
The OC – CTV 8pm, FOX 9pm
Survivor: Exile Island – CBS/Global 8pm
The Loop – Fox 8:30pm
Supernatural – The WB/City 9pm
My Name Is Earl – NBC/Global 9pm
The Office – NBC/Global 9:30pm

Without a Trace – CBS/Global 10pm
ER- NBC/CTV 10pm (SHERYL LEE RALPH SIGHTING!)

Friday March 31
Ghost Whisperer – CBS/CTV 8pm
Numb3rs – Global 8pm, CBS 10pm

Sunday April 2
Desperate Housewives – ABC/CTV 9pm
Free Ride – Global/FOX 9:30pm
Grey’s Anatomy – ABC/CTV 10pm


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Desperate Housewives – Could I Leave You?

Mrs. Applewhite is back, Caleb tries to give Danielle a birthday present, Bree attends AA meetings but then catches Andrew at the mall with her credit card, free spending with bf Justin, leading Bree to drink even more, pass out in the department store and then try to bust out only to get stuck in the barricades. The Solis’ meet their first pregnant mother, who Gabrielle rejects because of her white trashiness, only to be replaced by a curvy thin trashiness which they accept. Only this beautiful pregnant woman manipulates the Solis’ into getting more gifts, something that seems will be further developed in future episodes since we find out she has a partner in crime, the greatly underused Eddie McClintock (I guess Crumbs is over?).
Susan, in a wheelchair, has dinner with hot doc Ron and Karl, only Karl makes sure the plumbing goes badly so that he forced Ron to get help from Plumber Mike Delfino. Man fight begins, Ron ends up leaving Susan lying on the street, with Mike back as Susan’s protector, and Karl smiling through the window.
All this however is completely overshadowed by the ew factor when Lynette’s coworker breastfeeds her child. Her WALKING child. Her Child who is about the same ages as the twins. EW.


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Sunday, March 26, 2006

Rest of the Week

The New Adventures of Old Christine - Open Water
Blind Date HELL but HILARITY for US. The sad thing is, You KNOW some guy pulled out homemade chicken on a date with one of the writers on this show. Kudos to Matt Letscher as guest star Burton as the perfect blind date (just not Christines) for making us forget he was on Good Morning Miami.

Scrubs – The Extra Mile
“The TODD” is the SECOND BEST SURGEON competing for the Surgical Resident spot?

Sons & Daughters – Family Finance, Karaoke
I’m totally impressed with ex-Much Music VJ Amanda Walsh. Didn’t think she could pull it off. I think my favorite moments are with her, Whitey (the always funny Greg Pitts) and Wylie, together or separately in scenes.

Boston Legal – Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
William Shatner’s Denny Crane tells guest star Tom Selleck’s Ivan that they are just like two big stars that had their own shows… LOVE that this show is where former TV Icons get to play now.

Out of Practice - Model Behaviour
FINALLY, Christopher Gorham changed that godawful mullet hair he had in the first half of the season. Henry Winkler's former Happy Days Co-star (and Grandma Gilmore) Marion Ross guest stars as a visiting friend who still doesn't know that Lydia and Stewart got divorced. Oliver still steals the best lines.

The George Lopez Show/Freddie – George Gets Cross Over Freddie, Freddie Gets Cross Over George
A Crossover with The George Lopez Show and Freddie where George’s son chats online with Freddie’s niece, only Freddie and George thinks the other is some sicko pedophile, and each try to trap the other. The second half was not as funny as George is invited to Chicago after all the misunderstandings are resolved.

Heist – Pilot
Man, Dougray Scott must hate Tom Cruise more than Katie Holmes does. Poor guy misses the X-Men start date due to delays on Mission Impossible 2, and loses his job as Wolverine, to be given to then unknown Hugh Jackman, and as they say, the rest is history. Well. Dougray Scott stars in this new pilot from Doug Liman (Go, Swingers, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, The OC), about a group of criminals planning to rob three jewellery stores on Rodeo Drive on the night of the Oscars. More entertaining than I would have thought, though with a slightly disturbing scene where poor pizza delivery guy is taken hostage (from another group of criminals) and blown up. Kinda doesn’t jive with the slick, fast paced humourish action the rest of the story was going for (think Get Shorty, or other Doug Liman projects). I’m wondering if they can hang on to a series about a bank robbery and keep it interesting, then again, who knew Lost would be so great? Not as clever as Lost, but still watchable.

The Loop - Tiger Express
I'm still annoyed by Eric Christian Olsen as Sam's brother Sully, but the rest of this show is totally hilarious. I will give you that the Sully's invention of the meat version of Sam (you have to see it to understand) during the launch of Tiger Express (a new Asian airline Sam's company is launching) was great though.

My Name is Earl – Y2K
One of the funnier episodes of a very funny show, where we get flashbacks of Earl and gang circa 1999 right before Y2K is about to happen. The reveal about Crabman’s past was hilarious and clever, and the entire apocalyptic-living in the local K-martish store, FANTASTIC.

The OC – The Undertow
Why did they bring back that slut Jess just to cause problems for Ryan only to have it all resolved again at the end of the episode so he could finally hook up with Nikki which was inevitable anyways? Finally they get Marissa out of the loop and then they bring Jess back? UGH…Still, leaves us with some GREAT Seth and Summer moments, with Taylor trying to help their sex life. When did Taylor become the poor joke? Do they always do this to an original nemesis? (See Chris Carmack’s Luke)

Free Ride - Procrasti-Nating
I know why I get annoyed with this show. Nate's friend, the straight-out-of-80's-headbanger-band is VERY Annoying and not funny like Sebastian Bach is on Gilmore Girls. Plus, the parents sex issues are a little tiring and kinda give me the creeps. Which is too bad because Josh Dean as Nate is VERY likable and his flirtations with Amber are very cute and amusing.


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Friday, March 24, 2006

uh. HELLO. Thank you. We KNOW it's TAPEWORTHY!

Check out the latest Entertainment Weekly for what we've been saying all along, that there is so much good TAPEWORTHY stuff out there to watch, that I do NOT want to EVER hear you people whine that "There's nothing to watch".

I've given you theatre (and if you need Broadway recomendations, email me, or wait until the Tony season starts and I will be reporting back soon enough with news about Three Days of Rain, The Drowsy Chaperone, The History Boys, Sweeney Todd, and god forbid, Lestat The Musical, Tarzan the Musical, or The Wedding Singer the Musical.) I've given you music to listen to, movies to watch. Now if you have not seen all the seasons of Everwood, Gilmore Girls, Lost, Veronica Mars etc etc... do NOT complain to me that the quality of entertainment out there is crap (especially since you might be one of the many watching The War At Home which inexplicably is still a hit).

Also, check out this article about the best underated actors on TV! (Yeah Jenna Fischer and Chris Pratt! I've been saying that all along!)


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Thursday, March 23, 2006

American Idol - Top 11 and Results

Oh, Chicken Little, you were so cute, but alas, American finally learned it's lesson from Jim Verraros, Jon Stevens and Anthony Federov.
Still, you weren't the only bad one this week. Oh Ace... your looks will only get you so far. I can't believe the judges bought your song because it was HORRIBLY off-key and that swoony look is almost cartoonish now.
Lisa was decent but forgetable and Bucky, who at times has a nice sound, is overshone this year with Chris kicking up the amps.
Everyone else, Paris, Madissa, Chris, Elliot, Taylor, and Katharine were all great, but again, at this point, is Chris really going to lose to anyone else? He's so far ahead of everyone else now, that is the rest of the season just redundant? Still, its been the best American Idol since the first season and extremely entertaining again (especially after the yawner season 4).


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DARYN JONES IS BACK!

Daryn Jones is back as one of the hosts on MTV Canada!!! That guy is FRICKEN HILARIOUS!!!


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The Amazing Race – It’s Not Over Until Phil Sings

Did anybody notice the PHIL sign lighted up as soon as the Hippes said “It’s Not Over Until Phil Sings” while they were driving out of Moscow?
Teams continue from Moscow onto Frankfurt, go to Mercedes Benz, drive the WICKED Test Track, go search for the Travelocity Roaming Gnome (Is Travelocity doing a blitz? They just had that last week in our city too, where if you found the gnome in the city, you won a trip on the spot), then either go smash bottles on heads or dance some German jig all while dressed in lederhosen.
So, Team Abs is making me laugh at least this week. I’m not won over yet, but the bottle smashing was funny, and I’m glad that while they got an earlier flight from Moscow to Frankfurt, they sort of got bottlenecked at Mercedes Benz (although usually I hate that bottlenecking stuff).
I think we found out way too much when one of the Hippies had to change into the lederhosen, but needed another room since he wasn’t wearing any underwear. EW.
Old Couple Fran and Barry are officially the WORST Detour picker EVER… as they chose to dance the jig but seemed to have a bit of a problem following the physical and choreographed routine. In the end, Salsa team Wanda and Desiree, the mother daughter team, were last after pairing up with Double D’s and getting lost, only to battle each other in the final run toward the pit stop in Munich.


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Lost – The Whole Truth

Finally a recap I can easily do. At least for a LOST recap.

Sun and Jin seem to be having some marital disputes on the island, so we flashback to South Korea where Sun sneaks off to a hotel to meet Jae Lee (who we saw in Season 1 when Sun was set up with him on a date). Sun and Jin are having marital problems back in the real world as well and they are having trouble conceiving, so they decide to see a doctor about it. The doctor would reveal that Sun is unable to have children, which Sun reveals to Jae, who we discover is only her English teacher (maybe). She reveals her plan to leave Jin but Jae basically asks her to stay for him, and not to run away.

Back on the island, Anna Lucia gets to interrogate Henry “Hostage” Gale, and convinces him to draw her a map to the supposed balloon he crash landed from. She withholds this information from Locke and Jack, and asks Sayid for help to locate the balloon once and for all, proving, or disproving Henry as one of “The Others” or not. Charlie tags along, bringing the gun he got from helping Sawyer with him, only to be discovered by Anna Lucia. Charlie however, hands it over to Sayid.

On the other side of the island, Sun had asked Sawyer for a pregnancy test from his stash of medical items he had horded, and the test had proven pink. With Jack’s verification, Sun is indeed pregnant, who decides to tell Jin after some advice from Kate and Jack. Jin is ecstatic, but Sun reveals, that back in South Korea, the doctor had chased her down after their initial meeting, revealing that it was not SUN who could not have a baby, but it was JIN that medically could not produce a child. Sun pleas that she had not been with any other man, and thus, Jin deems it a miracle child. The Crazy island is back at work!!! DA DA DUM…Or did Sun and Jae really have an affair?

After some trekking, Anna Lucia, Sayid and Charlie discover the patch of land where the balloon should be found, according to the map Henry drew them. But back in the Hatch, Jack releases Henry to eat cereal with them. Henry suggests that if he WAS one of “The Others”, he would have drawn them a map to a patch of land where the balloon supposedly crashed, but would have been a perfect spot for an ambush from his supposed friends “The Others”.

Hmm… that was still a longer recap than I first thought it would be. Is there no way to recap this show quickly? Or am I just a bad writer? (you don’t have to answer that).

Anyways, Sawyer reading Judy Blume’s Are You there God, It’s me Margaret. Classic.


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[Veronica Mars] The Quick And The Wed

Veronica tracks down a runaway bride, who turns out has run away because the groom's father has paid PI Vinnie to orchestrated the reason to run. (Does that make sense??)

But as usual, what is interesting about this show are the peripheral on-going storylines. And this week the writers tried super hard to incorporate them all!

Looks like Logan is still screwing around with Hannah's emotions just to get her dad to back off with his fake testimony. But seems like he's starting to fall for Hannah's innocent charms, or at the very least, he's starting to feel guilty for how he's toying with her. It's implied that Logan & Hannah have sex, but is he really that selfish? I sure hope not! Daddy finally gives into Logan and agrees to retract his testimony if Logan stays away from Hannah. He agrees but then runs to Veronica b/c he's done something "terrible". Won't find out until next week what that terrible thing is. [sigh]

Keith is so depressed over the fact that his hero may actually be guilty that she turns over the information about the C4 to the loathesome Sheriff Lamb. Man! That guy is GUUD at acting like a total jackass! He realizes he may have spoken up too soon when he realizes that the C4 was planted in order to be found by the ballplayer's car detailer. But will Lamb listen now that he finally has some evidence? Doubtful. Too bad no one can ask the suspect about the explosives because he's been shot tresspassing at the home of the teacher he was seeing who died in the bus crash.

Kendall is back in high form! Don't get me wrong, I luff the menz, but Kendall looked HOT in that skin tight red dress she was wearing while doing her real estate presentation for Logan. I would LITCHRALLY kill for that body! The Beave is a boy genius. Dick may have inherited daddy's "charm," but the overlooked Beaver got all of his business acumen. If only his future millionaire teacher (what kind of weird class is that anyway?!) knew that his sound advice was going to make this underaged student a present millionaire.

Best scene? LOgan & VEronica (LOVE! awwww!) of course. She approaches Logan about how it's despicable what he's doing with Hannah and he responds with a tap on her nose and an, "aww, you're so cute when you're jealous." [another sigh]

Originally posted by Highbrow


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[Bones] Woman In The Tunnel

Who cares about solving crimes? I want more sexual tension between Bones & Booth.

Well, there was some tension, but it was of the negative variety. Bones made a derisive comment about how Booth and the Mayor of Mole Town were bonding over their shared military background. Booth tore into her, saying if she wanted to know about the terrible things he had to do while in the service he'd tell her but be careful 'cuz the truth ain't pretty. Bones

backs down and he tells her that was wise. Awww, they're first real argument.

Angela also bonds with the "Mayor" but really who cares?

Zack, oh sweet Zack! Not only does he deliver his lines with expertise, but now he's developing the funniest facial expressions!

Bones is looking less Skeletor-like these days, but I think she's losing weight, so I don't know what's really going on. Maybe the fat from her body is moving upwards and filling out the hollowness of her face.....

Originally posted by Highbrow


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Wednesday, March 22, 2006

On-the-Go iPod Music Playlist - Album (sort of) Edition

Alright, I wasn't able to catch American Idol or Amazing Race last night (gasp!) and will bring you those write-ups later this week, but here's this week's music playlist-

James Blunt - Back to Bedlam *(apparently I still need to mention this since some of you still don't know who he is)
Feist - Let it Die *
Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not *(because there's a bandwagon for a reason)
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot it In People *
City and Colour - Sometimes *
Avenue Q - Original Broadway Cast Recording *
High School Musical - Original Soundtrack *
Rex Goudie - Under the Lights *(cause I had to stick another addictive Idol album in here!)

and some songs to stick in between:
Mobile - Out of My Head *
Dixie Chicks - Not Ready to Make Nice *(they're BACK! And Bush hating as ever! WOO!!)
Rascal Flatts – What Hurts The Most
Neverending White Lights – The Grace (even though it's now played to death on the radio)
Andy Stochansky - House of Gold
Death Cab for Cutie – Soul Meets Body
Hedley – 3 2 1 *
Sheryl Crow & Sting - Always On Your Side
a-ha - Analogue (All I Want) * (they're still alive?)

* new to the list


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Tuesday, March 21, 2006

[24] The Following Takes Place Between 8:00PM and 9:00PM

Tony is officially dead for any of you die-hard fans who thought there might be the slightest chance he'd survive whatever was in that needle. So sorry for your loss.

Martial Law, disguised as a city-wide "curfew," is imposed by Pres. Wienie dispite Martha's pleas. The force is strong in the Veep. Too bad it's all from the dark side.

Homeland Security has taken over CTU. But they di'int even know what they were gettin' into, nuh-uh. They did not realize that CTU is run by a bunch of renegade agents that do whatever the hell they want, especially Chloe and Jack. I don't like that creepy new HS dude who is the anti-Chloe. He looks constantly constipated. Well, so does Chloe, but she's cool so it's okay.

Jack's tracked down the "information broker" who has just sold Bierko some schematics of his next target. He does so by trading the NSA "wet list" to a German Intelligence agent who is under the covers with, uh, I mean, undercover investigating the beautiful broker. HS freaks out when they find out the deal he's brokered, but this is also the exact moment when HS realizes that Jack is indestructible and you just have to let him do whatever the heck he wants in order to get the job done! G.I. Jack! He's a real American hack! Whatev, you get the point.... But trust in Jack they do, and not only does he manage to get the girl, he has also managed to pre-program the disk that the wet list is on to self-destruct. What is this "Mission:Impossible"???

The only way the bombshell broker (she has fantastic hair!) will reveal her secrets is if she is granted international immunity on all counts (and smart to boot!). It is granted, so she spills the beans. She gave Bierko schematics of a building, but she doesn't know which building b/c the file was encrypted and in her business it's better not to know. Then she tells Jack who sold her the file: Audrey Raines! TICK. TOCK. TICK. TOCK. (This would make some sense considering she's casted in a new pilot greenlit for the fall season which means she won't be back for Day 6 of "24".)

Originally posted by Highbrow


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[Prison Break] The Rat

I HATE this show! I HATE it with a passion. Then why do you watch it? You may ask. Because I can't help but watch it! It's like a train wreck, I don't want to look, but I can't help myself.

If you were really looking forward to the return of PB but missed it for some reason, don't worry. NOTHING HAPPENS. It's apparently the last 24 hours of Lincoln's life. The escape is thwarted by a replaced vent, the sabotage of the chair is thwarted by Tweener & Bellick, Veronica's appeal is thwarted by the federal judge and Dr. Tancredi's appeal is thwarted by her father the Govenor and the Veep. (Turns out the Gov is in cahoots with the Veep. Dun Dun DUNNNN!) We end with a dejected Lincoln entering the "Death Chamber".

And even though NOTHING HAPPENS, I am hooked. I cannot flip to another channel, hear the phone ring or even get up to take a bathroom break! I'm enthralled. Tears are freely flowing as Veronica, LJ and Michael say their "final" goodbyes to Lincoln. Logically, I know this show is waaaaay too convenient, contrived even, and you really have to be willing to suspend all disbelief in order to buy what they are selling. But I'm willing and I'm buying. And at the end of the episode when faced with another so-called "cliffhanger," I'm back to being PO'd at myself for getting sucked in once again. Arrgh! This is why I hate this show....

Originally posted by Highbrow


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Monday, March 20, 2006

FYI

With the return of "Prison Break," I will no longer be posting on "How I Met Your Mother." Instead I will begin writing my own "Rest of the Week" columns which will include HIMYM.

On that note...

HIMYM - Can we PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE end the whole farce of Robin and Ted and move on with his life? I would probably be totally sucked in if it weren't for the fact that I know it's NEVER going to work out! It was a great hook at the end of the first episode, but maybe in retrospect they shouldn't have revealed that fact so quickly. Barney is definitely the funniest character on the show, but Marshall is getting better and better lines (and delivery) by the week. Finally, I want a cupcake. A really good one. (The ones from Magnolia Bakery are NOTHING to write home about - another FYI.)

Old Christine - I know Vance has already written about this show, but he's a guy and as a guy he cannot fully appreciate the comedy written into this show. WOMEN of the world UNITE to watch this television show! Julia Louis-Dryfess is the perfect everywoman who's out there in the world just trying to make it day by day. I seriously Laughed Out Loud during the first 2 eps that aired last week. I have not laughed like that during a sit-com since the death of my beloved "Friends." Yes, ladies, this show is that good!

Originally posted by Highbrow


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[Grey's Anatomy] Superstition

The ep starts off with 4 surgery's which result in 4 deaths. The morgue guy has it worked out, deaths come in 3s and 7s, so he predicts there will be 3 more deaths before the end of the day. Freaked out yet?

Well, even if you're not, the doctors at Seattle Grace are. Everyone's got there little rituals and superstitions to follow in order to ward off the bad juju. Addison hands out cocoa (which Meredith precedes to throw out - bad juju or not), Bailey takes a deep breath and says a little prayer, Derek says let's have some fun and then cues the music and Burke (heeeyyyy, I just realized something: why do we refer to the African-American characters by their last names??) likes to wear his funky surgical caps of which he is out. This last one leads to antics between Cristina and Bambi.

Cristina apparently has 1 of Burke's caps and gives Burke an ultimatum: If you want the cap back, you have to kick Bambi out of the apartment. I luff that they are sticking with that nickname. It's suits George so well! And whenever he gets that hurt expression on his face, you may have just shot Bambi's mother all over again. Burke assigns George to get the cap by any means possible, but why send a man to do a woman's job? By the end of the episode Izzy gets the cap back (b/c it's Denny on Burke's table and there's still the prospect of 3 deaths to come) and Bambi gets a verbal whipping by a crushed Alex who has just been dumped by Izzy for interferring with her budding relationship with Denny which makes Cristina give in and allow George stay at their place a while longer. Awww, Cristina has a soft side. She doesn't show it often, but we know it's there. She also shows it when she gives the cap back to Burke she lets him know that she believes in his abilities as a great surgeon and that he doesn't need the cap. He says he knows he doesn't need the cap, but after she leaves the smile on his face and the spring in his step tell us that superstitions are hard to break.

Derek finally tells Addison that he's "friends" with Meredith, and trying to be the bigger person, Addison has decided by extension she will be "friends" with Meredith. Neither Mer/Der know how they feel about that because even these friends know they aren't just friends. The triangle just got pointier. (I don't really know what that means but it seems apt in a way.)


SPOILER ALERT!
Word on the street is that one of the interns is going to leave/get kicked out of the surgical program. They will not be leaving the show, just the program. I've already guessed it was going to be Izzy and that feeling was only cemented last night when she kissed Denny. This chick has jumped so far past the line that I'm surprised that Burke did not kick her off the case weeks ago. Besides, everyone else has worked too hard to make it plausible that they would leave the program by choice or even otherwise.

Originally posted by Highbrow


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Sound Bite!

IZZY (to Cristina): I grew in a trailer park so I am not above kicking your pampered little Beverley Hills ass. I mean physically kick your ass. ~ "Grey's Anatomy"

DOUG: It's dirty dancing time and Baby's back. ~ "King of Queens"

TED: I think frosting makes me lie. ~ "How I Met Your Mother"

Originally posted by Highbrow


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Sunday, March 19, 2006

New Eps This Week (March 20-26th)

New Eps This Week

Monday March 20
Prison Break – RETURNS – FOX/Global 8pm
Corner Gas - CTV 8pm
Degrassi TNG - CTV 8:30pm
How I Met Your Mother – CBS 8:30pm
The New Adventures of Old Christine – CBS/CH 9:30p
24 – FOX 9pm, Global 10pm

Tuesday March 21
American Idol – FOX/CTV 8pm (2hrs)
Scrubs – NBC 9pm (30 min)
Sons & Daughters – ABC 9pm (1 hr)
Out of Practice – CH 9pm
The Amazing Race – CBS/CTV 10pm
Boston Legal – ABC/CH 10pm

Wednesday March 22
Lost – CTV 8pm, ABC 9pm
Out of Practice – CBS 8pm
Bones – FOX 8pm
Freddie – ABC/SUN 8:30pm
American Idol Results – FOX/CTV 9pm
The Loop – CH 9pm (1hr)
Veronica Mars - UPN 9pm
Heist – SERIES PREMIERE – NBC/Global 10pm
The Evidence – SERIES PREMIERE – ABC 10pm

Thursday March 23
The Loop – Fox 8:30pm
My Name is Earl – NBC/Global 9pm
The Office – NBC/Global 9:30pm

The OC – FOX/CTV 9pm

Sunday March 26
The West Wing – NBC 8pm
Desperate Housewives – ABC/CTV 9pm
Free Ride – FOX/Global 9:30pm


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Rest of the Week

The New Adventure of Old Christine – Pilot, Supertramp (NEW SERIES)
Another cute family comedy that fits into CBS’s Monday comedy line-up, with Julia Louis Dreyfus as Christine, a divorced woman who remains friends with her ex. Her ex however is dating a new girl, also called Christine, thus, Julia is dubbed, Old Christine. Julia is back in form (though I also thought Watching Ellie was pretty funny (starring a then unknown Steve Carrell)) and with Clark Gregg as her ex, and Hamish Linklater (another Gideon’s Crossing alum) as her brother, there’s some great chemistry in this group for some good comedy. (Andy Richter guesting on the second episode Supertramp was HILARIOUS as “Sad Dad” who Christine ends up sleeping with, her first since getting divorced 2 years ago)

Sons & Daughters - Film Festival, BBQ Therapy

This week, Gillian Vigman gets to shine as Cameron's Wife Liz Walker, when Henry (Cameron's son) gets a film into a film festival, and as the family and everyone else it seems, is invited to Cameron's annual BBQ. Still trying to figure out who everyone is though, but still some very awkward but funny moments. It's kinda like The Office meets Arrested Development except with an even bigger cast.


Boston Legal – Stick It!
I’m not sure if I’m loving the daughter on heroin storyline, or hating it, as it seems to be taking screen time away from Julie Bowen or James Spader. Maybe it’s just director Adam Arkin giving more screen time to his ex-co-star from Chicago Hope days.

The OC – The Journey
Damn. Marissa is still alive. Meanwhile, Ryan turns 18. (REALLY? Do they really expect us to believe this at this point? More like 26). Sandy locates Ryan’s mom in jail in Albuquerque, and Summer tells Julie Cooper that she knows of her tryst with her dad. Seth hires a Foreigner Cover Band for Ryan’s birthday, only to tell him it’s a Journey’s cover band, Ryan’s favourite, only because Foreigner is so much better than Journey.

My Name is Earl – Dad’s Car

Was I the only one completely disturbed by Randy and Joy, even if it was only a visual gag? Still, a very funny episode with Earl’s parents again, and Joy getting drunk while the kids are away.

The Loop - Jack Air
I know the Jack Air jokes were cheap but they were nonetheless very funny. Especially with Mimi Rogers there sitting completely deadpan. Sam is responsible with coming up with a new idea for a discount airline but can't help partying it up with the beer girl. Ends up in Cabo. Sam hair gets the rasta look. I think they like to have some fun with poor Bret Harrison, since he got his head partially shaved in the pilot ep, and now this!


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The Amazing Race - I'm in Russia Playing with Dolls

Well, they must have known I was going to get sick on Tuesday and end up missing the episode, since it was another leg where it never really ends. We may SEE Phil on the mat, in the Red Square in Moscow, but that’s just the halfway point and we get duped out of an elimination. At least Team Abs doesn’t get another prize for getting there first.

This week, they zipline in Brazil, then fly Lufthansa (do the teams get to collect Star Alliance points on this trip?) through Frankfurt to Moscow where all the teams end up bunching up again. There’s a detour where teams must open those neverending dolls to find a clue or wash a bus. Only, the bus lot seems to be the hardest place to find EVER… and teams that chose the daunting dolls task ended up finishing first.
There was a pool jump in between, where we got to see more of Team Abs (should I be surprised that he had a nipple ring?) and Rhett shirtless, but really? Did Yolanda or the mother HAVE to do this task if they are BOTH AFRAID OF WATER? You are at a POOL and the tasks ask to be ready to take a plunge. READ DAMNIT. READ.
So, it’s a To Be Continued… episode…though at this point, does every show feel like it is just buying its time until May Sweeps?


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The Office - Take Your Daughter To Work Day

Its “Take Your Daughter To Work Day” and that just scares Michael. Pam’s goal is to get ONE child to like her, with the lure of candies around her desk (just like in Hansel and Gretel), and Ryan is screamed out by Stanley when his daughter takes a liking to the young hottie.
How can so little happen in a show and yet so much happen in an episode?
One just needs to watch for themselves the videotape of a young Michael being interviewed on a children’s show to understand why Michael is Michael. The tape ends up reminding Michael of his initial yearnings for a family, and along with his oddly heartfelt bond with enemy-Toby’s adorable daughter, he sets forth to find a mate on an internet dating service, only to sign up with the moniker “lilkidlover”.
That’s when I spit out whatever I was eating at the time and rolled on the floor laughing.

We also get glimpses of Angela and Dwight flirting, Jim’s slight at Pam, and poor Phyllis is called Mother Goose. Kudos to Mindy for writing another great ep, in this fast-favourite series and for writing more lines for BJ Novak, who apparently can’t do it for himself.


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Friday, March 17, 2006

The Lord of The Rings: The Musical - Early Review

Dancing Hobbits, Singing Gandolf, Jumping Orcs Oh My!

Princess of Wales Theatre, Toronto

WARNING: SOME SPOILER ALERTS

When I heard it first announced last year or so, that The Lord of the Rings was going to be put on stage, I said that it was either going to be Spectacularly BAD or Spectacularly Amazing but either way, something that might be interesting to see.

Now that I’ve seen it? (Although, note, Official Opening night is still not until next week Thursday March 23rd 2006 and they are still apparently tinkering and editing with it a lot, including cutting a whole scene out last week, apparently. So the Official press coverage and reviews are holding off until then).

It’s definitely NOT Spectacularly BAD… but it wasn’t exactly spectacularly great either, though it would be somewhere in the middle leaning on the Great side.

First off, maybe I was expecting too much, as it was partially described as “Dark Crystal” meets “Cirque du Soleil” meets Julie Taymor’s “The Lion King”. It definitely had a lot of those elements, but I kinda wanted even MORE.

Still, upon entering the theatre, you enter the world of the Hobbits in the Shire and its amusing watching Hobbits doing their daily thing around the theatre as people are still trying to get seated. Fireflies dance in mid-air (very simple, very cool effect) as Hobbits try to catch them, jumping onto unfilled seats to reach for them. Then there’s a dance and a ditty, and away the show goes.

A long exposition catches up the story and soon we are off to embark on the long (on my night, it clocked in at 3hrs 45 min including 2 intermissions, though still not the longest show I’ve seen scarily enough, that would be The Iceman Cometh with Kevin Spacey at The Old Vic at just over 4 hours and NO Dancing HOBBITS. Apparently LOTR will contractually have to be under 3hrs 30 min though I’m not sure if that includes intermissions.) journey with Frodo, Sam, Gandalf and the others.

Yes, it’s a Musical, though they kept saying it is a misnomer. Which it kinda is and yet, not as much as I thought it would be. It still felt a lot more like a Broadway musical than it did a Cirque du Soleil show, but by the end of the night, I think it was the more traditional songs that stood out for me. The Music was much more Celtic Folk songs or Enya kinda stuff, though I think I liked the Hobbits singing the Folksy stuff the best, and in the end, I actually thought there WASN’T ENOUGH songs.

You could also say it was a play with songs, since there’s a LOT to cram into The Lord of the Rings on stage, and at times, I still felt things could be edited down even further (to die hard fans, it’s a musical, on stage, its going to be cut. Get over it!) and had an even tighter storyline.

Some of the staging was also a little bland, symmetrical and traditional (when TreeBeard and the other trees come sauntering in, do they really have to stand in a semi circle?), and almost just let some of the set pieces take over, but I still commend director Matthew Warchus (Art, The Unexpected Man, True West) trying to juggle numerous characters and 55 actors around.

So what’s amazing about the show? First off, the simplistic but imaginative stage, which was used to it’s fullest. I’ll keep my mouth shut on this one, (and we’ve already seen it used before in other shows to a lesser extent) but the actual stage is used quite effectively in the numerous and constantly changing scenes.

With simple but clever lighting, there was many times when the entire theatre felt like it was shifting about, when nothing was even moving.

The puppets, the Orcs, and a few other surprises are all quite amazing, but again, I’ve seen it before, most notably in His Dark Materials (London’s National Theatre)(though I didn’t actually see it, I saw the pictures and press material) and Julie Taymor’s The Lion King. Still, if things like Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors, coming crawling into the audience, in it’s last incarnation on Broadway 2 years ago, and other “special effects” like the Helicopter (Miss Saigon) and Chandelier (Phantom of the Opera), The Lord of the Rings has NUMEROUS offerings for the eyes. Still, maybe with Cirque du Soleil, I was expecting too much? (Granted, they have a bigger stage and LOTR is still limited to a traditional proscenium stage setting). Still, the Horses and Spider were quite cool!

And let’s just Fast Forward 2 years (LOTR is expected to hit Broadway in ‘08) and just hand Michael Therriault his Tony Award NOW for playing Gollum. With an obvious homage to Andy Serkis, the Gollum on stage is just simply AMAZING. (How does he stay like that on stage? For so long? Get this man a Chiropractor stat!)

The rest of the cast is quite good, if not just to fill out their roles, except poor Tony Award winning Brent Carver as Gandalf, already smeared in a few early blog reviews. He may be a great actor but he’s miscast in the role, as his voice is simply too young for the weightiness required by Gandalf.

One question, did they really cast shorter people for the hobbits, taller people everyone else? or just clever costuming? I'm still not sure but you DO get the feeling the hobbits are littler.

So, let’s hope they do a little editing of the script, and I kinda wish they would add in a little bit more acrobatics into the fight scenes, (I almost want the WALL like in Cirque du Soleil’s KA, or another CIRCLE OF LIFE sequence in The Lion King), and I think they need to completely cut the final scene (which I believe is completely new and ridiculous) and I would almost want to ADD some more folk songs, as the songs they had were actually really quite good, just a little sparse between the 3.75 hours. (We need more of Frodo (James Loye) and Sam (Peter Howe) singing, we really do! and James and Peter are so wonderfully hobbitally cute!). I’m still not fully convinced LOTR is conducive to being made into a musical, as it still seems to dark and dreary (and the happy ending at the end isn’t enough to make it a Feel-Good show that seems to be needed to make a Broadway hit nowadays) but it’s still definitely an interesting experience to see on stage.

If you’re a LOTR fan, or theatre fan, go see this show, if you are not, I’m not sure this is the show that will convince you of the theatrical experience (I still think Chicago, Avenue Q or a Cirque show will). It’s far better than Wicked (still the most popular show on Broadway) which I found plodding and slow, (but luckily it’s based on a Gregory Maguire book with a GREAT concept which seems to reel everybody in).
And it’s not Spectacularly bad like Cats, Starlight Express or A Clockwork Orange: The Musical (yes, it existed briefly and I actually saw it, and my friend actually liked it, (Sorry S, I thought it was the most horrid piece of theatre I have EVER Seen)). Still, I think in recent memory, Billy Elliot The Musical (at London’s Victoria Palace Theatre), would still be my number one pick for the show to see in the world right now.

So quantifying the review so you call understand easeir? 3 stars out of 5, 2.5 stars out of 4, B- for show, though maybe a B+ for the effort and cast and crew.

Also while I'm still on Musical Theatre, I'm going to give in my prediction now, before the show even starts, that The Drowsy Chaperone will win Best New Musical at the Tony Awards this year.

Anyways, until next time I see you at the the-a-tah... (see you soon Julia Roberts! my dahling!) Ta -ta for now...


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Thursday, March 16, 2006

The Loop - Pilot

Premiering last night, with its second episode tonight, The Loop follows Sam, a 23 year old who gets hired straight off his thesis in college into an exec job at an airline company headed by a tenacious Philip Baker Hall (what the hell is HE doing on a TV show? Man, TV really is the new movies).
Filmed in one-camera, like Arrested Development, Scrubs, Sons & Daughters and the other new Fox show about post-college life, Free Ride, it’s another sitcom that splices quirkiness into the “real world”.

Does it work this time? YES. Why? 4 Reasons.

Reason number one: One of the Co-creators is Will Gluck, who did the brilliant Andy Richter Controls the Universe, combines the wacky world of work with the wacky world of our being in our 20’s, something that shockingly hasn’t really been explored in television nowadays (because apparently, we all live where 20 murders happen a day and we must all know forensic science to solve them).
Reason number two: Bret Harrison is EXTREMELY likeable as Sam, the main character that fantastically plays goofy, slapstick alongside sincere and naïve against:
Reason number three: Philip Baker Hall, as Russ, the president of the airline that hired Sam, in all his bitter command.
Reason number four: Mimi Rogers (Ex-Mrs. Cruise, although by the end of the year, who won’t have had that role yet?), as Meryl, the Vice-something exec. The Cougar to Sam’s prey.

It still wasn’t perfect, like the way Scrubs or AD started off, but I can’t wait to see more, which is a good sign. Keep me in The Loop! (You know I had to).


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[Veronica Mars] Versatile Toppings

I know, I know...I just wrote that Booth was dreamy in the 8pm slot, but now Logan is giving me a second case o' the vapours! At 9pm, dreamy is mixed in with a lil' danger! I didn't expect Logan to get outed so early, but I suppose they only have a few more weeks left until May sweeps, so they gotta get it all in before then. It'll be interesting where this thing with Hannah is going now that everything *seems* to be out in the open.

Veronica is hands down the BEST female character on tv! She's strong, she's sassy, she's smart, she's everything I want to be at 30 but she's only 18! In this episode she finds out that guest star Kristin Cavallari is a gay student blackmailing to out the other gay students at Neptune High in order to make enough money to get out of dodge. The case was kind of boring, but it gave us a chance to see Mac so not all was lost.

The Mars Investigations case with Jackie's dad is also dragging on. With ever passing episode, and it didn't help that they've been in re-run for the past month!, I lose interest in who blew up the bus. Hopefully, that will change with all of the new episodes they are planning to air each week. And, speaking of Jackie, I still don't like her character. Let's hope they don't renew her contract. Cross your fingers folks!

My fave line in the show: "You're rich guy kryptonite." Dick tells Veronica when she snarks that she thought they were starting to be friends. I felt bad for her though, b/c the look on her face said it all. It hit harder than she expected b/c it appears to be the truth.

VERONICA & LOGAN 4EVA!

Originally posted by Highbrow


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[Bones] Two Bodies In The Lab

Forget McDreamy! Special Agent Seeley Booth is DREAMY!!! Not even multiple broken bones, burns or bruises will stop him from coming to the aid of Bones! NOTHING! [sigh!] At the end when he doesn't have the strength to lift her off the meat hook with his arm so he pops his head between her bound arms and lifts her with his broken body? I think I have a case o' the vapours! [lashes fluttering]

LUFFED that Bones is open to online dating! (and that Booth was soooo jealous!) But only in a tv show does the potential date turn out to be as good as he sounds online! (now I'm soooooo jealous!)

Okay, raise your hands if you did not see that the bad guy was the other agent. You, you and you, SHAME! Now go stand in the corner.

Originally posted by Highbrow


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Survivor America's Next Top Immunity Idol

Survivor was a recap, Goodbye Melissa, don't forget your words on the way out the door, and blonde Carrie is ONE UGLY CHICK.

Survivor: Recap... All I could determine from this excuse episode as March Madness goes on, is that Bruce "Karate" is even crazier than we thought since he insisted on using the remaining half bottle of clean drinkable water to clean his hands AS IT WAS RAINING while STANDING FEETS AWAY FROM THE OCEAN. CRAZY I tell ya!
I was so bored that there was a momentarily lapse of judement and the tv was switched over to America's Next Top Model and then my hand must have froze because I STAYED. And I HATE THIS SHOW. You would think the cattiness of the models and Miss Jay would be funny but I just don't buy it. The Oh-so-Serious Elimination is VERY FUNNY THOUGH but I'm guessing Highly unintentionally. Still, who am I to judge? During the summers, I'm addicted to Big Brother!

I tell you what WAS funny? Seeing Ace in the bottom 3 last night on American Idol! I LAUGHED AND LAUGHED AND LAUGHED!!! THINK you're so Pretty Boy? SUCKER. APPARENTLY America's no longer buying that act. The fact that he was seated next to "Part-Time Lover" Kevin Covais and the fact that Chicken Little was safe made the news even BETTER!
I kinda had a feeling Melissa and Bucky would be the other 2, but didn't feel surprised when Lisa took the spot alongside Melissa instead. She's good but very typical and unmemorable. Maybe if her name was Fantasia or something (or Paris)? (Yes, that was a dig at Fantasia, and partially Paris though she did do a good job this past week).


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Wednesday, March 15, 2006

On-The-Go iPod Playlist

So apologies to the Great Canadian Playlist from CBC radio, but I thought I'd steal from them, only added with my cheesier song mixes and no limits and the fact that only I get to add to the list in my own little dictorial wonderland. (Although apparently if your name is Josh, you land on my list easier). Here's my current playlist in no particular order (some are repeated from some previous postings but godarnit, they are good songs worth repeating):

Rascal Flatts – What Hurts The Most
Neverending White Lights – The Grace
Josh Turner – Your Man
Sara Evans – Saints and Angels
Andy Stochansky - House of Gold
Stabilo – Flawed Design
Gordie Sampson – You (or Somebody Like You)
Rihanna – SOS
Teddy Geiger – For You I Will
Teddy Geiger – Love Is a Marathon

High School Musical w/ Lucas Gabreel & Ashley Tinsdale – What I’ve Been Looking For
City and Colour – Save Your Scissors
Death Cab for Cutie – Soul Meets Body
Hedley – Trip
Oliver James – Long Time Coming
Josh Ritter – Harrisburg
Josh Kelley – Almost Honest
Ne-Yo – So Sick
The Veronica’s – I Can Get Used To This
Sheryl Crow & Sting - Always On Your Side
All-American Rejects - Dirty Little Secret (yeah, I know. not as good as Swing Swing but still enjoyable)

I know. I get up all in arms when people love manipulate feel goods like Crash but meanwhile I love and bask in the shameful fromage that is music.

Anything I should add that I don't know about yet?


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New Eps This Week (oops)

NEW EP of VERONICA MARS. TONIGHT. 9pm UPN.


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American Idol - Top 12

Finally. Top 12.
Again, they claim this is the best top 12 they’ve ever had, although this time, I kinda think its true.

And then the Top 12 had to sing… and half ruin that for me.

Everybody was alright, but underwhelming. Maybe I’ve built them all up, but everybody from Ace, Kellie to Mandisa and Elliot were only decent singing Stevie Wonder (then again, more songs than not, I had NEVER even heard of them, no offence to Mr. Wonder). It was only in the second half that the singers seemed to get their bounce, with great performances out of Katharine, Paris, Taylor and Chris, which still leads us to believe that right now, it’s still anybody’s game to beat now-for-sure-front-runner Chris Daughtry.
Now, let’s hope Chicken Little is out tonight, as overconfidently cute as he may be, though my guess is he won’t be. And enough with these Theme nights. I mean. Stevie Wonder is great but even he couldn’t have 12 great songs to pick from as I found a bunch last night quite lackluster despite pretty good performers (and yes, a GREAT performer should be able to booster ANY song but let’s face it, even great ones had some snoozer songs, and yes, I think people are tending to avoid picking the "famous" songs since they've been overdone in past American Idol's).


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For Your Amusement

"Someone went through a lot of trouble to very accurately depict the Simpsons intro with real life actors."

How far we've come in VFX not only in film but in commercials as well. In the 80s, Stephen King did a commercial for AmEx exploiting his notoriety as the king of horror. This year, AmEx released a new ad starring a more current horror king, M. Night Shyamalan. Experience the difference for yourself! [Thanks to Rickies for bringing the latter to my attention!]

Originally posted by Highbrow


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Tuesday, March 14, 2006

[24] The Following Takes Place Between 7:00PM and 8:00PM

Why oh why do they not escape thru those conveniently uncontaminated corridors behind the false walls in CTU?!

Lynn takes one for the team, but considering this is all his fault, it only seems appropriate. Unfortunately, he takes an innocent red guard down with him. But I want to commend the hobbit on being able to hold his breath for as long as he did! I tried to hold me breath along with him but gave up much quicker.

Please oh please tell me that's the last we see of Kim. I see her point, but that doesn't make her any less of a cold-hearted bitch! I loved the interaction between Kim and Chloe though. Even in shock, Chloe could put that little ingrate in her place! And how useless was the ponyboy character? I did like the scene where Jack starts choking him and Chloe's all, okay, stop it, I'll get back to work. I know I always say it's all about ME, but this show is ALL about Chloe!

Pres. Wienie does nothing to improve my opinion of him. The man is on the verge of a nervous breakdown! "I can't take much more of this." He doesn't care if the Veep is trying to horn in on his job. I think he'd actually appreciate it if the Veep just took over the whole operation. Novick is starting to lose his control over the President and not liking it one bit. He had to pick which was the lesser of two evils and has joined forces with the First Crazy.

Bierko's all set-up and ready to kill off the population of Los Angeles, which upon further introspection may not be a bad thing, but his whole plan now rests in the hands of a Russian prostitute??

Homeland Security is coming in and planning to take over CTU. I predict (safely) sparks are going to fly!

Originally posted by Highbrow


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Monday, March 13, 2006

Film Review - Caché (Hidden)

Not so much a review as a plea to anyone who saw Caché (directed and written by Michael Haneke) and could explain the ending to me (or the middle, or the beginning for that matter)?

Still, a fantastically directed film in that confused-what-the-hell-is-happening sort of way for the entire movie. Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche are great as the couple being stalked, and the slow pacing (Brokeback haters, you will think this is too slow too) only adds to the Hitchcockian feel.

Was the ending though just more "uneasiness" like the rest of the movie?


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[Grey's Anatomy] Band Aid Covers The Bullet Hole

George finally cut his hair! Okay, so it didn't look any better because he did it himself with a cuticle cutter (I'm surprised Cristina never mentions that he used her cuticle cutter) but the mop top is finally gone! Yea! Unfortunately, he still won't talk to Meredith even though she continues to attempt appology. But you know what? I totally agreed with her at lunch. It takes two. It's easy to blame the Dirty Mistress, but she's not the only one to blame for the rift between the interns.

I LUFF the Burke-George bonding scenes! George really is "Burke's guy." That look she gives them at the end when they are playing a terrible trumpet and clarinet? Priceless! It is the same look I would have had in the same situation. And I LUFFED Izzy's dig at Cristina about being afraid George makes a better girlfriend. Heh. Well, it looks like George is going to become Dr. Torres' bitch soon. I have to say, George is not the only she makes nervous...But in a different way.

The MerDer friendship continues to grow. I'm glad McDreamy maintained his dreamy status by getting over his own hurt feelings over Mere sleeping with yet another man, and giving her the friendly advise she needed to hear. Although, it was nothing we hadn't already heard from everyone else. The elevator joke was a nice touch though. But really now, let's get Derek to make some real decisions about his marriage. Is it over? Is he going to seriously try and fix it? and if so, is becoming "friends" with Meredith really the smartest move?

Izzy, maintain some professional distance, will ya already?!

Cristina and a baby. That's all that needs to be said!

Originally posted by Highbrow


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[Ghost Whisperer] Miss Fortune

I don't get why Miranda feels like she has to get involved even after the ghost tells her he doesn't want her help. How does she pick and choose which ghosts need her help the most? Especially when she goes to a place where there are many ghosts that all plead for her help. She gets annoyed by these ghosts, but the ghosts that are annoyed by her she insists on helping.

And what's with the Magician's younger brother? All he ever wanted was to be as good a magician as his brother, always left in his big brother's shadow, so he goes ahead and falls in love with his brother's girlfriend who's admitted that she'll never love anyone the way she loved the Magician? I totally didn't buy his character. I felt like there should have been some more development there. Maybe it all ended up on the cutting room floor....

Is Jim, Miranda's hubby, a biscuit or what? I just want to eat him all up! I know there's always great guys on tv that don't exist in real life, but this season we seem to be inundated with the most understand men EVA!: Jim, Burke (Grey's Anatomy), Booth (Bones), and Marshall (How I Met Your Mother). But seriously, after Miranda almost gets run off the road by a ghost, Jim's all concerned but continues to let her pursue this obviously dangerous spirit. He's all, "just be careful," and she's all, "I always am." Lady! You just got your breaklines cut by an earthbound spirit! That ain't "safe"!

This show has gone from sweet storylines, to scarier ones, in order to cash in on the public's apparent undying (heh) thirst for horror, but it still makes me cry at the end. Yes, I am now 17 tearing-ups out of 18 eps.

Originally posted by Highbrow


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Sunday, March 12, 2006

Desperate Housewives - There Is No Other Way

I know. The Sopranos are back. Go, Go ahead, turn the channel. The Sopranos are cooler. At least while Desperate Housewives remains in its sophomore slump (though I think you are all far underestimating DH). I'm sticking with DH for now. Mainly cause I don't get pay cable like HBO, which kinda puts a damper in any choice to watch The Sopranos anyways. Hey, I don't make that much (yet) and if you all spread the word about this site, maybe we could get the traffic like Gawker does and make 6 figures too.

If I made enough, maybe I wouldn't be watching TV and writing this blog...

well. okay. Yes I will. but I could probably hire a young slave (er. I mean typist) to write this for me. (Speaking of which, where did that Chinese "guest" of the Solis' go?)

Meanwhile, on this week's Desperate Housewives, we get some fantastic moments spilled evenly between a mediocre episode (okay. FINE. Go flip to The Sopranos already...). Gabrielle's rant about the pregnant teen getting to judge fit parents, Tom Scavo's remarks about Lynette's view of the importance of work over family, and Bree's final throw down (and wine toss) at Andrew.
Meanwhile, Paul Young is brought to custody and thought to be murdered, only to walk back to Zach to the shock of Felicia Tilman, who was ready to mother Zach all over again.
And FINALLY, Susan gets the surgery (was that the longest week EVER? This story has been going on for at least 3 eps, yet it was supposed to be a rush surgery), but of course, love issues are all messed up as the nurse discovers her "marriage" to Karl, and Susan returns Dr. Ron's statement of love with a statement of love for Mike in return. Ah, what a way to bring back Mike Delfino into the storyline.

And coming off Black History Month, where did all the black people go? As Mrs. Applewhite and her two sons were nowhere to be seen again this week. Hmm... and right after Gedeon gets booted too? Maybe Crash did have a point? (Brokeback was still better and a week later, I'm still bitter.)


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New Eps for this Week (March 13-19)

Monday March 13
Corner Gas - CTV 8pm
Degrassi TNG - CTV 8:30pm
The New Adventures of Old Christine – SERIES PREMIERE CBS 8:30pm , CBS/CH 9:30pm
24 – FOX 9pm, Global 10pm

Tuesday March 14
American Idol – FOX/CTV 8pm (2hrs)
Scrubs – NBC 9pm (30 min)
Sons & Daughters – ABC 9pm (1 hr)

The Amazing Race – CBS/CTV 10pm
Boston Legal – ABC/CH 10pm

Wednesday March 15
Bones – FOX 8pm
Survivor: Exile Island CBS/Global 8pm
Freddie – ABC/SUN 8:30pm
American Idol Results – FOX/CTV 9pm
The Loop – SERIES PREMIERE – FOX/CH 9:30pm

Thursday March 16
The Loop – Fox 8:30pm
My Name is Earl – NBC/Global 9pm
The Office – NBC/Global 9:30pm
The OC – FOX/CTV 9pm
ER – NBC/CTV 10pm

Friday March 17
InJustice – ABC 9pm

Sunday March 19
Free Ride – FOX/Global 9:30pm
How I Met Your Mother – CH 9:30pm
Grey’s Anatomy – ABC/CTV 10pm


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Rest of the Week

Scrubs - J.D. and Dr. Cox finally become a "we" trying to deal with the dying Michael Learned, with the help of psycholigist Dave Foley (duly missed from Newsradio, why are you wasting your talents at Celebrity Poker?) and Elliot realises her booty call has become something more. I don't really have anything witty to say because I think the show already said all the hilarity for me.

The OC - Marissa is still alive? Good lord, kill her off already so the show might have a chance at being good again. Notice every storyline that sucked revolves around her? Oliver, Yard guy, Alex I-don't-buy-it-for-a-second Lesbian affair, the Trey-shooting, Johnny, and Kaitlin. Let's get back to the real show, Seth and Summer with pal Ryan and the best parents around, Sandy and Kirsten, with a bit of old style bitchiness from Julie Cooper. SANS Marissa.

Without a Trace - They cracked at least 2 jokes on this episode! AND Taylor and Jack Malone sang. AND Elena, Vivian and Samantha were referred as Charlie's Angels. When did WOT get a sense of humour? I like it, although I kept expecting a bomb to go off or something at the end in the bowling alley.


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Thursday, March 09, 2006

Survivor American Immunity Idol Results

Where do I start? GEDEON. I TOLD YOU YOU HAVE TO SHAVE OFF THAT NASTY 'STACHE. Now you and your bigass smile are off the show and we have no coloured men in the final 12. Kevin Covais got more votes than you? Shame... Told you. (And seeing the audition clips, when you had a clean face and short hair, you looked SO much better and younger and thus nothing to distract from your voice). Oh well, have a nice life.
I was a little shocked that Ayla also got booted, since I was warming up to her, but I guess she was just another beautiful stick without any distinctive marks except for her height. Same could be said for Kinnik, just not as tall.
As for Will? You had a fan in me, sadly, I was probably the only one.

On Survivor, they did a combo Immunity/Reward Challenge with giant skull cutouts left-over from the mini-putt course on the island. This meant my favorite disfunctional team (as opposed to my favorite disfunctional family) was able to beat La Mina's skinny behind and win the Immunity Idol AND Choose someone from La Mina to go to Exile Island, but who wouldn't be coming back until AFTER the Tribal Council had taken place, meaning, they would be safe. Since Sally stood out like a sore thumb against the other 4 remaining guys, Casaya was smart enough to send Sally off to Exile, leaving the Alliance between the 4 guys in shambles. Well, it was supposed to be that way until Dan boringly accepted defeat and essentially asked to be voted off.... snoooze...

and yet again, even when Casaya isn't the main storyline, they remain the prominent story. They were rewarded a trip to the village to feast with local Panimanians, but the unravelling between Shane and Courtney continue, as the alliance is broken, then fixed, broken, fixed, all while Cirie comments that she wished they lost because Shane would have been voted off at that point, without time to buy back Courtney and Danielle's trust again. I hear ya Sista'! Aras and Cirie are totally playing the game perfectly, letting Dani, Courtney, Shane and Bruce self-destruct.

Oh yeah, and was Shane sucking back that cigarette he got from the local, sucking in a Mick Jagger lips sort of way, possibily one of the most horrific images one has EVER seen? Kids? Thinking of smoking? Look at Shane. Do you want to look like him?

I thought not.


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iPod This!

Been totally repeating this song ad nauseum this week. In case you like new country (I know. Its a cheat cause its pop with a twang), check out:

Rascal Flatts - "What Hurts The Most"

I'm also fond of S.O.S. from Rihanna. Which I guess is at the opposite end of the spectrum from country. The beat is quite catchy (probably cause its stolen, er, I mean "sampled").


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Sound Bite!

"7 in 10 years."
"70%. 7 in 10."
"That's not 70%."
"Those were your words. You said 7 in 10."
"Okay. You win that argument."
~Dan Bakkedahl "Uncaged Heat" expose on "The Daily Show"

"I know you're tight with Larry King, but I'm getting Nightline, Hardball and The Daily Show. That is where most of America gets its news."
~Spin Doctor on "Boston Legal"

Originally posted by Highbrow


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[Bones] The Man On The Fairway

How absolutely CUTE were Bones and Booth last night!! They have just nudged out Veronica & Logan as my fave will-they-won't-they couple! Why doesn't Booth just make a move already? He must know Bones well enough by now to know that she probably doesn't consider it proper to get involved with him in that way due to their professional relationship, as well as the fact that she still doesn't know whether or not he's still seeing that lawyer girlfriend of his. Their sweet, goofy, "you missed me" "no i didn't" banter made me melt a lil'.

I'm glad she didn't kiss the Alien. (Did you see his eyes? They were really black and shiny! It was like the effect they use in tv and movies to indicated to the viewer when a "person" is really an alien.) But I have to give him props for his timing! He figured out before she did that if she had not shown her parents file to Booth, they must not be as close as they seem. He was wrong, but still. Props.

How adorable is Zack! (Yes, I realize I keep ending these questions with exclamation marks, but, c'mon, they are obviously rhetorical.) I just want to put him in my pocket and whenever my cynical nature needs a zap of social naivete I'd pull him out to make me smile! Besides which, I've always been a sucker for a nerd. Intelligence is definitely a turn-on!

Best moment of the night? Gotta be when Goodman lays it all out for Hodgins. His, "I'm not a nice guy speech" and then the sneaky smile afterwards. LUFF IT!

This show has successful combined a procedural show with a character driven serial. This is not an easy thing to do, and most shows fail when they attempt this desired combination. (See "Conviction" 6 weeks from now) "Grey's Anatomy" has obviously been most successful this season, but hopefully with the "American Idol" lead-in/lead-out (starting next week) the people who watch GA will being to notice that "Bones" is a great mid-week alternative.

ps: For my loyal readers, I guess you can see I've changed my style quite a bit. If you miss an episode of a show I cover, please feel free to email me (click on my name to the right) and I'll personally send you a re-cap!! Now don't YOU feel special??

Originally posted by Highbrow


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Wednesday, March 08, 2006

American Idol - Boys Night

So let's talk Elliott first. Admit it. He is one ugly dude. But that VOICE. SO SMOOTH. SO SOULFUL. And out of THAT FACE? Kinda makes him cute and endearing actually... LOVE IT. Not his best (though, did Bryan Adams ruin that Heaven song already) but still one of my favorite performances of the night. Definitely one of the top 3 performers period (do they really need to go to top 12? Can't they just go to Top 3 right away with Chris, Elliott and Mandisa?)
Taylor sang GREAT but my only thought was, do we really need another Steve Winwood? Did we need the first Steve Winwood?
Chris is the Man Mandisa and though sang a quieter performance, his voice still shines through mediocre songs and let's hope he makes final 3.
Hi Ace, Justin Timberlake already got the position. Thanks for applying.
Hi Kevin Covais, Chicken Little already got the position. Thanks for applying.
As for the others, like Kellie, I like Will Makar for some inexplicable reason. Give me this one okay?
Gedeon is great but I feel he keeps picking the wrong songs and STILL needs to shave off that 'stache.
Oh, and Bucky? I remember he's good but already forgot his performance.
Bucky will go. Will Will or Kevin be the second one to go? Probably Will. As for the girls? Adios Melissa and Kinnik. Although I wouldn't be surprised if Lisa was knocked off.


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Sons & Daughters - Anniversary Party (Pilot) & Bowling Night

It's quirky, it's a one camera show, it's on against House/American Idol, and I liked it a lot and laughed out loud...so it'll never last...
It's not as wacky and hilarious as Arrested Development (will anything ever be?) but it's in a similar vein, with a HUGE cast of characters (an asset just as much as it is a detriment) that can get somewhat confusing, even when they label each of the characters and their relationships with the main character Cameron.
Sons & Daughters follows Cameron, his wife, his teenage son (played by Frasier's son), his sister, his half-sister, their children, their husband/ex, Cameron's parents... etc... you get the point.
If you can figure out who is who, then their is much to love about this show. Although EW thought the show and its characters had too much of a disdain for others and life, the bitterness is probably what I loved most about it (since, as you all may have noticed, I'm still bitter about Brokeback Mountain losing Best Picture and even worse, Crash WINNING Best Picture (it would have been a different story if Good Night, and Good Luck. had won at least)).

Characters to watch for? Carrie Fenton (Eden Sher), the bespectacled little girl with a mouth of a 40 year old (usually creepy but Eden plays it hilariously), Jeff Fenton (Randy Wayne) as the cool good looking jock with the heart of gold but the brains of a dungheap, Whitey (Greg Pitts, one of George's Brothers on Grey's Anatomy) as Jenna's (Cameron's half-sister) child's father (and not husband, as they clearly noted on the screen). I know. Confusing. They really need to send out a chart with the family tree on it to every household if they want an audience to follow and watch.

My big suprise is that ex-Much Music VJ Amanda Walsh was actually pretty good in this and held her own. Especially since the show is apparently a mix of scripted and improvisation. Her obvious will-they-or-won't-they story with her co-worker Wylie Blake (Desmond Harrington) is still cute and looks like it can actually head in a somewhat fresh direction, so we will see.


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Sound Bite!

ROBIN: Short in the front. Long in the back. It's the mullet of wedding dresses. ~ "How I Met Your Mother"

Originally posted by Highbrow


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[House] Sex Kills

Little is said about that fact that House actually misdiagnoses a 65 year old man until after it's too late. If he doesn't get a new heart he will die within the week, but the transplant board consider him ineligible due to his age. But that doesn't stop House! He orders Cameron to gather the files on all newly dead patients and finds out that there is a woman in the ER who was in a car crash and on the verge of death. He asks Cameron if she's overweight and she says, "She's a little on the hefty side..." Who still uses the word "hefty"?! I hate Cameron. I mean, she adds a great dynamic to the ducklings. I think you need her b/c she's so compassionate which makes her different from the other two, she feels to the extreme what we feel as we watch the show. But I still hate her. House explains that most organs are ineligble for transplant, and that is especially true for overweight donors, so he goes down to the ER in order to stake a claim for the heart. There he runs into the husband who quickly realizes that House is a jerk and doesn't want House anywhere near his wife. But after a plea from the dying man's daughter and a swift knee to House's balls, the husband consents. Here's the new problem, the heart was rejected by the transplant committee because the woman seemed to test positive for Hep-C. House knows it's not that and sets out to cure a dead woman. They finally figure out that she's got Gonorrhea, probably from a student. It'll take them 4-5 hours to clean it out of her system, but the man suddenly needs the heart ASAP! So they transplant a new heart and Gonorrhea into the man. I guess a live man with an STD is better than a dead man. They've lied to the husband about what was wrong with her and just as Cameron is about to break the news, he breaks down and admits he'd had a one night stand and gotten Gonorrhea and was so glad to know that he had not passed it on to his wife causing the accident that killed her. Cut to Cameron's "Wow! This is awkward" face.

So House saved the day again. So what. The really interesting story here is the LUFF story between House and Wilson! As many have noticed, there is a lot of "Brokeback" banter between these two friends. House is convinced Wilson is cheating on his wife, again, but Wilson denies the accusation. "It's not all about sex." Wilson tells House while giving him a look with much deeper meaning. Whenever Wilson tries to talk to House about what is REALLY going on, House uses humor to deflect and then hobbles away. At the end of the day, Wilson shows up on House's doorstep with an overnight bag. Turns out he wasn't having another affair. This time it was his wife who was gettin' some. Awwww, poor Wilson! Another divorce for you. But that's okay, because now you get to bunk with your bff!

Originally Posted by Highbrow


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[How I Met Your Mother] Cupcake

Ted and Victoria's relationship is going great. Ted may have finally found his soulmate. But then the show would be over wouldn't it? So guess what, Victoria is offered a spot at a prestigious culinary school in Germany. They have exactly one day to decide the future of their relationship because everyone knows that long distance is a myth that kids tell eachother in order to get laid the summer before they go off to college. Heh. Ted decides he can't ask her to stay, they've only known eachother for 2 months and if it doesn't work out between them afterall, he'll always be the jerk that asked her to stay. Too much pressure. She decides that maybe it's okay to put her social happiness before her career. When they meet to discuss, Ted blurts out "stay" and she blurts out "I have to go." At the airport, they decide to try long distance, but Future Ted confirms that never works.

In other storylines, Marshall needs a new suit for an interview with his dream law firm and Barney convinces him (by ripping his old one!) to see his tailor. Lilly tries on wedding dresses with Robin and Victoria. Lilly puts on the dress of her dreams, which is waaaaay out of her price range, and proceeds to sit on a wedding cake and tear the hem. Turns out Barney lied about the cost of Marshall suit in order to get Marshall to come work for his company and make lotsa money, but he refuses to sell out that way, even if that means he has to take a second job to pay for the suit. When Lilly blurts out that she ruined an $8,000 wedding dress he agrees to interview at Barney's company.

Interesting. Hopefully, we'll get some more insight into what Barney does for a living. Also, they have begun to move away from having a central character (Ted) and expanding the possibilities of an equal ensemble. Ted and Victoria are over, which I'm happy about because she was waaaaay too perky for him. She brought out his sweet, goofy side, but I think Ted's at his best when he's gets all "Ted" on them. (Reference from a previous show) Also, I am really starting to luff Marshall's character! Even his pattern of speech...With all the pauses...Where sentence fragments...are each their own...statement. However, I really really hope they end the whole Robin's unrequited crush soon. That was old even before it started.

Originally Posted by Highbrow


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Tuesday, March 07, 2006

The Amazing Race - I'm Filthy and I Love It

Alright. Another week of The Amazing Race. Let's hope this gets fun and exciting and lets me forget the whole Oscar dabacle of this year. Let the Crash-lash begin! Er, I mean race begin...

Abs. Sex. Double D's. No kiddin?

So the teams leave the Estadio in Sao Paolo, Brazil to a building where there's the first Road Block. Run up one of three circular fire escapes... on a building that looks REALLY REALLY TALL... then decend by rappelling the building in the order you reached the top. Good lord I'm dizzy just watching them climb those circular stairs. Team Abs makes a remark about staying nice with Double D's so they can get in their pants later. Nice. That's Class. I can't believe a lot of you actually liked them last week. You must be the same people that got suckered by Crash.

Upon descent, they get a clue to run to catch one of three chartered busses going to Byotas Brazil. Everyone taxi's it to the bus station, Scarlett and Rhett go to the wrong one.

Team Abs are on the first bus, Double D's the last, but the flirting in the bus station continues. Apparently we are watching the Bachelor now.

In Byotas, we get Press It or Climb It.
In Press It, they need to press sugar cane to juice and then distill it. Climb It, they hike to a waterfall and then climb by acceders, up the waterfall.

Then off to some coffee plantation which is the pitstop. Already? It's only 10:30pm...

Monica is screaming at Joseph to climb up the waterfall (who are second to Hippies at this point). Who the hell are these people? Were they on last week? Oh... Ken and Barbie. I'll use Mojo from now on cause its shorter. That's how lazy I am. I save myself 10 types on the keyboard.

Bleach Bum Sisters argue over who is driving the red love bug. "Son of a bitch" One yells. You took the words out of my mouth sista'.

Of course the Nerds take the Sugar Cane one where they get to use a bunsen burner and other science lab toys! so cute!

Oh thank heavens, Abs are lost... though Hippies are first. Not my favorite team either. Oh well, at least not Abs. Abs end up being second. Anybody notice his t-shit "Everybody's Dirtier in the South"? How easy are they making this for us? (or is that the whole point?). Mojo comes in third.

Old Couple are having trouble on the waterfall but at least are side by side with Scarlett and Rhett

Nerds are fourth, SunRay and Yo are fifth, Salsa girls are sixth.

So it comes down to Bleach which were way behind, Scarlett and Rhett who got lost, and Old couple whose car broke down.

Rhett and Scarlett get their seventh. Double D in eighth (they were still out there?). Now we see Old couple driving in the dark... what time is it? But they are ninth and thus still SAFE!!!

BLEACH BUMS... GOOD BYE!!! WE HARDLY KNEW YOU!!! Actually, we knew you too well for the short time that we did (did I really want to know that one of you had a C-section?).... and we hardly wanted to know you. SEE YA!

Next Week? Moscow!!! And Tons of those Neverending Wooden dolls!


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American Idol - Girls (but Manly) night

Since the boys seem to be doing better and are more interesting this year, the girls caught on, expressing their "manliness" in their little clips. First Paris is really a tomboy, then Lisa is like Hendrix, then Melissa loves cars just like the guys...??? One of them sang a song from Camp which is awesome except, the girl in Camp sang it better. I'd rate the performances but I've already forgotten them all. That's how memorable they were. I'm only at the second commercial break.

Oh look, Joey is still on. Who knew? And the annoying guy is on as Jimmy. Wasn't he the "annoying Eddie" on Friends already? I guess it doesn't matter since no one is watching Joey anyways.

Was Katharine really that good to deserve all that praise from the judges? Personally it was just "blah" for me. Or maybe I'm still bitter that Crash won and Brokeback Mountain lost.

Okay. Maybe it's been a weak night, but I actually liked Ayla's flawed performance of Natasha's Bedingfield's Unwritten (at least she didn't demolish it like Ace did last week for Natasha's brother's song, which remineds me. Where did he go? I miss him. Hope he gets better...).

Oh thank god. Mandisa is on. Finally. You ARE Every Woman! At least on this show.

I don't know if Kellie should be Idol but GIVE THIS GIRL A SHOW! I actually laughed at her Stupid Dog non-trick clip. She's just too cute.

Oh yeah. and Kinnik peformed sometime at the first half too...

So who is going Thursday? Oh who cares. As long as Mandisa (for her singing abilities) and Kellie (for being amusing to watch) make it into the top 12.
Oh my god. The "Mink" is too cute...


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[24] The Following Takes Place Between 5:00PM and 7:00PM

2 Hour Episode! Well two 1-hour eps back 2 back! Don't worry, I'll try and keep it as brief as possible....(TICK...TOCK...TICK...TOCK...)

-Tony wakes up and wants to know where his wife is. Bill lies to him due to his fragile condition. Don'cha'll think he can tell you're keeping something from him? He was an agent too ya know.
-Do I detect a spark between Martha and Aaron?! Me thinks me doooooo....
-Bierko sets up a fake primary target.
-Jack goes after Henderson at his home. Alone, of course, as always. Jack's invincible so he don't do back-up. Back-up is for robots like Curtis.
-CTU finds a schematic of a building on a dead hostile. In the corner is written 18:00. They work to find out what building this is, and assume it is the terrorist's next target. Now can anyone tell me, were they supposed to find it? Was this misinformation that was planted?? Let me know.
-Tony - a.k.a. Scarface - gets out of bed and accesses a computer to look up his wife's file. DECEASED (ridiculous graphic by the way - it was like a rubber stamp across the monitor!)
-Logan discloses minimal information to the returned Pres. Suvarov, and asks for his help in uncovering the terrorists. Suvarov agrees but knows something else is up. Suvarov begins to look at Logan in the same disdainful way all Americans do.
-Lynn, who's in lock-up, get Bill to let him make a private call to his sister. He asks for his keycard back. She wants to give it to him but her boyfriend says they can sell it for 20Gs. Oh you stupid boy! And girl! And boy!
-Martha gives Logan the cold shoulder. Are you suprised, you wimpy little turd?!
-Edgar finds a matching schematic. The target is identified as Tyler Memorial Hospital. They are given orders to evacuate immediately. Is it just me, or are the actors on this show all hired for their "I'm trying to look suspicious" faces? Check out the head of security at the hospital.
-Jack (finally) arrives at the Henderson home to search his computer for evidence. The devoted wife is home alone.
-Let's get it ON! Martha and Aaron share a moment, until Novick interrupts and warns Aaron off.
-Bierko tells the hostile in the hospital to take one for the team.
-Bierko's identity is uncovered by way of Russian intelligence. Logan is briefed by Bill. Is no one concerned that the leadership at CTU has a higher turnover rate than the GAP?
-Jack tries to convince Mrs. Henderson, thru rather violent tactics, that her husband is a baaaaaaad man, but she remains devoted. Tells Jack he was there for Kim when Jack wasn't. Chloe finds a secret drive on the computer and attempts to hack in.
-Hospital security identifies the hostile. Curtis hunts him down and shoots him dead. Good robot. Curtis finds the canister.
-CTU begins to prepare for an evac of the entire downtown core.
-Henderson comes home before Chole is finished trying to hack into his secret files. Jack proves to the Mrs. that her husband is no good by showing her Henderson's briefcase full of money. Henderson maintains innocence in the old CTU matter and refuses to talk now because he believes he is doing the right thing. Jack's interrogation tactics don't work b/c Henderson taught him everything he knows, so Jack shoots the Mrs. in the leg! But it's not enough. Henderson won't talk. What is with this show and crappy husbands that don't seem to care if their wives die for their cause?
-The counter for the container is found on the dead hostile. They have one minute left to make a move, so Curtis runs it to a sealed containment chamber with 2 secs. to spare!
-Hostile executes junkie boyfriend and then Lynn's sister and walks out with the keycard. Is CTU the primary target?!
TICK...TOCK...TICK...TOCK... We're half way there folks! Hold on to your coffee mugs!
-Hostile reprograms Lynn's keycard in his car.
-Bierko dispatches the remaining of the canisters to the rest of the targets.
-Logan starts freaking out at lack of reliable intelligence. He is briefed on Henderson.
-Kim shows up at CTU with her boyfriend. An aging Ponyboy, and not in a guuud way.
-Jack and Audrey take a time out to have yet another private conversation. This time about Kim. Audrey convinces Jack to let her talk to Kim first in order to prepare her.
-Audrey tells Kim that Jack is alive and the only reason he hid that fact from her was to protect her.
-The VP shows up. He looks like Logan's bullying older brother! Oooh, you instantly see the hostility between Novick and the Veep. Logan's so easy to sway and wants to seem half as strong as the Veep, so Veep's got him all excited about executing Martial Law in Los Angeles without Congressional consent. Uh, ain't that against the law? "That's why we won't call it that." Niiice. Just as Novick had Logan eating out of the palm of his hand, Veep shows up and ruins everything! Veep is all, "haha, in your FACE, Novick! There's a new puppeteer in town!"
-Jack returns to CTU with Henderson. Hands him over to get prepared for interrogation.
-Hostile enters CTU with Lynn's keycard. You'd think there'd be better security CTU. The red uniforms aren't really enough.
-Jack goes to see Kim. It is not a happy reunion. "I'm happy that you're alive. I am. But I can't give you want you want right now."
-Hostile has CTU's floor plans on his PDA and finds the main ventilation system.
-Tony wants Bill to tell him what is going on. Bill says it's confidential, and Tony doesn't work there anymore, but relents and tells him about the nerve gas and that Henderson is involved.
-Jack and Audrey find out that Kim's boyfriend was her therapist. Isn't there a law against that too? Or at least some kind of ethical sanction?
-Novick goes to see Martha and she tells him to cut the BS. He tells her what the Veep wants Logan to do and tells her she's the only one influential enough to stop him.
-Kerry notices someone's in the ventilation room and tells Edgar but he's too busy to deal with it and tells her to deal with it herself. Bad move Edgar! Don't be all Chloe, it's not becoming on you!
-Hostile sets up the canister
-Martha is an expert manipulator! "The country needs you more than I do."
-Kerry is killed by hostile.
-Kim approaches Chloe about Jack trusting her but not his own daughter and Chloe tells her to "cut him some slack." Take notes Edgar! No one does it quite like Chloe!
-Bill tells Lynn his sister's been killed and it looks professional. Lynn finally admits his keycard was stolen. Bill calls Chloe to track the keycard. They see it's bee used and issue an immediate lock-down.
-Henderson is fighting the effects of the truth serum (??) when Bill calls Jack about the breach.
-Hostile takes a red cop hostage.
-Edgar finally checks on Kerry.
-Hostile kills red cop. Jack outsmarts him and kills hostile. He finds the PDA and the canister's counter.
-Bill issues a Code 6 evac.
-Edgar finds a dead Kerry but doesn't notice the canister. It begins to emit the nerve gas.
-Chloe under pressure from everyone to figure out which rooms she can seal. She finds 3. Main cast moves into a meeting room. Henderson is locked up with Tony in the sick bay. Uh Oh!
- Gas starts to kill CTU agents. People in the conference room just watch helplessly.
-Edgar walks in and sees everyone in the sealed room and realizes his fate. Chloe walks to the window. Edgar's last word is "Chloe." Chloe mouths "Edgar." And they watch him die. Chloe's distraught, crying face is the most normal looking I've ever seen her.

Next week: 40% of CTU was taken out. Jack leaves the sealed room to save the day. And one main character is going to have to make the ultimate sacrifice! Here's hoping it's Audrey. Or Kim. I'd be happy with either choice.

Originally Posted by Highbrow


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