Wednesday, September 04, 2013

Stuff for a Wednesday

I haven't really chatted on here for a while, so I thought I'd check in. The kids have gone back to school, with my little baby moving into grade 1, and my older baby into grade 4. "I'm not in primary anymore, Mummy, I'm a junior now!" So what have I been up to...

Breaking Bad
IlovethisshowsomuchIdon'tevenknowwheretobegin. I can't believe we only have four episodes left of this magnificent series. If you've been hearing all the hype and rolling your eyes and thinking, "Oh GOD it's like when the frickin' Wire was on," believe it. It's really as good as everyone says it is. Bryan Cranston is sublime, Aaron Paul turns in one jaw-dropping performance after another, and this season, Dean Norris as Hank has been incredible. At the end of the first episode back, there was a scene that will easily be the scene I remember most from this year (the same year I saw the Red Wedding, I might add), and it was FANTASTIC. In the next episode, I screamed when they ended it (DAMN YOU, CLIFFHANGERS!!!) And in the third episode, I was ready to storm creator Vince Gilligan's house and demand he show me the fourth episode right now!!! It's that good. So please check it out, and if you're watching, I hope you're loving it as much as I am.

The Vampire Diaries
I mentioned in a recent post that I had finished season 3 of The Vampire Diaries and was crazy hooked.  I had been thinking ahead and had recorded all of season 4 onto my PVR since last September, so I finally sat down and watched it, finishing up just a few days ago. And while it probably didn't make me screech with delight quite as much as season 3 did, it was freakin' addictive. Why? It's still The Originals for me. Klaus is just magnificent, and whenever Elijah shows up I sigh the sigh of the obsessed. Rebekah is fantastic, but Klaus has my heart. (And I want him to have Caroline's, too.) Caroline still remains my favourite Mystic Falls person, mostly because she's just so damn earnest!! No matter what is happening or who just died or what apocalypse was just averted, Caroline stomps one fashionable foot and screams that the prom/formal/semi-formal/other lavish school event/graduation was almost ruined and GODDAMMIT she's not going to stand for it!! And I heart her so much for it. This fall I might be looking forward to the new CW series, The Originals, even more than season 5 of The Vampire Diaries. Because if they're the highlight of the show for me now, and they've been transplanted elsewhere, I'm keen to see who they keep on as viewers. That said, Damon and Stefan and their eternal struggle to get the girl to love him and not his brother is crazy fun to watch, and Damon usually has some quip that makes me laugh out loud. Elena I still don't care much for, but there are enough other characters that I'm happy happy happy. So for the first time, I'll be watching the season premiere of TVD alongside everyone else. Yay!

Other Shows on my PVR
I've mentioned this before, but I don't just have one PVR that holds 200 hours of programming; I have two of them. I'm simultaneously recording up to four shows at one time, and I figure I'll watch some of them now (anything on cable, basically) and some of them later (network comedies and the handful of dramas I actually watch that aren't on HBO or AMC). But the problem is, I was a little too recording-happy last year, and now I still have the following shows there staring at me:
*Revolution (which I have every intention of watching, because I really enjoyed the first three episodes, but then I erased those and I've been trying to get into the fourth episode recently and I don't quite remember where I am in the show!)
*The Mindy Project (love every episode I've watched but I've only watched about 10 of them)
*Modern Family (with so much else on the go, this took a back seat. The entire season is sitting there)
*The Neighbours (watched the first episode and LOVED it, and I don't know a SOUL who watches it. So the entire season of this one actually got the dump earlier this week)
*Elementary (watched the first episode and thought it was great, but decided to go back and watch Sherlock first, and then never caught up on Elementary)
*Under the Dome (really liked the first episode, but haven't watched beyond that. I guess I liked it, but didn't love it, and with so much else on the go it takes a lot to get me to watch something)
*The Following (watched the first episode and thought it was corny and utterly unbelievable — really? A bunch of internet psychopath wannabes were able to organize themselves and fool the FBI?? — and when I started watching Hannibal, it felt superior in every way, so I've never watched the rest of it. But, again, it's all right there if I want it)
*Arrow (watched the first episode and loved it, and never had the time to watch the rest. Oh, well, and the fact my husband went and erased the first 10 episodes just as I was about to marathon them didn't help)
Instead, I've gotten a lot more reading done this year than in the past. So maybe I need to curb my TV viewing? Or figure out a better schedule for it? See, I'm currently working through Sons of Anarchy on DVD, and have bought The Good Wife and really want to watch Parenthood and have put on hold at the library all of Castle and Luther, so there are a ton of other good shows that have proven themselves that I'd like to watch. Maybe I just have to accept that I can't watch everything.

BUT... Fall shows!!!
But yeah, the fall shows are starting. And on my list to watch are (* denotes new):
Boardwalk Empire
*Sleepy Hollow
*Blacklist
*Marvel's Agents of SHIELD (Duh)
Revolution
Nashville
Big Bang Theory
*The Millers
*The Crazy Ones
*The Michael J. Fox Show
Once Upon a Time
Homeland
*Super Fun Night
The Vampire Diaries
*The Originals
*Once Upon a Time in Wonderland
The Walking Dead
*Dracula
*Almost Human

So, um... OK, I don't know how I'm going to do this. But I will try!!

The Hunt
Speaking of Mads Mikkelsen (wait, I wasn't? Well, I should be!) I went to see his latest film, The Hunt, last week, and it was mindblowingly good. It's in Danish, as are most of his films, and in this one he plays a kindergarten teacher who has a friendly disagreement with a five-year-old girl, who goes to the head of the kindergarten and says that he showed her his "willie." And... who's going to question a five-year-old girl, right? The movie shows exactly what happens to a man in a small town when an innocent little girl says something foolish, and everyone believes her. It was heartbreaking, and his performance is tremendous.

The World's End
And from frightful to frightfully hilarious, I saw the third instalment of the Cornetto trilogy this past weekend and thought it was fab. If a little depressing at times. See, basically this guy remembers a night of wild drinking in 1990, when he was 17 (the exact age I was in 1990), as the best night of his life, so he decides to re-enact it with his buddies, but now, they're old. Old. They're about 40. My age. And therefore, old. Oh, fuck off, stupid "40 is old" bullshit.

But whatever.

Aside from that, the soundtrack was fantastic, it had some hilarious lines, and I loved loved loved seeing so many of them back again. When they walk into the eighth or ninth pub and Brian from Spaced was standing there, I literally squealed out loud. SO HAPPY. I really enjoyed this movie; Simon Pegg is just... so... funny.

Sigur Ros
I know I talk about my love of Sigur Ros a lot, but if you want to know what they're like live, they played a show in London UK on Monday, and it was live-streamed around the globe as part of the iTunes festival. Follow this link and when you click on it, it'll open the show in your iTunes and you can watch the entire thing. This tour was the best time I'd ever seen them, so it's worth it if you have the time. :)

12 comments:

Chris in NF said...

Heh. We're not "old," Nikki, but when I saw The World's End, I couldn't help thinking that, had I seen this film in my early 20s, I totally would have wanted to recreate that pub crawl. Seeing it in my early forties, though, all I could think was "twelve pints? holy shit, that would kill me."

Also, fun fact: if I did recreate that pub crawl in St. John's, it wouldn't be the Golden Mile ... it would be more like the Golden Hundred Meters.

yourblindspot said...

Breaking Bad... holy cow, are those guys killing it here in the endgame. Not that I ever had any doubts. However, I'm pretty sure I'll need a prescription for nitroglycerin pills before it's over.

NO IDEA how you manage to keep up with so much tv! I haven't even had time to watch the last season of Fringe yet. And I loved Fringe. Of course, not having cable helps a lot in keeping the slate clear. Still, just the stuff in my Netflix queue is more than I can handle. Right now, Holly and I are binge-watching Parks & Rec; I go to sleep smiling every night.

Watched the Sigur Rós concert at my desk yesterday while I worked, and it was phenomenal. The amount of talent on that stage was just staggering. That said, Jónsi could use a good stylist; his hair looked like he cut it using a box fan. Sure did sound beautiful, though.

Nikki Stafford said...

Chris: ONE pint would kill me. I watched the drinking parts like they were science-fiction as well. ;)

Josh: Jonsi's haircut might be the worst hair in rock music at the moment. It gets worse every time we see him, and on this tour even my husband said, "What is UP with that hair?" I would be surprised if it wasn't cut with a box fan.

Parks and Rec! That's another one I meant to mention in my need-to-watch group. I watched S1 and found it rather unfunny, but then later heard they'd changed the writing staff and it got so much better. Ugh, I don't know how I'll ever catch up. ;)

yourblindspot said...

Nik: I had heard that season 1 of Parks was not so great, so we just skipped it entirely and started with season 2. Didn't throw us off in the slightest, story- or character-wise, and it's hysterical from the jump. Just last night we watched the episode where everyone goes hunting, and I laughed loud enough to wake Ella out of a dead sleep from two rooms away. Such joy; make the time.

Dusk said...

Watch Orphan Black! It's only one season right now, 10 episodes, Season 2 is not until April, that should be enough catch-up time even for you :) No spoilers promotion for the show:

It is sci-fi but good sci-fi the people are at the core of it, but even the sci-fi stuff isn't too far out there-you almost believe this kind of thing could happen.

The hype around Tatiana Maslany-totally justified. Plus it was filmed in T.O. you can notice it if your paying attention.

Oh yeah,*not* for the kids!

Dusk said...

3780My fall shows:

Big Bang Theory
Once Upon A Time/ OUAT in Wonderland
Marvel's Agents of SHIELD
Supernatural
Going to and get time for Lucky 7.

Legend Of Korra yes, from Nickelodeon. The creators of the show know how to make compelling stuff for kids and adults. The show is not as strong as Avatar the Last Airbender but still pretty good with only 12 episodes in the first season. I was very shocked they got approval for what happened to the villains at the end of Season 1.

Austin Gorton said...

Nikki, I'll echo the sentiments that you need to make the time to watch Parks and Rec. It's arguably the best show on TV. Certainly the best comedy.

Like you, I'm constantly behind on TV. We're pushing through to get caught up on Castle, Grimm and Defiance before the new season starts, but even then, we'll have a ton of stuff still to watch.

Under the Dome can probably sit on your PVR (what does the "P" stand for, by the way?) for awhile. I read the book, and mostly enjoyed, but most of my enjoyment for the series comes from seeing how they adapt certain things (or don't). Week to week, it's wildly uneven, and the fact that it was a big enough hit to garner a second season (instead of remaining a done-in-one "event" series as it was additional designed) means my biggest issue with it (pacing) is going to get worse before it gets better.

Nikki Stafford said...

Teebore: every time I accidentally post "PVR" instead of telling myself to use "DVR," someone outside of Canada will ask me what the P stands for. ;) In Canada they're called Personal Video Recorders, rather than Digital Video Recorders. I do believe your way makes more sense, since as long as my daughter keeps deleting my shows while creating timers for Phineas and Ferb (always selecting "record ALL instances"), there's nothing personal about it. ;)

Austin Gorton said...

@Nikki: Ah, I was guessing "private". I was close! :)

Colleen/redeem147 said...

It's funny. I'm glad the Originals are getting their own show - because I can't stand them and I can avoid them.

Well, I like the one on Saving Hope, but he's not a vampire there.

Colleen/redeem147 said...

Oh, and I second the Orphan Black. Tatiana Maslany wasn't nominated for an Emmy - invalidating the entire set of awards.

Anonymous said...

You should give elementary a second try and then write a book about it! i started watching sherlock this week and also love it but elementary is totaly different. And not just because Watson is a woman :) So go watch and love it :) ps. Arrow is also good. Season 2 is even better then one so far :) Jill