I was browsing through one of my favorite TV quote websites, TV Fanatic, when I stumbled upon spoilers for the Fall Season of Grey’s Anatomy. Now I feel like spoilers are sort of like finding out a month early what you’re getting for Christmas. It’s kind of exciting at the time, but when it comes time to open your gift, all the excitement is gone. Still, this particular spoiler about George isn’t a surprise after the annoucement TR Knight made in June about leaving the show. Couldn’t the writers have paid him off to keep quiet until the series premiere? It would have made for a much more climatic season opener.
I’m sad that TR is packing up his moving boxes and heading out of the Grey’s studio. I feel like the good quality characters on the show are slowly leaving. What worries me is that this show will eventually turn into the crap that ER became, where maybe one or two original stars (if any??) were left by the end of the show. Why is it so hard to keep actors playing in our favorite shows? I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes, but it must be major for them to turn down millions of dollars in contract deals.

If the Grey’s cast keeps this up, I’m not sure how much longer I will watch. I can’t blame TR for leaving-the writers gave him absolutely nothing to work with for the last two seasons. He was such a key part of the show, and I feel like he got bumped out to make room for other characters. Maybe the Grey’s writers need to take a page out of the sitcom greats books, such as Seinfeld and Friends. They didn’t lose their main actors, because they gave them all equal play. Let’s hope they learned from this and we don’t lose anyone else by the end of next season.

I happened upon this book like with all my audio books, at the library. I didn’t know what to expect, having never read anything by Sarah Addison Allen, and I was blown away. I loved her story telling, and I felt drawn into the magic of the garden. Garden Spells is the story of a woman named Claire Waverley, who is a bit of an outcast/oddity in her small town in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. She lives alone in her late grandmother’s house where she and her sister were raised, after their mother abandoned them. Her sister Sydney following in her mother’s footsteps, has long since skipped town, and Claire hasn’t heard from her in over ten years.

The Waverley’s are a legend in their town, known for their odd garden, which sports an apple tree that is rumored to be magical, and the women in the family who each have special gifts. Claire’s elderly cousin Evanelle has a compulsion to give people things, which turn out to be exactly what they didn’t know they needed. Claire has a gift for cooking and baking, and she turns that gift into a successful catering company. Her food uses edible flowers and plants from her garden, and when cooked in a specific way, contain a little bit of magic. Pansies for keeping children thoughtful, nasturtiums for helping to keep secrets, roses for love, and so on.

Claire’s life is going along just fine, even though it’s a bit lonely for her. Then Sydney unexpectantly shows up on her doorstep with a daughter of her own, seeking refuge from her abusive ex, and Claire’s whole world turns upside down.

This book gives an old fashioned magical element to it’s romances. I love that there’s a little bit of magic in an otherwise everyday story. When Claire gets mad she literally wilts plants with the heat fumes coming off her. When her neighbor Roger falls in love with her, he has little purple lights coming off of him that only the Waverly’s can see. It adds a fun element to the book, and it left me wanting to read more by Allen.

Well, asking your friends to watch this DVD might do exactly as the title suggested. This movie was just plain bad. I was disappointed because I love Simon Pegg, I think he’s hilarious. I knew this movie might be bad because it had Kirsten Dunst as the leading lady, but I thought I’d give it a chance.
The opening scene was funny, and I found myself laughing out loud. Simon Pegg plays Sidney Young, a British magazine journalist who both idealizes and abhors celebrities. He writes for an alternative magazine that pokes fun at celebrities, but then he gets hired for Sharp magazine in the states, which is a conservative magazine idealizing them. He basically sells out to the man for affordable health insurance and a fat paycheck. His colleague, Alison Olsen, played by Kirsten Dunst, is a wannabe writer who works for the magazine looking for connections. The plot of the movie is extremely predictable. Sidney is charmed by the stars and the sexy actress Sophie Maes, played by Meghan Fox, and she promises him a night in bed if she wins best actress. Simon Pegg does his best with this role, but the writing was just slapstick and silly. There could have been a lot more done with this concept: making fun of celebrities and how important they think they are, when really they’re just shallow twits. But instead, Simon just makes fun of himself, there’s a bit of gross out humor, and Kirsten once again does the acting job of a piece of cardboard. Definitely leave this DVD on the shelf.

Yes, I admit I am among the millions of fans anxiously awaiting the second big screen adaptation of the Twilight Series, New Moon. While this is my least favorite book of the series, it sets the stage for the next books, and introduces Jacob as a werewolf. Judging by the previews, it’s also full of sexy shirtless men, which is always fun.
While these beautiful teens are anything but typical, they also must use the best acne treatment because none of them are plagued with bad skin, nasty hair, or the other awkwardness of teenage years. Not that I’m complaining mind you. I love looking at these hunks!

Here’s a couple of new sneak peek just released for the Comic Con in San Diego. The first one shows Bella getting reckless on her motorcycle trying to conjure up visions of Edward. In the book, she hears Edward in her head, which would probably be weird for a movie. I like what the director has done by showing a vision of Edward instead. What do you think?

The second clip is from the last chapter of the book. I’m not sure why Comic Con decided to release such a giveaway, but I guess they figure everyone’s read the book and knows what to expect. Anyways, it’s the scene where Bella and Alice race through Italy on their way to stop Edward from revealing his sparkly skin to the humans.

This book was pretty disappointing. Reading the CD jacket, I thought Rise and Shine ,by Anne Quindlen. was going to be a book about sisters, where the younger sister finally comes into her own, and realizes she doesn’t have to live in the shadow of her older sister. Instead, it’s a book that takes the most random twists and turns, and makes me loathe both main characters.
The main character, Bridget, hears about her sister Meghan, a big shot journalist, utter two swear words on national television, which consequently gets her fired. Bridget acts like her sister losing her job was equivalent to her getting mesothelioma cancer or something else life threatening.

This book had so much potential, but instead the author went off on tangenets about the social aspects of New York City, and then a very bizarre twist where the much too old Bridget becomes pregnant with twins, by her sixty something year old boyfriend. It was random, disturbing, and just plain wrong. Meanwhile, the son of Meghan, who is completely neglected throughout Meghan’s firing and then divorce from her son’s father, gets shot and is paralyzed from the legs down. WTF? None of it made sense, nothing had to do with the main plot of the book. Also, the narrative jumps around so much I don’t know if the narrator is talking about past or present, or future. If you’re considering reading this book, leave it on the shelves.

I’m so sad that this show was canceled. ABC-way to fail. The network has crap reality tv and cancels some of the more brilliant shows that have aired. Eli Stone, for those who aren’t familiar, was a show about a lawyer who had two brain aneurysms, which caused visions as a side effect. These visions were of the future, and Eli used them to help change things for the better.

In the series finale, Eli has a vision of a plane crash, with one of his coworkers on board. The problem is he doesn’t know which coworker or what flight it is. He finally figures out that it’s Maggie, but as he races to the terminal, one of his aneurysms bursts, hospitalizing him. Luckily Maggie gets off the plane, because she just had a bad feeling, and ends up sitting by his side when he wakes up in the hospital.
While he was unconscious he has a vision of his father on top of the Himalayan Mountains.

The case he works on in the finale is about a heart donation and has to do with an old love interest that is said to be his soul mate. She was only in one episode, and it’s painfully obvious that Maggie is his soul mate, not the heart transplant girl. Luckily during his conversation with his dad, Eli sets that straight.

The series ends with Eli putting a picture of Maggie on his desk along with his other loved ones. It alludes to a future with her, but it doesn’t fully embrace it. We don’t really know what happens next for Eli and Maggie. I would have liked to see more closure between the two of them.I wish the writers of this show had taken a page from Scrubs, and hired some long distance movers to move them over to another network. I know I would have followed! Of course ABC was the one who bought Scrubs, making the smart choice then. Perhaps NBC would have done the same with Eli? I guess American television just isn’t ready for something as positive and uplifting as Eli Stone was.

Last night I sat in a packed theater anxiously awaiting the 6th Harry Potter movie. I felt envious of those who have only watched the movies and never read the books, because I knew they wouldn’t be disappointed. I had to keep reminding myself that the movie was probably not going to follow the book, and that they would leave things out due to time constraints, I expected it to be so.

What I didn’t expect was for the director to completely change parts of the story, and to leave out key elements that will make the finale two movies hard to connect. *Spoiler alert*

Here are the parts that really upset me:
1. No fight scene at Hogwarts!! I told my boyfriend, who hasn’t read the books, to expect action, and that this was one of my favorites of the books, based on the fight scene and the Dumbledore/Snape showdown. It was so intense. I think the way they changed the Dumbledore death scene was more confusing than it would have been if they just did it true to the book.

2. The burning of the burrow -there was no point to it, it added nothing to the story, and wasn’t even very well explained after the fact. If I were the director, I would have taken this scene out and added the fight scene at Hogwarts.

3. Harry and Ginny’s kiss-I know this may seem unimportant, but honestly, Ginny is Harry’s true love. Make it passionate, make it memorable. The tiny peck in the room of requirement is ridiculous, when in the book it was so much more hollywood-the dramatic huge kiss he plants on Ginny right in front of Ron. Plus all the conflict Harry goes through over whether or not it’s ok for him to like his best friend’s little sister. It’s a very real issue and they didn’t take it very seriously. Also, he breaks up with Ginny at the end, and they don’t show that either, which is key to the next book/movie.

4. The horcruxes-I know here there was a big time constraint, because the movie was so long, but they should have mentioned the conversation Dumbledore has with Harry regarding what other items he thinks Voldemort made into horcruxes. Otherwise the next movie will just be a wild goose chase for him to find them. Plus, DD needs to get some credit for coming up with it. Potter didn’t just think it up on his own.

There is a lot more I can complain about, but then I think readers would get the wrong impression. I did love this movie, for the sake of it being a stand alone movie. I thought the shots were beautiful; Hogwarts is just how I pictured it in my head. The actors did a great job, especially Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy. He brought seriousness to his role, where before he was just a silly bully. I thought that storyline was well done, and didn’t get twisted too much in the film.

I’m not sure what to expect from Deathly Hallows, after seeing this movie. I still think the movies are great, but I will just have to remind myself not to expect them to be anything like the books, and then I will be a lot less disappointed. All in all though, still worth seeing.

I think this is by far one of the more brilliant comedies that has come out to date. From the director of Office Space, so you know it’s going to be hilarious, is Idiocracy. The plot focuses on Joe Bauers (Luke Wilson), the “average Joe”, a military librarian who is completely average in every way. He’s chosen by the military, along with a prostitute named Rita, to be guinea pigs in a top secret experiment to hibernate soldiers. The two are to be frozen in their hibernation chambers for 1 year, but the experiment goes horribly wrong when the officer in charge is arrested, and the base is demolished, to be replaced by a Fuddruckers restaurant.
500 years pass, when Joe’s chamber is opened during a garbage “avalanche” and he awakens to the filthy apartment of Frito (Dax Shepard), who starts yelling insults at him when Joe tries to ask where he is. Frito’s apartment is covered with advertisements and Frito speaks in a moronic idiot sort of speech. Joe finds his way to a hospital where he figures out that it is 500 years in the future, and the world has completely deteriorated to crap.

A narrator explains that in the future smart people waited to have children, or didn’t have any at all while trying to advance their careers or wait for the right time, while promiscuous degenerate alcoholics spent their days having many offspring with different women, producing idiotic offspring. With this trend continuing, smart people were drastically outnumbered, until the world was full of idiots.

After a turn of events at the hospital (hilarious so I won’t ruin it for you with a recap) Joe lands in prison, where he has to take an IQ test. This sends a red flag up to the President of the United States because Joe scores higher than anyone ever has since the invention of the test, and he discovers he is the smartest person in the world. Meanwhile he finds Rita the prostitute, who has been making money off an idiot citizen and they both try to figure a way to get back to the past.
Probably one of my favorite scenes of this movie is where they go with Frito to the giant wholesale Costco, which is comically oversized. As they pass a Starbucks, Joe says he could really go for a latte, and Frito says, “we don’t have time for hand jobs right now!”. Starbucks has de-evolved into a whorehouse, where you can get all kinds of services. It just cracked me up because the Starbucks were still everywhere, and they still called their services lattes.

This movie was hilarious, but it also had a huge spoonful of truth to it, much like the movie Wall-E. The way the population boom is going, with uneducated people procreating like rabbits, while the educated, high IQ citizens are have 1-2 children, ignorant people are outnumbering smart people already. Also, just looking at TV programming, with reality shows dominating the networks, shows like “Tool Academy” and “Charm School” where idiots are given star status, and celebrating for their ignorance, you can see that Idiocracy is something that could very well happen in our not so distant future.

So I finally read Confessions of a Shopaholic. I know, it took me forever.
While it was written cute and funny, I just couldn’t identify with the protagonist at all. I’ve never been a big spender. I guess that’s why I just wasn’t that into the story. The whole time I just kept thinking in my head, this girl is a complete moron! She writes for a finance magazine, but she knows nothing about budgeting her money. How can anyone be that dumb? I also think considering the tough economic times we’re in, I identify with her even less. Perhaps if I hadn’t read this book while we were in a recession I might think differently about it.

Still, there were parts that were cute, and I love Sophie Kinsella as a writer, so I won’t say it was a waste. It was such a quick read that even though it wasn’t my favorite, I don’t feel like I wasted my time with it. I still think her book, Can You Keep a Secret was far better than Shopaholic. I still might check out her other books in the series, and see if our main character has grown at all. If she hasn’t matured I think the books will get downright annoying, but if she’s learned something along the way, then it might make for a better read.

I will say that I don’t have any plans to run out and rent the movie adaptation of the book either, despite how adorable Isla Fischer is. I’m afraid the character she plays just might make me hate my beloved actress!

It was exactly what I expected. Not too deep, but just lighthearted and cute. It is the perfect Saturday matinee girls day out kind of movie. I went to see it with a friend, and we both agreed it was very sweet. I loved the scenes that were shot in Alaska, showcasing the beauty of Alaska, and making me wish I could hop on a plane and go there next weekend.
Sandra Bullock plays the uptight boss Margaret Tate, who is about to be deported back to Canada when her Visa is rejected. Sandra looks incredible for her age, and it’s easy to believe she’s a woman in her early 30s, instead of a woman of 45. The delicious Ryan Reynolds plays her assistant, an aspiring book editor named Andrew Paxton, who does whatever she tells him, in hopes of getting that coveted promotion.

Margaret convinces Andrew to marry her so that she can become a citizen. She pushes this lie to its limits by accompanying him on a trip home to visit his family in Alaska (hence the beautiful nature scenes).
A lot of the storyline is predictable, but not in a boring way. There are a few laugh out loud scenes, especially the one with Margaret dancing around to gangster rap in the woods with Andrew’s Grandma. Plus, Ryan Reynolds takes his shirt off, and that alone is worth the movie ticket price. Sandra Bullock sheds her clothes (no nudity with strategically placed washclothes) and looks amazing. I’m not sure if it’s the work of weight loss pills or just hard work, but either way whatever she’s doing is working. I can only hope I look half that good at 45!

Betty White was the adorable grandma, and she stole a few scenes with her funny lines, and outright wackiness. “It’s like an easter egg hunt!”

I definitely recommend this movie. My only complaint was that it didn’t last long enough for me. There aren’t too many movies that I can say that about. I’m looking forward to renting the DVD and hoping for deleted scenes!