I just heard that November 8th is when Conan's new late night show will drop on TBS. I can't wait. Of course my kids will be back in school and I'm not going to be able to stay up so late...but hell, I'm a perpetual night-owl. What can I say? I'm sure I'll end up watching it every night instead of taping it like a good girl.
For those of you new to the couch, this whole Conan/Leno/NBC thing really got my panties in a bunch.
The Kids Are All Right In a sea of summer disappointments, this one’s a winner and will be a future winner come Oscar time. Catch it now!
The Kids Are All Right (Motion Picture Soundtrack) While I’m singing the praises of the film, how about also recommending the soundtrack? With a quirky blend of old (Joni Mitchell) and new (MGMT), this soundtrack offers a little something for everyone.
To Kill A Mockingbird (50th Anniversary Edition) Maybe you haven’t read this since High School, maybe you’ve always planned to read it (like me). Well now is the perfect time to throw this in your backpack or beach bag and revisit or finally discover this classic.
Hot Tub Time Machine If you missed this in theaters, treat yourself to this hilarious, raunchy, time- traveling, 80’s fun.
Degrassi: The Boiling Point Hey, if you can’t get enough teen melodrama, Degrassi is serving it up for you every weeknight all month long! Dang, they work those Canadian kids hard!
Ayelet Waldman’s new book of essays Bad Mother, will certainly get conversations stirring. Ms. Waldman is the sacrificial lamb for all mothers. She’s willing to put it all out there and be judged for her opinions and choices. Most mothers are only willing to put their toe in the water when it comes to saying how they really feel about a topic or situation. Waldman dives in head first, let’s the fur fly and never apologizes for her feelings. They are, after all, her feeling and it’s interesting how many other people seem to forget that.
To date, Waldman has faced harsh criticism for saying she loves her husband more than her children and how it would be much easier to have her son be gay so she wouldn’t have to suffer a daughter-in-law. As usual, those quick to judge miss the point.
Waldman is passionate about the things she’s believes in, but whet it comes to the foray of motherhood, she feels like all mothers today. If you only scratch the surface, you miss that heartfelt message underneath. Ayelet Waldman wants us mothers to work together and stop judging and holding each other up to unrealistic standards. Who better than her to lead the battle cry? Would any of us want our mothering skills under such public scrutiny?
Still, it all comes down to the writing and Ms. Waldman is one hell of a writer. Her humor is biting and she never takes herself, or her ever growing fame, too seriously. From the laugh at loud essays “Sexy Witches and Cereal Boxes” and “Tech Support” to the soul searing “Rocketship” and “Legacy,” this collection runs the gamut of every happy, funny, horrible, challenging and life altering emotions motherhood has to offer .
I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Ms.Waldman several times on her tour to promote this book. Each time, she was funny, smart, warm and approachable. She reads from a different excerpt of her book and she comes across as genuine. Plus, she brings the most delicious baked goods. She hardly comes off as a bad mother, maybe just a real one, treading the waters of motherhood like all of us. I never feel like I’m expected to agree with everything she’s putting out there, quite the contrary. By stripping away all of the taboo subjects we’re not supposed to talk about or even think about, if we’re “good mothers,” we can instead accept each other and offer an understanding shoulder to cry on when this whole motherhood thing gets too tough.
I’m not a movie snob, I swear! I loved Hot Tub Time Machine. I never got around to posting my review of that, so I have nothing in print. I do love stupid movies, really. I wanted to like this movie so much. I was looking forward to it all week. Don’t get me wrong, it was funny. Unfortunately, it wasn’t funny enough, and it wasted a lot of talented people.
I’m sure you all know the basic premise by now. Tim (Paul Rudd) wants a big promotion at work, and in order to prove he’s “one of the guys” he must attend the monthly "Dinner for Winners." The dinner consists of bringing a companion who is the worst loser you can find. The snotty corporate bigwigs secretly make fun of the guests and they proceed to try to top each other the next time.
The film is based loosely on the French film The Dinner Game. I keep hearing from the critics that this is a much better film, and I plan to check it out just to compare and contrast.
Paul Rudd should be cast in a remake of The Picture of Dorian Gray. I mean, this guy never ages! He looks exactly the same as he did in Clueless! Rudd has the ability to be very funny, but he rarely gets a role that showcases his abilities. Once again, this role did not give him much to do.
Steve Carell is the resident schmuck and he does his usual, annoying-nerd-with-heart-that-you-cannot-help-but-love. He has some good scenes, but he’s falling into the Ben Stiller trap of playing the same role all the time. Stiller broke that streak with Tropic Thunder, and I hope Carell can also find something different in a future role.
Jermaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) was one of the bright spots. He’s poised to really explode soon. Flight of the Conchords only reached a cult following and now that Clement is free of his HBO show, I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of him. He has a great presence and everything he says and does is funny just because he’s saying and doing it.
This film was littered with small roles for great people, but they were unfortunately wasted. Larry Wilmore, Kristen Schaal and Chris O’Dowd were not allowed to live up to their comic potential.
I did laugh. Honestly, the mice dioramas were hysterical. Yet this film lacked the most important component for a comedy; there was nothing funny enough to make me ever want to watch it again.
**Postscript 8-23-10 I wanted to come back to this review and correct something I said. To me the most successful comedy film is one where you want to watch it multiple times to catch those great scenes over and over. Originally, I found this film mildly entertaining, but definitely a “one view only.” I have to confess that I have found myself bringing up several scenes in conversation and I enjoy seeing the commercials for it. I probably will watch this again at some point. Two films in my past, The World’s Greatest Lover and Wedding Crashers, failed to impress me the first time I watched them. Over time, however, I found “new” funny scenes each time I watched. It may be because I did not see either of those films in the theater. Maybe my expectations were too high after plucking down $10.25! I have a feeling this film could fall into that same category. I’ll let you know when it comes out on DVD.
Please enjoy this little taste of the best characters in the film...the mice
I’m working hard on the ProBlogger challenge. Next week I begin the challenge again with movie bloggers. I’ll fill you in on that next week. Right now, I’m loving all the new Blogs I’ve found at SITS. So much so, that it’s even given me an idea for a new feature for the couch! Today’s challenge talks about editorial content and setting up the ideas for your posts in advance.
I’ve tried some regular features here in the past. 365 Seinfeld didn’t go over so well, but every Tuesday I still do Song of the Week. It’s all trial and error right? Well, I’ve been thinking of a couple of new features.
As previously mentioned, I’ve found so many great blogs in the last few weeks that I thought a new feature could be “Sunday Chatting with A Blogger.” My mission with this blog from the beginning has been to turn you on to great things, blogs included. I want to give it a bit more of a personal touch though and instead of links, (which are awesome, don’t get me wrong) an actual conversation with the blog author I’m highlighting. I was thinking this would be a nice laid-back Sunday feature.
I’m also considering a Saturday Skype Roundup. I’m considering coming to you via video each Saturday, directly from my couch! I can talk about recent events in the entertainment world and maybe vent a little! This of course requires me learn how to record, edit and post with Skype. Since my technical abilities sort of suck, this one may take me awhile!
So what do you think? Do these new features sound interesting? Do you think they enhance my niche? I’d love your feedback. Happy Friday by the way!
I’m still getting through the 31 Days to Build A Better Blog Challenge with the girls over at SITS. Today’s task is to write a list of ten future posts your wish to cover. This list gives you an idea of some of the things coming up on Colleenie’s Couch. Let me know if a particular topic piques your interest.
1. How to Fix American Idol 2. To Kill A Mockingbird (book review) 3. Dinner for Schmucks (movie review) 4. Crush It! (book review) 5. Cyrus (movie review) 6. Intro to Meet A Blogger Sunday (new feature) 7. Volume II – She and Him (music review) 8. One Day (book review) 9. Bad Mother (book review) 10. It Sucked Then I Cried (book review)
This list is comprised of some things I’ve already done and things I hope to do. I’m not the fastest reader in the world so sometimes my reading plate gets too full.
Well, fans of Sex and the City had two options this summer. They could see the theatrical release of Sex and the City 2 or read the YA novel by Candace Bushnell, The Carrie Diaries.
I was pretty pumped to see the new movie because I was more than impressed with the first outing. However, some major scheduling conflicts kept me from opening weekend. Then the reviews and low ticket sales started flowing in. Suddenly, a movie I had been anticipating for months dropped to my “wait for DVD list.”
I heard some months earlier that a Young Adult novel was coming out based on Carrie Bradshaw’s High School years. My interest was piqued, but my book buying budget low. I was surprised at how quickly I got the book from my local library “hold” list.
As a side note, I never grew out of reading Young Adult fiction. There are some phenomenal books out there in this genre. The Twilight and Harry Potter books have managed to cross over, but I’ve always been more of fan of girls making big decisions while on the cusp of womanhood. So, this was basically right up my alley!
I would get to find out about Carrie’s family and how she decided to become a writer. These were juicy secrets we were never told over all 6 seasons of Sex and the City. Carrie never really mentioned her family except for once when I think she said her Dad left them. Hmm, that would certainly conflict, but I’d have to watch every episode to verify that. Does anyone out there remember that? I think it was the one where she went to work for Vogue. I guess if you called Ms. Bushnell out on that, she would simply say she can’t be responsible for whatever storylines were used in the TV show since she wasn’t writing it.
Anyway, I’m getting off track. This book was the perfect summer read. High teen drama, secrets, betrayal, boyfriend-stealing…you name it! I couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen to Carrie next. The ending was so much fun I threw up the book, (don’t worry, I was in bed so I didn’t damage a library book) and exclaimed, “That was awesome!”
This book definitely provided some summer reading fun and it wasn’t too saucy if you have an older teen who wants to read it. Be warned though, some of the teen characters are having sex, though nothing is described in detail. There’s also drinking and sneaking out of the house. If your cool with your teen reading that type of subject matter, then pass it along AFTER you read it.
Daniel – Wilson Phillips This little ditty is from Two Rooms, the Elton John/Bernie Taupin tribute album. This was always one of my favorite Elton songs. Anyone who quickly wants to write off a puff band like Wilson Phillips needs to take a listen to the harmony they have on this tune. Beautiful!
The ProBlogger challenge sure has brought a lot of new people over to the couch. I’m going to skooch over so you can all take a seat.
Comfy? Good. Today I’m going to share some off my favorite posts from the past. I think it will help you get a feel for how I do things here at Colleenie’s Couch.
