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Archive for tv/movies
April 17, 2007 at 12:55 am · Filed under the internet, tv/movies
I rarely ever mindlessly watch TV, but figured tonight was as good of a night to start as any. I’m mostly emailing and reading blogs on my computer, but a movie trailer commercial caught my eye. I was even more shocked when at the end of it, instead of a website, it listed a myspace site.
Remember when movie trailers didn’t even have websites attached to them? When did that start? I want to say mid to late 90s; I always wondered when they would run out of domain names because the movie websites kept getting longer and longer. So now maybe they did run out of domain names and decided to go with myspace instead.
I don’t like this trend, mostly because I don’t like myspace.
March 9, 2007 at 12:59 am · Filed under tv/movies
My fourth year in college I watched the OC religiously. At first I chalked it off to stupid primetime soap and condescendingly made fun of Ryan for watching it and for his roommates for all getting together on Wednesday nights to watch it. Then I saw one episode and got hooked. Upon coming to Boston, I kept up with the second season. It couldn’t be missed. I let down friends with whom I played IM basketball in order to watch the OC. Even when they really needed more bodies to field a team for a game, I stood my ground, said no, and stayed home in front of my TV.
Then the show really got stupid. Think about it … they only have so many characters. The stories all revolve around those same characters. They can only date each other so many times before the writers run out of combinations of couples. That’s when they start making up stupid stuff like a girl’s ex-boyfriend dating her mom. Yeah, like that actually happens. It just gets lame.
So recently, I’ve been watching Grey’s Anatomy like crazy. Granted, it is a better written show than something about a bunch of rich, privileged teenagers in Southern California… BUT, I’m halfway through the third season, and I’m getting a sense of the same problem that brought the OC down. They’re running out of stories, and in particular, juicy stories about who’s dating who. So they start making stuff up that’s totally ridiculous.
That got me thinking to another show that never seemed ridiculous: Sex and the City. How did they do it? How did they not run out of stories? Borrowing from that success, I think the key is for the show to revolve around a handful of key characters who have stable relationships with each other (like a girlfriend bond that will never break). Then you write the show about their volatile relationships with OTHER people. That way, you can always have new other people on the show, and nothing gets stale.
If I ever write a pilot, I’ll write about something like that, instead of revolving my story around a core group of 10 people getting in and out of relationships with each other.
January 31, 2006 at 2:28 am · Filed under tv/movies
I remember going with my dad to the public library every single weekend when I was little and getting a stack of books to read for the week. The only things that I didn’t read were books that I had already read. Nothing bothered me more than to read a book the second time through. For this reason, I never bought books until very recently. Why spend money buying books when I have no intention of ever looking at them again after one read-through?
One of the first books I ever bought was Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice; I loved it so much that it never fit the “only read 1 time through” mold. I have now read P&P more times than I can count. Still, through every read, no matter how many have already come before it, I long for Lizzie and Mr. Darcy to be together, and I flip the pages as fast as I can to find out, in great anticipation, when they do. I never get tired of the story.
Naturally, I am equally enamoured with the various big screen adaptations of the book. The lastest, with Keira Knightley, is beautiful, albeit a bit rushed. After all, how can one truly do a book justice in 120 minutes? Today, I just finished watching the BBC miniseries adaptation; it made me want to go back and read the book again, if at least to read the few pages of Mr. Darcy’s infamously rejected proposal and his subsequent letter. The miniseries even elevated Colin Firth to dashing/hot in my mind.
Watching P&P instantly put me in a great mood. The warm fuzzies I inevitably get after reading/watching P&P each time are indescribable. The story is so genuine, so touching, so sweet, so romantic. I am sure all girls have, at one point, wanted a handsome Mr. Darcy of her own. The misunderstandings in the story, followed by everything smoothing out in the end, give us all hope in the fateful turns of events in our own lives. They allow us to trust that things will all work out in the end :)
December 15, 2005 at 11:35 pm · Filed under tv/movies
“This is the apprentice, not the apprenti.”
Thanks, Randal, for perpetuating the stereotype that MIT people can’t speak english. I know it sounds like it fits, but did you really have to say “apprenti”? With your 5 academic degrees, of which you never fail to remind others, surely somewhere along the way, you learned how to use a terminal “s” to make words plural? Well, at least I can still sleep knowing that Donald didn’t hire you for your language skills.
now back to exam studying …
December 4, 2005 at 1:50 am · Filed under tv/movies
the biggest letdown of the year. I had to fight to pay attention through the movie; most of the time, I was bored out of my mind. While reading the books, I remember thinking to myself that Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix were too long. I remember flipping through pages just so I didn’t have to read about flickering fires in the Gryffindor reading room. This movie gave me the same feeling. I felt like so much of what was in it was unnecessary, and the necessary story development things were completely ignored.
So in the end, the movie was a forced string-together of various plot highlights from the book, and it ain’t pretty. There were no transitions, no explanations, nothing. I’m hugely disappointed. Also, after all that media and fanfare about Cho Chang, Harry’s love interest, she was in the 2.5 hour movie for all of 5 minutes. So much for that.
November 16, 2005 at 10:37 pm · Filed under tv/movies, life thoughts
Despite many years of tomboy-foolishness, I’m just a girl (was that gwen stefani who sang that song?). I remember once back during college somebody told me that while I appear strong and determined on the outside, when it comes down to certain things (ie: boys), I’m still such a girl like every other girl. I’m not sure if that was meant to be a compliment or insult. Anyway, girlish roller-coaster emotions of giddyness (he loves me) and despair (he loves me not) are running on turbo power these days.
On an un-related note, here’s my current list of to-see/must-see movies:
Chicken Little
Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire
Pride & Prejudice
Derailed (to see my friend as an extra!)
Kung Fu Hustle
Hitch
Fever Pitch
Love Actually
Pictures from Ireland are … coming soon … or so they say
August 8, 2005 at 4:54 pm · Filed under tv/movies
As an avid follower of American Idol last season, I am happy to announce that American Idol auditions are coming to Boston! Check out www.idolonfox.com. It’s also going to be in Chicago :) I wonder if anyone I know will make it on this year? I didn’t know anyone last year, but had the remote wahoo connection with Travis. I don’t even remember his last name now … shows you how transient this show is … but Carrie Underwood is pretty cute, and I’m not afraid to say that.
May 19, 2005 at 4:40 am · Filed under tv/movies
*sigh* absolutely epic. i’m writing this down before i get influenced by anybody trying to convince me otherwise. episode iii is george lucas’ redemption. i’ll die happy having seen it.
May 6, 2005 at 3:08 am · Filed under tv/movies
I know it’s lame to post about American Idol, but hey I’ve refrained from writing anything on it this whole season so far. This week is probably the best week this season, and I didn’t even watch either the performance or the results show (I know, what was I thinking???). The reason it’s so great is because Scott Savol finally got kicked off. After hanging on for dear life, ousting beautiful people like Nadia and Anwar, Scott is finally gone. Thank the powers that be.
Honestly, Scott should have been kicked off 10 weeks ago! I can’t believe he’s lasted this long, and my roommate totally agrees. Okay, so she and I may not really represent all of America on this, but who in their right mind actually calls in to vote for this guy? Scott still being in the competition was ruining my entire American Idol experience, but now I can happily go on knowing that he is gone. I’d support any of the current final 4 winning it in the end … okay maybe Anthony a bit less than the other three.
And just a quote to end with a bang:
“Um, I don’t mean to assume, but what else could be on that list? Is Idol competing with something? Like the time he got two Zagnut bars out of the vending machine even though he only paid for one?” –official www.idolonfox.com recap, in response to Scott’s farewell speech, in which he said that American Idol has been one of the best experiences of his life. Ouch, that had to hurt.
April 2, 2005 at 2:21 pm · Filed under tv/movies
Sin City rocked my world.
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