Brian Williams of NBC's Nightly News

So, when did network news broadcasters become sexy and cool? Because Brian Williams is both sexy and cool, really sexy and very cool. Don't believe me? Go watch Jimmy Fallon's Late Night show and you can see this for yourself or watch his news show, but that may not show his coolness. On a Jimmy Fallon episode sometime in the last few months, Williams was on the show and I was struck by his coolness and yes - his sexiness. On the Fallon show he and Jimmy did the news in a 'slow smooth' (I think that's what they called it) with The Roots Band. Then I saw him during the Olympics doing news updates. So, here I am catching up on my recordings of Jimmy's show, the episode shown on 3/29/10, (Yes- I have a little talk show addiction) and Brian isn't even a guest, but he shows up for the opening half of the show to do another news update in a slow smooth. That means The Roots play some soft blues-y music and Brian and Jimmy report the news in a sort of soft rap. Just cool!

"Zathura"

Remember Jumanji with Robin Williams? OK - jump ahead ten years and put it in space and you have Zathura. It's basically about two brothers, age 6 & 10, who have to survive a game that puts them in dangerous situation after dangerous situation - in space. It wasn't as big a success as Jumanji, but just as good to my mind. Why you ask...well let me tell you.

1. Jon Favreau directed it. You may remember he recently directed Ironman.
2. It has Dax Shepard. I may be a little biased here as I have a bit of a crush on him. You may know him from When in Rome or currently the TV show, Parenthood.
3. The brothers - Josh Hutcherson and Jonah Bobo. Josh has quite an extensive list of movies most recently Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant and Journey to the Center of the Earth, but by far my favorite is Little Manhattan (I'll have to discuss this one later). Jonah Bobo is probably the cutest kid ever - seriously - he is completely adorable and also does a great acting job.

4. For Twihards, Kristen Stewart (you know...Bella...from Twilight) plays the sister and even gets frozen.
5. Tim Robbins plays the dad, and Peter Billingsley (the kid from A Christmas Story) is a co-producer.
6. Finally, they completely destroy the house throughout the course of the movie - literally! Jon Favreau is an advocate of practical stunts, so the house set moves, tilts, and is physically destroyed by the end of the movie - soooo cool.

So, my thinking is - you should watch or re-watch. I just got done re-watching it and had so much fun.

Dancing With the Stars - new season

YAY! A new season just started and it looks to be a pretty good cast. I already have my favorite that I hope wins, and aside from two 'stars' I hope leave sooner than later, I like everyone competing. There are a few who are not really good dancers, but we'll see if they improve. Some of my favorites, thus far, are Evan Lysacek, Niecy Nash, Chad Ochocinco and Shannen Doherty.

My mom is watching for the first time because she's a fan of Niecy Nash. So, it's kinda fun sharing with her this season.

Does anyone else watch or have a favorite?

Alcatraz versus Evil Librarians

This is just a fun read. I highly recommend this as a read for adults and kids. It's a young adult fantasy written by Brandon Sanderson. Some of you may know him for his own Mistborn series or perhaps a little thing he is writing - finishing Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.....

This is about a 13 year old boy, Alcatraz, who learns that the world as he (and we) knows it is actually far more extensive and that the evil librarians are controlling our knowledge. Alcatraz is in a constant state of having to readjust his view of everything. Brandon's imaginative use of this extra worldness is creative and wacky and terribly funny.

There are two more books currently available in this series - I can't wait to read them. Go find and enjoy!

Several thoughts on assorted things

I don't know if I already mentioned it, but I had decided to track all the books I read this year, so I've been tracking that. I will occasionally update ya'll how that's going (mind you I'm reading very slowly these days). As of March 1st, I've also decided to track all the movies I watch (not TV shows - that would just be too much), so that too will be updated periodically.

On to other assorted things.
I watched "I Love You, Man" the other night and I was surprised that it wasn't nearly as stupid as I thought it was going to be. Mind you - I like "stupid" humor. It certainly had stupid humor in it and it wasn't the greatest movie ever made, but it had a nice little bit about friends and it wasn't as juvenile as one might think. Worth a watch.

A blast from the past - "The Talk of the Town" with Cary Grant, Ronald Coleman and Jean Arthur. AWESOME ( I wish you could hear the sing songy extension I gave this mentally). Cary Grant is a fugitive from the law hiding out in the home of Jean Arthur who has just rented said home to Ronald Coleman (dishy), a high falutin' legal eagle. Comedic mayhem ensues. Hunt it down - watch it!

That's all...for now.

"Tommy"

I had never watched The Who's rock opera "Tommy' until last night. This may seem a big deal to some and an irrelevant fact to others, but until recently, I just had not had any interest in it - it seemed strange to me. So, now that I've watched it, I can say with out any hesitation at all that it is indeed strange.

It may be my lack of rock knowledge or my naivete when it comes to things counter culture, or possibly I'm just a little dumb in some things - I dunno - but I did not understand this movie at all. Not one little bit.

I liked a lot of the music. Some of the songs were just terrific. Elton John as a the Pinball Wizard until his dethronement was cool, Tina Turner as the Acid Queen was bizarre, and Oliver Reed and Ann Margaret as really bad parents were disturbing. Roger Daltrey did a great job of playing the deaf, blind, mute Tommy. But the point of the story escaped me and even though I did make it to end, I kept waiting for the point to appear, so it would all become relevant and enlightening. I'm still confused. If someone can explain this movie to me, I welcome any and all explanations. Therefore, I won't say I did not like it or that it was bad - neither would be true - but I also cannot say I liked it or that I thought it was good. Confused - see?

Book Reviews to come

So, I have this long list of books I am going to read in the very near future. I will then follow up with a review of said book. Keep an eye out for upcoming reviews of the following books maybe even in this order:

Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson - this is for Young Adults (but so was Harry Potter and Twilight - so there!)
The Philosophical Strangler by Eric Flint - fantasy/scifi...sounds like fun
Quicksilver by Joy Spraycar - paranormal romance (can't wait)
Dark Prince by Christeen Feehan - more paranormal romance (I just can't get enough!)
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson - fantasy
Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia - gun-toting urban fantasy? I think....I'll let you know

So , this is the short list - I have a serious backlog and am not reading nearly fast enough to satisfy my interests.

I do want to shout out Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul by Deepak Chopra. I read it but need to now read it again when I actually have the time to do all the exercises, meditations and such that will truly internalize the message it is giving. I fully advocate what it is saying though - that we all have the power within ourselves to create our reality.

Hooray for Hollywood...and the Oscars!

I think for the first time in so many years I cannot remember, I watched the Oscars and did not have one single, "Are you kidding me?!" moment. Which is great because there have been years I've had so many of those, I was ready to give up watching the Oscars, my other favorite Sunday annual event (hint: The Super Bowl). It doesn't mean I agree with all awards given, it means I did not egregiously disagree with who won. So, lets look at some of the movies offered up last night....(I am not going to go into the Technical Awards - sorry)

The Hurt Locker - Remember awhile back when I told you about Jeremy Renner....he's in this one and was nominated for Best Actor but didn't win (sniff). The movie did however win big: Best Picture, Best Director (Kathryn Bigelow, 1st woman to win Director), Film Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Original Screenplay. Not too shabby for a little film that could.

The Blind Side - Sandra Bullock won Best Actress. She is so funny, smart, talented and gorgeous.
Precious - Got Best Adapted Screenplay and Mo'Nique won Best Supporting Actress. She is one beautiful and gracious woman.
Crazy Heart - It got Best Original Song and Jeff Bridges took home Best Actor. He's so cute.
Avatar - Not the ones everyone was probably expecting but not bad... It won Visual Effects, Cinematography, and Art Direction.
Inglourious Basterds - Christoph Waltz snagged Best Supporting Actor and is such a completely adorable guy. Quentin Tarantino is brilliant -again.
Star Trek - They won Best Makeup, but it does seem like they should have won more awards to my Trekkie mind.
Up - Won Original Score and Animated Feature Film.
The Young Victoria - This period piece won Best Costume Design. Looks good - must see.

Now - I think the awards were spread around nicely, there were some surprises and some "I thought so" moments and , again, nothing I didn't think - "Fair Play." But, there was one movie I felt got snubbed and should totally have won something - anything - it was a fabulous movie that has stayed with me and made a brilliant statement. District 9. Yes, it was nominated for Best Picture which is great, but seriously it should have won something. It's the only movie I felt the loss of last night and kept waiting for and being disappointed. And its star, Sharlto Copley, I really felt deserved to be in the Best Actor nominations. So, even though this is the best Oscars I've seen in many, many a year (thank you Adam Shankman) I am sad that District 9 did not win any much deserved awards in my humble opinion. Award season is now over for another year - carry on...

The Love Saga by Janette Oke

I may be getting soft in my old age. The Hallmark channel recently had a 16 (yes - Sixteen) hour marathon of movies based on the books by Janette Oke collectively called The Love Saga. I DVR'd them all (I couldn't watch them then - the Olympics were on and I barely had a life already). They are Christian Historical Western Romances based on one family as they pass through several generations. I have not read the books, thus my comments are solely based on the movies. So let's break this down...

Christian - if you are into that, these are made for you - if you aren't, you can overlook this aspect and still appreciate I think. What does it mean for the story: There is a lot of talk about God and faith and praying for answers and such. It also means that every disagreeable misunderstood person will typically end on a happy note having learned something and grown as a person (and as a person of faith) because of their interaction with or within our primary family.

Historical Western - they all take place in roughly the 1860 - 1880/90 period while we were settling this country and times were plenty tough. What does this mean for the story: It means that a lot of people die, a lot of people have babies, a lot of people get first and second husbands/wives and there are plenty of adopted children (cuz a lot of people are dying). The family is defined as whoever you choose to include in it - thru adoption, marrying, blood, or friendship ( I like the inclusiveness of this family definition).

Romance - Yes, it has the typical romantic formula for happy endings which I love and is why I read so much in the romance genre. What does this mean: Every movie is about a couple finding their way to love and the alter. It also means that everyone stays together forever... unless one of them dies.

Is it formulaic? Yes, but all genre stuff is - not just romance - get over it.
Does every single story line get wrapped up and usually happily so? Yes - we can all use some positivity in our lives despite all the hardships of frontier life and everyone dying.
Is it sappy-sweet? Oh heck yes! Sugar-shock sappy-sweet (except right when someone is dying - but then shortly after yes again).
Is anything surprising? Mostly no, but I was shocked (and appalled when my favorite hottie husband died....sniff).
Is it trying to make you cry? At every given opportunity - darn it all. Geez - I hate crying and am cold-hearted (I've mentioned this) and I shed a few tears I'll admit, grudgingly (maybe more than a few - I'll never tell). Even if you know it's coming and you are prepared and may even find the situation corny, when whatever is going to happen happens - you cry. Grrrrr.
Is it addicting? Yes again - I sat and watched all eight movies over the course of one evening and the entire next day! I had no self control and only stopped overnight because I didn't want to fall asleep and miss something.

It has some really good actors in the movies (Katherine Heigl, Patty Duke, a young January Jones, and Dale Midkiff) a slew of cutie pie guys (some are just downright smokin' hot) for our gals to fall in love with, advocates for literacy and education (always a plus to my mind), and has strong women (another plus). All in all, I say I liked them (OK - I liked them a lot...told ya I''m getting soft) and if romance is a genre (with or without the Christian aspect) that you are into - then watch. Here are the eight movies in order: Love Comes Softly, Love's Enduring Promise, Love's Long Journey, Love's Abiding Joy, Love's Unending Legacy, Love's Unfolding Dream, Love Takes Wing, Love Finds a Home.