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aradia22

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Posts posted by aradia22

    Al Jazeera America

    in Network Talk

    I should really check if I still have Al Jazeera. I always enjoy the news so much more when I'm traveling and getting the stations that broadcast in English but which aren't native to America. I can't deal with the regular cable news stuff (Fox News, MSNBC, CNN). I just feel like I'm constantly being lied to and getting way more opinion than news. I catch some of the local news from time to time but other than NY1, it's mainly depressing or useless information. Just subsisting on a diet of local news I could tell you nothing about what's happening in the world, or even in American politics, but I can tell you a ton about newborn kittens and bears in people's backyards. Get it together, local news. The Daily Show/Colbert Report helps a little but they don't cover too many stories and of course the focus is more on humor than news. Gone are the days when I'd ever want to sit down to read the newspaper. I don't find the writing enjoyable and so it just feels like a waste to read an article that imparts a paragraph's worth of information. 

     

    For those who do watch, are they particular anchors you like or times of the day when you like to tune in?

    Future of Movie Stars: Who Will Shine? Who Will Fade Away?

    in Everything Else Movies

     

    I think Reese just might be that case of someone who can't really "transition" out of the ingenue roles, but is now too old to play those kind of roles, ala Wynona Ryder.

    I wonder if there's any way for them to go genre. Thinking of Wynona obviously makes me think of Johnny Depp. Hollywood movies like to preserve the pretty when it comes to the female talent but there are still some genre parts every so often that require the kind of transformation that might help them break free of their ingenue looks. For example... Elizabeth Banks as Effie in The Hunger Games franchise. And Helena Bonham Carter tends to grab a lot of those roles. But maybe they're not willing to go character actress and insist on playing lead roles. That's probably more true for Reese than Wynona as she did take the small role in Black Swan.

    • Love 1

    Wasted Talent: Shows That Never Lived Up To Their Potential

    in TV Show-Related Talk

     

    I'd like to throw Smash in here.  The pilot was pretty good.  It had its issues but I thought they could be resolved.  And honestly, they could have been but the show, for the most part, chose not to.  It had some really good stuff and way too much dreck.

    Oh, Smash so much. Good things: music. Bad things: almost everything else. Including almost everyone's acting. Even Hilty and Christian Borle couldn't escape the pull of terrible soap acting at times. What we never really got? The backstage theatre show we were promised. With real choreographers and costume designers, not just Derek making all the decisions for... reasons? Give me Tom and Julia slowly developing the story and not just magically coming up with things so we can spend our time on pointless melodrama. Give me the dude who builds the sets and the lighting guy and more Ann Harada. Theatre is so collaborative and there was so little of that on Smash.

     

    Yep.  McPhee was the big reason but I would throw in Julia's weirdly dropped adoption story and affair in there as well.  Ellis was bad but getting rid of him was only the tip of the iceberg of what they needed to do.

    I'm a McPhee defender. She had her moments. I liked her versions of Let Me Be Your Star and Don't Forget Me and she arguably did a better job than Hilty with Marilyn's breathy voice and vulnerability. That said, they gave her too much of the show. I don't know why they thought they could rely on her and her character to carry so much of the plot. I think season 2 is when her acting just got painfully bad and lifeless. In season 1, used more sparingly, she just came off as the sweet ingenue. Other issues... freaking Dev. Why show, why? I think Ellis also had his moments. I don't blame him for being plot-device-y because they used him as a plot device. Yes, on Julia's adoption story and the terrible actor they cast as his son. And no, I do not forgive Smash for casting Brian D'Arcy James and then only letting him sing one song to Rock Band. Boo on casting Jeremy Jordan and then making him terrible. Why show? Broadway Here I Come was so good. And then you stomped all over it with Hit List and the drug problems. And

    poor hit by a bus

    Kyle. At least he's in a better place now. And by a better place I mean Les Miz. I came around on Hilty more in season 2 when it wasn't about her competing with McPhee but honestly they were both bad Marilyns. I know Hilty played the same part as Marilyn on stage but trying to actually play Marilyn she was forced to suppress all the things that make her voice worthwhile and when they came out they annoyed me as being wrong for Marilyn. Also, there were lots of abrasively sharp notes. They Just Keep Moving the Line? Awesome. Not Marilyn but awesome. 

     

    Also, why not more useful cameos? People don't have to pop in for 5 seconds. You can actually use them to move the story along. I know, shocker.

     

    OK, I need to stop venting about Smash or I'll be here for hours. 

     

    The other show that never lived up to its potential is Being Erica. Also, Drop Dead Diva. I keep signing on for magical shows with female protagonists that lose steam after a few seasons when it becomes clear the writers don't have a plan and didn't think through the world they created.

    • Love 1

    Devious Maids - General Discussion

    in Devious Maids

    So remember last week when I was like, why would Ethan go to Valentina of all people? Well, they're both idiots. Him for going to her and her for bringing him to her mom's house? What? You wasted 15 minutes driving to your mom's house for... what? At least she called Remi but clearly that wasn't Ethan's plan and I maintain that there's no reason to assume Remi has any useful medical knowledge. And yeah, she somehow forgot to clean all that blood out of her car. Eyeroll. Part of me wishes she told some terrible lie about her period. I'm sorry. Now it's in your head.

     

    Yeah, see, now we're back to the first version of June Squibb as Genevieve's mom. You can't ask me to sympathize with the single mom stuff when the rest of the time she's this malicious, awful cartoon character.

     

    Small blessings, Spence and Carmen didn't sleep together in a drunken haze.

     

    For a second, I thought they were going to show Reggie beating Kenneth with the cane. Why is this family always in danger of beating him with sticks?

     

    Maybe it's just that I want everyone to be like the Powell's but it would have been kind of interesting to see Marisol or Valentina try to cover up for their men. I feel like Marisol could have gone in that direction if Nick had told her the truth (only to change her mind later). 

     

    I thought Valentina was going to hit someone with her car what with the crying and leaning down to get a tissue.

     

    Again, Marisol is the most incompetent detective. How did she ever get through last season? No subtlety. He immediately knew she was trying to drug him. 

    Future of Movie Stars: Who Will Shine? Who Will Fade Away?

    in Everything Else Movies

     

    One actress who definetly needs to take the above advice and stop taking herself so seriously is Reese Witherspoon. She needs to stop taking every Oscar baity role she can get her hands on and do another Legally Blonde-esque or even This Means War style comedy. I can't recall why I ever liked her in the first place.

    This could probably go on the Unpopular Opinions board as well but I didn't think Walk the Line was a great movie and I didn't think she gave a really remarkable performance. Legally Blonde is still the role where she shines the most for me (I haven't seen Election). She is fully committed to the silliness. It's not a lazy performance and she brings "movie star" to the role. I can't through more than a few minutes of her other rom-coms because it feels like she doesn't even care. I'm not sure if the problem is taking herself seriously so much as fully committing and putting in the effort. I think that's what Amy Adams usually tries to do which makes me like her even when I don't love the movies she's in.

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    TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

    in Movies

     

    What I love about Doris Day movies is her clothes!

    I find some of her outfits kind of boxy but she had a great figure so she pulled it off. I think Pillow Talk probably had the best fashion. Apparently interior decorating paid really well back then. I even just like the scoop neck of that burgundy dress. I think I read that "jean louis" did the costumes in the opening credits. I find that I'm generally drawn to the unusual when it comes to her fashion in these movies. For instance, from Lover Come Back the outfit that sticks out to me is the sort of crop top she wore with all the spangly bits. I think it was when Rock Hudson's character came for dinner.

     

    Also, I think we did this on the old TWoP forum but am I the youngest one here?

    TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

    in Movies

     

    What I love  about any Doris Day movie is the pound and a half of vasoline on the camera lens during her close ups.

    Aw, poor Doris Day. But yeah, it's kind of been throwing me how old she looks in the films I've seen (Move Over Darling, Pillow Talk, Lover Come Back, The Thrill of It All). When I hear her described, I picture this very fresh-faced movie star in maybe her late 20's/early 30's. Am I just picking all her later movies? I was under the impression that these were her big hits. Like, I'm looking for Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality and Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde and Kate Hudson in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Not Sandra Bullock in The Proposal and Reese Witherspoon in This Means War and Kate Hudson in Something Borrowed. (By the way, I could do this all day.)

    S06.E15: Ten Gallon Spats

    in The Real Housewives Of New York City

     

     

    I guess I'm going to have to be that pill -- Nothing wrong with Kristin's breasts whether real or fake.  Nothing wrong with a bit of sag either.

    Kristen's issues have nothing to do with her rack.  Back in my peak days -- no pun intended -- from the 70s to the 80s -- breasts could be whatever they were -- High strung, low strung -- whatever.

    She looks fine to me -- if she prefers not to have them just under her neck, cleavage style, fine with me.

    It doesn't make the clothes she wears look great though, which is kind of a problem... for a model.

    TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

    in Movies

    · Edited by aradia22

    I finally sat down to watch Pillow Talk for the first time today. I can definitely see how they rehashed the plot for Lover Come Back. But other than the troubling gender politics (which I generally expect from all movies from the 50's and 60's) I think it's aged well. I still found it funny and I don't know when Rock Hudson isn't going to be charming... although he might be too handsome. It's almost a little generic... like a Ken doll. I think I would have enjoyed the movie even more if I hadn't seen Lover Come Back first but it was still a lot of fun. The singer at the piano bar eavesdropping and then singing "You lie" to him as he was leaving with Doris Day was cheesy but cute. The movie kept a lightness that made the moments that should have bothered me seem more inoffensive, though in retrospect, the way it downplayed coercion, unwanted male attention/attempted rape, and a lot of characters who condoned/ignored the behavior (carriage driver, singer, etc.) is a bit troubling. 

     

    It was a bit weird watching Rock Hudson delivering those lines about gay stereotypes and implying that his alter-ego was gay. I think they managed to integrate most of Doris Day singing in the film in a way that felt organic but it did seem a little gimmicky with the split screen and the footage of Day and Hudson imposed over the various NY landmarks, etc. They definitely weren't shy about pulling out all the tricks. It bugs me a little that she wasn't able to act professional and was first petty and vengeful in decorating the apartment and then childish and petulant as he carried her around. And again, all those people were complicit.

    Guilty Pleasures: Songs You're Ashamed Of Having On Your MP3 Player

    in Music

     

    Gotta agree with Aradia, the Muses were awesome. I have Zero to Hero and Gospel Truth on my MP3 player. I am not ashamed. :)

    I met Lillias White in person after a concert. No joke, almost cried.

    I'm not really into liking things "ironically" but I love things even when they're terrible and sometimes when they're expressly trying to be terrible. For instance, there are some great Glee covers that I really enjoy like Songbird and DROMP. But sometimes nothing makes me happier than when "Run Joey Run" starts playing on shuffle. Also, it's terrible that "With You I'm Born Again" isn't available on Spotify or iTunes. So I will sometimes open up Netflix just to watch that song. 

    • Love 1

    Dream Costars: Who Should Do A Movie Together?

    in Everything Else Movies

     

    Jessica Chastain and Michael Fassbender

    Off the top of my head, it's difficult to think of an actress I love who is in his age range, but I'd love to see Fassbender in a straight romance (as opposed to romance mixed with some other genre) with someone his own age. I have managed to miss all of Jessica Chastain's movies but she seems to be a quieter actress so if they were ever paired it would probably be in a moody drama. But I think he could really pull off one of those traditional leading man roles we don't see in movies that often nowadays. While there are lots of great younger actresses, there's something to be said for pairing up actors closer in age with the same level of experience. Acting experience, life experience, it shows in their faces (regardless of how well-preserved they are) and I think it reflects in their performances. 

    Guilty Pleasures: Songs You're Ashamed Of Having On Your MP3 Player

    in Music

    No shame. I grew up in the 90's and 2000's. Of course I love terrible pop music. Also, ABBA. But to throw out some artists I probably shouldn't like (meaning I like more than one throwaway song) The Pussycat Dolls, Ke$ha, Katy Perry, Little Mix. In defense of Ke$ha, you've probably heard all the popular singles enough to make you hate them but try Dirty Love if you don't think there's any way you can appreciate her hits (Die Young, Blah Blah Blah, etc.). It's a very solid pop song with silly lyrics and it's not that far off from Gin Wigmore. I think Natalia Kills is kind of amazing but I guess you could throw her in there too.


     

    "Toxic" and "I'm a Slave 4 U" by Britney Spears. Sometimes I get nostalgic for New Kids on the Block.

    Who the hell doesn't like Toxic?

     

    Afternoon Delight - Starland Vocal Band

    The Glee version of this always makes me giggle when it comes up in my Spotify shuffle.

     

    However, I am proud, proud I tell you about having Gloria by Laura Brannigan not only on my iPod but in every single playlist!

    I also love the Glee version of Gloria even though the parts are arranged a little weirdly because in the episode Rachel and Santana are competing.

     

    I figured out what I'm actually a little embarrassed of. It's the sappy stuff. "I Can Love You Like That" by John Michael Montgomery popped up on one of my Pandora radio stations and since then I love it even though the lyrics couldn't be sillier. And when I think of Barry Mannilow, I think of Thumbelina and "Let Me Be Your Wings" which still makes me happy possibly because of how cheesy and terrible the lyrics are. Oh, and the gospel tracks on the Disney Hercules soundtrack are such fun guilty pleasures. I think they're great. I'd just be embarrassed to be caught playing them in a way that I wouldn't if I were just playing pop songs.

    • Love 1
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