“The heart wants what the heart wants”

23 Sep 2013 Leave a comment

by wifemothereventplanner in I need to tell you about this right now Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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****SPOILER ALERT****

Walter White. Jesse Pinkman. Saul. The vacuum shop dude. Todd the dementor. The Aryan brothers. Breaking Bad, I miss you already.

Last night was the last episode before the series finale next week, and I’m already distressed. I may or may not run around after next Sunday shouting, “I don’t want it to end bitch!”.

We started our night watching the Emmy’s – but at 9pm, like the good meth-lab soldiers that we are, we switched the channel. It didn’t hurt that the Emmy’s were strangely boring and flat. Neil Patrick Harris – I don’t blame you. I blame the producer who thought Carrie Underwood singing a tribute to the Beatles was a good idea. The Beatles deserved better. I would rather have had Miley twerking “Come Together” – that’s how boring Carrie was. Also – how could Bryan Cranston NOT have won an Emmy? Sorry Jeff Daniels, but we all know you don’t really need to act when you’ve got great writing from A-aron Sorkin (Key and Peele shout-out).

Back to THE BEST SHOW ON TV. Yes. The best. If you don’t agree, you aren’t watching it.

Where do I start? Hank’s dead. Marie isn’t wearing purple anymore. Finn’s principle is not the brightest tool in the shed. Didn’t we all guess Jesse’s attempt to escape would end like that? And don’t even get me started on what happened with Andrea. Really? Todd the maniac shows up at night and knocks on your door and you: 1) open the door and 2) step out on the porch after he lures you with the worst “I’m-going-to-kill-you” line ever?? Sigh.

And Walt. He’s been left out in the cold. Literally and figuratively with only his barrel of money to keep him warm.

The genius of the writing on this show is that even in episodes that aren’t action packed – or as surprising as last week (and really my heart can’t take any more) – there’s always some gold nuggets to walk away with.

Todd and the Aryan gang of ghouls taking a break from death and destruction for some Ben & Jerry’s.

Finn telling his father to “die already”. Devastating.

And my favorite. Jack teasing Todd about his crush on the meth queen by repeating a line used by Woody Allen to describe his messed-up relationship with his step-daughter.  Woody stole that line from Emily Dickinson (in a tweaked way). So in essence….Jack, the white supremacist, Jack the killer of Hank,  Jack quotes Dickinson.

Vince Gilligan will you marry me?

Pop Culture Vulture – Summer ’13 Edition

05 Aug 2013 5 Comments

by wifemothereventplanner in I need to tell you about this right now Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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I like today’s title because it implies that this is some sort of long-standing series or tradition. That in my archives somewhere you can find Spring ’05 or something.

In reality this is only the 3rd post I’ve ever done on my insatiable appetite for pop culture. Everything from gossip mags to fashion to TV binge watching. Everyone that knows me and loves me forgives this slight flaw. Don’t get me wrong – I also love politics and world news. You and I could talk about the new Pope for hours. We could debate his “reformed views”.

But you know what’s more fun to talk about? These things:

  • Anything on Bravo. Top Chef. Top Chef Masters. Top Chef Losers. All of it. Andy Cohen and team plan their programing just for me, or so it seems. I know I’m repeating myself, I’ve told you this before. But it continues to be a very important part of my life and I think you need to hear it/read it again. The above photo is proof of my devotion. When we were in the cabin this summer, this is what I did the majority of the time there. I meant to write a post about it but I took naps instead. I’ll only highlight my new obsessions – not my oldies but goodies (All the Housewives, All the Million Dollar Listings, etc). I’m loving Below the Deck. What happens when an expensive yacht is chartered for a weekend of fun and sun? Who are the funny/kooky/crazy folks working the ship? Tune-in and find out people. It’s so good. It satisfy’s all my “behind the scenes” obsessions. I don’t really care about the party – I want to know who set the party up, and how, and what went wrong. I have to believe that some of this is staged (I can’t imagine paying $20,000 for a charter and then giving the OK for Bravo to show that I’ve brought an illegal substance onboard?) – but all is forgiven. One of my least favorite, favorite new shows on the channel is Newlyweds: The First Year. It’s kinda….Andy hold your ears…boring. All the couples are boring. I was excited about the Indian Bollywood dancer/singer gal and the beard..er…guy she married..but they are boring too. Once you get over how much of her face is botoxed, there’s really not much there. That brings me to my new classic. It’s Princesses: Long Island. Partly because these gals are in on the joke. Partly because I’d be friends with any of them. I love this show! Here’s a trailer for those who have never heard of it. Get thee to a tv set asap!!
  • Orange is the New Black. Like Game of Thrones, you just have to get through the copious amount of nudity (and all the Lesbian action). We gave it a shot because I was telling someone that my husband and I were sucked into a series on Netflix called Top of the Lake. So my pal suggested that I would also like this new show – which is actually produced by Netflix. Having now watched Orange, I’ve decided that he’s a total nut job. The two shows are completely different. Night and day. Totally. Like there is not one connection to why one person would like one and the other. But the weirdo was right – we love it. Funny. Uncomfortable. Sad. So good.
  • Ray Donovan. There are a ton of things wrong with this show. I can’t stand the woman who plays the wife. Jon Voight is good but the overacting may get annoying after a while. The plots are full of clichés we’ve seen before thanks to The Sopranos and Mad Men and Breaking Bad. But this show has one thing that none of the other shows have. One insanely sexy thing. Liev Schbreiber. I’ve loved him ever since The Daytrippers, Big Night and A Walk on the Moon. Watch all those movies now and then you’ll see why I would watch Liev in literally anything. Or nothing. Ahem.
  • The Bridge. I can’t watch it. I love AMC (or is it FX?) but I’m distracted by Diana Kruger as a Texas cop. Her German accent keeps seeping through and i just can’t look past it. I’m sure it’s a swell show, just not for me.
  • American Ninja Warrior. I have a 9-year-old son. Sometimes I have to watch things for him. All of those times involve some sort of wrestling, karate show. This is the best of the lot. Fun, short, full of action, and most importantly, short. Also I count watching people do physical activity as physical activity. Is that bad?

On another note – I’ve finally convinced my daughter to watch The New Girl and The Mindy Project. She loves them both, like any true child of my loins would and should.

Pop Culture Vulture

13 Jul 2012 Leave a comment

by wifemothereventplanner in I need to tell you about this right now Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

That’s me.  Celebrity gossip. Reality shows. Anderson Cooper. These things make me happy. People.com, Us Weekly, Dlisted.com – daily reading for me. Don’t get me wrong, I am a full-on news junkie – but pop culture has a special place in my heart, right next to chocolate and wine.

Pop Culture Vulture will be a reoccurring post – advance apologies to anyone out there rolling their eyes.

So!  This be my thinking to some current gossip headlines:

Steven Tyler Will Not Return to American Idol

(People Magazine)

Although I stopped watching Idol when Simon and his tight white tee left – I did see a couple of episodes of the show with Tyler and I didn’t get it.  He seemed like a weirdo uncle flirting with all the young contestants (male and female).  In all honesty I can’t really comment on him judging because I spent the majority of my time staring at Jennifer Lopez.  Does her glowy, sparkly skin fascinate you too? No? If only I could have 5 minutes with her make-up bag….

K.Kardashian’s Photos Of Baby Penelope Are A Hard Sell

(Huffington Post)

The Kardashian’s. I have one thing to say to you all – Bruce included.  Turn off the cameras and take a good, long, hot shower. Yuck. 

George Clooney & Stacy Keibler Scoot Through Switzerland

(Us Weekly)

I hate it when these magazines take a photo and make a story out of it.  Although I’m hugely into what George does when he’s over in Lake Cuomo and on holiday in Europe.  If I ever make it to Italy I may have to make a pilgrimage to see where the Clooney scoots around.  I also imagine secret parties with Brad Pitt and Angelina sans kids – or maybe George and Obama solving world hunger while Michelle helps Stacy build an organic garden in the back (after explaining to Stacy what “organic” means). 

The Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise divorce: Accepting the silence … sort of

(Washington Post -yes, it has a gossip page!)

I know I’ve already written about this but it’s everywhere – Brian William just did an hour-long report on them last night, although it was cleverly hidden by calling the piece, Scientology Facts and Myths.   It should have been called, How to do a gossip piece and call it the news.  So it’s 8 days after the first news report broke and the papers are signed, everyone’s moved out, and Tom is being re-engineered as we speak.  Personally I liked Tom best when he was fighting with Brook Shields and calling Matt Lauer glib.  Good times.

Music to my ears

21 May 2012 5 Comments

by wifemothereventplanner in I need to tell you about this right now Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

I grew up in the 80’s – with neon shirts, shoulder pads and pop music.  I loved it – Ok, not all of it. I didn’t love music. I liked music.  I did the alternative thing with The Cure, Depeche Mode, and Camper Van Beethoven – and I did the mainstream thing with Duran Duran, Madonna and Culture Club. I went to some concerts, not many.  In my defense, the only music playing in our house was Bollywood soundtracks and Sanskrit prayer chants (fun fun!)

Cut to college.

I meet a boy.  He was consumed with music.  Consumed.  An entire wall of his room was dedicated to (alpha order) CDs.  He went to as many concerts as he could get to.  He listened to everything. He literally had a soundtrack for every occasion. Music was (is) his life.  He made me tapes.

Then I met a girl.  She would be the yin to my yang for my college years and beyond.  Smart, sassy, funny – all my favorite things in a human.  Later in life she would go on to marry my boy’s best friend.  True story.  She also loved music.  She listened to singers and bands that I’d never heard of.  It wasn’t alternative – it was totally underground and phenomenal. She made me tapes too.

These two schooled me on music.  Hello, Elton John.  Hello, Ani Difranko.

That was awhile ago.  Those CDs are now packed away in big cases (he almost teared up the day we put them away), and I don’t even own a tape recorder anymore. But I still have all the tapes. And the music is still strong.

My kids know more about The Beatles and The Stones than I ever will.  My husband usually calls my daughter when he wants to hear a new group. They’ve already been to more concerts than I went to in my entire childhood.   My pal is happily married with a kido – and listening to amazing musicians,  I’m sure of it.

Me?  I play along…get it…play….like a guitar…or a piano….

I know you all don’t demand proof of my insane ramblings – but I like to provide it anyway…Here’s what used to be  95% of my husband’s life.

Now it’s 80%….85% tops.

    

So besides supplying me with amazing music – my gal was also an artist.  Every tape she made me had an original design. She did funky, cool collages before it was cool to do funky, cool collages. Thought you should know.