July 31st 2009
Archive for July, 2009
July 30th 2009
11 Of My Favorite Bromances
Everybody loves a good bromance. Well at least I do. In case you have never ever heard of the term bromance well here is the direct quote from (but where else then) Wikipedia
A bromance or “man-crush” is a close but non-sexual relationship between two men, a form of homosocial intimacy
What I like even more is the Aristotle quote which rather accurately describes bromance even though it is centuries old (I love me some old Greeks really I do)
It is those who desire the good of their friends for the friends’ sake that are most truly friends, because each loves the other for what he is, and not for any incidental quality
House – Wilson – be-all-end-all bromance has been going strong for five seasons now. Given House and Wilson have been prone to their occasional tiffs but in my opinion Wilson is House’s constant. One person that truly accepts him – warts and all. What I like best about this particular bromance (and it does tell a lot about the thespian talent of Robert Sean Lenard and Hugh Laurie) are the silent moments between them, when gestures and looks communicate so much more then words (check out season five final episode and you’ll know what I mean).
Sam – Sock – Ben – yes I am aware Reaper has been canceled but for some reason I got quite fond of this particular trio. Yes they can be terribly goofy, silly, juvenile, not to mention rather careless when handling heavy machinery but you cannot help but love them and their interactions.
Hurley – Charlie – another strong bromance that got rudely interrupted with Charlie’s untimely death however it has not stopped Hurley from talking to his dead friend. After all he does see dead people. I absolutely loved those two together.
Sean McNamara and Christian Troy – if there is any bromance that will top House – Wilson relationship in weirdness stakes then it would be the McNamara – Troy relationship. Now I was only a sporadic Nip/Tuck viewer I will be the first to admit that but even when I caught it in the reruns it was beyond bizarre – Christian slept with Sean’s wife and was the father of his child and that was just the tip of the iceberg (side note – to me the story lines of Nip/Tuck read like a soap opera but unlike soap opera you would usually get a lot of rude bits thrown in).
Frasier and Niles – Frasier was one of my old time favorites and Niles and Frasier’s relationship was one of the reasons why I was so fond of the show. Given the characters were quite pompous and snobbish and whathaveyou but it was quite funny to watch. Of course I will not lie to you another reason why I loved the show was because Eddie the dog was priceless.
Balki and cousin Larry – by now my dear faithful readers you know I love me a good sit-com. And I think in Balki and cousin Larry we saw the light-hearted side of bromance even before the term was coined way back when in the 80s.
Ianto and Captain Jack Harkness – now anyone who has ever watched Torchwood knows that this is not so much of a bromance but a full-on romance. As far as I’m concerned that is perfectly fine with me. Especially when both men in question are quite pretty. I know shallow, shallow blogger 
Chandler and Joey – another bromance from the days gone by, Chandler and Joey had their share of touching man-on-man moments. They have bonded over Baywatch and their love for each other grew over the years (especially once the duck and the chick came into the scene and they had to raise the little ones together).
Hiro and Ando – one of the funniest duos back in the day when I still watched Heroes. Given Hiro was the man with the power and a man on the mission but even when he was trying to “Save the cheerleader, save the world” Hiro always had time for his BFF.
David Brent – Tim – Gareth – have you ever watched the original The Office? Since it was created by Ricky Gervais, it had plenty of awkward moments (every time I remember that dance scene I shudder in horror). But it cannot be denied it also had it’s fair share of bromance moments between the three co-workers. Of course it did nothing to ease the awkwardness in fact it was the bromance bit that made it worse. But it was Ricky Gervais after all.
Gav and Smithy – one of my favorite discoveries of last year was Gavin and Stacey. It is filled to rafters with quirky characters and funny story lines (if you haven’t seen it what are you waiting for?) And even though the series is about Gavin and Stacey one of the most heart warming relationship of the show is between Gavin and his long time BFF Smithy. Hilarious does not even begin to describe it.
So tell me dear readers what are some of your favorite bromances that have graced our screens?
July 29th 2009
What is the name of that film again (or how a blond mind works)
Dear faithful readers,
I can be a terrible blond sometimes. In my defense I am not usually that daft. Really I am not. The operative word is usually. But I certainly have my moments.
For quite some time I have seen random tweets about this movie on Twitter. It. Is. Excellent. Must. See. You”ll. Love. It. So finally after a good few months I have decided to check the trailer. But as it is with those things, OF COURSE you cannot remember the name of anything when you need to (and I was to lazy to check my past twitter feed).
So I started with Hot Boiler. Nah that can’t be it – it sounded like either a bad porn movie or Fatal Attraction knock off (and why would people rave about that?). Then I tried with Full Boiler – but that sound like a bad saga about a plumber or some such. Then I thought maybe it is a Full Canister – I have no explanation for that particular name it just sprung into my mind for some reason. And full canister of what exactly? Nah that couldn’t be it. Full Locker, again full of what? Hot Locker? Again bad porn name or maybe a coming out saga of some sort.
I struggled with it for about half a day because it was on tip of my tongue and I. JUST. COULDN’T. REMEMBER. (as one does in these situations). And then I finally saw some sense and checked my Twitter feed.
The bleeding name of a bleeding movie is the Hurt Locker. And down below you can find the trailer. It does seem a tad bit too testosterone driven for my taste, but I will simply have to see it now.
I tell you dear readers – a brain of a blond can be a scary place *shakes head in shame*
July 27th 2009
Stephen Fry Appreciation Monday – Stephen Fry Game
Dear faithful readers,
happy Stephen Fry Appreciation Monday!
By now you all probably know that Mr. Fry freely admitted he does download illegally from time to time (in case you have missed it here is the link to speech he gave at the iTunes festival).
Be as it may – it seems some people were impressed with his confession and turned him into a video game character. That really is beyond cool.
The game is called Stephen Fry in The Quantum of Torrents and it is pretty simple game to play. I especially like the added touch of throwing dictionaries to blast everything and everyone out of the way. And although the game is pretty simple it goes without saying I’m pretty crap at it
Do let me know if you are any better at it!
July 24th 2009
Carousel
I got this in an email a while back and I cannot believe I didn’t share it with you my dear readers. This is by far one of the coolest things I have seen in a long while. The mind boggles – sorry I would write more but I’m in the immediate danger of melting and ending up looking like something out of a Dali painting. I really do not function well in scorching heat – I simply cannot understand why Brits always complain about their weather, give me England in the middle of October any day of the week
Anyhow enjoy – it is a commercial for Philips (I didn’t even realize that when I watched this the first time around
July 23rd 2009
Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland Trailer Leaked
Dear faithful readers,
I do have to admit I never was much of a Tim Burton fan. I do find his work visually compelling but it is just a tad bit too dark for my liking.
But when I saw the stills from his latest movie Alice In Wonderland I was bowled over. Just look at all of those little details, the images are so beautiful.
It looks so (SOOOOO!) much better then anything I could have possibly come up with in my head when I was reading the book all those years ago (which reminds me I must definitely pack it in my suitcase before my holiday, it does deserve another whirl, I haven’t re-read Alice In Wonderland in ages). Then there is the ever excellent Johnny Depp (Mad Hatter), Helena Bonham Carter (The Red Queen) and even Mr. Fry makes an appearance as the Cheshire Cat.
The trailer for the movie was supposed to debut at Comic Con but it was leaked on the internets yesterday. Well it leaked at Trailer Addict and was subsequently yanked by Disney. It is still on YouTube so you can check it out. (I edited the link the HD trailer is now online). I think this one definitely will be worth the cinema admission.
July 22nd 2009
Dead Like Me Returns
Dear faithful readers,
have any of you watched Dead Like Me? Oh how I enjoyed that show.
In case you haven’t ever seen it is about Georgia (also known as George) Lass, a girl who dies after being hit on the head with the toilet seat from the space station Mir. So she dies and becomes one of the undead. Not a zombie mind you but a grim reaper. And her job every day is to take the soul of living people just moments before they die and then to guide them into the afterlife.
George Lass is played by Ellen Muth, who is excellent in her portrayal of a surly teenager before and after her death. There is also the ever delightful Mandy Patkin as Rube Sofer as the head grim reaper. Given the show could be gloomy sometimes, but it also had it’s wonderfully quirky and hilarious moments (especially while George goes to her part time job at the temp agency The Happy Times).
I have watched both seasons a few years ago (the show was canceled in 2004) so imagine my surprise when I learned there was a movie. Given it is a straight-to-dvd movie but I think it’s nice when they actually give you some closure when a favorite show is canceled suddenly (think Firefly rather then Veronica Mars).
Oh and do you know who plays the main grim reaper in the movie? None other then Benjamin Linus (also known as Henry Ian Cusick I find that strangely appropriate.
Anyhow, you can check out the trailer below.
July 21st 2009
Torchwood: Children Of The Earth
Dear faithful readers,
Have you seen the latest season of Torchwood?
I will be the first one to admit I was feeling a bit iffy regarding BBC’s new scheme to turn into a five day TV event. But I realized it was just greediness on my part because I wanted to have 13 episodes to sink my teeth into (no True Blood pun intended).
I got into Torchwood last summer, there was nothing to watch and well beggars can’t be choosers. And sure John Barrowman does ham it up a bit (OK, a lot) and the aliens are not really that believable (they are aliens for heaven’s sake, that’s the whole point) but you know it’s telly and since I never was a Dr. Who girl myself I thought I might give it a whirl.
Well Torchwood: Children of the Earth surpassed any expectations I might have had. It was absolutely bloody brilliant. Without spoiling anything for anyone (from what I have gathered many people recorded it to watch it in one go) Earth is once again facing an alien threat but this time the aliens want children. A lot of them.
While there was still some hamming up on John Barrowman’s part, the cast was superb, the story was tight as a drum – in fact the last hour was positively harrowing to watch. I admit I am a big wuss sometimes but honestly if you didn’t feel a lump in your throat or at least got goose bumps all down your spine well are you human or a machine? The storyline had plenty of cliffhangers and pushed the characters to the absolute limit, hell I even enjoyed the music and the editing.
I have read a great review and interview with the show’s creator Russell T Davis over at The Watcher blog at Chicago Tribune and he says he did want to attract new viewers.
If the numbers are anything to go by (6 million viewers every single night compared to 3.1 million viewers during season 2) that is a whole lot of new viewers. Also there is a great interview with John Barrowman at Pop Candy. (tee hee at what women enjoy to watch the most On the side note – in the comments under the interview Whitney mentioned there might be two (TWO!) Torchwood TV events next year! How cool would that be?
Now I will not even suggest you should watch first and second season of Torchwood to catch up if you haven’t seen it before (the storyline for third season is not really connected to the previous episodes).
But do watch Torchwood: Children of the Earth – you will be missing a fantastic piece of telly if you do not.
July 20th 2009
Stephen Fry Appreciation Monday – Kingdom
Dear faithful readers,
I do apologize for a short break in programming, I was off for a part of last week for some much needed R&R. And there was some TV to catch up on – among others the last episode of Kingdom.
Oh I’ll tell you dear readers it did make me go all misty eyed and blubbery. Yes I can be THAT wet sometimes. Now that I have shared don’t you think the story lines were quite touching this year? Also much more fun?
I mean that scene of Peter Kingdom being off his face on the magic mushrooms was priceless. And I do have a girl crush on both Hermione Norris’ and Celia Imrie’s characters respectively. Although if I had to pick between the two I would definitely say that the character of Beatrice is my favorite – don’t you just love how she says what is on her mind?
The series did end with a mother of all cliffhanger – and kudos to the writers, if I had to bet on it I was certain they would go down the route of Peter having some sort of life threatening illness. Not that has dad is not really his dad. And the ratings were good – Kingdom drew in 4.8 million viewers (thats 21% share).
Another thing that has come out of that last episode is that I would really love to visit Holkhom (that is where parts of last episode were filmed, I have put up a link for you so you can see for yourself). I have been to Norfolk a few times already and I have been to that beach, but we never did go for a visit. And it does look stunningly pretty, the grounds are beautiful and do you know they make their own ice cream? Tsk like I needed any more incentive.
So hopefully fingers crossed if we do pop for a visit later in the year (work and swine flu permitting), Holkham will be on the itinerary.
Tell me dear readers what did you think of this season of Kingdom? Was it as light, fluffy and delicious as the last season? Did you like it more or less? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.