left brain

The Tudors.

Two weeks ago, before my lovely trip to Miami, I got invited to a screening of Showtime's future new TV show "The Tudors."  Advance screenings, advance movie releases, quiet Madonna appearances, a city inundated with advertisements of things to buy and see is why you live in NYC.  And the Tudors is why you stay home and watch TV.  haha.  With a perfect blend of sex, intrigue, violence, lust, and bickering about how France is delirious, this show has a lot of promise to being as popular as Rome.  And I say this because it clearly is trying to do for Showtime what Rome did for HBO.  Period piece.  Angry King.  Hot actors laying around in little clothing. 

Henry VIII was the most infamous royal.  No woman (or man) could refuse him.  He was a slutty super sized king who "consumed food and wives as voraciously as he belched out those who crossed him."  Jonathan Rhys Meyers (from one of my favorite films Bend it like Beckham) is a much more interesting choice for portraying Henry VIII than the normal fat, old, bald men.  His best friend Brandon played by Henry Cavill (who appeared in the fairly recent
Tristan and Isolde) is hot, hott, HOT !

It is beautifully filmed on location in Ireland.  It has a glossed over feeling that isn't exactly 16th century England but works really well.  And Meyers outfits are unbelievably well thought out to make him as sexy as possible.  Rockstar sexy.  It isn't a history lesson, needless to say. 

The show stars April 2007.  Set your Tivo's NOW.

Best 5 Minutes of TV This Year

In television there are few shows that will go down into the history books of American culture.  There are few shows that will grab the countries attention, and then therefore with syndication and DVD sales, the worlds.  Grey’s Anatomy has replaced my Lost and The O.C. obsessed attention span.  Yes, there is still Ugly Betty, Heroes, and a handful of others but none of them come close to the addiction I feel with Grey’s.  It was suggested to me by my friend Joe who also recommended Veronica Mars, which is sadly now hurtling towards bad writing irrelevance.   

After the fourth disc of Grey’s Anatomy with episodes like the “Code Black” and “What Have I Done To Deserve This?” I strongly believe that this show has hit its mark mid-season and it continues to soar.  I can’t say anything about the rest of the season nor feel the need to given that it is already by far some of the best television I have seen and has clearly caught on with America (and the world).  There is not any other television show in recent history (and by that I mean like five years) that has made me cry as many times as Grey’s.  I have cried, full blown sobbing uncontrollably, about six times while watching Season 2.

Now if that in it self isn’t impressive enough, lets throw in some of the most amazing actors and writers in Hollywood television.  Patrick Dempsey does an amazing job, as does the entire cast really.  I have never been able to identify with Grey, obviously whom the show centers on.  I just find her obnoxious, miserable, and annoying to watch.

And the best 4 minutes of TV this year:

Davis from Denver

I haven't watched Real World in like four years.   I don't even remember the last one that I watched honestly but I started digitally recording on the DVR episodes of the Denver season.  I caught last weeks, I guess it was last weeks at least, where homo (yet trying to come to terms with being Christian right) Davis flips the fuck out and uses the "n" word towards two of his roomies.   This whole thing makes me think that I clearly am old enough to see The Real World start and then come of age (and sorta fall apart) and that I remember when the "characters" on the show were actually role models of some sort.  Maybe I have fallen out of the world of role models on MTV but I really find most of these kids, who are mostly my age and a little younger to be entirely immature and nearly annoying.  When Davis talks, he makes it seem like he is the first "masculine" gay kid on TV and that all others have been the gay "cliche."  You can check out an interview with him here.

Alias - Gray's Anatomy = Unhappy Frank

I have finished the entire last season of Alias.  I quickly went through the last (5th) season which was just released on DVD recently and I nearly cried when I got to the series finale.   I want MORE!   Like at leat 2 more seasons.   I like Lost a lot but Alias by far is my favorite of JJ Abrams; the mysteries, the action, the sets, the costumes, the characters are all just so much more interesting.  I am sad to have finished it, so much so that I nearly debate buying the $200 box set which seems a bit much and excessive.   I won't give away any secrets but I had my mouth wide open for a lot of

I have also finished the first season of Gray's Anatomy, which I have also come to love.  It is very well written, I love the relationships, and I like the glossy filming.  However, even though I highly recommend it (along with Alias for that matter), I am just not sure if my hypochondriac mind can handle a hospital show even if I really like the characters.  Though honestly I want to throw a handful of Ebola carrying needles into Gray herself.  Alex is hot as hell.  Sandra and Chandra are my favorite.  Does that say something about my personality?  haha...

What I am still watching that is actually on the TV now?  Ugly Betty Ugly Betty Ugly Betty.  It is absolutely hysterical.  If you haven't seen it then you are really missing out.  Veronica Mars though it is on a hiatus until January.  The Office, Iron Chef America, Real World Denver (thanks to the new hot gay boy), and The OC because I feel bad about leaving it and I have a DVR so it helps. 

Television Addiction

Television this fall is fantastic.  I have never been so into watching so many tv series as I have been this fall.  Hysterically enough, most of them like most movies lately have an incredible bleak outlook on human relationsions, human society, the world.  Most of them remind me of myself a few years ago when I was living in Boston and wondering how the hell I could leave.  So anyways, back to the tv that I am currently addicted too. 

Veronica Mars had its third season premiere Tuesday night.  I blogged about this show a few weeks back but I powered through another season so I could watch the premiere last night, and it was great!  They changed the intro, added some new characters, Veronica is looking hotter than ever, and she is off at college.   I am thrilled, though the show needs some help to make it more seasons.  So get watching!  Everyone that I recommend it to, or my friends recommend it to, falls in love so I think that should be a ringing endorsement.  :P

Jericho is also pretty good, yet incredibly dark, bleak and grisly.  Imagining every major American city destroyed in a nuclear war leaving the good suburban farm folk in Jericho, Kansas to fend for themselves is a pretty interesting take for a tv show in a terrorist run Bush fucked world.   I like their glowing green title screen.  haha, so disturbing.  And speak of disturbing, who ever came up with the idea that hiding under your desk when the bomb hits is a good idea is just stupid.   And to think we actually had drills for that shit at one point.  The third episode gets pretty creepy.  The idea of our national guard flying over our country to protect it is pretty mindnumbing.  You can watch episodes online here.

Weeds.  The Showtime hit that I think most people have caught on with is absolutely hysterical.  Mary Louise Parker is awesome.  I watched one episode and instead of waiting for the other dics from Netflix.com, I went out and bought the entire series.  lol, Does that say enough?  I don't have much to say about it right now other than it's hysterically fucked up and I am not even smoking and watching yet, lol.

The Office on NBC is hysterical and a weekly must see but it is also self explanatory.  If you have seen it, you understand.  If you haven't, you should.  End of story.   I love the freakazoid character.   He is just perfect.

I haven't caught up to the season 3 of Lost but I am sure it is great.  I still need to watch season 2.   I caught on late, sorry.  The OC still hasn't started but I honestly don't have much hope.  I, on some level, believe that the show should be watched without the sound on, like a friend of mine suggests.  Without Marissa, with all of them in college, I am not sure where this show can go but downhill.

Standoff is also awesome.  I have become addicted.  Though I have to admit I really don't like Berger on it, but mainly because I hated him in SATCity.  The show is fun, entertaining, pretty uncommittal and basically like a low key 24.  Again, like all other shows, this show is online on FOX's website so you can catch up on all episodes.  It is pretty amazing how every network now allows you to watch most episodes online.  Clearly they are trying to give iTunes a run for the money.

I am over the tv show Justice that I talked about awhile back.  It is stupid and boring, even though I love the main actor.  The View with Rosie O'Donnel is a good laugh and so is Rachel Ray's new tv morning show. 

Still an addict ...

Justice, new TV

The new fall TV season is beginning and that means shows that will incredibly bomb and ones that might catch some attention.  It seems like networks have finally caught on that reality shows are over and that some really well-crafted, well-written and well-planned shows are worth thinking about.  So thankfully, they hired writers and people who can think this time.  Since the OC and Veronica Mars don’t start until October and November, I have been paying attention to what has started in September.  Mainly because Manhattan is just reawakening from it’s August sleep.  And other than waiting for Jericho about a United States at nuclear war (fuck yah!) and Ugly Bettey which is pretty much like Devil Wears Prada minus a girl who conforms.   I have already fallen for Justice.  The new show by Jerry Bruckheimer and stars the very awesome Victor Garber from Alias.  It basically is about a law firm known for taking celebrity defense trials but it is a little bit CSI and a little bit Law and Order and a lot of cheesy crap that I think they will work out (or they will be worked out).  I have watched both of the episodes and I love a few things about the show.  I love Garber and I love the way that they only tell you if the person is guilty or not at the last moment of the show where they reveal “the death.”  It is so gruesome and dark but it is pretty entertaining.  "Justice" is about a high-powered celeb law firm called TNT&G (seriously), and while neither awful nor even particularly bad, there is an earnest silliness to the whole thing. The plot of the pilot is also hilariously improbable because most of us know or think we know how high-profile legal cases play out, thanks to Greta Van Susteren, Nancy Grace and a thousand other legal beagles elevated in the age of O.J. Most of us can be reasonably certain this isn't the way it works.  A new season of "Lost" arrives in just a few weeks, when "Justice" and whatever else is in its way will be atomized.

Must SEE TV

Two weeks ago, two of my friends recommended to me that I watch Veronica Mars.  A tv show that used to be on UPN but is now on that new channel called the CW.  The new season, Season 3, premieres October 3.  Veronica Mars has somewhat been a sleeper hit because it went up against Lost, which needless to say proved badly. One of the shows got all of the attention and poor Veronica has just been noticed.  However, everyone who has ever watched an episode is an addict and do I have to say again that they are in their third season.  It basically follows Veronica Mars played by Kirsten Bell (who is adorably hot):

The old Veronica. Daughter of Lianne and Keith, the respected local sheriff. Popular. Loved by Duncan. Laughed with Logan. Best friends with Lilly.

Then...Lilly was murdered. 

Veronica's life fell apart. Abandoned by her mother. Ostracized for standing with her disgraced and discarded father. Ignored by Duncan. Target of a vindictive Logan. Drugged and raped while trying to stand tall. Balancing high school with the work of a junior PI in Mars Investigations. Finding answers for others while her own questions remain.

The first season was 6 discs long.  I went through them in less than a week.  Does that explain how excellent this show is ?  It took me about 3-4 weeks to get through Lost, Season 1.  The show has more engrossing twists and turns than you could imagine and the ending is an incredible surprise.  Each character is superbly three dimensional and involved.  And the show is just brilliantly well written. You will not believe who murdered the friend, even if you think that you are the best tv show investigator, haha.  Watch it !

Hell's Kitchen

I have become an absolute lunatic with dining now that I am living in Manhattan.  I am hunting down places, flipping through the Michelin book, devouring whatever any food critic says, awaiting for the dining sections in various print materials, convincing friends to trek to various locations they wouldn't head to for a reservation I had to fight for, and ultimately obsessing over places that are not even open yet.  Not so weird given that my obsession that takes up the other time is art, but it is sorta becoming pretty much a fuckin damn serious obsession.   My parents are visiting next weekend and they thought I was a lunatic for getting reservations a week before but lets be serious .. I am not allowing them (but more so me) to wander around and into any piece of shit restaurant with all the greatness that is available.   BRad (a best friend, who secretely reads this yet always denies he doesn't) will always dismiss me as irrelevant for my new obsession but I usually tell him to fuck off anyways.  (photo to the above left is from Per Se while the below ones are from Ramsey and thanks to the Tasting Menu blog). 

A long time ago, before I met Tom and J (haha), I thought Chili's was a good restaurant.  Seriously.  Little did I know that Guy Savoy and Thomas Keller were bustling about their kitchens creating little bits of heaven.  Little bits of heaven that I would choose over a hookup (that very possibly could become a boyfriend) if given the two choices.  Like really, a penis is JUST a PENIS.  I really don't understand why guys who are in their forties and fifties (with money to eat at Guy Savoy's restaurants) are so obsessed with some twenty year old and his cock.  Fucking go out and eat people, experience it, and if your are lucky and choose correctly it will be something life altering and mind blowing.  And lets face it, chances are the penis that you are obessed over getting even after having one is not going to blow your mind.  (I say this having had one of my slutties three weeks in my life, lol).   And with that thought, one of my fathers odd dreams for me when I was a child, which he reminds me of now and then, is that I should have been a chef and he should have sent me to culinary school.  Pretty weird of a dream now that I think about it but art school is sorta close is what I usually rebuke.

I am talking about this because I have become obsessed with the second season of the supposed hit TV show titled Hell's Kitchen (which adorably enough happens to be the neighborhood that I live in) and then with reading about Gordon Ramsey, who is opening up a NYC restaurant very soon.  The show is about:                                                       

World-renowned chef GORDON RAMSAY is back for a second serving of the sizzling unscripted series HELL’S KITCHEN – and he’s putting 12 new would-be restaurateurs on his chopping block.
A former pro-soccer-player-turned-Michelin
-starred-chef, Ramsay has conquered London’s haute cuisine scene. Now he’s crossing the Pond again, to discover – or create – America’s next culinary star.  The heat is on and the “steaks” are high as the contestants endure Ramsay’s hellishly intense culinary boot camp for a chance to win the ultimate mouth-watering prize – the coveted title of Executive Chef of a luxurious fine-dining restaurant at the brand-new Red Rock Casino Resort and Spa in Las Vegas. In addition, the winner will be eligible to receive a financial interest in the restaurant and assist its design.  Each week Ramsay will grill the ambitious hopefuls as they attempt to prove they have what it takes to run their own restaurant. He will slice and dice the contestants, keeping only those who possess the right combination of ingredients to ensure success.  The contestants’ inexperience, combined with the perfectionist Ramsay’s acid tongue, may be a recipe for disaster, but for one aspiring restaurateur it’s the chance of a lifetime.

But ultimately it is about the workings of everything behind the scenes in a restaurant's kitchen.   I would recommend checking it out.

Footballers Wives

Footballers Wives is absolutely hysterical. I have moved on from Alias as I mentioned awhile and have been going through a bunch of TV shows to see what I want to get into and I think I found it. Footballers Wives is raunchy, provocative, smart, hysterical, ridiculous. It is basically a good time, even though I have to watch this British show with English subtitles, lol. There is plenty of eye candy and by eye candy I am not talking about some American version of it. I am talking about full ass shots in the lockerroom shower, full frontal for some of the men in a hot tub, 10 seconds too long in the so far only straight sex scenes. They certainly push the limits, that is for sure. I think I am nearly addicted.