The Summer of Catching Up and Branching Out

Summer seems to be my New Year's Eve. It's the time that, as it rears its muggy, warm head every year, I decide I'm going to start anew. I'm going to do x, y, or z and finally, for once in my miserable existence, follow through on it.

This comes from being a teacher's kid. I know it has to. Summer is the time of renewal in a life centered around school. It's the three months where, in my head, you go on vacation, read a lot, catch up on TV and stuff you might have missed and then pray that August doesn't come too quickly.

So, this summer, albeit a little late, I've found myself doing the same thing. TV shows I want to catch up on, exercise I want to start doing. I'm hoping to keep myself a bit accountable for it on here, but, seeing as my last post before this was in April, who knows if that will actually happen.

So, hopefully this summer you'll get to see my progress on this blog. And on Facebook and Twitter. And Pinterest. And all storts of things.

Wish me luck.

I'm Half Awake...Here's Some Stuff.

So, I just woke up and got to my Google Reader. Let's get started...

So, this was the first thing I saw. Not sure how I feel about it. I think OK. By the way, Katy was at the Kids' Choice Awards. Remember those? Hence the green outfit and orange carpet.

And here I was thinking there were only a few TV shows and movies based on Easter. The AV Club enlightened me.

Since Instagram isn't available for Android yet and I'm holding strong (most of the time) as an Android fan, here are seven alternatives.

Recently, the Encyclopedia Britannica printed its last edition, due to lack of sales. Well, like all "going out of business" sales, the edition had higher sales than its predecessors. Keep in mind, now, that the books from this year will be extremely rare.

It's time for the PINTEREST PLUG! So, when I give this plug in the blog post, it usually means that, in the course of things, I posted something to Pinterest. I post a lot over there in the course of the day, so it's fun. Food, TV, Doctor Who, all sorts of stuff. Check it out, please.

The documentary Bully I mentioned last week made some nice bank at the box office. Good for it. 

The Today Show (which I think  technically just wants to be referred to as Today, but that makes it virtually impossible to mention in normal conversation without people being completely confused) was promoting the fact that they were going to bring back a "Today Show Legend" on Monday. This was all to combat the fact that former news pixie and America's former Sweetheart Katie Couric is co-hosing Good Morning America, perhaps solidifying a change in the ratings for GMA. However, the legend they were GOING to bring in? An old monkey. They've abandoned the idea and are looking at alternatives, including having Sarah Palin come in tomorrow to co-host.

NO LINK, JUST A REMINDER: Bones returns tonight. Stinks for those people with DirecTV. Cutting that cord and just downloading stuff doesn't look so bad now, does it, Mom and Dad?

That's it for now, kids. I'll probably be back later with more, but what else do you want from me?

Some Hunger Games Fans are as prejudiced as a NY Jewish School...and other news in the world.

Let's get one thing straight: The Hunger Games was fantastic. It was better than the book and cut out all the crap that I didn't care about. It added what needed to be added. Fantastic. But, now some nimrods are complaining that characters that are all but explicitly stated as black in the book are portrayed as black in the film. Ridiculous.

In other news...

Comcast solidified its status as one of the worst companies in America by charging people in a community that had been ravaged by a tornado a fee for being unresponsive.

Jennifer Love Hewitt's character in Can't Hardly Wait, Amanda Beckett, was named the top movie party girl in this list. Weird critera and not sure I would call her a "party girl." More like a, you know, girl at a party.

Here's a fascinating slideshow of how cartoon characters got their names. Huey, Dewey, and Louie is probably the best.

I was done reading this list of TV nerds after Chloe from 24 and Chuck Bartowski were on the first page. Done and done.

PINTEREST! www.pinterest.com/philwrighthouse DO IT!

Crazy author Chuck Pahalniuk survived a car crash where, while sitting in a parked car in a lot, a semi trailer ran into him. Insane.

I posted this story on my FACEBOOK but it bears repeating: A Jewish school in NY is threatening to ban students if they don't get rid of their Facebook accounts. This makes me ill. The school, as much as they might fight it, has no power once the student leaves school grounds UNLESS that student is facing an unsafe situation at school. The institution in question has made it clear that they don't care about the safety of the students, but more the fact that the girls at the school may...SHOCK...talk to BOYS on there. Problems with religion AND old-school thought AND education all wrapped into one messed up story.

That's all for now. I'm tired and I want to sleep. PEACE!

Long Time, No Post.

At some point soon, I'll post about my life and all it entails at this point, but right now, I've been productive and am winding down with some links so, here they are (with witty remarks, of course!)

Sirius XM is suing the non-profit that they usually license their music from, saying that have a monopoly on music rights. This is one of those things that sounds really serious (or Sirius haha) but probably won't be an issue in the long run. Sirius knows that without music, they would die. They also know how to be a monopoly soooooo...SNOOTCH!

So, remember when Netflix was going to separate into streaming and DVD distribution services and then scrapped that plan. Well, it's back. Except, now, without the horrible Quikster name. And, this article suggests, it might help everyone in the long run. We stopped doing the whole DVD part of Netflix a while ago, when Inception sat forever only to be replaced by season three of The Big Bang Theory sitting even longer.

Fans of Bones have been missing it. I know I have. Here's an interview with two of the people behind it about its return NEXT WEEK!

PINTEREST PLUG! Visit my Pinterest. It's delicious and funny, in that order.

Speaking of the hottest new social network, some guy is making a living off of it. Nice work, but he's technically a spammer, and therefore he is Satan.

A lot of people, like my wife and I, don't have a landline. I don't however, think that they should be banned, like the Ohio Senate is proposing. I guess I don't understand the point in it. Seems about right for lawmakers.

If you haven't heard, there's a new documentary called Bully. You're going to be shocked, but it's about bullies and their victims. It's been the source of controversy because tof the very natural, realistic profanity used in the film. It's lead to the Weinstien Company releasing the uncut, unrated version of the film instead of allowing the MPAA to cut it. AMC Theaters is now pushing it even farther by letting kids in with parental consent. Since it's meant for kids, this makes sense, right? Love this idea.

British citizens in one small town are regretting their lack of investigation into the man they elected. It turns out he thinks his mom...sorry, Mum...is an alien.

I'm not really interested in books about the war and the military. However, I am interested in Rachel Maddow, so her new book might be a read for me. It's all about, I think, the way war has changed over the years as politics has come more into the fold. Intriguing.

So, apparently, there's a site called Notesy, in which people can leave password-protected secret notes for people online. Odd. Can anyone think of a use for this?

Nice to hear that talented, cool people get promoted every once in a while. Joe Levy, who you probably have either read or seen talking about music and pop culture, is now the editor of Billboard magazine, a magazine I read once in 1999. No joke.

When you think Mad Men, you think that the natural extension of the creative mind behind it is...a buddy slacker comedy, right? Well, it looks like it's happening, with good people at least. Keep in mind that Matthew Wiener worked on The Sopranos. Slacker comedy. Discuss.

I haven't seen Thor yet, but heard that Kenneth Branagh did a pretty good job at directing a big action flick. Which is good news for my mom, since he's probably taking the helm on a reboot of her beloved Jack Ryan franchise.

First Post in Forever...Greek Review

So my lovely fiancee and I recently, to borrow the phrase, "cut the cord." We got rid of our cable and went to Netflix. Part of the benefit of Netflix is that you can watch tons of series from the beginning to the end. The first show we started this with was "Parks and Recreation." The next one, which we finished this weekend, was "Greek."

For those of you who don't know or remember "Greek," you probably aren't alone. The show was on ABC Family from 2006-2011. It lasted 74 episodes over six seasons. Shows that last this long usually get some sort of recognition. But, it's about college students in the Greek system at a Midwest university AND it was on ABC Family. So, you can do the math.

"Greek" centers on the Cartwrights. Rusty is a freshman nerd who wants to join the Greek system, an unprecedented move that irks his sorority president sister, Casey. She and her best friend, Ashleigh, are trying to navigate the success of their house with volatile but highly-sought new pledge Rebecca Logan, a senator's daughter. Casey also spends pretty much the entire series trying to choose between two suitors: Evan Chambers, the rich ambitious guy, and Cappie, the unambitious fun guy. Add Rusty's bible-thumbping roommate Dale and gay best friend Calvin into the fold, and you have a lot of plates spinning at once.

The biggest crime is that it all works. The writers keep all of these storylines moving (most of the time) and still manage to surprise while keeping the writing fresh. Rarely do lines feel unauthentic and cliche. The acting is sometimes clunky, but most of the time follows. After a while, you begin to truly care about these characters and the people that portray them.

For me, "Greek" is a certain addition to your Queue, on either disc or most certainly streaming.

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Review: "Sherlock"

Today, I finally finished the three-part first "season" of Sherlock, the BBC's reboot of Sherlock Holmes set in modern times. Everything is set in modern London and, in this world, the character of Sherlock Holmes never existed.

Holmes is played to cold, cynical, brilliant perfection by Benedict Cumberbatch, who is the three-time champion of the "Most British Name" competition. Holmes, in this iteration of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's character, is a "special consultant" to the police. Basically, he's called in whenever Inspector Lestrade is stumped, which, luckily for us, happens often over these three 90-minute long episodes. Sherlock is joined by Iraq war vet John Holmes, played by Martin Freeman (The Office, Hitchhiker's Guide). The whole concept was created and masterminded by Steven Moffat, who rebooted Doctor Who a few years ago to amazing results, or so I'm told.

There are a lot of things that this show does so well. But, the decisions of what it doesn't do are even smarter. It doesn't turn Sherlock into this bumbling anti-social introvert who doesn't relate to the outside world and has to constantly be told that he doesn't understand people. It doesn't turn Watson into Sherlock's babysitter or his number one pal. It doesn't use gimmicks to make it's point. All of those things seem so organic and natural in the flow of the action that you don't notice that it's different than it should be and how, if it were done in America, it would be done SO poorly.

Sherlock is brilliant and deranged and awesome and pitiful. But they don't have to TELL you that because you see it in everything he does and in his general demeanor. Additionally, he is NEVER written or characterized as being irrational (in fact, he's always the opposite: the most rational, logical human who has ever walked the planet.) In a week or so, you'll probably see my review of season one of "The Big Bang Theory," but Sheldon is very similar to Sherlock: They're both wrong, but it's hard to convince them of that, because their logic is so airtight and sensical.

The team behind "Sherlock" has taken three classic stories and updated them, adding in elements that tie them all together in this season long arc that ends with, "The Great Game." All throughout, you watch all of the characters grow ever-so-slightly, and it never has a "Monster of the Week" mentality.

Sherlock is set to return in the fall of this year and all I can say is that I'm glad. I probably should have made the couple of episodes I had to watch last a little longer.

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Haven't Done This in a While

So, I've been pretty absent from the blog lately, but I have an excuse. I started a retail job and between that, applying for better jobs and WEDDING PLANNING (pause to let the news set in) I've been without the blog time I used to set aside for myself. But, I have the day and a laptop so let's roll. I'm hoping to, this year, throw in some more commentary with the links I put out here.

TV

Kiefer Sutherland is going to star in a new web series called The Confession, about a hit man confessing all of his sins on Christmas Eve. This sounds fantastic. In the same article, he also says that the 24 film is "far from dead." Though I'm sad that Fox rejected Billy Ray's script, I'm still picturing Jack fleeing from many of his old enemies that he made during the eight seasons of the show. There's a gold mine there if someone can figure out how to do it effectively and profitably.

Can you call a musical duo a thing? If so, one of my favorite things in the world, comedy musical duo Garfunkel and Oates, are developing a comedy on HBO. If it works, I can GUARANTEE it will be awesome. They are hilarious.

Dana Carvey will be returning to host SNL. That should be hysterical.

Should we call Sarah Michelle Gellar a forgotten 90's heartthrob? Anyway, she's going to star in a new series on CBS that sounds, frankly, very confusing.

News

I, like everyone else, am fascinated and horrified by the Arizona shooting. I was so happy to hear the Westboro Baptist Church, the only organization that has ever made me not believe in free speech, backed down from protesting Christina Green's funeral. If I were in another place in life (aka still in college) I would've gone down to be with the Angels. If you don't know about the Angels, check out The Laramie Project from HBO. God, do I love that movie.

Anyway, The Daily Beast has a great piece on how difficult it would have been to get Jared Loughner into an institution, no matter how clear the warning signs were. Also in AZ shooting news...

• Christina Green's organs were donated and have already saved the life of a child on the east coast.
• Jared Loughner apparently took photos of himself in a G-string with his gun. Don't worry, they haven't been published...yet.
• Two of Loughner's ex-girlfriend's have talked about their relationship with him. One says she's pretty sure he's not insane and that he planned the whole thing (I didn't realize they were mutually exclusive), while another thinks he was a PEACH of a guy. Seriously.
  

A high school in Memphis is boasting a pregnancy rate of 11%, rounding out to 90 pregnant teens. Well, I doubt their boasting but...you get the idea.

Don't read this if you don't want to cry. BWE passed on a story about a dog that won't leave his dead owner's grave site. Heartbreaking.

I'm glad in a world where madmen are around every corner and we are more divided as a nation than ever...in a world where disease runs rampant and so many have so little...a woman in Michigan has used her time and resources to recreate the Last Supper using lint from her dryer. I don't know whether to vomit or punch a baby in anger.

I hope my fiancee Liz doesn't get any ideas. Who throws a Wii? Honestly!

JFK's application to Harvard would have been thrown out into the circular file today. Also, the application was only THREE PAGES LONG! Ridiculous.

Well I'm glad they didn't spend TOO many resources before deciding a virtual fence between the US and Mexico was a bad idea.

Sports

The NFL playoffs continue this weekend and there's been a lot of trash talk that has bled onto the front page of many newspapers. The NFL is now warning against it. I don't have a problem with the public trash talk, but it just seems silly and unnecessary. Also, it seems that if you talk sh*t then perform horribly in the game, you make yourself seem like a complete buffoon. Of course, most of these athletes/coaches make a billion dollars and don't really care about buffoonery, do they.

Oh, New York Post. You rock.

I had no idea that the Department of Justice was investigating the US Postal Service and their sponsorship of Lance Armstrong. Apparently, it might have been a misappropriation of government funds.

Tech

It was awesome yet odd to see West Lafayette, Indiana, home of my Alma mater, Purdue University, as one of the first areas that will get Verizon's 4G LTE service.

People on Craigslist aren't even trying any more, are they?

A cybercrime blogger for ZDNet has gone missing. A mysterious source has told the publication that he's in deep trouble and what appears to be a government tracking device was found in his apartment. Frightening.

Movies

Pixar rules as usual. In this video, they created a Zoetrope with Toy Story characters. Amazing.

Ben Stiller has worked with Justin Thoreaux, the guy he co-wrote Tropic Thunder, and has finished a Zoolander sequel script. Man, I hope this can get made. The first film holds a special place in my heart as the first film I ever was paid to review (my church group paid my admission to go see it and talk about it) and the film that we watched constantly on the cruise my high school band took my freshman year of high school.

The Bootleg Cut of Almost Famous, my favorite movie of all time, will be released on Blu-Ray soon. I hope more people can check out this cut of the film, as it's really the only one I watch anymore. In fact, if the film is on TV, I miss some of the scenes that are cut out.

This book is going on my list.

And, finally, I love the lunacy that naturally comes from this Hangover 2 photo. What could ANY of this possibly mean? I feel like I want to dissect it like it's a Lost promo photo.

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