Potent Notables

Just a few things that caught my attention this week...

- Here we have some awesome Google Satellite photo collections. The above photo is a collection of waste and salt ponds.  Neat, right?

- A clever pet parody of the Dexter titles!

- For the Hunger Games fans out there, you know who you are, I hope you like the director chosen for Catching Fire because he's apparently directing both halves of Mockingjay too.

- I’m not going to mention that huge deal that happened this week where the big studio bought that guy’s business and now there’s gonna be sequels that make me really nervous.

 - I’m also not going to mention the article about what that deal could mean for the Muppet Babies. MUPPET BABIES!!!

 - I honestly didn’t think I’d ever have an update on my favorite comic (that I’ve never actually read), Locke & Key.  But there’s news and it’s good!

 - For those of us who crave original movies and the death of the franchise…well, no one said life wasn’t going to suck

- I hope the first responders for Hurricane Sandy are getting their props.  We would be nowhere without these folks. 

Have a great weekend!

Potent Notables

Arrested Development!!!

- I love when artsy creative types have spare time and think to do things like re-imagine movie posters in neon.  'Cause why not?

- I'm also glad someone took the time to make a supercut of celebs on Law & Order.  I'm guessing there are still a bunch missing from this.

- How awesome is it that people love The Walking Dead?!?! It's getting monster ratings, like really good network-level ratings. 

- I squealed with glee when I read that Tina Fey and Amy Pohler are hosting the Golden Globes.

-  Claire Danes is the best crier on any screen, large or small.  Your heart just breaks for her whether she's choked up or full-on bawling.  Someone else knows this and had time to put together a supercut.  Also, there's a tumblr dedicated to her crying on screen.  I love the interwebs!

- Vulture put out a list of incorrectly predicted breakout movie stars. I still think it could happen for Rory Cochrane.  Maybe.

- Vulture is a great site. In fact I spend a lot of my TV watching time reading articles like the one about how to name a fandom. I'm a member of a few of these. 

- Smart kids are fun!  Congrats to the kid who plays Luke on Modern Family for graduating high school and taking college courses.

- Can you identify the movie/character just from a t-shirt?  I got 34 out of 55 and am totally ashamed of some of the ones I missed (#14 and 16 especially).  If you go to the link you can see the answers at the bottom a bit better than the one below. 

 

Potent Notables

Snowdrifter (2012) Short Film from Mack Carruthers on Vimeo.

Thanks to my friend, Jenna, whose students showed her the above video.  I love it ever so much.

A lot of these have been making the rounds so forgive me if they're old news:

- I love a good giggle, especially when it involves tiny hands.

- This just proves what a smart show Buffy is.

-X-Men and Muppets?!?! Yes, please!

- I would like to see this version of The Hunger Games!

- My parents were not at all geeky when I was little (they are a bit more now).  They would have never built me an AT-AT bed.

- Is it possible to love Michael Fassbender more?  Yes.  Yes, it is.

- Why isn’t the word “actress” in quotes in this article?  Can we really call what she does "acting?"  Also, this is just beyond depressing.

-  I already feel old, I didn't need anyone reminding me just how old I am.

Potent Notables!

I've been holding on to some of these for a really long time. So I apologize for the lateness of some of this.

- A Frenchman that I actually like in a video that's pretty cute!  What a gem.  Ooo!  Now I can say an Oscar-winning Frenchman that I like.

- This is kinda cute too.  You know, if you enjoy the Disney princes and all.

- Since I love a good infographic and do enjoy a good (and even sometimes bad) reality show.

- Do you watch the show Justified?  You should.  Walton Goggins is incredible.

- Wow I hope she sticks to this adaptation.  I really enjoy Beautiful Creatures books series and Viola Davis would be so great.

- I’ve sat near annoying people in theaters (for instance this weekend there was a large man dealing with an even larger amount of phlegm) but never this bad

- A successful combination of two of my favorite things...Muppets and Game of Thrones.

Adaptation Angst: The Corrections

When I first heard rumors swirling about a cinematic adaptation of Jonathan Franzen's 2001 tour-de-force The Corrections, my only response was "I hope HBO makes it a miniseries." The novel, which takes place during the late-90s American tech-boom, masterfully illuminates and argues for a relationship between psychological neuroses and the cultural climate through the complicated, maddening, and deeply human Lambert family. This trope, echoed in Franzen's follow-up, Freedom, makes for characters that are simultaneously infuriating, pitiful, hilarious, dignified, ridiculous, sympathetic, and very, very recognizable. How would one do that in a 120-minute feature?

Well, maybe the powers-that-be are finally reading my diary, as The Corrections is set to air on HBO for four ten-episode seasons. Allow me to say: squee. Even better? Noah friggin' Baumbach is going to adapt and direct the series. This is a writer-director who knows all too well how to mine the tiny tragedies of everyday lives for cinematic gold (The Squid and the Whale, Margot at the Wedding, and Greenberg, anyone?). However, he's also the auteur behind Kicking and Screaming and Mr. Jealousy, showing he can bring the funny as well.

The cast is also so far, so good. Chris Cooper and Dianne Wiest are rumored to be playing the Lambert parents, with Ewan McGregor and Maggie Gyllenhaal as the two younger siblings. Imagine me singing to the tune of Alanis Morisette's "Thank You": "Thank you HBO, Thank you Baumbach, Thank you Ewan Mah-Gre-GOR! "

Adaptation Angst: 2

Dancing with the "Stars" Novitiates Announced

So here's another of my dirty little secrets: I have recently become obsessed with Dancing with the Stars, mainly due to a little blonde number. More on him later. We'll leave the question of whether this is more or less embarrassing than my Bachelor/ette problem to a later date. In a ceremony rivaling Bella's wedding in over-the-topness, the current crop of D-listers lining up to humiliate themselves in the ballroom was announced this morning. So you didn't have to, I watched the whole damn thing.

Ladies first:

Gladys Knight sans Pips. The sixty-seven-year-old music legend will be tarnishing her legacy with wickedly cute Irishman Tristan McManus.





Melissa Gilbert whom I could have sworn was already on this show. The former LH on the P star has the (mis)fortune of being paired with Wax, um, Maks Chmerkovskiy.




Katherine Jenkins, an opera singer giving truth to the diva stereotype by not showing up for the cattle call. She'll be partnered by Mark Ballas, aka, Derek's BFF.





Maria Menounos is apparently an "actress" and "best-selling author." She is also currently my favorite, as she will be dancing with Derek Hough, my age-inappropriate Mormon boyfriend, who stole the ceremony by thrusting out his right leg in a pitch-perfect display of "Jolie-ing."





Martina Navratilova is a tennis goddess, who will probably eat her partner, Tony Dovolani (aka Dancing Mark Ruffalo) for breakfast.

Sherri Sheperd from "The View" has already distinguished herself as "the sassy one." She'll be dancing with Val Chmerkovskiy, aka, Wax Jr.





Now the gentlemen: 

Jack Wagner, former star of soaps both daytime and night, and perpetual crush object of my mother. He'll be getting in the way of Anna Trebunskaya.






Gavin DeGraw is a singer who got memorably beat up earlier this year. After this career decision, I'm sure that will never happen again. He's paired with last season's champ, Karina Smirnoff.





Donald Driver is apparently a football player, and it looks like he's got some moves. The awesomely named Peta Murgatroyd will show us for sure.








Roshon Fegan is the obligatory Disney Channel star.  He'll be dancing with Chelsie Hightower, whom I love.





William Levy is too sexy for this ceremony. He also didn't show, leaving his partner, Cheryl Burke, standing awkwardly in the middle of the stage with Derek's BFF.





Jaleel White to whom I wish the best of luck not being referred to as "Urkel" for the rest of his natural life, no matter how buff he's gotten (which is pretty buff). He'll be dancing with Kym Johnson.

 See you on Monday, March 19th for the two-hour premiere!

Potent Notables

Wow, I haven't done one of these in a while.  Some of the links are old news but I still thought I'd share:

- I recently watched a marathon of Game of Thrones and, while I was impressed with the show, I was really impressed with the show’s titles.  I immediately went to Art of the Title to find out how they came up with them.  Then I remembered how much I like that site.

- Part of me wishes that Pawnee was a real town.   Not that I’d actually live there.  I mean, it’s Indiana. 

-  Speaking of Parks and Recreation...Ron and Andy want to help you survive the upcoming apocalypse.


- IFC lists the movie flops from 2011.  I disagree with their assessment of the problem with Conan.  It's totally what they made and not how.  


- I bet that a lot of the best monologues from movies get really misquoted too.


- Summer Roberts, aka Rachel Bilson, made a humorous video for Funny or Die.  I appreciate this because I'm still watching the show in question.  You are forewarned: it's a little language-y so I would recommend not watching this at work.


- Now these should be movie categories in an awards show.

- There is now proof (not that it was needed) that Maggie Smith is amazing and the writers of Downton are geniuses.  Someone has edited together the best of the Dowager Countess and it's pretty great. 


- If movie posters were honest, they'd look a little something like these do.


Have a fantastic weekend! 

Potent Notables

- Ever wish you could watch an abridged version of a movie?  It's pretty great. (Thanks, Kate!)

- Paste posted a list of the best TV characters of 2011.  I'm glad to see a number of my favorite shows are well-represented.

- It was only a matter of time.  Actually I was under the impression that they thought about these stunts so much that something bad would NEVER happen.

- Some fun clips of today's stars taking on villainous roles of the past. Not that it needs to be remade, but I'd love to see Viola Davis take on the role of Nurse Ratched. 

- Is this for real?  I’m sure she’s a lovely person but she does seem a little out of place.

- Speaking of... have y’all seen the tv spots they’re running for The Bachelor?  There’s one where it’s just agirl crying and it cracks me up every time. It's only a few seconds long but for some reason they decided to do it in slo mo too.  Perplexing.




- It’s infographic time!!! And these are REALLY funny (Thanks for this one too, Kate!)

Adaptation Angst: The Yellow Wallpaper

Brace yourselves, fans of American and Gothic literature alike: this is happening. Those of you who have read (and taught) Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" know that this chilling and slippery tale of a woman's patriarchy-aided descent into madness is not as easy to "get" as it might seem on a cursory reading. Because the short story is written in first person through the heroine's journal entries, the question of reality is constantly, well, in question. Is there a similarly confined woman, ghostly or otherwise, in the yellow wallpaper that covers the room in which the narrator is undergoing the notorious 19th-century "rest cure" for "nerves"? Or is she projecting her own damaged and oppressed artistic psyche onto her surroundings as a response to her depression and her husband's prohibition on writing? Well, at least from the description offered by the site, this adaptation could care less. Rather than being dropped into an unnamed (though even this detail is debatable) narrator's troubled and isolated mind, we get "Charlotte" and her trauma-inducing (and lazy) backstory. A fire! A dead daughter! A sister! Most wrong-headed of all, the summary implies that she chooses to withdraw into the attic room, rather than being passive-aggressively forced to rest there by her physician husband and, crucially, his sister. A dead child is also a misstep, as there is much textual evidence in Gilman's work that her heroine is suffering from post-partum depression, not a diagnosed condition in the time and place of the story, which adds to the narrator's inability to articulate, much less be treated for, her illness. I think anyone who has seen a "women are nuts" horror story can probably guess the likely "reveal" of this film. I'd put good money down that the fire wasn't caused by a freak accident. Though I like Juliet Landau being crazy as much as the next Whedonite, it looks like the only thing this movie will share with its source material is the home decor.
Adaptation Angst: 10.

Adaptation Angst: Boneshaker

According to io9, my source for all news geekery, Cherie Priest's steampunk alt-history novel Boneshaker got a movie deal. It's very early in production, so all we know is that the Nurse Jackie screenwriter has been tapped to pen the adaptation. Priest's novel, nominated for a Hugo last year, is a pretty snappy little book that I reviewed over on my Examiner site. Basically, she gives us a version of 1880s Seattle where the Civil War is still raging, and steam-powered gadgets and goggles dominate the city. Why do I think the first novel in Priest's "Clockwork Century" is getting this attention? One word: Walkers. I suspect that the studio is hoping to capitalize on the popularity of the Walking Dead by playing up the flesh-eating zombies that the novel's eponymous gold-seeking drill had a hand in creating, and which are contained within a nightmarish "Old City" into which the main characters descend. Much like the acclaimed AMC series, the novel isn't really about the undead at all, but rather the living: Boneshaker is the story of a son seeking the truth about his father, and a mother who will turn herself into an action hero to protect him. A steampunk Walking Dead? Yes, please.
Adaptation Angst: 2

Potent Notables

 Various things that have caught my attention this week.  Please to enjoy...

 - COME ON!!! How cute is that? I think the David Meowie (above) is my favorite with Devo a close second.

- Infographic time!!!  And you know I love me some infographics. 


- Let’s check in with Joss on how he approachedthe characters for The Avengers.

- I love finding websites like the Leila texts.  I wonder if Verizon will ever fix it for her.  I kinda hope not. 


- Wow.  Daniel Day Lewis looks pretty great as Abraham Lincoln.


- Movie marketing gone awry!  Would people really buy Hunger Games nail polish?  The fact that I was trying to get the Muppet nail polish is beside the fact.


I spent a lot of time on pajiba the other night…

- Johnny Depp's leading ladies haven't all fared as well as he has.  Good for Charlize and Juliette.  They seemed to escape the curse.


- Some great moments of dancing.


- I guess it's hard out there for good looking men who also happen to be funny.  Wait, they're famous, well-paid actors.  No sympathy from me.


- In honor of Community I'll end with the Beetlejuice easter egg that took them three years to set up.

Potent Notables

- Um, wow.  I have no words. 

- I love when people compile things that I never would have had the patience, time or interest to do myself.  You don't realize how unoriginal movie posters are until you see them together like this.


- So did you hear that Brett Ratner said some not-so-nice things the other day?  Because of it he's stepped down as producer of the Oscars.  Eddie stepped down as host too.  I was curious as to what it would be like and now I'll never know.  Somehow I still think I'll be able to sleep at night.  Meanwhile they've (sort of) been scrambling to find a replacement.  I like their choice but it's a been there-done that kind of situation.

Yes please!

- As I've said, I'm totally and completely excited about the movie Haywire.  I have until January though so events like the one the AFI did will *hopefully* hold me over.  Of course the thought of Fassbender, MacGregror, and McHale (odd choice as host) together on one stage is an appealing one.

- Speaking of Fassbender (as I find myself doing on occasion), he did a fun little interview with Entertainment Weekly about Haywire.  



- What would life be without a Hunger Games tidbit? Amiright?

- So I guess lots of people get bit with the acting bug, huh? 

- My friend, Dana, and I have big crushes on Chris Hardwick so this is good news for us.  He's a busy guy with the Nerdist podcasts, Web Soup, and Talking Dead.  Speaking of, are y'all watching the Talking Dead shows that air at midnight after The Walking Dead?  It's a fun show but waaaaay past my bedtime so I usually watch it Monday nights.  You should watch it.  It'll be good for you.

Potent Notables

This week includes some entertainment newsy stuff but also things that I enjoy and wanted to share with you good folks.

- Let’s start off with a little Tolkien geekery

-  Everybody, including JK Rowling, wants to kill the gingers.

- Speaking of Harry Potter…NEED.  I've said it before and I'll say it again...Christmas is coming, y'all!

- A pretty cool tribute to my ex-boyfriend (of three minutes)

- More Hunger Games stuff (in my head I sound like Eeyore when saying that)

- Dude, I am sooooo happy Biel didn’t get the lead in the Notebook.  It would have been a totally different movie. That I would have hated.

- I’m a fan of the infographic but especially when it’s making fun of someone.

- Hef’s old so if he, with his failing eyesight, thinks Lohan doesn’t look good then you know it’s bad.


- Siri is making a splash on the interwebs. You have your choice between this one and that one


- I’m a simple girl who enjoys simple laughs:

 
-  Wow, Tumblr is a treasure trove of stuff