The Sunday Post: New Music, New Channel, New Me!

 

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted at Caffeinated Reviewer.

Happy new week! I hope everyone is doing well! 

LISTENING:

I have been overwhelmed with amazing music this week. This happens often in kpopland, TONS of new music all at once. It's kind of the best. But what to share for the listening prompt? I don't even know where to start!

I guess the one that has caused the most uproar is this one from Stray Kids. They are seriously so much and take nothing too seriously. 

 

And then there's a small little group called DKZ that's been through a lot and some pretty crazy ups and downs over the past year and they came out with this killer of song this past week. Such a great head banger!

 

There's so much more, like I said, but I'll leave it at that for now. 

WATCHING:

Yep, so we started the new season of Survivor. I have no idea what is so engaging about this show after so long, but it still somehow captures my attention. 

I've skipped some Amazing Race seasons, but we've decided to add that to the viewing party list again too this season. So fun to see them in places I've been to. It seriously makes me want to travel so much!

We also watched Enola Holmes and that was very cute and fun!

I haven't started another kdrama yet. I am overwhelmed with the choices.

I am watching a fun k-reality show called "Young Actors Retreat" where they grabbed the stars of three popular kdramas and are making them do fun games and compete against each other. I am absolutely loving seeing the personalities of some drama stars... we don't usually get this so much like we do with the kpop stars. Dang, some of them are SOOO shy and it's crazy how good they are at acting when they are so timid in "real life." LOL! 

I'm also watching a reality, just- for-fun show that features a new kpop group that has yet to debut. They are ATEEZ's little brothers (in the same company) and they are going to be AMAZING when it's their turn to come out into the world. But in the meantime, we get to learn about them through these fun shows they are doing pre-debut. They are adorable.

READING:

I am currently halfway done with Feed by Mira Grant. This is our book club book for October. I was hoping for a creepy Halloween-y book, but it's not doing it for me. In fact, I'm having trouble focusing on it and just kind of want to get done so I can get on to something else. 

The something else I actually started... Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. I feel like this one is supposed to be creepy? Am I dreaming or am I right? Anyway, hopefully I get to that one soon!

WRITING:

I'm frustrated with my inability to get going on this again. I would love to do NANO but I can't start another story until I finish up this one. So, maybe I'll participate as one of those "rebels" who work on an old WIP? I don't know what it will take to get me moving again. But maybe that would help a bit.

We went to another author event at the library. This time it was Sarah Eden doing a quick reading on her soon to be released book and then a Q and A all about writing. She is lots of fun and it was great to go support her. In a week or so we have another author event, this time it's the authors of our December book club book, In a Holidaze. 

BLOGGING:

I think I'm caught up on both books and dramas to review! And I even did Top Ten Tuesday on bookstores this past week! Go check it out!

YOUTUBING:

So I started the Booktube channel. But I'm scared to share it. LOL! I will in a different post. If I get brave enough. But dang I've put a lot of work into it so I HAVE to be brave enough! Besides, you'll all come and subscribe so I won't look so doofus-y out there in that community, right??? 

Over on the kpop channel I compiled very short snippets of my favorite songs from the past quarter, as is my tradition this year. Take a look/listen and see if you find something that pulls you in!

EATING/EXERCISING: 

I am starting a thing from doTerra. It's called MetaPWR.  It's a whole system of essential oil, and a supplement, and a collagen powder drink. I'll do it for 30 days and then see if I feel like a new person, or what. I'll let you know! (This is the "new me" part of this post's title!)

In the meantime I'll try to keep up on the exercising. And the eating. LOL! I can keep up on eating SO WELL! Anyway, we tried oatmeal this week. Not my favorite thing. But this wasn't bad. I'm still not convinced it's healthy though. 

MISC:

* I have so much stuff coming up in the next couple of weeks I doubt I'll be around here much. But wish me luck on all the things! And I'll be back eventually!

TV Review: The Queen's Gambit

Show: The Queen's Gambit (on Netflix)

Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Bill Camp, Marielle Heller

Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★

This has been quite popular on Netflix these days and surprise... I actually watched it! 

It's quite the fascinating character look at someone's crazy life... from being an orphan and having a very strange upbringing, to becoming a famous chess player.

The big question that I haven't quite got answered is... is this based on someone's real life? It sure seems like it is, but I'm not sure it really is. 

It takes place in the 60s... when our girl ends up learning chess from the janitor at her orphanage. And it turns out she is quite the prodigy. She gets noticed by the locals and beats all the high school boys even when she is only like 11 years old or something. 

She ends up getting adopted by a kind of crazy couple, and then she manages to find her way into tournaments... where she wins one after the other after the other... and thus she starts slowly making money.

But still, it's a quite a sad thing...because she is so very lonely. And she is looking for friends and yet, she is so strange herself that it's very hard for people to connect to her. 

Like I said, it's all quite fascinating.

I really loved learning that the dude who made this has been trying for years (like 30 or something?) to get this made and people rejected him over and over.... until finally someone said okay. And now it's gone so crazy with everyone! I love that!

Another thing I loved about this one is the music... of course I found a playlist that includes all the songs. So good!

Anyway, if you haven't checked it out yet... go watch and let me know what you think!

Here's the trailer:

TV Review: Down to Earth with Zac Efron

 Show: Down To Earth

Genre: Travel, Health, Food

Starring: Zac Efron, Darin Olien

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

I kept seeing this one show up Netflix recommended and finally my husband and I decided to watch it together. And it was really fun!

Zac pairs up with a podcast friend of his (Darin) and they go around to different parts of the world looking for fun and and cool things people are doing to be health and environmentally aware. We learn about apples and water and how to live longer and other such things.

It's a mix of health stuff (we learn that the people in Italy are healthy by... gasp.... EATING CARBS!) and food stuff (we go to tons of quaint restaurants and make pasta and eat weird things... and milk goats as you can see above) and we travel to places like Paris, Italy, in the middle of the Amazon jungle, Puerto Rico, Iceland and etc. 

It's all very fun and interesting and eye opening and informing. Zac is quite fun... and dare I say it... down to earth. For being such a huge star, he seems really quite grounded. I've always been a fan of his, I have no idea why... and so it was fun seeing him in this sort of setting. 

There's just like 8 episodes I think, all about 45 min long.. so it was a pretty fast endeavor. We are glad we finally hit the button and watched!

(It's been awhile since we've watched something together and this made us appreciate that again. Since we've finished this one, we've started in on The Great British Baking Show, which we've seen so many rave about. And now I'm looking for other fun shoes we can watch together.)

Here's a trailer to peak your interest!

TV Review: Dispatches from Elswhere

Show: Dispatches from Elsewhere

Genre: drama

Starring: Jason Segel, Andre Benjamin, Eve Lindley, Sally Field, Richard Grant

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

We watched this a few months back and I just realized I never blogged about it and I wanted to! I should have written out my thoughts when they were fresh and clear, but now I have to remember them!

My son watched this, and has re-watched it several times and was quite smitten with the premise and the message and they way it really makes you think. So he compelled us to watch, so we could have some deep discussions, which we did. So, right off, if that's the sort of thing you enjoy doing... watching and then seeing watch discussions might come from it... this is definitely a good show to consider!

This show is written and produced and acted, and pretty much everything, by Jason Segel. He learned about something like this (a sort of reality game adventure) that happened in real life in California, and he was fascinated, so he wanted to create this show based on that.  (You can watch an interview all about that here.)

Basically, the premise is that everyday people are brought together by some strange entity that presents them with a mystery they need to solve. It's all so intriguing that the people get VERY into it and sort of takes over their lives. Our little team of four is made up of a dude who is lonely, living a very boring life and doesn't really even know what he likes... and tall pretty insecure girl who looks outwardly confident, but is inwardly really struggling.... and older sweet grandma type...and then the dude who really takes this very seriously and becomes totally immersed. (Well, in they end they all do of course!)

There's actually really no way to describe this show. We follow these four as they go on the journey to solve the mystery, and how in the end it's  MUCH  MUCH more. It's more about a journey of self discovery. But also of looking beyond yourself, and actually seeing others. And of realizing that we are all the same... we are all different yes, but also, all the same. It's really quite powerful in its presentation. I remember it ended by pounding the idea of... "I am you" into our heads. Which I loved. 

It also has quite the crazy twist at the end, which of course I can't discuss now... but seriously. It takes in all sorts of unexpected directions. And... like I said above... makes you really think and then want to talk about it. Which is a really cool thing.

And as always, I loved the music. Check that out on Spotify here.

Have any of you watched this? What were your feelings about it?

Here's a trailer for the series that will hopefully entice you to check it out much better than my words will!

The Great American Read!

This program is just what I need to get excited about books again!!!

So at the library were I work, they started to promote a program where they planned to kick off a series that they will be doing with the other library in our area. All in conjunction with the series on PBS called The Great American Read. My interest was instantly piqued.

The goal of this is to choose America's favorite book. Not best book. Not most meaningful book. Just plain old FAVORITE book.

They (PBS) surveyed people from all across the country and from all walks of life and came up with a list of 100 books. It's a very diverse list and the only parameter is that the book be fiction.

So the kick of show on PBS highlighted all these this 100 books, and now all summer it's our mission to read the books and vote for our favorite!

Anyway, it was so fun for me to watch this and see famous people, celebrities, authors and etc talking up their favorites. So much fun!

Then we went to our library's kick off program and some of our local people talked about their favorite books. It makes me want to read ALL THE BOOKS again!

(I took the test and have actually read 61 or so books on this list... but there's a bunch I want to try!)

But I truly don't need to read more books to figure out what I'm voting for!

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Yeah, it's not going to win. But I love that it's on the list. "It's an honor just to be nominated!" There are lots of other books on the list that I love and the fun thing is you can vote for all of them. So, it's not as painful as you might think!

In the fall there will be more shows on PBS and more programs at the libraries to reveal what book is the final winner and American's favorite book. Watch for it!

Anyway, if you haven't watched the show, you should and see if it makes you remember (if you need remembering) what you love about books!

BBC Series Review: And Then There Were None

Series: And Then There Were None
Genre: Mystery Drama
Starring: Maeve Dermody, Charles Nance, Aidan Turner
Rating: Two thumbs up

Jenni Elyse and I watched this one together the other night solely for the Aidan Turner factor. And I would have to say that it was worth it!

This story follows the Agatha Christie mystery book originally titled Ten Little Indians. I'm sure there are many adaptations and there's the play and all sorts of stuff, so this is simply the latest in the line.

It's the story of 8 people who are summoned to a fancy house on an isolated island and they really have no idea why. None of them know the others. Or the guy who summoned them. Or anything. Then there's the two servants and you've got ten confused and nervous people. Nervous especially when one of them suddenly dies.

And then another. And then another. And so on. All following this poem:

Ten little soldier boys went out to dine;
One choked his little self and then there were Nine.

Nine little soldier boys sat up very late;
One overslept himself and then there were Eight.

Eight little soldier boys travelling in Devon;
One said he’d stay there and then there were Seven.

Seven little soldier boys chopping up sticks;
One chopped himself in halves and then there were Six.

Six little soldier boys playing with a hive;
A bumble bee stung one and then there were Five.

Five little soldier boys going in for law;
One got into chancery and then there were Four.

Four little soldier boys going out to sea;
A red herring swallowed one and then there were Three.

Three little soldier boys walking in the Zoo;
A big bear hugged one and then there were Two.

Two little soldier boys sitting in the sun;
One got frizzled up and then there was One.

One little soldier boy left all alone;
He went and hanged himself

And then there were None.

—Frank Green, 1869


And as people start figuring it out then they get really nervous and paranoid and start accusing each other. It's awesome!

This version was sufficiently creepy too, which was also awesome. A little gruesome in parts. A little suggestive in parts. But generally all very fun!

And Aidan Turner was great and thankfully, as Jenni said, did not bite the dust too soon! And gave some us great fanservice too. (Korean drama term for...shirtless... basically.)

He continued to have a little problem with that lovely lock of hair, always falling in his eyes.

Bottom Line: You love BBC stuff? You'll love this. You love Aidan Turner? You'll love this.

Here's an extremely short teaser:





But don't take my word for it, let Aidan himself tell you all about it:




Gah, he kills me.

The Walking Dead S6E3: Thank You (SPOILERS!)

First of all, let me just post here what I posted on Twitter last night during all the craziness of The Walking Dead Episode:

Suey‏@SueySays

Seriously people... If you don't want #TheWalkingDead spoilers keep off twitter until you've watched it. You know? :)

I was blown away about the amount of people complaining about spoilers last night. If you don't want spoilers, then WHY WOULD YOU BE LOOKING AT TWITTER!!!

Same goes for checking out people's blog posts on the topic. Yes, there are spoilers ahead!!! You've been warned.

And this would NOT be a good week to watch the episode later. I mean really. Sometimes you just need to watch live no matter what else is happening in your live,  know what I mean?

All that being said...

WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED last night on The Walking Dead? Is he dead or isn't he? 

Oh my gosh it was terrible!!!

But everyone is saying HE IS NOT DEAD! But... how can he not be? I mean, he is COVERED with walkers and even if they aren't eating him this very moment, they will be any second and he CAN'T MOVE!

Should we back up?

So, we have joined our people who have gone on a mission to lead the pit of walkers far far away. But the horn made them veer off toward their homes. So they have to fix this problem. Rick runs off alone to get the RV to... do something... help Sasha and Daryl I guess. And Glenn and Michonne and some others are going to head off another direction trying to get back to Alexandria. But they are cut off by the horde of walkers.  We get some sad talk about wives left at home (with sad looks from Glenn) and some lectures about "we know what we are doing and you don't and YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE OUT THERE!" And we get some strange exchanges between Glenn and his nemesis Nicholas and I just don't get why Glenn is so nice to him. But whatever.

One of Glenn's last (maybe) moments, helping Annie? who
messed up her foot in a fall.

Bottom line is.... they all and I mean ALL get surrounded by the walkers and there's no where to go. Glenn and Nicholas are trying to burn up a building for distraction, but that doesn't work. Michonne is trying to lead all the injured away, but that doesn't work. Rick is taking the RV but that doesn't work. Also, the horn stops but they are suddenly hearing gunshots from the direction of home. They think that it's people defending against the walkers, but we know better after what went down last week!

It's terrible.

So, a bunch of Alexandrian's that I don't know get eaten. And it's sad and traumatic, but still, you know, we don't really care. But then, when Glenn and Nicholas get surrounded... I totally thought Nicholas was going to sacrifice himself to save Glenn.. and he sort of meant to I think, but after he shoots himself and falls, GLENN FALLS WITH HIM!! Why why why???  And the last we see is Glenn being sucked down and swallowed under a hoard of walkers. I can't watch it again... and I won't post it here, but you can find it you want. Ha.

Anyway. I cried. And did a lot of freaking out and screaming and exclaiming, oh crap, a lot. How about you all? What were you saying and doing? I was also thinking... why are we all watching this show again? I mean, it's pretty painful. It really is. But there's something we love about this pain, am I right? And we are all weird!!

Glenn and Nicholas are up on a dumpster... surrounded by walkers.

Meanwhile, Michonne gets away with Heath and one other dude (Scott?) and I guess they'll be okay. And Rick is stuck in the RV that won't start now, and after he killed off a bunch of Wolves (the ones Morgan let go?) the walkers are now surrounding him. Pull to aerial shot and...

....The End of this episode!

And now, everyone is saying, no, this is not the end of Glenn. Nicholas is on top of him and the walkers are eating HIM. But Glenn is okay. But even so, how will he get away? 

On the after show Talking Dead, they said we have not seen the last of him. They didn't say what FORM we haven't seen the last of him in, but they refused to do the memoriam thing for him, which seems to be saying something to a lot of people.

Well, I could go on and on, but mostly, I just want to know what you think? Dead? Or not? And if not... how????

Oh, and P.S. I guess we won't know the answer to the big question for a couple of weeks? We'll be getting Morgan's backstory instead? Sigh.

I've loved Glenn from the start, as I think we all have. He totally captures the humanity of the show.
If he's dead, how will everyone go on?

The Walking Dead S6E2: JSS (Spoilers!)

Of course, with the way things ended last week, we thought we'd be dealing with all the walkers converging on Alexandria. We thought we'd see everyone fighting them off, we thought we'd see Rick and company figuring out how to lure them back away.

We thought wrong.

Instead, we went back in time just a bit to see what those who were left behind were up to while the others went on the "mission" to lure the walkers down the road. (The mission, as you remember, was supposed to be a dress rehearsal, but turned into the real thing. So the people left behind felt like everyone was in no peril... since it was just a practice run. Little did they know.)

Anyway, life seemed calm and normal back at home. Carol was making... something, put it in the oven and set the timer. She had a little exchange with the other women about cooking and not smoking and such. Carl has a little sad moment when he sees his girl hugging someone else.

Oh.. speaking of his girl.. Enid...the whole episode started out with her back story and we got to see how her parents were taken by walkers, how she survived for weeks alone, and how she stumbled upon Alexandria and was taken in. All along the way she traced the letters "JSS" everywhere. We had no idea what it meant.

Enid, surviving all alone

So everything seemed calm. But then, Carol is watching out her window as that smoking lady lights up. And then, out of the blue, the smoking lady is attacked! And killed! By someone NOT A WALKER!

A "normal" person with a W on his head! The Wolves have arrived! These guys are TEN TIMES WORSE than any walker! It's amazing how this show portrays the evil that comes to people when they are trying to survive. It's scary amazing.

And then, wow. The rest of that episode was INTENSE! Everyone running everywhere. Hiding. Finding weapons. Enid holed up with Carl to help with Judith. Jessie is in the middle of trying to cut her kid's hair when the bad guys come into her house. They hide in the closet. But then she runs out to protect her other kid (the older one who was hugging Enid earlier) and she attacks the Wolf with her scissors. And wow. It's a close your eyes kind of scene.

Jesse uses her scissors!

Then Carol dresses up like a Wolf, W on her head and everything, and she goes out there and just starts slaughtering them all (the Wolves that is.) She is ruthless and awesome.

Carol in disguise

Meanwhile, Morgan appears, the first one from the other group to get there and he helps out ... sort of. Still scared to kill anyone. But he faces them all in his double stick bashing way and it's awesome... though by now, all we want is for him to lay them down! For good!

Morgan and his stick

I can't remember who was driving the truck outside the wall, but someone was and he crashed and he died, falling dead right on the horn.

THE HORN GUYS!!! And now we know where the horn sound is coming from!

Deanna ends up hunkering down in that trunk with her last remaining son, and she is just cowering in fear and despair.

Meanwhile, Carol kills all the Wolves, the ones that Morgan doesn't scare off.

In the end, Enid leaves (where the HECK is she going?) and doesn't say goodbye to Carl, but leaves him a note instead:

Just survive somehow. 

And now we know what JSS stands for. And then the timer went off, and Carl took the stuff, whatever it was, out of the oven for Carol.

The End. Whew.

But... the walkers are still coming....

The Walking Dead: First Time Again S6E1 (SPOILERS!)

Much anticipation, as always, for the start of a new Walking Dead season. This one ended up being different from what I expected. I expected much conflict between Rick's group and the Alexandria group. Well, there was some of that, but not as much as I thought. I'm sure more of that will come later.

So this episode was interesting in the fact that we had two different timelines going on. One a little bit into the future and one just after the season finale. That one... the one a bit into the past, was in black and white. I figured the two timelines would quickly come together, which was the case.

So in the black and white bits, we have everyone recovering from what happened at the end of the last episode, namely the two deaths... of Deanna's husband Reg, and the other husband... who's name I forget and who no one is mourning.

Eugene comes in and sees that Tara is okay. He's so relieved. And then Tara asked about Noah and... sadness! Glen, for some reason, appears to be giving that jerk dude that almost killed him (dang, and now I forgot HIS name! Nicholas?) a second chance! WHAT?

But the biggest thing is that Rick takes the one dude out of the fence to bury him. While there, he discovers a huge quarry thing FULL of walkers. And he realizes that this is why Alexandria has had not many walker problems. They've all been trapped here. But he also realizes that the thing (a couple of trucks) holding the walkers into this place is about to give. Which means they have this huge threat over their heads. He hatches up a plan to lead all these walkers far far away.

The color bits are this plan in progress. So at first, as we are watching, we don't really know what's happening, but as the episode goes on, we get it. So there are different teams all stationed around, all with a different job to do and we see that panning out.

So basically, they decide to led the walkers out and have them follow the car and Daryl's motorcycle about 20 miles away. All is going well until... well... until someone (I forget his name too but we don't like him so it's okay) gets bit and he screams. All the walkers veer off the road. But they fix it. And then AND THEN a horn starts honking and CRAP... they veer off again but this time, there is no way to fix it. All the walkers... thousands of them, are now heading toward Alexandria!

The End!

But I forgot to say.. there's a cool new dude! Heath is his name. His hair was mentioned... and I loved it!!

Heath
It appears there are no good pictures of him yet out there.

Heroes Reborn: S1E4

Here are my thoughts on this episode as if I were live tweeting them: (SPOILERS!)


Sad moment with the dog there at the beginning. Ugh. (Don't worry the dog's okay.)

Still not sure what's happening with the girl wandering around in the snow.

The Japanese kid is pretty cute, you know? His personality is reminding me a lot of Hiro from the original. I think that's on purpose.

"This isn't a TED talk, Mom." Ha!

Tommy is caught!

Luke is HOT.... like literally!  (Sorry I had to.) And I'm very happy he's second guessing this whole vengeance thing. I don't think he's going to be the bad guy in this show after all!

Oh, no! Jose!

Noah: "I once knew a man...."  SYLAR!

Luke is hot. And caught!

Is that still Mohinder's voice narrating?

Oh, no! Molly!

Ah, creepy new kid at the end?


Are you watching Heroe's Reborn? Thoughts?

Jose is caught!

Heroes Reborn: Season One Episodes 1, 2 and 3

Back in the day I did the weekly recap thing of Heroes. One of my first blogging memories! And I loved it. I recreated that when I did the same thing last season of The Walking Dead. Which I plan on doing again this season. But in the meantime, I thought I'd have fun with Heroes Reborn, and come full circle with the whole blogging Heroes thing.

And I'm already behind! Last week the show opened by doing two episodes in a row. Here's what happened and what I thought. (Beware spoilers!)

We learn quite quickly that there was a huge disaster a year before the story opens again. It happened right in the middle of a gathering of evolved humans... Evos. Noah Bennet was there, and he somehow survives. But he thinks Claire was there too, and that she did not survive. (Which doesn't make sense given her power, yes?) We come to learn later that his memory has been wiped and that he doesn't really remember what happened, which is not good at all.

There's a couple who was also there, and their son was killed. They are out for revenge. They want to hunt down and kill all the Evos.  They are ruthless. Zachary Levi is one of these bad guys. He's scary! He tries to kill a teenager Evo, but some unknown someone saves this boys life. (This kid is played by the boy who played Peter Pan in OUAT.) We follow his story and learn he can make things disappear. He learns that they go wherever he's thinking about at the moment. He's got a nice girl on his side... and her boyfriend who thinks he made his terrible step dad disappear, but he really didn't. There's some guy following him and we have no idea what he's all about, but he seems to be helping at the moment. He can make people do whatever he wants. So he's obviously an Evo too.

Meanwhile, in Japan, there's a boy who is a video game nerd and in the course of winning a game called Ever- something, he gets a clue that leads him to a girl who happens to be the star of that game. That's right, she can turn into a the video game. She's on a quest to save her kidnapped father.  They join forces. She fights both in the game and in the real world. We have no idea what this all has to do with the other Evos, or how it will tie in yet.

Noah goes back to the paper company to track down Molly who can find any Evo. There's this nerdy comic relief guy who is sort of helping Noah in this quest. They almost get shot down by the bad couple, but they escape.

Meanwhile, in a Mexican neighborhood of East LA there's a guy with powers who is being a sort of Daredevil type vigilante. He gets killed and his brother is going to take over. They are also an underground railroad for helping Evos, Because oh, I forgot to say that the world blames the big disaster on the Evos and all of them are in major hiding.

At the end, we find out that Molly has been found by another bunch of bad people who we don't really know that they want yet.

And that's the first couple of episodes!

Joanne,  the wife half of the couple who wants to go kill all the Evos
Malina: Who we really haven't meet yet!
Luke, the husband half of the couple who wants to kill all the Evos
Noah Bennett, who all know and love
Carlos, the guy who is going to take over the vigilante/underground railroad job
Miko, the girl who can jump in and out of her dad's video game
Tommy, the kid who can make people disappear

I found it to be engaging and fairly intense, just like the Heroes of old. Noah so far is the only original cast member that we've seen, though I know they've teased others. I'm quite taken with the kid that can make things disappear.

Episode three finds our new vigilante trying to figure out his place. In the meantime he gets the crap beat out of him because he messes with people who have powers and he has none. And our ruthless couple trying to figure out if they still want to go around killing people. And something is happening to Luke, the Zachary Levi guy. Noah is trying to remember what happened during the past year that he can't remember. He needs Molly to help him, but she is now in the hands of other bad guys who want to harness her power in order to track down all the Evos. We learn that something strange happened in the hospital on the day of the disaster. And Tommy is just trying to be normal, but his mom has another panic attack and the episode ends with them in a car crash.

Whew!

So much happening, which is the awesome thing about this show!

Anyway, I think I'm sufficiently hooked. How about you? Have you given it a try? Were you an original Heroes fan? What do you think of this one so far?

TV Review: Poldark Season One

It seems like I heard a vague mention of this show, Poldark,  once somewhere, then forgot all about it. Well, it appears that it started airing on Masterpiece Theater while I was on my trip, so I probably missed the true hubbub. But then caught a whiff of it around and about and decided to see what it was all about.

Well, I actually decided to see what it was all about when I realized that Aidan Turner starred in it. And then when I realized it was a period piece also, that sealed the deal.

It's not yet on Netflix, though I imagine it will be at some point,  so I had to find it other places. All the episodes are on YouTube here, but the quality is pretty bad and I felt like it skipped some stuff. However, I didn't care. I watched it anyway. (This link is to a different channel than what I used. Maybe the skipped stuff is there this time!)

And absolutely loved it.

Its about a guy who has come home to England, the Cornwall area, after fighting in the Revolutionary War. His family thinks he's dead so it's a bit of a surprise when he shows up. And in fact, his fiance is engaged to his cousin and they get married two weeks after he gets home

His dad has died while he's gone and the estate has fallen into very bad neglect. He begins to restore order. This includes getting the copper mine going again. And dealing with the bad guys that want to see him not succeed.

And even though his fiance has married, don't worry because he finds someone! And oh boy! The intensity is perfect!

But it's not just about Ross Poldark, but also all the people in the community, and his cousins and everyone. It's one of those small town relationship, everyone-in-everyone's-business type of stories.

And the scenery is incredible. So beautiful and amazing.

There's laughs, and loves and tragedy and violence and... everything.

And there's Aidan Turner who is absolutely perfect.

So, watch it if you can stand the YouTube thing. If not... keep your eye out for when it comes to Netflix. or when they re-air it before the next season. There will be another season right? Yes, yes, there will!

Here's the trailer:




 Here's a montage of the romantic bits, which is awesome:



Seriously. If you missed this one, catch up! And if you watched, it, what did you think?

Review: Marvel's Daredevil Season 1

I know that it's sort of a thing now for Netflix to create and produce their own TV shows. I find it a strange and cool movement in the TV world. Until now, I hadn't watched any of their shows. They tend to be a bit rough for my taste. So I haven't had an opinion on the whole Netflix making TV shows thing.

But as you know, I have a soft spot for superheroes. I have no idea why. I never read the comics. But I find the whole pattern and cycle of the lowly kid (usually) rising to some sort of power and strength to fight the bad guys endearing and cool.

Which is why I decided to give Daredevil a try. That, and the fact that a ton of people were raving about it.

So these past few weeks I've watched all 13 episodes and here are my thoughts and observances about the experience:

• Yes, it's dark. Yes, it's violent. But I figured if I could handle The Walking Dead, I could handle this. Which turned out true for the most part. There were a few times I had to close my eyes, I admit. But just a few...
• Charlie Cox is awesome perfect for this role. How he can play a blind guy so perfect, I have no idea. I watched an interview where he said he followed a blind guy around for days and paid special attention to what he did with his eyes. And let me just say, he's figured it out. 
• And then there's the fighting and cool parkour type scenes, I'm wondering how much of this Charlie does on his own. But my guess is a lot. So cool.
• And then there's the typical sidekick character that somehow ends up stealing the scene more often that not. It seems all these shows have them. Foggy (played by Eldon Hensen) is wonderful and endearing and funny and perfect.
• What I especially love about these shows is the how they give the villain such a back story that makes you think, even for a split second, that he is justified in his actions. The villain in this show is ruthless (it's his scenes where I have to close my eyes most of the time!) and yet. His back story will rip your heart out.
• Backstories for the Daredevil himself, Matthew Murdock, are also especially rough. I've really learned the power of backstories from this show.
• And also the power of vulnerability. That's the bottom line thing I think that turns me onto shows like this. How vulnerable the characters are. Powerful, yet vulnerable. I love it. 
• I'm so happy that the news is out that there will be a season 2. Yes!
• And let's hope they have Matt smile a lot during this season. Swoon!

A smiling Matthew Murdock.

Let me know if you've watched it and what you think. Or if you decide to give it a try and what you think. All I know is, it's been a week since I watched the last episode and I miss these characters and keep thinking about them. It's going to be a long wait until they are back again!

Here's the trailer if you're interested:

The Walking Dead Discussion: S5E16 (finale): Conquer (Spoilers!)

This 90 minute finale was crazy awesome! We, all the viewers, went into it figuring one of the main characters would be killed off. And they let us think that so many times! Every single one of them were in peril throughout the show.

First, Daryl and Aaron ended up at a food warehouse and suddenly a ton of walkers come pouring out of the truck trailers. (Have you ever wondered how the walkers can be so quiet before we realize they are there and then suddenly, they are all raging noisy groaning things?) Anyway, Aaron and Daryl get trapped in a car with hundreds of walkers pounding the car all around them.

The scariest moment of the episode!

Then there was Glenn, who went into the woods followed by Nicholas who had some sort of revenge thing going on. (Although what Glenn ever did to him, I don't know.)  And Nicholas shot him, but only in the shoulder, and then proceeded to beat him up. Of course, then the walkers came, Nicholas ran away and Glenn was over powered by them.

And finally, we had Rick who after last week's episode was on trial of sorts and everyone was going to decide if he could stay or if he had to go. So, as he was coming to the "trial" meeting, he noticed that the gate was wide open. That's because stupid Gabriel had neglected to close it properly. And of course, walkers got in. Rick finds them, fights them but in the process, he is also overpowered by them... for a moment.

Rick, after squeezing a zombie to death.

In the end, Rick kills it with his bare hands, and drags the thing to the meeting where everyone had been discussing the fact that he's not a team player. They are pretty surprised to see a walker inside the walls! Yes?  We'll come back to this moment shortly.

But first, Glenn. I have no idea what happened with him, because they didn't show us, but suddenly, he's back up and running after Nicholas. He catches him and puts a gun to his head. After much threatening, he doesn't kill him.... of course, and in the end, we see them limping together back inside the wall.

And then Daryl. He and Aaron are counting down to make a run for it just when Morgan, who we had seen at the very beginning of the episode fighting off the creepy W (Wolves?) guys with a stick Darth Maul style, appears on the scene and helps them to escape. Afterward, Aaron says, "you must come with us" but Morgan says "no, I'm going here" and he gives them the paper that Rick had from Abraham from way back in episode 2 or so. Daryl sees it and knows what's up. We can only assume he explains all, because in the end, they walk into Alexandria together.

Morgan to the rescue!

Meanwhile, Sasha and Gabriel are going crazy together, and Sasha ends up with a gun to his end. I think we all hoped she'd pull the trigger. But Maggie comes and saves the day and they end up praying together.

Oh, and Tara wakes up and looks like she's okay and Abraham and Eugene finally have a talk and decide they're okay again too.

Meanwhile, back at the meeting, Rick is going off on another lecture when Pete appears all mad  and raging. Rick jumps in to stop him, but before he can do anything Pete has slashed the throat of Reg, Deanna's husband. While he's dying, she looks at Rick and says, "do it" and Rick shoots Pete in the head.

Bam.

End of season five!

Rick, Daryl and Glenn made it through. But poor Reg did not.

Now we wait for season six, which appears to be the group dealing with the Wolves and learning to maybe get along. I don't know. I guess we'll see!

The Walking Dead Discussion: S5E15 Try (Spoilers!)

I thought there would be much more Noah mourning in this episode, but instead, everyone just goes crazy.

** Carl goes outside the walls just to run with Enid. They kill a few walkers and then hide in a tree. Sparks are flying. But Carl is crazy for just running in the woods with the walkers!

Hiding in three.
Dang this kid has turned out cute!

** Sasha sits up in the tower night and day, shooting walkers. Well, I guess she comes out to the woods now and then and shoots there too. Just shooting and shooting and shooting. Totally crazy!

** Deanna listens to Nine Inch Nails (no I didn't know that at the time but learned it later... and no wonder I wasn't much into that music!) to remember her son. Want to hear it? Click here!

** Michonne seems unsure about the whole being a cop thing, but she seems to be the only one still thinking clearly.

** Daryl and Aaron are going crazy because they are finding evidence of something really creepy happening beyond the walls that has nothing to do with the walkers.

Daryl and Aaron
A strange pair.

** And then there's Rick. So, he's ready to kill Pete. He comes onto Jesse trying to make her admit she needs his help. She finally says yes. Then Pete himself walks in. They start fighting each other. Rick knocks him out and then has a fit about I can't even remember now what all he was screaming! But it was very much crazy Rick! And then Michonne just walked up to him and knocked him out. BAM!

If that's not Crazy Rick I don't know what is!

The only Noah thing that happened was when Glenn confronted Nicholas and told him... never never go outside the walls again. NEVER. Nicolas says, are you threatening me? And Glenn says, no, I'm saving your life. Did I say I loved Glenn? Yeah.

So, compared to last week, this was a very tame episode. But we have one more and I'm guessing it's not going to be tame at all.

What did you think?

The Walking Dead Discussion: S5E14 Spend (Spoilers!)

So this picture pretty much sums up this whole episode. The look in his eyes! Oh my word, but he nails it here!

That creepy feeling from the past two weeks stayed with us for the whole beginning of this episode. We all felt in our guts that something terrible was about to go down. And then it did, and it was awful. I would say pretty much the most awful episode to date. Worse than Hershel, worse than "look at the flowers", worse then Lori, worse than Terminus, maybe even worse than Beth. I don't know. It was bad.

It all started when the power went down and a group of our guys with two of the guys from Alexandria, plus Tara all went to find a piece of equipment that they needed to fix it. There were walkers in the warehouse and one of them had some sort of explosives on him. (Was it a security guard turned zombie? I don't know.) Anyway, when Aiden shot him, he exploded. Aiden and Tara were hurt bad. They thought Aiden was killed, but no, he was still alive! So, Glen being Glen, had to go back after him.  They left Eugene with unconscious Tara and hoped for the best. Well, they couldn't move Aiden so they had to leave him for the zombies. Ah, that was bad enough right there. They showed everything and I was freaking out.

But then... BUT THEN... our guys (Glen and Noah) and the other dude Nicolas try to escape out the front of the building through the revolving doors. Of course, all the zombies come and they are stuck. So stuck! Each one of them in a separate section of the door. Meanwhile, Eugene sucks it up and hefts Tara on his shoulder and he's made it out to the van somehow, shooting  walkers the whole way. Eugene? Wow! And when he sees the situation the others are in in, he saves the day by distracting the zombies away.  Most of them, but not all of them of course. But then, they still can't get out. I'm not exactly sure what happened, it was so confusing to follow, besides which I was screaming the whole time in massive anxiety! But basically, that Nicolas dude slipped out of his section (barely I thought he was going to lose his arm) which caused the few remaining zombies to be able to get into Noah's section.

I have no idea what happened next because I was literally covering my hands with my eyes and screaming NO NO NO NO!!!! Gah, I get weepy again just thinking about it. Yes, I know! It's just a show!!! It's not REAL! But still. It was sweet Noah! And poor Glen couldn't DO ANYTHING! He just had to sit there and watch Noah get ripped to shreds right in front of his face. I closed my eyes. I didn't watch, but my son, who was watching with me was "oh my goshing" just as loud as I was and kept saying "they are showing EVERYTHING!"

Well, so that was the end of Noah. Glen got out. I have no idea how. And then they were at the van, but Nicholas threw Eugene out and started to drive off without them. But then Glen came up  and grabbed him and threw him out and knocked him out. Yeah Glen! But then, He stood there for a minute and then said to Eugene, get him in. Yeah. Glen. I love him. But, yeah.

Meanwhile. Carol learns there's abuse going on at the house of Jessie. And now she can't be mean anymore to that boy Sam who wants cookies. She tells Rick and says, "We gotta kill him." Meaning Jessie's husband.

Oh, and then there was Abraham who risked his life to save some girl who I don't even know, from this new community, while all her people were about to abandon her!

AND THEN. Gabriel. While all this is going down, while Abraham risked his life for that girl, while Noah and Glen risked their lives for Aiden, while Nicholas sacrificed Noah, while Glen says, "Get him in" and doesn't leave Nicholas for the zombies, while Carol and Rick learn about Sam.... while ALL THAT IS HAPPENING, Gabriel is telling Deanna that this group is bad. They do bad things. They are the devil disguised in light. WHAT THE (insert swear here) !!!!

Well, so Maggie is hearing all that and I really hope that means that maybe, just maybe, she can diffuse that situation, but you know. I have a feeling that it's not going to be good.

So. I was so shaken up and worked up by that episode that it took me a good few hours to calm down and sleep! (It doesn't help that we get Walking Dead on our channel at 10 pm at night!)

Sheesh. And hopefully letting it all out here will be cathartic too! Wow. A gold star for anyone who read this whole crazy post!

Two more episodes and then we are done for the summer.

And so, what did you think of this one? Where you screaming and closing your eyes? Or did you calmly watch it all? Were you as attached to Noah as I was? Maybe you weren't and didn't care about him? Maybe you were just glad it wasn't Glen.

Oh P.S. Once upon a time when I was a kid, me and my six (at the time) younger siblings got stuck in a revolving door. We pushed and pushed and pushed until the whole thing crackled and rained down all over us! We were covered in tiny particles of glass! I don't know, but that door in that episode must have been a whole lot stronger than the door we broke!

Getting to Know You: Favorite TV Shows

Oh man. I don't know if I can narrow this one down!

But first, my thoughts on TV in general. I used to try to NOT watch TV. It was like an actual effort. Then one day I thought, why am I trying to avoid it? Is it a bad thing? Does it make me not get other things done? What's so wrong with TV anyway?

And then I thought I'd try a new thing and watch what I wanted to without having to justify it and/or my time or whatever. It was then I realized that TV is sort of like reading in that you get immersed in a story and fall in love with characters. So if I could enjoy reading, why could I not enjoy TV. Know what I mean?

So I think of both as a means to telling a story. Since reaching that conclusion, I've enjoyed TV watching with the same sort of passion as I enjoy reading. And it makes me happy. (And now that I'm writing more, I find TV shows helps a lot in learning about character development!)

Which is all a long way to say, I'm not ashamed that I like a lot of TV shows!

Current favorites:

Amazing Race (fun to travel the world with this show)
Survivor (I just keep finding the social dynamic of this show compelling)
The Walking Dead (the characters are fascinating)
Arrow (it's just pure and totally cool, this show!)
Downton Abbey (though it just ended again)
Sherlock (though it's hardly ever on!)

Lapsed Favorites (Shows I watched but have gotten way behind on!)

Once Upon a Time (I got bored, sadly.)
Sleepy Hollow (too much crime solving, I just want Ichabod and that's it)
Reign (couldn't keep up, though I loved it)
Vampire Diaries (I've pretty much lost interest in this though I'm curious enough I may just binge watch when the current season goes to Netflix)




Past Favorites (going pretty far back in time here!)

Friday Night Lights (drama filled and intense!)
Parenthood (same as above)
Moonlight (fell in love with Alex what's his name)
Pushing Daises (fell in love with Lee Pace. This show is my kind of funny.)
American Idol (I loved this one but haven't watched for the past couple of seasons)
Heroes (loved those first two season, and then...)
Star Trek: New Generation and Voyager versions (lovely memories)
Early Edition (fell in love with Kyle Chandler)


Favorites I Enjoyed Solely on Netflix (or DVD) After the Fact

Prison Break (probably my most favorite TV watching experiences ever!)
Robin Hood (awesome twist on a favorite tale)
Merlin (same as above)
Gilmore Girls (my kind of funny!)
The 100 (just watched the first season and am very intrigued)
Dr. Who (I know there's a current season, but I've only ever watched on Netflix!)
Hell on Wheels (great time period)
Firefly (best scifi show ever!)

Shows I WANT to Add to the Line Up

Supernatural (I feel like I'm missing so much not knowing this show or these guys!)
The Originals (if only to watch Daniel Gillies)

Do you see a trend? I tend to enjoy drama filled, angst ridden, fantasy/paranormal/scifi, medieval character driven shows. I'm not at all into sit coms or crime shows. Solving mysteries bores me (though Pushing Daisies was along these lines, it was so so different! and Sherlock? well, what can I say? It's Sherlock!) and laugh tracks irritate the crap out of me.

Given all this, what shows should I be watching that are NOT on my line up?

Want to share your favorites? Link up over at Jenni Elyse's blog today!

The Walking Dead Discussion: S5E11 The Distance (Spoilers!)

So, I've been feeling like the last few episodes have been a little sleepy, a little not-so-nail-biting. But this one had me on the edge my seat again.  Probably because everyone had to forget about all the sad stuff and get back on the defensive again.

We left off last time with a new guy, Aaron, suddenly appearing. He's full of stories about their wonderful place in Alexandria, and that they've been watching the group and have decided they want them to join up.

Of course, Rick is like, Yeah, right. He's so scary these days. So scary. So they question the crap out of this Aaron guy and after much talking they decide to take some of the group to go and see if it's for real.

On the way there, Michonne is asking him "the questions" (how many walkers have you killed, how many people have you killed, etc.) and he answers them "correctly." But something happened and everyone freaked out sayiing "they've been listening to us!" I didn't get that part. Anyone want to explain?

And then, suddenly a flare explodes from out of nowhere and just after that they start slamming into a zombie horde. Things got scary so fast! I didn't quite follow all that was happening, but I think that was on purpose. We as viewers got a feel for what they as characters were feeling... total chaos. And they got all separated killing walker after walker. In the end, they found each other again and untied the Aaron guy and pretty much decided to trust him. But I'm still not sure what was going on with that flare.

After regrouping, they went back to the barn where the other group had found Aaron's partner/friend who turned out to be his very much more than that person. Aaron freaks when he thinks this guy has been hurt... and I forgot what his name is already. Anyway, they have sweet reunion which was . . . interesting. And after much talking to, Rick decides to let them be together.

Next day they all go to the new place, driving in a huge RV. Rick had said to Michonne. "What did you hear when we found the Governor? Silence. What did you hear when we found Terminus? Silence."

When they pulled to the wall of this new place, right away we could hear the sounds of kids playing. Everyone looked at each other and... the episode ended.

But, do you think they've found a true sanctuary finally, once and for all? Somehow, I think not.