drive-by comic-con update

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Quick update to say that I survived Comic-Con. Sure, it was super tiring, my feet hurt after walking all day, the lines and crowds were RIDICULOUS but it was fun to be with friends and other fans that share the same fandom obsessions. There’s a great vibe in the air — an overwhelming feeling of appreciation to have the chance to interact with artists, writers, actors, and directors you admire. I came home with lots of great memories and can’t wait to share them with all of you.

My only complaint was that my TV boyfriend, Joshua Jackson, made a surprise appearance and I didn’t get to see him. GRRR.

🙂

But before I dive into the details, I’m leaving on a jet plane again and heading to San Francisco for work and the wedding of my good friends’ R & J this weekend. Back next week!

end of an era

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It’s here. HARRY POTTER day.

I was hoping to see the movie this weekend but we have a wedding, baby shower and birthday to attend so I’m not sure when I’ll have the chance. Hopefully soon.

I can hardly believe that after Deathly Hallows, Part 2, there won’t be any more movies to look forward to or obsess over.

*SOB*

I love the movies for bringing one of my favorite book series to life. And for introducing the world to Dan Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson. Look how much they’ve grown!



Sorceror’s Stone


Chamber of Secrets


Prisoner of Azkaban


Goblet of Fire


Order of the Phoenix


Half-Blood Prince


Deathly Hallows, Part 1

I LOVE THEM. Thanks Leaky Cauldron for the pics. The inspiration for this mini picspam came from Hero Complex and their own slideshow of the actors through the years.

I also have to share this video of behind the scenes footage from the last days of shooting…



I’m seriously crying right now.

Thank you, Harry. (Yes, I stole that from last week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly. No, I don’t care).

this summer’s tv

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I remember when summertime meant reruns on TV. Not anymore! This summer I’m spending my time with…

White Collar.
My favorite bromance is back. Though the show still features a “case of the week,” I’m really enjoying the tension just beneath the surface between Neal and Peter. It adds some depth to the show that wasn’t previously there. Good stuff! But I hate the new opening credits. Bring back the old credits!

Suits
Discovered this show thanks to Christie. I guess I can’t resist cute boys in suits (see above: White Collar) cause it’s become my new obsession. 😀 I love the mentor/mentee banter between Harvey and Mike. My only complaint is that I wish they wouldn’t spend any more time on Mike’s personal life, in particular his relationships with Trevor and Jenny. I know it’s necessary to show his time away from the office, not to mention his character growth but UGH… they are not interesting characters. Hopefully they’ll veer away from this storyline in upcoming episodes.

Game of Thrones
A few weeks ago, Rob arrived home after a weekend in Las Vegas and at the airport, he picked up the first book in this series. I hadn’t been particularly interested in it before but somehow, Rob convinced me to check out the show. And we devoured all 10 episodes in a few days. I absolutely love Tyrion and Arya (such spunk!) and can’t wait to see if I’ll enjoy them as much in the books. That is, if Rob ever finishes it so I can read it. 🙂

So You Think You Can Dance
As much as I love this show, it’s become too contemporary-focused, which is unfortunate. The first week of eliminations definitely proved that to me with Iveta and Nick getting the boot. On the other hand, I’m glad they’re using new choreographers this season. Routines were getting stale and the show needed some new blood to mix things up. So far, my favorite dancers are Tadd (can’t help it – he’s filipino!) and Melanie and Marko (talk about power couple!). Sasha and Ryan are my least favorites — they are OVER-HYPED.

I’m also working my way through the first seasons of True Blood and The Tudors (yes, again). WOOT.

It’s a good summer for TV.

In other fandom news, complete Comic-Con programming has been released. Just under 2 weeks now! I’m not 100% sure what panels I’m going to try and see but I do know that I’m bummed my TV boyfriend Joshua Jackson isn’t attending this year. Sadness.

tv season wrap-up, part 1

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I’ve barely written any TV blog posts this year so now that the 2010 – 2011 broadcast season is over, I figured I’d write some quick finale thoughts…

Chuck
The Vivian Volkoff arc in the latter episodes of the season left a lot to be desired (I think it was partly because the actress just wasn’t that believable as a villain) but the finale provided a satisfying resolution to that storyline while setting up new adventures. Honestly, I would have been ok if the show didn’t get renewed – we got to see Chuck save the day without the Intersect (although I have questions about how Sarah managed to stay alive so much longer than other Norseman victims), Sarah & Chuck’s wedding (their vows! LOVE) complete with flashbacks to their relationship (I guess the writers were thinking series finale), and our favorite team back together as freelance spies. But that’s not to say I’m not ridiculously happy that NBC is giving the show a chance to go out on its own terms. I’m excited to see what the writers have in store for the last season, especially now that Morgan has the Intersect uploaded to his brain. !!! I didn’t care for Morgan in the first few seasons but he’s become one of my favorites and it’ll definitely be interesting to see how he and Team Bartowski handle this uhhh… unique situation.

Hawaii Five-0
I don’t take this show too seriously so I thought the finale was pretty darn awesome. There were some WTF moments (anything related to Danny/Rachel and the need to leave for New Jersey THAT DAY) but I totally didn’t expect the twist with the governor and Wo Fat. Now that I’ve had time to think about it, I wonder if this was planned from the very beginning of the season. Maybe the governor put together the 5-0 task force as a way to keep Steve close and monitor what he was doing. Really good set up if that’s the case. Now Steve is arrested for murder (they have to see his taser burn, right?!), Kono’s suspended (I can’t believe the eyewitness testimony could be considered credible at this point), and Chin’s back at HPD (I have hope he’s going to be their “inside man” and try to help the others somehow). Phew. I have no desire to see Danny back in a relationship with Rachel (ugh, cheaters!) so he better stay in Hawaii to help his friends (although I don’t know why they bother with the drama of him moving to NJ — he’s a main character and isn’t likely to leave).

No Ordinary Family
So much potential (love the actors, especially Autumn Reeser) but this wasn’t a good show. I’m sorry! The writing was lacking (terrible storylines, inconsistent characterization), the episodes were slooooow, and there was just no spark. The premise really intrigued me but the execution was all wrong. Disappointing. Not surprised it didn’t get renewed.

Glee
It may seem as if I don’t like this show… but I really do. I just have problems with its inconsistency. Especially this past season. I think I got a little whiplash with all the back and forth between good (Duets, Original Song) and terrible (A Night of Neglect – WTF) episodes. But I’ve come to accept that I’m here for the characters, the minimal development and interaction they get, and above all, the songs and performances. I’m ok with that.

One Tree Hill
Oh, this show. Just when you think it’s over, it goes and gets renewed. Again. I still watch because I’ve really grown to like the characters but it’s lost a lot of the fun and spark it used to have in the earlier seasons. Plus, there’s been veerrrryyy little storytelling in the last few episodes. Nothing really happens! It’s no wonder they keep doing time jumps to change things up. In any case, the finale was fine. Everyone had their moment and their happy ending — Brooke gave birth, Haley opened her cafe, Nathan and Clay found their star, and Chase returns from the Air Force to reunite with Alex (who I actually love now). See! Would have been a great series finale. I’m not really sure what other stories they have to tell but I have two requests — can they PLEASE limit Chuck and Jamie’s screentime? They’re taking screentime from characters I actually care about. And they are not cute kids, I’m sorry. ALSO, and maybe more importantly, PLEASE bring back the original theme song full time. As interesting it is to hear different artists’ take on the song, it’s just not the same.

The Good Wife
I love this show. But I think it suffered slightly from trying to do too much in its second season. They introduced characters that didn’t really work, dropped storylines (the deleted voicemail kills me), and sacrificed the screentime of major characters in the process. The last few episodes, though, after Bond was ousted and Peter and Kalinda’s past was revealed, were pretty much on par with the best episodes of season 1. Not to mention that they did a great job of setting up storylines for next season. Like Alicia/Will exploring their relationship (loved that Alicia was the one calling the shots that night) — how is that going to affect their interactions with Peter? Will’s conversation with Peter in the finale was already fraught with awkward tension. Or Eli moving his business into the Lockhart Gardner offices — does this mean more Alicia/Eli interaction? Yes please! And with Alicia/Peter’s separation, I sure hope it means less Jackie. The actress may be a Dawson’s Creek alum (Grams!) but I CANNOT stand the character. I know she’s a mother and loves her son but COME ON. Cheating is not ok and she acts like Peter did nothing wrong. She irks me so much. The only thing I’m dreading about next season is the move to Sundays. Especially on CBS after football. Isn’t this where they put shows to die? 🙁

Ok, that’s it for now — back again with the rest soon. Happy 4th of July!

happy things, (almost) july edition

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Rob’s out of town this weekend so I decided to take advantage and start watching True Blood. I saw the first couple of episodes at a friend’s place back when the series first started but I didn’t have HBO at the time so I never bothered to finish the season. It didn’t help that I wasn’t particularly enamored with the episodes I did see. I’ve since heard that the show definitely picks up after that point. And now that I’ve read the first 6 books of the Sookie Stackhouse series (which I enjoy), I thought I’d give it another chance. Hopefully I’ll like it much better this time around. 🙂

So it’s about that time for another Happy Things entry — this time it’s the (almost) July edition!

1. House-iversary! Rob and I have been living in our house for the past year. CRAZY. It really doesn’t seem that long. Particularly since we’re not even done furnishing or organizing the boxes in our garage. Not to mention that…

2. We JUST now (mostly) finished the work in our (tiny) yard. Yes, after a year! We had sod and pavers installed last September but since then, we’ve let weeds grow in the surrounding soil. Oops. Finally, two weeks ago, with my dad’s help, we got rid of the weeds, prepared the soil, and added plants. YAY.

3. The upcoming Fourth of July holiday. One of my favorites. Love how laid back it is. Not sure what our plans are for the long weekend but it’ll probably involve some work around the house. Maybe Rob will fire up the grill. 😀 And we can catch up on summer movies (still want to see Bridesmaids, X-Men: First Class, and Super 8).

4. Speaking of movies… HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 2. !!! I can’t believe it’s almost over. *sob* I’ve already convinced Rob we NEED to see it opening weekend.

5. Two weddings and a baby shower. 🙂 I’m going to be an aunt! My cousin’s wife is pregnant — since I have no siblings, I’m claiming their (future) daughter as my niece.

Bonus happy thing!

6. Comic-Con. We’re going the full 4 days again. I CAN’T WAIT. This time we’ll have other friends with us — it’s going to be great.

Random. I’ve had Bruno Mars’s “The Lazy Song” on repeat. This is like my summer anthem…

Today I don’t feel like doing anything
I just want to lay in my bed
Don’t feel like picking up my phone
So leave a message at the tone
Cause today I swear I’m not doing anything

fantasmic friday

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I really need to do some TV wrap-up blog entries now that the broadcast season is officially over… BUT FIRST.

Last Friday night Rob and I made an impromptu trip to my happy place, Disneyland, because I JUST HAD TO accomplish two (very important) things.

The first was getting my grubby hands on an R2D2 popcorn bucket. These were released to promote the (re)opening of Star Tours. We didn’t get a chance to experience the new ride (I wanted to but the stand-by line reached 2 hours — we’ll check it out when we can get to the park earlier) but I did get my popcorn bucket. Mwahahaha.



YES. It was $15. I KNOW.



I look really happy. I’m so ridiculous.

The other thing I had to do that night was watch Fantasmic!. Even though we’ve been annual passholders for 2+ years now, I haven’t seen Fantasmic! since I was in college. That’s over 10 years ago! I was determined to see it again. So determined that I booked the Premium Viewing experience. It’s expensive and I definitely wouldn’t do it every trip but I thought it was a nice treat. 🙂



We even received a yummy dessert platter for each of us. Seriously, it was soooo nice to have an actual reserved seat for the show (no standing or sitting on the ground!). Not to mention a dedicated cast member who brought us beverages.

Since I’m so short, there’s normally someone in front of me blocking my view at shows like this but our seats were in the front row (and slightly elevated) so no obstacles here! We weren’t dead center but still had a wonderful view…



LOVED IT! It’s so silly but my absolute favorite part is the beginning when Mickey comes out and starts dancing. That is THE BEST. I may have even tried to imitate his dance when we got home. Probably too much information. LOL.

We also managed to ride Big Thunder Mountain (love it at night) and Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters (3 times!) but that was all just icing on the cake. It was a great night. 🙂

good eats + photo dump

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I love randomly taking photos when I’m out and about. Mostly of my food. I’m weird like that. But then I end up with all these photos that I don’t know what to do with. So they’re going here on my blog…



When I traveled to San Francisco for work back in May, I took the opportunity to order room service at my hotel. It was a Kobe beef burger and fries from the hotel’s restaurant, Grand Cafe. There’s something about room service that makes me feel so indulgent.



Since BFF’s wedding was up in Santa Monica, Rob & I decided to take a few extra days off from work and stay in the area. We’ve been wanting to check out Umami Burger (saw a feature about it on the Food Network)… so we did! AND IT WAS SO YUM. We went with some friends so we got to sample the Umami, Manly, and SoCal burgers. My favorite was the SoCal. It had some sort of spread or dressing that was DELICIOUS. Guh. I want to go baaaack.



For brunch, my LA expert (Carms) recommended Huckleberry. We tried the fried egg sandwich and the Niman Ranch brisket hash. So good! Seriously, I think I need to plan a staycation/foodie weekend in LA someday.



The last foodie-ish thing we did in Santa Monica was go to Happy Hour at a bar (the name of it escapes me) that serves chicken and waffle SLIDERS. Sadly, they were average at best but I’ve never seen them in slider form before so they get points for that I guess.



Rob & I are food truck fans. We’re also fans of hot dogs with Japanese toppings like the ones we had at Japadog in Vancouver. So when we heard about Dogzilla, a food truck with similar hot dogs roaming around Orange County, we decided to check it out. Luckily there was a stop in Irvine a few weeks back and off we went. The BEST part is that it was at an elementary school open house. LOLARIOUS. And no, we were not the only people there without kids. Heh. All that said, it was AMAZING.



On Memorial Day, we had some friends over for a little barbecue. Hot links and sliders, oh my!



Last week we went to see The Hangover 2 (not as funny as the first) and before the movie we stopped at Bruxie in Old Towne Orange to try their waffle sandwiches. I wanted to save room for movie popcorn so we split a chicken and waffle sandwich (can you tell we really like chicken and waffles?!). SO GOOD. Only bad thing is that they don’t offer gravy. What’s that about?



So to temper all these foodie pics, Diesel wants to show you all his haircut. Above is before when he was all shaggy.



And here he is after!

I think that’s enough pictures for now. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! 🙂

glee live concert

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This past Saturday Rob and I went to the Glee Live concert at the Staples Center with some friends.

It’s no secret that I’m pretty critical about the show. But who cares about that. The concert was GREAT! It was 80 minutes of infectious, gleeful FUN.



Evidence of my attendance. 🙂

I took photos during the concert but our nosebleed seats combined with the point and shoot I was using didn’t translate into good shots. But I’m going to post some of them anyway.



Opening number was “Don’t Stop Believing”. This was my favorite song of the concert. You could totally feel the anticipation of the audience when the first few bars of the music started playing. Then the cast came out and the excitement was palpable. Awesome.

What I loved most of all was that the concert really showcased everyone. Like you’d expect, Lea Michele, Chris Colfer and Amber Riley had solos but most of the cast did too. Heather Morris performed “Slave 4 U” and while I’m pretty sure she was lip-syncing, I think she out-Britney’d Britney. Her dancing was fan-freaking-tastic. Naya Rivera, Mark Salling, Cory Monteith and Kevin McHale had their own moments in the spotlight as well.



Ok, I’m biased. I love Darren Criss and I love The Warblers. So I was overjoyed when I found out they would be on the tour! They sang a mini-set of 3 songs and were terrific.



… And it was all over so soon. They closed the show with “Somebody to Love”.

I’m seriously amazed at how much time this cast puts in to their work — probably more than any other TV cast out there. During the season, not only do they film the show, they also have to lay down the tracks and practice for the musical numbers. And now when they should be on hiatus, they’re performing in this multi-city arena tour. Amazing.

Posting the set list for reference because I like this kind of stuff…


Don’t Stop Believing
Dog Days Are Over
Sing
Slave 4 U
Fat Bottomed Girls
I Want to Hold Your Hand
Ain’t No Way
PYT
Born This Way
Firework
Teenage Dream
Silly Love Songs
Raise Your Glass
Happy Days/Get Happy
Lucky
River Deep, Mountain High
Don’t Rain on My Parade
Jessie’s Girl
Valerie
Loser Like Me

Encore
Single Ladies
Friday – HILARIOUS
Safety Dance – Kevin McHale dancing!
Empire State of Mind
Somebody to Love

BFF’s wedding

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My BFF Robyn’s wedding was this past weekend in Santa Monica. I have known her since we were 6. !!! That’s almost 25 years. CRAZY! (Also, we’re old, heh).



It was an absolutely wonderful day — from the gorgeous ceremony to the super fun reception.



I was so honored to be a part of the wedding. Too bad I was a crying mess! I cried 3 different times — as Robyn walked down the aisle, when I practiced the toast during the break after the ceremony (WTF!), and of course during said toast. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. LOL.



I <3 you R + R! Congrats! May you live happily ever after! 🙂

tangled + thor

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Oh man. My house is an absolute mess right now. For 5 out of the last 8 weeks, either Rob or I have been traveling for work so there’s random stuff on every conceivable desk, table, or counter. Suitcases all over the floor in our bedroom. Not to mention a layer of dust accumulating everywhere. GAH. My BFF’s wedding is this weekend (!!!) after which life should settle down a bit. LET’S HOPE. 😀

Anyway, I managed to catch a couple of movies recently and enjoyed them so much I wanted to share my thoughts…



TANGLED

LOVED IT! The animation was stunning. It felt reminiscent of old school Disney movies. The only quibble I have is that overall the music wasn’t too memorable. But really, the characters and the story more than make up for any shortcomings.

What I loved most is that both Rapunzel and Flynn are well-developed characters on their own — and I adored them both.

My absolute favorite scene is the one pictured above when Flynn takes Rapunzel to see the lanterns and they sing I See the Light. (I had no idea Zachary Levi had such a great voice!).



Other great moments…
Any scenes with Maximus and Pascal. Two of the best sidekicks in the Disney verse!

Rapunzel finally leaving the tower and driving Flynn crazy by going back and forth (and back and forth) about being excited and terrified.

Flynn: “You were my new dream.”
Rapunzel: “And you were mine.”

Flynn’s ultimate act of sacrifice and love. *sob*

SEE THIS! Highly recommended.



THOR

Watched this yesterday in 3D and probably should have saved the money and watched the 2D version. I don’t think the 3D was impactful enough (like it was with Avatar) to justify the additional cost. Regardless, Thor was a great movie! Far better than the trailers make it out to be.

I’m not familiar with the story of Thor so I can’t say if the characters are true to the comic books. But I thought the storyline did a good job of introducing the characters and the world of Asgard.

The cast was solid as well. Chris Hemsworth impressed me — he has incredible screen presence and was able to pull off Thor’s arrogance and charisma with ease. He totally won me over when he arrives on Earth and demands more coffee by smashing his mug. BWAH. That was awesome.

Tom Hiddleston as Loki was the stand-out, though. I found him to be a fascinating villain. I didn’t agree with his actions but somehow I understood where he was coming from.

Natalie Portman as Jane didn’t have a whole lot to do in the movie but I always like her. I have to admit I’m a sucker for movie romances so while Jane and Thor only knew each other for a few days, I found myself rooting for them anyway.

Good start to the Summer Blockbuster season!