Rainy days means different things to different people

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postaday2014, rainy days, T.v

Today is a full on rainy day in Blandford and our DVR is full since we haven’t been home in several days so this means some fun binge watching t.v. We have a few Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report and Real Time with Bill Maher to watch. That takes care of our news coverage for the week. It is a sad commentary about the state of our mainstream news that I feel better informed by Comedy Central than by my local or national news shows.

Then we have our entertainment shows; I have no shame in how many shows I watch, there are some really good shows out there and I like being entertained. Though when I was looking through the list on the DVR player, most of the shows that we watch are fairly suspenseful and grim with only a few feel good, funny shows. I may not have many, but I love Modern Family, The Middle, Big Bang Theory and the new show Blackish seems to be a keeper and these make me laugh out loud which does my soul and heart good..

FX channel has been showing some original programming and it is good stuff such as The Strain, Sons of Anarchy, Justified and The Bridge. These shows are all dark, but their acting and the suspense makes for good t.v watching.

Everything else on our DVR seems to point to cop shows and spy shows such as the Blacklist, NCIS, NCIS New Orleans and NCIS Los Angeles, C.S.I, Blue Bloods, Castle,Bones, Sherlock and there are two new shows called Scorpions and Forever which so far we have enjoyed quite a bit.

I like the combination of detective work and technology, especially in terms of medical science and computer technology and how the smallest and most innocuous item can be the key to leading the detective to the perpetrator.

When it comes to characters, I have three shows that I am invested in; Bones, Castle and The Blacklist. Now I know that The Blacklist is relatively new, but it has James Spader and I would watch him act in a phonebook commercial I love his acting that much. On the other hand I have been watching Bones and Castle since their beginnings and I feel as if they are friends and so every week I look forward to seeing what they are up to and how they are going to solve the crimes that they are up against, using good old fashioned detective work and the latest technology and scientific applications. Bones is especially great in combining science and deductive reasoning, everyone at the Jeffersonian is a scientific savant and Booth the F.B.I agent has common sense in spades and the juxtaposition between the two makes for great t.v.

Rainy days and t.v, another great combination, though definitely not as noble as solving crime, but still, I enjoy it tremendously.

Copper on the BBC is coming to an end, sniff, sniff

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1865, New York, post Civil War, postaday2013, T.v

One of my favorite t.v shows is Copper on BBC America. Funny enough it is a show based on the New York of 1865 after the bitter Civil War. We see African-American free men, newly arrived Irish immigrants, already considered old money living side by side with new money, Tammany Hall politics and the role that police have in New York. We are witness to this world through the eyes of Detective Kevin Corcoran who is an Irish immigrant who fought in the Civil War as did many of the other characters and we are privy to the painful sacrifices those troops made for their country.

We also see the grand divide between money and the other denizens of the city, a vast gap in income inequality between Gramercy Park and Five Points, a slum neighborhood. We are also introduced to political and police corruption with Detective Kevin Corcoran and his colleagues fighting against it through whatever meager means possible.

I started watching it since its first episode last year August 2012 and I was excited when the BBC picked it up for a second season and now that next week is this season’s last episode, I am hoping that the BBC will do the right thing and pick it up for a third season, I am keeping my fingers crossed.

There are so many great stories to tell and the characters are well written, I especially like the friendships between Detective Kevin Corcoran and Detective Francis Maguire another Irish immigrant copper as well as Detective Kevin and his good friend Major Robert Morehouse from the wealthy side of New York. Detective Kevin also has important relationships with Doctor Matthew Freeman, an intelligent African-American physician and Eva Heissen who happens to be a successful madam in her own brothel, a very popular establishment in the Five Points section of New York.

If you have access to Netflicks, I highly recommend giving Copper Season one a look see because the acting is great, the writing gripping and the set designs pretty amazing. You get the sense of being in New York circa 1865.

I love my Copper.:)

Farscape, a series that I miss a lot

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chemistry, love story, postaday2013, sci-fi series, T.v

Farscape 1999-2003
The other day, I was channel-surfing and I stumbled upon an episode of Farscape, an Australian sci-fi series that my hubby and I fell in love with, we were so sad when it ended. You can find it on Netflicks but finding it accidentally late night made my night. The thing that I miss most about Farscape is the relationship between John Crichton and Aeryn Sun, their chemistry was off the charts, you felt their love for one another through the t.v screen. John would do anything for his love Aeryn and she for him. together they fought against the forces of evil especially the evil forces who were committed to getting into John’s head to discover how he navigated the wormhole that dropped him into this part of the universe. The evil forces weren’t content with their parts of the universe, they wanted to conquer all possible parts of the universe.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0187636/

The actor Ben Browder did such an excellent job playing John Crichton; his character demonstrated bravery, compassion, loyalty, nobility and self-sacrifice. I am not forgetting the actress Claudia Black, she gave such life to her character Aeryn Sun, the way she acted as Aeryn, her courage in the face of any danger, her commitment to keeping John safe from all harm, her quest to redeem her past transgressions. They made such a grand pair, I didn’t want them to go, the only saving grace that the writers gave us fans was the baby that they created with their love, and what an adorable baby they had. That was the series grand finale.

I wanted to share a great series to anyone who has Netflicks and wants to see a great love story and great friendships. Because in my focus on the love story, I neglected to mention the awesome friendships that you see between John, Aeryn and the rest of the crew members of the spaceship Moira.

Trying to unsee something, very hard to do.

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music, postaday2013, T.v, VMA awards

My hubby and I watched the VMA show Sunday night because like most of the world, we love music and the show has always been entertaining, you never know what Lady Gaga is going to do or what Katy Perry is going to wear. The fashion police is out front and center because musicians take a lot more risks then your average movie star and it is very delightful to watch.

Now I do not consider myself a prude or a puritan, but I have to confess that I was getting uncomfortable with Miley Cyrus’s performance when she was grinding against Robin Thicke during their performance and also seeing what she was doing with that styrofoam finger went way over the top to the point of ickyness.

Maybe because my baby girl had watched Miley Cyrus be Hannah Montana for so long and seeing her be a little girl made me feel a little dirty after seeing her rub her little physique against a grown man because Miley may be twenty but she still looks like a very young teenager and it was just too much for my little eyes and little brain to take in, my hubby was half asleep so he was spared.

Now I know that I could have changed the channel but it was too much like a car wreck, I couldn’t look away. The craziest was that Lady Gaga’s performance was so very tame by comparison even her outfit with the mermaid sea shells and thong was not provocative when measured against Miley’s gyrating, twerking and tongue exposure.

I suppose that I am writing about it because poor Miley hasn’t left the news as of yet. I am worried that in her pursuit of ditching the image that she had as a result of portraying Hannah Montana, she is letting herself be defined by superficial notions of what passes as adult behavior. I remember that being twenty is a heady experience, you are still a brand new adult and still figuring out what that means, I just hope that someone on her team will be there to catch her when the nay sayers get to be too much to bear.

This was one event, she has talent and seems to be such a sweet girl, so I am sure that she will grow out of this phase and get back to celebrating her music with her lyrics and her abilities.

My crazy guilty pleasure

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aliens, guilty pleasure, postaday2013, sit-coms, Star Trek, Star Wars, T.v

One of the new shows this year is Neighbors on ABC. It’s about a human family who unwittingly move into a gated community that had been taken over by alien shipwrecked aliens inhabiting human form. Jaime Gertz has been a favorite actress of mine since I was in my late teens, early twenties. She plays Debra the mom, happily married to Marty, they have three children. They find out that they are living in an alien community and hijinks ensues. The alien family who decide to adopt Debra and Marty Weaver as friends, are named Jackie Joyce Girney and Larry Byrd. The aliens all named each other after sports figures.

Tonight is a very special episode, George Takei from Star Trek fame and Mark Hamil from Star Wars fame are guest appearing as supreme commanders checking in to see how the mission is going. I must not be the only one who considers this show as a guilty pleasure when two icons of science fiction are willing to grace the t.v show with their presence.

I am done with my confessional, you should tune in and watch, it is cute and harmless, good for when your brain doesn’t want stress or worries.

Boy, do I enjoy the BBC

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BBC, postaday2013, Ripper Street, T.v, t.v shows

I have gotten completely invested in a “new” show, new for us in the States, Ripper Street. It is unbelievably captivating, gripping, compelling and informative. It also stars one of my actor “crushes” Matthew Macfayden. I can watch him in anything, just his voice is enough to make me swoon. I have noticed that all of my actor “crushes” revolve around the sound of their voices. I do have to say that Matthew is more than just a voice, he is also a gifted actor and has made his character someone who I am invested in within the context of the drama. The writing is tight and realistic, the setting is historical which appeals to me. London during that era, 1889, is fascinating because you have the industrial revolution which changes the lives of ordinary citizens in extraordinary ways, hence society and all that it implies; the relationship between government and people, charities, crime, punishment, the wealthy and the poor. Moreover, the attention paid to detail with the autopsies, the medical examinations and the science itself has me glued to the screen. I love this show and I wait in anticipation for a new episode each week. Thank you BBC for excellent programming!

Unique Sweets

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baking, pastry, postaday2013, T.v, talent, work

My hubby and I are watching the show Unique Sweets on the Cooking Channel. It’s a dangerous show to watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon, everything that they are describing is making my hubby salivate. All this show is doing for me, is calling my inner patissiere or baker to get out into the kitchen and make something like croissants or pain aux raisins or an apple galette. Trust me,when I say that I don’t have the skill set or the true talent to go into business making beautiful pastries for public consumption. My stuff tastes good, I might even go as far as very good at times, but I never get the aesthetic part right.

The show was highlighting breakfast pastries and there were three places that rated their mention. On the West Coast there was Knead Bakery, there was also Levain Bakery and there was a third called Sonoma Bakery. All three had original pastries. There was a breakfast apple pissette; essentially a thin crust apple pizza which looked mouth wateringly delicious. Another amazing breakfast pastry offering was the palme d’or which is a puff pastry shell filled with soft caramel sprinkled with sea salt topped with a vanilla pastry cream and sprinkled on top with a generous dusting of sugar that the pastry chef puts a blow torch to creating a hard carmel topping to the pastry. It was a masterpiece. The other pastry that was truly note worthy was a whole wheat dinner roll that once out of the oven was split open and stuffed with slivers of excellent European chocolate and closed back together. After purchasing, you saw the customers open their whole wheat rolls and see this luscious molten chocolate emerge, I have personal experience with this type of treat. When I was a child in France, my sister, my cousin and I at 4:00 p.m, would take 4 inch pieces of French baguettes and insert pieces of chocolate in the interior and eat them for a snack. French crusty baguettes make an excellent foil for good quality chocolate.

My love of baking is really the love and desire to put smiles on everyone’s faces. Whenever I make something by hand, it makes me so happy to see my family close their eyes, flair their nostrils and lick their lips in delight. It truly is all about the love. That would be the only reason for baking in a professional capacity, to spread the love and goodness that is all about patisserie.

I am cheating on Craig Fergeson

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BBC television, Graham Norton, Great Britain, postaday2013, Scotland, T.v, talk show

I have written previously about my newfound favorite talk show host Craig Fergeson. His antics coupled with his delightful Scottish accent make me burst out in laughter every evening when I watch him on TiVo. Craig’s sidekick is a gay skeletal robot voiced by someone who has a gift of mimicry and voice impersonations. The gay skeletal robot’s name is Geoffrey Peterson and he does a mean Morgan Freeman, a hilarious Liam Neeson and Craig Fergeson responds to these impersonations with a few of his own; Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Jason Straham and David Bowie. You never know what is going to come out of these two and they often behave like cheeky monkeys which suits me very much.

However I have started to go astray lately. I stumbled onto the Graham Norton show on the BBC and his talk show is fantastic. He brings his guests out all together and as a viewer, you get the added bonus of seeing how they interact together and it makes them so much more human and ordinary. Often I find myself thinking that this format shines a better spotlight on the movie stars because you get to see why you really like their work. I would imagine that it would be hard to enjoy the work done by a horrible, uninteresting person and being on the couch with two other stars would be difficult to hide that type of character flaw. Graham Norton’s personality is very infectious, he gleefully engages the audience and eagerly welcomes his guests, he never fears teasing his guests and has a wonderful tongue in cheek manner about him. He is as much the reason to watch as are the stars on the show. He isn’t as risque as Craig Fergeson but you are still going to laugh and be entertained. This week’s guest list was Billy Connelly, Dustin Hoffman and John Bishop. The movie promoted was The Quartet, a movie directed by Dustin Hoffman and is about retired opera singers living at a retirement home designated solely for opera singers. It seems to be a very different and interesting movie.

So Craig I’m sorry but I have found someone new; not to replace you, no one ever could, but I am going to share my attentions with another talk show host, but don’t worry I will always make time to watch you on TiVo.

A tale of exhaustion

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bitter cold, fatigue, Law and Order U.K, postaday2013, T.v, writing

I woke up today completely wiped. I couldn’t tell you why, just that upon opening my eyes I felt so weary. The feeling of utter weariness didn’t negate my enjoyment of my breakfast. Breakfast is truly my favorite meal of the day. I had my rye toast with peach preserves today; I don’t know which preserves is my favorite; fig, peach or wild blueberry. It doesn’t really matter, I just rotate them so everyone gets a turn.

I mustered up enough energy to go run some errands downtown in Westfield; I had thought to go to the Mall in Holyoke but feeling the way I do, I thought it best to postpone returning the items at the mall some other day when I felt better. Digging the car out from the snow on top was a chore however it did give me a good deal of satisfaction feeling my biceps and core muscles at work. Any physical effort no matter how small is always good for your heart and circulation. That is what I tell myself whenever I am doing something that I would rather not be doing; it’s good for me. Believe it or not, it helps.

Right now I am resting and watching Law and Order U.K. I have been meaning to watch it for such a long time but since it’s not often advertised or promoted on other channels I miss it. My hubby recorded a marathon of episodes so I am taking advantage of my bone weariness to watch all of these episodes. The British version is just as sharp as the American one and the chemistry between the characters along with the sometime rivalry between the prosecutors and the police makes for excellent t.v. Jack has been watching it with me and he agrees. He only watches quality t.v.

I know that I’ll feel better tomorrow because I have weight class to teach. I also spent some time wrapping a few caramels into cute little packages for all the ladies in our class. A belated holiday present if you will, I was too overwhelmed before the holidays to make them anything before Christmas, so I am making up for it post holiday season. A sweet way to start the new year.

I have a confession to make

Tags

Craig Fergeson, lat night show, loon, potaday2012, sidekicks, T.v

I have become a big fan of the Late Late Show with Craig Fergeson. He is simply a loon, he tries to be off colour but he does it politely with his lilting Scottish accent so it’s just endearing not offensive in the least. His sidekick, whose name is Geoff, is a robotic skeleton voiced by I don’t even know, but he is just as silly as Craig and they make a hilarious couple. They sometimes argue like a married couple. Craig also has a two man horse named Secretariat who comes out to dance now and again. He also has a mounted Rhinoceros head on the wall named Sarah, she doesn’t speak too often. There is a gag CBS executive who is there supposedly to keep Craig in line but she is very attractive so He just acts more like the adolescent he still is, the loon.

It’s my show to watch because my hubby isn’t really a fan, so I sit with Craig and laugh at him being a big ham with his crazy entourage. His guests really like coming on because they are extremely relaxed and let their hair down. Often on other shows they stick to the scripted questions and answers whereras with Craig, his questions come from out of the blue and you never know where the conversation is going to go or where it was headed in the first place.