A rat-tat-tat on my heart...

A look in somebody's eyes
To light up the skies
To open the world and send it reeling
A voice that says, I'll be here
And you'll be alright

I love you and I like you...

Was trying to think of a perfect post to put up this Valentine's Day. Was scouring for gifs or screencaps of romantic moments from the past year in movies and TV shows. But then I stumbled into this fantastic fanvid someone put together to chronicle the beautiful story of Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt, so I thought I'd share that...


...of course the show ended last year when NBC unceremoniously aired its final season a year ago, doubling up episodes to air weekly during the first two months of the year. No matter, as it was still worth it in the end. So to Parks and Recreation, I love you and I like you.

It's a bold one you are...

This post is part of Nathaniel's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" series in which the participants must post a single image from a movie he or she deems as the "best shot" for any particular reason.

With it being St. Patrick's Day and all, the film chosen this week was John Ford's Oscar-winning movie The Quiet Man starring John Wayne as a well-to-do Irish-American coming back to Ireland to put down roots who then falls in love with a fiery local played by the captivating Maureen O'Hara. Hilarity ensued.

The film is shot gorgeously with Ireland's greens and O'Hara's reds making the biggest impact for me as is evident in many scenes where she is asked to run through verdant fields as shown above. She's actually running home after a particularly hot encounter with Wayne's character at his new place which she was cleaning as "a good Christian act." What ensued though was slightly less Christian when he discovers her with him pulling her back from leaving and with the strong wind from the outside rushing in plants a kiss on her. The whole windy scene is technically my "favorite shot," but the one below pre-kiss really encapsulates the combative and passionate nature of their whirlwind relationship.

Best Shot

So even though I realized halfway through that I just don't "get" Wayne, the film's visuals and lighthearted tone plus his compatible chemistry with O'Hara carried me through.

What is love?

It's like when someone makes your stomach feel all tight, but floaty at the same time, you know? And your cheeks hurt from smiling. And you smile so much that people think something's wrong with you.

Love is light. Acceptance. Fire.

Pain. Horrible pain. That you want again and again.

And also, fucking. Twenty-four seven, deep-dick, can't-walk-right fucking.

Well, you know me. I got so much to say about love.

It’s just chilling, you know? Kicking it with somebody, talking, making mad stupid jokes. And, like, not even wanting to go to sleep ‘cause then you might be without ‘em for a minute. And you don’t want that.

[gestures]

"Okay, it's like getting into a bath but the water is like warm chocolate pudding. And The Smiths are playing There Is a Light That Never Goes Out. There's warm lighting all over and there're like five dudes massaging you."
"And you have a pizza."
"She's right. And you also have a pizza."

It’s like you become more you. Which normally is like [head exploding noise made via mouth and wild hand gestures]. But now, it’s okay because the person, like whoever, they chose to take all that on. All that weird stuff. Whatever's wrong or bad or hiding in you. Suddenly it’s alright. You don’t feel like such a freak anymore.

It's like coming home after a long trip. That's what love is like. It's like coming home.

Let us give thanks...

"I have decided to scalp you and burn your village to the ground."

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Couple of Patricks

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day with a couple of TV Patricks. Meet Patrick Murray, a video game designer who lives in San Francisco with his friend, and Patrick Osbourne, an erstwhile artist who just discovered his birth mom is one of the richest and most powerful woman in the Hamptons. The first Patrick is played by the adorable Jonathan Groff in HBO's Looking and while the second is played by the hunky Justin Hartley in ABC's Revenge.

They both look good in reddish pullovers.

They look even better without those pullovers.

But apart from their looks, it's always nice having gay characters on TV especially when they're making out with cute men like Russell Tovey and Gabriel Mann. And yes, I realize I turned a St. Patrick's Day post to ogle at two TV gay characters. And?

Favorite Movie Couples of 2013

So apparently today's Valentine's Day. I'm celebrating it by spending time with my one true love, Netflix. But then that got me started thinking of my favorite romantic couples from the past year in movies and without thinking too hard about it this short list popped up...

Celine and Jesse in Before Midnight

Beatrice and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing

Roy and Nimr in Out in the Dark

Theodore and Samantha in Her

Raleigh and Mako in Pacific Rim

Mason and Grace in Short Term 12

I bet there's many more I could've listed, but as I said, this was done on the fly. So to them and to couples on the other end of the celluloid, Happy Valentine's Day! And to my fellow single people out there left out in the cold, take heed from someone fabulously single and free...

Christmas is the New Black

Really wish Netflix had made the entire Christmas pageant scene from the Orange is the New Black finale available online to share. I guess you just need to visualize Pousséy singing "Amazing Grace" with Taystee and Black Cindy harmonizing along with her or Norma finally breaking her season-long silence by sweetly singing (taking over for a clearly upset Crazy Eyes) prompting Piper to do what she ended up doing. Or you can sign into Netflix and watch the entire episode!

Anyways... Netflix at least put up the full version of Black Cindy beat-boxing "Jingle Bells" complete with a mic drop on YouTube, so that's something:


Damn, I'm really finding myself missing this show so much. I can't wait for S2. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Movie Glut

Desolation of Smaug, Peter Jackson's fifth foray into Middle Earth led the North American box office over the past weekend beating out the overly promoted sequel to Anchorman, which came in at the lower end of expectations. At least it did better than extinct on arrival Walking with Dinosaurs. In limited release, it was mixed fortunes as Spike Jonze's non-traditional love story Her, bolstered by its awards buzz, debut solidly, while Asghar Farhadi's The Past, recently  snubbed by the Academy's foreign language branch, had less the desirable results. All of these films and so much more are banking that people will come out in droves this upcoming Christmas week.

In terms of new releases, distributors thought it best to dump a whole bunch of films on Christmas Day. The most anticipated of these for cinephiles like myself would be Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Due to its delay coming out of the gates, it hasn't lit up the usual award precursors, but from everything I've been hearing it's not exactly a cuddly film. Probably a bit more tailored for general audiences is The Secret Life of Walter Mitty directed and starring Ben Stiller. The beautifully edited commercials and visually entrancing posters for this film feature grand adventures for its day-dreaming protagonist which should appeal to a broad audience or at least that's the hope. For those needing a bit more testosterone to their holidays, it's practically a smorgasbord with samurai action film 47 Ronin, sports comedy Grudge Match, and military film Lone Survivor (uh... spoiler alert?) all debuting. Ralph Fiennes' Charles Dickens film The Invisible Woman and the Justin Bieber documentary Believe are also coming out tomorrow. And yes, that's hopefully the first time Dickens and Bieber have appeared in the same sentence.

The competition doesn't end there, however, as there are plenty of holdovers appealing to families and/or Oscars enthusiasts that should do much business. Disney's animated hit Frozen should do extremely well this week coming off a weekend where it ranked third overall and already hitting the $200 million milestone today. Fellow November release, Catching Fire grossing over $370 million already, is still in the mix as well as recent release Saving Mr. Banks starring Emma Thompson as Mary Poppins' creator P.L. Travers and Tom Hanks as Walt Disney himself. American Hustle leads the Oscar-y holdovers after a successful expansion this past weekend where it ended up just behind Frozen. With a super starry cast and great reviews, it should do well in the next couple of months no matter what happens this week. Along with American Hustle and Her, other Oscar-y films looking for more people to watch them this week included Inside Llewyn Davis, Philomena, and Nebraska.

Finally, there's the long-awaited August: Osage County starring Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts. It was supposed to come out on Christmas, but it has since been pushed back to Friday the 27th. Did they see all of the competition above and decide to play it safe or perhaps it's a sign that the studio is slowly cutting its losses after the seemingly cool critical and awards reception the film has had to date. Also getting very little awards buzz relative to expectations is Jason Reitman's Labor Day starring Kate Winslet, which won't really open until next month save for a one-week Oscar qualifying run this Friday. For my part, as a Streep and Winslet fan I'll definitely see their films whenever they come out, but since it won't be on Christmas I'll need to decide which of the other films I'm going to watch. I'm leaning towards Walter Mitty to see with my parents then possibly Her, American Hustle, and/or Wolf of Wall Street just for me. So many choices! What will you do?

NPH Celebrating Halloween

Here are Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka with their two super adorable kids being awesome this Halloween. I need that Bride of Frankenstein wig like yesterday. Anyways, this is actually their second Halloween getup this year. They actually went the Alice in Wonderland route last week:

Too. Cute. Ugh. Can they just adopt me already? Or at least be responsible for my Halloween costume, because this year I went the lazy route. Wore a Superman shirt last week for a party and today wore a Blue Power Ranger (remember them?) shirt. I'll try to do better next year.

Mother, Spy, Shield Maiden

Happy Mothers Day! I've been looking for an excuse to briefly talk about two freshman cable shows I saw and really liked these past few months. Today's holiday worked well for my purposes as they both feature two butt-kicking mothers who is also a spy or a shield maiden respectively. And so...

The first show is FX's riveting drama The Americans about KGB agents living in secret as a married couple with kids in the height of the Cold War. I've posted my thoughts on its surprisingly solid pilot a few months ago and the show really blossomed from there anchored by wonderful performances by leading actors Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell (who play the husband-wife duo of spies) and Noah Emmerich (the FBI agent neighbor). The supporting cast is not too shabby as well led by Emmy winner Margo Martindale as their handler and promising newcomers Alison Wright and Annet Mahendru. There's much to love about the show other than its superb cast, from its subtle period styling to its rocking score, but it's its ability to balance the cool spy stuff with its fake wigs, assassination attempts, and crazy gadgets, with the family/personal lives of Phillip and Elizabeth that will make me miss the show until it comes back for its second season. And since it is mother's day, I have to separately commend Keri Russell for what she is doing with her character. As Elizabeth Jennings she is the most captivating I have ever seen her on screen, seemingly cold and calculating, but damaged and longing all at the same time. All of that while sporting those mom jeans.

Speaking of strong women characters on TV, how about Lagertha Lothbrok? Who is she, you ask? If so, then you're certainly one of the few people who didn't check out History's Vikings series, which like The Americans, pleasantly surprised me right out of the gate and continued to impress as its first season unfolded. Lagertha Lothbrok, played wonderfully by Katheryn Winnick, is wife of the main character Ragnar Lothbrok, a strong Viking warrior with dreams of sailing West and becoming king of his tribe. While the series isn't about her at all (after all the series is about men doing "manly" Viking-y things like wars, invasions, and kidnappings), the show wisely doesn't make her subservient to Ragnar. This is in keeping with actual history as Viking women actually handled the finances and were in charge of the farm when their husband's were off to war. In fact they too fought in battles which they made a part of Lagertha's character. One of my favorite things about the pilot was Lagertha insisting she's still a kick-ass shield maiden despite of being a full-time mother at that moment. In any case, I'm hoping her role will increase next season, but even if for some reason it does not, I still enjoy many things about the show, most notably the totally gay subtext between Ragnar and Athelstan aka the English monk he kidnapped in the second episode. It helps that both are played by the very handsome Travis Fimmel and George Blagden respectively. But aside from wanting to see them kiss (or more), their evolving relationship with each other and their varying degrees of acceptance of each other's belief systems and other aspects of their differing cultures has truly been a series highlight for me.

With regards to Emmy Awards, I think if voters take The Americans seriously, Russell has a chance despite the ridiculously competitiveness of her category filled with other amazing actors playing mothers or mothers-to-be (Julianna Margulies, Michelle Dockery, Madeline Stowe, Connie Britton, Emmy Rossum) and non-mothers (Claire Danes, Elisabeth Moss, etc.) alike. It won't be easier for Winnick in the supporting category and in fact it might be even more difficult with her show a bit too out there for the Emmys. But I'm kind of okay with that since I'd want to give it two other actresses who play mothers on TV, Christina Hendricks and Anna Gunn. That is if the voters don't give it to the grand matriarch of Downton Abbey again played by Dame Maggie Smith. Happy Mother's Day!

Everyone Loves An Irish Boy

Meant to blog about TV and stuff, but it's been such a long ass week and an even longer weekend that I didn't even get to do a St. Patrick's Day post. Then I saw this very lovely image of Once Upon A Time's Colin O'Donoghue on Tumblr and I think it just speaks for itself really.

And might as well briefly talk about Once Upon A Time, which hilariously didn't feature the good pirate on its episode tonight. It doesn't matter though since they welcomed back the equally hot Irish actor Jamie Dornan to reprise his role as the Sheriff for a special flashback episode.

Seriously, say what you will about this show, but it sure does know how to cast hot men. Oh right, the show. Well, I actually don't have much to say. It was certainly great seeing how the curse played out from the very beginning and how it affected Regina and it's wonderful to finally find out who Ethan Embry's character really is. But I'm curious to see how exactly the show will handle the "real world" encroaching on their little town.

Zombie Redneck Torture Family

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope it was a good one full of costumes, candies, and cheers. Or maybe it was filled with gory adventures Cabin in the Wood-style. If the latter, do tell me which scary monster you picked to hunt you down...

Was it... Werewolf, Alien Beast, Mutants, Wraiths, Zombies, Reptilius, Clowns, Witches, Sexy Witches, Demons, Hell Lord, Angry Molesting Tree, Giant Snake, Deadites, Kevin, Mummy, The Bride, The Scarecrow Folk, Snowman (wait, what?), DragonBat, Vampires, Dismemberment Goblins, Sugarplum Fairy, Merman, The Reanimated, Unicorn, Huron, Sasquatch/Wendigo/Yeti, Dolls, The Doctors, Zombie Redneck Torture Family, Jack O' Lantern, Giant, or the Twins?

I say anything but the Merman. Because... eewww. Also, how great was this little gem of a film written by Joss Whedon released earlier this year? I was almost glad its release was delayed a couple of years so we could all enjoy the 1-2 cinematic punch of Whedon this year. Could be three if Much Ado About Nothing actually releases this year. Make it happen, Hollywood, or I swear the Angry Molesting Trees will get you.

Happy Birthday Captain America!

Saw the above image on tumblr last night and I knew I had to post it over here to wish y'all a Happy 4th of July! Kind of odd to think that this time last year, we hadn't even seen what Chris Evans could do as Steve Rogers aka Captain America.

Sure, we saw the commercials with Evans' head on some puny dude's body and we all snickered at the image, but I remembered walking away from Captain America: The First Avenger quite happy with the casting. Evans has that perfect mix of sensitive all-American alpha male puppy dog thing going for him that really works. He further proved his chops in The Avengers making the audience believe that even with the ego of Stark, the bigness of the Hulk, and the godly status of Thor, it is Captain America who is the captain of their band of heroes. And yes, his flying monkeys line never fails to amuse.

I'll be spending America's and Captain America's birthday with the usual bbq and fireworks and perhaps seeing his fellow Marvel superhero Spider-Man sling web.

Happy Pride NYC!

I try to see as many gay films as I can since I think that genre needs all the support it can get and yet the last gay film I saw in theaters was Weekend back in October. I really, really liked it. The most recent gay film I saw on Netflix though was Romeos which I saw two weekends ago. The German film is about a transgender man who takes a liking to a gay man and the inherent complications of their relationship. It was quite a good film and the two actors had real chemistry. Before that film I had seen other gay-themed films on Netflix such as Leading Ladies, KickOff, Albert Nobbs, and Pariah during the past month or so. Pariah, about a Brooklyn girl who deals with issues of identity and sexual expression, is the only film I'd recommend from the rest of those.

Photo courtesy of NYC Pride.

Fatherly Emmy Awards Front-Runners

The Emmy nominations are still more than a month away, but of course there has already been plenty of talk on who will actually get nominated. While I'm not really ready to talk about that today, I did want to cast a spotlight on the three men who are the presumed front-runners for the Best Actor in a Drama category as they all play fathers, warts and all. It is after all Father's Day.

Three-time Emmy winner Bryan Cranston is again the odds-on favorite partly because he has won so many times and partly because his portrayal Walter White continues to astound. This season of Breaking Bad more than any other has seen Walt pushed to the edge, dangling hopelessly and perilously, only to prevail by becoming a harder, darker version of himself. With him trying to put out fires, left and right, he hasn't really been any sort of father to Walt Jr. He gave him a car to buy his affections, but more to stick it to Marie a little bit who forces Walt to return the vehicle (he burns it instead). He even ended up missing Walt Jr.'s 16th birthday later in the season. With that said, the main relationship of the show is the pseudo-father/son relationship between Walt and Jesse and to say their relationship is complicated would be overly simplifying it especially in light of everything that has happened between the two of them this most recent season. Walt, after all, is the one who knocks.

The man who has the best chance to break Cranston's streak is Damian Lewis who made his mark this year with his visceral performance as marine-turned-prisoner of war-turned-politician-turned-terrorist Nicholas Brody in Homeland. The absurdity of his character's arc is completely made horrifically believable not only by the superb writing on the show, but more importantly by the wonderful acting from Lewis. With every new information from his past as the season progressed, his character becomes fully realized leading up to explosive revelations in those last few intense episodes. With that said, it's the moments he has as a father, or father figure, that stick with me the most. All his scenes with his daughter Dana reminds us that while he is a boiling pot of mixed emotions within, he'll always be a father. Dana talking him down on the phone while he was at the bunker remains one of the best scenes on TV last year. And of course there is his bittersweet father-like relationship with Issa Nazir who, in his fate, acts as the main catalyst for the show's plot.

And finally, there's Jon Hamm who is still inexplicably Emmy-less after playing the now iconic Don Draper character for five seasons. His best chance was perhaps last year with his character going through a downward spiral and more importantly Cranston out of the race. This year the task will be even more difficult especially in a season of Mad Men that has seemed to put its leading man more in the background relative to the ups and downs of the other characters. That is not to say Don was sidelined, not at all, but it is accurate to say that the moments and characters that stick out this season don't have anything to do with Don at all or at best they are Don-adjacent. Even his relationship with his daughter Sally had seen better days as it seemed she had many more scenes with other adults than her father be it her younger hipper stepmother, her cynical mother and grandmother, or even with Roger freakin' Sterling. It's telling that one of the last scene (if not that actual final scene?) between Don and Sally was Don telling her to ditch school the next day because neither he nor Megan would be able to drop her off. Father of the year!

And so with that... Happy Father's Day!

A Couple of Badass Mothers

Oh look, it's just two of my favorite badass mothers in pop culture at the moment. If you don't know who they are then you are sadly not watching HBO's epic Game of Thrones which has some of the most dynamic female characters in all of TV. So to the mothers of Westeros and everywhere else, Happy Mothers Day! Yes, that also includes you Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons.

Day by Day: Broadway's Godspell

Happy Easter to anyone who celebrates it! Other than accompanying my dad to church this morning, I didn't really do anything special. Gone are the days of dressing up for Church then rushing over to someone's house to color and hunt for some eggs. But I'd like to take this opportunity to highlight Broadway's newest revival musical Godspell.


Before this year, whenever I heard people talk about Godspell, my mind would immediately think about the 1973 film starring Victor Garber as Jesus. As a product of Catholic education, I had the opportunity to see the film a few times. With its blend of holy Scriptures (based mostly from the teachings of Jesus Christ) and "modern" pop-rock songs, it was definitely one of the more fun ways my old teachers got us to learn our lessons. I also highly enjoyed the film's used of New York City locations as well as the cast's diversity and free-spiritedness. It was only this year, however, that I found out Godspell was actually a musical stage production first and that this new version starring Hunter Parrish as Jesus will be a Broadway revival. I was stoked.

Victor Garber and the current cast of the Broadway revival w/ Hunter Parrish

Luckily I have been able to see this show now twice and absolutely loved. Parrish as Jesus was perfectly cast not only because of his superbly underrated voice, but also because of his infectious madcap energy (which he was also able to tone down for the more somber parts of the musical). The rest of the ensemble are as diverse and free-spirited as their movie counterparts and all-around excellent. They were so great that the first time I saw the show with half the ensemble replaced by their understudies, you really couldn't tell that who you were watching were last-minute replacements. They were all that good. The theater-in-the-round aspect took some getting used to as well as sitting on pillows right up against the stage, but all of that just added to the engrossing experience. The stage itself reminded me of Mary Poppin's bag with water, trampolines, and many props coming forth from its depth at various points. While the songs remain mostly the same, the script is of course tailored specifically for our times and our situation. There are references to Occupy Wall Street, Lindsay Lohan, the GOP race, and Britney Spears among others. See the brief trailer/montage of the show below:



After the jump, listen to a clip of Hunter Parrish singing one of the show's songs "Beautiful City."

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with the MacManus brothers! On a second thought, maybe not...

And shepherds we shall be. For thee, my Lord, for thee. Power hath descended forth from thy hand that our feet may swiftly carry out thy command. So we shall flow a river forth to thee and teeming with souls shall it ever be. E nomini patri, et Fili e spiritu sancti.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy Leap Day!

Ah, leap day, an extra day we get every four years to re-align the calendars and more importantly, to use as we see fit. I think a quote from last week's 30 Rock sums it best: "It's Leap Day. Real life is for March."

So of course for the occasion, LIFE.com has compiled a few classic photographs of people leaping. The two I picked out about are Fred Astaire in the 1946 film Blue Skies and former no. 1 American tennis player Alice Marble back in 1938. See more pictures here.

Are you planning on doing anything special on this special Hump Day Leap Day?