The Wry Side of Life

I'm one of those who dished out money to see Godzilla Minus One in D box and loved the experience. The movie was moving and gave me as a Godzilla fan everything I wanted in a film. I have to say 2023-2024 has been a great time for Godzilla fans. We had the Monarch: Legacy of Monsters in between and then March was Godzilla x Kong. I was not a fan of Godzilla vs Kong. I liked the fights, but I thought that the storyline was very goofy. Maybe I would have felt differently if I had seen it in a theater. So I went into GxK thinking "I just hope the monster fights are fun". I already expected the story to be inconsequential and it was just about monsters fighting each other. What I was pleasantly surprised by was how much I enjoyed Kong's aspect of the story. The mistrust between him and little Kong at first. Then Little Kong begins to like and wants to save Kong. I liked how we spent time with Kong in the beginning as he tried to adjust to Hollow Earth. We get a sense that...

We are about 10 episodes into Season 11 and nothing major has really happened. Sure, there was the revelation that Scheana and Tom Schwartz kissed, but other than that what really happened. The animosity and digs that Ariana and Sandoval are giving each other remind me of The War of the Roses. The dark comedy with Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas about a divorced couple where the husband refuses to leave the house. We have the opposite in Ariana isn't willing to be bought out by Sandoval unless she gets everything on her terms.  The biggest thing that I don't understand is why Sandoval is being portrayed as a victim and Ariana is being made into a bitch? She has every right to be angry. This is a guy who slept with someone who she thought was her best friend while she was away grieving. He's an absolute douche bag and doesn't deserve anyone's forgiveness right now. I don't like how Ariana is being told that she needs to work on her feelings and get over it. I...

 I had read an article and decided to give this docuseries a chance. Boy was I engrossed in the first season. You constantly felt the tug of who is lying? Who is telling the truth? I finished the first season in one day and was looking forward to the meeting of Natalia and her adoptive father, Michael. I have to say that he came across as a douche bag. I didn't believe his story that he was abused. I do think he was manipulated. He talked about Kristen, the mother using sex as a weapon against him. He seemed to want to do a lot to please her as well as turn a blind eye to the abuse. I really wanted both him and Kristen in jail. The second set of episodes were supposed to represent Natalia's point of view. They did firmly establish in my mind that she was really a child at the time of all this and not an adult. We also learned that she was probably sexually abused in the orphanage and that could explain why she came on sexually to men. However, I still feel icky at the idea that...

  I saw a slew of movies recently that are up or will be considered for Oscars. Here is my ranking of the ones I saw. From least favorite to best film. 4. Maestro-Bradley Cooper is riding off of his success directing and starring in A Star is Born. I had high hopes for a film about Leonard Bernstein, but I found that the movie was unfocused. Bernstein's music was dropped into scenes and didn't fit in with the action that was going on. The script was focused on the relationship between Bernstein and his wife. His career as a conductor and his penchant for men were dropped in, but you didn't know how that made him as a person. I felt that either a queer filmmaker or actor should have been in this movie. Carey Mulligan was fantastic though! 3. May December- It had good acting moments, but I really wanted to focus more on Gracie and Joe than Rebecca. It just felt like a tired schtick of an actor who wanted to absorb themself into a subject they were fascinated by. When Joe has ...

Superhero and other franchises struggled this year. I think the answer can be found in a couple of movies that came out this year. The success of Godzilla minus One. Godzilla is one of the longest running franchises in history and you want to know why? Toho Studios knows when to pull back. When the movies aren't doing well or interest wanes they put Godzilla on ice for 5-10 years. Instead of a Star Wars movie and tv show each year, why not do a trilogy and then wait 5-10 years to start another? Instead of doing back to back 10 year story arcs for superhero movies why not do stand alone movies or mini story arcs. I think when Avengers Endgame happen people were like great. We made it through this series! They weren't thinking, "Yeah, I can't wait for 25-30 movies to reach another conclusion". The audience attention spans have worn thin and they are looking for something new. It doesn't mean the era of superheroes is over, it's people are looking for somethi...

       I first started watching Vanderpump Rules during Season 3. I started watching, because I was a huge fan of Lisa Vanderpump. She was my favorite housewife on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. I wanted to try the show to see what the restaurant looked like. 7 seasons later and I'm still watching. The season that I started with was when Tom Sandoval and Kristen Doute broke up due to her sleeping with his best friend. It was hinted at that time that Tom S. was not that faithful himself. There was talk of an affair with a girl in Miami. Tom had befriended Ariana and began dating her shortly thereafter. Kristen believed that they had hooked up prior to being official. Ariana denied it, but something makes me think something did happen. She has been very coy recently, and seemed to throw a bit of shade at Tom at the reunion.      Flash forward to Season 10 and we have Tom S. cheating on Ariana with Raquel. In prior seasons, it seemed that the passi...

Season 2 came and went as I streamed it. One thing I am missing is hearing Natasha Beningfeld's Unwritten. I wonder why it was removed? We have come to the season where Heidi chooses Spencer over Lauren. We also get the aftermath of Lauren choosing Jason over going to Paris. The introduction of Brody Jenner as a potential love interest. So how did this season shake out for me. In a nutshell, it's about making bad choices and the consequences of those decisions. My opinion of Heidi hasn't changed. She is one of those girls that doesn't have many female friends and is all about her man. She continues to do so little on the job; yet, gets a whole bunch of praise. I read that Heidi has said the job was fake. That she was pretending to work there, not actually work there. I did not like Spencer pressuring Heidi to move in with him. How long had they dated at this point? I wouldn't move in with a guy I didn't know better, let alone a guy threatening to break up with m...

 I realized that I missed watching Season 2 of The Hills: New Beginnings. After finishing it, I went back to watch the OG series. Several things stood out rewatching the series again. I'm going to focus my thoughts on Season 1, because I just completed it.  First off, you can tell off the bat that Heidi is very immature. She's enrolled in college; yet, she can't bother to go to class or finish school. Then she complains when she gets a f/t job, and considers quitting because it's too much work. Was she expecting her parents to pick up the tab for her whole life? But I guess that's how life is for you when you come from a privileged life.  Second, Whitney and Lauren are the true BFF's of the series. The way they look out for each other on the job. They are both serious about the internships and their careers. I loved when Whitney got opportunity to walk the runway, when a model didn't show up for the show. It does seem like some of the things that happen on t...

One of my routines every morning is to psych myself up by listing to music that makes me want to dance or sing along. Lately, I have been in the mood for Rage Against the Machine. I've been struck by the song "Bulls on Parade" and it triggered a memory. The Jimmy Kimmel show would have concerts on the street off of Hollywood & Highland. I was lucky enough to attend one of these concerts that featured Audioslave. Audioslave is made up of members of other bands that have broken up, Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine. At the time, they were performing songs from Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine in their sets. So I was so excited to find out they would be performing a concert for the Jimmy Kimmel Show. I went to Hollywood & Highland a little bit early to have dinner and to stake out a good location to watch the show. I found a spot on the second level that would be looking down on the stage....

I've read several commentaries about the suit brought against the Bachelor TV show for discriminating against African American contestants. Some try to argue why should there have to be people of color as contestants when you have individual niche networks like BET? What if the Bachelor has a preference for white people only? The real elephant in the room and what no one will be brave enough to acknowledge is that it is the advertisers pulling the strings. The problem with having an African American bachelor is some would think this means they would need to cast African American women as suitors. An advertiser may assume that since the show is all black no white people will tune in. Likewise, if they were to open the casting and have a diverse range of races represented it would mean we would have an interracial couple. That's another thing that worries advertisers, because there is a segment of the population that can't handle interracial couples and may tune out. ...

About a month ago I had the opportunity to crew on a documentary shoot about the Occupy movement in Los Angeles. It happened to be on the two month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street. An impromptu protest was launched at 7am that day, and protesters were arrested. Another protest was schedule for noon. As I was waiting I saw cops on bikes go back and forth along the street. Several helicopters were in the sky. Next thing I hear is cop sirens and six cars flew by and turned on Spring. The filmmaker and I made our way to Broadway where the protest was under way. As we were getting the equipment together I hear sirens again. In come six cop cars, but out pops the riot police. They flick out there batons and load themselves onto these trucks prepared for transport. I got the chance to walk with the protesters and witness this exchange. Young Asian man yells "Go Get a Job". A protester responds with there are no jobs. They go on and on with this topic and I felt like interrupting. ...

I watched Sucker Punch for 99 cents and I'm glad that's all I spent. While I think Zack Snyder is a step up from Michael Bay; he too shares the same flaws. He's good with visuals, but has issues with story beats and is clueless when it comes to weaving a cohesive story. The story is about a girl named Baby Doll, who accidentally kills her sister while defending herself from her evil stepfather's attacks. She is sent to an insane asylum, where in 5 days a doctor will come and give her a lobotomy. She develops a plan to escape after going into her dream world, where a Raydenesque character tells her she needs to retrieve four items and the fifth one will be revealed at the appropriate time. She teams up with other patients, Amber, Blondie, Rocket and Sweet Pea to bust out of there. Don't these sound like names of the Pussycat Dolls? This movie was a point of contention for some critics over whether it was exploitative of women or empowering. I stand on the side tha...

(If you haven't seen the Private Practice season finale proceed with caution. Spoilers ahead) Have to admit that I was very close to being over Private Practice, but they had to go and suck me right back in. It all started with the Sam and Addison break up. I can understand if they broke up and it was for a believable reason. Trying to force someone to have a child by a certain time frame seemed rather unreasonable, and I felt like she needed more time to deal with her mother's death. She then proceeded to get involved with a new character played by Benjamin Bratt. You almost thought she was going to run away with him, and then boom there she was at the end in bed with Sam. Her resolution to their problem? She was going to have a baby on her own, but she was also going to stay in a relationship with Sam. I believe that this is a brave decision on the part of the showrunner and writers to go this route. It would have been so easy to use Sam's reluctance to have child...

If you are a fan of Sex and the City you might remember this episode called La Douleur Exquise translated as The Exquisite Pain. This is one of my favorite episodes of the series because it equated that relationships can turn masochistic and not in the typical sense. In the beginning of the series it seemed like no matter what Big did to Carrie she would keep coming back to him. It is in this episode that she realizes she is in a masochistic relationship with him, and that she keeps hurting herself over and over. It reminds me of my own bittersweet relationship with my own Mr. Big. I think part of the reason you keep going back is you assume that your love is so powerful that the other person will change because of it. When they don’t a sense of disappointment sweeps over you and you try harder. However, there is a time and place when the realization takes over that the pain is not worth it. It’s like taking a razor blade to your arm and you keep cutting and cutting. I like to use exam...

Every time a New Year rolls around we all seem to want to make some kind of New Year’s resolutions. How about this one? Why wait till New Year’s when you can start today? I’ve resolved that we shouldn’t have to wait to get started. We all know what we want to accomplish. For instance for myself, I’ve resolved that I will lay the foundation for big changes that will improve and enhance my life. I will not be waiting till New Year’s. I’m starting today and so can you! Lately, I’ve come across this idea of why we don’t get what we want and why we continue to suffer. I had a friend who was going to lose her job because her company was relocating to Arizona. They gave her the option of moving to Arizona and work over there. She at first decided that she was going to do it, and had started making plans. A month to go before the move and she starts having panic attacks. Fear had taken a firm grip on her mind, and she became convinced that she could not handle the move. Fear is a...

Oh boy, how does one of your favorite shows become a show you hate? It’s called shoddy writing and for part III in my series I’m focusing on Brothers and Sisters. What is wrong with this show? Shall I count the ways? Let’s start with the very first episode of the new season. The season started with advancing the story a year forward. This was to allow the youngest son Justin to go off to war and come back. He came back to Robert, Kitty’s husband in a coma, Scotty and Kevin owning a restaurant with Saul, Sarah unemployed but dating a hot guy, and Holly suffering with memory loss. Ojai Foods and politics were the core through line of Brothers and Sisters. It was what made the show unique as well gave it more depth than a typical family drama. With the new writing regime these things have been decimated. Characters are fighting over ridiculous things and the stories have been the most uninspired piece of shoddy writing I have ever seen. First off, my biggest problem is the Hol...

I just finished watching season 2 of True Blood, and I have to say I have mixed feelings about the show. I do enjoy Alexander Skarsgard in his role as Eric Northman. I love how he says his lines with an added subtext. The scene that stood out was when Eric and Bill meet outside of Queen Sophia's house and have an exchange. Eric just lords over Bill that he has bonded with Sookie (in this series it means that when you suck the blood of a vampire they can feel what you feel and you start to have sexy thoughts about them). You felt as if Eric was taunting Bill asking for him to hit him in the face so he could go cry to Sookie about how mean Bill was. I found the Sookie and Eric sexy dream sequences to be very sensual and tender. Another aspect I enjoyed was when Godric appeared on the scene. He is Eric's maker, and Sookie was enlisted by Eric to find him. *Spoiler* When Godric makes the decision to end his life by staying out in the sunlight he has a touching scene with Eric. E...

This is my first time watching the World Cup games, and I have to say I'm very excited about it all. No matter what I don't think the United States should regard what happened last Saturday as a failure. They had a wonderful run and I think great things are around the corner. I would like to focus on the Ghana soccer team for this post. I have a friend who is from the Ivory Coast. His soccer team was knocked out in the first round, and told me he would be supporting Ghana from here on out, because they were the last African team. He said that it didn't matter what their nationalities were because their victory was for all of Africa and not just Ghana. I thought what beautiful sentiment to have. He said they would be going to a Ghanaian restaurant that night to celebrate the win. I have also read from fans of the Mexican team saying they were rooting for North America. Combining both U.S. and Mexico as teams to root for. Unfortunately, you will not hear Americans saying t...

I vaguely remember Christina Aguilera from Mickey Mouse Club, and her, Justin and Britney were the last additions before the show went off the air. Christina burst onto the music scene on the heels of Britney Spears with her song Genie in the Bottle. She did a Spanish album before coming out with the album Stripped and a new name Xtina . According to an interview on Fuse her manager gave her the Xtina label. I have to question this man's taste, because is he not aware of the connotations? The content of both the music and videos were learning towards an X-rated Xtina . She started coming out in magazines talking how how she got all these piercings, even going so far as to say she got her "woo hoo " pierced. Next album was toned down a bit and had a 40's vibe to it. However, now here in 2010 we get another round of Xtina amped up to the enth degree. I watched her latest video "Not Myself Tonight" on youtube . There are sequences where she is feel...

It's time that I revisit an example of Sh* tty writing on a TV show again. This time I will discuss Gossip Girl. This show is teetering on the edge for me and is so close to being dropped from my DVR . This show used to be appointment TV and not something I would need to DVR . The show has lost most of its charm not because Chuck and Blair got together but the show has veered into character assassination. Characters I use to love and enjoy are being turned upside down and inside out to fill contrived plot points. Case in point, Serena's mother Lily who in the first season felt that Rufus was the love of her life. The man she let go because of societal pressures by her mother. That was a beautiful love story right there up until this season. For no reason whatsoever, Lily has been spending time with Serena's father perhaps for some conjugal visits? Rufus in turn becomes so insecure he sleeps with a lady neighbor. Now for two people who love each other so much a...