definitely, possibly, maybe

i honestly believe that the best show on television at the moment is " gossip girl ." i don't know what that says about me personally. but i know that the show is unadulterated genius. it is also unabashedly ridiculous, and superlative in its excesses, but that all serves to make it so good. years ago, a coworker came up to me and said, "you read ya books don't you?" and handed me the first two books of cecily von ziegesar's gossip girl series. i never bothered to read them until i heard of the show, and so before the fall 2007 season i finally read the books. and they are terrible. not only are they terrible, they are terribly written. just because a book is ya doesn't mean that it isn't written intelligently, or that it doesn't have literary value. but these books, lack it all. i read the first book and skimmed through the second--i didn't have the patience to read through it all. then i simply went to wikipedia and read about how it ...

i have a print vs screen post waiting on "gossip girl" and the gossip girl books. but i want to get it perfect since the show is nearly perfect. plus life keeps getting in the way. i should have more time to post near the end of the week. when i'm home enjoying a green, tropical christmas.

i don't know what happens in december, but time seems to flit away so quickly, and i'm stuck running after it, trying to catch up. i know i shouldn't complain, because i am pretty much all set. my gifts have been purchased, half of them have been wrapped, and i am some what prepared for the various holiday events i have to attend and cook for next week. but i look at my departure date of next thursday and think, i still have so much to do. except now that i am thinking of it, really, it's not that much. and i am going home for the holidays and it really isn't all that much, it's not like traveling to a foreign place where you can't just buy the things you need if you forget them. so i don't know why i feel so crazed. it's likely that i am just over-thinking. and perhaps i am feeling stressed out by the massive amounts of television stored up on my dvr. i already gave up on "heroes" and "desperate housewives," but i'm also cons...

one of my favorite guilty reading pleasures is bridget jones's diary and bridget jones's diary: edge of reason by helen fielding. i re-read the books at least once a year. and every single time i am brought to tears, i'm laughing so damn hard. just typing about them, i remember some of the entries and can't help giggling. i also happen to own the movies by the same titles, and have to say that they do a pretty good job of bringing the character to life. having colin firth play the mark darcy character and hugh grant the caddish daniel cleaver are really what make the movies worthwhile. renee zellweger's british accent is a bit too studied, but she has the right degree of awkwardness and silliness that make her bridget jones seem true to life. the movies were adapted for the screen by andrew davies, who wrote the screenplay for the bbc's " pride & prejudice " adaptation. and he does a wonderful job of making two movies from a slightly incoher...

so i've been annoyed with "grey's anatomy" and this izzie sees denny's ghost storyline, i think it's a cheap knock-off of a bad "general hospital" plot twist, and i think it's really sad that this once enjoyable show has gone so far off the rails. but anyway, now that i know i was right --and don't click on the links if you don't like spoilers--i find myself much more willing to go along for the ride. it's funny how that works. i'm the kind of girl that looks at the end of the books she is still in the middle of reading. why do i do it? i often have guesses as to where the story is going and i like to check to see that i'm right. and i have to say i usually am. and i so still enjoy reading the book through to the end. of course, when i'm wrong, sometimes i feel like my enjoyment of the book is lessened, because what is happening isn't what i want to happen, and somehow it feels wrong to me. (for example, i worry about...

so the wednesday before thanksgiving, there was a "special" episode of gh that focused entirely on robin & patrick and how they were destined to be together. the episode's framing device was this weird dream sequence of robin's that paralleled their relationship, but paired characters and actors who never interact on the standard day-to-day storylines--like robin & matt hunter, patrick & carly, and so on. and honestly, though interesting, it was one of the more unsettling viewing experiences i've had recently. i mean the end message was okay, showing us that robin & patrick are meant to be . but it was still weird. gh has many bad storylines, it's a soap opera, so of course there is a lot of bad with a few shining moments--at least that's how i would describe it lately--and sonny & claudia engaging in a redux of sonny & carly version 1 is pretty bad, as is the "russians have jake" shenanigans that seem to be the end of l...

i am inordinately fond of young adult fiction. some of it is terrible and trashy, but there are some real, serious, literary novels, such as laurie halse andersen's speak . but the book/movie pairing i'm going to cover is a little more frivolous and fun, but is also a really good, fun read and an enjoyable (for the most part) movie-viewing experience. nick and norah's infinite playlist [the book] and nick and norah's infinite playlist [the movie] are simply good fun. the book is composed of alternating chapters told from either nick or norah's point of view and cover the events of one (special and amazing) night. The book leaves you feeling good, as if anything were possible--it captures the possiblities of adolescence perfectly. The book is inherently sweet, though not saccharine, touching on homosexuality and promiscuity as a matter of course. nick and norah find themselves thrown together and then in pursuit of each other and the novel's conceit of alternat...

today we give thanks. and there are many things to be thankful for. but i won't bore people by listing all those things. i'm sure i could go on and on. i love many things about thanksgiving, surprisingly not so much the turkey which is fine, but the pumpkin pie, the sweet potatoes, the warmth from the oven, the football games (even though they're terrible this year), the fact that this kicks off the christmas season. anyway, i just thought these things were worth mentioning.

when i was little i always wanted to be a spy when i grew up. i specifically wanted to be a russian spy--which does seem rather unpatriotic--but in my defense they seemed more glamorous and sexy and more likely to be female during the cold war. and while i do enjoy spy movies (see simply bond ), i really love spy shows. "alias" is one of my all time favorite shows. the first two seasons are masterpieces, and though seasons three to five are roller coaster rides in terms of quality and even enjoyment, it still remains at the top of the list. what worked for the show in its first season was the balancing of life, friends and family, who lived outside the business of spying, the double agent suspense and danger, and the sexy spy handler. the latter being my favorite aspect of the show. sydney bristow was the embodiment of who i wanted to be when i grew up. except that she wasn't a russian spy. sydney kicked some serious ass, rocked some awesome and ridiculous costumes, and ...

in honor of today's finale of "true blood" i thought comparing the show to the original charlaine harris novels would make an excellent topic for my print versus screen feature. the sookie stackhouse/southern vampire series currently spans a total of eight full length novels and a handful of related novellas/short stories. i've read all the full length novels, and plan to catch up with the short stories at some point. a ninth book in the series is scheduled to be published in may 2009, which i personally cannot wait to read. because the events in the first season of "true blood" correspond to the events that take place in the first sookie stackhouse novel, dead until dark , i've decided to limit my comparison to only that novel and to speak in generalities. i particularly don't want to spoil things for people who haven't read the novels, but are enjoying the show. there are a couple of major differences between the books and the television seri...