"Let me know where my loved ones go, it's not fair to keep 'em hid. Tell me what I did, take me back to when the world was black before the sun was made, a picnic in the shade." ~the felice brothers

I'm seeing The Felice Brothers tonight! I'm really excited. I'll report back. I probably won't record video, but I might do audio. Oh, and I wanted to write about Ray LaMontagne. Maybe that'll go in my Felice Bros. post.

It's time for a new season of TV! I love the fall because I get to see my favorite shows return and have the chance to fall in love with a whole new crop of shows. I spent the summer looking forward to seeing where Chuck, Parks and Recreation, Parenthood, Grey's Anatomy, and Desperate Housewives would pick up, and now I'm deciding what new shows will be added to my regular viewing list. Here are some of my thoughts regarding the new shows I've seen so far. They're kind of listed in preference order, starting with my favorite (Revenge).

Revenge
I love Emily VanCamp. I was disappointed when she left Brothers & Sisters, and having her back on my TV makes me so happy. Seeing her as the star of a show makes me even happier, because on B&S obviously it was easy for her to get lost in such a large ensemble cast. In Revenge, the story centers around her. The pilot grabbed me right away; I immediately knew this would be one of my favorite shows of the season. It's deliciously and unapologetically soapy. It's intriguing and mysterious and I love how the story is unfolding. Emily VanCamp really carries the show wonderfully; she makes Emily (yes, her character is named Emily as well, at least in the present time period) sympathetic, which isn't necessarily an easy task considering some of her actions. The show keeps getting better after the pilot, too; the second episode is fabulous. Trust me, go watch this show.

Pan Am
Of course this show is drawing the inevitable comparisons to Mad Men, but I don't watch Mad Men, so I can't comment on those comparisons. I can cautiously say that I like Pan Am. It definitely presents a romanticized view of the 1960's, which isn't necessarily a problem. It's visually beautiful; in fact, it seems to favor style over substance, at least based on the pilot. But I want more character development! I want to know more about Maggie; when you have a talented actress like Christina Ricci in your cast, you need to give her some meaty material to work with. They're bringing the Cold War and espionage into the story, which could be interesting depending on where they go with it. So basically I think this show has potential, and I'm going to keep watching it.

Two Broke Girls
Kat Dennings is awesomely sarcastic, and she and Beth Behrs have good chemistry. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it's a funny sitcom that makes me laugh and that's definitely not a bad thing. So it's on my watching list!

Suburgatory

Jeremy Sisto is another actor I'm thrilled to have back on my TV (but his character is nothing like Billy, his Six Feet Under character). I like Jane Levy (who cannot escape the Emma Stone comparisons) as Tessa, and the show has a great supporting cast (including Alan Tudyk and Cheryl Hines). The show is edgy and funny, and I'm excited to see more.






Terra Nova
I saw the pilot at Comic-Con, so it's been awhile, but I'll try to remember my thoughts and post them here. I think this is a really interesting concept, but I'm a bit disappointed with the execution. The dialogue doesn't work; it's way too cliche. The characters aren't developed enough. Stephen Lang is awesome, Jason Mara is awesome...please let their awesomeness shine. The CGI dinosaur stuff is cool (with Spielberg attached, that's not a surprise). I don't think I'll be watching this show unless the writers get their act together and I hear it's gotten fabulous.


The New Girl
I know people are falling in love with this show, and I love Zooey Deschanel so I thought I'd be a huge fan, but I'm just not feeling it right now. Jess (Zooey's character) is just too quirky for comfort. I just don't think she's likeable. And her male roommates aren't fleshed out enough; right now they just seem like cookie cutter characters. So I'm not watching The New Girl anymore. I don't feel like I'm missing anything. Sorry, Zooey. I'd rather watch my Almost Famous DVD to see you in action.



I'm excited for some other new shows to start, like Homeland (Claire Danes!), and I'll keep you updated on what I'm watching. If I'm missing something fabulous, let me know!

Oh, by the way, in my last post I wrote about going to an advance screening of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. They finally released a trailer (I can't believe I saw the film before a trailer was even out), so here it is (it's a good trailer; bonus points for the use of U2):


I'm in a surprisingly good mood today considering how frustrated I am that my baseball team suffered the largest collapse in NL Wild Card race history last night. I think it's the prospect of seeing the Felice Brothers tonight that's holding me together.

"I am the one who knows you, I am the one who cares, I am the one who's always been there. I am the one who's helped you, and if you think that I just don't give a damn, then you just don't know who I am." ~brian kitt & tom yorkey (next to normal)

The reprise of "I Am the One" is my favorite song from my favorite musical, Next to Normal. I didn't post the reprise of the song because it would spoil things if you still haven't seen the show, so the regular song will have to do. Aaron Tveit and Bobby Spencer make me cry every time I hear the reprise. They were the original Gabe and Dan on Broadway, and for me, no one else could fill their shoes.
Brian Kitt and Tom Yorkey are workshopping a new musical right now called If with Idina Menzel. Can you imagine how excited I am?

Today was one of my favorite days of the year! The annual BC/EFA Broadway Flea Market is a theatre lover's Christmas. Here's my post from last year (which displays the swag I picked up). This year I was worried because the weather forecast in the days preceding the event predicted rain, but luckily the weather held out. Here's what I got this year:
And then I went back later (in the afternoon prices tend to drop) to pick up even more stuff:
I tried to restrain myself. I don't have more room in my apartment for window cards (see last year's post for evidence), but I just had to buy the large Motherf**ker with the Hat poster (it's hard to tell, but it's not a windowcard, it's a giant foamboard poster) for $5. I love that show. And I did find space for it. I'm really excited about Berger's name plate from Hair; I snapped that up the second they opened their table (I was waiting and knew exactly what I was going for). The Spider-Man bracelet is really cool.

The craziest thing I found is the Chuck season 4 DVD, which isn't released until October 11th. I have NO idea how someone got it already and was selling at the flea market (completely sealed and legit), and I didn't ask; I just snapped it up (and for $20, which is a steal!).

I'm pleased with everything I got. I did have to restrain myself; I wanted to buy a couple of these, but my sanity won out:
They're from the doors outside the theater (Next to Normal), and they're HUGE. I wanted to get half of Jennifer Damiano's face and half of Aaron Tveit's face; how cool would that be? Unfortunately I had no clue how I would even get them home, let alone what I would do with them once I managed to get them here. People did buy them, though. Probably people with cars and houses? I seriously wanted them.

I went to a movie screening today of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I had to sign confidentiality forms so I can't talk about it, but I was very glad for the opportunity to see the film. It doesn't come out until January, which is a very long time from now. I read the book (written by the incredibly talented Jonathan Safran Foer) a long time ago, but I remember it surprisingly well so I was able to compare the film with the book. All I'll say is that you should read the book NOW if you haven't already and then go see the movie when it comes out next year. I wish I could talk more about it because I have a lot to say, but I'm afraid they'll hunt me down. :D The movie stars Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Viola Davis, Max von Sydow, Jeffrey Wright, John Goodman, and most importantly, a very talented young newcomer (this is his first movie) named Thomas Horn.

"So where'd those planes come from, that burned my city up? All that smoke and ash, teaching us how to crash." ~the felice brothers

I love my city.

Image credit: ECP

"I'm gonna stay eighteen forever, so we can stay like this forever. And we'll never miss a party, 'cause we keep them going constantly. And we'll never have to listen to anyone about anything. 'Cause it's all been done and it's all been said, we're the coolest kids and we take what we can get." ~brand new

For some reason I seem to post less often when I have more "free time." It's a weird mental state I've been in, trying to savor the lack of obligations I have at the moment. I'm sure I'll start posting a lot more once school starts.

Today is my birthday. After you get to a certain age (and I think I've gotten to that point), birthdays can be a bit depressing. They just make you think of where you "should" be by then. Luckily I have some pretty great friends who are working to make sure I feel special. Roseann and I went out for dinner, fro-yo, and a movie (Our Idiot Brother) last night. Pretty soon I'm meeting Lauren for brunch. Tonight I'm going over to Nic's; we'll watch True Blood and she's cooking and baking. I've gotten some lovely birthday messages, and I bought myself some birthday presents (a new American Apparel hoodie, a sweater, nail polish) because I got money for my birthday. Nic got me tickets to see Other Desert Cities in October, which I'm really excited about (as a huge Six Feet Under and Brothers & Sisters fan, seeing Rachel Griffiths onstage will be awesome). So yeah, I'm lucky. I'm not ready to go back to work this week, though.