Think the Amazing Race gone physical.  And I mean way more physical.  Expedition Impossible actually expects it’s contestants to do real hiking and repelling.  The Amazing Race is my second favorite reality television show (Survivor my first.).  I LOVE it.  I love it because I think I can actually do all of the challenges they ask the contestants to do.  Not so much n EI.  This is for real, hard to do in the 105 degree Moroccan heat, kick your trash challenges.

I just watched this exact same show called City Chase on BYU TV.  The difference is that was a much smaller scale and had contestants from around the world.  EI is a reality tv show with ridiculous city folk, Americans.  Ok, they do have some fishermen and country folk but none of them were prepared for the first day of challenges.  In City Chase they are all extreme marathoners and cyclists and outdoorsy types.  Not your run of the mill, watch tv all day American.

So I saw a guy in the opening sequence with a mustache, and honest to goodness I said to my husband, “Wouldn’t it be awesome if there was a mustache team.  If that was their deciding factor that they all had mustaches?”  And no less than two seconds later they showed the mustache team!!!!  And they are one of the front runners so there is no question in my mind who I am rooting for.

Then there was the Latina team from New York.  They came in super nice outfits.  All black.  Did I mention it was 105 degrees in Morocco?  They were hilarious.  They fought the whole time and then threw up in the rocks and then came in last place and were the first to go home.  It was awesome.  I just wish one of the more boring teams had gone home.  The Latinas were super fun to watch struggle with the course and with each other.

I also really like Fab 3.  So Mustache Team (Which I’m sure has a real team name.) and Fab 3.  There’s also No Limits which has a blind team member, who is also worth looking into.  The California Girls are not looking so good so far.  Though they’re from Cali so I want really badly to root for them.  I’m just not there yet.

I was lucky to catch a reairing of the first episode.  Anyone else catch this?

Expedition Impossible is on Thursday at 8pm MT on ABC.

This is a show on the History Channel that I am just getting into and I am loving it.  It’s like a fun history lesson about the founding of our country and it’s states.  I will admit that I do not remember anything I learned in Junior College or before about the history of our country.  And when I say I don’t remember anything I mean literally nothing.  This show is like being in school only you get to watch TV the whole time.  That’s my kind of school.

I just watched one last week about Utah, the state I am currently living in and thought it was fascinating.  I loved hearing about the Mormon settlers and what they did to scare the Federal Government.  I also loved seeing how big the Utah Territory was before it got shrunk and finally made into a state.  I felt the information on the Mormons was fair and accurate.  Very well done.

Just now I watched one that dealt a lot with California, the state that will forever be my home and how I visualize myself.  You can take the girl out of California, but you can’t take the California out of the girl.  Cheesy I know but now I know how true it is.

California was also a lot bigger territory than it is now and we were so powerful at the time (and still are for that matter) that when we wanted to become a state we drew our own lines and Congress pretty much had to accept it.  Man, I love California.

It’s not just my two favorite states that I’m learning a lot about.  I also learned that Ohio didn’t have proper paperwork proving it was a state until the 50s.  Of course, it was always a state but Eisenhower signed the official papers for them when they celebrated 150 years and realized the paperwork was missing.

This show is super fun and very educational.  I don’t like Brian’s (the host) haircut.  Too short on the sides!!  But so far that is my only complaint about the show.  I have thoroughly enjoyed watching it.  This is not a stuffy, boring history show.  This has bangs and whistles which I apparently need to learn.  Love it.

How the States is on Tuesday at 11pm MT (Thank you Tivo.  There’s no way I could stay up that late.)  on The History Channel.  Also check listings for reruns, they run throughout the week.

Our whole family loved this movie.  I think knowing a little bit about it before seeing it helped.  It’s not your typical Pixar movie.  You’re not going to cry.  Your life is not going to change.  You’re not going to see the world differently (well, maybe alternative fuel you’ll see differently.)  This movie is pure fun.  And oh boy was it fun.  It’s like an action movie for kids.

Mater is the main character in this film which is of course way different than the first Cars.  McQueen takes Mater to Japan to be a part of his crew and Mater is mistaken for a secret agent.  Which means he is then involved in all sorts of under cover secret agent spy stuff.  Cool gadgets.  Disguises.  Karate.  High speed chases.  Explosions.  It’s seriously awesome.

So go into this with a really open mind that this will be spectacular fun.  My friend described it as eye candy and it really is.  I think this is just as good as any of the other Pixar films, just in a different category.  I can’t wait to watch this again.

I know Cars 2 has gotten mixed reviews so I’m wondering what you thought about it.  Did your kids love it?

I’m such a geek wannabe.  I mean really bad.  I want to have read all of these comic books.  I want to know the origins of each character and which ones they’ve reinvented and which ones have stayed the same.  I want to be so familiar with these characters that I’m on a first name basis with them.  But I am not.  I’m just a geek in training.  I go see all these comic book movies with my husband and listen to him tell me all the back story and details and wonder if I had read the comic books would I even remember half the magical stuff he remembers?

I really liked X-Men First Class.  I thought the casting was pretty awesome.  James McAvoy as Charles Xavier was great.  I loved that we get to see him before he’s old and super rigid.  We get to see Charles as a college student doing crap that college students do.  Then we see his relationship with Magneto and Mystique strengthen and then fall apart.  (I’m not spoiling anything if you’ve seen any of the other X-Men movies.  If you haven’t, so sorry.)

And let’s talk for a second about Michael Fassbender who plays Eric/Magneto.  That guy is freaking hot.  He looks like he could be Ewan McGregors  younger brother.  I hate his story.  But of course I love the character.  But seriously, you will see how Eric could turn out as Magneto.  Stupid Nazi’s.

It is kind of silly that the mutants are involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis and that President Kennedy clips are shown in this movie but I’m willing to buy it.  I really had fun going to see this movie.  I love that my husband lets me tag along with him to all of these great (and some not so great) comic book movies.

I will tell you that I did not enjoy the character Emma Frost.  I think she was perfect for the time period of the movie but I don’t like that Texas beauty pageant look.  Never have, probably never will.  It’s such a small complaint but her appearance drove me nuts.  And she had the audacity to wear tight leather pants when she has NO butt.  No butt.  Just flat back there.  Don’t they have fake butts they can attach to you?  In that outfit she should have looked into that.  Such a small thing but it drove me nuts.  (No pun intended.)

Oh, I almost forgot.  Kevin Bacon is the bad guy!!!!  What the what?!  And he’s a great as the bad guy.  I loved how his character evolved.  How he was like  a super villain.  Awesome.

I say, grab your best boy friend, or even better, geek girl friend, and go see this movie.

So first off, I’ll just say I watch about 20 seconds of their musical and dancing guests and then ff the show.  I don’t know why I just don’t care about them.  It’s probably because I’m just so concerned about who’s going home that I don’t want any distractions.

I did not like ANYBODY’S dance for their life tonight.  I felt like Wadi was throwing it together as he went and I don’t know how I’ve gone this long without saying it but I don’t like tap dancers.  Ballroom and tap.  I could totally live without.  So it goes to say I did not like either of their performances.  The two contemporary girls were frantic.  Like they could barely keep up with themselves.  And Ricky?  I know the judges thought that was his best dance so far but I absolutely hated it and I thought that that dance was going to send him home.  I honestly did.  Shows how much I know!

So Ryan and Ricky stay.  I think I’m OK with that.  Nobody that I am totally in love with got cut so all in all I’m a happy girl.

I didn’t like the format of sending four home.  I mean I loved it last week when no one went home but this was too much for me.  How about you?

SYTYCD is on Wednesday at 7pm MT on FOX.

I got the chills twice during this episode.  The first was Caitlyn and Mitchell.  Their routine was about a girl trying to get out of a relationship but she just couldn’t get herself out.  Beautiful.  And I agree with Nigel that we are really lucky Mitchell got the chance to dance again.  Truly spectacular.

The next was Nappy Tabs soldier routine.  Oh man.  I’ve never had to deal with the pain of having a loved one in the military but I think about that a lot.  What would I do?  How would I survive not knowing from minute to minute if my husband was alive or injured or anything.  Just not knowing and I think Nappy Tab just showed us beautifully what a homecoming would feel like.  And Sasha and Alexander.  Wow.  What a great team.  They nailed it.

And speaking of Nappy Tab, I love, love, loved their woodpecker routine with Miranda and Robert.  I really just love Napoleon and Tabitha.  I just really love everything that they choreograph.

I’ve said many, many times that I do not like ballroom but I didn’t mind Jordan and Tadd’s.  But I think that’s just because it was Jordan and Tadd.  I like them both and think they’re both amazing.

Speaking of ballroom… Where’s Jean Marc’s wife?  She’s the redhead that’s always with him.  What happened to her?  I looked online but couldn’t find any gossip.

Since we didn’t see Mia Michaels again this week a did some more digging and found some horrifying news.  She’s left the show.  She wants to focus on her “artwork” which I seriously get but why can’t she at least do a little on the show?  I’m really bummed right now.  I thought she just gave up the judges seat and went back to choreography.  So very sad.  She was my absolute most definite favorite choreographer.  I still love some of the others but she was IT for me.  I will seriously miss her.

Oh yeah, and how cute was Debbie Reynolds.  Super adorable.

SYTYCD is on Thursday at 7pm MT on FOX.

I am really enjoying this show.  It’s got so much behind the scenes drama it’s almost like Survivor.  The rivalry between Tony and Max is palpable.  I honestly feel like I can feel the tension here at home.  Tony is so old school, I’m older and wiser and you’re just a young punk.  And Max is so new and flying by the seat of his pants and thinks anything old school is outdated and worthless.  I’m just really sad that Tony went home so I can’t see them butt heads more.

Suzy.  Suzy.  Suzy.  Where to even begin.  She’s got a rivalry with everybody it seems.  That girl could not think more highly of herself.  But then when she thought she failed it was the end of the world.  Her whole world came crashing down around her.  I’m so glad her lasagna lost.  She needs a dose of reality.

And then there’s Ben.  That guys is so kooky and seems to cry over everything so of course I love him.  I do not love his hats but they make me pay attention to him so they are doing their job wonderfully.

Oh, and Esther.  I love watching her because she is ALWAYS freaked out and it shows all over her face.  I love it.  Her face just cracks under pressure.  And sorry Chef but I don’t remember what I put in my ravioli?  Priceless.  I hope she sticks around for a while.  She’s very amusing.

MasterChef is on Monday at 8pm on FOX.

p.s.  I might have a little crush on Christian.  Just a little one.

p.p.s.  I’ve never made homemade pasta.  So two shows down and I would never have made it.

Suddenly this kneeling, filthy man caused all of my attention to pivot upon him when he grabbed my hand. I was just opening my mouth to warn him that he would surely be killed…no one was allowed to touch me, Princess Nia, without permission. My protesting words were replaced with a swift intake of breath as the soldier produced a strange-looking dagger and drug it lightly over my finger. I stared in wonderment as he gently squeezed my fingertip to produce just one red ball of blood, my blood. Then the man kneeling before me swiped the blood from my finger with his own and plunged it into his mouth. “Your blood is now my blood. Your world is now my world. Your life is now my life,” were the words he chanted…I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  I love the idea of the heir to the throne not wanting anything to do with it.  Not wanting the power or the fame or the glory.  Just wanting to be Nia.  I felt Nia was totally relatable.  I wanted to read more about her decisions and I wanted to know what life had in store for her.

Purchase on Amazon

Mella’s Site

Mella’s Blog

I was captured by Nia’s love for her betrothed Andras.  There was something so sweet and so innocent about their love.  It was pure and untainted and refreshing as I read so many novels that are mostly lust driven with love as an afterthought.

And I will never understand the way Garreth is treated in his home country.  Stupid superstitions.  But I love this idea of gaining honor by giving his life to another.

I’m assuming there will be a sequel and I am really looking forward to reading it.  I can’t wait to see where the journey continues.

Alisa

*********

Can I tell you I was slightly afraid to read this one?  Our ARC’s lately have not been so fabulous.  I need not have worried.  Nia was a great read.  Reminded me a lot of Kristen Cashore’s “Graceling” series, without the magical elements, so if you’re a fan of her’s you’ll love Nia.  I’m going to tell you I almost (cringe) liked this better than the Graceling series- simply because Nia is a better heroine to me.  The perfect heroine- someone who makes mistakes, and sort of trips her way through life- but doesn’t forget who she is or what she wants. I just loved that about her.  Well done.  Like Alisa- I’ll be waiting for the next installment.

Laura

***********

I thought this was a fun, easy, nothing-spectacular, but enjoyable read. I loved Nia as a character; strong, real, imperfect, but understated. I also felt like the plot gave you the feeling that more was about to happen, so that kept me reading. Without giving too much away, I was a little disappointed with the ending, and the resulting relationship between Nia and Garreth. It left me hoping and expecting more. With that said, I do love when a book surprises me, which this one did. If there is a second one to come, I would gladly read it. I look forward to Mella Reese’s growth as a writer.

Elaine

***********

We’re five episodes into Season 2 and I’m this show has just caught my radar.  I love cooking shows.  In California our basic cable came with the Food Network and I would spend so much time watching almost every show on there.  This is different though.  No teaching.  No learning new techniques.  They show a lot of food prepared in a lot of different ways but unless you already know what’s going on it’s easy to get lost.  And for the most part I don’t know what’s going on.

For instance.  Last night the contestants had to make French cuisine.  They had a huge, beautiful pantry at their disposal but the dish had to be French.  I couldn’t make a French dish if you put a gun to my head.  I’m not sure I’ve ever even eaten French food.  I totally cracked up when one contestant made a Spanish dish but thought it was French because he learned the dish from Julia Childs.  So funny.

I’m bummed that we don’t get to see more of the explanations and step by step of the preparation of the dishes but boy oh boy do I love when the judges taste and critique the dishes.  So totally uncomfortable.  I love when it’s so bad that even the other contestants standing behind the one being critiqued are squirming.  Probably just good editing but I think it’s hilarious.

So the judges are Gordon Ramsay, Graham Elliot and Joe Bastianich.  I’m sorry to say I’ve only heard of Ramsay but I do enjoy the other judges’ points of view.  I especially like Bastianich because he’s a fatalist.  Everything is horrible and tastes disgusting and is the “consistency of baby food.”

I really enjoy this show.  The two villains are Max and Suzy.  They rival each other for who’s got the biggest ego.  Super food snobs and they think they are obviously the best of the best.  Their dishes are restaurant quality every time (in their minds).

I can’t wait until we whittle down the competition because we’re not seeing everyones dishes.  Great Summer show!

MasterChef is on Tuesday at 7pm MT on FOX.

I stumbled across a Hot in Cleveland marathon the other day and got hooked.  I’m not sure I’ve seen every episode ever aired but I think at this point after last weekend I’ve seen most of them.  The show is pretty much an 80s sitcom with a live audience and everything.

So the idea is 3 best friends are living in Los Angeles.  They’re late forties and really past their prime as far as the culture of LA goes so they decide to take a trip to Paris.  On their way they get stuck in Cleveland.  They walk into a bar and the guys are totally ogling them.  These three ladies are so vain that they decide to move to Cleveland where they are no longer past their prime.

They move into a house with a caretaker (Betty White) and that’s where the adventures begin.  To catch you up to speed, Elka (Betty White) got caught with her deceased husbands stolen mafia loot and barely got out of going to prison.

Joy (Jane Leeves) gave up a son for adoption when she was 15 and is now looking for him.  Looks like from the previews from next week we’re going to meet him.  She laments that she’s never been married, only had dead pets to count the time by.

Victoria (Wendie Malick), is a Soap Opera star who is a rival of Susan Lucci.  She is so self centered you wonder how she even survives in the real world.

Melanie (Valerie Bertanelli) is the “stable” one.  Super nice and super cute.  It’s hard to imagine her living in LA.  She seems like she would be raised int he Mid West.

So the actresses are all old sitcom stars and they have tons of other old sitcom stars as guest appearances.  This is such a different sitcom than what I’m used to.  It is genuinely funny.

This is a Summer sitcom so new episodes of Hot in Cleveland are airing weekly on Wednesdays at 11pm MT on TVLand.  If you are familiar with TVLand you will know that if you miss one episode it will air again so you can always catch up another time.

From Amazon:

Chip Heath and Dan Heath on Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

 

“Change is hard.” “People hate change.” Those were two of the most common quotes we heard when we began to study change.

But it occurred to us that if people hate change, they have a funny way of showing it. Every iPhone sold serves as counter-evidence. So does every text message sent, every corporate merger finalized, every aluminum can recycled. And we haven’t even mentioned the biggest changes: Getting married. Having kids. (If people hate change, then having a kid is an awfully dumb decision.)

It puzzled us–why do some huge changes, like marriage, come joyously, while some trivial changes, like submitting an expense report on time, meet fierce resistance?

We found the answer in the research of some brilliant psychologists who’d discovered that people have two separate “systems” in their brains—a rational system and an emotional system. The rational system is a thoughtful, logical planner. The emotional system is, well, emotional—and impulsive and instinctual.

When these two systems are in alignment, change can come quickly and easily (as when a dreamy-eyed couple gets married). When they’re not, change can be grueling (as anyone who has struggled with a diet can attest).

In those situations where change is hard, is it possible to align the two systems? Is it possible to overcome our internal “schizophrenia” about change? We believe it is.

In our research, we studied people trying to make difficult changes: People fighting to lose weight and keep it off. Managers trying to overhaul an entrenched bureaucracy. Activists combatting seemingly intractable problems such as child malnutrition. They succeeded–and, to our surprise, we found striking similarities in the strategies they used. They seemed to share a similar game plan. We wanted, in Switch, to make that game plan available to everyone, in hopes that we could show people how to make the hard changes in life a little bit easier. –Chip and Dan Heath

Now I don’t normally read books that make me think.  Seriously, why would you anyways, but my husband read this book and was so moved by it he pretty much made me start reading it.  He did not however have to make me finish it, I did that willingly all on my own.

The book goes in depth into these two areas of the brain.  The thinking brain (The Rider) and the emotional brain (The Elephant).  Picture a man (The Rider) sitting on top of a massive elephant.  That’s how a lot of people function.  A small rider trying to boss around a huge elephant to make decisions.  I decided that I am more of a tiny fairy riding a wooly mammoth.  Very emotionally driven.  Whereas my husband is like a giant riding an ant.  Very logical.

The idea is to get the rider and the elephant working together and the book has some great ideas for facilitating this change.

Not only is this book educational but it is very entertaining.  They did a great job writing for both the rider and the elephant.  The information resonates on both levels.

Well, my goodness.  What a spectacular week!!  I said before, besides being bored with Ballroom and Broadway I was blown away by all the other dancers.  I still don’t have a favorite picked but I definitely like the b-boys.  They’re at the top of my list for sure.  But I’ve always liked the b-boys.

The twist this week is nobody went home.  The bad news is 2 male dancers and 2 female dancers will go home next week.  I have no problem with this.  It just means more dancing and getting to know the dancers better.

She wasn’t on the chopping block this week but I would really like to see Iveta go.  I’m not a fan of ballroom dancers and she just weirds me out.  That simple.

I’m always amazed at the special numbers they have on the show that are clearly trying to get teenage boys to watch.  Sex, sex, sex.  That’s what they’re selling.  It just drives me nuts because the crowd is filled with young girls.  And we are selling said young girls sex.  Every week.

Sonya Tayeh.  Oh, she’s on my short list of people I would like to be.  I pretty much love her.  And Travis Wall, I’m not sure but I think I love him too.  I can’t wait to see what else they pull out of their beautiful minds this season.

Which four do you think will be leaving next week?

SYTYCD is on Wednesdays at 7pm on FOX.

Our very own Laura has written a book and it’s a GOOD one.  Here’s the synopsis from Smashword:

Ebook Short Description

Their original goal was to reignite a movement. A back up plan for when World War ll failed. A colony called Founder. It never occurred to them that two girls might unravel it all.

Extended Description

My great aunt was a racist.
How’s that for family history?
Then a day before she was going to die, we discovered she was still alive.
I was thrilled. There’s nothing like a living dead person to bring a family together.
Especially when she’s a hoarder with no air conditioning, and decides to die in the middle of a Southern California summer.
Really and truly thrilled.
I was the one to discover the first letter, “Aryan Princess to Cannibals.”
The photograph of my half-starved relatives smiling proudly into the camera, building a colony in the Amazon. It would have been quite the sensation in the 1940’s.
The idea that it could have survived, even more sensational.
Founder is loosely based on a true story and contains mature content, but no crude language or gratuitous sex. Recommended for ages 14 and up.

Great premise, right?  And I’ll tell you what.  If you like strong heroines you’ve got one here.  Not only does Lara face emotional hardships but she struggles physically as well and still manages to come out on top.  And her mom’s pretty bad A too.

The story actually has two lead females and the journey that Marta goes through as the truths of the Founder colony come to light is fascinating.  There were times when I was angry with her for the choices she was making but the woman she turns into in the end is someone truly worth fighting for.

I love the way the book is laid out switching from Marta and Lara’s perspectives.  It’s so important in a story like this to have both points of view.  I mean you’d miss half of what’s going on if we didn’t hear Marta’s point of view and only saw things from the American perspective of Lara that we are all used to seeing.

This is one of those books that once you get into it you will not want to put down.  Awesome job Laura!!

Founder is available for download from Amazon for just $2.99.  Well worth the money.  Actually, I think it’s a steal! Seriously, you should check it out.

p.s.  I’ll let you know when it’s available for Nook, etc.  This is really worth looking into.

I know we’re probably the last family on earth to see this movie but I have three boys ranging in age from 9-6.  I tried to take them to the movie theater and they refused.  I thought of going by myself but the time never presented itself so here I am watching Tangled on a borrowed DVD from a neighbor.  We leant them Kung Fu Panda (love this movie) and they lent us Tangled.

Pixar I love.  Disney I half love so I didn’t have very high hopes for this movie.  I should have know though with John Lasseter at the wheel it would be amazing.  I didn’t feel like it was quite Pixar quality but man did I love this movie.

I love the idea of Rapunzel being a princess and being imbued with magic powers from the flower the mother drank in pregnancy.  Because you know what, I love magic.  I love that the witch grew young from the magic in Rapunzel’s hair.  So creative.

I may have cried when all the lanterns were released towards the end of the movie.  Maybe, just maybe.

One thing that bothered me a little was the music.  I didn’t feel like it was magical and moving.  In fact, I didn’t feel like it really moved the story along.   It was OK, but not fantastic.  Not Beauty and the Beast or the Lion King.

So I loved the movie but you know what’s an even better recommendation?  All three of my boys liked the movie.  And my husband did too.  Our entire non-girly family liked the movie.  I say if you haven’t seen it yet, go out and get it.  It’s super fun.

Oh, and using a frying pan as a weapon.  Genius.

I really don’t like Tom Cruise (I know, what a shocker) so I’ve been putting off watching this movie for a while now.  The poor Netflix DVD has been sitting on my dresser just waiting and waiting to fulfill it’s destiny and be played.  Finally this weekend my husband talked me into watching it categorizing it as a “popcorn” movie.  Now I don’t know about you but I think Clueless is a popcorn movie. Sleepless in Seattle is a popcorn movie.  Let me tell you right now, Valkyrie is NOT a popcorn movie.

I pretty much knew the story and what was going to happen but because of my husbands description I had myself thinking it was going to be some lighthearted parody.  Oh boy, it was not.  It’s a true to the times, gritty, no holds barred telling of a time when some German soldiers tried to take over the government from Hitler with a botched assassination attempt and everything.

Now, before you get the feeling that I didn’t like this movie, let me make it clear that it was beautiful and telling and spectacular.  The casting was amazing.  I couldn’t believe how many big names I saw.  The sets were spectacular.  The FÜhrer himself was spot on.  It was a very moving, and incredibly unbelievable story.  If you don’t know the story from history this is a spoiler alert.  I sat there watching this movie unfold and this spectacular plot to take back Germany and every time something unravelled in our heroes plot I just died a little inside.  Just seeing how close they were to victory and taking back their country and having it just slip through their fingers.  It was heart breaking.

I wholeheartedly recommend this movie, but please go into it knowing it is a tragedy.  It is not a “popcorn” movie.  This is a serious drama and well worth your time.

We’ve had a movie filled weekend catching up on some movies we have wanted to see for a while.  If you know me you know I like action and adventure.  I like stuff blowing up and high speed chases.  So even though The A-Team has gotten the worst reviews I wanted to watch it anyways.  For goodness sake it’s got Liam Neeson in it.  How bad could it be?

Bad.  Very bad.  And I just don’t get why.  The premise is a good one.  The actors are all well  cast.  How did they screw this one up?  I’ll tell you one thing.  It was totally cheesy.  And not in a funny or endearing way, in a what the crap was that all about kind of way.  My husband said it was too comic booky and not enough Jason Bourney.  And I whole heartedly agree.  Give me some grit.  Something to sink my teeth into.  Instead it was just a lame Summer blockbuster.

And let me tell you what drove me nuts more than anything.  The storyline with BA Baracus.  He’s the bad A with the mohawk and the van.  He goes to prison, finds God, decides not to kill anymore and then spoiler alert, Liam Neeson’s character talks him into being a bad A again and killing.  What kind of a plot line is that?  A messed up one that’s what.  You don’t turn someone good and then turn them into a killing machine again!  Leave him bad A the whole time but don’t give him a life changing spiritual experience and then have him back out of it.  That drove me nuts.

I wish I had some kind of rating system to give movies.  Two thumbs down or one star.  I guess I’ll just have to say, even if you love yourself some action and adventure.  Even if you were a big fan of The A-Team back in the day.  Even if you think Liam Neeson can’t go wrong.  Skip this movie this Summer.  It’s not worth the time.

Wow.  That pretty much sums it up.  Wow.

First of all, I was obviously wrong about the sisters.  I just went on the SYTYCD site to find the sisters name that made it but there are no pictures with the names.  How am I supposed to know who anybody is?  I hope they add pictures soon.  That’s my reference for blogging.

Anyway, this is going to be extremely rude but I feel like they should get a birth certificate for Iveta.  She looks high 30s maybe 40 to me.  She looked terrifying in the Tonya Tayeh routine.

So I was terrified that Mia Michaels was gone this season because she’s not a judge but I guess she just swapped places with Mary Murphy and will still be part of the show.  Phew.

I have no favorites yet but I’m keeping my eye on Jordan.  And I sure hope Ryan does well.

I’m just happy to see Sonya and Mia back.  And truth be told I can’t wait for the hip hop couple, Napolean and Tabitha.  Love them.

Truth be told, I love hip hop, jazz, and contemporary.  I hate ball room.  I usually fast forward through it.  I don’t really enjoy broadway either but I’ll watch it.

I am just so excited that the season is finally started.

Do you have a favorite picked out yet?

SYTYCD is on Wednesday at 7pm MT on FOX.

This will be a short one.  I don’t really like blogging until they get to the top 20 but I’m just so excited this is on again I couldn’t wait.

This year is looking so very good.  I can’t wait to see full dance routines next week (or does it start tomorrow?  I’m not sure).

I did love that I got to see contemporary and hip hop tonight.  Those are by far my favs.

So the only ones that really stood out to me were the sisters.  I think they’re awesome but I really don’t think either of them will make tomorrow’s cut.  What do you think?

Anyone you’ve got your eye on yet?

SYTYCD is on Thursday at 7pm MT on FOX.

I didn’t know very much about Valerie Wilson going into this movie, but I did remember the general headlines about a female CIA agent’s identity being leaked to the press by some high ups in the White House.  That’s what caught my interest about this movie, I suppose, a desire to know what happened to this woman’s career as a spy, and why it ended at the hands of other government officials.  It didn’t make sense that she would be made by the very people whom she works for.

The movie did not disappoint, in my opinion.  My questions were answered, even if those answers left a disturbing kind of distrust for the kind of power our government can wield when it wants to.  Granted, it’s based on the books written by her and her husband, so they could have spun the story a bit.  And if you’re a big George W. Bush fan, then you won’t be happy with how this makes him and his top cabinet members look.  I actually loved how they spliced in real footage from different press conferences, however, because it shows how important the words they say really are.

Sean Penn definitely stole the show as Joe Wilson, Valerie’s husband and former ambassador, and his empassioned speech at the end definitely made me think.  Naomi Watts felt a little lukewarm to me as the spy mom, but regardless of her performance I found Valerie’s real life story incredibly fascinating and worth two hours of my evening.

I looked back through our blog history and can’t believe I’ve never posted about this series.  Now, if you know me you know I love vampires.  L-O-V-E, love them.  I like the the evil ones, I like the sparkly ones, I like the do gooders.  I like them all.  After Twilight, this is my favorite vampire series, and I’ve read a lot of them.

I think my favorite part of the series is that there are three types of vampires.  Full fledged, evil, soulless vampires (Strigoi).  Harmless but still drink blood from willing humans vampires (Moroi).  And then what was originally a mix of human/vampires (damphir), who do not suck blood at all but have super strength and rapid healing and other cool stuff.

The series follows Rose (damphir) and her best friend Lissa (Royal Moroi) through their last years at the Vampire academy where Rose along with the other damphirs is learning to be protectors of the Royal Moroi. If there’s one thing I love other than vampires it’s a girl kicking some serious bootie.  And Rose is the kick buttiest.

My second favorite part about the series is that all the Moroi wield some kind of magic.  I love vampires and I love magic so what really, could be better than vampires doing magic.  I’m here to tell you, not that much.

I was just looking over my goodreads account and it looks like I didn’t love the first one but I kept reading on and it was well worth it.  The last three have been AMAZING.  Make your heart race, can’t put the book down, amazing.  I just finished the sixth and final book in the VA series and while it was totally fulfilling and everything I could have hoped for I’m going to miss these characters.

So to recap:  Vampires, girl kicking some major tail and magic.  How could you not want to read this?

The first book in the series is Vampire Academy and the fabulous author is Richelle Mead.  Check it out!