Grey’s Anatomy: Season 8 Finale

Again, warning…spoiler be ahead.

Well that was a Grey’s Anatomy finale. By that I mean, something horrible and upsetting, with death and misery for all. Seriously can these people never catch a break?

Even Christina Yang has realized how ridiculous it’s gotten – with the bombs and the car crashes and the shooters… it’s almost as if they are on a TV show and there is the constant need for drama, or something.

But let’s get down to the nitty gritty. What everyone really wants to know is – who died. We’ve been teased for weeks that someone big was going to die. Not Arizona’s childhood friend who let his cancer get away from him before he sought treatment. Not any of the other side characters who come and go every week. But someone who is a real member of the cast.

And lo, they were right. While it wasn’t one of the big three (Yang, Meredith, or Derek), it was a Grey – Lexie.

Sloan, with a dying Lexie

The plane taking the Seattle Grace/Mercy West surgical team to Boise to perform the separation of yet another set of conjoined twins, went down in some wooded area. The damage was severe most of the crew was severely injured. Most of all, poor Lexie. She had just poured out her heart to Mark Sloan and now she’s crushed by a engine. The whole scene was too sad, Lexie under both the engine and no delusions about her ability to make it out of this alive, Mark refusing to hold her hand because she wan’t going to die.

I kept wishing Meredith would make it over in time to say goodbye to her sister, but no. Lexie’s dying wish that Mark tell Meredith that she was a good sister, was too heartbreaking for me. Their relationship had been so strained for so long, for it to come down to this…

Yang, still in charge and fighting to live after the crash

As for the rest of the survivors: after screaming for a full six minutes, Arizona finally shut up and saw that her femur was both crushed and sticking out of her leg, and she started coughing up blood; Christina had not only lost her shoe, but had dislocated her shoulder, and Mark obligingly popped it back in; Meredith awoken to find a huge shard of metal in her leg, which she promptly removed and tourniqueted her thigh; Derek had to smash his hand with a rock (so…no more surgeon?) to break himself free from the wreckage; and poor Mark, losing Lexie and then having to have his pericardium drained using a plastic straw. Not sure which of them will last the night.

Pompeo – not afraid to be a really ugly crier

I’m not convinced that Lexie will be the last one dead from this disaster. It wouldn’t shock me if Mark or Derek also died. Sad, but not shocking.

A nice little technique the episode employed was mirroring the events at Seattle Grace with the crash – the sterile and clean and orderly procedures at the hospital and the messy, haphazard, desperate procedures in the woods. It was well done, something Grey’s hasn’t always accomplished.

So what about the cast at the hospital? Karev accepted the insane job offer at Hopkins (which is why he wasn’t on the plane, Arizona threw him off and went in his place), April was lost, with all her job offers vanishing after she failed her boards; Avery was ashamed to be accepting a job at Tulane after deflowering April and leaving her; Bailey and whatshisface are getting married (eh); Callie is horny for Arizona (what’s new); and Chief is way too excited to take the residents out for their big residents dinner.

The biggest news from the hospital side of the episode was Owen finding out that Teddy had been offered a great job with the US Army but turned it down so that she wouldn’t leave the hospital where her husband died…or Owen. To get her to finally move on with her life, Owen fires her. And they hug and cry, yada yada yada. It was sort of touching in its own way.

Engine that killed Lexie

The finale ended on a quiet note. With their signal dead, no more matches, no food, probably no water, the crash survivors are awaiting their rescue which doesn’t look to be happening any time soon. Meredith and Christina, sitting in the night, contemplating their bleak and unknowable future.

It’s a dark, dark ending for a show that is known for its dark dark season finales.

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The Ghostbusters Tour of New York

Who you gonna call?

If you love Ghostbusters, and let’s face it if you don’t I think there are bigger problems here, there is some part of you that wants to visit all the great sites from the movie.

Luckily, someone had not only the desire but the impetus to get off their asses and actually do it.

I will say that the first time I ever went to Columbia, I too reenacted the scene where Venkman and Stanz are commiserating about being fired from the university. It was a golden moment in my life.

Plus, and this could in theory be my memory playing tricks on me, I vaguely remember my school bus being rerouted when it got to Columbus Circle because the movie was filming there. If that’s true, I’m so super cool. If not…I have a super cool imagination.

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Piranhaconda – The new Megashark vs Giant Octopus?

Oh Syfy, or SciFi, or whatever you want to call yourself. You do produce the greatest terrible made for TV movies of anyone.

That’s right, I’m calling you out Lifetime!

In the genetic pairing that I didn’t know I needed, we now have a piranhaconda — the mix of a piranha and an anaconda. How has this not been done before?

I have 2 points about this trailer:
– This looks a lot like they meant it to be a porno, but just changed their minds on set.
– There is no piranhaconda jumping into the air and biting a plane, or of it taking down the golden gate bridge.
For comparison:

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The Book of Mormon: Matt and Trey Do It Again

I can now die happy for I have seen The Book of Mormon, and with the original cast.

Don’t ask how I got tickets. Let’s just say I no longer have possession of my own soul once I die and leave it at that. But I’ll tell you, eternal damnation is totally worth it.

Anyone who has followed Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s career know about their fascination with Mormons: the South Park episode All about the Mormons clearly spelled out some of the issues the pair has with the religion while not going into full blown mockery; and of course, there is their movie Orgazmo where Parker plays a Mormon missionary sent to Hollywood who ends up as a big time star in the pornographic film industry.

It’s also not surprising that they did a musical. South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut is a musical, sending up everything from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Les Miserables:
http://youtu.be/jhv-xZgdy-0

Team America had some choice songs, such as “America, Fuck Yeah,” and Kim Jong-Il’s torchsong, “I’m So Ronrey”.

And there are too many South Park episodes that have songs and musical numbers to count. One of my favorites it Cartman’s little Sea People ditty:

So, not out of left field at all.  Add to this Robert Lopez, co-creator and writer of that great puppet musical Avenue Q, and there’s the definite possibility for greatness, which the show so easily fulfills. And with 9 Tony awards including Best New Musical, I am not alone in believing this.

Enough cannot be written about the cast of Book of Mormon. Josh Gad is the obvious scene stealer as Elder Cunningham, the schlub who doesn’t really fit in with the other missionaries whose “shirts are pressed and our haircuts are precise”. Plus there’s that nasty penchant for making things up, conflating the stories in the Book of Mormon with the stories he learned from Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings,and other sci-fi/fantasy masterpieces. His big song, “Man Up” is the most South Park of the bunch, with a definite nod to some of the music from Team America.

Gad and Rannells

Andrew Rannells, now appearing in a role on HBO’s Girls as Lena Dunham’s college boyfriend, is remarkable as Elder Price. The golden boy who sets out to convert the world to the Mormon religion, little aware of what the real world is like and how it will test his faith. When you learn about his dream city, it all falls into place – exactly who and what he is. Of course, he isn’t quite on board with being sent to Uganda for his mission, and isn’t quite on board with his mission partner, Elder Cunningham. Cunningham just wants a best friend. The song “You and Me (but mostly me)” really spells out their relationship at the start:
http://youtu.be/L3HpqjheRQo

By the end of the show, Price will have a crisis of faith and Cunningham will rise to the occasion, but how it all happens is the gold.

Gad, James, and Rannells

Apart from Gad and Rannells, two other cast members really stick out. Tony winner Nikki M. James as Nabalungi (or Neosporin, the variety of other names Cunningham will call her over the course of the show) plays daughter to the chief of the village where Price and Cunningham are sent to proselytize. She keeps a sweetness and innocence in the most horrifying of circumstances and her big song “Sal Tlay Ka Siti” is as touching as it is funny, a rare feat. The other cast member to watch is Rory O’Malley as Elder McKinley, the not-so-closeted gay missionary whose amazingly upbeat  “Turn it Off” is a tricky song that hides terrible things in life and a terrible way of dealing with them within a jaunty tap number:
http://youtu.be/cWA_jr-AwyA

You can say a lot about the show’s shock value. From “Hasa Diga Eebowai,” a song that is as far from Disney’s “Hakuna Matata” as you get to the crowing set piece, “Joseph Smith American Moses” that takes great liberties with the story of Smith and the beginning of the Mormon religion, the show is packed chock full of offensive material. But that’s sort of besides the point. It’s not there to be offensive, but to shock in all the right ways. Although the show clearly takes issue with some of the “proof” behind the actual Book of Mormon, it’s more about faith and religion in general. The song “I Believe” is the greatest summary of blind faith and devotion I can think of and Rannells sells it 100%:
http://youtu.be/K5lCYqn2jcs

With “I Believe,” Rannells has managed that sublime combination of humor, earnestness, and corniness that is so necessary for Elder Price’s journey and eventual redemption. (His “Spooky Mormon Hell Dream” is also pretty spectacular.)

How does religion and faith function in our lives and can it function in a bubble are all things the show attempts not to answer, but bring into conversation in the most inspiring of ways. The show’s music is infectious – I seriously cannot stop listening to the soundtrack. And yes, it is full of the high and low brow humor that you expect from the creators of Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo.

I am actually sad I cannot see the show again right now.

An added bonus for those who either can’t get to the show or just want to relive parts of it, Broadway.com did a fantastic series of short videos, 28 in all, covering everything about The Book of Mormon, from creation to casting to design.  It does reveal a bit about the show, so be warned. Start with video #1, The Genesis of the Book of Mormon:

And, finally, the CBS 60 Minutes interview with Matt and Trey. Definitely worth watching.
http://youtu.be/BjLb18sATWA

Remember, tomorrow is a latter day.

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How I Met Your Mother Season 7 Finale

Cast of How I Met Your Mother

As I mentioned earlier, I love How I Met Your Mother. The show has narrative twists and turns and rarely tells an important story in a straightforward manner. It’s inventive and touching. And funny.

And last night we saw the culmination of seasons.

Note: there will be some spoilers from the season finale, so be warned.

No, we didn’t meet the mother and I’m guessing that won’t happen til right before the show shuffles off this mortal coil. But we did see Marshall and Lily become a family. Where season 1 ended with Lily leaving Marshall to pursue her dreams of becoming an artist on the West Coast, season 7 ended with Marshall and Lily having their first child – a son named Marvin Wait for it Ericsson.  Quite the name: Marvin, after Marshall’s dad who died so suddenly last season in the heartbreaking episode “Bad News”, and Wait for it because, well, Marshall promised Barney.

To distract Lily, Ted and Robin told a series of hi-LARIOUS stories

What struck me about this moment is that it seemed so real. After spending so many years with these characters, their joy seemed real to me. It might sound a bit nuts, but there have been moments that you can share with characters that have been in your life for years that are almost as emotional as real life moments. Monica proposing to Chandler on Friends. Jim and Pam finally kissing on The Office. Howard taking off into space on The Big Bang Theory. The final moments of the series finale of Six Feet Under. I put Marv’s birth in that category, since we’ve been with Marshall and Lily since the beginning and know what it took for them to get to this – the birth of their first child. And Marshall just making it to the birth was so…so… manipulative. But in this case, I’ll allow it.

Robin, always was Barney’s girl

Hand in hand with the birth of Marv, we saw the answer to the question posed at the beginning of the season: who is Barney marrying? They managed to tease this out for the whole season: Robin, Nora, Robin, Nora, Robin, Quinn.  But if you look at that list, you could see the pattern; it’s always been Robin for Barney. Always. And really, Robin belongs with Barney. Whereas Ted was overly romantic and blind to reality. Barney matched Robin in their lack of dreamy romanticism, and in their being slightly broken. Even when they broke up, you knew their story wasn’t over. It just makes sense to have them together.

Plus, did you really think Quinn would have called Ted over before the wedding? C’mon.

But what about Ted? I mean the show isn’t called “How Barney Finally Got It Together With Robin”, though that story might be more interesting. Ted has finally reached the point with Robin where they are friends, so as he goes through his past, there is one woman remaining whose story with him is unresolved. And it’s not terribly surprising that it’s Victoria, since she showed up earlier in the season and told Ted that until he really ended things with Robin that he’ll never really meet “the one.”

Of course, Ted manages to call Victoria on her wedding day and despite initially planning on dropping her back at church, having himself experienced the pain of being left at the altar, Ted actually drives off into the sunset with Victoria…in her wedding dress…for her wedding to another man.

They have passion, but it just won’t work

We know Victoria isn’t the mother, but it seems Victoria is the last step before he really does meet the mother, finally. And to get there, Ted will have to shake off all the ghosts of his past and his unrealistic dreams, and he’ll have to unpack some of that relationship baggage. That won’t be easy, nor do I expect it will be quick.

We know he meets the mother at Barney’s wedding, so the end is really nigh. Next season we’ll need to learn HOW Barney and Robin finally hooked up, how Barney and Quinn fell apart, how Ted and Victoria try and inevitably fail being together, and who Ted meets at Barney’s wedding.

Ted, always looking for the owner of that darned yellow umbrella…

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True Blood: Season 5 Trailer #1

So ready for his special brand of crazy

More Russell Edgington.

Do we really need any other reason to want to watch True Blood‘s new season?

http://youtu.be/5vJdU3XrS_Q

Well, OK…maybe finally some good stuff with the Authority, Sookie being called out for being the Angel of Death, Steve Newlin’s newfound world views, and some overall general badassery.

They’re right. Waiting sucks.

#trueblood @trueblood

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Hulk Smash…

Loki.

Much like Tyrion slapping Joffrey, I cannot watch this enough.

That’s right Hulk. You smash. You smash that puny god good.

So…what was I saying again about being a god?

 

@avengers #avengers

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Ask a Grown Man: Jon Hamm

Jon Hamm continues his streak in being perfect. Just goddamned perfect.

How does he do it?

Not only is he devastatingly handsome, but by gum the man is smart and funny too. It’s like the perfect storm of awesomeness in a man who looks like Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid.

Dark hair, blue eyes, jaw that could cut glass…all Prince Eric needs is a glass of scotch and he could be Don Draper

Not at his most “Prince Eric-y” but look at the man!!

And add to all this, the fact that he seems totally down to earth and the sort of guy you’d like to have a beer with every so often just because he’ll have some good stories, good advice, and good dirty jokes.

He answers questions from mostly teenage girls in an honest and straight forward manner. It’s OK for a girl to fart, making out is super fun, cut teenage guys some slack,

http://youtu.be/fkIPwx7_6Vg

Best part? “I’m 41 years old. Doesn’t mean you have to pay attention to me, but you know, it’s probably in your best interst. You’re probably all too young to watch Mad Men, so um…enjoy The Hunger Games!”

And then that damned wave. Killed me.

@madmen #madmen

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Game of Thrones – Animated Extras

It’s time like this that really make me wish I had a blu ray player…

that on the season 1 blu ray edition Game of Thrones, there are apparently dozens of animated shorts, voiced by the actual actors, that explain everything that is really going on behind what we see happen on the show. Things like…

The story of the Night’s Watch and the Wall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-MxfsYUoDzM

The History of House Targaryen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NddW6BlLKqo&feature=player_embedded

The History of House Lannister
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b-8Cp4J9F8&feature=player_embedded

The Lore of the Children of the Forest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KovO3g62PE0

The History and Lore of Valyria and the Dragon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KovO3g62PE0

The Sack of Kings Landing from the Baratheon Perspective
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-izLVctwIpU&feature=player_embedded

And of course, the History of House Stark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHBqHtOR7R4&feature=player_embedded

And much more. i09 has linked to many of these.

I’ve only seen a few so far, but these are incredible. The animation style suits the show superbly and having the actual characters narrate grounds the stories in the reality of the show.

For anyone who is confused, these will be a godsend. For anyone who understand everything that led up to Ned Stark going south to become King Robert’s Hand, they will just be the icing on the cake.

(Thanks to Fudge for the heads up on this)

@gameofthrones #gameofthrones

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RIP Maurice Sendak – Let the wild rumpus pause…

The wild rumpus

It was a shock to hear that author Maurice Sendak had died. Yes, he was 83, and yes, he’d recently had a stroke, so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, but nonetheless, it was.

Like so many of you, I grew up on Sendak’s work. Where the Wild Things Are takes its place next to Pat the Bunny and Goodnight, Moon as the books I remember most from my childhood. There was a point where I knew Wild Things by heart, able to recite it at a moment’s notice.

Of course there were his other works that were just as fabulous if not as well known: In the Night Kitchen where Mickey goes and saves the day by flying a bread plane and delivering milk (it makes more sense in the book)

Notorious for the images of naked Mickey

They all look like Oliver Hardy

Chicken Soup with Rice – a book of months, and soup

Cover

It goes month by month, all with chicken soup with rice

Outside, Over There– this one is really interesting with child abductions, goblins, and ice babies…

Cover

Goblins about to steal the baby while her sister playing her wonderhorn

One was Johnny– a great counting book, with a very snazzy schnauzer.

Cover

Tigers, dogs, cats, and a burglar creating havoc

Pierre – one of my personal favorites. Pierre is the original hipster who just doesn’t care about anything. Of course things change when a hungry lion comes to call.

A cautionary tale indeed – he get eaten by a lion! (spoiler)

She begs for him to care — she’ll even let him fold the folding chair!

For the curious, there’s even audio of someone reading the whole book. Worth the 4 minute listen.

This is on top of all the other wonderful books Sendak wrote and illustrated. He even illustrated the original Little Bear books.

Only Sendak could draw a blood thirsty bear befriending a young girl

He didn’t just do children’s books, but I think that  is probably what he will be most remembered for. He wanted to be known as more than just “the kiddie book guy,” illustraing a book with Tony Kushner based on Brundibar, an opera performed by of the Theresienstadt concentration camp.

But I think that children’s literature was forever changed and elevated because of his brilliant works. Children are thinking people who have vast imaginations, something some of us lose as we get older. Sendak never talked down to them or lied about the dangers in life. A goblin could steal your sibling, you could go hungry in the morning, you could be sent to bed without supper and end up in a whole and wild world.

I hope that wherever Sendak is, his dinner is still hot.

Wild Thing, Sendak

@mauricesendak #mauricesendak

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