Everything is Awesome

If you've seen The Lego Movie, you're welcome for that ear worm of a blog title.

I don't remember when I first heard about the Lego Movie, but I do know my reaction was something akin to "UUUUGHHHH.  WHY?????"  Cuz, ya know, a 90-minute movie-mercial for Legos just didn't sound appealing to me.  But then a few months ago, or whenever the trailer dropped, people on Twitter were squeeing like crazy and I was like, "Whuh????  Oh, Chris Pratt's voicing the main character?  Well, all right, I'll watch it.  Grudgingly."  And I watched it and I was like "GET THIS MOVIE IN FRONT OF ME NOW!!!"

And I'm happy to say, I really enjoyed the movie.  Yeah, it is a big movie-mercial for Legos, but come on.  Legos are COOL.  There were just so many clever things they did with the visuals that made me very happy.  And it's funny as hell.  I highly recommend it. 

I am not an academic

Considering that I have a bachelor's degree in English, you might think I would write more book reviews than I do.  I'm not really sure why I don't.  It might partly be because I once got a C on an essay I wrote about Pride and Prejudice because the professor said that I "wrote about the characters as if they actually existed."  Well, um, what?  To me, they DO exist.  I think I was just never cut out to write about literature because I'm too much of a fangirl.  I can't be objective.  I have the feels and I can't turn them off. 

I also once had a friend who used to be an English professor, and we were talking about The Simpsons.  He was the kind of snooty asshole who said he "never watched television" but he liked The Simpsons.  Yeah, I don't get it either.  ANYWAY.  There was an episode where Ralph Wiggum said something that I thought was actually pretty perceptive.  The plot was something about the kids breaking in to an old prison where the electric chair was and when they go in the room, Ralph says "It smells like hot dogs."  And then later, through some plot twist, Mayor Quimby is in the chair and the power has been turned on and someone's about to pretend-fry him (they think the power is off) and Ralph says, "He's gonna smell like hot dogs."  Which, come on!  That's pretty smart of Ralph.  He made a connection between two things and said something much less stoopid than his usual bon mots.  I told this to old Snooty Pants and he said something like "You know Ralph isn't a real person, right?"  Like, duh.  No, SP, I thought I could book a trip to Springfield, Whatever and meet good old Ralph.  DUH.  So, ya know, if I had to sound all snooty pants and condescending to be a good literature writer, then I think I'm better off being all semi-delusional.

So I guess I don't write book reviews because I think I'm gonna sound stoopid and I've been scarred by snooty English professors who made me feel silly and I hate snooty men who make me feel silly.  Which is stoopid.  I'm just not an academic.  I'm a fangirl.

Movie Review: Evil Dead

Hi there, Mia.  You're looking a little...evil dead crazy there.  You're kinda creeping me out TBH.

EVIL DEAD, YOU SO BLOODY!!  Seriously.  I thought Dead Alive was the bloodiest movie I'd ever seen, but I dunno.  Evil Dead was just very seriously gory.  I'm not complaining.  But it must be said, if you don't like blood and other fluids, stay away. 

The night I watched this, I unfortunately broke my main rule regarding horror movies: I watched it with the lights on, knowing dinner was on the way.  Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking.  I guess I figured since I'd seen the original and already knew the plot, I didn't need to do my usual thing.  Which is too bad because the movie is very atmospheric.  I was hugely unsettled by the mood and tone and it would have been an even greater effect had the lights been out.  Plus, of course, the matter of dinner.  I mean.  Come on.  I had to pause the movie and turn on some regular teevee while I hurriedly ate my dinner so I could get back to the movie.

As a remake, it was a pretty good one.  My only real complaint was that the two women in the movie (other than Mia) were pretty boring and forgettable.  Which is too bad, considering the awesomeness of Mia.  Of course, when you have Jane Levy playing a character, you know she's gonna be fun to watch.

I'll just end on this note cuz TOTES ADORBS:

TV 2013: Disappointments

I'm just not feelin' it this year.  Meaning, I don't feel like doing a big roundup of anything from last year like I usually do.  It would help if I did the whole year-end wrap-up stuff earlier.  Well, maybe next time.  Anyway, here's a quick hit of some disappointing shows from last year so I can keep clearing out the Drafts folder.

THE BIGGIE:
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
I soooooo wanted this show to be good.  I waited.  And waited.  And made excuses.  And ya know?  It's just not good.  It's made enough improvement that unless the quality goes backward, I'll probably keep watching the rest of the season, but I dunno.  I don't look forward to it and it mostly makes me sad.  It should look like and BE a high quality show, but instead it's not much better than a crappy SyFy original.  Don't get me wrong: SyFy has a few quality shows, but the crappy ones are quite crappy.  And a show with this much money behind it should LOOK like it has a big budget.

Downton Abbey
It was mostly fine until that car crash.  SO BAD.  Such a bitchy and sad way to remove a character who decided he was ready for the Big Time in Hollywood.  (Dan...Somebody...)

Community
The 4th season just wasn't...right.  Let's move on.

Cougar Town
Despite a stoopid title, I gave this show a try and it turned into a fun little show about a bunch of weirdos hanging out together.  And I loved it.  And then it moved to TBS, and it was ... okay.  I won't blame that on TBS because I just don't know if that's why I started falling out of love with the show, but it went from being something I watched on the DVR the next evening, right away, to something I got behind on.  And I "flew to Florida" for the newest season, but have yet to watch any and I suspect I won't.  I guess it just couldn't last forever.

The Tomorrow People
I wanted to like this show so much.  Pretty people, interesting concept...CW...I was THERE.  And I quite liked the pilot.  But I dunno, I just...lost interest.  The characters weren't interesting enough.  It didn't feel like it was going anywhere.  And I just stopped watching, and I likely won't go back.

TV 2013: Odds and Ends

SHOWS THAT ENDED
30 Rock
Breaking Bad
Eastbound and Down
Fringe
Spartacus

SHOWS I GAVE UP ON 
Awkward
DaVinci's Demons
Family Tree
The Following
Graceland
The Heart, She Holler
Homeland
Legit
Low Winter Sun
The Mindy Project
Parenthood
Under the Dome
Raising Hope
Ray Donovan
Suburgatory

SHOWS I GAVE UP ON  BUT MAY CATCH UP TO VIA NETFLIX INSTANT
Lost Girl
Switched at Birth

TV 2013: Favorite Shows

I did this up and it came to 11, so I have a top 11 list.  No one's paying me to write this, so I can make my own rules.

American Horror Story: Asylum

The Americans

Archer

Arrow

Boardwalk Empire

Bob's Burgers

Breaking Bad

The Good Wife

Key and Peele

Justified

Mad Men

Favorite New Shows

Almost Human

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Hannibal

Masters of Sex

Orange is the New Black

Orphan Black

Rectify

Witches of East End