Randomness. . .

Its Saturday, and I thought I'd just share with you a music video for today.  Enjoy!

Fall Television

So there's just two months until the Fall TV season starts up, and I'm telling you, I'm anxious for it to begin. Summer Television is less than enthralling when you don't have cable. I've been watching stuck watching the Bachelorette and reruns of Gossip Girl. Not exceptionally pleasant. At least, this fall promises to have some good shows going for it. There will be the return of my personal favorites: Supernatural and Vampire Diaries. Both shows ended with cliffhangers and I'm going to be very interested in what the next season brings for my favorite hunters and vampires.

I'm more excited, however, about the new shows turning up on all the channels. Last season had less than stellar new shows, so I'm still going into this season realistic and yet hopeful. For the fall, I'm most excited about Terra Nova - the show that has dinosaurs, time travel, and Steven Spielberg all rolled into one. Terra Nova could either be really, really great or really, really awful. The budget for the show is enormous, so the audience is going to have to be a pretty decent size to keep this show on the air. I have high hopes, but that's mainly just because I love anything with dinosaurs in it. Yes, this sadly includes Primeval.

Another show I'm interested in is the Ringer. I loved Buffy and am excited to see Sarah Michelle Gellar in a new show. Also, the show has Ioan Gruffudd. I've been a fan of that man since I first saw Horatio Hornblower when I was in high school. I hope his first foray into American TV turns out well for him. A bit of history, the show was passed over by CBS and then picked up by the CW for the Fall season. I'm still not sure how to take this. You see . . . I loath CBS. Their shows tend to be awful and overly dramatic. If the Ringer isn't like other CBS shows, this is good news to me. I'm hoping that CBS overlooked the show because it wasn't their style rather than because it wasn't that good. I look forward to having yet another awesome CW show to watch.

Finally, I'm intrigued by Person of Interest. This is a CBS show, but I'm going to try and watch with an open mind. Alright, the open mind thing is actually going to be really hard because the show is produced by J.J. Abrams. I used to love J.J., but now, I'm a bit disillusioned. I loved Super 8, but that hardly makes up for the awful ending of Lost or the badness of Fringe. I don't trust him when it comes to shows. There are two reasons, however, that make me willing to overlook all of this. The first is Michael Emerson. Ben from Lost is one of my favorite characters ever. I think Michael Emerson was brilliant in that role, and I can't wait to see what he chooses to do next. The second reason is that Jonathan Nolan is one of the producers. Jonathan Nolan is the little brother of Christopher and the writer of the Dark Knight and Prestige. I love the Nolan brothers and want to see what he's up to with this show. I trust him about as much as I distrust J.J. Oh yeah, and I forgot to say what this show is about. Imdb.com describes the show as centering on an ex-CIA hitman and a scientist who team up to prevent crimes before they happen. Could be interesting. Could be lame. We'll just have to wait and see.

All I say say is this: Fall 2011 is going to make for some interesting television watching.

The Young Visiters

Today, in honor of David Yates' final Harry Potter film, I decided to watch an earlier work of his: The Young Visiters.  (And yes, I do mean visiters and not visitors.)  The film is based on a book written by Daisy Ashford in 1890.  The important thing to understand is that Daisy Ashford was nine years old when she wrote this masterpiece.  (This is why the title is spelled incorrectly and also why the movie might feel a bit trippy and over the top at times.)  I have yet to read the book, but I understand it is very unintentionially amusing.  The movie, however, is intentionally amusing as it recreates this nine year old's vision of Victorian England.

The story:  Forty-two year old Alfred Salteena meets the young and pretty Ethel on a train ride.  He falls instantly in love with her and makes the rash promise to help her meet lords and dukes and royalty so that he might be able to spend more time with her.  Everything is going along splendidly until she is introduced to Lord Clark.  Lord Clark falls for her, and she falls for his title.  Mr. Salteena decides that he must gain a title to win her love, and he goes off the the Crystal Palace where he is taught to be a gentleman. 

The story is underwhelming in and of itself.  The fun of this movie comes from the cast and from Daisy Ashford's entertaining view of her society.  I don't want to give away the craziness that is Daisy Ashford's world, so I"ll just focus briefly on the actors.   Mr. Salteena is played by Jim Broadbent (Moulin Rouge),  Ethel by Lyndsey Marshall (Garrow's Law), and Lord Clark by Hugh Laurie (House).  Okay, truth be told, I'm just going to focus on one actor.  Hugh Laurie.  Now, I love Hugh Laurie in whatever he is in, but I absolutely adored him in this.  He is very understated here compared to some of the other actors, but his expressions are priceless.  My favorite scenes were the proposal scene and the scene at the hotel.  I was laughing through both of them, mostly because Hugh Laurie just appears so overwhelmed by Ethel's enthusiam.  This movie is worth watching just for Hugh Laurie.   If you are a fan of his at all, you must see this.

Overall, this film is very cute and funny.  I enjoyed catching random glimpses of Bill Nighy (I Capture the Castle and He Knew He was Right), Sally Hawkins (Persuasion), and Sophie Thompson (Emma and Gosford Park).  I also enjoyed the inappropriate dance scenes and Ethel's costumes (her dresses were unusual, but strangely pretty.  I could picture Helena Bohnam Carter in them all, if that tells you anything).  I fully recommend checking this out, if you can find it.  Just remember, this was actually written by a nine year old.  The narrator is NOT playing with you. 

In conclusion, here is one of my favorite scenes.  Spoilers beware!