"You'll shoot your eye out"

Hello readers!

Well it’s that time of year again. My favourite time of the year – Christmas!

Last weekend I re-watched one of my favourite Christmas movies, and I thought why not blog about them. I know this is a TV blog, but a lot of Christmas movies are played on TV so it counts.

I personally love Four Christmases with Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn. It’s probably my favourite recent movie, besides Elf of course. Here's a clip of my favourite scene!

                                                                                                      

I cycle through the Christmas movies on TV fairly regularly, but last year discovered one I had never seen. It’s called The Family Stone, and it is hilarious. If you haven’t seen it, go watch it. I promise you won’t regret it. Also, there are a lot of pretty big name actors in it if that helps draw you in at all.

And finally, it’s always been a tradition in my family to watch A Christmas Story every year as well. Such a classic. That bunny suit never gets old!

Anyways, since I love Christmas I would love to hear some of your favourite Christmas movies!

Thanks for reading!

-Emily

"Remember Norman, only your Mother truly loves you"

Hey guys!

Starting to feel the end of term exhaustion today, so I’m going to make it a shorter post this week.

Another reason this post will be short is because Bates Motel is kind of hard to explain. The show is sort of like a prequel to the 1960 film Psycho, and it follows the lives of Norma and Norman Bates, who have moved to White Pine Bay after the death of Norma’s husband. Norma has purchased a motel, and they are working toward starting over.

This is the plot line at its most basic. It gets pretty weird the more you dig into it, but it’s one of those shows that once you start you can’t stop. You also can’t miss a single episode because some of the storylines take a while to build. It’s very hard to get too much in depth without giving anything away, and I don’t want to ruin the thrill for those of you who may want to watch it. I say thrill because the show lives up to the thriller phenomenon.

One thing I will say though is that Norma and Norman have a very strange, and almost inappropriately intimate relationship for being mother and son. The peaceful setting of the town is a great contradiction to the secrets it holds.

As strange as it can get sometimes, it’s one of those shows that keeps you thinking. I think this is main pull for me. I need to know what happens!

Also, it’s filmed in Aldergrove, British Columbia, along with other areas in the Fraser Valley, and a there are a lot of gorgeous scene setting shots, a nice shout out to Canada.

Anyways, go check it out if you haven’t seen it.

Thanks for reading!

-Emily

"Never kid a kid who hasn't had his recess"

Hello readers!

Hope you guys don’t mind another throwback!

Inspiring my post this week is a comment one of my classmates made about how he is currently re-watching one of my favourite cartoons.

Recess was a staple of my childhood TV watching, and it wasn’t just because it was always on as soon as I got off the bus from school. It’s actually a good show!

Through six seasons, I watched T.J., Gretchen, Spinelli, Vince, Mikey, and Gus meet and conquer all of the challenges thrown at them during their recess break at school.

I think what I loved most about the show was that the playground turned into a whole little world during recess, run completely by the kids of the school. It was fun to watch them get into trouble with Miss Finster, or disobey one of King Bob’s rulings. There’s such a cast of characters that every episode was different.

My favourite episode is called “Weekend at Muriel’s” – the one where Miss Finster babysits Spinelli. It’s a classic.

If you remember this show, let me know what your favourite episode is! And if you haven’t seen the show, my classmate says you can find all of the episodes online.

Thanks for reading!

-Emily

Proud by Michael Healey - Off topic assignment post

This week's post is for a school assignment. I'll be back to talking about TV next week.

Hilarious is how I would describe my overall impression of the play Proud by Michael Healey. Being a political play, I really had no idea what to expect upon arriving at the Rachel Browne Theatre on Wednesday Nov 12. I didn’t do too much research before going, so I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw.

I think what stood out to me most was the character of Jisbella Lyth. She’s crazy! That was my first impression of her. But her outrageousness wasn’t so outrageous that it was unbelievable. I thought that Healey wrote her as a strong female character, which was essential to a play consisting of only three other male characters. Healey wrote her a lot of great one-liners, and I found myself cracking up at a lot of the things she said. I think her character was what surprised me most about the play because it was so unexpected. Daria Puttaert was great and brought this character to life for me.

The comedy in the writing was what I thought worked best in the play. The actors’ chemistry made all of the jokes believable, which helped bring me into the political world Healey wrote. Also, Ross McMillan’s portrayal of Prime Minister Stephen Harper was spot on. He nailed Harper’s mannerisms, which I think added a lot to the storyline. The actors’ interactions with each other, mixed with the comedy of the writing, made this play an enjoyable experience.

One thing I would have liked to see was a set change or two. I understand being in such a small venue why this would have been hard to do, but I think it would have helped to change it up even just a little bit. I also thought it was kind of awkward to have the character of Jake sit off to the side of the set while the other characters were in action on the other side. I understood the reasoning behind it, but I don’t think it would have caused too much of an issue to have him come out for his lines each time, or even to have some way to cover him up. I think this would make the play work even better.

I haven’t been to a political play before, as I’m more of a fan of musicals, but of the non-musicals I’ve seen, this play was similar to them. I have seen the no set change before, and I thought the same thing as I outlined above – not a huge fan. However, I liked that there were only four main characters, as I like to watch plays where I can get into the characters’ heads. I think Proud was written well enough that I got a sense for the characters, and I felt like I really got to know them.

I liked the talkback session because it allowed the audience to interact with the actors. It was interesting to learn about how they approached getting into character, and to hear their thoughts on the play. I think it definitely added to my experience at the play because I have never been to play that has had one of these sessions before. I thought it was a good discussion as there was such a variety of questions asked. I think all of the actors and the creative director provided well thought out answers to the questions asked of them.

I’m not sure the play affected me in any significant way. I did enjoy the satirical comment on Canadian politics though. While I’m not sure it’s super realistic, it was funny to watch the ridiculousness of the writing on stage.

Thanks for reading!

-Emily

"It's going to be legen--wait for it--dary!"

Hello readers!

So this week I’ve decided to write about characters. I think How I Met Your Mother did a fantastic job at creating believable characters and also at keeping them consistent.

First, there’s Ted. While at times he can get a little annoying, I love that despite the various set backs, he never gives up on finding The Mother.

Barney is great comic relief. He’s also the perfect sidekick for Ted because Barney acts on instinct while Ted tends to overthink everything. Together, they’re the perfect balance.

Lily is like the mother of the group and is always there for some good advice when her friends need her.

Marshall is my favourite character. He’s kind and caring and superstitious and intelligent. It’s a weird combination, but it works to create a very lovable teddy bear type character.

And finally there’s Robin. I find her funny even though she doesn’t always get the best jokes. I like that she’s a focused career woman who knows what she wants.

This is my (very) short summary, so I’d love to hear your thoughts! And if you haven’t seen the show I definitely recommend it.

Thanks for reading!

-Emily