Poetry: "My Rollercoaster Weight"

Poetry: "My Rollercoaster Weight"

My rollercoaster weight

But dieting I hate

Being heavy's my fate

I can't seem to get a date

I'm gonna be late

Might as well give me another plate...

Sci-Fi Bri's Movies: "Elizabethtown" (2005)

Sci-Fi Bri's Movies: "Elizabethtown" (2005)

Dir.: Cameron ("Fast Times at Ridgmont High", "Almost Famous") Crowe

Characters/Actors: Drew Baylor (Orlando "Lord of the Rings" Bloom), Claire ( Kirsten "The Virgen Suicides" Dunst), Phil (Alec Baldwin), Susan "Thelma and Louise" Sarandon, Ella (Jessica "Seventh Heaven" Biel, etc.

Young shoe designer Drew Baylor gets fired from his job after the shoe of his design loses the shoe company close to a billion dollars. Soon afterwards, Drew prepares to end it all when he gets an unexpected call informing him that his father has just passed away. Baylor decides to live and travels alone by a redeye flight to Kentucky, specifically headed toward Elizabethtown, where his father grew up. On the plane, Drew meets a friendly and optimistic flight attendant named Claire (Kirsten Dunst), who has an extensive conversation with him, the only other passenger besides herself and the pilot. Claire gives him a map to Elizabethtown, and she includes her phone number. Using the map, Baylor finds his destination with little trouble, where he meets his father's quirky extended family. Eventually, Drew calls Claire and they have long phone conversations and also spend time with each other. After the funeral, Claire encourages Baylor to take a road trip narrated with songs and commentary which she put together until they get together again. This is one of my favorite movies.

Poetry: "'Tis the Season to Indulge"

Poetry: " 'Tis the Season to Indulge" A work in progress

'Tis the Season to Indulge

Eat too much

Your gut will bulge...

Eat too much cake

Better plan your wake

Eat too many cookies

You won't get much nookie

Eat too much pie

You'll get too fat

Perhaps you'll die

Eat too many chips

For now you'll live

But your pants may rip... (tbc?0

Sci-Fi Bri's Television Casualties of 2010

Sci-Fi Bri's Television Casualties of 2010

Two thousand and ten was a very good year for televisison. Unfortunately, many good programs ended before they should have.

"Breaking Bad" This series on American Movie Classics was an example of "All good things must come to an end". In case you never saw it, the show was about a high school chemistry teacher named Walter White ( Bryan Cranston of "Malcolm in the Middle") in New Mexico who uses his chemistry skills to 'cook' crystal meth to support his wife Skyler and his cerebral palsy afflicted teenage son soon after discovering that he has terminal lung cancer. His unlikely sidekick is a former student who is a recovering addict, and Walt's brother-in-law is a Drug Enforcement Agency agent. Unlike many series, "Breaking Bad" got better, and more dangerous for Walt and his family as time went by. In the final episode, White just barely maneuvers to avoid being killed by his drug kingpin employer's (Giancarlo Esposito) henchmen.

"Legend of the Seeker" Poor farm boy Richard Cypher discovers as a young man that he is the "Seeker of Truth" who with the "Sword of Truth" helps innocents in the 'Midlands' from evil tyrant "Darken Rahl". Rahl himself has magic powers and the loyalty of many ruthless soldiers and the sadistic Dominatrix-like "Mord- Siths", beautiful young women with no compassion. The Seeker travels with his protector, "Kahlen", also known as the "Mother Confessor", who is a witch-like nun of sorts who has the power to know if someone is lying. Also, if she "confesses" someone, they will show absolute loyalty to her and even kill for her. Before long, Richard and Kahlen fall in love, but they can never consummate their love or the Seeker will be "confessed" by her and go insane. The Seeker also travels with a powerful wizard who turns out to be his grandfather. After the evil Darken Rahl is slain, Richard must contend with the Devil-like "Keeper of the Underworld", who can raise the dead in exchange for them bringing more dead to the Underworld. This excellent syndicated series only lasted two seasons. It was a victim of a lousy timeslot and even worse publicity. While Darken Rahl, the Mord- Siths, and the Keeper couldn't defeat Richard the Seeker, he met his demise at the hands of lousy ratings and an arbitrary Nielson Ratings system which rewards popularity over quality.

"Lone Star" This very short-lived series was about the son of a con artist with two girlfriends who has a life of grifting on one hand and a the potential of giving up that life as an oil magnate. This series had great potential, but as too often happens in the world of television the plug was pulled before it could become popular. This show was on Fox, a network that used to be willing to take chances on shows which would likely die on ABC, NBC or CBS.

"Outlaw" Jimmy Smits, who lately has a bad track record with series television (2009's canceled "Cane") fails again with this short-lived series about an arrogant conservative Supreme Court Justice who quits the Bench to practice as a lawyer of controversial cases. Smit's character is a gambler on the side, and his team of lawyer's and investigator's are also an interesting aspect of the show. This is another example of a series with great potential killed by low ratings.

"Undercovers" Samantha Bloom (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and her husband Steve ( Boris Kodjos) are an African-American married couple who are former CIA agents turned caterers, who are lured back into the lives of secret agents. They are enticed to accept espionage assignments by their irritable handler, played by Gerald "Simon and Simon" McRaney. The tagline of this series was "sexpionage". In every episode, Ms. Mbatha-Raw appeared in bikinis and/or lingerie. In my opinion, she is perhaps the sexiest woman on television. Also, I think this show should have lasted longer than it did. Mission terminated by ratings or a bad time slot.

"The Whole Truth" Maura "E.R." Tierney and Rob "Numbers", "Northern Exposure" Morrow played rival lawyers and friends. I only caught a few episodes and I was impressed with what I saw, but I think this show's early demise was due to going head to head with another lawyer show in which Jim Belushi and Jerry "Stand By Me" O'Connell play a pair of cocky Las Vegas attorneys.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the excellent new version of "Nikita" was also unfortunately cancelled. If you haven't caught the show it is or was about a sexy female government assassin for the clandestine organization "Division" who escapes and uses a young recruit to try to "take down" the organization which trained her to kill or else. (tbc?)

Update from Monday, December 13, 2010: Good news for "Nikita" fans, "Nikita" will resume its schedule in January 2011

Unfortunately, both "Medium" the psychic murder mystery series and the excellent cop show "The Closer" are about to meet their imminent demise by the end of 2011. On a unrelated note, wouldn't a show like "Legend of the Seeker" make a good movie or a great movie franchise? Ciao for now.

Sci-Fi Bri's Movies: "The Next 3 Days"

Sci-Fi Bri's Movies: "The Next 3 Days" Dir.: Paul Haggis

Characters/Actors: John Brennan (Russel "A Beautiful Mind" Crowe), Lara (Elizabeth "The Forty Year Old Virgin" Banks), Damon Pelligrew (Liam Neeson), Olivia "House" Wilde, Brian "First Blood" Dennehey, Daniel "Home Alone" Stern, etc.

The night after arguing with her boss, Lara Brennan (Elizabeth Banks), a wife and mother from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania gets arrested for her manager's murder. Before she knows it, Ms Brennan has been given a life sentence for murder with little or no chance of being paroled. The convicted murderess, who is evidently innocent of the crime she has been convicted of, has a hard time adjusting to life behind bars; especially being away from her husband and young son, plus she has diabetes. Her husband, John (Russel Crowe), who teaches at a community college is very devoted to her, and tries his best to get her released or at least new trial. After a suicide attempt, John Brennan risks everything to try to break her out of jail. Russel Crowe is the best thing about the movie. It is amazing how his personality changes from being a mild mannered professor and loving husband and father, to a person who will go to practically any length to save his wife from an unhappy life in incarceration. The best part of the movie is the jailbreak, which practically goes awry before it even occurs.

Sci-Fi Bri's Movies: "127 Hours" and "Due Date"

Sci-Fi Bri's Movies: "127 Hours" and "Due Date"

"127 Hours" Dir: Danny ("Slumdog Millionaire", "Trainspotting")

Starring: Aron Ralston( James "Spiderman", "The Pineapple Express" Franco, Amber ("House", "Joan of Arcadia") Tamblyn, Treat Williams, etc.

True story of Aron Ralston, a young go-it-alone adventurer who after getting his arm stuck between two rocks while climbing a canyon in Utah eventually resorts to amputating his own arm with a pocket knife to escape. Most of the movie takes place with the protagonist trapped between the two large rocks. The movie was really, really good, but the explicit amputation scenes are not for the squeamish and may turn off some of the potential audience of this film.

"Due Date" Rated R

Characters/Actors: Robert Downey Jr. ( "Iron Man"), Ethan Chase/Tremblay (Zach "The Hangover" Galifanakis), Jamie Foxx, etc.

After being kicked off a flight with a destination of Los Angeles, where his pregnant wife is about to give birth; a strait-laced father-to-be (Robert Downey Jr.) reluctantly travels with an oddball aspiring actor named Ethan (Zach Galifanakis) whose drug paraphenalia got him put on the "no fly list" due to a mixup and the guy's masturbating canine companion. The supposed actor gets on the father-to-be's nerves, but eventually they become good friends. A typical buddy picture/ road trip film. It had its amusing moments, but the laughs are few and far between. In addition, who really wants to see a masturbating dog?

Poetry: "Abra Cadaver" A work in progress

Poetry: "Abra Cadaver" A work in progress

Abra Cadaver

Hide in your bed

Prepare to run if

Ye reanimate the dead... (tbc?)