Thursday, December 30, 2010

Let The Shows Begin

As much as I LOVE watching reruns and marathons of television shows, I am getting antsy for new episodes of my favorite shows to air. I mean in the last week I have rewatched about 3 seasons of Buffy watched 10 to 15 episodes of Burn Notice the 2 newest seasons of  Degrassi and a whole season of America's Next Top Model. I am ready for some new content!! So to get us ready for the new episodes to come I am just going to give you all a list of the air dates of our favorite show starting in LESS THAN 4 DAY with PLL.
1/3 Monday
CBS
8:00PM- How I Met Your Mother
ABC Family
8:00PM-Pretty Little Liars
9:00PM- Greek
1/5 Wednesday
ABC
9:00PM- Modern Family
1/6 Thursday
ABC
9:00PM- Grey's Anatomy
10:00PM- Private Practice
1/12 Wednesday
CBS
9:00PM - Criminal Minds
1/17 Monday MTV 10:00PM- Skins
1/20 Thursday
NBC
8:30PM- 30 Rock
9:00PM- The Office
Fox
8:00PM- Bones
1/27 Thursday
CW
8:00PM- The Vampire Diaries
If you are thinking to yourself "Wow does APB really watch that much television" sadly the answer is yes. I am getting really excited and I hope you all are too. Remember, when you go to watch the new episodes of these series be sure to consult my Drinking Games. I am going to try to write more games for my shows. If you have any suggestions for any rules for any of the shows listed above either shoot me an email at apb1128@gmail.com.
Later,
APB

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Top 5 'Buffy' Episodes

Since I have been home, about three different channels have had some sort of Buffy marathon and that is part of the reason I am writing this now. I have contemplated writing this post for a while. One reason I have been against it is because so many people have already done it. Why is my list going to be more important than anyone elses? Why do people care what my top 5 Buffy episodes are and why? Well I decided I don’t care about any of that and I am going to tell you my Top 5 episodes anyway.


5)”Tabula Rasa”- Coming off of “Once More With Feeling” this episode had a lot of expectations. When you have an episode where so much new information is revealed, there is a whole lot riding on the subsequent episode and BOY did “Tabula Rasa” serve. The Scooby Gang is trying to wrap their heads around the fact that they did not pull Buffy out of a Hell Hole but instead out of a Heavenly dimension. Giles tells Buffy that he is leaving and Tara freaks out at Willow for altering her memory and makes Willow promise not to do magic for a week. Instead of going cold turkey with magic Willow does a spell that is supposed to erase Tara’s memories of the fight, but of course it backfires. The whole gang passes out and when they wake up, having not a single memory, they have to use random clues together to put together their identities. Hilariously I might add. Giles and Anya think they are engaged, Spike (named Randy) thinks Giles is his father, Xander thinks he is in a relationship with Willow but Tara and Willow have a special connection. When the spell ends Tara leaves Willow with Michelle Branch’s “Goodbye To You” in the background and Buffy still feels all alone. Yes I still cry when I watch it.


4) “Halloween”- Season 2’s Halloween episode, appropriately titled “Halloween” was one of the funniest and most entertainment episodes of Buffy. Buffy is feeling self conscious about her relationship with Angel so she buys a Victorian style costume to remind him of the girls from his past. Xander is feeling self conscious about his manhood so he buys a military costume. Willow originally wears a sexy slayer outfit only to put the ghost costume she bought earlier on top of it. Unfortunately the costume store was owned by Giles’ old evil friend Ethan who conjures a spell so everyone who got a costume from his store turns into their costume. So now Buffy is a 18th century princess who needs a man to do everything for her, Xander is a soldier and Willow is still Willow but now a ghost who is wearing Buffy’s skanky clothes.This also causes chaos especially for the little tykes who bought demon and other evil costumes. One of the best parts of the episode is the fact that Cordelia does not change because she did not buy her costume from Ethan.


3) “Becoming Part 2”- After Evil Angel sends a bunch of Vampires to capture Giles, Willow ends up in a coma. Giles is being tortured by Angel so he can find out how to awaken Acathla. After the normal torture tactics are a bust, Drusilla gets into Gile’s head, pretending to be Jenny Calender, to get the information. I loved and hated this because I was SO happy to see Mr. Calender again but I HATED that Angel was using her to get information out of Giles. Poor Poor Giles. This is also the first time that Spike and Buffy work together for the greater good. Little did all of us know that soon her and Spike would be jumping each others bones. This is also the episode where Buffy reveals to Joan that she is indeed the slayer. But what makes this episode so memorable is the last ten minutes. The epic battle between Buffy and Angel after he pulls the sword out of Acathla. Right as Buffy is about chop off Angels head off, Willow succeeds with the spell and gives Angel back his soul. He has no recollection of where he is or what has happened. He is sad and confused but Acathla’s vortex has already opened, the only way to save the world is to give him to Acathla. Buffy passionately kisses Angell, tells him she loves him asks him to close his eye and then thrusts the sword through him to close the vortex. You can see the pain and confusion in his eyes, he reaches his hands out for Buffy and then is sucked into the vortex. I remember watching this episode in 5th grade sobing, and still everytime I watch this episode I tear up. It is heart wrenching that a girl in 11th grade is forced to kill the person she loves to save the world.


2) “Hush”- One amazing aspect of this episode is how it revealed how language is the glue of our society. When the town of Sunnydale could not verbally communicate with each other, chaos ensued. The episode interestingly enough begins with each character having difficulty communicating with each other, Buffy and Riley cant talk about their private lives, Xander complains about how Anya talks to much, and Giles just wants everyone to shut up. Well Giles you got your wish when The Gentlemen, one of the creepiest Buffy villains yet, come into town. Without the talking Riley and Buffy are finally able to let their guards down and in doing so reveal their secrets lives to each other. Also, Tara and Willow do “magic” together for the first time.

1) “Once More With Feeling”- Truthfully only Joss Whedon could successfully pull off a musical episode like this off. Yes there is singing in Scrubs, and other shows do have songs, but none of those shows have the level of drama of Buffy. And the reasons I pick this episode is not just because of the fabulous musical numbers (although those didn’t hurt in the least), but this episode was key in moving the seasons plot along. All of the secrets the characters were hiding from each other (as well as the audience) were revealed. We learn that Giles wants to leave Buffy so she can grow. Tara discovers that Willow had altered her memory in order to forget a fight. And the biggest revelation, as well as the climax, of the episode is when Buffy revealed that the Scooby Gang had pulled her out of heaven. The episode was pivotal in the development of future plotlines (Evil Willow) and character relations (Spike and Buffy). That is why “Once More With Feeling” is number one in my book.

So I know I may get some flak from this post. I did not include any episodes from season 3 with the whole Faith storyline. There are a lot of other episodes that I really do love. I love the Prom episode, I absolutely LOVE “Doppelgangland” when we see Vamp Willow from the alternate world, and I love “Innocence.” I mean there are seven seasons to chose from so those are my choices. Let me know what you think. Which episodes would you put into the list and why?

APB

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Top Chef 8:04- You Got Served

Dear boys and girls, I am back and ready for action. I am sorry for the near five month hiatus but now I am done with school and rowing and all other things that distracted me from my true calling and I am ready to be a recapping machine. I am also back home at the moment where my parents have this lovely thing called cable. This means i do not have to wait a WHOLE 6-12 hours after the airing of a show to watch it.

Now onto the meat, wow Top Chef was great this week. Not only did it have tons of drama, but also the one liners were phenomenal.


Coming off of last weeks double elimination everyone was all tense so they decided to leave the stew room, graciously over-stocked with alcohol, to go to a bar where it seems as though everyone is drinking out of coffee cups. Did they go to the bar to drink tea and relax? It would think doing that in the comfort of your home would be more relaxing, but what do I know about the stressful life of a reality star.They did have some cut apples at the bar to go with heir coffee and tea.

Casey is telling Jaime how shocked and bummed she is that Happy Dale is gone, while no one seems to be aware of the absence of Stephen. I forgot how much I loved Casey, she makes me so happy just looking at her.

Quick Fire Challenge: So this weeks challenge is to make a stuffing. The twist: no utensils at all. The upside to the twist is that the winner gets immunity and $20,000. I think it is getting a bit ridiculous the amount of money this show is giving away and it is not just because I am jealous. All the chef are freaking out about what to do without their utensils especially Fabio who equates it to a surgeon saying “Ask a chef to cook without a tools is like to ask to a surgeon to do an open heart surgery with only his finger.” Maybe you are right Fabio, but the difference in that in one case someones life is at stake and the other there will just be uncut food. He proceeds to grate cheese on a food rack which both he and I agree are ingenious. Red Head Tiffany uses a pepper mill to cut up her chicken and Carla is trying to beat an onion with a pan. Tre ends up winning getting immunity and 20 thou which can help him because apparently his two daughters are expensive.

Some more great sound bytes from this Quick Fire
“I feel like Tom Hanks in the Castaway right now” from the lovely Casey. But unlike Castaway, and luckily for us, there is actually dialogue here.

Carla:“This is is un-donte quinuo”
Judge Tom: Why al dente.
Carla: No, I said un-donte... do you need some floss

ELIMINATION CHALLENGE: This weeks the chefs are going to be in teams competing head to head for the prize at the US Open stadium in the one and only Flushing, Queens. I love watching tennis, me and my family used to go to the US Open when I was younger and use our binoculars to spy on other people in the stands instead of watching the matches. Also when Andre Agassi was playing we would try to find Brooke Sheilds in the stadium. Oh, the good old days. Also my dad grew up in Flushing, my grandmas lives right outside of Flushing, so Flushing, Queens is near and dear to my heart.

Anyway, back to the show, they pick tennis balls to determine teams. They say that there are orange and “yellow: balls, but I really think those “yellow” balls are green.

 The groups go into their separate for meal planning and Angelo starts talking crazy strategy and stuff I do not understand. What it comes down to is that Angelo and Spikes team decides their strategy is to put their teams weakest dish out first. They keep talking about this strategy which obviously makes me think that something is going to backfire.

In the kitchen there is some high drama. Surprise surprise something is going wrong with Jaime’s dish. Oh and there is another cut finger, but this time is it Carla and like a good team player she stays to finish her dish. Also Fabio is making gnocchi (another shocker) but the mixer isn’t working so he has to make it with “his own little hands.” Angelo is thrown a curveball when his fish is “mucusy” which I think sounds delic, but he gets Tiffany to lend him some of her fish.

And then comes the Quote of the Episode when Antonia tells us that she “never played sports in highschool. I smoked alot of pot... and did nothing else.” And now I love Antonia even more than I did before.

They get to the US Open main stadium and the teams are set up on different sides of the court. They got the jumbotron to read the scores of each teams and it looks like this is a big deal. The judges walk out onto the court and Padma is wearing a nice short khaki pants a blue tank and a blazer, but all my eye can look at is that crazy ass necklace around her neck. That is a lie, I also am looking at her legs, but when she is sitting all I can see is her necklace.

They call up their first dish and Jaime is not ready to serve and freaks out when her teammates want to go out first.

Round 1) Fabio v. Casey- Fabio runs around like he just won the open when he wins the point for his team

Round 2) Dale v. Tiffini- Dale has to go out because his dumplings are dying and Marcellus is pissed.

Round 3) Marcel v. Angelo- Also Dale is pissed that Angelo served his meal on a spoon again. My question is how can a meal served on a spoon give an athlete enough energy for a tennis math. That definitely would not be enough to fuel Isner or Mahut at the Wimbledon this year!

Round 4) Antonia v. Tiffany- The judges are split between the dishes it was a 3-2 vote for Antonia. It was probably all the weed she smoked in HS that made her such a good chef.

Round 5) Spike v. Richard - Angelo is adding shit to Spikes dish and it is not longer the dish he imagined. Also no one likes Spikes shrimp which is not surprising because he made it at the last moment.

Round 6) Tre v Carla- Jaime is nowhere to be found so they cant really serve her dish. If I were on that team I would have just screamed out Jaime’s name anyway, I can handle Jaime’s wrath. Also Angelo cooks Tre’s salmon to the point that it was over cooked.

And Team Orange won the challange and Carla won a 5 day trip to Italy. Carla went from serving “un-donente” quinoa, to having Dale say her dish is not classy enough to cutting her finger to winning a 5 day trip to Italy. Way to turn things around for yourself Carla.

On the short end of the stick Team Yellow has to go to elimination. Jaime is saved from elimination due to the fact that she DIDN’T SERVE HER DISH. Again she is saved because she is a little bitch and when Richard calls her out on it Jaime gets all offended. Dude, he is just saying what everyone else in the country is thinking. Gail calls Tiffany’s salad flaccid and the 10 year old inside me giggled for a little bit. Ultimately Spike has to go home and I am sad because I liked him. I wish the judges saw Jaime hiding and sent her home for being a PAB.

So that is Episode 4 of Top Chef. What did you guys think? Jaime a punk ass bitch? Did Padma’s necklace distract you as well. Let me know, I would love to hear your thoughts.

APB

P.S. You should all read Gail’s blog on EW and also all the bonus clips on Hulu/Bravotv.com