2011

It's pretty cliché to do a year end "best" list anymore. And it seems even sillier when you are not a professional reviewer, critic or otherwise. But I love reading these lists when other people do them, and it is fun to look back on past years and see what excited me in the past and if it has passed the test of time. So here we go...the best of 2011. (PS. This is a long one. Get a Diet Coke.)

Best Movie
As far as I can remember, I saw about 8 new movies this year, so take this with a grain of salt. But the movie that made me laugh and cheer and cry more than any others was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. If you don't love Harry Potter, I am pretty sure you don't have a soul and this movie was an exciting and fitting ending to a great series of movies based on even more amazing books. It was satisfying wrap up to the world of Harry Potter, until that damn Pottermore launches
Runner up: X-Men: First Class. Yes, I am officially a nerd. And the previous incarnations of X-men movies got cheesier and sillier as time went on. But this reboot was fresh and interesting. The performances were great and the action sequences were exciting without being Michael-Bay-ish.
Honorable Mentions: The Muppets (made me nostalgic,) Insidious (did you see this? A straight up scary movie.) Crazy, Stupid Love (It was cute. Real cute) The Help (I have a bit of a crush on Emma Stone.)

Best TV, Comedy
I love TV too much to pick a "Best Show" so I have to break into categories. By far the show that makes me laugh out loud every week is Parks and Recreation. If you are not watching this show, there is something wrong with you. Funnier this season than last.
Runner Up: New Girl. Holy cow. Funny. (Remember when she couldn't say "penis?") I am curious if it can sustain itself and avoid being gimmicky. But so far so good. Also, Happy Endings. You have probably never see this show, but it is a joy.
Honorable Mentions: All the classics are still good - 30 Rock, Modern Family, Community, The Office. 


Best TV, Drama
Is it too easy to say Friday Night Lights? Whodathunk that I would love a show about football so much? The final season did not disappoint, with lots of great coach and Tami moments and happy cameos from past regulars (good to see you again, Landry.)
Runner Up: There was a magical little mini-series on PBS called Downton Abbey. And it was one of the most surprising, delightful shows I've ever seen. Season 2 starts in a couple of days! Get caught up now!
Honorable Mentions: Game of Thrones - my inner nerd rejoiced. American Horror Story. Spooky fun.

Best Book, Adult
Did calling this category "Adult" make you think I was going to review erotica? That is on a whole other blog. I only mean that to differentiate it from Young Adult. And really, in principle I don't like to distinguish between the two categories. A good book is a good book, right? But splitting them allows me to ramble about books I love more. So, my favorite non-erotica, non-young adult book was The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. This book has been getting a lot of press and deservedly so. I went into it not knowing much about it except that there was a mysterious circus that appeared only at night. And that there were some magicians. I also happened to listen to the audio book, narrated by the incomparable Jim Dale, which made it all the more magical.
Runners Up: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline if you were a nerdy boy in the 80s then stop everything you are doing and go read this book. Nerdtastic.
The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta What would happen if the rapture happened, but it wasn't necessarily the good people who got taken up? What would that mean for everyone else left behind. I found this book haunting, moving and thought provoking all at once.
A Visit from the Good Squad by Jennifer Eagan I guess this won a Pulitzer, or something and it is easy to see why. It is full of somewhat unlikeable characters, but it so masterfully written and executed when I finished it I wanted to start over and read it all again just to see how she did it. And the power point. Oh, the power point!

Best Book, Young Adult
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness This is the sequel to a book called The Knife of Never Letting Go that I read a while ago. I liked the first book OK. It was creative and original. But I wasn't compelled to read on. Then on a whim I picked this up and the library and it blew me away. It raises questions about war and morality and what it means to be a terrorist. All on a crazy planet where everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts.
Runner Up. East by Edith Pattou this is another book I picked up on a whim. It was actually sitting on a shelf in the house we stayed at in Bear Lake this summer. It is a retelling of the old "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" fairytale that I remember fondly from my youth. But it was beautiful and fun and a perfect bear lake beach read.
Honorable Mentions: Delirium by Lauren Oliver Post-Apocalyptic Teen novel about the outlawing of love. Divergent by Veronica Roth Post-apocalyptic teen novel about a world where everyone is divided into classes based on personality traits. What's literature without some good post-apocalyptic teen tales?

Best Book, Non-Fiction
Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe I kind of read this (OK, I listened to the audio book - narrated by Rob!) as a joke - and then I 100% loved it. It is super full of insider Hollywood tales, and Rob Lowe is funny and a pretty good writer. I recommend it to all children of the 80s, or fans of The West Wing (we'll always miss you, Sam Seaborne.)
Runner up: Born to Run by Christopher McDougal I love this book. It made me want to run more, and further, and barefoot.

Favorite Status Updates of 2011

(I was too lazy to retype them all)

Memorable Moments of 2011

• Disneyland with the family. It is always a great time, but this year was the first year we had a special needs pass for Noel and it made ALL the difference in the world. Plus, it made Noel super popular
• Dance parties with the kids
• Hosting our neighborhood Easter Egg hunt in Oregon after the family who had done it in years past moved away. 
• 2011 was the year of watching baseball. It feels like we were in 10 leagues this year (I am sure this is just the beginning)
• The phone call that signified the end of my career with Carter's
• Making the decision to move back to Utah (about 3 days before we moved.)
• My surprise birthday party. I have never had a surprise party before and it was AWESOME. Great food, great friends (some I hadn't seen in years) and a great time.
• The death of the Northwest Book club
• The birth of the Bonne Heure, our Utah book club
• Running. And loving running.
• The week of moving - I can never thank Beccy enough for her help in boxing everything up and Mark and Tony for loading the POD like a tetris master.
• The day we found La Settanta. We were so elated.
• Lagoon - I hadn't been for about 40 years and my kids loved it.
• Mike and Andrea's wedding, and how Noel became some sort of unhygienic waiter and brought everyone food from the buffet all night (That he would sample on the way to the table.)
• Our Ward here, which has been so great and so welcoming.
• Not having to travel on Christmas.

What I am most excited about in 2012

• Living near family and friends and getting to celebrate holidays and special occasions with them.
• Reliable babysitters
• The Hunger Games movie
• Reading the end of the Wheel of Time series (which I started reading approximately 20 years ago.)
• Running
• Writing. This is my one real "resolution." An author I love says he writes 1000 words a day. No more, no less. He says now that he has been doing it for a while he can do that in 1 hour. He started out at 300 words a day. So that is my plan. That may mean more blog entries. It may mean I write that novel. It may mean some really long facebook status updates.
• The launch of my NEW blog (more details to come soon) and the release of a book that I allegedly helped write.

Are you bored yet? Just wait till I am writing 1000 words a day.

What I Am Watching

I guess I have created some sort of reputation for myself as an avid TV watcher. I don't know why that is, except that I talk about TV all the time and I go and buy the Entertainment Weekly fall TV preview because I can't wait for the one I am subscribed to to come to my house and I read it with highlighters and a spread sheet.  If that makes me an avid TV watcher, then I am guilty as charged. Lately people have been asking me what I am watching this fall. So as a service to you, my gentle reader, I present my fall TV picks. I am sure half of these will turn out to be lame and get canceled after 2 episodes, but this is what I am excited about now. Also, don't ask me when or what channel these are on. Ask your tivo

New Shows (in no particular order except the one I wrote them in.)

1. New Girl - This is that one with Zooey Deschanel that Fox has been promoting the hizzell out of. Comcast had the pilot for free and it was funny. Zooey is charming and quirky and goofy and it has that one guy that was a cop on Veronica Mars. I'll give it another go.

2. Up All Night - Who doesn't love Will Arnett and Christina Applegate. I have (and will) watch them in anything (I'm looking your way Running Wilde!) It is about the joy of becoming a parent and how it turns you from someone who is cool to someone who is lame. And, so far, no jokes about going to work with poop on your face. It premiered last week and the swearing at the baby bit made me giggle.

3. A Gifted Man - I am 100% sure this will get canceled, but it looks so great that I hope it doesn't. It stars Patrick Wilson as a doctor who starts seeing the ghost of his dead wife (who is played by  and I think she is fantastic.) It looks touching and interesting and about questions of faith vs. science and has amazing actors in it. As I said, doomed to fail.

4. Secret Circle - It is on the CW and is about teenage witches - nuff said, right? I mean, who doesn't want to watch that?!

5. American Horror Story - I am a bit nervous about this one. First, it is supposed to be scary. And I love to think I love scary stuff and then it keeps me up all night (I am looking at you Paranormal Activity!) I mean, even that poster freaks me out. Second, it is by Ryan Murphy - sure he created Glee, but he can also be kind of dark and twisty (and, ahem, trashy.) But, it has Connie Britton. I have said I would watch a TV show about her brushing her hair. (And I have - it was a short lived show in 2001 called Same Strokes. It was canceled after 3 episodes, but her work was genius.) So I will watch the pilot through my fingers and then make a judgement call. (Mom: Do not watch this show!)

There are a couple of others I will be watching (Person of Interest, Once Upon a Time, Pan Am, Terra Nova, Hart of Dixie) but these are the ones I am most curious about.

Returning Shows that I love:

This is obviously before this season when they turned Hattie's hair really ugly. 

1. Parenthood I love, love, love this show. I want to be a Braverman. And I sometimes think I am, with Adam and Christina and there son with Asperger's and him losing his job at the end of last season (right when I lost my job!)I find it charming and heart felt and touching.

2. Glee I know people love or hate this show and I unabashedly love it. I love the music and the musical-theatre-nerdiness of it all. And this summer there was a reality show called The Glee Project which was the best reality show in a long while and I can't wait to see the kids who won that show up on this. Got it?

3. Parks and Recreation I know there are a lot of funny comedies on TV, and I love Community and 30 Rock and Modern Family but none of them consistently deliver the funny like P&R. It is the perfect combination of snarky hilariousness, real seeming people and heart. Remember how last season they added Rob Lowe and Adam Scott and it got even funnier? Why aren't you watching this show?

4. Grey's Anatomy What?! You are saying. People still watch this show? I have been with it since day one. It has had it ups (Kyle Chandler as a bomb tech) and downs (Kathryn Heigel doing open hear surgery on a deer and also, Kathryn Heigel.) But last season was fantastic as the hospital dealt with the aftermath of a shooter. I can't wait to see if this season lives up to it.

Honorable mentions to Survivor: Wherever on Earth We Are Now, Amazing Race, Biggest Loser, America's Next Top Model (I have proudly watched all 17 - yes, 17 - cycles,) etc.

Many premiers start this week (or last)! So you need to get your tivos warmed up and ready to go. They might be dusty after the long, hard summer. If you want the full nerdy report, here is my TV spreadsheet, shared publically for the first time.

What about you? What shows are you watching this summer?

Gentlemen (and Ladies,) Start your Tivos.

It is finally here. If you have ever met me, or heard about me, or been in a room with me for more than five minutes, or read this blog, you know that I love TV. And one of the activities I look forward to each year is the arrival of the Entertainment Weekly Fall TV preview. And it has arrived. Hallelujah! I have been getting antsy, because of few shows have been starting (90210 - anyone watch? Pretty good!) and I just didn't feel like I was prepared. I didn't have a plan. And that I do not like.

So each year when the EWFTVP arrives, I sit down with two highlighter (blue for the downstairs Tivo and red for the upstairs) peruse the pages and highlight which shows will be on which TV. Sometimes there are small panics as we realize that there are overlaps that require some planning and scheduling and family discussions of which show goes on which TV. Like when we discovered that The Biggest Loser was on at the same time as House and the aforementioned 90210. What to do!? We felt the best decision was to move the biggest loser upstairs, so that we wouldn't be watching it in the room next to the kitchen, because for some reason that champion of weight loss makes me want to eat Joe-Joes and ice cream. See - it is all about planning.

Once the shows are highlighted, I print out a list of season premiere dates and highlight the shows in the matching color. That way I never miss a premiere, and I set it up on the correct Tivo.

I know some of you think I am crazy, now. And some of you may respect me for my foresight and planning. At least I won't forget to catch the first episode of Fringe.