TV Recap

1) Sunset Daze

WE's new show about the zany folks at a retirement community in Flordia. They are too cute! Seriously, it's great fun to watch Gail "the actress" visit her gay son's rodeo and make friends with the drag queens. Or Sandy "the wild child" go on a first date and get those ageless butterflies. Like all reality shows, it's a bit over produced, which is why the first episode features sky diving, air balloon rides, and a gay rodeo. I'm hoping that as the show calms down it can let its stars shine. Because the great thing about these retirees is that they really want to live it up :

2) Glee

Was back this week with a calmer, less frenzied atmosphere. It was refreshing for once for Rachel not to dominate the show and see the side characters really step it up. I enjoyed the power ballads and the return of Kristin Chenoweth. The plot was sugary sweet and continued Glee's dedicated commitment to retaining the after-school-special flavor. You are beautiful no matter what they say!

3) Selling New York

New episode tonight! If you haven't yet seen this show about real estate brokers in the wild jungle of Manhattan, check it out. I love peeping into all the ritzy apartments I could never afford. Last week one even had an outside hot tub! As always, the people of NYC make for good television with their crazy personalities and blunt negotations.

easy on the ears

I really like Colbie Caillat's new album. It's more folky and less pop. Perfect for listening to on the subway.

Bloody Bloody

The Public Theater is really a great institution. They've given me two of my absolute favorite New York moments- Hair and Twelfth Night. They also offer up a season summer play festival (SPF) which has $10 plays by first time playwrights. I've been to two of those as well and they were actually decent. Most recently, I went to see Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, which has a great write up- Old Hickory, Rock Star President (NYT).

Bloody Bloody is a political emo-rock musical. If you don't know what that means, neither do I. This was a mash up of political comedy, slap stick randomness, rock show and solemn lecture on the dangers of populism. The political is personal and we sing about it. At one point, Andrew Jackson and his wife Rachel smear blood on each other in a 19th century riff on illness=love metaphor.

So it was weird, but in an enjoyable way. The cast were slick and confident, the music was solid, the points were well made. And it made me laugh. 

United States of Tara

Great new show with Toni Collette. I've loved her ever since Muriel's Wedding and she doesn't disappoint with this new show about a woman with multiple personalities. In fact, it's amazing to watch her transform into these characters. Good supporting cast, solid writers. I'm hoping the second season can spice things up a little and bring on the chaos.

Glee was blah

I shouldn't have raised my expectations- or maybe I should blame it on Madonna. The musical numbers just lacked soul for some reason and I think it is because Madonna is a performer, not a vocalist. These kids are from Broadway and they know how to belt with emotion. Madonna is just too pop and spectacle and not enough soul. 
Other than the weakness of the Madonna tie-in, the rest of the show as pretty on point. Brittany, the bubble headed cheerio, has some of the best lines delivered with deadly straight face. When the gang is talking about Madonna's girl power and fight with misogyny, she quips "When I pulled my hamstring I went to a misogynist." The Jesse-Rachel-Quinn threesome is a good source of drama. And it was awesome that Kurt and Mercedes joined the cheer leading team because they weren't getting enough solos. Hopefully next week will have better musical numbers! 

Glee is back

Finally! Let the musical nerdom commence! The new episode was fresh and fun, although I thought the "hello" framework for all the musical numbers was a bit tiring. Can't wait to see more of this great show. I heard the back 9 have a lot more music and less outrageous plot, which is definitely an improvement. But you don't watch Glee for character development or plot, you watch if for the CAMP! and vibrant musical numbers, a sharp sense of mocking humor and lovable, over the top caricatures. Can't wait for next week :)

Country music in New Jersey

I guess NJ counts as the country when juxtaposed with NYC? Anyway, it is surely the suburbs. On Friday I took the train an hour or so outside of the city to Red Bank, New Jersey to see LeAnn Rimes sing me some country songs. The tickets were free so I was really just paying for the round trip train fare, which wasn't too cheap in rush hour.

But the concert was surprisingly fun. I wouldn't have considered myself a LeAnn Rimes fan. I knew her music vaguely and knew she could sing but I don't have a single song of hers on my ipod. Turns out that she is much, much better in person. She was very charismatic and personable and boy can that girl really belt it out! I love that kind of soul singing where you can tell it makes the singer happier than anything else to be on the stage singing. She has a powerful alto voice and she can really control it and let it rip when necessary. It was a nice treat and made me want to go to more concerts!

Happy Spring, y'all!

I've been too busy enjoying the 90 DEGREE WEATHER in April to blog lately, not to mention the profusion of flowers, blooming trees and delicious sunshine.

I had an interesting experience last week being an audience participant on a reality show featuring chefs and food. For four or five hours, I witnessed the chaos that is food tv while drinking free wine and eating bits of things that haphazardly arrived at the table. Oy, the list of things they ran out of! The melted icecream! The dry, overcooked entrees! It was a long and fun process but I don't think I would do it again simply because there is so much waiting around, but it was a good use of a cold and rainy day. Not to mention it fed my food/blog nerdiness. Luckily, living in New York it's easy to find lots of interesting and drool worthy food experiences.

Most recently I visited Island Burgers and Shakes in midtown west where I had a juicy blue cheese and onion burger cooked medium rare- which is rare in NYC, ha. Most places cook their burgers to a dry brown no matter what you order. But this one was nice and red. I also tried a malted vanilla shake which was delicious. Typical NYC prices- $9 burgers and $5 shakes, but worth it occasionally.

Now to go bask again in the sunshine