2014 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

Madison Square Garden can seat 20,000 people for a concert. This blog was viewed about 62,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Madison Square Garden, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

This week on TV (7-13Dec)

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: The show continues funny as ever (despite not being worthy of a Golden Globe, apparently), but that last scene, when Rosa is all smiles, just warms my heart.

Jane the Virgin: Wow, the show got me a little scared for a moment there. Stuff was being revealed, sparks were flying all over, and now Rafael knows Jane is a virgin and Jane knows that Rafael was willing to lose everything for her… wow… and then some more sparks literally flew. Rogelio is the funniest character on the show, he just cracks me up.

The Big Bang Theory: What a sweet and funny Christmas episode.  I love how they keep advancing Sheldon and Amy’s relationship with baby steps and very naturally.

Selfie: Wow, what a great episode this was. Karen Gillian and John Cho really gave their all in this episode. I do hope that through some sort of Christmas miracle, the show is picked up for some network… seriously, it’s the best new sitcom of the year (for me), how could they have cancelled is beyond me. Eliza’s karaoke and drunken state broke my heart.

Scorpion: Am I the only one who thinks that Sylvester and Megan are going to have a thing?! Either way, I ship it! What I don’t ship is Walter with anyone who isn’t Paige… when Agent Simone Taylor goes in for the kiss, I literally covered my eyes… no, no and no!

Supernatural: Wow, this mid-season finale has everyone! Castiel tries to help his vessel daughter (who is great by the way and I hope appears more often), he enlists the help of the brothers. It’s great that we had a Destiel moment, we hadn’t had one of those in a while, where Dean tells Cas that he’s not ok, and if things turn bad, he wants him to kill him (even if Sam tries to stop him, which he will). Things don’t end well though, with Dean killing a bunch of guys to feed the Mark and Sammy desperately pleading with his brother… sad… Meanwhile, in hell, the King a.k.a. Crowley, a.k.a. Fergus, has a bonding moment with his mommy, a.k.a. the superwitch Rowena… this will be fun!

Forever: We finally found the identity of the mysterious caller, after he turned Henry’s life into a living hell. I thought for sure that he would tell Jo about his condition… oh well…

Criminal Minds: What a twisted, sick episode… It seriously gets to me that after 10 years they can still tell these creepy stories. It was a great episode, I’m sad that Aaron and Beth broke up, but it was predictable given that she hasn’t been around and it was lovely to see Rossi worried about his friends and making him go out and meet new people.

FOX passes on Gracepoint Season 2

This is no surprised. Just days after Gracepoint finished its low rated first season (and far inferior to its british counterpart, Broadchurch), TVLine has announced that the show will not be getting a second season.

Gracepoint Finale (Oh no you didn’t!)

Gracepoint has reached its season (and most likely series) end. Warning, if you don’t want to know who killed Danny either in Gracepoint or Broadchurch, go back.

First things first, the first episodes were almost shot by shot of the original Broadchurch, but there was the promise from the people involved that the resolution of the mystery would be different and so the show would be pleasing to those who had watched Broadchurch and loved it.

Ok, so around the middle the episodes were a bit different. We were introduced to a couple of new characters, a backpacker who was believed to be involved in Danny’s murder and Detective Carver’s daughter. Neither of this new characters stuck or were of any consequence. Other difference, and a major one, was the Revered himself – Gracepoint version Paul Coats liked Beth Solano and had a very weird attitude during the whole business.

My senses started tingling in episode nine, which was, again, almost a shot by shot of the original, with the same lines and everything. And I started to wonder how they would resolve the story differently if they were setting up exactly the same themes.

Episode 10 came and guess what?! The confessed killer and his motivations were EXACTELY the same. They gave it a twist though, Joe Miller confesses to the murder but it was actually Tom Miller, his son, who accidentally killed his best friend, when trying to defend Danny from Joe, Danny runs into the piece of wood that Tom is swinging… not good. Eventually Ellie learns the truth and makes her husband stay in jail and swears never to tell what actually happened.

I say: WTF!!!! You have a full town, a lot of people, and you go with the exact same storyline?! I get that being someone close to Ellie was important, because her life crumbles, but at least they could have given them another backstory. Also, even though the UK version had a lot more touching between Joe and Danny, Gracepoint’s set up gave me the creeps a lot more than the other.

How disappointing… At least Broadchurch is returning on January 5^th…

Arrow: The Climb

This Arrow winter finale was heartbreaking and totally unexpected… there will be a lot of spoilers…

Ra’s al Ghul and The League of Assassins give Oliver 48 hours to deliver Sara’s killer to them, otherwise they will kill 50 people a day. This puts a rush on team Arrow to find the killer, which they do. The DNA from the arrow matches Oliver’s and this leads him to think that Malcom Merlin set him put. They’re able to find out that Malcom was indeed in town when Sara was killed, but more, he wasn’t alone, Thea was with him. So Oliver asks her about Merlin and she plain out lies to him. So he returns as the Arrow to ask some questions and she fights him and gets away (while defending Merlin). Soon after Merlin seeks out Oliver and shows him a video of Thea murdering Sara, while under the influence of a powerful drug that made her susceptible to suggestion and then she forgot everything. Knowing that the League will hold her guilty (even with the knowledge that Malcolm drugged her), Oliver has no other choice than to take his sister place and reveal himself as Sara’s killer to Ra’s al Ghul, Nyssa and the others and demand a trial by combat, which leaves him with 13 hours to set his affairs in order.

Oliver then says his goodbyes, warning Thea that Malcolm is not to be trusted (which she ignores completely), saying goodbye to Roy and urging him to protect Thea, declining John’s offer to accompanying him and saying goodbye to Felicity, where she asks him to kill Ra’s al Ghul and he tells her that he loves her. He then proceeds to the CLIMB, ultimately arriving to the neutral ground that Ra’s has set for their match… obviously he loses, ending up with a blade through his chest and falling from the top of the mountain…

Everywhere else, Dinah Lance arrives to town and notices right away that something isn’t right, Laurel crumbles and tell her that Sara is dead, promising to make whoever did it pay, to which Dinah is all for. Meanwhile, Ray shows Felicity his plans for the ATOM suit and asks her help to protect the people in the city.

• How could Thea defend Malcolm? No, seriously, she knows what he is and still, when Oliver is warning her she tells him not to make her choose?! WTF Thea?! Between a brother who would die for her or a father that uses her, she would have a problem choosing?!

• Thea is bad for Ollie, right? I mean, here is this guy literally dying for his sister and she, who complained so much about all the lies last year, is lying to his face? This dynamic needs to change.

• Nice tie-in with The Flash.

• Did Ra’s al Ghul just said that no one has challenged him in 67 years? How fu**ing old is he?

• How could Nyssa believe Oliver? Nissa knows him and she knew Sara, how could she ever, for a moment, believe that he would kill her… I wouldn’t find weird that she would ask, he would never do it.

• Laurel is just plain weird, so she keeps secret from dad for months, then in a matter of two days blabs about it to Thea (ironic much) and then to her mother, whom she hardly sees?!

• Oliver and Roy’s hug drove me to tears. This guy is the true Speedy!

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• However, that simple and curt handshake with John Diggle said more than hours of words would.

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• My heart literally broke when Oliver said his last “I love you” to Felicity. It was all calm and certainty and heartbreak… damn you!

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• Why is everyone so convinced that Oliver can win in his match with Ra’s is beyond me, first Malcolm Merlyn and then Felicity seem sure that he can win… fools! To Malcolm is good either way, still, it would have been better for Oliver to win.

• Maseo is in the League because something bad happened, right? He would never have join if his wife and son were not dead, so will we be seeing them murdered during the rest of the season? Tatsu can have a swordfight in every episode from now on… I approve!

• Ray is cute and all, but this episode should have been all about Oliver, Felicity and Ray just took up to much time 😦 …

• This… 😥

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• What I think will happen next: Maseo will find Oliver still alive and lie to Ra’s al Ghul, saying that he is in fact dead (because let’s not forget that Maseo clearly told him that he wanted him alive and all); the fall wasn’t as high as I originally though (as seen in the preview for the next episode), so this will mean that Ollie is alive (duh!) and he’ll probably be out of commission for a bit, but alive. No I’m gonna go and cry in the corner… January can’t come fast enough…

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: What They Become

What they become alright!!! What a magnificent episode, they just keeps getting better! Not only did they deliver a fantastical mid-season finale, they also just opened up a whole new universe… well done Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..

• Melinda May!!! You badass!

• Skye’s dad is psycho… I was so moved when he was talking to her and then he went and was like “now I’m gonna kill that guy, no biggie!”. Kyle MacLachlan is crazy good at being crazy scary.

• I really like Bobbi and Hunter, it’s a real shame that she’s keeping something from him, because he really does love her.

• “Join S.H.I.E.L.D., travel to exotic distant lands, meet exciting, unusual people … and kill them.” – seriously, how can anyone not like Hunter?! He’s hilarious and has the most awesome accent!

• FitzSimmons… my babies! They haven’t been this in sync for such a long time…

• Did Skye just put three bullets in Ward?! WOW! I didn’t know she had it in her!

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• Skye be like “Coulson is my real daddy!”

• Thank the heavens that Mack is alright. But poor Coulson, he was beat up a lot in this episode. I don’t know if I like Raina anymore…

• WOW! That scene… wow! The effects were breathtaking, and Skye… wow! And the Terrigen Crystals… wow! And Raina, what did she become?!

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• Skye, or should I say Daisy Johnson, or maybe Quake?! And wow, Inhuman and with powers… Skye just took a few steps up.

• Tripp… if you hadn’t kicked the thing you wouldn’t have turn to stone and then to dust… oh… I knew it was coming and still I cried like a baby… =( bring him back… please! He’s just so cool and I like him so much…

Golden Globes nominations

The list of nominees for this year Golden Globes has just came out, you can see it fully on the end. Just a few (very few thoughts)

• So happy about Jane the Virgin and for Gina Rodriguez for their nominations. And congratulations as well for the CW.

• It’s kind of weird that their 3 top comedies last year didn’t make the cut in any category: The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family and Brooklyn Nine-Nine…

• Tatiana Maslany did not receive a nomination?! I never watched Orphan Black (is on my list though), but anyone who’s able to portrait … (how many characters are there exactly) on the same show deserves at least a nomination.

• No love for Gone Girl… well, it received a few nominations, but not best Drama or best actor?! I don’t get it.

• Not even a mention for Amy Poehler? Given that it’s Parks and Recreation last season, and she won last year, it’s weird that she’s not up there.

• No nomination for Sherlock?! Not even one?

• Again, no love for the super talented Emmy Rossum for Shameless?

Best Motion Picture, Drama

• Boyhood
• Foxcatcher
• The Imitation Game
• Selma
• The Theory of Everything

Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical       

• Birdman
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Into the Woods
• Pride
• St. Vincent

Best Director, Motion Picture

• Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Ava Duvernay, Selma
• David Fincher, Gone Girl
• Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Birdman
• Richard Linklater, Boyhood

Best TV Series, Drama

• The Affair
• Downton Abbey
• Game of Thrones
• The Good Wife
• House of Cards

Best Comedy Series

• Girls
• Jane the Virgin
• Orange Is the New Black
• Silicon Valley
• Transparent

Best TV Movie or Miniseries

• Fargo
• The Missing
• The Normal Heart
• Olive Kitteridge
• True Detective

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama

• Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
• Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
• Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
• David Oyelowo, Selma
• Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama

• Jennifer Aniston, Cake
• Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
• Julianne Moore, Still Alice
• Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
• Reese Witherspoon, Wild

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical

• Amy Adams, Big Eyes
• Emily Blunt, Into the Woods
• Julianne Moore, Map to the Stars
• Quvenzhané Wallis, Annie
• Helen Mirren, Hundred Foot Journey

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical

• Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Michael Keaton, Birdman
• Bill Murray, St. Vincent
• Joaquin Phoenix, Inherent Vice
• Christoph Waltz, Big Eyes

Best Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture

• Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
• Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year
• Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
• Emma Stone, Birdman
• Meryl Streep, Into the Woods

Best Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture

• Robert Duvall, The Judge
• Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
• Edward Norton, Birdman
• Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
• J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

Best Performance by an Actress in TV Series, Drama

• Claire Danes, Homeland
• Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder
• Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
• Ruth Wilson, The Affair
• Robin Wright, House of Cards

Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series, Drama

• Clive Owen, The Knick
• Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan
• Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
• James Spader, The Blacklist
• Dominic West, The Affair

Best Performance by an Actress in TV Series, Comedy

• Lena Dunham, Girls
• Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
• Gina Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin
• Taylor Schilling, Orange is the New Black

Best Performance by an Actor in TV Series, Comedy

• Louis C.K., Louie
• Don Cheadle, House of Lies
• Ricky Gervais, Derek
• William H. Macy, Shameless
• Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent

Best Screenplay, Motion Picture

• Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl
• Alejandro González Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr., Birdman
• Richard Linklater, Boyhood
• Graham Moore, The Imitation Game

Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Movie or Miniseries

• Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Honorable Woman
• Jessica Lange, American Horror Story
• Frances McDormand, Olive Kitteridge
• Frances O’Connor, The Missing
• Allison Tolman, Fargo

Best Performance by a Supporting Actor in  TV

• Matt Bomer, The Normal Heart
• Alan Cumming, The Good Wife
• Colin Hanks, Fargo
• Bill Murray, Olive Kitteridge
• Jon Voight, Ray Donovan

Best Performance by Supporting Actress in TV

• Uzo Aduba, Orange is the New Black
• Kathy Bates, American Horror Story
• Joanne Froggatt, Downton Abbey
• Allison Janney, Mom
• Michelle Monaghan, True Detective

Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Miniseries or Movie

• Martin Freeman, Fargo
• Woody Harrelson, True Detective
• Matthew Mcconaughey, True Detective
• Mark Ruffalo, The Normal Heart
• Billy Bob Thornton, Fargo

Best Foreign film

• Force Majeure (Sweden)
• Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (France)
• Ida (Poland)
• Leviathan (Russia)
• Tangerines (Estonia)

Animated Feature Film

• Big Hero 6
• The Book of Life
• The Boxtrolls
• How to Train Your Dragon 2
• The Lego Movie

Best Original Song in Motion Picture

• “Big Eyes,” Big Eyes, Lana Del Rey
• “Glory,” Selma, John Legend and Common
• “Mercy Is,” Noah, Patty Smith and Lenny K
• “Opportunity,” Annie
• “Yellow Flicker Beat,” The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part I, Lorde

Best Original Score in a Motion Picture

• The Imitation Game
• The Theory of Everything
• Gone Girl
• Birdman
• Interstellar

The Flash: The Man in the Yellow Suit

The Flash has reached its winter finale and it was awesome. Finally Barry comes face to (blurry) face with the man that killed his mother and learns that he’s no match for the Man in the Yellow Suit or Reverse Flash.

• Grant Gustin deserves a lot of credit for his work on this episode… his anguish when he went to see his father in prison to tell him that he had failed him, was heartbreaking.

• More and more convinced that The Reverse Flash here comes from the future “we have been doing this for a long time and I’m always one step ahead” – clearly he has been doing it a long time with The Flash, just not this very young Flash.

• I want a friend like Cisco. Even doubtful of what his friend is telling him, he goes with Caitlin and the comforts her and protects her…

• I do not love Iris, but how differently could she have reacted?! But seriously now, how did she not know? At least that is out of the way and they didn’t drag it for long. Wondering how she’ll feel when he eventually starts dating someone else.

• The Reverse Flash does not harm Eddie… wonder why…

• Firestorm can fly?! WOW!!! Still, his introduction was done without any resolution to the matter.

• Joe and Barry are my perfect father/son on tv…

• Oh Cisco, my perfect nerd… you know more than most people… my guess is that you’re totally right, on that fateful night there were two speedsters on the Allen house: The Reverse and the Original, and that’s how little Barry ends up outside the house.

• The parallels between Barry and Wells and The Flash and The Reserve Flash were very well played.

• So, is Harrison Wells the Reverse Flash?! I have no doubt that he, as the RF, comes from the future, the questions is that they might not come from the same point in the future. Either the Reserve Flash is Eddie (a long way from now) and Harrison is his descendant, and that is how he has inherited the ring and suit (and abilities, maybe?!), or (again) Harrison is descendent from Eddie but he himself is the Reserve Flash, but his version on the present is actually older than the RF on this episode. Did that make any sense?! Hope so… it sounded a lot more coherent in my mind.

Broadchurch Season 2 trailer

OMG OMG!!! I wasn’t expecting this today! =D ITV has just released the trailer for the second season of Broadchurch and it looks AMAZING! Ah, and the show will return as early as January 5, 2015!!!

I’m pretty sure we won’t get the full scope of the storyline until it begins, but it looks quite intriguing and heartbreaking… are they going to solve Hardy’s old case?! Who are the girls who’ve gone missing?! I’m so excited 😀 !!!

Pride and Prejudice (Tv mini-series 1995)

I’m in classic mode this last couple of days. After having watched Austenland a few months ago, I really wanted to watch Pride and Prejudice, from the book with the same title by Jane Austen. I found the 2005 movie version with Keira Knightley, but on IMDB this BBC production mini series of 6 episodes had a far better rating, also, is Colin Firth’s Mr Darcy that Jane is obsessed about.

So, a couple of nights ago I embarked on the viewing of the six 55 minutes episodes that comprise the mini series – with four of those episodes being watched last night at a time when I should clearly have been sleeping… considering that I had to be up by 6a.m. today.

I really liked the story, the themes are very clear and well exposed throughout the several hours and the resolutions are mostly satisfactory. That said, as proud of a man as Mr Darcy was, I couldn’t help but totally love him… seriously Lizzy, how could you reject him like that the first time, when he was pouring (rather badly) his heart out?!

I have no idea how the source material is, but I found Mrs. Bennet insufferable and with (most likely) the most annoying voice on TV or film. And Lydia?! OMG! Is she like that in the book?! Because even for today her behaviour would be quite wild, even more so in the early 19th century. While Mr Darcy was enumerating the reasons why he thought a connection with Jane would be unwise, I couldn’t help but think how right he actually was… poor Elizabeth…

Also, was Jane really such a common name back then? 19th century is full of Janes… just saying…

But now that I’m finally watching the 2005 movie I can honestly say that Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen have a greater chemistry than Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, but hey, nothing is perfect.