Orange Is the New Black (Season One)

Complicated Sentences

This series, available only on Netflix, from the creator of Weeds, is an engaging take on life in a women's prison.  It explores the lives of several women who have committed crimes and have to pay the consequences for their actions.

The rich dialogue and character development are truly entertaining.  Jenji Kohan has once again created characters worth caring about.  Whether you agree with the meth addict's morals or the vanilla cupcake bisexual's motivations, you will be binge-watching this series to find out how each of these women develop over the course of the series.

The administration is not as developed as the inmates, but the story here is really about how each of the inmates got here and how they might live once they get out, if they ever do.  There are struggles, of course, as there are on the outside, and some of the inmates find that life on the outside is just too liberal.

Give it a watch if you have a chance.

Under the Dome (Book)

Encapsulated mayhem

 

 

From the beginning pages of this heavy tome to its conclusion, King delivers a masterful telling of how a small town might deal with isolation from all outside influences.

 

Sure, one might say, "Simpsons did it!" but King does it better.  His eloquent prose deliciously describes the relationships between man and beast and man and his fellow man.  He asks important questions that we should pay attention to and gives metaphors for our own individual and collective isolationism.

 

Is it good for us to isolate ourselves from outside influences?  What happens when we do?  What gets cut off?  or out?  What festers beneath our personal domes?  As a country, what happens when we isolate ourselves?

 

The small town of Chester's Mill is a microcosm that could represent any town or city in the country.  It has basic services and a cross-section of people present in most metropolises.  The interactions between the people could and would happen just about anywhere.  The paranoia and neuroses that King describes are all part of the human condition, and this book is worth at least one read.

Zoolander



Extremely Amusing

 



 

 

This movie was fun to watch over and over.  It is about dueling male models, one blonde and suave and one brunette and ditzy.  The dichotomies abound.  There are numerous laugh-out-loud moments, including the gas station scene, the walk-off, the super stealth computer disk stealing scene and when Mugato and Zoolander are looking at the model of the school Zoolander will eventually build.

 

Just sit back with a couple of friends and enjoy the ridiculousness that is Derek Zoolander.

Freaky Deaky

Bombastic

Life Is Beautiful

Amazing Family

So I Married an Axe Murderer

Sweet Nancy

This is Spinal Tap

Start of Greatness

Blow

Blown Away

Introduction

Hello fellow bloggers and readers of blog posts throughout the web,

This is just a short introductory blog to let you know what I will be writing about.  I hope you find it entertaining and amusing.  My goal here is to post my snapshot reviews of movies, books and tv shows I have actually seen or read in three words or less.  Usually, I will post a one- or two-word review, but I realize that it can take up to three words to accurately capture my completely subjective feelings about a movie, book or television show.

How am I qualified to do this?  I am an introvert/extrovert, according to the MBTI, for those of you out there who know what that is.  This means that I value my alone time, while I love to talk with others and experience and influence the world around me.  Therefore, I have read a lot of books, seen a lot of movies and watch a lot of television.  I read for pleasure, to know more about the human condition and to learn about other people's lives (through biographies and journalism).  I watch lots of different genres of television shows and movies, so my depth and breadth of knowledge is immense.  If you don't agree with my position on a particular piece, feel free to let me know.  I appreciate all comments.

If a film, book or television show particularly moved me in one way or another, I will write a longer review in a separate post.

Please feel free to contact me at trugrrrl@gmail.com with any questions or comments.

Peace and love,
Jules