Rent This: Action Movies

It’s feeling like winter these days, dark, cold and occasionally rainy. All I want to do is stay inside cuddled up watching movies or reading a book. I thought I would share some movies I enjoyed for those of you that are feeling the same. As I have said before, I love a good big budget, totally ridiculous action movie. They are great for getting your adrenaline up while you sit down having a snack.

Super 8: This feels like a classic action adventure movie, not too violent or scary and driven by a cast of characters you come to care about. The movie follows a group of kids who witness a train crash while filming a zombie movie in their small town. Strange events begin to happen following the train crash and the kids can’t help but be involved in the investigation. There are some startling parts but overall, it felt like a movie with heart.

Fast Five: If you love fast cars, chase scenes, beautiful scenery, strong men, and a familiar plot, this is the movie for you. Like the previous Fast and the Furious movies, they are out to do a simple job where no one gets hurt that ends with them having to perform an even larger job to rescue someone or right some wrong. You will be cheering for the bad-ish (heart of gold, criminals who only steal from people who can afford it) guys to win over the DEA agents trying to stop them and you can’t help but admire beautiful Rio de Janeiro.

Thor: A Norse god is sent to earth to learn humility after nearly bringing his people to war with a rival planet. Thor has incredible action and beautiful scenes in space. Kenneth Branagh directs and you can definitely feel that someone has thought how to create drama within the core action story. It’s hard to feel very connected to the characters but it’s still an enjoyable movie and good back story for the forthcoming Avengers movie.

Gratitude

I don’t want to let a week go by without a post but I am thoroughly worn about by a week of traveling and hostessing so I am just going to make a little listicle of things I am grateful for.

Amazing fall days in Northern California (See photographic evidence)

Thanksgiving with family, old friend and new friends

The return of Mrs. Meyers Limited Edition Orange Clove scented candle

New casserole pans from Crate and Barrel for more entertaining options

Thanksgiving leftovers transformed into turkey potato pancakes

These are just a few things I am thinking about today, I am not sure how I would even begin to list all the things I am grateful for. I had a great trip to Seattle and Portland earlier this week and will do a travel post about my favorite things in both cities. I am grateful to have many wonderful friends and family all over the world. I am so happy to be just days away from my personal start to the holiday season, breaking out the Bing Crosby Christmas record and baking away.

Thanks for reading!

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)

I have some of the most amazing girlfriends to ever exist in the history of time and space. They are funny, smart, beautiful, interesting, silly and not afraid to have a dance party anywhere in the world. There are many days where I wish I could lasso all of them, buy a small town and start a community of my favorite people. I would totally invite Mindy Kaling to live in this new utopian community. She would fit in super well since she has all the characteristics mentioned above, not to mention as a bonus her love of Beyonce, reasonably priced fashion accessories, beauty shortcuts and her fun anecdotes about celebrities.

I just finished her first book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me, and I felt the same sort of joy and wistfulness I feel after spending an afternoon with a friend I know I won’t get to see again right away. The book is heartfelt, truthful, awkward in a funny way and had me laughing out loud inappropriately on public transit. The book starts with stories of Mindy’s childhood as the beloved, chubby, nerdy child of highly achieving immigrant parents. She finds her passion for acting and comedy at Dartmouth where theatre is in the top five things to do in the small college town. She then tries to conquer New York with her college best friends and a lot of confidence but struggles through entry level jobs before she ends up finding success in a two person play that she writes with her best friend. The buzz from the play brings her out to L.A. where she still struggles but finds her way to The Office. There are plenty of breaks in the narration of Mindy’s story to address important issues like best friend rules, the two products men need to look good and what is a good level of success to achieve.

It’s an extremely enjoyable quick read that everyone should buy immediately.

Mindy is out doing tons of press for the book so if I didn’t convince you, watch her talk about being mistaken as Sanjay Gupta on The Daily Show, listen to her talk diets with NPR, get interviewed by her bestie and keep up on other coverage on her blog or check out some other info I collected about her last month.

Conan O'Brien Can't/Won't Stop

As I mentioned previously, I have developed a recent interest in the battle for late night supremacy, particularly in the trials and tribulations of Conan O’Brien. I can never switch my eleven pm loyalty from The Daily Show but I really appreciate Conan’s sense of humor, his self-deprecation and his interview style of seeming vaguely uncomfortable with the role he has been given. Of all the late night hosts you get the sense that he is the most surprised that he has somehow ended up spending every evening talking to celebrities and a portion of the country.

When Conan left NBC and was prohibited from appearing on TV for a certain number of days, he chose to go out on tour rather than take a prolonged vacation. This tour is documented in Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop (streaming now on Netflix). Watching the documentary you start to feel exhausted from the manic energy that Conan is running on. It’s clear the NBC debacle was a very difficult time in his life and he is exorcising his demons through this tour. It is fascinating and unnerving to watch such a brilliant mind work out his issues in front of thousands of people. Conan is funny, vulnerable, extremely loyal to his staff, gracious to his fans (often posing for hundreds of photos following an exhausting show) and generally comes across as a great guy in a less than ideal situation.

I have the Team Coco App on my phone which allows me to watch highlights of his shows from celebrity interviews to stand-up comedy to comedy sketches. You can also see all of it on the Team Coco website or you could actually watch the show nightly at 11 pm on TBS. Here are some of my personal Coco highlights.

Amazing show starting with an interview with the ultimate 80s sex symbol, Tom Selleck and then getting vaguely inappropriate with nice girl Julianne Hough (don’t worry Tom, I know you weren’t trying to be inappropriate…just referring back to an earlier joke)

Conan is the best or worst pedi-cab driver in New York…depending on which customer you ask

Conan and Andy Richter are the best/most hilarious friends in late night and they have a little pre-show fight

Will Arnett puts together a promo for Conan’s show

Stand-Ups: The inappropriately adorable Amy Schumer, awkwardly witty Joe Mande, drunk yet cuddly Kyle Kinane

Not sure if I have mentioned Marc Maron (kidding, I am clearly obsessed)but here is your chance to learn more about him as he catches up with Conan in January and July.

America in Primetime

A new mini-series combines two of my favorite things, popular television and PBS documentaries. America in Primetime (Sundays at 8pm on PBS) examines the history of primetime television through the lens of the following classic archetypes: Independent Woman, Man of the House, Misfit and Crusader. The first installment was on the Independent Woman. It began by looking closely at the different types of independent women on the Good Wife, showing that the independent woman is not necessarily a good girl or a bad girl but rather someone who pursues what she wants without feeling the need to completely conform herself to society’s expectations. The series looks back at independent women through the history of television from I Love Lucy to Murphy Brown to Roseanne to Sex and the City to Grey’s Anatomy and too many others to mention. In each era of television women were working against different stereotypes of what a woman should be and what would be acceptable to show on television.
The documentary uses a mix of archival footage of shows, advertisements, and current interviews with actors and show creators to show how the archetypes, and television in general, have changed over time. While an hour isn’t quite enough time to get to all the shows that you love (and may even focus on some shows you don’t care for), it’s a fun hour and will remind you of shows you have loved and tell you more about the thought process behind the creative minds in television. I am looking forward to seeing the exploration of the man of the house tonight.

Read additional reviews from NPR and The Onion. Find out when the series is playing in your area.