tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450Sat, 30 Jan 2010 19:22:28 +0000Movie, Book, and TV Reviews for Common Folk, by Common Folkhttp://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/index.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis West)Blogger145125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-7008733579343247917Sat, 30 Jan 2010 19:07:00 +00002010-01-30T11:22:28.436-08:00Title: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie SocietyAuthor: Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie BarrowsWhy I Read This: A friend told me she was reading it for her book club. The title was interesting (what is a potato peel pie?)Short Summary: "January 1946: Writer Juliet Ashton receives a letter from a stranger, a founding member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. And so begins a http://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2010/01/book-review-guernsey-literary-and.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Wimzie Prints)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-3847044912051141451Sat, 05 Sep 2009 19:02:00 +00002009-09-05T12:30:47.386-07:00Guest judge Max Azria perfectly summed up this weeks episode when he said, "If you are not a team player you cannot be a designer."The challenge this week was to design a fun and fashionable surf wear look infused with each designer's point of view. The catch was that they had to work in teams of two to create one look. They were given a $50 budget and 15 minutes to shop.Half way through the http://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/09/project-runway-season-6-episode-3.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Wimzie Prints)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-1618396191544069714Sat, 05 Sep 2009 08:28:00 +00002009-09-05T01:39:11.988-07:00By Dennis Westreviewmovie"It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing."In the early 1990s there was a popular resurgence of swing music. Many bands like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Cherry Poppin' Daddies, and Squirrel Nut Zippers quickly became famous and many young people learned how much of a thrill Swing dancing could be.With such resurgence of Swing popularity, it only makes sense that Hollywood would attempt to http://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/09/retro-movie-review-swing-kids.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis West)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-9147736598311493627Sat, 29 Aug 2009 04:39:00 +00002009-08-28T21:57:25.707-07:00This weeks challenge was especially interesting to me. The designers were asked to create an elegant look for Rebecca Romijn, who just happened to be pregnant with twins. They were given $100 and two days to create the look. As a recently pregnant woman, I was intrigued to see what they would come up with.Highlights included the winner, Shirin Askari, who created a beautiful burgundy dress with ahttp://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/08/project-runway-season-6-episode-2.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Wimzie Prints)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-2390229300699796780Sat, 29 Aug 2009 04:04:00 +00002009-08-28T21:37:01.445-07:00vI have been counting down the days to the new season of Project Runway. I've been a huge fan since the first season, but was especially anxious this year because it was filmed at my Alma Matter, The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles.The first challenge did not disappoint. Each of the contestants were asked to design a Hollywood Red Carpet look that reflected their http://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/08/project-runway-season-6-episode-1.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Wimzie Prints)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-6878267209334779847Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:17:00 +00002009-08-20T13:26:26.722-07:00Title: My Family and Other AnimalsAuthor: Gerald DurrellWhy I Read This: I found it in a box of old books at my mom's house and I loved the whimsical cover art and witty title.Short Summary: A nostalgic account of Gerry's youthful hobby of zoology, his crazy family and the interesting characters he meets on the Greek island of Corfu. Since this book is a narrative about an actual zoologists' http://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/08/book-review-my-family-and-other-animals.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Wimzie Prints)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-4641243285363575969Wed, 20 May 2009 04:54:00 +00002009-05-19T22:04:35.504-07:00American IdolFoxLast week I developed a theory that was proven true for last week’s vote. Basically I believe that Adam Lambert won’t have the universal appeal to make him win the competition, but that both Kris and Danny were similar enough that they would split the fan base and one of those two would be eliminated. Then my theory continues that whichever of Danny or Kris that remained from the vote last week http://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/05/american-idol-final-2-adam-lambert-vs.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis West)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-2734674351975133827Wed, 29 Apr 2009 04:46:00 +00002009-04-28T21:49:27.676-07:00American IdolFoxTonight’s American Idol on Fox focused on songs from The Rat Pack and the Big Band Era. This theme always bugs me a little because they always keep the songs in the original genre. The problem with this is that the big band sound most definitely isn’t going to be the kind of music they’ll perform once their career starts, so it’s not a very good gauge of what they will record once they are http://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/04/american-idol-final-5-songs-from-rat.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis West)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-379224281326866760Thu, 23 Apr 2009 04:59:00 +00002009-04-22T22:08:50.548-07:00American IdolFoxThanks to Matt Giraud’s save last week, tonight’s American Idol on Fox came complete with two eliminations and David Archuleta. After over 45 million votes, here’s how it played out.Tonight’s filler material started out with a video that showed Paula Abdul choreographing the contestants for their group song. I actually found this a little more interesting that I thought I would. It was nice to http://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/04/american-idol-final-7-double.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis West)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-5612246607945096363Wed, 22 Apr 2009 05:33:00 +00002009-04-21T22:45:12.547-07:00American IdolFoxTonight’s American Idol on Fox had a traditional theme that is usually quite a challenge for vocal and dance competitions alike, and that is Disco. The missing element of tonight’s show was that there was no mentor to coach the contestants in their song choices. Either someone had a head cold or the producers are trying to keep the masses from revolting by ensuring that they don’t go overtime http://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/04/american-idol-final-7-take-two.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis West)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-1882424849706906150Thu, 16 Apr 2009 07:03:00 +00002009-04-16T08:04:32.038-07:00LostABCBy Dennis West"Let's face it... the Ewoks suck, dude."Ok, I have a confession to make. When it was revealed that the main characters on ABC’s Lost were sent back in time to 1977, one of the first thoughts that came to my mind was, “Hey! That’s the year Star Wars came out in the theaters!” So tonight's scenes that featured Hurley (Jorge Garcia) scribbling in his Dharma Initiative composition notebook his own http://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/04/tv-review-lost-some-like-it-hoth.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis West)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-3659210511017265538Thu, 16 Apr 2009 05:07:00 +00002009-04-15T22:19:24.653-07:00American IdolBy Dennis WestFoxIt’s results night on American Idol and even though they could just come out and tell us who’s going home, they have to stretch it out into an hour long show with tons of hype and made-up drama with a couple of guest performers thrown into the mix.The show opened with the group singing Michael Sembello’s “Maniac” from the 1983 movie, Flashdance. Of all the music from movies, I wouldn’t have http://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/04/american-idol-final-7-results-show.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis West)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-995174760371283159Wed, 15 Apr 2009 06:15:00 +00002009-04-14T23:31:02.437-07:00American IdolBy Dennis WestFoxContestants Perform Songs of the CinemaOn tonight’s American Idol on Fox, the contestants consulted with Quentin Tarantino to pick out songs from the big screen to perform.Allison Iraheta started off the night singing Aerosmith’s “I Don't Want to Miss a Thing” which was featured in the Bruce Willis movie, Armageddon. With a very subdued beginning she took her time really getting into the mood http://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/04/american-idol-final-7.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis West)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-8955587529202477949Tue, 14 Apr 2009 06:57:00 +00002009-04-14T00:11:09.042-07:00By Dennis WestNBCHeroesNOTE: Watch out for spoilers with a bad mood.In tonight’s episode of Heroes on NBC, “1961,” Angela Petrelli takes her family on a trip down memory lane, and in the process, reveals to us how the idea for the original “Company” came to be. During Angela’s flashbacks, we see how she and her sister Alice were taken to an internment camp where Monhinder’s father, Chandra Suresh was researching peoplehttp://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/04/tv-review-heroes-1961.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis West)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-21155684645376508Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:24:00 +00002009-04-11T11:00:03.333-07:00By Dennis WestParks and RecreationNBCThe OfficeWhen NBC decided to take a British show called The Office and make an American version of it, they took the script from the British pilot and almost remade it word for word. For every character, there was an American counterpart. For every joke, it was either retold verbatim or it was rewritten for American sensibilities. The success or failure of the pilot for the American version of The Office http://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/04/tv-review-parks-and-recreation.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis West)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-656803398929159059Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:33:00 +00002009-04-09T15:50:45.011-07:00LostABCBy Dennis West“As long as the dead guy says there’s a reason, then I guess everything’s gonna be just peachy.”In last night’s episode of ABC’s Lost, “Dead is Dead,” we abandoned the story of the Oceanic survivor’s escapades in the Dharma of the past, and focused on Ben’s story where he professed to be on a mission to pay the Smoke Monster a visit to atone for his sins. I say “professed” because I never had thehttp://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/04/tv-review-lost-dead-is-dead.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis West)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-9181397511322042108Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:04:00 +00002009-04-09T11:51:41.568-07:00American IdolBy Bryan OsbornFoxWell, two out of three isn’t bad. With yesterday’s review I estimated that it would be Scott, Lil, and Kris in the bottom 3, but America surprised me by sending Anoop to the bottom. With Seacrest’s usual cruel shenanigans, he led Matt Giraud on and then mercilessly let him sit back down. With the few that were left, it was obvious that the bottom 3 would be rounded out with Lil and the new piano http://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/04/american-idol-final-8-results-show.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Bryan Osborn)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-5848304742523445166Wed, 08 Apr 2009 08:13:00 +00002009-04-08T09:19:24.505-07:00American IdolBy Bryan OsbornFoxArg, why can't American Idol ever end on time. I finally had to set my Tivo to record a few minutes longer. Tonight I totally missed the last singer, Adam, which I wouldn't have been sad about, if I wasn't going to review the show. I finally found it on the computer and watched though.The theme for the night was songs from the year the contestants were born. Wow, another fat topic giving the http://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/04/american-idol-final-8.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Bryan Osborn)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-5730366074317814578Thu, 02 Apr 2009 07:06:00 +00002009-04-02T00:23:26.024-07:00LostABCBy Dennis WestBeing a fan of Science Fiction, you’d think that I’d love stories about time travel, when actually the opposite is true. I’m frequently frustrated when I’m brought through a series challenges and triumphs that the characters are experiencing and something happens to the timeline and everything they had experienced is suddenly wiped away and nobody’s the wiser.You often see stories like that in http://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/04/tv-review-lost-whatever-happened.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis West)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-6710231709224409973Thu, 02 Apr 2009 04:37:00 +00002009-04-01T22:06:49.516-07:00American IdolBy Dennis WestFoxLet me start by sharing my opinion about something that I’ve heard people say over the years about American Idol and how more people vote for this show than people vote for the President. Well, let me just throw my 2¢ in the ring by saying that you can only vote for President of the United States once, but I know there are many people who gang up and vote multiple times for their favorites.Well, http://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/04/american-idol-final-9-results-show.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis West)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-8983397031268687279Thu, 02 Apr 2009 03:18:00 +00002009-04-01T20:27:36.101-07:00American IdolBy Dennis WestFoxOk, so this is a belated review of American Idol, but I had a big project to work on so I didn’t get to watch it until tonight. Thank goodness for Tivo. Anyway, on with the show!If it wasn’t obvious that American Idol is heavily sponsored by iTunes, it was made sure by last night’s theme of anything that can be downloaded from iTunes, which is virtually anything. So what would you pick if you http://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/04/american-idol-final-9.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis West)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-8928909325617633361Sat, 28 Mar 2009 05:26:00 +00002009-03-28T09:30:48.178-07:00By Dennis WestDreamworksreviewmovie“This place has been X-filed, wrapped in a cover up, and deep fried in a paranoid conspiracy.”I laughed pretty hard when I saw the first trailer for Monsters vs. Aliens from Dreamworks so I was expecting an extremely funny movie. While there were quite a few laughs in it, I think that this movie has a lot more heart and story than I was expecting.The movie begins on Susan Murphy’s (voiced by http://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/03/movie-review-monsters-vs-aliens.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis West)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-5300823404641722358Fri, 27 Mar 2009 05:29:00 +00002009-03-26T22:40:37.172-07:00American IdolBy Dennis WestFoxThrills! Chills! Surprise Endings! And Romance! All on tonight’s exciting results show on Fox’s smash hit American Idol!Ok, so it wasn’t all that exciting, but after a lot of manufactured tension and suspense, and a measly little 36 million votes, here are the results.The finalists opened tonight’s show with a Medley of Motown songs which was followed up by a performance by American Idol Season 2http://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/03/american-idol-final-10-results-show.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis West)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-4561707349733419141Thu, 26 Mar 2009 07:52:00 +00002009-03-26T01:08:51.415-07:00LostABCBy Dennis West“A 12-year-old Ben Linus brought me a chicken salad sandwich. How do you think I’m doing?”Beware of Spoilers!Tonight’s episode of Lost on ABC started with a flashback that showed Sayid when he was a child doing what his older brother was unwilling to do—kill a chicken. It seems like the message we were to get from this was that he is willing to do what it takes to get things done no matter how http://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/03/tv-review-lost-hes-our-you.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis West)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22816450.post-3697869860380781650Thu, 26 Mar 2009 05:40:00 +00002009-03-26T01:05:49.620-07:00American IdolFoxAnother week, another American Idol on Fox. This week’s theme was The Songs of Motown—something that has become a recurring theme in every season of Idol so. In my opinion, the best thing that a contestant can do is change a song into something different enough from the original so they can’t be accused of sounding karaoke. If they sing it too much like the original, the best they can do is http://www.groundlings-review.com/blog/2009/03/american-idol-final-10.aspnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis West)6