There is love and then there is LOVE...

"Boy meets girl" is my favorite kind of story. Add in "boy and girl can't be together until they save the world or the universe", and you have a really fun ride with romance, a lot of action with everything and everyone at at risk.

Two of the best such high stakes series are both from the SyFy Channel.

 HAVEN, comes out of the brain of Stephen King, not so much the horror side of his brain, but more the odd, unusual and disconcerting side, where the residence of Haven, a sea side fishing hamlet in Maine are conflicted with "troubles" in bad times, such as being stalked by their now alive taxidermy animals or the whole community being affected by their stormy moods...

and the only one who can save them is Audrey Parker,or Lucy Ripley or Sarah, all played by Emily Rose
(ER, JERICHO) ...

The true "Haven Saver" has had many identities over the years and  each has had a great lover that has fought along side her but  in the end had to let her go back to where she came to end the troubles, until now, when Nathan Wuornos, a local cop, played by Lucas Bryant, in his first starring role...

decides not to let Audrey go, sending Haven and the world spinning, all in the name of love.

Now in its fourth season, Colin Ferguson (EUREKA) has joined the cast to stir things up a little bit more, claiming he is actually Audrey's true love and she is not really the "savior" everyone thinks she is.

In the name of love, also defines the now completed SyFy series, FARSCAPE...

A Buck Rogers-esque story..

In this take of the classic comic strip, John Crichton, testing a new maneuver, is slingshot from our galaxy to one far, far away and a whole lot weirder, often defying and reinventing the laws of physics and convention and  Crichton often making references to BAYWATCH, BUFFY and classic movies such as HARVEY...

Coming out of the mind of Rockne S. Bannon, the series came to realization thanks to the Jim Henson Company, creator of THE MUPPETS, his son Brian a producer on the show with two of the main character being basically puppets...

Like HAVEN, FARSCAPE centers on the love between Crichton and Aeryn Sun, a peacekeeper deserter who in the first episode, Crichton inspires to "be more". It takes about three episodes for the two to "fall" for each other, but then will be kept apart through four season by well...aliens, warring factions and a worm hole weapon of mass destruction that everybody knows resides deep inside Crighton's head, along with his black leather version of "Harvey". 

Yes, FARSCAPE  is that weird and yes, you either love it or hate it, much like HAVEN. Both shows are asking you to suspend your understanding of the universe as you know it. 

Right now you can view the whole series of FARSCAPE on hulu.com...

and on tor.com you can read episode commentaries with a lot of pics,  by FARCAPE expert, Scott K. Andrews.

HAVEN is also available on hulu.com, but it is delayed a few weeks in the episodes you can view. You can catch a few current epido on the SyFy Channel's HAVEN website , along with pictures and behind the scene stuff. Seasons 1-3 are available on netflix.com Like I do often, not good at waiting, I bought HAVEN season 4 on amazon.com and now get the current episode right after it airs. 

The Missing Link: Dsylexia and Creativity

October was Dyslexia Awareness Month and HBO featured the documentary, THE BIG PICTURE: RETHINKING DYSLEXIA, on the much misunderstood learning disability.

The film was directed and  produced by the son of Robert Redford, James Redford, and features the journey from high school into college of his son, Dylan, along with the journeys of many others now excelling in their lives and fields, despite their early struggles with the learning disability, including Charles Schwab, the investor, who has set up a foundation for kids with dyslexia  and Richard Branson...

creator of Virgin Records and a few other enterprises

THE BIG PICTURE: RETHINKING DSYLEXIA, screened at the 2012 Sundance Film Fest, not only features the struggles of Dyslexics and their families, it also gets into the science of this different learning style with interviews by Drs. Sally and Bennett Shaywitz, co-directors of the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, who discuss how advancements in brain imagery has brought to light  the " hidden disability" and illuminated  the other side of the coin- Dsylexics also have strentghs such as  "higher critical thinking and creativity".

Having the disability myself, I know the battle of starting out in the "parking lot" of dyslexia and having to run to catch up with my peers who were already on the track when it came to learning and reading.

I survived school solely  by finding creative ways to learn and finding  refuge in the Arts- Visual Art, Music and Theater are not filler activities, they are much needed for the 1 in 5 students, according to the documentary, who has some degree of dyslexia- it can be moderate to severe.

Like many in the film, it was not my school who gave me the diagnosis. I was just told I had a learning disability and made to walk on a balance beam, in the Resource Room, apparently I am not the only one subjected to such things as a kid.
I diagnosed myself, in college, while studying for my Art emphasis of  Child Development and Education Psychology, but I didn't find that answer in my textbooks, nope, I read an article in a gossip magazine, on...

Tom Cruise.

 

And guessing on the years I was in college, it probably was this movie...

 

COCKTAIL (1988), that was being prompted...

 

I could probably show you where I was sitting in the college library, dyslexics have a strong memory recall of such things, but instead of studying I was reading People Magazine when I found out Tom Cruise was dyslexic and read quite a detailed paragraph on how he mixed up his letters, didn't know right from left, had a hard time reading. There was enough there that the bell went off and I then went looking for some info in the books surrounding me, but back in the late 80's, there wasn't much even in the Education Department. 

 

I brought the idea up to my Educational Psychology professor, who cut me off, declaring that Dyslexia was only a difficulty in reading, nothing more, emphasizing his point by writing the word on the board with his chalk.

 

Twenty years later, researchers like the Shaywitzs are now declaring  something different and new technology in brain scanning is proving the new ideas have some validity- that dyslexics learn and process information differently and that while dyslexia is most certainly a disability to overcome, there is some pluses to the negatives like being able to think 3 dimensionally, ability to notice patterns and commonalities  and having a strong internal narrative that sends those with dyslexia to fields in the Arts, but there are also many a lawyer and writer that has dyslexia.

 

And now today, there are many, who had to deal with the stigma of being lazy or deficient as kids while they literally reinventing the wheel to learn, who are standing up and sharing their stories- I am glad to do the same if it brings some light and helps a kid, today, not have to walk a balance beam or get a big R and L written in marker on their hands and drilled, thinking that more practice is all we, dyslexic need to learn.   

 



And you are "defiantly....defiantly"...

to quote from another of Tom Cruise's movies...

 

 reading this blog- ON POPCORN AND MOVIES: THE CONNECTION BETWEEN CINEMA AND CULTURE.....because I have dyslexia and have weirdly noticed  patterns and commonalites in T.V. , in film and cinema's connection to our culture for years and have been entertaining my friends and family... or annoying them. I was an Internet Movie Data Base, (imdb.com) before there was one.

 

Interestingly, one theory and there are many, discussed in the book, The Dyslexic Advantage...

 

 

Is that Dyslexia is the opposite of Autism...

 

An Autistic brain, with its own interesting sets of talents, like counting all the toothpicks on the floor or raking it up in Las Vegas, has tightly packed mini columns of sensors, where dyslexics have loose min columns of sensors, with the ability to make long connections across the brain. Autistics focus on each tree, Dyslexics see the big picture, the forests, the other side of the planet but have a hard time finding the tree.

 

if you are interested...

 

HBO's page for THE BIG PICTURE, RETHINKING DYSLEXIA,

( which airs again in December and the page has links to other resources)

 

THE BIG PICTURE: RETHINKING DYSLEXIA's home page

 

Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity

 

and you can rent or buy THE BIG PICTURE: RETHINKING DYSLEXIA on amazon.com

 

 

 

 

A GRIMM prediction...

The new season of GRIMM, Fridays on NBC, is into its second week and is still largely stitching up...

story lines from last season, but also setting up new interesting one for this season. Thank goodness, but also irrigating-ly, lots of questions are still unresolved- keys, coins, Royals in Europe with great concern for what is happening in Portland and are we going to see Nick's bad ass mother again, who is played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio...

Kevin Costner's Maid Marian in ROBIN HOOD:PRINCE OF THEIVES back in 1991...

Back to GRIMM, I've watched the two first episodes several times,  peering into my crystal ball and making my own prediction of where this "modern fairytale is going.

The "real" Nick, played by  David Giuntoli, is still in Portland, saved by the gang...

 

 

thwarting  the Royals attempt to "bag" their own Grimm, but can the "Town Crier" actually proclaim, "All is Well..."?

It seems, with how many times all action on the screen stopped to make sure we, the viewer,  heard ...

"The Zombie infection works differently on a Grimm"

 

And it did,  wearing off too soon in the plane, to the demise of the Baron and Nick needing two doses of the antidote.

I think we have not seen the last Zombie in Portland. Nick's altered state  might  be the running theme for this first part of the season, like Juliette being poisoned in Season 2.

Now the questions is, if Nick is not entirely cured of being a "walking dead," what does that mean?

Thinking about it, seem to me, it could go two ways. Nick, like Peter Parker, bitten by a spider...

 

might have added abilities, like him being able to  hear from a far, after the "whole bugs in his eyes" episode, yuck!

But not sure how many actual zombie characteristics will prove to be beneficial,  unless he needs to travel  the distance of the sea bed and breathing is inconvenient, like the sentient zombies...

in Disney's PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN

 

It seems more likely for Nick...

having a certain amount of zombie organism, alive and well inside him, will prove to be somewhat of a hindrance...

Perhaps a Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde sort of hindrance?

 

Because in an episodic series there always has to be something keeping those who love each other apart...

Believe me if I am right, I will declare it from the rafters.....if I am wrong, I probably won't mention it again, that's how I roll!

The Fairy Tales Are Back...

 

It is Fall and it is not only the season of golden trees, apple cider, candy corn and wood fires it is also finally the season for new shows and new seasons on Network Televison and all the shows this year seem to be fairytales.... well the shows I watch that is.

 ABC Studio's ONCE UPON A TIME, in its 3rd season is off to the "second star on the right"  and on to Neverland, in search of new story lines, having played out the original concept of fairytale characters stuck in a time and place warp, the first two seasons.
Now, Snow White, Prince Charming and the Evil Queen having other things on their minds have joined forces with Hook and soon the likes of Sleeping Beauty, Milan and well, Robin Hood. Quite a mix of genres, I'd say.
Well, ABC is in kahoots with Disney, so why not, and apparently the brain storming session of possible "mash ups" between beloved characters from the Disney vault could not be contained to just one T.V. show this Fall,  so now we have ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND....

Alice, the Ginny, yup, it's another  lost love....apparently.

 

Over on the CW, it only took one season for its fairy tale series- BEAUTY AND THE BEAST...

 

 

 to have the same problem as ONCE UPON A TIME, the first season's story line, of a somewhat out of control Beast, a.k.a. Vincent,  to help the Beauty, Catherine, a police detective, solve crimes and keep Vincent from the evil scientist who made him. Since that storyline is pretty well  played out, the series has gone for the classic "redo".....Amnesia! New bad guys and well, new Vincent, no longer in the shadows and scared, but now stylish and working for the bad guys, the new improved bad guys. Will Catherine get through to his heart.......again!

 

Not really a fairy tale, but it does have a handsome guy who can shoot a bow and a sexy love is CW ARROW...

 

Okay, of all the shows mentioned so far, though ARROW, based on the comic book from the 1940's, is by far the best, having seemed to put a little bit more "meat" into its storyline and characters. There is still plenty of unanswered questions, especially from the "pre-qual" storyline of Oliver's time on the island. I find myself mad at the writers for how little they give away in the flashbacks and wait anguishly for Thursday when Arrow will be on Hulu Plus, sometims watching it first thing in the morning with my tea. Yup, no access for network TV for me, my hubby wanted to try something different for awhile, no Satellite.

 

Of course I'm still waiting, and annoyed, that at NBC, GRIMM's...

new season will not start until October 25th.  

 

In its 3rd season, there is a little "mash up" going on, no longer is Nick and his team after the monsters from classic European fairytales, nope, now it's...

 

zombies!

Sundays- ONCE UPON A TIME, on ABC

Mondays- BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, on the CW

No fairy tales on Tuesdays- but the new season of SONS OF ANARCHY is on the FX, see my review of past seasons HERE, no endorsements of new season until I see it.

Wednesdays - ARROW, on the CW,

Thursdays- ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND,  on ABC

Fridays- GRIMM on NBC

 

All the above shows can also be watched on their websites or at hulu.com

 

 

 

 

Here's another suggestion, Hollywood: THE PHILADELPHIA STORY



It accorded to me, that if "new material" is too scary for the bankers of Tinsel Town and they will not budge from either squeezing the last bit out of a empty franchise or have to regurgate, a.k.a., remake a rather recent movie, thinking that the second time things might be different. How about going back farther then a few years or a few decades to the golden age of Hollywood Studio films?

Yesterday I was watching theWarners Brothers musical film, 42nd Street..

 

 

An over the top story of the plight of getting a broadway musical off the ground during the Great Depression and the rise of a new star...

 

 

and the falling of another...

 

 

I started to do the math and made in 1933, all the actors, the dancers the crew, well, they are probably all dead or in their 90's!

At first that just creeped me out, watching Busby Berkeley's amazing choreography of spinning dancers with proxide blonde pin curls and tiny costumes doing high kicks and creating a tunnel for the camera...

 

But then I watched THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, starring Katharine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant. Made in 1940, the stars are all gone as well, but the story is classic. Hepburn is a East Coast socialite...

 

getting ready for her second marriage, her first was to Grant, that has been in South America for the last two years, but comes back, with a plan to usurp the wedding...

 

that involves Stewart, a writer/reporter for a tabloid that wants the dish on the socialite wedding and has some family blackmail to get it...

 

What follows is classic Grant-esque wizardry, played against Stewarts drawl and Hepburn's ice queen...

 

Here is a story line that is still entertaining seventy three years ago and well, could be redone and be more fresh then what Hollywood is offering right now. Please take my suggestion, or I might write it up myself and go pitch it to someone!