A Show You Hate

30 Days of Television - Day #5

This is no contest...

Seinfeld

I don't get it.

I don't like it.

I realize that a lot of people don't agree with me & it lasted a long time.

But there you have it.

I hate Seinfeld.

Favorite Show Ever

30 Days of Television - Day #4

Friends

This show has something for everyone. I believe it is literally perfection in a TV show.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I will always argue that this is one of the best shows ever on television. It's funny. It's dramatic. It's got lots of pop-culture references. It was a phenomenon. It's all-around fabulous.

Favorite New Show(s)

30 Days of Television - Day #3

Vampire Diaries

Stefan & Damon are great vampires! Not too cheesy, not too scary. I like Nina Dobrev. She's not annoying. I just really loved this show this season!! I can't wait for Season 2!

Life Unexpected

Something about this story really worked for me. I also love the name Lux. She's an orphan whose parents gave her up for adoption because they were in high school when she was born, but through a chain of events, she was never adopted & lived in foster care. She ends up requesting emancipation from her parents at the beginning of the show & it re-unites the family. I just think it's great TV. Really cute & it made me laugh & cry.

Cougar Town

Courteney Cox is back!!!! Finally in something I really love her in!!! I tried to watch Dirt, but it really freaked me out a little. This show, on the other hand, is absolutely hilarious! I love Busy Phillips & Dan Byrd & if any of you readers went to high school with me - can we talk about how much Josh Hopkins (Grayson) looks like David Toth in like 20 years?? I highly recommend you watch this if you enjoy laughter at all!

A Show You Wish More Were Watching

30 Days of Television - Day #2

Parenthood

This is really the only show I watch that I think could use more viewers. I really like the dynamics of everything. There is a single mom, a stay-at-home dad, a family with an autistic child & just lots of great storylines. I recommend it to anyone who is a parent or has been part of a family. That's all of you, in case you didn't notice. It's totally worth watching!!

A Show That Should Never Have Been Canceled

30 Days of Television - Day #1

It is ridiculously hard for me to pick one show for almost any of these topics in the 30 Days of Television  meme, so I'm going to be okay with choosing a few. Here are my shows that I think never should have been canceled:

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

I love Matthew Perry. I thought this show was funny & I really liked the chemistry between him & Sarah Paulson. I was really disappointed when this was canceled. It was very similar to 30 Rock - based around a sketch comedy show similar to Saturday Night Live, but instead of being fully comedy, it had a little drama & romance. I thought it was so great!

The Black Donnellys

This show was about four brothers in New York. Two of them ended up killing one of the heads of organized crime in New York & subsequently got really involved in that whole world. It had Olivia Wilde in it & I just thought it was fun & awesome.

Samantha Who?

Christina Applegate was fabulous in this! It was so funny! I also loved Jennifer Esposito & Barry Watson, but my favorite was probably Melissa McCarthy. She is so cute & funny! She's going to be in the new show Mike & Molly, but I wish she was still able to be on Samantha Who.

New Fall Shows I'm Adding to My DVR

The Event

Initially I wasn't interested in this at all, but once I got through the entire preview for the show on the website, I was totally hooked! I'm excited about it!! For some reason, it reminds me of Lost.

No Ordinary Family

You know I watch most things with Buffy people in them, so knowing Julie Benz was in this gave it a leg up - the trailer did the rest. I think Michael Chiklis seems great for this part!

Raising Hope

I laughed about 10 times when I was watching the trailer. I think it's probably because I just had a baby, but I think this looks like it's worth a watch!

Hellcats

I am only watching this because it's a CW show & I feel like I should give it a shot. I think it may only last an episode or 2 on my DVR.

$#*! My Dad Says

Love the Twitter. Love William Shatner. Definitely watching the show.

Nikita

Another CW show I'm giving a shot. We'll see...

Mr. Sunshine

Matthew Perry in a new show. I'm there. No explanation needed. This one is a mid-season start.

Happy Endings

I love Elisha Cuthbert & I love Casey Wilson from SNL. The trailer made me laugh, so I think it's worth watching!  This one is also starting mid-season.

Off the Map

I just think this one looks interesting, but I don't have super high hopes for it becoming a regular, but maybe!

[All images used from the official websites of the shows. Please click the links!]

Sunscreen...

OMG do you remember this???

And this one??


Wow that takes me back...

Breaking Dawn...again

Since I only read it once before & I've read the others at least 3 times each, I'm reading Breaking Dawn again. I like it better this time because I know what's coming. I remember I HATED the middle part of the book the first time I read it!! Eclipse has just reignited my Twilight obsession!

Movie Review: Eclipse

Twilight and Breaking Dawn Movie

Maybe it was the new director, maybe it was Bryce Dallas Howard as Victoria, maybe it was that after the first 2 I was just used to them being bad that anything better would seem like major improvement, but I absolutely LOVED Eclipse! I loved that it was a little more dark & scary vampires rather than cheesy & stupid vampires without being completely violent & disgusting vampires (like True Blood which I can't handle). I liked that it showed the back stories of Jasper & Rosalie without being all smoky & grainy like the other movies. I liked that their eyes were distinctly red, brown or black, but normal looking & not crazy like New Moon & not too subtle like Twilight. I guess I've gotten used to the bad acting, too because it didn't bother me - although I was still aware of it. The wigs were still bad & Kristen Stewart still just makes me feel generally awkward & embarrassed. But overall I really really loved it & for the first time after seeing a Twilight Saga movie, I left the theater feeling really excited!

So way to go David Slade & cast. I definitely recommend this one.

(Although I still think you HAVE to read the books before seeing the movies because even though I liked this one, it was nothing in comparison to the books.)

What did you think of it?

This was copied from a post on my Ingenue Mom blog! 

Please check that one out when you get a chance!!

Ocean Power: A New Era in Energy

Guest Post by Marcus Reyes

The month of June marks World Environment Day and World Ocean Day, two environmentally conscious days whose main purpose is to spread awareness of environmental issues taking place in today's world. However, a black cloud hangs over this year's events as 42,000 gallons of oil a day# gushes into the Gulf of Mexico after the Deep Horizon oilrig exploded and sank on April 20, 2010. This oil spill is one of, if not the biggest natural disaster that America has had to deal with and it shows that the time is now to invest, innovate, and utilize specific renewable energy technologies that can reduce our dependency on oil consumption and preserve our environment.

In 1999, assessments# showed that Americans consumed 25 percent of the world's oil production, but held less than 3 percent. In 2009, statistics showed that Americans consumed approximately 23% of the world oil production. It is hard to believe that with all of the new changes in energy efficiency and renewable energy technology that has been created and recognized over the last decade that more significant changes in oil dependency has not been achieved. Without more policy that demands the utilization of innovative renewable energy technology and the implementation of energy conservation measures, the country will not be able to steer itself away from oil dependency. This means continued relationships with unreliable foreign sources of oil (threatening our national security), more drilling along our coasts, (threatening our natural habitats and wildlife), and more chances for disasters to occur like the one currently in the Gulf, (ultimately threatening our economy and our way of life).

Ironically, the reduction of oil dependency and enhanced protection of the world's oceans is vital not only to the sustainability of the planet, but also for the preservation of one of our greatest resources of renewable energy that could help solve the energy problem. In essence, we must utilize the very thing we are destroying in order to save ourselves. More specifically, in order to avoid disasters like the Gulf oil spill and save our oceans we must harness the renewable power of…our oceans. (This reminds me of the 1997 quote by our worry free friend Austin Powers, “Allow myself to introduce… myself”. If only we had listened then, perhaps we’d be singing a different tune now.)

On a positive note, today there are some organizations and initiatives that target oceanic and marine wildlife preservation. One organization that is trying to connect different groups under the banner of oceanic renewable energy is the Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition. The OREC is a national trade association that is "dedicated to promoting marine and hydrokinetic energy technologies from clean, renewable ocean resources." They incorporate over 40 members, all of which work towards these same goals by coming up with ideas and innovations that help build these technologies and put them to realistic use. In fact, some of these organizations are literally "turning the tide" when it comes to renewable energy by using the known green technique of harnessing ocean waves and currents to produce energy:

• 
  
  Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) is a group that was founded in order to find solutions that could harness the energy that comes from the world's oceans. One way that OPT is doing this is via their PowerBuoy 40# that acts as a "wave energy converter" while submerged. As it bobs in the ocean it works a hydraulic pump that drives a generator that produces up to 40 kilowatts of electricity, which then can be sent to shore via an underwater cable. The electricity that comes from just one clean and safe PowerBuoy 40 has the capability to produce enough power for 20 to 25 homes.

• 
  
   The Ocean Renewable Power Company (ORPC) works on breakthrough technologies and environmentally safe projects that use the ocean to produce renewable and clean energy. One of these projects is installing power systems all along the Gulf Stream's ocean currents (which has 21,000 times the energy of Niagara Falls). With the constant flow of the Gulf Stream, if ORPC harnesses just 1/1000 of the Gulf's renewable energy that would still be enough to power up to 7 million homes.
  
  

Wave power technology, while underused, has been a known technology, for years. However, a future green application that can boost renewable energy is not the ocean itself, but rather something that can be found within the ocean. Algae sources are considerably new renewable energy options within the ocean that have many believing them to be "the ultimate in renewable energy"#.

Half of algae's weight is based off of oil, which can be made into bio-fuel that could be used on anything from cars to airplanes. Considering that there over 65,000 known algae species this could potentially be a big time future energy source.

Yet, renewable energy from the ocean is only one step towards sustainability. Energy must be used more efficiently. Individual behavior needs to change and become more environmentally conscious. Overconsumption is becoming a big problem in the United States and the unwillingness to give up that way of life is feeding our current dependency on crude oil. Specifically, opting for bigger and better in the auto industry means big engines, lots of horse power and less fuel economy. Recently, we’ve seen a larger effort by auto manufacturers to deliver hybrid and fully electric vehicles. It is up to the consumer to make the decision to purchase these vehicles and drive demand, pushing manufacturers to produce, compete, and continuously innovate.

In 2007, the U.S. depended on crude oil to meet 39% of the total energy demand with the majority of it (45%) feeding the transportation sector in the form of finished motor gasoline#. It is frustrating to see that with new technology coming out all the time, that as of 2010, approximately 46% (nearly the same amount) of U.S. petroleum consumption is used for finished motor gasoline. If we eliminate the use of petroleum based vehicles and get them running on renewable energy, we could curb nearly half of our petroleum demand. In order to do so, we would need to generate 20% of our total energy demand from other sources (more, actually, because all renewable energy sources are not strictly dedicated to supplying the transportation sector).

In 2007, hydroelectric power supplied only 2.5% of our energy demand#. Renewable sources combined provided only 6.7%. As of July 2009, approximately half the states in the U.S. still had no electric vehicle charging stations#. The other half had less than 10 throughout the entire state with the exception of California, which has become a pioneer in electric vehicle support, supplying over 400 charging stations. Oregon is the runner up with less than 50 (big gap). Therefore, an infrastructure made up of fully electric vehicles# recharged by electricity that comes from renewable sources will require a complete overhaul of consumer behavior/demand, manufacturer supply, and energy policy.

Building structures that would also use the oceans (amongst others) renewable energy must be built properly in order to not be wasteful. If buildings are not consciously created to maintain energy and preserve resources then utilizing renewable sources from the ocean becomes a redundant endeavor (as old buildings become less efficient, we waste more energy, etc). This is why it's important that buildings and neighborhoods are developed around the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System#.

According to US Green Building Council, 39% of energy use comes from buildings in the United States alone, but with LEED certified buildings these numbers can allow renewable energy from the ocean to actually have a chance of succeeding and being applicable in the real world. This is why so many companies like Globetrotters Engineering Corporation# (a Chicago based architecture company founded by Niranjan Shah# known for building many LEED certified buildings), Wells Fargo (which built an office tower that is not only LEED approved but saves up to 5 million kWh a year), and Kubala-Washatko Architects & Boldt Construction (which actually built the first ever LEED-platinum certified, carbon neutral building#) all incorporate LEED standards into their designs.

Since the inception of LEED certification, it took several years for the first building to reach platinum certification. Now, it is something that architects strive for. For many projects government incentives are available for businesses that reach LEED certification. Niranjan Shah#, realized that the LEED benchmark is the future of architecture and that creating structures that benefit from renewable energy just makes common sense. Hopefully, in upcoming years we’ll see LEED platinum certification become the standard.

After the oil spill in the Gulf it's clear to see that now, more than ever, protecting our oceans stands for something much greater. By saving our oceans, we are making a commitment to the preservation of our natural resources, our wildlife, and our humanity. Through the promise and development of a sustainable, renewable energy future, we can follow a new path which will redefine the meaning of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Written by Marcus Reyes

Marcus Reyes studied public policy with a focus on energy research and environmental sustainability. He is an advocate of clean energy technology and contributes written work to the blogosphere related to energy conservation and environmental preservation.

Currently Watching...

The Karate Kid, Part III

Yep, I'm that cool.

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Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

Thanks to this lovely list from BuzzSugar, I've set up my summer reading list!! I'm beginning with Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin! I love it when you get hooked quickly & this one was definitely like that! By the end of Chapter 1, I was all about it - couldn't put it down! I'm already almost halfway through & I'm on Day 2 of reading!!

Have you read it?
Any thoughts?
Suggestions of books like it?

Ingenue Mom

Sorry for the shortage of posts on here! I'm setting up my Ingenue Mom blog!! I do fully intend on keeping up with both of these, but I'm having a little trouble balancing right now with all the new things I'm doing over there!!

Check it out!!! Please subscribe!!

Lea Michele @ The Tony Awards!!

Image Source: JustJared - Check out his 2010 Tony Awards posts!

I have never watched the Tony Awards & I must say my first experience with them on Sunday was just magical!! I loved everything about it, but my absolute favorite was when Lea Michele sang "Don't Rain on My Parade" from Funny Girl!! So awesome!!!

I also loved it that Scarlett Johansson won an award! I think she's great! And her & Ryan Reynolds are just adorable!!

I also must say that I think it's weird that Green Day has a Broadway show. It seemed...strange...like it didn't somehow fit. I dunno, maybe it's just me.

What was your favorite part of the Tony Awards??

GLEE!!!!!

Yes, I'm late jumping on this train, but wow. This is just the best thing ever!!! I'm only on episode 8 or so, but I giggle & smile & get all giddy & laugh out loud & just totally love every thing about it!! I love Will & Emma & Rachel & Finn & Kurt & just all of them! Seriously, if you aren't watching this already, check it out!!!

Tori & Dean Home Sweet Hollywood

I have not really been a big fan of reality TV. Well, I like shows like American Idol where people are competing for something and I like shows like Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution where there is an actual purpose. But with the exception of the original seasons of The Real World on MTV or a few episodes of Newlyweds (Nick & Jessica), I've never really loved the shows that are just following around some people who really have no reason to be followed.

But I have a confession...

I really like Tori & Dean Home Sweet Hollywood!!! I don't know what it is, but I watch it every time it's on TV!! I even started DVRing it the other day!! So funny. I feel like my friend Tina would be proud.

Finales!!!

Image Source

Ah I'm so sad the season finales are all over!! I wish TV shows were year-round!

Georgina is pregnant! Jen is pregnant! Haley is pregnant! Meredith WAS pregnant! Charles & Reed died! Clay & Quinn were shot! Chuck was shot! Katherine is back! Sheldon possibly found his match! Julian and Brooke are engaged! House and Cuddy are getting together!!!

And that doesn't even include any of the craziness that was the Finale event of Lost!!

It's just too much!! I can't wait until the fall!! I am currently missing Vampire Diaries the most & super excited for it to come back in the fall. Which show are you going to miss the most this summer?

Fall TV Schedules!

All the TV stations have been announcing their fall schedules this week. They have finally all been announced & I am EXCITED! Lots of new shows I'm interested in! And all my favorites were picked up to return in the fall! I love it!!

ABC Fall Schedule
Castle, Modern Family, Cougar Town & Grey's Anatomy are all returning!

CBS Fall Schedule
How I Met Your Mother & The Big Bang Theory both returning!

FOX Fall Schedule
House, Glee & Bones all returning!

NBC Fall Schedule
Parenthood returns for Season 2!

CW Fall Schedule
One Tree Hill returns for Season 8! Life Unexpected & The Vampire Diaries return for Season 2!

New Fall Shows!!

These are the ones I'm really interested in! See a full list of the new shows coming this fall at Entertainment Weekly!

NBC:
Love Bites
-I'm mildly interested in this one. Mainly because it has Becki Newton from Ugly Betty in it and it is produced by the writer-producer of Sex and the City!

Fox:
Running Wilde
-This one is produced by the creator of Arrested Development. It stars Will Arnett from Arrested Development and Keri Russell.

CBS:
$#*! My Dad Says
-I have followed the guy on Twitter for a while now & I love it that they're making a show! I don't think there's any way it wouldn't be hilarious!!

ABC:
No Ordinary Family
-I follow Julie Benz on Twitter & since I give anything with a Buffy or Friends alum a shot, I've got to at least try it out!

Better Together
-It's got the girl from Privileged in it. It's about 2 sisters & their dating relationships. I dunno, seems like something I'd like.

Happy Endings
-Starring Elisha Cuthbert - she breaks up with her fiance at the altar & the show is about the effect it has on their friends & family. Sounds interesting. I'll give it a shot.

Mr. Sunshine
-Starring Matthew Perry. Any further explanation needed?

My Generation
-Documentary-style. Tracks the life of former high schoolers. Interesting.

Off the Map
-New medical drama produced by Shonda Rimes (of Grey's Anatomy & Private Practice). I think her reputation speaks for itself.