So You Think You Can Watch As Much TV As Lindork?

August 29 2009.

I want to eventually end up in the entertainment media/journalism industry.

You know this by now.

As such, one could safely guess that I like(love) entertainment.

Thus today’s post is my listing of all the television shows I’ll be tuning into this Fall, both returning favourites as well as new shows that have caught my attention, along with their premiere dates and my thoughts on each show!

September 8: 90210 (The CW)
September 9: GLEE (Fox)
September 9: So You Think You Can Dance (Fox)
September 10: The Vampire Diaries (The CW)
September 10: Supernatural (The CW)
September 14: Gossip Girl (The CW)
September 14: One Tree Hill (The CW)
September 21: How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
September 21: Heroes (NBC)
September 21: Castle (ABC)
September 25: Dollhouse (Fox)
September 25: Smallville (The CW)
September 29: The Hills (MTV)

2010: LOST !!!!

Notes about these shows:

• 90210 – guilty pleasure really, it’s not that incredible a television series, but pretty cast (good guy eye candy), cute clothes and hairstyles, set in Southern California, where I’d eventually like to live and work, and the drama that we all love in our TV shows brings me back. I could do without Shenae Grimes though, I personally way preferred her on Degrassi than on 90210. She can’t act..





• GLEE – i am beyond words excited for this show! The pilot was so much fun! It was smart, funny, totally entertaining and produced such a great cover of Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ ! Plus rumors are circulating that SYTYCD Season 5 winner Jeanine Mason (who has publicly said multiple times that she’s interested in acting), may join the Glee cast!! Excitement.





• So You Think You Can Dance (Season 6) – Ha ha! Do I really need to say anything about my love for this show? If you don’t know how I feel about this show and the dancers and dance, this must be your first time to my blog. Admittedly I am kind of SYTYCD-drained out at this point and I worry that Season 6 being back-to-back with Season 5 will turn people off from it (myself included), there’s no way I’m not watching the show this season. Just no way. I hope to blog my thoughts and recap this season like I did last season, but whether or not it’s anymore of a regularly scheduled blogging than the last was, I can’t say given the amount of television shows I’m taking on to watch this Fall, as well as my school and other-life schedule!





• The Vampire Diaries – I know nothing about this show except that there are vampires in it and it’s based on a popular book series that I really want to read but haven’t gotten to yet. Well, I also know that the lead girl was a character in Degrassi (woo hoo for The CW taking in Canadians!) and that the two main vampires who appear in all the ads with her are gorgeous and have had roles in shows I’ve watched before. Anyway, this looks promising.





• Supernatural – I know that Supernatural is a great show and I love Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles but I have never actually sat down and watched the show for whatever reason. I’ve seen two episodes in total, I think. If it is humanly possible, however, I may try and catch up on all the seasons of it before the premiere date, and then finally tune in regularly to watch this season!





• Gossip Girl – Totally stoked for this to come back. Chuck and Blair are one of my favourite currently-on-TV couples right now and I am just bouncing in my seat anticipating their adorable scenes together (that will eventually lead to heartbreaking scenes because alas, there’s no way they’re going to be able to stay together… otherwise there’d be less drama and as written way above, we all love the drama). But I’m just as excited for those heartbreaking scenes that are to come! I’m iffy about Hilary Duff being on the show this season but we’ll see how it goes.





• One Tree Hill – Ah. This show used to be sooo good. Key word in that sentence: Used to. Sigh. I was ready for the show to wrap up last season (because I am a firm believer in ending something before everyone begins to hate it!) but here it is, back again. Regulars Chad Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton aren’t involved in this season and while some are distraught over that, I’m quite pleased. They were the least interesting characters with the least interesting plot last season, in my opinion, and Chad’s character had steadily been dropping on my favourite characters of the show meter since he continually professed his love for multiple women throughout the course of the series. He’s an I-Love-You Slut, basically, quoting Robin from HIMYM. Ha. I love Nathan and Haley but their grown-up stories are just not as interesting as their high school ones and honestly at this point I’m excited for the returning OTH season for this reason and this reason alone: Brooke & Julian are together. I was always Team Brooke, by the way.





• How I Met Your Mother – SQUEE!! Words cannot describe how excited I am for the return of HIMYM. Only exclamation marks and jumping up and down can truly show it. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (picture me jumping up and down excitedly) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This show brings me all kinds of joy and happiness. I love the entire cast and each character they play. I also read in this recent Neil Patrick Harris interview, that him, Jason Segel, and Josh Radnor were doing a Playboy photoshoot with a goat for the launch of the new HIMYM season and I just died laughing. I love them! Bwahaha. I am so excited for this show to return!!!





• Heroes – Okay, I know a lot of people have complaints about Heroes. Like, that it sucks. The writing is terrible. Etc. (I’m looking at you Ramin) But I don’t care! Superpowers and shows that feature people with superpowers have always been one of my weaknesses and no matter how terrible the writing may be (which it really isn’t all that bad anyway, I actually thought the dialogue and actor delivery for last season’s finale was fantastic!!!), I will still watch because it is entertaining and fun and it fascinates me seeing people fly and heal themselves and time travel and hurl Dragonball Z-like balls of power at one another. So yes. I am excited for the return of Heroes and if you’ve got something bad to say about it, just don’t!





• Castle - Nathan Fillion is fantastic (and Canadian! and not only is he Canadian, he is Edmontonian! Damn that’s awesome). Castle was a really pleasant surprise this past year. Though it seemed to randomly stop in the middle of its season (or maybe it had only gotten the OK for a few episodes? either way it didn’t feel like it was a full seasom…) I’m super happy that it’s back and that it wasn’t axed. This is a really well-written, well-acted show that I think is my outlet for crime-like television, since I’ve never really gotten hooked to CSI or Law & Order or whatever popular other crime-detective-like shows there are out there.





• Dollhouse – The fact that this show is even returning when everyone thought it was going to get the axe (not because it wasn’t good or anything, but because good shows being prematurely axed by Fox is something that happens, sadly *cough* Firefly *cough* Terminator *cough* Veronica Mars… Okay well Veronica Mars wasn’t with Fox anyway but I am still bitter that it got cancelled because MAN, THAT SHOW WAS GREAT), is a cause for celebration. I loved this show when it premiered last year. I totally love Eliza Dushku as an ass-kicking babe and get this, another favourite, ass-kicking babe, Summer Glau, is joining the show this season!!! Happiness!!! This slightly lessens the blow I still feel when I think about Fox canceling Terminator. UGH TERMINATOR WAS SUCH A GOOD SHOW! Anyway. If everyone from Terminator happened to guest star on Dollhouse this season, I wouldn’t mind that either.





• Smallville – I used to watch Smallville religiously before Lana got so irritating that I couldn’t stand to watch it anymore, thus missing the last two seasons. I hear however, that she is out of the picture now (at last! finally), so this new season premiering Sept. 25 may be the one that makes me resume my love for the show. Yay! I hope they start kicking up the Lois & Clark relationship up a notch. Also, I really think Justin Hartley (Oliver Queen a.k.a The Green Arrow) is delicious eye candy.





• The Hills – Haha okay maybe this is my guilty pleasure, not 90210. Yes I understand that this show is totally scripted and fake and not “reality” in the slightest. Yes I understand that the show is just mindless dramatics that make really unimportant issues in fairly unimportant people’s lives, important. Yes I know this is the show that unleashed Speidi on the world, God help us all. But… I love watching it. I love the drama (no matter how fake it is, lol). I love the pretty people! I love the music. And here’s something that I really do legitimately love about watching the show… I love that 50% of it is cuts of Los Angeles / Southern California scenery, outsides of restaurants, buildings and highways. This show really just adds to my yearning to live in La La land.





• LOST – Okay, LOST isn’t actually coming back until 2010 but I couldn’t have a television shows that I’m excited about blog post without mentioning LOST! That would be wrong. I am so excited for the final season of LOST. Each episode of this show blows my mind. Seriously. I think that my mind cannot be blown any further but then the next episode arrives and there goes my mind, blown yet again. And while I’m saddened that there won’t be anymore LOST after this season, this is the perfect example of what I was talking about in the One Tree Hill blurb – LOST is going to end before there’s any chance for people to get annoyed with it or think that it’s dragging on far too long, or before it gets to the point where it’s just not good anymore. Nope. LOST is going to end with such a brilliant bang and I am so excited!!!

The end!

Honestly when I was thinking about making this blog post while I was at work today, I was just thinking I’d list the shows and their premiere dates but as you can see, it turned into this. Ha ha.

So, which of these shows do you also watch? Do you agree with what any of the negative things I’ve written about any of the shows? Are you just as excited as I am?? What show that’s not on this list are you eagerly awaiting the return/premiere of?!

Honestly I don’t know how I’ll be able to watch all of these shows + school + run websites and blogs and etcetera but, I always seem to make it work.

Linda (:

Try Something New!

My friend Lisa and I have started a joint-blog called Try Something New!

http://community.livejournal.com/trysomething/

This is basically what the blog is about (and how the idea for it came about):

Life is short and then you die. But before you get to that, you should really live life to the fullest! (Okay, yes, that’s a cliche.. but you know, cliche’s are cliches for a reason!) Try Something New, is here so that two people (Linda and Lisa) can do and document things they’ve never done before, and hopefully through this doing and public documentation, inspire others to do as well! It started off in a conversation where the two of us had said we’d always wanted to try (something/anything/you fill in the blank), but we had never done it before. Why? Because we were too scared? Because we never had the opportunity to do it? Because we just didn’t have that extra little push of encouragement that we needed? Maybe one of those reasons or maybe all of them. That’s where the cliche comes in! Life is too short to hold back and not experience everything that can be experienced. It doesn’t have to be huge. We’re not going to hop on a plane and climb a mountain anytime soon, no. Let’s be realistic about this, haha. Even the littlest, ‘new’ thing, will make it onto this blog because the small gestures are just as important as the big ones. Maybe we’ll take a new route to that same place we go to every Tuesday. Or maybe we’ll go out with our hair done in a way we’ve always wanted to have it done, but never did before. Either way, we’ll be trying something new. Taking a little risk in life, and having fun while doing so. We hope that our posts about the new things we try will encourage others to do the same.

Let’s start a risk-taking, trying-something, revolution! ♥

So there you go! Another addition to my website/blog empire, LOL as if I don’t have enough. But I am really excited for this one because I don’t usually do joint things with anyone and I think what this particular blog represents and how it will encourage and inspire myself and my friend (and maybe you!) makes it pretty special! Plus it’s on Livejournal and the layout is absolutely ADORABLE in my opinion. Hehe. Please visit!

I just made the first trying-something-new post: HERE!

You don’t have to have a Livejournal account to comment on that blog!

(Also, if you’re wondering, the Try Something New blog isn’t going to be replacing this one!)

More post soon.

Linda

Andrew’s pretty unbeatable surprise!

July 21 2009.

This is Andrew & I on iChat several months ago!

My friend Andrew, who runs SYTYCDISM.COM, had told me a few days ago that he was going to sing me an original happy early birthday song via iChat video sometime this week before I leave on vacation. So he asked me what my schedule looked like this week and I told him my only available day it seemed would be Tuesday (today). He got back to me the next day with a specific Tuesday time, “Make sure you’re online so I can sing to you from at least 2:30pm to 4:00pm your time!” (Andrew lives in California, so he’s an hour behind me).

Anyway, so I had a lot of errands to do today and I ended up running late, so I told Andrew I’d be home and online by 3:00pm instead of 2:00pm, to which he replied, ‘You’ll regret that!’ (i didn’t really understand why I would regret it). Anyway, when I got home and got on, Andrew says “Hold on let me prepare” so I am getting ready to be blown away by an overly adorable inside-joke-riddled original birthday serenade, when the iChat video screen pops up and it shows Andrew in one window and then an empty room in another window. I say “Um, why is there two screens?” And Andrew says his friend wants to watch as he sings to me. In my head I am thinking that’s the weirdest thing ever. BUT THEN…

LADY GAGA STARTS PLAYING AND MARK JUMPS OUT!!!!!!!!

Surprise!!!!!!

If you don’t know, Mark Kanemura was my favourite dancer on So You Think You Can Dance last season. I also have a fansite of him: MK-O, which has a very active forum filled with awesome people who also loved and still love Mark!

Anyway, Andrew had concocted this entire lie about how he was going to write and sing me a birthday song when actually he had been plotting a big surprise video interview / chat with Mark! He called me a bad journalist for not having questions prepared spontaneously. RUDE. Lol but just kidding, not really rude. Basically Andrew is the best and along with Mark has given me thus far the most thoughtful birthday gift to date. (My birthday is on Sunday, by the way ) SO SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3

Here's the three-part giggly, fun-filled fest:

Andrew forgot to include his own audio when he was recording so unfortunately you can't hear anything he says!)

I swear I am more professional as an actual journalist than this but come on, I love the guy and the whole thing was hilarious. I’d much rather have this rocking-back laughter video with Mark than a serious one. Well actually I don’t think I could even do a serious on with him, hahaha. Too funny. <3

In terms of looking at this as an actual interview and what information was gathered, I would say a lot that would be of interest to the Mark / So You Think You Can Dance community! We learn about Mark's original audition, his living in L.A. as a dancer, opinion on SYTYCD judges , thoughts about Kupono's departure and which remaining dancers he likes, and more!

Fun times. Great surprise. Awesome day! Thank you Andrew & Mark!

Linda (:

This is what I’ll link people to when they ask me what I thought of Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince.

July 15 2009.

Disclaimer: I am a major fan of the Harry Potter books!!

So I went to the midnight Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince show last night (well, very early this morning technically, lol), and since then have been asked by a few people what I thought about it, and whether or not I liked it. I found that I couldn’t fully answer their question in just one sentence or one simple ‘yes or no’ or ‘I LOVED it’ or ‘I HATED it’ response, so I decided I would jot down my thoughts in the form of this blog post and direct people to it the next time they ask! Hehe.

Basically this is what I have been telling people:

The good:

• I loved Draco Malfoy scenes and thought Tom Felton did an excellent job. I thought the way Draco’s plan with the Vanishing Cabinet scenes progressed was great and well-done.
• I loved little Tom Riddle and teenage Tom Riddle scenes and thought those two actors did an excellent job. In fact all the pensieve scenes were top-notch.
• I loved Fred and George and liked the scene with their joke shop. I wish they had gotten more screen time/lines in this movie!
• I love Ron!!! Adorable. And his arms are quite nice in this movie as well. Lol.
• Staying on the superficial theme for one more bullet point, I think the actor who played Cormac McClaggen was totally cute too.
• I loved when Harry was on the Felix Felicis (Liquid Luck). Hilarious.
• Luna Lovegood was the best part of the last movie to me, and she carries on being awesome in this movie. I love her and I love the actress who plays her. Fantastically quirky and great delivery of lines. Plus she’s totally cute and when the lion was on her head I was LOL-ing.
• Dumbledore’s fire magic scene in the cave was awesome. Loved it.
• Ron and Hermione holding hands in the hospital bed. Super cute.
• There were actually quite a bit of laugh-out-loud scenes, so that was good.

The bad:

• Ginny Weasley.
• The actress who plays Ginny Weasley.
• Ginny and Harry’s super awkward “romance” scenes, both the body language and the dialogue and the delivery of the dialogue such as:
• Ginny saying Harry’s shoe is untied so she leans down to tie it for him. WTF?
• Ginny feeding food to Harry, and saying ‘Don’t you trust me?’ WTF?
• Ginny kissing Harry, then saying they can keep that kiss up there if he wants. WTF?
• Harry’s overall awkwardness as well.
• Hermione’s freakout with the poor birds.
• Ron staring at Lavender and somehow that is causing it to snow. Huh?
• Most of the acting, but I’ve never thought the acting in any of the Harry Potter films was too terrific.
• And the fact that they MADE UP a scene that was completely irrelevant and had no purpose and could have included an extra actual scene from the book instead of the pointless one that they did include.

Basically, I thought that the movie did a good job of telling the essential plot (the Horcruxes/getting the Death Eaters into Hogwarts, Dumbledore’s death, etc), but the cringe-worthiness of the extremely awkward relationship/romance scenes totally killed the movie for me. To me, Harry Potter films have never been movie brilliance and the acting has never been incredible. If I was watching the movies without any knowledge of the books, I would probably think the movies are terrible. Since I do read the books and love the books, I’ve always been super excited about watching the movies regardless of their suckery, same goes for this most recent one. It’s really exciting seeing books you’ve read translated onto the big screen.

I know that the movie got pretty good reviews though, and some people have been telling me they think it’s the best Harry Potter film to date. I don’t know if I’m just taking the awkwardness between Harry and Ginny more seriously than everyone else, but it really was just really awkward to watch and it’s the first thing I think of when I think about the movie now.

Still, it was the first midnight show I’ve ever attended and it was super dorky exciting to see people dressed up and carrying wands or robes or with lightning bolts drawn on their foreheads and the audience in the theatre I was in, all clapped and cheered when the movie began which is yes, super dorky, but I loved it! Despite some random and poorly-performed scenes/dialogue, it was still entertaining to watch and held my attention into the wee hours of early morning. Just, seriously… Ginny needs to go. I mean, not going to happen clearly (sigh), but oh my gosh she is so awkward. And I think if the movie avoided its romantic relationship focus, it would have been that much better. I also am quite sure they didn’t include a ton of great stuff that was from the book but it’s honestly been so long since I’ve read HBP that I can’t complain about that because I don’t remember what was left out really, lol. /slightHPfanfail.

And honestly, despite any disappointments I have for this film, I’m still sooooooo excited to see the remaining two!!! (Because the final book is being split into two separate movies let’s remember).

Also, I love the twinkly Harry Potter music in the opening. Always gets me so excited.

So, what did you think of the movie?

Linda (:

The show that will, starting tomorrow, consume and define the next 3 months of my life.

May 20 2009.

So You Think You Can Dance.

My #1 summer show. The show that will, starting tomorrow, consume and define the next 3 months of my life. Okay maybe that’s a bit dramatic but it’s very important for me to stress how much of my time, energy, and emotion goes towards this show each summer.

This show is responsible for the two fansites that I created and painstakingly (well maybe not painstakingly, again being a bit dramatic here) maintain – even after the show/season is long over. This show introduced me to, in my opinion, two of the most talented and inspiring dancers, well, ever. Travis Wall (Season 2) and Mark Kanemura (Season 4).

Travis Wall, Season 2.

I don’t dance. I mean, I have taken a few dance classes and I really wish I could be a better dancer, a good dancer, but while I don’t label myself as a dancer, I strongly insist that I am in love with dance and that I am in love with dancers. I love it. I love them. I love watching them. I’m moved, inspired, and impressed by dancers. By dance. I think what I absolutely love the most about So You Think You Can Dance, is that the dancers are just regular people. They’re just normal, regular people, trying to make it as a dancer. And this show is a wonderful platform for that, and for incredible pieces, art, movement to be brought to a national stage, weekly.

Mark Kanemura. Season 4.

It brings these regular people who are so passionate about what they do, into the living rooms of you and I. And they spark something in us, in me, in the thousands of viewers each week. To watch them grow, to watch them become even better each week. To watch them become household names and see them pushed hard, performing their hearts out. This show, the dancers, and the love I felt for it and them, made me find ways to vote for my favourite dancers each week despite the fact that I’m from Canada and it’s an American show that Canadians technically should not be allowed to participate in. (Is that cheating?) I was dedicated. I was obsessed. It was time consuming, but I loved it. I love it.

I’m what you would call the above-average SYTYCD viewer. There’s actually a lot of us. We are the ones that watch the show, go online, discuss, examine, theorize, search for video clips and pictures from the show, background information on the dancers, create graphics and fan-made montage videos dedicated to the dancers, defend the dancers, critique the choreography, the judges, look for signs of results-rigging and agenda-planning by the producers (it’s not paranoia, no reality television show is without interference from administration). And all of this takes us to the next week’s episode. We cry, we laugh, we get into bitter arguments and cry out exasperatedly about what should have or shouldn’t have happened in the past week’s episode. You know those Youtube clips that ‘infringe’ and get taken off the site all the time? We’re probably the ones who are putting them up. Providing videos of dances that others like ourselves, go online to try and find after seeing it performed on TV, because we NEED to see it again and again and again. That’s us. That’s me. Oh, and then you get the real crazies who even go as far as making fansites for the dancers.

People always ask how me how I have the time to invest in this show. People actually often ask how I have the time to do a lot of the stuff I do online. And my response is always the same. I make the time for it. I find the time for it because it’s important to me. <3

Anyway, as I've said. The show starts again tomorrow. Season 5. I was really disappointed with the winner last season (and a lot of obvious rigging and favouritism by the judges last season, but I won't get into that now..), but I have high hopes for this one!

And as for fansites for dancers like the ones I have for Travis and Mark, TW-O & MK-O, I’ve decided those 2 are it for me. The more I make, the less special the ones I already have are, you know? And I don’t want those two to be any less special in my eyes because they truly are incredible.

Also, I’m going to see if I can try to use this season to hone my entertainment/reality-TV writing. I’m thinking weekly blogs? I’m always totally jealous of the The Edmonton Sun’s Lindsey Ward for her sweet gig writing about reality shows each week!

Now I leave you with FOX’s official Season 5 preview:

( Mark is shown several times in the preview. )

Must-watch Summer movies! Here’s my list, what’s on yours?

April 26 2009.

Hey everyone!

So… I love movies. And, I watch the most movies during the summertime because, well, more free time = more movies I’m able to fit into my weekly schedule! Today I was reading the Edmonton Sun’s Sunday entertainment pullout and it had a four-page preview of summer movies!! I took a look through them all and selected the ones that piqued my interest, did a little bit more online research about the movies myself, and have come up with the following list:

(Yes this list starts with movies with April release dates because these ones came out this month and I still want/need to watch them!)

Release Date: April 17 2009

Movie: State of Play.
Starring: Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck.
What it’s about in 140 chars. or less (like a tweet ):
A thinky thriller involving an old-school styled Washington journalist trying to solve a murder entangled in political connections.
Why I want to see it: I love movies about journalists and journalism! Also, the cast alone guarantees a great film. Plus, you gotta love those thinky movies.
Official Site: www.stateofplaymovie.net | Trailer: State of Play Trailer

Movie: 17 Again.
Starring: Zac Efron, Matthew Perry.
What it’s about in 140 chars. or less (like a tweet ):
A man gets to be 17 again. In the form of Zac Efron. There’s dancing and life lessons and starting over and all that fun stuff.
Why I want to see it: I love Chandler. I love cutesy comedy movies like this. I loved Freaky Friday so the whole body switching thing is always a good topic for me, lol. Also, Zac Efron is pretty…
Official Site: www.17againmovie.com | Trailer: 17 Again Trailer

Release Date: April 24 2009

Movie: The Soloist.
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jamie Foxx.
What it’s about in 140 chars. or less (like a tweet ):
The story of how an LA Times columnist met a musician with schizophrenia, the friendship that grew & how music helped them both. TRUE STORY!
Why I want to see it: Because I loved the book. Because it’s based on two very real people and very real situations. Because Robert Downey Jr. is the man. And like State of Play, because I love movies about journalists and journalism!
Official Site: www.soloistmovie.com | Trailer: The Soloist Trailer

Release Date: May 1 2009

Movie: X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Taylor Kitsch, Ryan Reynolds.
What it’s about in 140 chars. or less (like a tweet ):
The story of how Wolverine came to be, his revenge on the man (Sabertooth) who killed his girlfriend, and other superhuman stuff.
Why I want to see it: I am a movies-based-on-comic-books nut. I love them! And I love movies where people have powers. Plus, I loved all of the X-Men movies and I loved Wolverine in them, so watching this is just a natural action. Plus Hugh Jackman is talented and yummy.
www.x-menorigins.com | Trailer: X-Men Origins: Wolverine Trailer

Release Date: May 8 2009

Movie: Star Trek.
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg.
What it’s about in 140 chars. or less (like a tweet ):
The early days of Kirk and his crew. Kirk deciding his life route and what not. *does Star Trek hand symbol*
Why I want to see it: I’m a dork, remember? But also, finding out that Zachary Quinto and Simon Pegg would be in the Star Trek remake months ago instantly made me add this to the list of Must Watch as they exude awesome. Plus the trailer movie looks epic and awesome.
Official Site: www.startrekmovie.com | Trailer: Star Trek Trailer

Release Date: May 15 2009

Movie: Angels & Demons.
Starring: Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor.
What it’s about in 140 chars. or less (like a tweet ):
A mystery thriller based on the popular book about a symbologist’s unraveling of an ancient society called the Illuminati and their secrets.
Why I want to see it: The book was amazing. I loved the Angels & Demons book way more than I loved The Da Vinci Code book (even though I did love that book. Movie, not so much). Tom Hank’s hair is horrifying to look at, but I like seeing my books translated on screen so I can’t miss this.
Official Site: www.angelsanddemons.com | Trailer: Angels & Demons Trailer

Release Date: May 21 2009

Movie: Terminator Salvation
Starring: Christian Bale.
What it’s about in 140 chars. or less (like a tweet ):
Set in 2018, John Connor is leading the resistance against Skynet when he discovers the secret behind the potential extermination of humans.
Why I want to see it: I love action movies. I loved the couple of episodes I watched of The Sarah Connor Chronicles. (I really should watch that entire show as I hear it is really, really amazing). But mostly my brother is in love with the Terminator story so its rubbed off on me as well. It really is fascinating and this should be a great movie. Plus I was never really a fan of Arnold in the other Terminators so I think Bale being the star of this one is a great change!
Official Site: www.terminatorsalvation.warnerbros.com | Trailer: Terminator Salvation Trailer

Release Date: May 22 2009

Movie: Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.
Starring: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Robin Williams.
What it’s about in 140 chars. or less (like a tweet ):
Museum models Jedediah and Octavius are accidentally shipped to the Smithsonian Institute so security guard Stiller breaks in to rescue them.
Why I want to see it: I thought the first Night at the Museum was GREAT! A pleasant, funny surprise. Sequels tend to suck though, so hopefully this one doesn’t.
Official Site: www.nightatthemuseummovie.com | Trailer: Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Trailer

Release Date: June 24 2009

Movie: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel.
What it’s about in 140 chars. or less (like a tweet ):
The Decepticons return to exact revenge upon Sam Witwicky and Optimus Prime, given the beatdown they got in the first movie.
Why I want to see it: Because the first one was freaking awesome. And as I said, I like action movies. I also love Shia LaBeouf (and to this day still can’t pronounce his last name or spell it properly on first try). But yeah, perhaps this word is overused but I feel this movie will be epic. Or can be epic.
Official Site: www.transformersmovie.com | Trailer: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Trailer

Release Date: July 1 2009

Movie: Public Enemies.
Starring: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale.
What it’s about in 140 chars. or less (like a tweet ):
Depp plays a notorious bankrobber during the the crime wave of the ’30s. Bale is part of FBI trying to take Depp and his gangsters down.
Why I want to see it: JOHNNY DEPP!!!!!!!!!!!!! Being badass and fabulous. Should be enough said.
Official Site: www.publicenemies.net | Trailer: Public Enemies

Release Date: July 15 2009

Movie: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson.
What it’s about in 140 chars. or less (like a tweet ):
Harry and Dumbledore go on a dark and dangerous journey to try and ensure He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is weakened enough to be defeated.
Why I want to see it: Um. Because the Harry Potter book series is easily one my most favourite and the most amazing set of books that have ever been bestowed upon the world. Granted, the movies are always a thousand notches less unimpressive than the books but as I wrote way above, I LOVE seeing my books translated on the big screen and seeing HP on screen is like Christmas. I hope Luna Lovegood has a lot of scenes because the girl who plays her does such a brilliant job!
Official Site: www.harrypotter.warnerbros.com | Trailer: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Release Date: July 17 2009

Movie: 500 Days of Summer.
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel.
What it’s about in 140 chars. or less (like a tweet ):
After being dumped by his girlfriend Summer, Tom, a hopeless romantic, reflects on his 500 days with her to see what went wrong.
Why I want to see it: HOW CUTE DOES THIS MOVIE LOOK? [go watch the trailer]. Now every single movie listed so far I knew about it before reading the Sun’s summer movie preview section, except THIS! My eyes would have just skimmed right over it if it hadn’t been for “Joseph Gordon-Levitt.” I love him! And here he is playing what I love about him most — an adorable dork. Anyway this will be REALLY cute. Fact.
Official Site: www.foxsearchlight.com | Trailer: 500 Days of Summer Trailer

Release Date: August 7 2009

Movie: When in Rome
Starring: Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Jon Heder
What it’s about in 140 chars. or less (like a tweet ):
Unlucky-in-love Beth flies to Rome for her sister’s wedding, steals some coins from a fountain of love, & gets chased by unimpressive men.
Why I want to see it: For the single fact alone… I am a HUGE fan of Kristin Bell. Ever since Veronica Mars I’ve been following her work. She’s a GREAT actress (even if some of her flick choices don’t really showcase her talents). If I had just read the synopsis for this alone without the knowledge that she was starring in it, I probably would have skipped right on over it but since she’s in it, I must support and see it!
Official Site: N/A. Check IMDB Profile instead | Featurette because trailer doesn’t exist yet?: When in Rome Featurette

Release Date: August 14 2009

Movie: The Time Traveler’s Wife
Starring: Rachel McAdams, Eric Bana.
What it’s about in 140 chars. or less (like a tweet ):
A love story about a man who has a genetic disorder causing him to travel through time unexpectedly, and his wife who must deal with it.
Why I want to see it: Damn. If I had read the book for this then I could have written the ’seeing my book translated onto the big screen’ reasoning but as I haven’t read this book yet (though I will for sure before it comes out), I can’t use that. BUT. I am SO in love with movies involving time travel!!! And I love Rachel McAdams and I think this will be a really cute movie and one of those book-to-movie ones that actually work.
Official Site: N/A. Check IMDB Profile instead | Fan-made Trailer because real trailer doesn’t exist yet?: The Time Traveler’s Wife Fan-Made Trailer

Other Movies I’ll Likely Watch:

• Up! ( Trailer ) May 29 2009.
  Will be visually awesome and cute and colourful.
• Year One ( Trailer ) June 19 2009.
  Michael Cera is adorable and this should get some chuckles out of me.
• Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs ( Trailer ) July 1 2009.
  Ice Age films are always fun to watch.
• G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra ( Trailer ) August 7 2009.
  Yum, Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, need I say more? Plus action and what not.
• Inglorious Basterds ( Trailer ) August 21 2009.
  I tend to radiate towards movies about Nazi-era Germany.

I was also TOTALLY disappointed that 2012, originally set to release this summer, has been pushed to November. Lame.

Anyway there are the movies that I’m excited to watch this summer!

I also plan on re-watching old favourite movies, and old movies that I’ve still yet to see as well!

So what about you? What movie(s) are you most excited to see this summer?

Also, side note: Imagine how awesome it would be to be paid to look up movies and movie trailers to put together a summer preview list! It would be AWESOME!! Kevin Williamson from the Sun definitely has a sweet job. He also got to interview Steve Lopez (author of The Soloist) last week when he wrote about The Soloist movie!! Suhweet.

Linda

Linda-Hoang.Com Version 2.0

April 17 2009.

Hi everyone!! I’ve updated/redesigned my personal website (/online portfolio). Please check it out below:

    My personal website/online portfolio / http://linda-hoang.com Version 2.0

( http://linda-hoang.com )

P.S. You might notice the main picture is one of the pictures I had used to submit to The Best Job in the World. I didn’t want it to go to waste!

Let’s start a handhugging revolution!!!

April 14 2009.

Hi everyone!

So the other day I came across a term that I’d never heard of before, that I thought I would share so everyone else knows about it too!

It’s called..

“HAND HUGGING”

I did a little step-by-step demonstration with my friend Margaret today to show how one goes about “hand hugging!”

So there it is, that is how you handhug.

Let’s start a hand hugging revolution!!

Also, I know some of you (or maybe I’m just flattering myself) are wondering what my plans are for the summer (or life in general, lol) now that my stint with the Best Job in the World is over, so stay tuned I’ll be writing up a big ~plan~ blog later this week.

Linda

What the heck does IMO mean, like SRSLY?

March 30 2009.

Lately I’ve been frequenting the ONTD Celebrity Blog on an overly-regular basis. Now one of the great things about ONTD is the users and their hilarious comments. I’ve become rather addicted to reading comments on the blog’s posts, I think in large part to the fact that they are usually witty, snarky, and are accompanied by one or several Internet slang acronyms.

I understood the basic ones, you know – LOL, WTF, ROFL, OMG, etc. But then I started seeing ones I’ve never ever seen before, ones like NGL, IDGAF, IDGI, etc. I’ve always considered myself Internet savvy and having a pretty good handle on Internet trends and what not, but here was a pile of acronyms that I had no clue the meaning of!! Was I getting too old? I’m only 19 for godsake..

Needless to say, I needed to learn what these “new” acronyms meant. What did that mean I had to do? No, not go out and buy one of those tween acronym Internet books.

What I did was enlist the help of a 15-year-old, Generation Y, really Internet savvy girl who could tell me what these strange words meant and help me compile a list of currently commonly used acronyms!

And that’s what the following is, my compilation of some current commonly used Internet slang. Compiled thanks to the assistance of the very helpful Kelly D. (with some input by a frequent ONTD-goer, Tanvi G.)

                                          Wondering WTF these letters mean?
                                                      Here’s your new guide!

The Basics:

LOL – laughing out loud
LMAO – laughing my ass off
ROFL – rolling on floor laughing
OMG – oh my god
WTF – what the eff
BRB – be right back
BTW – by the way
FYI – for your information
IMU – i miss you
ILU/ILY– i love you

What the “Basics” sounds like:

2 Letter Acronyms:

JK – just kidding
JC – just checking
H/O – hold on
DL – down low
OT – off topic
QT – cutie
BB – baby
TY – thank you
YW – you’re welcome
NP – no problem
WB – welcome back
W/E – whatever
W/O – without

What these 2 Letter Acronyms sound like:

3 Letter Acronyms:

IRL – in real life
NGL – not gonna lie
IDK – i don’t know
IDC – i don’t care
IKR – i know right
FML – eff my life
BBL – be back later
MTE – my thoughts exactly
IMO – in my opinion
AFK – away from keyboard
ASL – age sex location
BFF – best friends forever
TMI – too much information
TBH – to be honest
TBA – to be announced
TIA – thanks in advance
ETA – edited to add
FTW – for the win
FTL – for the lose
ATM – at the moment
BFD – big effing deal
SOL – shit outta luck
O I C – oh I see
SRS – serious
FWB – friends with benefits
AWK – awkward
ESP – especially
DEF – definitely
OBV – obviously
HDU – how dare you
ILH – i love him or i love her

What these 3 Letter acronyms sound like:

4 or More Letter Acronyms:

IDGI – I don’t get it
IJAF – it’s just a fact
STFU – shut the eff up
JSYK – just so you know
TTFN – ta ta for now
TTYL – talk to you later
TTYS – talk to you soon
AWOL – absent without leave / missing
SRSLY – seriously
BFFL – best friends for life (BIFFLE)
IDGAF – I don’t give a eff
AFAIK – as far as I know
BBSOL – be back sooner or later
IAWTC – I agree with this completely
ILYSM– I love you so much

What these 4 or More Letter acronyms sound like:

Some random Internet Slang:

LAWLS & LULS – variations of “lol”
LMAOSAURUS & ROFLCOPTER – variations of “lmao” and “rofl”
WEAKSAUCE & LAMESAUCE – that is weak, that is lame
OM NOM NOM – the sound one makes when they are eating something very fast or chomping

You can also add “f” (eff) to many acronyms such as LMFAO & OMFG.

What some of these random slang words sound like:

Basically these days an entire sentence that is understandable to the Internet public can be written with mostly acronyms!

Examples:

“LOL OMG THAT WAS SRSLY FTW LAWLS ILYSM and IAWTC NGL.“
Translation: (Haha) oh my god that was seriously for the win (haha) I love you so much and I agree with this completely, not gonna lie.

“JSYK IDGAF TBH that was TMI so just STFU IDC.“
Translation: Just so you know I don’t give a f*ck, to be honest that was too much information so just shut the f*ck up, I don’t care.

“ILU IMU LIKE SRSLY YOU’RE MY BFFL BB.“
Translation:I love you, i miss you, seriously you’re my best friend for life baby.

Of course no one would actually write an entire sentence with strictly acronyms (well I hope not anyway).

When I asked my dear 15-year-old friend (who is actually quite an intelligent individual, as are many of the individuals who post comments on ONTD using tons of acronyms) why she types in acronyms and purposely spells words incorrectly, she responded with this:

“I JUST LIKE TO LEAVE VOWELS OUT GOD IDK WHY COZ ITS QT!“

Hahaha! Of course, I’m really not judging because I like to use acronyms and spell things wrong on purpose in chats and messages as well. This post was just something I thought would be a helpful reference for myself and whoever else happens to google “What the heck does IMO mean?!!?” and more.

Let me know if there are any popular acronyms that you’ve seen being used around the interwebz that you think I should add to this list!

Also, only a few more days until the Top 10 of the Best Job in the World is announced! I’m becoming so very, very nervous. If TQ (Tourism Queensland) is going for geographical diversity with their Top 10 selections, than my chances are seriously shot because there’s so many candidates from Canada and all of us are could make it but they can’t choose a large number of us if they’re trying to maintain worldwide interest. Sigh! I’m trying to stay positive and crossing my fingers, praying, and all that good stuff though. Hopefully Thursday is a happy, happy day!

I am addicted to Twitter!

Hello everyone! So I felt really compelled to blog about my addiction to Twitter.

Now I have been addicted to many things over the years: Korean boybands that I couldn’t understand; making fan sites for dancers from So You Think You Can Dance; creating random and colorful graphics; California; raw fish (sashimi) and much, much more.

But Twitter. Boy, oh boy. Do I love Twitter.

10 Reasons why I love Twitter.

1. Maybe call me an attention whore, but constant updates answering the question “What are you doing?“, what am I thinking, feeling, watching (hello live tweeting during television shows!) — is absolutely appealing to me. I just love to tell people about myself and my life!

2. Reading what other people are doing, thinking, feeling, watching, and then interacting with them through the wonderful “@Replies”, totally interesting. To add onto that…

3. Communicating instantly with people either locally or anywhere in the world — in real time! This is so compelling to me. I mean I’ve always loved communicating with people in different places all over the world because I’ve always been something of a forum junkie, but Twitter-wise, I’ve become friends essentially with a TON of local Edmonton people who are all super smart, funny and friendly! Adding onto that…

4. Getting quick advice, help, and answers to your random questions! Twitter is SO great for that! You tweet a question, maybe properly hashtag (more on that below) it with a relevant location or word related to your question, and I guarantee you will get several @Replies back with tips and tricks or whatever it is you’re looking for! Great for feedback.

5. #Hashtags!! The #yeg hashtag as well as #hashtagging my tweets that are related to shows I’m watching while tweeting have connected me with a ton of interesting people! Hashtags are also extremely useful for reading news happening live at an event. For example, on Barack Obama’s Inauguration day, searching #inaug09 or #inauguration09 would give you a list of live tweets, updated every few seconds, from people all over the world discussing the inauguration and even tweets from people actually at the inauguration!

6. Okay I’m sure a lot of people start using Twitter for this very reason (I know I did, LOL) … Getting updates from celebrities who tweet!!!! Notably Ashton Kutcher, David Henrie, Ryan Seacrest, etc.

7. Following news outlets and journalists! This might just be because I’m in the field of journalism, but Twitter is ridiculously useful in terms of receiving Breaking News and well, just news in general. The New York Times, LA Times, locally with the Edmonton Journal and yes I will refer to this amazingly addictive celebrity blog as a “news outlet”: Oh No They Didn’t, are all on Twitter and I must say getting quick, 140 character updates from a variety of news organizations all to my Twitter homepage (which I am on ALL the time) — sooooo convenient.

It’s very interesting to follow the actual reporters/TV anchors from news outlets as well! I’m following a ton of local ones (Global Edmonton’s Lynda Steele, CTV Edmonton’s Carrie Doll, the Edmonton Journal’s Sandra Sperounes and more!)

With all these talks about how Twitter is changing journalism, it’s really fascinating to actually see journalists in action using Twitter to find an interview or tweet something that adds more personal depth to something they might have written or reported on.

8. The slang!!! Twitter has created a plethora of cute, catchy, and sometimes ridiculous twitter-related terms! Add “Twit” , “Tweet” or “Tw” to an already-existing word and you got yourself a new Twitter term, honestly. Real-life meet ups with people from Twitter are called “Tweetups“, people who use Twitter are called “Tweeple“, a “Twoosh” is an exact 140 character tweet, and the list goes on! Check out SiteMasher’s “Twittonary” for more Twitter-related terms and tools! (Seriously! Twittonary! LOL).

9. The power and potential of Twitter in terms of assisting non-profit organizations and raising money and/or awareness! From “TweetsGiving”, “Trick-or-Tweet”, “Tweet-a-thons”, and the biggest of all – Twestival – Twitter has been used to support various charity projects! I think Tweeple (haha!) are all super supportive and really interested in taking part in Twitter-based events and projects like these and it’s a great thing. Twitter, changing the world one Tweet at a time! Haha. I mean, Twestival alone raised $250,000 USD in a single day for charity: water for goshsake! Who knows what it could be used for in the future.

10. TWITTER IS FUN!!! And it’s pretty awesome to see more and more people now are giving it a shot and becoming just as addicted as I am!

And to that end, here’s an article I wrote about Edmonton’s “Twestival” back in February! “A Twitter of Activity!”

And because yes I want to tie every blog back to the Best Job in the World somehow (and if you didn’t notice it in that “twoosh” example up there, ha!) … I promise I will send daily updates to Twitter about all of my touristy adventures on the islands of the Great Barrier Reef if chosen as the Island Caretaker!!!

Linda