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February 2011 – Page 2 – Pop Culture Nerd
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February 2011

Pop Culture Purge

I have this habit where I’ll read something on the Internet and react by shouting at my computer as if it can hear me. Sometimes I’ll come to the dinner table and start rambling at my husband. Mr. PCN finally said, “Why don’t you put your thoughts in a post so I don’t have to listen to them anymore?” The word “crazy” (pronounced as three syllables: cruh-AY-zee) might have been used but I don’t remember.

So, here’s my first pop culture purge, where I just throw out random thoughts I had this week about the entertainment I consumed or read about. If you all don’t find it too strange, I might do it again next week. My husband would be thrilled.

  • Javier Bardem is in talks to play the next Bond villain. Assuming he signs on, I hope producers will give him a memorable role like Jaws or Oddjob, not a lame one like Le Chiffre, who just sits around playing cards and bleeding from his eyes. Oooh, that’s sooo intimidating. But what makes a bad guy memorable? Why does Alfred Molina only have about 5 minutes in Raiders of the Lost Ark but we all remember him as the guy who yelled, “Throw me the idol!”?
  • Grey’s Anatomy this week had doctors live-tweeting a difficult surgical procedure. But aren’t cellphones banned in hospitals due to interference with machines? Lexie was tweeting right in the OR and I kept expecting one of the monitors to fail mid-surgery.
  • Loved this bit from last night’s 30 Rock episode. Jack (Alec Baldwin) was pitching a TV prototype to his new Kabletown boss (Ken Howard). The TV was voice-activated so viewers would no longer need remote controls. Problem was, it was a little too sensitive and responded to everyone’s command, including actors on TV. After his boss walked out, Jack muttered, “Crap.” Behind him, the TV switched over to Keeping up with the Kardashians. Haha! Also loved when Liz gave Jack sex advice and said, “Sometimes ladies like to keep their blazers on.” Oh, and Brian Williams needs his own sitcom. So what if he already does the news at NBC? He’s hilarious every time he pops up on Rock. Ryan Seacrest has 17 jobs; so can Williams.
  • Colin Firth has chosen his follow-up to his sure-to-be-Oscar-winning role in The King’s Speech: a remake of a Michael Caine movie called Gambit which will co-star…Cameron Diaz. Seriously? Because Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet, Rachel McAdams, and all other superior actresses are busy? I don’t think Diaz is the worst out there, but when’s the last time she made a really good movie?
  • Though this week’s American Idol auditions took place in L.A., the judges kept saying, “You’re going to Hollywood!” Shouldn’t they just say, “You’re going up the street!”?

What pop culture tidbits occupied your mind this week? Got hot Super Bowl plans?

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Book and Movie Poster Giveaway: Michael Connelly’s THE LINCOLN LAWYER

Michael Connelly’s The Lincoln Lawyer is coming to the big screen March 18, 2011 and the generous folks at Hachette are letting me give away five copies of the tie-in paperbacks with Matthew McConaughey, who plays Mickey Haller, on the cover. Each winner will also get a copy of the movie poster.

Lincoln Lawyer is a tight legal thriller that introduces Haller, who has gone on to be a popular character in other Connelly novels, including ones with Harry Bosch. If you haven’t read any of the books, here’s the description:

This #1 bestselling legal thriller from Michael Connelly is a stunning display of novelistic mastery – as human, as gripping, and as whiplash-surprising as any novel yet from the writer Publishers Weekly has called “today’s Dostoevsky of crime literature.”

Mickey Haller is a Lincoln Lawyer, a criminal defense attorney who operates out of the backseat of his Lincoln Town Car, traveling between the far-flung courthouses of Los Angeles to defend clients of every kind. Bikers, con artists, drunk drivers, drug dealers – they’re all on Mickey Haller’s client list. For him, the law is rarely about guilt or innocence, it’s about negotiation and manipulation. Sometimes it’s even about justice.

A Beverly Hills playboy arrested for attacking a woman he picked up in a bar chooses Haller to defend him, and Mickey has his first high-paying client in years. It is a defense attorney’s dream, what they call a franchise case. And as the evidence stacks up, Haller comes to believe this may be the easiest case of his career. Then someone close to him is murdered and Haller discovers that his search for innocence has brought him face-to-face with evil as pure as a flame. To escape without being burned, he must deploy every tactic, feint, and instinct in his arsenal – this time to save his own life.

Besides McConaughey, the movie’s stellar cast includes Marisa Tomei, Ryan Phillippe, William H. Macy and John Leguizamo.

To enter:

  • be a subscriber, Twitter follower, or Facebook fan (no, I’m not trying to bump up my numbers; I just want to give something back to those who support this site in some way)
  • leave a comment about what kind of business you’d have if you had to run it out of your car
  • have a U.S. or Canada address (or someone with same who would forward you the books)

Giveaway ends next Thursday Feb. 10 at 5 p.m. PST. Winners will be randomly selected then announced here, on Facebook and Twitter. I won’t be notifying you personally so please check back to see if you’ve won. Any prize(s) not claimed within 48 hours will be given to alternate winner(s).

Let’s hear what you’d do in the backseat of your car!

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