Pop Culture Nerd – Page 54 – Pop Culture Nerd

TV Review: NIKITA

For months now, giant billboards of Maggie Q in slinky outfits have been decorating the streets of L.A., trumpeting the arrival of a not-quite-new badass. When the latest reboot of La Femme Nikita finally premiered Thursday night, it had about as much depth as its advertising campaign.

Maggie Q stars as the titular character, now a lone wolf seeking revenge on the Division, the shady government agency that plucked her out of jail and trained her to be an assassin. Meanwhile, Lyndsy Fonseca is Nikita Jr., a drug addict named Alex who gets caught during a robbery, charged with a murder she didn’t commit and recruited by the Division. The premiere episode cuts back and forth between Nikita trying to find the organization’s weak spots and Alex adjusting to her new situation as a trainee, with some asskicking and Q in sleek outfits thrown in.

The problem was I didn’t find any of the lead actors convincing. Fonseca has a soft, apple-pie healthiness that doesn’t translate into a Ukrainian meth head. She’d snarl and try to give ‘tude but comes across as posing. Shane West, as the Division recruiter/handler Michael, overacts with his cheesy chewing of every line, none of which held any conviction. He wants to be intimidating but I ain’t buying it.

Q is harder to pin down. She has an iciness befitting a killer but it also makes her inaccessible. In the original Luc Besson movie, Anne Parillaud was allowed to be vulnerable and fierce, sometimes wiping away tears while blowing away bad guys. Q’s Nikita is all glacier. She looks good in Nikita’s costume changes but that only accentuates how mannequin-like she is. And her slight frame, devoid of any muscle tone, is too fragile to be badass or sexy. When a bad guy hits her during a fight, I worried she’d snap right in half. That’s something I was never concerned about while watching Jennifer Garner on Alias.

I have a weak spot for fightin’ ladies, though, so until my favorite shows return and there are other new series to check out, I’ll probably give Nikita another go. But the show had better start making me care about its characters or it’ll be permanently eliminated from my DVR.

Did you watch? How do you think this Nikita compares to the previous incarnations?

Nerd verdict: Nikita misses the mark

Photo Credit: Jordin Althaus/The CW

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STAND UP TO CANCER Tonight

I don’t think any of us can say we’ve never known anyone who’s been affected by cancer in some way. I’ve lost family members and friends to the disease, one friend a year ago this month, and would like to see a cure in my lifetime. I believe it’s possible and that’s why I’m spotlighting Stand Up to Cancer, the celebrity-packed one-hour event airing tonight to raise money for cancer research. It will be broadcast commercial-free starting at 8 p.m. ET/PT, 7 p.m. CT on ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, HBO, VH1, E!, among other channels (click here to see all the participants).

In case you haven’t heard, A-list Hollywood talent will be there, including George Clooney, Gwyneth Paltrow, Renée Zellweger, Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Rob Lowe, and a long list of others, some of whom are survivors like Christina Applegate and Lance Armstrong.

Half an hour before the show starts, the celebrity phone lines will open and a pre-show hosted by So You Think You Can Dance’s Cat Deely will be streamed online at the networks’ websites (cbs.com, nbc.com, etc.) plus Hulu, YouTube, AOL, MSN, YouTube and several other portals. These sites will also stream the one-hour special.

My friend Lauren Clemmons is among the amazing team of people working behind the scenes almost 24/7 to pull off this event. She tells me Glee‘s Mike O’Malley will be doing man-on-the-street interviews in the pre-show, asking people what they’d give up to end cancer. She says there’s also a funny segment in the main show involving Seth Rogen, Ken Jeong and Elizabeth Banks that’s not to be missed.

But celebrities aside, Lauren says, “If people can watch the show and learn about the science that we’ve funded, I think it will really make a difference on how the public sees how research is being done at SU2C. It really is so cool to see so many medical and science fields come together to help make strides in finding successful treatments for this disease.”

For more info about SU2C and to donate, click here.

So, will you stand up? Who will you be remembering as you watch tonight?

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First Photos of Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander

RooneyMara.net has posted the first photos of Rooney Mara in training for David Fincher’s adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The pictures aren’t great quality but they’re clear enough to see Mara looking Lisbeth-y. You can click on the site’s name to see more photos.

Do these look promising or are you still skeptical? I want pics of my boy Daniel Craig as Blomkvist! [UPDATE: For the first official photos of Mara as Lisbeth, click here.]

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Winners of THE GLAMOUR OF GRAMMAR

With the help of Random.org, I selected two winners:

Jodie Jackson
Jann

Congrats! Please hit the contact button above and let me know where you’d like it sent. I’ll forward your addresses to Anna at Hachette Book Group, who will ship the book to you. If I don’t hear from you by Friday 9/10 at noon, alternate names will be chosen.

Thank you to all who entered. Stay tuned for giveaways of some great titles coming soon!

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Book Review: ROOM by Emma Donoghue

Writing a review for Emma Donoghue‘s Room is a tricky thing since I wholeheartedly want you to read it but the less you know about the plot, the better. It’s told from the point of view of a 5-year-old named Jack and right away, you understand you’ve entered an unusual world but aren’t sure what’s going on. The dawning realization of Jack and his mother’s situation packs a huge emotional wallop I don’t want to spoil for you. Is it enough to say this book made me weep openly at times in public? That it haunts me and is unlike anything I’ve read in the last several years? How about the fact it’s been shortlisted for this year’s Booker Prize?

If you need more, I’ll give a brief description but must reiterate that your reading experience will be more powerful if you just pick up the book and jump in. The suspense factor is much higher when you don’t know where events are headed.

**SYNOPSIS ALERT**

Jack was born in a windowless 11-by-11-foot room and has spent his entire life there. That’s because his mother, known only as Ma, has been held captive for the last seven years. Ma tries to give Jack as normal a life as she can, teaching him songs and how to read. She also tells him that things like trees and animals and cars only exist on another planet so he doesn’t long for them. But soon after Jack’s fifth birthday, Ma realizes she can’t raise him in confinement forever and forms an awful, desperate plan for escape. Though the author said the idea for Room was “triggered by” the real-life case of Josef Fritzl, the book made me think of Jaycee Dugard and how this story could have been told by one of her children.

**END SYNOPSIS**

Donoghue took a big risk writing in Jack’s voice but she handled it beautifully. The story is so disturbing, I’m not sure I could’ve handled it from Ma’s point of view. Jack leaves out information about things he doesn’t understand; our filling in the blanks is horrific enough. He has a unique perspective about the world but still behaves like a “normal” five-year-old in many ways. He’s not too cutesy or precocious; he feels real to me. His innocence moved me so much I sometimes didn’t know if I should laugh or cry and often did both at the same time.

Ma is also heartrending in her courage and fierce love for Jack. Here’s a woman who doesn’t waste time on self-pity, instead focusing all her energy on how she can protect her son. Ma and Jack’s resilience is what makes this book ultimately uplifting and one you won’t soon forget.

Nerd verdict: Make room for Room

Buy Room from Amazon| B&N| Powell’s| IndieBound

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Movie Review: GOING THE DISTANCE

I wasn’t sure about writing this review because…well, does anyone care? Anybody plan to see it this weekend? OK, in case there’s one die-hard Drew Barrymore fan out there, here goes.

Barrymore’s Erin and Justin Long’s Garrett meet over a videogame, which should clue you in on their general maturity level, in a New York bar. He, an A&R guy at a music label, lives in the city and she, an aspiring journalist, is finishing an internship at the fictional New York Sentinel newspaper. They hit it off instantly and agree to embark on a casual fling for Erin’s remaining six weeks in NYC. To no one’s surprise but theirs, they realize they want to continue their relationship even after she goes home to San Francisco. So they Skype, attempt phone sex, and inundate each other with cutesy texts to try to keep the passion burning. It eventually becomes clear the long distance arrangement isn’t enough and one of them needs to sacrifice everything and move to make the relationship work.

The main problem with this movie is Long. He’s a competent enough actor in supporting roles and the Mac commercials but lacks the charisma to be a romantic leading man. It doesn’t help that his character looks and acts like a college student, living with a roommate (Charlie Day) who doesn’t close the bathroom while on the pot. When Erin is considering giving up a dream job to move to New York and be with Garrett, I thought, “Really? For him? Do you know hard it is to get a job in this economy?” Now, if Garrett had been played by, say, Hugh Jackman, I would’ve been shouting, “GO, girl! Don’t worry—it’ll all work out!” I would have encouraged her to move to Australia and adopt an aborigine wardrobe if need be.

The movie also suffers from a split personality. It wants to be both a crude Apatowish comedy and a rom-com but director Nanette Burstein, a documentarian helming her first fictional feature, doesn’t succeed at meshing the two styles. The romantic sparks barely flicker—Long and Barrymore come across more like platonic friends despite their off-screen history—and the bawdy humor seems forced. At one point, a drunk Erin yells at a guy, “Suck my dick!” It’s not funny the first time; she hollers it again. Still not funny. It’s as if Barrymore was trying really hard to show she can be as raw as any guy. I’d bet she can be (aren’t the sweetest-looking girls usually the dirtiest) but her attempt to prove it here falls flat.

Nerd verdict: Don’t bother Going to see Distance

Photo: Jessica Miglio

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Book Review & Giveaway: THE GLAMOUR OF GRAMMAR

How much of a nerd am I? I spent last Saturday night at home reading a book on grammar and considered it a good time. That’s because Roy Peter Clark makes it fun in The Glamour of Grammar, a book of writing guidelines. As introduction, Clark says “this book invites you to embrace grammar in a special way, not as a set of rules but as a box of tools…It doesn’t shout at you, ‘No, no, no,’ but gives you a little push and says, ‘Go, go, go.'”

And that it does. It helps that I’ve always loved grammar and language in general. I don’t like the term “grammar snob” because I don’t think I’m better than anyone. I simply want to put my best foot forward when speaking and writing and avoid sounding like an idiot. If my blog were full of mistakes, I imagine you wouldn’t be reading this.

So yes, I have an interest in this book’s subject matter but wouldn’t have necessarily enjoyed it if it weren’t for Clark’s breezy, witty, friendly voice. There’s no stuffy preachy tone here. Unlike William Strunk and E.B. White’s The Elements of Style, which has great advice but is bare bones in delivery, Clark offers anecdotes along with his tips on how to write more effectively. Even if you never dangle modifiers, split your infinitives or confuse “lie” and “lay,” this book can help you take a more conscious approach to language. Haven’t we all said or written something then later claimed, “That’s not what I meant!”?

I like how Clark encourages us to break rules whenever necessary to avoid “hypergrammar,” syntax that’s correct but calls too much attention to itself, e.g. “for whom are you looking?” instead of the more common “who are you looking for?” I heartily agree when he writes:

As writers, we should never be satisfied with the words we inherit, the ones that already appear in our dictionaries. Learning to use them correctly is the license we need to bend them, stretch them, and blend them with others, as context, meaning, and audience allow.

If you’re thinking, “OK, you’ve convinced me I need a copy of this book even though I’m already brilliant,” you’re in luck. Hachette Book Group is allowing me to give away two copies. To enter:

be a subscriber or Twitter follower (tell me which; new subscribers/followers get 1 entry and current ones get 2)
leave a comment about what grammatical issues trip you up the most
live in U.S. or Canada, no P.O. Box, per HBG’s request

Giveaway ends Tuesday, September 7, 5 p.m. PST. Winners will be chosen via Random.org and only announced here and on Twitter. I will not contact you personally so please check back to see if you win. Winners have 48 hours to claim the prize before alternate names are chosen.

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Best & Worst of Emmys 2010

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Despite knowing that award shows have a tendency to be long and tedious, I was looking forward to this year’s Emmys because I liked many of the nominees. But after a rousing opening number with Jimmy Fallon leading the Glee kids, Jon Hamm, Tina Fey and others in singing and dancing to Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run (see it here), the energy level dipped considerably.

I was happy about some of the results—Jane Lynch’s win for Glee, Modern Family for best comedy series, Archie Panjabi’s upset victory for best supporting actress in a drama series for The Good Wife—and unhappy about others: Hugh Laurie’s loss for the fifth time. Did voters not see last season’s premiere when he was in the psychiatric hospital, and the finale when he advised the woman to have her leg amputated so she wouldn’t have chronic pain like he does?

For a complete list of winners, click here. Keep reading for my thoughts on the highlights and lowlights of the evening.

Best sport: George Clooney participating in a skit about a clueless network executive trying to improve on Modern Family for next season. Julie Bowen and Sofia Vergara both liked the idea of their characters falling in love with Clooney after their TV husbands are killed off. Then Eric Stonestreet and Jesse Tyler Ferguson revealed they wouldn’t mind having Clooney in a threesome with Mitch and Cam, to which Clooney said, “I’ve got to get a film.”

Classiest act: Clooney again. When he won the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award, he gave an eloquent speech that I couldn’t have agreed with more. An excerpt:

We live in such strange times where bad behavior sucks up all the attention in the press and the people who really need the spotlight—the Haitians, the Sudanese, people in the Gulf Coast on the five-year anniversary [of Katrina], people in Pakistan—they can’t get any…

Now the truth is, look, when a disaster happens, everybody wants to help…The hard part is, seven months later, five years later when we’re on to a new story…we fail at that, most of the time. I fail at that.

So here’s hoping that some very bright person, right here in the room or at home watching, can help find a way to keep the spotlight burning on these heartbreaking situations that continue to be heartbreaking long after the cameras go away.

Clooney for president! Then maybe he can ban talentless idiots from getting press for having sex tapes.

Biggest regret: Seeing Kim Kardashian and Kate Gosselin on my TV. I’ve made it a mission in life to not watch/see/read anything that involves these two (see previous rant about people who shouldn’t be famous) and have avoided exposure up until tonight. But they popped up on the red carpet and did intros with Fallon. My brain felt so infected, I wanted an injection of antibiotics.

Best booty shakin’: Jon Hamm. His goofy dancing with Betty White as his coach made me like him more when I thought that wasn’t possible. Tina Fey told Entertainment Weekly‘s Michael Ausiello that Hamm will be back for 30 Rock‘s live episode this fall and I can’t wait to see what his character Drew will do with his hooks for hands.

Funniest reason for rooting for a nominee: Ricky Gervais wanting Bucky Gunts to win for directing the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games opening ceremony simply because “I didn’t know you could say [Bucky Gunts] on television.” Then Gunts actually won! Hilarious.

Winner most in danger of losing job: Erin Levy, co-winner of best drama series writing with Matthew Weiner for Mad Men. Levy said she’d previously been Weiner’s assistant before getting the opportunity to write for the show. Last year’s co-winner with Weiner, Kater Gordon, said the same thing then lost her job two months later.

Most inept fact checker: The person responsible for spelling Julia Ormond’s name Julia OrmAnd when she won the best miniseries supporting actress award for Temple Grandin. It’s Ormond’s first Emmy; it would’ve been nice for her to see her name spelled correctly on screen if she wants to watch that moment later.

Now on to best and worst of the fashion…

You’d think the celebs were attending a funeral based on the predominance of black and midnight blue dresses. Eva Longoria Parker, Julie Bowen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Edie Falco, Lea Michele and Heidi Klum were just a few wearing this dark hue on a sunny August day, making me sweat just looking at them.

Among this sea of somberness, it was easy for me to pick my favorite dress:

Photo: Jay L. Clendenin/L.A. Times

Keri Russell looks pretty, summery, cool and comfortable. Her dress is vintage Jean Louis Scherrer; extra credit to Russell for having bought it herself from an L.A. vintage shop.

Check out the slide show below for my thoughts on other fashion choices…

[cincopa 10733533]

What did you think of the show? How did you like Fallon as host? Most memorable moments for you?

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Book Review: David Rosenfelt’s DOG TAGS

When you hear legal thriller, you probably think John Grisham or Scott Turow or Richard North Patterson and that’s all good. What I can’t figure out is why David Rosenfelt isn’t up there with those guys. His novels about Andy Carpenter, the dog-loving, independently wealthy defense attorney, are just as well-plotted and paced, if not better since those other authors can sometimes go unnecessarily long. Rosenfelt’s books are also funny and always feature amazing dogs.

The eighth installment in the series opens with Andy being asked to represent Milo, a German shepherd police dog re-purposed as a thief by his owner, ex-cop and Iraq war veteran, Billy Zimmerman. Zimmerman’s in jail accused of murder while Milo’s been put in a cage with, oddly enough, a 24-hour armed guard. Andy goes to court to argue for the dog’s release but soon finds himself taking on Zimmerman as a client as well.

Formerly a well respected cop, Zimmerman signed up for Iraq then lost a leg in a bombing. When he couldn’t get his police job back upon his return, Zimmerman became a thief, using Milo as his accomplice. The two get in trouble when their target for a gig ends up shot by an assassin right in front of them and Zimmerman is arrested for his murder. The case is further complicated by the fact the murder victim was Zimmerman’s Army superior. Though the prosecution theorizes that Zimmerman had a grudge against the man partly responsible for the loss of his leg, Andy discovers the real motives behind the killing are more sinister and involves people much more powerful than Zimmerman. Andy then has to decide between doing what’s best for his client and preventing a cataclysmic event from happening on U.S. soil.

Rosenfelt knows how to entertain, delivering thrills, laughs, heart and likable characters. He also knows how to comment on current affairs and the plight of our war veterans without getting on a soapbox. Zimmerman is a thief but also a man who, after defending his country, is failed by its healthcare system, the justice system and the police force on which he served before enlisting in the Army. But Zimmerman doesn’t feel sorry for himself; he turns out to be one of Andy’s best clients ever, making me want something to go right for him.

As in all Rosenfelt novels, the canine characters are as dynamic as the human ones. Milo has a heroic moment near the end that’s breathtaking and Andy’s golden retriever Tara remains cooler than cool. Andy gets an amusing new (human) law partner, Hike, who’s brilliant despite his pessimistic attitude about everything. I, on the other hand, am optimistic that you’ll enjoy this book and the entire Andy Carpenter series.

Nerd verdict: Clever Dog

Buy Dog Tags from Amazon| B&N| Powell’s| IndieBound

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Craziest FAMILY FEUD Answers

During the dog days of summers, I have a hard time finding interesting shows to watch. When that happens, I find myself drifting to the Game Show Network because they have re-runs of old TV game shows. My favorite is Family Feud, especially the really old episodes with Richard Dawson as host, because it’s not just entertainment, it’s kind of a sociological study. In a 1970s episode, long before political correctness kicked in, Dawson insisted that an entire Japanese family bow to him. (My jaw dropped open and soup almost dribbled out when I saw this.) In another episode, Dawson kept speaking in an exaggerated, Apu-like accent to an Indian family who had lived in the States for 30 years and spoke perfect English.

But Dawson’s ignorance isn’t why I tune in; I do it for the contestants’ wacky answers. Perfectly normal-looking people say the craziest things when the clock is ticking and they’re trying to beat the buzzer. They reveal way more about themselves than they probably intended and sometimes I get the feeling there really will be a feud among family members once the taping is over.

For a few Monday chuckles, I’ve compiled a list of some the funniest answers I’ve heard:

Question: Tell me a man’s name that starts with the letter “K.” Answer: Kentucky Fried Chicken!

Q: Name an expression that contains the word “foot” in it. A: Foot in your behind!

Q: Tell me a birthday men dread the most. A: Their wife’s!

Q: Name something people take with them to the beach. A: Turkey!

Q: Name a type of movie that describes your love life. A: Horror!

Q: Tell me something your neighbor has that you wish you had. A: A beautiful wife!

Q: Name a part of the body that gets bigger as adults get older. A: Penis!

Q: Name something women borrow from each other. A: Husbands!

Q: Name something a woman needs before she gets married. A: Pap smear!

Q: Tell me a beverage you drink out of a can: A: Wine!

Q: Name a yellow fruit. A: Orange!

Q: Tell me a kind of wood used to make furniture. A: Table!

Q: Name something you accidentally leave on all night. A: Your bra!

Q: Tell me what section of the newspaper you turn to first. A: Coupons!

Q: Name something associated with Ping-Pong. A: Asians!

Happy Monday!

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PCN’s Weirdest Keyword Searches

My admin panel has a section titled “search engine terms” that displays the keywords people use in their Internet searches to land on my site. Most of them are understandable: “rooney mara” (the new Lisbeth Salander), “colin firth” (I’ve written about him numerous times) or “fall movies 2010.”

Every once in a while, though, a really strange search phrase jumps out at me, making me wonder why in the world Google/bing/Yahoo brought them here. I can say with certainty I’ve never written about any of the following topics:

“what to do when you feel stupid”—um, maybe get off the Internet and read something?
“harry porret”—same advice.
“german men looking for wife contact @yahoo”—damn, what’s the rest of that e-mail address?
“sexy actors receding hairline”—is your next search “sexy actresses with no teeth”?
“licking and rubbing teenage girls legs”—you searching from prison?
“romanian bondage”—how’s that different from Yemenian bondage?
“peeling man sad face”—if my face were being peeled off, I’d be sad, too.
“sex furniture”—you looking for a bed? Couch? Magazine rack? Can you be more specific?

So, ah, what keywords did you use to find my site?

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Stalking the Author

I was getting impatient sitting around waiting for Robert Crais‘s next book, The Sentry. Yeah, I know it’s coming out January 11 but that’s five lousy months.

So I decided to take matters into my own hands and jumped into my car. Crais lives here in the city of angels, there are only about three million people—how hard can he be to find? They don’t call me the Nerd for nothin’.

After seven hours of driving the neon-dotted streets, begging for scraps of info from hookers and residents of dark alleys, I found him having drinks in a dimly lit bar where you can’t smoke anymore but can still smell it in the bartender’s hair. Someone played blue notes on the sax in the background while someone else danced slowly with himself.

When Crais saw me coming, he gave me weary eyes and simply asked “Why?” without missing a sip. I said, “Because I lose sleep at night and can’t take it anymore.” He nodded as if he’d always known, reached into his pants and handed this over. I ran out of the bar, clutching the manuscript to my bosom, and never looked back.

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