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Some movies and TV shows we’ve seen this year, and my brief thoughts about them.

Food, Inc. Fascinating and disturbing.  Everyone should watch this.  The notion that a fast food hamburger is cheaper to buy than fresh produce is pretty bizarre when you think about it, but we the taxpayers are subsidizing this huge food industry which is what allows there to be cheap food.  Cheap food is good, but there needs to be more attention paid to food safety.

Away We Go A young couple travels to various cities visiting old family and friends, attempting to make a decision about where to move and have their first child.  Maya Rudolph and John Krisinski are wonderful in this, and the characters they meet are unforgettable.  It is a search for “home”.

Sunshine Cleaning A quirky, dark film.  A former maid service employee forms her own company, cleaning up the scenes of homicides and suicides.  The story explores darker human emotions such as insecurity and grief and how you can overcome them.

He’s Just Not That Into You A story about the search for love and how you sometimes find it.  Cute, but not particularly memorable.

30 Rock Enjoyable, though not deep.

Saved! An amusing portrayal of life at a Christian high school.  A teen decides to save her gay boyfriend by having sex with him, and becomes disillusioned when she finds herself pregnant and begins questioning the Christian ideals.

Guns, Germs and Steel A discovery channel mini series that asks why do we have wealth and plenty and “cargo” here while other societies are stuck in the third world?

Star Trek I grew up as something of a Trekkie, and i loved this story of the young Kirk and Spock, and am looking forward to how this series will continue.

AdventureLand Working at an amusement park is not all fun and games.  But wherever there are teenagers, petty rivalries and true love are bound to spark.

Observe and Report Seth Rogen plays a mall cop with some bi-polar tendencies.  The film is pretty dark and bizarre and revolves around the cop’s attempts to stop a flasher.  Can’t say i really liked this movie.

Earth Released on Earth Day, this film showed how different species migrate and care for their young.  We had seen a lot of the footage before, from other Discovery Channel TV documentaries.  It’s important for us to know how we are affecting the animal world.

Breaking Bad A Showtime TV series about a high school chemistry teacher in dire straights (a teenage son with a disability, a wife newly pregnant, diagnosed with severe lung cancer, needing treatment that insurance will not cover) who needs a lot of cash and turns to producing crystal meth.  Very engaging.

Yes Man An entertaining comedy about exploring your horizons.  The scene where he saves the guy from jumping off a building seriously made my cry.

Thin A documentary following girls in a rehab center for anorexia and bulemia.  Tragic.  Many of the girls have a background involving a severe incident such as rape or sexual abuse.  You just wish you could make them believe they are beautiful.  Self-hatred is so powerful.

Fargo An older movie i had never seen.  Excellent.

Pan’s Labrinth Billed as a fantasy for adults, i found it weird and dark and freaky.

Milk The story of Harvey Milk, and gay rights.  Harvey became California’s first openly gay elected official before being assassinated.

Jane Austen Book Club I think i would have connected more with this movie if i had read all of Jane’s Austen’s books.  It was still intresting to watch and compare to my own book club.

Kalifornia An interesting thriller.  Brad Pitt plays an excellent bad guy.

My new favorite TV show is Showtime’s Weeds.  I stumbled upon it due to one of Netflix’s recommendations for me based on my other interests.  Boy, did they hit a nail on the head!  I love it!  Over the weekend we had both discs of Season 1, and watched all 10 episodes.  We were hooked!  I immediately added Season 2 to the top of the Netflix queue.

The story is centers around suburban mom who sells pot in order to stay afloat.  She is recently widowed with 2 sons (10 & 16).  The suburban community of Agrostic is full of lots of stereotypical suburban issues, such as affairs & PTA politics, but already in Season 1 they have also tackled eating disorders, race issues, how children react to a parent’s death, kids having sex, hearing-impaired students… Lots of good stuff here, all presented with at least a little bit of humor.  But it’s honest, and i like that.

At the start, the life of a drug-dealing mom seems pretty much the same as that of any other mom.  But as the show progresses, we start seeing more of the underside of the drug world, and it becomes apparent that Nancy may be in over her head.

I love all three of the main adult characters - Mary-Louise Parker, Elizabeth Perkins and Kevin Nealon.  The kids are doing a pretty good job, too.

I’m eagerly awaiting the next couple of DVDs in the mail, and i imagine most of this Saturday afternoon will be spent watching Season 2.  I highly recommend this to anyone who hasn’t seen it.

We loved season 1 of Dexter so much that we were dying to see Season 2. But, it wasn’t yet available on DVD.

So, i turned to a technology that i have long heard about, but never tried: Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networking. And it was pretty easy, once i found a client that automatically handled the port forwarding stuff for me.

P2P is just one in a long list of things that i’ve known the basics of for years, but never had to know details, because i had a husband who was extremely techy and always knew what the latest and greatest thing was. But, on my own, i’ve had to learn how to do it all myself: how to configure my router for my own wireless network, the details of video cards, apple software and upgrades, ipod library management, wiring stereo equipment, how to change air filters, GPS, creating my own website and adding wordpress and plugins and writing php code, web application servers, back-up servers… It’s all stuff i never had to know anything about. I never *wanted* to know anything about it either, which is why i’m proud of myself for eventually figuring it all out. I know there is a slew of new technological things to figure out now, but P2P was i believe the last one that i associate with “things my ex did for me”.

Season 2 of Dexter was very suspenseful. I don’t remember the first season being quite so nail-biting. This season, it always seemed that Dexter was about to get caught! It was excellent, and Michael C. Hall was awesome. The woman who plays his sister really gets on my nerves - i don’t think she’s a great actress. And the old guy that she fell for during the 2nd half of the season - his acting was even worse! But the rest of the show was definitely worth it.

I was surprised to see that there are plans for Season 3. Season 2 wrapped up rather nicely since they offed both the psycho girlfriend and the suspicious co-worker. It will be interesting to see what they have in store, and if they can really keep up the same intensity.

i first heard of dexter from my book club buddies.  they had also recommended ‘intervention’, which i didn’t particularly care for, so i didn’t rush to watch it.  it finally made it to the top of my netflix queue, though, and lance & i were immediately hooked.

dexter morgan is an emotionally unattached person who is faking his way through life.  his foster-father recognized that he was different.  see, dexter has a desire to kill things.  dad channeled it and taught him how to act like a mostly normal person.  dad also taught him a code - do not kill innocent people.  guilty people?  no problem, the world is better off without them.

the show is very intriguing.  each show has its own plot, and portrays the relationships and politics taking place within the miami police department.  dexter and his sister both work there; she as a detective, and he as a forensics analyst.  overlaying the mini plots is the master thread weaving through the whole season - someone has found out about dexter’s secret hobby, and is playing games with him.  deadly games.

last night, it was 12:30 when we finished watching the penultimate episode of season 1.  it was late, but it was such a cliffhanger that it was impossible not to watch the last episode, too!

it’s very well done.  the show is very darkly humorous.  i very much like dexter, despite the fact that he’s a killer.  i’m quite fond of the theme music, too, i find myself humming it often.  the sister is pretty annoying, though.