Welcome to In A Lather. i'm sookie, and here you'll find my takes on celebs, tv shows and movies that are favs of mine, that i hope are or soon will be favs of yours too. Also events in the entertainment and fashion industry.Thanks for stopping by, and please feel free to comment.
tru'dat! And may i add to that sentiment dogs, cats, reptiles, and all creatures of the scaled, furry, feathered, hooved, slippery, and four legged kind. National Geographic has a great new show, Rescue Ink Unleashed. It follows a group named Rescue Ink---that's ink, i_n_k. "Rescue Ink™was formed to aid in battling animal abuse and neglect, and to assist existing animal-welfare agencies and shelters."
Think animal advocates with tats. Community activists with A-Team style and "zero tolerance" for animal abuse. Not all the members of the group sport ink, but that doesn't make them any less passionate about rescuing, and relocating animals in distress. When the situation calls for it, they arrange for adoptions, and make certain that pet and owner are rightly matched.
My favorite of the team's missions is when they have to round up a run-away rooster. Capturing a chicken is a great deal different than a dog or cat, and watching them map out their corralling strategy is great fun. For me the best thing about the show is it dispels myths. An animal is not necessarily a menace because they happen to be a particular breed. An animal that has been traumatized is not beyond rehabilitation. In many ways, the backgrounds of the rescuing humans mirror those of their animal charges, and that makes for heartwarming success stories from both perspectives. Rescue Ink Unleashed airs on the National Geographic Channel, Fridays at 10:00pm with repeat airings Wednesdays at 8:00pm Please check your local listings.
Dexter, America's favorite serial killer/blood spatter analyst is back. Sleep deprived, but back. Dexter's a newly-wed father of 3, and the youngest of the children, baby Harrison, is keeping daddy sleepless in Miami. Resulting in Dexter being off his game. He's distracted, misplacing his keys, being absent minded about his cases, blowing his "expert" testimony on the witness stand, which allows a defendant, who by all rights should have been found guilty, to go free. Dexter's increasing domestic responsibilities are also leaving him with no time to kill---and for Dexter, that expression is not just a figure of speech. Add to that the return of FBI Special Agent Frank Lundy [Keith Carradine]requesting Dexter to be his go-to guy on capturing the elusive 'Trinity Killer' [John Lithgow], thus dubbed because for 3 decades he has successfully slain his way across the U.S. As Lt.Laguerta [Lauren Velez] says "there's blood, lots of it".
Showtime's Dexter returns for it's 4th season on Sunday September 27, 2009 at 9:00pm Please check your local listings.
God bless Curb Your Enthusiasm's Larry David. Without him most of us would have either lost our minds, or shoved someone off a cliff. Larry's blood pressure elevates, to allow others' to stay on an even keel---unless of course you're on the receiving end of his skewering wit. Larry David says and does what most of us are thinking or feeling when we encounter humanity, but do not dare say or act upon because of the societal and/or legal consequences that would occur. When LD does his thing, you can't help but nod in agreement or sometimes admonishment, with those nods often accompanied with uncontrollable laughter.
In season seven's first ep "Larry attempts a preemptive breakup with an ailing Loretta, and learns with Jeff that you canʼt make an “empty gesture” to a Funkhouser." Marty Funkhouser played by Bob "SuperDave" Einstein is once again vexing and being vexed by Larry with regard to a social misstep. A bit of trivia for you youngsters out there---Mr. Einstein was a cast member and writer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and is the real life brother of Albert Brooks.
All the characters on Curb are funny, but my favorite is Larry's brother-in-law from his second marriage, Leon, played by JB Smoove. Larry could not ask for a better wing man than Leon. As JB put it in a recent interview "everybody needs a little Leon in their life". Difficult to perceive, but true, sometimes Larry needs a nudge to get him to tell it like it T_I_S, and handle his business the way a man should---and that's where Leon comes in. Mr.Smoove, is convulsively funny, and i cannot wait to see the predicaments he and Larry get into in Curb's seventh season. Equally anticipating the antics of Wanda Sykes. For me, she is the female Larry---her mouth and actions have no censor button, and we are the better for it.
i'm sure you've heard the Seinfeld cast is making a guest appearance in season seven, but that does not happen until episode 3. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm returns for a seventh season on Sunday September 20th at 9:00pm Please check your local listings.
It's back to school time, and time for the return of Glee. In season 1 episode 2, "Showmance", the Glee kids perform at their school for the first time. Cheerleader Quinn discovers that Gleek Rachel wants her man Finn. With the help of gym teacher Ms.Sylvester, Quinn puts a plan in motion to stop Rachel from getting Finn.
Helping the kids put together their rendition of the Kanye West hit "Gold Digger", glee club leader Mr.Schuester displays talents his kids would never have guessed he had. In this scene Matthew Morrison's performance shows why the actor has earned the nickname 'triplethreat'.
Glee's fan base has been building since May when Fox aired the pilot episode. Downloads from itunes, tweets on Twitter [on it's pilot premier night, Glee was the top ranked topic on the social networking site]. Non-stop buzz on message boards, merchandising---this juggernaut of joy will not be contained.
Season 1 episode 2 of Glee airs Wednesday September 9, 2009 at 9:00pm on Fox. Please check your local listings.
Fox will air an encore performance of "Showmance" on Friday September 11, 2009 at 9:00pm. Also in case you miss the encore, or if you just can't get enough of Glee [and ratings say that many viewers can't] full episodes may be seen at Fox On Demand If you don't already have the Move Player, it will be necessary to install to access the videos. Installation is easy and takes only seconds. i just took it for a test run and it works great :-)
TrueBlood Season 2 Episode 11 "Frenzy". All hell is literally breaking loose in BonTemps Louisiana. Maenad MaryAnn has the majority of the townsfolk under her spell. Orgies, mutilation, debauchery, cannibalism, and ultimately human sacrifice, all for the sake of preparing tribute to "the god who comes". In an effort to free the town of MaryAnn's influence, Vampire Bill pays a visit to the queen of the vampires SophieAnne Leclerq, portrayed by the sylph-like Evan Rachel Wood. Ms.Wood is an absolute scene stealer. When she speaks the lines written by the wonderful Alan Ball, you can tell they are as sensually enjoyable for her to say as it is for the listener to hear. Visually stunning, her skin is flawless, and she rocks her wardrobe like a '40's era hollywood goddess. And i love the way the character teases vamp Bill [all in good fun of course].
One of my favorite moments in this episode is the scene where Jason and Andy are on militia stake-out, and they have a heart-to-heart about issues they have with each other. They discover they have more in common than they thought and become closer.
Lafayette as always, is a treasure. The fans are so lucky that he lives on in the tv series long after he was dispatched in the TrueBlood books. Vamp Eric is as handsome and seductive as ever, and Vamp Pam is scandalously funny.
Sookie Stackhouse is my kind of gal. i love how resourceful she is. No matter what strangeness is thrown her way, she rolls with the punches, and when necessary, will skillfully throw a few too. Speaking of strangeness, in "Frenzy" there are so many WTF moments, i lost count. Trying to list them all would be futile. Much more expedient to view the ep. HBO will air "Frenzy" again at 6:00pm Sunday September 13, 2009 [it can also be seen on-line in it's entirety at In A Lather, please click the link on the right]. But the strange moment that still has me scratching my head is the giant bird's nest in Sookie Stackhouse's late grandma's bedroom, complete with what appears to be an ostrich egg that Tara and her beau 'Eggs' are maintaining and guarding.
Yet another reason why i can't wait for the season finale. i'm guessing that even though we may be left with a cliff-hanger, many questions will be answered too.
TrueBlood season 2 episode 12 finale "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'" airs Sunday September 13, 2009 at 9:00pm on HBO. Please check your local listings.
Wow, where did the summer go. It's already September 1st and time for the 5th season finale of Rescue Me. Time got away from me, so i did a marathon Rescue Me viewing session of season 5's last 4 eps. The thing that i found to be a constant with Rescue Me are it's scripts. They're consistently good. The voice that Denis Leary, Evan Reilly and Peter Tolan have given the characters of Rescue Me, has such a natural flow and feel, you have to remind yourself that it's scripted.
They get it. Good music choices. The whole battle of the sexes thing, addiction/recovery, the camaraderie of firefighters, 911 and all the complications that that contains. i am lucky in that i personally did not lose loved ones or property, but i know people who did. i was born and raised in DC. my mom is retired, but she worked at the Pentagon, and was moments away from making her usual Tuesday morning trek to it's shopping concourse and to visit with friends who still worked there when the crashes happened. As a New Yorker and an American, it still hurts. It still makes me angry. 1 week and 3 days before the 8th anniversary of the occurrence it's still hard. Moved forward, never forgetting. Rescue Me gets that.
Leary's Tommy reminds me of virtually every Queens born Manhattan relocated IrishAmerican with whom it's ever been my pleasure to have been acquainted---but Tommy is archetypical, not stereotypical. Like all the Rescue Me characters, his voice, his heart, his hot messness, is authentic.
Speaking of hot messes, i was sorry to see Patti D'Arbanville's Ellie get bumped off in Jump [ep 21], but hey when you drive drunk AND you're not using a hands free cell, that's what's likely to happen.
i've always thought the thing that must be the most difficult for writers to get right, is the voice of the opposite sex. Not the case here. Even when they say or do something that's bat guano crazy, when you see the women on this show, you never scream at the tv 'oh c'mon, no woman thinks that way' or 'no way would a woman ever do that'. i give the characters Sheila, and Kelly as exhibits A & B to prove the point. Am i wrong?
Carrot [ep 18] does an equally effective job of portraying how male minds work, and is funny, funny, funny.
David [ep 19] and Zippo [ep 20] are good examples of how fire isn't the only thing that's combustible about Rescue Me.
Drink, episode 22, the 5th season finale of Rescue Me airs on FX Tuesday September 1, 2009 at 10:00pm. Please Check your local listings.
i'm a gemini from wash.dc, married 35 yrs to an aries from san antonio texas.
i'm sookie, he's tex, together we are sookietex.
Many people think i adopted the name sookie after HBO's TrueBlood heroine Sookie Stackhouse.
Nope. It's not my birth name, but my older brother gave me the nickname sookie when i was a baby.
Best and might i add most prescient gift bro' ever gave me ;D
hubby and i live in nyc and even though we like it here, we dream of the day when we'll pull up stakes and move to austin, or maybe some other town in the lone star state.
a bit more about me and In A Lather public domain image credits
library of congress prints and photographs online: secession bubbleknow nothing soap
i am a child of the south, a "boomer", born in 1958, a child of the television age. This was a time when "African-Americans" referred to themselves as "colored". In fact on my birth certificate under racial description, "colored" is the word that is used. Today i still affectionately refer to myself as a "colored child". my paternal great grandpa was Blackfoot Nation, and my maternal great grandmother was also Native American, [but i have not found out which Nation]---i affectionately refer to that part of my heritage as 'injun'---hey i'm never going to be described as politically correct and have no desire to be.
my mother was a woman who was far ahead of her time in terms of "feminist" survival. Long before it was fashionable, she was a single parent. She did have support, and not just financial from my pop, but they did not live together as husband & wife. In fact they never did take that walk down the aisle...but that's another story. Mom was a woman who worked outside the home long before most women of her generation would have even thought of making that choice, much less do it. She fully appreciated the value, neccessity, and strength of a loving extended family. She did not need anyone to tell her it "takes a village".
When mother was at work, i, the youngest of 4 (2 sisters 1 brother & me), was alternately cared for by mother's eldest sister, "auntie" as we used to call her, and our nextdoor neighbors. They were like family to us. We called the elder woman 'grandma' (to this day I do not know her given name), and her daughter Miss Elsie, or more usually 'aunt'Elsie. They were very religious folk. God fearing, bible reading, honest, and i and my family loved them dearly. 'Aunt'Elsie always made sure my days were full of activity, but one of my favorite times of the day was when she would look at her watch and say "oh my, we'd better hurry, it's almost time for my stories". By her 'stories'
she of course meant the day's soap operas. For Elsie and her mother, watching the soaps was sort of a guilty pleasure, but at the same time they made it seem sacred. It was a ritualistic activity. Her favorites were The Edge of NightThe Secret Storm and General Hospital
Paul Harvey would say i am giving you "the rest of the story" so that you may better understand its importance, and how it relates to the spirit of this blog. Which is to say we all have drama of some level going on in our lives, so sometimes the plotlines of our favorite shows may seem either tame, empathetic, or absurd, depending on where life may take you on any given day.
Customized Animated Buttons/Banners and MP3Players
