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.
Thanks To Sue [sjcjdm] And SpoilerTV For The Wesley Clovis Vidclip
Special Effects Make-Up For Wesley Clovis Created By The Burman Studio [Thanks For The Vid Mitchimo1]
Eric Stonestreet, probably familiar to most as a suburban dad on ABC's satirical sitcom Modern Family is as Wesley Clovis on FX' Nip/Tuck, a heartbreaking monster. Doc Troy even refers to him [disparagingly] as 'slingblade'. And like 'slingblade', of mice and men's 'lennie small', green mile's 'john coffey, or 'Frankenstein's monster', Wesley Clovis is as troubling as he is likeable. Clovis, a mentally slow, peeping-tom, convicted 15 years previous, of raping and murdering a 17 year old girl, is a death row inmate. Problem is before he can be humanely put down, since he's morbidly obese, he needs lipo and a tummy tuck. That's where the docs at McNamara/Troy come in. There's an added incentive for the docs---if they agree to do the surgery, their son Matt gets released from prison. For Christian, the decision is a no-brainer. Sean of course has a crisis of conscience. How can he reconcile doing the surgery when the ultimate purpose is to carry out capital punishment. In Jennifer Salt's excellent script, there's an added twist: Clovis has exhausted the appeals process, but there seems to be reasonable doubt as to his guilt. It's possible that he was convicted on circumstantial evidence and another inmate is the actual murderer.
True to form, Nip/Tuck masterfully injects humor to balance the deep stuff. There's a scene with 16 year old twins about to go under the knife for rhinoplasty, a birthday gift from their parents. One of the twins is texting as they're about to be anesthetized. Classic. Once again the show's prosthetic make-up special effects [the twins' noses, Clovis' blubber, etc.] from Bari and Tom Burman are without peer.
Anyone who knows me knows i am a fan of Nip/Tuck. In fact, fan is not a descriptive enough word. i have often used the word addicted when referring to my loyalty to the show. Lately, i must confess, Doctor Christian Troy is testing my fealty. i'm still addicted to the "disturbingly perfect" Nip/Tuck, and Troy's portrayer Julian McMahon [my major celeb crush] still delivers 6 seasons in, stellar performances. But lately i feel like i don't recognize the Doc Troy fellow addicts have come to know, love, and lust for. As the show progresses toward the end of it's run, it's as if Troy is transforming into a Jekyll & Hyde personality. A sociopath and/or psychopath is defined as "one who is affected with a personality disorder marked by antisocial behavior""a person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in aggressive, perverted, criminal, or amoral behavior without empathy or remorse". With regard to Christian's treatment of Kimber, that pretty much sums up my view of his behavior in the Wesley Clovis ep and the ep that preceded it, Benny Nilsson, his treatment of Sean and Sean's prodigal brother Brendan.
Christian always has been a narcissist, and he's never made a secret of that aspect of his personality. But in season 6, he's become [irredeemably?] cruel. Even worse than he was in season 3 with Abby Mays, and i didn't think that was possible. Only a few weeks ago, Christian was by all appearances, sincerely pouring his heart out to Kimber, telling her that she is his soulmate and that he did indeed have a heart and it belongs to her. Now when Kimber tells him she's pregnant, instead of being emotionally supportive, he offers up a despicable ultimatum wrapped around a proposal of marriage. Hey 10", i can dig it, you don't want more children. Since you know that, before you planted your seed, you should've gotten a vasectomy. The only good thing that resulted from Christian's romance challenged declarative was the bonding between Kimber and Liz---excellent scenes for Ms.Maffia and Ms.Carlson.
The phrase 'bros before hos' has been around for a while. i've been on a crusade to have a feminine counterpart---'sis before dicks'. hubby teases me and says there's no way it'll catch on, but the scenes from this ep with Liz and Kimber make me think there's hope yet that my alternative will become popular.
FX will re-air Wesley Clovis Sunday December 20, 2009 at 11:30pm and Wednesday December 23, 2009 at 1:00am. Then Nip/Tuck takes a break until Wednesday January 6, 2010 when it's final 9 episodes air. Please check your local listings.
Your fight or flight instinct is amped anticipating the occurrence of an abduction, slashing, bludgeoning, or a shove out of a window. Pulse is racing, throat is dry, your eyes dart to scan your surroundings for any threatening presence. You can't catch your breath, and when you finally can, it's a gasp. You're watching Showtime's Dexter, Hello Dexter Morgan, Season 4 Episode 11.
In the 4th season of Dexter, John Lithgow as Arthur Mitchell aka 'The Trinity Killer' has skeert the beejeezus out of me. Arthur has honed the appearance of normalcy to a fine art, and that's what makes him extremely creepy. When Arthur does behave as his true self, the matter-of-fact manner in which he carries out acts of violence are chilling to say the least. In Dexter's 9th episode, "Hungry Man", Arthur had no qualms about breaking his son Jonah's fingers while his wife was in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on their Thanksgiving dinner. The son, an athlete, has been abused so often, he confides to Dexter, that he has run out of plausible explanations to his coach at school as to how he has sustained so many injuries off the playing field. Arthur gives new meaning to the phrase "domestic terrorist".
In his pursuit of Arthur, Dexter has used an alias, "Kyle Butler". As there have been in the previous episodes, there are many twists in episode 11 "Hello Dexter Morgan". i won't divulge them all here---what would be the fun of that, but i'll give you a thumbnail of what leads up to the uttering of the episode's title. To flush Arthur out of hiding, "Kyle" threatens to extort him for $50K. But as the episode progresses, Arthur pursues "Kyle", and discovers Dexter's true identity---well his occupation and true name, not that he too [however twistedly altruistic the motives] is a serial killer. Arthur has tailed Dexter to the police station. Once inside he stops at the information desk and politely asks if Kyle Butler works there. When told no one by that name is in the personnel files, he proceeds to steal the visitor's pass of another law abiding citizen who is with a group taking a tour of the station. Confidently, he shows the pass as he goes through the metal detector. Eventually sees the evidence of Dexter's attempt to display normalcy, the homicide unit's bowling league team photo [from season 2], with Dexter's name below his picture. Arthur goes to the homicide detective's floor, he and Dexter see each other, they approach each other, and as they stand face to face, Arthur smiles and greets him with the words "Hello Dexter Morgan".
Dexter's 4th season ends on the next episode, #12 "The Getaway". Having to wait for Showtime to announce the start date for the 5th season of Dexter---now that feels like a bloody eternity.
Dexter airs on Showtime and Showtime on Demand. Please check your local listings.
Dexter Executive Producer Clyde Phillips Chats With Fans Sunday 12~6~09
Psst! While some people had been wondering: how would Leno fare in a 10:00pm time slot, or if Letterman's ratings would suffer as a result of his infidelity scandal, George Lopez has been killing on his TBS show, Lopez Tonight.
Lopez Tonight debuted on TBS on November 9, 2009. It garnered 3.1 million viewers it's first night. i haven't seen it's numbers in the weeks that followed, but i'm guessing they have not only held steady, but increased. Why? Great guests---i don't know who books for Lopez Tonight, but they snag very enviable 'gets'. First night had Eva Langoria-Parker, Ellen DeGeneres, Carlos Santana, and Kobe Bryant. O.K. Bryant is not popular in my household, but there are those where he is, so that qualifies as a good get. At the Lopez Tonight website check out the This Week link to see the terrific guest line-ups for future shows.
Lopez Tonight has a beautiful set. Seeing it i appreciate the show's ad pitch, "bringing the party to late night". It manages to be Vegas glitzy and house party intimate at the same time. The band is great, Michael Bearden & The Ese Vatos. The thing i like best about the band is that when they do a cover, they don't inject their personality into someone else's material. For example, when they play the show's theme, War's, Low-Rider, it sounds like War's Low-Rider, instead of a lounge lizard's homage.
i hadn't tuned in until the Monday November 30th show. Kicking myself for not tuning in sooner. Lopez is not only bringing the party, his stand-up is fearless, skewering celebrities, and liberals and conservatives equally, with a take no prisoners energy. Riffing on the Tiger Woods "alleged" marital discord had the studio audience laughing, applauding, and nodding in agreement. hubby and i were doing the same at home under the covers, and remarking how Mr.Lopez knew exactly what we had been speculating on the subject. How does Lopez do this? Clearly this man has his finger on the pulse of not only what's on the mind of America, he dares to put those thoughts into words. Comedy should never be safe. George Lopez knows this, and plies his trade accordingly.
Lopez Tonight airs Monday through Thursday at 11:00pm on TBS [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.
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