My Favorite Dances in Movies

WatchMojo had a fairly atrocious list of the Top 10 Dances of all time, for one--their pick for the Fred and Ginger dance is probably the least impressive (aside from Fred navigating that dress) of all their dances. 

The beautiful thing about Kelly's dances is that they always tell a story. I have watched so many Gene Kelly movies that I know whenever he had a hand in it, even if he wasn't the choreographer for the movie. For example, this dance was choreographed by Kelly even though not all the dances in this movie were by Kelly. 

This made me cry because it was so beautiful. I don't think I've done that many times before, especially at art. Real people and stories yes, so Kelly's work really hits a strong chord inside of me. 

As I said before, Kelly's dances always tell a story. Even though this is in another language, I feel like I watched a complicated romance unfold and so when people accuse musicals or movies like this of moving too fast that it's all hunky dory-I think in the case of dance numbers....the dance is showing a wide range of emotions where a mini romance may unfold.

Passion, sex, and lust. This song and dance number has it all and it's just so fun. The chemistry here is so real. The looks he gives her. They SO liked each other. They admitted it. 

So many sexual innuendos in this one song and dance number it's led to discussion among my peers as to how our parents let us watch this movie. Obviously we are love Grease and had no idea.....but even my parents were like....oh yeah....why did we let you watch this?

Here we get to see a bit more of Kelly's athleticism. We also get to see his VERY sexy legs. Sexiest man legs I have EVER seen. 

This may be the whole reason I created this list. As I said WatchMojo included just one Fred and Ginger number and it was probably my least favorite. It didn't show off Fred's skills or Ginger's nearly as good as this quick dance number did. 

By far, my favorite song and dance number. It may not be the most technical but by far the best cinematically done. It won best song. It's spell binding. 

I had a few others that I couldn't find clips for....hope you enjoyed this list. 

"The Late Late Show" with JAMES CORDEN

        It was a sad day for America when Craig Ferguson announced that he was stepping down from "The Late Late Show" by Christmas. Immediately a fiasco seemed to ensue, suddenly celebrity gossip columns buzzed about rumors of Letterman being responsible, of random people going to take over, and trying to make it into a Conan O'Brien type scandal.

       It was not a Conan O'Brien scandal. People who did not "get" Craig Ferguson's humor and who obviously had never watched the show before, reported about his bitterness and whoever Ferguson winked might be the next host. He was deliberately messing with the media.

       For many fans, they did not want to give James Corden a chance. Craig fan pages and websites buzzed with anti new guy hatred. They forget that once upon a time, Craig was an unknown in America, only famous for his role as Drew Carey's boss. He was pitted against other hosts and many did not believe he deserved the spot.

          James Corden had made a few guest appearances on "Doctor Who", a show many Craig Ferguson fans love, because of Craig's own love of the show, the tardis on his desk, as well as his former band member being the Doctor. So many fans were happy to hear that they could relate to Corden on some level.

      Yet the hate persisted on the Internet. Craig urged before he left, to give the new guy a chance. Corden appeared very jittery, nervous, and like a giggly schoolgirl when he first was introduced by Craig.

      After so many guest hosts and time away from Craig, perhaps it made it easier to watch James Corden take over.

       After all, the "new guy" was hilarious in his first episode.

He did a skit with many A-listers, including Tom Hanks, Mila Kunis, and Jay Leno.
 
      There were video montages.

There was jokes that did not fall flat. Which was a concern of many who thought maybe the British humor Americans would not "get", according to Piers Morgan.

      The band was OK, but there are mixed opinions there. Craig never had a band, but he isn't Craig. The band was liked by some and hated by others on Twitter.

        The set-up of the interview imitates many other British talk show hosts, such as Graham Norton's show. It's to be expected with a British guy taking over the show. Also, it seemed more free and open of an interview with the guests interacting with each other instead of the cold way many talk shows just talk to the host.
   
         It was less self obsession and more interaction. Interaction leads to hilarious outcomes in general. Johnny Carson used to do it more, and that has been an art lost somewhere.

        It was more fun than Seth Meyers in many ways. Which made me realize, as much as I love Seth, he is not the greatest host. I think he should take Colbert's old job.

What is apparent, with Colbert coming to replace Letterman, and if Corden keeps up the same level of hype (it will fall after a few episodes but, in general be more interesting), then CBS has a winner on their hands.

     
 

HIMYM Finale Review

How I Met the Finale

The title of the show explains the plot of the series; How I Met Your Mother is exactly that, a story about how a desperate for love man in his twenties, Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) meets the mother of his children. The show last Monday completed nine seasons. The final season follows Ted’s friends Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders) and Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) getting married. Throughout the ninth season the mother(Cristin Milioti) has met his friends without Ted himself meeting her. They all agree that she is a nice woman that is perfect for Ted.  Predictably, all of his friends played a part in encouraging him to meet the infamous mother.  

            This hour long episode is called Last Forever. TV Guide has described the proposal of Barney to Robin as uberomantic and it is the central theme of the ninth season, a wedding between Barney and Robin.

With as quick as the plot moved, the ninth season’s plot could have done without an in detail report of a 56 hour time period.

What would How I Met Your Mother be without bringing Robin into the mix? Fans may be tired of this merry-go-round but the merry-go-round had a point that was explained why Ted bothered to share all of his drama with Robin.

            People had violent reactions to the finale of How I Met Your Mother. Some claimed that it was satisfying but there were slightly more fans that found it disappointing. The tension of nine years was hard to beat and the people who were not satisfied let out that tension with intense anger. This was demonstrated on twitter.

1.   Ensamblador ‏@ensamblador Mar 31

"Only one explanation: the finale was written after 2AM. Nothing good ever happens after 2AM" #HIMYMFinale

2.     Patricia Rollins ‏@Ptreee Mar 31

Worst finale ever!!! #HIMYMFinale

            Perhaps the reaction was such a drastic one because in this time some critics would say that people are not watching comedies (although the Big Bang Theory is almost always on TV Guide’s list of top watched shows). The fan base has stayed loyal, many people have joined in on the series.

According to Alex Epstein’s book Crafty TV Writing: Thinking Inside the Box, an established show’s script has to follow a format on how the characters would act, their personalities should be recognizable stereotypical version of themselves. The problem with the finale was not even the shocking plot twist. It was the fact that many die hard viewers had no idea what show they were watching anymore. The characters had changed drastically in four seasons; they retained their flaws but had seemingly learned from them. In one episode the writers discarded many character developments and story arcs.  Many character developments were forgotten that made it look like the end was not well planned out, when it has been planned since the start of the show.

            The ending made sense and would have been better received if the season had not focused on Barney and Robin’s wedding but instead gave the audience time to adjust to massive amounts of new information. The problem with the finale was all the flashbacks and flash-forwards that even though time had elapsed for the characters, the plot twists were devastating for the fans experiencing a synopsis of the characters’ next ten years in about 30 minutes, including watching the group slowly drifting away from each other

            The writers acknowledged some character growth by giving all of the characters heartfelt moments that they responded to according to their personalities.

            There were still a few highlights of the episode though. The audience does get a great deal of tributes to running gags including robots, renaissance fairs, cockamouse, and even the return of The Playbook.  The pineapple mystery still goes unsolved though.

            Even though it all does make sense, they led the viewers down a red herring road. It may have stayed true to the show in many regards but when it comes to character development, the show betrayed its audience.

            Although the episode may not be a favorite, it is sure to be counted among a historic ending, so watch it but be warned that the last five minutes may bring quite a shock. The casual viewer would probably see it as a good ending. However to the many viewers who kept up with the show and talked about it with friends, the ending is more likely to be less satisfying.

If a viewer watches it and is not satisfied simply remember the good times, forget that this episode exists. It is not worth throwing out all the good times for one episode.

Update: The Writers have declared an alternate ending will be presented on the DVDs

Thomas, Craig, and Carter Bays. "Last Forever." How I Met Your Mother. CBS. 31 Mar.            2014. Television.

"Last Forever: Part One." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.

Epstein, Alex. Crafty TV Writing: Thinking inside the Box. New York: Owl, 2006. Print.

Patricia, Rollins (Ptreee). “Worst finale ever!!! #HIMYMfinale” 31 March 2014, 8:01             p.m. Tweet.

Ensamblador (Ensamblador). "Only one explanation: the finale was written after     2AM. Nothing good ever happens after 2AM" #HIMYMFinale 31 March 2014,        8:04 p.m. Tweet.

"'How I Met Your Mother' Finale Secrets Revealed." TV Guide 20 Mar. 2014: n. pag.       Web.

Fangirl Reactions: Doctor Who

I did this for a class. It was supposed to be a comedy video, I could do anything though, it just had to be a slideshow. Here is the article that I had to do afterwards.

http://ahopefulworld.wordpress.com/2013/10/10/the-show-will-not-go-on/

The Power of Pawnee

                “Parks and Recreation” stars Amy Poehler on NBC Thursday nights at 8/7c.  Recently TV Guide magazine has named “Parks and Recreation” as one of the best 60 comedies of all time. To give more insight on this show; Amy Poehler plays character Leslie Knope in “Parks and Recreation” as a waffle loving, government employee for the parks department. Leslie Knope’s childlike enthusiasm for her job is the driving influence that influences not only her local government but all the people around her, and this light hearted take on politics helps the viewer open the door to the power of a community spirit.

                Season one and two of “Parks and Recreation” showed how a fairly simple task has a mile of red tape to go through, but Leslie’s innocence and against all odds determination is what slowly makes the red tape disappear. Suddenly, everyone is in motion and the government workers that have lost the enthusiasm or never had enthusiasm, have to pay attention to this little dynamo.  Her spark is what slowly helps all of her stagnant comrades to become involved and loyal to her impressive optimism. She describes town meetings where people yell at her as “people caring loudly at me”.

                Wisely, “Parks and Recreation” stays away from many political disputes and tries not to venture into sides. Although a comedic show about a local government is not complete without throwing in some big names as well as making a character join a party (Ron Swanson is a libertarian). When budget cut time comes, he is willing to give it all, even his job, but when Leslie’s job is threatened, it is one of the first times we see Ron stand up in order to keep any form of government. He claims that the government needs her, if anybody, because she does the work of three people. Leslie Knope definitely does not have a “nope” in her, as she will do whatever it takes to help her town.

                Although the Parks Department may seem like an extra unimportant branch of government, Leslie sees its value in raising the morale of the people, and making Pawnee great. Some of the accomplishments of Leslie Knope include making the smallest park, putting on a Freddy Spaghetti concert for children, getting the hole filled, successfully launching the harvest festival again, giving a golf cart for a park ranger, creating a baseball field, organizing a li’l Sebastian memorial, and stands up for herself and coworkers. Although local citizens may be slow to acknowledge her contributions and the local media tries to look for the scandal in all things, it seems satisfactory to her that at the end of the day, she knows someone enjoyed her hard work, and she does not need the praise. She is the eternal optimist.

An ordinary workforce’s day to day life can seem dreary and non-productive but  “Parks and Recreation” challenges this by instructing the viewer to cherish the little things that is learned about people, to take hold of the small victories, and rejoice over some of the simple pleasures such as eating waffles at JJ’s.  Leslie Knope leaves a spirit of hope and a note of triumph that could do wonders to the nation if this sit-com were to explode beyond the scope it has now, and if we all decided to adopt a bit of Leslie Knope.