The Music of Westworld

Westworld has been one of the many television highlights of 2016. The music is haunting yet familiar, mostly because the player piano is playing contemporary songs. This is to remind us that Westworld is not real, it is a fantasy. Show composer Ramin Djawadi explains the music choices here. The soundtrack is now available on Spotify. Ignatious Pop made a Spotify playlist that has the songs that inspired the soundtrack on it.

Shockotober! My Favorite Halloween Episodes!

Over the next month, I will be writing about my favorite Halloween episodes. There's so many to choose from! Obviously, The Simpsons Halloween episodes will get a whole post of its own. And Roseanne always had great episodes too.  And of course, Buffy the Vampire Slayer had some classic episodes! Some of them are scary, some of them are funny, most of them are both.

FALL TELEVISION IS FINALLY HERE!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...no not Christmas...fall is finally here! Don't get me wrong, this summer was actually pretty good but summer is pretty sucky when it's come to tv.
Summer is usually a low period during the tv year but with Netflix and Amazon Prime there's been a couple of excellent shows to keep us going during the dog days. Preacher was a riotous, violent, funny series. Obviously, Stranger Things was a nostalgic blast from the past.
But now it's September and officially the start of the tv season! And this is one of the reasons why fall is my favorite season...also; Halloween, sweaters, pumpkin flavored everything and not sweating whilst you sleep.
There are so many amazing looking new tv shows starting right now! Some are returning show like American Horror Story and Project Runway, others are brand spanking new like Atlanta and Westworld.
Good thing I have a couple of days off to catch up on all these shows!
I will post as I watch them.

What I'm watching this weekend:
American Horror Story
Project Runway
Atlanta
On The Night
The Collection

I already watched Drag Race All Stars this morning...Alaska is slaying it!

Netflix release Stranger Things Season 2 teaser trailer!

It's true! Here is Netflix have released a trailer announcing that Stranger Things season two will be happening in 2017! Hopefully, we won't have wait too long into 2017 to watch it! And I'm sure there will be plenty of actual trailers to keep us going until then!

Here's some info about the new season I got from the Mary Sue website...

• Season two will take place over 9 episodes (compared to the first season’s 8) set in the fall of 1984, only a short while after season one, and series creators/writers Matt and Ross Duffer will return.
• None of the cast has been announced as returning, but many of them have expressed interest in keeping the story going.
• The Duffers told Entertainment Weekly that they’re going to continue the same story, so all the major players should be back.
• There will also be four new characters!
• The nine episode titles are: “Madmax,” “The Boy Who Came Back to Life,” “The Pumpkin Patch,” “The Palace,” “The Storm,” “The Pollywog,” “The Secret Cabin,” “The Brain,” and “The Lost Brother”.

I will keep ya'all updated as soon as I found out any info!

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 2: Drag Harder SPOILERS!

FINALLY! Drag Race fans have been asking for an All Stars season pretty much immediately after the last one. We have been speculating over who should be on it for years! The first All Stars was way back in 2012! Too long!
Anyways...When the queens were announced I think everyone was pretty happy with most of the choices, Tatiana (?) Phi Phi (bitch), and were VERY VERY excited about the new season...
Thursday August 25th...the season premiere of All Stars 2! Sadly, those of us who live outside the U.S. have to wait until the next day to watch it. (I have my ways) Luckily, no one spoiled anything for us online!

Ru is not messing around on this one! No teams, which totally sucked and sadly one of my faves got voted off on the first episode...noooooo, not Mimi, Pandora. Twists and turns and the library is open in the first episode (the shade of it all)...episode 2 is Snatch Game (yay!) Ru tells all ten queens that she will not be sending anyone home and that they won't be lip syncing for their lives anymore...they will be lip syncing for their legacy and winning $10,000! But most queens thing something is up and are worried.

The first maxi challenge was a talent show EXTRAVAGANZA! The queens each showcased what they do best. It turns out the the winner of the lip sync will be the one choosing who goes home! #drama
I don't really need to go over what happens on the show step by step...obviously, you watched it if you're reading this...let's just get to what we're here for...THE QUEENS! Time to break it down! All tea, all shade...

J'adore Adore! I was even Adore for Halloween last year...But Adore seems a bit lost. And I hate, hate, hate saying this but she looked bloated and her lips are way too big! Obviously, she sang and that girl can sing! I've seen her live. But her outfits was not her. Her hair can make-up was on point but the dress was very old lady on a cruise. It was sparkly but shapeless.
Michelle Visage ripped her apart. Adore ended up in the bottom three.

I did not like Alaska on her season. It might have been the whole Ro-Laska-Tox thing. But now I love her! Her music is fabulous! Her look is more polished! And she's funny as fuck. Alaska also sang and was safe...but everyone of the other queens think that she's the biggest competition and the one to beat. Alaska is there to win it! And thank god...as Alaska says 'the band is not getting back together!'

Alyssa is still mad as a hatter...but always entertaining. The question is...is she in on the joke or does she think she's in on the joke?
I 've never seen Alyssa perform so was quite impressed with her 'Variety' routine...there was lip syncing, there was dancing (she's a very good dancer) and there was a ventriloquist puppet!
Alyssa thinks she's better than she actually is so let's see how far she gets against other better queens.

CoCo was Alyssa's biggest threat and frenemy during their season. But they have 'buried the hatch' according to Alyssa. CoCo is old school and pretty much only does Janet Jackson in Las Vegas...so what does she do for the talent show...a Ginger Rogers inspired 'ballroom' dance. Everyone was like 'ummm, what?' Coco was in the bottom three. Oh and Michelle said she looked sootie. Doh!

Detox was one-third of Ro-Laska-Tox and since Alaska is not playing that game anymore it looks like it will just be Roxxxy-Tox the season...be careful! Detox is a great queen, she's got a new wave 80's thing going on. She can't really sing so she mostly played with glow in the dark paint during the talent show...it reminded me of that scene in Miss Congeniality where Sandra Bullock takes them to the club.

I love Ginger Minge and she did deserve to be in the top three of her season. She says she needs to be nicer but I never thought of her as mean. Ginger sang, and she's a good singer but it wasn't a show stopper...more like the song you go to the bar or toilet when she sings it. Can't wait to see her in Snatch Game, which is the next episode! Her Adele was hilarious!

KATYA!!!!!!!! I love Katya so much! She was totally robbed her season and should have been in the top three or even won! She's so funny and willing to do and wear anything...though she said she was holding back last time. Can't wait to see how far she goes this time! She did gymnastics for the talent show, cuz she's awesome.

Phi Phi is one of the queens who are here to prove something. She was such a total pageant queen bitch on her season that she wasn't getting bookings. She has totally changed her drag and is now a cosplay queen. Her 365 Days of Drag on Instgram is amaaaaazing. It's funny how she went from not getting alternative drag like Sharon Needles to doing it herself. She sang, badly, pick a key girl and was in the bottom three.

Roxxxy...hated her. She was such a mean girl bully to Jinkx Monsoon. It still makes me angry. She is the other queen who is here to prove something. At least she admits that she wasn't 'edited to look bad' and that she said what she said and it was because she was intimidated by Jinkx. I didn't think I could ever change my mind about her but she did something in the show that really impressed me...and it wasn't her Burlesque act in the talent show.

When the queens were announced and Tatianna walked into the workroom everyone was like...who? Tati is from season two and a lot of the queens are underestimating her. She did a spoken word routine for her talent and looked fierce too. She's the dark horse of the competition.








Roxxxy and Tatianna were the top two and had to lip synce for their legacy, to Taylor Swift's 'Shake It Off'. NOW FOR THE TWIST!!!!!!! THE WINNER HAS TO CHOOSE WHO GOES HOME FROM THE BOTTOM THREE! And this is where Roxxxy changed my opinion of her...DAMMIT! Roxxxy took each of the bottom three girls; Adore, Coco and Phi Phi aside and talked to each of them. She wasn't a bitch, she wasn't a mean girl...she was sypathetic and understanding and really though about who should go home and didn't take out her biggest competition. This is actually killing me to write all this.

Roxxxy won the lip sync and sent her friend Coco home, she was actually worried that Coco won't speak to her ever again.

AND NOW FOR ANOTHER TWIST!!!! Coco goes to the workroom to give her final interview and Rupaul pops up on the TV screen and tells her that she has an opportunity to come back for Ruvenge!

THIS LOOKS LIKE IT IS GOING TO BE THE BEAST SEASON OF DRAG RACE EVER!

Me as Adore for Halloween last year.

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Sick of It!

I have a summer lurgy. Luckily, I don't have to work today. The best TV shows to watch when you're sick are court shows. You can zone out and you don't have to concentrate too much. You don't want to watch something where you have to pay attention like Fringe or House of Cards.
My favorite court shows are...

Judge Judy
Obviously, I watch Judge Judy almost every day, even when I'm not ill. Judge Judy now has the longest running court show on TV. Other Judges try to do the witty remark thing but no one does it as well as Judy.


The People's Court

I love Judge Millian

Actually, I'm lying...the only other Judge that gets even close, and sometimes surpasses Judge Judy is Judge Millian.
The People's Court started in 1981 was actually the first modern court show. Judge Marilyn Millian is the fourth Judge to front the show. One of the other being Judge Judy's husband.




Now for something completely different...

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
I was sick with the flu when Kimmy Schmidt was first released on Netflix last year.
It is probably one of the best shows to watch when you are unwell. It is silly and funny and weird, sometimes you don't know if you imagined what happened on the show or if it actually happened. And then there's the songs too...here's some Kitty and Bunny. Get Well Soon!

Stranger Things - Dream 80's Cast

I love Stranger Things, you love Stranger Things...we all love Stranger Things...especially Barb.
I've been thinking about who would play the different characters if it had actually been made in the 80's. It's set in 1983 but I will be using people from the whole decade.

Chief Hooper

The first person I thought of was Clancy Brown as Chief Hooper.

And speaking of Winona's role as Joyce the mom...it would be so easy to choose Dee Wallace from E.T. or JoBeth Williams from Poltergeist. I'm gonna keep thinking about this and hopefully I'll have a good choice by the end of the article.

Nancy

Phoebe Cates would be Nancy, she's had experience kicking ass in Gremlins.

Barb

 Of course Martha Plimpton is Barb!

Steve

I thought about Steve a lot...
he's would need to be a charming
jerk with good hair...
so Robert Downey Jr.!

Dustin

Now for the boys...I feel like their should be at least one Corey.

I know a lot of people are comparing Dustin 

to Chunk but I see him as more of a Corey Feldman.

Mike

And that would mean Mike 

would have to be Corey Haim.

Lucas

Lucas would be played by Stefen DeSalle, 

which according to IMDB only acted in two movies...

but I think he was the inspiration for Lucas

wearing a bandana in Stranger Things.

Dustin

I changed my mind! Dustin should be Jason Presson!

Will

Lucas Haas would be Will.

Dr. Brenner

Evil Doctor Brenner has to be David Cronenberg...yes, the director, he's done some acting too.

And now for Joyce...since she was the inspiration for Joyce's hair and is a good crier and is a tough woman too...I have finally decided on Meryl Streep.

Joyce

If you disagree and/or have your own suggestions please leave them in the comments.

Going For The Gold...in Binge Watching!

So there's some kind of sports thing happening right now in Brazil...and like me you aren't that bothered with all that. Here's some television you can watch/stream whilst you try to avoid the official version of Fun With Flags.
All viewing platforms are for the UK.

Preacher (Amazon Prime)
Developed for AMC by Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen and Sam Catlin, based on the comic book/graphic novel (whatever) by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. The whole first series, which is actually more of a prequel to the comics, is available on Amazon Prime.
It's darkly funny, disturbing, violent, controversial, thought-provoking and kicks a lot of ass.
Though set in Texas it seems like half the cast is British. Dominic Cooper (Mamma Mia!) is Jesse Custer the Preacher. Joe Gilgun (This Is England) is the manic vampire Cassidy. Ruth Negga (12 Years A Slave) is the kick-ass Tulip.

Lucifer (Amazon Prime)
Another comic/graphic novel adaption with a British lead. Lucifer is based on characters created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Keith and Mike Dringenberg. Lucifer Morningstar, as played by Tom Ellis (Miranda), is bored and unhappy in Hell and decides to spend some time in Los Angeles. He owns a club called 'Lux' but ends up being a consultant to the police, usually using his powers of persuasion and seduction to get the answers they need to solve crimes. It's more light-hearted than Preacher but there are some darker bits involving police detective Chloe Decker.
Tom Ellis has always been an attractive man but as Lucifer he is SEXY!

Stranger Things (Netflix)
Stranger Things is as good and probably even better than what the whole internet is saying. The perfect 80's nostalgia/homage. Taking inspiration from Stephen King, Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter and many many more, this is the story of how a gang of kids try and find their friend who has disappeared into thin air. It's mysterious, weird, funny and a little bit scary.
In the ultimate 80's casting is stars Winona Ryder!
And the soundtrack is spot on too.
I will be writing a whole blog post, or two, about Stranger Things soon.



Dont Trust The B- in Apt 23 (Netflix)
I was just checking Netflix to see what I can recommend when I saw that Dont Trust The B- has been added to the website!
Starring  Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones) as Chloe, the bitch in apt 23, she is an immoral, amoral, scheming, lying, unscrupulous con artist...and you can't help loving her. Sadly, it only lasted two seasons before getting cancelled. It also stars James Van Der Beek as himself.

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Death by Television Returns!

Patron Saint of TV

I love TV. I love talking about TV. My friends come to me for TV suggestions and look forward to my Facebook posts about TV. I am a TV Addict.
I'm just super lame about writing about it on this blog. I haven't written anything in months but I get 20-30 views a day! Imagine how many views I will get when I actually get off my ass and actually post something regularly...so that's what I'm going to do. I promise to post something at least twice a week from now on.
Television is in a golden age right now, some people say it's a platinum age. So, there will be a lot for me to write about. I have strong opinions on TV, I don't rate The Wire but love Murder, She Wrote. I watch almost all the Real Housewives like modern soap operas. I talk about the drag queens on RuPaul's Drag Race like other people talk about athletes. I binge watch shows on Netflix and Amazon Prime...and other online arenas.
I'm going to post about new shows, shows that are streaming online, TV classics, popular TV, not so popular TV, trash TV...I'm also going to continue with my original plan, which was to go through my favorite TV shows in alphabetical order. And 'live' blogging some of my favorite shows past and present; Murder, She Wrote, Friday the 13th: The TV Show and I think I'm going to do The Avengers too, it's such an odd show.
Oh yeah...and the Judge Judy or Judge Milian quote of the day!

Recently watched:
Preacher
Stranger Things
Suspects
The Avengers
Real Housewives
Holby City

Started watching:
Bates Motel

Friday the 13th: The Series - A Cup of Time

This is one of my favorite episodes!

A homeless kid asleep on a bench in a park is given some tea by a 'nice' old lady in a black cloak...and faster then they can say 'thanks for the cuppa' the leaves on the tea cup sprout and wind their way up the kid's arm and strangles them. (cool special effects by the way. no cgi here)
Cut to a recording studio and the most 80's singer ever! Lady Die! Huge crimped hair! Latex outfit! Synths on the backing track...which she hates by the way. She's a nightmare, of course, total rock bitch. She storms off to her dressing room and can't stop checking for wrinkles in the mirror. She wants to do a benefit concert for the homeless...coincidence? Probably not.
Back at 'Curious Goods...a little old lady neighbor, Bertie, drops by with their curtains. She's got a crush on Jack...who is developing a protein drink that's 'healthy and organic'...way ahead of his time there Jack. Bertie is a social worker and had to identify the body of the homeless teen that died in the opening scene. They also mention an old homeless woman had disappeared earlier that year...coincidence? Probably not.
Ryan and Micki head off to the morturary to talk to the police about the homeless deaths...and they totally just walk in on the autopsy, Ryan looks a bit peaky. The pathologist discovers some 'greenish' paint on the dead girls neck, as him and the detective go in for a better look an ivy leaf falls on the floor, which Ryan quickly picks up for a clue. Sneaky.
Apparently, it's 'swapper's' ivy, which in Ireland was considered to be evil...and of course there's a cursed tea cup in the book! Ryan and Micki go to see the guy who bought it, 'Fat' Eddie Burell. Whose skeleton they find in his creepy apartment...Ryan makes a joke about not calling him 'Fat' Eddie anymore.
Sound check at the homeless charity concert. Lady Die is freaking out again over looking old. A homeless girl is partaking of the craft services table and even pick pokets Lady Die's agent's wallet. She runs off and hides in a bush.

Not to be confused with Princess Diana

The not so nice lady in a black cloak with the tea cup is trying to give it to a homeless guy when the little girl runs up. She gives the girl a bracelet to split...the 'swapper's' ivy kills the guy and we see the lady in the cloak is Lady Die...OMG! Yeah, we kinda guessed that.
It turns out that the old lady that's missing, Sarah, is 'Fat' Eddie's sister...coincidence? Probably not.
The Scooby gang figure out that Sarah Burell and Lady Die are the same person after hearing one of her songs on the radio which is about 'I'm a little tea pot..." Subtle.
Ryan and Micki confront her at the local radio station and she runs off but not before getting pick pocketed by the little homeless girl and running into Bertie, her old social worker. Aging quite quickly Lady Die/Sarah tries to swap lives with a homeless person but discovers that the tea cup is missing.

Ryan and Micki go looking for her in the park where all the murders have happened, Bertie is following them for some reason. They find the homeless girl's camp in the park...they get it back from her by promising her a hot meal and a warm bed. As per usual, they take the homeless girl, Kristen, back to 'Curious Goods'. As they look for potato chips for young Kristen, someone break into the shop and steals the tea cup. Turns out the thief is Bertie, no Bertie no, what are you doing!?! She goes to the park to use the tea cup on someone...it's very sad cuz Bertie is kinda awesome. Yay, she can't go through with it and gets comforted by a homeless guy.
Ryan, Micki and Jack think it was Lady Die/Sarah not Bertie who stole the tea cup. We see Bertie in the park with the tea cup...and so does Lady Die/Sarah! Oh No! The Scooby gang rush to the park as Bertie gets chased by Lady Die/Sarah and falls down a hill and then killed by her. The police, for some reason, think Ryan and Micki have tried to kill Bertie, she's actually alive after all.
Lady Die/Sarah is on the look out for another victim...psych! It's Jack in a wig! He grabs the tea from her and runs off. Weirdly, Lady Die turns up for her benefit concert and dies as she falls out of her dressing room/RV.
Kristen ends up going to live with Bertie in the end and everyone lives happily ever after.
Note: Jakc's protein drink is made from bugs...gross.
Cursed Object: Tea Cup decorated with 'Swapper's' Ivy
Number of Deaths: 7?

Friday the 13th: The Series - Episode 3 Cupid's Quiver

This episode of Friday the 13th: The Series was directed by award winning and Oscar nominated Canadian Atom Egoyan, though it is not listed on his Wikipedia page.
It's about a 'Nice Guy'...one of those men who expect women to date them because they aren't assholes but get pissed off when they get turned down...and on this show that means people die.
A creepy 'Nice Guy' asks a woman, who is sitting and chatting with another guy to dance...she turns him down and he goes back to the bar where he has a Cupid's statue in a burlap bag, because of course you do. The Cupid 'shoots' the girl who turned him down and now she can't get enough of 'Nice Guy'. It's like a supernatural roofie. They go to a motel and get it on whilst the Cupid watches...gross. The 'Nice Guy' starts tho strangle the girl but the police bust in and stop him.

You can tell it's evil just looking at it.

When Micki and Ryan interview the motel manager it turns out some Frat-bros helped break down the door to the room when the police raided it...one of them must have taken it! Off to the university!
Ryan, Micki and Jack want to search the Frat for the Cupid, so they end up at a Frat party. Somehow Jack bartends and makes a 'Scottish truth potion' cocktail to try and get the where abouts of the Cupid out of the Frat-bros. The frat had it but new creepy 'Nice Guy' Eddie, Frat-bro wannabe, gets a hold of the Cupid of Malek. He's in love with some girl, Laurie, that tutored him once and thinks it was a date...uh-oh. He uses it on one of the girls at the party and they end up 'parking' in the woods...and then she dies of bee stings. WTH?
Eddie returns to the party and tries to give Laurie the Cupid. They try and explain to Laurie that Eddie is obsessed with her and that she's in danger. Ryan gets the Cupid back from Eddie but it gets taken by Uni security because the Frat-bros have said it was stolen. Eddie gets it back from the security guard, cuz they're buddies. Laurie ends up going back to the antique shop for her safety. Unforunately, it turns out Laurie was 'stung' by the Cupid and is now in love with Eddie. She sneaks out and goes to Eddie in his creepy basement home...no wait...it's Micki in a bad wig! They know everything! Dammit! Micki gets shot bu the Cupid. Eddie grabs Micki and threatens her and Ryan with a fire axe. Ryan chases him through the creepy basement and then Eddie falls to his death.
In the end Jack lectures Ryan about not taking what they're doing seriously enough.

Cursed Object: Cupid of Malek
Number of Deaths: 3

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Friday the 13th: The Series - The Poisoned Pen

Yeah, that's not very convincing,

Episode two takes place inside a monastery where people keep dying after a monk 'predicts' their deaths. Jack realises that it is actually a 'poisoned' pen that makes whatever is written come true. But the only way for them to get the 'poisoned' pen back is for Ryan and Micki to disguise themselves as monks to enter the monastery. Jack forges the paperwork that allows them to join the monastery. The monks must all be blind because there's no way that Micki looks like a man in anyway whatsoever!
So it turns out that the 'psychic' monk is a puppet for an evil monk who just wants to sell the monastery for millions of dollars to a property developer, who will turn it into luxury flats...somethings never change. Ryan and Micki are a bit out of their depth and Jack turns up as an Irish monk to help them out. He also made a copy of the poison pen so they can switch it out with the real one.

The Poisoned Pen

The evil monk kills the 'psychic' monk and also tries to kill Ryan and Micki but as they are not actually brothers the real ones in England die instead.
They finally confront the evil monk and defeat him with his own poison pen...he gets killed by an axe.
Cursed Object: A Quill
Number of Deaths: 7?