Check it out for yourself!

I watch more TV than the average person, and since I am an unemployed college graduate, I watch it even more!  But when the Fall Season began I told myself that I would not pick up anymore shows!!  But that changed when I came across these 2 very entertaining New shows!!

Raising the Bar is about a group of young public defenders in NY, that find themselves in some interesting situations.  This is by far the best Law Show, in my opinion, ever!  Because it's all about the lawyers and its not boring.  We don't see the crimes (like Law & Order), they are told to us in very compelling ways, by the shows' very fine cast!  This show is full of emotion and great writing!  CHECK OUT RAISING THE BAR ON TNT @ 10pm ON MONDAY NIGHTS!!  WATCH IT!!

Worst Week is about a soon to be Son-In-Law that while trying to hard to impress his fiance's parents that he always messes up...HUGE!  The show is well casted and and the Comedic Timing is Dead On!!  There are not many shows that have ever made me LAUGH OUT LOUD, but this one has!  If you love British slap stick humor (minus the accents) You'll Love This Show Too!  Worst Week Comes ON CBS @ 9:30pm ON MONDAY NIGHTS!! CHECK IT OUT!

Here's their contact info:
TNT
1010 Techwood Dr. NW
Atlanta GA 30318
Viewer Comment and Question Line is 404-885-4538.
And contact us page here: http://support.tnt.tv/ics/support/de...sp?deptID=5477

Example Letter:
Hello,
Recently MGM decided to cancel Stargate Atlantis. But I and other fans do not agree them. We want our show to continue for a six season and beyond. Please, we would be very gracious if you decided to let Atlantis move to TNT instead of staying on it's current channel: Scifi.
Please, let Stargate Atlantis move to your channel, TNT.
Thanks,
-[my name]

Regular updates on this info, can be found here.

Because I've never once seen a detective, male or female, running around in painted on blue jeans and sporting a tiny little tank top such as the attire so frequently worn by Grace Anadarko.    Grace Anadarko?   Oh pleeeeeeese, give me a break with the names.  Ham.  Earl.  Bobby.  O.k. Bobby is pretty common and maybe Earl too, but jeezzzz....Grace Anadarko?  Why not Grace Buffalohead or Grace Heaptinyass or Grace Nothingbutbones?

Holly Hunter plays a whiskey swilling, blue streak cussin, whoring, smoking, Oklahoma City police detective who talks to an angel named Earl.  Yep, just your run of the mill things that go on in Oklahoma every day.  Plus she's got this really bad Okie accent that makes me want to slap her upside her size double zero body, and tell her to actually go to Oklahoma and listen to the way we talk and then she can see how idiotic she sounds. 

Oh, and most of us actually move our lips when we talk.  People can actually understand what we are saying, well unless their Yanks and we don't understand you either but we still love ya.  We don't eat hamburgers and donuts constantly.  What?  O.k. some of us eat hamburgers and donuts constantly but not all of us.  It's a little hard to believe she eats and drinks as much as she does on the show because she's got narry a single ounce of fat on her rock hard teeny tiny body.  Her arms look like a body builder anorexic.  Solid muscles and skinny.   Just like my arms.   What?   O.k. so maybe that was some wishful thinking on my part but I could have arms like that if I were an Oklahoma City police detective with my own personal angel named Earl.  I'm certain of that. 

If you know anyone in Hollywood, call them up and ask them if they've ever actually been to Oklahoma and if not, please refer them to this post, as well as this post.  Please?

I had to post this Saving Grace video mostly because I love this song and many others by Everlast.

What shows are you watching on television these days?  I'm always looking for something new so tell me why you love the shows you list.  Please?  

HAPPY TRAILS, Y'ALL

As senhoras que se seguem dispensam apresentações. Todas elas já viram o seu trabalho reconhecido anteriormente através dos mais imponentes prémios da televisão e do cinema e pela generalidade dos críticos americanos, algumas delas são inclusive repetentes nesta categoria, tendo sido premiadas em anos anteriores.

Conheça ao pormenor as candidatas, assim como as hipóteses que cada uma delas tem de levar o prémio para casa hoje à noite (madrugada para nós).

É uma categoria tremendamente difícil de prever, principalmente porque todas elas submeteram episódios com uma carga dramática que anteriormente já lhes valeu grandes prémios.

Mantendo o estilo dos meus anteriores posts de previsões destes Emmy's, começo com a qual acho que tenha menos hipóteses, ainda que seja apontada por muitos como uma forte candidata desta categoria:

Sally Field (por Irmãos & Irmãs) - Galardoada com dois Oscares e premiada com três Emmys, um deles pela sua participação como Nora Walker no drama de elenco Irmãos & Irmãs, Field é uma velha conhecida da Academia. Das cinco nomeadas, é aquela que tem menos tempo de antena, num episódio que, francamente, não a favorece nada. No ano passado os votantes galardoaram pela mesma razão pela qual esta esta nomeada este ano: Uma mãe preocupada com a tóxico-dependência do seu filho mais novo. A guerra no Iraque é um tema que está ainda muito presente nas mentes e nos corações dos americanos e como tal, os votantes poderão simpatizar com a tocante perfomance de Field. Tendo em conta que "History Repeating" é exibido logo após o estupendo piloto de Damages, o trabalho de Field facilmente é ofuscado pelo de Glenn Close.

Kyra Sedgwick (por The Closer) - Sejamos honestos: The Closer é um procedural. Por mais que Brenda Johnson seja uma personagem bem-construída e verdadeiramente credível, algo que o episódio submetido por Sedgwick demonstrou na perfeição, a série continua a ser um drama procedural. Este episódio é um exemplo perfeito da faca de dois gumes que The Closer é. Se por um lado temos uma detective corajosa que lidera na perfeição um grupo de homens, por outro temos uma mulher assustada com a possibilidade de estar a entrar na menopausa. Ainda que seja a actriz com mais tempo de antena, Sedgwick é aquela cuja participação é menos tocante. Caso os votantes olhem para o trabalho geral de Sedgwick na terceira temporada de The Closer, ela poderá ser o "dark horse" da categoria, pois teve uma temporada estupenda. Caso contrário, com base apenas neste episódio, seria tremendamente injusto preterir Sedgwick a qualquer uma das três próximas nomeadas.

Qualquer uma das três seguintes nomeadas tem perfomances fortes o suficiente para levar o prémio para casa.

Holly Hunter (por Saving Grace) - Vencedora de Óscar pela sua participação em "A Pianista", Holly Hunter é a mais recente actriz galardoada pelo prémio mais imponente da representação a transferir-se a tempo inteiro para a televisão. Hunter aparece proeminente no decurso de todo o episódio, e a seguir a Sedgwick é a actriz com mais tempo de antena. A actriz escolheu o último episódio da primeira temporada de Saving Grace. Nesse a personagem titular da série, Grace Hanadarko, descobre que o padre que a violou repetidamente enquanto criança está vivo e que Earl, o seu anjo de última oportunidade, estava a fornecer-lhe pequenas pistas para que ela o descobrisse e finalmente enterrasse o que havia sofrido na infância. Enquanto episódio stand-alone, este "Taco, Tulips, Duck and Spices" funciona muito bem, muito por causa dos dois tocantes monólogos que a actriz desenvolve sobre as violações que sofreu nas mãos do padre pedófilo & sobre os problemas que Deus permite que aconteçam na Terra. A proeminência da religião enquanto tema central deste episódio poderá afastar muitos votantes de Hunter e ainda que os seus monólogos sejam poderosos, o piloto de Damages é simplesmente mais forte.

Mariska Hargitay (por Lei & Ordem: Unidade Especial) - É a actriz com mais nomeações aos Emmys no grupo, nomeada desde 2004 pela sua participação no drama e premiada apenas uma vez, em 2006. A personagem não é nova para os votantes, pelo que, poderá perder alguns pontos para Close e Hunter, pelo factor novidade. No entanto, a actriz soube mais uma vez escolher um grande episódio para submeter, algo que poderá ser recompensado com a vitória. Em "Undercover", Olivia Benson, papel interpretado por Hargitay em Lei & Ordem: UE, investiga a violação de uma jovem rapariga por um guarda prisional. Para o condenar, Olivia infiltra-se na prisão onde este trabalha, assumindo na perfeição uma identidade totalmente diferente de si. Na prisão sofre abusos físicos e uma tentativa de violação por parte do guarda prisional, o que confere a Hargitay cenas de verdadeira tensão, nas quais a actriz tem uma perfomance verdadeiramente emocionante, que toca até mesmo no votante que nunca antes tinha visto um único episódio de Lei & Ordem: Unidade Especial. Mesmo com a forte concorrência de Close, Hargitay pode facilmente ser premiada, sem que isso represente uma grande injustiça para com a protagonista de Damages.

Glenn Close (por Damages - Sem Escrúpulos) - Vencedora de um globo de ouro pela primeira temporada de Damages, Close é, como devem ter notado nos textos acima, a favorita desta categoria. Na série, Close interpreta Patty Hewes, uma advogada de topo que alicia uma jovem e inexperiente advogada a juntar-se à sua firma de forma a ganhar um caso multi-milionário. A personagem é tremendamente maleavél e ao longo do episódio piloto Close alterna entre uma mulher cruel e manipuladora, uma mulher inocente e frágil & uma mulher aparentemente amável, algo que rapidamente descobrimos que não o é. Nas várias facetas de Patty Hewes, Close consegue transpor para a personagem a sua vasta experiência cinematográfica, conseguíndo  realizar sempre na perfeição tudo o que lhe é pedido. Com uma perfomance arrepiante, será muito provavelmente a vencedora desta categoria.

QUEM VAI VENCER: Glenn Close (por Damages - Sem Escrúpulos)

QUEM DEVIA VENCER: Glenn Close (por Damages - Sem Escrúpulos) ou Mariska Hargitay (por Lei & Ordem: Unidade Especial)

PS - Peço desculpa por qualquer erro de ortografia ou de sintaxe que o texto possa conter. Ainda não o revi totalmente, pelo que, poderá ainda sofrer pequenas alterações.

So I dug out some of the obscenely large amount of cotton yarn I got dirt cheap a couple weeks ago, and the biggest needles I have (size 15) I started working, I started with a bath mat.. in K1P1 ribbing, double stranded. I finished the bath mat while watching tv, and went on to working on a back scrubber in this style, but knitted. I think I will also make a bath poof, and maybe a few washcloths, all out of the same yarn, so that they are matching. To give to my mom for Christmas. See, I stay busy, I put to use the yarn I had no purpose for but couldn't pass up, and I get Christmas gifts out of the deal.. A win win win all the way around.

Part of the issue is that we can't put our finger on what the problem is--something's wrong (really, Academy--Entourage? Really?), but what is it? We're inclined to blame the Emmy categories--is Pushing Daisies really the same kind of beast as Two and a Half Men? Should Dirty Sexy Money--or Boston Legal, for that matter--really be considered a drama? We're embarrassed to admit, however, that every new categorization scheme we tried went exactly nowhere.

We considered doing away with "Drama" and "Comedy" and going instead with "Half-hour"/"Hour" or "Single-camera"/"Multi-camera", both of which are already used in the technical and animated categories. In today's television landscape, however, that left us with a couple of strong contenders and a couple we could argue about in the half-hour or mutli-camera categories while overloading the hour/single-camera even more than the current drama category already is. We toyed with the idea of honoring more actors by creating lead, supporting, and ensemble categories. These might allow for, say, Hugh Laurie (lead), Robert Sean Leonard (supporting), and Omar Epps (ensemble) or Steve Carell (lead), Rainn Wilson (supporting), and Ed Helms (ensemble) to be nominated for the same show, or for the large ensemble casts of, say, Lost or Friday Night Lights to be considered separately from shows that focus on true leads, like House or Life. The details necessary to make that work, however ("if the character appears on-screen for less than 30% of the broadcast..."), both felt arbitrary and were, frankly, nearly impossible to hammer out. We played with the possibility that there just aren't enough slots available to honor all of the great performances out there, so we tried adding and dividing up categories differently--"Classic Sitcom"! "Workplace Drama"! "Speculative Fiction"! "Human Interest (read: Soap Opera")! Each of those seemed just as arbitrary as "Comedy" and "Drama," though--is Grey's Anatomy a workplace drama or a human interest show? You could argue either category for Mad Men. We were stumped.

And then it occurred to us: maybe the categories are the problem--and maybe that means there shouldn't be any categories at all. This was a strangely liberating idea. We kept the sex split, both because it seems less arbitrary than the above and because we feared our lists would be swamped with male roles otherwise (try filling out the female comedy roles under the traditional categories--brutal). We limited ourselves to people on the official Emmy ballot, which meant excluding favorites because of production-based eligibility problems (goodbye, British-based Doctor Who crew), because of genre (sorry, Venture Brothers--we'll catch you next time), and because they simply didn't appear on the ballot for reasons beyond our understanding (who dropped the ball on submitting Dan Byrd from Aliens in America?). We began with a list of 40 actors of each sex, then narrowed the list to 30 and ranked them. By assigning points to those rankings, we were able to compare and combine our lists to create a category-less Bacon Emmys. After complaining that there just weren't enough spots to honor all of the excellent performances out there, we were pretty surprised to find that in the end we shared 21 ranked male actors and 21 ranked female actors--with one tie in the Lead Actor in a Drama category leading to 21 official male Emmy nominees in the "major" acting categories this year, that means our numbers are pretty much right on the real numbers. Some other patterns surprised us, too:

Male actors (in alphabetical order):

• Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
• Steve Carell, The Office
• Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights
• Gaius Charles, Friday Night Lights
• Henry Ian Cusick, Lost
• Glenn Fitzgerald, Dirty Sexy Money
• Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother
• Ed Helms, The Office
• Michael Hogan, Battlestar Galactica
• Hugh Laurie, House
• Robert Sean Leonard, House
• Zachary Levi, Chuck
• Damian Lewis, Life
• Zeljko Ivanek, Damages
• Jack McBrayer, 30 Rock
• Chi McBride, Pushing Daisies
• Lee Pace, Pushing Daisies
• Wendell Pierce, The Wire
• Andre Royo, The Wire
• Michael K. Williams, The Wire
• Ray Wise, Reaper

Female actors (in alphabetical order):

• Julie Benz, Dexter
• Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights
• Rose Byrne, Damages
• Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies
• Glenn Close, Damages
• Tina Fey, 30 Rock
• Anna Friel, Pushing Daisies
• Ellen Greene, Pushing Daisies
• Christina Hendricks, Mad Men
• Holly Hunter, Saving Grace
• January Jones, Mad Men
• Angela Kinsey, The Office
• Swoosie Kurtz, Pushing Daisies
• Mary McDonnell, Battlestar Galactica
• Elizabeth Mitchell, Lost
• Adrianne Palicki, Friday Night Lights
• Amy Pietz, Aliens in America
• Jamie Pressley, My Name Is Earl
• Sarah Shahi, Life
• Sonja Sohn, The Wire
• Natalie Zea, Dirty Sexy Money

For the record, Susannah's top two ranked actors I didn't list were Lost's Michael Emerson and FNL's Jesse Plemmons, while my top ranked she didn't list were Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Charlie Day. For the women, her top two ranked picks I didn't list were The Riches' Minnie Driver and Lost's Evangeline Lily, while my top picks she didn't list were Tricia Helfer of Battlestar Galactica and Sunny's Kaitlin Olson.

These 42 actors represent 17 shows, which isn't as many as the real nominees (24 shows). So maybe the Emmys do a better job of spreading the wealth than we would. On the other hand, they spread that wealth by nominating Charlie Sheen and Mariska Hargitay, and...yeah, we're not going to apologize for not spreading the wealth quite that far. In fact, TV Bacon and the Academy agree on slightly fewer than 25% of the nominees (ten out of 41/42). It's a supporting-heavy list, although that's slightly skewed by self-submissions we'd place elsewhere (in what universe is Connie Britton supporting?)--that may reflect the current popularity of the ensemble shows we had such a hard time categorizing. It's a very, very white list, especially for the women. Thank goodness for The Wire--if we remove their four candidates, 35 out of 38 of the remaining nominees are white. We're still doing a little better than the real Emmys, who, including The Wire (from which they chose zero nominees), had four minority nominees out of 41 total. While we've both had America Ferrera and Edward James Olmos on our lists in the past, even including them wouldn't hide the whitewash that is American television in 2008.

Perhaps most interesting, however, is that after all our complaining about the traditional categories--and we're still plenty irked about several exclusions among the real nominees--it wouldn't take us long to declare winners in each of those. Adding together our rankings to create a "winner," we'd have to go exactly four names down our list of female actors to fill the four traditional categories, as our top four were Connie Britton (supporting actress in a drama), Glenn Close (lead actress in a drama), Kristin Chenoweth (supporting actress in a comedy), and Anna Friel (lead actress in a comedy). The pattern for the men isn't nearly so clear, since we'd have to go five whole places down our list to declare winners in the four traditional categories: Andre Royo (supporting actor in a drama), Lee Pace (lead actor in a comedy), Alec Baldwin (lead actor in a comedy), Kyle Chandler (lead actor in a drama), and Jack McBrayer (supporting actor in a comedy). If we'd hewn even more strictly to the Emmy rules and judged a single episode the actors submitted, Baldwin's tour de force journey through 70s sitcoms might well have pushed him over the top. So after all our complaining and rearranging--are the categories really the problem after all?

What do you think? How would you have rearranged the Emmy categories? Who do you think was robbed? Are you coming after me with pitchforks because it was my list that kept John Krasinski out? Will the Emmys ever get it right?

I really like what I see so far after two episodes of ENTOURAGE as the HBO show is as entertaining as ever. While it’s been said many times, I’ll say it again, Jeremy Piven was born to play the Ari Gold agent character as every scene he’s in is priceless.

After watching the first two episodes of Fox’s TERMINATOR: The Sarah Conner Chronicles, I have to say no show on television stages more exciting action sequences as the stuff they do on this program. It is totally top notch! This has really become one of my favorite programs.
 
Two episodes into HBO’s new vampire program, TRUE BLOOD, and I really like the way the show ends each week with a cool cliffhanger that immediately continues into its following installment! While the shows pace is somewhat deliberate, it’s certainly interesting and fairly original. So far I like it!

TNT has given renewals to two of its original dramas: SAVING GRACE and Steven Bochco’s new legal drama, RAISING THE BAR. The basic cable network is becoming a strong player in the TV game as it also has the hit show, THE CLOSER, which attracts almost 8 million viewers a week. TNT has a bunch of new original programs slated to air before years end and continue to gain in the marketplace!

Foi ontem anunciado pela estação cabo norte-americana TNT a renovação das séries Saving Grace, para uma terceira temporada, e Raising the Bar, para uma segunda temporada.

Este anúncio acontece num momento em que as duas séries estão a exibir episódios inéditos e vêm no seguimento de uma série de bons resultados ao nível de audiência alcançado por ambas.

Saving Grace, a série que mostra Holly Hunter como uma problemática polícia de Oklahoma, tem registado números bastante consistentes, registando uma média de 4.4 milhões de espectadores, ao longo dos 7 episódios, de um total de 15 que a temporada tem previstos, já exibidos. A actual temporada será, no entanto, dividida em duas partes, sendo que os restantes 8 episódios serão exibidos apenas em Março do próximo ano. A terceira temporada terá 15 episódios.

Quem também terá 15 episódios na segunda temporada será Raising the Bar. O drama legal, protagonizado por Mark-Paul Gosselaar, e que tem como criador Steve Bochco (A Balada de Nova Iorque), estabeleceu, este Verão, um novo recorde de audiência para uma estreia num canal cabo norte-americano totalizando 7.7 milhões de espectadores e, ao fim de 3 episódios, soma uma média de 5.5 milhões todas as semanas.

Ambas as séries deverão estrear as novas temporadas no segundo semestre de 2009.

Quem continua com o seu futuro por definir é The Closer que, estando a exibir a sua quarta temporada, soma uma média de 7.3 milhões de espectadores por episódio. Estes números fazem da série uma das mais vistas do cabo norte-americano e, portanto, a renovação da série para uma quinta temporada é quase uma garantia. Pelo menos, se tal não acontecer, o que é pouco próvavel, não é por culpa da audiência. Nos próximos dias, certamente, teremos novidades ou, simplesmente, a confirmação de uma evidência.

De relembrar que a TNT tem ainda duas novas séries prontas a estrear: o drama Trust Me, que terá como protagonistas Tom Cavanagh e Eric McCormack, e mostrará o dia a dia de uma equipa de criativos numa agência de publicidade em Chicago; e um outro drama, Leverage, com Timothy Hutton e Christian Kane, entre outros, que segue um grupo de criminosos que rouba grandes companhias e grandes homens de negócios. As duas séries deverão estrear entre Dezembro e Janeiro.

Fonte: Zap2it

Post relacionado:

- Projectos 2008/2009: TNT

I digress here because this post started out about television and wide hips and now I'm talking about the most emaciated movie star on television these days so enough about her.  Meh.  I want to talk about my television.  My ( I can say "my" because what's his is mine and vice versa) wide screen television that I could really have cared less about having (it was a gift to HBL from an appreciative corporate board) until I turned it on and saw the most amazing sight.  Every single skinny assed celebrity looks like they've been eating too many Sprinkles cupcakes and not working out 8 hours a day.  I love it.   It's fabulous for my self-esteem.  I can actually watch those skinny and Desperate Housewives and not feel like a miserable blob of jelly because they too have thunder thighs and an apple butt when viewed on a wide screen television.

HBL and I watched the movie Over Her Dead Body  Saturday night because it was one of those days to hunker down, eat leftovers and get lost in a mindless movie about a dead woman haunting her fiance'.  Besides, I had to go to Lowe's with HBL so he had to watch a girly movie with me as his punishment to reciprocate.  I'm not really the girly movie type but it's easier to be surfing the world wide web and watching a movie at the same time if it's something I don't have to concentrate on too much.  Like right now HBL is watching Charlie Wilson's War and I have no idea what is happening because my mind is here instead of there.  I look up and nod and say "hmmm" at the appropriate times so he feels like I'm paying attention.  I hope there's no quiz at the end of the movie or I'm in deep poo doo.

Dang, I keep getting off track but I mostly just wanted to sing the praises of the wide screen television which is a fabulous self-esteem booster and it's way more fun than hours of sitting on a therapist couch.  [which I might or might not have had any experience on a therapist couch]     For example, here's Eva Longoria in Over Her Dead Body.  

We all know she's a twig of a Hollywood stick figure but look at the hips she has when viewed on my television.**  I wonder if celebrities know that a wide screen packs 40 pounds on them instantly?  I'm thinking some do and that's why Holly Hunter looks like a skeleton with skin so she will still look thin on a wide screen tv.   What do you think of Hollywood's obsession with emaciated stick figures and the effect they have on a woman's self image?  I'm appalled at the message they are sending to girls and women everywhere and I think I'll do something about it right now.   

I'm off to eat a donut so I don't contribute to another person's negative self image.   Just doing my part!  But I still have to ask, are her hips wide or is it just me?  Yep, I know-----it's just mine uh er I mean it's just me. 

HAPPY TRAILS, Y'ALL

* This show is by no means is an accurate representation of people in Oklahoma.  Especially their accents.  Ugh.....

** I took a picture of the movie playing on my television screen.

They appointed a leader
To return to their bondage.
But You are God,
Ready to pardon,
Gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger,
Abundant in kindness,
And did not forsake them.

Nehemiah 9: 17

As I go through the whole chapter, I can’t help but be teary-eyed. It’s as if I’m reading my own personal story.

I run for God to rescue me, and then run away from Him. And then run to Him again for deliverance. Over and over again this has happened… but never did God abandon me. My disobedient heart and stubborn soul were traded with much more love. As my sin increased, His grace increased all the more.

Here’s to a sweet, gracious, loving God.

Joe Dougherty links: corporate HQ, original fiction, radio drama, his novel, another novel and radio scripts.

[audio http://homepage.mac.com/dleesim/zicreesimkins20_joe_dougherty.mp3]

Download the mp3

Note: Right-Click in Windows or Control-Click in OS X.

I can’t remember the last time I felt this much heartache. I stay awake at night, trying to not think of sad thoughts but fail, and then I cry my heart out, and then I try to sleep. Even the crying doesn’t help me succeed in my plan to sleep. So I just get up, with a really terrible headache. And then I’ll lie in bed again, try to get some sleep but end up crying and then it starts all over again.

I asked my friend if it will ever stop. The pain. I mean, I just want it to stop. I kind of knew the answer but I just needed someone to remind me that it will be gone someday. Or I guess I needed someone to lie to me that it will be gone SOON. “The good news is, it does. The bad news, though, is we don’t know when”, she said.

I am most sure that the reason why I can’t remember the last time I ever felt this much pain is because God has healed me of my past already. The only thing I can remember is me crying out to God three or four years ago, with my knees bent, asking Him to fill out all the empty spaces in me. That He not only be my Father, but my lover as well. That I not only get to win his heart but He’d win mine.

And then I just woke up one day and all the pain was gone. And then I got to laugh out loud again. I can’t even remember the hurt now.

“There is a time for everything..

a time to laugh, and a time to mourn…”

( Ecclesiastes 3:4)

I just thank God that I am going through this. Yes, that may sound hypocritical or whatever, but I really mean that. I never question why I hurt, or why I cry. I just question the longevity. Haha. So there. Despite my pain, I am most thankful. Because I am going through this. Which means that a new season is definitely starting. And then I’ll get to wake up again and just realize that all the pain is gone. That God has healed me already. And then something big has started already.

In God’s perfect time. Oh God, I hope I still am sane by that time.

He makes all things beautiful, in His time.

I love you, sis.

]]> http://raked.wordpress.com/?p=98 Tue, 02 Sep 2008 02:58:09 +0000 Raked http://raked.pt-br.wordpress.com/2008/09/01/bring-back-the-breaks/ RAISING THE BAR: 1.01 "The Pilot"

With the new season of television comes new things to Raked. The first, watching a TNT series. I haven't caught The Closer or Saving Grace, but I thought I'd tune into Steven Bochco's new series. Always with a fanfare, TNT hit off the premiere with no commercial interruption.

Little would I have thought that commercials would help a series, but we really needed the commercial breaks that were missing in tonight's premiere of Raising the Bar. It looks like a good premise for the show, and it is enough to bring me back to another episode, but without the breaks, I felt that a lot of the tension was missing in the show. We didn't have any angst drawing us to what the jury would say or what the judge would say (or what the judge would say or what the judge would say, as it went). The transitions were interesting, though a little distracting without anything for them to transition from, so maybe this wasn't the number one show to take out commercial interruption.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed it, and I'll tune in next week. I'm curious to see more of Mark-Paul Gosselaar's character. His eyes and anxious hands made me wonder about any possible dark secrets he might be hiding. I was a little put off because I felt that they could have spent a little more time building up characters--not necessarily stories and backgrounds, but job titles and names. They're a lot to keep up with, and it was about the time that the show was ending that I thought I had them sorted out. But it's nice to see some familiar faces again, like Gloria Reuben and J. August Richard. Plus, it's always nice to see J. August Richards in his lawyery duds again, even if they didn't suit in Angel (pardon the pun).

And stay tuned for next week's trip- we're thinking it may be time to start exercising...

[audio=http://cache09-music01.myspacecdn.com/72/full_fa1b8ba01586d713b59eebd52b114e1a.mp3?bandid=10551856&songid=82641846&token=1219927918_002d58eaf1080101db3d63029c800eaa&p=aHR0cDovL2NhY2hlMDktbXVzaWMwMS5teXNwYWNlY2RuLmNvbS83Mi9zdGRfZmExYjhiYTAxNTg2ZDcxM2I1OWVlYmQ1MmIxMTRlMWEubXAz&a=1]

A bandsonfire nyitólapján már egy jóideje reklámozták a lemezt, így gondoltam nincs vesztenivalóm, ha adok nekik egy esélyt. Hogy mit kap mégis, aki szentel egy kis időt a Saving Grace-nek? Semmi olyat, amit ne hallottunk volna már száz és száz másik bandától. Minden elismerésem annak, aki a promo-szövegüket írta a myspace-re, hogy ennyi mindent össze tudott hordani egy kicsit tradiconális, de inkább az újsulis hardcore felé kacsingató bandáról. És mégis annyi erő, és érzelem van a lemezen, hogy nehéz nem szeretni őket. A számok brutális lüktetését a lemez közepén érkező csodás interlude töri meg, amelyben a háttérüvöltés, és a halk monológ egy kissé nyomasztó, de egyben gyönyörű hangulatot is varázsol.

Vokális téren nem lehet panasz a bandára, Nik hangja hatalmas energiával bír, néha bevállal death-es pig squeal-eket is, de a lemez nagyrészében az öblös hörgés a jellemző. Akik szeretik az Alove For Enemies-t, vagy a Once For All-t, nem fognak csalódni a Saving Grace-ben sem, de azok is nyugodtan bevállalhatják, akik egy kicsit is szimpatizálnak a hardcore színtérrel. Az üzenet egyértelmű, a zene erőteljes, az előadásmód nagyon jó. "Be who you are! Know who you are!"

Pont: 8/10

Myspace

Alors, pour la première, rien de glamour, juste Grace avec la bouche ouverte, car elle parle avec Ham (oui, comme la dernière fois)

En seconde, toujours Grace, mais de nuit, sur un cheval blanc. Parfois, mon sens de la mise en scène se réveille, la jeune femme fleur bleue qui est en moi se réveille aussi, et franchement, c'est quand même beau une balade la nuit sur un cheval, près de la rivière :

and nothing I can do to make God love me less.

]]> http://jaynelovesvera.wordpress.com/2008/08/19/the-best-show-on-television-with-the-best-character-on-television-played-by-the-best-actress-on-television/ Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:24:57 +0000 jaynelovesvera http://jaynelovesvera.pt-br.wordpress.com/2008/08/19/the-best-show-on-television-with-the-best-character-on-television-played-by-the-best-actress-on-television/

TNT - Saving Grace - Starring Holly Hunter.

Christ Tomlin took the words out of my heart:

INDESCRIBABLE!
uncontainable
you placed the stars in the sky
and you know them by name
you are AMAZING, God.

all powerful
untamable
AWESTRUCK we fall on our knees
as we humbly proclaim
YOU ARE AMAZING, GOD.

God really is indescribable, I can't even think of the perfect word to describe Him. I am in such awe of how much God has chosen to love me from the start- even before my mummy started having those uterine contractions and even before I was delivered (forgive me, I'm studying again and I'm reviewing Maternity Nursing today.. haha), and even after I turned away from Him, tried to push Him away, rebelled against Him, ran away from Him. HIS LOVE NEVER CHANGED. And He chose to love me and stay with me still. Oh such love.

He makes me weak. Like that knee-wiggling, weak feeling after swimming and finishing about 3 laps in an olympic sized-pool. (Well I'm actually just thinking like an athlete, in real life, I get that knee-wiggling feeling with just one :D).

But yeah, that's the feeling. When I think about how much He loves me, I just get lost to my senses, my world stops (and this is even better than the "world-stopping moment" I had with my super-duper crush before), and then I just grasp the truth that He loves me. He does. And that love will never, ever change.

INCOMPARABLE
UNCHANGABLE
you SEE the depths of my heart
and YOU LOVE ME THE SAME

you are AMAZING, God.

PS:
Marky, you crossed my mind while I was writing this. I remembered the time you told me you sang this the first time at church and you had goosebumps. :-) Miss you. :-)

Although I have been opposed to video games for years, I now own a Wii.

I own this Wii because some publicist obviously mistook me for someone with a wide audience and sent me one. He also sent me a Wii Fit. (Which I blogged about Here)

The Wii Fit is an amazing toy/exercise tool. It weighs you, calculates your body mass index, and then tests your reflexes and balance to determine your Wii Fit age, which it then uses to select exercises for you.

Well.

According to the Wii Fit, I am 48 years old. According to the Wii Fit, I am on the cusp of 50, I am headed for menopause, about to get some serious crows feet, about to droop so badly that my current body will seem taut in comparison.

According to the Wii Fit, my body is five years older than I am.

This is supposed to motivate me. It is supposed to fire me up to exercise and get fit and lower my Wii Fit age. It doesn't. It depresses me. It reminds me of being in sixth grade and being picked for teams -- not last (a fate reserved for those uncoordinated AND unpopular) but last of the non-rejects.

Know what I mean? The hierarchy of being picked for teams went like this:

1. Your friends who were good athletes -
2. Good athletes who weren't your friends
3. Friends who weren't good athletes
4. Outcasts.

I fell into category three. The bad athlete. Not quite a category four -- not quite hurricane bad, but bad enough. Now, thirty years later, I have a piece of equipment in my family room telling me what I've known since I was eight: I am not a very good athlete.

What next? Will it mock my hair and make me feel like I'm wearing the wrong clothing? Will it taunt me in the hallways because I have such an obvious crush on Joel Malina?

And the thing is, I am coordinated. Give me a dance step and I'll pick it up like that. Put me on ice skates and I'm good to go. But throw a ball at me and I'm a clueless, graceless, klutz who's always picked last, never gets the guy, and wears plaid skirts and horned rimmed glasses without a trace of irony.

Is the Wii fit fun to use? Sure. It tracks your progress, offers encouragement, and points out that I am old, out of shape, and fast headed to early-bird specials, pant-suits, and Mah Jong with the girls.

Fun Fun Fun.

I once read that the vast majority of home exercise bicycles end up being used as uber-expensive dry-cleaning racks. Maybe I can use the Wii Fit as a trivet. Or a really low step stool.

Or maybe, I should get up off my ass, get on the damn thing, and bring my Wii Fit age down to 25.

I wonder, will that erase my age-spots? Bring my pre-baby boobs back? Magically infuse me with the elixir of youth?

Maybe. And if not, another publicist sent me a Pajamagram (very cozy), a bunch of episodes of The Closer, Saving Grace, and My Boys, and a Do Not Disturb sign for my bedroom door. Wii are definitely expert at that.