Men In Trees: Sweatering It Out

One thing I always love about this show and will continue to love is all the supporting characters. I’m also a big fan of Marin (obviously) but I like her more when she’s dealing with the craziness of all the other regulars. Where are Buzz and Mai? Where are all of Celia’s snappy returns? Where is that Marin and Jack spark thatI love to see every week? That’s hard to duplicate when Jack and Marin don’t actually share any screen time. And I’m definitely missing it.

Now that Marin’s committed herself to Jack and has turned into a woman who waits by the phone and knits, is she still the same Marin? One thing that remains the same is her propensity to attract trouble. This week’s trouble comes wrapped up in a big Patrick bow. With his memory gone, he’s basically starting from scratch and he sees something he likes in Marin. I laughed out loud when he tried to kiss her — mostly because Marin was so horrified and did a mad scramble to get away from him. It’s interesting to have Patrick look the same and talk the same but have a completely different outlook on life. I wonder when and if he’ll get his memory back.

One person who can’t wait to get the old Patrick back is Annie. I loved these two together but I understand that it’s not such an interesting story dramatically if Annie and Patrick get married and live happily ever after. But it’s tough for me to see Annie in such anguish. When you find the guy you’re going to spend the rest of your life with, you think you’ll have at least a few good years before it all goes to hell. Not so much for our Annie. I was, however, very proud of her for suggesting friendship when she and Patrick didn’t score similarly on Marin’s quiz. She’s trying but what kind of toll is it taking?

Another couple whose relationship is changing, but in a very good way, is Sara and Pastor Eric. As soon as he started talking about people who believe they see the chief seeing him, I knew his faith had been restored and he’d return to his calling. And I’m glad. I’m also happy Sara and Eric can admit they're in love. Good luck with that whole no-sex thing.

Which brings me back to Marin. Former lover and current publisher Stuart calls Marin out of the blue. Well, I guess it really starts with the flowers. He hopes Marin will meet him halfway between Elmo and New York because he can’t stop thinking about her. His call and questions about the nature of Marin’s relationship with Jack ultimately help Marin realize she’s doing the right thing. Maybe she does have to sit by the phone and wait for her man to call, but she seems happy. If that changes I’m sure I’ll see Marin dip her toe back in the dating pool. She was certainly getting some major male attention, perhaps because she’s off the market. As long as she doesn’t date Patrick, I think I'm good.

And I’ve got to mention Jack, too. My only quibble with those ocean scenes was that they didn’t look real. I had a hard time seeing past the wave machine making ripples in a pool surrounded by man-made fog. Maybe it was just me. But it was sad to see Jack and Julia have to untether their raft from Gary’s. But it’s all about survival now, and Gary was badly hurt and sinking. Gary seemed like a good guy, very selfless. It would have been nice to get to know him a little better, but I’m glad Jack’s alive (for now) and trying to make his way back to Marin.

Wow, I can’t believe I almost forgot about Sam and Jane. How cute are they? I’m just so darn happy to see them together and happy. I knew one of them would be smart enough to suggest the bicoastal thing, so I’m not worried about those two at all. I did love Sam’s face when he saw that monster plow truck. Men do love their cars.

Book Review: Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver

The Great Readers of M are participating in the 2008 Kalamazoo Reading Together program for the month of February. This year's selection was Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver. As my friends and book reading discussion group know I am NOT a Barbara Kingsolver fan. I hated Poisenwood Bible, but thought I would give Ms. Kingsolver another chance. Never again. I have never been so bored and it was pure torture to get through this drible.

After decades of familial estrangement, a woman temporarily returns to her western hometown to be a doctor-turned-school-teacher and care for her father, a newly diagnosed Alzheimer's Disease patient. She finds solace in the company of her extended family and also the arms of an old high school crush.

If you value your time or effort, you will stop right here and now, and not waste either on this publication. The main character is an irresponsible middle-aged female who flits from one idea to the next without reason, rational thought or accountability. She reviews her pursuit of a medical career, only to quit a few months short of the completion of her training and complain about it. She bounces from one domestic fling to another and then expresses her dismay. She moves from one geographic location to another, only to (you guessed it) gripe about moving. Additionally, her reasons for really returning to her hometown are not extraordinarily clear, since her initial one-year plan did not include staying to care for her father throughout the duration of his terminal illness. Time and time again I ask of Kingsolver, "What is your point?"

The title is gleaned from a short conversation between characters who witness a slumbering dog in dream state pursuit. The author and characters may only guess what that animal could be dreaming about, for only his legs move as he sleeps, but can't quite see into his dream. Kingsolver vaguely attempts to tie this concept to the behavior of human beings, but never quite pulls it off. In a few weak examples, her Alzheimer's Disease patient is voicing a completely rational thought that seems so ludicrous to those who cannot see into his mind.

I may only venture to guess that the author's intentions were much like those states of dreamy consciousness. I was never quite sure of her intentions, because even her written word will not reveal what is on her mind.

There Will Be Blood: Savegely Stirring

The opening scenes of There Will be Blood are like a preview for the superb Daniel Day-Lewis performance to follow. For the movie's first 15 or so minutes, there is not a bit of dialog — only silence interspersed with the dissonant, deep-stringed musical score. The action focuses solely on the grueling labor at hand. It's a striking way to start a story and also a metaphor for Day-Lewis's portrayal of Daniel Plainview, whose outbursts are as sinister as his silence and who lives for nothing but the pursuit of oil.

Based loosely on Upton Sinclair's Oil!, this movie is strange and hard to pigeonhole, and that's one of the main reasons I enjoyed it. It's a tale of two megalomaniacs, representing capitalist and religious greed, that at times has the feel of a horror film. The other big reason to savor There Will Be Blood is for Day-Lewis's eerie performance, which is hands down one of the year's best.

The majority of the movie's action takes place in the early 20th century in a small California town where Plainview has come to prospect with his 10-year-old son, H.W. If Plainview and his men find oil, he pledges to fund the local church, run by a weaselly little preacher named Eli Sunday (Paul Dano). Though the town eventually strikes it rich, the wealth comes at a cost, including disasters and family drama, failed attempts at religious conversion, and one heart-breaking accident.

Dano, who I loved in Little Miss Sunshine, is great as the politely manipulative Eli, a pre-TV version of a televangelist. And Day-Lewis is one of those rare actors totally consumed by a character — not because he puts on an accent or grows facial hair (although he does) but because everything about his manner and psyche seems transformed. With Plainview, he perfectly illustrates the struggle between greed versus compassion, creating a man so misanthropic, he cannot even bring himself to care about the people he longs to love.

The problem with There Will Be Blood is that it lacks a unified, tension-building plot and instead feels more like a series of interlocking conflicts. Director Paul Thomas Anderson chooses to focus more on the struggle between capitalism and religion than that of greed versus compassion, but by the shocking and riveting final scene, it's not clear which side he wants to win.

My Name Is Earl: Early Release

When I first found out that the warden was going to burn Earl and keep him in prison I was intrigued. However, when Earl found out about it and kneed the warden in the groin, I was ecstatic. Apparently, I have secretly been waiting for Earl to revert to his dastardly ways for some time now. Now, it seems that time has come and it has brought me a newfound interest in the show.

I knew when I saw the look in Earl's eyes as he let Randy in on his plan to escape that this was going to be a great episode.

As I watched this episode, I got the feeling that many of the cast members decided that this was their turn to be like Jaime Pressly and get themselves an Emmy. Randy's delivery was extra hilarious and Darnell's performance leading the prison church services was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time.

Over the season, I have grown so fond of Craig T. Nelson's character that I actually felt bad for him when Earl held him at gunpoint. I know he totally screwed Earl but, give the guy a break. His job comes with a lot of stress.

I had a hard time picking a favorite quote for this weeks episode. I can't remember the last time I laughed out loud so often in one half hour. Not to get on a soapbox, but that's the kind of quality that only comes from union writers.

I don't know what was funnier, Darnell's line about Mr. Parrot, his fro or the awesome pimp walk he did when he walked out of frame. All those things, along with "Richard Jammer's" ridiculous toupee has me laughing so hard I had to rewind the scene to watch it again.

One of my favorite things about My Name Is Earl is how past characters and plotlines are often brought back. I had all but forgotten about Paco and Catalina. It's almost as if the show's storylines were planned out before the season began. This gives me hope that I'll be seeing the warden, Frank, Paco and maybe even church guy again before the season is over.

I'm really glad that Earl voiced his concern about how karma was treating him because I couldn't help thinking the same thing. Will this cause Earl to abandon his path of goodness altogether? I mean, things are drastically different from when the show began. He's got no money, no place to live and because of him, all his friends are accessories to a felony. I have a feeling that some major changes are going to take place before this season us over. Let's just hope the current strike is resolved so I can see those changes take place.

Usually I end each review with one or two things I didn't like about the episode but nothing qualified. This episode was as good as a sitcom gets.

Feist - Brandy Alexander

Ever since a friend informed me that Thursday was National Brandy Alexander Day, I haven't been able to get the chorus of the Feist song of the same name out of my head:

"He's my Brandy Alexander
Always gets me into trouble
But that's another matter
Brandy Alexander"

As far as the downtempo songs from The Reminder go, it's one of my favorites; its particular sing-song-y quality also guarantees that once it's in my head, I'll start involuntarily swaying back and forth, hoping none of my coworkers notice.

In case you've also been afflicted with this problem, I decided to dig up a version of "Brandy Alexander." Feist hasn't made an official video of the song, but luckily, YouTube had several clips of her performing it live. Feist's voice sounds absolutely gorgeous on the one I chose, and the relatively steady video is filmed from pretty close up, so you can watch Feist in all her glory. To check out the song — whether it's been wedged in your head or you're hearing it for the first time — just click on the video.

"Avenue Q" Finds Itself a Home In Kalamazoo

Avenue Q is a fictional street in an unidentified borough of New York City where a multicultural gang of 20-and 30-something people and puppets struggle, sing, dance and otherwise poke fun at their disparing lives.

Thanks to the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre's pilot production of this Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, it's now in Kalamazoo with some "author-approved adjustments" to tame the irreverent show.

Without having seen the original production, the changes are undetectable - the show seems to lose none of its grit or edge. Avenue Q is a community in which a Republician investment banker is far more reprehensible than a gay artist; interracial relationships abound; monsters, also known as "people of fur" live side-by-side with blue and green faced puppets and black, white and Asian humans.

They all strive to find "purpose" in their lives and along the way make room for excessive drinking, Internet pornography, conversations about race and sexuality, explicit puppet sex (despite having no anatomy below the belly) and one-night stands, much of it at the behest of the bad-idea bears (fuzzy stuffed animals who cheer on destructive behavior).

Much of the show is downright hilarious, and it's driven by sassy musical numbers. The song titles "It Sucks to be Me," "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist," "The Internet is for Porn," and 'You Can Be as Loud as The Hell You Want" clearly give away their funny-because-it's-true messages.

The ensemble cast performances are solid, and this is remarkable because they're not just singing, not just dancing, not just acting; they're also puppeteering, and managing to do all of it brilliantly.

It's fascinating to watch how it all works: The puppets' faces don't change, but the actors manipulating the puppets are very expressive; in effect, they create a single character with one voice out of two - sometimes three -bodies.

My fellow coworker, Kristen, as the May West-inspired Lucy the Slut is particularly convincing.

The standing ovation given by the full house last night suggests there's a place for "Avenue Q" in Kalamazoo.

Dirty Sexy Money: The Nutcracker

The Darlings certainly know how to prepare for the holidays, don't they? Not only did they have a performance of "The Nutcracker" in their living room, but they found time to battle Simon Elder. Every week it seems like another Darling is involved in the plot against Simon--I can't wait for Juliet and Jeremy to join the fray. The twins can be excused, however, since they were busy with their gorgeous significant others.

Juliet left the Seychelles with a little souvenir: a hot foreigner named Kai. I can only hope that this relationship is more successful than Jeremy's. I think I'm becoming as paranoid about "love pirates" as Jeremy is, because I was convinced that Sofia was lying about knowing the Darling name (wrong). I also can't help but be suspicious of Kai, whose two-week visit turned into an indefinite stay once he saw the inside of The Imperial (I love that the Darlings name their homes). For Juliet's sake, I hope that Kai turns out to be a decent guy. It's likely that Jeremy will get over his break-up with Sofia, too, seeing as how he sat in Lisa's lap and kissed her while he was still dating someone else.

Speaking of that kiss, I'm concerned about the strength of the Georges' marriage. Nick was visibly jealous of Simon and Karen's relationship, although he tried to play it cool at first. I doubt that Lisa has romantic feelings for Jeremy, but she looked pretty comfortable kissing him after sharing her troubles. It wasn't really fair of Lisa to blame her marital difficulties entirely on Nick's job. If having another baby was viewed as an easy solution to life's problems, their marriage probably had some flaws to begin with. Seriously, how strange was it that Nick responded to Lisa's news about getting fired with the suggestion that they have a second child? It was a very casual way to introduce the idea, that's all I'm saying.

Patrick and Ellen were busy ignoring their relationship issues as well. Despite Ellen's ultimatum, Carmelita is still very much in the picture, and she might have been abducted because of it. I'm putting Ellen at the top of my list of suspects for now. She had to have noticed that Patrick would wait for her to leave the room before answering the phone. As his wife, she probably knew Patrick well enough to realize that he would be tempted to break his promise to her. Perhaps she's keeping Carmelita out of the way until the election's over. I'm sure that Clark the driver/pilot/night-watchman will get to the bottom of things. I can't get enough of that guy.

Does Brian own any colorful clothing? Even when he's dressed in layman's clothes he sticks to the black and navy color family. Glenn Fitzgerald was looking good, though. His career path within Darling Enterprises should be interesting to watch. I was relieved that Tripp stopped being so hostile to Brian this week, and it was great to hear him call Brian "son" again. He might be a George by blood, but Brian can scheme as well as any Darling. The scenes between Glenn Fitzgerald and Donald Sutherland were the best of the episode. Both Brian and Tripp are deep thinkers, and I believe that they'll work well together.

Karen also proved to be an asset to Tripp's plans for the both the family and the company. It's a little weird to have your daughter seduce your greatest enemy, but I guess you have to use the weapons at your disposal. Every week I am more impressed with Karen's ability to manipulate people and situations. She is definitely her father's daughter, and she might be the perfect person to bring down Simon Elder. I got to meet the Ghanaian ex-wife, who is still an important figure in Simon's life (and probably his business, too). What happened at that dinner to bring Karen to tears? Did she lie to Tripp about not getting attached to Simon? Was it all a ploy to get Nick's attention?

From what I understand, there are only three episodes of Dirty Sexy Money left. I'm starting to panic. I've gotten quite attached to this soapy drama, so the strike had better end soon.

My favorite lines of the episode:

"Who doesn't love workshops?" --Brian

"I don't think I've ever said this, but that seems overpriced." --Jeremy, on the German sponge

"I've seen myself referred to as an empire builder." --Tripp, in a nod to the show's intro.

"Sugar and stakeouts, there's where those cops go wrong." --Clark the driver

"I have to marry into this family." --Kiki

"They managed to elude the ficus." --Clark telling Patrick about Carmelita's disappearance

"I've suffered too much at the hands of these love pirates." --Jeremy