Thursday, May 28, 2009 by Alexandria Harper.

Happy Thursday to you all; one more day till the weekend!

Yesterday I promised to give you a list of the returning summer TV shows and discuss show renewals for the fall season.

Let’s start with our summer list. I’m not going to list EVERY show this summer just the sci-fi or “category: awesome” shows that I know I, and most everyone I’ve spoken with lately, am looking forward to watching, so here goes:

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Thank God for cable or we’d all be bored to tears in the summertime!

Moving on to a little farther in the future. The fall schedules have been released for each of the networks. Getting closer to the start of the season I’ll post a table with the shows and dates and such. I build a spreadsheet every year so I can set my DVR appropriately.

For right now I’ll just list the renewals and cancellations.

Renewals

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Cancellations

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That’s all for tonight folks. Type to you soon…

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Wednesday, May 27, 2009 by Alexandria Harper.

I haven’t forgotten about all of you! I swear! I’ve just been swamped at work and school with catching up from my vacations this month. I went to Brian Head, Utah the weekend after my trip to Palm Springs and I just haven’t caught my breath yet. Whew!

I plan on writing a longer post tomorrow with a list of the returning summer TV shows and discussing the shows that were renewed (and canceled for that matter) in the official announcements last week.

For now, I will leave you with this tidbit of information for Vegas locals and our summer visitors…

The Regal Texas Station Stadium 18 is offering a Flashback Features series this summer each Wednesday at 6:30 p.m for $5 a ticket. The schedule is as follows:

For more information contact:
Regal Texas Station Stadium 18
2101 Texas Star Lane, at Lake Mead & Rancho in North Las Vegas
702-631-2206

Tonight they were showing Top Gun but I didn’t get the email in time. I think it would be cool to see some of these movies on the big screen again. I am definitely a child of the 80s!

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Friday, May 8, 2009 by Alexandria Harper.

Well, I am happy to announce that J.J. Abrams is indeed THE MAN!

Star Trek was absolutely fantastic! I was half way through the movie and wanted to watch it again. There wasn’t a slow moment; the two hours just flew by. Just one spoiler (skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want to know), thank you J.J. for showing us how Kirk cheated on the Kobayashi Maru exam. So awesome!

Each actor did a great job of bringing our beloved characters to life. I could sit here and type all day about all of my fave actors in the movie (because I love them all) but I want to give special props to Anton Yelchin and Zachary Quinto who played Chekov and Spock respectively. While Anton didn’t have as much screen time as Zach, his accent was perfect and he was just so darn adorable. Zach, I love you on Heroes and in this movie you made me believe you really were Spock, which is saying something. Spock was always my favorite and I had a crush on Leonard Nimoy when I was a kid. Not sure what that says about me other than the fact I’d rather have a rational, logical man than a swashbuckling womanizer (ahem, Kirk) anyday! I don’t want to say much else because you really need to see this movie. Even if you’re not a sci-fi fan per se you’ll enjoy this film. You don’t have to be a Vulcan ear-wearing, suit-donning Star Trek convention goer to like this film. For the record, I have never, nor will I dress up for a convention. I may wear a T-Shirt but that’s the extent of my nerd-dom.

There’s plenty for fans of the series and movies too. Everyone cheered at the appearance of each character and when the catch phrases were uttered. Just another teeny tiny hint: see if you can catch the voice of one’s of Zach Quinto’s Heroes cast mates in one of the scenes. If you can’t figure it out I’ll post it at a later date. Bottom line, everyone of the actors were superb, the action and special effects were amazing and I could watch this movie 100 times and not get bored.

Before the movie they showed a few trailers for the next movies I’m looking forward to seeing: McG’s Terminator Salvation opening May 21st and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opening June 24th. You can see Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese in Terminator Salvation as well (see, everything comes full circle). They also showed a longer version of trailer that premiered during the SuperBowl alongside Transformers. Now, don’t laugh, but G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra (which opens August 7th) actually looks pretty awesome. I hope it lives up to the trailer!

That’s all for today kids. I’ve got some homework to do and packing to leave the fair city of Palm Springs because I’m off to see my Mom just in time for Mother’s Day.

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Thursday, May 7, 2009 by Alexandria Harper.

As you well know, I love a man in a kilt. I also love Nathan Fillion. Put those two things together and I am one happy girl. Nate was on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson last night wearing a leather Utilikilt in honor of Craig’s Scottishness. Hilarity ensued. Two very funny guys chatting about traditional kilt wearing is my idea of a good time.

Unfortunately, they haven’t posted the full episode on CBS’ website yet and I was only able to find part one of his interview on YouTube. Here it is for your viewing enjoyment:

Hunky Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who you may know as the Comedian in Watchmen and various guest spots on TV, was on Ferguson’s show Monday night. He talked about birds and the new suspense movie he’s about to shoot called The Resident with Hilary Swank, his co-star from P.S. I Love You—it will all make sense when you watch it. Here’s the crazy clip from YouTube:

Other TV news, the season finale hasn’t even aired yet but “Fringe” has been renewed for a second season by Fox. I’m glad that they are giving this show another season. I think J.J. Abrams has another hit on his hands. Leonard Nimoy is guest starring as Walter’s former lab partner William Bell on the season finale on May 12th. Be sure to tune in! Speaking of J.J. and Leonard Nimoy, I’m going to see Star Trek tomorrow morning so I’ll give you a review.

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Tuesday, May 5, 2009 by Alexandria Harper.

Today we celebrate Mexico’s victory at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. I probably should have eaten some Mexican food today but I’ll do that later in the week.

I’m taking a much need vacation here is beautiful Palm Springs, California. Before I made the trek across the desert the most interesting thing about Palm Springs to me was that Cary Grant used to live here. Now I see the appeal of this little jewel in the desert. It’s nice. The weather is great; just the right mix of high desert temps and humidity for my liking. Nevada’s weather is awesome but it’s too dry for me and I have to sleep with a humidifier on just to breathe! Don’t get me wrong; I won’t be planning a move to the land of wind-powered turbines anytime soon. I may be more inclined to visit again in the future though. I thought this was a one-time shot but perhaps I was mistaken.

I also didn’t plan to do much site seeing here. I caved and decided to check out the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway to Mt. San Jacinto. The trams were, um, interesting. They installed new revolving platform trams in the early 2000s. It’s like riding a high-speed Space Needle up a mountain. It got a little hairy every time we went over one of the towers; the trams tend to sway “a bit” the conductor told us. I was holding on to the handrails for dear life a couple of times. You get used to it. By the time you take the tram down you’re a pro. People were even cheering! Not me, but, you know, other people were cheering. I’m just glad the tram didn’t take a header down the mountain and shatter into a thousand tiny pieces. Seriously, it’s safe. You should watch the video at the Mountain Station if you visit.

	Here’s one of the trams. I left the Valley Station and parking lot in the left of the picture for perspective.
	Aerial view of Palm Springs from the Mountain Station.

I got there just before 1 p.m. and didn’t take a tram out until 4:30! I loved it up there. I took a hike down to Long Valley and wandered around. I sat by a stream and watched the California Ground Squirrels play, listened to the wind in the trees and smelled that lovely pine scent.

	A meadow in Long Valley. Tranquility defined…
	One of the California Ground Squirrels that were hanging around the stream. This little guy was kind enough to pose for me sitting on a log.

It was like heaven on earth. There was still some snow in places and the temperature is usually about 30 degrees cooler up there.

	Just a little bit of snow left on Mt. San Jacinto.
	Here is a photo of me on one of the outlooks. It was really windy =]. An older gentleman that looked like shorter version of my step-dad took this photo. He was keeping up with the youngins!

On a totally separate note, TVbytheNumbers.com got the official word that “Life” has been canceled. Bummer! No word on “Chuck” yet. I am waiting with baited breath on that one. The season finale was so awesome! I know it was cheesy, but I LOVED it when Casey said, “Chuck me.” You’d know what I mean if you saw it.

That’s all for tonight folks. “Reaper” and “Fringe” are on tonight!

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