1. Chuck. AMAZING. And a good set up for the fourth season.

2. GLEE. Also excellent. I can’t wait to see how: a) Will and Emma play out next season, b) Finn and Rachel play out, c) Idina Menzel’s character and her new baby (that was SO PREDICTABLE, at least for me). Also, in addition to all the throw backs to the  pilot, the last scene with “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” was totally a throwback to this. Or was that foreshadowing? (I loved how Puck looked so scared when Quinn was in labor. Also how Quinn’s mom showed up having dumped her dad). Which brings me to d) how Puck and Quinn play out. (Please let Puck grow back his mohawk!!)

3. 30Rock. Pretty good, also good setup for next season.

4. PSYCH. So-so, kind of a let down.

5. Mercy – I’m not really upset that this show got cancel, but the season finale wasn’t that bad.

6. Castle – not as good of a set up for next season, although you know Castle has to come back, because if he wasn’t the show wouldn’t have been renewed for a third season.

7. Bones – dude, ever since that one episode about Booth and Bones first case, I don’t like that show as much. Such a drama.

8. Criminal Minds – DUDE. Don’t leave my favorite character hanging. That’s just wrong. (Although I guess they had to do something to ensure that people would watch next season – BUT IT’S THEIR OWN FAULT FOR HAVING LOUSY CHARACTER INTERACTION FOR THE MIDDLE OF THIS SEASON).

I’m done with another quarter of college, thankfully, and pondering the fact that I am HALFWAY through college. Looking forward to this summer  – I’m working as a camp counselor. So between now and the end of August, there will no posts. By me.

(WHY does Psych have to start in July? Why can’t it start in September, like a normal show?)

On that note, have a good summer, everyone!

Today is my 20th birthday.

On Friday, I had fun seeing  an old friend.

Also on Friday, I finally got around to watching the season finale of Chuck. Season Finales I’ve seen so far this year: Psych, Castle, Bones, 30Rock, Criminal Minds and Chuck. About which I have to say….

Criminal Minds – If Derek Morgan, or any of the characters, but mostly Morgan, are not in the sixth season of CM, I WILL STOP WATCHING IT. Besides, I’m sure CBS knows that Shemar Moore is a huge reason why women watch that show. Matthew Gray Gubler as well, but I’m more of a Morgan fan. (On a side note, the spin-off, Minds 2.0, will premiere mid-season).

Chuck – OMG, the season finale of Chuck was the best of all the season finales so far, as well as being the best of Chuck this season, and I bet it’s season finale will be better than that of GLEE.

GLEE – *SPOILER ALERT* – It was so good, especially the part where Idina Menzel and Lea Michelle sang “Poker Face” together (you have to watch them sing it, to see the emotion on their faces). But why do they have to have them not be friends? Sure, Idina Menzel missed a lot of Lea Michelle’s life (ie, her childhood), but come on, they can’t be friends?

And in case you think all I do is watch TV, well, I read Richard Castle’s “Heat Wave” too. Although there were places where the editing was poor (“hauled ass” is a slang term, best used for dialogue, not narration, dude) the story was fun, and light, and most of the writing was decent. I did draw several connections to the show, but since I started watching it during the second season, I couldn’t draw very many connections between the show and the book, except for the characters. Oh, and if you were wondering if the sex scene mentioned early in the second season is actually in it? Yes. I would totally recommend this book to all fans of Castle, it’s a fun read. (And the acknowledgments thanking “Nathan, Stana, Jon, Seamus, Susan, Molly Ruben, and Tamala“? I laughed SO HARD when I read that).

Today I went and saw “Sex and the City 2″. (Skip this if you haven’t seen it but plan to, or aren’t interested). I have to say, when I saw the trailer, I was pretty excited. When I saw the extended trailer, I was WAY excited (OMG, AIDEN!!!). And then I went and saw the movie and I was….well…disappointed. (My favorite parts were the karaoke scene and the scene where Miranda and Charlotte were talking about being mothers). The film just seemed to be move really slowly, (and the hotel they stayed in in the Middle East, while very nice, seemed WAY over the top). I sort of want to re-write my own version of it (sort of the way I want to re-write parts of “Heat Wave”. Plus, while the first movie still had enough of the feeling of the four girls of the show, this movie had little to none of that. Yes, the girls got away together, but it just wasn’t the same….and while I realize people change, I guess I just don’t want my TV characters to change.  Here is a great satire of the movie. (I sort of had a feeling that the sequal wouldn’t be as good, but now that I was right, it doesn’t give me very much hope for “Toy Story 3″).

In addition to being done with school and “Toy Story 3″, I’m looking forward to “Ramona and Beezus” this summer. As well as getting lots of reading done. Or at least some.

It’s May. MAYMAYMAYMAY. I sort of have a love-hate relationship with May. I mean, on one hand, my birthday’s at the end of it. But on the other hand, I just want to skip most of it, because I have a ton of stuff to do. For example, two papers and one exam this week. Next week is dead week and I have three exams. The week after that is finals week, but I only have one final during finals week. And between this week and next week is Memorial Day weekend, during which I need to study, but I’ll have people visiting, and my birthday, and a movie I’m really looking forward to.

One of the things I do love about college, though, is the house I live in. I live in a Christian co-op across the street from campus, in a former frat house. It’s co-ed, and it’s a great group of people.

Last Saturday, we had our May Ball. Basically, it was supposed to be an opportunity for people to dress up, and people did, to varying degrees. Currently, there are 22 people living in my house. Before the ball, eleven of us and four friends went out to dinner, at a very nice Italian restaurant. Everyone there thought we were all dressed up for Prom (and I kept going, “We’re too old for Prom!”) and there were a couple other groups that were pre-prom. We sat on two sides of a long table (okay, it was like six table pushed together), and I thought, “THIS is what I should have done for Prom.”

Afterwards, we came back to the house for the Ball, where we learned to cha cha and swing. Actually, I learned to cha cha and swing when I took Ballroom last winter (as well as foxtrot and waltz and something else that I can’t remember). Following the ballroom lessons, one of my roommates DJ’d us through another hour.

One of the girls in my house is an African woman going to a private university to get her MBA. And so we’ve been listening to this song a lot lately.

Another reason I’m looking forward to may being over is the weather. May is either hit or miss in the Willamette Valley. Last year, it was sunny and warm pretty much every day from May 15th out and on the weekends the lawns on campus were covered with girls in bikinis, tanning. Currently, it’s raining like mad, and for the past week or so it’s been pretty much over cast or rain. I’m hoping that it will clear up for this weekend, although I’m not holding out a lot of hope.

With May, of course, comes TV season finales.CASTLE was okay, if a bit frustrating. I thought it would take way longer than two seasons for us to see Beckett’s feelings for Castle. DUDE! It’s better when HE has to chase HER.

BONES – This show. It’s such a drama. I wonder if next season will pick up a year after the season finale? (I don’t mean that they will start showing it from now, I mean the episodes will take place a year from when Season 5 left off). And perhaps it will be interspersed with Brennan and Bones telling each other stories about their respective years? Or will the story line pick up four months from where season five leaves off, and something will happen that will send them back to Washington to work together again?

30Rock – It was cute. I hope Matt Damon comes back next season. And JACK’S GOING TO BECOME A DAD! This should be hilarious. Will he still consult with Liz Lemon when he’s married to that news chick?

This week, Chuck and Criminal Minds have their season finales. GLEE doesn’t have it’s season finale for two weeks  – and on a side note GLEE (which is only in it’s first season) has already been renewed for not one, but TWO more seasons. (To which I have to say, I don’t know if it will last that long. As I’ve said before, the music’s good, but the plot is kind of…so so.

In my post yesterday, I said that GLEE was down…as in, I had been disappointed with not only the  plot (which, um, has really not been all that original all along….because most of what happend to the characters has happened on some or other geared-toward-teens show in the past ten years. Except although this is geared toward/about teens, it’s super popular with the 18-50 set (or some bracket like that).

Anyway, GLEE yesterday was pretty good, although I was annoyed that Puck shaved his mohawk (like, I know the plot point of why, but still – much cuter with the mohawk).  I must say, I do love all the songs he does as solos – first “Sweet Caroline” (although I have a bone to pick with the recording: THEY LEFT OUT ONE OF THE VERSES), now “Lady is a Tramp”.

I have also seen that they will be doing “Bad Romance” and “Poker Face” by Lady Gaga in the coming weeks. I’m kind of excited….stuff like this from my school, and of course you know you’ve made it big when your song’s done on GLEE, especially when that song hasn’t been around very long. As my mom says, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

So…totally looking forward to GLEE in the upcoming weeks.

No, not THIS feeling

Every year, round about April, or some years in March, I just hit that point. That point where you want the school year to be OVER. (I can’t wait to see how this plays out when I become a teacher). In college, it’s worse than it was in high school – because I have friends at semester schools who are DONE by the beginning of May, and I don’t get done till the middle of June. Oh, the pleasures of the quarter system.

I look forward to moving out in June, to those damp June mornings (we’ve already had a few of them, even though it’s May) where I go outside, and it’s rained the night before, so everything is all fresh and clean……..this is when (now that I’m an adult) I can really apperciate that I’ve grown up in Western Oregon. Everything is nice and lush and green this time of year. Love that. At my parents house, the grass in the field is getting tall – I was home last weekend and it was up to my waist. By the time I get home my parents house will be in the land of the six foot grass, or the jungle, as we call it.

I’m also really looking forward to my birthday at the end of May. This year, it falls on Memorial Day (sweet! I get my birthday off before diving into dead week! I am so going to see this movie). I love having a May birthday.

I can’t wait for the summer, because I have a camp job! I am not going to be cooped up all summer, I will be at the coast (and going to the beach as much as possible. Some people don’t like the Oregon Coast, but I loooove it).

May is great because it means a bunch of season finales for TV, and the start of the summer movie season.

Castle – the season finale is next week? I didn’t even realize it was the season finale until I saw it on the fan page on facebook today. I hope Demming is around next season. Love how jealous he makes Castle.

Glee – the music and the plot……could improve. And the season finale for this isn’t till June?

Chuck – SO CUTE! Love Sarah, Love Chuck….actually, I’ve loved Chuck ever since I found out he spoke Klingon.

Mercy – I sort of watched this show but it’s been sooo overly dramatic that I sort of hope it doesn’t get renewed for a second season.

Criminal Minds – what is WITH the lack of character interaction? Especially the lack of Garcia/Morgan banter? On a side note, CBS is starting a spin off next fall, currently titled Minds 2.o. Although this doesn’t explain the lack of character interaction in a so-called character driven show.

Bones – OMG, last week, sooo, so, good. Although I have a feeling they were trying to make up for what they did with Booth and Bones a couple weeks ago (or, more accurately, what they didn’t do). It’s sort of working. Sort of.

30Rock – Not bad, not bad.

Oh, and in the movie world, this summer a movie based on the books that if you didn’t read as a kid, I don’t know where you were…..yes. Ramona and Beezus. (Aiden is Ramona’s father, and the vice principal from The Princess Diaries is her teacher). I am so rereading all the Ramona books. Oh, and if you’re skeptical of it, I read an interview with Beverly Cleary in which she said she helped pick the script.

I will leave you with this super cute video. Because there are some really good fan videos out there, especially for Psych.

Okay, my reviews of TV the last two weeks:

“Castle” has been good. Although it’s kind of hard to build up to the intensity of “Tick, Tick, Tick…” and “Boom!”, “Wrapped up in Death” was really funny (especially the part where Castle lay down on the floor of the elevator).  Also Beckett’s cynicism in  ”The Late Shaft”.

“Glee” – WHY do they have to have it on the same time as “Lost”? there are like A LOT of “Lost” fans in my house. I liked it better on Wednesdays, because if I wasn’t watching it, it was because I was watching “Criminal Minds” instead.

That aside, the reason why “GLEE” is not in my three favorite TV shows (“Castle”, “Bones” and “Psych”) is because they really haven’t drawn out ANY of the plots. The whole relationship between Puck and Rachel only lasted one episode. Which is why I hope Finn has to chase Rachel for, I don’t know, SEVERAL episodes before they get together. The music was good, though. I can’t wait to see them do Madonna. (Also, “Vogue”? Umm, who knew Jane Lynch had such a nice voice?)

“Mercy” – okay, this hasn’t been on in a couple weeks, but really, once Veronica shot the guy, it just went down hill for me. And it hasn’t been renewed for a second season yet, and I wouldn’t be upset if it wasn’t.

“Criminal Minds” – the reason I love crime dramas is because they’re so character driven. But there hasn’t been very much character development on this show lately. So, although they’ve caught a lot of bad guys, it hasn’t been that spectacular. They need to do something….perhaps bring back one of the ex-BAU members for something?

Also, it’s been announced that there will be a spin off – currently titled “Minds 2.0″ about the characters we met in “The Fight”. This sounds kind of cool. Possibly.

“Bones” – I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO mad after “The Parts in the sum of the whole”. I really, reallly wanted to smack Brennan. Booth is pretty much the best thing that ever happened to her. She was being SUCH an idiot.

“The Death of the Queen Bee” was pretty good. Although I’m still mad at Brennan.

This next week, “Castle” is new, “Glee” is new, “Bones” is new, double new “30 Rock”.

( ^ Funny story: the other day my housemates and I were talking about our schedules for this, the new spring quarter. And I was talking about how I have Psych (as in Psychology) from 2-3:50 Mondays and Wednesdays. They thought I’d scheduled time into my day to watch “Psych”!!!! Um, me = most devoted fan ever, yes?)

So, I watched the season finale…….and, I gotta say, it was good, but KIND OF A LET DOWN. I was all set to put it in my “Best ‘Psych’ Episodes list, and then I watched it, and it wasn’t that good.

Caroline’s Best “Psych” Episodes

8. Season 4, Episode 6: “Bollywood Homicide” – Shawn and Gus help an Indian man who’s convinced he’s cursed realize he’s not cursed. Don’t forget the Hindi theme song!!!!

7. Season 2, Episode 13, “Lights, Camera Homicidio”: The one where Shawn stars in the Spanish Soap opera!!!!! (FYI, James Roday’s real name is James Rodriguez).

6. Season 1, Episode 15: “Scarry Sherry: Bianca’s Toast” Juliet goes undercover in a sorority after one of the girls rushing said sorority falls out the window of an abandoned mental institution and dies.

5. Season 3, Episode 6: “There Might Be Blood” – A death on an off shore oil rig involves the Coast Guard….and the Commander, who happens to be Chief Vick’s sister….and is played by Jane Lynch (the sister, not the chief. And okay, so Jane Lynch always plays the same kind of character….but I don’t think she’s like that in real life, and besides she does it so well!!!!

4. Season 3, Episode 11: “Lassie Did a Bad, Bad Thing”: When a the lights go out, a criminal gets shot, and it looks like it’s Detctive Lassiter’s fault. Lassie should be way nicer to Shawn and Gus for what they do in this episode.

3. Season 4, Episode 9: “Shawn Takes a shot in the dark” Shawn gets shot and abducted, and it’s up to the usual suspects to find him….Love the phone call with Juliet.

2. Season 3, Episode 2: “Murder? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?”: It’s like “Pretty in Pink”, “The Breakfast Club”, “Sixteen Candles”, and Shawn and Gus’s 13th high school class reunion all smooshed together. Favorite line: Shawn to Henry: “Can I borrow your underwear?”

1. Season 4, Episode 10: “You Can’t Handle this Episode”: A soldier is found dead in an apparent suicide. Juliet’s brother comes to help out on the case. And the best part: UGANDA.

Favorite Episodes of Psych? Or any show?

Sooo….

This weekend I watched “The Prestige.” This was really good, about two magicians…………..I will NEVER stop wondering how magicians do some of that stuff….but as they point out in this movie, once, you know, it’s no fun anymore. I couldn’t stop thinking, as I watched this, that Christian Bale looked almost IDENTICAL  to a guy I went to high school with.

I also watched The Academy Awards. There was this really nice tribute to John Hughes….

(To which I say: John Hughes Movie Marathon over spring break? HECK YEAH!!!!)

I was also really excited that Sandra Bullock won Best Actress, because she usually does Chick Flicks, and Chick Flicks don’t win Oscars. I fully intend to see “The Blind Side” over spring break.

Also, congrats to Kathryn Bigelow for beating out her husband and being the first woman to win Best Director!!!! I wouldn’t normally watch war movies, cause I’m just not a war movies kind of gal, but I do want to see “The Hurt Locker”.

I also bought and read Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles. It’s about a white girl and a Mexican boy from Chicago who are assigned to be Chemistry Partners. It started off kind of slow, but then it sped up, and it was really good. This book was really cute (although I don’t know how realistic it was because I don’t know anything about gangs). But it was a nice light read.

Oooh, onto TV:

Mercy: TOTAL SOAP OPERA. Geez, it really bugs me when they have to overly screw things up for a person, or character.

Castle: LOVE Castle. Watching this show makes it seem possible that Shawn and Juliet from “Psych” might actually get together some day. Unlike Castle and Beckett. If you watch both shows, you know what I mean.

30 Rock: Oh, wait, this show’s been gone for the last three weeks. But there’s a new episode this week!

Chuck: I’m not all caught up with to the latest episode yet. Working on it.

The Deep End: There are rumors that this show may have been canceled…which makes me kind of sad. It wasn’t great, but it was amusing. Also, I hate when the cancel shows and you have no resolutions between characters. ADDIE AND MALCOLM, namely.

Criminal Minds: Okay, the reason I watch most crime shows is for the main characters and their development. UMM, NOTHING NEW HERE. Just continuing to solve cases…..Dude, at least give me more Morgan & Garcia banter (side note: love Garcia’s hair!).

GLEE: returns in April.

Later this week is the season finale to Psych. Which I’m super excited about. After which I’ll post my 10 favorite Psych episodes.

So, last weekend I was home, and I went to see “Avatar” with my family (this is the downside of going to college in a town with only four movie theaters: there’s no IMAX). The last time I saw anything in IMAX or 3D  (and it was in IMAX 3D, actually) was a movie about the International Space Station I saw at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC when I was 12. (And, coincidentally, one of the previews was for a movie about the Hubble Space telescope that’s in IMAX 3D. SWEET!).

“Avatar” was really cool  - another James Cameron Epic, about a former Marine who’s in a wheel chair, but he goes to this planet called Pandora (and they have to travel five years to get there – the only way we could EVER travel to another planet is if we find a way to travel at warp I mean, light speed (which is what warp speed is…) But I digress). Anyway, there’s a bunch of military people on Pandora trying to mine this mineral, but the native (humanoid) species is basically living on top of  the largest deposit of it. So, the plan is to use Avatars, which are a cross between the native species and humans, to befriend the natives, and get them to move. The Avatars are controlled by the humans (who are in this special machine) in such a way that the humans feel what the Avatar is doing…..which is really cool if you’re a Marine who can’t run in his human body….but can in his Avatar. When the Marine’s avatar gets separated from the group, he befriends a native. My favorite part was the helicopter pilot, played by Michelle Rodriquez. She was awesome.

So, for lack of a better name, and because it’s the only thing I feel like blogging about….I will spend this entry talking about what I’ve been watching. If you don’t want to hear my reviews of “Valentine’s Day”, “The Time Traveler’s Wife”, and last week’s “Mercy”, skip this post.

“Valentine’s Day” – this movie has gotten a lot of bad reviews. I knew as soon as I saw that Garry Marshall was making a movie with Anne Hathaway, Julia Roberts, and many other fabulous stars, that I HAD to see this movie, and that was in, like, September.

This movie is very similar to “Love Actually” in that it has the stories of a bunch different people who are all connected. But the stories are different. And they’re just so CUTE! I came out of the theater acting like Charlotte York, being all “I-believe-in-love”. Although I kind hate that Valentine’s Day is so commercial and the implication that I SHOULD have a boyfriend. (I also came to the conclusion that I like my TV heavy and my movies light. Meaning, I like cop shows and Chick flicks).

“The Time Traveler’s Wife” – so, for Valentine’s Day, I had dinner with a group of friends, and we watched this movie. It was kind of…weird. Good weird, but weird to think that Eric Bana’s character lives his life so that he spontaneously time travels. He has no control over it. Still, SO GOOD. (It was before we were watching this movie I learned that Rachel McAdams was in Mean Girls. How did I not realize this? Probably because she was blond in this movie. Also, I haven’t watched it in awhile….possibly since before I saw “The Notebook” for the first time. And I like Rachel McAdams better as a brunette…she looks like Judy Garland that way. I wonder if she can sing like Judy Garland?).

“Mercy” – **SPOILER ALERT** –  Sunday I watched last weeks’ episode, and I feel the same way I did after Veronica in “Veronica Mars” helped her boyfriend kidnap his dead ex-girlfriend’s daughter and run off to Mexico in the second season, and her father couldn’t trust her anymore. Only this time it’s Veronica (from “Mercy”, not “Veronica Mars”), thought she was saving the life of an innocent woman who had been shot in an attempted robbery, and it turned out the woman had been shot in the back as well, and died from loss of blood before Veronica realized it. And then Veronica shot the robber, and called 911 and talked to the dispatcher like she was doing a death report (I don’t know if this is what they’re actually called but it seems like the right word here). ALSO: Sonia cheated on her totally cute cop BF? And Chloe….well, I think the stress of nursing is just sort of turning her into a slut.

Quickly….

“Castle” has been good but nothing earth shattering, if you know what I mean.

“Criminal Minds” – okay, aside from the fact that they deal with serial killers, which is just what the BAU does, nothing too earth shattering here either. I am totally waiting for more character development, as that’s why I watch this show. That, plus Reid and Morgan.

“Psych” has been pretty good, although for the second half of the forth season, they have yet to top “You Can’t Handle This Episode”. Which I hope they’ll do with the season finale in a couple weeks.

“30Rock” – for some reason this show hasn’t been as good this season as it was last season. Okay, fine, I only started watching the second season over the summer. And I’m still watching the 3rd season.

Okay, that covers all the shows I watch regularly for now. More later.