january in entertainment.

entertainment favorites - january 2013

Concerts I Attended

The Roanoke Times

Lee Brice, Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert was a blast.  My two favorite country singers Dierks and Miranda happen to be best friends who put on a great show together.  Both headliners stuck mainly to radio hits for their set lists, even though they both have new albums to promote.  It was an interesting choice and I think it was a smart one - country fans really want to dance and sing along at concerts and that's hard to do when you haven't learned all the words yet.  Dierks' band busted out the bluegrass for "Up on the Ridge," my favorite song of his.  Miranda opened her set with a video montage of powerful women from Dolly Parton to Oprah set to Beyonce's "Who Run the World," and if I hadn't already been convinced that she is my musical soul mate that would have done it.  She covered the Beatles' "Get Back" to introduce her band, and she and Dierks teamed up for a cover of AC/DC's "It's a Long Way to the Top" (the song from School of Rock) and their song "Bad Angel."  There was just enough interaction with the crowd to make us feel like these big Nashville stars really enjoyed being in Roanoke.

Movies I Saw

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was not really for me, but Mr. Q, who is more of a LOTR fan, enjoyed it.

Spider-Man: as much as I like Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, the tone of this movie was kind of disappointing after the huge, action and humor packed superhero romps of 2012, X-Men: First Class and The Avengers.  Super-Man was more serious and smaller in scope, like Chris Nolan's Batman films.

Books I Read

Beautiful Chaos and Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (YA paranormal romance) - I'm sad this series is over and looking forward to the Beautiful Creatures movie.  The last book was totally different from all the others and fit the Hero's Journey archetype very closely.  As the series has gone on I've ended up liking the minor characters, Ridley and Link, more than the main characters, Lena and Ethan.

Escape:  Children of the Holocaust and We Fought Back: Teen Resisters of the Holocaust by Allan Zullo (middle grade nonfiction) - these are Scholastic paperbacks that I probably got from the school book fair.  Both are collections of short, high-interest biographical sketches about young Jewish people in Europe who either escaped or fought the Nazis.

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen (MG adventure) - even though it's set in a fictional kingdom, there's no magic involved so I can't really classify this book as fantasy.  Four orphans, including the clever and defiant pickpocket Sage, are rounded up by one of the king's regents, who will train them in swordfighting, horseback riding, and other courtly behavior, then choose one to impersonate the kingdom's missing prince and assume the throne.  Sage is horrified by the premise of being involved in treason, but fears for his life if he does not cooperate with the regent's plan.  This book was slow to get started and could have had more action, but included a twist that made it worth reading for me.

Television Favorites

The first five minutes of this week's episode of "The Mindy Project" (with Mindy wearing a weird mask to dissuade potential murderers) made me laugh so hard I cried.  Enough said.

"The Carrie Diaries" has premiered on the CW and it might be my new guilty pleasure.  Carrie Bradshaw's high school years include her taking on an internship in Manhattan, befriending an editor for Interview magazine, and flirting with a rich boy named Sebastian.  AnnaSophia Robb is actually a perfect Carrie and I like the show's use of voiceovers, similar to Sarah Jessica Parker's on Sex and the City, because it gives it a sense of continuity with Carrie's grown-up life.

"Bunheads" is back and this season features one of my favorite SYTYCD alums, Jeanine Mason, as a mysterious new student in Paradise.  Not a lot has happened yet this season but the show is still funny.

"Restaurant Impossible" is a new addiction for Mr. Q and I.  Robert Irvine is like Gordon Ramsay meets Dr. Phil meets Ty Pennington - he visits failing restaurants and transforms them on small budgets and time frames.

What are you loving this month?