Ten Of The Best... Scenes

I'll explain:

The next blog I'm going to do is about my top ten movies. But I'm really rubbish and choosing my top ten movies, even splitting them up by category, so I'm going to take my time with that one and just do this blog for this week.

And when I say 'scenes', I mean scenes from a tv show, movie or book. Any particular scene that just sticks out for being awesome for me. There are some scenes from tv shows that you may not have seen the episodes for, so I'll put a spoiler alert, but to be honest they don't really spoil too much. Or they're just so far ahead of where I know some of you are (Eg, Melissa with Supernatural) that they'll mean nothing to you and won't spoil anything. I'll also try and get a youtube video for as many of the movie or tv show scenes that I can, but you may just have to cope with my description.

So here goes, 

My Ten Of The Best...Scenes

Page 290-305, Dowsing The Dead, The Shapeshifter Series- Ali Sparkes

Okay, without being spoiler-y for those (hopefully few or none) of you who haven't read this book, this scene takes place over 3 chapters and basically features Dax getting crucified. Which makes it really sadistic that this is one of my favourite scenes but I'll explain after a brief description. To keep it simple, Dax goes after a 'baddie' as a falcon which he can shapeshift into, but the 'baddie' manages to telekinetically hold him against a windmill sail until he can be crucified by a nail and a shard of glass, one in each wing. The scene then has someone helping him get down and giving him a phone before leaving him until his friends can find him and help him.

I really do sound sadistic. I've always loved this scene since the moment I first read it. The description of what Dax is going through both emotionally and physically is just amazing. The emotion conjured by Spakes is just so strong that you really feel for the character. Although, as a reader, you know that Dax is going to survive, there's a brief moment when you forget that he's the main character and you genuinely don't know if he's going to make it. Even the wee 'you're not dead but you're nearly dead' dream like sequence is just hauntingly well written. I can't even choose a small piece to write out here, it's all so great. The scene is truly, hauntingly, beautifully well written and full of emotion. Read it and weep. 

The Final Scene, Sacrifice, Supernatural

SPOILER ALERT. THOUGH IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN SEASON 8, YOU WON'T KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING SO IT'S NOT REALLY SPOILING ANYTHING.

After 2 not-so-great seasons, season 8 has been amazing for Supernatural. And then came the finale. Which was epic. To not be spoiler-y, the thing that season 8 has all been about didn't happen, and an idea which was only introduced later on did; but not the way that the audience expected. At all. And then came the final scene (which is shown above if it works). For a show that doesn't always produce the best special effects, this sequence is truly beautiful. You don't even need to understand what's happening to see the beauty. Basically the angels have been thrown out of heaven and are falling to Earth. The music just goes so well with what you can see, and what you can see is truly amazing. Just watch the clip and I dare you to disagree with me. This scene is truly beautiful, and perfectly ends a season.

The Prince's Tale, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows- book and film

The best example of 'set up and pay off' that I think I've ever read. After nearly 7 books of being told through Harry's perspective that Snape is untrustworthy and we should hate him, we find out that Snape has been protecting Harry all along, and we see why he did what he did in the past. The scene is amazingly well written, and connects so well to small plot points or dialogue from previous books. For example, Petunia states in book 5 'that awful boy... tell her about them' meaning the dementors. When reading book 5, you automatically presume that the awful boy is James Potter, but after reading this chapter you can now assume that it was Snape. Which just shows how amazing JK Rowling is at planning things out etc. Snape doesn't seem like the bad guy anymore, he just made a mistake that cost him his best friend and has been trying to fix it ever since.
This scene also seemed like it would be impossible to replicate on screen. But it definitely surpassed my expectations, and I think it surpassed everyone's expectations. The strength of the story was paired with the immense strength of Alan Rickman's acting. The scene packed as much of an emotional punch as it did in written form. I won't put a link here because it's quite a long scene and everyone knows what it looks like.

Storming the Beach, Saving Private Ryan

This is the only scene in this film that I've seen. I'm not a big war film lover, as I don't really like gore in films. Which this scene has plenty of. But the scene is just so realistic, and so long, and so real that I like this. The scene is almost always featured on lists of the best moments in film, and normally I'm not a massive fan of things that critics love, but this scene is just plain good.  The sheer scale of the scene is just insane. I can't really describe this too much as I last saw it in RME years ago, but if you've seen it, you'll know what it great about it.

Boat To Hogwarts/Sorting Hat, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

I think this scene makes more of an impact in the movie than in the book as we get to see Hogwarts for the first time, at the same time as Harry does. Seeing the castle for the first time is a big moment for any Potter fan, as the castle is just so magical looking and exactly how you'd expect it to look. It's even better than you'd expect it to look. It's just a breathtaking scene. The cinematography is brilliant and everything about the scene is just great. And then the scene moves into the Great Hall. And the Great Hall is just as beautiful and just as amazing and just visually stunning. The scene is just amazing, for both previous fans and new fans, it's as simple as that.

Last Fight Scene, Iron Man Three

Ok, to describe this one would be massively spoilery since it's still in the cinema, so I'm not going to. If you've seen it, you know how epic it is, if you're going to see it you'll know how epic it is once you've seen it and if you're not going to see it, then you're stupid.

Basically this scene is just amazing, it's so cleverly done and just so well shot. The special effects (there are lots) never look fake, and it's just a truly stunning action piece. Go see it!

Jackie Chan vs Jet Li, The Forbidden Kingdom

There's not much I can say about this scene. It's just Jackie Chan fighting Jet Li with Michael Anganaro getting beaten up in the process. Chan and Li are two of the biggest names in martial arts films so getting the two in a movie and then in a fight is just amazing. So yeah, this scene is amazing because two awesome fighters kick the shit out of each other (and poor old Michael) in awesome ways. End of story.

Final Chapters, Sons Of Destiny, Darren Shan

In a short summary, Darren (main character) finds out that either he or Steve (bad guy) is destined to destroy the world, so he lets himself get killed and kills Steve in the process. His soul then gets made into a Little Person so he can go to Paradise (vampire heaven) but he gets put in the past where he scares himself away from ever seeing the Cirque where both he and Steve became vampires in the first place, thus stopping the prophecy of one of them bringing destruction, gives the diary he's kept for the whole experience to a guy to give to him when he gets older so he can publish them (meant to be the book series) and then dies and goes to heaven. It's all a bit complicated really. As much as I hate the fact that the book goes "lol joke, we've changed the past so none of it ever really happened", it is totally unexpected, and probably the only way to end the books without ruining the series. Plus I quite like the idea that vampires etc are real, and that Darren won in the end.

However, the real magic in this scene is how well it ends everything. It's a tragic ending, with Darren dying, but at the same time the Darren that died was the one that had suffered for years. In dying, he managed to save both Steve and himself from years of misery as vampire and vampaneze, and also saved the world from whichever one would bring about it's destruction. So in a way it's a victorious ending. The fact that both manage to exist equally shows just how good an author Darren Shan is, and just how good these ending chapters were.

The Fifth Timeline, Remedial Chaos Theory, Community

The description from wikipedia: In the fifth timeline, Jeff rolls a 1 and Troy has to go. He leaves in a hurry, so as not to miss anything interesting, and slams the door, which causes the diorama boulder to slip and roll onto the floor. Annie trips on it and falls on the coffee table. Her bag lands on the floor, which causes the gun inside to fire, hitting Pierce in the thigh. Britta's joint ignites the spilled liquor. Troy returns to a scene of chaos, with the troll staring directly at him from amidst the flames .
 Although this entire episode was amazing, this particular scene in which everything goes wrong is just amazing. Truly hilarious and just so different to anything else on tv. I can't find a youtube video, but if you haven't seen it, just watch the episode. Although the darkest timeline should have been left in this episode, and not used in the season 4 finale. But I'm not going to talk about that.

This scene was just hilarious and just so well done and just ugh watch it! I had to pause the episode until I finished laughing.

End Scene, Swan Song, Supernatural

Let me set the scene: Sam has been possessed by Lucifer and is about to try to start to apocalypse when Dean shows up to try to talk Sam into overpowering Lucifer. It's the ending to five seasons worth of build up and it's suitably dramatic, and then Castiel shows up and goes "Hey, assbutt!" and it's just brilliant. For those of you who are not educated in the wonders of Supernatural, Castiel is an angel and insults are not his strong point. It's just such a brilliant moment in such a brilliant scene, which continues on to Lucifer beating Dean to a bloody pulp before seeing an army man stuck in the car that reminds him of Dean, letting Sam overpower Lucifer and trap him in hell. It's the perfect balance of drama, humour, emotion and ass-kickery that it's just an awesome scene. Plus it's narrated by God, what more do you want? Definitely worth watching all five seasons for. And definitely deserving of a place on this list.

Honorable Mentions

End Scene, Season 5, Chuck (would have been on the list, but waaay too spoilery, but up there at the top)
Sam's Death Scene and Azazel's Death Scene, All Hell Breaks Loose (Parts 1 and 2), Supernatural

Lassie Jerky and Shawn Takes A Shot In The Dark (entire episodes), Psych

"Yer a wizard, Harry", Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

John's Phone, A Study In Pink, Sherlock

I'll add to this if I remember anymore over the next couple of days

*UPDATE*
Looked back at this and I can't believe I forgot the final scene from 'Deez Nups', Psych. I can't say too much about it because it's super super spoilery but let's just say that for an episode all about a wedding this scene was totally unexpected. Which just made the emotion of the scene hit even harder than it would have done. The emotion was amazing, the chemistry between the two actors is electrifying (I would hope so, they've been dating for 7 years) and the entire scene just played out so well, and ugh it was so good. I sat for about 5 minutes after it just staring at the blank screen in as much shock as the characters. That's when you know a good scene.

This blog has been written rather quickly while I've been trying to sort out music etc for the talent show, and so I didn't get enough time to research as much as I would have liked to. There'll be more book/tv/movie scenes that I adore that didn't make it on this list purely because I haven't seen/read them as recently as the ones above so I don't remember them off the top of my head as much. But I still like to think this is a pretty good list.

Due to my complete inability to limit my favourite films to ten, I'll do them in categories like action, comedy, kiddie films, etc. And I'll choose what category I'll do for next week at a later time when it's not nearly 1am and I've got an alarm set for 7am. 

I'll finish with Chuck Shirley/God's end quote from Swan Song:

No doubt - endings are hard. But then again... nothing ever really ends, does it?
Caitlin out

PS, you think my scenes are good? Let me know! Think they're crappy? Let me down gently!

Ten Of The Best... Book Series

I'm going to work my way through Rhona's suggestions (and any others), and since I'm running late with this blog, I'm starting with the one I'd have to think less about. Because who likes thinking?

This list is going to show my immaturity when it comes to books. Because yes, I admit it, I would much rather read a book series about a teenager with super powers or cool abilities saving the world than a book about some middle aged detective solving a crime. I mean I do like reading series like the Alex Cross series by James Patterson, which is exactly about about a middle aged detective solving murders, but I just don't get the same enjoyment and "oh my god I must read this again" feeling that I do from the previously mentioned 'kiddie' book series.

So in no particular order; my Ten Of The Best... Book Series

Harry Potter- JK Rowling (like bowling)

Yes, yes I can almost hear you shouting 'duh!' at your computer screens. This series appears on practically every 'favourite book series' list so I'm not going to talk about it too much, and there's no point describing the storyline as I think practically every person who has ever read a book or visited a library/cinema knows what Harry Potter is about.

All I'm going to say is why this book series is here. My aunt worked for the publishers, so I got the first four books for Christmas in 1999 (the set wasn't released until 2000, yay for family). Although I was already a fan of reading at that age, Harry Potter really showed me just how insanely enjoyable books were, and really opened my eyes to how they created new worlds. The first four books are the only books I own which aren't in great condition, purely because a five year old isn't that great at keeping books perfect, and they're the only books that I will never replace purely because they carry such sentimental value for me with the fact that they essentially made me into a complete bookworm.

Also, say "Rowling like bowling" out loud. It's great to say and I'm not sure why.

Percy Jackson- Both series, Rick Riordan

I haven't really been reading these books for long, I think I only started reading them around 2009 because Asda were running a promotion for the Demigods and Monsters companion books to the series. And by Zeus do I wish I'd gotten into the series earlier. The worst thing about this blog is that I like most of these book series for the same reasons; good characters, engaging plots; so finding things to differentiate between them is going to be hard.

I think the reason I love Percy Jackson so much is that it's just different. No one has ever written kids books (that I'm aware of) about the Greek Gods. And the fact that the books adhere so much to the mythology of Olympus just makes them that much better. Rick Riordan just has a way of telling a story that draws you in from the beginning; you never know what's going to happen next. A definite must-read.

H.I.V.E.- Mark Walden

This is another book series I got into fairly recently, probably about 4 or 5 years ago. The books follow Otto Malpense, a 13 year old genuis, who is recruited (rather forcibly) into the Higher Institute Of Villainous Education: a school for the villains of the future. The series (the 8th book comes out in a few weeks) basically tells the story of all the crazy shit that goes down during Otto's school career, and trust me there's a lot of crazy shit. But it's awesome.

This is genuinely a book series where you never know what's going to happen. Without spoiling it if any of you guys want to read it, I basically put down book 2 near the end for a few minutes to recover from shock. The plot twists and turns so much that it's almost as dangerous for your health as the 'Road Of Death' from Ratho to The Gyle. Book 7 (Aftershock) probably threw one of the biggest shocks after book 2, and although you can normally tell roughly what way a book is going to from the blurb, I genuinely have absolutely no idea. Which is what you want from a good book: unpredictability. 

Read them!

The Inheritance Cycle- Christopher Paolini

Yay my copy of Eragon is signed to me :D

Anyway, book series!
Eragon follows the story of the eponymous farm boy who finds a dragon egg in the woods before all kinds of wacky stuff happens. Wacky stuff is also a common feature to my favourite book serieseseses. I don't know how to spell the plural of 'series'....

Seriously though, so much stuff happens in each book, yet it never feels boring or unnecessary. I don't really know what to talk about with these books as I can never make them sound good, but the characters are just so well developed and rounded and non-faultless, yet faultlessly written. Basically, if you like good books with an intricate plot and great characters, you've found your books series!

PS I totally met the author and got my book signed ;)

Not that I'm still happy about it or anything...

The Chronicles Of Ancient Darkness- Michelle Paver

Despite the rather evil sounding title of the series, these books are stunningly good. Michelle Paver does so much research on every aspect on living conditions, the forests, the animals, on everything about the time period the books are written in (super pre-history), that the books just feel so real and effortless. The plot is new, exciting, twisty, just plain excellent. The characters are all different, well defined and their reactions feel realistic to their personalities and their situations. Heck, on the necklace/carpet thread with 3 pendants that I wear everyday I have a wee round one with a wolf and some trees drawn in the style of the book covers with the phrase 'may the wolf run with you', basically 'good luck' in book-speak. The series is just so great that I can't really stress it enough except to say READ IT and I have them all (shocker) if you want to borrow them ;)

Plus, and this is something I rarely say about books, the ending was actually good. I mean yeah I would like the author to continue with the series as I do with all authors of good series, but everything is wrapped up, all questions are answered and the series just ends well. It's open enough that you can imagine what happened to the characters, but closed enough that you're not in a "damn you Michelle Paver for ruining everything and not really ending anything!" mood that you'd get it the series had a cliffhanger *cough* THE SHAPESHIFTER.

The Shapeshifter- Ali Sparkes

Which brings us nicely onto the next series. I adore this series. Absolutely adore it. I got the first book pretty immediately after it came out, and have read the series at least once every 2 months since then. Although being a pretty standard 'kid discovers he has powers' plot, the series quickly manages to shake off any sense of predictability and become so different that it deserved waay more recognition than it got. At first glance the characters scream of cliches, but each has their own defining traits and personalities that make them so much deeper than just a stereotype. The storylines are genuinely interesting, Sparkes makes you root for the characters and just really makes you invest in them emotionally. The reveals in the fifth book are just so unexpected, yet make perfect sense in hindsight. Without spoiling anything, if the reveal was shown in any other book series by any other author it would seem like a ridiculous cop-out, and just seem completely absurd, yet here it completely works. And better yet, you believe it. And that takes real skill; which Sparkes has plenty of.

And then we get to the last chapter of the last book. Where a major character is revealed to be alive instead of dead and goes 'hey, I'm going to live in Spain, come if you ever need help'. AND THEN IT ENDS. Like that. And I so desperately wanted to know what happened, if the characters ever did go to Spain. So imagine my excitement when a follow up series was announced. However, where the series excelled in getting all it's characters to work together as equals the follow up series (2 books so far) has consisted of 'hey, all the characters are in pairs on holiday and stuff just happens to them! weird huh?'. And it just seems too contrived. The stuff that went down in the first series went down because the group were together, and either someone within the government was trying to use them, or someone was trying to expose them etc. But having things just happening to the characters, or trying to make us believe that outside baddies managed to find out about the character's holidays is maybe pushing the boundaries of believability just that wee bit too far. Although I've still got my fingers crossed that it sorts itself out and includes the main character in one of the books.

So yeah, I would recommend The Shapeshifter, and again can lend out the books, but I won't recommend the follow up until I can judge the next few books that are released.

Power of Five/Alex Rider Series- Anthony Horowitz

Okay, I'm putting these two series in joint place because the reasons I like them so much are pretty much the same for both. This is probably because they've got the same author. And yes, they're both about teenagers saving the world, but wheest I like them and they're awesome! Okay, the obligatory synopsis: Alex Rider centers on the eponymous (i like that word if you hadn't already guessed) 14 year old Alex who is forcibly recruited into the British Secret Service after his uncle and adopted parent, who was an agent and had been training Alex for years, was assassinated. Basically the books each center around another mission, but here's the part that bugs me. Alex is recruited when he's fourteen. He is then sent off to be trained for an unspecified amount of time. 8 of the books take place while he's fourteen, yet some of the missions say that they take at least a month or two. Hell, between 2 of the books he's recovering from being shot about 

an inch above his heart. So how on earth did all this happen in less than a year?! But apart from this logical fault, the series is pretty damn awesome. Until the last book, Scorpia Rising. Too far Horowitz, too far.

Power of Five. The first book tells the story of Matt, a young (I think he's fourteen too) delinquent who is sent off on a new government programme to some remote village and discovers it was all a trick to get him there as he is 'One of the Five' and all the villagers want to kill him. Just a normal government programme then. The next 3 books all centre on one of the five (book 3 has twins), and how they meet the others. Although all the books are amazing, especially the ones that centre on/feature Matt heavily (Team Matt for life), the fifth and last book is truly epic. It takes the mission of the first four books, to get the five together, and goes "fuck that let's fling them all over the world again". Normally this would suck, but Horowitz just does it so well. Until the end of the book. Where he does the exact same thing he does in Scorpia Rising. He screws with my emotions like they're nothing. Too far again Horowitz. It's sad to say, but I cried at Scorpia Rising, and I cried long and hard at the ending in this too. Damn you Anthony.

Although I hate certain main developments at the end of the last book in each series, the serieseses as a whole are brilliant. Each features great characters *cough* Matt, each has an intriguing plot, each is genuinely exciting. I mean, the Alex Rider series is probably the reason that most of the teen spy series were published; it's certainly been listed as an influence for both the Jimmy Coates series and the CHERUB series, both of which are coming up.

Jimmy Coates- Joe Craig

Okay come on now, stop laughing. I'm serious.

Ugh I kind of hate myself for having this on my list, but I just had to. I first read these books in first year, because I was bored and it looked rather cool. And it was. I can't really find a good summary of the books so I'm going to do my best but fair warning; they'll sound awful. Okay, in the first book Jimmy Coates, 11, discovers he was genetically modified to be the ultimate assassin. (quit laughing). He's only 38% human and he's now being tracked by NJ7, the top secret branch of the British Secret Service that created him, who originally want him captured. By the later books they just want him dead. The strange thing about this series is that 2 books were getting published every year, when the seventh book was delayed randomly. It was supposed to come out in early 2009, but is only getting released in a few weeks, which is quite a long gap. Especially since Power ended on a huge cliffhanger. If you read this book, which you probaby won't, Killer is the first one, yet is definitely not the best. There's a huge improvement in the second book which continues onto all the later books. Also if you ever want to buy them, my dad bought me two copies of the third book. From the same website, during the same week. I have no idea how he managed it either.

The story is good, it's different, the characters are all different and interesting and the books are just really good. Please trust me on this one.

CHERUB & Henderson's Boys- Robert Muchamore

This does also include the second CHERUB series, but I couldn't find a picture of the covers together.

CHERUB is a super secret division of the BSS (common theme here), which is made up of kids aged 11-18, on the basis that a criminal would be suspicious of an adult, but wouldn't be suspicious of a kid who was friends with their own kids or anything. It's actually quite a clever premise, and removes all the moral arguments in the Alex Rider series of MI6 using Alex against his will: here the kids all volunteer. It's also damn good. The first CHERUB series features James Adams who becomes a CHERUB agent after his mum dies. The books then follow him (and his younger sister and friends) until he is too old to be a CHERUB agent. The second series then focuses on Ryan Sharma who goes on a routine first mission which turns into one of the biggest ever attempted in CHERUB history. Henderson's Boys is set during WW2 and is a prequel, detailing CHERUB's (revealed to be Charles Henderson's Espionage Research Unit B) set up and early missions against the Nazis. It too, is damn good.

All the characters over the three series are extremely well developed, the plots are intriguing and interesting. They're just plain awesome. Although warning for swearing and some sex in the later books. 

This is another series where I can only say: read them, I have all except the last book in each series.

Artemis Fowl

I got the first book in 2001 from my aunt, and I have loved this series ever since. I've got most of the books, but I haven't even dared to read the second one. This is my strange attempt to hold on to some of the things from my childhood, as everything else seems to be ending. 

Artemis Fowl II is a 12 year old criminal mastermind who tries to rebuild the family fortune 2 years after the disappearance of his father by kidnapping a fairy for a ransom of fairy gold. It sounds ridiculous, and it is. Ridiculously great! (You saw that coming, didn't you?) The rest of the books follow Artemis and the People (what the fairies and goblins etc call themselves) as he gets dragged time and time again into helping them, until he ends up doing it voluntarily. 

The character development in Artemis alone is a amazing. It feels natural and unforced, and progresses throughout all the books without ever feeling boring. The progression of the fairy police characters who interact with Artemis and their gradual acceptance of him is equally well done. The stories are all completely different and plot points never feel rehashed. Every book features things that you would never expect to happen, yet when they do happen it never feels stupid or forced. In short, this series is epic, from the first book to the second last. And hopefully, the last book is even better. From what I've heard, it's a great ending.

Extremely Special Mentions:

The Wardstone Chronicles- Joseph Delaney

The Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins

Lord of The Rings- J.R.R. Tolkein

Septimus Heap- Angie Sage

Cirque Du Freak- Darren Shan

Time Riders- Alex Scarrow

Changeling- Steve Feasly

(Plus any book series I've read really.)

After looking back over this list, it's struck me how sad it really is. All these books are about teenagers doing stuff to save their wolds (except Lord Of The Rings. But seriously every other series)
I do own adult books, but I just don't get the same enjoyment from them as I do from Young Adult books, heck most of the books on this list are found in the 9-12 section of Waterstones.

I find the stories are more fantastical and epic than in adult books which follow detectives or crimes etc. Very few adult books (that I've seen anyway) feature magic or time travel, or fairys or kid-spies or evil schools or Greek Gods or dragon riders or spirits or anything that all the stories I love seem to feature. 

I don't see this love for books aimed at readers younger than I am as immature, I just prefer more epic stories. I always have done. I've always loved reading and I always will. One day I'll probably get more into adult books, but until that day the vast majority of my book collection will remain composed of teen/kid's books.

And considering at last count I personally owned over 220 books, there's a lot of YA and kids books in there.

Caitlin.

The dedication of this blog is split twelve ways.

To Harry Potter

To Percy Jackson

To Otto Malpense

To Jimmy Coates

To James Adams

To Artemis Fowl

To Alex Rider

To Matthew Freeman

To Dax Jones

To Eragon

To Torak

And to you, if you have stuck with this blog until the very end.
(I'm sorry, but I had to)

Ten Of The Best... Still-Airing TV Shows

Regardless of the last blog nearly getting completely ignored, I'm going to write another one and hope that this one actually gets some feedback, which would be nice.
And because there's so many TV shows out there, I'm going to choose my favourites from the many that are still airing. They're not necessarily chosen because they are creatively or artistically the best, but they're the best in their own way. Again, they are the best from my point of view, and it would be interesting if you guys either wrote your own favourites in the comments or in a separate blog, because yes, I do find your choices interesting. And again, there's no particular order, although there are some out of the ten that I prefer over the others.

So here's my list of Ten Of The Best... Still-Airing TV Shows

Psych

Ok, let's start with Psych. The story is basically this: Shawn Spencer's dad was a detective, and trained Shawn to be a good one too from a young age. But Shawn's not into all that, and has had at least 50 jobs until the police suspect him of being involved in criminal activities due to him always giving good tips from things he sees on the tv. To avoid being arrested Shawn pretends he's psychic and starts up a psychic detective agency named Psych (named because it's short for psychic and because he's making it up). Basically Shawn and best friend Gus then help the police solve crimes using Shawn's eidetic memory and heightened senses. But it's waay better than I make it sound. Psych is everything a good comedy/drama should be. It's incredibly hilarious, yet can easily bring seriousness to any situation which needs it. The cast are insanely talented, both in their comic timings and abilities, and their acting abilities too. I genuinely adore Psych, and have never actually met someone who has seen it and didn't like it. Even the HMV guy was like "Have you seen this, it's awesome!" when I bought season 2 the other day. And I agree with him: it's just truly awesome. Okay I agree that it can sometimes be a wee bit *too* silly, but it's an American tv show and their humour is sometimes more over the top than ours. But it rarely happens, and it's just so damn great all the rest of the time. Seriously, if you've never watched Psych: do it now! I've even got series 1 and 2 if you ask nicely. And if you're watching online Season 7 is currently airing in America.
To sum up it's awesomeness I'll leave you with this quote:

(Green is Shawn (left), and Red is Detective Lassiter (right))

The Almighty Johnsons

I don't really know how to describe this show without making it sound awful. I'll have a go though: Axl Johnson is told on his 21st birthday that his family are descended from the Norse Gods, and when they turn 21 the Gods are kind of reincarnated in their bodies; almost like the Gods are possessing them. Turns out Axl is Odin: the Zeus of the Norse Gods and he has to find Frigg, his Godly wife almost, in order for all the Gods to regain their full powers. Again, this show is funny, quirky, and damn good. Although fair warning: there is a lot of swearing, and some sex. But hey; welcome to New Zealand television. The actors are good, the storylines are good, all the characters are really well developed; the show is just all round great. The show is different to anything else on tv, and fully deserves more recognition than it gets. This is another one which I would definitely suggest watching; season 3 has just finished filming and should be on later this year, woo. 

Supernatural 

 Ah Supernatural. Funny story about how I got into this by the way: 23rd February 2009, I'm reading an issue of Shout (I know, I know) which was guest edited by Taylor Swift and on the first few pages there was a feature about the filming of a fifth season of a tv show: Supernatural. The feature was pretty basic; one page long, a couple of pictures and a few quotes from the actors, mainly about Jared Padalecki's farting in the car. I just thought 'farting, a cool car? Count me in', started episode 1 that day and by the end of the week I had bought the first 3 seasons (all that were on dvd) and a poster. I was in love. And that love has stayed with me. I still do a marathon on every anniversary since I started watching it, and if my mum moans at me I just blame it on Taylor Swift.
Supernatural follows two brothers Dean and Sam, who were raised as 'hunters' by their dad after their mum was killed by a demon. Basically they go on a massive road trip killing evil things. And it's awesome. Seriously awesome. So awesome that the CW has renewed it for a 9th season. Each individual episode is entertaining and exciting, while the season-long, and season 1-5 long arc storyline is extremely clever (ignore the Leviathans in season 7; Sera Gamble sucked as showrunner and they were stupid). The characters are great, and the relationships between them are believable. There's comedy, drama, emotion, tension, and some damn creepy episodes too. One so creepy I ended up with a stitch in my forehead after getting a fright and hitting a dvd remote into my face. Not one of my proudest moments by the way. But ah well, Supernatural! Also the first thing I do when I get a car is getting a bumper sticker with a quote from the pilot: "Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole".
And I'll leave you with the best quote-picture I could find:

Arrow

Okay, before you judge me have you watched it? Didn't think so. Really I'm just a sucker for the superhero thing, but this show was surprisingly good. Like really surprisingly good. It's smart, witty, well executed, it's got good fighting scenes, good characters, and most importantly in a show about superheros it's actually believable. The story follows Oliver Queen who was stranded on Lian Yu (meaning purgatory), an island near China for 5 years after the family yacht sunk. He returns a changed man, sporting an arrow and trying to 'save his city', eventually creating the persona of the 'Hood', a vigilante who the viewers know will become Green Arrow. It sounds awful, as most tv shows do when I describe them, but due to good casting, good storylines and generally believability it's just a great show. Even Sarah, who generally hates superheros and only watched the pilot because "the guy n the poster is hot" now watches it because she likes it. Most of this does rest on Stephen Amell's shoulders, aka the guy in the poster. He not only has to play present day Oliver, he has to play Oliver as the Hood, Oliver as he pretends to be to his family, Island Oliver (who started a douche but is getting better) and plain old pre-Island Douchey Oliver. Which is quite impressive. And that counts for the rest of the show too.

Grimm

 I just love supernatural shows, and cop shows, so why not a supernatural/cop show?! I will admit that Grimm started season 1 as a bit of a hit or a miss, but it's gotten so much better. Like so much better. It's hard to explain in a summary, but it follows Nick, a Portland detective who finds out he's a 'Grimm'; a descendant of the story writers who can see Wesen, creatures all the fairy tales are based on. Grimms are like the cops/ evil beheaders of the Wesen society, so Nick basically gets his cop on and stops them. Which is an extremely simplified version. The mythology is so complex that I won't even begin to go into it here, just trust me in it's greatness. Although Juliette (Nick's girlfriend) is incredibly whiny and irritating, she seems to be getting closer to being tolerable so that's always a plus!
The character relationships are all great, the characters themselves are great, the twists are unexpected and exciting, the mythology is intriguing and the show is generally awesome.
I wanted to put a video of this exchange but couldn't find one, so I'm going to write this to show Monroe's awesomeness:
(In the previous episode Nick killed 4 Wesen sent to kill him; he gets a phone call telling him there's been a murder and he has to go)
Monroe: "What is it?"
Nick: "Quadruple homicide"
Monroe: "See, your life's not so bad"
Nick: "In the parking lot near the Deluxe Hotel"
Monroe: "Oh.. that quadruple homicide... at least you know who did it!"

New Girl

I don't really have much to say about New Girl except if you haven't seen it, what's wrong with you?!

It follows Jess, a quirky girl (basically every character Zooey Deschanel has ever played) who moves into an apartment with three guys and hilarity commences. Like seriously, this is one of the best comedies on tv right now. But it's also one of those rare comedies where every character is as well developed as the rest, every character gets their own storylines. The cast are excellent, both together and on their own. Things that shouldn't be funny and wouldn't be funny on any other show just are here. I can't choose any particular quote or anything, I can only say get your butt on to letmewatchthis.ch and look up New Girl.

Falling Skies

Steven Spielberg helped make it: you know it's gonna be good. Basically it starts after aliens have arrived and bombed everything and taken over, and the show follows the 2nd Massachusetts, one of the many group of survivors. It's just so great. The characters are good, the storylines are good, the aliens are completely different to anything seen before and are rather well done. Although set after an alien invasion the show is believable and realistic. There's not really much I can say about this, it's just great. I'm a sucker for alien shows, but so many of them fail. Falling Skies doesn't; even the aliens aren't really the aliens we think they are, they've been enslaved by a third alien race who use the enslaved aliens to do their dirty work. It's unexpected, it's exciting and it's damn good.

  The Vampire Diaries

Ignoring all the posters like the one on the right which is all 'look how sexy we are! Woo sexy good looking twenty/thirty-something actors pretending to be hot teenagers!', this is actually a good show. By looking at the posters the show seems to all be about the fact that the two vampire brothers are both in love with the human girl, but the actual plot is so much deeper than that. I mean, yes, there is a lot of soap-y relationship stuff but ignoring that the characters (even the supporting ones) are all amazingly well developed (excluding Bonnie: ugh Bonnie the eternal plot device), the plot moves a mile a minute and the episodes are dark and intriguing. From first glance this looks crappy, but like the other two CW shows on this list, it's so much more than what it seems.

Teen Wolf

I know I know, I'm embarrassed that this is here too. But as easy as this show is to slag off (and boy is it easy), it's actually rather good too. The bromances, the action scenes, the storylines, the mythology are all good. The exception in the action scenes being that odd scene in the first episode of season 2 where Scott runs on all fours and it's just awful...

But yes, I love this show, I know where I'll be on the morning of June 4th (FYI, I'll be on my laptop watching season 3).

I can't really describe why I love this show, I just do. Whether it's the awfully thick hair extensions (HI Alison)

That hair is sooo natural...

 

Whether it's Scott's constantly confused state:

I don't know, it's just great. And if you don't believe me, here's an article by Price Peterson on TV.com with the 18 best things from season 2: http://www.tv.com/news/the-18-best-things-about-teen-wolf-season-2-29446/
It's well worth a read. (and the above should be a link, if not just copy and paste.

After getting this far, I've realised that I can't actually decide on my tenth favourite. So here's a small list. Every show listed is because it's got good characters, it's witty, it's clever, the plotlines are good and you don't see the twists coming, and you should watch them all, as they're my joint tenth favourite shows:
Castle,
White Collar,
Suits,
Big Bang Theory


Also, Russell Howard's Good News isn't on this list because it's not exactly a serialised tv show, and doesn't feature plots or characters. Plus everyone knows how awesome it is.

Again, comment so I actually know this is getting read, and write what you either think of my choices, or what your own choices are.
Also, in case anyone uses 1channel.ch, DON'T. It was hijacked, so use letmewatchthis.ch which is basically the same site on a different domain name.
Caitlin out, beam me up Scotty!

Ten Of The Best... Looking TV Actors

In order to encourage myself to blog more, and because I have so much spare time with this more-than-four-month holiday, I'm going to write a weekly blog called "Ten Of The Best". Think of it like I'm Peter Andre writing my shitty column for whatever magazine is stupid enough to pay me. With less singing about mysterious girls of course.

Disclaimer: The ten things mentioned in each list are not scientifically proven to be the 'best' in the world in their respective categories. They have earned their place in the list purely down to my own opinions. If you don't agree, write your own blog :P.

Okay, first list: Ten Of The Best... Looking TV Actors.

Yes, I'm being shallow. None of the actors here are mentioned because of their acting ability, although some are better actors than the others. They are here because I deem them to be hot. I'm allowed to be shallow, it's for your benefit... duh.... *shifty eyes*
Also, there isn't an order to this list, each actor's place in this list is determined by how my brain works (and which posters on the wall are closest to me)
Here we go:

Jared Padalecki

Just look at the man! He's from Supernatural which means there are over 8, soon to be 9 seasons to watch him in.
I don't think this is a weird enough one that I need to spend time explaining: his face and body do the talking for me.

Jensen Ackles

Don't look at me like that, they're both hot and I easily found shirtless photos. I'm being shallow!

Another Supernatural guy, although I must admit I'm more of a Sam girl (JarPad), but Jensen is still super fine. And yes I did just say super fine. It's the jawline and the eyes. Eyes are going to be a reoccurring theme on this list.

Although I can't say I'm too focused on the eyes in the picture on the right...

Zachary Levi

Ah Chuck. You had a nerdish appeal about you throughout seasons 1-3 due to the haircut, and then the Great Haircut of Season 4 happened and wow. Just wow. He is literally (in a non-literal way) on fire due to how hot is is. Plus there's the hot-ness of his personality too: he really is just like Chuck in his nerdy-ness and that's part of what makes him hot. He isn't pretending to be cool, he just is. He doesn't fake interests etc to seem above anyone, he just has a genuine love for stuff: and that's hot.

Matt Bomer

Why are all the hot-ladies-men actors gay? Zac Levi once described Matt like this: "God must have been in the greatest mood in the history of being God, which is infinite by the way. And whatever day that was he was like "I feel great! I'm gonna make Matthew Bomer!". I agree with this. Again, I'm going to say it's the eyes: they're just hypnotising. But it's not just the eyes, there's also the jawline, the hair, the symmetry, and the overall facial area that makes up that face. Plus there was a pretty amazing shirtless boxing scene in White Collar. I may have watched that particular scene a few times on youtube, but I'm not admitting to anything...

(ps, the writing in this paragraph is large in my preview and I can't get it to minimise so just ignore it)

Benedict Cumberbatch

There are very few 'hottest actor' lists that Benedict would not appear on. I think the hottest thing about BC is his presence; which sounds weird, but bear with me. There's just something about his voice and his overall self that just make you freeze and feel like you've reached Xanadu. Of course, he's hot too, but it's more than just physical attractiveness. He could melt a grown man's loins into butter.

Consider me a 'Cumberbitch'

James Roday

 Roday is another one who made the list due to qualities other than but including physical attractiveness. He's more of an everyday looking guy than most of the others on this list, but he is still pretty damn hot (in my opinion at least). But he's also hilarious. He's starred in Psych for 7, coming on 8 years, and has directed and written many of the best episodes. He's witty, multi-talented, hilarious, and a damn good actor. Plus both he in real life, and the scripts he writes constantly make references to things, and lord knows I love me a good reference (except for uni referencing: go die!). Plus I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that his first language is Spanish: and I love Spanish speakers. 

Misha Collins

 Yet another Supernatural actor on this list: well done casting directors!
This is also yet another entry who has compelling eyes. Ugh they're so blue.
Plus, I've never seen a man walking around in a trench coat talking in a really gravelly voice who can look so damn good. Fittingly, on Supernatural he plays an angel: and certainly looks the part. Just look at the hair, jawline, features, eyes.... where was I?

Ian Somerhalder

 Don't hate me, but this is another one with amazing eyes. They're hypnotic!

I'm starting to notice that a lot of these guys have stubble, and look great with it even though I mentioned in my 'Perfect Man' blog that facial hair isn't that great. Ugh all my opinions are being changed.

Just look at the 'I know I'm hot' smug smirk thing he does. It should be hot, it should be arrogant. Yet damn son, it's hot.

It's during blogs like this that I show just how shallow I can be, and I don't even care.

Plus his voice is pretty great too.

Drew Roy

Admittedly Drew Roy started his career out (from shows I've seen anyway) as iCarly's and Hannah Montana's boyfriends. He was a little too 'Disney' with his bright tshirts and awful stripey scarves. Then he got cast in Falling Skies, and it gave me the opportunity to watch him run around with a machine gun in a leather jacket covered in dirt and often riding a motorbike. (see picture below for example)

Now if that (>) isn't supermegafoxyawesomehot I don't know what is. Yes I'm aware that I'm coming off really creepy throughout this entire blog, but I don't even care. It's giving me an excuse to google hot men, and that's good enough for me.

I don't think there's any particular feature of Drew's that I find so attractive; he just is as a whole: and it's a damn fine whole.

Darren Criss

Of course Darren Criss is on this list (that rhymes!), who do you think I am?
Things that make him hot? It's the hair, the eyes, the smile, the general facial area, the singing voice, his smile, the acting, his eyes, how genuine he seems in interviews, his forgetting the words to songs which he wrote, his eyes, his acting, the smile, his passion for things like Starkid, his hair.... what? Oh, I've said hair, smile and eyes several times? Sorry, I can't stop looking at the photo. It's just... perfection: that's the word I'd use. Like seriously, is there anything this man cannot do? I bet he doesn't look good shirtless; no one can be perfect.

Forget I ever doubted him. How could I be so stupid? I can't even think of words right now... LOOK AT THAT SMILE! And let's not forget the body. Damn Darren, you fine.My brain is officially mush right now.

                                                     *****************************

Okay, you may notice a lack of Colin Morgan on this list. The reason he's not here is that I though it was pretty obvious, and I don't really have any thing to talk about that you don't already know. Plus every second word would be 'CHEEKBONES!'

                                                           Just look at them pop!

Of course, there are many other rather gorgeous tv actors, but if I were to list them all I would be writing for days, and my brain would probably melt from forcing myself to look at pictures of all the hot men. Yep; I would definitely have to force myself.

So if you care to google them yourselves; Special Mentions go to: Aidan Turner, Dean O'Gorman, Emmett Skilton, David Guintoli, Kit Harrington, Tyler Hoechlin, Paul Wesley, Joseph Morgan, Simon Baker (even though he has a daughter my age), Tom Welling, Bradley James, Santiago Cabrera and Brett Harrison.

And my Award for "Was Good Looking But Suddenly Looks Like A Freaking Hippie in 2013's Most WTF Photo" goes to......... *drum roll*....

Yep, Craig Horner.

Seriously though dude, what's with the hair, the boots, the pose, the hair, the boots... I could go on. Just, why? Why on Earth does he think he looks good like this? Just no.. :(

So anyway, I hope I've creeped you out enough with my shallowness, I certainly had fun searching google for all these pictures.

Let me know what you think/what your list would be in the comments :)
Also, any inspiration for further 'Ten Of The Best...' blogs is much appreciated :D

Byyyyee