Disappointment in an Unjust Decision and AHS Nears an End

****SPOILERS AHEAD**** Since Top Chef Seattle began, there is one chef that has been my consistent favorite. While I like Stefan, and I didn't mind the now departed John, I felt the best chef there was Kristen. Well, as of last night, she is no longer a contender, and while it's partially her fault (but mostly Josie's), there has been a grave miscarriage of justice here. Last night on Top Chef was the Restaurant Wars that was set up last week, with Kristen and Sheldon as the two executive chefs. It turned out to be boys vs girls, with the boys one chef short after last week's elimination. Sheldon set up a Philippine restaurant, while Kristen went with her own version of classic French. The reason for her elimination is the pedantic chef Josie, who skated by on the backs of her fellow chefs, although she is possessed of mediocre talents and an abrasive, annoying personality. I could not believe they would eliminate Kristen over Josie's stupidity, but then again, Kristen should not have been so passive and put blame where it needed to go. My only hope is that she will return via Last Chance Kitchen. Otherwise, my hopes lie with Stefan now.

One episode left and then American Horror Story will be history. At least this season's, that is. Much as I loved the first season, I loved the second season just as much, if not more. I would gladly own both seasons in a heartbeat.  ***SPOILERS*****  Wow, so much has happened. People come and gone. Dr. Arden dead - threw himself atop Sister Mary Eunice's body as it was being rolled into the crematorium. Dr. Thredson, aka Bloody Face, dead, but survived by his child with Lana Winters. Kit ended up with two children and two women - Alma and Grace. Jude is still an inmate at Briarcliff, waiting for Monsignor Timothy to release her. But wait, he's a Cardinal now, has been for two and a half years, and she's still there. And that's not everything. Next week is the season finale. I suspect it will go out with a bang, not a whimper.

Hawaii 5-0 is excellent, as ever. Although apprehensive when I first learned of the remake, I had to give it a try because of Alex O'Loughlin, and I'm glad I did. It's well written, well acted, and better than the original. This week's episode was no exception, with Danny's nephew visiting from Jersey adding to the fun. The only complaint I have is in the relationship between Steve and Catherine, because I really don't like her, and I can only hope that goes nowhere. Also, the less seen of his mother, the better. Okay, I do have a complaint with the way CBS airs the show. It's often hit or miss and has no rhyme or reason. Good thing it's really good, so I make the effort to watch it.

I'm still watching Chopped and Restaurant Impossible, that goes without saying. We just got caught up with a series we recorded and never watched: Chef Wanted, with Anne Burrell. While it was enjoyable, I felt it was just another version of Chef Hunter, and they could save paying Anne Burrell's probably higher salary and keep the original show, which was just as good. We have a few more cooking series to catch up on - Around the World in  80 Plates, $24 in 24, and Baron Ambrosio. Will update when I can.

We're behind an episode on Person of Interest, due to a DVR mishap, but I'm still loving it, and especially look forward to watching Mr. Reese's fight scenes. So sexy! No new episode tonight, though.

Californication began its new season. ***SPOILERS**** As you may recall, Hank was drugged by his crazy ex, Carrie, just when happily ever after seemed to be within his grasp. This season begins with him awakening in the hospital, very much alive, with Carrie in a coma. He becomes wracked with guilt that he drove her to it and goes on a killer binge. Finally, the people in his life who love him tell him enough is enough and get thee to rehab. One of the funniest scenes involves Hank going to see a Johnny Depp lookalike movie star (played by Tim Minchin). I love these series, can't wait to see where this season is headed.

New shows coming up that I plan to watch:

The Following with Kevin Bacon starts on January 21, looks interesting. Riddle Street, on BBC America, also set to record. In March, I believe, is a series that is a prequel to Psycho, Bates Motel. And in June, Showtime has a series starring Liev Schrieber that I plan to try, Ray Donovan. Will keep you updated as I begin to watch them.

All for now, back to work!

Until next time, take care!

♥ Julie

An Unexpected Twist in the Borgias, Chopped All Star Finale, and more

The Borgias is going well, thanks in no small part to the hotness that is Cesare Borgia (Francois Arnaud), and this season is off to a great start **Spoilers ahead** We've seen Lucrezia's lover murdered, and the Pope bed a young male artist (except he's really a she, in disguise), watched Cesare bluff the French king with plaster cannon in defense of Rome, and watched the same king torture a man gruesomely. Saw Della Rovere poisoned, leading him to become more cautious about his food and drink. Saw the French king take out his frustration at  not being able to attack Rome on a convent (the one where Cesare's lover was), watched Cesare take a more active, albeit secret, part in the sport of war. But what was totally unexpected and most delightful came when Cesare traveled to Forli to deal with Caterine Sforza, cousin to Giovanni (husband of Lucrezia). He took Micheletto with him, who was from Forli, and was able to see his mother, who believes he's studying medicine in Rome - a delusion which Cesare did nothing to dispel. Later, as Micheletto waits for Cesare in the cemetery, an old friend approaches, they exchanged a few words, and then began to disrobe - and yes, they were lovers and it was glorious! I love the Borgias even more now!

Sunday night came the Chopped All Star finale which brought together the four winners from the competitions before - Michael Symon, Jeffrey Saad, Penny, and Marcus Samuelsson. I hated that Penny beat Vic to get in, I didn't think she was worthy, and I prayed for an early defeat. An unfortunate error of omission tossed Michael Symon out in the first round, and then Penny was routed after the second, leaving Jeffrey  face to face with  Marcus. While I find Jeffrey a very amiable fellow, I just knew his talent wasn't the same caliber as Marcus', and thus is proved to be the case, as Marcus won in the dessert round! Congratulations to a very talented chef!
Next week, Food Network Star begins a new season, should be interesting.



***SPOILERS****

Once Upon A Time comes to a dramatic close next week,and it looks  like Emma is going to do what she was meant to do - break the curse and free the inhabitants of Storybrooke. We've learned August's secret, that he is Pinocchio. Mary Margaret is free from the charge of killing Catherine, since she's still alive. And Regina got poor deluded Sidney Glass to confess to setting it all up. A desperate Regina has brought the very sexy Hatter back, and he's helped her retrieve a bit of magic from her world in the form of a poisoned apple. But her plan backfires when Henry eats the apple, not Emma. I have to wonder if that will be the jolt that Emma needs to finally believe and set everything in motion. I also wonder once the equilibrium is restored - what next? Will there be a season two, and where will they go? I'm actually coming to like Mr. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin - I hope he's around next season too.

Grimm's season finale is this week, tonight in fact, and from what I've seen of the previews, Hank is going to see Monroe in his blutbad form - oh my! This show is highly imaginative, and very creative, and I'm excited that it's been renewed for a new season. Personally, I'm sort of hoping Juliette finds out what's going on and leaves Nick - I don't think she's much of an asset to him or the show. I like Monroe's new love interest, the lady apothecary. And Renard makes a sufficiently evil, albeit handsome villain.

Interior Therapy, Wednesday nights on Bravo, with Jeff Lewis is a fun show. I wasn't sure if I'd like it, but I do.; In each episode, Jeff and his assistant Jenni stay in a client's home while they  help solve his decorating issues. This week featured overly large furniture crammed into a small house by the wife, while the husband had no say-so. By the time they left, the house looked really nice, and the husband turned out to have better taste than his wife. Last week's featured a man with a bow tie fetish, who was redecorating his home before his gf moved in, but from the get-go, you got the idea he didn't really want her to move in and didn't care what she thought. By the time Jeff and Jenni left, I was pretty sure that couple was heading for Splitsville. Next week is the season finale, which is sad, but I hope that they get Flipping Out back on the air soon; I miss seeing Gage, Jeff's SO.

Hawaii 5-0 had a cross-over episode last week with some of the cast of NCIS. Unfortunately, I didn't know this ahead of time, or that the second part of this would be shown on NCIS the next night. By the time I even watched the first part, it was already too late to record NCIS. I'll have to catch it online, which is annoying. CBS should have handled that a bit better for those of us who don't watch both shows. And no, there were no promos the week before because there was no Hawaii 5-0 the week before. Just food for thought. So I'm behind on that til I catch up, but I saw that this week's episode features Wo Fat, which I'm looking forward to seeing.

Well, that's it for now, I'll save the rest for later - Awake, Vampire Diaries, Restaurant Impossible and Sandwich King.

Until next time, take care!

♥ Julie

Hell on Wheels, Next Iron Chef and more

Last weekend AMC premiered another new series, Hell on Wheels. It airs on Sunday night, same night as their other original series, The Walking Dead. Hell on Wheels is the name of a town, it's set post Civil War and concerns the building of the Transcontinental railroad. Colm Meaney (DS9) is determined to not only get that railroad built but to make as much money as he can in the process - no matter what the cost. Anson Mount plays Cullen Bohannan, a former Confederate soldier, who's bent on revenge against the Union soldiers that murdered his wife.  ***spoilers*****  In the first episode, we see Ted Levine (Silence of the Lambs, Monk) in a role that reminded me of the one he played in Wild Wild West, General Bloodbath McGrath. Minus the ear trumpet. Alas, that's the only episode we'll see him in. Colm Meaney makes a good bad guy - ruthless, money hungry and cold - quite different from the Chief O'Brien we knew and loved on DS9. The show looks really good. The cinematography is very well done, I really enjoyed the look of it. I found the story interesting, the characters too, and I look forward to seeing more.

This episode of Next Iron Chef took us to the San Diego Padre stadium, where the chefs were told to change  up some ballpark food, utilizing ball park ingredients. Alex Guarnaschelli hit a home run with her dishes, so much so that the judges had nothing to say to her - they were perfect. Geoffrey Zakarian made great food, but they warned him he wasn't following the rules. He found himself in the bottom three but squeaked by, leaving Robert Irvine and Michael Chiarello as the bottom two who had to do the sudden death mystery basket face off. The secret ingredient, in keeping with the ball park theme, was peanuts. Unfortunately, the casualty was Chef Robert. I've come to like him on Restaurant Impossible. I was sorry to see him go. Marcus received a warning that if he continued to overcook, he would have to choose the two he wanted to represent him in future. Sarah and I think Anne Burrell has a good shot at becoming the Next Iron Chef.

I watched last night's Grimm this morning. The episode was entitled "Beeware", and concerned a flash mob murder. A guy gets on a bus carrying a duffle bag. Everyone looks nervous, especially when he opens it. But then he pulls out a boom box and "YMC A" begins to play and everyone rocks out. They all get off at the same stop - except for one woman. She's dead. This episode involves bees, and the guest star was Nana Visitor (Kira from DS9). I am really enjoying this series, and we are learning more about the mysterious blonde woman who tried to kill Nick's aunt. He is forced to protect her in this episode. I really like his wolfy sidekick too, his reluctant henchman. I hope it lasts for a while.

Hawaii 5-0 was good, as always.Danno is dealing with moving to smaller digs in the form of a sleazy motel,  and this episode sees him gain a four legged friend, whose owner has been killed. In this episode, Greg Grunberg guest stars (Matt Parkman, Heroes) and it was funny to see him and Max (who played Hiro on Heroes) reunite. Max kept asking did he know him. Great scene. Beautiful scenery, great banter between Steve McGarrett (Alex O'Loughlin) and Danno (Scott Caan), and any scene with Alex in it! Hope it lasts for a while.

Vampire Diaries - what can I say? The only thing it has going for it, as far as I'm concerned, is Damon Salvatore (Ian Sommerhalder). Sometimes the writing verges on the ridiculous, the plots are stupid, and I hate the flashbacks to the past. God knows what they're going to do with the cave drawings they've recently found, unless it's just what they're doing now - tieing it all in with Klaus and Michael. ****Spoilers******* When Stefan screwed up Damon's carefully laid plan, I wanted to choke him. Until I found out why he did it. Then I had to forgive him, of course. He has his humanity back - oh joy. Now I guess we'll be forced to endure him and Elena as a couple again. Not that I think that will stop Damon, alas, from pining over her. What does he see in her?  I'll never know.

More later about Once Upon a Time and Top Chef Texas.

Til next time, take care!

♥ Julie

Once Upon a Time, Grimm, and more

Once upon a time. Sounds like the beginning of a fairy tale. And so it should, because it is. But it's also a new  program on Sunday nighs on ABC which I decided to give a try, despite the fact that I probably haven't watched anything on ABC since NYPD Blue aired, which has been a while. But I gave this show a chance, and I'm glad I did. It's more than just a show about fairy tales, it takes what we know and reinvents it in a very interesting way. It has to do with Snow White and Prince Charming - and the Evil Queen, of course. What fairy tale is complete without one? She lays a dark curse on the kingdom for the slights done to her - imagined or otherwise - and the only hope for the inhabitants lies with the child of Snow White and the Prince, an infant girl named Emma, who's wisked to safety. It is prophesied that she will save them when she's 28. Okay, fastforward a bit. We meet a tough hard-hitting bailbondsman named Emma, who is approached by a ten year old boy who claims she is his birth mother. Not a stretch, as she did give up a child ten years before. But she never expected to see him again. The boy's name is Henry, and he has a book of fairy tales. He says the town where he comes from needs her, she is their only hope. Thrown for a loop, she doesn't know what else to do, so Emma takes Henry back to Storybrooke. Of course she doesn't believe his claim that the inhabitants are under an enchantment, and don't realize they're all fairy tale characters. Who would?  But when Emma arrives, things begin to happen. Such as the town clock, which hasn't run within everyone's memory - starts up again.

This is a well-told, well-acted show. I am already engrossed in it and enjoying it, waiting to see what will happen next. *****possible spoilers******** From the first show, you realize that Emma is the child of Snow White, who turns out to be Henry's teacher. The Evil Queen is the Mayor of Storybrook - and Henry's adopted mother. So far we've also seen Rumpelstiltskin, Gepetto and Jiminy Cricket, while Prince Charming lies in a coma in the hospital.  I highly recommend giving this show a try.

Also on Sunday was the start of a new season of Next Iron Chef. This is my first time watching it. I presume the winner will become an Iron Chef on Iron Chef America, but I honestly don't know how it works. All I do know is that some of the chefs I know and some I don't are competing in this challenge. ****spoilers**** It was interesting to see these chefs compete, as some I've only seen as judges, never chefs, such as Alex Guarnaschelli, Marcus Samuelssonand Geoffrey Zakarian. Anne Burrell I've seen cook, and Spike from Top Chef. I wondered why he was even in such company, he isn't even of their calibre. Well, I won't have to worry about him any more, he was the first casualty. In the first show, Spike lucked out and got an advantage. He was able to choose his own partner, and put the other chefs into teams. He tried to set them up so that conflicting styles or personalities would trip them up, while he chose to work with Marcus. The competition is set up in such a way that the two lowest chefs of each episode face off in a sudden death surprise ingredient challenge. Spike and Marcus ended up on bottom, and Spike's grand strategy ended up by him shooting himself in the foot. The secret ingredient was scallops, and Marcus beat him. End of story. Next week takes place in the San Diego ball park, should be interesting.

My daughter Katie talked me into trying two other shows - Grimm and American Horror Story. Grimm is about a man who suddenly starts seeing strange things, and finds out that there are aspects of his family he knew nothing about. The pilot episode involves the disappearance of a little girl. Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) is a homicide detective who is apparently descended from a line of Grimms, who fight and destroy supernatural creatures. The first episode is a take off on Little Red Riding Hood. I enjoyed it greatly, and look forward to seeing more. I believe it airs on Fridays on NBC>

You'll find American Horror Story on FX. It stars Dylan McDermott as a therapist who has an affair and is caught by his wife, so he uproots his family and moves them across country to a gothic Victorian house with a history.  In the pilot episode, you learn that twin boys died here under very mysterious circumstances. They were warned not to go in by a Mongoloid girl named Adelaide. When the Harmons move in, she and her mother are their next door neighbors (the mother is played by veteran actress Jessica Lange). Adelaide has a disconcerting habit of walking in the house whenever she chooses, obsessed with it, and also with telling people they're going to die. Ben works at home, and one of his patients is a young boy with homicidal fantasies who takes a liking to Ben and Vivien's daughter Violet. Violet is having a hard time at the new school, and at first she welcomes his attentions. But things rapidly turn creepy. Ben and Vivien have been estranged, even before the affair, since Vivien miscarried a child at seven months. They're trying to put things back together. Vivien hires Frances Conroy, who was the previous housekeeper (the mother from Six Feet Under). The weird thing is that when Ben looks at her, he doesn't see an older Moira but a young hot one - who keeps coming on to him. He's doing his damnedest to resist this temptation, but when he spies her pleasuring herself, he runs off and jerks off alone. I have to say we get some very nice footage of Mr. McDermott's derriere (no frontal, alas!). The show is creepy, the characters damaged, and the premise very interesting. I'd love to own this house! (sans spirits lol).  I'll keep watching, for sure.

This week's Hawaii 5-0, which aired on Halloween night, was sufficiently spooky, with a guest appearance by horror master Robert Englund. Tonight is Person of Interest and Sweet Genius and Vampire Diaries. More on  those later.

Back to writing and editing and cleaning house!

Until next time, take care!

♥ Julie

Sweet Genius, Vampire Diaries and more Hawaii 5-0

Think of the new show Sweet Genius as Chopped for desserts. The comparison was made in the promos, so it's  not a farfetched idea. Of course there are differences, and that is what makes the show unique in its own way.

So, what's the first ingredient in a show such as this? A great host! They've certainly found that in celebrated cake designer Ron Ben Israel. I confess to being unaware of him before I saw the first commercial for Sweet Genius, but in my own defense, I haven't exactly been in the market for a wedding cake either.

He is, to put it simply, gorgeous! There's something about him that draws me, something in his eyes. I could not keep away from the show if I tried! He is very personable and had a commanding stage presence. I've watched two episodes now, and enjoyed them both.

The format is similar to Chopped, but there is no basket of mandatory ingredients, per se. You start with four chefs, who are intro'd as on Chopped, and Ron explains that there are three rounds: Frozen, Baked and Chocolate. The first round comes with a mandatory ingredient, and an inspiration which the chefs must work from. In the first episode, the inspiration was darkness. Other inspirations have been a pearl in an  oyster, a Fabergé egg, and a cat. During each round, there will be other mandatory ingredients which will be presented to the chefs, which they must incorporate into their dishes. At the end of each round, Ron (who is the sole judge) tastes each dish and critiques. He decides which one does not measure up and he informs that chef that he or she is not a sweet genius, and they leave.



If it's not obvious by now (and I'm sure it is) I'm quite taken with the host. Er, I mean the show. No, I said it right the first time, it's the host. I do like the show, yes, but he makes it for me. I also watch Just Desserts on Wednesday nights, but I have to say that Ron is a better host than Gail is. I like her fine, but I don't think she has the strength or charisma that Ron possesses. I'm intrigued with his accent, but I haven't placed it yet. I just hope he talks more and more in coming episodes.

Okay, moving on.

*********Spoiler Alert***********

Vampire Diaries started its third season. Not surprising in a way, but somewhat in others. As you may remember, the last episode of season 2 was a veritable blood bath and free for all. So now, we have Elena and Jeremy with no living relatives. The writers smoothed over that dilemma quickly by moving the plot up to Elena's 18th birthday (so far the issue of Jeremy as minor has not arisen, but more on that). Alaric is camping out with them, or something. He's sleeping on the couch because he can't bear to sleep in either the dead parents' room or his dead gf's room. I don't know if he's supposed to be a surrogate parental authority but by the second episode, he's out of there and ready to throw in the spiritual towel. Quitter!

As you'll also recall, at the end of episode 2, Damon was bitten by a were, and that is pretty fatal for a vamp.  It looks like curtains for Damon (except we know better, seriously the show would fold immediately should they ever lose Damon Salvatore), but Elena doesn't realize this, so she gives him a last good-bye kiss. Surprise, he lives! And now he's tasted her sweet flesh, he wants more, and he intends to fight for it. While Elena, although pining for Stefan (the martyr sacrificed himself yet again, such a good boy) she is drawn to Damon, which is obvious. As I said, Stefan's doing the martyr thing, having agreed to go with Klaus in exchange for saving Damon's life. So now they're on a rampage in Tennessee and Stefan is killing with abandon. Damon and Alaric are tracking him through news clippings, but Elena finds out, and she still believes in him. A road trip to Tennessee with Damon leads him to believe the same, after a face to face with his brother. So I predict another road trip in the future, maybe some hot Damon/Elena action (any coincidence that they are allegedly dating in real life? Could be publicity driven, who knows. Ian can do better, I think, he's gorgeous, she's just okay).

So, what about the rest of the cast? Do they still exist. They do (except for Bonnie who really hasn't been  seen yet). Jeremy  (who died and was resurrected by Bonnie) is seeing things he shouldn't be seeing - namely his dead girlfriends. He's creeped out, and he's creeping out Matt as well. Caroline and Tyler did the horizontal mambo, and the next morning Tyler's mom caught Caroline - literally - with darts in her back. One vamp down! She tested Tyler with vervain but it didn't affect him cause he's a werewolf. She called in someone named Bill, who's being played by the guy who played Noah Bennett on Heroes, and they have Caroline locked up. Tyler puts two and two together, and on the night of the full moon, he forces his mother to witness his transformation. Howdya like them apples, Mrs. Lockwood? And in the kicker, we learn that Bill.... duh duh duh...... is Caroline's daddy. Interesting twist. We'll see how this plays out. We need to get Bonnie back in the plot, and I believe Elijah is unaccounted for. With Jeremy seeing dead people, who knows what past cast members might be resurrected? And of course there is Katherine. I don't remember what happened to her at the end of season 2, that's how little I like her.

Chopped Champions has its grand finale tonight, more about that later. Just Desserts is interesting, but I can't say it's the best Top Chef I've seen. I'm interested in seeing Top Chef Texas when it starts, and also the Next Iron Chef. I notice Sarah recorded The Chew, so I'm sure I'll be seeing that too - Carla (think Top Chef and hooty hoo and  you'll remember her) and Mario Batale are the only names I recognized in their line up. But those are two good names.

*****more spoilers*****

I watched the second Hawaii 5-0 today. I love this show so much! Especially, but not entirely for Alex  O'Loughlin. But primarily.

The new governor - former lieutenant governor - reinstated 5-0 after evidence came to light that McGarrett did not shoot the governor, although it was not conclusive enough to pin it on Wo Fat either. But the governor made it clear that things have changed, and that Hawaii 5-0 will have accountability. Today he proved he meant it by assigning a new member to the team, a former Homeland Security agent. Steve isn't thrilled and tries to keep her at a distance. But she grows on him. Which might be a good thing, since Kono's review before IA doesn't go well, and she's stripped of everything. I'm sure in future episodes we'll see more of the late governor/Wo Fat/McGarrett's dad connection. The greatest thing about the second episode is a scene in which Steve, Danno and the new girl are riding horses into a cult compound, and the boys start their typical bickering and she turns to them and asks "HOW LONG YOU BEEN MARRIED"  Best line ever. Again.

Okay, next new show. Person of Interest. Thursday nights, CBS. Michael Emerson and Jim Caviezel lead the  cast. I would never have discovered this show had it not been for Hawaii 5-0, cause that's the only time I'm on CBS, and it was just a fluke that I saw the promo. But something about it intrigued me, so I decided to give it a chance, and I'm glad I did.

At the beginning, Reese (Jim C) looks like a homeless person when he's attacked by young thugs on the subway. They picked the wrong person and he smacks them down handily, drawing the attention of the police. One female cop in particular is a recurring character, and she seems to be onto Reese. Finch (Michael E) is a billionaire with a lot of time and money on his hands. They have one thing in common - people think they're both dead. In a nutshell, Finch recruits Reese to his cause. He has a computer which was programmed to look for areas of trouble after 9-11. Every night it produces a list of non-essential data which it dumps, but these are actually people. So Finch retrieves them, one at a time. All he has is a social security number, but no knowledge of what will happen. Is this the victim, or the perp? Or the catalyst? Reese's job is to watch and prevent something from happening.

I really enjoyed the first show. It seems to be well written, fast paced, and definitely interesting, despite having  commercials (we watched it live, normally I record everything). It's also from JJ Abrams, who brought us the Star Trek movies, plus some TV shows I'm not really familiar with, so we'll see how this goes. But I'll definitely be watching it again. It comes on right before Sweet Genius, so I have two hours of TV on Thursday nights to look forward to, and two hours of crocheting.


I think that's it for now. I can't imagine what I've really forgotten. Whatever it is, I'll pick it up later.

Until next time, take care!

♥ Julie

Hawaii 5-0, Sweet Genius and diverse sundries

The second season of Hawaii 5-0 began with a real bang! **********potential spoilers********* If you'll  recall from the end of the first season, the members were in quite a pickle. Steve McGarrett was framed and arrested for the governor's murder, which was actually carried out by arch enemy Wo Fat. Danno's ex-wife informed him she was pregnant, and moved back to New Jersey. Chin was reinstated on HPD, with a higher rank, cleared of the charges against him. And Kono is the subject of an IA investigation regarding her part in the little scheme which garnered them the money to buy Chin's life.

Season 2 begins there, with Steve in prison, and Danno learning the truth about Rachel and her plans, and with everyone determined to prove Steve innocent and get the group back together again. It seems a tall order, right? But not for these people! I won't tell you exactly what happens, as that is too much spoilage, but it's certainly exciting, and mostly plausible, and a great start to the new season.

One thing that I'm particularly happy about is seeing more of Masi Oka's character. He plays the coroner, and am I allowed to squeal even a little bit because his name is Max?  I think so, so I will!  Squeeeeeee! I always liked him as Hiro on Heroes. He acquits himself very well here as the slightly nerdish but big-hearted Max. He gets to play a pivotal role in the season opener. I hope to see a lot more of him this year. As for villain Wo Fat, it's hard not to think of Kitchen Stadium when I see him as he plays the Chairman's nephew on Iron Chef America. Whereas his "uncle" had a signature pepper eating move, the nephew is more into apples! Seeing him on Hawaii 5-0 reminds me that he is an actor, and that there is no real Chairman of Kitchen Stadium. I still don't like Iron Chef America near as much as Iron Chef Japan, but I've come to accept it more. Alton Brown certainly helps with that. He is personable and interesting to listen to. I got caught up in one of his shows the other day, which I hadn't intended to do, and learned a lot about cupcakes. It was really fasciating stuff.

Last night was the season finale of Hell's Kitchen, which I'll probably watch tomorrow morning and talk about Thursday. Tonight is the last of the regular Chopped Champions. This night's winner will join the other three and next should should be the end of that. It's only five shows long. Top Chef Texas should be starting soon, I believe, but I'm not sure. All I've seen is a brief promo featuring Padma, so she'll be returning.

We've watched all of the Sandwich King episodes so far, and I have to say I'm really enjoying them. Jeff Mauro, winner of Network Food Star, is personable and knowledgeable, and he makes damn good looking sandwiches. Last one we watched was a chicken Vesuvio, and a Polish sausage sandwich. I love how he goes to places in Chicago and visits with the restauranteurs and we get to see behind the scenes of the dishes he is recreating. If he has a few pauses while he searches for words, it's understandable - he's still new at this. I think he's off to a great start, though, and I hope to see him develop himself, and perhaps branch out beyond sandwiches.

A new show begins Thursday night and I am already intrigued by the promos and stoked to see it. In fact, I was mesmerized by the very first one - caught up in the eyes of the host. Lovely eyes they are, too. His name is Ron Ben-Israel and the show is Sweet Genius, a sweeter version of Chopped. Although this is the first I heard of him, apparently he is well known for his beautiful wedding cakes, which are highly sought after. Alas, as I learned after doing some investigating, he is also gay. Story of my life, right? But hey, guys, he's single and looking! He has a very lovely accent, very intriguing. I am so looking forward to this show!


Vampire Diaries began season 3 but I'll save my thoughts on that for later. Tomorrow is another Flash Fiction day, I hope to have two more tales for your delectation!

Comments? Questions? Anything at all? Don't hesitate to speak up, I'd love to hear from you!

Until next time, take care!

♥ Julie

Of Sexy Norse Gods and Endings and Beginnings

Sarah and I went to see Thor yesterday. I've been a fan of the God of Thunder ever since I was a kid, watching the cartoons. It was part of a rotation of four - Thor, Hulk, Captain America and the Sub-Mariner. I always loved Thor the best, so I was overjoyed to see that they'd made a movie, and hoped they wouldn't fuck it up.

They didn't.   Chris Hemsworth was every inch the Scandinavian hottie he was supposed to be, with tons of attitude and a body to die for. Ask Natalie Portman. She was certainly drooling, in the role of Jane Foster, the science geek whose interest in certain matters led to her running into Thor in the first place in the New Mexico desert.

I was happy to discover old friends among the cast whose presence I was previously unaware of. Anthony Hopkins plays Odin, Thor's father, and the chief God and ruler of Asgard. Skellan Skarsgard (you may remember him from POTC, Mama Mia and as the father of hunky Alexander Skarsgard aka Eric Northman of True Blood face) played Portman's mentor. One of Thor's friends is played by Ray Stevenson (he was Titus Pullo in Rome). I recognized the FBI guy too - Colm Feore, who plays the ubiquitous Cardinal della Rovere in The Borgias. Quite an impressive cast. But small wonder - their director is none other than the delightful Kenneth Branagh. And the writer is J. Michael Stracynski.  Very impressive, eh?

The film was fast paced and entertaining and held my interest throughout. The time passed before I knew it, and the ending leaves little doubt in my mind that there will be a sequel, depending on box office of course, but I've heard the figures are good, so I'm hopeful. I did miss the very end of the credits, however, which I understand contained a small snipped which will no doubt lead to the next film. I'll have to get to see it somehow sometime, as it confirms what I had suspected at the time that it happened (no, I won't spoil it lol)

All I can say is, this film is definitely worth watching. We saw trailers for some other interesting films - Conan the Barbarian, Super 8 and a real dog - Cowboys & Aliens. I'm sorry, even the presence of my favorite James Bond, Daniel Craig, can't save this film, nor can Harrison Ford, or Steven Spielberg. A must miss event for me.

I watched the season finale of Hawaii 5-0 today. I'll try not to spoil it, but let me say that by the end of the episode, I was totally sitting there with my mouth open, saying a lot of omigod, and Jesus, and wondering how the hell they are going to get out of this one. Things have never looked so bleak for 5-0. One is incarcerated on trumped up charges, one appears to have become a traitor, one is being held for something that is true, and one may just be moving off the island. More deaths, major plot advancement and a great big wtf moment. Kudos for an excellent cliffhanging finale that will keep me wondering until the show starts back up again.  All I can say is CBS better treat these people right.

The Borgias ends its season next week. Things are looking a bit bleak for the Borgia papacy at the moment. It's only due to Lucrezia's silver tongue and her charming of the barbarian Charles of France that the French haven't sacked Rome. The over-confident Juan Borgia met the French in the open field, assuming that their cannon would be ineffectual there, as opposed to tearing up their buildings. What he didn't know is that the French have connected cannonballs, and the damage done to human flesh by them is horrific. Lucrezia, who is being held hostage by the French, persuades her brother to withdraw his troops and allow the French to peacefully enter Rome. Inside the city, many have fled, including not a few of the College of Cardinals. Cesare has tried to take his sweetheart to safety, but she refuses to leave the sanctity of the convent which she fled to when she left him in horror at learning that he was responsible for her husband's death. I have to believe Rodrigo will pull them out of this somehow. I'm still waiting for della Rovere to get his. Lucrezia is with child, but it isn't her husband's. I suspect that the actual father is dead by now, we'll find out next week. I will definitely buy this when I can, this series is lush and lavish and fascinating, a true treat for the senses - and Cesare Borgia is damn hot.

That will leave me with only one show to watch, Top Chef Masters, at least for the next few weeks. Luckily The Glades is coming back to A&E in June. If you missed it the first season, I recommend you catch up and watch it. It's a really good show about a cop who used to work in Chicago but finds himself down in the Everglades now. He's unconventional but effective and I love his sense of humor. I recommend this series highly.

We're still watching Six Feet Under, in the third season now. The brothers are now partnered with Rico, out of economic necessity, which isn't necessarily the worst thing in the world. Rico is a hard worker, and he does good work. They've taken on an apprentice, a rather nerdy young man named Arthur. I think Ruth has a thing for him. In a twist of events between the end of season 2 and beginning of season 3 - Nate survived his AVM, and married Lisa, mother of his daughter Maya. At first they lived with her employer, Carol, played fabulously by veteran actress Catherine O'Hara, but Lisa got tired of her craziness and left. They had little choice but to move in with Nate's mom. Luckily David is living with Keith now. Claire is in art school and seeing a fellow student, Russell, whom everyone assumed was gay. He's not. In the last episode we saw, Brenda's dad died, and Nate went to the funeral, taking Maya. He tried to find a sitter, but to no avail. He was going to leave her with Vanessa, Rico's wife, but realized she's not quite with it, so he just took Maya with him. This pissed Lisa off, who was fixated on whether or not Brenda touched or held Maya. Billy was there, looking cute. He didn't do anything crazy. Yet. All I can say is this series just keeps on getting better and I love it to death!

That's all for now, I think. Maybe tomorrow I'll talk about Top Chef Season 5 or Beauty and the Beast.

I'd love to hear about your favorite shows or what you think of mine! Don't forget, there's a contest going on! Follow this blog and leave a comment and you could win a copy of Captivations!

Have a great day!

♥ Julie    

No Main Character is an Island

We're watching Six Feet Under last night, almost to the end of season two. It's a damn good episode, full of  drama and emotion up the wazoo. Oh, be warned, there may be spoilers for those who are slower at watching this than us. Nate found out about Brenda's extracurricular activites, having read her WIP and then by chance meeting one of the two young men she fucked and wrote about, recognizable by his unusual cap, not to mention he acted as if he knew her. Well, he went ballistic and the engagement was called off. Also, Keith and David are going through their own problems, what with taking care of Keith's niece Taylor cause her mom's in jail for a hit and run, and social services are breathing up their ass. Ruth broke up with Nikolai (while I like Nikolai fine, I didn't think they were all that compatible, but sometimes you never know). And then there was Federico.  An elder woman who was like a grandmother to him, whom he and his wife were nice to and did favors for, passed, and it brought back memories of when he first came to Fisher & Sons on the death of his father, who fell off the roof, smack dab into some bricks, and the  young Federico saw him. But Nathaniel Fisher restored him to what he had looked like in life. I was so moved by the scenes involving Federico and Nathaniel, watched their burgeoning relationship - and then it hit me. Federico is a secondary character, he's not one of the Fishers, but even so, he is intimately woven into the fabric of the series and their lives. He may be a supporting player, but without him, what do you have? A show full of holes.


When you think of Gone With the Wind, you think of Scarlett and Rhett, but if you look at the amount of time these two are even together in the book or the movie, you realize it's not a lot. I love this book (not so much the movie) and what makes it memorable is not just Scarlett and her growth as a character - her trials, tribulations and joys - but the people in her life - her doting father Gerald O'Hara, the man she thinks she loves Ashley Wilkes, Ashley's patient and sweet wife Melanie, Scarlett's maid/friend/companion Mammy, and more. They bring the novel to life, and add color to what would otherwise be a single tone.

Too many writers add secondary characters like they were filler, only there to pad the plot or fill in the empty spaces. They don't develop them, they simply shove them on stage and expect them to perform without any sort of motive or history, and it shows. Without securing them in place, weaving these characters in tightly, you end up with holes in your fabric - holes which will come back to haunt you later. But if instead you figure out who they are from the beginning, give them color and breadth and depth, you don't have to worry so much. Sure, you can go back and make amends, and if you're good enough, the result will be flawless. But if you're not, it will appear to be patched, and that is sloppy writing indeed.

There are different ways of building your characters. Some people go into it blindly, and develop them as the story advances. Other write full bios ahead of time, include information which may never see the light of the page, but which goes into the foundation of that character and enriches it. There is no right and wrong way. Sometimes it depends on what you're working on. The same writer can approach the question different ways for different works. But you need to be aware of  your secondary characters and flesh them out, otherwise your main characters are stuck out there on that island, and frankly my dear, no one gives a damn.

How do you deal with your secondary characters? I'd love to hear!

On an unrelated note, I watched last night's Hawaii 5-0 this morning, and this was the first episode that I can honestly remember being not so impressed with. The guest for the episode was Sean Combs as a NY cop undercover in a crime organization who is compromised, his wife killed and his son (whom he hasn't seen in two years) endangered and now Steve and Danny have to find him as well as solve the crime. The plot wasn't bad, it just wasn't particularly good. I didn't find Combs' performance all that good either - he only has one emotion level and that's angry, and not a believable angry at that. The kid who played his son wasn't believable to me either, although I blame the writer for part of that too - this boy looked too old to be talking like he did, and calling his mother Mommy. He was supposed to be nine but his dialogue seemed geared for a five or six  year old. I guess that goes to show that you can't hit a home run every time. Since there were no previews for next week, I assume we play the waiting game again until we get to watch the next episode.

That's all for now,  have a great day!

♥ Julie

Of Hot Men, New Series and Stupid Plots

*********Warning, possible spoilers ahead for various things*****************

There is only one reason that I am still watching Vampire Diaries in the second season.  Okay, maybe one and a half. The main reason is right here - Damon Salvatore. The additional second partial reason is that the writing started to get better in the second season, as compared to the first. Getting better does not mean it's good, though, or that I think it'll last. Seriously, they would have been a lot better off following the books.

That aside, I constantly have to ask myself - what the fuck does Damon see in Elena. Seriously. I see no compelling reason for him to be so smitten with her. She's got a martyr complex a mile wide, refuses to listen to reason even when it's for her own good. She isn't any great shakes in the looks department. With Damon's looks, he can get any girl he sets his mind - or heart - to. Even that old chestnut of her being Katherine's lookalike doesn't cut it for me any more, cause as we all know Katherine is a major bitch, so what sort of selling point is that?

You know why Damon is in love with Elena? You could make a point that it's in the books, therefore it's canon. Canon only works when it suits the writers to use it, which isn't often. No, my theory is that it's because otherwise Damon has no reason to stay in Fell's Church. Sorry, I mean Mystic Falls (did anyone catch the blooper in a previous episode where it was actually referred to as Fell's Church? I sure did). And if Damon leaves, the ratings plummet and it's bye bye Vampire Diaries. Obviously it works, doesn't it? I'm still watching, even though I moan and groan through it a lot. Like last night. I just knew deep down that Bonnie wasn't going to stay dead, even if I didn't know how it would happen. What about Elena's next stupid move? Reviving Elijah?  Good one, Elena, we saw how effective he was before. Let's just set him against Klaus, shall we?  Gah!



Enough of that. On to the Hot Men front. My new hot man/love interest comes to us from the new Showtime series The Borgias. With the Tudors being done, they had to find another interesting historical period, one that hasn't been overdone, and they certainly found it in this original crime family. The action begins in 1492 (does that year ring a bell anyone?) when the current Pope is dying, and the Cardinals have all convened, cause they know what comes next - the election of the new Pope.On the death of the old Pope, the cardinals are sealed inside a room and begin to cast their ballots. When the votes are counted, if there is no candidate with the requisite majority, then a signal goes up to the outside world in the form of black smoke; if there is, then it's white smoke. There are some rather ambitious Cardinals who would love nothing better than to sit on the Papal throne, for at this time the Pope wielded far more power in the known world than most people can imagine, so it was a very prestigious and powerful position to attain. Rodrigo Borgia wishes to be Pope very badly. Rodrigo has three children and a wife. I don't know when he joined the Church or began his rise to power, but his family isn't exactly a secret. His two sons are Juan and Cesare - Juan is in the military, while Cesare has been forced to become a man of the cloth, very much against his will.

HOTTIE ALERT!  Cesare Borgia is very hot, he lights up the screen when he is on it. The role is played by Francois Arnaud, whom I've never seen before but hope to see a lot more of in the future. Cesare is his father's pawn. Without his help, Rodrigo wouldn't have been able to bully and buy his way into the Papacy. Cesare has an assassin in his employ by the name of Micheletto. When I first saw this guy, I thought he looked familiar, turns out I was right. He played Thomas in Jesus, which I just saw recently. Cesare has a very complicated relationship with his younger sister, the infamous Lucrezia Borgia. Everyone has heard of her, surely, one of the most famous poisoners ever. Must be a family trait. The series hints at a very close relationship between the brother and sister, one which I believe is historically accurate, although I'm not sure how far the series will take the innuendoes or what they'll do with them.

Only two episodes in and I'm hooked. It's a full rich series with great characters. Sir Derek Jacobi appeared in the first episode, as Cardinal Orsini. Having recently been exposed to the videogame Assassin's Creed by my good friend Jack, I was fascinated at the similarities, especially recognizing the Borgia courtyard from the game as well as the series. Also, there is another pc game which deals with this time and these people, called Machiavelli. In the game you can buy your way to the Papacy too.  I recommend The Borgias to anyone, but especially to history buffs. It's not limited to them, though, it's a drama I think anyone can enjoy.

CBS - I have a complaint! How do you expect people to keep up with a series when there's no rhyme or reason to when you show it? That's the case with Hawaii 5-0. I never know when there'll be a new episode, it's hit or miss.  Show one, skip a few weeks, show another. What's up with that? Lack of consistency will lose you viewers, who will get tired of hunting the show down and waiting for it to be on, even one like the 5-0. Why do I watch this show?  Primarily for one reason:

Yes, it's for Alex O'Loughlin.  Not the only reason I watch, but the primary reason I ever started watching in the first place, having fallen in love with him in Moonlight (I never even watched this series til it was off the air, what a waste that it only lasted one season, but at least I own that season in its entirety). That being said, I do like the show a lot. It has good writing, interesting plots and great characters. My son-in-law Michael really likes Konno and Chin, and so do I, but my favorites are the main characters, Steve McGarrett and Danny (Book'em Danno) Williams. It's the relationship between these two that makes the show, in my eyes.  Yes, the scenery is quite gorgeous. Every time I watch, I envy my son more and more (he is stationed in Pearl Harbor). The writers have created quite the bromance here, between these two guys, one which is echoed by fangirl fanfiction writers in their slash fiction starring them. I've not yet gone that route, and haven't decided if I will - they are cute together as they are. The last episode was no exception.  ****** again, possible spoilers********  Steve was injured at one point, and Danno hiked up the mountain in order to find a signal and send for help for his friend. As Steve was being lifted away to treatment, Danno pointed to himself, then drew a heart in the air, then pointed at Steve. It was a squee-worthy awwwwwww moment indeed.  That and the way that they bicker like an old married couple, to borrow a phrase from HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban.  All I'm saying here is CBS, get your shit together, and be more consistent with  your scheduling, or you'll lose viewers. (No, not me, but less committed watchers).

Now, on to Justified. The second season of Justified is every bit as interesting and satisfying as the first, and the writing has just continued to soar, no complaints in that department whatsoever. I'm not saying it needed improving or anything, cause it didn't, but even great things can become greater. It's no secret why I watch this series:  It's for Marshal Raylan Givens, played by Timothy Olyphant. Besides being easy on the eyes, Raylan is a great character, and this season is showing just how versatile he is. He has his own brand of justice, but you know he will always do what is right. That being said, when ex-wife Winona approached him with her little dilemma, he didn't hesitate to offer his help.Apparently she gave in to temptation and took a bill from some money that was going into the evidence locker. That part of the story lasted for a few episodes, and I kept scratching my head as to why. Not why she took the money - she's got money problems, so that part is understandable. But what the hell did she want with just one hundred dollar bill? Well, my instincts were spot on - it wasn't one, it was a satchel full. And watching them trying to get that money back into the evidence locker was hilarious (and it also involved Stephen Root as the speedo wearing judge).

As  you'll recall from the first season, Bo Crowder is deceased. He was the main antagonist at that time, while his son Boyd was on the periphery as a secondary villain whom one was never sure how to take. My daughter finds Boyd (played by Walton Goggins) to be quite cute. It's nice to have different tastes in men between us, we never fight about them at all. I'll take Raylan, she's welcome to Boyd. Last season, Boyd experienced a religious conversion, which may or may not have been sincere. This season, he's developed in other ways, and is on the wrong side of the law again, or at least heading that way. The new baddie for this season is Mags Bennett, who controls her county with an iron fist, as well as the weed market, and her three sons - Doyle, Dicky and Coover. Doyle is the corrupt sheriff, Dicky the inbred junky and Coover is the slow Neanderthal eejit. Or was, anyway, til Raylan dropped him into a mine shaft. Don't worry, the shooting was justified. Mags is an interesting adversary, and I see a feud building up on the order of the Hatfields and the McCoys - the Bennetts and the Crowders.  Should be interesting to watch.

I'm also curious to see where, if anywhere, the relationship between Raylan and Winona goes. I'm not even sure where I want it to go. Wherever it leads to his happiness, sure, but I don't know about her sometimes. I do like her better than Ava, though, who seems to be with Boyd. Art, Raylan's boss, is funny, a good foil, almost a father figure to Raylan. Which is good cause Arlo, his real daddy, ain't much of one.I own the first season of Justified and will own the second when it's available. This series just keeps on getting better, I highly recommend it.

I started watching Top Chef Season 5 from netflix - it's the only past season that is available, for some odd reason, but that 's okay, cause it's the one I wanted to see the most, cause it was Fabio's season.  Who?  Let me show you Fabio:

I first encountered him in the Top Chef All Stars season - he quickly became my favorite, and I was sorry to see him told to pack his knives and leave. But it made me curious to watch his season, which I'm doing now. The only other chefs in that season that I recognize are Carla and Jamie.  I love Carla and can't stand Jamie. Obviously all three will get axed at some point, or they wouldn't have been on All Stars. One interesting point of watching the fifth season was that I actually saw the house where the losing contestants stay - I'd always wondered about that.

We're watching Top Chef Masters now. It's interesting, although I haven't picked a favorite yet. We've also watched some Chopped, and I've come to like that show too. Remember Ted Hall from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy? He's on Chopped - he's the host, if you will. It's great to see him again. My favorite on Queer Eye was always Thom, I wonder where he is now.

We're also watching Six Feet Under. I'd been interested in the show when it first came out but wasn't able to watch it. I recently learned that Michael C Hall, of Dexter, is in it, so of course I had to see if I liked it as much as Dexter. The answer is a resounding yes!  

We haven't started the second season of Dexter yet, but we are on the second season of Six Feet Under. This series involves a family owned funeral home - Fisher and Sons. In the first episode, Nathaniel Fisher is dead, and the family must deal with his loss. Nate Jr (Peter Krause) comes home from Seattle for the occasion. At the airport he meets and fucks a strange woman named Brenda (Rachel Griffiths). David (Michael C Hall) has followed his father's footsteps and works at the funeral home, along with Federico, the only other employee. The boys have a sister named Claire (Lauren Ambrose of Grounded For Life). She's in high school and has quite a skewed view of life. It turns out that their mother, Ruth, has been having an affair with a hairdresser for two years, which she confesses to her flabbergasted sons (who really don't want to hear this). David has a secret of his own - he is gay and having an affair with a totally hot black cop named Keith.  Let's throw into the mix, Brenda's bad boy crazy brother Billy, played by Jeremy Sisto.  It's a great show,  I love it to death, especially David. It's so funny to see Dexter with emotions, which only goes to show what a versatile actor Michael C Hall is. There are only five seasons of Six Feet Under. My friend Aly has already watched them all.  We'll get there, I know.

Finally, Queer as Folk.  Still watching that, just started the third season. A lot is going on. At the end of the second season, Justin left Brian to be with Ethan, and Emmett and Ted decided that they are in love. The third season picks up there - Brian is relying heavily on Michael's company, and Ben is being very understanding about it. Emmett and Ted are having some strange times, trying to balance their friendship and their relationship and Emmett slips up. Justin and Michael are on the outs, understandably, putting their joint comic venture in jeopardy. Brian finds relief in fucking guys that resemble Justin. And Lindsay and Melanie are discussing having another baby. Or is that fighting? I love these characters so very much, I can't say enough about this series. It's funny, warm, sexy, hot, dramatic, and wonderful. If you love gay men, you'll love it, the scenes at Babylon are worth the price of admission alone - lots of nude hot men, and yes, there is full frontal. Oh, that reminds me that I'm also watching Spartacus, watching it now on Netflix. Quick comment - I like the series okay, it's pretty, the plot is nothing great yet (I've only seen two epsiodes) but the blood is definitely over the top and the effect is totally lost. It needs to be toned down cause it's only making a mockery of itself, and it's way too much an imitation of 300, and then some. I doesn't even resemble blood. Okay, we get the idea already. Now, concentrate on something more interesting, like plot. I like watching John Hannah and Lucy Lawless as a couple, although I never imagined I'd see Lucy naked like that, but now I have. I haven't decided yet if the series lives up to its hype - I'll keep you posted.

All for now, back to my writing and editing. I'm editing Ranch Hands for Wicked Nights. It was written by my friend SL Danielson, so added bonus there. It's a good story about real men, it's worth taking a look at. I'll review it later.

Have a great day!

♥ Julie

Even Superman has flaws - no character should be perfect

Superman had everything going for him - faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! Bullets ricocheted off his muscular physique like harmless grains of sand.  He could bend steel in his bare hands, he had powerful x-ray vision that see through anything, and he had a disguise which no one could penetrate.

Wait, scratch that.  He couldn't see through everything - lead was impenetrable to him. So, of course, once the bad guys caught on to that, lead-lined everything became the fashion.  And just let a little bit of kryptonite come onto the scene (a substance only found on Superman's planet of origin, Krypton, but luckily some of which made it into our universe along with the Baby of Steel), and Superman goes down for the count.  So, what does that prove?  That Superman, although a superhero, is not perfect.

Which is a good thing.  'Cause it's really hard to feel something or care about someone who's perfect, who can make everything happen with a simple wave of the hand, the right word, or the right blow.  How can you sympathize with someone like that, get into him, want to know him?  We're not perfect, as people, and we don't want our heroes to be either.  Even the ones with the amazing supernatural powers, such as the vampires, the werewolves, and the shifters. We want to know that there's a chance that they won't succeed, even if in the back of your mind you think they will, cause that's called conflict, and that's what writing is all about.

Your character can be the greatest person that ever was, but you want to make him imperfect.  Make  him human, give us a reason to care what happens to him. (For the purpose of this article, I'm using the male pronoun, but it goes for females as well, I just find it easier to use him rather than he/she). Backgrounds are good for that - tragedies in the past that hang over your hero's head like a dark cloud and come out to haunt him at the most inopportune times.  Here's a great one - the hero falls in love with the villain!  If that isn't a perfect conflict of interests, I don't know what is, and it produces lots of wiggle room and you can just watch the angst meter rise as he debates with himself just what to do - to love or not to love, to kill or not to kill, whatever the case might be.

It  may be nice to read about or watch the perfect hero for a while, but it does get old. So do something to mar that perfection, even if he isn't a superhero but just the perfect guy.  Make him a slob - have him throw his dirty socks in unfortunate locations, forget important occasions, or kick the dog (but not too hard, he's imperfect, he's not really mean). Have fun with the flaws.  In my Silver Flash series that I just started, I have a really cute guy who's really dense, and I find myself tickled at his denseness, even if his ex doesn't.  If  you're having fun with it, chances are better that your readers will have fun too.

There's a name for characters, particularly in fanfiction, that are just too perfect for words, one you truly wish to avoid - the Mary Sue/Gary Stu.  They're too good to be true, everyone loves them, everything they touch is golden, and they can do no wrong.  Ugh.  What they really are is manifestations of our own psyche translated to the written word - what we would be if we could be.  Ourselves as characters in our own dramas.  No one likes a Gary Stu.

The only exception that I can think of to this rule is Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett of Hawaii 5-0, played by the extremely sexy Alex O'Loughlin, late of Moonlight.  I've seen every episode of this series so far, and I'm here to tell you this - there is nothing that this man can't do or doesn't know.  Last night's episode begins with an important witness to a murder trial who is being pursued by bad guys sent by the murderer in question. Steve and Danno are split up at the beginning of the episode, because Danno's ex-wife and child are carjacked, and he has to deal with that, so Steve and Chin are searching for the witness, who is fleeing from professional killers. When they find her, Chin takes her back to safety, while Steve works on apprehending the hired hitmen. When he does get one, the guy has a punctured lung, and Steve has to perform an emergency procedure or he'll die!  Wow, whatta guy!

Are you gonna argue with that?  I know I'm not! Let him be perfect, it works for me!

Two things I particularly loved about this episode and about this oh so perfect man: While he's going after the two armed killers, he takes time out to talk to Danno on his cell phone and give him advice about how to deal with the situation he's in, with his ex and her new husband and all!  And I loved something that Chin said to the witness as they split up, Steve rushing out into the jungle to track down her would-be killers:  "Some guys, they're just born without a fear gene."

Yes, Steve is a Gary Stu, but I don't mind cause he's gorgeous.  As I said, he's the one exception to the rule.  Otherwise, they're just annoying and unrealistic.  And let's not forget the obverse rule - even villains have something good about them.  If you write your bad guy as all bad, that's gonna get real old too.  Writers have picked up on that whole sexy villain thing, and good and bad are on a more even playing field now, which is good. Villains need their humanity too, they're not all bad.  No one is.  It's that whole grey area thing.

In conclusion, a good character has to be multi-layered, like a real person.  You want them to appear to be as real as possible, so readers can relate. The nice thing is that different people will relate to different characters for their own reasons - it's called variety, and it works.  We don't all have to cheer for the same person, and it's okay to like someone that others hate.  It just makes it fun.

Now for the questions - tell me about characters you think are too perfect, and why that annoys you - good or bad.  Or tell me about the characters whose very flaws endears them to you - who are they and what are their human flaws?  I'd love to hear them!