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Once Upon a Thyme

Conner Montgomery is a thirty-five-year-old painfully shy executive chef at The Imperial Arms Hotel, who has spent most of her life hiding in her kitchen, but dreams of getting out from under the thumb of Wilhelmina Tate, her boss and benefactor. Her chance soon arrives when she’s given the esteemed assignment of preparing the menu for the social event of the year – an extravagant gala for the very wealthy and sophisticated hotel empire heir Philip Garrity. Philip wants to break away from the family business and be a restaurateur and thinks Conner’s unique cuisine can help him do that. The only problem is – he thinks Conner Montgomery is a reclusive, old man.

Afraid if she were to tell Philip the truth it would ruin her chances of getting hired, Conner tells Philip her name is Helen and she’s the sous chef – if he needs to ask Conner anything, it can go through her. The lie rapidly ensnares Conner and she enlists the help of her kitchen family to assist in the deception. She’s finally going to go after what she’s always wanted – even if she’s got to pretend to be man to do it.

Let Down Your Hair

Ruby Lee Lester, daughter of country star, Arnie Lester, is a hard-edged, thirty-five-year-old self proclaimed heathen and one-hit-wonder country singer who spends most of her time holed up in her downtown Nashville honkytonk bar Eden, aka The Garden.

Safely secluded in her home away from home, Ruby tries her hardest to forget how her ex-manager/boyfriend stole all her money and conned her into signing over her song rights. She sets her mind to doing bad things, mostly sleeping around, smoking too much, and drinking to excess. And she vows never to cut her hair, make music, or be “managed” again. For ten years the lifestyle works – until a family tragedy suddenly puts Ruby in charge of her twelve-year-old nephew, Ben, and…his Hebrew school education.

Interstellar – Nothing Really Stellar About It

SPOILER ALERT – I MEAN IT. DON’T CONTINUE READING IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS.

Christopher Nolan – famously known for his breakout film Memento – and more recently for his contributions to the Bat Man universe – has come out with another special effects heavy film Interstellar. Unfortunately it is so reminiscent of his previous work, Inception. This time the Ellen Page character is pretty much the ENTIRE cast of  Interstellar. There is so much exposition in this movie that you begin to doubt your ability to comprehend anything – nothing is truly explained. All it manages to do is demonstrate how little trust the writers have in their audience to catch on to what is going on. And that just makes for the fodder of more jokes to be mined by the writers of The Big Bang Theory. Continue reading “Interstellar – Nothing Really Stellar About It”

Olive Kitteridge – Pulitzer Prize to HBO

Watching Olive Kitteridge starring the magnificent Frances McDormand (most famous for her Oscar winning performance in Fargo but don’t forget her in Almost Famous)  and the even more lovely Richard Jenkins (unfortunately totally overlooked for what should have been an Oscar winning performance in The Visitor – Netflix it today!) is a testament to television to bring back the mini-series, but further proves that network television will never go that route. Continue reading “Olive Kitteridge – Pulitzer Prize to HBO”

The Downside to Binge Watching

So having gone under a minor medical procedure, I found myself with time on my hands and felt that time is best spent binge watching the first season of AMERICAN HORROR STORY. Bad decision.

Now don’t tell me. I already know that I’m behind the times. That AMERICAN HORROR STORY, or AHS for short,  just finished its third season and the fourth was just announced. But I just didn’t get around to watching all the episodes consecutively and it is just a show that needs you to watch them in order. But my experience is a big let down and that seems to be because I have a love/hate relationship with Ryan Murphy. Continue reading “The Downside to Binge Watching”