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Two new movies bumped off last year’s top earner, Resident Evil: Extinction, to knock the video game-based franchise down to third place this week. Taking over at No.1 was the Disney family comedy The Game Plan, starring Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock. This film about a star football quarterback whose life gets interrupted by a daughter he never knew he had earned a strong $22.7 million in wide release.

Second place went to the Jamie Foxx/Jennifer Garner thriller The Kingdom, which grossed an estimated $17.7 million in ticket sales. Although this film has gotten mixed reviews, I’d still like to see it since Garner is one of my favorite stars (from her run on Alias).

Here’s what the complete Top 10 looked like:

1. The Game Plan, $22.7 million
2. The Kingdom, $17.7 million
3. Resident Evil: Extinction, $8 million
4. Good Luck Chuck, $6.3 million
5. 3:10 to Yuma, $4.2 million
6. The Brave One, $3.8 million
7. Mr. Woodcock, $3 million
8. Eastern Promises, $2.9 million
9. Sydney White, $2.7 million
10. Across the Universe, $2.05 million

Prior to the start of the new fall television season, I made a list of new shows that I was interested in watching. There weren’t too many on the list, as my viewing schedule was already packed with returning shows from previous years. But my Wednesdays were wide open, so I decided to give The CW’s Gossip Girl a try. I’ve watched the first two episodes of the series thus far, and think it’s going to be a keeper!

Gossip Girl is the latest series from Josh Schwarz, the creator, writer, and producer of The O.C. It’s based on the novel series by Cecily von Ziegesar, and has all the makings of a hit teen drama. First, we have Serena and Blair, former best friends who are now fierce rivals as they compete for the affections of Nate, Blair’s boyfriend who has already slept with Serena. Second, we have the Humphreys, Dan and Jenny, a couple of siblings who attend the same elite school as Serena, Blair, and Nate, but aren’t wealthy or connected. And then we have Chuck, the richest of the bunch — and also the sleaziest. He’s got “bad boy” written all over him, and is sure to cause tons of trouble before all is said and done!

What I really like about Gossip Girl thus far is how the writers incorporate technology on the show in a meaningful way, giving us, in essence, Teen Drama 2.0. The characters regularly send and receive text messages and photos on their cell phones, and of course there’s the Gossip Girl herself — an anonymous blogger who always has inside info on the latest happenings in the group. Her voiceovers provide great commentary about what’s going on with the characters.

If you haven’t tuned into Gossip Girl yet, you’re really missing out! The show airs every Wednesday at 9 p.m. Eastern, so be sure to tune in this week. To find out more about the show, visit the official MySpace Fan Page or check out these You Tube videos for episode previews and clips.

There was a time when Grey’s Anatomy was the highlight of my TV week. The show was awesome during Seasons 1 and 2: fresh, funny, and full of interesting characters. But things went downhill quickly during Season 3, more often than not leaving me feeling disappointed with the storylines and exasperated with the characters I once adored.

Nevertheless, I tuned in for the Season 4 premiere on Thursday night, hoping that GA could recover from all the missteps of last season. Unfortunately, I was left supremely disappointed once again. Here’s what happened in episode 4×01, called “A Change is Gonna Come.”

Meredith/Derek: Meredith spent most of the episode avoiding Derek, then came to the conclusion that she couldn’t “keep doing this.” They officially broke up, and then had a break-up kiss, followed immediately by break-up sex.

Cristina/Alex: They were busy rushing around with their new interns trying to find something interesting to do. They had time to sit down for a short convo at the end of the ep, at which time Cristina admitted to missing Burke and Alex admitted to missing Rebecca (the patient with the deformed face from last year).

George/Izzie: George walked around with a bug up his ass the whole time, snapping at both Izzie and Callie whenever he saw them. At least we learned that he decided to repeat his internship so as not to completely throw away all his medical training. Then, at the end of the ep, he shows up at Izzie’s door out of the blue and tells her that he loves her.

Izzie spent her first day as a resident trying to resuscitate a deer that was struck in a car accident. Yes, it was every bit as hokey as it sounds, and yes, her interns were cursing the fact that they got stuck with the crazy resident.

Callie: Now that she’s the new chief resident of Seattle Grace, Callie has suddenly forgotten how to be strong and assertive. Instead, she’s a micromanaging control freak who wants to be involved in every little thing that her residents do, and she bemoans the fact that nobody respects her.

Mark: Addison is gone, so I guess the writers needed some way to justify having Mark Sloan stick around. If you remember, the whole reason he came out to Seattle Grace in S3 was to get Addison back. But the writers decided to retcon this and had him say that he came back to patch things up with Derek, not Addison. What. Ever.

Bailey: Spent the whole ep being bitchy because Richard chose Callie over her. She was mollified a bit when Richard said that Bailey belongs in surgery, not pushing papers.

New Interns: Most of them are annoying, and then we’ve also got Lexie Grey, Meredith’s half-sister. God, I do not like where the sibling rivalry plot is leading. Please do not make Meredith-Derek-Lexie the next love triangle on this show!!

My Reaction: This was a totally boring ep with very few good moments at all. I deliberately made my recap short because I couldn’t bear to relive all the crap that went on during the hour. I just don’t even know what to say about this show anymore, but this is definitely not the GA I became hooked on during S1 and S2.

Lexie Grey already bugs me. I almost turned my TV off when she was talking to George in the maternity ward: “But you delivered a BABY!” said with wide-eyed wonderment at the miracle of life. Oh, puh-leeze!!! We’ve been through the whole interns-doing-everything-for-the-first-time spiel already; do we really have to do it all again just because George failed his exams? Good lord, I hope not.

Lexie did two other stupid things during this ep. First, she decided to introduce herself to Mer right when trauma victims are arriving at the ER. Give me a break! Apparently, my four-year-old has a better sense of appropriate timing for chit-chat than Lexie Grey does. And second, does she really believe that telling the other interns that George is a first-year is going to fly? I’d be surprised if they didn’t have the scoop on everyone at SG already anyway.

Meredith and Derek are just sickening at this point. How friggin’ dysfunctional can they be? I read some interviews with creator Shonda Rhimes over the summer, and she said the whole Mer-Der thing would cover new ground and/or head in a new direction this season. How is breaking up and then having sex immediately afterward “new ground?” Didn’t they do the EXACT SAME THING at the stupid prom at the end of S2? Just put these two out of their misery already!!

I don’t even know what to say about Izzie and George at this point. I was cringing all the way through Izzie’s ridiculous deer scenes and her even more ridiculous “I am Bambi” speech to George in the stairwell. Katherine Heigl wins an Emmy for Best Actress, and the very next thing we see her in is this piece of crap? I guess she does deserve an Emmy — for being able to say the dumb lines she’s saddled with with a straight face.

Please don’t tell me that Rebecca is going to turn up again this season as Alex’s love interest. They’ve already done a doctor-patient storyline, so I’m not interested in seeing another one. Plus, Elizabeth Reaser and Justin Chambers had zero chemistry last year and their scenes together were often painful to watch.

I missed Addison and was expecting them to say “Page Dr. Montogmery, stat!” when the pregnant woman got into trouble in the operating room. I missed Burke also. He had a steadying presence on the show that was quite a contrast to all the neurotic behavior from the other doctors.

Okay, I think I’ve done enough bitching for today. I put off writing this recap in the hopes that I’d simmer down after a couple of days, but I guess that didn’t work out too well. I’m still optimistic about this show being able to recover and return to its former glory… Just let it happen soon!!!

Well, most of my favorite TV shows (and a couple of new ones that I wanted to check out) have premiered already, which means I’ve had a busy week sitting in front of the boob tube. For the most part, I liked the premieres that I saw, with a couple of notable exceptions. First, the Grey’s Anatomy opener was so boring that I haven’t been able to work up enough energy to write my recap yet. Second, Prison Break (which premiered two weeks ago) has become so ridiculous that I’ll probably give up on it altogether pretty soon.

My only regular show that hasn’t premiered yet is Desperate Housewives, and I have to say that I’m looking forward to Sunday night for this very reason. We’ll finally get to see how Susan and Mike’s married life is going and how the Scavos are handling the news of Lynette’s cancer.

We’ll also learn whether or not Wisteria Lane’s favorite realtor, Edie Britt, survives her suicide attempt and whether or not Bree is able to pass off Danielle’s baby as her own.

And let’s not forget about Gabby. After learning that her new husband Victor married her to help further his political career, she kissed Carlos at the reception. I still believe it’s only a matter of time before Gabby and Carlos get back together. Will it happen this season? I sure hope so!

Anyway, I can’t wait to tune in this Sunday!

The Season 7 finale of CSI left us with a cliffhanger: would the team be able to find Sara in time, or would she become yet another victim of the Miniature Killer? We finally got the answer last night, and if you don’t want to know the outcome, I suggest you stop reading right now! For those of you who have already seen the episode called “Dead Doll,” feel free to continue here.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): This episode represented a departure from the usual CSI storyline structure. Instead of an A plot and a B plot, everyone was understandably working on the Sara case. And instead of a linear timeline, the entire hour was a mix of scenes from the present as well as flashbacks showing more details of Sara’s abduction.

From the flashbacks we learned how the Natalie Davis, the Miniature Killer, first stunned Sara with a tranquilizer dart in the parking garage, then tied her up in order to transport her to hand-picked death scene. Sara became conscious while in the trunk of Natalie’s car, and managed to break free of her bonds. She even crawled through the backseat and put up a fight, but Natalie overpowered Sara again. This time, Natalie gave her spiked water to drink, which knocked Sara out long enough for the death scene to be set up.

Meanwhile, the CSIs were having no luck turning up clues until Nick spotted a note about an auto salvage yard while combing through Natalie’s apartment. Brass goes out to the yard, learns that’s where the death scene car was purchased, and finds out where the owner towed the car to.

Now the LVPD finally has a place to search, so they spread out to start covering the desert. Grissom and Catherine find some markers and even come across a dead body, but it’s not Sara. Later, when Nick and Sofia are driving along the road, Nick sees something reflecting sunlight. It turns out to be the rear view mirror from the car that Sara was trapped in. Apparently she had enough sense to carry that around with her.

Anyway, they find Sara collapsed in the middle of the desert with no pulse. Paramedics arrive to start an IV, an air ambulance comes to take her to the hospital, and Grissom gets there in time to accompany Sara for the ride. A few minutes later, Sara opens her eyes, so we know that she survives — at least for the time being.

My Reaction: I had mixed feelings about this episode. On the one hand, I thought that there were some really tense moments here that made for good television. The last 10 minutes of the ep in particular were riveting, and I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen, so there were indeed parts that were well done.

But on the other hand, I was kind of disappointed to see that 99 percent of this episode consisted of an extended search party. We were already left with a cliffhanger for three months… was it really necessary to prolong the waiting in this episode as well? Yeah, we know that Sara survives, but I thought we were entitled to see more than just her eyes opening a quarter of an inch at the end of the ep. That should have happened by the three-quarter mark at the very latest so we could get some follow-up right away.

In addition, the middle of the ep kind of felt like it was being dragged out on purpose. What was up with all the slo-mo and music-filled montages? Couldn’t the writers think of anything else to do with that screentime?

I also felt that the conclusion of this episode was just far too similar to the “Grave Danger” ep where Nick was saved from being buried alive. If the writers really wanted to take a chance, they would have let Sara die. I mean, what the hell is the meaning of the title if nobody in this ep died??

Well, I didn’t stick around to watch the previews for next week (I never do), but I do hope that ep will address some of the things I brought up here today.

The Grey’s Anatomy spinoff series Private Practice was actually introduced last year during a two-hour special. During that episode, we saw Addison Montgomery (the Shepherd portion has been dropped) reconnect with her med school friend Naomi Bennett (played back then by Merrin Dungey, but now played by Audra McDonald), who, with her husband Sam (Taye Diggs) and several other partners, runs a private practice called Oceanside Wellness Center in L.A.

The preview special ended with Naomi offering Addison a job at Oceanside, but Addison didn’t give an answer right away — though it wasn’t exactly a cliffhanger as to what that answer would be! So now we kick off Addison’s new life in private practice with episode 1×01, which was burdened with the unwieldy title, “In Which We Meet Addison, A Nice Girl From Somewhere Else.”

Addison/Pete: First of all, let me say that I hope this pairing (Addison/Pete) doesn’t become permanent because I really can’t stand the Pete character thus far. I didn’t like him in the preview special, and I didn’t like him last night either.

At any rate, Addison’s first day on the job doesn’t start out very well. No one besides Naomi knew that she had been hired, and they’re all a bit miffed about that since there’s supposed to be a vote on such things. Nevertheless, Addison sticks around to help out the “one patient a day” that she can expect to see at the clinic.

This time it’s a young, unmarried woman who’s going into labor. Her father is with her, but offers zero support and doesn’t really seem to care what happens. (Turns out his attitude is like that because he lost his wife when she gave birth to his daughter.) The birth doesn’t go very smoothly, and Addison has to perform a C-section right there in the clinic, with Pete doing some hippie-dippy thing to the patient’s nerves so she wouldn’t feel pain during the operation.

Sam/Naomi: These two spent most of the episode bickering with each other. Naomi is still bitter because Sam left her, while Sam tries to explain his actions by saying he just wanted to see Naomi fight for him.

In between arguments about their recently dissolved marriage, they help out a woman whose boyfriend died of a heart attack just prior to donating sperm for an in vitro procedure. The woman wants to get the boyfriend’s sperm anyway, but the chief at the hospital they’re at refuses to give it up since the girlfriend has no legal claim to it.

Later on, the dead man’s wife shows up, which of course complicates the situation even more. Naomi ends up saving the day by talking to the wife and convincing her to let the girlfriend have the sperm. After all, that’s what her husband wanted and the wife just has to learn to “let him go.”

Cooper/ Violet: Cooper’s supposed to be a pediatrician, but he spends most of this hour helping Violet on a psych case. Violet gets called out to the mall because one of her patients is going through a crisis and is dealing with it by counting all the floor tiles in one of the stores. The store manager happens to be the woman’s brother, so he decided to call Violet before calling the cops.

Anyway, the woman doesn’t respond to anything Violet does, but Violet is able to figure out what triggered the woman’s episode. The woman lost her son to a brain tumor, and was reminded of him when she saw a commercial that featured a kid of her boy’s age. Violet and Cooper are able to talk to the woman, getting her to calm down enough to remove her from the store.

My Reaction: This episode felt very disjointed to me, and because of this, it was hard for me to get into it. There were parts that I enjoyed, but on the whole, I was pretty underwhelmed by what I saw.

First of all, Addison didn’t seem to be Addison outside the confines of Seattle Grace. I know it was her first day on the job and she felt like no one wanted her there, but her nervous Nelly act didn’t fly with me. She burst onto the scene at SG the same way, with Derek not wanting her there because of Meredith, but she was all about confidence and composure back then. What happened to that Addison? That’s the character I love.

Second, I hope the writers put the Sam/Naomi angst to rest soon. I don’t think I’m up for yet another will they/won’t they get together pairing right now. Please just show that two people can be mature adults and work well together even after a divorce.

The plot that I liked the most tonight was the one involving Violet and Cooper. Once they got to the bottom of what caused the woman’s freakout, the whole thing turned into a pretty touching story. I think these are the two strongest/most likable characters right now, so I wouldn’t mind seeing more of them.

Overall, this wasn’t a fantastic start to Private Practice, but it wasn’t horrible either. I’m still willing to give this show another 4-5 episodes before making a final decision as to whether I should keep watching or not.

One of my favorite guilty pleasures on television is the show Dancing With the Stars. I started watching in Season 3 when former football great Emmitt Smith was on (and won), and I’ve been a regular viewer ever since then. It’s just so cool to be able to see a completely different side to all the celebs that appear on the show. I mean, who knew that Smith could move that well off the football field or that dot-com billionaire Mark Cuban would be so fun?

I have to admit that while watching the show, I’m totally inspired to learn ballroom dance to see how well I would do compared to the various celebrities I see. The only problem is, my husband has zero interest in taking a class with me and I’m far too shy to venture out to one on my own. That’s why I think DanceCrazy.com sounds like a good idea.

DanceCrazy.com is a website where people can learn about different types of dance. You can read articles about the history of dance, learn some basic steps via the video clips on the site, and order instructional videos so you can practice at home. It really seems like a fantastic resource for anyone interested in learning how to dance well.

So whether your gearing up for your wedding, want to dance like your favorite stars, or are simply a hobbyist, be sure to check out DanceCrazy.com’s selection of videos today!

I watched three seasons worth of House in a span of about 5 months earlier this year. I started out innocently enough, borrowing the Season 1 DVDs from a friend of mine after some other people recommended the show. Before I knew it, I was hooked, and had to get through all the episodes as fast as I could so that I’d be caught up with everything by the time the Season 4 premiere rolled around. Mission accomplished.

Here’s my recap of last night’s ep (the first one, incidentally, that I watched during the original broadcast time), which was called “Alone.”

Patient of the Week: A woman named Megan is brought in after her office building collapsed. In addition to the usual disfiguring injuries you’d expect to find in a patient who survived such an event, Megan also suffered from a fever. Cuddy couldn’t pinpoint the cause of the fever, so she orders House to get to the bottom of it.

House, who apparently has been inactive in the two weeks since he lost his team, agrees on one condition: if he gets to the bottom of the mystery all by himself, Cuddy has to leave him alone for a week. She agrees.

After bouncing ideas off one of the janitors and talking to the patient’s boyfriend and mother, House rounds up Wilson to go to Megan’s house. They find nothing of value there except her diary, which hints that she may have been suffering from depression. House assumes that she must have been on antidepressants, which interacted weirdly with something the paramedics gave her on the scene. He prescribes a counteractive course of treatment, and thinks he’s won.

But next, the woman’s pancreas start showing signs of problems. After various test, House believes that Megan is an alcoholic going through withdrawal. The boyfriend vehemently denies this, but hey, everybody lies, right? So House orders a different treatment for this. But Megan soon suffers from internal massive bleeding, which shows that House was wrong yet again.

After more investigation, thinking, and reasoning, House finally gets to the bottom of the mystery based on a random comment that Wilson made. House’s treatments should have worked; the fact that they didn’t indicates that the patient isn’t who they think she is. It turns out that “Megan” was actually Liz, a co-worker of similar height, build, hairstyle, etc. The real Megan had died from her injuries the day before.

Character Interactions: Cuddy and Wilson want to force House into hiring a new team, so they try various tactics. Cuddy issues a memo to all doctors and nurses saying that no one is to help House at all. Wilson “kidnaps” House’s $16,000 guitar and sends him menacing notes saying the guitar will be destroyed unless House starts interviewing candidates.

In the end, we see House addressing a whole classroom full of doctors, telling them that six weeks from now, most will be gone. That’s right, we’re getting Greg House’s very own version of Survivor!!

My Reaction: I was so excited to see a new episode of House that it would have taken a real crapfest to leave me disappointed. As it was, I enjoyed this episode quite a bit. The PoTW was somewhat interesting, and the character interactions were absolutely hilarious, not only with House and Wilson (which we expect by now), but also from unexpected sources. Remember what that doc in the operating room said to House? “You want to look at vaginas, there are websites for that!” I was dying after that one!!

Okay, now it’s time for me to backpedal. I often expressed how much I disliked House’s team of Foreman, Chase, and Cameron. I thought each of them was annoying in their own special ways, and it seemed that I was always complaining about something one of them said or did.

But after going through an entire episode without them, I have to admit that I missed them. House (and House) just isn’t the same when there isn’t a team of underlings to order around. If nothing else, their screw-ups served to emphasize how brilliant House is. Without them, his mistaken guesses are magnified a hundredfold, and he seemed pretty ordinary.

The opening credits were exactly the same, which leads me to believe that the team will be back in some form in the near future. I’m all for having new characters come on board this year — as long as it doesn’t screw up the dynamic that the old team had going.

At this point, I’m taking a wait-and-see approach because I really don’t want to read spoilers or anything like that.

Bottom line: House is back!!

(And an aside: I didn’t see House pop a single pill in that ep. Is he off Vicodin now?)

One of the biggest challenges facing small business owners today is being able to maintain a steady cash flow in order to keep their venture afloat during lean times. Bigger businesses rarely face this challenge, as there are lenders falling all over themselves to extend credit to established companies. But it’s definitely a different story for those who are just starting out or who don’t have any assets to pledge.

If you own a small business and are having cash flow problems or need a significant amount of money to invest in equipment, then you might want to check out a website called EZUnsecured.com. At EZUnsecured.com, you can obtain an unsecured small business line of credit of up to $350,000 depending on various factors. If you need even more than that, you can obtain up to a $1,000,000 line of credit, as long as you can provide Full Income and Asset Documentation.

Unlike other companies, EZUnsecured.com won’t make you jump through a bunch of hoops in order to get started. The application process is easy, and once you’re approved, you’ll receive your funds very quickly. Moreover, EZUnsecured.com provides excellent, friendly customer service every step of the way, which is definitely something you wouldn’t get from national banking conglomerates.

Anyway, don’t let a temporary cash crunch wipe out all of your dreams. Keep your business going by applying for an unsecured line of credit today!

How I Met Your Mother finally returned with the Season 3 premiere last night! I didn’t realize how much I missed the gang over the summer until I saw them again. Wow, it’s great to have them back! The episode was called “Wait for It” and here’s what happened.

Ted/Barney: Ted has spent his summer trying to get over his breakup with Robin. He grew a beard, lounged around, and refused to even attempt moving on despite all of Barney’s pleas to do so. But then when Robin comes back from her trip to Argentina with a hottie named Gael (played by Enrique Iglesias), Ted finally finds some incentive to break out of his funk.

He shaves, washes up, and goes out with Barney, whereupon he promptly meets a tattooed girl named Amy (Mandy Moore), who is totally NOT the kind of person sane!Ted would go out with. They drink, party in a hot tub, and end up in a tattoo parlor, where Ted gets a butterfly “tramp stamp” inked on by Amy’s pissed off ex!

Ted realizes he needs to have it out with Robin so the breakup will feel finalized. He goes to her apartment, yells at her because that’s something he never got to do the first time around, and then walks away victorious after Robin tosses him a bone: Ted is bigger than Gael.

Robin/Marshall/Lily: Lily invites Robin and Gael on a double date. At first, Marshall is against the idea because Lily obviously thinks Gael is hot and also just out of sheer loyalty to Ted, but he gives in. Then, Gael ends up winning everyone — Marshall most of all — over with his massages and singing.

At the very end of the ep, Marshall calls Barney to tell him about a website called SlapCountdown.com, which is ticking down the days, hours, and minutes until Marshall’s next slap!!

My Reaction: As I said above, it’s great to have the gang back! I’m so excited that we’re actually going to get some solid clues as to who Ted’s future wife will be, and of course we started off with the mysterious yellow umbrella (which has been showing in promos forever). Let’s hope the writers aren’t just teasing us with that and that there’s an actual payoff in there somewhere.

One of the best things about HIMYM is the wonderful sense of continuity that the writers bring to the show. It’s as though they’re actually paying as much attention to the characters as the viewers are — which definitely can’t be said about other shows out there. There were several instances of continuity in this ep, including the slap bet (of course), Marshall developing man-crushes on random guys that come into his life, a reference to Barney’s blog, and Barney answering his phone with “Go for Barney.”

There were also lots of funny lines along the way, such as Barney’s “cirque de so-laid,” the Chester A. Arthur crack, and the buildup to the butterfly tat reveal. All in all, this was a good season premiere and I’m totally looking forward to next week’s ep as well!

I haven’t been watching very many movies in the past couple of weeks because I’ve been focused on trying to get caught up on a few TV shows (like Lost and Ugly Betty) before the fall season starts. Now that I’ve finally cleared my viewing schedule, I was able to start in on my DVD list again, beginning with the 2007 film Fracture starring Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling. I had heard some good things about this movie, and I love Hopkins in almost anything, so I was pretty excited to see this.

Plot Summary (with possible spoilers): Fracture opens with a series of random scenes designed to set up the event that puts the rest of the action in motion. We see an aeronautical engineer named Ted Crawford (played by Hopkins) at work investigating causes of airplane crashes, and then we see him rush off to a hotel, ostensibly to spy on a man and a woman enjoying each other’s company by the pool. Ted then speeds home to await his wife Jennifer’s (Embeth Davidtz) arrival.

It turns out that his wife was the woman from the hotel pool. She’s having an affair, and Ted obviously knows all about it. Ted looks to be quite a bit older than Jennifer, so at first the viewer is lulled into thinking that he might just accept his wife’s transgressions and continue living out a sham marriage, but that’s not the case at all. Instead, Ted pulls out a gun, looks his wife in the eye, and shoots her in the face.

Ted doesn’t seem to care that his gardeners are right outside and can hear what’s going on in the house. He then continues to fire off rounds from his gun, carefully picking up the spent casings and replacing them with different ones.

The police arrive on the scene shortly thereafter, and a hostage negotiator is sent in to try to reason with Ted. It’s Robert Nunally (Billy Burke), the man who was sleeping with Ted’s wife. Nunally didn’t know Jennifer’s real name (they called each other “Mr. Smith” and “Mrs. Smith,” nor did he know where she lived, so he had no idea what he was walking into. Once he realizes what happened, he flips out, runs to the body to check out Jennifer (who’s still alive, but slips into a coma), and then proceeds to beat on Ted until other officers come in to restrain him.

The film then shifts gears and introduces us to the other main character, the DDA from the District Attorney’s office who will be prosecuting the case. His name is Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling), a young up-and-comer who already has a cushy job waiting for him at the biggest corporate law firm in the area. He takes on this case just because it seems like an open-and-shut affair. They didn’t have the weapon, but Ted confessed to Nunally, and that seemed to be the end of it.

But of course things don’t go as smoothly as Beachum had anticipated, particularly when news of Nunally’s affair with Jennifer comes out in court. That forces the judge to throw out Ted’s confession since Nunally was in the room at the time, and Beachum is back to square one.

The rest of the film then deals with the cat-and-mouse game between Ted and Beachum as Beachum tries to find some way to prove that Ted was indeed the one that pulled the trigger.

My Reaction: Good lord, I thought this was a terrible film! There were so many ridiculous plot points in Fracture that I’m not sure where all of the positive reviews are coming from. Let me see if I can cover the major absurdities here.

First of all, why did Beachum need a weapon in order to get a conviction? Um, hello?!!! People regularly get convicted of attempted murder/murder without the cops ever finding the weapon. Does the name Scott Peterson ring a friggin’ bell? What was the murder weapon in that case? No one knows because they never found one!! But where’s Peterson now? That’s right: Death Row at San Quentin.

You mean to tell me that Beachum, this hotshot attorney with a 97% conviction rate, wouldn’t have been able to get a guilty verdict based on the circumstantial evidence alone? The fact that Ted was in the house — alone — with his wife at the time she was shot, with no sign of anyone else ever being in there wasn’t enough to build a strong case against him? The fact that he had learned of his wife’s affair just hours before she was shot wasn’t enough to serve as motive? Yeah, riiiight.

Moving on, am I supposed to believe that Nunally would be so distraught over Ted’s acquittal that he would shoot himself because of it? This is a guy who DIDN’T EVEN KNOW JENNIFER’S REAL NAME!!! Yet, he would commit suicide because of everything that happened? Give me a break!

And what was up with Beachum getting it on with his new boss like 20 seconds after meeting her? Remember that scene at the opera where Beachum saunters in late and then leans over in the aisle to stare directly at Nikki while she does the same? This happened right in front of other lawyers from the firm… like any real people would actually behave that way! God, that was just a stupid, stupid subplot that had no place in the film at all.

Add to all this nonsense the fact that Ted “I’m smarter than you are” Crawford didn’t have the brains to make sure his wife was dead in the first place, and you can see why I hated this movie. I read some discussions of this plot point on a message board, and the people who liked the film said, “Well, it’s not like he was a professional killer.” What the heck…? I’m not a professional killer, but I’d know enough to put another bullet in her heart or head just to be sure. But then we wouldn’t have the setup for that equally ridiculous ending.

Overall, Fracture was a huge letdown for me. There were just too many implausibilities for me to accept this as the “intelligent thriller” that it was supposed to be. I give this film 3.0 stars out of 10. Not even Anthony Hopkins can save it.

I’ve been gambling ever since I was old enough to enter a casino for the first time. Over the years, I’ve become a part of several online communities that cater to like-minded people. I spend a lot of time reading and sharing general advice, casino reviews from around the world, and war stories about marathon gambling sessions.

One of the hot topics on these forums in recent months has been the effectiveness of various poker tools in helping players gain an edge in online games. While there were of course a few skeptics here and there, it seems that the people who actually used the tools reported very good results. For example, the Poker Pro 2007 online poker advisor earned a lot of praise from longtime forum members. This software is available from PokerProLabs.com and sounds like a must-have for all serious players.

Another tool that has gotten excellent reviews is the poker calculator, also from PokerProLabs.com The calculator instantly tells you your odds of winning — without requiring you to input your opponent’s hand first. That would obviously help with decision making, so there’s another indispensable tool for you.

Anyway, if you play a lot of online poker, you should definitely check out PokerProLabs.com. After all, you can never have too much of an advantage!

The latest round of the Resident Evil franchise beat out the competition to take in $24 million and the top spot at the box office this weekend. Resident Evil: Extinction brings us Milla Jovovich once again as zombie-ass-kicking hero Alice. I tried watching the very first Resident Evil film back in 2002, but couldn’t sit through the whole thing, so there’s no way I’m going to watch this one.

Second place went to the comedy Good Luck Chuck, starring Dane Cook and Jessica Alba, with $14 million in ticket sales. Jodie Foster’s latest, The Brave One, tumbled from the No.1 spot a week ago to No.3 this week with just $7.4 million in sales.

Here’s the complete Top 10 for this weekend.

1. Resident Evil: Extinction, $24 million
2. Good Luck Chuck, $14 million
3. The Brave One, $7.4 million
4. 3:10 to Yuma, $6.35 million
5. Eastern Promises, $5.7 million
6. Sydney White, $5.3 million
7. Mr. Woodcock, $5 million
8. Superbad, $3.1 million
9. The Bourne Ultimatum, $2.8 million
10. Dragon Wars, $2.5 million

My husband and I don’t have a problem sharing things — until it comes to our computers. We each like to have our desktops set up a certain way, and neither of us can stand it when someone else comes in and fiddles around with things. We have two desktops at home because we wouldn’t be able to survive any other way.

Unfortunately, we only have one laptop right now, which causes a bit of friction whenever we travel or want to enjoy a bit of extra mobility while doing our work. We’ve endured this situation for about a year now, but it’s really becoming unbearable at this point. So the only thing left to do is start shopping around for new laptops.

I’ve been looking around a bit and am leaning towards something from the Dell Inspiron series. I like the features that the top-end Inspiron models come with, and the prices I’ve seen are in line with our budget. Moreover, I’ve read lots of user reviews from people who say that Dell Inspirons are some of the best portable computers available to consumers in terms of functionality and affordability.

We’re probably 1-2 months away from making a laptop purchase, so I’m definitely going to keep on comparison shopping for a while. But unless some earth-shattering new computer hits the market, we’ll likely get a Dell!

I usually don’t like to post about the same TV series just a few days apart like this, but I can’t help it this time! I got so hooked on the second half of Lost Season 3 that I ended up watching 10 episodes in two days, which means I’m now completely caught up. So much happened in those 10 eps that I’ll inevitably miss listing something here, so I apologize in advance for that. At any rate, I’ll try my best to remember everything that felt noteworthy to me. Here goes (in no particular order)!

– Damn, Charlie… I actually ended up liking him at the end there, and he made my eyes well up not once, but twice. The first time was when he finished composing his Greatest Hits list and said it was for Claire, and the second was when he realized his time was up for good. I think I’ll miss him in Season 4.

— Every time I see Jack’s smug-ass mug on my TV screen, I just want to slap him. There is NOTHING redeeming about this character at all. Absolutely nothing. Who the hell does he think he is, anyway? Remember when he said that Juliet was under his protection and that no one was to touch her? Give me a break!! As if he has any authority left. I think the rest of the castaways should be over the whole “let’s put the doctor in charge” bit that they relied on when they first crashed. Jackass has shown time and again that he’s a miserable failure as a leader. Make him go away.

– What’s with Sawyer turning into a totally remorseless killer recently? First, he exacted his revenge on the original Sawyer (Locke’s dad), for being the one who caused his parents’ death. I can sort of understand that killing and could see how Sawyer had to do it. But then later, he shot Tom when he was unarmed and had basically surrendered. Yes, the Others have proven that they’re not to be trusted under any circumstances, but still… I hope this doesn’t turn Sawyer into a completely cold-blooded asshole.

– Jack kissing Juliet on the lips and then two minutes later saying that he loved Kate? Made me want to vomit. Seriously, I had to fast forward to the next scene so I wouldn’t have to listen to what else he had to say to Kate. Good god, are there any Lost fans out there who actually like Jack?

– I don’t get what happened with Penny and the transmission to the Looking Glass station. If she’s not actually looking for Desmond and doesn’t know where he is, why was she trying to transmit a message to that exact island? That didn’t make sense to me at all, but in my haste to get through all the eps, I might have missed the explanation.

– Rose had two awesome lines in this string of episodes. First was when she told Bernard to repeat “I’m a dentist, not Rambo.” to himself while lying in wait for The Others’ raid on the camp. The second great line was when she told Jack, “If you say ‘live together or die alone to me’ I’ll punch you in the face.” Paraphrasing here, but I was LOL at that — and I sooo wished he would have tested her.

– What the hell is up with evil eyepatch dude? Does he ever die? Geez, that character certainly stretches the bounds of credibility even on a show like Lost, doesn’t he?

— Why would Ben only shoot Locke once and then assume that he would just die there in the pit? You’d think if Ben really felt threatened by Locke, he would have put a bullet in the “bald-headed bastard’s” dome to make sure of the kill. Again, not a believable occurrence.

– Speaking of unbelievable occurrences, what was the whole Jacob thing about? An invisible supreme being that only Ben can see and only Locke can hear? Um, WTF????

– Two things about Kate: 1) Why does she continue to turn into such a moony-eyed retard every time she’s around Jack? Get over that idiot already! You’ve got Sawyer to run to now!! 2) Wow, she looks pretty hot when she’s all cleaned up in Future World.

– I knew the season finale was a flash-forward rather than a flashback because I’d heard about it from people, but it was still pretty crazy to see it happen. Hmm, Jack ends up doing his best Greg House impression when they get off the island, huh? And almost takes a swan dive off a bridge onto concrete? Niiice.

– Whose funeral was it? I’m guessing Ben’s.

– Up until now, the only three people who have been saying they don’t ever want to leave the island are Ben, Locke, and Rousseau — arguably the three looniest Losties in the bunch. But if the flash-forward is to be believed, then these guys are actually right. Wow.

Overall, I have to say that Lost really redeemed itself in my eyes during the second part of Season 3. The writing was cohesive, the foreshadowing actually made sense, and the payoffs were great. (Yeah, I’m not gonna mention the Nikki/Paulo retcon because I’d rather pretend it never happened.) I’m a fan again, and I’ll be watching the Season 4 premiere whenever it comes on!

The way my daily schedule is set up, I get very few hours of sleep at night. As a result, I absolutely must nap during the daytime in order to be able to function. The only problem is, the curtains in my bedroom aren’t thick enough to block out the afternoon sunlight, which makes it difficult for me to fall asleep.

I think adding vertical blinds in the bedroom would go far towards making my napping routine a bit easier to follow. In fact, I’ve been wanting to get blinds for a few months now, but have been waiting until I have enough money to do all the upstairs windows to begin with. However, it’s probably time to scrap that idea at this point and just get blinds for the bedroom for now.

I’ve been visiting various websites that sell vertical blinds online, and have come across a pretty good one. It’s called SelectBlinds.com, and is a lot better than many of the other sites I’ve seen. First of all, SelectBlinds.com has a nice assortment of vertical blinds to choose from. The blinds are available in a variety of finishes (composite wood, faux wood, smooth, textured, and fabric) and sizes, so I know I’ll be able to find something I like.

A second reason I liked the SelectBlinds.com website over the others I checked is the fact that they provide precise measuring instructions. I’ve never bought or installed blinds before, so I have no idea how to make sure I order a size that fits. I will definitely be consulting these measuring instructions again before placing my order!

And finally, I feel that the SelectBlinds.com website offers excellent prices on its products. For example, I’m interested in the Premium Smooth vertical blinds and noticed that SelectBlinds.com has them for 20% less than other sites I’ve looked at. Moreover, there’s free shipping on all orders, so that’s just another reason for me to buy from this site.

Well, hopefully I’ll be able to get some blinds soon — because, seriously, I need my sleep!

It’s been a while since I’ve given a shout-out to a favorite website, so I thought I’d fit one in today. I first discovered the parody newspaper The Onion back in 1998 when I spent six weeks in Madison, WI for a training program near the UW campus. The Onion is distributed free, and could pretty much be found in every cafe and bookstore in Madison back then — not surprising since the paper originated with a couple of UW students in ‘88. Now that The Onion is online at TheOnion.com, it has developed a truly international following — and deservedly so.

The first thing you’re likely to notice about The Onion is how well written the stories are. It’s hard to do satire and to make it funny week in and week out, but the staff at TheOnion.com definitely succeeds in this area. Whether they’re lambasting the president or making fun of the Patriots videotape scandal, the headline stories always make me laugh.

Oh, and I want to mention the regular columnists as well. “The Cruise” by Jim Anchower is the column I look forward to the most, and that’s followed up almost immediately by Jean Teasdale’s “A Room of Jean’s Own.” I don’t know who actually writes that stuff (I think there have been several writers over the years), but they are truly awesome! I just wish The Cruise was updated more frequently…

Anyway, if you’ve never visited TheOnion.com, you are really missing out on some great articles. Check it out!!

Now that we’re closing in on the end of September, I’m finding that most of the office supplies I purchased earlier in the year are finally starting to run out. This of course means I have to think about restocking these items — and I have to do it soon so I can deduct qualifying expenses on this year’s tax returns.

In addition to pens, printer paper, and inkjet cartridges, I’ve noticed that I’m completely out of return address labels. I had received a whole bunch of free ones several months ago after making a charitable donation, but I’ve already used them all up. I definitely want to get more because I love the convenience of being able to grab a label, stick it on an envelope or package, and be done with it. What a time-saver!

I know that VistaPrint.com is the best website for getting custom business cards and rubber stamps, so I figured they’d have a nice selection of cheap address labels as well — and I was right! There are thousands of designs to choose from, and full-color labels start at just $7.99 for a pack of 140. For a few bucks more, you can even upload your own photo or design for a completely unique return address label (which would be fantastic for businesses). I know I’m not going to get a better deal than that from anywhere else.

Anyway, I think I’ve even got a VistaPrint promo code around here, so I’ve got to go find that before I place my order. Be sure to check out VistaPrint.com for yourself if you need value-priced stationery and office supplies such as return address labels, business cards, sticky notes, rubber stamps, post cards, or magnets!

I know that in my last Burn Notice recap I said I wouldn’t be doing any more of them since the new primetime television season is about to begin. But then I actually took some time to check out the Burn Notice schedule and realized that the Season 1 finale aired Thursday night, and that Season 2 isn’t slated to begin until next summer. Awesome! This is definitely a show I can latch onto during the summer, so I’m glad the USA Network execs decided to renew and to keep airing during the offseason. And now let’s get to the recap of Parts 1 and 2 of “Loose Ends.”

Odd Job of the Week: Sam’s friend Pete hooks him up with this job. It’s a blackmailing scheme involving the client Gillian and her co-worker Melissa. Gillian is a supervisor at a company called SXG, a weapons system manufacturer that relies heavily on government contracts. Gillian has security clearance, which her friend Melissa took advantage of by having Gillian sign in Melissa’s boyfriend for after-hours rendezvous on the premises. The guy, just some random hustler from a bar, took pictures of himself and Melissa in the building, and is now trying to blackmail Gillian into signing packages in and out with no questions asked. Oh, and Melissa’s abusive husband Kent might not be pleased to find out about Melissa’s affair either.

Michael is too busy to help Sam with the case, so he gets Fiona instead. The two start their investigation, and slowly begin to get to the bottom of what’s going on. It turns out that both Gillian and Ray (the hustler) are just patsies in a heroin smuggling operation out of Turkey that Melissa and Kent are a part of.

When Sam and Fiona try to take Melissa and Kent down, things go terribly wrong. The higher-ups in the smuggling operation managed to learn what was happening, so they kill Melissa and Kent, and take Sam hostage. They also get a visual on Fiona, but she manages to escape by jumping off a bridge into a river.

At this point, Michael can’t ignore the situation any longer. He poses as Sam’s boss, talks to the hostage takers, and negotiates a meeting time. But then he and Fiona get to work on a plan to break Sam out of captivity before during the time the meeting is supposed to take place. They’re successful, and rescue Sam before any real damage is done.

Burn Notice Progress: Michael and Phillip Cowan (played by Richard Schiff), the man who allegedly issued the burn notice, go through a whole song and dance routine prior to actually meeting in person. Once they finally do get to the same place, Cowan tells Michael that things aren’t what they seem. Cowan wasn’t the one who burned Michael, and Michael shouldn’t believe that just because he read it in a file. Then, Cowan tells Michael that the people who burned him have something else in store for him, but just when it seems like he’s going to explain further, he gets shot by an unseen sniper.

Later on, Michael talks to the person who seems to be behind everything, and agrees to yet another meeting. The only thing we know about the person is that it’s a woman and she does seem to be pretty high up in the chain of command. The episode ends with Michael driving into the trailer of an 18-wheeler on some highway 110 miles outside of Miami.

Character Development: Not too many new tidbits surfaced in these two eps. We learned that Michael and Sam go back far enough that Michael can recognize specific poses in photographs. We also learned that Michael stole his first car at age 11 and that Madeline (Sharon Gless) was actually proud of him for that. And we learned that Nate (Seth Peterson) is now doing pretty well for himself, with a nice new house and involvement in a legitimate-sounding business.

My Reaction: I have to admit that I didn’t really like these two episodes very much because of the fact that Michael wasn’t involved in the OJotW until the end. While Sam and Fiona had some good scenes, that whole plotline just served to reinforce the idea that Michael is indeed the main focus of the show. Without him, the investigation, stakeouts, etc. seemed incredibly boring. I know that Jeffrey Donovan can’t be in every single scene, but I’d settle for something like 95%!

I thought the segments with Phillip Cowan were much better than the drug smuggling stuff. I loved the casting choice of Toby Ziegler Richard Schiff as Cowan, and wish we could count on seeing him back on the show. Too bad he’s dead already.

It was good to see Madeline and Nate get a fair amount of screen time again because I really do like the way Michael interacts with his family. I am getting a little tired of the way the Madeline character is written, though. It seems that all she ever says is, “Michael, what’s going on here?” I mean, on the one hand, I can understand where she’s coming from; but on the other, you’d think she’d have gotten used to Michael’s mysterious ways by now.

All in all, I thought this was a solid first season for Burn Notice, and I’m excited to see what happens in Season Two!

I bought a couple of Golden Girls DVD box sets a while back, but my viewing schedule has been so packed that I wasn’t able to watch any of the Season 1 eps until a couple days ago. Fortunately, each program is only 22 minutes long, so I was able to get through four of them pretty quickly. Here are some random thoughts from the episodes titled “The Pilot,” “Guess Who’s Coming to the Wedding?”, “Rose the Prude,” and “Transplant.”

– I never watched the series from the very beginning before, so I’m picking up on a lot of character backstory and details, which is pretty cool. For example, I didn’t know that the women met through a classified ad that Blanche placed for renting out her rooms. I thought they had been friends for years before living together.

– When I was younger, I remember Dorothy as being my favorite character. But in these early eps, she comes across as extremely abrasive, and, well, mean-spirited. Her “jokes” are almost always put-downs of other people (usually Rose), and many of them make me wince now.

– I didn’t know that Sophia had a stroke. It was mentioned in 1×02, I think.

– I like the episode content thus far. A lot of people might think that the only thing these seniors could talk about would be their latest colon cleanse or denture mishap, but that’s not the case at all. The main issues brought up in the early eps have been pretty interesting.

– Sophia and Rose are my two favorites now. Sophia’s wisecracks are hilarious, and they aren’t always blatant put-downs, either. Rose is just so naive and dense that I can’t help but laugh at all the ridiculous things she says. Plus, Betty White is truly an awesome actress!

– I’m not feeling any Blanche love early on here. She was #4 on my list when I first watched the shows, and she still is now. The character just seems so one-dimensional as far as being interested only in men, men, men.

Well, that’s all I can come up with for these first four episodes. Very little has happened in them, so it’s not surprising that there isn’t a whole lot to say. Not many shows are great right from the beginning, and unfortunately, Golden Girls is no exception here. I know things will pick up though!