The American (YAWN)

Here's another shout out for you.  But it's a warning.  My husband & I watched The American this weekend.  I really wanted to see it (George Clooney!), my husband did it to appease me, and there wasn't anything else on.  Now, I'm all for small, unassuming movies.  But this one assumed that I was an insomniac who was out of Ambien.  BOR-ing.  Two hours that I could have spent playing Angry Birds.  Heck, I would have watched Spongebob for two hours.  Don't get me wrong-- it was a beautifully filmed movie.  George Clooney does pullups with no shirt on.  The Italian scenery is stark and picturesque (and uninhabited, with no traffic- seriously?).  But it went nowhere fast.  That movie poster of George running, with a gun?  Must have missed that part, or wait-- was that what happened in the last 5 minutes?  Do yourself a favor and put Get Low on your Netflix list if you're looking for a small, unassuming movie.  Don't waste your time with this one unless you're out of Ambien.

Hillbilly Whisperer

I have to give a shout-out to FX's Justified.  Wednesday nights at 9pm CST.  This show is in its second season, and it gets better every week.  The premise is this:  good-old-boy Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) is a US Marshall who shoots first and asks questions later.  This gets him into trouble and so he's removed from duty in Miami and sent back to his home state of Kentucky.  You thought Miami had its drug and crime problems, but Kentucky's got 'em too, only with less chrome and neon.  He maintains a relationship with Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins), a born-again, soft-spoken bad-boy-with-a-heart-of-gold who has a penchant for blowing things up.  (The show gets its roots from short story "Fire in the Hole" by Elmore Leonard.)  At least, I'm rooting for him to have a heart of gold.  You're never sure from week to week which way he's going to go, and you like him enough to care. 

The writing is quick and smart, like "West Wing" except that the suits are paired up with jeans, and Raylan wears a cowboy hat.  (Believe me, it's HOT.)

Check out the first season on Netflix.  Then get caught up on season two on http://vod.fxnetworks.com/watch/justified.  And then tune in on Wednesdays at 9pm after watching American Idol.  You won't regret it.

Wedge

Not that this show needs any additional advertising, but if you haven't yet checked out Modern Family, log yourself into abc.com TODAY and give it a watch.  Last night's episode was one of their funniest, mainly because of Claire and Phil, but all of the side stories played their part to make it a hoot.  For the record, I will admit that I am more like Mitchell than I'd care to admit ("eggs"? ha!).  I'm sure that Robert can count many times where my mind is clearly elsewhere-- Target, Shutterfly, sewing, etc etc--- when it should be on him.  Hear that, Robert?  You're right!  But you know I love you.


And one last thing.  I'm a snob when it comes to lettuce (really- iceberg has no nutritional value at all) but a wedge salad is A Perfect Food.  Dad & Robert (both lovers of iceberg), no need to split a salad with you for dinner.  Let's all have our own, thank you very much.