10 Things: Fall TV

The countdown to Fall TV around here is like some people's countdown to the Super Bowl. I rip out Entertainment Weekly's guide and set my DVR in anticipation of shows both old and new. These are my top 10 this season:

1. The Blacklist
This is seriously the best new show on TV. James Spader is captivating, as always, and the twists and turns provide an enjoyable spell of whiplash each week, which always has me counting down the days until the next episode.

2. The Good Wife

Consistently good since Day 1, this show never misses a beat. It is arguably one of the best written dramas of the new millennium.

3. Hostages
Toni Collette is brilliant in everything she does (United States of Tara, anyone?), and this new drama is no exception.

4. Survivor: Blood vs. Water
I've watched Survivor since the beginning, and I have to admit that I was starting to get more than a tad bored with the series. This season, though, provides the perfect twist to make the game interesting again. Watching mother & daughter, husband & wife, and brother & brother pitted against each other is so wrong, yet so entertaining!

5. Sleepy Hallow
Cops + a dreamy soldier from the Revolutionary War + supernatural mysteries. Need I say more?

6. Face Off
Being a huge theatre nerd, I love anything and everything costumes and make-up. While the execution is amazing, the contestants' imaginations are what causes the awe I feel during every episode.

7. The Crazy Ones
If you've been around my blog for a while, you know that I'm a huge Buffy fan and thus love Sarah Michelle Gellar (though it should be noted that I loved her well before that when she played Kendall in All My Children). She was my draw to this new comedy, which I have found to be delightfully light and fluffy. It's my feel-good show in the midst of all the drama and competition I watch.

8. New Girl
Who doesn't want to live with the New Girl gang? Yes, they're neurotic, but they're also ridiculously funny and (mostly) sweet.

9. Parks & Recreation
I would watch Amy Pohler staring at the wall for half an hour. Seriously. Her cast-mates are equally funny, and Leslie x Ben (Benlie? Len?) are one of the cutest couples on TV.

10. Two Broke Girls
Max's biting jokes always put a smile on my face, and I love seeing the story of two young friends trying to make their dream of opening a cupcake shop a reality.


10.5 Halloween Wars
(This is legit a half because it's a four-part "mini-series" as opposed to a full-season show.) Pumpkin carving, cake sculpting, and sugar blowing/pulling/bending to create cah-razy Halloween-themed characters and scenes is the perfect way to get in the holiday mood.

What fall shows are you crushing on this season?

*All images were taken from show/network websites.

Top 12 of 2012

These 12 lovelies earned a Second Glantz from me in 2012.

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TV Show
Downton Abbey. Love the upstairs-meets-downstairs drama.











Movie
Breaking Dawn 2. Because the finale really WAS epic.


Character, male
Iron Man/Tony Stark from The Avengers had me laughing out loud this summer. And he's also kind of a bada$$.

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Character, female
Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham. When I grow up, I want to be Violet, free to zing one-liners at will: "I'm a woman, Mary. I can be as contrary as I choose."









Album
Katy Perry's Teenage Dream - The Complete Confection because of its ability to give me a boost during even the most tedious of workdays.

Song
Don't talk to me if "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye starts playing on the radio; I'll be too busy belting it out to listen to you.

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Literary Crush
Daemon from the Lux series is my new book boyfriend. At least until Jace returns in 2014.

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Eye Candy
LOCHTE!

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No explanation needed.

App

Words with Friends became a little obsession there for a while.

















Social Media Site
Instagram = InstaLOVE

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Netflix Find
David Tennant as The (tenth) Doctor (as in Who). I can't really explain this one - Dr. Who is re-DUNK-ulous - but it's a newfound guilty pleasure.

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Game
Cards Against Humanity is like Apples to Apples but for "horrible" people. It is politically incorrect and vulgar, but when played with the right people, it's also hi-LAR-ious.












I can't wait to see what 2013 has in store!

Top 11 of 2011

These 11 goodies earned a Second Glantz from me in 2011.

TV
True Blood Season Four
Witches, hot Scandinavian vampire nookie, and... well, need there be anything else beyond that? This season (minus the faeries) was AWE. SOME.

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Movie
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

Two words: Alan Rickman. Sorry, my fellow Twi-hards, Breaking Dawn was a blast to watch, but it can't compare with the fabulousness that was the last installment of HP.

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Album
Evanescence by Evanescence
Five years, people. That's how long I've been waiting for a new Evanescence CD. And worth the wait it was.

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Song
"Made of Stone" by Evanescence
I just simply love the sound of this song. (Watching this video got me so pumped... I'm crossing one item off my bucket list and am going to see Evanescence LIVE in a few weeks!!!)


Actor 
Matt Damon
You want to talk about a man who's aging well, look no further than this guy. I'd argue, in fact, that his looks have improved since his Good Will Hunting days. And so has his acting. Besides being great in Contagion, he was an absolute riot to watch on 30 Rock.

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Actress
Zooey Deschanel
This little lady captured my heart a few years ago in Yes Man and 500 Days of Summer, but nothing could prepare me for the pee-in-my-pants laughter she'd provide in New Girl. And she's cute to boot.

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Book
City of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments, Book 4) by Cassandra Clare
Move over Edward; my heart belongs to a Shadowhunter now! This book was so good that I actually slowed down my reading of the last few chapters because I desperately didn't want the story to end. Thank goodness there are two more titles in the series yet to be published!

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Eye Candy
Ian Somerhalder
Those eyes. That hair. That devilish grin. And *cough* that chest *cough.* The great thing about Ian Somerhalder (besides him playing a vampire) is that there's some major substance behind all that prettiness. The foundation he started is pretty awesome in its efforts to make a positive impact on the environment. Yeah, that's why we like him.

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iPhone App 
Pinterest
While Pinterest is admittedly a good way to pass (and waste) the time spent waiting for appointments and such, it's also really useful, teaching me new recipes, new ways to organize everything in my house, new uses for buttons, and new mantras by which I should be living. While I do sometimes view pins online as I'm enjoying my morning cup of tea, I more often than not enjoy my pin stream and repin via iPhone throughout the day.

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Social Media Site
GetGlue
At first, I admittedly didn't get all the GetGlue tweets I was seeing in my stream. And then, one day, I caved and went to the site where I learned all about the STICKERS. I get free stickers for watching my favorite TV shows and movies?! Yeah, that was a no brainer. And thus my Twitter obsession was quickly replaced with my GetGlue obsession.

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Netflix Find
One Last Dance starring Patrick Swayze and Lisa Niemi
One evening while Hubby was away overnight at a conference, I treated myself to my favorite Fresh Market salads, a ginormous piece of cake, and several glasses of wine. Of course, the only thing that would make this bachelorette night better was finding a chick flick on Netflix that Hubby couldn't stomach watching. I stumbled upon the dance movie that Patrick Swayze made with his wife and knew that I had a winner. While the movie was admittedly not the best - or even good, really - seeing Swayze dance with his wife was such a treat, one that, yes, left me a blubbering fool.

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I can't wait to see what wonderful finds 2012 has in store!

Friday Five: New Obsessions

Sometimes I get obsessed with something and feel the need to share my crazy.

These are a few of my latest addictions.

1. GetGlue

This is probably the lamest addiction I've ever had,
but you can't tweet/FB about unlocking stickers
(*cough, cough,* Amanda, Jennifer, April)
and expect the 6-year-old sticker-collecting whore inside me
to refrain from at least checking it out.
Stickers aside (though, let's face it, that's the best part),
it is fun to see what your friends are watching.
As someone who loves to talk about TV and movies,
this has been a fun "secondary" social media site for me.

2. NOOK Color

Thanks to a surprise bonus payment for one of my projects,
I finally "broke down" and bought an eReader.
I'm a convert!
That's not to say I'm never going to buy another tangible book.
My series books will continue to have homes on my real-life bookshelves.
The turning point for me was finding out that I could
do on an eReader two of the things most important to me
in my world of reading: borrowing books from the library
and sharing books with friends.
Once I realized how easy it was to continue doing both of these things,
I could no longer argue against getting one.
Plus, having an eReader is a much handier way
to read NetGalley loans and the like.
So far, I'm not disappointed.
And how super cute is that case?!
If you have a NOOK, we should be "NOOK Friends!"
I don't have a huge collection yet,
but once it grows, I would love to start swapping books!

3. Pretzel Crisps

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With a consistency of the perfect blend between
a potato chip and a pretzel,
and the taste of a bagel chip,
this is my new favorite snack.

4. Covet by SJP

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My mom gave me a bottle of this forever ago,
and being a one-scent woman,
I never really used it.
I'm not sure why I picked up the bottle a few months ago,
but I did, and now I can't put it back down.

5. This bookmark 

The first thought that comes to mind is,
"Why didn't I think of that?!"
After the fit of creative jealousy subsides,
I have nothing but total love for this Etsy find.
As a Wizard of Oz fanatic, this is easily my new favorite bookmark.

What are you obsessed with lately?