Bared to You: Is it just me, or is everybody in this book fifty different kinds of screwed up? (My thoughts on Book #1 in the Crossfire book series by Sylvia Day)

Let me start out by saying that the main reason why I decided to read and review Bared to You is because I’ve encountered a lot of people who’ve compared the Crossfire book series to the Fifty Shades trilogy. In most cases, I’ve seen people say that the Crossfire series is significantly better than the Fifty Shades trilogy, which has mostly been attributed to Sylvia Day being a much more experienced writer compared to E.L. James. Although, I’ve also seen people say that they like the Fifty Shades trilogy more than they liked Bared to You. After reading Bared to You, I’m absolutely baffled by the fact that anybody would think that the Fifty Shades trilogy is better than the Crossfire series since it’s pretty clear to me that Sylvia Day’s writing ability is definitely completely superior to E.L. James’ writing.

That being said, I realize that everybody is entitled to their own opinion, and when I think about how there are some people who like the Fifty Shades trilogy more than the Crossfire series, I’m reminded of the fact that I like 90210 a lot more than Gossip Girl. While I do like both 90210 and Gossip Girl, I’m also not blinded by the fact that in terms of the quality of the writing for the two shows, the writing for Gossip Girl is definitely superior to the quality of the writing for 90210. At the risk of seeming like I’m going to far off topic, one of the main reasons why I like 90210 more is because anybody with even just a small shred of maturity can see that the relationship between Chuck and Blair, who are arguably the main romantic pairing on the show, is incredibly toxic and abusive. The sad thing about that is the way the producers always talked about Chuck and Blair’s relationship, it’s as if they view that relationship as some epic fairytale romance when it really did end up being a very toxic and abusive relationship. I feel I should mention that I was originally a major Chuck and Blair shipper, it was only when their relationship became truly abusive at some point during season three that I stopped being a fan of that relationship.

While 90210 didn’t have much of a clearly defined endgame couple, the closest 90210 had to an endgame couple was Liam and Annie. Liam and Annie’s relationship wasn’t necessarily handled all that well when it came to them frequently getting together only to almost immediately breakup with little to no buildup or development to them either getting together or breaking up. What I think made Liam and Annie’s relationship better is that at least it wasn’t sick and abusive with them constantly treating each other like crap or either of them trying to sabotage the other’s happiness when they weren’t together like Chuck and Blair constantly did. They definitely handled things between them with a lot more maturity, which is one of the reasons why I liked them as a couple as much as I did, but I digress.

90210: Are the writers even trying to have things make sense on this show any more? (My thoughts on episode 5x19 “The Empire State Strikes Back”)

Let me start off by saying that I apologize for taking so long to get this review written and posted. I had to work quite a bit this week, and I also had a lot of other projects that I was working on throughout the week. I’m going to try my absolute best to get my reviews for the remaining episodes of the series written and posted before the episode following it airs; that being said, here are my thoughts on this episode.

After thoroughly enjoying the previous episode, I have to say that I found this episode rather dull, and I frequently found my attention wandering as I was watching it. To be fair though, this episode wasn’t even close to being as boring as the first nine episodes of Gossip Girl’s final season were, and I still stand by my opinion that 90210’s final season is better than Gossip Girl’s final season was. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that everything about this episode was boring, because it definitely had some good things about it, and admittedly this episode has grown on me after having watched it several more times.

For starters, I would say that I found Annie’s storyline to be the most interesting storyline in this episode. The episode picked up right where the previous episode ended, which would be Patrick showing up at Annie and Liam’s house in order to confront her about her book. Patrick was furious with Annie for writing a book that was inspired by their relationship, and he was worried that people, namely his wife, would figure out that he was the inspiration for the character Patterson. Apparently, his wife’s book club was reading Undressed, and he told Annie that his wife would divorce him and take a lot of his money if she found out about his relationship with Annie. Before Patrick left Annie and Liam’s place, he threatened to hurt her family if she went on Entertainment Tonight for an interview with Nancy O’Dell in order to publically reveal that she is Author X, but Annie simply shrugged off his threats.

I have to say that I thought Patrick’s reaction to this whole situation was beyond dumb. After all, Annie didn’t use his real name in the book, and his wife never even met Annie, so how would she know that most of the book was inspired by Annie’s life? He never even told Annie that he was married. Besides, it’s not like he’s the only person on earth named Patrick. I just don’t understand how the writers expect viewers to believe that his wife would automatically realize that Patrick was the inspiration for the character Paterson in Undressed. Although, this is 90210 where 98% of the writing for the show is absolutely ridiculous and contrived, so I suppose she could figure things out by reading Annie’s book.

Annie finally came clean to Dixon about the fact that she is Author X and that she paid for his rehab by briefly working as an escort. Dixon was initially furious with Annie, but he forgave her for working as an escort to pay for his rehab treatment and not telling him about it by the end of the episode. Annie also ended up going on Entertainment Tonight for an interview with Nancy O’Dell and revealed that she was Author X like she said was going to.

Gossip Girl: Scoop on the possibility of a movie from E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos

Here's some scoop on Gossip Girl from Kristin Dos Santos' Spoiler Chat for Thursday 2/7/13.

Joanna: Have you heard anything else about a Gossip Girl movie?
Stephanie Savage told us after the finale that there has been talk about it. "We've never had any legitimate conversations about doing a movie until we were saying goodbye," she said. "Then we said, 'We'll do a movie, Broadway show or reunion show, right?'" Getting the cast back together...that is the tricky part. For example, Blake Lively seems to be happy to step away from the show. "It's really exciting for it to be over," she reveals. "It's like being in a school you really love. You love it, but your senior year when you're finally released to do something else you're really excited to move on to the next chapter." Yeah, but our senior year didn't involve moving on to marriage with Ryan Reynolds! To her credit, she didn't veto the idea of the movie per se; she definitely misses the people on Gossip Girl. "It's bittersweet. I miss everyone I worked with, the cast and the crew," she says.

Link to the full article:Spoiler Chat: Scoop on The Walking Dead, Pretty Little Liars, How I Met Your Mother, Nashville and More! | E! Online

Gossip Girl: This train wreck of a TV show is finally over! Yay! (My thoughts on episode 6x10 “New York, I Love You XOXOXO”)

Given how incredibly lackluster the first eight episodes of Gossip Girl’s final season were and how truly horrific the previous episode was, I went into the series finale with extremely low expectations, but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised to see that the series finale was actually pretty good. The series finale was definitely the best episode of season six, if you ask me, and I can’t help but think if the rest of the final season had been as good as the series finale was, then the final season could have potentially been very good. Instead the viewers were subjected to eight incredibly dull and ridiculous episodes, and episode nine, which was without question the worst episode ever of Gossip Girl.

Let me just start off this review by saying that I’m not going to talk about just the series finale alone. Instead I’m going to spend most of this post reflecting on the series as a whole. From where I’m standing, the first eight episodes were so dull that they make watching paint dry for an hour for eight weeks in a row sound as epic and entertaining as the TV show Lost was. Personally, I would like to act as if episode 6x09 “The Revengers” doesn’t exist given how bad it is. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that the series finale was perfect, because it definitely wasn’t. Certain aspects of the series finale were a mixture of ridiculousness, awfulness and totally WTF random moments.

If I had to say which character had the ending that I was happiest with, it would definitely be Nate. I know that some people are disappointed that Nate was the only character who didn’t end up with someone in the flash-forward five years into the future, but I’m personally glad that he wasn’t in a relationship at that point in his life and instead was choosing to focus on running The Spectator and contemplating running for Mayor of New York, especially considering the fact that he dated so many women throughout the show’s run and pretty much everybody else on the show, with the exception of Ivy, ended up with somebody. It was actually refreshing for me to see at least one person who was single at the end of the series. Personally, given the fact that Nate was such a man-whore throughout Gossip Girl’s run I’m surprised that he never got into any major trouble with women, forcing someone to come to his defense and a give a speech like this one from Grey’s Anatomy:

For the record, that’s one of my all-time favorite scenes from Grey’s Anatomy, but I digress.

Gossip Girl: And the real identity of Gossip Girl is...

Let me just say that I haven't watched the series finale of Gossip Girl yet since I had to work tonight, but I'm about to start watching the finale now. Anyway, I thought that I would post the identity of Gossip Girl here on my blog in case anyone else who hasn't watched the series finale yet for one reason or another still wants to know who Gossip Girl is. That being said, Gossip Girl is none other than...

Who Is Gossip Girl? Will There Be a Movie? Scoop on Tonight's Series Finale From Boss Stephanie Savage | E! Online

 

Here's some scoop on the series finale of Gossip Girl from E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos.

1. The Gossip Girl Reveal Wasn't Planned All Along—but It Was a Possibility: Savage explains why she and the writers felt it important to reveal Gossip Girl's true identity in this last episode: "When you're thinking about a finale, you go back to the pilot, you think about everybody's series arcs and think what is the premise of the show? In this case, 'Who is Gossip Girl?' is a big part of the show. We had a thought in the back of our minds who Gossip Girl was, but we were never sure if we were going to reveal that. Was it something the audience wanted to know, or would they rather not know? We kept it very open. Then last year, we did a lot of storytelling with Gossip Girl and it felt right that this year, she would be revealed." She? Hmmm!

2. The Cast Was "Surprised" by Who Gossip Girl Turned Out to Be: "The actors were really excited and surprised," Savage tells me. "Everyone has had many theories over the years.  I think they liked it."

3. The Writers Were "United" on How the Show's Core Couples Should End Up: "When you create a series," Savage explains, "you have an idea in the back of your mind where you think everybody is going to end up. But you have to be very open to the road the actors and characters take, which I think we really tried to be on Gossip Girl. In the end, I think I always felt I knew who I wanted to be together. By the time we were at the end of season five, the writers were all united about how we felt everything should end."

4. No Regrets: When asked if there are any storylines she would go back and change over the course of the series, Savage replies: "There are too many things to think about what you would do differently. That's one of the good and bad things about television, you have to keep going and you can't second guess yourself."

5. Don't Rule Out a Gossip Girl Movie. "It's funny we've never talked about [a movie] seriously until the show was actually ending," Savage says. "We've never had any legitimate conversations about doing a movie until we were saying goodbye. Then we said, 'We'll do a movie, Broadway show or reunion show, right?' Even though we are likely to see each other again it's not like we'll all be working together again, so that's where the fantasy starts."

Link to the full article:Who Is Gossip Girl? Will There Be a Movie? Scoop on Tonight's Series Finale From Boss Stephanie Savage | E! Online

Gossip Girl: Just how much of a train wreck is this episode? Let me count the ways (My thoughts on episode 6x09 “The Revengers”)

Let me start by saying that this episode was a truly terrible episode, and there’s almost nothing that I like enough about it to give it a rating that’s higher than an F. Therefore, I’ll be using this post to talk about some of things that I think made this such a terrible episode.

One of the only things that I liked about this episode is the way Blair, Chuck, Serena and Ivy teamed up to take down Bart. Later on in the episode Blair, Serena, Ivy, Georgina and Sage once again all teamed up to take down Bart Bass. I thought that was kind of funny, especially Ivy’s confusion about everything they were saying about Byzantine Warfare. Unfortunately, this brings me right to one of the things that made this episode so bad, in my opinion. It seems beyond ridiculous that Blair, Serena, Ivy, Georgina and Sage would be able to scare Bart given how ruthless of a man he is. That just seemed like rather ridiculous writing, if you ask me.

At one point in the episode Bart had Nate arrested for fraud because he’s been falsifying the financial records for The Spectator. When Chuck confronted Bart about that, he told Chuck that he has the court system in his pocket so the only way Nate would be able to get out of jail if Chuck agreed to move to Russia and never come back. While Nate was in jail his father came to visit him, they talked and Nate told him about the financial problems that he had been having with The Spectator, saying that he’s spent almost all of his trust fund trying to fix the website’s financial problems. As terrible as this season has been, I have to say that it was nice to see the writers acknowledge that trust funds don’t have an unlimited amount of money in them like the writers of 90210 have with Naomi and her trust fund ever since she gained access to her trust fund in season three. That’s something that’s always bothered me about the writing for Naomi on 90210, especially given how freely she spends large amounts of money, but I digress.

Nate’s father pleaded with Bart to drop the charges against Nate and tried to get Bart to agree to take his name off the loan documents for The Spectator, but he refused. I have to say it’s going to see how the series ends for Nate given his current predicament. One of the very few things that I’ve liked about the final season is the fact that Nate running The Spectator has been a major part of his storylines for the season like it was last season. Although, I hate that Sage’s father, Steven, has allowed Nate to continue to date Sage considering the fact that she’s underage. Although, given the fact that the writers have treated Chuck and Blair’s sick and abusive relationship as if it’s an epic fairytale romance, having Nate engage in a relationship that’s basically statutory rape without going to jail for it is par for the course with Gossip Girl at this point.

Gossip Girl: Scoop on the series finale (Episode 6x10 "New York, I Love You XOXO") from TVLine's Michael Ausiello

Here's some scoop on Gossip Girl from this week's (Posted on 12/11/12) Ask Ausiello column.

Question: Can it really be happening? Is Gossip Girl really coming to an end? Since I know it is, can you let me in on some series finale secrets — especially regarding the flash-forward? —John
Ausiello: Three future couplings will surprise you. Two won’t.

Question: Do you have one last Gossip Girl scoop for me? — Kayla
Ausiello: There’s a twist in the final 15 minutes that I dare say will prove more polarizing than the incendiary Dan-Blair-Chuck triangle.

Link to the full article:Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Grey's Anatomy, Gossip Girl, Glee, Sons of Anarchy, NCIS, Suits and More!

Gossip Girl: Episode 6x10 "New York, I Love You XOXO" Promo (HD) (Series Finale)

Here's the promo for next week's series finale, episode 6x10 "New York, I Love You XOXO".

Gossip Girl: Nate and Serena related scoop and scoop on Kristen Bell's appearance in the series finale from TVLine's Michael Ausiello

Here's some scoop on Gossip Girl from this week's (Posted on 12/4/12) Ask Ausiello column.

Question: Is there any chance of Nate and Serena getting back together as a couple before or during the series finale of Gossip Girl? —Erin
Ausiello: Answer’s still no, Erin. Ask me one more time and your IP address will be turned over to the authorities.

Question: You said last week that we would get more Gossip Girl spoilers. Can we get those now please? —Léa
Ausiello: I found out what Kristen Bell will be doing in the series finale and it’s brilliant. Also, did you hear about the flash forward?!

Link to the full article:‘Scandal’ Spoilers — Plus Scoop on ‘NCIS,’ ‘Glee’ and More in Ask Ausiello - TVLine

Gossip Girl: Episode 6x09 "The Revengers" Promo (HD)

Here's a promo for next week's episode, episode 6x09 "The Revengers".

Gossip Girl: Scoop on a rumor about the ending of episode 6x09 "The Revengers" from TVLine's Michael Ausiello

Here's some scoop on Gossip Girl from this week's (Posted on 11/27/12) Ask Ausiello column.

Question: Are you kind enough for one last Gossip Girl spoiler? —Jose 
Ausiello: Last?! Are you dying? Enlisting? The series finale isn’t for another couple weeks (Dec. 17 to be exact) so this is hardly the show’s final appearance in AA. Here’s what I can tell you now: Rumor has it three words will flash on the screen at the end of the penultimate episode, and (here’s the best part) first person to guess what they are gets $100 in Monopoly money.

Link to the full article:‘Once Upon a Time’ Spoilers — Plus Scoop on ‘True Blood’ in Ask Ausiello - TVLine

Gossip Girl: Scoop on the end of the series from E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos

Here's some scoop on Gossip Girl from Kristin Dos Santos' Spoiler Chat for Tuesday 11/27/12.

Maurice: Gossip Girl...need the scoop!! Is the finale going to be any good?
Actually...yes! We obviously can't spill the beans, but we found out who Gossip Girl is and we have. So. Many. Emotions. It's pretty great. And even kind of makes sense.

Link to the full article:Spoiler Chat Scoop On American Horror Story Gossip Girl How I Met Your Mother And More | E! Online

Gossip Girl: Episode 6x08 "It's Really Complicated" Promo (HD)

Here's the promo for next week's episode, episode 6x08 "It's Really Complicated".

Gossip Girl: Episode 6x07 "Save the Last Chance" Promo (HD)

Here's the promo for next week's episode, episode 6x07 "Save the Last Chance".

Gossip Girl: A spoiler on the series finale from E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos

Here's some scoop on Gossip Girl from Kristin Dos Santos' Spoiler Chat for Thursday 11/15/12.

Janet: What's this I hear about a plane crash in the Gossip Girl finale?!
In addition to said plane crash on the CW hit, we can confirm another crazy incident will occur, one so crazy that we won't dare spoil, but we can tease it's similar to a tragedy that happened early on during season one of Revenge. And it will happen to one of the core five cast members!

Link to the full article:Spoiler Chat Scoop On American Horror Story Gossip Girl Glee Revenge And More | E! Online

Gossip Girl: Episode 6x06 "Where The Vile Things Are" Promo (HD)

Here's the promo for next week's episode, episode 6x06 "Where The Vile Things Are".

Gossip Girl: More scoop on the series finale from E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos

Here's some scoop on Gossip Girl from Kristin Dos Santos' Spoiler Chat for Tuesday 11/6/12.

Francesca: Dying for some info on the end of Gossip Girl! Will there be any flashbacks? Flash-forwards? 
There will be a flash-sideways where they all meet up in a church to send Jack off to heaven. No. Wait. That was Lost. Jokes! In all seriousness, a source just dropped this scoop: The Gossip Girl finale is two parts: 609 ends with a cliffhanger, then 610.  Over the two episodes, there is a dream sequence, a flashback and a flash-forward—maybe more than one of each. Buckle up, GG fans! The ending is going to have more than a few surprises.

Link to the full article:Spoiler Chat Scoop On Walking Dead Gossip Girl Revenge And More | E! Online

Gossip Girl: Episode 6x05 "Monstrous Ball" Promo (HD)

Here's the promo for next week's episode, episode 6x05 "Monstrous Ball".

90210: Are the writers even aware of the concept of reality? (My thoughts on episode 5x03 “It’s All Fun and Games”)

After having watched the first three episodes of season five, I have to say that I’m thoroughly enjoying the season so far. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have any issues or complaints with this season at this point, or more specially this episode, because I do. I definitely have some major issues with this episode, but some of them aren’t necessarily limited to just this one episode. Some of the biggest issues that I have with the show right now go all the way back to last season, especially when it comes to Liam and Silver’s storylines. Although, for the record I’m probably enjoying those storylines the most so far this season despite the issues that I have with them.

I’ll start with Silver’s storyline since I simultaneously really like it and have the most problems with it all at the same time. First off, I like it because while I’m a guy and I personally can’t relate to it, I think it’s safe to say that her overall storyline right now has a certain level of relatability for a lot of the female viewers since breast cancer, ovarian and uterine cancer affects so many women. As someone who also watches Gossip Girl, I think it’s pretty safe to say that this is a storyline that the writers of Gossip Girl would never have even thought of doing. I say that because 99% percent of the storylines on that show seem to revolve around the characters’ sexual flings, whatever big extravagant party they’re going to in a particular episode, various schemes that the characters are constantly concocting and most perhaps most frequently Chuck and Blair’s sick, twisted and abusive relationship that the writers never stopped thinking of as a modern day fairytale romance.

While I like Silver’s overall storyline for that reason, I really do have a lot of issues with it. First off, I get that she wants to have a baby and experience being pregnant before she has the surgery that BRCA gene patients have, but I have to wonder if Silver has even thought about how she plans to financially support and raise a child on her own at her age, especially when she doesn’t even have a college education. Not having a college degree definitely limits her job options. There’s also the fact that she said that she wanted to do this own her own since neither Liam or Navid are ready to be a father, so she’ll be a single parent. Sure, Teddy is rich and he has agreed to donate some of his sperm, but she told him that she wasn’t expecting anything else from him, so unless he decides that he wants to help support the child financially, she’ll be on her own in terms of having money to raise the child.

While I’m not a huge fan of Silver’s storyline with her wanting to have a baby now, I’m going to try to not fixate on how many issues I have with the storyline. It’s still very early in the season, so I suppose something could happen that leads Silver to not have a baby after all, especially since the current writers have always had the tendency to go all over the place with the characters in the span of just one season, which is something I’ll discuss a little more in a moment.

In terms of Silver’s storyline in this episode, Naomi, Adrianna and Annie threw Silver a “Baby to Be” shower complete with a stripper. Naomi gave Silver a gift certificate for a photo session with a photographer so she can get some baby bump pictures taken when she’s about eight months pregnant. I have to say that for the most part I usually find baby bump pictures rather weird looking. A lot of the poses that women take in those pictures are just downright awkward. Personally, I think getting baby bump pictures are just a really bizarre way to spend money, but I digress.