Mystery Summer Week 4

This week we move back to our side of the pond with the American-made (though largely British-cast, what do you know!) Pushing Daisies. Part fantasy fairy-tale, part crime drama with characters that could have been written by Roald Dahl and sets and costumes that look so deliciously bright they could be made of candy. The show only aired for two seasons, but received (well-deserved, in our opinion) critical acclaim including 17 emmy nominations and 7 wins.

Ned is a lonely young piemaker who possesses the unique power of being able to bring the dead back to life--once. One touch brings life, but the next instantly kills whoever or whatever he just brought back. The story takes off when an enterprising private detective happens to see the phenomenon in action and immediately invites Ned to join him as a partner. After all, there's no easier way to solve a murder than to ask the victim what happened, right? But when one of their first cases involves Ned's childhood sweetheart Chuck--all grown up and beautiful--he can't bring himself to give her that second touch and so begins the sweet and frustratingly anti-physical relationship that binds the whole show together.

The characters are all larger-than life, the writing is witty and the stories are completely over-the-top. An especially bright spot in the show is Kristen Chenoweth, Ned's only pie-shop employee who is desperately, secretly but not very discreetly in love with him. And of course, she occasionally breaks into song about it.

All in all, Pushing Daisies is lovely, funny, enchanting and completely unique. You can find it on Hulu or at theWB.com. Hope you  enjoy it!  Whoops...just noticed that only Season 2 is available online. Maybe you can find Season 1 at your local library or rent it through Amazon or iTunes or something.

More Summer Fun with Cousins

Riding the stone elephant at the zoo,

Daddy and Chubbles,

Baby Vee in her swing at the playground,

the boys waiting to get on the zoo train.

Mystery Summer: Week 3

We continue our mystery summer with our no. 1 favorite: Foyle's War. This is a British period mystery set during and immediately following the second World War. It is set in the coastal town of Hastings (as in the same Hastings that was the site of the famous Battle of Hastings when William the Conqueror came in and cleaned house with the Anglo-Saxon nobles, making Britain a Norman holding for the next...well, basically forever).

Michael Kitchen is Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle and he is a man for whom right is right and there is no room for legal compromise, moral ambiguity or justifications of wrongdoing in a time of war. And for his perfect moral uprightness, sharp intelligence and ever-polite, courteous (but definitely not friendly) manner, he is probably our very favorite of all detectives. And really, that is saying a lot!

He is backed by Sergeant Milner, a war veteran sent home from the fight because of the loss of a leg in combat. Milner (Anthony Howell) is not your typical bumbling, ineffective sergeant. He is extremely intelligent and capable but lacks Foyle's black-and-white confidence about questions of morality, intent and the violent, war-torn world he lives in.

Rounding out the crew is Sam (Honeysuckle Weeks), a can-do girl who performed so poorly in the women's mechanized transport corps that she was transferred to the police as Foyle's driver--which suits her just fine. Her constant optimism and childlike humor brings some lightness to the series and even gives her boss something to smile about.

The series was meticulously produced with historically accurate details from the costumes and uniforms to the aircraft and cars, telephones, weaponry, etc. and provides a fascinating glimpse of everyday life in a terrible period of modern history. The whole series is just fantastic and is available on Netflix instant. Well worth anyone's time. 

Fun With Cousins

Chubbles looks just like a little southern miss.

and Happy is still always happy.

Happy and his cousin Bug were born six days apart and have been good buddies their whole lives.

We've been having a great time hanging out with visiting family. My sister, her husband and their three children have been staying with us and we've loved exploring with them.

We took them to the sculpture park at the Art Museum. The kids all had a great time running over the fields, crawling under sculptures, and playing on the steps of the museum.

Mystery Summer: Week 2

 Ideally, we would carefully select the order of our choices by careful analysis and theme. ;) In fact, we've already talked about how we would order the different mysteries by setting, theme, style etc. But we would really like some of you to watch with us, so we're going to let PBS and it's programming schedule have a little say. This month on most PBS stations, Masterpiece Mystery presents ZEN starring Rufus Sewell. If, like us, you don't have a TV, you can watch episodes the day after they air online at PBS. This was already on our list, so thanks to PBS, we're just featuring him a little earlier than planned.

Aurelio Zen is a detective with the famously corrupt Italian state police in Rome. He has a reputation for unflinching honesty--a trait difficult to maintain amidst the politicking and underhanded maneuvering of his colleagues and the government officials above him. But somehow, with the tools of a brilliant investigative mind, saavy diplomacy and talent for getting people exactly where he wants them, he always manages to get the right results and keep his integrity.

We've already said how much we love Rufus Sewell and he certainly doesn't disappoint here. He can communicate more in a little nod or an eye twitch than some big stars get across in an entire movie. So thanks to PBS for making Zen available again (some of you may have seen this when it aired last summer). Watch it this weekend and let us know what you think.

Mystery Summer

 We've been talking about how to spend a movie month on our favorite entertainment for a long time. The trouble is, our favorites aren't really movies at all, they're made-for-tv mysteries. And there are too many of them to fit into a single month-- even if we split them into a month for American and a month for British--we still wouldn't feel like we'd done justice to our favorite genre.  So (drumroll please) we're devoting the entire summer to mysteries! together on three: 1...2...3... "Hooray!!!" And since there is no better way to open than with the most iconic mystery hero of them all, we're beginning with SHERLOCK HOLMES.

 

I think just about everyone has heard of, if not already seen, the brilliant new adaptation Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as Holmes and Watson which airs in America on PBS Masterpiece Mystery. (and if you hurry up, you could watch all of season 1 in Netflix and then go to PBS online and watch season 2 which will be available until 6/20.) Set in the modern-era it is witty, fast-paced, beautifully written and shot and has, I think, the most perfectly cast characters. Benedict Cumberbatch does insecure, genius arrogance like he was just born with it. Martin Freeman (we love Martin Freeman. Aren't you so excited he's going to be playing Bilbo Baggins?! Who else? Perfect.) is the most likeable grouch as war-veteran Dr. Watson and their chemistry together is endlessly entertaining. And Moriarty...ah, I cannot say enough how happy the casting and characterization of Moriarty makes me. I won't give away too much because finding out who he is is kind of key to the end of season one, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE how they played him. 

So. If you have already seen and enjoyed Sherlock, feel free to tell us so. We always like to hear our opinions backed-up :) And if you haven't yet, go now before it's too late and you end up having to wait for Season 2 to show up on Netflix or at your local library.
We must however, give a nice nod to the old classic Sherlock Holmes series starring Jeremy Brett. Many of these episodes are also available on Netflix right now and I'd bet they're at your library too. It's fun to compare the old and new series as the new one often hides fun allusions to the older series in its sets and writing. And if you just can't seem to get enough of Sherlock, we can also recommend a movie version of The Hound of the Baskervilles made in 2002 starring Richard Roxburgh, Ian Hart and Richard E. Grant. It's a bit darker than the Brett version of the same story and has tv-worthy special effects but we really enjoyed it.