ALLL the pop culture!

What an explosion of fun pop culture events this week!

Let's begin with the most important, shall we?

J.K. Rowling wrote a quick, 1500 word short story (I guess that's what short stories are, aren't they? Quick?) for Pottermore in regards to the Quidditch World Cup. I'll be honest... I've let my Pottermore perusing slack this last year. I was greedy and was frustrated with how slowly they were doling out the chapters for us to explore, but when news broke that Rowling wrote an update on our favorite wizards? I jumped right back in (after I figured out what my screen name and password were. Ha). Under the guise of Daily Prophet reporter, Rita Skeeter, Rowling gave us a little insight as to what Harry, Ron, Hermione and a few others from Dumbledore's Army have been up to. I won't go into to the details of it (it's 1500 words, people. Go read it yourself!) but I will share with you how much I adored it and how wonderful it was to have JK's voice in my head again. I wasn't prepared to get all goosebumpy and emotional about a silly short story but I did.  It's funny and cute and just right. The perfect antidote for a Harry Potter fanatic sorely missing the series. Pair that with Diagon Alley opening up at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and us muggles are having an absolutely fantastic week! From the pictures and videos I have seen, it looks spot on. I cannot wait to go back and experience the rides and new stores for myself. It will be a long while, though. This girl does not have the patience to stand in line for 47 hours anymore. Regardless, I'm sure it's awesome and having these fun little tidbits come about this last week has filled the void in my Harry Potter loving heart. And as much as I love all the Potter talk going around, I cannot tell you how irritating it is to me that as soon as that new short story came out, the media started asking Daniel Radcliffe about reprising his role as Harry. WHAT. It's a SHORT story! Do people honestly believe that the gang is going to get back together to film a 1500 word newspaper article? Stop it, media. Stop it. Just enjoy what J.K. Rowling wants to give us for heaven's sake! Anyway, if you haven't read the quick update or seen any of the new Diagon Alley stuff, what are you waiting for?! Get to it! Also, it's a Harry Potter Weekend on ABCFamily this weekend. How perfect is that, right?

They released the Gone Girl trailer this week. Holy moly, you guys. I cannot even explain how excited I am for this movie. SO excited.


Speaking of Gillian Flynn's brilliance, they also made a movie for Dark Places which I am equally as excited about. It is coming out September 1st and stars Charlize Theron as the main character, Libby Day. There is no trailer for that one yet, which I find odd but I am stoked to see it nonetheless. Also, while we are already on the subject of Gillian Flynn's books, they are making her debut novel, Sharp Objects into a television series and it's going to be written/run by Buffy alum, Marti Noxon!!

Seriously... pop culture explosion this week. I'm telling you. But wait, there's more!

While we are on the subject of books, I can tell you all what was released this past week. Spoiler alert: So much!

Rainbow Rowell's, Landline came out on Tuesday and she tweeted that there is an update on one of the couples from one of her previous books in this story. I do not know which one and if you know, please do not tell me but I am so excited about this it practically makes me giddy. Honestly, I could squeal in delight! But I won't. Yet. I'll do that when I read the book. !!!!

Veronica Roth released Four: A Divergent Story Collection as well on Tuesday. This is a collection of stories told from Tobias's perspective. I have read a few scenes from his point of view and I absolutely love them so I am really looking forward to reading these.

One of my other favorite authors, Heather Webber, released a new book from her Lucy Valentine series, Undeniably Yours this month. I absolutely, positively adore this series. You should check it out if you are looking for a fun series about an aura reading matchmaker who helps solve mysteries, has adorable pets and a super awesome boyfriend. They are happy books and make me smile. They will make you smile too, I promise!

Has anyone read the new Charlaine Harris book, Midnight Crossroad? It's the first in a trilogy and from what I can gather by looking at the reviews on Goodreads, they seem really mixed. I will probably check it out because I'm curious but I'm not really in any hurry to do so. We'll see.

Speaking of trilogies, the 3rd book in the All Souls Trilogy, The Book Of Life comes out next week. I loved the first book of this series (A Discovery Of Witches). The second one (Shadow Of Night) was really, really, really hard to get through. Really. I'm ambivalent about reading this new one. I do want to know what happens but I don't know if I can endure a 576 page snoozefest. Who am I kidding? Of course I'll read it.

They didn't cast Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel as Anna and Elsa for the Frozen Once Upon a Time story arc but they did cast Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet from Lost, AKA: my most favorite Lost character!!) for a role in the upcoming season. They haven't said who she will play yet but rumors are, she might be bad and she plays bad real, real good.

I'll end this bit of pop culture goodness for the week with Matt Bomer getting an Emmy nomination (!!!!) for his portrayal of  Felix Turner in the exquisitely done HBO movie, The Normal Heart (directed by Ryan Murphy and starring a billion fantastic actors). This movie is no joke, guys. It was written by Larry Kramer and based on the play of the same name. It focuses on the rise of the HIV-AIDS crisis in 1980's New York and is told from the perspective of writer/activist, Ned Weeks (played by the stellar Mark Ruffalo). It is absolutely phenomenal and not only does every single person in the cast deserve to be nominated, the movie itself does too. It is heartbreaking and gut wrenching and  heartwarming and any other heart adjective you can think of. Do me a favor and check it out and see how well deserved this nomination is for Matt Bomer. It's nice to see what I have known all along; the fact that he is such a great actor, becoming recognized among everyone else. Well done, Mr. Caffrey. Well done.
Here is a link to a really good interview with him:
Matt Bomer Talks Surreal Emmy Nomination

In continuation of mine and Jeff's summer television viewing, (which seems to consist of only period shows) we have been watching The Tudors on Netflix... But Sarah! You still have Doctor Who and Orange Is The New Black to finish and you STILL haven't even started Breaking Bad! Listen dudes, I know all of this and I will get to those... eventually but we are having fun with reliving the olden times right now and I am okay with that so you should be, too. Anyway, The Tudors... It's set in 16th century England and is based on King Henry VIII of England. It was on Showtime from 2007-2010 and starred Jonathan Rhys Meyers as King Henry. How do we feel about Jonathan Rhys Meyers, guys? I feel like he overacts every scene he's in. He yells a lot and gets this crazy eyed look in his eyes when he is trying to be serious about something. He whines a lot too... come to think of it, he reminds me a bit of Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker. Yes, that's exactly who he reminds me of. Aside from that little bit, I am enjoying the show so far. We are about halfway through the first season. Henry Cavill plays Charles Brandon and all you really need to know about him is boy oh boy, is he handsome. I know he's Superman now and all that jazz but my goodness. Handsome.

I heard this week that Disney is developing a live action Dumbo movie. I have just one thing to say about this: NO.

I finally gave in and watched The Odd Life Of Timothy Green with Emily last weekend. I know it's a Jennifer Garner movie, so I should have been all over it when it first came out... and I was. Until I realized that it was probably incredibly sad. I put off watching it. Put it off and put it off and then I caved. Well, I am happy to say that I did not cry. Maybe I hyped it up too much or maybe I was just frustrated with it. I wanted it to be more than it was, I suppose. I don't really get the point it was trying to make. SPOILERS AHEAD----> Jim (Joel Edgerton) and Cindy (also the names of Mr. and Mrs. Walsh on 90210 but that's neither here nor there. I just had that in my head every single time they introduced themselves) can't have kids. It's super sad and devastating, especially when she's crying in the baby room they have in their house... Sidenote: why would you put a baby room together before you're even pregnant? I don't know but let's just go with it... Through a little bit of gardening magic, they get Timothy Green. He has leaves on his legs... Let's fast forward a bit... Once all these leaves on his legs (also representing attributes that they wanted their child to have) fall off, he goes away. He goes away because...??? I don't know why. Just because? And they get to adopt a girl who looks about 9 or 10. Oh. Kaaay. I don't know guys. I just didn't get it. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED JG in it. She was awesome as always and there were some cute parts, I just did not understand the message they were going with. Truly fall in love with a kid who goes away and you'll get to adopt a different kid of the same age?

I also made her watch Center Stage because it is one of my most favorite movies. Yeah, I said it. I love it. And she liked it too (don't let her tell you otherwise). Next time I will be introducing her to Moulin Rouge!. Because Duh. It's Moulin Rouge!.

How about that World Cup, eh?? Hahaha, just kidding. I don't care about the world cup.