Gilmore Girls: a Year in the Life Spring

Was Spring really the correct name for this season? Personally, I'd probably rename it to 'the season of awkward moments' 

We start with the awkwardness that is Lorelai and Emily in therapy together, neither of them are particularly eager to actually say anything. I think I'll just skip over this, we all know how great these two are at talking about their problems.

Stars Hollow hold their International Food Festival which doesn't go quite according to plan as many countries don't show up. This cause Taylor to go mildly insane and he insists that all the booths they have need to now need to have food from multiple other counties. We see Mrs Kim and her absolutely appalling choir. A major highlight is finally seeing Mr Kim, he has one second of screen time and no lines, but it feel right to have finally seen him and to know he genuinely exists. There is a website that calls Rory and seem very determined to hire her, although she clearly isn't too keen to take them up on the offer. We are also gifted with a brilliant moment where Kirk gets mad when he witnesses a the cooking of a pig. Luke jumps in to inform Kirk that he eats BLT's at the diner and what the B stands for.

Rory heads back to London to have a meeting with Naomi, who is very drunk and not at all helpful. Rory clearly feels very uncomfortable throughout the entire exchange and we're left feeling like the book isn't going to end up happening. Oh joy, here's Logan again. The two are having a meal together when his father turns up (there have already been a lot of awkward moments so far but this beats them all) Not only does his father completely butt in but he drops a major bomb on up, Logan is engaged. Rory clearly knows this. What are you doing Rory? This isn't you.

Back in Stars Hollow there is a town meeting where Taylor brings up the first Starts Hollow Gay Pride Parade. Apparently the town 'doesn't have enough gays' and are trying to 'borrow some' from the neighbouring towns. We also learn that there is a film being produced in the next town and all the 'B level' actors are staying at the Dragonfly.

Michel is not particularly happy about the fact that it's only the 'B level' actors who are staying at the Dragonfly and goes on a very long and spectacular rant about how the Dragonfly needs to expand and have mini fridges and espresso machines for Daniel Radcliffe.

Unfortunately (or not) we don't actually see Liz and TJ in the revival, but we do hear about them. They are still together which I found surprising but I think we can all be happy for them. The two of them have somehow ended up joining a cult, and not just any cult, a vegetable cult. 

One of the major highlights of Spring is Kirk's second film which is shown at the movie theatre. This was absolutely brilliant and felt so right. The film makes no real sense, the acting is a catastrophe and the 'special effects' haven't been edited. It's a brilliant scene.    

Emily invites Luke over for dinner, so of course Lorelai decides to go with him and is greeted with a super cheery "You weren't invited" from Emily. Luke swallows a bug on the way to the front door and when Emily hears of this she has an other brilliant line of ' Why would you do that?' It turns out that Richard left a large sum of money for Luke to franchise his business. We all remember that disastrous game of golf the two men played back in the day.  

Paris and Rory go to Chilton to be motivational speakers to the students. Rory of course gives an incredibly motivation talk, wearing a pretty dress with the sun shining on her. Paris basically screams at all the students and makes them cry. There is a minor emotional break down on Paris's part in the bathroom where she reveals that her briefcase is empty, 'I thought people would think I was more important for carrying a briefcase' I've always loved the scenes where we get to see some real emotions from Paris as she is a very guarded character. Good old Francie picks the perfect moment to enter the bathroom and quickly gets into a fight with Paris where she declares 'Sorry, did I accidentally step into 2003?' which might be my favourite line from the revival?

The headmaster asks Rory if she's ever considered getting her Masters and that if she did he could offer her a position as a teacher. For some reason I can't understand, she turns him down. Am I the only one who thinks Rory would have made an excellent teacher? She probably could have asked to be a substitute so that she could work on other things at the same time. It also would have given her some stable work and at this point we can all clearly see that she needs it. 

I'd forgotten just how much I love Paris's character. Rory goes back to Paris's house and Doyle arrives soon after. There is a brilliant exchange due to the fact the house is 5 stores high and they don't want to loose the nanny to the stairs. 

Emily takes Luke to look at possible locations for him to franchise his business and lets it slip that she has stopped going to therapy. We all know that Luke has no interest in expanding his business, however, we all know that there is no way he'd ever get a word in.

Rory's book deal goes up in flames and she decides to write a story about 'lines' that she has zero interest in. Lorelai talks some sense into her and she goes to Sandee Says, thinking she's got the job because they have been so determined to have her on their team. Rory shows up completely unprepared for an interview and completely blows it. Whoops.

This definitely wasn't my favourite episode but I still enjoyed it. Paris was brilliant and Kirk's film were the major highlights.    
  

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Do any of my fellow Aussies remember that Butter Menthol add? You know 'It's like a comforting hug from mum' Well, that's exactly what Fantastic Beasts felt like. I'm not really a hugger but I can appreciate the sentiment. This film was warmth, emotion and hilarity all wrapped together in a beautiful Niffler shaped bow. 

I just got home from watching this film for the second time, and I am pretty positive that I'll be going to see this again. This is the sort of film that just makes you happy, and it doesn't matter if you don't know everything about the wizarding world from Harry Potter, you can step into this story and be completely swept away.

If you haven't seen the film, then please go and see it before continuing to read.

I was so thrilled with the little group of heroes we were given. Newt was so awkwardly adorable and came across as such a genuine and sweet character. Tina and Queenie had such different personalities but were both kind and wanted to do the right thing. I think the character we can all relate to was Jacob, he was just completely blown away by the magical world and wanted to lap everything up.

There were so many fantastical creatures to fall in love with and the cinematography was so stunning that all the creatures had a spark in their eyes that made them feel truly believable. I have a sneaky feeling that most of us loved the Niffler the most (although that pug was adorable too) The fight scenes were all done spectacularly and felt just like HP.

Did anyone else get really emotional when the HP music started and we saw the Warner Bros logo in the clouds? We were also treated to a good old fashioned Yates newspaper montage which really helped give that little bit of background while also giving us that happy home feeling.

There were so many amazing parts in this film that I don't even know how to put them into words. Let me know in the comments what you thought of Fantastic Beasts.   

Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life. Winter

'Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start' (I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself. Watching the revival has brought out the pop culture references in all of us)

I need to talk about the revival; in fact, I need to write about it. I need to gush and rant and cry to a bunch of complete and total strangers. I need everybody to know every emotion I had during this revival.

Personally, I binge-watched the entire thing, starting at exactly 6:33PM and ending roughly at 1:40AM. The only reason I paused it was to pick up my old dog multiple times to put him on the bed with me, or to make coffee and tea and to get chips and Maltesers. I wanted to have Pop Tarts, however, I live in Australia and they are quite difficult to find here.

Obviously, there will be many spoilers ahead.

Did anybody else feel slightly awkward when the weird montage/mish-mash  of one liners from the original series started? Just me? Okay. Although, I will admit I will thrilled that 'Oy with the poodles already' was a part of that mish-mash. My poodle was also thrilled, but that's probably because I squealed that line to him while rubbing his tummy. 

We as an audience are welcomed back into Star Hollow with open arms and a tune a bet we all 'la la la'd' along to. Our favourite Stars Hollow is a magical wintery wonderful and the towns square is bustling with activity. The leading ladies meet on the charming gazebo and quickly get back into the witty banter at Gilmore pace. There is a quick town tour where we are reintroduced to some old favourites and the wonderful dialogue continues, it feels like coming home. 

Kirk hasn't changed a bit (apart from his new pig, Petal) and has started a new business 'Ooober' which is exactly the same thing as Uber and is delightfully unaware of the fact of the fact that Uber are obviously going to want to due him over this. 

Our leading ladies head back to Lorelai and Luke's house where we are greeted by Paul Anka and get to see Luke and Lorelai living together again. Luke is, of course, astonished by how much food our ladies can consume and then Rory's boyfriend shows up. This turns out to be something of a running joke throughout the show as Rory's boyfriend is completely forgettable,  as in everybody, including Rory, constantly forget he exists and she keeps forgetting to break up with him. At first it's amusing, as Luke has a conversation with him and then immediately forgets the entire conversation but it quickly gets old. 

Things have changed at the Dragonfly Inn. Sookie has been gone for a year and Lorelai refuses to hire a permanent chef to replace her; instead having a number of pop-up chef work at the Inn for short periods but she always ends up firing them because no one will replace Sookie. 

The ladies have dinner with Emily and due to Gypsy needing to fix Lorelai's car, she is forced to get a ride from Kirk. His cars breaks down once they arrive and he's stuck eating dinner with them. We're introduced to Emily's new maid Berta and realise her family have moved in with Emily. We witness a flashback scene to Richards funeral and discover why things are tension between Emily and Lorelai. It's strange to see a family dinner without Richard, but the funeral scene gives us a chance to say goodbye to his character as well. 

Our favourite Paris Geller steps into the picture when Luke and Lorelai head to her fraternity clinic to talk about surrogacy due to the fact the Lorelai feels guilty that she and Luke never had a child together. Paris is the same as ever, bulldozing over anyone in her way and frightening those around her.    

Rory is in London talking to River Song, sorry, Naomi, about writing a book about her after her piece in the New Yorker went so well. It seems like an incredible opportunity for Rory and it appears that the two will work well together. We go from that high to a low. Rory has rekindled 'something' with Logan who is living in London and she stays with him whenever she is in London. They say that what they have isn't serious and give off the impression that they don't want anyone to know what is going on between them. 

Hep Alien is still together and they practice and Lane and Zach's house which is wonderful to see.

Lorelai visits Emily and discovers that she has taken ‘The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up’ a little too literally and is throwing away every single thing that doesn’t give her joy, including her clothes and the dining room chairs. Lorelai manages to convince her that she’ll regret throwing everything away and tells her it might be a good idea to get a therapist to talk to about her grief. Emily goes and manages to manipulate the situation so that Lorelai agrees to go with her.

This first episode truly feels like coming home.