Props to Tara Ariano. She is clearly a playwright at heart.

Movies that provoke excellent criticism are usually worth seeing, and that’s exactly the case with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

That’s a nice surprise for me, because even though I swallowed the books in big, hungry gulps, I have never cared for any of the film adaptations. I’ve been dutiful enough in seeing them, but it wasn’t until yesterday that I felt transported in the theater.

And two of my favorite writers clearly had similar experiences, because Half-Blood Prince brought out their A-games. At Salon.com, Stephanie Zacharek writes beautifully about the film’s script and its overall relationship to magic, and at Low Resolution, Joe Reid (a.k.a. Roommate Joe) adroitly describes how the supporting cast enriches every scene. 

So… in keeping with a great tradition of critical theft, I’d like to borrow liberally from Zacharek and RJ to discuss what I liked about HP6. And then I want to hear how you felt about it.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

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Please welcome back Destiny Lilly for another round of the Best Picture Expansion Project, where we imagine that the new Oscar rule of nominating ten films for Best Picture applied from 1943 to 2008.

This time, Destiny’s rocking it with 1962… a year that she claims brought us the best movie ever made. Do you agree?

Take it, Destiny…

(to visit the rest of the Project, please go here)

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Moments before I absorbed The Hurt Locker‘s somber reflection on the addictive danger of war, I saw the trailer for Sorority Row, about a psycho killer who chases scantily clad college students.

I’d say that only one of the two has a shot at a Best Director nomination, but you never know…

(more)

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The uncensored trailer for I Love You Phillip Morris is every bit as dirty as you’ve heard. But it offers more than just a shot of Jim Carrey pounding some guy from behind. It offers an exciting social statement.

(The following is NSFW)
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Welcome to Sucker Punch, the only blog post that ranks the gaudiest moments on this week’s episode of True Blood.

So… Are you guys excited for Turned By a Twink: The Eric Northman Story? Because after watching last night’s installment, “Never Let Me Go,” I’m positive that’s gonna be the name of Eric’s memoir.
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Awwwww snap. It’s Friday, and I’m in the mood for an iPod quiz.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted one of these, so let me remind you of the rules:

I have put my iPod on shuffle. After the jump, I will list 30 lines from the first 30 songs that it plays. You provide artist and title.

Please don’t look up the lyrics on the web. That’s lame.

And please don’t provide more than three answers per day. That way, more people can play.

On Tuesday, I’ll provide the complete list of answers in the comments section of this post, but I’ll check in before that to see how things are going. Feel free to ask each other for hints.

And now… let’s do this thing!

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The Price Point

By Holly Cara Price, Agent Provocateur and Head Snoop at Snoop* du Jour

Perhaps you did not know that on June 2, Paris Hilton got up, dusted herself off, and marched bravely back into Reality Show Wacko World for Season 2 of Paris Hilton’s My New BFF. I understand. It’s been a busy summer, and we’re not even halfway through it.

All the gory, fascinating details of the Paris Hilton Franchise… after the jump

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This year’s Emmy nominations were announced today, which was like a clarion call to pop culture enthusiasts to start analyzing, hectoring, and weeping for joy.

To answer that call, Roommate Joe and I chatted on Gmail. After the jump, I’m happy to present our unfiltered responses. I want to hear yours, too! (Note: For the sake of verite, I’m leaving the formatting and spelling as it originally appeared. Now you can imagine you were there, chatting away with two roommates who watch a lot of television!)
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Sometimes, the music video makes the song.

Do you know what I’m talking about? Are there songs you didn’t like when you heard them on the radio? But then you flipped out after you saw them?

That happened to me twice this week…

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