Dexter Facebook Promo from The Movie Network

There's an intriguing, new Dexter promo from the folks at The Movie Network, that takes a page right out of HBO's Guide to Creative Social Media Marketing. For my friends south of the border, The Movie Network is the channel that carries Showtime's Dexter in Canada.

This promotional contest gets you to choose between being a suspect, hero or victim, and the application uses your Facebook profile to generate a news story about you. I chose victim, and of course, the story has me being murdered due to my obsession with watching TV. Typical. In case this turns out to be a creepy case of foreshadowing, I'd like to leave my DVD and Blu-ray collection to... on second thought, I think I'll have them buried with me.



Almost forgot to mention that by participating in this promo, you're entered into a contest for 1 of 10 Dexter-themed prize packs. Not going to lie, it's rewarding enough (for me, anyway) just to be immortalized in print for the (obviously-fake, but nonetheless super-cool) Movie Network Examiner.

The only social media element that's missing is an option to tweet my news article. My only options to spread the word are to, 'like' it on Facebook, without a personalized status update, or to send it as a private message to Facebook friends. But no tweet button. Kind of missing out on a pretty big opportunity there.

Update:
Someone at The Movie Network must have been listening, because a comment-er brought to my attention that as of yesterday, you can now tweet your news article.

Dexter-Themed Ben & Jerry's Ice-Cream Flavour

From Jon Defreest, the graphic designer who brought us the True Blood-themed sunscreen for vamps, comes this dangerously-delectable Dexter-Themed Ben & Jerry’s Flavour. Someone needs to manufacture and market this right now! I would buy it in a heartbeat and it could sit in my fridge, right next to the bottles of Tru-Blood. Just kidding, we all know this ice cream is much better suited to the dark passengers of the world. Oh, and for the record, I also don't actually have bottles of Tru-Blood in my fridge.

Vulture.com

The only thing missing is a disclaimer: Body parts ARE included.
Season Premiere of Dexter is at 9pm ET on Sunday, October 2nd.

Breaking Bad - Cancer Changes Everything

Esquire.com

Award-winning Bryan Cranston plays Walter White - a passive and super-geeky High School chemistry teacher who's working two jobs to make ends meet and to get ready for a second child he and his wife are expecting. He finds out he has terminal lung cancer and decides to partner up with an old student of his, using his knowledge and experience with chemistry to cook meth (technically speaking, methamphetamine). Are you intrigued yet? Well, as Walter throws himself into this new life, something changes. He becomes more confident and aggressive, and kind of a bad-ass. Having played it safe his entire life, Walter ends up embracing what's left of his life, almost being set free through his cancer.

It's a lot like Weeds was in the beginning - an inexperienced, straight-laced individual tries to become a criminal in the very dangerous drug game. But it's not a comedy like Weeds, aside from Aaron Paul (Big Love) playing the goofy, stoner. It's dark and twisted - the best kind of humor.

Breaking Bad is about doing things you never thought you ever would, pushing beyond the boundaries you put up for yourself, and walking the fine line between right and wrong. It challenges your morals, addressing the question TV lovers have had to face in the post-Dexter world - Is it wrong to do something bad, if you're doing it for the right reasons? Bryan Cranston is phenomenal as Walter, the way he embraces the devilish side of him, even getting turned on by the dangerous situations he gets himself into. Knowing you're going to die changes everything.

Over Your Dead Body - Only 3 Episodes Left for Dexter to Chase - Jordan

It's hard to believe there are only a few episodes left for this season of Dexter. It feels like just yesterday we expected to join the growing Morgan brood on a trip to Disneyland only to find (SPOILER ALERT!!!) our beloved Rita dead in the bathtub. I know that's not very sentimental, but we've now had almost an entire season to get used to this sad truth. That, and the fact that Julie Benz is now on ABC's No Ordinary Family, so we know she's not actually dead.

I have a major beef with cable television channels for making ridiculously short seasons filled with ridiculously long breaks in between. The only thing keeping me going is the fact that at least with cable, the seasons are scattered, so just when I start to get stir crazy come January (going through serious Dexter-withdrawal), Californication and Big Love will be starting up again to stir up controversy and drama in my TV-life.

This may not be the popular opinion for people who favour the hard-edged Dexter, but this season, I've really grown to love the single dad he portrays, trying to find the balance between his dark passenger and the fact that he has actually started recognizing his emotions. I love the way he handled Astor's inconvenient return to Miami last week - he acted like he actually cared about protecting her from her friend's abusive step-daddy. He always had Rita and the kids around to balance out his demons. And, with the fear that baby Harrison (seriously, can he get any cuter?!) may end up following in Daddy's demonic footsteps, he may need Astor and Cody around to add a dash of humanity to his complicated mix.

A (too short) preview of next week episode that just leaves me asking, "is it Sunday yet?"

Six Feet Under - HBO's First Family of Death

"Alan Ball's all-in-the-funeral-family drama expanded on the themes of his movie American Beauty: families keep secrets, people maintain facades, and while death may be final, life is messy." - TIME

Death is such the mystery. No one can really explain it, although there are countless theories as to where we go and what happens when we die. I recently started watching Six Feet Under, HBO’s critically acclaimed drama (and sometimes comedy) about a funeral home, and two seasons in I can honestly say I’m officially hooked. Why I suddenly developed an interest in this show now, over four years since it went off the air, I have no idea.

I have nothing really in common with a story like this on the surface. It’s like when I first got into Big Love, I was somehow so interested in the concept, although I couldn’t relate to polygamy at all. There’s a certain attraction to watching something original and out of the ordinary, something that pushes the envelope. And it's definitely an interesting and unexplored idea. How do funeral directors deal with such sadness around them on a daily basis? Do they become numb to it or does it affect the way they live their life and the choices they make.

Six Feet Under is dark and morbid, depressing to watch at times, but always compelling and incredibly well-acted, challenging us with each episode. It’s more than just about funerals, delving into spirituality, relationships, and how we react to losing people, not solely through death. And at the root of the show is the Fisher family, dysfunctional at best, but with all the elements of a traditional family structure. Except of course that the Fishers run a mortuary from their home, the father’s just died, the second son (Michael C. Hall of Dexter!) is a closet homosexual, and the mom is overbearing and uptight, yet surprisingly free-spirited at times. Visually, it plays out with flashbacks and daydream sequences that are very realistic to the way we exist, distracted by memories of people and events from our past.

I'm terrible since I need to know how it all ends before I get there but even though I already googled the series’ ending, I can’t wait to see how it all plays out. Now I know what all the fuss was about.


Frances Conroy is phenomenal in her role as the Fisher family Matriarch.

As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster - Goodfellas

How do you even begin to write about something, anything that you love? It’s almost impossible, with the fear that you won't be able to express your true appreciation for it. But since it’s been 20 years since Goodfellas was released, I feel I have to at least pay homage to my favourite movie of all time. Directed by the genius 'Marty' Scorsese, it's hands-down my favourite gangster film, changing the genre into what we know it as today.

To commemorate the anniversary, GQ put together a feature interviewing 60 of the film's castmembers. Michael Imperioli who played Christopher on The Sopranos, got his start in Goodfellas, as 'Spider' in the memorable scene where he gets shot in the foot by the lunatic Joe Pesci ("..It happens"). He said it perfectly, that there would have been no Sopranos (or Boardwalk Empire for that matter) if Goodfellas hadn't come first.

Goodfellas did an amazing job showing the gritty, brutality of the lives of wiseguys. Although extremely glorified at times, it wasn’t about the Godfather-like grandeur of being up at the top, but about the low-level guys working the streets just trying to make it. Showing the anti-hero that you identify with even though he’s a killer, Henry Hill made way for characters like Tony Soprano and of course Dexter. You somehow want the bad guy to end up scot-free in the end.

Without going on a 10-page rant that ends up making no sense, let me just highlight my favourite scene of the film. Henry takes Karen (lovely and talented Lorraine Bracco, aka Dr. Melfi) for a night out at the Copacabana. First of all, the way Scorsese plays this scene out is intoxicating, in a long, uncut shot following them into the Copa. Who cares that there’s a mile-long line up to get in, Henry takes her in the back door, through the busy kitchen, and a table is set up for them right up front. All because people want to show him respect. It’s a great scene that not only conveys the glamour and style of the early 60s, but the authority and power that even a mid-level gangster carried at that time. It also explains why women are always flocking to guys like Tony and Henry on-screen, who aren't that good-looking, but possess a certain smooth power that women are attracted to. Whether it’s out of fear, loyalty or because he’s got money, it’s all the same that he has the ability to make stuff happen.

Watch this scene

Vanessa Marcil to return to General Hospital this summer & Julia Stiles joins the cast of DEXTER

The season finale of United States of Tara is on tonight, and I'm very interested to find out the root of Tara's dissociative identity disorder (DID) if they actually let us find that out in only the second season. Love the characters and Toni Collette's acting but I feel so bad for her family that I just want them to figure out what has made Tara need to cope so badly through various identities. We know now that the sisters were in foster care for sometime, although we don't know why so tonight should be a good one!

Also, big big big news for any General Hospital fans out there! Don't laugh or mock me, but I've been watching this show since I was literally in diapers and can somehow stop watching for years but pick it back up anytime. Anyway, the always gorgeous Vanessa Marcil (90210, Las Vegas, ex-girlfriend to Brian Austin Green) is set to make yet another return as the epic character Brenda Barrett sometime in mid-August. I read this on PerezHilton.com so I'm hoping this has serious validity to it because I'm already too excited to claim that I'm normal. With Sonny single right now (as in, not married to Carly like he has been four times already - got to love Soap Operas and how they make being married 6 times seem normal) and all torn up about his son being in prison, her return couldn't have come at a better time. Last time Vanessa returned to GH's Port Charles for a visit, viewership increased somewhere around 30% PLUS, James Franco is also said to be returning again for a guest-spot. It's looking to be a sweltering hot summer in Port Charles!

And, last but not least, the hit deadly drama, Dexter, won't be back for a 5th season until sometime this fall but news hit the stands today that Julia Stiles will be joining the cast for at least 10 episodes, probably as some sort of a woman-friend to our beloved Dexter. Since the earth-shattering, shocking season finale where (spoiler alert!!!!) Dexter's wife Rita was found murdered in the bathtub by John Lithgow's character, Julia will most probably develop some sort of relationship with Dexter while he copes with the aftermath of Rita's death. Way to keep us fans interested in the off-season!