After last night's True Blood, in which Sarah and Jason go at it in the balcony of the sanctuary at the Fellowship of the Light while Sookie and Hugo are locked up downstairs (and Godric's apparently rattling around down there somewhere) and Lorena prevents Bill from saving Sookie at Eric's behest and Daphne betrays Sam to Maryann so she can cut out his heart, I had a heart attack. At the second season's mid point, Alan Ball et al had ratcheted up so much tension that I cannot possibly watch an episode without a lot of yelling. Then, this happened:

I used to have these anxiety dreams all the time where I'm late for hockey and I can't get my goalie pads done up in time to make it out onto the ice before the start of the game.  I'd wake up in a horrible cold sweat.  It was awful.

Now that I've been doing lots of interviews for (Cult)ure, an entirely new anxiety dream has started up:  I'm interviewing someone and my voice recorder won't work properly!

Last night's version of the dream starred Lucas Grabeel, better known as Ryan Evans from the High School Musical films:

I have a friend over for dinner about once a week. Though we always have a great time, there are two issues with that: 1) we have oft-divergent tastes, and 2) cooking can sometimes seem like a chore. Every once in a while, I look for a simple, pleasing recipe that I can put together quickly. Though Giada De Laurentiis' recipes don't always meet those parameters, she does occasionally use cheats and shortcuts (recently I watched her toast frozen pound cake). This recipe, which uses store-bought fresh tortellini, is one such instance.

Ingredients

• Olive oil
• 2 cups marinara sauce
• 1/3 cup mascarpone cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1 pound purchased cheese tortellini
• 2 ounces thinly sliced smoked mozzarella
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil an 8 by 8 by 2-inch baking dish.

Whisk the sauce, mascarpone cheese, parsley and thyme in a large bowl to blend. Cook the tortellini in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, about 2 minutes. Drain. Add the tortellini to the sauce and toss to coat. Transfer the tortellini mixture to the prepared baking dish. Top the mixture with the smoked mozzarella and Parmesan. Cover and bake until the sauce bubbles and the cheeses on top melt, about 30 minutes.

I don't suppose they call it July 2-4 in the US, do they?

Ugh, I am once again at a loss for what to recommend to you. Having seen Public Enemies, I can personally attest that it's pretty but boring. If you're into that (and I believe one of our esteemed film critics is), then it delivers the goods. Also, if you are into hot people looking fly in period costume (which I am), it delivers the goods par excellence. 

When I saw this news/photo over on Daily Intel this morning, I had a momentary panic. Surely the producers would never think of doing anything as crazy as replace Blake Lively! Okay, Leighton Meester is probably the best actor on the show, and sure, Chuck and Blair are a far more interesting couple to watch than any plus one Serena's been saddled with, but, two seasons later, "where has she been?" is still the show's driving force. Not to worry: With Serena off at Brown, Chuck and Blair are surely auditioning placeholders until Serena realizes her mistake/comes home for Thanksgiving. After all, Serena is the glue, the hub. She's the only one capable of maintaing friendships with all the characters, and I'm sure Chuck and Blair are just reacting to the gapping hole in their lives. After all, who else would think to eschew the motarboard and braid the graduation tassle directly into her hair?

In last night's True Blood, Sarah Newlin (right, Anna Camp) served up banana pudding for dessert when the Newlins had Jason Stackhouse (left, Ryan Kwanten) over for dinner. I know that the episode was filmed months ago and that the show is based on a series of books and that that pudding is probably laced with ruphies and evil, but I don't care. Banana pudding? Thank you for noticing June's theme, Raelle Tucker!

Sadly, I could only find a still from last week's episode, in which Jason took role playing a little too seriously and tried to stake Sarah with a flagstaff "like some Muslim Buffy with a dick." If you're not watching True Blood, you really should start. 

I was reading Wired's "Top 10 Ways to Provoke a Geek Argument," and I was shocked (shocked) to discover that I might not be as big a geek as I suspected. Sure, there were some on there that made me roll my eyes, but nothing worth fighting about. After all, I'm not that big on Tolkien (I hate singing in books; it's a personal problem). Then we got to number 2 on the Top 10 countdown: "Joss Whedon is a hack!" Now that one got my blood boiling. Geek reputation? Safe.

I'm mid-season five in my rewatching of the entire Star Trek: the Next Generation series. I viewed the show fairly often as a youngster, but there are still a massive number of episodes I haven't seen.

The other day I came across one of these never before seen gems. It was called "The Perfect Mate", and I was astonished to see it featured an extremely sexy guest star performance from Famke Janssen!

Yes, long before Jean Grey and Professor Xavier were sharing the big screen together, Janssen and Stewart were rocking the small screen on TNG. It's an excellent episode and its premise rests solely on Jansen's ability to play the "perfect" woman. Needless to say, she does a wonderful job. (Apparently the producers thought so too. When the TNG spin-off Deep Space Nine was in development, her character was meant to return as a main cast member. When Janssen turned down the role to work in movies, the character Jadzia Dax was recreated to replace her.)

All of which makes me wonder, why is there not more geek love out there for Janssen? I mean check out this resume: Star Trek, X-Men and James Bond!!!! What more could you want from an actress?

Author, poet, television producer, journalist, columnist and intellectual activist are titles that could describe George Jonas' prolific body of work.  Digital television network ichannel puts Jonas in front of a camera to personally describe his remarkable life and career "In His Own Words".

From his childhood in Hungary, his immigration to Canada, to his long and productive award-winning career, the documentary follows Jonas' personal narrative with authentically descriptive photos and footage.  His monologue is peppered with engaging anecdotes and witty philosophical repartee.

For example, on his early years, "One of the advantages that I had was not having much of a formal education.  I had the opportunity to look into things for myself."

His perspective on writing, "Unless writing is its own reward for you, you shouldn't bother.  Writing is no fun, but I enjoy having written."

On the holocaust, "It is the human race that is genocidal, not the Germans.  In one vital sense, we are all Jews, and we are all Germans, potentially."

The assessment he gives of the Middle East, "I don't foresee a solution to the Middle East problem, because I don't believe the Jews will give up the idea of having a state of their own, and I don't believe the Arabs and Muslims will acquiesce in the idea of having the state in the Middle East."

Jonas was working for Radio Budapest when the Hungarian Revolution began in 1956.  He joined thousands of other Hungarian refugees on their exodus to Austria, where he admits that he approached Canadian Immigration because there was no one waiting in line, as opposed to the American Consulate where people were lined up for ten blocks.

Upon moving to Canada, he had to learn English very quickly before getting a job at the CBC as a script editor, and eventually a producer.  Since then, he has written 15 books, including bestsellers.  He may be best known for writing, producing and/or directing over 200 dramas and documentaries for the CBC, including the Gemini Award winning "The Scales of Justice".  His book "Vengeance" was adapted to the big screen as "Sword of Gideon" and later by Steven Spielberg for the film "Munich".
Summing up his life and career, Jonas says, "I wanted to be a writer, pure and simple."

"George Jonas: In His Own Words" airs Saturday, May 23rd at 8pm and 11pm ET and PT.  ichannel is available by subscription through local television providers across Canada; the network is owned and operated by Stornoway Communications

If you're subscriber, you may not realize that there are a couple of things that go on here at (Cult)ure on Mondays. First, the editors take turns posting their fave YouTube picks. This week I've got my Nostalgia-themed videos up. Secondly, our dear Miss Smartypants, she of the wise wisdomosity, posts her advice every Monday. You can reach her at advice@culturemagazine.ca.

Apparently Sunday March 22 was "International Talk Like William Shatner Day". 

 How can something as important as this come and go without me noticing?  I am forever shamed, and will go out of my way to talk like William Shatner extra hard next year.

(Note: This is likely the first of many Trek posts that will appear between now and May 8.  Sure, you don't care now, but when you are transformed into a Trekker by Mr. Abrams in t-minus two months, your gonna look back and regret missing Talk Like Shatner day too.)

Every Tuesday (Cult)ure shares with you a delicious and easy recipe.

I learned this recipe watching Chef Michael Smith on my absolutely favourite cooking show Chef at Home.  The show's mantra, "simple is better" is sure on display in this recipe.  This blueberry crisp is easy to make and totally delicious.

For filling:

Danny Boyle's underdog hit Slumdog Millionaire was the big winner at last night's Academy Awards Ceremony, bringing home eight awards, including best picture and best director.

Despite the trepidations expressed by people like Steve Dominey, Hugh Jackman proved himself an excellent host, dancing and singing his way through the ceremony with a charming smile on his face that was totally free from the smug, ironic, distanced cynicism hosts like David Letterman and Jon Stewart brought to the proceedings in past years.

As expected, Heath Ledger was awarded the Oscar for best supporting actor, but the show's highlight came early in the night when an impossibly young looking Dustin Lance Black delivered his acceptance speech for Milk's best original screenplay win.  Black said:

Today marks the ten-year anniversary of film critic Gene Siskel's death.

 

Siskel first teamed with fellow Chicago Sun-Times contributor Roger Ebert in 1975 for a local movie criticism television series. Their "thumbs-up, thumbs-down" method of review quickly became part of the cultural lexicon, and the duo moved to national syndication and mass recognition.

 On January 25, 2009, Kim Manners passed away from lung cancer.

Manners directed over 50 episodes of The X-Files, and, more recently, was a producer/director for Supernatural.

Manners was a workhorse who directed some of The X-Files best and scariest episodes, and he became the go-to-man for mythology episodes after Rob Bowman left the series.  He stuck with The X-Files right through to the end of season nine, and directed the two-part series finale "The Truth" in 2002.

He was well respected by his colleagues, and was loved by X-Philes around the world.  He will be missed.