Faces of America PBS tonight

Tonight on PBS Henry Louis Gates Jr. premiers his new series Faces of America.

Here's their synopsis:
About the Program
What made America? What makes us? These two questions are at the heart of the new PBS series Faces of America with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The Harvard scholar turns to the latest tools of genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of 12 renowned Americans — professor and poet Elizabeth Alexander, chef Mario Batali, comedian Stephen Colbert, novelist Louise Erdrich, journalist Malcolm Gladwell, actress Eva Longoria, musician Yo-Yo Ma, director Mike Nichols, Her Majesty Queen Noor, television host/heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz, actress Meryl Streep, and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi.

I was lucky enough to be invited to the PBS press tour this year and meet the amazing Gates. I really love his programs. African American Lives and Looking for Lincoln were such great shows. PBS gave me one of the episodes of Faces of America that will run every Wednesday from Feb 10 through March 3, and it is as fascinating as African American lives was.
Definitely check this out tonight!



Here's another clip of Gates talking about the series. As a note I was in the room while this was being taped. Which was crazy exciting for me.

Whip It DVD Giveaway

OK if you loved independent Amelia flying around the world, you'll love this Roller Derby movie directed by my girl crush Drew Barrymore (SHHH don't tell Sandra Bullock)
Whip It is a great movie about a young girl's dream to be a roller derby queen not a pageant queen, which is what her mother is pushing for.
The cast is a mix of familiar faces and new comers, all brilliant. I have to say that Andrew Wilson, as the derby coach, may have finally surpassed his brothers in my affections with this part.

TO ENTER:
I have three copies of the DVD to giveaway, courtesy of 20th Century Fox. Just leave a comment with an email on this post. I'll pick the winners with Random.com this Friday, Febuary 12th.

Good Luck!!

WINNERS:
We have our winners: Kim, Mindy, and Jamscout425. Stay tuned I'll be running a giveaway for The Fantastic Mr. Fox next week. Once again Good Luck!

Amelia on DVD Giveaway

The people at 20th Century Fox sent me a copy of their new DVD release Amelia last week. Which worked out really well, because I've had a really nasty cold and it was nice to lie in bed and watch a good movie.

I really enjoyed the film, as well as the bonus features. My favorite bonus feature was definitely the original news reel footage of Amelia. There were also quite a few deleted scenes, which were interesting to get a little more of the backstory.

On a personal note. My grandmother once worked as a secretary for an evening at the Ambassador Hotel for Amelia, her husband, and a friend of theirs in the late 20's. She had nothing but glowing things to say about Amelia, maybe because they were both from Kansas, or maybe because Amelia paid her $20 buck and cab fare. Either way she loved Amelia.

HOW TO ENTER:
20th Century Fox has also offered to give 3 copies of the film to my readers so if you would like one please leave a comment, make sure to leave contact info. (if you have a blogger acct and are set on private, leave an email). Entrants must be in the contiguous US.

I'll announce winners on Tuesday. Good Luck!

THE WINNERS!!!!!!!!!!
Krista, Amy, and Mami2jcn
Thanks for playing peeps. Don't be sad if you didn't win I've got a great DVD giveaway coming later today.

Mad Men on Sesame Street

This morning while doing my daughters hair for school, this came on Sesame Street. LOVE IT!!!!! I may be deep in withdrawl, because this was way too exciting for me.
Hope you like it as much as I did.

Web Series Pretty

Here's a new web series called Pretty. It's about a Pageant family, but a really weird pageant family. This family makes Little Miss Sunshine's family look like the Brady Bunch. OK? This is a REALLY odd web series. I don't know how I feel about it but I feel compelled to pass it on. It is funny to me, but I think that might mean something is deeply wrong with me. Check it out and see how you feel about it and report back.