Carrie in the big city

With The CW blaring its enormous letters directly under “The Carrie Diaries” title, it must have been a little hard for some viewers to give this show a chance. But somehow, its extremely intoxicating and highly nostalgic feel of the 1980s, along with cute and diverse characters, allows anxious viewers a little something to like about the show.

Carrie Bradshaw (AnnaSophia Robb, middle-right) tries to discover who she is and wants to be in, "The Carrie Diaries" on The CW.

“The Carrie Diaries” follows Carrie Bradshaw (AnnaSophia Robb from “Bridge to Terabithia” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”) before her high-drama and risqué life in New York City years later in “Sex and the City.” Bradshaw is the ripe age of 16 years old in this 1984 prequel, and is slowly managing to find her place in the big city while trying to balance her naïve teenage life as a junior in high school. Her younger sister, Dorrit, constantly drives her up the wall, while her newly widowed father Tom Bradshaw, tries to keep both teenage girls under control in their struggling home. Bradshaw, along with friend Jill Chen (Ellen Wong, “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World”) also known as “The Mouse” and her other best friends Maggie Landers (Katie Findlay, “The Killing”) and Walt Reynolds tries to survive the complicated and hormone filled life of teendom, especially after Sebastian Kydd rolls into town.

Since “The Carrie Diaries” is following around Carrie during her early years, it is a treat for fans of the previous show to see how she was as a teenager. Seeing her so incredibly fresh and new to the ugly, and sometimes harmful, city of New York is sometimes the best part of the show. To see Carrie reacting to experiences she will most definitely face on an everyday basis when she gets older is hilarious at some points, and awful at others depending on the situation. It is almost as if the viewers are getting to watch as her skin gets stretched, broken down and rebuilt to become stronger and thicker. Due to the job that Bradshaw has in the future, a weekly relationship columnist, the show heavily focuses on relationships. But “The Carrie Diaries” deals with the relationships on many different levels since this is Carrie in her teens. It centers on relationships between best friends, girl/boyfriends, ex’s and even gay relationships.

While interning in New York City, Carrie runs into Larissa Loughlin (“Doctor Who” and “Torchwood”), a boisterous and British style editor at Interview. Bradshaw becomes Loughlin’s latest project, or friend, and they spend many episodes together exploring various cultures of New York. While in New York, a new side of Carrie slowly starts to form, inch by inch, but suddenly she is thrown back into her teenage life back in Castlebury, Connecticut. Constantly, Bradshaw has to decide whether to bask in her new found love of New York, or to just stick with what she is good at, which is complying with everything and not breaking the rules. Throughout the episodes, this ordeal becomes tougher and tougher for her to decide.

The biggest issue with this show, is the question of whether it will be able to succeed on pure nostalgia of the “Sex and the City” days, or if it will be able to be successful by creating fresh and new characters for a new generation. It is highly possible for both to happen. Thus far, all of the characters in the show are new, none appearing in the previous show. This gives the creators room to do whatever they want with the characters around Carrie. But, because this is a prequel, there are obvious plot holes that are bound to happen if the writers are not careful. The devil is in the details.

“The Carrie Diaries” airs Mondays at 7 p.m. on The CW, full episodes can also be watched on cwtv.com two days after the original air-date.

Supporting Midwest talent

Blood, sweat, tears and fears were left out on the mat at AAW (All American Wrestling) in the Berwyn Eagles Club in Berwyn, IL on Friday, January 26^th. Fans could be seen jumping from their chairs and screaming their lungs out whenever their favorite wrestler would pull out their signature move. Far from the jaded performers seen on national TV every week, just 20 minutes out of Chicago is some of the most intense, interactive and heart-pounding action that $18 can buy.

The announcer climbed into the 18 foot ring and began to serve the hungry audience what they had all come there for, raw and aspiring talent from all over the region. Wrestlers traveling from Wisconsin, Iowa and of course one of the wrestling capitols of the nation, Chicago, gathered to put their bodies on the line for a chance at the AAW Heritage Title. Two pre-show matches started out the “Chaos Theory” event. Pre-show matches were used to fire up the crowd, and will not be featured on the DVD release. The spots in these matches are usually filled by wrestlers who are trying to earn a spot on the roster.

After a lukewarm pre-show, the event finally started to heat up with the matches of the tournament. Mat Fitchett faced off against Christian Able, but as the match started to sway from one side to the other, Fitchett landed a perfectly formed 450 splash, a double front-flip body slam from the top rope, and ended the match, advancing to the next round. Davey Vega faced some stiff competition from the muscular Vic Capri, but was able to pull out the win. O’Reilly, hailing from British Columbia and TD Thomas from Detroit, Michigan, had the audience giving a standing ovation at the end. In a very physical 13 minute match that saw both of them kick each other senseless, O’Reilly was able to squeak out a victory.

Current heavyweight champion Michael Elgin (in black and silver) performing a stalling vertical suplex, for 60 seconds, to former AAW Heritage champion Shane Hollister (in black and green).

AAW had its slower moments, populated by video packages and in-ring segments meant to push the storylines, but pretty much everyone was just there for the wrestling. The wrestlers definitely played off the energy of the crowd, whether it was back-talking belligerent fans or calling for them to cheer on a hurt comrade during a tag-team match. This is what allows AAW and its independent brethren to survive; the connection between the fans and the wrestlers. But AAW also happens to have some pretty amazing and extremely dedicated wrestlers.

These wrestlers are treated like a second family when it comes to the fans. During intermission some will walk around and talk to the fans. Some can even be spotted walking the streets before the doors open and would be more than happy to spark up a conversation. That extreme egotistical side that most higher-up professional wrestlers have is mostly gone with these wrestlers. They work outside of this once-a-month weekend job, and can understand where the fans are coming from because they are still just like them. They remember the fans and treat them well, outside of their ring character of course.

The final fight of the night was an insane match-up between two AAW veterans, Shane Hollister and Silas Young teaming up against Davey Richards and current AAW Heavyweight Champion Michael Elgin. The fight lasted a whopping 18 minutes, but every second of it, from slaps to kicks, kept the audience screaming for more. Wrestlers could be seen flying into barricades, the crowd, over the top rope and into each other. They would just keep jumping back up over and over again giving out chops and tight submission holds to each other. One kick-out after another caused everyone in the house to be at the edge of their seat until a sudden betrayal from Richards on his teammate, Elgin, left the audience shocked.

These athletes put their bodies on the line every night, without the endorsement deals and million dollar contracts of other professional athletes. Their passion comes out when the audience cheers for them or boos them and feeds their characters. They are in it for the love of their profession. Some may think it is not real, but these fans are anything but shy about expressing their love of wrestling.

AAW’s next event “Durty Deeds” is on Sunday, February 10th at 5pm at Durty Nellie's in Palatine, Illinois.

The silver-screen buzz

Tons of amazing or promising films are always lurking in the shadows of or are undoubtedly eclipsed by blockbuster films. The Buzz will strive to keep casual and avid movie goers up-to-date on movies flying underneath the radar.  These will range from movies already out in theatres, to limited and future releases. In this informative feature, interesting facts and even quotes from the stars of the film will be included. This issue will include; “The Baytown Outlaws”, “The Impossible” and “John Dies at the End.”

 “The Baytown Outlaws”

Release Date: Jan. 11

Do not go into “The Baytown Outlaws” with the hope of Oscar-winning performances from Eva Longoria and Billy Bob Thornton. Do go into this movie with hopes of an extremely fun ride filled with lots of surprise actors and actresses along the way. This film about a few country brothers who are off to rescue a woman’s stolen son is far more entertaining than is seems.  Just disregard the obvious stereotypical jokes that are bound to pop up more than once in this movie. But for the first feature-length film by director and writer Barry Battles, it does look quite impressive.

“The Impossible”

Release Date: Jan. 4

Having already won four awards and seven nominations for acting, this film is sure to get far more nominations and wins once more award shows such as, The Academy Awards and The British Academy of Film and Television Arts roll around. “The Impossible” is based on the true story of a family left scattered and hopeless after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.  The heartbreaking realism that pours out of this movie is bound to leave wet eyes throughout the theatres. Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor give out-of –this-world performances, as do their co-stars. In an interview with The Daily Beast, it was revealed that Watts studied the documentary “Tsunami: Caught on Camera,” as well as befriended the woman she was playing in order  to set up her role. “It’s probably the most physically demanding thing I’ve ever done,” says Watts.

Tons of amazing or promising films are always lurking in the shadows of or are undoubtedly eclipsed by blockbuster films. The Buzz will strive to keep casual and avid movie goers up-to-date on movies flying underneath the radar.  These will range from movies already out in theatres, to limited and future releases. In this informative feature, interesting facts and even quotes from the stars of the film will be included. This issue will include; “The Baytown Outlaws”, “The Impossible” and “John Dies at the End.”

 “The Baytown Outlaws”- Release Date: January 11th

Do not go into “The Baytown Outlaws” with the hope of Oscar-winning performances from Eva Longoria and Billy Bob Thornton. Do go into this movie with hopes of an extremely fun ride filled with lots of surprise actors and actresses along the way. This film about a few country brothers who are off to rescue a woman’s stolen son is far more entertaining than is seems.  Just disregard the obvious stereotypical jokes that are bound to pop up more than once in this movie. But for the first feature-length film by director and writer Barry Battles, it does look quite impressive.

“The Impossible”- Release Date: January 4th

Having already won four awards and seven nominations for acting, this film is sure to get far more nominations and wins once more award shows such as, The Academy Awards and The British Academy of Film and Television Arts roll around. “The Impossible” is based on the true story of a family left scattered and hopeless after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.  The heartbreaking realism that pours out of this movie is bound to leave wet eyes throughout the theatres. Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor give out-of –this-world performances, as do their co-stars. In an interview with The Daily Beast, it was revealed that Watts studied the documentary “Tsunami: Caught on Camera,” as well as befriended the woman she was playing in order  to set up her role. “It’s probably the most physically demanding thing I’ve ever done,” says Watts.

“John Dies at the End”

Release Date: Jan. 25

Don Coscarelli, director of cult classics such as “Bubba Ho-Tep” and “Phantasm,” might finally get his chance at the Hollywood spotlight with a film adaptation of “John Dies at the End”.  Never losing his wacky premises, this film is centered around two college dropouts , John and Dave, trying to stop a bizarre new street drug from destroying mankind.  Paul Giamatti joins the ranks of newcoming film actors, Chase Williamson (Dave) and Rob Mayes (John). The film definitely has an off and comic-like vibe from the constant interesting dilemmas these two young adults are facing. Since it caught the eyes of Sundance, South by Southwest and the Toronto International Film Festival then it definitely is worth a shot. If waiting until January 25th is out of the question, Amazon has it streaming for a limited time only before it hits theatres.