Seen & Heard Archives

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The Five Best Moments in Clueless

There comes a time in everyone's life when they must build an Ikea dresser. And for most millennial women, there comes a time in their lives when they'll specifically build the white, six-drawer Hemnes dresser from Ikea. To entertain me while I went through this right-of-passage, I decided to revisit a classic movie with a title that evoked the feeling I got when I opened up the picture-filled instruction booklet, Clueless.

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Musical Opening Numbers

A good opening number can make or break a Broadway show. The first song works as a storytelling device, a way to introduce every single character you'll encounter, a mood-setter, a dramatic moment to suck you in or a fun bop to get your energy into the magical show you're about to experience.

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Before We Go & The Music Man

Released in 2014, Chris Evans directed and starred in this indie romantic drama, which takes place all in one night in New York City. It's a really beautiful look at two people whose lives intersect for a moment, the impact it can have on you and the beauty of opening up to someone you don't really know.

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And it's beginning to snow

Ever since I was little, I always loved the snow. Despite growing up in the Chicago suburbs, the excitement and novelty around the winter substance never quite dimmed for me.

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Rent Live-ish, Maisel season two & Waitress

While some are counting down to Sunday's Super Bowl, I was counting down to the guitar-tuning strums that indicate the start of Rent. On Sunday night, my family group text was exploding and all of us ended up in an hour-long pre-Rent phone session, where we discussed our fears and hopes for the production.

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Instant Hotel & On the Basis of Sex

Forget Bird Box, the show you must start watching on Netflix right this moment is Instant Hotel. Let me start by saying, I'm not much of a HGTV/TLC reality show person, but there's something about Instant Hotel that sucked me in.

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Golden Globes recap

It's awards season again, which is the perfect way to beat the January doldrums. To celebrate, I bring you a special Golden Globes edition of Seen & Heard to recap the highs and lows of last night's broadcast.

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White Christmas & more holiday favorites

My favorite movie is White Christmas, so every year I patiently wait until it's time for me to watch this beloved classic again. As a child, I would watch the journey to Vermont over and over again. One year when I was particularly obsessed, I begged my parents to let me watch it in June (they had a strict no-holiday-movies-outside-of-the-holiday-season policy) when I was home sick. Fortunately, they obliged. But I try and save it for November and December viewing so that it remains a magical movie that I only get to see for a small window every year.

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Lesser-known holiday classics

After Thanksgiving, some of my favorite holiday traditions begin. There's something comforting about routine and tradition this time of year, especially as I'm eagerly awaiting the days until I can go home again at the end of December. For now, I'm sitting in my snowflake pajamas, drinking coffee and polishing off the last of my grandmother's biscotti (she sent me home with extras post-Thanksgiving!), and feeling nostalgic. Last week, I talked about how my family and I put up our decorations while playing Bing Crosby's White Christmas album, and this week, I'm giving a shout out to some beloved holiday, TV movies and lesser-known favorites that I try and re-watch every holiday season.

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Giving Thanks

Since there aren't a lot of Thanksgiving movies, I re-watch some of my favorite turkey day-themed episodes of TV in anticipation for tomorrow. I've included a rundown of some of the best below, so you can get in the mood for the holiday!

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Newsies

In 2018, we won two tickets to see Newsies in the sixth row of the theater. I was spellbound from the first moment (and not just because I had a crush on the lead actor, but that helped) by the musical's inspiring anthems, the subplot about women in journalism and the mesmerizing dancing. And just like that, Newsies became one of my all-time favorite musicals.

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Halloween Edition: Spooky, Scary

Last week, just in time for Halloween, Netflix released The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, a spooky interpretation of the classic Sabrina the Teenage Witch series. The "chilling" version is based on Archie Comics' Archie Horror imprint, and the series takes place in the same universe as Riverdale.

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