Black 'n' Gold Girl's Book Spot

Blu-Ray/DVD Overview: Set amidst the Victorian splendor of Britain’s first department store, The Paradise is the enchanting rags-to-riches story of a young girl who falls in love with the intoxicating charms of the modern world. The second season begins a year after the dramatic events that saw Moray (Emun Elliot, Prometheus ) declare his love for Denise (Joanna Vanderham, Dancing on the Edge ) and lose The Paradise after breaking off his engagement to Katherine Glendenning (Elaine Cassidy, The Others ). But the spurned Katherine has since married Tom Weston (Ben Daniels, Law & Order: UK ) – a mysterious, brooding ex-military man with a troubled history. Although she seems to be starting her life anew, her passion for Moray threatens to draw her back into a love triangle, competing with Denise. Meanwhile, Moray and Denise, still at the forefront of fashion and innovation, are plotting to regain The Paradise from Katherine and her husband – whatever it takes. **************...

Doctor Who: The Moonbase Approx: 98 min. + Bonus Materials (DVD SRP: $24.98US/$30.98CAN) DVD Overview: In 2070, Earth’s weather is controlled with ease from the Moon. When the TARDIS arrives at the Moonbase, the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton), along with his friends Polly, Ben and Jamie, is accused of starting a plague that is killing off the base’s crew. It’s not long, however, before the time travelers discover the true cause of the deaths – a powerful, unstoppable race that the Doctor has met before: the Cybermen.  Bonus Materials *Audio Commentary  *“Lunar Landing” making-of featurette  *Photo gallery  *And more... 

Doc Martin Series 6 (MSRP: $39.99) DVD Overview: He’s surly, tactless, self-centered, and uptight—but he’s the only doctor in town. Even on his own wedding day, Dr. Martin Ellingham (Martin Clunes, Men Behaving Badly ) is all scowls. Then following a calamitous honeymoon, he and Louisa (Caroline Catz, DCI Banks ) must learn to live together, raise a child, and manage two careers. It’s a big adjustment for both, especially Martin, who’s unaccustomed to clutter and noise. And yet he’s still not as picky as their OCD manny. Factor in the Doc’s usual string of batty patients—including a hypochondriac, a hoarder, two elderly tattoo artists, and a bumbling constable with a string of self-inflicted injuries—and Martin is soon more ill-tempered than ever. Plus, his crippling blood phobia is back, and his ghastly mother (Claire Bloom, The King’s Speech ) picks a bad time to show up at the Ellinghams’ door. With much at stake, Martin turns for advice to his aunt Ruth (Emmy winner Eil...

I'm such a sap when it comes to Christmas movies -- the cheesier and mushier the better! For me, Christmas is the perfect time of year not just because of all of the holiday cheer and family traditions but because channels like ABC Family and Hallmark air a bazillion feel good movies. It's as easy to sit down on any given weekend following up to Christmas day and binge on tinsel-filled flicks as it is to binge on Netflix during the summer. Hey, it's okay to lounge around in sweats with a cup of cocoa (extra marshmallows, please!) once a year, right?

Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka Feature: Approx. 78 mins Bonus Features: Approx. 60 mins Color DVD Overview: The TARDIS lands in a small English village in 2003, where the population is living in fear from a malevolent alien force. With the help of UNIT and his new friend Alison, the Doctor discovers that a race called the Shalka are residing underground, preparing to strip away the earth’s ozone layer and embark on a full-scale invasion of the planet. Voice talents include Richard E. Grant as the Doctor and Derek Jacobi as the Master. My Thoughts: Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka is one of my all-time favorite Doctor Who episodes and that's saying a lot because I'm not normally a fan of animated features unless they're from Disney! I was more than a bit skeptical going into this. A few of the reasons that I enjoy the live action series so much is the little nuances and amusing facial expressions of the actors on the screen. It's impossible to catc...

Photo from www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/gallery/icewarriors/06.shtml DVD Overview Doctor Who: The Ice Warriors   (Story 39) In the distant future, Earth faces a new Ice Age. While a dedicated team of scientists battle to hold the approaching glaciers at bay, a startling discovery is made deep within the ice … an alien warrior, frozen for millennia. When the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton), Jamie and Victoria arrive they soon discover Earth is under threat from the Ice Warriors – fearsome Martians intent on conquering our planet for themselves. My Thoughts: If you're a fan of the Doctor Who series, chances are you've come across the Ice Warriors. Most recently, we met Ice Warrior Skaldak in the series 7 episode, " Cold War ." As intimidating as a trapped Ice Warrior in an immobilized submarine may be, the Ice Warriors first appeared in the earliest years of the classic Doctor Who series, a whole bunch of them stuck on earth during a new Ice Age is...

Photo from BBCAmerica.com This week has sort of turned into an unofficial "TV Time" on my blog. If you're looking for the usual book banter and reviews, you probably won't find that here this week. I've been slacking a bit in the reading department just because sometimes I just can't resist the siren call of good TV! This week, it's all about the BBC. Really though, is there any other TV? I just finished watching BBC's Ripper Street  series last night and I loved it way more than I thought I would. I rarely watch TV-MA rated programming but I made an exception this time because I was desperate for a new historical drama series to watch. Photo from BBCAmerica.com Ripper Street is a series set in Victorian London, 1889 to be exact, and is centered around the notorious H Division police precinct following the Ripper murders and stars Matthew Macfadyen as Detective Inspector Edmund Reid. I have loved Macfadyen since first seeing him in Pride and...

Call the Midwife , Season Two Release Date: June 18, 2013 Blu-ray/DVD Overview: Based on the best-selling memoirs by Jennifer Worth, the critically acclaimed BBC series Call the Midwife , which TIME Magazine hails as, “gritty realism,”tells the fascinating story of Jenny Lee (Jessica Raine, Doctor Who , The Woman In Black ), a young midwife in 1950s London's working class East End, as she provides the poorest women with the best possible care. This season continues to follow Jenny and the rest of the Poplar neighborhood’s exceptional midwives and nursing nuns as they face new challenges and traumas, including a strange woman dressed in rags, an abandoned baby, and the introduction of a new pain-killer, gas, which proves such a hit that all the women want some. A fascinating portrayal of birth, life, death and a community on the brink of huge social change, Call the Midwife offers a gripping insight into a way of life that is so drastically different from how we live now. ...

Ladies and gentlemen 'tis the season when there's nothing on the tube other than re-runs or (mostly) sub-par network dramas, so if you're like me then you're just plain bored! Let's face it, there are times when (GASP!) we don't feel like flipping through a book. We just want to flop down on the couch with the remote and a bowl of chips and binge on Netflix or burn through half of our DVD collections in a week. A few days ago, I hung out with my best friend and we started watching Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries . Needless to say, it turned into a three night event where we noshed on popcorn and cookies and watched telly for hours on end. It's probably not healthy to go through an entire season of a TV show in such a short time, but sometimes I think it's the only way to chill out and unwind. That's probably blasphemous coming from a book blogger but so be it, there's room here on this blog for more than one of my passions right? ;-) ...