Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Welcome back to my Buzz Gift Guide series for all the entertainment lovers in your life. Yesterday I sifted through the stacks (er, Web pages) of music, DVDs, and books to find some of the best 2008 has to offer dudes. Today I will share with you some 2008 entertainment gift ideas for the ladies.

It's no secret how much I love Jenny Lewis and I will be spreading the gospel this year by handing out her newest album Acid Tongue to my girlfriends (or at least including her songs on the mix CDs I'll make this holiday season). I'll also be giving out Aimee Mann's newest album, as I think it's pretty awesome.

It was a good year for books: I read both The Opposite of Love by Julie Buxbaum and Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner and would definitely recommend them. In the movies department, might I suggest the hilarious Baby Mama or Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day on DVD?

Since I watch more TV than most people I know, I use the holidays to not-so-subtly suggest to friends what I know they would love, like 30 Rock or Greek. And many of my friends have grown to love Lipstick Jungle, so it would be a treat for them to receive the show's first season on DVD.

A couple more ideas below, so have fun scrolling on through.

Check out HolidaySugar for all of our holiday coverage and gift guides.

I enjoy the imperfections in my life, and I don't have any illusions of grandeur. But sometimes I feel like I should be entitled to a little glamour in my life, even if I'm not making appearances at red carpet events. Amy Adams's character, Delysia, in Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day has it right: a knock-out Art Deco apartment with the style, fashion, and flair of the days of the greats like Carole Lombard and Clark Gable. To fully execute this look in my home would require a major overhaul, and ditching some of my favorite mid-century modern pieces. But, I can still have a little slice of glitz by completing a glamourous bedroom makeover, and House to Home knows exactly how to do so. To hear some of the Brit glossie's tips for living like Delysia for a day (or longer), read more

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue. In addition to the selections below you can also check out the fourth season of House, Street Kings starring Keanu Reeves, and the HBO movie, Recount which I chatted about with Citizen here.

Gossip Girl: Season 1
Try to ignore for a moment that nobody on that DVD cover looks like a character I recognize from the show. Am I right? That is some wacky Photoshopping there. But anyway, the first season of Gossip Girl is now out on DVD so you can get your collection started and catch up if you haven't seen all the episodes. I'm sure some of you will appreciate this as the CW was not great about putting all their episodes on the Web, especially during the latter part of the season, so you may have missed some pivotal episodes.

I'm excited to relive the early GG days — especially the pilot — but I'm most looking forward to the special features. They include unaired scenes, featurettes titled "The Beginning, XOXO: Concept to Execution," "Gossip Girl Couture," "A Gossip Girl Wedding," and "LOL: Gag Reel." The DVDs also include music videos from The Pierces. How sweet is that?

Three more good ones, so read more

The most accurate way I can describe my feelings about Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is by gushing that it's just so dear. It's darling. It's funny, tender and charming. It's a Cinderella story for adults who want a movie that's not ridiculously cheesy or stupid. It's gloomy in spots but always quickly uplifted, either through the toe-tapping music of the 1930s or the silly wit of the writing. After an awards season in which the most acclaimed movies were across-the-board bleak (with the exception of Juno), Miss Pettigrew is a breath of fresh air.

We are introduced to Guinevere Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) as she is fired from yet another governess position and shuffles her way to the agency that has found her each of her ill-fated jobs. When the stern agency woman refuses to find Miss Pettigrew more work, she grows desperate, having no money and no home. She swipes the business card of a client in need of a social secretary: the American cabaret singer Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams). She arrives at the sprawling London flat to Delysia frantically trying to get rid of one man before another man comes home. Immediately Miss Pettigrew proves herself a helpful ally, smoothly navigating Guinevere's potentially disastrous dealings with the several men in her life. In this way, the title of the film seems like it could be Miss Pettigrew Saves the Day, but things get a little bit more complex than just this, so read more

Back in November, I shared with you the fun, cute preview for Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day and now the film's Mar. 7 release date is just around the corner. It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Amy Adams and it looks like this will be another endearing role, even if she's not showing off those pipes like she did at the Oscars.

Huge bonus points that it also stars Lee Pace! While I patiently wait for Pushing Daisies to return, any chance to see him on screen is a treat. Check out the trailer below for some laughs watching Frances McDormand's transformation from down-on-her-luck nanny to social secretary with her own romantic aspirations. Looks like a fun one to check out with your girls.

Thanks to Focus Features for sponsoring this post.

To see the delightful trailer for Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day, read more

Okay, last Amy Adams-centric post of the day — promise! This trailer for Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is just too darn cute and Adams is so delightful in it I simply had to share. The movie also features one of my favorite movie ladies ever, Frances McDormand, as a frumpy nanny who gets a kind of life makeover when she falls in with the lively, free-spirited and girlish Delysia Lafosse (Adams).

It all takes place in 1939, a time period for which both McDormand and Adams seem to have the appropriate look. Miss Pettigrew is scheduled to start living at a theater near you March 7, so to check out the preview, read more