Frozen – I saw it… I loved it (for the most part).

A friend asked if I’d go see Frozen with her, and I’m super glad I said Yes.

 

To be forthright with you, I haven’t been much of a Disney fan as of late. The last Disney film I saw in theaters was Enchanted, and the most recent Disney princess movie I saw was The Princess and the Frog. I had heard mostly good things about Frozen via the Interwebs and people were going ape-shit over Idina Menzel’s big song, “Let It Go.” Add in the facts that the film also co-starred Jonathan Groff and Josh Gad and I was all in.

 

(SPOILERS, obviously.)

 

The film is about some royal sisters, Elsa (Menzel) and Anna (Kristen Bell). Elsa was born with the ability to freeze things – something she told at an early age to hide/suppress because it would be hard to control if she would become afraid. Once close, Elsa and Anna grew apart because Elsa was basically put into solitary so she wouldn’t hurt herself or others. Anna was unaware of her sister’s power until it was too late. They fought and Elsa accidentally turns their kingdom (Arendelle) into a frozen entity during the summer. Elsa runs away and sings “Let It Go,” the greatest female power ballad (which reminds everyone of “Defying Gravity” – especially because both songs are belted by the same vocally flawless lady) and deems herself free. Unfortunately the people of the kingdom are not pleased about it being winter and whatnot, so Anna decides she’s going to find her sister and talk some sense into her. On her journey, she befriends Kristoff (Groff) and his reindeer, Sven. They later run into Olaf (Gad), a snowman from Elsa and Anna’s childhood that Elsa recreated during her power ballad. (Olaf was my favorite character in the whole film – he was super funny, very cute, and was a selfless and caring character… inherently good and loved Anna unconditionally… my theory is because he was created by Elsa and although Elsa and Anna had grown apart, Elsa still loved Anna unconditionally.) Anna, Kristoff and Olaf face several external obstacles on their quest to have Elsa reverse the winter. As it’s a Disney film, all ends well and with true love overcoming all.

 

Overall, I really enjoyed this film. I thought the soundtrack was great and I left the theater with a lot of songs stuck in my head (always a good sign from a musical). The “Do You Want to Build a Snowman” might be one of the saddest songs I’ve ever heard about best friends/siblings growing apart. “Let It Go” would be my go-to car song if I still had my car. (I’ve listened to it thrice in the last hour…). “In Summer” was HILARIOUS. Oh, little Olaf… singing about what he would do in the heat of the summer. The best part was Kristoff’s reaction and how he really wanted to tell Olaf the truth about what happens to snow in summer. (Later, Olaf does find out what happens when snow comes in contact with heat, and it breaks your heart when he says, “Some people are worth melting for.” AWWWWWWWWW) During the end credits, Demi Lovato sings a pop version of “Let It Go,” and I loved that too.

 

The music was very reminiscent of other work. The opening song that the ice guys were singing very much reminded me of “Fathoms Below” from The Little Mermaid or “The Virginia Company” (and to some extent “Steady as the Beating Drum”) from Pocahontas… songs that establish the tone while also revealing cultural aspects of the setting. As mentioned before “Let It Go” was very much a “Defying Gravity”-esque ballad. It’s a means for Elsa to express her fears, but also allows her to take control of them and declare her newfound freedom and individuality. (Elsa had a lot of Elphaba moments… A LOT of them.) “In Summer” reminded me of some of the songs from The Book of Mormon (which originally co-starred Gad… not hard to put two and two together). Olaf’s obvious naivety about what would happen to him if he tried to stick around during the warmer months was very much akin to Elder Cunningham’s “Baptize Me” or “Man Up.” His heart is completely in the right place, but his common sense is very much elsewhere.

 

I was a little (okay, a lot) sad that Jonathan Groff only had one song (and a less than stellar one at that). He was wonderful voicing Kristoff, but I wanted to hear him sing much more than he did.

 

Another thing that bothered me about the film was the plot twist with Hans. I won’t spoil that for you, but it very much came out of nowhere and he basically just has an epic monologue that’s like “Here’s what’s really going on with me even though there was no foreshadowing to come to this conclusion, but you’re all going to go along with what I say because my voice is dreamy and I said so.”

 

The last thing that I found a bit unpleasant was that it got a little “damsel in distress” near the end when the film had been setting the female characters up as independent and headstrong women. However, I was pleased with the turn the scene ended up taking and was glad that the focus of the film was more about Elsa and Anna’s relationship than anything else.

 

I have an older sister and I definitely called her while I was walking to my apartment and left her a voicemail that she should go see this movie. A sister/sister relationship is a sacred thing and it was nice to see a well-crafted (and visually STUNNING) Disney film about sisters instead of just another film about a princess finding a prince.

 

Frozen was very entertaining and I really enjoyed myself. If you’re looking for a funny, heartfelt movie about family and friendship, I highly recommend it.

 

 

 

 

Glee – “Funeral”

Oh, Glee…

But, before I go on about tonight’s episode of Glee, I should say that I had a mostly unproductive day. I did work for a few hours… and while I was in the break room eating my granola bar, I saw my name posted on a sheet of paper on the wall. Evidently I was a top seller for the store during some period of time, and my name being on that list was kinda a big deal (even though I really could care less). So, even though I missed my last year’s sales goal by $600 and therefore didn’t get as big of a raise as I was supposed to get, I’m obviously doing something right this sales year. To be honest, though, I am just counting down the weeks until I don’t have to work there ever again. I’ll miss the people, but I will not miss that job. Not at all.

Glee – “Funeral”

(SPOILERS)

So, I am confident when I write that this was one of the most serious and saddest episodes of Glee that I have ever seen (it’s tied with “Grilled Chesus” in my eyes).

The episode opened with Mr. Schue telling the Glee kids that Jesse St. James is their new show choir consultant and how there will be auditions to see who should be featured in a solo/duet at Nationals.

I hate Jesse St. James exactly the same amount that I love Jonathan Groff. And j’adore Jonathan Groff…

Jesse St. James was plotting to pit the glee kids against each other. He flat-out told Finn that he’s a bad dancer and singer, and then (because of his reality show judging class at UCLA), was all ready to cut each auditioning glee kid down to size. (well… all but one glee kid, but more on that later)

Before any of the auditions happened, however, Becky and her mom approached Mr. Schue and asked if there was any way that Becky could join the glee club. Turns out Sue Sylvester kicked her off the Cheerios without explanation.

This was the moment that confirmed for me that it was, in fact, Sue’s sister Jean, who was the Glee character that died this episode. (For the record, I did several Google searches, and from what I found online, the actress who plays Jean, Robin Trocki, is very much alive and well… So, the character died. *Not* the actress.)

See, many weeks ago, it was revealed that someone was going to die during tonight’s episode of Glee. The only hint we were given was that the deceased was a female. Jean was the only character that made sense, as there was no way the show was going to get rid of Terri, Quinn’s mom, Finn’s mom or any of the female leads.

So, when Will approached Sue about kicking Becky off of the Cheerios and Sue said she did it because Becky reminds her of her sister, and that her sister died the night before, my heart just broke right in half.

I loved Sue’s relationship with Jean – it was a way for the audience to see that Sue was not just pure evil. When she was with Jean (or even just talking about Jean), Sue was warm and caring (or uber-defensive, as a sister should be).

So, when Sue said that Jean was dead, I knew that we were going to be in for one hell of an emotional episode. (More on that in a bit.)

Meanwhile, Will and Emma were sorting through Will’s vests. Turns out, rehearsals for April Rhodes’ broadway show (which I believe is called “CrossRhodes: The April Rhodes Story) start two days after Nationals, and the show opens just three weeks later. Will thinks that the show will likely close the same night it opens, so he would be back in Lima in time for the start of the next school year. Will hasn’t told any of the kids, nor does he plan to. However, the promo for next week indicates that they do find out… of course. Anyway, I doubt Will will leave the show… so, I’m sure his Broadway dreams will come crashing down before they start, or it’ll be a bit of cliffhanger to see if Schue will be back at McKinley. I bet he’ll be back. Matt Morrison needs Glee. I know he just released his solo album and will I guess be touring with NKOTBSB this summer. But he needs to suckle the Glee teat as long as he can, if he knows what’s best for him.

Anyway…

Will and Jesse are in charge of auditioning the glee kids for the Nationals solo/duet spot. The only four kids to sign up are Santana, Kurt, Mercedes and Rachel:

Santana – “Back to Black” – Girl can SANG. This is not my favorite Amy Winehouse song, but I dug Naya’s vocal on this song. She is an amazing singer – her voice is really aurally pleasing. It’s kinda raspy and really soulful.

Kurt – “Some People” (I can’t find a performance video yet… I’ll post one as soon as I can… oh wait, Here It Is 🙂 ) – I was super excited to find out that Kurt was singing this, as he had already nailed “Rose’s Turn” from Gypsy (the musical that “Some People” is also from). And I like it when Kurt sings songs that are traditionally sung by women (I mean, women sing “male” songs all the time… why shouldn’t Kurt sing a lady song? Equal opportunity vocals, yo.) However, (Unpopular opinion time) this was one of my least favorite Kurt performances. Perhaps it was his pants (Really, Kurt? Skull pants?). Perhaps it was the choreography. (I know Chris choreographed this one himself… it wasn’t horrible. I just wasn’t feeling it.) His vocal was good, but I wasn’t wowed. Kurt is my favorite Glee character. And I think that Chris Colfer is the bees knees and one of the most talented young people around. But I just was not a huge fan of this 😦

Mercedes – “Try a Little Tenderness” (I can’t find a performance video yet… will post one soon) – Damn. That was amazing. I mean, this song is just epic in itself, but Amber Riley completely owned it. If I was Mr. Schue, I would have stopped the audition process and just handed any Nationals solo to Mercedes.

Rachel – “My Man” (I can’t find a performance video yet… will post one soon) – As much as Rachel has gotten on my nerves (though a lot less as of late), she surely can belt out a Barbra song with such power and control. (Well, vocal control… she was kinda crying a lot. She was totally thinking about Finn during that song. And I liked that Kurt cried too… he feels music like no other character. 🙂 ) This performance was really beautiful and powerful. I will be belting that song out in my car on my upcoming road trip, for sure.

So, evil Jesse ripped poor Santana, Kurt and Mercedes to shreds (even though he was visibly impressed by Mercedes’ performance). But, he had nothing but praise for Rachel. I still can’t figure out if he’s really trying to win her back, or if he still has ulterior motives like last season. Hmmmm….

(Audition results weren’t announced until the end of the show, so I’ll get back to those at the end of the Glee post for continuity purposes.)

The rest of the episode pretty much focused on Sue, Jean’s passing, and the funeral.

Kurt and Finn approached Sue to express their sadness for her loss (Kurt lost his mom, Finn lost his dad, so they both have experience with death of a loved one, even though Finn’s dad died when he was really little.). Sue asked them why her sister was the one who died and she was the one who was still alive.

Eventually, Sue let Kurt and Finn arrange the funeral as well as help her gather her sister’s belongings from where she was living. The boys sorted through everything, but Sue told them that they should just throw it all away because she has all the memories of her sister that she needs.

You could tell Sue just didn’t know how to handle what was going on. And because she always pushes everyone away, she didn’t really have anyone to lean on during this time. Will offered to be that person, but Sue shot him down (though later on this changes).

Sue eventually confesses that the only reason she allowed the Glee kids to be in charge of funeral arrangements was because she was worried that no one was going to attend the service. She figured, if the glee kids were there, at least some people would be there for Jean.

Turns out, a lot of people showed up for Jean’s funeral. This whole scene was just really, really moving. I believe Ryan Murphy wrote this episode – props to you, sir, for a really moving tribute to Jean.

Because Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was Jean’s favorite movie, the Glee kids decorated the area around her casket with colorful mushrooms and a chocolate fountain. It was really beautiful.

The pastor began the service and asked Sue to come up and say something. Sue prepared a speech about how she missed her sister. However, just a couple sentences in, she choked up too much. So, Will got up and Sue stepped aside while Will read her words. Sue stood there next to him, nodding her head along to her words that were coming about of Will’s mouth. It was a moving little speech and my eyes teared up a bit.

Said tears continued to build when the speech was over and the glee kids got up to perform “Pure Imagination” (I can’t find a performance video yet… will post one soon… oh wait, here it is) while a video of Sue and Jean played on a television screen. The performance was simple, but extremely moving. The pictures and video clips of Sue and Jean were heartbreaking. So many smiles… so many good times. During the performance, Sue reached over and took Will’s hand. She squeezed it as the kids sang and it was just an extremely moving television-watching experience.

I really appreciate when comedic shows take on serious topics (such as this year on HIMYM with Marshall’s dad…). When done well, these serious moments have a way of really stopping an audience member in his or her tracks and really making him/her identify with these characters. I mean, I know that Glee is fiction. But we’ve invested almost two seasons into the lives of these people… and not every moment can be a happy one, even on a comedy. It’s these moments of heartfelt drama that allow us to really connect with these characters and the show. This show brings people together. Sometimes we’re laughing together. But sometimes we’re crying together too.

(On a super personal note, this episode meant a lot to me. Tomorrow is the 4th anniversary of my grandfather’s passing, so I have been thinking about him more than usual lately. He never had a funeral – he opted for all of us to have a big party at a pub instead 🙂 – but I miss him so much and I think about him all the time. So, when Sue was saying that she missed her sister, I keep thinking about how much I miss my Pop Pop. I will likely expand more on this during tomorrow’s post, but I thought it would be appropriate to mention how much this Glee funeral really affected me because I am still very much affected by the passing of my grandfather.)

ANYWAY… After the funeral, Finn was crying in his truck. Quinn hopped in and asked why he was crying. He said it was because he was breaking up with Quinn (finally!). During Sue’s speech, Will mentioned how Sue felt like she was tethered to Jean. Finn told Quinn that he doesn’t feel that with her. Quinn asked if he felt that with Rachel. He didn’t answer yes or no to that, but it has been painfully obvious that Finn likes Rachel way more than he liked Quinn.

Back at school later on, Jesse meets up with Rachel in the auditorium to tell her that she got the solo for Nationals and that he has feelings for her (not his words). Jesse leans in and kisses Rachel just as Finn walks into the auditorium with a flower in his hand (awwww, poor Finn). So, I hope the Finn/Rachel story gets played out a bit more in the finale. I don’t think Jesse will be around next season, so I’m sure Jesse/Rachel won’t last. But, I’m interested in seeing what happens with Finn and Rachel.

In the hallway, Santana, Kurt and Mercedes are around the list Mr. Schue hung with the audition results. There wasn’t any name on the list – instead, it just said there was a meeting in the choir room. Turns out, no one gets the solo – Mr. Schue wants them to sing their original songs as a group. When people complain (esp. Jesse who completely supports the cutthroat competition and would gladly see the kids turn against each other to the point of wanting to kill each other), Schue shuts them up and says that they are all in this together. Either they all win, or they all don’t. I support that mentality 🙂

So, next week is Nationals. I’ll actually be in Ohio staying at my friends’ house since I have my thesis defense that day. Hopefully they’ll want to watch the Glee finale too 🙂 If not… I’ll have to watch it online that night. I don’t want it spoiled for me!!! Hahaha

I can’t believe Glee is over for the summer after next week. I mean, I’ll be going to see Glee Live on June 1st. But then what?

I’m gonna miss it so much! Even though I have access to all of the episodes, either on DVD, my iPod or online. But still… I love new Glee.

Oh well 🙂

(END SPOILERS)

I’m gonna wrap this up now and watch The Voice. I love Adam Levine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have a good one

 

Christmas shopping is done. Woot times infinity.

I hate shopping. But, when you’re shopping for other people, it’s not quite as bad. Especially since I had a list, and I totally stuck to it… way to go me. So, I let the house just after 10 am, and was pulling back into the driveway before 1:00 this afternoon. Yep, all my shopping was done in less than 3 hours. *And* I already have all of the presents wrapped, bowed and neatly nestled under one of the many trees in our house. Woot times infinity. Now I just hope that my family members like what I got them… 🙂

Oh what a circus, oh what a show. Holiday shopping is not for the weary. I bundled up in my long johns, warm boots, Yoda hat, scarf, et al. I ended up wearing my glasses the whole morning because I have trouble seeing down aisles and reading signs in a mall setting (I blame the lighting. Although I’m sure my not-as-awesome-as-it-used-to-be vision is at fault as well.).

I was super happy to get back to the house. My mom also went shopping this morning, but she went to a different town/shopping area. We left around the same time, but I got home 30 minutes before she did. So, I got a plate of vegetables and munched on some carrots and broccoli while I watched my favorite clips for A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel on youtube via our Wii. Nice 😉

My mom got home, and we had some lunch then Wii bowled for a bit. She showed me where Christmas wrap and such was, so I went down to my room, put on an awesome iTunes playlist and sang my little heart out while I was wrapping presents. I sing all the time anyway, but I’ve been practicing extra hard for my audition on Saturday. I can’t believe it’s only a few days away. I still need to figure out what to wear, as I’ll need to dress for the weather, but also want to represent myself as an individual who has some semblance of an idea about fashion. Not that I’m going all out for this… totally wearing jeans and some comfy boots or Chucks (I’ll be standing in a line all day… I need to stay warm and be comfortable), but I need to figure out a top. I was thinking my plaid puffy vest and grey thermal top.

But who knows… I’ll figure that out tomorrow or Thursday when I’m packing. I also need to scrub my bathroom tomorrow and get my room ready for when my siblings come this weekend!!! My sister and I share a room when we are both here, so I need to move some of my stuff.

I’m really looking forward to seeing my siblings this weekend. I know I just saw them a few weeks ago at Thanksgiving, but my sister had her boyfriend and another friend with her, so we didn’t get any time to talk or be ridiculous around each other. I lived with my sister for four years and now we hardly get a chance to talk to each other or anything, so I’m really looking forward to a week with her. And my brother is the funniest person on the planet. So it’ll be so great having him around because everything that flies out of his mouth is hilarious. Yay family

Today was Glee Tuesday (of course) and Fox aired re-runs of “The Power of Madonna” and “Britney/Brittany”. I’ve already given epic monologues about both episodes in prior posts, but I will say that it was super nice to rewatch “The Power of Madonna” because it’s always great to see Jonathan Groff on my television 🙂 My two favorite numbers from that episode are “Borderline/Open Your Heart” and “Like a Prayer”. I like “Borderline/Open Your Heart” because I always love a good Finn and Rachel duet. Plus, at this point in the show, they both like each other but aren’t with each other. Teen angst makes me chuckle. I like “Like a Prayer” because nothing says awesome like a gospel choir. Plus, that song is just amazing… I know I have it on a few mix CDs. You can’t not sing along when it’s playing.

“Britney/Brittany” was good because I love Britney Spears music. Yep, love it. File that under guilty pleasure music for sure, but I have tons of Britney music on my computer and iPod. My biggest gripe with that episode, though, is that throughout the episode, Kurt is the one pressuring Mr. Schue to let them sing Britney music, and yet Kurt doesn’t get any Britney solos, nor is he really featured in any of the music numbers. Big props, though, for the writers for sneaking some Christopher Cross into the episode. I still laugh like whoa when Mr. Schue is in his new car and “Sailing” comes on and he’s like, “This is my jam!”

That’s totally something I say all the time… mostly when Mandy Moore’s “Candy” or BSB’s “I Want it That Way” come on 🙂

I work tomorrow night from 4:30-12:15. That makes me sad, as I do not like being at work that late… because it’s usually dead. At least then I can sing to myself while I straighten up. I just really don’t like driving that late at night. The roads still aren’t awesome and I really am uncomfortable driving when I am tired. (You know, because it’s not safe…) I look forward to working at a place where I don’t have crazy weird hours and I actually love my job. Some day…

Hopefully that someday is sooner rather than later. I have it all figured out that 2011 is going to be my year. I’m giving myself to the end of 2010 to finish stewing over some stuff, but then when 2011 rolls around, wha-blam. It’s my turn, world.

I’m finishing this stupid thesis. I’m finding an awesome job. I’m going to completely move on from shenanigans that have gone down in the past couple years. I deserve to be happy just like everyone else deserves to be happy, so I’m going to make that happy happen. And maybe it involves starting over. But it’s going to happen. In 2011.

So… I think I’m really tired right now and should probably stop typing. It’s only almost 10 and I need to stay up until 1:00, so I think I will finish watching a web-video I started the other night and then maybe try to finish my book so I can start reading another one.

Have a good one!

 

“I will sing the song of purple summer.”

Oh, Spring Awakening, how I love you so…

I had off from work today (because I had tickets to tonight’s performance of Spring Awakening).

It was “fall back” with the clocks last night… so instead of using that extra hour to get some sleep and wake up all happy and rested, I was up at 5:55 AM, unable to fall back to sleep. Ugh.

I stayed in bed until 6:30 and only went upstairs when I thought I heard dogs and/or a person stirring… it was my dad and he dogs. He made coffee, I made tea and we waited for my mom to wake up. She did soon thereafter and we ate crescents while watching the news. Why must most of the news be so depressing?

After that, I threw some laundry in the washing machine and got ready to head out. I had time to throw my stuff in the dryer before I headed toward the city to pick up my BFF for our day at the Mall of America.

Now, I am not a huge fan of malls, but the Mall of America is okay. Except that we got there just after 10 and none of the stores opened until 11! So, we walked around the main three floors to plan where we wanted to go… I needed chapstick, she needed clothes and shoes.

By time 11 rolled around, we had walked the three floors and were hungry because our tummies had yet to adjust to the time change, so we had some food and chatted for awhile, catching up on the excitement (her) or lack thereof (me) over the past few weeks.

We stopped in Claire’s, as she wanted to look for earrings. I looked at the Glee stuff… there was Glee chapstick/lip gloss, but it was weird flavors. There was also a Finn Hudson pillowcase…

My BFF was super successful in Old Navy – we still can’t get over the fact that there is no sales tax on clothes here in MN! Craziness!!!

We browsed a few other stores… it makes me happy that there are Burberry and Coach stores so close to where I live. I can’t afford anything in there (well, I could, but then I wouldn’t be able to pay any bills…), but I just like looking at all the pretty purses. Some day, I will walk into Burberry and be able to afford the trench and totes I’ve always wanted. Today was not that day.

I found success in Hot Topic… I got mint chapstick for $1 – awesome. But, my best purchase of the day was my brand new winter hat… it’s a Yoda Hat!!! It’s probably the greatest thing of all time.

After picking that out, we headed to the DSW because I wanted to look at boots. Molly ended up getting what she calls “Witch Shoes” and I got two pairs of Chucks. I got another pair of pink ones (these are more magenta, whereas a pair I already have are neon pink) and a pair of gray ones that have colorful laces. And the Chucks were on sale!!! And tax-free!!!

We got some DQ before we left (of course) and then we drove back to my house to play some Wii bowling and other sports. Then, we went and got some pizza and watched an episode of Glee (“Laryngitis“) before we left for the show.

And then there was Spring Awakening…

My parents dropped us off at the theater a bit before the show. Our seats were in the 3rd balcony. I got up to the 2nd balcony when we found out that the only souvenir stand was in the main lobby on the bottom floor. I went back downstairs to buy a production booklet (it featured photographs from the original Broadway cast, starring Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff). With the booklet, I was given a Spring Awakening bag with drawstrings… like those sporty backpacks that everyone seemed to be carrying around in college on the way to Ping.

The show started and I was sucked into the world of musical theater.

I seriously would give up watching movies if I could see a Broadway/touring production every day/week. Live theater gives me a natural high that I cannot explain. When the lights are down and the show is being performed, I am there in the moment with the actors. Sometimes, when I get really into the plot or songs or whatnot, I forget that there are hundreds of other people in the room.

I saw Spring Awakening on Broadway in the summer of 2007 when it still featured all of the original cast. I saw the cast perform on the Tonys a couple moths earlier and knew I needed to see the show. So, that August, my sister and I saw it – and we loved it. The songs were great, the cast was great, the energy was great. A bit untraditional, but that’s what we liked about it.

I was thrilled when I heard Spring Awakening was touring this year, as I always wanted to see it again. I knew that any touring cast, regardless how talented the performers, would never come close to the pedestal on which I placed the original cast. However, I still enjoyed the show a lot. The songs are still powerful, the plot is still relevant, and the energy is still present. There must have been a solid one or two minutes-worth of applause after “Totally F**ked”. It was electrical.

I feel that Spring Awakening is the first musical of my generation. We were a bit too young when Rent came out in 1996 to claim that as our own, but the 2006 opening of Spring Awakening hit a similar chord. It’s not your mama’s musical, that’s for sure. There are still ballads and duets and whatnot. But in place of lavish dance numbers and grandiose sets and lots of bright costumes, Spring Awakening delivers powerful and socially relevant messages through rock numbers and sometimes jarring body movements.

There were several parts of this touring show that were different than the Broadway version. In this touring show, there was not part of the stage that was lifted off the floor. Also, the version of “Song of Purple Summer” was different than the one on the cast album.

While the actors’ singing voices were not consistently strong throughout the show, I thought that everyone did an admirable job. I would imagine this is an emotionally taxing show for the performers – with all the serious subjects covered, the choreography, and the physical nature of the show. I hope people across the country take this opportunity to see current and relevant musical theater.

And… that’s about it 🙂 I was gonna watch Dexter, but I think I’ll call it quits and sleep. Work tomorrow… all afternoon and evening. *sigh*

Have a good one!

 

I didn’t rock the vote… but I’m okay with that.

I know it’s my civic duty to vote. And this year, I opted to not partake in said civic duty… plus I am not registered in the state where I currently live. Although, when my parents got back from the polls, they said that people were registering there and you only had to have lived in the state for 20 days.

What?!

Anyway, I didn’t vote. Go ahead and judge. However, I was not up to par on most of the issues and I wasnot really feeling any of the choices for governor (though I for sure would not have voted for Emmer… at the very least for that ad about his drunk driving).

Anyway, I didn’t vote. I will next year, and for sure in 2012.

~~~~~

I stayed up way later than I should have last night to watch the rest of Dexter from Sunday and last night’s How I Met Your Mother. (I ❤ Jason Segel, Josh Radnor and Neil Patrick Harris…)

Dexter is still such an amazing show… but I as much as I like the character of Lumen, I am getting for seriously sick of Julia Stiles. Every time she’s on the screen all I can think about is her sub-par turn in The Prince & Me (yes, I’ve seen that movie… probably way more times than anyone needs to have seen that movie. Three times… I think I’ve seen it three times. Curse you, ABC Family channel and your movie marathons.).

(SPOILERS) I am more and more intrigued about the Deb-Quinn-Dexter triangle. Deb and Quinn professed feelings for each other (awwwwww), but we all know Quinn is set on finding out the truth about Dexter/Kyle Butler. When it all comes down to it, when is Deb going to find out what Quinn is up to? Will Dexter end up killing Quinn? Will Deb find out who Dexter really is? Will Deb chose Dexter over Quinn? Quinn over Dexter? (Dexter is her only family left…) I want more of that plot and more and more of the Lumen story. But I am beyond over LaGuerta and Batista. Good god. Enough with the bar fight and IA. Sheesh. (END SPOILERS)

I slept off an on, but awoke for good in the middle of a horrible dream (nightmare?) about my brother trying to stab me with a knife. My parents, brother and I (don’t know where my sister was…) were back in our Ohio house and it was winter time. My brother kept threatening me even though my dad told him not to. I packed my bags and was fleeing the house, though quietly so my brother couldn’t hear me leave. I had a bag slung over my shoulder and was holding a huge box of stuff in my hands. I managed to get outside, but saw a strange dog going up the walk on the side of our house. I went down the porch stairs and around to the side of the house to see what dog it was. I then turned around to head toward my car when I heard someone behind me. It was my brother and he had this knife… I turned around to face him and was trying to hit him with the box as he leaned toward me to stab me and then I woke up.

What a horrible, horrible dream 😦

My brother and I have a great relationship in real life. And there was no stabbings on any of the shows I watched before bed, so I am confused as to how I dreamt that crap up. Maybe I shouldn’t stay up so late…

I got up and had some shredded wheat and watched Robert Downey Jr promote Due Date on Regis and Kelly. I then head back down to my room to work on my Methods Section. I still haven’t heard back from my professor (I plan on sending another email on Thursday when I [hopefully] get my Methods Section completed), but I was super proud of myself for solving a problem with my coding sheet that arose during my work today. Oh the word “other,” how you have come in handy. My Methods Section is a hot mess right now, but I hope to fix it on Thursday now that I think I know what’s going on 🙂

A few hours later I shut off my computer and went upstairs to see how my mom was doing. She took down Halloween stuff and started to decorate for Thanksgiving. We have a couple busy months ahead of us here, having to host various functions. So we need to be prepared and decorated well in advance. Mom took a break too so we made lunch and played some Yahtzee.

I went back to my room to work on my paper some more. I heard my mom’s phone ring a little while later – it was my dad calling to say he would be home early.

I finished up what I could get done today and met up with the parents upstairs for a beverage. My mom and I played some Wii bowling (I got my Pro ball back!) and golf. I did -2 on the 9 hole course, so that was a personal best for me. Mom still needs to learn how to check the topography of the green before she putts. But she’s getting there.

Around 5 my dad went to drill some holes in wood for pens in the garage while mom and I went to the kitchen to start making dinner. Well, mom made dinner… I sat on the counter and kept her company while we listened to my “Power Songs” mix for the umpteenth time. The Wilson Phillips song “Hold On” is on there because of that scene in Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle (i.e. my favorite scene from any H&K movie thus far):

Then, of course, there was some Michael Bolton because no cheesy power songs mix is complete without some Michael Bolton (2:35 = best part, 🙂 ):

We had dinner around 6 and watched the news to see if there was any election updates (not really).

At 7, we watched the Dancing with the Stars results show. Taylor Swift sang a couple songs… I actually like her music (even though I don’t like country… but she’s more pop than anything). She’s not the best vocalist live, but her lyrics are catchy. She sang that song “Mine,” which I dig. I was glad to see Rick Fox get the boot… he wasn’t going to win. I hope Bristol gets ousted next week, as Kyle, Brandy, Kurt and Jennifer deserve to be Top 4. Though, I want the Top 3 to be Jennifer, Brandy and Kyle. I like Kurt, but he won’t win. He’s not the best dancer of the people left.

In between Dancing Show, I flipped over to the rerun of Glee – “Funk”. It’s the second to last episode from Season 1. Not my favorite by a long shot, but I do like that it was one of the episodes featuring Jonathan Groff as Jesse St. James. Groff kills it, of course, on “Another One Bites The Dust.” Also, Will’s performance of “Tell Me Something Good” may be one of the funniest Glee moments of all time. Watching Sue’s face while he dances for her is PRICELESS. The first (and second and third and fourth…) time I saw that part of the show, I almost choked because I was laughing so hard. But if given the opportunity, I would have gladly swapped places with Jane Lynch… 😉

I stayed up to watch a bit of the election results, but it frustrates me when they call it one way or another when only 16% of a precinct’s votes have been tallied. So, I figure I can just wait until tomorrow morning to find out who won for where. Plus, the last time I stayed up on an election night (when Obama got voted in in 2008), I ended up getting violently ill and then was bedridden for a week or so with the flu (Happy 25th Birthday to me…).

Side note – a friend from undergrad is actually running for office tonight back in Ohio. Check out his website… his videos and political ads are great. Last I checked he only had 3% of the votes, but I think it’s great that he ran. I don’t know if he’ll run again, but he seemed to have a bunch of good ideas. Maybe Ohio and Congress aren’t ready for this kind of progress. Yet.

Well, off to bed for me… I work tomorrow morning/afternoon. Woot.

Anyway, I hope you have a great day!

 

New GLEE!!!! (And I accomplished some other stuff too…)

First off, a big BOOOOOO to the weather. There was an epic thunderstorm this morning at 2:30. Blah… at least the dogs were kind enough to let me sleep in until 8:15ish again.

After letting the dogs out, feeding them, and letting them out again, I made myself some tea and breakfast and sat down to watch some more of Rudo y Cursi. I think I only have 40 minutes left to go. I still like it fine, though the plot is not super interesting. I do like sports movies and I am a fan of Bernal and Luna, so I will finish it out soon, I’m sure.

After fueling up with some yogurt and Grape Nuts, I went down to my room to work on my Literature Review. Yukon followed me downstairs and slept on my floor while I typed up some more about hegemony (and checked emails and watched a bunch of videos on youtube… I distract so easily. Especially when I was watching more Jonathan Groff videos… the guy is entertaining and so adorable… I can’t help it).

At noon I stopped to let the dogs out and make lunch. My head hurt again (as it has been for the past few days), so I took some pills and opted against subtitles with lunch. I put Iron Man back on and watched Robert Downey Jr and his glowing chest for 20 minutes or so.

After lunch it was back downstairs to type. Blah. But, again Yukon followed me to my room, so at least I had some company while I typed. She’s the best 🙂

Around 3, I assumed the mail came, so I stopped typing and let the dogs out. Alas, no mail… sadness. But I did vacuum the upstairs of the house and bag some trash, as tomorrow is trash pick up day.

After my chores (and a brownie…) I went back to my room to type some more. I finished the third part of my Literature Review and will move on to part four tomorrow… only two parts left!!

My eyes couldn’t take staring at the screen anymore (much like right now – ouch), so I quit at 4:30 to do some dishes and feed the dogs a bit early (they usually eat around 5).

When the dogs were fed and let outside then back in, I decided to tackle dinner for myself. I was making Chinese food from a can (so, obviously not great Chinese food…) but couldn’t find the can opener. Plus, the can opener is kinda busted, so it’s not like if I found it, it would be much help. But, I remembered that we inherited an electric can opener when we got all that furniture from my grandmother, so I tracked that down instead. Having never operated an electric can opener before, I was a bit confused as to how it worked, but I figured it out. Magnificent machine!

Just as I sat down with my dinner, my phone rang – it was my mom! She was just updating me on what she and my dad were up to… my crazy parents 🙂 I love them so.

When we hung up, I ate my crappy Chinese food and started watching Me and Orson Welles (the mail had finally come… hello Netflix DVD!). I wanted to see this movie when it was in theaters and almost did… but the person I asked to see it with me had reservations about sitting through a Zac Efron movie. So, I never ended up seeing it… until tonight 🙂 (I will expand on my opinions in a bit, as at this point, I had only watched 15 minutes of the movie and hadn’t quite formed my thoughts about it.)

After dinner I took care of a few more chores and then sat down to watch Glee!!!!!!!

Oh new episodes of Glee, how I missed thee 🙂

(SPOILERS ahead)

Glee 2.01 – “Audition” – It was nice to see my favorite McKinley High glee clubbers after a long summer… we didn’t get as much time with some of my favorite supporting people (Kurt!), but on a whole I liked the episode. Even though we were introduced to four new characters, they didn’t feel overwhelming, nor was the spotlight every really taken away from our original cast. I like the new football coach, Coach Beiste (it’s French…). It’s nice to see a new rival for Sue. I thought the scene where Beiste yelled at Finn was great… especially after he called her “Dude”. Whoops… I was worried about Chord Overstreet as Sam Evans, but I think he’s going to be a nice addition to the show. He actually sings really well… I liked his version of “Billionaire“. Way to go, writers for calling out his Beiber hair. (Also, way to go writers for Jacob Ben Israel’s video blog at the beginning of the episode… I almost choked on my popcorn when he told Mr. Schue about the poll of people who didn’t like when he rapped.)

So, is Charice only going to be on this one episode of Glee? Or are we going to see Sunshine Corazon again when it comes time for New Directions to face off against Vocal Adrenaline? I liked her duet of “Telephone” with Rachel and her solo of “Listen“. Both those songs are part of some of my go-to shower song Playlists…

I wish we would have seen more of Cheyenne Jackson! I know we’ll be seeing more of him as Vocal Adrenaline’s coach. I can’t wait to hear/see him sing!!! I love him on 30 Rock, so I’m extra pumped he’s going to be on Glee.

Other things I loved about the episode:
1. Rachel singing “What I Did For Love“. I hate A Chorus Live, but I friggin’ love that song 🙂
2. Even though I love Artie, I was happy to see Tina and Mike Chang going out! (As well as Harry Shum Jr’s abs… day-yum) Hopefully we’ll get to see more of them (Tina and Mike) together!
3. “Empire State of Mind“… I just love this song 🙂
4. My most favorite part of this episode was Finn’s Cheerios try-out. Holy hell, I hadn’t laughed that loud in awhile. Cory Monteith, my hat is forever off to you for that epically awful dance routine! I LOVED IT!! (No video has been posted yet… but I will keep an eye out for it. It was BRILLIANT)

(END GLEE SPOILERS)

Also – I can’t wait for next week’s episode… it’ll be the first one with John Stamos AND it’s the Britney Spears episode… and I friggin’ LOVE Britney Spears songs. (Yep, I admit it. I love Britney Spears and her music… so sue me.)

So, after Glee, I opted not to watch any of new shows that premiered after it and decided I wanted to finish watching Me and Orson Welles.

If you’ve read some of my prior blog entries regarding Zac Efron and his movies, you will already know that I freely admit to liking Efron and pretty much everything I’ve seen him in (though I never ended up seeing that Charlie St. Cloud movie… but I do love me some HSM, Hairspray and 17 Again). I thought Efron did a pretty decent job in Me and Orson Welles. He comes across as charming, but still is able to take hold of more dramatic scenes. You want to root for his character, Richard.

I am a fan of Welles’s work in the theater (see also Cradle Will Rock) and all things Broadway (see my stack of Playbills kept neatly in a box in my room…), so it was neat to see a fictional take on when he put up Caesar at the Mercury in 1937. I love watching theater sequences in major motion pictures (see also Stage Beauty). For me, it’s the best of both worlds… stage and screen.

I also dug the period-piece look of the film. It looked like autumn, with the oranges, browns, tans and reds (except for the theater costumes, which were black and very military-esque). Though the palette was appropriate and gorgeous, I’m a bit surprised the wardrobe people stuck to it so strictly with Efron’s character. Usually when the lead actor is that decent looking and has that shade of blue eyes, one would put him in something blue to make his eyes pop, but the wardrobe people did not go that route. For me, some of Efron’s eye-acting (not a real term, I know, but a majority of an actor’s performance does, or at least should, come from his/her eyes) got lost among his eyebrows and skin-tone. But that’s just me…

I liked the movie and am glad I finally saw it 🙂

Anyway, I am super tired and must be getting to sleep. Moose is currently snoring away and I would like to be doing the same…

Have a good one!

 

I love season premiere week!!

It was super nice to sit down and watch brand spankin’ new episodes of How I Met Your Mother, Dancing With the Stars and Castle…

Of course, watching television for 3 hours wasn’t the only thing I did today. That would just be silly…

After an extremely fitful night of sleep, the dogs were kind enough to not lick me, kick me, or poke me with wet noses until around 8:20 this morning. I have my fingers crossed that the same will apply for tomorrow morning. They are both sleeping soundly right now, and I hope to join them in slumber as soon as humanly possible. My eyes are throbbing from staring at the computer for a solid chunk of the day, so I’d like to make this brief, even though I know it won’t be.

After I let the dogs out, fed them, and let them out again, I settled down with some oatmeal and an orange to watch the rest of Art School Confidential. It wasn’t what I expected, but all in all it was okay. I don’t need to see it again.

After breakfast, I put in a load of laundry and then got to work on my Lit Review. I resorted all my notes to find all the pages I needed for the section I’m currently working on (oh, glass ceiling and hegemony… how you make me want to throw up in my mouth a little bit). I got another page or so typed up and then took a break to let out the dogs, do some dishes and have lunch. I decided it was about time to start up a new movie… this time Rudo y Cursi, a Mexican movie starring BFFs Gael Garcia Bernal and Deigo Luna (see also Y Tu Mama Tambien). I am fans of both actors and wanted to see this since it was out in theaters awhile back. I only made it in about 40 minutes before I had to stop and get back to work. So far, so good.

I called in to work to see if I could talk to my supervisor and find out if I am supposed to come in at all any time before my in-store training on Saturday. I left a message and then called back three hours later to follow up, but no dice. I’ll try again tomorrow…

I got some more of my Lit Review done (probably 2 or 3 pages total today… not too bad) and then chatted with Robin 🙂 I’m super happy for her that she’ll be completely done with her thesis shenanigans in the next couple months! Exciting times

After our chat I folded laundry and then let the dogs out again. The mail came by this time, so I browsed through the latest issue of Rolling Stone. Meh

I did another load of dishes, fed the dogs, let them out, and then made myself some dinner… salad, applesauce and a turkey sandwich. Mmm Mmm good. Since I had a bad headache, I opted not to watch my Mexican movie and instead put on Iron Man. I think I got about 20 minutes in when I turned it off.

I put my iPod up as loud as it would go and got a shower. Listening to music helped the headache, but having the hot water beating down on my back helped even more… It’s supposed to thunderstorm tonight, so my back has been acting up/spasming a bit today. Not cool.

After the best shower ever, I charged my iPod, uploaded some songs from my computer onto it and watched all my shows.

How I Met Your Mother – I hope this season is way better than last season, as last season left a lot to be desired. Although I love all five of the lead actors on that show, I think I love Jason Segel the most. He’s someone I would want to befriend in real life. I love his work – he has the ability to make you laugh at him or with him and he is in total control of it. I just want to give that man a hug and thank him for a decade of smiles.

Dancing with the Stars – I missed the first three dancers, but it was people I didn’t really care for anyway. But it’s a pretty decent cast this year. I’m most excited for Brandy (b/c she’s dancing with Maks), Michael Bolton (because he’s Michael Bolton… but as I told my sister, “He dances like a robot. Like a sexy older man robot… But a robot. With bad posture.”), Jennifer Grey (she’s pretty graceful, and I like that she’s partnered with Derek), Kurt Warner (b/c I like him as a QB) and Rick Fox (b/c he’s Rick Fox…). Oh, also Margaret Cho looks to be highly entertaining… plus she’s with Louie!!

Castle – I Love This Show. Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic have good chemistry. I also like how it’s not a standard cop show, even though a writer’s involvement would never get that deep within the police department. There’s no way that a writer would be able to interrogate people or do all the stuff that Castle gets to do. But, I will suspend disbelief 🙂

Well… tomorrow I will work on my paper more. I might vacuum too… there is dog hair everywhere. It’s probably coating my lungs right now…

Also, tomorrow is GLEE TUESDAY!!! I am so pumped for the premiere of Glee 🙂

Also also, here is a good article from the NY Times about Michael C. Hall. LOVE HIM!!!

Have a good one

P.S. The October issue of Esquire has some RIDICULOUSLY attractive pictures of Jonathan Groff in it… and a great article about him and his play, Deathtrap. (pages 207-213)

 

I know it’s not “cold” yet by MN standards, but I busted out my grandpa socks…

I get that the low tonight is only 46. And thought that is not in any way “cold” by MN standards, that’s cold enough to make my nose start running and my throat feel scratchy. Ever since I can remember I just can’t handle these sudden changes in the weather. And although I’m perfectly fine in 46 degrees, I totally busted out my grandpa socks. I’m wearing them right now, so my feet are nice and toasty.

Grandpa socks… let me explain.

My siblings and I called our great-grandfather “grandpa”. (We called my mom and dad’s parents “Grammy” and “Pop-Pop”), so I didn’t understand until fairly recently that parents parents are actually grandparents and parents grandparents are great-grandparents… I just assumed everyone had Grammies, Pop-Pops, Grandmas and Grandpas. Anyway, my grandpa (great-grandfather) passed away when I was a sophomore in college. I didn’t get to attend any service for him because he lived in New Jersey and I was at OU and it was finals week. Somehow I ended up with two pairs of his socks… and I think I’m the only one of his three great-grandchildren to end up with anything of his.

So, go ahead and judge if you must, but I totally wear the socks during the fall and winter time. They are super warm and it’s like he’s wrapping me up in a huge hug… or at least a hug that warms my feet. But I think of him every time I wear them and I remember all the good times I got to have with him. I feel lucky that I got to know my great-grandfather and spend a decent amount of time with him, even though we lived far apart. I love my grandpa and I love wearing my grandpa socks 🙂

So, today was a fairly busy day where once again zero point zero school work was done. (Tomorrow, for reals… I already told my mom that I need to work on the paper and not play ping-pong all the time.)

My job interview was at 11:30, but I got to the mall way early because I had never been to the department store before where I was to interview at. I had directions to where I needed to go, but the store had 3 levels and I was under the assumption it had 2. I was wrong, obviously. I found out where I needed to go, then walked around the mall for a bit to kill time and look at purses and Chucks.

You were supposed to check in for your interview 5-10 minutes early. Since I am freakishly early all the time, I checked in fifteen minutes early. I was told to wait outside the office on a chair. I brought a book, so I sat down and read… after 25 minutes no one had come for me. I was a bit peeved. I checked in well before my interview time, and know how important punctuality is at a job interview. So finally I got up and asked again if I was in the right spot. They told me someone would be with me soon.

I finally got called to my interview and was taken to some manager’s office. A nice girl started interviewing me, then saw what my prior retail experience was and called a manager from a specific department (though not the department I had placed my application for…). So, the woman who was interviewing me stopped and had this other manager person interview me for a department that I had not applied for. And after a handful of me awkwardly trying to answer some ridiculous questions (and talking with my hands A LOT), I was offered a position at the store. I said “yes” even though I really would have rather worked in the department that I applied for, but there was an immediate opening in this other department, so I accepted. I need money, and I have prior experience and the manager seems super nice. So, I will be making near minimum wage at a department store that almost makes a billion dollars a year profit (yeah, I read all the information on their website the night before…). But, a job is a job, and I am thankful to have one. I start my training in a week and a half. This weekend is quality time with my sister in Kansas 🙂

An HR woman had me fill out some paperwork and scheduled me for my training and answered some questions. She was also super nice. So far, it’s been a pleasant introduction to the new workplace.

After my interview and job acceptance, I called my mom to tell her the good news. I drove home and we played some Yahtzee during lunch. We then ran errands to the library and grocery store. My mom reads more books than anyone else I have every known in my entire life, which is a huge compliment to her. She likes murder mysteries, and most of them have horrible titles chock full of puns. But my mom can get through an entire stack of books in less than a week (she reads a lot before bed each night… and sometimes during the night if she can’t sleep). I still have about fifty pages left on my Dexter book that I’ve been reading for awhile, and another stack of ten or twelve library books next to my bed. I wish I could read as fast as my mom… I’m never going to get through all I want to read!

After the library we ran to the grocery store to get her another flavor of Gatorade for tomorrow and me some soda for my trip to see my sister. My mom isn’t allowed to eat stuff with fiber in it before the colonoscopy, so we each got a doughnut, because we figured there can’t possibly be any fiber/anything of healthy substance in a doughtnut. She’s not allowed to eat any food besides Jello or popsicles tomorrow, which I know is not ideal for my mom. But, it’s only one day, so I’ll help make sure she gets through everything okay. She’s got instructions for different pills and powders she has to ingest tomorrow. I’ll work on my paper tomorrow morning, but then will try and do whatever I can to make sure my mom is doing okay in the afternoon (she’s a tough cookie, I’m sure everything is going to be just fine). Thursday morning I’ll drive her to her appointment, then we’re celebrating with Panera for lunch *and* she’s getting me a DVD at Best Buy for me being her chauffeur – awesome! But, her health is more important to me than a DVD, just for the record!

After errands, I kicked her ass in Yahtzee while we had a drink/doughnut break. Then she kicked my ass in ping-pong… we played for over an hour, which was probably eight or nine games and I lost every single one. My mom then mowed the front lawn and our neighbor’s lawn while I checked email and my entertainment news… and was super pleased to see on EW.com that Amy Poehler is hosting the SNL season premiere and that Jenny Slate is leaving the cast!! I was not a huge fan of Slate’s, but I will say that I did like her Marcel the Shell with Shoes Ons video. It’s adorable!

My dad got home a bit later and we all watched the two Glee reruns, much to my dad’s chagrin. (Spoiler Alerts ahead if you haven’t seen the episodes…)

Laryngitis – Seeing/hearing Lea Michele sing Miley Cyrus’s “The Climb” is super funny. My mom even said that it must have been hard for Lea Michele to sing that bad on purpose, and I tend to agree with her. This episode hit a lot of serious notes… the whole Puck using Mercedes for popularity was on the low end of the serious spectrum, while Finn’s paralyzed friend and the ongoing Kurt/Burt Hummel story were heavy plot lines to be tackled in one 42 minute program. There were almost too many dramatic moments. But I love Glee, so I’ll watch regardless.

Dream On – Oh, Neil Patrick Harris as Bryan Ryan. Soooooo worthy of the Emmy win for Guest Actor in a Comedy Series 🙂 I wish there was a full length version of the Bryan Ryan/Will Schuester duet of “Piano Man”. I laugh so hard when NPH sings into his beer bottle… as I’m totally the type of person who sings into any bottle, remote, brush, ping-pong paddle, etc. The Artie wanting to walk plot is another one of Glee‘s heavy, yet briefly mentioned themes. His dream sequence of the “Safety Dance” flash mob is great. Kevin McHale is a great dancer 🙂 Besides the return of Jesse St. James (Jonathan Groff!!!!!!!), the other two best parts of the episode are the Bryan/Will duet of “Dream On” and the Rachel/Shelby duet of “I Dreamed a Dream”.

“Dream On” is money… that note that NPH hits at the end is SICK. Just sooooooo good. I love me some Mr. Schue and NPH.

“I Dreamed a Dream” is great because Lea Michel and Idina Menzel can SING. They are well cast as daughter/mother and their singing voices complement each other very well.

And that’s that…

Please remember that the Stand Up 2 Cancer special is on this Friday night on all the major broadcast networks at 8/7c.

Now, off to try and finish my Dexter book… then sleep!!

Have a good one 🙂

 

Glee-runs = happiness :)

Thank God for Glee, that’s all I’m saying…

After feeling uber crappy yesterday, I woke up feeling still a bit off, but mostly incredibly sore on the left side of my body. Did I sleep wrong? Is my body just deciding to fail on me? Maybe… I wouldn’t have been surprised if my right arm hurt from playing catch with my dad the other day (I hadn’t thrown a softball in several years), but nope… the left side is the hurty one (yep, “hurty”. Not a word, but I use it all the time. Deal with it.)

So, after asking my mom to shoot me to put me out of my misery (she said no), I wandered back down to my room after breakfast to get working on my Literature Review… I did get a little bit more written, but I mostly misused my time by checking email, reading up about the Emmys telecast, and rewatching the Emmys’s opening video another few times. I still think this is the most brilliant thing I’ve ever seen – props to you, Jimmy Fallon, for making my mind grapes explode with your inclusion of my favorite things (Glee, Jon Hamm, Tina Fey, Joel McHale, etc… LOVED IT!)

After noon, my mom and I took a lunch break only to return to our respective locales afterward. (She spent the day vacuuming and straightening the upstairs and foyer… they look marvelous) I nestled back down into my oversized red recliner and watched the Emmys video another couple times. I did do a bit more work, but for the amount of time I was supposed to be working on my paper, I know I didn’t get as much done as I should have. For shame, Me, for shame.

At 2:45 Mom and I took a drink and Yahtzee break. After I returned to my room, this time to fold laundry. I got a few items folded but then ended up talking on the phone with Robin for awhile 🙂 Talking to a friend about thesis stuff should count toward actually doing thesis work, right? Because we totally talked shop for an hour…

My dad got home from work early, so I ditched my laundry and went upstairs to see my parents. We watched the news with dinner (I almost teared up during a package about parents who returned home from the war!) then I finally finished folding my laundry. I caught the tail end of Entertainment Tonight and they said that on tomorrow’s show they would have video of the rehearsal footage from the Emmys opener… I will have to make sure to watch that at some point. Seeing Jon Hamm rehearse choreographed dance moves is probably going to be excellent television…

Around 7 I headed back upstairs and flipped on the television to watch the President’s address to the nation about the combat troops being pulled out of Iraq. I like the way he delivers speeches, but I was not impressed with the camera work. Every now and again there was a slow zoom that was super noticeable. I don’t know who is in charge of directing or filming these speeches, but it wasn’t as smooth as they probably hoped it would go, visually. Nice try.

And then, the highlight of the evening… two reruns of Glee (Glee-runs?)!!!!!!!!

Although “Home” and “Bad Reputation” are not two of my favorite episodes, both have brilliant moments in them that I love Love LOVE!

“Home” – So many musical numbers, so little time. I love the return of April Rhodes… Kristin Chenoweth is an amazing talent. I love her voice and that character is great. April and Mr. Schue’s duet of “Fire” is solid. But the musical highlights of the episodes are care of Mr. Burt Bacharach. Kurt’s version of “A House is not a Home” (w/a little help from Finn…) is a sucker punch to the gut, as is April and Mr. Schue’s duet of “One Less Bell to Answer/A House is not a Home“. And, anytime Mike O’Malley is on as Burt Hummel the audience is guaranteed some solid scenes between Burt and Kurt (and now Burt and Finn). Burt and Kurt bring the most heart to Glee, and it’s great to see their father/son relationship, as it is one that is not often portrayed very well (if at all) in the media. Another great thing about this episode are the messages about body image. Having Quinn befriend Mercedes like that was a great idea 🙂

“Bad Reputation” – This episode showcases one of my most favorite musical numbers in all of Glee thus far, “Run Joey Run”

There are so many great things about this video… The cheesetastic wipes. The horrible, horrible over-acting (Puck on the bed… holy hell, that is funny stuff). The incredibly confused and pissed looks that Jesse flashes to the other guys throughout the video (LOVE Jonathan Groff! He needs to be on Glee all the time…). Just the utter camp-factor of it all. Oh how I love it so 🙂

My other favorite part of this episode is the “Total Eclipse of the Heart” sequence. The jealous looks from Finn, the passionate singing and dancing from Rachel and Jesse (love the ballet part!!!), and the fact that even though this is a horrible ballad I love this song so much and sing it on a regular basis because it is so cheesetastic.

Glee is grand. I cannot wait until September 21st when new episodes air 🙂 Although 30 Rock is still my favorite show, Glee comes a close 2nd. I am a Gleek, and I am proud of it 🙂

More school work tomorrow, for serious.

Have a good one!

P.S. My thoughts about the Emmys:

– I’m glad Modern Family won Best Comedy. That show is amazingly funny and is a more traditional comedy than Glee is. Although I would have been happy if 30 Rock won again or if Glee took the prize, Modern Family is a worthy show and I’m happy that it won Best Comedy, Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy (LOVE Eric Stonestreet!) and Best Writing for a Comedy

– Yay for Jane Lynch winning Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy 🙂 Sue Sylvester is iconic, Jane Lynch is brilliant, and she deserved it 🙂

– I felt bad that Lost didn’t win anything, but I did enjoy Jimmy’s bit about Lost… especially when he said “We have to go back. We have to go BAAAAAAAAACK!” Note Perfect!

– Even though I love Mad Men and was glad they won Best Drama and Best Writing for a Drama, I am not a fan of that Matthew Weiner guy. I thought he was pretentious with his speeches. Blah him.

– Jimmy Fallon did an amazing job as host. His opening number and interstitial bits were great *and* the show somehow ended on time. Besides the opening part, my favorite Jimmy moment was when he introduced Tom Selleck 🙂

– Even though I have only seen a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory, I was so happy Jim Parsons won Best Actor in a Comedy! Yay for him!! His speech was pretty cute 🙂

– I need to watch Temple Grandin.

– This was the most entertaining telecast I can remember… yay Jimmy Fallon! I’ve been on the Jimmy Fallon bandwagon for many years now… I’m glad to see him doing an amazing job all the time 🙂

 

Sooooo thankful for Glee reruns :)

Two hours of Glee reruns was exactly what I needed today…

Sure, I have Glee Season One Volume One DVDs – The Road to Sectionals, but I needed some of the Back 9, and tonight FOX aired Sectionals AND Hell-o!!! Oh, Jonathan Groff, how I love thee… (but more about Glee later!)

I woke up at 6 thinking about my paper and then somehow willed myself back to sleep until 8:30 again. I would love to sleep all the way through the night like I used to do… friggin’ worrying about everything all the time. Oy.

I got up and found my mom doing a Crossword puzzle on her computer. I made myself some breakfast (yogurt with chopped banana, granola, chocolate chips and star-shaped sprinkles… breakfast of champions) and sat down to watch the first half of Episode Three of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. I paused several times to explain to my mom who the characters are and what the show is about… she will likely be watching this with me from now on as she seemed intrigued.

After breakfast I went with my mom to run a couple errands – got gas for the lawn mower and then went grocery shopping. I love grocery shopping with my mom… I remember going grocery shopping with her when I was younger. She always has her list, and it is arranged in the order of how one finds things in the store… something I wish I would have picked up on. My lists are always just in the order of how things come to my mind as I’m writing the list. But not my mom – she’s super organized.

We got home and unpacked the groceries. After a drink and a couple rounds of Yahtzee we went about our respective chores. I attempted to finish the Introduction of my thesis proposal (it’s kinda done… enough so that I will start my Literature Review tomorrow) while she mowed the grass.

We reconvened at 11:30 for pizza and more Yahtzee. Toward the end of our lunch break, Mom kinda brought up jobs… she’s not pressuring me to get one tomorrow, but said how that even if I worked a little, any money I would make would be like savings. I tried to tell her that I have been job hunting, but that I am hesitant to get a job right this very second as I have plans to go away in September and have a weekend conflict in October and how I hate going into a job with days I will already need off. She kinda rolled her eyes at me, so I said that my resume was updated and I’d keep looking.

So instead of working more on my paper, I tried to job hunt. I spent over 30 minutes on a bajillion different job search sites and I could feel my soul crushing to pieces. There wasn’t much that looked even remotely interesting. Then the jobs that I thought would be good were ones where I didn’t have enough job experience, or with the hours I wouldn’t physically be able to work on my paper.

Conundrum, folks.

See, I have a BSC in Telecommunications… I majored in Video Production and minored in Film. A bulk of my undergraduate classes were spent watching or making television and movies. I am excellent at breaking down what a certain scene means in a movie, or can tell you what kind of shot to use to evoke certain feelings or thoughts from an audience. I can break down a script and know my way around a television or film set. None of these skills are very applicable to almost all of the jobs I have found online… No one wants someone who is capable of film theory and criticism. They want someone with 5 years of managerial experience or a person who is a professional at a bunch of computer programs I’ve never heard of.

I did find a job that looked kinda okay and began filling out their online form. They had a spot where you could copy and paste your resume, which I tried to do, but I had to reformat the whole thing. It took a half hour. Then I tried to submit it, but besides the resume, they still wanted you to fill in all the boxes that has the EXACT SAME FRIGGIN’ INFORMATION AS A RESUME. I had to save my form and will finish it tomorrow… I wanted to throw my computer across the room.

Luckily Mom needed help moving our new dining room table, so I took that as a sign to stop being on my computer for awhile and go help move stuff around. The table looks nice. I can’t wait until the holidays when the whole family is sitting around it 🙂

Mom also went through the drawers of the furniture that is in the garage… lots of moose and duck stuff. Some old board games. Wall hangings I remember from my great-grandparents house in New Jersey. This awesome plate that says “Cheese” on it with a glass covering that looks like a mini cake box. Lots of odds and ends. We also inherited a deer head that is going in our foyer… my mom’s dad shot it and had it mounted for a wall-hanging. We’re going to be one of those families with a dead animal front and center when you walk into our house.

My dad got in around 6:15 and we finished getting dinner together – BBQ chicken nachos. My mom still can’t smell or taste… which sucks for her because the nachos were pretty awesome.

We sat as a family and ate dinner and watched the two episodes of Glee. As much as my dad rags on the show, he actually was aware of most of the plot points and characters. I know he doesn’t like the show half as much as I love it, but I know he’ll tolerate it for me by time new episodes air in September.

I love Glee. I *LOVE* it. I love the music, I love the characters, I love the actors… Jane Lynch is freakin’ amazing as Sue Sylvester. And I love that one of tonight’s reruns (Hell-o) was from the Back 9 because I LOVE Jonathan Groff. My sister and I saw him and Lea Michele in Spring Awakening a few years ago and I have loved him as an actor ever since. (BTW – I recently found these two Tumblr pages dedicated to Jonathan and Jesse/Rachel… they are sooooo great!)

The best part from Hell-o is when Rachel first meets Jesse and they sing “Hello” together. Brilliant!!

I am behind the times, but I just found out today that Glee Season One Volume 2 – The Road to Regionals will be available (as will Season One in its entirety), as well as a Karaoke Revolution Glee Wii game!!!! That comes out in November, just in time for my birthday… WOOT!

I’m high on Glee right now, but I should get back into Dexter mode… I finished the third book last night and will start the fourth one shortly.

Oh yeah – my dad is the cutest! We just finished Dexter Season Three yesterday. So today he asked me if we should get Dexter Season Four on Netflix next. I told him I’m 6th in line at the library to get the DVDs, but he was insinuating that he wants to watch it now! I’m so proud that my dad is into a show that I like too!! Besides SNL, we really don’t have the same taste in television, so I’m glad we are both fans of Dexter 🙂

Have a fantastic evening!!

(P.S. I saw that someone I was friends/colleagues with in undergrad just got dumped 😦 I haven’t talked to her in awhile, but I still feel bad. I doubt she reads this blog, but I’m going to just throw this out there – It’s okay to be unhappy or sad, but that relationship did not define who you are. You are going to be stronger because of this and you will meet someone who is right for you. Maybe not tomorrow, and maybe not next week, but sometime. Love yourself first 🙂 )