I am so behind the times when it comes to movies these days :(

Well, I am fairly sure I finished my Works Cited page today… 8 pages of information, formatted correctly (I think). I think I have between 50 and 60 sources, though I haven’t counted to be sure. I didn’t get any of my Methods Section done today, but I don’t work until 6 tomorrow, so I’ll likely be able to get some of it done tomorrow morning/afternoon.

In other news, I finally saw The Social Network today. It. Was. Good.

Now, those who know me best know that I used to go see at least one movie every weekend… sometimes 2 (or 3) depending on how much work I had to get done. I do not have that luxury anymore. Sadness.

I totally could still go to at least one movie a week if I wanted to, but I know that any “free” time I have should be devoted to my (stupid) thesis. And I’m not even on my thesis yet… just the freakin’ proposal.

Granted, I do not spend my every waking hour on my thesis proposal. I watch a decent amount of TV at night and have been known to run errands or do activities with my parents. But I have been spending a lot of time working on my thesis proposal. And it dawned on me this week that I likely won’t be able to defend my proposal until January. (Sad face.)

Even though I sent my Introduction and Literature Review to my professor a couple weeks ago, I haven’t heard anything back from him regarding edits that need to be made. I contacted him again this week inquiring about my coding sheet and key and have not heard back about that either (though that’s not as big of a shocker – college professors need more than a couple days to look over something). But, OU’s Fall Quarter is over in about a month, and I know I’ll need to edit my stuff before I can even send it to the other two people on my committee. So, I’m thinking this proposal won’t be able to be defended until January. Which sucks like whoa… I was hoping to have my whole paper done and ready to defend then so I could then figure out what my next move would be and not have to burden my parents anymore. (Not that I’m a huge burden to them… but still, I’m almost 27 and have been living w/my parents since June. This can’t go on forever – I refuse to let that happen.)

But, I guess I will just have to roll with the punches. I did think that one benefit of defending the thesis proposal in January would fit better with my work schedule – as my place of business pretty much won’t let you take any days off in November. Friggin’ retail… like me being at work all the time in November is going to make or break the amount of money they rake in. But, after the holiday craziness is over, I’m sure my manager would be more willing to let me go back to Ohio for a few days to take care of school stuff.

Blah. Enough about school.

Let’s talk movies.

So, The Social Network.

I actually liked it more than I thought I was going to. Even though parts of the movie were fictitious, I feel like I have a slightly better understanding about the people behind Facebook. Facebook, whether we like it or not, has become a HUGE part of society. I have been a member since late 2004/early 2005. I have said “Facebook me” just like those characters in the movie. Before this movie, though, I didn’t realize the extent of the involvement of the key players in Facebook’s inception. And I seriously had no idea that Mark Zuckerberg and Sean Parker were (are?) colleagues.

The two things I really liked about the movie were the script and the cast.

Script – Wow, dialogue was plentiful. That opening scene between Zuckerberg and Albright was devilishly quick and utterly refreshing – it was like an infinitely better written episode of the Gilmore Girls (with better actors – natch). The pace, though quick, never felt rushed. It just seemed like something that highly intellectual people would do… spit out a lot of big words in a little amount of time. Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, Sports Night, The West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip) is no stranger to writing dialogue-driven scripts, and I feel what he did with The Social Network is extremely fitting for the present. We live in a “now” society. The faster we can get something, the better. Why should that exclude dialogue?

Cast – Oh, Jesse Eisenberg, how I love thee… I know I’ve written on here before about how he is one of the best actors of my generation. My opinion stands strong, if not stronger, after seeing his performance as Mark Zuckerberg in this film. If you’ve ever seen Eisenberg on talk shows, you’ll know that he’s awkward as hell and seems to be uncomfortable in public. I don’t know the guy, so I don’t know if he’s just introverted, or just not used to being a public figure. But, you’d never even get that idea if you have only seen him on films. As Zuckerberg, he commands the screen whether he’s spitting out copious amounts of dialogue in a short amount of time, or executing a scathingly sarcastic comeback to any one of the number of people who is opposing him.

The rest of the cast was solid as well. Justin Timberlake, as I have commented before, is a good actor. (Don’t believe me? See Alpha Dog, and then try to tell me he’s not amazing. You won’t be able to.) Timberlake plays Parker as a cocky, yet paranoid, young man who thinks he has the whole world in front of him, but people following his every move. He’s believable and charming and annoying all at the same time. And then there’s our new Spider Man, Andrew Garfield. I guess I saw him in Dr. Parnassus, but I don’t remember his performance at all (probably because I was so transfixed on Heath Ledger…). However, I won’t be forgetting him any time soon because I was very impressed by his portrayal of Eduardo Saverin. I found myself siding with his character for a majority of the movie… he wanted to get advertisers, he set up the meetings, he wrote that algorithm. I wish the movie would have explained why Zuckerberg and Saverin were friends to begin with. To me, if someone (even a fictional non-fiction character) is that much of a jerk, another character wouldn’t stay friends with him unless there was a good reason.

And then, there were the Winklevoss twins (Armie Hammer times two) and Divya Narendra (Max Minghella). These guys made buh-rilliant antagonists. They just looked the part… all preppy and handsome and entitled. While they had a solid point for suing Zuckerberg, you kinda didn’t want them to win in the same fashion one probably wanted Saverin to come out on top. Hammer and Minghella were really great. The whole cast really was. Way to go, David Fincher, for crafting together such a smart movie. This *almost* makes up for the POS Benjamin Button movie.

In other media news, I watched more HIMYM reruns (god bless syndication – it was the Robin Sparkles/slap bet episode and the one where Barney and Ted didn’t get in a fight – woot). Again, I heart Jason Segel. Community, 30 Rock and Grey’s all kinda were thumbs down. (Though props to Community for hating on Ben Lyons… that made my night.)

Now, I’ll watch last week’s episode of The Office and then sleep. Work tomorrow from 6-9:15, then ROCK OF AGES on Saturday!!!!!

Have a good one

 

Let’s do the Time Warp again…

Okay, so the Rocky Horror Glee Show isn’t on until next Tuesday night (we had a rerun of Hairography tonight… more on that later), but did you see the sneak peek of next week’s “Time Warp”?!?!?!

There are so many amazing things about this video… (opinions/SPOILERS)
– Kurt as Riff Raff = amazingness. The costume is spot on, as is his accent.
– This may be my favorite vocal from Dianna Agron (Quinn playing Magenta). This is also the most animated and engaging she’s been in a music number, in my opinion.
– Is it just me, or does Cory Monteith actually look like he’s getting to be a decent dancer now? He doesn’t look awkward, which is a huge step in the right direction. And, I know I am sooooo biased, but how freakin’ cute does he look as Brad? (It’s those glasses!)
– I’m glad that Brittany and Tina are both Columbia, as they are the two best female dancers in the glee club (though we could have used more face time from Santana, Mike, Sam and Mercedes).
– I love, love, love Artie as the narrator. Kevin McHale is so good 🙂

Again, I cannot wait for next Tuesday’s episode!!

So, besides ogling at the “Time Warp” video a bunch of times today, I did get some stuff accomplished.

I woke up and had some oatmeal and tea to try and warm up (my mom doesn’t really believe in turning on the heat in the house unless it is absolutely necessary). I snuggled up with Moose as I finished watching the last chunk of Invincible. I mentioned yesterday that I think the next movie I want to rewatch is Shakespeare in Love, but I might watch Miracle first… I love sports movies like whoa and Miracle is so good. The huge game against the Soviets gets me every time, even though I knew the outcome of the game well before every seeing the movie. But I love it so!!!

After the movie, I went down to my room to work on my coding sheet and coding key for my Content Analysis. My variables were slightly more complicated than I initially anticipated, so I crafted up three coding key sheets today. I emailed them to my thesis chair this afternoon and hope to hear back from him soonish. I hope he has some critiques for me about my Introduction, Lit Review and now the coding sheet/key. He basically designed the coding sheet (with some minor edits from me), so I hope he thinks that my coding key is workable. I am leaning towrd using the third one, but would be open to suggestions from him, as he is a pro went it comes to Content Analysis.

Tomorrow I hope to work on my Works Cited page and start typing up a bulk of my Methods section. My goal is to have a bunch of that done tomorrow so I can go to the movies on Thursday morning. I haven’t been to a movie in about a month and though there are several things out that I want to see, I think I will go and see The Social Network. I could use a good two hours in a movie theater to clear my head and get lost in someone else’s story for a bit. Plus, that movie is dialogue-driven… woot.

I’ve been having one of those days where my mind has been going a mile a minute. There’s just always so much stuff to think about. Old stuff. New stuff. (Red stuff, Blue stuff… hahaha). But seriously – stuff. Thesis stuff. Family stuff. Friend stuff. Life stuff. I sometimes wonder if I’ll ever have everything under control. I’m thinking no… but it’s nice to think that maybe one day I will have at least some of this “stuff” figured out.

While I was working on my thesis stuff today, my mom was super busy raking and mowing and doing other chores in and around the house.

My dad got home around 6:15 and we all had dinner and started watching White Men Can’t Jump, which I had never seen before. I was a bit surprised to see it was written and directed by Ron Shelton (my beloved writer/director of Bull Durham and Tin Cup – two of my favorite sports movies of all time. Bull Durham is also one of my overall Top 10 favorite movies of all time). We’re only about 30 minutes into it, but I like it thus far. Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes are really great together. I look forward to finishing the rest of it.

At 7, we put on Glee (even though it was a rerun from Season One *and* I have the DVDs, so I could have watched it commercial-free… but I didn’t). It was episode 11, “Hairography“. Not one of my favorite episodes, but it does have one of my favorite Finn-lines (when he tells Rachel she looks like “a sad clown hooker“) and group numbers (“True Colors“). Ah, Glee… why’d you show “Hairography” when there were so many better episodes to chose from? Oh well, next week is Rocky Horror!!!

Then we watched the DWTS results show. I couldn’t understand anything Shakira was singing and even though I heart Jason Derulo’s song “In My Head,” he’s not the best live singer. I think he thinks he’s the next Chris Brown. Not yet, Derulo, not yet.

And now I shall head to bed… well, probably read and *then* sleep.

BTW – I am all caught up on Dexter Season 5 – and I am still loving it. I like the addition of Lumen and where Quinn’s story is taking him. More and more I think he is a solid guy – as in his head and heart seem to be in the right place. But since we the audience are rooting for Dexter, we can’t root for Quinn too. Drama!

Well, have a good one!

 

I didn’t get as much school work done today as I should have… whoops

So, I had full intention of finishing my coding key today and typing up my Methods section. Neither of those things happened, and likely won’t until next Tuesday. I should have done that, but it’s not the end of the world… especially because I still haven’t head any comments yet from my thesis chair about the Introduction and Literature Review I submitted last week. If I don’t hear back about those by early next week, I will send another inquiry…

Instead of being a good scholar, I opted to fulfill my need for audio-visual entertainment. I watched TV and a movie today… that is what I did.

I didn’t sleep much last night because of Moose. Like I anticipated, she took up most of my bed and I was stuck in one spot, unable to move, with a loudly breathing dog pressed up against me. I kicked her out of bed and she went upstairs, but then she started barking, so I called her back down to my room so at least I knew she wouldn’t have cause to bark. I cleared everything except the pillows off of my recliner and got her settled on it, and she stayed there for awhile. Too bad that didn’t last… just as I was about to fall asleep, she jumped off of the chair and back onto my bed. I tried to deal with it the rest of the night into morning, but not much sleep was had. Oh well…

I let the dogs out, fed them and let them out again all before 8:30. I made myself some oatmeal and tea and then sat down at my computer to watch the most recent episode of Dexter. Love. That. Show.

(SPOILERS) Dexter’s evolution into a family man has been a seemingly smooth, yet uber important plot line for the show. I like it a lot… it’s really great to see that character be more in touch with reality than he ever thought he would be. He feels. It’s a great character arc. And besides Quinn looking waaaaaaaay better this season than the prior two, I’m very much liking how he is going about finding out the whole Kyle Butler situation. You can tell he’s got feelings for Deb, but he’s also a cop and is looking to call out Dexter if he needs to. Quinn from a couple seasons ago would have just confronted Dexter… but Quinn who likes Deb is taking it slow and making sure he’s got his man before he does anything to upset the balance. Also, I’m looking forward to how Julia Stiles’s character is going to be worked into the show. What a smart show 🙂 (END SPOILERS)

I should have folded my laundry today, but instead I just took the clothes I needed out of there and left everything else in there. I’ll need to fluff it up tomorrow, as I really don’t want to iron my work pants for Sunday. Ironing is the worst.

I did finish my list of Academy Award categories… that took awhile this morning. Then I let the dogs back outside to blow off some steam. They are just the cutest 🙂

During lunch I decided to watch the recent Kristen Bell rom-com, When in Rome. Netflix said Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies!) was in it, which was the main reason I decided to watch it. Oh, Netflix… Pace was in the movie for maybe 2 minutes. And then we were stuck with a highly contrived plot dealing with magic and love and lightning and elementary sight gags involving the dude from Win a Date with Tad Hamilton.

Call me crazy, but my biggest questions throughout the entire movie were “How did everyone afford traveling between New York and Rome?” and “Of all the people who threw coins in that fountain, how was it that the ones she picked were from guys who were from New York/Newark?” Also, why was the little sister going to Rome in the first place?

I know I’m always preaching to my dad to “suspend disbelief” while he’s watching movies, but I could not wrap my head around this one for the life of me. Oh well. It was pretty bad.

After that, I took a nice, long, hot shower and managed to miss phone calls from both parents. I called them back to see how they were doing – fine. I let the dogs out and got the mail… magazine Friday 🙂 Read all about the celebrity couples who broke up. Awwwwwwwwwwwww… poor them. (Meh.)

Then, instead of working on my paper, I sat on the couch with my laptop and watched half of last night’s episode of Bones, the West Coast episode of 30 Rock (Jon Hamm was the best part, again!) and some broadway videos on youtube. Also, I listened to all of the Rocky Horror Glee Show songs… I am sooooooooo excited for that episode 🙂

Just after 5 I fed the dogs and then put on jeans as opposed to the OU sweatpants I was wearing all day.

When my dad got home from the airport, we went to some new Mexican restaurant. It was very busy and we had to wait a freakishly long time for our food, but that was okay because we caught up about his trip and what I did while he was away. When the food did show up, it was tasty. We’ll likely go back with my mom sometime in the future.

And then we got home around 8:30… and by 9 my dad was falling asleep and my eyes were shutting fast while we started watching some stupid comedy about paintball.

Now I’m trying to hurry this up so I can get to sleep… although I just put in a cough drop, so I’ll have to wait probably 10 minutes until that’s gone.

I can’t wait to feel 100% better from this silly cold.

Have a good one.

 

I love 30 Rock. Maybe tonight’s episode wasn’t the best, but it was still better than most things on TV…

I think I watched 4 1/2 episodes of 30 Rock today. Three and a half of those were Season 4 reruns, and then I watched tonight’s episode live because my parents weren’t home. (We usually watch Bones… since my mom also likes Bones and my parents aren’t 30 Rock fans like I am, even though if they gave the show a chance, they’d like it too.)

In fact, watched 30 Rock was the first thing I did this morning. I got up, ate breakfast and watched the Season 4 finale of 30 Rock (thank you, Netflix Instant Streaming stuff). Oh, Matty Damon… my “doorman to the sky“. (He’s a pilot on the show.)

After eating my egg sandwich (thanks, Dad) and laughing (thanks 30 Rock), I went down to my room to edit what I have so far of my thesis proposal… 37 pages of Introduction and Literature Review. Yeah, 37 pages. That’s almost 11,000 words of scholarly stuff that I spent months writing. Here’s hoping even a fraction of it is usable 😦 I spend a few hours fixing grammar errors, and adding in some (poorly executed) transitions. Woot.

Just as my head was about to explode, I went upstairs to see how my mom was doing. She made us some chocolate chip pancakes and we played Yahtzee.

She went outside to rake while I went back to my room to email my BFF back and then email my thesis proposal draft to my thesis chair.

Then, my mom and I went to the garage for some ping-pong. I lost all 4 games we played. I beat her the other day, so I blame today on the series of back spasms I had during the 2nd game. (My back is still acting up now… and it’s not supposed to rain, so I don’t know what is up with it. Ow. Long story short, I had a bit of an accident during a softball game the summer before my freshman year of high school. I tripped on a rock – curse you, gravel field at Copley – and fell backwards and F-ed up my neck/back. Even after physical therapy, it’s been hurting ever since. This year was my 12th anniversary… fun times.)

After that, I tried to watch Modern Family through our Wii, but the Wii doesn’t support Flash past Flash 8, so I had to give up that and just watch the show on my computer. (By this time my parents left to go to Wisconsin for something…) I then watched last week’s episode of The Office. I’m still over that show, but there were some okay moments.

After the tv stuff, I folded some laundry. Somehow one of my black pants for work has this big whiteish grayish splotch on it – I know it’s from the laundry detergent – and I am 99% sure that my pants are ruined. Awesome. I paid friggin’ full price for them at the store, only wore them once and now can’t wear them because it looks like someone (pardon my language) jizzed up and down my right leg. Obviously not work appropriate. My mom said she’d try and fix them, but I don’t think it’ll work.

With my parents gone for a few hours, I fed the dogs and let them outside before I made myself dinner. After my dogs were settled, I made some pizza and watched a few more episodes of 30 Rock – Love. That. Show.

Then, my BFF called 🙂 And it was a wonderful conversation, of course.

After that I watched Community, 30 Rock and Grey’s. Community and 30 Rock were good… not great like they usually are, but still solid. Grey’s was Grey’s… that guy with the District-9 arms was a bit strange. That show is dumb, but at least in the preview for next week it showed a shirtless Avery. Call me shallow, but Jesse Williams is one handsome guy. I can see why Gilmore Girl liked him in that Pants movie…

And then I came down to my room to type this up, read some more “One Day,” and go to sleep. I have work tomorrow from 12-6. *sigh*

Anything else?…

For reasons completely unbeknownst to me, I have been listening to 2 songs on repeat. Both are a bit behind the times, but I love them just the same. Not the most happy songs ever, but they got me hooked for different reasons:

1. “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” – American Idiot Broadway Cast – This is my favorite Green Day song, but I like the broadway version a bit better, especially when the female vocal comes in at the end (@3:08). Those harmonies are beautiful – my favorite part is when they sing “and I’m the only one and I walk…”

2. “Love the Way You Lie” – Eminem featuring Rihanna – Okay, so not the best message to send, especially in the music video… you know, a pair of good looking people fighting with each other, then making out, then fighting some more and then there’s a house on fire. Hmm… But the lyrics are brilliant. I can honestly say I’ve been a fan of Eminem’s for over a decade now and his raps are solid. This whole track is great…

My favorite chunks of lyrics are:
“sound like broken records playin’ over
but you promised her next time you’ll show restraint
you don’t get another chance
life is no nintendo game, but you lied again,
now you get to watch her leave out the window
guess that’s why they call it window pane”

and

“come inside, pick up the bags off the sidewalk
don’t you hear sincerity in my voice when i talk?
told you this is my fault, look me in the eyeball
next time i’m pissed i’ll aim my fist at the drywall
next time there won’t be no next time
i apologize even though i know its lies
i’m tired of the games i just want her back
i know i’m a liar if she ever tries to f—in’ leave again
i’ma tie her to the bed and set this house on fire”

Brilliant, Eminem. Brilliant.

(And now I’ll go read my book…)

Have a good one

 

I believe in Grilled Cheesus

Before I launch into an epic monologue about how much I LOVED tonight’s episode of Glee, I will recap the rest of the day…

Last night before I went to bed, my dad told me he was cooking a birthday breakfast for my mom and if I wanted to join, that was going to happen at 7:30 this morning. I laughed at this early time and told him I’d see him when he got home from work…

Well, I was up at 7:22 for some reason, so I dragged myself upstairs and sat with them at the table while I tried to wake up and they had breakfast. Dad and I each gave my mom her birthday presents (he got her a book about bird feeding, I got her a gift card to Half Priced Books… we are a book-loving household). Dad left for work, I had some yogurt and then went back to my room to watch last night’s episode of HIMYM and work on my Literature Review.

I love HIMYM. A lot. I think the cast is great and the stories are usually very relatable because the characters are actually in the age bracket of myself and my peers. I found last night’s episode to be particularly poignant – at least more so than most of last season’s shows. While I could have done without Lily asking Robin “Where’s the poop?” a bajillion times throughout the episode, the rest of the show was great.

When the credits rolled, I got back to work on my Literature Review. Oh, how those Guilds and Associations were trying my patience today. Blah.

My mom got home from an errand around 11:00 and told me it was time for a break – we had a birthday treat and played some Yahtzee. I then went back to my room to knock out a few more paragraphs before lunch.

Dad came home from work early, so he joined us for lunch before they headed out to the lake while I stayed home to try and finish my Literature Review.

In the middle of working on my paper/watching clips of American Idiot (the Broadway musical) on youtube, the phone rang. I put my computer down and ran into the hallway to pick up the phone (landline, yo) and said “Hello?” I hear “How ya doin’?” on the other end of the line and for a fraction of a second I had no idea who it was. Then as quickly as I spaced out, I realized it was my mom’s dad. He never announces that it’s him on the phone… you just need to figure it out during the series of non-specific questions he asks. Luckily, I figured out it was him after just one question… I talked to him for awhile and then he passed the phone to my mom’s mom. We also chatted for awhile. It was nice to catch up with them – I don’t think I’ve talked to them in a couple months! Time flies

We hung up and I went back to my room. I hammered out information about my remaining Guilds and whatnot and finished just before 4:00. I hope to edit my Introduction and Literature Review a little bit on Thursday (the next day I have off) and email it to my thesis chair to see what he thinks. I have about 40 pages of information right now… and I am super worried that he’s going to think it’s bad. I’m not the best at writing papers. But I have this huge worry that he’s going to tell me I did a lot of work for nothing and that I’ll need to scrap what I wrote. Fingers crossed that isn’t the case… or that at least some of my stuff is good enough, at least for a proposal. I worked really hard on this… I just hope it counts for something.

My parents came home soon after I finished. I relayed the message to my mom that her parents called, then went and read “One Day” in the living room for awhile. I was pleased to find that the author, David Nichols, also wrote “Starter for Ten,” which was adapted into a film of the same name a few years ago. I totally have the DVD! It starts James McAvoy, so of course I have it 😉

My parents and I watched the news as we had mom’s choice for birthday dinner – pizza.

Then, from 7-8, I was glued to the television watching Glee.

(SPOILERS AHEAD…)

So, tonight’s episode, episode 3 of the season, was called “Grilled Cheesus” because Finn makes a grilled cheese sandwich in his Forman grill and it grilled a picture of Jesus on the top of it. Finn suggests to the Glee club that they should sing songs about Jesus and God during rehearsals. This does not go over well for Kurt, who says that he doesn’t believe in God or go to church because churches and the people at them don’t look highly on gay people.

Obviously, the themes of this episode were Faith, Religion, and Spirituality. These not only fit into Finn’s Grilled Cheesus scenario, but Burt Hummel’s heart attack.

When the rest of the Glee kids find out that Kurt’s dad is in rough shape at the hospital (i.e. coma and possible brain damage), they all want to pray for him. This just makes Kurt even more upset because he doesn’t believe in God and he doesn’t believe that praying about something works.

This was the most serious episode of Glee, by far, dealing with religion, life-threatening situations of a parent, and peer relationships in trying times.

For me, the biggest props go to Chris Colfer (Kurt) and Cory Monteith (Finn) this week for their performances.

When Emmy nominations were announced awhile ago and Colfer was announced as a Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy nominee, some people may have been shocked. He hadn’t acted in anything this huge before, let alone on television. But, his work in “Grilled Cheesus” solidifies Colfer as a very, very talented young man.

Colfer has the ability to play smug, cruel, charming, joyous. vulnerable, angry and every emotion in between. His emotions are plastered across his face like a ginormous billboard. But it doesn’t ever look like he’s acting… it just seems like he is Kurt.

He’s also a gifted singer – his performance of “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” was hauntingly beautiful and gut-wrenchingly sad.

Cory Monteith gets my vote for Most Improved Glee cast member. It takes a dedicated person to go for broke the way he played Finn in this episode. I am being completely serious when I write that Monteith’s dedication to Finn’s dedication of the Grilled Cheesus was brilliant. Monteith full out made you believe that Finn was naive enough to believe that his Grilled Cheesus was the reason that they won the football game, he got to 2nd with Rachel (that awkward bedroom scene was HILARIOUS, the way he kissed her and then feet-on-the-floor got in bed with her), and that he’s quarterback again. And then the hurt and deception in his eyes when Emma told him that the Grilled Cheesus was not the reason those three events happened… (though, for the record, at least Finn looked a little bit ashamed during the conversation in the locker room when Puck admitted to praying for Burt and Finn pretended he did too). Props to you, Monteith.

It’s always nice to see Sue Sylvester interacting with her sister. I almost got teary eyed when her sister asked if she should pray for Sue, and Sue tearily said “Yes”.

And the songs… there were so many. And they were all stunning in their own special way.

1. “Only the Good Die Young” – Oh Puck, singing your songs by Jewish artists. Who doesn’t love Billy Joel? This was one of the more upbeat moments of the episode. Mark Salling (Puck) has a great voice. Plus, a guy with a guitar is always attractive…

2. “I Look To You” – I think I’ve heard this Whitney song once or twice before. Amber Riley (Mercedes) always does an amazing job on vocals, and this was no exception.

3. “Papa, Can You Hear Me?” – There is something so right about Lea Michele (Rachel) singing Barbra Streisand songs. I haven’t seen Yentl all the way through ever, but I know this song a bit. She did an amazing job, as per usual.

4. “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” – And, cue the goosebumps. Chris Colfer’s voice is so angelic, but when it’s used to deliver the most melancholic version of this song I’ve ever heard, it’s downright haunting. And I mean that in the best way possible. Plus, the montage of Burt and young Kurt just broke your heart :*(

5. “Losing My Religion” – I’m glad they didn’t *just* make this song about Finn being told his Grilled Cheesus did not have Godlike powers. Sure, Finn was upset about finding out that he is not so special as to have a direct line to God via his grilled cheese, but this song ended up being about way more than that. I thought it was good that they showed Finn looking at Kurt crying in the corner chair. Monteith may not be the best singer on Glee, but he makes up for his lack of Lea Michele skill with believability. Monteith plays Finn as someone who sings from the core. He sings like a normal person – sometimes he squints his eyes and tilts his head back. Tonight. he belted out this R.E.M. classic like a young man who just lost it all. Again, props to you, Monteith.

6. “Bridge Over Troubled Water” – This is probably in my Top 20 favorite songs of all time anyway, and then Glee goes and takes it to CHURCH… love it!!! I may not be the most religious person on the planet, but I do love me some gospel music when done properly. I thought Amber Riley did a great job on lead vocals. This was a very powerful number and gave me goosebumps.

7. “One of Us” – Oh, Joan Osborne. I remember when this song came out on the radio back in the day… I freely admit to liking the Glee version better. Eleven voices singing in harmony is so much more powerful, for me, as a listener. I know I’ll be singing this one out loud a lot in the car sometime in the near future…

All in all, a brilliant episode of Glee. I liked that singing religious songs in a public school was addressed and then handled as it was. Mr. Schue wasn’t preaching to the kids, he was just letting them express their beliefs. I also thought the dialogue between Emma and Sue in Sue’s office was great – about how people should be tolerant of other people’s religious choices and not to denounce someone else because their choice may be different than your own. BRAVO!!

I love Glee. And I love that it covers weighty topics like ones on tonight’s episode. Yay for good, SCRIPTED, television.

(END SPOILERS)

Well, I could write a lot more… I was going to go into a bit about my own music habits and how, like the kids on Glee, I turn to specific songs or types of music to help cope with various situations.

But that is for another day – I must get to reading!

Have a good one

 

I got my library book today!! (Thanks Mom!)

So, I have 10 days to read “One Day” because so many people have it on reserve at the library… and I will commence reading said book as soon as I am done posting here. This likely won’t be an epic post, as not too much happened today…

So, I woke up this morning and then had breakfast with my mom. She worked on crossword puzzles while I skipped through all of the musical numbers from the first disc of Glee Season 1 Volume 2 (so, stuff from “Hell-o,” “Madonna,” “Home,” and “Bad Reputation”). I could watch and rewatch Glee stuff all day long 🙂

After that, I went down to my room and worked on my literature review some more. I really wanted to watch Dexter, but I held off and did thesis stuff. Blah. I worked on that for a couple hours and then went back upstairs to see what my mom was up to.

We had some lunch and played Yahtzee (I am the reigning champion by far). After that I showered and worked some more on my paper while my mom mowed our front lawn and our neighbor’s front lawn (my parents usually do this anyway, but he recently had cataract surgery, so my mom wanted to be sure his lawn got taken care of).

I got 2 more Guilds done today (DGA and WGAW), and I’ll work on more tomorrow. My goal is to have my Literature Review finished written this week and edited by next week so I can send it to my thesis chair. Then, while he’s reading that, I’ll get my Methods section done… I hope hope hope to have my thesis proposal defended in the middle of November. I’ll need to take a few days off of work… and I know people are not allowed to have days off in November where I work, so that might be a problem. But, where I work stresses that your life outside of work is important too, so hopefully higher education will win out here. Fingers crossed.

I got a new issue of Rolling Stone in the mail, so I read that for a bit and then kinda fell asleepish on the comfy chair in the living room.

I had to eat dinner alone/early because I had to be in for work by 6:15 (which meant I needed to leave around 5:30 because of rush hour traffic – blah… it takes 25+ minutes to get to work, but only 10 coming home… WTF?). During dinner, I watched the music numbers from the 2nd disc of Glee Season 1 Volume 2 (“Laryngitis,” “Dream On,” and “Theatricality”). Ah Glee 🙂

And then I went to work… I had to take a new way to get there b/c of construction and rush hour traffic. Blah. I got to work and was told by my colleague that the store was dead all day. Well, after she left and I was left on my own accord for 3 hours, the store was crazy busy! At least my area was… I didn’t even have any time to go get sip of water. (My biggest pet peeve about work is we’re not allowed to have water bottles. I get dehydrated easy, so that’s a bit of a problem for me… oh, well. Rules are rules. Blah.) But, I almost made my sales goal for the day, so I guess that was good.

For being such a shy and antisocial person, I am a pretty solid customer service person. Probably because I’m dealing with strangers… Hmm…

So, I got home for the last half of Castle. I love that show – and I like that I get to watch it with my mom (who also loves that show).

Tomorrow is my mama’s birthday! My dad said he’s coming home from work early. They are going out on the water in the afternoon (I think she is kayaking and he’s fishing). They want me to come, but I should really work on my paper. Maybe I can get a lot done tomorrow morning and then go fishing in the afternoon. I’ve only caught one fish the whole year so far! That’s pretty awful.

*And* tomorrow is Glee Tuesday! “Grilled Cheesus” should be good. I’ve already heard all the songs, and they sound great. Yay Glee!

Well, time to get reading. I need to put the pause button on “Middlesex” and get through “One Day” as fast as I can!!

Have a good one 🙂

 

I just got an email from the library – my book is ready to be picked up

And it’s not even a book for my thesis… it’s a book to read for fun. Yes, I still manage to find time for leisure reading. It’s called the last few minutes before I go to sleep and the 30-45 minutes I get for lunch at work sometimes. Yep, I’m that antisocial… I would rather sit in a corner a read while having my PB&J than meeting my colleagues. Right now I’m almost 1/5 of the way into “Middlesex,” but I have “One Day” waiting for me at the library. I think I’ll put a pause button on “Middlesex” and start “One Day” when I get it because that one is being made into a movie right now and I want to have it read before the movie’s trailer comes out. (Yeah, I’m weird, I know.)

So, today was a semi-productive day. I probably could have gotten more done, but the epic headaches are setting in once again, so I couldn’t physically be on the computer all day long.

I woke up around 8 again and went upstairs to pet the dogs and whatnot. My dad hadn’t left for work yet, so it was nice to see him before he left. I made my mom and I some chocolate chip muffins and then she worked on her crossword puzzle while I watched another 1/2 hour of The Wendell Baker Story. I still have about 40 minutes to go… it’ll be over one of these days.

After food and a mug of tea, I went back down to my room. I watched last night’s episode of 30 Rock before I got started on my work… I can’t help it. It’s my favorite show. Last week’s premiere was great – the return of Matt Damon as Carol, Liz Lemon’s “doorman to the sky” (he’s a pilot). Matt Damon is so solid in comedies because you think he’s going to be a tough guy, but then he just breaks down and cries about relationships. It’s really a beautiful sight to behold. Matty D was not on this week’s episode, but Paul Giamatti was… also brilliant. And, I’ve never seen Cash Cab, but the Tracy/Cash Cab stuff was great. And Alec Baldwin making those tapes were money. I love Alec Baldwin. Always have, always will 🙂

I did work more on my Literature Review after 30 Rock. Remember I finished Part 4 of 5 yesterday, so today I started up on Part 5 – Guilds and Associations. Woot.

I worked until around noon and then gave up for awhile because my head hurt. My mom was gone, so I did the dishes and let the dogs outside. Moose threw one of her tennis balls in some of the plants out front, so I had to get it for her. That dog is bonkers sometimes.

My mom got home and we made lunch and played Yahtzee (I have been kicking ass and taking names these past few days). After that I sojourned back to my room while my mom did some house chores.

I watched last night’s episode of Community and then worked some more on my paper. Last week’s premiere of Community was solid. The study group always has some sort of clash (mostly it’s Jeff vs. everyone else), but the end message of respect was a good one. Betty White was on last week. Now, I love me some Betty White, but she’s freakin’ everywhere these days.

Last night’s episode was good – it featured some good guest spots from Drew Carey and Rob Corddry. However, the best parts featured the various sects of the study group. The scene where Annie chloroformed that janitor and then Abed and Troy were getting the information off the computer was great. Also brilliant was when Jeff tapped in to the pop and lock contest and did “The Puppet”. I laughed out loud 🙂

My dad got home from work super early, so I used that as an excuse to stop working on my paper around 3:30. I couldn’t concentrate anymore – my head was throbbing (as it is right now). I know it’s a stress headache… I had them in high school. Back then my doctor said it was from depression, but I knew it was just from epic amounts of stress about going away to college and whatnot. The stress headaches I’m having right now are all about my thesis proposal. I wish they would go away, but I know they won’t for awhile. C’est la vie.

I played a few games of ping-pong with my mom and then we baked some cookies from a recipe that was in one of her murder mystery books – some sort of pumpkin cookie with pecans and white chocolate chips. They are delicious.

We watched some episodes of HIMYM with dinner (syndication, how I love thee) and then Date Night. I saw this movie before with my sister when it was in theaters, but I put it in the Netflix queue because I knew my parents would like it… and they did. Both of them were laughing out loud a lot. It wasn’t my favorite movie ever, but it’s got a shirtless Mark Wahlberg and a hilarious bit part from James Franco, so I was willing to watch it again.

I went back to my room before it was even 9 PM. By time I post this, it’ll likely be around 10:30. I’ll read for a little and then head to bed, as I have work tomorrow from 10:30-6:45. Blah.

New SNL tomorrow – Bryan Cranston w/music guest Kanye West. That should be interesting.

Have a good one!

P.S. Best Glee Music site ever…

P.P.S. This video from Ellen DeGeneres has been floating around Facebook all day. A friend from grad school shared this link and a note that said “I love that this is ALL over Facebook. I hate that it needs to be.” I couldn’t have said it any better myself. I think it’s awesome that my peers have been sharing this video because tolerance is such an important message, espcially in light of the recent student suicide at Rutgers. Did I personally know that student? No. Do I know students like him? Yes. And I bet you do too. And if not a student, than someone in your life who is being affected by bullying and intolerance. College students, high school students, middle school students, elementary students, and anyone in between, should not have to feel bad about who they are. What about the whole “Do unto others…” line that we hear all the time? You can’t pick and choose who you get to treat well and who you don’t. “All men were created equal,” remember? This is the United States of America… we’re supposed to be able to celebrate our differences, not gang up on people who may be different than we are. Isn’t it time we stop judging people for their sexual orientation or preference? What does someone’s sexual orientation have to do with whether they are a good person (or hell, whether they should be defending our country in the military?)? Gay people are people. Straight people are people. Black people are people. White people are people. People are people. And all people need to be more tolerant of others. You might not agree with everything your neighbor says or does, but you should at least be tolerant of it. Agree to disagree. It makes me so sad that there are children, teenagers and young adults who are being bullied so much that they decide that ending their life is the only way to escape it. It’s hard enough being a young person these days… let’s not make it any harder for them by bullying them during a time when all they are trying to do is figure out who they are.

 

Got part 4 of my Lit Review done… woot

I woke up at 8:15 and felt like a champion for sleeping in. I turned off my alarm clock and had my phone on silent (usually I keep it on vibrate, should there be some sort of friend/family emergency) and I think I slept through the night… I don’t remember waking up, nor did I get any further in my alphabet game than letter “J,” which I was on the night before, so that’s something. I’ll pick back up where I left off… I should probably move on to “K” now.

I went upstairs and was greeted by Moose, as Yukon was sleeping on the couch and would remain there through when I finished breakfast. Mom was at the table working on her crossword puzzle and Sodoku, so I sat next to Yukon and watched the rest of The Hudsucker Proxy while I ate my orange and yogurt.

When my movie was over, I went back down to my room to work on my Literature Review. My goal was to finish Part 4 (of 5) today and I did… though it took most of the day.

I took a few breaks every now and again, but I worked several hours on my paper. By 4:15 I had written three pages of stuff and felt I was finished with Part 4. I’ll start up on Part 5 (guilds – woot) tomorrow. I won’t get it all done, but I hope to make a dent.

A friend of mine from grad school FB messaged me this morning to tell me she was reading a book that she thought I could use for my Lit Review. I thanked her and looked up the book on Google… and it would fit in with my Lit Review. The thing is, though, how much information is too much information? Is there a thing as too much information? Probably not… but I also think that there could probably always be more information than the massive amount I already have.

I likely will have a panic attack in the next few days about this very topic.

You see, I haven’t showed any of my writing to my thesis chair person yet. I was waiting until I finished my Introduction and Literature Review (I’ll need to do a Methods section too, but that’s just common sense stuff). I’m very worried that I’m going to send him this 30+ pages of material and (1) he’s going to think it’s poorly written and (2) he’s going to recommend I add XYZ sources.

And I have a bajillion sources right now… well, maybe more like 50 or 60… and I’ve read all of the articles and most of the books. I know what I have inside and out. And I’m sure there are other great sources out there… but I could keep researching this thing until the cows come home. I just want to finish my thesis sometime soonish – is that so wrong?

So, besides my upcoming panic attack, I am proud of the work I got done today. And I have tomorrow off as well, so I will take advantage of that time to get some more work done. I was toying with the idea of going to see The Social Network, but that’ll be in theaters for awhile, so I should work on my paper while I have the chance to get more of it done now.

Obviously something is wrong with me if I am bypassing a trip to the movies to work on my paper. Maybe I’m growing up…

But even though I didn’t want to see The Social Network, I kinda do now. Oscar buzz usually piques my interest and it’s worked this time around. Plus, as I mentioned yesterday, I think Jesse Eisenberg is a brilliant actor. And, Justin Timberlake is supposed to be great in this movie as well. I’m a fan of his music and comedy prowess (go watch his SNLs… you will pee in your pants), but I know he’s got talent when it comes to drama. If you haven’t seen Alpha Dog, watch it… it’s got a great young cast, and Timberlake is a standout among his peers Ben Foster (love him!), Emile Hirsch and Anton Yelchin.

Today is Thursday, so we watched Bones and Grey’s Anatomy (I’ll watch my NBC lineup tomorrow or Saturday, hopefully… 30 Rock, you are the best!).

I like Bones because of the science and the chemistry between Bones and Booth (maybe not exactly in that order, but still…). This season Booth has a girlfriend and Bones is jealous, even though she won’t admit it. Gone are the overtly longing glances between Bones and Booth… now it’s more uber fleeting looks of “man, look what we could have had” or “damn it, I missed my chance”. We’re two episodes in and I’m missing the tension between the characters. Last season had some solid moments… I hope this season picks it up a little bit. The George Clooney stuff was good in this episode, but that’s about all it had going for it.

I don’t like Grey’s Anatomy, but I still watch it week after week. I honestly don’t know why. Probably out of some sort of obligation – but to who? I just don’t know. I would be fine if this show got cancelled after this season. It’s kinda anti-climactic, even with that whole “there’s a shooter in the hospital” finale last season.

And now I’m gonna get ready for bed… perhaps read some more of “Middlesex”. I finished “Born Standing Up” and I LOVED it. Steve Martin will forever and always be one of my favorite comedians. I need to rewatch The Jerk 🙂

Side note – Jesse Eisenberg was on the cover of the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly (along w/Timberlake and Andrew Garfield), so I was looking up his filmography on IMDB. I’ve seen probably 1/2 of his films, but my favorite performances of his are in The Squid and the Whale (2005), Adventureland; (2009) and Zombieland (2009). I love his voice and his super awkwardness 🙂

Eisenberg is also in The Village (2004), though he’s not uber memorable in it. However, Joaquin Phoenix is… this film has three of the greatest Joaquin Phoenix cinematic moments of all time.

Moments 1 (hand grab) and 2 (porch scene… bonus points go to Bryce Dallas Howard, though, for a well-timed tear)

Moment 3 (another hand grab)

That whole movie could have been better… but M. Night Shymalan seemed to stop making awesome movies after The Sixth Sense.

Have a good one!

 

It feels way later than it actually is…

Okay, so it’s 9:44 PM as I start to type this up, but it feels like waaaaaaaaaay later. I was tired after Modern Family (which is on at 8 here), so that’s the kind of day it’s been.

I got up just before 7 and got ready to be out the door for work by 8:20. I clocked in just before 9 and spent most of the rest of the day dealing with Christmas.

I know, it’s September still. But it’s Christmas galore at work right now… yikes.

A colleague of mine asked how I am able to make it through the day in an environment such as ours, with the people and whatnot… I told her I think of it as free acting lessons. I may not be the most sociable person known to mankind, but I was when I took acting classes in high school and college. So, here I am, years later, putting my acting skillz to use. Eat your heart out, Stanislavski.

(For the record, I did read one of his books when I was in undergrad… not even for acting class. I was just so wrapped up in/obsessed with the show Inside the Actors Studio that I was trying to learn everything I could about “the craft” even though I wasn’t a theater major. And I’m still obsessed with theater to this day, so it wasn’t all for naught.)

Anyway, work was okay. I got my schedule shenanigans figured out for this week. Turns out this is my weekend… I now have tomorrow *and* Friday off. That’s good for me, because it means I get to work on my Lit Review for two days in a row… woot. Maybe I’ll go see that Facebook movie on Friday. Maybe… I do like David Fincher and I LOVE Jesse Eisenberg – I think he’s one of the best actors from my generation.

After work, I drove home through rush hour traffic to find my mom waiting for me. I got in the house, changed into non-work clothes and came upstairs to find that she had made one of my favorite foods of all time for dinner… I call it “Cheeseburger Surprise,” but it’s really called “Bisquick Cheeseburger Pie“. (Minus the onions, of course) And it’s delightful 🙂 *And* my mom made cooked spinach… yum yum yum. Somehow she knew what I wanted when I didn’t even know what I wanted… my mom is the best.

We watched some HIMYM (so glad it’s in syndication around here!), Survivor and Modern Family.

Survivor didn’t surprise me at all – though I don’t think I would have voted out who they voted out quite yet…

Modern Family was great, as per usual. I loved how the whole episode was about physical affection, but that (SPOILER ALERT) Cam and Mitchell’s kiss ended up being a nonchalant background moment after such a huge deal was made out of it. I thought that was a great choice by the director and editor(s?). That show is so brilliant… I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – every character is great. Even the ones who aren’t my favorite are still amazingly fleshed out. Love. That. Show.

Well, I’m going to try to watch last week’s episode of The Office. It wouldn’t work for me yesterday. I’ll try once more. Maybe it’s just time to break up with that show… it has gone downhill anyway.

Have a good one!

 

Glee Tuesday – It’s Brittany/Britney :)

Before I gush about tonight’s episode of Glee, let me recount my day… I kinda got a lot done. Ish…

I didn’t set my alarm this morning (in fact, I unplugged my alarm clock altogether) as I had today off. I woke up at 8, but that was an hour later than the day before. So – success.

During breakfast, I started watching The Wendell Baker Story… sometimes I wonder if Luke Wilson can act or not. In this movie, he seems to be doing all right. So, I’ll finish it eventually.

After food, I threw in a load of laundry and then got to work on my thesis proposal. I worked on it for a couple hours and got another few articles cited and another page or two typed up. I still have a ways to go, but Thursday I will work on it more, as that is my next day off.

Around noon, I went upstairs to find my mom, who had spent part of the morning trying to net fish out of our pond to put in our fish tank. Since the weather is starting to get colder, she wanted to get all 10 goldfish, some minnows, snails and leeches out of our pond and into the tank in our living room (which already houses 3 catfish, some minnows, snails and leeches).

Mom and I had sandwiches and played a couple rounds of Yahtzee. Then, I had to head out and run some errands…

First on the list was shoes. I went to Payless and was instantly bombarded with a barrage of questions from one of the sale clerks. As I could empathize with the situation, I politely answered her questions and set out to find some shoes. I found some… they are ridonkulously ugly and not in style in any way, shape or form, but they seem like they fit all right and have some sort of cushion on the inside of them. Anything’s gotta be better than the shoes I wore the other day… so we’ll give these new shoes a whirl tomorrow. I’m going to be royally pissed if they don’t work out. I don’t have the money to be buying new pairs of shoes every week. That’s a fact, Jack.

After Payless, I went to Target to see if they had any shoes that would work – nope. I did get my mom a birthday card, some more Band Aids (blisters, yo), and some more socks. The colorful knee-highs were only $1… you can’t pass up argyle knee-highs 🙂

From the Target I went to Half Priced Books. I could spend thousands of dollars in there… but since this is reality, I just looked at a bunch of DVDs and books and left with nothing. I stopped at the library to drop off a stack of books, then went and filled my car up with gas. Fun times, I know.

I got home to find my mom rearranging plants on the back deck. She brought a whole bunch of them in the house to prepare for upcoming frost. We have plants everywhere…

We had a drink and played 2 games of Yahtzee before she went back outside to track down the last of the fish. I went down to my room with full intention of working on my paper more. I ended up watching the Season 5 premiere of Dexter…

(SPOILER ALERTS for those of you who haven’t seen it yet)

I think this was a great premiere. I loved that it started right where Season 4 left off – in that bathroom with all that blood. I find it beyond fascinating how Dexter functions in society. Michael C. Hall is amazing – I can’t even imagine what goes on in his head while he’s in the moment as Dexter… with all that chaos around him, he just was there, trying to emote as one would do in that situation, but not knowing how. He calls himself a monster – the phrase “I did it” being uber important in that episode – and I agree. But he’s not a dangerous monster. I mean, he is in that he kills people. But it’s not entirely his fault that he’s a monster… I blame Harry.

Harry taught Dexter how to fit in, or at least pretend he’s “normal” so he’ll fit in, or at least not be singled out. But in all of this pretend, Dexter never learned how to feel. He goes through the motions, kind of like a robot, but he doesn’t grasp what those feelings actually feel like. And throughout the episode, Hall’s Dexter is visibly struggling with having feelings and emoting them. You can see the wheels turning behind his eyes, but it wasn’t until he was on his boat and then had that encounter with that hick guy in the bathroom that you really saw Dexter as a quasi-functioning/feeling human being. When Dexter is on his hands and knees in the bathroom and sort of cries out/yells/releases emotion… it was really powerful. That was an extremely vulnerable moment and a huge game changer, in my eyes, for Dexter as a character. I believe this was also the first episode where he used a derivation of the word “love” (in this case, “loved”) when talking about Rita. This vocal expression of feeling, I feel, has the capability of cracking open a whole new side of Dexter. He’s still vengeful, but this time, it’s beyond personal.

I thought Jennifer Carpenter really was the glue holding this episode together. The way she plays Deb is great – it’s amazing to see her play this character who is trying to hold everything together while everything else is falling apart around her. She loves Dexter, but doesn’t fully understand him. I’m wondering if the writers are every going to reveal Dexter’s secret to her. I mean, in the books she knows, but on the show she doesn’t. That’ll be a game-changing moment, should they decide to go that route.

I am liking and disliking the character of Quinn more and more – which I think is brilliant. I like him because he’s a good cop… he knows something is up with Dexter because he’s good at his job. I also had a huge hunch last season that he was going to hook up with Deb. I thought the way the writers handled that was solid – and now there is room to expand on that. I also dislike Quinn because I still can’t put my finger on him. Why is he the way he is? His family used to have some money, but he seems more street than that. He looks like he should have been in The Departed, or something. I’m very interested to see where his character goes, plot-wise.

(End Dexter Spoilers)

And then, later tonight, my mom and I watched Glee… and it was glorious.

(Start Glee Spoilers)

So, tonight’s episode was Brittany/Britney. I LOVED how they revealed that Brittany’s name is Brittany S. Pearce (sp?). That’s just too great 🙂

I’m in my mid(ish) twenties, so I very much exposed to Britney Spears music ever since middle school/high school/college. I have her songs on my iPod, on my mix CDs, memorized for all time in my mind grapes. I have seen the music videos. I know about her personal drama via People Magazine, etc… Like the kids in New Directions, Britney music has had an influence on me.

So, I was beyond thrilled when I heard that they were doing a Britney episode. I was super thrilled knowing that Brittany (the amazing Heather Morris) was going to have a couple solos and be recreating some classic Britney videos.

Heather Morris can DANCE. She killed her “I’m a Slave 4 U” and “Me Against the Music” numbers. Her vocals were pretty good, but her dancing is really her best attribute. She’s a better dancer than Britney… yeah, I said (typed?) it.

I liked seeing John Stamos on Glee! I hope he gets a song and dance number at some point… he’s so talented 🙂 He was good on Full House and GREAT on ER, but I am really looking forward to some more of him on Glee.

Oh, Mr. Schue… being all jealous of Carl the Dentist. After all the rapping and whatnot, it was a bit bizarre to see Mr. Schue take on Britney Spears, especially “Toxic” (i.e. one of my most favorite Britney songs ever…). That was a brilliantly choreographed number… very sexy all around with the black and white outfits and use of bowler hats. To use two words from Sue Sylvester – “sex riot.”

I liked how Lea Michele’s version of “Hit Me Baby One More Time” was a direct homage to the Britney video… down to the same athletic pants and bras. However, even though I love “Stronger” and Artie, I wasn’t really feeling that number. It was a bit cheeseball, even for Glee. But, I’m glad to see that he and Finn are on the football team.

And, I liked the Paramore song… I have only heard it a few times, but Lea Michele’s performance makes me want to download her version and the Paramore version 🙂 The lyrics are really pretty.

But, as much as I loved tonight’s episode of Glee, I’m looking forward to next week’s episode. Finn had me smiling at the words “Grilled Cheesus” and then Kurt had me clutching my pearls when I saw him standing next to the hospital bed of his father. Burt Hummel!! Oh No!!! I’m very much looking forward to the music numbers next week – I know Mercedes is taking Kurt to church, so I hope that means we’ll hear some gospel and we, the audience, will be “taken to CHURCH!” Also looking forward to some Billy Joel from Puck… 🙂

(End Glee Spoliers)

And that’s that.

I’m off to bed… gotta 9-5 shift tomorrow. Fingers are crossed that my new shoes don’t kill my feet. My feet are still in huge amounts of pain from the other day… but, as my mom always says, “Suck it up, Kate.”

And so I shall.

Have a good one 🙂