falulatonks (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
falulatonks) wrote2010-05-13 10:15 pm
falulatonks) wrote2010-05-13 10:15 pm
"and tell the drama club their tears will be real today."
First:
❝WHAT I THINK ABOUT YOU❞
And now TV - I wanted to do all of these in more detail, but I ended up not being able to be in the mood (if that makes any sense), so - Glee in detail, and for all the rest, one thing I wanted to point out and talk about a little.
-- rachu
❝WHAT I THINK ABOUT YOU❞
And now TV - I wanted to do all of these in more detail, but I ended up not being able to be in the mood (if that makes any sense), so - Glee in detail, and for all the rest, one thing I wanted to point out and talk about a little.
- Glee - You know, I'm beginning to think that considering Glee is pretty much a show centred around a set of gimmicks or ideas (or themes, let's not forget the themes: home!) that seem to come purely from what they get/have (guest stars, song choices, etc.), they're not doing that terrible a job. See, here's an example - objective: let's get Finn singing Jesse's Girl (which is perfect for Cory's vocal range, therefore he'll sing it excellently), so what we need to do is: get Rachel a guy called Jesse (and let's make that Groff, because Lea and Jon are adorable together!), and because Groff can sing really well, let's make him the star of Vocal Adrenaline, and that makes things exciting and almost tragic (and it gives us suitable conflict for the Regionals!). Let's get a way to make the Rachel/Jesse relationship really dramatically public (because only that way can Finn sing Jesse's Girl), so...force him into New Directions! How do we do that - oh, right, we have to do that Madonna episode, how about we use Like a Virgin? (That ties in really well to Will's storyline, too, which is a plus.) Then he'll leave VA so he can have sex with her. Or something. DONE!
It's actually not that bad an effort - what they're doing is putting in a couple of points they want, and figuring out ways to fill in the blanks. I do wish that it came off as less obvious, or not as blatant fanservice. The Puck/Rachel scene last week didn't work, but they managed to work that into a storyline to get a terrible and amazing music video, tied that into Rachel/Jesse, and tied that into giving Jesse some emotonal depth and making us think maybe he may not be evil.
And to fill up the remaining space that the themes/gimmicks don't cover, the writers exploit the "special thing" that every character has. Mercedes isn't thin. Rachel is nothing without her voice. Kurt is gay. Tina pretends to stutter (but this is a psychological problem, so we won't do anything with that other than the actual reveal, so we'll have the DRAMA!). Brittany's an idiot. Artie's disabled (but when we get a way to fit in someone who really is disabled, we'll get a new guy in instead of giving him more screentime - just because). Puck 'loves the ladies'. These storylines aren't terribly done, but they aren't always consistent.
I do love what they give Kurt when it doesn't have to do with being with Mercedes or his place in the glee club, because he usually ends up being a whiny little bitch. When he gets things about his sexuality and his father, though, he's fantastic. I may not like what he does (I usually don't, actually), but he's interesting, mostly sympathetic, and Chris Colfer knocks it out of the park every time. (While we're on that, by the way: Rose's Turn has to be up there on my favourite performances of this show. It's probably second only to Don't Rain on My Parade. He is crazy and fierce and incredibly passionate and I keep wanting to watch it again and again. So excellent! Well done, Colfer!)
Then sometimes it doesn't work, like with the Rachel-Finn-paralyzedguy parts of this episode, which were trying too hard to be touching. Lea and Cory are my favourites in the cast, acting-wise, along with Chris, so I was mostly OK with watching them, even though I did keep thinking "wtf, wtf, stop this". (It's not good writing if you can see authorial intention from a mile away, right?)
Did love the music for this episode a lot - ugh to The Boy is Mine which sounds bland (and they kind of wrecked Naya's voice, which is a shame because I really did like her in LAV), but the rest? One literally gave me chills the first time I heard it, and I know everyone loves Cory on Jessie's Girl (on the verses his voice makes me swoon, yes), but in One he sounds amazing. I love the feel of the song so much. Rose's Turn is fantastic because of how it's a performance - I wish this show would allow more things like that (and give it to either Chris or Lea, pleasepleaseplease), because this was amazing, and this is the kind of thing I wanted from Glee right at the beginning. And The Lady is a Tramp is a lot of fun - Mark's voice is OK (loved what Puck was wearing here), but Amber sounds incredible - she fits the tone/mood of the song immediately and it's so great and jazzy. She should be allowed on more songs like that!
I never watch this show fully anymore. It's usually the characters/actors I like or whose storylines I'm interested in now. (I'll always watch the songs, though, because that's my favourite thing about this show.) As a result I don't have many complaints this week, other than the too-heavy writing and: NO GROFF. You'd think they'd allow some background Rachel/Jesse if they were going to get Jesse's Girl in this, but they kept it away from me! HOW DARE YOU. WE ONLY HAVE UNTIL THE END OF THE SEASON WITH HIM I WANT MORE. So psyched that we're seeing him next week, though. I may have reacted more crazily to him in the promos than Neil Patrick Harris. I kind of feel bad for it, but hey, NPH has his own show. - I think Community is the best thing on TV right now. I never am able to get into detail about this show, I really don't know how to. Last week, though, I ended Modern Warfare and wanted to scream/cry/rant because of how perfect it is - it's so inventive and interesting and crazy, but hilarious, sweet, and always heeding character. In twenty episodes that are nearly always set in a mildly surreal kind of universe, they've created sweet and realistic characters, given all of them good screen-time, allowed all of them great character development, and given them believable relationships with each other. Other shows should be paying attention.
- The Office was awesome? Have all the episodes this year been great or what? It's nowhere near as over-the-top as it could get - I'm enjoying it a lot. Jim/Pam were kind of perfect last week, too. I think it's adorable how their relationship advice to Michael almost always goes against each other's.
- Parks and Recreation - Amy Poehler wrote last week's episode and maybe that's why it kicked ass. Also, Leslie Knope is only getting more and more wonderful by the week, and I think the Leslie-Ann friendship is so sweet and awesome - clearly they genuinely care for each other and at the same time, Ann will always be ready to draw a marker moustache on her face. Can't think of many female friendships that aren't centred on guy-related talk, so WELL DONE, SHOW.
- 30 Rock was decent like it always is with Jack and Colleen, but other than that, bleh. This week should be good, though. AND THEN THE FINALE WITH MATT DAMON WHAT WHAT WHAT. Photos from the set have already shown up and I've been akdljfskdljfling at them for a while now.
- Doctor Who was fun and entertaining like Who should be. I just want to say, for the billionth time, that Matt Smith is brilliant. How old is he, 27? He got quiet and serious in his conversations with the guest actress (Helen McCrory, apparently; hello!), with some great, interesting chemistry, and sold me on all his 900 years - he's so intelligent and old and chilling and so alien when he wants to be, and I love him. "Shouldn't I be dead? Hmmm?" FANTASTIC. How did they find this man?! How is he so amazing?! He is so old, he's so determined to be old - he isn't a 'best friend' like Ten, he's the 'uncle', almost, with his suspenders and bow-tie, it's like he's forcing himself into that authority. It's fascinating.
He also has fantastic comic timing, and I'm glad that Moffat doesn't seem to be above a couple of lame jokes here and there. ("You kissed her back!" "No. ...I kissed her mouth.")
And finally - this new TARDIS interior is so, so great! I love the size of it. And the layout. And the colours. I loved it before, now I really really love it.
SO EXCITED FOR NEXT WEEK. Bring on the Matt Smith time, show! He's the best. - Chuck, you are a billion times more delightful when you keep away from the dumb angst.
- I have some very clear ideas about what I want to do, study-wise, but the difficulty is in finding the best way to get to that thing. It's kind of exhausting. Education in general is being very tiresome. This is the main reason I'm writing so much more these days.
- The original Spring Awakening cast sang Touch Me live a few years back, and I only just found it online. Only a couple of songs from this musical has managed to get to me (I've forgotten most of the rest), and Touch Me is the kind of song where I like the main tune but don't like the arrangement, performance, or dialogue interruptions in the official recording. This live performance is perfect. No dialogue, just brilliant harmonising of around 15 people on-stage together, singing something that's kind of gorgeous and it makes me a little teary. I've listened to it more times than I'm comfortable with telling you all!
- The Adjustment Bureau trailer, starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. I wasn't interested before, but now I'm psyched. Science-fiction romance with great consequences!!! It has Anthony Mackie in it, too, who you may remember better as the man criminally robbed of a Supporting Actor nomination for how brilliant he was in The Hurt Locker.
- BUT INCEPTION OH MY GOD. Damn it, Nolans. How is it that even knowing next to nothing about this movie I want to watch it right now?! It can't just be the stellar cast.
- There was an article in Newsweek last week about gay actors. Kristin Chenoweth responded to it, Ryan Murphy responded to it, and now Aaron Sorkin's responded to it. I have nothing to say about it, other than the fact that it's all interesting, but Sorkin's was so well-expressed that I feel like watching The West Wing right now.
- There a couple of photos of John Krasinski being carefree and adorable online over here. The ones of him and Emily are my favourites, because this one (rather than the one of them kissing, though this one helped) makes them look really relaxed and happy with each other, and that made me 'ship them more than anything ever. :P
Non-TV things -
-- rachu
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Oh man, right? I keep thinking back to a while ago when I was like "I THINK I WOULD PICK PARKS AND REC AS MY FAVORITE" and now I'm like "WHAAAAAAAT, PAST ME, YOU ARE RIDICULOUS."
(God, there's this version of Touch Me that much of the original cast (I actuallly think Groff and Lea were missing? But I can't remember) sang a capella in the middle of the street during the stagehands' strike a while back and it's just -- I agree, the song just does not translate well in the recording. There's something about it that needs to be live. Or, recorded live. You know what I mean.)
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I think I've seen that recording! I loved it a lot. You're right - it absolutely needs to be live.
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Oh god, thiiiiiiiiiiis. Is it because quadriplegics are more tragic than paraplegics? I mean, why give extra screentime to Artie and add a scene between two character that we rarely see interact when you can add in a pointless guest star? HURRAY! I also really loved Kurt this episode and I totally agree that when he's separated from Mercedes and not having a vendetta against Rachel he's 10 times more fabulous.
"The Boy is Mine" was kind of my jam in middle school, but now that I think about it they really did autotune the song to the point where it sounded exactly like the original. And "Jessie's Girl" totally needed a St. Berry montage with them being dorks and making out and stuff. YAY MORE GROFF NEXT WEEK.
I agree about Community; I never know what to write about it except GUSH GUSH GUSH. They pushed the Jeff/Britta a bit too much during "Modern Warfare", but other than that they've done an exceptional job letting us get to know these characters. I know more about the study group, for instance, than the main characters on Glee. The Office is surprisingly decent this season, especially the past few episodes. Not S2 levels of awesome and I'm still not invested as I once was, but it's been solid.
IS MATT DAMON GOING TO BE ASTRONAUT MIKE DEXTER? IF SO I WILL DIE.
I think Matt Smith is brilliant about pulling that "ancient" aspect of the Doctor's character into his performance. Everyone was worried about a "young" Doctor, but I think he's done a better job than Eccleston and Tennant at truly showing how long this dude has been around. It always looks like he's thinking. There's something always going on behind his eyes.
I hadn't even heard of The Adjustment Bureau until this very second but your description of it and the awesome cast has grabbed my interest. And Inception! The full-length trailer explains the plot a bit more but it's still fucked up and amazing and non-sensical in the best way possible.
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- MORE GROFF!!! And from spoilers we do get a better idea of him, so I'm so excited. I can't believe we've only had him for three episodes, like eight episodes total. I want him forever.
- I think the Jeff/Britta may have been necessary for the finale? I don't know, I'm not spoiled or anything, but they may have needed to set that up a little, or at least get the sex out of the way. And considering that, doing it in this kind of episode, where romance is just a big a trope in action movies as anything else they put in, was kind of smart.
- The Office will never be S2-awesome, but I'm glad it's not terrible. :P I wish they'd cut themselves off sooner, but if I look at it as kind of a separate show it's actually OK! :P
- OH MY GOD I WANT HIM TO BE IT SO BADLY. Did you see him in the uniform?! MIKE DEXTER!
- I really think that Nine was running away from being sad and old, and Ten wanted to be a little younger and to have more fun, which wore down by the end of his run, and that's what makes Eleven so much more willing to show and assert his age. He still wants to have fun, but Eleven is a lot more transparent about how "ancient" he is. I love that a lot, and considering how old Matt Smith is it's kind of amazing.
- Have you seen the trailer now? I'm kind of psyched!
- I know Inception's second traielr explains the plot more but I'm still so excited to see how everything will be handled, especially because of how fucked up it is. :P
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I don't mind Jeff/Britta too much but I just prefer the show when it balances out the character dynamics. I liked that this week The Sex wasn't some big thing between them. Kind of refreshing. I mean, of course they'll address it later but I like how the show doesn't wallow in certain plotlines.
I'm almost positive that Daaaaamon is going to be Astronaut Mike Dexter and I AM SO EXCITED. Uniform. Guh.
I have seen the trailer! It looks very intriguing, though James pointed out that four guys controlling the lives of 6 billion people is kind of unrealistic lol.
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Community & TO were both pretty good; I laughed really hard at Jim and Pam's horrified faces overhearing Dwight and Angela in the warehouse. :D And I lovelovelove Spring Awakening, and I have unreasonably high hopes for Inception. Just the cast alone is awesome.
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Do you love Spring Awakening?! I don't know, I don't hear a lot of love for it (other than in YouTube commments, ROTFL). And I'm so psyched about Inception that it's ridiculous.