Happy Valentine's Day

All this talk of impending layoffs has me down and I can't even use my picture of Laurie because I used it the last time I was depressed. Admittedly I was warned of the downfalls of the field of my current preference. Difficult work, depressing environment, inconvenient hours, and amazingly bad pay for all that trouble. But I think once you get it into your head that you're going to work in the social work field, you know try to do some good in your life while you still can, selling people stuff they don't need or staring at a computer all day just never seems like it can be enough. But I guess after two years of unemployment, it would be a living.

I don't know, pessimist as I am it's easy for me to focus on the bad and sometimes it just feels like this whole generation really is being punished for the things our parents did, especially those of us that wasted so much of our time and money on that unbelievable lie known as 'higher education.' We were never even given a chance to prepare you know? And now a certain Mr. Brown decides a 20% cut to the people that need it most is the best way to get out of the mess that frankly he had a hand in creating. How exactly is my losing my job going to fix the economy? And it just kind of sucks that if it is me, it's likely not even going to be because of my performance. It's going to be because I don't see my manager for weeks at a time and can't chat her up all friendly-like like AM staff, and because I'm the only girl that works PMs and thus more muscle-challenged than my comparable co-workers. But who knows, with a house of 4 clients, 9 staff, and a 40% budget cut, we might all end up on the streets.

Whatevs. I just read I Kill Giants and this little concern of mine seems pretty hamster sized in those terms. Also, this helps. A lot.



An actual valentine? God, I'm such a girl. And I love it.

Is Glee getting awesome again?

As is becoming habit I suppose, this is based on one single episode as the Super Bowl episode, awesome though it was, was sufficiently spoiled for me by all aptly named spoilers Fox released beforehand. And I admit it was my fault but two months is a really long time to wait and they didn't have to release everything. Yeah yeah, excuses excuses.

I'm sure my assessment of this episode has a lot to do with the fact that it was quite heavily Santana based and my love for Santana knows no bounds. (Though my reasons for this should be better addressed in another post. A very long post. Eventually. Perhaps after the promised-to-be-amazing Episode 15?) But Santana reasons aside, and I know how hard it is to put Santana anything aside, I feel like the writers marathon-ed those first thirteen episodes over the break and brought back a lot of what was missing and then added Mike Chang dancing in slow motion. Verdict? Awesome. For this episode at least.

A few things:

1. Reaction shots. I swear the reaction shots really make the episodes sometimes. I mean just look at Mercedes' face when Finn tells the club about his charity idea or Fat Bottomed Girls' Mr. Schue, Santana, and Rachel especially with her whole range of emotion. Then go back and listen to Finn say the word smooch. Gets me every time.

2. Friendships. It's something this show needs more of. Have Mercedes and Quinn said a single word to each other this season? Though rare, when they do it right, the friendships become the best part of the show. I want to see more of Mercedes and Kurt hugging in the background and supporting each other and less of Kurt telling Mercedes she needs to have a boyfriend to get over him. So yay for sleepovers and inviting Rachel in on the fun too. Also, does anyone else think Mercedes' onesie for the sleepover was inspired by Hemo's in Nuthin' but a Glee Thang? It probably wasn't because of timing and all, but I like to think it was.

3. A capella background music. We all wondered where it went, and now it's back. Let's just hope it stays.

4. Relaxed settings. As in something other than the choir room. I love scenes at the Grind Me Coffe House, in their rooms, and especially Breadstix. They are legally forbidden to stop bringing you breadsticks after all.

5. Puck singing and Mike dancing. Puck bothers me as a character. A lot. But the boy can sing which is great because most of the guys on the show can't. Also, Mike dancing. In slo-mo. For Tina.

6. Gold stars. I actually forgot this about Rachel. How sad is that?

7. And on the Fuinn relationship, I kind of sort of get it. I don't think Quinn was ever over Finn. Maybe she loved him and maybe she didn't, but I think it really broke her to realize she couldn't be with him and it was all her fault. I mean, she was going to raise her baby with him. And now he's free and Sam is boring. And Finn is feeling reckless. He's been the good boyfriend twice before and what did that get him? He just wants to have some fun before he goes back to do the sensible thing again, which he will, because he always does. Maybe I'm not too happy with the way it's being done, but I will take anything that makes Quinn relevant again.

And randomness, does anyone else think it was a cop-out to have Zoey get a divorce in How I Met Your Mother? After that super emotional (What are you talking about? I wasn't crying. I, uh, have naturally watery eyes is all.) Last Words episode, I guess I'm just a little disappointed.

Hello Gold Motel

So remember a couple of posts ago when I mentioned I wanted to go to a Gold Motel gig and not have to sit through Hello Goodbye to do it? Well, I might just have my chance. I've been planning on seeing Jukebox the Ghost when they come out to LA for a week or two now and it turns out they have also been opening for Hello Goodbye though I was unaware of it. You know what this means? Gold Motel might actually be filling the previously empty spot for opener! I pretty much flipped at the news except I don't know how to flip so actual flipping would probably cause me to break my neck and die and then I would never get to see Annie and Jeff hook up on Community and I obviously can't miss that. Anyways by request, here is a little Gold Motel introduction song. (And please keep your fingers crossed because this hasn't yet been confirmed on either Gold Motel's site or the venue's. That makes me think it probably won't happen but it was fun to think it might.)

Who will die in Skins Generation 3?

I've tried. Okay? I've tried, but the North American (I don't know why we insist on calling them US productions when they're both filmed in Canada and feature pretty exclusively Canadian actors and production teams. I suppose it's the same reason we feel we need to have US versions of these awesome British shows in the first place.) versions of Skins and Being Human but they just don't have it. And by it I mean heart. The care and emotion that I have come to expect from things associated with these names. I'm not talking about love and care between the characters because some of the beauty of the originals were the distant nature of these friendships. I'm talking about care and respect from the production side of things towards these characters, the original shows, and also of course, us fans of the originals.

Anyway, the point is, instead of watching Being Human US last night, I watched the first episode of Skins series 5 which introduced us to a whole new generation. And honestly the first thought that came into my head when finished with the episode was which one of these characters was going to die by the end of next season. Sure, some will argue that it's a little predictable to kill someone off at the end of this generation's run as well, but my argument is that the producers are thinking the same thing and Skins is not a show of what's predictable. So, no death. But of course, weird fans like me now think that this is the most predictable option and of course now they have to kill someone as that final big blow to the fans. It's that old they know and we know but they don't know that we know that they know, do they?

So I gathered up all the characters into my arms and placed them into this very handy machine I have stored in the back room that spits out the 'losers' (if dying can constitute winning I suppose) one by one with convenient reasoning attached to their lapels. I imagine it to work like the Maternifuge from 'Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch.' And now I present to you the results. Mind you this is based on viewing a single episode which centered on a single character. At this point in season 3 we hadn't even been introduced to Thomas yet. Also, most of the characters' names elude me at the moment.

First to get scratched off the list are the guys. Yes, all of them. If Jamie Brittain chooses to off someone again, I highly doubt it will be yet another of the males. It's time for the women, or rather girls, of the show to start filling their share of the quota. This was actually a little hard for me because that guy that asked Effy Jr. to shoot him in the chest is so ripe for killing off. His whole mysteriousness and strange but brief emotional connection to Franky? And that gun scene is totally foreshadowing right?

Next is Mini. Now I can't decide if she's a Michelle, a Katie, or a Tony quite yet, because they all seem to be there. And sure, they might run her over with a bus (which is quite fitting because I also see a lot of Regina George in her) or hit her in the head with a boulder at the end of this season but that doesn't exactly kill her does it. Also I can't see her death being all that meaningful. But hey, they turned Katie for me. Turned her into the best character ever! So there's always hope.

Then there's Franky, or Effy Jr. as I like to think of her. Effy of first season though, based solely on her looks and strangeness. It would make sense to off her, bringing the story full circle. It's through her eyes that we meet this new group of teens as she does and we would be leaving them as she does as well, but that makes her too obvious of a choice. If she is to be the main character of this generation as Effy was and Tony before her, we can't expect the writers to do away with her. To off her would be to off the entire generation and I'm afraid our tiny Skins dependent hearts can't take that.

And then there were two, Grace and the Jal look alike. Of these two I'd say Grace's would be a Chris death. She's nice and likes people and doesn't care too much about the political lines. Jal II is the Freddie death. She's boring. Yeah, that's all I got about her. So obviously it's going to be Grace. I feel the thing about both Chris' and Freddie's deaths were not about them as much as they were about the people they had touched. And right now, based on one single solitary 50 minute episode, Grace is the only character with that kind of heart. She is the only character that has made an impact in anyone else's life, and frankly the only character that made any impact on me. I also love the fact that the thought of defecting to the Rebel Alliance and away from the popular crowd wasn't much of a thought at all and that she managed to be so awesome in an episode that wasn't about her. Thus, she is destined to die. In my mind at least.

And now I'm off to find the latest two episodes of the real Being Human. I have no idea why it's so incredibly easy to find Skins but so incredibly difficult to find Being Human. Must find out how they save Annie!