DVR and CBS-enemies?

Dear CBS:

I don't know what was wrong with your network timing AGAIN this week, but this is the second time in four weeks that I've DVRd The Amazing Race only to have it not start at the appropriate time. I missed the last half of the episode, you douchewads! Get with the program!

HATE you,
Angie

Pushing Daisies

I'm telling you, if you're not watching Pushing Daisies you're missing one of the best shows ever. Last week's case in point: Kristen Chenowith and Ellen Greene sang "Put a Little Birdhouse in Your Soul." Awesome.

Two weeks ago case in point: Emerson, Chi McBride's character, is discovered to be a knitter. Double Awesome.

Seriously, with all due respect to Comic Book Guy, and possible exception of The West Wing, Greatest. Show. Ever.

I'll write more if at some point I come up with something more substantial.

Letters, Knitting, Etc.

Catherine was lovely enough to ask how the knitting goes! Well, I only know how to do the one thing, the knit stitch, but I’m getting pretty decent at it. My practice scarf is long enough to be a scarf, and there are only 3 or 4 really egregious drop-stitch mistakes, so that’s not so bad. I absolutely love knitting, I’m having so much fun. Visions of me giving people throws and making hats and stuff dance through my head. And the cats have started to learn that the knitting yard’s not a toy unless they want to get punted. I’ll try to figure out how to post pictures soon. And I so want to learn to make the stuff in this book if I ever get good enough.

And now, letters to persons and subjects of interest.

Dear Ben and Jerry’s S’more Ice Cream,

The love I have for you is deep and very true. Though I can actually hear my thighs expanding as I eat you, I want to have your adorable little ice cream babies, though I would probably eat them, and that would be really weird. Thank you for being exactly what I was craving, though I did not immediately know it.

Yours,
Angie

Dear Pushing Daisies,

You may be pushing the quirk envelope to the absolute max, but I do love you. Jim Davis, you are king. Come narrate my life. You could make getting my cereal in the morning and letting the dog out sound interesting.

Pleasepleaseplease don't get cancelled!
Angie

Dear Money,

Please grow on trees. I need more of you. Soon.

Bleh.
Angie

Dear Boyfriend,

Yay! We've been dating for five months! Good for us. Here's hoping we continue to rock.

*smooch*
Ang

...and the mental well's gone dry again. Oh well.

Consumption

Oh, what the hell is going on worth writing about? Hmm.

• I'm learning to knit! I sort of suck at it, because I drop stitches constantly and I have no idea how to pick them up if they're on the ends of rows or whatever. But still! I sit down at night and watch stuff off the DVR and I feel all Little House on the Prairie, minus the horrible clothes and never-ending life lessons. It's totally gratifying.
• I've been reading Helter Skelter, and am almost done. I like true crime, particularly Bugliosi, and I've found this pretty fascinating. It's kind of incredible to see how powerful someone can be personality-wise that people were willing to lie, steal and kill for him. It boggles my mind, but it's interesting. Plus, I'm totally convinced that I could be brainwashed into a cult pretty easily, which is nerve-wracking. Anyway, it's good stuff.
• Fall premiere time! Hooray! On my roster for new shows: Reaper and Pushing Daisies both look really good, Chuck has potential and... crap, I'm drawing a blank. I watch too much TV.

As odd as it sounds I was pretty in favor of President Ahmedinajad visiting the US, but it sounds like that's gone over for crap, which is terribly disappointing. I don't want to go to war with another country who might blow us completely up! Ack!

...and I've stopped being interesting. Oh well!

Dirty, Dirty Pleasure

If you're not watching Rock of Love on VH1, do yourself a favor and catch a marathon. It's totally a steaming pile of crap, but it's the most entertaining steaming pile of crap I can think of at the moment. Also, Bret Michaels is somewhat charming in an icky, ridiculous, guy-liner type way. Duly ashamed, but I'm DVRing it anyway.

More Recs, etc.

Jesus, I wish I got to update this thing as much as I would like to... but oh, well! We do what we can do!

So a couple weekends ago, I saw a review for I Sold My Soul on eBay, and the concept sounded so interesting, I actually went to Borders later in the day and picked it up. The basic premise is the author, Hemant Mehta, auctioned off the chance to send him to church, because he's really open-minded, and he wanted to see what he got out of it. Well, the auction raised $550, and every $10 bought someone a week, so the winning bidder and Mehta worked out an agreement, and he went to church for a year. He went to small churches, medium churches, big ones and megachurches, participated in the services and took notes of what worked and what didn't work. People hoping that he converted to Christianity might be disappointed, as Mehta remains an atheist at the conclusion of the book. But if you like honest discussion of the strong and weak points of religion from an outsider's eyes, and especially if you're looking for the big answers yourself, you'll probably really like this book. I did. A lot of the stuff that Mehta grapples with is stuff that I'm trying to work out as well. We have a lot of beliefs in common, with one difference: (well, not just one, but for the purpose of this point) I believe in God, and he doesn't. And you know what? That's not really that big a deal. Because the bottom line is we're both good people who want to do good things in the world and ultimately want to get as close to the truth as we can. Check out his website The Friendly Atheist for more on him.

Furthermore, I can't for the life of me figure out why I wasn't watching Arrested Development when it was on? I've been watching it with Jon since we started dating (actually a first date activity!) and it is seriously brilliant. Jason Bateman has been totally upgraded to TV boyfriend, and so has Michael Cera. It's to Will Arnett's credit as an actor that he hasn't been, as Gob is one of the funniest and most irritating characters I've seen. Get thee to Netflix and rent it if you haven't seen it!

Damn, what do I do on this thing besides recommend stuff? Bitch and moan, right. Well I don't actually have a bitch and moan in me at the moment, so this'll have to do.

My Super Sweet go F' Yourself

Every single person who has been on "My Super Sweet Sixteen" should be put on an island and forced to Lord of the Flies each other. Seriously. I have never seen a single child on that show who could behave like a human being. This girl freaks out and sobs and pitches a tantrum the size of Alaska because her mom gives her a brand new Lexus at school on her birthday rather than at her party. "You fucking ruined everything!" she cries. Seriously, what the hell kind of entitled bitch acts like that? And what kind of parent allows it? Fine, you get to be on TV or whatever, but now the entire viewing audience of MTV knows that

• if you're the girl, you're a giant, pissy, bitchy twat
• if you're the parent, you're spineless and your kid owns your ass.

And how the fuck do you not know that? You know MTV cuts this show to make you look like the biggest asshole possible. Why play into it? Why not be sweet and normal and fuck with them instead? If I had at any point in my life acted for a moment like one of these kids, my parents would have slapped the ever loving shit out of me, and rightfully so. Jesus. This is the kind of stuff that makes me hate everyone.

Latest Pop-Culture Consumption

So, on the plate for review are about the two most different movies humanly imaginable, and both will probably be kind of brief, but let’s do this.

Shrek the Third

This was a perfectly serviceable installment of the Shrek franchise. It was by no means unfun, but definitely not as clever or as cute as the first two. Actually, the most fun parts are the parts that kind of glossed over. I’d watch a movie about the princess posse, and also one about the ugly stepsisters. Donkey was pretty funny, and Puss is a totally winsome character. The Shrek character didn’t seem to have the energy throughout that he did before, but that may be just what I saw. But overall, it’s a fun way to spend an afternoon. Frankly, though, I wish I’d paid matinee price instead of $9, but oh well.

Into Great Silence

I went and saw this last night with my friends Suzy and Dave. I actually didn’t stay all the way through it because I got a serious headache and the light was killing me. But the movie’s a German documentary about Carthusian monks. The Carthusians live very simple, quiet contemplative lives and the film shows it as just that. It’s startling how quiet the movie is, especially for the standard movie-goer. At one point, you spend about a minute listening to the snow falling. The movie was very peaceful and zen-like to watch, and it’s definitely something I want to see the rest of and probably own because it just gave me a nice, calm feeling. Also, it’s quite a compelling movie given the subject matter and the fact that very little happens. Anyway, if you’re into that kind of thing, check it out, it’s really good.

This weekend, I’m supposed to be seeing Knocked Up, which I’m stoked on. If it’s half as good as The Forty Year Old Virgin it’ll be a great popcorn flick.

Finally, in other pop-culture consumption news, I got The Office seasons 1 and 2 for my birthday. There is just some freaking killer acting on that show. Steve Carell is brilliant as Michael, and I’d forgotten how much of season 2 I watched through my fingers. The episode where he cooks his foot and Dwight gets a concussion is sheer genius. Also, the tête-à-tête between Pam and Jim, the flirtation, et cetera, is some of the best chemistry I’ve seen on TV. I’d not seen “The Booze Cruise” episode, and when Jim told the documentary filmers, “For the record, I’d save the receptionist,” my heart broke for him more than a little. And with The West Wing over, I can’t think of a better ensemble cast on network TV. How I Met Your Mother is a lot of fun, but this just feels more real. If you haven’t watched this show yet, please make it your summer mission to Netflix them, I highly doubt you’ll regret it.

Finally, a quick memo to the weather:

To Whom It May Concern:

It’s too hot for barely the beginning of July. Please take the wet towels off the planet and crank the air back down to the mid-70s or low 80s ASAP.

Cordially,
I Don’t Have Air in My Car, Please Give me an Effing Break

Zen

Help me make sense of the following please:

They showed Marlee Matlin in the audience of American Idol last night. Can she really fully appreciate... a singing competition? How does a deaf person develop an invested interest in that? It's all kind of confused.

Prediction: Jordin. I initially thought it would be Blake, but Jordin kind of burned it up last night, and frankly, I think she got the pimp. But I've been wrong almost every other time, with Fantasia as the exception, so we'll see what I know.

Squee-age!

Three weeks from today I'll be on my way to New York with Leila, DD and Jesus (not that one, the other one) for a taping of The Daily Show and other general debauchery. I'm so excited, I just had to post it.

Also, if you hear someone got arrested for trying to jump Jon Stewart, think of me, and send bail money.

Religious Ponderings

I was meaning to write about this great PBS documentary I've been watching on Mormonism, so that'll be the focus of this, but first, Jerry Fallwell has died.

Now, this guy has a family, and I'm sure there were many, many good things about him. But he was also a bigot who thought that the Anti-Christ would have to be a male Jew (Funny, considering that's who your savior was as well) and that "pagans, and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'You helped this happen,'" in regard to September 11. It was a pretty narrow view of the world this guy had. And I sincerely hope that if there is something tangible about the soul that continues on to Heaven or Nirvana, or whatever, that Fallwell gets to spend some much needed time right now to learn the tolerance he didn't practice in life. (Oh, and also, this is a secular nation, whether he likes it or not, so he can stick that in his pipe and smoke it. Or could. Whatever.)

Anyway, The Mormons. So, I have a few (okay, one) Mormon friends, and from what I know from her and that one awesome episode of South Park, it seemed very strange. Of course, when you really look at any religion in the world, they look pretty strange. Take Catholocism for example. "So, your guy came to earth to teach love and tolerance and they killed him. And even though he supposedly took away all your sin with his death, you're pretty much going to feel guilty for every little thing, and decide what your Big Book really says about everything, but sometimes you ignore the stuff your guy said about loving other people and reaching out to the people no one else would. And at some point, you're going to turn some stale crackers and bad wine into his body and blood, and ask us all to participate in cannibalism? Riiiiiight." Now, my point here isn't to mock Catholicism. I was raised Catholic, and I still have a great respect for the Church even if I don't agree with alot of its principles and practices. Same kind of thing that goes for Mormonism. But here's a couple of things that blew my mind in a good way:

• The Mormon Church is easily the most effective with regards to charity and assisting in communities. According to the documentary, Mormons were on their way to Louisiana before Hurricane Katrina even hit, and they didn't just drop off supplies and leave. They helped clean and rebuild as much as they could.
• Generally speaking, Mormons put their money where their mouths are. Most serve on missions when they're around 20 and go to preach their gospel and I assume work in the community. They also put a huge amount of emphasis on the family, and are actually required to spend one evening a week with their families, which sounds harsh, but is probably very good for the family unit.

Here's a couple of things I wasn't so stoked on:

• You can be excommunicated if you have an opinion that differs from Church dogma. So, if you're a feminist and are outspoken about it, you can be thrown out of the Church, and "unsealed" from your spouse, children and family. If I were a practicing Mormon, I think that would be devastating. The Church essentially tells you that your entire family will all be together, physically together, in the next life, and you won't be with them anymore.
• Mormons are a bit more secretive than I would like. They're not transparent about where tithing money goes to, and they're even more guarded regarding their temple ceremonies. On the one hand I know they want to keep their sacred practices sacred and private, but on the other, don't be surprised when people make assumptions about your religion that aren't true. Myths are more interesting than truth, and I can almost guarantee the things we imagine going on are far more benign. But still, it gives an air of caginess I could do without.

Anyway, the documentary was terrific, extremely interesting. You should try to catch it if you can. It's just interesting to think about and I find the more I learn the more everything seems to boil down to similarities. Who knows what I'll arrive at eventually.

The News in Idol

Ah, Idol. Every week you give me new reasons to love and hate you. Some notes:

• Phil sounded not bad last night! He still looked like a cadaver, but he actually sang pretty well, which was a nice change. I don't dislike him so much as I... nothing him.
• Lakisha was really not great last night. I'm not as big a fan of hers as I am of Melinda, but she just didn't really hit it with "Jesus, Take the Wheel" last night, which is odd, because I pegged that as a homer for her. She should have gone with some Reba or Patsy Cline.
• Sanjaya... okay, first of all, is Bonnie Raitt even legitimately country? Because I don't usually hear that song on country stations. But we'll leave that aside. The dude's voice is just not strong enough. He's talent show at best, and he's not even the guy who would win the talent show, he's the guy who'd have a whole bunch of friends show up and then act all whiny and obnoxious when he lost to the Blake or the Melinda. He's going to live through tonight almost undoubtedly, and that makes me sad.
• Jordin is awesome and I am in love with her. Let me make that clear. But I'm not entirely sure what the lather was about last night. I really, really liked her, but she had a couple of clunker notes in there that I guess I didn't get passed. And she wasn't in the bottom three last week, so it's not like they were working on saving her. But whatever, because I love her and want to take her to Starbucks and so everyone should talk nice about her.
• Melinda was awesome. Melinda is always awesome. She sounded absolutely terrific, and though I was kind of harshed by Simon's "Stop acting surprised" bit, (although, how cute was he saying "Dude, I know.") the closeups on her reactions, the grin, the glow... she's frickin' awesome. LOVE.
• Chris Richardson is dead to me now. It wasn't the singing, because I actually liked it. Rascal Flatts tends to sound a bit nasally sometimes, so I got where he was coming from there. It also wasn't him getting snitty with Simon, although, dude? Don't you know he's the only one on the judge panel who knows jack? No, it was him getting snitty with his "nasal is a singing style" (granted, but there are few people who make it work) and THEN having the nerve to bring up the Virginia Tech tragedy. It would have been an entirely different thing if he had said something about appreciating Simon's critique, but he wanted to take the opportunity to send his love and prayers to the school. But he was a douchebag to Simon, he must have known it, and he either had already planned on saying something and decided to do it without really noticing it was no longer appropriate, or, and this is my problem, he knew he was a douchebag and thought he could pull that out of pocket to make up for his ass-hattery. Seriously, I don't care if the guy goes up and sings "Dick in a Box" next week, I'm done with him. People losing their sons, daughters, siblings, etc. cannot be compared in the same breath to Simon being mean to you.

Please Note!

Dear America:

PLEASE STOP VOTING FOR SANJAYA MALAKAR. I know some of you think he's super cute and you love him, but you're wrong. And I know some of you think that he's awful and he's exactly what we deserve for propagating such a horrible show, and I don't necessarily disagree. But the boy had a row of ponytails last night to serve as a fauxhawk. He's losing it. He can't sing well enough to win, and he makes my earholes hurt. Please, please, please, please. Stop voting for him. Vote for Jordin instead.

Way too invested,
Angie

Letters to Creatures and Objects

Dear New Office Printer,

I. Love. You. You are so awesome you make up for the fact that I was not allowed to kill the old printer a la Office Space. You are bigger, more beautiful, and, most importantly, you do not get jammed every frickin' two minutes. The hugs I have given you this week are not out of sarcasm, but straight up adoration.

Muchos Besos,
Angie

Dear Old Office Printer,

Rot in hell, you piece of crap bitch. Actually, you probably used to be nice, but you really drove me nuts in the meantime. Hope you're recycled into a toaster.

Bye-bye!
Angie

Dear American Idol Contestants,

Melinda and Jordin--you two are the best! You're so damn cute, the two of you together may end up saving humanity at large. If either of you are voted off before top 5, I may set the building on fire.

Haley--Who are you? You show up every week and I never remember you. But last night you shook your knockers and now I do. And I'm a girl, and don't feel that should have been my focus, but I can't remember your vocals, so there you go.

Lakisha--You're good and all, but next to the lovefest I have for Melinda and Jordin, there's no chance for you to be my heart's Idol. You really are great, though!

Chris R--I like you, but I don't get you. Mostly I call you "Not Blake." Whatever.

Chris S--I really liked you at first, but you're starting to bother me. Sound less like Meatloaf and maybe we'll talk.

Gina--They tell you to get in the box, and the Simon yells at you for being in the box. That's some bullshit. You're not going to win, but I love you, so keep being great and hang in there!

Blake--You're like everything cool about N'Sync (DON'T JUDGE ME) rolled into one. Charm and love from girls whom you have no interest in will get you quite far, which is good, because you amuse me.

Stephanie--Come on, girl, you're falling into that Haley category of, "Who?" And you're better than that. If you live through tonight, step it up.

Phil--If only you were less "Buffalo Bill" I might really be able to cheer you on. Congrats on the kid, though.

Sanjaya--Sweetie, go home. You're probably supersweet and cute, but you're barely weaned, and you bug the bejeezus out of me. Also, what the hell with the t-shirt and the thumbs in the holes and what not? Oh, and your hair disturbs me and I believe it is probably some sort of demonic lure.

Randy--Sweet god in heaven, must every critique you utter begin with "Yo, yo, yo, listen up, dawg, my dawgie dog---" You're not in high school. You're not cool because of that. You are, however, a talented musician and producer. FOCUS.

Paula--Whatever rehab you are in, I think it's working. Your crying last week was awesome.

Simon--I love that there are good people for you to be all awesome about, and bad people that you can be all awesome about, and that your mission for the season seems to be to out Ryan Seacrest. Please, please, say mean things to me and then let me make out with you. (Sorry, I may have said too much there.)

Ryan--Damned if I don't love you, you tanned, frightening little thing.

Crying kid from last night--I hope your parents didn't tape that so you won't be subjected to it in 5-10 years.

Love, your bitch,
Angie

Dear Pets,

I need you to help around the house more. The apartment's a mess, and so far, nada. Seriously, you can't freeload forever.

Aggravatedly,
Angie

What I'm Doing when I'm Supposed to be Studying Math

I admit it: I’m a pop-culture whore. In the past five days, I have sampled no less than three pieces of visual entertainment that have delighted and entertained me. One was excellent, one was very good, and one was, while totally enjoyable, utterly crap. Allow me to elaborate:

The Twinkie: Tasty going down, but I’d prefer if no one else saw me consuming it, because it can’t be good for me.
The Twinkie of the week for me, indeed, probably my biggest Twinkie, is American Idol. Particularly now that I have Tifaux and can zap past the parts I don’t care about or the performers that I don’t like. (Bye Antonella!) But let’s face it: pretty much anyone with a modicum of singing ability fantasizes about this show. Of course, my self-esteem is low enough that I wouldn’t even expect to make it to Hollywood. My goal is simply to be able to hug Simon, because I adore him. Still, every week I watch it and as the women are singing, if I know the song and think I could sing it better, or at least as well, you can bet the next morning I’m singing it as I’m fixing breakfast. I can’t help it. If there were an Idol 12-step program I might consider it.

By far and away the best moment this week in Idol was Simon’s reaction to the delightful Melinda Doolittle. She tore the hell out of her song, and when it came to Simon to speak, he was grinning in the most delightful fashion and said, “You’re a little tiger! I thought we had a pussycat!” It was so warm and endearing, and Melinda was so obviously delighted by it I just wanted to kiss him. Speaking of kissing…

The Coldstone Creamery: Delicious, and readily accessible!
I LOVE House. Hugh Laurie is so delightfully cranky and funny, he warms my very toes. (If you haven’t seen Sense and Sensibility, rent it this weekend. It’s great, but he’s worth the price of admission.) The show can be a bit up and down with me from time to time, but I love the entire cast. However, this week was just great. House is playing the piano! With Dave Matthews! Who is actually a good actor in this! Seriously, Dave Matthews was charming and not at all overdone as the savant. And Red Foreman was his dad! IMDb informs me his name is really Kurtwood Smith, but come on, it’s Red Foreman. He was wonderful as well. Chase’s moment with House was a delight, Cuddy and her “Call the Make-a-Wish Foundation” line was hilarious and best of all, the House and Cameron smooch was HOT. And trust me, I’m not a giant fan of that connection, but I watched that scene no less than four times before coming to work yesterday. The kiss itself was great, but then when House figured out that Cameron was trying something, and his eyebrow arched straight off his head? Poetry. One of the best episodes I’ve seen yet.

The Caramel Pecan Turtle Cheesecake: There are no words for how wonderful this is.
The non-date I went on this week was to see Pan’s Labyrinth. I was warned that it was extremely depressing, but I didn’t actually find that to be the case, because I was looking at it through the lens of “fairy tale”. Should someone stumble across this and not have seen it, I don’t want to give much away, but the movie is absolutely great. The cinematography is stunning, the whole artistry of the movie is just gorgeous. The story is simple, but lovely, and well-acted all around. I was a little nervous about seeing a subtitled movie in theaters for the first time, but it was a non-issue. Everything about the movie was terrific, highly recommend.

And there you have it! My week in pop-culture snacks!

In Defense of Marcel

I admit it, I am reality TV's bitch. In particular, I seem to get roped into the Bravo! network shows. Project Runway is easily one of my favorite shows, though I could have done with a lot less meanness and bullshit drama (Jeffrey and Keith, I'm looking at you). Now, while Top Chef is not as entertaining to me, it’s still a really good show, and I really enjoy watching it. But this season has been absolutely dreadful. The drama had very little to do with the competition, and the competitors just seem to be douche bags.

I get that it's a competition, and I don't necessarily expect everyone to love each other and be friends, particularly if different people have grating personalities. Tiffani last season is a good example: as a person, I couldn't stand her, but she was a good chef and that was largely what made her good TV. Sure, Dave couldn't stop crying, and Stephen was obnoxious with his sommelier crap, but still, that was all competition, and it frankly made for a good show.

When this season started, I was looking for Marcel to be this season's Stephen: probably quite talented as a cook, but an obnoxious git. But unless the editors aren't giving him a fair edit because he ultimately wins, he hasn't been that bad. Yes, he is a gigantic dork; his rapping on the roof is as much evidence of that as his bouffant hairdo. But what strikes me as so odd is that everyone else is constantly bitching about how irritating he is, and last night Elia went so far as to say he "cheated" in previous challenges, and we have seen absolutely zero evidence of that. Okay, his personality may be grating in person, but let's take a look at what he's being accused of:

1. Being disrespectful in the kitchen: Okay, when? Because what we have been consistently shown is that he tries almost without fail to be extremely respectful in the kitchen. He offered to help Betty more than once even though Betty was a complete ass to him. He asked repeatedly for people to keep the refrigerator door closed, which affected them all and was very inconsiderate of who was not doing it. And every team challenge it seemed, Marcel seemed to take whatever course was left over instead of being a bitch and fighting over it. On the other hand, we've got Ilan, who yelled at Marcel for "snapping" at Betty when Marcel really didn't, and the rest of the chefs all refusing to help him until he had apologized. We've got Ilan blatantly insulting Marcel by trying to foam Italian dressing in one of the quickfire challenges just to mock him. And all of the chefs seemed to insist on shunning and bitching about Marcel, both to his face and behind his back.
2. Cheating: This is such crap. Prove it. Show one instance in which Marcel cheated. Did he accidentally "steal" a case of lychee? No. Did he alter his recipe in the dietetic challenge? No (Betty). He didn't even take a discount he was most likely entitled to because he didn't know if it was allowed. So, sorry, I'm not biting. There were cameras up your ass at all times. You're telling me you can't find one instance of him doing something underhanded? Oh, he moved your pot Elia? When your burner wasn't even on? After he announced he was moving it? How awful for you. Suck it the hell up.
3. He's irritating: Granted. His personality could very easily come off as irritating. Anyone that you live with is irritating at least some of the time. I didn't see them treating Betty like shit, and she was irritating. Mikey could be horribly irritating, and everyone loved him. All it ended up looking like was "the cool kids" picking on the kid they decided was the enemy. And the funny thing is if they hadn't done it, I probably wouldn't be rooting for Marcel, because he does have personality ticks that bug, and (far more importantly) his food isn't necessarily the first in line I'd like to taste. But that doesn't give these people the right to try and smear him through the mud, physically assault him (Cliff), slam him on personal things and generally be giant dicks.

It'll be interesting to see if we find out stuff in the inevitable reunion special that shines some light on why Marcel was so reviled. I seriously doubt these people can find a way to justify their deplorable behavior, but I have to believe something was going on that we weren't being shown. In any case, when TC3 starts airing, I seriously hope the drama comes on the side or not at all.

So Weird

People, Kelly Kapowski turned 33 today. Between that and Screech making porn I feel like the fabric of the universe is coming undone. Seriously, I want my blankie.

Sweet, sweet victory

So the Colts are going to the Superbowl. And they're playing the Chicago Bears. Honestly, I like the Bears enough that if they win I won't cry myself to sleep. However, if we beat them, I very much would like to call the ex-boyfriend (who is from Chicagoland) and tell him to suck it. Would that be immature, or delicious justice? I can't decide.

Musical Note

Scrubs was a musical episode last night. Why are musical episodes always better? Granted, Scrubs is a stellar show, and I wouldn't miss it no matter what, but as a musical? Even funnier. It was like that episode of Buffy, "Once More with Feeling." I have never seen another episode of Buffy in my life, but that one was really good. (A friend loaned me the first season. I really need to get around to watching it.) Or the episode of Project Runway where Santino sang his "It's Just Fashion" song, or the Daniel Franco song. Or the time on America's Next Top Model where the whole panel burst into song, which was also awesome. Singing just seems to improve things.

All by way of saying if you didn't watch Scrubs last night, see if you can find it on YouTube. It was hilarious, in particular the song about pooing, and the "Guy Love" duet. Solid gold.

Idol Worship

Here's the problem with American Idol: The audition phase is kind of the best part, because it's before you hear someone kill a song you love, and it's fun to hear people for the first time. But in two hours last night, I think they showed six good singers. In a singing talent show. They showed at least 5 times as many crap ones. It's ridiculous! No one is that into schaedenfraude, are they? I know we like to see things that make us feel better about ourselves, but would we feel so much worse if we actually had to watch people with talent on a talent show? And there's so much making fun just to make fun. It's awful. I guess people like to see that kind of stuff, but what kind of assholes are we that we want to see people get butchered for doing something that we supposedly love? Also, please tell me that it's not possible that so many people are so deluded about where their talents lie. These are people who just want to be on television, right? Not people who actually think they can sing? And their families really don't hate them that much? Because you'd have to hate someone a lot to hear them sound like a goat in a blender and encourage them to audition. So even though I sort of love AI, I think it's making me losing my faith in humanity.

Sub-problem: Ryan Seacrest. He's a robot, right? I mean, no one's really that tan and plasticine, right? I'm afraid.