Glee

So I have recently become obsessed with the new Fox show, Glee. A friend kept telling me to watch it so I finally sat down and did--I ripped through all 5 episodes (watched the 6th and newest online this morning) back to back.

Its like High School Musical but for an older, smarter audience. I am a HSM fan, so nothing against it...but Glee takes what is good at HSM and enhances it with a clever script, witty dialogue, great character development, and a boatload of talent (many of whom come from Broadway).

I love the main character, Rachel. She reminds me of Reese Witherspoon in Election, except that she, unlike Tracy Flick, is actually a good, kind person underneath her OCD nature and determination for greatness. Its nice that she actually looks like a normal girl as well, she is pretty but in a girl next door kind of way.

The teacher, Mr. Shoester, is also incredibly likeable as the sweet (yet sometimes oblivious) Glee coach. His wife has faked a pregnancy to which he remains blissfully unaware. Then there is the setup with him and the school guidance teacher, Emma. Their relationship is so sweet and it is clear that both have feelings for each other but are too moral to act on them.

Then, of course, there is the villain--Sue Sylvester, the masculine cheerleading coach who is constantly out to destroy Glee club for taking away Cheerio school funding. Jane Lynch displays brilliant comedic timing and basically has viewers laughing every time she opens her mouth.

I could go on and on about how brilliant each and every character is...but I like keeping these posts short and sweet.

The dance numbers are incredibly entertaining and the song choices are ever catchy, I often find myself singing along accidentally or tapping my foot to the beat, wishing I was up there too! These kids sure can sing, and as we are slowly figuring out--so can the teachers! Now we are just eagerly awaiting the breakthrough singing performances of those who have not yet opened their mouths to display their talent...one by one, characters who you didn't expect to have singing talent (i.e. such as the janitor or football coach) have proven themselves.

I highly highly recommend this show, it does not disappoint and every minute of it is packed with entertainment!

Whip It

Yesterday morning, I went and spent some quality time by myself. I went to see Whip It. Sometimes when you get too excited about a movie, even if its decent, you end up being disappointed...just because you were too anxious and expected more. This was not the case with Whip It! I loved it!

The film has a great message--be your own hero. And the idea of girl power engulfs the entire movie. Its not entirely predictable--as sweet films like this often can be, and that is a breath of fresh air! It was funny, touching and the characters shone. Marcia Gay Harden was great as the traditional small town mother who wants her daughter to be all that she can be. She clearly loves her daughter, but it is tough for her to relate to Bliss. And I LOVED Daniel Stern's football fan father character...one of my favorite moments of the film was when he nailed his daughter's derby number into his front lawn...just like the neighbor with two football playing sons had done (and had earlier scoffed at Daniel Stern's daughters coming home in pageant dresses). He also had one of the best lines when he says "I can risk losing the money [about her $800 pageant dress], but what I can't risk is a chance for our kid to be happy." And of course, Ellen Page is a joy as always. She embodies her characters through and through and brings with her so many character quirks. This movie is fun all the way through and I doubt this is the last we'll see of Drew Barrymore's directing talents! (It was so cute, she had Steven Spielberg there at the premiere to support her on her first directing gig!)

Go GIRLS!

The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists

Well I have just finished my 9th book in about 5 weeks. I can't deny that I'm pretty proud of myself. I feel like I owe a lot of it to these new pills I'm taking. I hadn't realized how long it had been since I had actually finished a book! I used to read all the time, but for ages my concentration had been so bad because of anxiety and I just couldn't get through anything.

While it isn't the high-brow literature that I often gravitate to, Neil Strauss's "The Game" has been a fun little piece of entertainment and a bit of a learning tool. Although it may seem sexist outwardly, in the end the seduction process is really about making the guys themselves more confident and finding in themselves the interesting, fun, relaxed nature that has been there all along. The guys who don't discover themselves and leave the community by the end, are considered the losers in the book. They are basically social robots.

I'm kind of excited to go out into the real world and see if someone tries to "sarge" me. I totally called a guy who the other night by asking if he was "peacocking," which led to a fun conversation about the book. Guys have been really impressed that I've read it.

Of course, the one thing that disturbed me the most about the book, was the rule that the pickup artist never buys a girl a drink....I dunno about you, but that would never work for me. If I'm talking to a guy and my drink runs out and he doesn't buy me another one, I don't think he has enough interest in me or the conversation and I go back to my friends and maybe start talking to someone new. They aren't worth my time if they aren't enough of a gentleman to get me a drink.

The Lovely Bitches

After months of passing by this book and not paying it much attention, I finally picked up "Why Men Love Bitches." This is NEVER the sort of book I would have read in the past, but after all my recent relationship drama, I was curious to see if this book possibly had something to offer that I was somehow missing.

From the acknowledgement at the beginning, I was sucked in. In Sherry Argov's mindset, the term "bitch" did not refer to some evil encompassed woman, who treated everyone else as if they were cockroaches. But instead, she used "bitch" to denote a woman who respected herself above all else and would never compromise who she is or what she stands for to be with a man. I liked this message so far!

While the book was a incredibly repetitive, perhaps its what some women really need--to be drilled the same ideas over and over again, in order to knock them out of their stringent ways. After all, giving advice to another woman is always easier than actually following your good advice in your own everyday life. I am the sort of girl who likes to wear a tiara when I'm hanging out around the house and expects to be treated like a princess, and of course, I am fully willing to engage in acts of kindness for the guy....but I certainly would not partake in these acts of kindness if they were inequitable.

...Or would I?

A look back at the summer months will prove that I was constantly doing favors for B, and while he was very affectionate and did take care of me on several occassions, I was probably giving more than I was getting.

The book stresses that you should limit your availability to a man. You should not drop everything you are doing when he calls and invites you over or skip out on plans on the chance that he may call. You should live your life and if you are able to pencil him in from time to time, good for you! If not, don't sweat it! Women who are too available will quickly grow boring--because they don't have lives of their own! Men figure these things out and they are way more interested in a woman who has a life.

I realize that in the boredom of a summer in which most of my friends were interning or working 70+ hour weeks, B was the only one around to hang out with at times and I definitely made myself too available to him. He'd go out with friends and then call me to come over afterwards, and I rarely told him I was busy and couldn't come. I was interested in taking these belly dancing classes Thursday mornings, but each week, I was too cozy in his bed to get up and go to those classes. I went out to breakfast with him instead. These are just a few examples of how I acted like the silly girl that I typically pride myself in NOT BEING!

So now I am fully prepared for my next relationship. I am always going to be nice and polite and appreciative...but I will not make myself too available, I will demand respect and full integrity--because I don't have to be there! And I will definitely put myself first the next time, after all, boys come and go...but the relationship you have with yourself, that's the one that lasts forever.

Has anyone else read the book and have an opinion? Or simply want to vent about examples of how we don't take our own good advice? :)

50 days of summer

I saw 500 days of summer tonight with my mom. I would have loved it normally, but tonight it reminded me way too much of the situation i recently went through. except that i was the pathetic joseph gordon-levitt and the boy was summer. except that in this situation he wasn't as upfront as summer. at least SHE told him that she didn't want a relationship at the very start.

I just spluged on a bunch of itunes music....its therapeutic for some reason. I don't sing anymore....normally when i'm going through a happy period, i sing a lot...like when I'm in the car...and i haven't done that in a long time.

I got a book about his country from the library...is that pathetic? Maybe....i read the whole thing in one afternoon. I don't think i had any epiphanies though.