ifeelbetter

So I finished my reading for my course on Monday afternoons -- the course is "Race and Transatlantic Print Culture in the Nineteenth Century" and it starts at 1PM and I am always in danger of oversleeping -- and I finished my reading for it at around 8PM today. On Sunday. And then I posted my response (due by midnight) and was Fully Prepared for tomorrow. This hasn't happened in a while.

I am a strange mix of super-duper proud to be Fully Prepared and SOSOso ashamed that I am super-duper proud of myself for something so basic. I, truly, might be the worst grad student of ever.

BUT. Can I just say to Supernatural (yes, I talk to shows as if they were people and my BFFs) that I heart you? Like whoa? I mean, you're still stinting on the pie. I think Dean needs some pie. He's having a rough couple of weeks, show, give him some freaking pie already. BUTBUT. The BABY. And Dean being the natural!dad type I/we/fandom always knew he would be. And Sam-might-be-kinda-evil is a deal this show has done before but, you know, I don't think I ever failed to fall for it. So. Good by me!

AND THEN GUESSWHATGUESSWHAT. Well, you already know, prolly, cuz I am ridonc-a-donc behind the times with SPN these days.

BUT. CAS IS COMING BACK!!!

WOOT WITH ME! HIP-HIP-HUZZZAAAAAAH!

Or, you know, don't. It's totally up to you.

Resolution: Will catch up with Merlin. Soonish. Probably.

PS - I am picking out a topic for my next Intro to Comp class...someone suggested Bromance. I TOTALLY am considering it. I would have SUCH awesome stuff on that syllabus. Like...The Walrus & the Carpenter. And Sherlock Holmes. And Lyrical Ballads cuz STC and WW are the Bromance of Bromances. And the Beatles. It would be an EPIC class.

I believe it is public knowledge that I heart reality competition shows. It's such a wonderful thing to watch someone do something well, you know? One of my former roommates could cook--her Indian boyfriend's mother gave her an ultimatum that her son couldn't date a foreigner because she wouldn't be able to do the appropriate cooking and this girl took it as a challenge and learned and that was a glorious thing for all the people she practiced on--and it was a privilege to watch her in the kitchen. There's this passage in Adam Bede where George Eliot describes the beauty of watching Hetty in her dairy because she's so GOOD at it and that's just what I'm talking about. But phrased better because, hello, George Eliot.

( Apparently I am going to quote the passage now. )

So my point--I do have a point, I swear, is that it's awesome to see people do things they're good at. And reality TV gives us that in competition shows like Project Runway, So You Think You Can Dance, Top Chef, etc. Some more so than others--talking to you, American Idol--but it really is a joy to watch.

So is it any wonder I am loving So You Think You Can Dance, even though it has been maimed by poorly conceived innovations and horrific mismanagement this season?

Though my least favorite of the remaining contestants, Jose got paired with Billy--my FAV of FAVORITES--for the gayest thing I've ever seen. Watch it if you haven't already seen it. The judges have been very mean to poor Billy but I really think it's unjustified. He's not the bulky-manly sort of contestant the show is used to. I think that makes it hard for the judges (and the voters, apparently) to grasp what he's about but...but...loooooooooook what an adorable cat he makes! He's a strikingly different sort of male dancer from anyone who has been on the show before and that's good television.

I'm just saying.

Though it is scary how fast the women disappeared and how very skeevy Nigel's comments have been to the two surviving women. Like...whoa. Reign that in there.

And as for the Kent Debate...unlike Jose, who's also novice in many ways and full to the brim with aw-shucks-y'all spirit--Kent is GOOD. And he learns. I think the judges are hating on him in a very anti-popularity way. Like the way people love a fad until it's huge and then disparage it horribly? It's like that. But, c'mon people, Kent is popular because of his awesomeness. He doesn't have to be awesome despite being popular. That is crazy talk.

And now, on a completely unrelated note, SO SAD, RODDICK. You are the heartbreak that just keeps on going. You're the Energizer Bunny of heartbreak. YOU DON'T WANT TO BE THE ENERGIZER BUNNY OF HEARTBREAK, RIGHT? Please win the US Open for me, OK? Thanks.

Yeah, that's right.

Now, Glee, we must have a heart-to-heart. I get that you're afflicted by the Ryan Murphy. No, really, I get that. He is probably to blame for the interpretive-pregnancy-dance set to James Brown from the other week. That shit was weird, I'm just saying. And I feel like sitting SOMEone down, I'm not sure who, and talking about how Bohemian Rhapsody was a BAD FIT for the whole labor thing.

But, see, show--do you mind if I call you 'show'? I mean it lovingly--you are filled with the most earnest of earnest adorable emotive faux-teen actors. I mean, the faces they were making in the finale. I had to physically restrain myself from pinching cheeks that were not actually in the room with me.

So what I'm saying is...you're not so much on the plot. Or the characters, really. As they say [sing] in Damn Yankees, "You've got heart." Out the wazoo. You could do ANYTHING--don't tell Ryan Murphy I said that--and I would watch if you did it with those kids.

Also. Thank you for being on so far into summer. You almost seamlessly transitioned me to USA's summer season and it has been KILLING me waiting for Psych to come back.

So the other day a friend asked me what it would take to cheer me up after an early morning of teach/grading and I really only had one answer, waffle though I may: TV. Maybe some coffee. A hamburger if I'm lucky. But mostly TV. So if I tend to fixate, sue me. It's where I find my jollies.

(I really do sort of mean "jollies" as in "laugh like a bowl full of jelly" kind of jolly)

So.

I would like to make a point about the Mentalist. It's like three different USA shows put together (80% Psych---my GOD is there a lot of Psych, 10% White Collar--because where else do you find that dynamic level of pompousness?) ...

Back to my point. This "Jane" fella is a less poised Neal, an un-funny Shawn, and the utmost run-of-the-mill version of every slightly quirky detective this side of Columbo. It's like this show was aiming for all of the shows that succeed solely through charm but removed all of the charm -- an impressive feat since I don't know where the "charm" gland is in a TV show. I appreciate anyone who'll hire Sarah Pailey (that's a The Craft reference for those who were not teenaged girls in '96), so that's nice and all, but COME ON. What have you done with all the charm?

Which is my other point. USA is a fine network -- if I was speaking instead of typing, you'd have heard how I was accentuating the "fine" in that sentence. If I could mack it to a network, that's the one I'd be going home with. I would so stop it at a bar and say something like, "Do you know karate? Cuz your body is really kickin'" and then do the whole half-nod-smirk-thing. It would be fierce.

So. Back to the first point. I have officially given The Mentalist a shot. I watched. I nearly gagged, but I watched it. Psych is all about Shawn and Gus being awkward and talented in some ways but mostly oddballs and children in disguise. The Mentalist is all about this blonde dude being right all the time and all sadpants about whether "the other side" exists or not and how important religion is for people to be good and kind and rainbows. And that may be how primetime rolls but I'm all about USA. And the BBC. And, you know, thousands of other TV shows and networks. But I am still mad impressed by USA.