Sundry Sunday :: an “I went there for you” 6 list

“I went there for you” lists are lists of actors who I appreciate so much based on one or more performances that I will literally go out of my way to view one or more other performances of theirs.  This is sometimes rewarding; this is sometimes disastrous.  But hey.

6. Nathan Fillion

Nathan Fillion.  Geeky god-king of the Whedonverse.  Someone I have never not enjoyed.  I appreciated Nathan for Firefly and for Dr. Horrible, and because of my appreciation for him, followed him to Super and Castle, the latter of which is seen above and which I admit that I am woefully, heinously behind in (approximately season two, because I just keep getting distracted with other projects).  I realized that I had already seen him in Slither, which was directed by James Gunn just like Super was; I had watched that just because I enjoy campy-ass, morbid horror semi-comedies, but that works as well.  He is just delightful.

5, 4. Lea Michele and Matthew Morrison

As I have before mentioned, I was basically a Spring Awakening groupie.  I still love it with all my heart.  I naturally found Lea through that, and thought she sang pretty and such.  I saw the original cast of The Light in the Piazza, too, and I absolutely was in love with Matthew Morrison in it, singing so beautifully in Italian all over the place.  So naturally, when I heard all that while ago that they were going to be in a singing television program together, I went “YAY!!” and prepared to fangirl.  Glee, seen above, is one of those “I went there for you” moments that I am now… mildly regretting, though, for the reasons I’ve mentioned before; also, it sucks that I don’t really like… well, a lot of the characters, but I really don’t like Rachel that much, and I really don’t like Will that much, and while Lea gets to sing all the time, Matt doesn’t get to show off what he can actually do.  I miss when he sang in Italian and sustained notes and it was lovely.

3. Dichen Lachman

I love her more every time I see her face.  I fell for Dichen because of Dollhouse, obviously (just like I fell for… most of the cast that I hadn’t already fallen for already).  But I’ve followed her now to two different places: Torchwood: Miracle Day and now the US Being Human, seen above.  I’d never watched Torchwood before, I’d never watched Being Human before, but that’s just how it is.  I didn’t really love Torchwood (I hear that I would enjoy the original more, so I’m not ruling it out in the future), and I admit that I watch her Being Human episodes on my laptop and just do other things in other tabs until I hear/see her scenes come on, but I do love her.  Even when it’s something I do not otherwise care about whatsoever.

2. Patrick Fugit

Surprise!  This is a predictable list, yes.  After falling in love with him in Almost Famous, I proceeded to follow Patrick Fugit to Saved, to Bickford Schmeckler’s Cool Ideas (which is an example of psychic going there for someone, too, since my much-loved Fran Kranz is there t00), to The Amateurs, to Wristcutters: A Love Story, seen above, to We Bought a Zoo, to Cinema Verite… yeah.  Everywhere.  But the thing is, I’m usually not disappointed.  A lot of those aren’t my favorite movies like Almost Famous is, but I don’t dislike any of them.  And I always love him.

1. Summer Glau

But my darling Summer… takes me to places I regret going sometimes.  Firefly was what made me love her, too, and I didn’t follow her to Dollhouse because I was already there, but I obviously regret nothing about that experience; it’s… well, a lot of the rest.  It’s following her to The Cape, seen above; I think I used that picture back in the day when I tried to put the most positive spin I could on my Cape-watching experience, because really, aside from the one girl who was on Deadwood who I decided was my Nolanized Harley Quinn, the above scene is kind of one of the only things I remember about that show.  I tried so hard to enjoy myself with it, but I couldn’t even finish it, and that’s saying something considering my compulsion to finish everything I begin.  It’s following her to Deadly Honeymoon, which I tumbled about that once and… well, yes.  I didn’t mind following her to Alphas, that I liked fairly well; I still haven’t actually watched that show aside from her episode, though I know I should (more with the time constraints).  But it’s not as unfailingly successful, following her places.  Which is a shame, because she tries to make the best of everything no matter where she ends up, and that’s admirable.

–your fangirl heroine.

Television Tuesday :: insert witty Glee pun here.

I have 5 main subheadings for this post:

1. I’m not done with Glee, but I’m… getting there.
2. If Mercedes (Amber Riley) is pregnant, I am gonna cut a bitch.
3. Can the entire program just be Mike’s (Harry Shum Jr.) dancing, Tina’s (Jenna Ushkowitz) clothes, Emma’s (Jayma Mays) adorableness, and Brittany (Heather Morris) saying funny things please?
4. Marti Noxon my baby where are you?
5. I just looked up the definition of “retcon” on Urban Dictionary, and I’m pretty sure that’s what they do to everyone every single episode.

I figured since there was no new Glee this week, I could discuss my feelings about the show and the season thus far without accidentally forgetting a new happening.  So I’ll address each subheading.

1. Many of the reasons I mentioned for why Glee doesn’t suck earlier this year have kind of become stagnant.
   • Sue (Jane Lynch)?  Well, yes, there are funny one-liners.  Lynch delivers them well.  But really, woman.  You had a great emotional turn around the end of last season.  But the writers needed you around to be a raging bitch all the time, so they, well, retconned you.  And it’s getting old.  It really, really is.  The more jokes Sue tells, the more it feels like nagging.
   • I still appreciate what Chris Colfer did for people re: gayness and all.  And I still adore Darren Criss (mostly because he was singing Harry Potter).  But I’m just… kind of over Kurt and Blaine as characters.  And by “kind of” I mean really.  Kurt has been having the exact same emotional crisis over and over since season one, and I understand it, I do, but does he have to have some variation of it every single episode?  And Blaine just isn’t that interesting.  I understand that he could act Tony in their production of West Side Story better than Kurt could, I don’t doubt that, and I don’t think Kurt’s voice is right for Tony either, but Blaine… kind of isn’t rangy enough for it.  They had him sort of faking/fudging a few of the high notes.  And maybe that’s just me being neurotic, but I wasn’t really buying it.

   Also, a lot of the things that annoyed me always haven’t changed.

   • Rachel (Lea Michele) is still on my Fictional Women to Punch list.  I mean.  She’s a very good singer, I love all the vintage dresses she’s been wearing this season, she’s super cute.  But she’s frustrating.
   • Mercedes is also frustrating.  If I have to see her whinge about being second to Rachel one more time, I may scream.  It’s not that she’s not talented.  She is.  She and Rachel are both talented.  But they’re not like objects.  Mercedes would have been a subpar Maria in West Side Story for the same reason that Rachel would be, to use one of Mercedes’ favorite metaphors, a subpar Effie White in Dreamgirls.  Could the Glee Club come up with new songs to sing that could showcase what Mercedes does better than with a riffing trill at the last ten measures?  Yes.  But that’s not a reason to swear vengeance against Rachel (much).
   • Quinn (Dianna Agron) is also frustrating.  The whole diversion into the land of having dyed hair and smoking at the season’s beginning?  Pretty much pointless.  Quinn is one of those people that I feel bad for, but at the same time want to smack: yes, a lot of crap has happened to her.  She got pregnant, she gave up the baby, her boyfriend dumped her.  But at the same time… well, girl, get over it.  Giving up the baby was a smart decision, and she apparently forgot about it for an entire season, but now suddenly it bothers her again?  Her boyfriend would have dumped her no matter what: it’s high school.  People break up.  There are very few high school relationships that last.  WikiAnswers says it’s a 2% chance.
   • The writers are trying so hard to make it a show that embraces diversity and differences that it’s inadvertently a little bothersome.  I mean, we get it.  It’s wacky!  There are black kids!  There are geeky kids!  There are Hispanic kids!  There are stupid kids!  There are Asian kids!  For some reason, this one bothers me the most: it’s like when they were doing the bit in season one where everyone had their stereotypes drawn out of a hat and Tina and Mike were called “Asian” and “Other Asian,” they decide that that would be the only defining factor of their existences.  Not an episode seems to go by without an Asian joke or reference; last week’s episode was called “Asian F,” for crying out loud.  Apparently A minuses are Asian Fs; I had never heard that before.  But hey.
   • And speaking of embracing differences… you know a weird pattern I’ve noticed?  There can be an interracial hookup at the end of one season (Tina and Artie, Mercedes and Sam) but by the beginning of the next season, that nonwhite girl will be hooked up with a nonwhite guy.  I actually think Tina and Mike are adorable, so I’m not complaining from that standpoint, but really?  Once was weird but I could shrug it off; twice now with Mercedes dating an also-black football player?  Because they actually had to take Sam off the show?  (He was sort of boring, yeah, but sometimes he was a nerd and that was theoretically neat.)  Didn’t Mercedes express disinterest at Kurt’s offer to set her up with an also-black football player before?  And if said player loves her so much, he’d be willing to be in West Side Story and dance without bitching.
   • Why is it that all the main relationships go through the same pattern over and over?  I mean, Finn (Cory Monteith) and Rachel.  They’re secretly crushing on each other.  Then they’re dating.  Then they’re broken up.  Then they’re crushing again, and one or both of them has another love interest.  Then they’re dating again.  Then they’re broken up again.  Then they’re dating again.  I’m just counting the episodes till there’s tumult again.  Finn and Quinn, same story.  Will (Matthew Morrison) and Emma.  They’re secretly crushing on each other.  Then one or both of them has another love interest.  Then there’s a dramatic breakup.  Then they’re dating.  Then there are differences and they break up.  Then they’re interested in each other again.  I’m really hoping they stay together this time.  I mean, I kind of want to punch Will sometimes (he’s well-intentioned, but not always correct) but my punching desires are usually regarding things other than Emma.  Usually.  He seems to want to do right by Emma, and he makes her happy, I think, so that’s good enough for me.
   • If all of the Glee Project kids have as random of cameos as Lindsay did?  What, what, what even.
   • LET THE OTHER GIRLS HAVE SOLOS OCCASIONALLY.  They let Santana (Naya Rivera) and Brittany sing more, and that’s cool.  They let Mercedes sing more, which… see above.  I’m actually just talking about Tina, because… Tina.  Baby.  I love her, I always have, there are no reasons for it other than my need to latch onto the backgroundiest background characters with the best clothes and a morbid bent. I thought when they started dressing her in more colors this season that that would mean they’d let her sing more.  She’s less Goth and more Mod; I mean, I miss Goth Tina.  I do.  Especially last season neo-Victorian Goth Tina.  But Mod Tina is still cute, too.  And she does have a nice voice.  And I’m pretty sure she hasn’t sung a single line alone since the stupid Willy Wonka song in the funeral episode last season.
2. This was something my dad brought up last week.  I didn’t think of it, but during the giant Dreamgirls dream sequence, he exclaimed, “Oh my god, Mercedes is pregnant, isn’t she.”  I… had to admit that it was a valid possibility.  She’s tired, she’s cranky, she feels sick.  But really, kids: we do not need another teenage pregnancy line on this show.  They beat that one into the ground.  The only way it would be at all different would be if it was like an I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant kind of thing, and that would be really annoying too, so.  I actually suggested that she might have cancer or something instead; that would also be frustrating, but at least it would be different.  (And can I just talk about the Dreamgirls sequence for a minute?  Because that made me want to stab someone.  [This season of Glee is bringing out my theoretical violent impulses, apparently.]  At first I was like, “okay, dream sequence, wacky fun.”  But then my analysis hat kicked in: yes, Kurt should have been one of the other Dreamgirls.  Yes, Santana can sing it – though given the fact that she’d just rejoined Glee after being kicked out, she didn’t really have an emotional right.  Quinn did pretty much the same thing, and had just as little emotional right, and I thought Mercedes and Quinn were bonded for… no wait, just kidding, they completely forgot about that once season one ended and Quinn birthed her baby.  Tina could have been singing it.  She would have been a more emotionally appropriate Anika Noni Rose character, being the one who always gets neglected and backgrounded, but psh, we can’t let Tina have solos.  That would be crazy.  And why on Earth did they keep calling Mercedes Effie, but everyone else got referred to by their real life names?  And… okay, done.)
3. This is straightforward.  Mike, Tina, Emma, and Brittany are the only characters I care about at all anymore.  “Asian F” was a frustrating episode for many reasons, but it was all worth it for Mike dancing.  (And Riff is a part that you can kind of talk-sing, so good choice, them.)  Tina, see above. Emma… is just too precious.  I don’t think they always have the right thing to do with her, but I think she’s darling.  And I just want to hug her always.  Brittany’s one-liners aren’t old yet.  They’re just so random and ridiculous; they’re not mean-spirited or bitchy or repetitive.  They’re just things that come out of her mouth that make no sense and yet make absolutely perfect sense.  And despite being pretty bookstupid, she’s very peoplesmart, and I honestly think she’s got a better head on her shoulders about people things than just about any of the other characters do.
4. Marti Noxon was reported to be joining the writing and producing staff of Glee this season, and after this interview with her especially, I was giddy.  I mean… one of my Whedon mafia writer women who completely looks at it logically?  But she doesn’t even have a page on the Glee wiki yet.  She has not helped yet.
5. Observe.
   retcon:
   1. (original meaning) Adding information to the back story of a fictional character or world, without invalidating that which had gone before.
   2. (more common usage) Adding or altering information regarding the back story of a fictional character or world, regardless of whether the change contradicts what was said before.  (urbandictionary.com)
   Retconning is something I generally frown at.  The example they give of Dawn on Buffy is actually a great one, and actually one that I’ve found myself adjusting to.  I mean, I still hate early Dawn.  But she became slightly less punchable by the end.  And she made for good plot things.  But on Glee it’s silly.  They keep trying to add to everyone’s lives and backstories and personalities and it’s like just leave it alone, people.  Season one was warm fuzzies because it was more genuine.  It wasn’t trying to please millions of teenagers.  (I read someone in Entertainment Weekly saying that it felt like last season’s Glee had been written on Twitter or something.  TRUE FACTS, kids.)  And it needs to go back to that.  The retconning needs to stop.

Sigh.  Sigh.  Sigh.  (And if Mercedes really is pregnant, which I want to doubt but cannot fully, I may actually have to stop watching altogether.)

–your fangirl heroine.

Television Tuesday :: top 11 reasons Glee doesn’t suck (in my opinion)

Now, even if Glee didn’t star two Broadway people I’m inordinately fond of (I’ve been on the Matthew Morrison train since 2005, when I saw him in The Light in the Piazza and fell in love) I’d probably have started in on watching it.  I am that kind of person.  I am fully aware of how utterly ridiculous it can be at times, but at the same time I think it’s doing things that other network shows wouldn’t necessarily do, and as such bringing things (as serious as gay teenager dynamics and as light-hearted as the occasional showtune) to an audience that might not otherwise get exposed to them as much.

Having the mid-season break makes sense for networky reasons, but it really does build the anticipation up.  And by this point in the break, where it’s almost over, I really do start to feel a sense of withdrawal.  I need my weekly dose of smartly arranged pop songs and fluff and the romantic drama I’ve never actually experienced in real life.  So, in the spirit of this, and in anticipation for Sunday’s ridiculous-as-all-get-out Super Bowl episode, I present this list.  As usual, I couldn’t narrow it down.

11. Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester.
This one is all but obvious, given all the awards this woman has won.  But I’ve always been fond of her, so seeing her be famous all of a sudden is sort of awesome.  Even though you may hate Sue Sylvester, she’s the single funniest thing on Glee and her one-liners are priceless.  The occasional times we see her relationship with her sister (and, though it’s not so much the case now, the beginning of her relationship with Becky) are redeeming.  But not too redeeming, that wouldn’t be fun.

10. Asian love.

I was into Tina and Artie, don’t get me wrong.  I sort of adore Artie a little, but the business with Tina and Mike just got too cute for words.  (And if Artie really was blowing Tina off for video games, I say she made the right choice.  That isn’t cool.)  Tina and Mike may have their ups and downs, but they aren’t too annoyingly in-your-face about it (cough, cough, Finn and Rachel?  Sweet Jesus) and they come out of it all right.  I like that Mike is into Tina for who she is, and I like that they complement each other.  And I loved their cover of “Sing!” from Chorus Line.  Kind of awesome.

9. Actually, kind of just Tina in general.
I have loved Tina since the very beginning.  Maybe it just started with my inability to allow myself to associate with the other female roles.  I couldn’t allow myself to associate mentally with Rachel (though I do love me some Lea Michele) and Quinn was at first too perfect, then her problems were just so far from anything I’d ever experience ever; Mercedes was too sassy for me, Emma too neat-freaky, Terri too plain old freaky, Brittany too ditzy and Santana too bitchy.  And I am incapable of watching something and not putting myself with at least one person, I’m not entirely sure why but it’s always been that way.  So, sure, it started as a default thing, and a little bit of an “awesome, Jenna Ushkowitz was in Spring Awakening and I totally love the track of her as Ilse I found on YouTube” thing.  Then it grew into an “aw, I sort of get being that awkward one in the corner that isn’t really the star of anything ever” thing.  Then it grew into a “holy crap, I love the way you dress” thing (seriously.  Her Gothic cheerleader outfit was sort of adorable, I do not even care what Artie thought of it, and that burgundy velvet coat she was sporting in the last song in the same episode was absolutely amazing).  She’s just precious and underrated and I feel strangely proud of how she’s grown as a character.

8. Heather Morris as Brittany S. Pierce.

So I didn’t think much of Brittany at first.  Then she danced a bit.  Then she started dropping one-liners.  Then the one-liners started making me just about roll on the floor laughing.  Then they revealed she and Santana were totally friends with benefits.  Then she danced some more.  Then she and Artie started dating and I feel like they go better together than Artie and Tina did in a strange way (they’re what the other needs, instead of what the other theoretically wants, I guess?).  Then the Rocky Horror episode rolled around and she was Columbia.  (For whatever reason, I’ve always had a strange fondness for Columbia, and when I found out they were doing a Rocky Horror episode and cast it in my head, she was easily my choice.  It’s sort of perfect.)  I don’t know.  Where once she was just good comedic relief, she’s now spilling comedic relief while being what I sort of think of as the Glee version of a whore with a heart of gold.  She may be a ridiculous skank at times.  But, darn it, she’s just adorable.

7. The occasional showtune.
Now, I don’t listen to pop music much, so most of the songs they cover on Glee are, if not entirely new, then at least somewhat new to me.  I can safely say that I would not know a sort of disgusting amount of the songs as well were it not for Glee, and I thank them similarly for giving me a version of the song that I can listen to without feeling guilty (“Keep Holding On” anyone?  I remember when I actually listened to Avril Lavigne seriously.  And, aw, their cover of that song is amazing.  “Bad Romance” too, because I love that all the girls get to tear that one up so fiercely).  But my favorite of all time is when they bust out a showtune.  I’m not really talking when Rachel does a theater ballad, although I love Lea doing theater ballads, but the moments, like Tina and Mike’s aforementioned “Sing!” or the completely nonsensical Will-sick-and-hallucinating “Make ‘Em Laugh” or the apparent Rachel/Mercedes “Take Me or Leave Me” that’s been announced as coming up soon.  Because, really, c’est fantastique.

6. Chris Colfer as Kurt Hummel.

Enough said.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.  Guest stars of awesome.
Darren Criss as Blaine
He’s Harry Potter!  He did “Teenage Dream” better than Katy Perry.  He actually made me listen to “Hey Soul Sister” even though I hate that song deeply.  He is so completely amazing with Kurt.  (They just need to happen already.)  What’s not to love?
Kristin Chenoweth as April Rhodes
Even though I sort of hate April, I love how amazingly Kristin plays her.  And excuses for Kristin to bust out belting random anythings are always good, too.
Idina Menzel as Shelby Corcoran
I love Idina so so so much.  I’m pretty sure the Glee people saw that internet people were saying “OMG IDINA SHOULD BE LEA’S BIRTH MOM” and decided to make it happen, and I’m happy that they did.  Treating the whole world to Idina/Lea duets on both “I Dreamed a Dream” and, strangely, “Poker Face” was a brilliant move.  And she managed to do the whole plotline without getting too painfully sappy, so I commend her on that.
Jonathan Groff as Jesse St. James
I could caps lock everything I have to say about Jonathan Groff because holy crap do I love that man.  I do.  He is honestly one of the sweetest actors I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting at the stage door, and he’s sort of an awesome performer, too.  My single favorite thing about Jesse was the Jesse/Rachel botched non-sex scene, because it was amazingly awkward.  That, and my mom and I spent the entire scene pointing out moments that could have been (probably weren’t, but could have) Spring references.
Neil Patrick Harris as Bryan Ryan
IN AN EPISODE DIRECTED BY THE LORD MY POP-CULTURAL GOD JOSS WHEDON, NO LESS.  It was a tiny bit of a goofy nonsequitor of an episode, but the opportunity for Neil Patrick Harris and Matthew Morrison to epically duet on an Aerosmith song is pretty much the definition of awesome.

–your fangirl heroine.