Popsicle Robot Dinosaur
Here are some things I like.
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Patton Oswalt launches our Reader Meets Author series with a private reading from Zombie Spaceship Wasteland for his fans.
Favorite bits:
- “Before that, sex seemed like something for tall people who could run fast”
- The little girl that seems unimpressed that Patton is the voice of Remy the rat in Ratatouille.
- gruyere and pear pie. mmm.
I really love that the AV Club is run by nerds with a deep appreciation for the creators behind their favorite works (I’m also a fan of their covers and music singles series).
Zombie Spaceship Wasteland is a great read by the way. Personal essays, short stories, and even a mini comic. Pretty short, but definitely entertaining.
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How I Make Sense of Glee
Now, when I watch Glee, it usually takes a bit of time to process everything that happens. This is partly because everything that happens is batshit crazy. Also, I occasionally spend time on Tumblr, a place where people take their Glee seriously and where spoilers abound. So, it takes a bit for it to all settle.
That’s where The Onion AV Club’s TV reviews come in. They’re funny, often insightful, and because main reviewer Todd VanDerWerff is straight and outside of the fandom they provide another perspective on things. Granted, I don’t always agree with his assessments but I am often intrigued by what he has to say. For example they talked very favorably of “The First Time” (which I had some issues with) but they got points back for last week’s “Mashoff” review where he gave a separate grade of A+++++ for “Finn slaps”.
This week’s review for “I Kissed A Girl” seemed especially hilarious if only because he interrupts the review with:
But before we get into that, let’s talk about something that’s really important. Let’s talk about Puck’s hair. Specifically what is up with it.
Seriously, what’s up with Puck’s hair? I usually save this sort of thing for the stray observations, but good God, who on Earth thought having him grow the mohawk out and occasionally spike little bits of it up and then also grow it slightly down his neck so it looks like he has a rattail was a good idea? I assume this was all Mark Salling’s idea on some level, since I highly doubt there’s a hairstylist in Hollywood who would do this of their own volition unless they secretly hated him or something, but the whole thing is becoming weirdly horrifying. When he’s on screen, I have to force myself to stop staring at the Lovecraftian beast spouting forth from his head and pay attention to what’s going on in the scene because… just try and stop looking at it, would you? It’s practically impossible! It’s like a Tribble is eating his head but just the center of it or like he’s the end result of that storyline in “22 Short Films About Springfield” where Lisa gets the bubblegum in her hair, if Lisa somehow grew up into a 35-year-old man who was still attending high school.
Just saying what we’re all thinking. This review also gave a pretty nice insight into what it’s like to be a fan of Glee these days and what it takes to enjoy the show.
Their stray observations at the end also often includes a section called “Straight guys talkin’ ‘bout Glee” in which he talks about how foxy some of the ladies on the show are (so maybe not so different from the tumblr Glee fans, after all). This week’s was quite hilarious too:
Straight guys, talkin’ ‘bout Glee: This segment is on hiatus this week because straight guys are assholes. I learned it from watching Glee.
I highly recommend reading the rest of the review here. The AV Club as a whole is a fun place to spend some time if you’re as much of a pop culture nerd as I am.
If you’re curious as to what my own thoughts are on last night’s episode, it really boils down to; how are you going to title an episode “I Kissed A Girl” and still not have the girls kiss? I also agree with all of the other people that have a nagging concern that Santana isn’t even the star of her own storyline.
I haven’t read Dorothy Snarker’s review yet, but I’m sure she’ll have some very choice words in the same vein as she’s commented on the lack of kiss before. UPDATE: Just skimmed the review and…damn. She is not happy.
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Merry Christmas! R. Kelly has written 32 new Trapped In The Closet chapters
Let us celebrate!
Santa knows just how to deliver exactly what I didn’t know that I wanted. Cue the Hallelujah chorus.
God bless us, everyone.
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Noel Murray waxes nostalgic on Tennessee Tuxedo and other cartoons from his childhood in today’s For Our Consideration.
In this article, Noel Murray does an absolutely stellar job of equating pop culture as our own method of personal time travel.
“That’s part of the weird, sad, wonderful transformation that occurs in pop culture, from creation to reception. Fifty years ago, a group of men and women worked to create a sloppy-but-not-too-terrible cartoon show that would sell cereal and maybe teach kids about simple machines. Yet today, when I hear the Tennessee Tuxedo theme song, I’m not thinking about any of that. I’m remembering being 9 years old. I’m remembering it being 7:15 a.m., on a cold Tuesday in February. It’s dark outside, and rainy, and I don’t have an umbrella for my five-minute walk to the bus stop, where I know I can expect the kid who lives two buildings over to make fun of my second-hand blue jeans for being too small…”
The article goes on and I believe it’s definitely worth the read even if you have no idea who Tennessee Tuxedo is. If you have any fond memories of saturday morning cartoon blocks and shoveling tooth-rottingly sweet cereal into your gaping maw, you’ll probably enjoy this.
A walking, talking, socially maladjusted IMDB.
