Good morning. A couple things that should be brought to everyone's attention:
1. Dancing Boyd
So if you haven't heard Willow Smith (that would be Will Smith's daughter) singing her song about whipping her hair back and forth, I don't know where you've been for the past month. It's very irritating but sort of catchy, and it has spawned some pretty great videos - this is one of them. I like when he gets his wings into it.
2. This is funny, Alot
It may not be surprising, since I'm an English kid and I love to be right, that I am very easily irritated by idiots who make stupid grammatical mistakes on the internet. This website is trying to help me lower my blood pressure by giving me psychological coping mechanisms to deal with idiocy. And I have to tell you, I like it. I like it, Alot. Read it, cheer up, it's almost Thanksgiving! (AND THEN THAT MEANS IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS!)
P.S. I think my favorite is the Alot of Mist. Or the Alot of Fire.
So I'm busy in Peoria, IL, with the only friend I made in London, Emster (don't feel sad for me, she's really great and everyone else was really not), working really hard on my homework and then also fixing the world's problems via the phone with Obama. While working hard, a demon took over my body and forced me to go on the internet to find fun things and then share them with you kind people. The first is a blog everyone should read, the second and third are great videos. Here they are.
1. New Blog - The Man Repeller Emster led me to this, and I am eternally grateful. The girl who writes it whose name I can't immediately remember defines "Man Repeller" thusly:
"man·re·pell·er [mahn-ree-peller] –noun
outfitting oneself in a sartorially offensive way that will result in repelling members of the opposite sex. Such garments include but are not limited to harem pants, boyfriend jeans, overalls (see: human repelling), shoulder pads, full length jumpsuits, jewelry that resembles violent weaponry and clogs.
–verb (used without object),-pell·ing, -pell·ed. to commit the act of repelling men: Girl 1: What are you wearing tonight? Girl 2: My sweet lime green drop crotch utility pants Girl 1: Oh, so we're man repelling tonight?
*DISCLAIMER: the above conversation took place in this room 5 minutes ago.
Origin: 2009-10; < repellius (ptp. of repellia to eliminate male attention), equiv. to L repel- (s. of repellix) unattractive, celibate, paris fashion week, M.C. Hammer + -repel -ler1
—Related forms man·re·pell·ant, noun"
So it's pretty clear, I think, why I like her. Basically, she's funny as shit and clever to boot. Plus, she's creative with her language. She sometimes refers to herself as a "fancy flamingo" and her readers as "mangoes," and in one of her posts she used the phrase "whoopsie Daisy Dukes." I REST MY CASE. I feel like we could be good friends, despite the fact that we have exactly the opposite fashion sense. This is not to say that I don't sometimes repel men with my outfits - for instance, right now I am wearing gray sweatpants, some really sweet foam-type sandals, a high necked t-shirt (this is the least comfortable part of my outfit as I hate collars and often just cut them out of my t-shirts entirely) and a zip-up hoodie that is plaid in blue and the-same-gray-as-my-sweatpants, so it matches and makes the outfit like the work-out-clothes answer to the suit - but I'm not a big fan of spending lots of money on clothes or wearing things that aren't extremely comfortable. Yes, I do own hot stilettos, but on average I wear them 2 times per year. Still, though, I can look at her clothing choices and think to myself, boy, if I had limitless funds and no nerve endings I would absolutely wear that. Or sometimes I can think that she looks absolutely ridiculous. Either way, she's fucking funny.
2. Hilarious video - Clitter So this video is just adding on to the new trend of decorating vaginas (why is spell check flagging this word? Oh, apparently the real way to pluralize "vagina" is "vaginae." That sounds stupid.) that was brought to the attention of the public by Jennifer Love Hewitt, the loony tune who glued Swarovski crystals to her vagina as a pick-me-up, but on a smaller-budgeted level. It's called Clitter, and it means what you think it means. Don't watch this video if you find vagina-decorating offensive. Do watch it if you find vagina-decorating stupid.
3. Hilarious video: Marcel the Shell with Shoes On This video is adding to no trends other than the trend of funny videos on the internet. It is a work of genius and art. Again, thanks to Emster for posting it on my wall.
I feel like this MM should have happened a long time ago. But now that I'm doing it, I'm doing it right, with an extremely excessive amount of videos.
The thing about Neil Patrick Harris is this: there's just so much to love about him! He is comedically wonderful. He sings beautifully. He's gay and out and completely normal about it. AND he takes on great roles, and does them so well that it's just... I mean... he... I love him.
About two and a half months ago I started watching How I Met Your Mother (I'd seen a couple episodes but really dedicated myself to it in April). Since then, I've finished all five seasons. A lot of this was driven by my love for NPH. The thing about him that I love most on this show is something that I think is very WRONGLY ignored: his knack for physical comedy. Everyone's always focused on him being gay but playing this womanizing (hilarious) asshole, and while he does this very well what I think he's really great at is using his body, his face, his entire persona to react to situations. For instance (and it took me FOREVER to find a clip that wasn't just him saying "LEGENDARY" over and over again. Come on guys, it's funny on the show, but who wants to watch 3 solid minutes of that?), here is a clip of him as Barney Stinson eating Chinese food:
Please, if you don't watch the show, I am begging you out of selfishness because I want it to be on the air forever: watch it. Watch it now. And, because he's not the only funny guy on the show and I want to give some credit to my second favorite character, here he is with his castmate Jason Segel (Marshall) being AWESOME. And singing. Les Mis. (This one goes out to my sister):
But the real reason he's my Masculine Monday today is because of this gem of the internet that I just saw for the first time on Friday and have since watched three more times: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. It is a gorgeous glorious musical masterpiece (written/directed by Joss Whedon, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame and beloved by me) that Joss and friends did during the writers' strike a few years back (LET'S NOT TALK ABOUT THAT). Joss has previous musical experience only with the Buffy musical episode (great TV), and in my opinion he did a tremendous job. And of course NPH was the gem-surrounded-diamond-encrusted-platinum-lined tragicomic hero, Dr. Horrible. Basically, the story is that Dr. Horrible (Billy) is an evil scientist who is trying to break his way into being a true Super Villain and at the same time muster up the courage to talk to the pretty girl at the laundromat, Penny, all while facing constant irritation by his arch-nemesis, Captain Hammer. And it's a musical. I now give you the gift of the first seven and a half minutes of this masterpiece.
Oh, and here's another song, just because I like it:
Other reasons to include in my list of "Why You Should Love Neil Patrick Harris" are shown in video form below.
1. He's totally cool with his sexuality, and he thinks other people should be as well, but he balances it by not being a crusader and not wanting to push people to do things they don't want to do. I love this attitude. Please to watch:
2. He was Mark Cohen in Rent for a while (my favorite character. I love Mark so much!). That's reason enough to like anyone, in my opinion. Here's him singing "What You Own" (one of my favorite songs from the show):
3-6. He's friends with Ellen! He helps raise money for cancer! He prank calls celebrities! Did I mention that he's funny?
I guess that the point I want to leave you with, at the end of all this, is that while I'm happy to be an ally to any gay, I would really prefer that NPH not be gay. I'd like him to be at LEAST bi. Because, really, at this point, the chances of us getting married are not very high. That makes me sad. To cheer me up, here's a clip of him doing an Old Spice commercial in which he references his Dougie Houser days (aka the show I'm about to watch all 97 episodes of before August). Enjoy enjoy!
Alright ladies and that other gender I refuse to acknowledge on the internet, the webseries Anyone But Me that I blogged about in August is back for season 2! Now, today they airedstreamed premiered episode 3 and it's taken me this long to blog about the premiere because I was unfortunately underwhelmed by the first 2 episodes. I'm sorry ladies, but I didn't want to badmouth you since we're linked to your press page (we're famous). I mean, the first episodes were a little sketchy. ENOUGH with crazy lesbian fantasies. JENNY SCHECTER IS DEAD. We still don't know by whose hand, mind you, but she's dead. I'm over it. Next thing you know there will be an Anyone But Me reality show.
But episode 3, "Identity Crisis," redeemed everything for me and made me excited for the rest of the season. On to the positives, people!
1. Acting: Upgrade. 2. Production quality: Upgrade. 3. Streaming Free on Hulu.com: Upgrade. 4. Storylines: Upgrade.
Watch the episode via point 3 and you can just see for yourself points 1 and 2. Now to address point 4. The storyline in "Identity Crisis" revolves around Vivian and her childhood friend, Sophie, who just found out she was gay. I won't give away how, because I want you to watch the series. What was so great about this particular episode and what reinvigorated my faith in the series is that it did what it does best and took a very real, often overlooked aspect of teen life and chose to tell that story instead of the omg gay characters! omg black kids in suburbia! omg at some point not even the hot cheerleader fits in! bullshit story lines that I am so tired of seeing told over and over again. It viewed Vivian's coming out through the eyes of Sophie. I've never even thought about coming out in terms of a straight peer. Of it being awkward for them. As an out lesbian, I come out over and over again to different people almost on a daily basis. Believe me, it gets old. Vivian makes that clear and then tells Sophie that it "doesn't change who I am." Sophie brilliantly retorts with "but it does." And I guess it does.
Shame on me for not thinking about the act of coming out this way, but good on you for pointing it out? I'm going to answer my own poorly structured question and say yes. Because I guess it does, in fact, change who you are. I mean all of a sudden just because a person comes out as gay if they before hadn't really enjoyed mustard but then all of a sudden they love it isn't really what I'm talking about. But I think coming out to a peer, or a person of the post-9/11 generation that this web series focuses on, isn't about telling them "hey, I'm what the society major views as a sexual deviant." We're over that. But it's implying a different world view that requires a different set of rules in order to exist and navigate. Viewing the world through queer eyes versus straight eyes is a completely different experience. I get shit all the time for queering everything; however, for me, it's never a stretch. It's my first go-to facet of my argument and is what I naturally see, and how I naturally feel and it is always really difficult for me to understand how other people don't see how incredibly gay the whole entire world is. This is what I think happens when Sophie suggests Vivian put up Twilight (ick) posters in her room and then Aster suggests putting up P!nk posters (yay). Interests are different, the appeal of certain things are different, explanations are different. Sophie says she doesn't have a problem with Vivian's homosexuality and I honestly believe her. I think Sophie is just experiencing gay culture clash. And it's this culture clash that I've never really taken into account when I have to come out to a straight peer. I never realized that, even for a fleeting second, they ask themselves "What is ok or not ok for me to talk about now?"
The acting in this episode really gets my point across much clearer and it's this improvement in the acting that I love so much. Season 1 was great because there were teen lesbians being portrayed as people and not as suicidal depressives. And my goodness that Nicole Pacent (Aster) is one attractive girl. Also, Rachael Hip-Flores (Vivian) and I are real friends. And by real friends I mean twitter friends who I often get @ replies from that support me listening to Ani Difranco over and over again. What else do I need in a friendship? NOTHING.
It'd be really great if this show took the Exes and Oh's fast track from it's original form as a short film to a commercial length cable television series. I wouldn't mind watching the whole ABM story unfold over again during a 30 minute period with regular commercial breaks just to get more of these characters.
Also, I'd like to thank Tina Cesa Ward and Susan Miller for keeping this series free. Since the end of The L Word, lesbian media is nowhere to be found, unless you want them in scrubs. I used to watch We Have to Stop Now, starring Cathy Debuono, Jill Bennett, and Suzanne Westenhoffer. Those are some big names in the lesbian entertainment world. They also apparently like to make money. The series now requires a $25 subscription to watch. I'm sorry. I have to pay rent.
In conclusion, I like this webseries.
Sidenote: I also really like how all of the characters are good at something. Archibald draws, Elisabeth wants to act, Sophie (and Vivian) are into journalism, Jonathan is an athlete, and Aster is just so comfortable in her own skin I don't even know if she has a talent besides her confidence.
Ok so more than a few of you may have heard of Tucker Max, well known (and self-proclaimed) asshole, rich kid, and writer. Actually, I personally find him pretty funny, or at least I like his writing. (The movie, not so much, but that's not the point of this post.) Anyway, so he has his site and along with that his company, Rudius Media, owned/sponsored several other blogs by various interesting people, most of which I checked out at one point or another and two of which I actually love very much - Shrink Talk and Love on Wheelz. Then Rudius Media died. These two really solid blogs, though, survived on their own, but now have much much less automatic readership than they used to because they're not listed under Tucker's list of friends on his site, which I'm sure has a shit ton (technical term) of visitors every day. Well I'm selfish and I don't want these blogs to go under, so if any of Chatty Kathy's and my readers want to check out some really interesting stuff on both their blogs, I would appreciate it (and so would they). I've read every post both of these guys has ever done, and I plan to continue to do the same (I told you I have obsessive tendencies - but only with good stuff.) Here's what they're all about.
Love on Wheelz - Raul is a kid (and by "kid" I mean "my age") who has Muscular Dystrophy, which makes it so that he has to use a wheel chair to get around and he also has a lot of other medical issues, so he needs a nurse a lot of the time and generally doesn't live the same type of life that most of us take for granted. Not that he asks for pity; in fact, he'd probably be really pissed off if you pitied him. He's funny, he's a good writer, and he has a really interesting perspective. Honestly I just like the guy and I like reading what he has to say. He's really honest and seems to have a really great grasp on his feelings and his goals, all of which I find refreshing. Definitely worth a read. http://loveonwheelz.net/
Shrink Talk - This is probably my new favorite blog. It's written by Dr. Rob Dobrenski, who is brilliant. And here's what's brilliant about him: he's flawed, he doesn't always have the answers to his own problems, and he is really hard on himself - but all this is inserted into his posts which are consistently educational and… buoying. In other words, he's saying really great stuff, giving really good advice, and not ruining it by pretending to be flawless and omniscient. His main point, I think, is that we're all "flawed and neurotic," (INCLUDING SHRINKS) and that's ok, and once we can accept that about ourselves and about others we can start moving towards being psychologically healthy. I don't have a shrink, and I don't know if I ever could now because I'm afraid they wouldn't live up to my standards, as set by Dr. Rob. I read the site religiously. It never fails to make me feel better, and to make me re-evaluate things, in a positive way. He's got a book coming out, and I want him to have as much success as possible if it means that I get to read more of his advice. Please check out the site. http://shrinktalk.net/
Seriously, they're both excellent, and they deserve all the publicity they can get, even from our dumbass little blog. Obviously I've got links to both of them, but I also linked them on the side in case you come back in months and are like "what was that psychology thing she talked about in that one post?" (I'm thinking wishfully). Now go learn.
Well this is wildly inappropriate and fucking hilarious. I don't know what it says about Hitler being in support of Taylor Swift (with her lovely blond hair and all) but this hissy fit and the accompanying captions are genius. I found it on a new site called "I'mma Let You Finish" (good God that shit got put up quickly) which has a series of lolcat type things (technical term: internet meme. Look, you learned something), all featuring or about Kanye's idiocy. Some of them are pretty funny; some of my personal favorites are below.
And I particularly like this one because, well, I tend to like any joke uses other pop culture to poke fun at pop culture:
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