Striking a Chord

It is now the end of September, and for all of you it may mean the star of Halloween or the end of summer and the promise that "winter is coming."  However, for me this month it means the end of Chord Overstreet staring at me from my Glee calendar.  Nothing against Heather Morris, but having Chord's smiling beauty greet me every morning is a definite incentive to swoon as the day begins.  In honor of this, let's all spend a moment looking at Chord.

Everybody's Linking for the Weekend

It's Friday, and you know what that means (it's time to quote Grace Helbig?)-everybody's linking for the weekend!

In Entertainment...

Blue is the Warmest Color, frontrunner for
the Louis Delluc, but not the Oscar?

In Contention: Guy Lodge wrote a fascinating piece about the Academy Awards rules for Best Foreign Language Film.  I partially agreed with him, and found the argument to be pretty interesting.  While I tend to side with the Academy on the one film per country rule (I really do think that an Oscar win or nomination can truly help a country like Iran or Chile with a burgeoning cinema scene), it is a tad bit ridiculous that the trophy doesn't go to the director but instead technically goes to the country, so people like Asghar Farhadi, Susanne Bier, and Michael Haneke don't technically have Oscars, even though we saw them clutching one during the ceremony.  Continue giving the awards, but let the directors receive the honor (not the producers or the country).

Hollywood Reporter: One of France's highest cinematic honors, the Louis Delluc Prize, listed its shortlist for the best films of the year.  As one might expect, the Palme d'Or winner and current buzz champion Blue is the Warmest Color (I'm going to attempt to catch it this weekend!) is amongst the contenders, as is Asghar Farhadi's The Past and Alain Guiraudie's Stranger by the Lake.  The film you're specifically noticed is missing?  Renoir, which was France's submission to the Academy Awards this year in an eyebrow-raising move (another film I will be checking out soon).

Also from Hollywood Reporter: Okay, this is a hot-off-the-presses sort of thing for me, as I haven't had a chance to watch the video, but huzzah-the first of this season's Hollywood Reporter round tables is now available!!!  Josh Brolin, Jared Leto, Forest Whitaker, Matthew McConaughey, Jake Gyllenhaal and my husband Michael B. Jordan are all in the video, and you know I will be watching this this weekend as well.  Cannot wait-these are not to be missed, though the Best Actress one is always the most interesting, admittedly.

Film Experience: It's the end of the month, so that means it's Supporting Actress Smackdown time!  The Film Experience this month tackled 1968, so there was a lot of gushing over Ruth Gordon's terrific horror turn (well-timed, Nathaniel) in Rosemary's Baby.  That's sadly the only one of these films I've seen (I swear-I clearly watch Oscar-nominated films, but for some reason they always land a year I'm missing most everyone), but it's always a delightful read and usually results in at least one Netflix list addition, so check it out.

Entertainment Weekly: Have y'all seen Todrick Hall's delicious, divatastic "Spell Block Tango?"  It's too funny if you love musicals or Disney, so head on over.  Also, there's even a Glee connection-one of our favorite stars of the show is in the video (no, it's not Chord Overstreet in a catsuit, but I'll be sure to link that if I find it).

In Politics...

Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), one of seven blue state Republican
senators up in 2016.

National Journal: Charlie Cook speaks a truth that the Republicans should heed in this article about the long term impact of the 2014 chances on the party taking back the Senate.  While a lot of the focus lately has been on the stranglehold the GOP has on the House, if the Republicans cannot take back the Senate in 2014, there's a good chance the Democrats will have the Senate for the foreseeable future.  The reason for this is that there's a potential gold mine of seats in 2016 for the Democrats to win.  The Republicans have seven senators up in states that Barack Obama won in 2012, plus a seat in North Carolina, which the President nearly won.  If the Democratic nominee in 2016 (likely Hillary Clinton) does remotely as well as the President, it is nearly impossible to imagine the kind of ticket-splitting that would result in the Republicans holding the majority of those seats (looking at Charlie Cook's PVI, you see that Democrats generally are less likely to split their ticket for congressional races).  This is something to keep in mind, especially with races like Kay Hagan's starting to look safer and safer for the Democrats and races like Michelle Nunn's looking more and more competitive.

Roll Call: With Alex Sink's entry into the Florida special election, Emily's List got into a bit of hot water when they rescinded their earlier endorsement of attorney Jessica Ehrlich in favor of former State CFO Alex Sink.  I have to admit this seems pretty cold, though clearly Sink is the candidate with the better shot at winning the election.

And we'll end with an entry from C-Span, where Cory Booker (your fake political boyfriend and mine) was sworn into the U.S. Senate and brought the number of Democrats to 55...and yes, Joe Biden called Bob Menendez 'Frank,' which is the name of the senator that Cory is replacing. I love Joe Biden so much (not in an ironic or sarcastic way, but in a true and absolute way)-I wish he would give up on the White House in 2016 and have a reality show that I would literally never miss.

Everybody's Linking for the Weekend

It's the weekend, and you know what that means-it's time for another roundup of the links of the week!


In Entertainment...

Billy Magnussen

Boston Globe: Ryan Murphy has confirmed that Glee will end after the next season (making it six in total).  This seems about right, though it'll be interesting to see where they go with the series since clearly the ending was going to focus on the principle couple on the show: Rachel and Finn.

Playbill: Recent Tony nominee Billy Magnussen is rumored to be a frontrunner to replace Charlie Hunnam as Christian Grey in the 50 Shades of Grey big-screen adaption.  Billy is certainly attractive enough to be the enigmatic Mr. Grey, though he seems a bit ripped for the role-I think they have waited too long and they should have just cast Matthew Bomer.

In Contention: In Contention takes a look at the Best Visual Effects race.  While everyone has (rightly) assumed that Gravity has this thing locked up, an Oscar nomination is still a major reward for a film, and I think the other four slots are relatively open right now, considering that, aside from The Hobbit (which hasn't been released yet), all of the blockbusters look fine, but none scream slam dunk.  I still feel that Oz: The Great and Powerful could be this year's Snow White and the Huntsman and score a nomination no one is predicting.

The Savannah Tribune: This is the time of year where film festivals start handing out their lifetime achievement awards like Tic-Tacs, and the Savannah fIlm Festival is no exception, honoring Academy Award Winner Jeremy Irons with their Life Achievement Award.  The odd thing about Irons winning is that Irons doesn't really have any major films in theaters right now-usually these awards go out to people campaigning for an Oscar.  Meanwhile, Irons's son Max has been one of the highlights (link is NSFW) of The White Queen and apparently has been trying out for the Christian Grey role with some nude scenes (don't you feel like he looks better for the role than most being considered?).

In politics...

Roll Call: While we've heard throughout the week about the good of fundraising (Alison Lundergan Grimes out-earned Mitch McConnell in Kentucky) and the bad (Reps. Collin Peterson and Mike McIntyre both put in less than stellar fundraising numbers, inevitably setting off retirement rumors), the weirdest and funniest story of the week was Rep. Mel Watt's $10 fundraising number.  Watt, who is President Obama's nominee to be chief regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, only earned $10 this past quarter; many assume that Watt will retire if he isn't successful in his Senate appointment process-this likely confirms it.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT)

Politico: Former Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer has started to float the balloon for a presidential run, regardless of whether Hillary makes the race, and has made a comment suggesting that we need to have someone who isn't a Clinton or a Bush to run for the presidency.  I have multiple problems with this, not least of which is that we currently have a president who is neither a Clinton or a Bush, proving his point incorrect.  Brian Schweitzer is probably at the bottom of my presidential nominee wish list (give or take Andrew Cuomo).  He loses mad points with me for his treatment of next year's Montana Senate race.  While I have high hopes for John Walsh, who is running for the seat for the Dems, Schweitzer spent months fueling speculation that he would be primarying Max Baucus, and when Baucus announced his retirement, Schweitzer didn't run.  Baucus or Schweitzer would both have made the race far more competitive, and I don't like candidates who only worry about themselves and not about downballot races.  I want to win the White House, but that doesn't mean the Senate and House aren't important too (a fact that Joe Biden, the Clintons, and Kirsten Gillibrand have all made clear is a priority considering their campaigning for downballot races across the country).

Washington Post: This is another generic article about the Democrats potentially getting a lift from the recent shutdown/debt ceiling crisis, but the interesting aspect is the Steve Israel quote about 3-5 candidates that are going to be announcing soon for the House.  Israel seems to impress that these are truly strong candidates who are intent on running in seats we don't have tier one candidates in, so I'm very excited.  My gut tells me that one of them will be Alex Sink, Florida's former CFO (an elected position in the state), who has been itching to run for Bill Young's now open seat.

Sacramento Bee: One of the candidates that Israel won't be touting is former Rep. Gene Taylor.  Despite representing Mississippi as a Democrat for two decades, Taylor will be running for his old seat as a Republican if he makes the jump (he lost the seat in 2010).  My gut tells me this will be an exercise in futility-part of the reason Taylor stayed alive for years was his incumbency and the fact that he didn't have to make it through an ultra-conservative Republican primary (the Democrats were never going to win with anyone else, and so they weren't going to go against him to get a more progressive candidate).  In 2014, he'd have neither, and would be a lost cause.

NPR: Former Speaker of the House Tom Foley (D-WA) died yesterday at the age of 84.  At one time one of the most powerful men in the country, he served as Speaker during the administrations of George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Just One More...

The Independent: Seriously, I'm sad to end on an angry note, but this is just terrible.  Three men are facing felony charges for pushing over large rock boulders in the iconic Goblin Valley in Utah.  The men are claiming they pushed it over because it wasn't safe, but that's just idiotic (who are they to decide to take down a stone structure that has been standing for 200 million years-just tell the kids not to go down there if they're worried about safety and report it to park officials if it's of true concern).  These sorts of things upset me deeply (people who have no respect for nature or history or the environment), and I truly hope the men are convicted of the felony charges.

Those were the stories that caught me this week-what are your thoughts?

Glee: The Quarteback (#5.3)

Six times.  That was the number of times I, with my favorite snuggling blanket and a box full of Kleenexes decided to join the actors on Glee in mourning their friend Cory/Finn.  It was a bit impossible, really, to find where the line was drawn here.  I, of course, didn't know Monteith and was only familiar with the goofy, affable, charming, cute guy he played for four years on one of my favorite shows.  But you could feel the pain in many of the performances this week, and you could tell that the writers and actors were having a hard time telling apart the two.  What that left us was one of the most moving of the series' history, and though it didn't get us anywhere new or different with the plot, it was still an hour worth viewing.

The show opened with both the current and many former students returning to bid adieu to Finn through that opening Rent number ("525,600 Minutes"), and quickly we moved into a voiceover from Kurt.  The episode never addressed how Finn died, which I have to admit was frustrating in an otherwise strong episode.  Kurt's admission at the beginning of the episode about it not mattering (clearly speaking more for Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy) left us wondering throughout the entire episode if we'd learn how Finn died.  It ultimately doesn't matter, but how he died was going to reflect on our memories of the character.  This seems petty and small in the face of the actual tragedy of Monteith's death, but it's hard not to feel like they did the character a bit of a disservice in this regard by not giving us closure with him.  Again, small quibble, but it's definitely there.

The show progressed with a number of small scenelets with most of the "old-timer" characters getting to reflect on their relationship with Finn.  The most moving, and by far the best, was the breakdowns that Chris Colfer, Romy Rosemont, and Mike O'Malley experienced reminiscing.  You could feel the pain, particularly coming from Rosemont, of her losing her son.  That speech about how she has to remain a parent even though she doesn't have a child anymore just hit me; it was a such an oddly difficult truth to speak.

I know that his song catalog isn't filled with numbers that would have been appropriate for such a circumstance, but I wish everyone had followed the lead of Amber Riley's Mercedes and sang songs that Monteith had sung on the show.  None of the subsequent numbers had the wallop in it that hers did because you could hear Finn singing in the back of your head.  That said, when Lea Michele showed up right before a commercial break, I was in tears, and her later version of Bob Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love" was a knockout.

There's so little left to say about the episode.  Really, the entire show was dedicated to grief, and the ways that music can bring you through it. I thought it was pretty appropriate to end the episode, if not with Rachel, then with Matthew Morrison's Will, the other center of this series.  You knew it had been him who had stolen the jacket, and knowing that Finn was like a son to him, I was glad that they gave him a moment to shine (even though I'm not always Pro-Matthew Morrison plots in Glee world).

What were your thoughts on this episode?  Did you like the way that they sent off Finn/Cory?  Did you wish Dianna Agron and Heather Morris had shown up?  Did you think it was the appropriate time to send Puck and Mark Salling into the sunset of Glee characters?  Did you also notice that they got the timeline wrong on this series (they've known each other for four years, not three)?  Share in the comments!

Glee: Tina in the Sky with Diamonds (#5.2)

As you can see from the title, this is going to be a Tina-centered episode.  As many of you who read these recaps with consistency may know, I’ve had a falling out with Tina’s character.  Part of me wants to acknowledge and feel good for Jenna Ushkowitz, a lovely actress with a beautiful voice, that she finally got some definition in her character.  She was persistently being defined through the men who were romantically interested in her, not through any actions of her own.

But then the show decided to make her the worst parts of Quinn and Rachel, with a bit of date rapist thrown in there for good measure (we all remember the VapoRub scene).  Case in point, when she somehow got nominated for Prom Queen (let's logically point out that she probably wouldn't have been nominated), she dumped Sam.  Sam!  Not only is he the sweetest guy in the Glee club, he's one of the hottest.  The only reason to dump Sam would be if Blaine also asked you, and then you do an 80's-sitcom style "trying to balance two dates."  It was really hard to feel bad for her later when she treated her friends like garbage for most of the episode, and has been for weeks now.

And sitcom writers, can we put a kibosh on the Carrie-style pig's blood sequences in every single Prom episode.  When Sue said that this was an "original" way for Brie to try and destroy the New Directions, it may have been the funniest part of the episode.  And in a desperate plea to the Glee writers (who foreshadowed with Brie that clearly Unique is winning Prom Queen next year), can we just have one Prom episode where the Prom Queen (be it Rachel, Kurt, or Tina) doesn't have to learn a very special message about themselves?  I mean, it's literally the same episode three years running now.  You can do better.

Case in point: the Santana-Rachel friendship.  This was easily the best part of the entire episode.  I love the way that, freed of being archenemies, the two of them have become fast friends and the way that Rachel is egging her on to start a relationship with Demi Lovato (whose character's name is Dani, I believe, but I will probably refer to her as Demi throughout future write-ups, at least until they find something interesting to say about her).  I also enjoyed the way that take-charge Rachel, so full of ambition, got jealous of Santana's wildly over-the-top yeast infection commercial.  When Kurt joined the diner, I partially wished that spinoff rumor had come true and the three of them were on their own show as struggling actors in the big city with a cantankerous manager and a sassy cook.

The Sam and the nurse plot was a little creepy (the shot scene seems like it was a GIF-ready moment for perverted Tumblr users if there ever was one), but was less so because Chord Overstreet is 24 in real life.  I don't know where this is going (the school year is almost over on the show, so Chord won't be a student anymore).  This didn't lead too many places, though I have to hand it to Chord Overstreet for his work through the years-he managed to take a mildly obnoxious super hot blond adonis and turn him into a quirky, interesting super hot blond adonis.  It's not easy for consistent character growth for a Glee actor, so bravo!

And we'll probably leave it at that-the show was fairly light on plot and heavy on musical numbers (my favorite being my fave Beatles song, "Let It Be").  What did you think?  Are you looking forward to Rachel winning her eventual series finale Tony Award?  With Phoebe Strole on the show now, which Spring Awakening actor are you most hoping will be Rachel's next love interest: Skylar Astin or John Gallagher, Jr?  And who else started balling even during the Cory Monteith tribute in the "next week's episode" preview?

Glee: Love, Love, Love (#5.1)

Gleeks, it's that time of year again...April, apparently.  The shows' writers decided to not skip out on some major events in the lives of Sam, Tina, Artie, and Blaine by giving them a senior prom, Nationals tournament, and Nationals Championship (if I remember right Brittany is at MIT right now-correct?  Someone could have reminded us of that one, since Jacob Ben Israel wasn't here with his customary Glee Summer recap, probably because Josh Sussman is almost thirty and doesn't remotely resemble a teenager anymore.

This week Mr. Schuester (ugh, I miss the episodes when Matthew Morrison was in Washington DC) had the group do a Beatles Week, which considering the moptop hairstyles being sported by Ryder and Sam (seriously-Chord Overstreet's bangs need to given National Landmark status they are so rocking) seemed wildly appropriate.  The Beatles have such a diverse discography that you could probably do an entire season of just them (they've been done before, of course, with "Blackbird" by Kurt), but we got primarily the big hits and everything framed up nicely, even if none of these songs particularly "popped" for me in a way that would make me want to go out on iTunes and buy them.

The writers of the show did way too much foreshadowing in the opening scene, with Rachel trying out in a chemistry run for Funny Girl.  Sure, she didn't get the part, but the fact that they cast actors who were too famous for two scenes and nothing more (Ioan Gruffudd and Twilight's Peter Facinelli) means that they will be back, and she's likely going to get the part.  The entire New York section of this episode was really terrific, in my opinion, and far surpassed Ohio (this was my refrain for most of last year, and I'm sticking with it)-Lea Michele and Naya Rivera have terrific chemistry, and it was nice to see them working in a diner as "struggling actresses," even though shouldn't Rachel still be finishing her school year?  There was no mention of college this week on her part.

We did get confirmation that at least one more Glee club member was headed to join the New York clique-Artie is destined for the Brooklyn Film Academy and apparently over the summer (I mean, past two weeks) has officially become romantically involved.  Kitty was on fire this episode-I honestly dug everything about her: the popularity issues (you know a slushy is coming...), the snappy one-liners that are more biting than vicious, and the way that she, unlike Quinn, gets over her biggest issues when it comes to love fairly quickly.  I mean, Ryan Murphy will almost certainly change everything about her come next week, but she'll still always be more interesting than Marley.  Also worth noting, and I didn't realize until Kitty had pointed it out: Artie gets around.  Tina, Brittany, and Sugar (where was Sugar-the mysteriously missing until there's a large dance scene member of the New Directions) all have dated him in the past-Artie may have dated more members of the Glee Club than anyone else except Puck.

I'd discuss Tina, but I'm so over this character.  The persistent mood swings, hyper-bossiness, and constant revelations that she has changed, even when the next week she hasn't.  Even in Glee world she's too much.  And could the writers have been any more obvious about what is going to happen next week?  We now have Blaine/Kurt, Artie/Kitty, Marley/Jake, and Tina/Sam set up for the Prom.  Only Ryder and his catfisher Unique are left to be matched up as dates.

Speaking of Blaine/Kurt, I thought I would be more emotionally involved in their engagement, but I have to admit I wasn't, which is odd because their relationship has been one of my favorite parts of Glee.  I mean, the engagement was cute, and the Kurt/Burt conversation was wonderful and anyone who gets proposed to in any fashion by Darren Criss is required by the laws of sense to say yes, but I just didn't buy it.  They JUST got back together, they're only 18/19, and now they're suddenly engaged.  I get that the writers are in the fifth season rut now-this isn't How I Met Your Mother, the show doesn't have another five seasons to resolve everything.  But your early twenties shouldn't be about getting married.  They're about finding yourself-a show can function without having everyone being happily ever after in the end.  And I think that the show squandered a real opportunity to have the two of them date other people and then realize they're meant for each other.  It's particularly vexing because Kurt/Blaine have been the most iconic gay relationship that Gen Y has had in their entertainment lives, and I just wish they had taken the time to fill it out a bit before they had them ride into the sunset.

That's where the show ended, but I can't end it there, because there's something that the writers are waiting to say that I'm not going to do.  Even though his name was never spoken, yes, you could feel his presence.  It was in the way that Lea Michele beautifully sang "Yesterday" (why he had to go, I don't know, he wouldn't say).  It was in the speech Burt gave to Kurt about how we don't know how much time we have left and how life comes down to a few days.  It was in how you knew that he would have been the final person Kurt hugged before he said yes to Blaine.  Cory Monteith's missing presence was felt throughout the entire episode, and my gut says it'll be felt through the entire remainder of the series.  A bittersweet note to end on, but sometimes life (and this show) does that.

What were your thoughts on the episode?  Do you feel that they are appropriately handling Monteith's untimely death?  Were you rooting for Kurt to say yes?  Did you also notice Amber Riley on the stairs even though she never had any actual lines?  Share in the comments!

Celebrity Crushes

A few weeks ago, I did a little Friday fun article about cute guys with puppies.  It's been a tough news week this week (and felt oddly long for a four-day work week, didn't it?), and so I figured I'd do something in a similar vein for y'all today.

Perhaps the best party question that anyone can bring up to tie a bunch of people together is to ask "who is your celebrity crush?"  Everyone has one-even other celebrities.  And because I'm always trying to get some comments (hint, hint) and get a conversation going, I figured that I'd go with my favorite celebrity crushes.

But I couldn't quite decide on how to do it, because limiting yourself to just one seemed a bit cruel and unusual.  So I decided to pick my crushes from different mediums.  Here's who I came up with-share yours in the comments!

Movies: Honestly, movie stars are so beautiful it's hard to pin down just one crush choice, isn't it?  I think right at the moment it's either Michael Fassbender or Michael B. Jordan, both of whom are super talented (I like guys with a little substance), but there's always a place for Colin Farrell, who has been my celeb crush since I was a teenager, and despite some rocky times (anyone see that movie where he was in the phone booth?), we're still going strong.

Television: This could go one of two ways-I obviously love Darren Criss and Chord Overstreet, as anyone who reads my Glee recaps can attest, but Adam Driver, who plays the disturbing and honest Adam Sackler on Girls has become a huge favorite over the last year, so I think I'd probably go with all three.

Music: This was going to be just Frank Ocean (I've been thinking about you...), but last night I got into a Chelsea Lately YouTube vortex, and saw her interview with Drake from a few years back, and with those eyes, I have to include him too.

Literature: Some of you may not feel the same way, but I have crushed on Dave Eggers since the first time I read one of his books (like I said, talent is sexy).  Plus, I like curly-haired guys.

Politics: Picking Aaron Schock would make me a horrible person, wouldn't it?  It would, right?  Okay, I'll skip him then, and go with a Democrat: former Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Joshua Svaty.

YouTube: Again, lots of choices here, but this one I'm not going to hedge between multiple people: The Lean Machines' John Chapman has to be it.

Athletics: I feel really bad leaving Andy Murray out, considering what a terrible day he had yesterday, so I'm going to put both him and Nathan Adrian here.

Journalism: It might be stretching to include Entertainment Weekly as journalism (or journalists as celebrities), but box office wizard Grady Smith is so cute that I'll make an exception.

Fictional: Shut up-we all have crushes on fictional characters!  For most people, it's Mr. Darcy, but for me, it's the Human Torch.  This is a childhood crush, and though I've never seen the movie because of my love of the Human Torch and Fantastic Four in general, I still approve of Chris Evans playing the character.

And now I'm turning it over to you fine people-we'll be having a return to serious topics this weekend, finishing up our last entry in the 2012 OVP, reviewing a variety of movies, and discussing the Colorado State Senate recalls, but before we jump into that, let's have some fun-who are your celebrity crushes?

Emmy Reactions

Don't you love them?

The Good

The Emmys are generally everyone’s favorite whipping boy when it comes to television, because, unlike movies, everyone watches so much of it and because there are relatively few precursors, and so everyone has a nomination they hated and a nomination they loved.   For me, my favorite nominations are always the ones that were “on-the-fence” and potentially not going to happen, so Adam Driver’s citation for Girls is about as wonderful as you get.  My current TV boyfriend Adam Sackler (give or take Robb Stark and Blaine Anderson) had a stunning season, particularly that terrific monologue at rehab that may have been the most “jaw-droppingly-awesome-acting” moment I saw on a comedy this year.

Likewise, I have to applaud the myriad nominations that arrived for some of my favorite shows, including Girls, Game of Thrones, American Horror Story, and Mad Men.  It’s nice to get that pat-on-the-back for the shows you love, and getting to hopefully have more exposure for the shows (more exposure hopefully equaling more viewers hopefully equaling more time with these characters).

Since no one (except perhaps my brother, who is a wizard at keeping up with every television series) can watch everything, I do want to recognize thinking outside the box with a nomination for Laura Dern’s critically-acclaimed but low-rated work on Enlightened, a series that was cancelled earlier this year (which is partially my fault, as I didn’t watch it).

And finally, Melissa Leo is one of my favorite actors on the planet, and also one of my favorite celebrities on the planet, and so I am thrilled she’s an Emmy nominee once again.  She should win (I don’t care who is against her).  Melissa Leo should win all of the Emmys.  I would watch an awards show of Melissa Leo just accepting Emmys.  And they should give that awards show another Emmy.

Award-worthy?  Yes.  Guest star?  Hardly.

The Confusing

Every year there’s some sort of category confusion, particularly regarding guest work.  How is Diana Rigg, who was in at least half of the Game of Thrones episodes from last season a Guest star?  Or Dot-Marie Jones?  Or Robert Morse?  The person who does these designations seems to have turned this category into “Another Five Supporting Actors,” which seems a bit much.

I am definitely supportive of this move, but am stunned that Eric Stonestreet, Emmy’s favorite man on Modern Family (giving him two trophies) somehow got snubbed in favor of his three costars.  Stonestreet has always been the weakest link of the adults on the series (I’ve many times complained about how much better the Jay/Gloria and Claire/Phil stories are in comparison to Cam/Mitchell, which are typically bitter, redundant, and without any romance), but considering he won the Emmy last year and doesn’t even get nominated this year-strange, no?

The Shunned and the Overly Nominated

The Bad

Am I the only person who is so tired of Alec Baldwin?  I do agree that his Jack Donaghy has been strong through the years and deserved some of his hardware, but yet another nomination?  For what was far more of a Liz Lemon farewell season that a great Jack season?  I’m not buying it, and Baldwin’s been thoroughly obnoxious recently, so I really don’t want to see him beat the affable Jim Parsons or Louis CK.

Additionally, Sarah Paulson is very talented, and I am hugely supportive of her nomination for American Horror Story, but what part of that is a supporting role?  The entire main story arch on the first season belonged to her-she should be in the same company as Lange, leaving someone like Lily Rabe room in supporting.

I don’t really watch reality television, but do occasionally catch snippets of it, and I have to wonder why the reality-competition categories don’t have more variety.  Unlike every other race, cable hasn’t taken too much of a hold of the category yet, and I would imagine that there are a number of quality cable programs that should be replacing Ryan Seacrest and Tom Bergeron once again.  Plus, shouldn’t this entire panel be filled with the judges on The Voice if we’re going to stay on network television?

I would have found room to nominate all three.

The Ugly

My go-to is Jon Cryer here, and he didn’t get nominated, so major bonus points to the Emmy Awards on that front.  I find Anthony Bourdain beyond insufferable, so his nomination was the biggest vomit moment of the morning.

I don’t oftentimes throw stones when I haven’t seen all of the nominees, but I have trouble believing that “The Rains of Castamere,” one of the best-produced hours of television I’ve ever seen, didn’t deserve a Directing nomination to go with its Writing nomination.

I usually have trouble believing seven-wide fields (couldn’t they weight them more so that they don’t result in a tie, and why does it happen so often at the Emmys and it’s never happened at the Oscars with nominations?), and while Glee is very close to my heart, Jane Lynch doesn’t deserve to be alongside the other six women in her category (I watch all but Wever’s show, and I hear she’s the bee’s knees from a critic I trust, so I’m giving her a pass).  Lynch’s story this past year was almost non-existent, and she is certainly getting this because her celebrity is resurgent at the moment.  The problem is that the way the Emmys vote, she actually has a strong featured episode for herself (the Becky shooting episode), which could put at jeopardy a win for Sofia Vergara or Mayim Bialik.  Not to mention the fact that if they really needed a seventh nominee, wouldn’t Allison Williams, Zosia Mamet, or Jemima Kirke, the supporting ladies on Girls, have been a far more appropriate choice?  Or better yet, they could have nominated all three!

And while I cherish any citation that goes to Glee, giving it to “Diva,” an episode I openly disliked over so many other great moments (Season 4 was way better than Season 3) is a slap in the face.

Those are my thoughts-what are yours?  Who are you most bummed about Emmy snubbing?  Who were you jumping up-and-down for?  How much do you love Melissa Leo?  Share in the comments!

RIP Cory Monteith (1982-2013)

Wow, after hearing the news last night that the George Zimmerman trial had shown that justice isn't nearly as blind as it should be, I woke up this morning and found out that young Cory Monteith had been found dead in a hotel room in Vancouver.  A horrible news weekend all around.  I am stunned, absolutely stunned by this news-as many of you know, I've been an avid fan of the Glee show for many years, and cannot believe another talented young performer has passed away so quickly.

I guess the best way to talk about Monteith is to talk about what his show has meant to me.  As some of you who read this blog regularly may know, I write recaps of Glee every week, or at least have for the past year.  I started watching the show during the first season, but it became far more dear to me during the second season.  I was living away from my home state for the first time then, and though it may sound silly for a 26-year-old to have gotten pretty homesick in his favorite city in the world, it definitely happened quite frequently when I first moved, and in a weird way, Glee helped that.  I was still finding my groove with all of the characters (they can be pretty sporadic) and I felt like, as they were establishing themselves in a new way, I was establishing myself in a new way.  Granted, they were high school students and I was in my mid-twenties, but in real life we were the same age, so I felt like we could commiserate and they were a wonderful, friendly place for me to check-in with each week, even as I missed my family and friends.

And that's occasionally what television is, and that was the wonderful world that someone like Cory Monteith helped create.  We all use television for different reasons: to laugh, to cry, to waste a few hours, to scare us, but on occasion, we need it because it's something consistent, something welcoming and something we can count on each week to be there.  It might not always look the same, but it's always there.  It's like an old friend that you can call up and will be at your apartment with cookie dough and tequila at a moment's notice-it's there for you when you need it.

Like every woman and gay man who watched the show, I had a huge crush on Cory and Finn Hudson by proxy.  The baby brown eyes and the thick chestnut hair, not to mention the 6'3" frame, were all a completely crushable package, and while Chord Overstreet and Darren Criss came to stand alongside him in the smitten department, Monteith was definitely the first.  I wanted to figure out some way to celebrate Monteith in a totally Gleekable way, so if you'll permit me, I'm going to do a Top 10 Finn moments to close out this post, but I first want to say RIP Cory, and thank you for being there for me.  I'll be watching for you in the next.

10. "Finn's Kissing Booth" (Episode #2.12)
I loved the swagger that Cory Monteith brought to this moment.  Occasionally Finn forgot that he was a football-playing, rock song-singing stud, but not in this episode.

9. Finn Starts Dressing Like Will (Season 4)
The casting department on Glee oftentimes has some silly decisions to make (there's no way McKinley High can afford all these outfits), but this decision was a massively successful one.  I loved the way that Finn subtly thought that by wearing Mr. Schu's favorite sweater-set combos, he'd be a better coach for the Glee club.  Oh, and as I mentioned in many a recap, Cory Monteith could rock these outfits better than Matthew Morrison.

8. "Hello, I Love You" (Episode #1.14)
This episode in general was a huge hit musically for me, from Lea Michele's cheeky "Hope it Gives You Hell" to Jesse's duet with Rachel in "Hello" by Lionel Richie.  But the rocker quality that Cory Monteith brought to this Doors classic was probably the best of the bunch.  Finn didn't get nearly enough solos after Season One, but this was a reminder of why he should have.

7. "Losing My Religion" (Episode #2.3)
One of Monteith's most impressive episodes (who can forget the Grilled Cheesus?), this is probably my favorite solo number of his.  He brought a sad and even angry theme to the song, which was so appropriate for his character, and found the bitterness that the R.E.M. classic requires.

6. Finn and Kurt in the Basement (Episode #1.20)
I know this may seem an odd moment to bring up, but this is one of the best moments in the entire series (for me, certainly the best-acted moment in the entire series) from a technical standpoint, and so I have to mention it.  The later moments of Finn's redemption from his angrily spitting out a homophobic slur at Kurt wouldn't have nearly been as dramatic if he hadn't had this moment.  I love the way that Monteith, when Mike O'Malley (who should have won an Emmy for this episode) confronts him, instantly realizes the mistake he's just made but knows he can't talk himself out of it.  Finn and Kurt would go on to be one of the best and most meaningful relationships on the show, which would start with...

5. Finn Dons His Lady Gaga (Episode #1.20)
Finn ended this episode in a way that not only would happen on Glee, but I think would happen in real life (as a gay guy, while I never had a straight male friend dress up in drag for me, I've had all of them get a bit outside of their comfort zones with helping me in the coming out process, so I can definitely relate to Finn's grand gesture).  I love that the show didn't keep him in the Kiss ware, but went full throttle with Gaga to show his support of Kurt.

4. Finn's Dancing (Entire Series)
I don't know if this is because Monteith was a poor dancer in real life, or if it was because it was a great quirk for a strong athlete to oddly be terribly uncoordinated, but this brought us everything from Rachel's broken nose to at least a dozen Brittany and Santana one-liners, and so it had to make the list.

3. "Don't Stop Believing" (Episode #1.1)
I'm not putting it at Number One for two reasons: one, this was a group effort, though Monteith's affable charm and goofy demeanor were part of what sold this, and two, I didn't give up watching the show after the first episode or the first season, and I know that this, the moment everyone relates back to when talking about loving Glee, was just the beginning, and not the end, of the great ride on this show.

2. "Finn Tells Rachel Goodbye" (Episode #3.22)
Acting-wise, this is Monteith's series high-point, but personal love for a different moment required me to put this at Number Two.  Still, it doesn't get more gut-wrenching than Finn, growing up on the spot, giving up Rachel so that she can go and pursue her dreams.  Relating back to the main point, I feel so badly for Lea Michele for so many different reasons upon this news-losing her off-screen boyfriend and then likely having to act it out for the world to see since Rachel and Finn were reconnecting.  Sad, sad, sad.

1. "Finn Dances with Kurt" (Episode #2.8)
I remember sitting in my Bronx apartment weeping and cheering during this moment, the big climax of the "Furt" storyline, with Finn, once so afraid to share a room with Kurt, now dancing with him at a wedding.  This was a beautiful end to this story, with Kurt gaining some confidence, Finn some perspective and tolerance, and it ended with them being the brother they both always wanted.  Lovely.

Darren Criss on Broadway!!!

...Well sort, of.  Darren, our most beloved and sexy crooner is not returning to the boards, but he did come to support his Glee costar Jane Lynch as she takes over for Katie Finneran in Annie.  Here are five photos, including two of Lynch with Darren.  Only twenty days until the concert!

Glee: All or Nothing (#4.22)

All right, fellow Gleeks, it's that dreadful time of year where we have to say goodbye to our most beloved motley crew of singers.  Unlike the past few seasons, which ended with the New Directions either headed to or against the current of Nationals (we don't know the fate of Nationals, but I'm willing to bet they end up losing and that's how the show starts next season, though I have to assume that Jacob Ben Israel will have graduated by then so there's no way of knowing who will be doing next year's recap), but instead Regionals was the hard-fought final competition of the season.

Though didn't this feel a little bit ancillary to the overall plot?  I was far more concerned about Rachel's audition, Blaine's potentially misguided engagement, and Ryder's catfish, which again, makes me think that leaving McKinley behind and focusing on the East Coast crew wouldn't be the worst idea in the world.  After all, you'll now have at least seven of the main characters on the East Coast (Quinn, Blaine, Kurt, Brittany, Santana, Rachel, and Artie).  You could easily make the case for Mercedes, Sam, Finn, and Tina moving out to New York to join them, and then you'd be set.  All your favorite characters in one manageable show.

Anyway, that's really my thought going forward, as all of the other stories seemed to be resolved after just one season, and I don't see them going anywhere interesting for a while.  Marley and Jake seem to be fairly happy (the guy has dance moves that make me think that this was never really a competition), Kitty is now prickly but with a heart of gold, and then, of course, there's Ryder.  Ryder finally learned the identity of his catfish-first thinking it was Marley (because she, you know, said it was), and then finally learning it was Unique, which made a lot more sense than Marley.  From the looks of things, both Marley and Jake (at the very least) knew that it was Unique who had been doing it, so at least three people were in on this cover-up, so I kind of feel for Ryder when he said he would quit the glee club, and while I'm guessing this was a contract negotiation ploy for Ryan Murphy and his crew for next season, if they did my Glee: East Coast idea, this would be a perfect way to release Blake Jenner from his contract.  I mean, the guy is cute (though he was surprisingly on-the-nose when he said "Jake's a better dancer than me, Artie's a better singer, and Sam's better-looking") and the best actor of the four new players, but none of the new characters have been compelling enough to revolve the entire McKinley story line around next season.

Elsewhere, we had Blaine doing some really creative jumping jacks to justify proposing to Kurt, even after Burt told him not to last week.  I'm rarely one to rag on Blaine (okay, I never do this, actually), but there's a lot of hurdles here.  For starters, he and Kurt are not dating right now-yes, I think even they know they'll get back together, but they aren't now and it's not appropriate.  Secondly, he's eighteen, nineteen tops and as we all saw with Rachel and Finn last season, this sort of teenage elopement just doesn't work.  I think it would have been far more appropriate if they had made the lesbian couple (a lovely surprise in the form of Meredith Baxter and Patty Duke) serve as a sign that you should wait (though obviously not necessarily as long as they did), but clearly from the last moments of the show with Blaine clutching a ring, that's not necessarily the case.  And I think the writers put Blaine into a weirdly self-righteous set of pontificating.  Giving Sam a lecture about how "people like him" have waited for hundreds of years for the right time (I don't remember the speech verbatim, but you get the gist) to get married was a bit much.  Sam clearly isn't saying he shouldn't get married because he's gay, he's saying it because he's too young.  I did love that the Sam/Blaine moments of the show led to Patty Duke assuming they were a couple, which lead to the best line in the history of Glee from Sam: "he wants to do me but we're just friends."  Oh, and there's another reason-you've been into Sam for the past six months rather than Kurt, Blaine!

Glee was surprisingly focused outside of these two stories and Regionals (oh, Will and Emma got married, and I'm not saying anything about it because the priest called them Wemma and that is just awful).  The other two plots revolved around two of my favorites on Glee: Rachel and Brittany.  Rachel really only had one scene, at the beginning of the show (didn't anyone feel bad that she didn't get to go to Will and Emma's wedding, as well as Finn, Quinn, and Puck?), but it was a doozy with her auditioning for Funny Girl with a killer rendition of "To Love You More" by Celine Dion.  I think the writers are gearing up for her to get the job, though they're trying to figure out how to avoid comparisons to Smash.  I'm hoping they do, and may I suggest Skylar Astin as Nicky Arnstein?

Brittany, as we've all been aware for years and MIT figured out for us, is a genius.  We had a great opening scene that looked like it was plucked from a scene from Community, with Brittany creating a mathematical discovery with her famous crayon drawings.  Though I'm not sure how MIT will handle her unique brand of intelligence, they assured the audience that she's the most brilliant mind since Albert Einstein.  She got early admittance at MIT, and as a result, had to leave Glee club to go into college early.  She acted out (I'd say a bit out-of-character for her, but then again, everything is in-character for Ms. Pierce), and then gave a beautiful goodbye in the choir room.  I really hope that this was just Brittany saying goodbye to the group and not Heather Morris saying goodbye to the audience, as I need her brand of whimsy in my weekly life.

And that's about it.  It's been an awesome year with our favorite glee kids, filled with highs (Blam, Rachel in NYC, the Superhero Club) and lows (Marley, the Tina/Blaine disaster, the insistence that Grease be the school musical, Marley again), but overall I had a great time in this new split Glee universe.  What were your favorite moments?  What do you hope for next season?  Did you find the "are Sugar and Joe here" question to be as hilarious and wink-winky as I did?  And does anyone have any recommended coping mechanisms for the next four months as we wait for the return?!?

Glee: Wonder-Ful (#4.21)

With only one more to go, you had a feeling that this would be more setup than actually delivery, though it was nice that we had resolutions to some story lines.  Granted, they were stories that we hadn't mentioned in months, but, well, that's Glee, isn't it?

The McKinley High Glee Club was prepping for Regionals, and, can we just stop for a second here?  With Regionals in the season finale, is there any possible way that they win the competition?  Shouldn't we have hit Regionals weeks ago if there was any shot of them going to Nationals?  After all, wouldn't that have been a plot by now if Nationals was going to be a significant achievement?  Either they're losing Regionals or they are winning Regionals and we'll find out in voiceover in the season premiere next year that they got last place or something at the National competition, which is why we'll continue seeing another round of slushies.

But I digress, as there were significant stories for Mercedes, Artie, Kurt, and Rachel this past week, which was a bit unusual, considering at one point they were the sole recipients of plots on this show (also, where was Finn?).  Mercedes, who has been basically absent all season (while Amber Riley was doing...what, precisely?) returned and it appeared that her record producer had less than reputable intentions for her.  After loving her voice and landing her record deal, she was asked to show a ton of skin in her album cover, which of course she balked at, and in turn lost her record deal.  So we now have a reason for Mercedes to return to Ohio, selling her CD on Amazon and out of her car.  The glee club-always struggling to make it work.

Artie, as well, had some second thoughts about impending success-he had been accepted at the Brooklyn Film Academy, and suddenly was having doubts about whether he could make it in New York.  Honestly, though, this seems a bit out-of-character for the overly confident Artie.  I loved that we saw his equally sassy mother (played by the brilliant Katey Sagal), but did anyone really believe that he wasn't going to go with leaving for New York (and inviting another character into the New York plot line?).  And did anyone else think that his little speech after Mercedes performed crossed the line into offensive?

Also, with this plot, I want to throw a little bit of cold water onto this story, as the success rate of these students has entered epic and silly levels.  I grew up in a small-town high school like McKinley, and maybe, just maybe, one person managed to get into the caliber of one of these students (and one person period, not one person per year).  And yet Artie is going to a school which is clearly modeled on NYU, Mike is in the Joffrey, Kurt and Rachel are clearly in a school modeled on Juilliard, Quinn is at Yale, Brittany is headed to MIT, and Mercedes landed a record deal right out of the gate.  I know that Finn, Puck, and Santana have struggled to find themselves, but shouldn't someone at some point out that the glee club is about as good at producing future stars as the 1990's era Mickey Mouse Club?

Kurt's story was a bit conventional for him (his dad was thankfully healthy and we got yet another wonderful Hummel family moment), and gave us the awkward circumstance of Blaine wanting to propose to Kurt.  Burt balked at this rightly, and while a marriage proposal from Darren Criss is always something to say yes to, I thought that this was a bit silly considering they aren't even officially dating anymore.  Though I will say that an impetuous marriage proposal is far more likely in a small town high school than someone getting accepted to Yale, so brava for realism, I guess...

The final plot was the Rachel one, and I honestly can't decide how I feel about it.  Overall, I haven't minded Kate Hudson this season (she's had a better role to play than Sarah Jessica Parker), and it's nice to know that she has at least some teacherly instincts, celebrating her student's huge achievement.  However, you know you have a problem with your story when people assume that something is a dream sequence because it's so unlikely, and that's how I felt when Hudson broke out in celebration of Rachel, doing her best Stevie Wonder (whose ear candy ditties were the theme of the episode).

The best moments of Glee are the sly fourth wall ones and the ones that celebrate the geekiness of the characters without making it a moral lesson.  My favorite fourth wall moment this week was when Kitty decided to help Artie, and she said something along the lines of her wanting to mix it up between being mean and nice, and she wasn't always sure which she was going to be (something to that effect, at least).  I felt like this was the writers speaking through her as to the fact that they're not sure what's going on with this character, just that she's far more interesting than Marley and so that's why she gets more screen-time.

And though the guys delivering the news fell into a rather ugly set of gay stereotypes, the moment when they listed out Lea Michele's competitors for the part of Fanny Brice (Sutton Foster and Mamie Gummer) was delicious.  I loved Michele rationalizing herself against Foster ("but she's doing Bunheads") and proving she doesn't know Broadway as well as she thinks she does (with Gummer, "can she even sing?").  Part of me is wishing these really are the competitors, and that the divine Foster (who at some point would have made a brilliant Fanny Brice, but is probably a wee bit too old for the part) and the lovely Gummer both make guest appearances next week.  And, considering her Emmy nominations for the series and her recent stint on the show's fictional Great White Way, why have we not seen a return of April Rhodes, as played by the great Kristin Chenoweth, this season?

And that's where we are at headed into the finale-I know the previews made it look like Blaine pops the question anyway, but aren't we all fairly certain that the surprise wedding will be Emma and Will's?  Do you think that Rachel will get the part (I'm thinking no for continuity's sake, but I'm hoping yes since it would throw the show in a new direction creatively)?  And who is the catfish (please don't let it be Kitty as it would be too obvious and too easy of an answer)?  We'll find next week on...Glee!

Happy Earth Week

Glee: Lights Out (#4.20)

Let's start with the thing everyone noticed in this past week's Glee-Blaine totally was cruising that guy at the gym.  I know that the show has developed a weird subplot of completely exploiting the sexiness that is Darren Criss, but I have to acknowledge when the show takes an actual even-handed attitude to one of the gay character's sexualities, as Kurt and Blaine are usually relegated to the background when it comes to those plots (case in point-nothing came of the eye-flirting).

I will also say that, while I love the song "Everybody Hurts," I need to just say that, in an actual high school, people that look like Ryder, Jake, Marley, Kitty, Brittany, Blaine, and Sam would not be naturally picked on.  With Finn at least they provided some context, but the New Directions have hit a status at the school where they clearly would no longer be mocked.  Not even high school students change their opinions that dramatically and swiftly.

But since we're on Ryder, wow, I did not see that one coming.  Ryder (and later Kitty) confessed to being molested as children, and in Ryder's case, both Sam and Artie were inexplicably insensitive (again, I just don't see them saying that out loud, even if they were thinking it).  I thought it was a bit of a miss for a show that focuses so much on messages to not gain a bit more understanding on their parts, but it's only an hour long show, so I'm going to let that one slide.

I will not, however, let the lazily obvious indication that Kitty is the catfish slide, though.  I mean, it seemed pretty obvious after this past week that she is, right?  The question sort of becomes why.  I get that she wants to mess with people, and that's probably how they'll do it-a sort of romantic comedy trope where she started it as a joke and then fell for him, but isn't that super easy?  Wouldn't almost anyone else be a better twist for what is turning into one of the better stories of the season (and one of the few in Glee history to actually have some patience surrounding it)?  Wade, Marley, Jake-all of them would make considerably more sense.  Even Artie, who kept texting during the song to try and throw in a red herring, would be a more interesting selection.  But, I digress, and am glad that the Rachel story is still humming along.

Though we didn't get much more on the Funny Girl auditions, we still had more scenes of Kurt, Rachel, and Santana, our favorite New York trio, this time stomping around with Sarah Jessica Parker as they work at a New York City ballet gala.  As someone who worships New York and draws inspiration from it regularly, I kind of got where Rachel and Kurt were going with the whole "don't throw your life away" aspect of the show, but as Santana (in the series) is a mere 18-19, she doesn't need to have her life figured out just yet, so I'm glad that's where the story ended.  I do like the prospects of her taking ballet, though, and if they would trim some of the fat on the series (cutting 4-6 characters), we could see her at one of those psychotic jobs they were discussing.

I don't always discuss the music in the Glee episodes, which is odd since that's what it's best known for, but this week I was glad we saw two Broadway hits, and one of them appropriate for multiple reasons. The first, as they were at the ballet, was an invitation to A Chorus Line with "At the Ballet," a song I'm guessing no one but the most theater-loving fans of the show was aware of, but was beautifully done in an extended sequence with Kurt, Rachel, Santana, and SJP.  The second, "Little Girls," was tongue-in-cheek for two reasons-one, Jane Lynch has just taken over the role of Miss Hannigan in the Broadway production of Annie and so clearly has quite a bit of practice singing her show-stopping number (considering that she's got the daunting task of following in the footsteps of Dorothy Loudon, Carol Burnett, and Katie Finneran, I'm glad to say she knocked it out of the park).  The second, of course, is that with Sarah Jessica Parker guest-starring, Annie herself was in the episode with Miss Hannigan.

And that's pretty much all she wrote in a relatively light week.  What were your thoughts?  Did you like the Broadway-connections, or were you hoping for a bit more pop?  Do you think there's a possibility the catfish is anyone except Kitty?  And is Sugar on some sort of sabbatical, or what is the deal with her missing several months of glee practice?