Is This the End Or Just the Start?

I'm about to blog (hopefully briefly) about a fairly lame TV show.  I know.  I just don't know.

So, last year I started watching SMASH, and I admit it was largely because of some kind of TV crush I've had on Katharine McPhee ever since I really liked her on American Idol (which show I gave up on long ago, which abandonment probably had its roots in Katharine's absurd loss to lame Taylor Hicks).  The premise was kind of interesting to me, and the music was written by the writers of Hairspray and Catch Me If You Can and Down With Love, and when I started watching it I mostly really liked it because it seemed slightly similar to Glee except with much more original music (which was actually really good) (yes, you should click on those and listen to them), and less inappropriate behavior among high school students (pretending to be something it's totally not and appealing to an unsuspecting demographic), and also a lot less stupidness (or at least different kinds of stupidness) not to mention (for the most part) an actually talented cast.  So, the bare minimum of things that are actually worth watching on Glee, but then also not really like it at all.  Then the show started to really turn some weird directions and have some pretty rotten content and contrived drama (I know, right?  On a TV show??  The very idea), and some of the characters/actors were truly quite revolting, and some of the storylines were so absurd and pointless, but for some reason I couldn't quite pinpoint I just kept watching, and from the buzz on the interwebs, I'm not the only one who was sucked in and just had to keep love-to-hate-watching it.  But word is that there are a lot of changes being made for Season 2, including some of the main higher-ups/writers/producers/etc. and it's supposed to be much better.  I'm not sure that I'm actually expecting much improvement, but you never know, and nowadays there's ever so little worth watching on TV anyway that I might as well hope it turns out okay, right?

ANYWAY, the point of this whole post is that Season 2 starts today (mid-season shows, I don't know), and that has prompted me to finally post something I've been meaning to for many months, and it is THIS:
Yes, that.  It took me by complete surprise when it was happening.  It's the best thing that ever happened to the show, and ever since that episode I kind of couldn't get this song out of my head.  And now that it's on my iPod, I can sing along to it any time I feel the need (right, Wife??  You know you love it... I mean, right??).  A lot of it is references to the characters and what's going on at the time, but I think it's still enjoyable even if you haven't been following the show.  I'm not even HUGE into Bollywood, but I DO love a good flashy musical number.  (And never mind that people were complaining that it's an Indian number named after an Arabian story.  Who cares?)

So I guess I'll keep casually watching to see what happens, especially since there are a couple new cast members that look promising, even though they're writing out one of the only truly (relatively) decent characters, who, as it happens, is prominently featured in the video above.  I still think KPhee is watchable, and most of the music is pretty good.  But mostly the original music.  The covers are meh.

Did I really just blog about SMASH?  I guess I did.  Mostly I really did want to post this video when its episode aired, and just wanted to have this link ready whenever I needed to refer to it, I guess.  Ha.  *facepalm*

UPDATE:  Yes, erm, I may or may not have listened to this like ten times today (so far...) in the course of writing this post...  Oh me.

WHAT apout QUESTS

Also while Elise was here I was introduced to a new favorite YouTube video...  It's funnier if you understand the context, so without giving too much away, here is the story:

So there's a newish sort of online video game called Super Press Space to Win Adventure (you can play it here, it seriously takes approximately two minutes).  It's sort of a joke, and everything its name implies, designed to be really easy and a sort of parody of the old-school pixelated graphics video games of yesterdecade.  Well, evidently someone didn't get the joke.  In his online review, the now-infamous "axman13" furiously vented his frustration at such a simple game.  This has now been recorded as a dramatic reading and paired with and epic soundtrack and genius Flash text animation.

And now, I give you...

Dot Dot Dot.



I cry every time.  It's just perfect, the rhythm, the passion, the fury.  I mean LOOK AT IT!  Many, many thanks to Elise for introducing me to this gem of the interwebs.  And, you're welcome, everyone else, for passing it along to you.

He even responded to the video!  He actually (says he) likes it!  But he's still illiterate.  There was also a brief interview included in this artic.  It's hilarious.  Oh, that kid.  He was indeed 13 at the time.

P.S. The same time this video was introduced to me, Elise also showed me this notorious little piece, which I had somehow never seen until that moment.  All I can say is wow.  And also we we we so excited.

A Most Unexpected Surprise

Ha ha, as if there's any such thing as an "expected surprise"?...

A few weeks ago as The Wife and I were sitting at home waiting for friends Lacie and Leland to come over to watch one of our shows, Lacie called saying maybe The Wife and I should head up to my home neighborhood to watch it at her parents' house instead.  Our initial thought was that it was getting a little late, and we should just watch it separately and get together to catch up next week.  Then she said she really thought we should just make the 25-minute trip up to watch it with them, and it took me just a few seconds to even realize that the phone had been handed to someone else...

It was my own little sister and longtime BFF Elise!!!

It was such a huge surprise, I really have no idea how anyone was able to keep it a secret from the most of us, especially the aforementioned friends who we see quite regularly!  She had been planning a trip back home with her little poopsie (though not quite so little as when I last saw her!) to visit and just so happen to be in town for a beloved cousin's wedding day.  She had a great time revealing herself to everyone in the family, sometimes by leaving her baby on the doorstep of someone's house and calling from the nearby bushes, saying she had sent a package that had arrived and should be picked up, and sometimes by Mom just walking into a relative's house holding the visiting little one.  Everyone was completely surprised.  We had such a nice long visit with her, and we spent a lot of time up at Mom and Dad's house hanging out with her and Penny, watching movies, going out to favorite restaurants, getting in a small but intense game of laser tag, and even visiting Grandma in Logan (more details on that event to follow).

My, how you've grown!  We took these pictures while we were waiting for our newlywed cousin to emerge from the temple.

We take a picture like this at every wedding lately (our own or someone else's, apparently).

Sisters do as sisters should.

I couldn't resist the opportunity to take a glamorous photo with my exquisite wife.

But perhaps the most remarkable byproduct of Elise's visit back home was this incredible music video.  The whole thing started out as an attempted reunion of the talents behind the now famous One Day More music video made some five years ago (I was involved in a directorial and cinematic capacity, not as one of the actors), and a recreation of it.  It was decided that rather than just remaking the old music video, especially since not all original parties were present, we should do something completely new.  After a quick vote, we decided on Mika's poptastic Grace Kelly, and the rest, as they say, is history.  You can see the result below.  My nephew was really excited to report that he watched it twice and that it already had close to 100 views (this milestone has now been reached!).

I love how the still preview photo is of me and Leland flexing.  We are so manly!  Much thanks to Elise, the true mastermind behind this project, for her direction and inspiration.  This is definitely her brainchild, and we were so glad to see it uploaded ever so quickly.  (By the way, her latest cinematic masterpiece can be seen here.  Oh those babies!!!)  Oh yes, and we certainly missed Jeff.  The music video (and visit) could only have been improved by your involvement.

 

We had a great time, Elise!  Hopefully we'll be able to make a trip back east to visit our various family there sometime soon, but we family here at home are always ever so glad to welcome visitors (especially if they bring their wee ones...).