Nerd Herd Wednesday – Glee

With all of my favorite shows on hiatus for the summer, and my hatred of reality TV growing more prominent by the minute, I’ve found myself online using Hulu more than usual. Yesterday they had a free comedy day, which I must say is totally misleading because Hulu is always free, that let users watch shows with no commercial interruption. Most of them I’d seen already (oh, The Office, you are just so darn lovely), but there was a promo for a new show on Fox called Glee. I’d seen commericals for it before, and it looked totally dumb, but seeing as I had nothing else to do at the moment, I decided to watch.

Dudes, I’ve found my new love. This show is the lovechild of all the great Fox shows (think Arrested Development or Freaks and Geeks) with a healthy dose of the movies Napolean Dynamite or Election. But the kicker for me was the blatent parody of the High School Musical-ish shows that have filled our TVs and Target stores for the past few years. Now, we all know I used to love my High School Musical, but Glee takes all the cheesy parts I loved and twists them. Bascially, it allows me to love the singing and the dancing while still having my indie comedy street cred. Thanks, Glee!

Oh good lord, I guess you’ll know where to find me this fall…hey, at least it’s not more vampires, right?!

Right?

Crap.

You can watch the pilot of Glee for free on Hulu or on iTunes. Do it, you know you want to.

Currently Listening To

Lisztomania by Pheonix (unofficial Bratpack mashup)

(via Cup of Tea)

Chock Full of Sparkly Goodness (Dazzles Cost Extra)

I’d like to tell you a story about the amazing weekend I had. How my weekend was full of art and theater and attempts at understanding astrophysics. How I woke up bright and early on Saturday morning, and then spent the day doing crafts with my daughter and making homemade pizza. I would like to tell you all of that.

Trouble is, I’d be lying.

My Saturday morning was full, alright. Full of groaning when my daughter woke up at 6 a.m. Full of getting her breakfast bars and turning on movies and then rolling back over and sleeping. Why, you may ask, was I so tired? Blame Mara.

On Friday night, Mara the Fantastic and Wonderful decided to come out to my house and visit her dear friend, because she missed me so very much and couldn’t imagine going another minute without seeing my smiling face.

Just kidding, she actually came out because one week previous I had forced her to watch the amazing awfulness of Moonlight, a television series about vampires that was cancelled by CBS after one season, but for some glorious reason is shown in reruns on the SciFi network. Turns out I’m not the only one without a life, and our evening was consumed with the trials of Mick St. John, Vampire Private Investigator. Yes, really.

After Mara realized how incredibly awesome it is to watch SciFi on a Friday night instead of, you know, having a life, she decided to rent the entire season of Moonlight. Because one cannot survive without knowing if Mick St. John, Vampire Private Detective and Beth Turner, the lady he saved from his vampire wife when she was a kid, but she doesn’t know it, are going to get together. Understandable.

Turns out Moonlight was such a television flop, you can’t rent it anywhere, only buy for a hefty pricetag that Mara was unwilling to pay. Although she apparently is willing to drive 30 minutes on a bum tire to watch it on my DVR. Yeah, I’m not sure of the logic involved either.

After putting the child to bed, Mara and I retreated to the basement to watch our second (or third, there’s always Angel from Buffy) favorite vampire solve a mystery while somehow hiding the fact that he eats people. And then. THE. HORROR.

Friday’s showing of Moonlight had been cancelled. By a Battlestar Gallatica marathon.

{Who just laughed out loud? You can’t make this stuff up!}

As Mara and I held each other and cried for our dear Mick St. John, we had an epiphany. Here’s a recap:

Me: Doesn’t Twilight come out on DVD tonight?

Her: Megan, I am not waiting in line to buy Twilight tonight!

Me: Of course not! I did that with the fifth Harry Potter book and I’m never doing that again.

Her: You’re a loser.

Me: True. But what if Twilight does come out on my cable’s OnDemand at midnight?!

Her: stares at me….starts to smile….proposes marriage

We then proceeded to spend the next two hours trying to find something to entertain us until midnight. I made her watch last week’s SNL with Tracy Morgan as the host (Seriously, is there anything funnier than Brian Fellow’s Safari Planet? I mean, “I don’t even want to go to your tea party, stuck up cow!” Now that’s comedy GOLD, people) and she made me re-watch last week’s episode of How I Met Your Mother (the one with the suit-jamas and nightshirt). We found a Twilight movie drinking game online and began crafting our own rules.

Then, at midnight, it began.

AND OME! THE SPARKLY GOODNESS WAS TOO MUCH TO HANDLE!

And at 2:30 a.m. it was over.

I must admit, I felt a little dirty and ashamed. And tired. Especially when my husband found we had purchased it and chastised the fact that I’d already seen it a few times (okay, three, SHUT UP!).

But I couldn’t help it, alright! Yes, I may be one of those weird, somewhat frightening moms that has a crush on a 17-year-old fictional vampire AAANNNDDD a 16-year-old fictional werewolf, but it’s endearing, right? And who can turn away from Edward’s sweaty (I mean sparkly. Yes! Sparkles!) face? Try, I dare you.

Sparkles!

Annndddd BOOM. I just died.

Now, for those of you that just don’t get this whole Twilight phenomenon (you’re still reading this? really?) I’d recommend you go here for the most wonderful recap of the series that I’ve ever read, ever, ever. Here’s a taste of what you’ll find:

Twilight in Fifteen Minutes –
EDWARD: SAY MY NAME, BITCH
BELLA: EDWARD
EDWARD: NO, THE OTHER ONE
BELLA: ASSHOLE
EDWARD: NO, THE OTHER ONE
BELLA: VAMPIRE, OKAY? VAMPIRE

And also, you can get buddy icons like these, which I wish I had in printed form so I could just hand them to people instead of speaking to them:

Twilight Sparkle Motion

Can you imagine?

“Megan, you are needed in the conference room.”

“I don’t know, sometimes I doubt your commitment to sparkle motion…”

And if you still doubt the absolute awesomeness of Twilight, you can read interviews from the stars of the movie to convince you of its supreme fabulocity:

“When you read the book,” says Pattinson, looking appropriately pallid and interesting even without makeup, “it’s like, ‘Edward Cullen was so beautiful I creamed myself.’ I mean, every line is like that. He’s the most ridiculous person who’s so amazing at everything. I think a lot of actors tried to play that aspect. I just couldn’t do that. And the more I read the script, the more I hated this guy, so that’s how I played him, as a manic-depressive who hates himself. Plus, he’s a 108-year-old virgin so he’s obviously got some issues there.”

And for that quote alone, RPattz is now officially added to My List, replacing either the ailing Steve Jobs or Harry, Prince of the Douchebags.

So, in conclusion:

Vampires are pretty.
Sparkles are fun.
Thank God I have friends that are as idiotic as I am.
And also…..

OME!

…….I’m now a cougar. RAWR.

Nerd Herd Thursday – Way Behind the Trends Edition

One of the major positives of being a total and complete nerd, is that, for the most part, my generation sees nerds as pretty damn awesome. I mean, look at Weezer! Or Steve Jobs! Or anyone living in San Francisco! Being a nerd is cool. Just ask my friend Mara, who most recently purchased herself a pair of fake, black-rimmed glasses in order to look more like us nerds. Being nerdy is the new black.

One of the reasons for this newfound nerd revolution is the rise of technology. Everyone wants an iPhone or a GPS or some other tech gadget. And who are the first people to own them? Nerds. Who can figure out how to set them up on your laptops? Nerds. Who can fix them when they won’t play your favorite song or you can’t get your zip code to register on the screen? Nerds.

So when my tech geek husband told me I needed to use Pandora at work over a year ago, I told him that I was quite happy with my three-year-old iPod and collection of bad rap music I ripped off Napster in 2001, thankyouverymuch. I don’t need anyone giving me nerd technology advice.

Whoops.

The past few weeks have been increasingly stressful at work, and when my computer crashed and my entire iTunes library was lost (argh, back issues of the All Songs Considered podcast, I will miss you dearly) I found myself without anything to listen to while attempting to swim through my massive email inbox. So, after many days of uncomfortable silence in my office, I finally broke down and checked out Pandora.

Looks like Trent may be the nerd, but I’m the loser.

Why didn’t I use Pandora before? Because I’m an idiot, that’s why. Plus, I don’t like to listen to Trent’s advice. It makes his ego grow three sizes every day. But this time, although I hate to admit it, he’s right. Pandora is awesome. Basically, it’s an online radio station where you type in the name of a band or song you like, and they create a station with music similar to that artist. It’s a way to listen to music you love, and find new bands that will become your favorites.

My three current favorite Pandora stations should be no real surprise. First up is my TV on the Radio station. It features (along with TV on the Radio) bands like Bloc Party, Interpol, Metal Hearts and Radiohead, amongst many others. It’s got a hip-hop meets alternative meets electronica meets fusion vibe. Me likey.

Listen

Like the button? I made it myself! {ahem, cough, nerd.}

Editor’s Note: You do have to sign up for a Pandora account to listen to their stations, but trust me, it’s totally free and absolutely worth it. So far I’ve had no annoying email blasts or any kind of problem with my account. And did I mention it’s completely free. As in FAH-REE. Do it, people!

The second station in my constant rotation is Sigur Ros radio. I had this playing when one of my bosses came in to my office the other day and he told me he wanted to sit down and meditate. It features mostly transpop, electronic and fusion. As if I have any idea what that means. Bands include Sigur Ros, Ty Burhoe and Mum and a bunch of other bands I’ve never heard of. But it’s nice. Very soothing. You feel like you’re in some sort of indie movie (Sigur Ros plays the most recognized song from the movie Vanilla Sky, still one of my favorite movies of all time, despite my current disdain for Tom Cruise, click here to view).

Listen

The third station I’ve found myself entranced with is, of course, my Fleet Foxes station. It features Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, The Dodos, Deathcab and The Shins. I love it. It makes me want to transport myself to 1968 and never again use a hair straightener and wear flip flops every day.

Listen

So, in conclusion, Trent was right. And I’m not only a nerd, but one that apparently is way behind in technological trends. But I do have a pair of real, black-rimmed glasses and orange Chuck Taylors, so hopefully it all evens out.

This should be a Tweet

Did you all know that the song “Peaches” by The Presidents of the United States of America is actually a song about women’s private bits?

Seriously!

{Don’t worry, it’s just the music video, nothing unsuitable for work or anything…this is a family blog}

I spent most of my sixth grade year singing this song in the lunchline with Brett, the cutest boy in my class. Just so happened the only thing we had in common was taste in music, and we both loved The Presidents.

Turns out we were wailing along to our Catholic schoool lunch ladies about hoo-hahs.

I don’t think Jesus would approve of this.

{In case you’re wondering what brought this up, I heard this song today in the car and was singing along loudly as I tend to do, when I realized what the words actually meant. It was quite the epiphany.}

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