great tie

[wakeupnew]

True Grit is excellent! Hailee Steinfeld looked and sounded disturbingly like a younger brunette wild wild west version of Paris Geller. She was also fucking excellent. Oh my God she was so good. I now just want to watch westerns from here to forever.

I am so ready for the Golden Globes. I mean, not ready as in "I'm familiar with the stuff that's nominated," but ready as in "I am ready to sit in front of the television in my pajamas and mercilessly critique every bit of fabric that walks down the red carpet." I love the red carpet. On the actual awards side of things, I don't actually know, like ... any of the movies that are nominated. Of all of the nominations, for everything, I've seen: Easy A, The Town, Inception, and Toy Story 3. That's it. There was a point in my life where I would watch all of the potential big-award nominees, but I'm apparently too lazy for that now.

I also don't watch a single one of the shows that were nominated for best drama (where are Southland and Sons of Anarchy? >:((( ), or most of the other shows that were nominated for things.

I am actively rooting for:

-Modern Family, Best Comedy/Musical;
-Katey Sagal, Best Dramatic Actress;
-Anyone who is not Matthew Morrison, Best Comedy/Musical Actor;
-Jane Lynch or Sofia Vergara, Best Supporting Actress;
-Chris Colfer, Best Supporting Actor

Everything else? I don't really care! And even on my list, the only one that I really want to see win is Colfer in best supporting actor. The rest would make me smile if they won, but, meh! I feel like this is a pretty un-exciting year for awards. Nothing really moves me!

In other news, I FINISHED MY CRAFT PROJECT. (Oh my God I am so dull it's amazing.)


SO MANY BEADS.

It is an attempt at an art deco style fan. It's a little messy, but considering that I've only just started teaching myself to sew/bead, I'm pretty happy with it overall! I'll wear it, anyway, which is all I wanted.

Eons ago, I was working my way through a "30 days of Glee" meme, where I was answering the question and writing a little drabble for every day, then I quit doing everything except writing my yuletide fic, and then I never went back to the meme. I'm going back now!

Day 01 - Your favorite male character
Day 02 - Your favorite female character
Day 03 - Your favorite group performance
Day 04 - Your favorite solo
Day 05 - Your favorite duet
Day 06 - Your favorite Rachel/Finn moment
Day 07 - Your favorite Finn-Kurt moment
Day 08 - Your favorite Quinn/Puck moment
Day 09 - Your favorite Kurt-Mercedes moment
Day 10 - Your favorite Santana/Brittany moment
Day 11 - Your favorite Sue Sylvester moment
Day 12 - The couple you ship the MOST
Day 13 - A scene/moment that pissed you off
Day 14 - A scene/moment that made you cry
Day 15 - A scene/moment that made you happy
Day 16 - Your favorite episode
Day 17 - Your least favorite episode
Day 18 - Your least favorite character
Day 19 - Your least favorite performance
Day 20 - Your favorite quote
Day 21 - Your favorite guest-star
Day 22 - Your least favorite guest-star
Day 23 - The character you most relate to
Day 24 - The character you would like to hear/see more of
Day 25 - Something that happened you wish hadn’t
Day 26 - Something that hadn’t happened but you wish had
Day 27 - Your idea for a future Glee episode
Day 28 - Your idea for a future Glee character
Day 29 - Your idea for a future Glee performance
Day 30 - Whatever tickles your fancy

So I'm pretty sure everyone is expecting me to say Kurt/Blaine, but that's not my answer! I mean, I like some of the ideas for the pairing that fandom has been batting around, but I don't actually ship the two characters we've seen in canon. Yet. Yet! The power dynamic is just too weird, with Blaine the all-knowing svengali and Kurt so wide-eyed and dependent on him. I'm hoping to see that change when the show comes back after the break, but who knows what's coming; the actors seem to be contradicting each other pretty much every other day now. For now, I like the idea of them more than I actually ship them.

I am a shipper. I know people who are in fandom-at-large for other reasons and don't like shipping, and I always felt kind of silly and frivolous when compared against them (note: no one has ever made me feel this way; these are my own insecurities and neuroses talking), but you know what? Screw it! I like what I like! What I like is romantic character dynamics! Being into shipping is no less valid a response than being into gen-fic!

Basically, if I don't ship any of the canon couples, I am usually not invested enough in a show to start getting into fandom. That's really the major difference between me watching Glee last year and me watching it this year. I had couples that I liked together, but I didn't really care enough to get very invested. I loved Kurt on his own -- and I still do -- but he was a lone wolf. Then this year, there were suddenly ~*dating options*~ for my favorite character and my brain was like HAHAHA BAM LET'S DO THIS.

BUT ANYWAY.

The nice thing about this season is that I've cared more about most of the couples. I really love Tina/Mike; I think they seem weirdly functional and sweet, by Glee Club standards, and they really deserve some kind of a non-background plotline and for all the "Asian kiss," "Asian therapy," etc. etc. jokes to stop. I still like Puck/Quinn, even though the writers seem determined to forget that it ever existed. Sam/Quinn is alternately sweet and really weird. Finn and Rachel were adorable together when they were plotting, before the break-up and the angst that is quickly bringing me back to last season, when I spent every episode wanting to pitchfork both of them. Emma and Dr. Uncle Jesse are cute when he's not treating her like she's his property.

But I've really got two run-away candidates in the lead here.

My love for Brittany/Santana is pretty well documented in this journal. Part of it is the lesbian solidarity vote (do you know how many of my shows feature any kind of a girl/girl pairing where both actresses are regulars? one. this one.); as dysfunctional as the relationship is, and as shittily as the writers have handled it, it is two girls linking pinkies and kissing, and that makes me happy, since relationships like the ones I'd be in if I wasn't single right now aren't exactly something that I get to see a lot of on TV. But I also just find them hysterically funny; I love their BFF-ery and their bitchery and how casual they are about sex (I still cannot believe that a reference to scissoring was on my television), and the fact that they can and will totally use their sexuality as a weapon. I know it's problematic and whatever, but honestly, that is the kind of problematic that (A) I enjoy, and (B) I can deal with.

However, Brittana loses because of the stupid way that it's been handled. Thank you, Ryan "two girls get together? we're not that kind of a show" Murphy. We got thrown a bone in "Duets," and then that bone was promptly ignored forever; Santana and Brittany don't even sit next to each other anymore and have lost almost all of their background friendshippy moments, so that Brittany can have this random sometimes-sweet-and-sometimes-horrifying relationship with a dude I don't remember her ever interacting with before "Duets." Brittana also loses because the more we see of Brittany, the more we realize just how slow she really is, and the more uncomfortable I become with the idea of her dating anyone. The power dynamics and difference in intelligence levels are just too weird; I start to have can-she-really-give-consent discomfort.

SO THE WINNER IS:



Couple you ship the MOST: Lauren/Puck

I love them. Granted, we haven't seen much from them as a pair, but I thought the actors had great chemistry together and their potential DELIGHTS ME. Puck's face when he admitted -- post seven-minutes-in-heaven -- that Lauren had rocked his world will forever be with me, as will his face after Lauren's "show choir is stupid" cynicism. I love that they are both mouthy and condescending and acerbic and unromantic and bemused by the drama going on around them (Puck's face when Santana dove for Rachel in "The Substitute" makes me lol every time) and they're both total badasses. If the writers actually go there, whether it's with continued flirtation/screw-around buddy status or with a full-blown relationship, I will be kind of startled and also (I hope) pretty pleased.

* * *

“I don't send girls to fight my battles,” Puck says, glaring at Azimio's back as the guy walks away down the hall.

“You probably should,” says Lauren, looking totally unfazed by the confrontation she just ended. “Considering that whole probation thing, and the fact that I can kick just as much ass as you could.”

“Whatever,” Puck says, but it's a grudgingly accepting whatever.

Kurt looks between the two of them with a face like he bit into something sour and is watching a tennis match volley back and forth. “This school clearly went absolutely insane in my absence,” he says. “Lauren: as much as I appreciate the unexpected back-up, I'm not a damsel in distress. Also, we've never spoken. This is weird. Puck--” He looks at Puck for several seconds, and then he turns on his heel and sweeps away down the hall. Puck keeps an eye on his progress for a couple long seconds, and then he sees Mercedes round the corner, brighten, and call Kurt's name; he slows down enough for her to link arms with him and they head off together. That's enough for Puck. He figures Mercedes will flatten anybody who so much as looks at Kurt funny.

Puck turns back to Lauren. She's peering at him closely. “Are you gay now?” she asks. “Because that would be disappointing, but super hot.”

“What? No,” Puck scoffs. “Puckzilla gets it up for the ladies, and the ladies only.” Lauren is still looking at him, eyes narrowed and unimpressed behind her glasses, and he frowns at her and exhales sharply. “Look, I just wanna help my boy out, okay? He never should have had to leave. That's bull. Azimio's a douche.”

Lauren studies him, and then she finally says, “What did you have in mind? For the helping.” She sounds like she already doubts that whatever it is is a good idea.

“Somebody's got eyes on him all the time,” Puck explains, and she furrows her eyebrows at him. “Me, Finn, Mike, Artie, Mercedes, Santana – we're all in on it. The whole club.”

“Well,” says Lauren, “if we're all in on it.” She says it sarcastically, but two class periods later, Puck's on his way to lunch and he sees Lauren come out of Ms. Hoffmeier's classroom and point two fingers at her eyes, then jab them at Azimio as he passes her. Azimio looks startled, then irritated, then a little like he's wondering if he should be worried; Lauren keeps walking like it's no big.

Puck grins, slow and admiring and wolfish.