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The First Time

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (22)· November 9th, 2011

My DVR is going to have to wait little while. I need to take a night and not catch up on any of my shows. Why? Because I watched last night’s Glee, and I don’t want that feeling to get chased out of my brain yet.

Yes, I know. Forgive me, I’m about to go totally off-topic and talk about Glee. Feel free to blame NaBloPoMo and click away. I understand.

I’m a shameless fan of the show, but not a blind one. I will be the first to say that the show is wildly inconsistent, and I have come close to removing it from my DVR queue several times, thinking it had finally jumped the shark for good. I mean, really, did you see last week’s episode, “Pot of Gold?” Holy Grilled Cheesus, was that awful. And then… then this week happened.

For anyone still reading who didn’t watch the episode (“The First Time”), it centers around the two main couples (Rachel and Finn, Kurt and Blaine) toying with the idea of having sex for the first time, as well as the opening of the school’s production of West Side Story (my all-time favorite musical).

Of all the (many, many) times the show has struggled, this week they captured the perfect emotional pitch of those four characters. Do you remember the early days of a relationship, when you knew you were falling fast, and thought this might really be going somewhere? The constant butterflies in your stomach, the feeling like every nerve in your body was shimmering with anticipation? When your heart skipped a beat at the sound of that voice on the phone, or felt like it might explode when you made eye contact?

I’ve been married for seven years, and there were almost four years of our relationship before that. It’s been a while since anything has been “new.” And yet, last night’s Glee radiated that feeling so strongly from the TV, I was instantly transported. I was grinning from ear to ear, feeling those old butterflies by association. Poor M, I was making puppy-dog eyes at him for the rest of the night. (OK, he didn’t really object.)

And the chemistry… I know people love the Rachel and Finn characters, but I thought Kurt and Blaine smoked them by a mile. Between what I suspect was good acting and excellent direction, I was completely drawn in to every little bit of the two of them. They were both, in a word, hot. HAWT, even. It’s possible I re-watched their scenes together ~~a few~~ an embarrassing number of times today, and not just because Darren Criss could sing the phone book and I’d swoon a little. Even the ones with a bit of conflict in them, again, I thought that emotional content was so totally right on. As for the actual “sex” scene that had all of the conservative groups with their knickers in a twist? They somehow managed to be PG-rated and totally hot at the same time. They got the point across without going graphic, they kept the whole thing so tasteful and sweet while still being sexy. For a show that can so easily go fully cheese-ball or completely raunchy, this was quite something.

The best part is that I think the chemistry and the hotness and the connection was totally irrespective of the fact that it was two men. As, frankly, it should. Hot is hot, chemistry is chemistry. And boom, there it was. That’s one of the things I love about Glee – the fact that this big hit TV show has this young gay couple not only integrated into the fabric of the show, but as one of the major focal points. I love that their relationship is out there for the entire audience to see. I can only hope that such a thing becomes less radical an act on network TV as my own kids get older and start to watch these kinds of shows.

I feel like I’m struggling to find the words to describe why this episode has so touched me, but it really has. I hope you don’t mind me using this space to try and work it out.

So, tell me, what did you think of the episode? Are you as big of a Blaine/Kurt fan as I am, or do you think I’m way off base? Are they positive young gay role models, or somehow written to speak to straight married ladies like me? Did you think the whole sex thing was dealt with well?

Sound off, my fellow g(l)eeks. I’m leaving comments way open and would love to hear your thoughts and get some conversations going. While I usually like to respond to comments via email, I’m going to keep them in the thread this time.

That is, if anyone comments at all. Will you?

Comments (22)

Categories : Just me

Tags : Glee, NaBloPoMo, TV

They lost me at the dogs

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (9)· June 23rd, 2009

I didn’t watch Jon & Kate Plus 8 last night. I didn’t watch it the previous few weeks, either.

Sometime last year, I was watching it pretty regularly. I had my DVR set to record it, I enjoyed back episodes. The kids, obviously, were super cute. The relationship dynamic was weird, but I sort of came to understand it and just accept it in the manner of “everyone’s relationship is different.” While I knew they had more help and more sources of income than the show really dwelled on, there was something sort of normal about them.

I started to lose interest when the travel and freebies were seemingly the focus of every episode. I don’t begrudge anyone for taking someone up on an offer for a free trip or whatever, but I stopped enjoying watching it.

Then they got the dogs. I couldn’t even watch the entire episode when they got the two GERMAN SHEPHERD puppies. It was clearly such an abysmal idea, I just couldn’t even bear to witness it. While I’m not a model dog owner, I care enough and know enough about dogs that… lord. Forget it. I tuned out. Do they even still have the dogs? Have they disappeared the way babies tend to do on sitcoms? I have no idea.

Then, they splashed all over the front pages of the trashy magazines in the grocery check-out aisle. Amazing how fast things can turn when you’re in the public eye. Flame up, crash hard. I don’t care whose “fault” this whole thing is. Everything cuts about six different ways, and it’s none of my business to speculate.

But I can’t watch it. Not even in the “disaster but can’t look away” kind of way. I didn’t even really intend to blog about it. Alas. Even the tweets from the last couple of episodes have been painful to read, and I’m not even watching. You can’t get away from it.

I’m a child of divorce. A few of them, even. Now, being a married adult with my own kids, I have a renewed appreciation for how much it sucks. SUCKS. Sucks for the kids. Sucks to end a relationship. Sucks in a million different ways. And that’s under normal, even “ideal” circumstances when people aren’t screaming at each other, aren’t moving out of state, aren’t cheating on anyone, and are generally more or less amicable, at least to outside appearances. And, you know, not on television or in the gossip magazines.

Knowing the pain of that, in varying degrees, is at least one reason why it feels so very wrong to watch any of this stuff. It’s one thing to watch someone on TV make a fool of themselves, or do something generally stupid, gross, or even dangerous. This…. this is just too painful.

Please, avert your eyes.

Comments (9)

Categories : Just me

Tags : divorced parents, jon and kate plus 8, TV

How far we’ve fallen

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (15)· June 7th, 2009

M and I have always been the kind of people who can carry on entire conversations in movie quotes. Some of our favorite movies from early on in our relationship, like the Birdcage and the first two Austin Powers movies, we can repeat practically verbatim. We can usually just spout out an innocuous-sounding phrase, but with the right intonation, we both instantly know where it came from.

Not shockingly, I have not seen a movie in the theater since before the kids were born (for the record, it was Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix and I was gargantuanly pregnant and just praying I wouldn’t go into labor before it was over). I’ve seen a small handful on cable, but when it comes right down to it, I have seen pretty much zero recent movies.

But we haven’t lost our touch. No, we can still repeat strange-sounding phrases to each other, and we immediately catch the reference, and respond with the next line or otherwise work the source material into conversation. Witness: this afternoon. We were playing outside with the kids. M walked up to me, where I was sitting and watching them play.

M: “Honey, I’m trying to remember…. is it sausage casing day, or is it doily lacing day?”
Me: “Are you sure it isn’t nervous pacing day? Or perhaps doggie chasing day?”
M: “Wait, I remember. It’s racing day.”
Me: “Ah yes. Today’s the day we race.”

Sad, isn’t it? But damn, it sure is catchy.

C’mon. How many of you instantly knew where it was from?

Comments (15)

Categories : Just me, My beloved

Tags : movies, quotes, TV

Dancing with the Stars

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (5)· April 9th, 2008

I’m a total latecomer to this party, I know. But I’m getting sort of begrudgingly addicted to Dancing with the Stars. I’m so-so on reality shows. I really hate the ones like Big Brother, and all of the hideous ones on VH1, and about 50% of the ones on Bravo (I’m looking at you, Housewives of wherever-the-hell). But I like the ones that have more to do with competition and skill. I love Top Chef (especially now that it’s in Chicago) and Project Runway (despite the fact that I know nothing about fashion). And yet, I can’t get into American Idol. I know, it’s just not my thing. But I’m digging Dancing with the Stars. Except the few things that bug the crap out of me:

The music choices. Seriously, the re-purposed pop songs drive me crazy. What’s wrong with using more “traditional” music? Do we really need No Doubt? Maybe they’re trying to make it more “accessible” for… I don’t know, stupid people? Hrm.
Priscilla Presley wigs me out. They keep talking about her “expression,” but I think she’s 100% botox. And I finally figured out what in particular freaks me out – she looks like the damn Joker.
Adam Corolla is kind of an idiot, but he does seem to actually try… when he’s not being offensive. Oh well, he’s out. The Zorro thing was a bit much.
The results shows, I actually refuse to watch. I find it bothersome enough when Top Chef goes to commercial before announcing the decision. Turning five minutes of content into an hour-long show, complete with performances by totally random musicians, is just too much for me.

Comments (5)

Categories : Miscellany

Tags : TV

Bad Mommy Day

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (2)· November 28th, 2007

It’s apparently “bad mom” day in the blogosphere. Both Jennie and Laura wrote posts today about the frustrating days you have as a mom. When you just aren’t as perfect as maybe you wish you would be. Honestly, you know you’re supposed to be responsible, patient, rational, authoritative but not authoritarian… You know there’s all variety of enriching things you should be doing for/with your children, lessons you should be teaching them. And then, sometimes, you just don’t have it in you. You phone it in. You ignore the American Academy of Pediatrics and all of its recommendations.

So, in the spirit of my fellow moms, I thought I’d come clean on one of my (more minor) sins. I let my children watch TV. OK, not really “watch” TV. But sometimes I have it on while they’re in the room, and I know they’re checking it out. In particular, they are big fans of the Today Show, Cash Cab, and football (college or pro, as long as it’s in HD). I don’t leave it on particularly long, but sometimes I just need some adult voices in my world.

I swear, when my kids first roll over, it’s going to be because they’re craning their necks to see Cash Cab. I’m totally going to hell. Oh well.