Dear Yuletide Goat/Santa,

This is my first year participating and I am tres excited. I would like to start by saying how happy I am that YOU are my writer and so appreciative that you have taken this task on!

Okay, I know what you're thinking.  These two shows have nothing to do with each other.  And, other than the fact that the blonde character is wearing a blue jacket, how can you make this into an appropriate comparison picspam?

Fine.  You caught me.  It's mostly coat porn.  So sue me.

But, after deciding to look at these coats in greater detail, I found out there are actually a lot of similarities.  For serious.



( Blue Trenchcoat = LOVE. )

I've been blogging more on my blogspot than here, so here's the link if you're interested on my current musings:

tvconnoisseur.blogspot.com

Sample musings:  Gossip Girl!  Smallville!  Top Ten Backstreet Boys Songs!  Canceled but Not Forgotten!  The Shipping News!

Hey Gang. I have a new blog-thing on Blogspot. I don't know what I'll post there or what I'll post here, but at this point, I'm double-entry-ing.

GOSSIP GIRL

I will preface everything by saying I didn't read the books. Not that that should be a shocker to anyone since I have not read a novel outside of class since January and that was Princess Mia from the Princess Diaries series. I like my teen chick lit fluffy and angsty in only the most teenage way-- "Does the love of my life know I exist? Will I fail Calculus?"--because, that, my friends, is how high school worked for me. The only book I read (it had some vain title about loving oneself or being awesome or rich or something) featured Blair, I think, three pages in, talking about how rich she was and how pretty she was and how she was going to have sex with her really hot boyfriend and how she was going to get into Yale. Which is quite ridiculous and grating and so the book was shelved.

But the actual show? Pretty addictive. But, gentle reader, you ask, "What's different about the show? How is it less annoying?"

Let's just say Josh Schwartz has learned much from his years on The O.C.. He's learned to create characters (yes, he's created them and they are not nearly as vain or pompous or just plain weird as in the books) that are flawed in ways that make sure we don't hate them. But more importantly, he's learned how to weave a plot that is heightened but not One Tree Hill-ridiculous.

(GG's Serena, an excerpt: I left town because I had sex with my best friend's boyfriend and then was present when a guy overdosed on coke! And now I'm dating a social outsider!)

(OTH's Peyton, an excerpt: My mom's dead! No, that was my adoptive mom! My biological mom has cancer! She's dead! But I have a brother! He's my brother! No, he's a stalker! My actual brother's black!...and during all this time, she romanced her ex-boyfriend's brother/best friend's boyfriend, a teen parent, and Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy.)

But let's get back to the characters. While I do think all of the characters have a point (and it's a common and deadly problem when characters don't), few of them are actually compelling, even if they're all very good-looking.


Serena spends most of her time looking sad. Nate is either smoking pot, trying to sex up Serena or Blair, or looking sad. Dan pretends he's not judgmental when he kicks his damaged girlfriend to the curb repeatedly. Jenny wants to be Queen Bee.

The only characters I care about are Blair, Chuck, Rufus, and Lily. BECAUSE THEY'RE INTERESTING. They change! They do unexpected things! Blair loses her virginity, but not to her boyfriend of the past million years! Chuck falls in love! Rufus and Lily combat her need for stability and cash and his desire to fix his marriage! These are characters to get behind: the ones who are not one-note but change and evolve as the season progresses.

I mean, I suppose Serena falls into that protagonist problem of lacking character but not adventure. But I wonder endlessly why we should accept boring main characters and watch shows for secondary characters only (Smallville, you must admit, stars a pretty lackluster Clark Kent and features pretty awesome backers like Chloe and Lex).

When it comes down to it (although I've articulated this all in a horribly roundabout way), Gossip Girl is not good because it takes us into the world of privilege. It's not good because of the characters. It's certainly not good because of the dialogue ("Little did I know she had a surprise waiting for me..."). But it's because of really well-woven plots with great set-ups and even greater payoffs.

Some examples:

• Eric's suicide attempt and the reveal that he's Jenny's boyfriend's boyfriend.
• Blair/Jenny power rivalry (which Blair owns).
• Serena's real secret and Georgina.
  

When Gossip Girl fails, it's because the show relies too much on the characters alone or doesn't use enough set-up. (It takes really strong characters to build a show around them and not so much the plot; see Psych.)

Examples:

• Nate/Vanessa. Charming? Yes. Believable? No.
• Serena/Dan. Completely fell into the Clark/Lana trap of having a relationship mini-trauma each episode which really made you question why the heck they were together in the first place, minor cute moments aside. You can't rely on the cute moments to pull the viewer through the crap. We remember the crap, especially if you throw it at us every episode.

So! Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to watch Season One of Gossip Girl. It's fab and Blair is bringing the headband back in a good way.

On a Disney Channel Note:

Doesn't Taylor Momsen totally look like Aly Michalka from Aly & AJ?

With the upcoming demise of one of my favorite characters, I've decided to write a fanfic about him.  That and I felt so sorry for him in the last episode, "Traveler".  Talk about an enormous kick in the balls.

The story is just a bunch of short (very short) anecdotes from the mind of Lionel Luthor.  Two Pre-Smallville, one from "Covenant," one from "Fracture," and one from "Traveler."

Four Times Lionel Didn’t Feel Like a Father and One Time He Did

So this past quarter I took Human Sexuality.  It was kind of a riot and consisted of a lot of stuff even I didn't expect (people dressing up as animals and having sex?  people putting their legs into liquid nitrogen so they can become amputees and fulfill their sexual dreams?)

Anyway.  The question recently that has been raised by many is how to flirt.  Is this is skill?  Does it really attract men more effectively than your looks/symmetry might suggest?

The answer to these questions falls into SCIENCE and experimentation.



Thus concludes Flirting 101.  Go and multiply, children!

"He's so easy."
-Kristin Kreuk, "Spell" commentary



Note:  Okay, she was talking about his acting style.  But I stand by my misquote.

So, Chad Michael Murray's formerly underage girlfriend?  SHARES MY BIRTHDAY.  Date and Year.

Eek.

So.

I WAS ON WHEEL OF FORTUNE.

Well, I was in the audience.  And it was pretty awesome.

Alpha Chi and I went down to Navy Pier and formed a block of Northwestern/AXO action.  It was pretty amazing.  Pat and Vanna were there.  The wheel spun.  Cameras were everywhere.  There was an applause sign.  AND the NU band was there, so we got to sing the fight song about twenty times as the camera panned over us and our purple pride.

Seriously.  Awesome.

For those who care:  I'm coming home the 19th or 20th, depending on when I finish my journal for poetry.  So let's all hang since Katy's going to the Bahamas without us.

Holding it inside until the cut...

So Smallville Season 8 is a go.  Whether this is good or bad is yet to be seen, but the bad currently outweighs the good.

The Bad

• No Lex.  Oh, Michael Rosenbaum, how you slay me.  How can you have Smallville without Lex?  Answer:  You can't.
• No Lionel (heavy spoiler prediction, although not fully confirmed).  Yep, they're killing off the Magnificent Bastard.  No Luthors at all make Melissa a sad girl.

The Good

• No Lana.  THANK GOD.  Maybe she'll die and make me even happier.

Without the Luthors, what's the point?  At least without Lana there, Clark will finally accept his destiny and go have fun in some spandex.  Maybe he'll start in journalism.  Who knows.  Just keep Chloe.  If I lost the Luthors AND Chloe...well, that's like Grey's Anatomy, which I no longer watch because Addison and Burke are gone (and the Gizzie hookup, but whatever).

You know, Rami is the center of so much Love/Hate.  I'm more on the Love side, but sometimes he is totally arrogant and condescending.  Did he deserve to be in the top three over Chris?  Yes.  Is he going to win Project Runway Season Four? I don't think so (I want Jillian to win), but I'd like to say the top three reasons I like Rami Kashou:

1.  His last name is pronounced like Cashew.
2.  His blatant product placement of Sunkist in the last episode.
3.  He and Jillian being brother and sister.  Seriously.  They would take over the world much like Emma Thompson and Hugh Grant in Love, Actually.

Read this wonderful article by Mark Waid. He basically contemplates why Superman does what he does: why does he save lives? Why does he fight for the common good, especially of a race that isn't even his own?

Some quotes:

"Who is he, really?

We know the answer to that one, as does Kal-El. He has vague, dreamlike memories of his lost home world, particularly every evening at dusk, when he feels an inexplicable sadness and longing in watching the setting sun turn red on the horizon. And every time, in his Clark identity, that he has to politely forego a pickup touch-football game for fear of crippling the opposing line, every time he hears the splash of an Antarctic penguin while trying to relax on an Hawaiian beach, every time he surrenders himself to a moment of unbridled joy and looks down to see that he’s quite literally walking on air, he gets the message loud and clear: He’s not from around here. He doesn’t belong here. He was raised as one of us, but he’s really not one of us. Superman is the sole survivor of his race. He is an alien being, and he is probably more alone in this world than anyone else ever has been. "

“Superman has, since his creation, been a shining example to readers everywhere of the virtue of selfless heroism — but he has accomplished this by acting in his own self-interest.  Yes, Superman aids those in peril because he senses a higher moral obligation, and yes, he does it because his natural instincts and his Midwestern upbringing drive him towards acts of morality — but along with that genuine altruism is a healthy amount of self-awareness and a surprisingly enviable ability on his part to balance his own internal needs with the needs of others in a way that most benefits everyone.  In helping others, Superman helps himself.  In helping himself, he helps others.  When he comes to the aid of other people, he is exercising his distinctive powers and fulfilling his authentic destiny.  That, of course, benefits him.  When he embraces his history and nature and launches out in the one set of activities that will most fulfill and satisfy him, he is helping others.  There is no exclusive, blanket choice to be made between the needs of the individual and the needs of the larger community.  There is no contradiction here between self and society.  But it’s a bit paradoxical in a very inspirational way.  Superman properly fulfills his own nature, and his destiny, and the result is that many others are better off as well.”

Full article here.

Now, I'm one to argue that Clark Kent is the real identity and Superman is the facade.  I'm not saying that Clark's urge to save everyone and everything isn't partially manifested from his desire to express his true origins and gifts and to truly fit in within the world that he loves as the individual he was born as, but I believe that Clark and Kal-El exist more in symbiosis than anyone really thinks about.  Kal-El is an empty shell without Clark.  It would be as if I only embraced my Chinese side and negated being an American simply because my origins are Chinese and I can be recognizably different (here in looks rather than abilities).  Clark without Kal-El is to ignore his history and his legacy as the last son of Krypton.  Both are part of the man who ultimately flies around as Superman.  And I think the article hints at this idea (slightly, and not enough for my tastes) that by embracing one destiny, he can embrace both.  By denying one, the other is not complete and thus he isn't happy.  Both must thrive for Clark/Kal-El to thrive.

Obviously, my Smallville addiction probably has a lot to do with why I follow the theory that Clark is the real identity and Superman and "Daily Planet" Clark are the facades.  But both of the later identities are parts of Clark.  I just find it ridiculous that people try to say that Clark, who was an infant when he came to Earth and was raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent like a typical American child (with powers, of course), would feel nothing for the Clark Kent identity when he was brought up with it.  He developed with it.  He felt different, certainly, but he never gets rid of the identity because it's such an essential part of who he is.

(And to anyone who compares this to being born a boy and being raised a girl, only to revert back to the male identity when given the chance...no.  Clark was happy growing up as Clark Kent.  He felt the confusion about his origins and destiny that his uniqueness should encourage, but he never regretted his Clark identity because that's part of who he is.)

To sum up my perspective:  Kal-El is shipped to Earth.  He is raised as Clark Kent.  He is Clark Kent.  When his powers come in, he starts to wonder about his birth parents.  It is here that he learns about his origins as Kal-El, but HE IS STILL CLARK KENT.  Later, when he decides to adopt the Superman persona in order to give himself the appropriate outlet to express his Kryptonian side, he creates the clumsy, dorky Clark Kent reporter in order to keep everyone guessing.  BUT HE IS STILL CLARK KENT, the midwestern boy, on the inside.  This is the side he shows to his parents and Lois because it's the real him, the part of him that is content with both of his other identities, the person he was raised as.

Clark Kent = Superman (Kal-El) + Clark Kent (Reporter)

I mean, he obviously outgrew his parents' hat fetish, but still.

Think about it.

This, my friends, is Chloe Sullivan:

Things that make me dislike Canadian actors who pretend to be Americans:

1. Process? It's prahhhcess, not prohhhcess.
2. Tomorrow? TomAhhhrrow, not toomoorroow.
3. About? Abowwwt, not aboot.

Seriously. If you want to play an American, I'm all for it. Just don't sound so Canadian while you do it.

You know, I always really liked Lois and Oliver in season six, but after "Siren" I absolutely adored them. They're sweet and tragic in all the ways that I like my shippy couples. Plus I think Lois' speech at the end was completely unironic and was meant to foreshadow possible Chlois Theory-ness (aka, Chloe becomes Lois Lane...don't ask unless you want a very long, detailed argument).

Anyway, this vid is about Lois and Ollie. The plot (because videos have that now) is basically that Lois and Ollie broke up and then get back together. Once they're together, she finds out that he's the Green Arrow. He promises to be with her if she'll have him, but she knows that she can't be second fiddle in his life to saving the world. (Which sounds selfish, but I really respect her for saying it, unlike Lana who just believes it while being bitchy to Clark.)

Actually, it's the exact plot of the entire Lois/Oliver relationship...huh. ;)



Oh, Lollie! How I heart thee!

For Katy.

Because who will save us? The Green Arrow.

It's more about how the Green Arrow inspires everyone in the Justice League to be what they were destined to be than a real Green Arrow vid. I think I'll make a Lollie (Lois/Oliver) vid at some point, though.

The ending is so appropriate it hurts.