Sundries (but with photos!)
Jun. 10th, 2010 09:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
Wow. What a huge disappointment.
I had suspected it might be really underwhelming, but I didn't think it was going to be THAT underwhelming. Despite evidence that they hadn't really thought out the whole regionals thing, I thought they were going to prove me wrong and stun me with their creativity.
Instead, I was stunned by the level of randomness, lack of cohesion, and just plain lame/forced scenarios. As if they would really name a celebrity judge FROM THE SAME SCHOOL as one of the performing groups. THEY don't know that Sue harbors a huge grudge against Will. And then she ends up not only voting for New Directions but is responsible for REINSTATING Glee club? That makes absolutely NO SENSE WHATSOEVER. That is not the Sue we have seen. The 'reasoning' they gave was PAPER THIN. And now they've totally compromised one of the main points of tension -- why would Sue go back to wanting to destroy Will/Glee club, after being responsible for saving it? In which case, what the hell are they going to do with her next year?
Everything, from the song numbers to the "plot," felt like it was running on fast forward. Their performance at regionals was totally uninspired. I totally called it that despite the previous episode showing us that they could do something Vocal Adrenaline couldn't do -- funk -- they didn't do it. Instead they put together a super-speed Journey tribute which was too heavy on Finn and Rachel (as usual) and had almost NO choreography. Even if Sue HADN'T been a judge how could they hope to beat VA, whose number (while relying too heavily on Jesse) was put together well and actually showed some preparation?? And okay, sure, maybe it would be too unbelievable for ND to beat VA this year, then move on to take nationals. But did they have to do it like THIS?
Who the hell knew Quinn was that close to delivering? She certainly didn't LOOK it. And you would think it would have been mentioned once or twice that she was getting close. And then her spineless mother randomly throws her dad out of the house and shows up? WTF? Can you say, "We're done with the pregnancy storyline and want to start fresh next season with Quinn back at home?" Oh, and then the baby was adopted by SHELBY?! Okay, maybe that wasn't ENTIRELY out of left field, but it was done so clunkily that it sure FELT like it. So does that mean she's going to quit directing VA and is going to be a full-time mommy now? Or will we see her next year, directing VA against ND once more, with Quinn's baby in tow??
What the hell was with the flashback to when Beth was conceived? I have to admit I've always been curious how that went down, but what was the POINT of showing us that?? To set up for Puck/Quinn next year, or just because they could? And why did Quinn tell Shelby the baby didn't have a name, when she AGREED during the Gaga ep to name the baby Beth after Puck sang that song?!?!
The entire ep was just SO formulaic and the segue ways were SO half assed (even more half assed than when Will was "encouraging" Finn in the episode "Hello" and he randomly starts singing the Doors song). It was seriously like, we have to hit on these points, bam, bam, bam, here they are. They need to go to regionals, lose, the kids need to sing an inspiring song to Will, Will has to do a solo, we should get some Will/Emma in there, Sue needs to be evil and then not, and Quinn has to have her baby, then have it adopted by Shelby. GO! It was like 6 episodes worth of stuff crammed into 1 episode, and I don't know if they did it that way because they wanted to start totally fresh with season 2 and they paced the rest of season 1 incorrectly (I mean, look how long the Terri thing with the fake pregnancy dragged on, and then all this seminal stuff happens in 1 ep?? WTF!), or what!
Seriously, this episode was like the season finale of Heroes season 1 all over again. A giant let down after the brilliance we got during the actual season. Everything getting tied up on superspeed, with random contrivances to make everything work. Ugh. If this was the only episode of Glee I'd ever seen I'd wonder how the creators/writers managed to make people enjoy it enough to get renewed for 2 more seasons.
Things have improved a bit on the doggie/kitty front, though I fear it's one of those things where NO ONE is really happy and everyone's getting a bit of the shaft. Talis still isn't happy about Jaime being around and probably feels like I am transferring my affection; Jaime is in a totally new environment with a housemate who threatens him at intervals; I'm stressing out about how to make them both feel loved and happy. Still, we had a good night last night so I'm hoping that will continue. A few cute/funny photos of Jaime sleeping:
Normal sleeping:
Sleeping with his tongue sticking out (I have only seen him do this 1 time):
I have now used my Actifry twice. Once to make French fries, and last night to make these Korean-style crispy, sweet, and spicy chicken wings. Verdict: the Actifry does NOT duplicate the texture of deep-fried foods, as much as I wish it did. It more... emulates it. It does crisp things up, however it's more like oven crisp (but more evenly done). Still, for the little effort it takes to make something and with only 1 tbsp of oil, it's worth it. YMMV.
Finally, I was super productive yesterday. I made trellises for my square-foot garden with the nylon netting I bought online! I am pretty proud of myself. Now all I need is for the sun to come out and have some plants grow big enough to use them. I am going to try to transplant my indoor seedlings this weekend. Pictures of the trellises:
I had suspected it might be really underwhelming, but I didn't think it was going to be THAT underwhelming. Despite evidence that they hadn't really thought out the whole regionals thing, I thought they were going to prove me wrong and stun me with their creativity.
Instead, I was stunned by the level of randomness, lack of cohesion, and just plain lame/forced scenarios. As if they would really name a celebrity judge FROM THE SAME SCHOOL as one of the performing groups. THEY don't know that Sue harbors a huge grudge against Will. And then she ends up not only voting for New Directions but is responsible for REINSTATING Glee club? That makes absolutely NO SENSE WHATSOEVER. That is not the Sue we have seen. The 'reasoning' they gave was PAPER THIN. And now they've totally compromised one of the main points of tension -- why would Sue go back to wanting to destroy Will/Glee club, after being responsible for saving it? In which case, what the hell are they going to do with her next year?
Everything, from the song numbers to the "plot," felt like it was running on fast forward. Their performance at regionals was totally uninspired. I totally called it that despite the previous episode showing us that they could do something Vocal Adrenaline couldn't do -- funk -- they didn't do it. Instead they put together a super-speed Journey tribute which was too heavy on Finn and Rachel (as usual) and had almost NO choreography. Even if Sue HADN'T been a judge how could they hope to beat VA, whose number (while relying too heavily on Jesse) was put together well and actually showed some preparation?? And okay, sure, maybe it would be too unbelievable for ND to beat VA this year, then move on to take nationals. But did they have to do it like THIS?
Who the hell knew Quinn was that close to delivering? She certainly didn't LOOK it. And you would think it would have been mentioned once or twice that she was getting close. And then her spineless mother randomly throws her dad out of the house and shows up? WTF? Can you say, "We're done with the pregnancy storyline and want to start fresh next season with Quinn back at home?" Oh, and then the baby was adopted by SHELBY?! Okay, maybe that wasn't ENTIRELY out of left field, but it was done so clunkily that it sure FELT like it. So does that mean she's going to quit directing VA and is going to be a full-time mommy now? Or will we see her next year, directing VA against ND once more, with Quinn's baby in tow??
What the hell was with the flashback to when Beth was conceived? I have to admit I've always been curious how that went down, but what was the POINT of showing us that?? To set up for Puck/Quinn next year, or just because they could? And why did Quinn tell Shelby the baby didn't have a name, when she AGREED during the Gaga ep to name the baby Beth after Puck sang that song?!?!
The entire ep was just SO formulaic and the segue ways were SO half assed (even more half assed than when Will was "encouraging" Finn in the episode "Hello" and he randomly starts singing the Doors song). It was seriously like, we have to hit on these points, bam, bam, bam, here they are. They need to go to regionals, lose, the kids need to sing an inspiring song to Will, Will has to do a solo, we should get some Will/Emma in there, Sue needs to be evil and then not, and Quinn has to have her baby, then have it adopted by Shelby. GO! It was like 6 episodes worth of stuff crammed into 1 episode, and I don't know if they did it that way because they wanted to start totally fresh with season 2 and they paced the rest of season 1 incorrectly (I mean, look how long the Terri thing with the fake pregnancy dragged on, and then all this seminal stuff happens in 1 ep?? WTF!), or what!
Seriously, this episode was like the season finale of Heroes season 1 all over again. A giant let down after the brilliance we got during the actual season. Everything getting tied up on superspeed, with random contrivances to make everything work. Ugh. If this was the only episode of Glee I'd ever seen I'd wonder how the creators/writers managed to make people enjoy it enough to get renewed for 2 more seasons.
Things have improved a bit on the doggie/kitty front, though I fear it's one of those things where NO ONE is really happy and everyone's getting a bit of the shaft. Talis still isn't happy about Jaime being around and probably feels like I am transferring my affection; Jaime is in a totally new environment with a housemate who threatens him at intervals; I'm stressing out about how to make them both feel loved and happy. Still, we had a good night last night so I'm hoping that will continue. A few cute/funny photos of Jaime sleeping:
Normal sleeping:
Sleeping with his tongue sticking out (I have only seen him do this 1 time):
I have now used my Actifry twice. Once to make French fries, and last night to make these Korean-style crispy, sweet, and spicy chicken wings. Verdict: the Actifry does NOT duplicate the texture of deep-fried foods, as much as I wish it did. It more... emulates it. It does crisp things up, however it's more like oven crisp (but more evenly done). Still, for the little effort it takes to make something and with only 1 tbsp of oil, it's worth it. YMMV.
Finally, I was super productive yesterday. I made trellises for my square-foot garden with the nylon netting I bought online! I am pretty proud of myself. Now all I need is for the sun to come out and have some plants grow big enough to use them. I am going to try to transplant my indoor seedlings this weekend. Pictures of the trellises:
