So here's my life in entertainment at the moment:
Book: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
I'm about 200 pages into Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex and loving it more and more each day! Eugenides is the writer of The Virgin Suicides, a book that I read in December '09. From reading TVS I knew that Eugenides is a fantastic writer, but like Mr. Keys, I thought the plot wasn't the strongest point in the book. It was good enough and I liked many of the plot elements (the overall plot of five sisters committing suicide within a year is interesting in itself), but I thought it was kind of thin. Well Middlesex contains the same great writing while having a much more fleshed-out storyline.Like many of my favorite books, Middlesex takes place over a very long period of time. It tells the story of Calliope Stephanides, a hermaphrodite living in 1980s Michigan. In order to understand why Cal got those two recessive genes, she narrates the novel by sharing her family history, starting with her grandparents who lived in Greece in 1922. The novel then proceeds through three generations of the Stephanides family until we end with Cal's own story.
Plotwise, this book is completely different from TVS and I'm glad that Eugenides is talented enough to write such disparate novels that, for their own reasons, are both excellent.
Music: Animal by Ke$ha
Alright, I know... Ke$ha looks like she's going to vomit all the time or something, but her CD is ridiculously catchy! I still think "Tik Tok" features the stupidest lyrics of all time and I hate the way she talks on the track rather than sings, but the rest of the CD isn't like that.Are the lyrics profound? No, but they're fun and often humorous. I've already started tweeting them and making them my Facebook statuses! Ke$ha refers to herself as a "lovesick crackhead," says she wants to "dance with no pants on (holla!)," and after telling some hombre that she loves him she asks him if he wants to have a slumber party in her basement. After a night of partying (at a rich dude's house) she wakes up in the front yard and can't find her coat; but she don't care cause she's young and broke. And after driving her friend's broke a*# around, that girl only ended up telling everyone the details of Ke$ha's sex life. Juicy!
Check out some of my favorite songs, like the fun opening track "Your Love Is My Drug" And if you're mad at one of your backstabbing friends, send "Backstabber" their way! Or, if some old man keeps hitting on you who is too old for you, you can text him some of the funny lyrics to Dinosaur." If you want to hear some of her more 'serious' songs, then check out "Hungover," "Blind" and "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes."
TV: Six Feet Under
Since I don't watch live television, I have to catch up on shows after they've gone off air. I'm currently watching Six Feet Under, a show I've been meaning to watch for a long time. I'm done with season 1 which I thought was pretty great!The show follows the Fisher family after the death of family patriarch, Nathaniel Fisher Sr. The rest of the family manages the family funeral business, etc. The show won 9 Emmys and stuff, was called "one of the greatest television series of all time" (by 13 different sources!) and trust me, it's good.
But the best part is Ruth!!!!!
The show mainly follows siblings Nate, David and Claire. But their mother Ruth (played brilliantly by Frances Conroy) is by far my favorite character! She needs better taste in men, but otherwise she is perfect. I find her scenes to usually be the funniest and the most endearing. Ruth makes me laugh and breaks my heart all at once! I only got teary-eyed twice in season 1, and one time was because of Ruth (the other was for a minor character).And I don't watch Jersey Shore but I thought this video was pretty funny.
"You look like my Mommy--uhh, my sister!" "An umbrella? Why, thank you!" Love it!
Video Games: Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Final Fantasy IV: The After Years is a direct sequel to Final Fantasy IV, one of my favorite games in the series. It follows Ceodore.... wait.You guys have no idea what I'm talking about.
Enjoy your weekend!
AND P.S.!!!! I hate spoilers, so if you ruin Middlesex or Six Feet Under for me I will never talk to you ever again and will lock my memories of you in an iron chest that I will drop into the deepest darkest depths of the ocean!!!! Thanks.
25 comments:
I have a feeling that the Jersey Shore whorez are gonna be making a Monday Muse appearance sometime in the near futuro! PS...I want Ke$ha's album! Save the trackz as MP3s so I can put it on my jump drive and listen to it on MAH computer!
The ending to "Six Feet Under" was one of the most amazing endings in the history of television. I watched the last ten minutes twenty times in a row to pick out the details and symbolism, analyzed it for days, and then spent the past four years obsessing over how brilliant it was and being haunted by how powerful it was. Just talking about it now will have me running to YouTube so I can watch it again.
The ironic thing was that I had lost interest in the series after the third season, but then went and re-watched all I missed because the ending was Just That Darn Good.
I hope you enjoy it even half as much as I did, and I wouldn't dream of spoiling it for you.
The video for Jersey Shore didn't come up when I opened this post.
I'm reading Wild Things by Dave Eggers and I love love love love Dave Eggers.
I'm sure I will be subjected to Ke$ha as soon as you give the tracks to Josh, so please, take your time.
I've watched a few episodes of Six Feet Under and thought they were always very good. Great actors and great stories, but I just don't have time for TV shows so, oh well. Enjoy.
Video games.
Yeah.
Whatever.
omg I'm currently reading Middlesex too! What a coincidence.
As for shows, I finally watched the finale episode of True Blood and it wasn't as "keep you on edge, cliff-hanger like" as the end of season one. I'm also almost done with season 3 of Weeds. I don't think it's that bad. I feel like some of the characters are a bit over the top but the storyline is still enjoyable.
In the music department, I bought Dashboard Confessionals new album and I really like it better than Dusk and Summer. You should check you last.fm comments because I described this to you. I'll have to listen to Ke$ha when I get a chance.
"Guess we've been trying too hard, we misunderstood, what's good for us. I'm tired emotionally inside, night after night, we fight till we cry."
Not that the toupee is falling to the left side. Tripping! I wasn't aware of Ke$ha...thanks for the introduction to a new persona.
I think Edwina has a point.
Josh: OK! Then we can do an acoustic cover of a Ke$ha song!
Dave2: Everyone says that!!!! I'm so excited for the finale. I love "Breathe Me" by Sia.
David: You will love Ke$ha! And I agree that the casting on SFU is superb! It won an award for best cast. And sorry I'm not playing Tetris and Pac-man! :P
Delisa: Yeah, the finale was kind of boring. Even the thing that happened in the end wasn't that exciting. And I never check last.fm comments! But D&S wasn't their last CD! I have The Shade of Poison Trees.
Edwina: I haven't gotten to that episode yet, but I'll be looking forward to it! And I agree about Billy.
Craig: What about all of the things that you say?!?! What about all of the promises that you made?!?! What about all of the ice that you gave?!?! WHAT ABOUT US?!?!
Ray: You haven't heard "Tik Tok," the #1 song in America?! Impossible!
Okay, I just refreshed the page so the video would load...sooooo, that's NOT an SNL skit? Actually that guy on SNL did a very funny take on her. And since I'm rambling, I finally caught Taylor Swift on there, so no longer a Swift virgin...thought she was hilarious playing a boy...
I heard that in Middlesex the villain ends up being the hero's estranged father and the princess turns out to be his sister but they don't find out until after a few rather incestuous moments, and I think someone is having sex with a living teddy bear in the final part (which is where the title comes from, the teddy bears being of "middle" height)... but I might have that confused with something else.
Well, I haven't read the book, don't watch that show(s), don't play video games, but hey I know who Ke$ha is despite the pretentious use of a $ for an S.
The big deal here is the radio station I listen too is taking a bus load of peeps to Montreal Tuesday night for her concert. It's supposed to be a small venue, not sure the details. So there is my brush with Ke$ha greatness.
I haven't read "Middlesex", I haven't heard Ke$ha, I haven't seen "Six Feet Under", I haven't played Final Fantasy IV, but I pressed play on that Jersey Shore clip.
Ugh, "Yippity, Yappty, Yippty." Who let that man on the air?
Only thing I know anything about on this post is that Snooki chick, and like Ray said, SNL had one of the guys playing her on a segment of the news, and ohmiGOD, I was crying I was laughing so hard! HiLARIous!!!
HUGS...
I haven't read Middlesex yet (even though Oprah told me too). It's on my list. I have read the Virgin Suicides and wasn't really impressed.
I thought the Snooki SNL skit was funny, too.
Do you have an opinion on the new Katherine McPhee album. Is the blonde hair helping?
I did love Ruth's character, but I eventually had to stop watching the show. They just kept ratcheting up the level of violence to a point where I couldn't do it anymore.
Middlesex is one of my favourite books of all time. Of all time!
Wow. Pulitzer prize. I had heard of the Virgin Diaries but I haven't read it and unfortunately I wouldn't have recognized the author's name. I'm bad with contemporary authors.
The only thing I'm familiar with in your list, Enrico, is Six Feet Under, which is one of my all-time favorite TV shows EVER. It's so well-written and so creative and so well-acted and so beautifully-filmed.
There are a lot of characters on the show I fundamentally don't really "like" as people. The show is supposed to center around Nate but I find him, as the show goes on, more and more difficult to like (as much as I do like looking at him). Brenda even more so. Claire I like more and more and more as the show continues (though I haven't watched more than the first two seasons yet, except for a few episodes I caught on reruns and couldn't stop myself from watching).
David's character, and his on-again, off-again boyfriend, I like a lot. I also like the way Nate's and David's relationship develops over the show.
Ruth's character I adore too. There are times she explodes a little too much and gets too angry but you can't blame her.
I didn't have HBO or any premium channel until this year -- so I only ever saw 6FU on DVD or reruns. I only got HBO because after watching True Blood Season 1 on DVD I couldn't wait for Season 2 to come out on DVD and had to get HBO to be able to watch it at least on On Demand. *THAT* show I am in awe of.
I tend to resist new shows and watch them end-to-end on DVD after they have finished. I think it's a great way to watch a series. Sometimes I get addicted to a show and catch up on it while it's still on the air -- that's what happened with ER, though frankly it was a chore to watch the last few seasons live -- they were so dreadful and I kept wondering why I was wasting my time with it.
Dave2's endorsement of the ending of the show definitely makes me want to get back to it and finish the series.
Jere -- you're a hoot :-)
Ray/Polt: I haven't seen the SNL clip! I've only seen Snooki in action in that news clip, so I wonder if I'll find the skit funny enough. As for Tay-Tay, I love the girl to death but I think she should stick to singing :)
Jere: Well, you got the incest part right, but that's made clear very early on. The rest sex with the teddy bear part is just your confused brain sharing what went on in your bedroom last week.
Tam: I hated the "$" at first too! She said it's there because when she had the #1 song in American ("Right Round" with Flo Rida), she didn't make any money off of it and couldn't afford to eat! You aren't going to the concert!?!?!?!
john: Thank you for realizing how ridiculous that man is! The way he's waving his arms when he says "yippity, yappity, yippity".... LOL
Michelle M.: I do everything Oprah tells me to and I haven't been disappointed yet! And trust me, Middlesex is 1,000x better than TVS!
And no, I haven't heard any of her new music! But she looks cute I guess.
Mel: If 1,000 bodies were being shot/set on fire/being dragged to hell, but then Ruth was in the scene, I'd be OK.
Nathan: ME TOO (so far)!!!! But I'm only on page 215. lol
Justin: It's one of your favorite shows ever but you've only seen the first 2 seasons!?! That doesn't make sense! Get the other seasons and we'll watch them at the same time and bore everyone with our Twitter conversations!! And I agree with your feelings towards the characters so far. Claire does get better and better and yeah, I think Brenda is cool for certain reasons, but if she acts like this for 5 seasons, I can see her behavior getting tiring.
And yes, PULITZER PRIZE! See, it's amazing! Let me know how much you like it :)
Enrico, how did you know what went on in my bedroom last week. *gasp* It was you inside the furry suit, wasn't it!
Jere -- little Eyes Wide Shut action going on eh? :-)
Enrico -- I've seen the first two seasons -- I own the whole show on DVD already. I just got side-tracked. I'm happy to re-watch season 2. Did you already start?
Also -- who's into LOST? I only just got hooked on that show last year when the SciFi channel started showing re-runs. I watched the whole series in HD on my laptop (overheated my laptop in fact). I can't believe how GREAT the show is!!!!! I want to watch the whole series AGAIN before season 5 starts in Feb but I am having trouble finding a LOST buddy :-(
Justin: I've only seen the first episode. I have to wait 'til I go back to school where I can download them from DC++, which you can think of as the school's shared hard drive. Yeah, they have EVERYTHING. It's really convenient.
I LOVED LOST during season 1 (and referred to it as my favorite show) but I thought season 2 was lame and stopped watching after that season. I hear it gets better eventually though.
Tuesday night in Montreal? Nah. Too much hassle.
I've been wanting to read Middlesex for SOOO long. And now that you just wrote about it, I'm going to buy it on Amazon right now. Thanks for the inspiration!
I've been trying to find Kesha's cd online for a couple days now, but haven't been able to find it. I'm addicted to Tik Tok though.
Huh. What was wrong with Season 2? I loved seasons 1-3 *A LOT* and I watched them end-to-end. Season 4 has been the weakest by far (IMHO) with the exception of the stunning finale (and equally stunning Mark Pellegrino).
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