You're amazing you're amazing you're amazing you're overthinking.

Last night I actually watched live TV for the first time in months (not counting the emmys), and on the menu were America's Next Top Model and Project Runway. Sadly, I missed Bush's speech. I'm sure it was filled with lots of rousing messages about how the economy isn't falling apart around us. He's good at that.

Anyway, Model time. I really, really, really like this season. It's been so long since I've liked so many girls, and not hated any of them. Clark is a little bitchy, but nowhere NEAR as offensive as girls in shows past. I'm pulling for Mckey (although not nearly as much as Brian, with his "I LOVE MCKEY" comments every 5 minutes), Marjorie, Sheena, and I was pulling for Isis until she let her penis get in the way. But I will get to that later. For the runway show, that shit was crazy. That fashion was horrible, horrible. Most of them did really well, but Samantha's walk was almost a joke how bad it was. I thought it was a little anti-climatic to send Hannah home, but at the same time I didn't care because I never really liked her all that much anyway. And she wasn't doing a very good job. So bye bye hannah. Now the photo-shoot was really cool, with the water and the eyes. Sheena's was great, and so was the one with the arms (lauren brie? i dont' know. bitch was blonde). Marjorie was pretty good too. And I didn't hate Clark's. There wasn't a bad picture in the bunch, there were just less-good pictures. I did want Isis to go further than she did, but her eyes were not good. She let her penis get into her head. I'm sure I would too, but by the same token I feel like it's easier to photoshop out a strange bump (how big can it be after all of those hormones, anyway?) than to photoshop in a good body or good eyes. Especially in this show when you couldn't even see under the water. Like, did someone not explain it to her? But we knew she wasn't going to make it to the end, so c'est la vie. After her snip snip, she'll be amazing I think. Maybe they'll invite her back?

And to reference the title of this post: Elina. They do this every. fucking. season. They love a girl up one wall and down the other telling us how amazing and fantastic and banoodles the bitch is, and then in the span of a week "You're overthinking. you're not giving us anything new". I swear the secret to this show is to phone it in for the first 4 weeks so then when you do a good job later they're all excited. Cause if you come out of the gate doing the best by far, you basically screw yourself over. I should so be a Top Model coach. I know shit about fashion, but I know how to win this competition. Claim to be abused, do mediocre through the first half, dress properly at panel, and don't walk like a fat hunchbacked linebacker *cough* Samantha *cough*.

For runway, let me just say how the hell did we get to 5 designers? The episode started and I was watching them going "ehh? wtf? when did this happen?" And this season BLOWS for the models. I think calling this a competition for the models is ridiculous anyway, but after a double elimination, then the college girls-as-models, and now this week with the designers-as-models, they're not even in the second half of the show. Sucks to be them. Now let me say, I love the "design for the designers" challenges. it's interesting to see what they do for each other, and I think the menswear challenges are good too. The music twist I was not feeling, however. That made it bitchy. Although Kenley's interpretation of "Hip Hop" was just not there. Kenley's ass should have gone home. I know that she was probably a victim of editing (and in hindsight I think Daniel was too. They picked every shot where he looked dour), but you can't edit in an argument if there wasn't one, you can just make it look bitchier. And her outfit was RIDICULOUS. And she blamed it on Leanne several times. LEANNE IS NOT YOUR PROBLEM. Matt wasn't sorry to see suede go home, because Matt has never liked Suede. Or his third-person self-references. I hope we get someone next season that uses the royal we all the time. Next week's episode looks like a hot-mess, though. SO MANY TEARS. I use capital letters a lot. But only when I yell at the tv.

In other news i have no freaking free-time ever. I have to somehow find time to buy Yukiko and Ryoko a costume for halloween and mail it to them by the 18th. No idea when that's going to get done without me paying like $100 for shipping, so that's one more charge to look forward too. And I haven't played nearly enough FFXI. Im actually slightly relieved that my laptop won't play Warhammer Online because it gives me an excuse to not play it right away. I will play it later, no worries, it's just right now I'm far, far too busy. I have a secret hope that I can convince Jared and Brian to play FFXI so that I can pay for the gold world pass and get the cute hat and other assorted bonuses. Anywhoo I'm at work and not working, so I'll get back on that.

Monday Night Premieres

Last night after practice I watched Heroes, HIMYM, and Big Bang Theory. I can't believe fall tv is starting up when I am still so very, very far behind on summer TV (I have not watched a bit of Mad Men season 2 and it distresses me to no end). Anywhoo, rather than catch up on Gossip Girl, Greek, Stargate, Sarah Connor, or any of the other several hours of TV I have on my computer, I decided to watch the new stuff. And spoiler-alerts even though as far as I'm concerned if something has already aired they aren't necessary.

Heroes: Not a bad opening, although I could live a lifetime without Claire's shit. I mean, I'm sure it would be very traumatizing if someone performed brain surgery on me while i was conscious. But all in all she just overdid it a bit. And Peter's emo-ness was over the top as well. Hiro's trip to the future I'm pretty sure was a huge misunderstanding about Ando, and it's Hiro that is being bad and/or stupid. But I still like him. Ando's little "YOU LET HER CUT ME?!?" outburst was fucking strange. Sylar was awesome with all of his powers. Momma Petrelli was awesome as well, although "Sylar, I am your mother" comment I could do without. Same with Surresh going all Spiderman. Why did Nikki's power change? I'm intrigued to watch the rest of the season, despite all these other previously listed misgivings. And PS- DON'T FUCK WITH TIME. Nothing good comes of that.

HIMYM: Not really their best ever episode, but enjoyable. I like Stella a lot as Ted's girlfriend. Barney loving Robin is cute, but I'm not going to handle him fawning over her for the rest of the season. I almost hope it's something NPH is subtle enough to pull off without slamming us with. i.e. he drops the awkward laughter and every once in awhile we just catch a look or something from him. Marshall was a non-entity in this episode really, and I'm ok with that. It just left me feeling neutral, but that's better than feeling bad.

Big Bang Theory: The whole Penny-whatshisface dating thing isn't for me. It was cute how she was insecure, but I'd really prefer they didn't date forever, so much as realize it wasn't going to work and move on to other things. that's the only way these things can be resolved and not fuck over the series. Sheldon was funny, but I kind of felt nothing new came from this episode. They were sort of spinning the same wheels from last season. And I enjoyed last season, I'm just not sure how long I'll continue to enjoy the same notes.

In other news, Samurai Girl = Suckness. Above and beyond the fact that they completely mashed up all of their asian cultures, the acting was crap and the storyline was random as hell. I got through about half an hour and was so offended I just had to turn that shit off. Michelle was very right that one should avoid shows with Real World cast-offs.

Clay Aiken

Ok, I don't really give a shit that he came out of the closet or not, but I suppose "yay visibility" but I was reading this post on Dlisted about some of the 'Claymates' reactions and they are classic:

"This is a gut wrenching day for The ClayNation. Somebody wake me up, I hope its a dream."

"please tell me I'm not the only one who is shocked beyond belief! I feel numb I'm so upset. This can't be real!! How can you guys say this won't change anything? This changes EVERYTHING. I don't even know what to think right now"

"I wish him well and hope he gets some peace of mind now BUT I feel he lied to everyone-especially us fans. He should have just said so years ago. I feel like we were "used". I still love to hear him sing but I also feel he has now become like a Michael Jackson and it's a bit too weird! He isn't just the plain ordinary person with the values he first stood for.-but it's just my opinion."

"One really sad thing for me that sums this up. THis morning at the breakfast table my 9 and 10 year olds were there and the radio was on and they came on with the headline "FOrmer American Idol..." and I knew what was coming and I ran to turn it off. I didn't want my young children to hear that and ask questions about it. To me this is the saddest thing and the reason I won't be able to hold him as my idol. I remember the day when I ran to turn it on and called all the family to watch with pride. It just seems so in your face now and I don't want exposing my kids to this. "

"I just feel rather silly now having spent the last 5 years drooling over and being fan girly for a singer I thought was straight and now finding out he is gay. It does change my perception of who he is and how I see him. We always called him our boyfriend and that won't be happening anymore."

Seriously? I mean like, really? I wish I had the powers of self-deception of some of these bitches.

Orson Scott Card

I used to really like his books.

Seriously, I loved the Ender series, especially Children of the Mind. And I was really excited for the film version. Too bad he's a big old scoop of bigot with whip cream and an anti-establishment cherry on top.

Burn Notice Season 1

I recently "acquired" and watched Burn Notice season 1 after hearing tons of critical praise for the series. This show is so entertaining. I love the attitude of the main character, and the supporting cast is fun.

Synopsis in 25 words or less: A spy gets "burned" from his organization, and is trying to figure out why. Winds up in Miami and gets help from some old friends.

The basic format of the show is that every week Michael gets a new case which he has to solve with Fiona and Sam using their fancy spy experiences. And then over the course of the show there's also the story of his attempts to figure out the who/what/where/when/why he go burned.

The best part of the series is Michael's attitude about everything. He's kind of irreverent about a lot of things, which makes it very enjoyable when he's sort of sarcastic. I think I'm using these words wrong, but I'm not sure of a better way to do it. His "spy tips" are remarkably interesting and entertaining, and almost make me think I could have a go at being a rather bad spy. The action is good, and while I don't care really why he got burned, I am very excited now that I know Tricia Helfer is connected to it, because frankly she rocks my socks.

Only downsides to this series are I don't really like the relationship between Fiona and Michael. I love Fiona, and I like Michael, but together it just doesn't work for me, I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because they both look a little funny to me. I think Michael's face is too gaunt, maybe. But really, I think Fiona should move on a bit, and I think Michael is kind of too determined to be alone. Of course that's why all of his interactions with people are so funny. I'm half expecting him to get paired with a precocious child of some kind this season, just to see how he deals with it. That might get a little trite though, I have to say.

Also watched the first ep of the 2nd season, and it's still going strong. Definitely good summer TV if you can get it!

The Dark Knight

Holy unexpected rash of great movies Batman. For some reason this summer the film industry has really gotten their shit together and started releasing some fantastic films. And some crap ones, but there's always one slightly slower child. Iron Man was a fantastic comic book movie and Wall-E is one of the best movies I've ever seen. Indiana Jones 4 I personally thought blew, and blew hard. But anyway the point of this post is to discuss the Dark Knight.

For the like five people not familiar with the movie, it's a follow-up to the 2005 film Batman Begins, which was itself a reboot of the Batman franchise that died after the remarkably disappointing Batman and Robin 8 years earlier (I should note I had to look up dates on IMDB, I'm not that knowledgeable on my own). The new take on the series is a bit more serious and a lot less camp. It's also tied a bit more to reality. Or at least as close to reality as a superhero movie can get. Batman Begins did very, very well, so obviously a sequel was going to come.

And come it did. The Dark Knight is similar in tone to Batman Begins, but it pulls it off to a much better extent. Gotham seems more like a real city and less a comic-book city. The villains are definitely scarier and on the whole better developed. I'll get to Heath Ledger in a second, cause that's worth a whole paragraph. But the second villain (and I won't spoil it) is exactly what I expected he should be. The story has an excellent pace, and there is a lot of suspense in it. My knee was bouncing the whole time waiting for this or that to happen, cause I really believed that the Joker could do anything.

And speaking of the Joker, the hype was not over-hyped. I admit I walked into the movie thinking "Just cause he died doesn't mean we need to rave about him" but his performance was incredible, and exactly what I expected from the Joker. And thank god for not being bogged down with a back-story. It makes him scarier that he just appears. Heath Ledger did an absolutely fantastic job with the character, and this is the first time I was really sorry that he had died (in anything other than a "oh, that's kind of sad" sort of way. I'm probably one of only a handful of gays that hated Brokeback Mountain). He really does deserve all the recognition he's been getting. God, that pencil scene, and the nurse scene were two of my favorites, but the whole thing was incredible.

The other actors did a good job too, with the possible exception of Maggie Gyllenhaal. And I don't blame her, cause I think she's a good actress. I think her character was just sort of annoying (cause she sure was in the first film). Bale did an amazing job as Batman, minus the weird voice he uses when he is Batman. It's a little too growly. But you do believe the conflict that Batman has to go through. Aaron Eckhart was great as Harvey Dent. And if you know anything about Batman mythology, he pulls that off remarkably well too. I think it's less of a kept secret at this point, so I won't tiptoe too far around it. But if you are unaware, don't look it up. Anyway he did a great job showing Dent's optimism about the future. I will say, although I don't need to, that Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman both did a fantastic job. But again, when don't they. Freeman made "The Bucket List" watchable, which is saying something.

I do have a few problems with the movie, but they're more fanboy things than anything else. I didn't like how preachy it got in the last scene, although I think what Batman did there was important. I just didn't like Gordon's voiceover, I thought it was a little melodramatic and a little bit too long after the dramatic climax. My other complaint is that it was Gordon's son who was featured so prominently. I understand this version of the franchise will probably never introduce Robin or Batgirl, but I think it would have been a nice nod to the fanboys to have Barbara be in awe of Batman.

So since this one is breaking records left right and center, I'm sure they'll make a sequel. The real question is what will the sequel entail. I read a rumor that they would but Croc and Clayface in it. Personally I'm kind of bleh about that cause I don't think you could introduce either of those characters without falling into the ridiculous comic-book ideas reminiscent of Spider-man 3. I would love to see Catwoman done, cause i think there could be some interesting tension between her and Batman. I think a super-genius type Riddler might also be doable while still being serious. Penguin is just a joke, as is Mr.Freeze or Poison Ivy. Bane might be fun though.

So time for the ranking. I give Dark Knight 4 out of 5 stars. I really liked it, but I can't say it's one of my favorite movies of all time that I absolutely must buy as soon as it comes out on DVD. Definitely recommend going to see it though, if for no other reason than everyone else in America already has.

Five Favorite Non-Musical Sounds

In no certain order:

Rain. Light rain and hard rain both, I love rain, but not getting wet in it.
Onions cooking
Laughter, cheesy as that sounds. I love making people laugh.
A sexy man speaking smooth French. No Phlegm or dirtiness, just smooth.
Ocean waves. Not a big fan of sea-gulls, but I love water and waves.

And you?