Would that this hoodie were a time hoodie!

Dear New Girl,

WHY do you insist on being so delightful? Why has your absence completely made my already fond heart grow even fonder? Why is Schmidt so awesome? Why is Jess so adorable? Why is Nick's face so irresistible? Why do I always deeply yearn for Jess and Nick to just smush their faces together already? WHEN DID YOU BECOME SO GOOD? Please never stop making me giddy.

With much unashamed love,
Firthy

Seriously dudes, for all my f-listers who gave up after the pilot, watch eps 3 and 4 and try to not love this show. I DARE YOU. Nick and Jess and Wintson and SCHMIDT are just too wonderful to resist. SCHMIDT'S FLASHBACK. EIA. PIIIIIIIIIIIANIST. NICK'S NAKEDNESS. OMG, I love it. I am so damn happy that this show is back in my life.

Glee was as boring as ever. WHY am I still watching this show? I just can't quit it.

In other news, I am in love with Once Upon a Time, but it feels like a novelty show where my love will wear off pretty quickly, so, we'll see how that goes. I keep thinking about how it would be so much better as a mini-series (or a one season show. I wish American TV would allow that for shows like this). But anyway, so far the show completely dazzles me. The eeeeeeevil stepmother killing the thing she loves most particularly got me. And Snow White/Prince Charming = OTP for life. I clearly need to brush up on my fairy tales, though, because I seriously have NO CLUE what the heck the stepmother was going on about when she said that Snow White is the reason that her love died. Is she talking about Snow White's dad? And if so, how was his death Snow White's fault? Or, wait, is she even Snow White's stepmother? Am I getting my fairy tales all mixed up? WHAT IS THE BACKSTORY? WHY AM I SO CLUELESS? This is stuff I'm supposed to know. Unfortunately, the Disney movies made before the late 80s tend to bore the crap out of me, so, er... I've only seen bits and pieces of Snow White. Cinderella and Lady and the Tramp were the only classics that I liked. Which is irrelevant to the discussion in this paragraph, but there you go.

Grimm, which I was actually looking forward to more than Once Upon a Time, was kind of meh. I like the idea, it just didn't manage to engage me all that much. I think it's got potential, though.

So, I've been watching this Japanese show called Mitsu No Aji, which is about this girl who is obsessed with/in love with her uncle, but then later we find out he's not actually her uncle but that's how she's always known him and he's always treated her as his niece, but then she grows up and feels UNRESOLVED SEXUAL TENSION when he pulls her to him to shield her from a passing bus, and it's raining and the cinematography is all dramatic and artsy every time it shows that moment, and... the female characters in this are so messed up. SO MESSED UP. The uncle's girlfriend doesn't give a lick about him until the niece shows up and she (the girlfriend) senses their ~connection~ and decides that she can't lose her man to some young thing making eyes at him who has an advantage over her considering the niece has known him her entire life. And the show manages to be suspenseful and baffling and creepy and it's PURELY about the push and pull between the two women. Well, it's also about their love for the uncle, but he's clearly an obsession for the both of them and he's torn between them and totally freaked out by both of them, but now he's kind of macking on his niece and I'm loving it. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? I adore these twisted, pseudo-incest romances so damn much and I have no idea why.

Speaking of pseudo-incest romances where the dude totally knew the girl when she was literally a young girl, I got a yearning to rewatch The Thornbirds (or at least the happy bit where she is young and everything is all innocent but kind of creepy but kind of beautiful and then she becomes a ~woman~ and he gets all hot under the collar). I bet tomorrow I'll end up watching Memoirs of a Geisha, just to complete my "pseudo-incest romances where the dude totally knew the girl when she was literally a young girl" marathon. If anyone knows of any other such stories, hit me with them! Because apparently it's my thing this week.

I have a feeling that jesshelga is the only one who will appreciate this, but as I was flipping through the channels, I happened upon the New York ep of Glee at the exact moment that Kurt and Rachel are singing "For Good" and... well, I couldn't help but imagine a future episode (like, just before they graduate, maybe?) where Kurt is singing this song with Karofsky. And they are both tearing up and looking at each other lovingly, and in their eyes you can see them thinking about all the things that could have been and all the things that should have been and all the things that were. And they still have this kind of continuing UST thing but never actually got together, just... they had a lot of almosts that they were both too afraid to explore. WHAT IS THIS? WHEN DID I START SHIPPING THEM LIKE THIS? I think I've been brainwashed. But here, watch this video and superimpose Kurt and Karofsky's faces over these dudes in your head, and you'll totally see what I mean. Really. You will.

1. I spent most of last week rewatching all of the Chae Kyung/Lee Shin scenes from Goong. OMG, LOVE. LOVE LOVE LOVE. I forgot how epic that drama was. The chemistry between Yoon Eun Hye and Joo Ji Hoon was so freaking amazing, and they are still probably in the top three of my favorite k-drama couples ever. Dudes, I am such a sucker for the arranged/contract marriage trope. I just am. But this one is my favorite since it shows all the repercussions that come with suddenly becoming the unwanted Cinderella to your not-so-Prince-Charming. This is one k-drama where I LOVE the angst. Aaaaaaaaangst! Because it doesn't come from tragedy after tragedy after tragedy, it comes from the characters not being sure of whether they fit into the roles that the world has thrust upon them, and not being sure how they feel about each other, and it's glorious. Oh, I love this drama.

2. I can't wait for Yoon Eun Hye's new drama to start. Which is kind of obvious since I went back and rewatched one of her old dramas, and now I'm tempted to do a rewatch of Take Care of the Young Lady (I know this drama gets no love, but damn, I loved it like crazy). I just love YEH, I think. The girl can do no wrong.

3. The Borgias. I've been watching this show every week, but I haven't really had much to say about it. Basically, it's wicked pretty, but I think I'm only in it for the Cesare/Lucrezia love affair. Which was proven in the last episode where I was seething at Cesare being in love with some annoying blond girl that he didn't even know, so much so that he freaking killed her husband for her, while Lucrezia is off being beaten and raped by her new husband and Cesare doesn't even pay her any mind (not that he knew it was happening, but if he hadn't been so distracted with this new girl, he would have been checking up on Lucrezia and making sure all was okay with her). I did love that he was super frustrated over having to marry Lucrezia off to Sforza, though. That scene where he's ripping off his robes was perfection. And I am convinced that he sees a bit of Lucrezia in this new girl, and because he can't help Lucrezia, he put all of his focus into helping this girl. That is how I will fanwank it, anyway. But I can't help but hope that Cesare finds out what's going on and tortures Sforza, or kills him, or something. Just disregard history, show! Kill the bastard! But anyway, I find most of the political stuff kind of boring, and I am not fond of the younger brother who is a soldier, and Jeremy Irons is doing a fine job but damn do I hate his character. Overall though, I think it's a good show, and I am loving the little references to The Godfather that they keep throwing in, like the iconic closing of the doors after Borgia became the pope, or that friar dude getting stabbed in the eye (it is ridiculous how excited I got over that scene).

4. Game of Thrones. At first I didn't know what to think of this show, because the first ep was pretty hard to follow, but after the second ep I'm pretty much in love. And I think it's because I instantly fell for that scene between Sansa and The Hound. It figures that I would fall for such a ship, but I am surprised that all it took was that one little scene. I checked LJ to see if there was a comm for them, and there was, and I spent a whole night there reading passages from the books and looking at fanart, and, gosh, I am in love. So so in love. But the book version of The Hound so far is much more harsh than the show version (of course, all we got was that one scene, but still, that was supposed to be our first impression of him, and he seemed more playful than harsh/bitter). Also, I didn't pick up on the fact that he killed the butcher's boy (I knew that someone did, but for some reason it didn't click in my head that he did). And now that I know that the book version of him truly enjoyed killing the boy, I am not quite sure what the show intends for the character since they left that bit out. But anyway, despite his psychopathic tendencies, I still ship them. And I fear that my shipping of them will only get more intense as the show goes on. *sigh* But wow, the bits with Joffrey that I read disgusted me. I mean, I knew he was going to be awful, but good god. You all weren't joking when you said he just gets worse. And maybe that's why it seems okay to ship Sansa with The Hound? Because even though he's harsh and dangerous, he shows Sansa a modicum of warmth and care that no one else does, and it's... kind of sweet? In its own way. I mean, it's not a whole lot healthier for Sansa, but compared to how Joffrey treated her, The Hound is freaking Prince Charming. I don't know, I don't know. But now I want the books so that I can get a full picture of their relationship.

Also, I'm pretty sure that Arya and Tyrion are my favorite characters. Right now they are, anyway. I kind of wish they had some scenes together, because I feel like that much awesome in one scene would blow my mind.

5. I've kind of given up on Camelot. My time for watching TV is getting smaller and smaller, and this show is just not delivering. So, bye bye lame Arthur and pervy Merlin and crazyass Morgan. Our time together was fun, until, you know, you got boring.

6. Glee. I still want to punch Will's stupid face. I can't even explain why. Just, every time they show him, I want to punch him. This feeling has been increased since they've brought back the Will/Emma ship. Blech. Blech blech blech. If he wasn't so condescending, then maybe I wouldn't hate the ship so much. But GOD, he is awful to Emma. So, so awful. Even when he tries to be nice and understand her (polishing the grapes) he loses his patience and tells her she's not normal. And it's not even about her, it's "How much longer do I have to polish these grapes with you? OMG, I hate it." He's just... UGH. I HATE HIM. And I know that he is basically this way with everybody, but it sticks out when he's with Emma because she is so easily crushed and she rarely sticks up for herself or puts him in his place. When he's that way with Rachel, she'll instantly tell him that he's in the wrong, or she'll walk out in a huff and he'll have to make it up to her, or she'll be hurt and walk out crying and he'll feel like a tool and try to make it up to her, and I just don't get why he doesn't have the same kind of empathy for the woman that he's supposedly in love with. It's all about him and how she can please him. BLECH. And lately Finn has been inspiring those same "OMG I want to punch him in the face" feelings that Will inspires. He's not quite as bad, but damn, he's getting there.

7. The Office made me cry last week. I can only expect that I will use up an entire tissue box tonight. MICHAEL SCOTT, DON'T LEAVE ME. I'M NOT READY, DAMN IT. Not even Will Ferrell can soften the blow. *sniff* Speaking of Will, you all know that I love him like crazy, but I find his character on The Office to be kind of lame. He's just not doing it for me, which is sad, because I was SO excited about Will finally being on my favorite show, but then... well, his character was pretty underwhelming. He has little moments of brilliance, like getting shaved in his office and totally blowing Jim and Pam off when they were talking about CC, but then he went back to being Michael's admirer, and just... they need to choose. Either he's a badass, no nonsense boss, or he's incompetent and looking to Michael for guidance. Personally, I prefer the badass no nonsense characterization to the incompetent one, because I feel like that plays to Will's strengths a little better. And I know that people generally weren't happy with the whole storyline where he made Andy act like a fool, but I enjoyed it. It brought out the old desperate-to-please Andy and I felt Deangelo Vickers was finally becoming an actual character, but in the end he went back to being Micheal's apprentice, which is cute, but contradictory to what we thought were his true colors (and which I suspect are still his true colors and he's just trying to placate Michael until he leaves). I don't know, I don't know. I enjoy having Will Ferrell back on my TV every week, though.

8. It's kind of sad that 30 Rock had a clip show on the same night that Community had a clip show, where Community created clips that we had never seen before and made it an epic experience, whereas 30 Rock was just a classic clip show that revisited already seen moments. It kind of ruined the effect. But at least it was chalk full of Jack/Liz goodness.

9. Vampire Diaries. Kiiiiiiinda shipping Elena/Elijah now (and I was already secretly shipping Elena/Alaric a bit, so the ep where Alaric became Klaus and he was being quite predatory with her was wicked hot, and then he was even hotter with Katherine, good god. I am sad that Alaric doesn't get to stay evil). Also, this season is kind of succeeding in making me not ship Elena/Damon. I will love the OT3ness of Damon/Elena/Stefan forever and always, but Damon is just losing it lately. He used to care about what she wanted, and what made her happy, but now he's just disregarding her wishes left and right, which, I get it's because he doesn't want to lose her, but at the same time, damn, Damon, let the girl do her thing. Trust that she has the ability to take care of herself, PLEASE. Although I did like that line where Damon pointed out that he's not afraid of making her hate him as long as it keeps her alive, whereas Stefan can't do that. So I get where Damon's coming from, but I hate that he doesn't believe that Elena is perfectly capable of making the right decisions.

10. 49 Days. I am finally coming to terms with the fact that the romances are going to be Ji Hyun/Kang and Scheduler/Yi Kyung, but it still kind of makes me sad. At least Kang is finally growing on me now that he's not so insistent on denying his feelings and is actually trying to make things better for Ji Hyun. But now the show has made the Yi Soo/Yi Kyung romance so epic that it's kind of hard to feel any emotion for Ji Hyun/Kang. I just can't muster the empathy for them when Yi Kyung has been mourning Yi Soo for FIVE YEARS and even has moments of feeling his presence around her when his spirit is there, and now Scheduler is feelings things when he's around her and he's bound to remember and just... they should be the main romance, because they are the ones who are tugging at my heartstrings. Although, you know, I still think that Scheduler and Ji Hyun were made for each other, and I can't help but still hope that in the end Ji Hyun dies and takes over Scheduler's position and he becomes her boss, or else they are both reincarnated and meet each other as kids and have the same dynamic, and Yi Kyung and Kang help each other move on from losing their loved ones. But, this is a romcom, so I expect that Ji Hyun will live happily ever after with Kang. But then... what will happen with Yi Kyung? Oh, this show.

KIM SEUNG WOO IS STARRING IN ANOTHER DRAMA! *flails* I seriously cannot wait for this. It has been too long since I've drooled over KSW, and now I'll get to do it TWICE A WEEK. I've never watched a Korean police procedural, so, we'll see how that goes. This one sounds suspiciously like Law & Order with its ripped from the headlines plots, and I was never a fan of L&O (though occasionally I do watch and enjoy the old reruns of Criminal Intent). I don't know, all I know is that Kim Seung Woo is sexy and I'll watch him in anything. I've even suffered through his various godawful films, so, I think I'll be handle this show (of course, KSW seems to like the really artsy films, which I don't). I actually have faith that this drama will be awesome, because while KSW picks some truly (imho) pointless films, his dramas have always been top notch. AND HE IS SUPER SEXY, SO IT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER. I just want to see him in something new. And hopefully he'll get the girl this time, BUT I WON'T COUNT ON IT. The poor dude never gets the girl. Actually, since he's the older character, he probably won't even have a romance story. *sadface* I'm sure I'll ship him with everybody though. That's just a given.

Oh, and now that I know that KSW is in Athena, I guess I'll have to hurry and catch up with that drama. I just haven't been motivated to. I am sad that I am not loving it like I loved IRIS. I think my expectations were too high. Just, I wish the main hero was more interesting. I think that is my main lack of enthusiasm issue with Athena. He is not motivated by anything except the girl. With IRIS, while the hero's main goal was getting the girl, she wasn't his motivation for everything that he did. In fact, the girl fell in love with him because he was amazing at his job and he was a loyal friend and he had a fearless quality about him that drew her (and the audience) to him. The hero in Athena is just kind of lifeless at this point. Augh, I need to watch more than two episodes before I judge him, I know, but it's hard to find the drive to watch the show with such a lackluster main character. Hopefully I will be eating my words after watching a few more eps.

Also, I've kind of lost my motivation for watching Secret Garden. It started off so light-hearted and hilarious! But now it's getting more and more depressing, and I really cannot freaking stand Joo Won's mother. I want to strangle her every time I see her. And Oska's story with his lady is so ridiculously angsty that it is getting really annoying. Their over the top drama used to crack me up, but now it's just annoyingly repetitive. I do keep watching this show every now and then, though, but I'm not anxiously awaiting new eps like I used to (in fact, I'm only on ep 13 at the moment). After seeing that it actually has 20 eps and not 16, I got even less enthused. HOW MUCH LONGER CAN IT BE DRAWN OUT? Both characters are already depressed over the fact that they'll never be together. I don't know, I don't know. This one was so promising! The characters still delight me, it's just that the story is really starting to drag.

In other news, apparently Gwyneth Paltrow is coming back to Glee. UGH. Once was enough, show! And you oversaturated us with her in that one episode alone, so I don't even want to know how much you will torture us with her presence as a recurring guest star. You've even made me sick of Kristin Chenoweth, who is also returning for multiple eps AGAIN. All these guest stars do is take time away from the characters that I actually care about, and they sing every damn song on the episode, and just... UGH, GLEE, ENOUGH WITH THE GUEST STARS. If you want viewers, just have Will and Rachel makeout with each other. IT'LL WORK, TRUST ME. People will come for the shock value, it'll get endless amounts of press for being controversial, and people will debate for ages whether the show has jumped the shark even though this show jumps that figurative shark every damn episode. COME ON GLEE, YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO DO IT. Psh, I'd love this show forever if it actually capitalized on the wonderfulness that is Will/Rachel. But it never will. *another sadface*

Regarding work, I am back to a normal-ish schedule in a couple of weeks since I called the personnel lady and asked what was up. I am oddly (yet not surprisingly) depressed over this. I was enjoying my insane amount of time off from work. And after working both Saturday and Sunday, I remembered how utterly tired this job makes me. Last night I came home, ate dinner, and then collapsed into bed and slept all night long and well into the morning. And I didn't even really work that hard, considering the fact that the crowd is about half the size that it was at Christmas. But, I guess I'm moving faster than I used to, which means I get through more customers than I used to, which means much more bagging and lifting and whatnot, which means my body gets tired faster, I guess. And on Saturday morning I had to drive to work in the snow and I couldn't see a damn thing and my car was slipping and sliding all over the place. Luckily it was super early in the morning so there weren't many (or any, really) cars coming at me on the other side of the road, so I managed to get there in one piece (and of course it stopped snowing the very minute that I turned into the parking lot). I was only 15 minutes late, so, I guess that wasn't too bad. But, yeah, I never want to drive while it's snowing that hard ever again. And, what's weird is that it only snowed for like 45 minutes and we ended up getting 2 inches or so, and it was the entire 45 minutes that I was driving into work. The snow was completely melted by the afternoon. Had I been scheduled for one or two hours later, I would have missed it. The roads still would have been bad, but at least I would have been able to see what was in front of me. Oh, my luck. It is a good thing that I never gamble.

Will/Rachel is still causing hearts to emit from my eyes. It's quite sad, really. BUT THEY ARE SO ADORABLE. And tonight I just had to rewatch ep 2x09 purely for their sexyhotunf fight where Will tells Rachel to "TAKE THAT OFF!!!" He throws papers and everything! And Rachel looks scared for one split second! And after he lists her many frustrating flaws, she just jumps right up and screams back at him and I love how equal they are there despite the fact that Will's the teacher. Gaaaaah, how are they so awesome when they argue? I mean, it's all well and good when they are being sweet and supportive with each other or when Will is all googly-eyed over her performances and ready to draw gold stars around her name in a notebook (because Rachel would so prefer her name being in stars rather than hearts), but good lord do I love it when they lay into each other. Their fights are even more intense than the Will/Sue ones (although the Will/Sue ones involve more invading of personal space and curly hair discrimination). I just love how Rachel always manages to get genuine emotion out of Will. The kind of genuine emotion that I just don't feel from him with anyone else (and I think his fakeness is what keeps me from liking him most of the time. He comes across as an insincere douchebag at least 75% of the time, but with Rachel he suddenly learns how to have a natural interaction with someone). I do think his scenes with Sue come out pretty well, though, but those are full of hate and amusement and sometimes begrudging respect, but not much else. With Rachel he runs the gambit of pretty much every emotion ever, and it comes across naturally instead of over the top or insincere. They just... they have amazing chemistry and I wish the show would explore their relationship more. Especially since their lives always seem to parallel each other's. And, yeah, I'll say it, I totally wish the show would go there, give us a totally inappropriate teacher/student romance with Will and Rachel that stays mostly innocent but the UST becomes canonically confirmed and they both struggle to keep their feelings in check, and it comes about because they connect over winter break and they are both kind of in the same place of feeling rejected and lonely and they find solace in each other and just... I WISH THIS WOULD HAPPEN. The show would be infinitely more interesting, despite the viewer complaints that I'm sure the relationship would get. But, you know, if Pretty Little Liars and Life Unexpected can go there, then surely Glee could, too! (of course, with both of those shows the couples meet before the girls are aware that the guys are their teachers, but pfft, that is a complete cop-out, which is why Will/Rachel would be 20 times better). Yeah, yeah, never gonna happen, but a girl can dream.

This amused me:


(from fuckyeahwillrachel)

Bwahahahaha, so true, so true. Dude is obsessed with Rachel, forever and always. And it's kind of interesting how Rachel is often interrupting Will and Emma's ~moments. You'd think that role would go to Terri, but, nope, it's Rachel more often than not. Which just makes me love her more than I already do, BECAUSE HAVE I MENTIONED HOW MUCH I ABHOR WILL/EMMA? YES? TOO MUCH? Okay. No, but seriously, Emma better stay with Carl and be super happy and have adorable babies with him and appreciate the fact that he's a supportive husband who actually cares about what she needs and isn't completely obsessed with himself. Just, Carl is so good for her. Never have I liked Emma more than I have since she's been with Carl, and PLEASE SHOW, DON'T LET THEM BREAK UP. I'm hoping that the show will be unpredictable for a change and just drop the Will/Emma and Rachel/Finn storylines, because the show has run its course with those. Just chalk it up to "not meant to be" romances and let them move on to other people. PLEASE. Rachel/Finn isn't quite as offensive as Will/Emma is, but season 2 Rachel is not my favorite Rachel, and I think it's mostly because Finn's boringness kind of rubs off on her. And, I'm sorry, but Finn being all high and mighty and breaking up with Rachel over her making out with Puck? Uh... didn't he makeout with Rachel when he was still dating Quinn? So, yeah, Rachel should just forget his hypocritical ass and move on to someone new, preferably someone who does not dim her spirit. Remember Jesse? Aside from the whole deceit thing (and the eggs *sniff*) Jesse was the perfect boyfriend for Rachel. He was hilarious and egotistical and douchey and he handled numerous things badly, but he somehow made Rachel shine even brighter. Finn... kind of just drags her down. He was a good first boyfriend, but that's all he should really be.

OH GOD, WHY AM I TALKING ABOUT GLEE IN SUCH OBSESSIVE DETAIL? Last night I listened to Endless Love on repeat for like an hour. THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BECOME. Also, I watched Matt and Lea singing "Damn it, Janet" more times than is healthy:



*swoons*

Oh, oh, more fic recs! This is probably the last of them, because I'm pretty positive that I have now checked out every single Will/Rachel fic in existence, which saddens me:

mon petit volcan by goddesspharo - A very short piece, but I adored the format and how the author got so much across in such few words. That last line is so tragically true, which kind of breaks my heart.

Confessional by plazmah - This one is an episode coda from season 1 where they went to the Invitational, and it captures their relationship within canon pretty darn well, while also leaving it open-ended for something to happen between them in the future, and I really enjoyed it.

This City Is For Strangers - by youcallitwinter - This one is so, so good. The format is a little confusing, I suppose, since the author makes Will so rambley with all those parentheticals, but I am kind of fond of that style myself, so I enjoyed what the author did with it here. Anyway, this one was a great insight into Will's conflicted feelings for Rachel (conflicted meaning that he goes from frustrated to amused to angry to fond to frustrated again whenever he sees her), and I love how their conversation is so very awkward and yet Rachel is so straightforward but you can feel her embarrassment/uncomfortableness whenever she brings up her past crush on Will and she is just so very her, and the ending, oh, the ending! The ending is utter perfection. And this fic takes on a theme of Rachel being so many almost-things to Will and it was such an awesome assessment of their relationship, and... yeah, I loved this one.

---

In other news, I have now seen the first ep of Dream High, and I am kind of in love with it. I suppose the episode itself was kind of directionless through much of the first 45 minutes, but for now I will just chalk that up to the show having to get out a whole lot of background info on a whole lot of characters in a short period of time in order to get the story rolling by the second episode. I was not enchanted by what I assume is the main love story (Hye Mi and Taecyeon's character), but I was pretty in love with Go Hye Mi. She reminds me a bit of Rachel Berry, if I'm honest, only with the poise and bitchiness of Quinn Fabray thrown in. I've seen a lot complaints about Hye Mi, but I guess I just have a thing for blunt, overbearing, egotistical characters who have completely alienated themselves from everyone around them and are basically their own downfall. The show has to make her sympathetic to the audience at large, so I'm sure the world will just keep knocking her down and she'll eventually learn how to be humble and what friendship is and all that jazz, but it is just refreshing to have an imperfect heroine on a k-drama geared toward the younger crowd. And when I say imperfect, I guess I mean a heroine who does not do the noble thing and is in no way the nice girl. Her flaws are in her personality and not her social standing (although she is the rich girl gone poor, so I guess her social standing is an obstacle, too). Basically, I look forward to watching this character grow, and it is not often with this type of show where I am into the character more than the romance. As much as I love k-dramas, the heroines are often not all that complex (City Hall being the exception), so it's nice to see a heroine who may actually get legitimate character development.

On the downside, the hero is boring. Boring boring boring, but I guess the show hasn't really gone into detail with him yet, so that could change. But it's just interesting how I don't really mind when the heroine is plucky and flawlessly noble and kind of one note, but when it's the hero that is that way, I just don't find him challenging enough for the heroine. I don't know. It's weird. But because of my disinterest in the hero, I found myself shipping Hye Mi with the most inappropriate dudes ever. I freaking loved her chemistry with the teacher who had seduced her mother. Just, the way she flummoxed him, it was adorable! I don't know how that dude is so charming considering the fact that he was the cause of Hye Mi's parents' divorce and he kind of fails at being a teacher, but I am in love with him. But then, BUT THEN came her face-off with Bae Yong Jun's character, and GOOD LORD WAS THAT INTENSE. I loved it. LOVED IT. And, yes, if he becomes her mentor, I will end up shipping the crap out of that.

I'm guessing that Hye Mi's friend will become the villain? Which is quite a twist since she started out with the traits of the typical heroine of a k-drama while Hye Mi started with the traits of a typical villain. I am interested to see where the show takes these characters.

I hate tumblr! I hate I hate I HATE STUPID TUMBLR! (I was totally channeling Hook there, did you notice? No? Too dorky for you? Okay. Oh gosh, through related videos I just found this, AND IT IS AMAZING! Ahahaha, had that song existed when I was 6, I would have been obsessed with it). Anyway, before I got sidetracked there, I was talking about my ire for Tumblr. UGH, I HATE IT. What is up with the search function? Why do people tag stuff so drastically different so that I CAN'T FIND ANYTHING? How do I make the pictures/posts bigger so that I can actually SEE them? My poor, poor eyes are straining like the constipated devil on a toilet. Ugh, why is all the good stuff at that confounding website? Hmph. And now, when I go to tumblr.com, it won't let me search without signing up first. WTF is that? Bastards. I guess I have to make one eventually since most of my flist has set up shop there, but ugh. I DON'T LIKE IT. Mind you, I always say that about new things, and then once I get used to them I fall in love, but... I HATE TUMBLR.

My reasoning for venturing to Tumblr, as you may have well guessed, is that I've pretty much replaced Jeff/Annie in my heart with Will/Rachel. HOW DID THIS EVEN HAPPEN? I mean, I've always shipped them, but I've never really been into the fandom aspect of them because I do NOT want to get so ridiculously invested in them, because if I get invested in something on Glee, I AM BOUND FOR HEARTBREAK. Just, no, world, DON'T LET ME GET INVESTED. But here I am, reading awful fic about them and enjoying it, obsessively watching their scenes together and finding all the little things that I had missed before, drooling over pretty GIFs and picspams, and... well, I am doomed. Doomed doomed doomed. At least Jeff/Annie has a tiny chance of happening! Will/Rachel? Nothing. Nada. Not a chance in hell. BUT THEY ARE BOTH SO BEAUTIFULLY AWFUL THAT THEY ARE PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER. I don't know how, but when they're together, they just become better people, even though they are both so self-centered and obsessed with success. They are able to really see each other in a way that no one else can (and they have trouble seeing other people with the same clarity, hence their unluckiness in love). They see each other's flaws and they see each other's potential for greatness and they see each other's fragility and insecurities despite their giantass egos and they care about each other's opinions and, they just... well, LOOK AT THEM!



♥ ♥ ♥

I am depressed though that there are so few fics out there for these two. And what there is is pretty lacking. However, I have manged to come upon a few good ones:

The Map is not the Territory by kitsune13 - By far the greatest Will/Rachel fic out there. It is amazing from start to finish and so magnificently in character that it jives with canon superbly well.

Peer Review, also by kitsune13 - You know, when I finally decided that I was going to read Will/Rachel fic, I was particularly looking for a future fic where Rachel comes back to McKinley High and gets to be Will's colleague and they argue in the same adorable/hot way that they did when Rachel was in glee, but this fic kind of took that idea and made it even better than I had imagined, where Will briefly becomes Sue and Rachel becomes Will and it's hilarious, but then they also connect to each other as equals and discover this whole new relationship and it's just awesome. I love it.

Ordinary Thursdays by milk_and_glass - A bit of an angsty take on Will/Rachel. I love the poeticness of this one.

I Wish (We Were Older) by ideaofglam - I think I mainly liked this one because the Rachel voice was so flawless. It's pretty much just porn, but the author so beautifully captured the intensity of Rachel Berry's personality that I simply could not resist it.

And, just to tempt you all further, have this vid (which I have linked to before, possibly more than once, but it is so spectacular that I simply don't care that I'm being repetitive):



*dreamy sigh*

PS
I think I've figured out how to go directly to those posts on that tumblr with the tiny entries in order to make them bigger! Woohoo, go me! (it is so sad that I'm proud of myself for such things)

You know, pretty much through the entirety of season 2 of Glee, every time I see Will's face I just want to punch it (and often times I go, "Ugh, what a DOUCHE!" every time he opens his mouth), but after seeing this vid, I realized that I'm actually slightly in love with him whenever he looks at Rachel:



THAT RIGHT THERE IS WHY I SHIP THESE TWO. They are so adorable. And hey, remember when Will used to be an inspiring teacher? I miss that. It made him more endearing. I mean, there was a time when I legitimately loved Will. I was never really in love with him, but I at least appreciated him as a character, and I am a total sucker for stories about teachers who inspire their students, and, just... I miss not thinking "OMG DOUCHEBAG!" every time I see his stupid face (I say that with affection. Really, I do!)

I AM NOW IN POSSESSION OF THE NEW SUGARLAND ALBUM! Which doesn't get released until next Tuesday. IT IS SO, SO WONDERFUL. GO BUY THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE ON TUESDAY. OR, PURCHASE IT FROM ITUNES, BECAUSE IT IS SO, SO, SO, SO GLORIOUS. I am hoping that the one they release on Tuesday is a deluxe edition and will have more songs, because my only real complaint is that I WANT MOOOOOOOORE. They actually sang more than half of the songs on this album at the concert that I went to, so I had heard quite a bit of it already. I adore how it sounds so very different from their previous albums (and actually, their last album sounded very different from their previous ones as well), so, I am enjoying how they keep sort of reinventing their sound while still keeping their same wonderful Sugarland flair. THEY ARE AMAZING, I LOVE THEM SO FREAKING MUCH.

In other news, I really enjoyed Glee last night. Particularly the Kurt/Rachel duet. And the fact that they actually managed to bring some depth to the Brittany character. I found Rachel and Finn to be conceited beyond belief, especially since everyone else's duets totally kicked their asses, but, what else is new? Actually, I felt that they sang that Born Again song way better than they did "Don't go Breaking My Heart" (and, really, during the whole Don't Go Breaking My Heart sequence all I could think was, "Ugh, they really can't even compare to the awesomeness of Marshall and Lily." So, apparently, I've gotten it into my head that Marshall and Lily from HIMYM are the ONLY characters allowed to sing that song now).

Raising Hope was so utterly hilarious. They pulled off the whole family portrait storyline so much better than Modern Family did, particularly getting the genuinely happy family moment. I'M SORRY, YOU KNOW I LOVE MODERN FAMILY, but yeah, this show did it in a much more natural/believable/non-gagable way. I particularly loved the flashback of them in the ski suits in 90 degree weather and Burt getting his boot stuck between the pedals. And Jimmy eating his hair. And Maw Maw singing the song after Virginia kicked the radio in. Basically, I loved everything about the episode. I'm pretty sure this is my favorite new show of the year.

Running Wilde was also completely hilarious. Particularly the overly long montage of Steve not knowing how to wash a car. Also, MULTIPLE MAN KISSES. And Fa'ad's New York accent! It was a cute ep.

Also, last night I finished watching this K-drama called I am Sam, and most people say it's total crack and not very good and they only watched it for T.O.P. but you know what? I FREAKING LOVED THIS DRAMA. Which probably shouldn't be surprising since it was a teacher/student romance that was also about a hapless teacher being inspiring to students that everyone else had given up on. It totally had a bit of a Dead Poets' Society vibe to it. Also, the show itself was so ridiculously hilarious, and the romance was super adorable and surprisingly deep by the end of the series, and despite the fact that the girl's father was a mobster, there really wasn't that much high drama in this (the last episode was a bit ridiculous in the drama department, but not as ridiculous as most dramas with a similar relationship). I think the only thing I was disappointed with was the ending, because, well, it was a little jarring, but hey, at least it was happy!

You know, since I'm American.

Glee - UGH UGH UGH WHAT WAS THAT ATROCITY? Not only did my eyes suffer, but so did my ears. UGH. I simply should not have watched a Britney Spears themed episode, because 1) I've always despised Britney Spears music, 2) I knew it would be a disturbingly sexual episode and I don't care to see any of these kids in an overtly sexual way (except perhaps for Puck), and 3) the theme episodes always suck ass. They just do. And to top it all off, this ep featured the return of Will/Emma, and what do you know? Will comes off as a complete douche even when we're supposed to feel sorry for him. I am now convinced that it's just Matthew Morrison's acting choice, because he didn't really say anything completely douchey, it was just the way he said it. Ugh. I hate who he is when he's with Emma, and I hate how Emma is constantly talking about how great he is, because he's clearly not great. But at least this time Emma was able to see how ridiculous Will was being, and how he's not such a great catch after all. I vote that she stays with Carl, even though Carl is kind of a smug douchebag, but it sort of works for him? Speaking of Carl, the bit where Brittany is, like, sexing him up on the dentist chair in her hallucination disturbed me an enormous amount. GROSS. I was even disturbed by Rachel's performance of "Hit Me Baby One More Time." She just seemed awkward there, especially after Brittany and Santana, both of whom do the skanky dancing in a sort of wonderful (if disturbing) way. The only musical number I enjoyed was Artie's "Stronger". It was the only song that truly seemed to fit in the story. The sappy Rachel number at the end was clearly shoe-horned in, but at least it brought an emotional conclusion to the Rachel/Finn stuff (and made them not so horrible as a couple). But what I really hated was the stuff with the Jacob kid. He was so disgustingly obscene in this ep that I never, EVER want to see him again. EVER. Uuuuuuugh. It was not funny. Not funny at all. Sue's freakout about a Britney Spears induced sex riot, however, was kind of hilarious. Anyway, this ep gets two thumbs way, way down, and if they do another Britney Spears episode, I will most definitely skip it. Ugh, it was so awful. Never do that again, show. Also, YOU DON'T NEED TO BE PUT TO SLEEP FOR CAVITIES. WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT? I am looking forward to next week though, because it looks like it'll be about Kurt and his dad, and those are always my favorite episodes.

Raising Hope - SO CUTE! I love this show way more than I should. The biggest laughs always come from Mee Maw doing something really, really gross. Also, I loved Jimmy's V-neck, ahahahaha.

Running Wilde - SO HILARIOUS. Okay, so, I wasn't really laughing until David Cross showed up, but, you know, he and Will Arnett were so hilarious together that it totally made up for the lackluster first half of the episode. I have a feeling that I'll end up shipping Steve/Andy. Or Fa'ad/Steve. Also, I find that Emmy/Andy is way funnier than Emmy/Steve. In fact, everything on this show is way funnier than Emmy/Steve, but luckily, rather than focusing on them too much the show just kind of uses them as a sort of anchor to bring all the craziness together, which is good. But they are still my least favorite thing about the show. But as long as the show keeps bringing the Steve/Andy hilarity, I will keep watching. And I have such a weird fondness for Fa'ad that it's alarming.

How I Met Your Mother - IT MADE ME CRY! AGAIN! Oh, show, you are so back to your old, charming, wonderful ways. Seriously, that montage where Barney realizes everything that his mother did for him, gah, I cried so hard. This episode reminded me of why I originally fell in love with Barney. Last season I was so damn sick of him, but oh, this episode, it was so wonderful. Especially him trying to get in on the Wayne Brady/Ben Vareen duet. ♥

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In Kim Seung Woo news, THAT NONE OF YOU CARE ABOUT, I managed to find a boxset of Mr. Duke on Amazon for about $16.00 (it is normally $70.00, so, GOOD DEAL), and OMG, I love it! I needed to see something where he actually gets the girl, and this drama is so darn adorable. It's a bit slow in some parts, but all the bits with KSW are fantastic. Also, he's been shirtless about four times already, and he is often shown drenched in water or water will be beautifully dripping off his face as the sunlight hits him just so and the shot goes into slow-mo, and basically, this show is totally catering to me. HE IS SO DAMN BEAUTIFUL! And his character in this is completely noble and sweet and playful and badass and adorable. I am loving it so very much. So glad that I decided to buy it.




♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

GLEE! Glee was fun, then sad, then fun again, then sappy, then sad again. So, you know, still up to its After School Special tricks, but... I love it anyway? ESPECIALLY MIKE'S ABS, HOLY CRAP. I love Beiste, even though she was introduced through a super corny storyline, but I kind of love that the show went in the direction with her that it did. Like, you would think she wouldn't take crap from Sue and Will, and for awhile she wasn't, but then we got to see the after-effects of bullying, and I kind of love that a show about high school chose to approach the bullying storyline through the adults instead of the kids. It was just an interesting choice, and quite effective. Anyway, there was nothing all that standoutish about this ep, but I did love the very beginning and how it basically pointed out everything that the fans of the show have been saying for awhile.

I also watched Raising Hope, and as I suspected, this show is so super adorable! Not as funny as My Name is Earl was in season 1, but it's got that same sort of balance between heart-warming moments and hilariously offensive humor. There is one moment where the senile grandmother mistakes her grandson for her dead husband and frenches him and I just busted out laughing. SO GROSS YET SO DELIGHTFUL. And of course I loved every scene with the baby, because I am a sucker for such things. So, this show definitely has potential.

Running Wilde I did not expect to enjoy, but this show actually got the most laughs out of me the whole night. The premise is still pretty unappealing to me, but the humor makes up for the plot in spades. Will Arnett is perfection in this, and his neighbor was so, so hilarious. The setup of Will's character with Keri Russel's character was terribly rushed and I just could not get invested in this aspect of the show, but it's pretty much the basis for the entire plot, so uh... hopefully the show will improve there. Their chemistry is fine, it's just hard to care about their romance at this point in time, but I get that this was the pilot and they wanted to throw them together as soon as possible in order to get the real story going. But anyway, I loved the absurdist humor in this so very much, especially the pony jokes, so, I'll probably keep watching.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that last night I highly enjoyed How I Met Your Mother. Lily and Marshall made me cry! They made me cry! The show hasn't managed to do that since season 2, I think. Maybe season 3. That episode was just so utterly fantastic and reminiscent of the HIMYM of old, where it makes me laugh ridiculously hard one minute and burst into tears the next because I love these people so much. I think the emotional attachment to the characters is what was missing during season 5.