Random Christmas Whining

Right now I'm watching an awesome episode of Spongebob -- but it's not the Christmas episode. No, Nickelodeon for some reason thinks people would prefer to watch the random season 4/5/6/7 episodes tomorrow instead of the stinking amazing CHRISTMAS SPECIAL, which not only is one of my favorite episodes but also one of my favorite Christmas specials.

They're showing it, sure, but at 8:30 in the morning. Who's going to be awake to watch it? And the Fairly OddParents Christmas special, which is also great, is being shown at 11:30, slightly more manageable but still obnoxious since it's sandwiched between some show I'd never watch and iCarly. WHY YOU DO THIS NICKELODEON

At least Cartoon Network has my back. For the first time in YEARS, they're showing my favorite: Olive the Other Reindeer. It's SO GOOD and I LOVE IT and I haven't seen it in such a long time. I'M SO HAPPY. I gasped when I saw it was going to be on.

It's actually going to be on in less than 20 minutes so, um, yeah, I know what I'll be spending the next hour doing. And then I'm going to read! Or play video games! I love Christmas Eve!

Have a decent holiday (or if you celebrate Chanukah, as I do, but only Chanukah, as I don't, then, well, enjoy doing whatever you do on Christmas. Get up at 8:30 and watch the SpongeBob special?)

I have 3 posts left so I think I'm going to do one of those generic Best-Of things, despite the fact that much of my year every year is lived in the past, culturally. But I'll try.

Moody Dudes

I've been saving that name for FOREVER. Isn't that just a perfect band/album/song name? Yes. It is.

Anyway, I'm tired/annoyed so here are just some songs to listen to and think about:

"You Love Me" by DeVotchKa



"When you said you loved me, I thought you loved me." Included on the soundtrack to Little Miss Sunshine, one of my favorite cinematic worlds to get lost in.

"I Can See Your Tracks" by Laura Veirs



"Oh, I can see your tracks, but I won't follow them. I'll just hope for rain, or some kind of crazy wind, to erase them, and chase them into oblivion." It's on a cell phone commercial of some kind, but don't let that deter you from listening to this beautiful song...It's currently the most-played track on my new computer, an easy feat when every other song has been listened to a grand total of zero times.

"Between the Bars" by Elliott Smith



"I'll kiss you again, between the bars." Well, this is perfect.

"Go On, Say It" by Blind Pilot



"A hitchhiker once told me I don't talk a lot. Made me feel fine, made me quiet." That line is one of my favorites out of any song that I've heard. I wish I had written that. I wish I was talented enough to write anything half this great.

"Ghost Town" by First Aid Kit



"If you've got visions of the past, let them follow you down. They'll come back to you, some day." I've been singing this line a lot lately. (I am by no stretch of the imagination a "good" singer so I probably am doing a disservice to the song by singing it.) Just wonderful.

"So Nice So Smart" by Kimya Dawson



"You're so nice and you're so smart." For some reason I started thinking about this song a lot lately, despite not having heard it since whenever the last time I watched Juno was (at least a year ago). Something about it just really stuck with me. It's very simple, very listenable. (Not to mention the silly "I like my new bunny suit, when I wear it I look cute" line that I also like a lot.)

Guess I could have made a much easier to listen to playlist but I'm feeling difficult. Good night.

Caution: Disturbing Golden Globes Nominations Rant/"Analysis" As Maddeningly Typed Out by Newly 17-Year-Old Below

I'm an awards show junkie. I believe I've established this?

Yeah. Unfortunately the Golden Globes are widely regarded ("widely" = by me, and maybe only me) as the worst of the big shows, but they are the most perfect fodder for my constant girlish rage at all things movie/TV-related so by gum, I shall watch them! And I shall obsess over the freak show nominations that the HFPA makes! And I shall force you to endure this obsession via posting about it in capital letters! AHA! Also I'm obligated to watch the Golden Globes and all of the above and everything because Ricky Gervais is hosting (again) and that man deserves my constant attention. (I'm of the teeny tiny camp that believes that Extras is better than The Office, but I hold this view only because I find the former funnier. The Office is more significant and I will never deny that. 'Cuz I know you care so much?)

So, let's start with the Big Ones:
Best Motion Picture: Drama

• Black Swan
• The Fighter
• Inception
• The King's Speech
• The Social Network

Okay, actually, there isn't much to rant about here. This list seems to be pretty standard as far as this awards season is going, although the inclusion of Inception really does sort of confuse me. I REALLY liked the movie, but I don't know. It had problems. Maybe they're nominating it because, like me, the HFPA loves Leo and JGL? Hmm? Maybe? Yes? But other than that, actually, this category is alright. I'm betting on Social Network, which was great, although I haven't compared the reviews between it and Black Swan, The Fighter, and The King's Speech enough to be sure. (Although I think Speech is really its only true competition.)

Best Motion Picture - Comedy

• Alice in Wonderland
• Burlesque
• The Kids Are All Right
• Red
• The Tourist

This. Category. Is. A. Load. of. AWFUL HORRIBLE TERRIBLE-NESS-NESS-NESS I MEAN AAAGH WHAT? WHAT? WHAAAAAT? (Here be the Caps Lock abuse.) HOW IS ALICE IN WONDERLAND A COMEDY OR WORTHY OF ANY SORT OF "MAIN" AWARD? BURLESQUE GOT MIDDLING REVIEWS SO HUH? WHAT? SINCE WHEN WAS THE TOURIST A COMEDY? AND RED OVER SOMETHING WITH MORE CONSISTENTLY POSITIVE REVIEWS LIKE SCOTT PILGRIM? Okay, Scott Pilgrim was divisive and those foreigners at the HFPA, I could see them not "getting" it. BUT STILL. I think it was the funniest movie I saw this year SO OBVIOUSLY THAT SHOULD MEAN SOMETHING CONSIDERING THIS IS "BEST COMEDY" RIGHT? AAAAAH. This is the WORST slate of noms in ANY category that I've seen since maybe the 2008 Oscars when Ben Button was considered a serious contender despite the fact that it wasn't that great and Slumdog Millionaire won over Milk which, in my opinion, was MUCH better. UGH. I HATE THIS.

Best Television Series - Drama

• Boardwalk Empire
• Dexter
• The Good Wife
• Mad Men
• The Walking Dead

This category irks me. I'll get to Comedy in a second (or minute or ten minutes) but why does that have 6 nominees and this 5? Asymmetrical! Asymmetrical! Why Boardwalk Empire and not Breaking Stinkin' Bad, man? When everyone who knows anything in TV knows that this season was one of its best? For that matter, which seasons of these shows are the nominations based on, considering that seasons end in May and start in September? Are they based on last season? End of last and beginning of the current season? It's extremely non-sensical. Thankfully, I don't really care too much about drama other than a couple of things so this looks otherwise normal. I believe that this will become the standard and we'll see Walking Dead nom'd at the Emmys next year. But we're not seeing Boardwalk Empire, I know that's for sure... Who knows though?

Best Television Series - Comedy (and Musical)

• The Big Bang Theory
• The Big C
• Glee
• Modern Family
• Nurse Jackie
• 30 Rock

I still don't get it. Nurse Jackie is a comedy? Huh? I really need to get Showtime. I thought The Big C wasn't supposed to be very good? And again: six nominees? Really? Was that necessary? Glee won last year and if it wins again I don't think I'll ever watch the Globes ever again. Really. That's just wrong. Glee is a fun guilty pleasure, not a serious awards contender. As always I'm rooting for 30 Rock, which has been consistently wonderful all season-long. Plus I bet the HFPA is in love with Matt Damon (Carol! CAROL!) so come on, guys! Do it for Matt!

Best Animated Film

• Despicable Me
• How to Train Your Dragon
• The Illusionist
• Tangled
• Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3. Easily. I LOVED How to Train Your Dragon but Toy Story 3 was one of the best movies I've ever seen. It really was. I am madly in love with that movie. I felt like this was an especially strong year for animation, so I'm sad that the Oscars are going to only nominate three films. I think this is a great list, covering all of the bases.

So the big categories are sort of lopsided, obviously...Motion Picture Comedy is so wretched, and TV Drama is weird...but other than that, these noms are safe and as expected.

Acting is a whole other story.

DRAMATIC PAUSE.

That's an overstatement. It's really not that bad. It's just the Motion Picture Comedy category again...

Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy

• Johnny Depp for The Tourist
• Johnny Depp for Alice in Wonderland
• Paul Giamatti for Barney's Version
• Jake Gyllenhaal (TWO A'S) for Love and Other Drugs
• Kevin Spacey for Casino Jack

Okay. Okay. WHAT. IS. THIS. OHOHO JOHNNY DEPP VS. JOHNNY DEPP HOW FUNNY. I assume that's where the "Comedy" in the title comes from, yes? Because THESE MOVIES ARE NOT COMEDIES. MY GOD. Okay, well, perhaps Barney's Version and Casino Jack are, but considering that NEITHER ARE OUT IN THEATRES YET, it's hard to tell. I'm getting a feeling that the HFPA gives preference to movies that premiered at foreign film festivals or something because that's the only way this can work. I mean. Dayum. And what the freak, isn't Love and Other Drugs about how Anne Hathaway has Parkinson's Disease or something? Huh? Jake Gyll! Explain this to me! BLAAARGLE.

Yes, I know this blog is well-written/articulate, never resorting to childish nonsense words. Thank you for noticing.

Some other things of note because I'm getting tired of re-typing the ENITRE list for each category again:

• Piper Perabo for TV Supporting in Covert Affairs: what the crud is this doing here?
• Katey Segal for Sons of Anarchy in TV Supporting: very nicely done, HFPA, very nicely done.
• Scott Caan for Hawaii Five-O in TV Supporting: ...um
• Julia Stiles for Dexter in TV Supporting: Julia Stiles is awful. Awful.
• No Armie Hammer for The Social Network in Motion Picture Supporting: what the what? He was so good though! (At least we've got Andrew Garfield.)
• Halle Berry for Frankie and Alice in Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama: I consider myself reasonably aware of what's going on in the industry but I can't say I've ever heard of this movie, so obviously I'm confused. 

You know what's annoying? This post isn't even that long but it took me an hour and a half to write. I'm sure that "half" comes from just trying to find the list in a properly formatted way, so thanks to IMDb for being the only place that organizes the nominations properly.

Also, I'm really upset about the lack of Yogi Bear, The Nutcracker 3D, and Marmaduke nominations. I was so sure that those three were going to sweep the categories! 

p.s. misleading title is misleading? discuss

I Hate Computers (Or, Allegra's Favorite Time "Wasters" That are Actually Great Uses of Your Time Assuming You Have Nothing Important to Do)

Because MY computer crashed I now have a vendetta against all computers. This is how a rational person...rationalizes?

Mehhhh.

If my computer was working I'd be finishing my college applications. Actually, I'd be procrastinating on finishing them. Now I can't even do that! Well, technically I AM procrastinating, sort of, just now I have a valid excuse.

Here are my invalid excuses:

Style Rookie: At the risk of sounding creepy I've been reading this girl's (Tavi, age FOURTEEN) blog for almost 2 years now. It's about fashion, which, if you know me in person (I bet you do, too) is like the antithesis of my being. That's actually extremely hyperbolic (as is the use of "extremely"!), I think fashion is great, especially Tavi's fashion sense considering she's barely a teenager. I'm just really lazy (not a stretch of the truth in any sense) and self-conscious and cheap and lazy and repetitive.

The thing about fashion bloggers is that their blogs are always very accessible and fun to read, even for people like me whose pictures show up in the thesaurus as the antonym of fashionable. Tavi likes Freaks and Geeks and that's good enough for me. (Seeing her in all of these magazines is a strange experience for me, just like how every time I walk past Forever 21 and see the girl from The Stylish Wanderer, another blog I read, I freak out. I remember reading these blogs when they would get at most 60 comments! Which is still a lot but now they get so many more and are on advertisements and it's insane! And recently I was reading some magazine and they had Keiko Lynn and Jane from Sea of Shoes and Arabelle of Fashion Pirates and I was just like, WOW, this is nuts. Yes, I read way too many fashion blogs. I know. You can stop laughing at me. Really. Please. Thanks.)

Oh No They Didn't!: I always get randomly obsessed with this site. Once a month or so I'll go on here because I'm bored and have an essay due the next day and then I'll just go on it every day for the rest of the week. The thing is, I consider myself somewhat culturally aware and yet I don't understand half of the posts on here. But the posts I do understand are great. And I like the comments section, if mostly for people's icons. The terminology they force themselves to use can be grating ("I agree" = "ia," "My thoughts exactly" = "mte," etc. which seems obvious but totally isn't so urgh go away) but so can I! Also their layout is purple, and purple is a nice color, so I am obligated to enjoy this site. See: red, yellow, light brown.

NeoGAF: I've mentioned this site before. The number one video gaming forum/news aggregate on the Internet, NeoGAF also has an entertaining Off-Topic section. Okay, so half of the jokes are just stolen from the site that rhymes with More-Can, but at least GAFfers don't sic their hounds on people and there's no porn or anything. Although my NeoGAF primer consists of: 1. Do NOT join the website 2. Do NOT read Girl-Age threads for fear of being sucked in 3. Do NOT read OTs for a popular game you like but know is divisive because you WILL get mad. (P.S. I break rule number 2 all the time. Girl-Age threads can be hilarious.)

Sporcle: So fun. Usually I resist phenomena like I resist laughing in classrooms (I said I was self-conscious bruh) but this is the one thing the people I have had the "fortune" to attend school with for the last 13 years got right. Sporcle is full of "fun stimulating mental diversions," AKA "Games that Allegra Must Play, Preferably Late at Night, Preferably with Her Sister." And she does! I recommend games that involve video clips or naming as many episodes of a show as you can. I also like the ones where you have to write out all of the lyrics to a theme song in a minute or so. SO fun.

IMDb forums (fora?): Only if you feel like dropping your IQ a couple hundred points. Yes, IMDb forums will knock your IQ into the negatives. I recommend going on the Jon and Kate Plus 8 forum because it is the most hilarious forum in the WORLD. An alternative to this for the people who are fond of their brain cells would be TWOP (aka, Television Without Pity for those averse to cutesy acronyms). TWOP has some really bad threads, too, but overall it's a better moderated and thus better reading. Check out the America's Next Top Model and Teen Mom threads/boards for all of the LULZ and insight you can handle. TWOP-ites are nasty, and I love 'em for it.

I think you've got enough fodder for preventing you from getting anything done for weeks now. Yeah, you're welcome.

The Problem with iPods

OKAY. SO. ALL CAPS TIME, PEOPLE:

My BLEEDING iPod, whom I named Floyd after Jason Sudeikis' wonderful character on 30 Rock, has decided to stop scrobbling my play counts WHICH I AM QUITE OBSESSED WITH MAINTAINING. OKAY, FLOYD, BE A JERK. THAT'S TOTALLY COOL. REALLY.

I'm going to murder this iPod one day. If only it wasn't so shiny and red and otherwise quite competent. BLARGH.

Since listening to my iPod is a worrisome process now, since Floyd is apparently extremely finicky and I guess only likes me listening to, like, "Move Your Feet" by Junior Senior as opposed to the album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel like I'd RATHER be listening to (even though "Move Your Feet" is a really awesome song, it's probably one of the only songs my iPod will actually properly sync these days and it's frustrating, urgh), here's a little playlist of the songs I'd actually be "jamming" to, once again, if Floyd WASN'T SUCH A BRAT. Yeah, Floyd. You stay in Cleveland. YOU STAY IN CLEVELAND UNTIL YOU UNDERSTAND HOW TO LOVE A WOMAN. ;_;



Create a playlist at MixPod.com

1. "Ghost" by Neutral Milk Hotel
From Aeroplane Over the Sea, this song is my latest favorite. Jeff Mangum, who if his last name was a Latin neuter singular noun as it looks to be would be called Jeff Manga in the plural, is/was a talented songwriter, even though his lyrics are quite out there sometimes (see: "The King of Carrot Flowers," Pts. 1, 2, and 3, the second of which features the repetition of "I love you, Jesus Christ/Jesus Christ, I love you, yes, I do"). This song can be a bit odd in parts but overall I think it's coherent. Either way it's wonderful. And the transition from this to the next song on the album, "Untitled," is perfect. Favorite line: "One day in New York City, baby/a girl fell from the sky/from the top of a burning building/fourteen stories high."

2. "Becoming a Jackal" by Villagers
Hopefully you remember this brother from a post I created a week ago by literally banging around violently on the keyboard until something made sense. Not to discredit this guy or that song ("That Day") but that post was extremely lazy. I'll make up for it by waxing philosophical about this song! Hahaha, just kidding. I do love this song, though. It's just very sweet and a little idealistic, maybe, and it just sounds like the musings of a dreamer. That's why my favorite line is: "I was a dreamer/staring out windows/out onto the main street/'cause that's where the dream goes."

3. "The Transfiguration" by Sufjan Stevens
This song is great, but something about it puts me off. The whole "Lost in a cloud/a voice/Have no fear!/We draw near!," although my favorite part of the song, sounds really familiar: it sounds like Stevens' "Chicago!" Apparently I'm not the only one to think so, either. The comments there say that they hear "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get Us!" as well but I haven't noticed that yet. Let's listen to it again...together. It's interesting how this song is SO EXPLICITLY about God and yet no one would consider Soof a Christian artist...at least, not in the same way as, like, Relient K (whose song "Sadie Hawkins Dance" I just listened to, haha) are. It's also interesting that much of his fanbase is made up of completely non-religious people. Favorite line: "Lost in the cloud/a sign/Son of man!Son of God!"

4. "Firework" by Katy Perry
Wow, this is a fantastically weird transition. I personally think "Firework" is an awful song; so then, why is it on my list of songs I wanna listen to? (Please note, this song is not on my iPod.) It's because it's in that Just Dance 2 commercial! The version in that commercial is a much catchier remix of the boring and conventional original, so I like that one better. "Firework" is probably the most boring Katy Perry song I've heard, honestly, but it is also one of the catchiest. It's ALWAYS stuck in my head. Always! Favorite line: "Baby, you're a firework/Come on let your colors burst/Make 'em scream/"Aah, aah, aah!"/You're gonna leave 'em all in/awe, awe, awe!"

5. "Each and Every Day" by Best Coast
I think a lot of people find this band to be overrated, but I really like them! They just make simple "surf pop." All of their songs are about wanting people to be their boyfriends, or being hopelessly in love with people, and their lyrics are just simple and cutesy; the music itself is catchy and fun. What's to dislike? I think this is my favorite song by them (not that I know that many, I only know 3), and you know, now that I think about it, it's the saddest one of theirs that I know. Actually, no, that's "Boyfriend." But with lines like "You will never fall in love" this comes close. Also I like this song because it mentions being seventeen and I'M seventeen so obviously we are perfect for each other and are going to get married. Favorite line: "Everything I said to you last night might have been crazy/but I want you to know that I meant it/I meant it/I meant it/Oh, baby!"

6. "My Night With the Prostitute from Marseille" by Beirut
I love dramatic singers. Zach Condon, which is an unfortunate last name I'd think, is one such dramatic guy. "And weeeee/belieeeeeeeved/her thennnn/oh, ohhhhh" is the line that justified my purchase of this song. Even though I bought it for $0 from Amazon. But still! I don't know a ton of Beirut songs, just this and "Scenic World" and something else, but I should check them out, I guess. (I really like this song despite this seemingly apathetic review!) Favorite line: "And now/outside/I see your eyes meet the sky/and I/I won't lie/I kept you hear tonight." Subtly sad.

7. "I'm in Love" by Antony and the Johnsons
My favorite drama king! Just a great voice. This new album of his seems to be his happiest ever, if this song is any indication. It's definitely the least depressing thing I've ever heard him sing, and I've heard him cover "Crazy in Love." I read a review that said that in this song Antony sounds like he's about to "pass out" from his delirious, mad loving and I think that's apt. Favorite line: "I've been touched/oh, I've been touched/It means too much/it means too much!"

8. "Black Sheep" by Metric
From Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, this was the song by The Clash at Demonhead. The music was one of the best parts of this movie, and this song was my favorite! It's just a great song to listen to; a sing-along, I promise you, you will want to sing along to constantly. It's just plain addicting. Try not singing the chorus!: "Send you my love/on a wire/Lifts you up/every time/Everyone/ooh, pulls away/Ooh, from you!" Love it. Favorite line: "Hello/again/friend of a friend/I knew you when/our common goal/was waiting for/the world to end."

9. "Holiday" by Vampire Weekend
You may recognize this song from one of the 12,000 commercials it features on at the moment, most notably a car commercial and a preppy clothing commercial. Floyd and I, we get it. This is the perfect time for this song to get popular; it's holiday season! It's about a holiday! Although I always perceived it to be about a vacation type of holiday, not a Christmas one, kind of like "Holiday" by Weezer (similarly great, featured on my last playlist), but it still works, right? New York called Contra the best album of the year and while I liked it, I definitely disagree. The album was kind of boring, this, "Cousins," "I Think Ur a Contra," and my personal favorite "Diplomat's Son" aside. My album of the year personally is Gorilla Manor by Local Natives, and I even liked the mildly-received Champ by Tokyo Police Club more than this. But "Holiday" is still a catchy tune. Favorite line: "To go away/on a summer's day/never seemed so clear."

10."Rill Rill" by Sleigh Bells
This song makes me nostalgic for sixteen. How I miss it! This song is like a slow jam that I'd play at the prom I'm DJing in my head. Guest list: 1. Floyd. Floyd, I'm trying to win you back, you see? Stupid iPod. But can't you see people slow-dancing to this song, sort of? Maybe slowly dancing? I don't know. I tried. This song is pretty adorable and inoffensive but the album cover for this album is so darn ugly, I hate it, it detracts from the song even, so that's the one good thing about not listening to this on my iPod, because it means I don't have to look at the stupid album cover (which I theoretically could delete but what's the fun in that, man?). Favorite line: "Wonder what your boyfriend thinks about your braces/What about them/I'm all about them!" I find that so funny!

Now, back to whispering sweet nothin's to Floyd the iPod so that he will work properly the next time I sync him to my computer.(If anyone else is having the problem of their iPod Nano 5G not counting their plays after syncing to iTunes, please let me know! Let's find a solution, darn it!)

R.I.P., Elizabeth Edwards

This is not exactly a popular culture subject, but it's important nonetheless:

Elizabeth Edwards died Tuesday after a six-year battle with breast cancer, The Associated Press and ABC News reported. She was 61.

On Monday her family announced that Edwards, who was briefly hospitalized over the Thanksgiving holiday, had stopped all cancer treatment.

She had been resting at home surrounded by family and friends.

Edwards, the estranged wife of John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator and one-time presidential candidate, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004.
She recently wrote a message on her Facebook page that would end up being a farewell.

"You all know that I have been sustained throughout my life by three saving graces – my family, my friends, and a faith in the power of resilience and hope," she wrote. "These graces have carried me through difficult times and they have brought more joy to the good times than I ever could have imagined."

"Today we have lost the comfort of Elizabeth's presence but she remains the heart of this family," her family said in a statement. "We love her and will never know anyone more inspiring or full of life. On behalf of Elizabeth we want to express our gratitude to the thousands of kindred spirits who moved and inspired her along the way. Your support and prayers touched our entire family."

Her story was a deeply sad one, especially in her last few years; needless to say, we will not forget this strong and inspiring person for quite some time.

Article credit here. Picture here.

Lesson in Latin

Today is (was?) my 17th birthday. Yay me!

I'm tired and unfortunately have a Latin SAT 2 to  study for. Blargh. Thankfully IFC read my mind (as TV just loves me in general) and decided to play Life of Brian, which has a truly hilarious -- and helpful! -- scene in which Brian's Latin is corrected by a Roman official...



This scene is funny but especially so when you've experienced this for yourself. Latin is awesome but when you're a first year student who never was properly taught the mechanics of ENGLISH, let alone some archaic dead language, it's a pain. Imperatives and locatives and indicatives and datives...blah.

Sed iam, eo facere meum laborem. (But now, I am going to do my work.) Lame that I have to work on my birthday.

I think I'm just going to read my brand spanking new copy of Freedom by Jonathan Franzen instead. Tee-hee. :P