The Gleek Critique: "Special Education" Episode

New Directions performing together at Sectionals, even though they all hate each other.  Image property of Fox.

When Ms. Pilsbury suggests to Mr. Schuester that he utilize some of the less-noticed glee club members, he decides that Rachel and Finn will not get any solos at the competition.  They will feature Brittany and Mike's dance moves, and give solos to Quinn and Sam instead.  Rachel, of course, is scandalized.

Kurt has his own troubles getting a solo with the Warblers.  Even with Rachel's help, he doesn't get it.  Blaine tells him he's trying to hard to stand out, when he needs to be fitting in.  Seems like this new school isn't as great as Kurt thought it would be.

To add to the drama, Santana decides to spill the beans about her and Finn, and now Rachel is madder than ever.  To get back at him, she makes out with Puck, and Finn breaks up with her.  No more star couple.  And the infidelity doesn't stop there.  Apparently Mike and Brittany are doing a little more than rehearsing together... leaving poor Tina and Artie heartbroken.  Or were they? And speaking of doomed relationships, Will's love for Emma will be forever unrequited.  She and Dr. Carl got married in Vegas!

The Pros:

• Rachel walking in with tape over her mouth.  Ha ha.  What a way to protest her lack of a solo...
• "I gotta say.  She kinda' rocked my world." 
• I loved when Blaine and the Warblers sang Train's "Hey, Soul Sister."  So so so so good!
• I finally like the Artie/Brittany relationship.  At first I didn't get it (and also doubted it would last more than an episode) but they were really cute together tonight.
• I enjoyed New Directions' performance of "(I've Had) The Time of My Life"/"Valerie".  Sam, Quinn, and Santana rocked it!  And speaking of awesome solos from the supporting cast, I'm glad Tina got featured heavily in "Dog Days Are Over" by Florence and the Machine.  She hardly ever gets a solo and this one made me quite happy!

The Cons:

• Old people singing is just... weird.  I didn't enjoy that at all.
• Sue was absent this episode, and an episode without Sue Sylvester never really seems complete.  I need to hear her crazy rants!
• Oh, and a three-way tie?  That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard!  So mad about that.  I guess I should be happy that New Directions is going to compete at the next level... but come on?  A three-way tie?  Does that actually happen?  Ever?

Deck the Halls

Thankful for Gingerbread Cookies

Last night we were all in a festive mood.  Christmas music was playing.  Snow was falling.  We were putting up our tree, decorating it with lights and baubles and ribbon all silver and red.  And such merriment was deserving of a holiday treat, so Brian made us all gingerbread cookies.

Brian basically followed Alex Guarnaschelli's recipe, except he added some fresh ginger as well as the ground dry ginger the recipe calls for.  Before he baked the cookies he let us have some of the dough, and it was so delicious!  Once the cookies came out of the oven we had a lot of fun frosting our cookies with orange icing and decorating them with gumdrops.  Eating them up with a mug of hot cocoa was just perfect!

So I'd like to carry on my November tradition and say that I'm thankful for gingerbread cookies!  I'm thankful for time spent with Brian and Ryan and Mesun.  The friendship, love, and camaraderie in our apartment is something I truly treasure.

Movie Review: 'Tangled' is Hair-Raising Fun!

Tangled movie poster, property of Disney.

Tangled ADMIRABLE

Almost every review I had read for Tangled before seeing it had some sort of hair-related joke or two, so I couldn't resist doing the same.  I didn't find the movie to be full of "split-ends" like some people said or a "hairdo gone flat," I just found it to be entertaining and funny and often quite beautiful to look at.  In fact, those with negative opinions of this movie are in the minority.  The film is getting remarkably good reviews, which speaks highly of Disney's animated future.

Tangled is a retelling of the classic fairy tale Rapunzel, but Disney has of course made a few changes.  For example, her hair is not only long and lovely, but also full of magical healing powers.  She's also a princess, but of course she doesn't know that, seeing as she was kidnapped as a baby by the woman who she thinks is her mother.  Every year on her birthday the kingdom sends up a million floating lanterns into the night sky in hope that someday she'll return home.  From her tower, Rapunzel can see these floating lights, and longs to know more about them.  When the thief Flynn Ryder breaks into her tower in order to hide from the palace guards, Rapunzel decides that he might just be her ticket out of there...

Obviously comedy and adventure ensue.  And obviously the two fall in love.  Rapunzel is voiced well by Mandy Moore who infuses her with a lot of innocence, curiosity, and gumption.  Zachary Levi does great as the witty and charming Flynn Ryder, and also proves that he can sing as well (everybody already knows that Mandy Moore can sing).  There are plenty of musical numbers in this one, yet I found them to be less memorable than the songs from Princess and the Frog.  "Less memorable" doesn't mean to say that they were awful.  The songs by Alan Menken were just fine and dandy, just not quite amazing.  He's done better work in past Disney films.

The animation style in this movie is very pretty to look at.  The color palette mostly consists of pastel pinks and blues and greens, and the coloring is done in a way to evoke a hand-painted feel.  It doesn't by any means look hand-drawn, but there is a softness and warmth to it that sort of bridges the gap between pen-and-ink and CGI.  The scene where the glowing lanterns are released into the sky is simply breathtaking to behold.

But overall, the movie is funny.  You'll find yourself laughing at many things, including some slap-sticky frying pan hits from Rapunzel and witty banter from Flynn.  The two animals in the film, a horse and a chameleon, get the majority of the laughs I feel, and some of the ruffians they encounter are also quite amusing.  Tangled really is hair-raising fun for the whole family!

Sorry.  I just couldn't resist.

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Gitano

Dear Jack,

My little gitano!  You are free to live wherever you want.  I think you should live in Paris and study art and cooking.  Learn to speak French.  There's nothing tying you guys down.  Live on less than nothing and experience life, my little gitano...  I love you, Jack.  Tell Brian hi!

Love and blessings,
Dad

That's what my father wrote back when I wrote to him explaining our recent decision to move to Los Angeles, California.  Sure, it's no Paris (and no New York either) but it's definitely a step in the right direction.  At least Brian and I think so.

Sometime in October I think is when we first started to consider an out-of-state move.  Up until then, I was sure we would stay in Utah another year at least.  But one day while browsing online for new apartment rentals in Salt Lake City, I decided to do a search for apartments in New York.  Then Los Angeles.  I even looked into Colorado Springs where my siblings live.  I just started looking at various random cities and states as the sudden realization came over me:  we can live anywhere.

While there was a definite reason why I came to Utah, there is no reason why Brian and I should live in Utah now.  I came out here to go to Brigham Young University, and obviously that reason is now null and void.  I don't regret coming out here because this is where I met Brian.  In fact, I'm positive that he is the only reason I was meant to move to Utah at all.  We've been together two years now living in Salt Lake City (a place we moved to escape the bubble that is Provo/Orem) but there isn't a concrete reason for staying here.  We aren't attending school here, we're just working.  And the jobs we have are by no means our dream jobs.  I don't want to work in retail for the rest of my life any more than Brian wants to work at a movie theater.  If anything, staying put here in Salt Lake City is like floating when we need to be swimming.

So it was earlier this month that we made the firm decision to move to California.  With our lofty dreams of becoming movie directors and animators, it just seems the state to be in.  Brian can attend auditions for stage shows and movies and television series, and there are a ton of great animation schools I can attend once we've attained California residency.  Plus, I'll be closer to a lot of my extended family who live in the LA area, including my Tia Loca and my maternal grandparents.  It's risky just picking up and leaving, but we fear that if we don't do it now we won't do it ever.

Of course, it will be sad to leave our friends and family here in Utah.  We've been sharing the news with people little by little, and most are extremely excited for us even if they are sad to see us go.  Brian's mom, however, did not take the news so well.  We've been the most afraid to tell her, and we kept finding reasons to put it off.  We were going to tell her when they all came over for our early Thanksgiving meal on the 14th, but then decided we didn't want to spoil the celebration.  We even considered just moving and telling her once we were there, but that clearly wasn't the best idea.  So it was yesterday, on Thanksgiving, when she kept asking if we'd found a new place, that I finally told her.

You see, Brian was at work (the poor kid worked from 8 AM to 2 AM yesterday, an 18-hour shift) so I rode with Brian's sister Jenny down to celebrate Thanksgiving with the family.  I almost went to Thanksgiving with my roommate Mesun, but decided at the last minute that it would be better to spend it with the Keslers.  I'm glad I did, because at least the cat is out of the bag now.  I finally had to tell her, because she could tell something was up and she kept trying to get information out of everyone else.  We had already told his sisters.  So finally I said, yes, we are moving out of state.  She guessed California and I said yes.  And then came the waterworks.

She cried and cried and cried.  But not because she was upset with our decision, but because she was going to miss us.  Desperately.  Brian's mom admittedly has a hard time with cutting the apron strings.  She doesn't want any of her kids to move away from her... especially as far away as California.  "What about the birthdays?" she asked.  "What about the recitals and the concerts and the holidays?"  She misses us enough already, and we only live an hour away.

Poor thing.  Jenny kept assuring me that she would be all right.  I hope so.  And now that Mama Kesler knows, I figure it's safe to really make it known on my blog.  We're moving to Los Angeles at the end of this year.  We don't have every detail figured out yet, but we're moving no matter what.  I guess it's true that I'm just a gitano, a gypsy, and I have to keep moving on.  I need to add another location to my ongoing list of addresses...

Chihuahua Comics: Gluttony... An American Tradition

I hope your Thanksgiving leaves you fat and happy!  (And yes, this is a ripoff of an earlier comic... I was way too full on turkey to actually draw something new)

Blizzard?

Our view from the balcony.  Let it snow!  Let it snow!  Let it snow!

Well, I feel like the holidays are officially here.  Even though the stores have had Christmas decorations for months now, blaring festive music through their speakers loud enough to make a Scrooge out of Santa even,  it still didn't feel like Christmas.  I didn't care that the cheesy Christmas movies and specials had already begun to fill up our television stations, or that advertisements were already telling us to stock up on stocking stuffers...  I was just refusing to believe that it was that jolly time of year.  But with the sudden snowfall, I'm starting to get the feeling that Christmas really is upon us.  It's official, even if we do still have Thanksgiving to go through...

Oh, snow.  I have such a love/hate relationship with snow.  On the one hand, it's so pretty and magical, evoking nostalgic holiday feelings.  I even like bundling up in my coat and scarf, and shaking it off my shoes.  But on the other hand, it's cold, wet, and makes driving almost impossible.  Luckily I don't have a car anymore, so I'm not outside like Brian having to scrape ice off the windshield.  And did I mention it's cold?

But the snowfall we got last night was hardly worth all of the panic and fear surrounding it.  All morning there was talk of the big huge monstrously scary blizzard that would hit in the afternoon.  They were issuing warnings left and right not to drive, in fact, many businesses shut down early to ensure their employees made it home safely.  Schools went ahead and sent kids home as well and canceled their Wednesday classes.  People were buying candles and firewood in preparation for the loss of power to be expected later in the night.

Well, the big huge monstrously scary blizzard didn't hit Salt Lake City until around 6:00 PM or so.  And as Brian and I drove home from the Smith's Marketplace, we couldn't help noticing that the big huge monstrously scary blizzard wasn't really that big or huge or monstrously scary...  Sure it was snowing, and it was windy, but it just felt like "snowfall" not "blizzard."  After three or four hours it was done.

I've had Dairy Queen Blizzards more dangerous than that...