Question of the Week: Falling Down

Running too quickly on an icy sidewalk in front of a neighbor's house, you slip and break your leg. Would you be likely to sue the owner of the house if you were confident you could win the suit because of his negligence in shoveling the snow?

No. For two reasons. First of all, frivolous lawsuits are a good chunk of what's wrong with our system. Would medical costs and insurance premiums be so crazy high if people didn't sue everyone else at the drop of a hat? Probably, but I imagine all the lawsuits don't help the matter. Next, and more importantly, this is my neighbor's house. This means he's living in the same neighborhood that I'm living in. That means we probably fall somewhere in the same socioeconomic bracket. I know I don't have any money. Why should I believe my neighbor would have any either?

*Question of the week comes from The Book of Questions by Gregory Stock, Ph.D.

The Rest of the Story

It's a familiar story. Little girl gets caught up in a really bad storm. As unbelievable as it sounds, her tiny farmhouse gets swept away, carrying her and her tiny dog along with it. They end up in a strange land where they encounter witches, a wizard, and a talking scarecrow. Seems like a crazy dream, right?

What ending is better for that little girl? Would it be better if the whole thing was a dream? What if it wasn't a dream at all?

Dorothy was convinced that it was real. She knew that she had spent several days traveling through a magical land. She knew that she had made a number of friends and a powerful enemy along the way. But she was just a little girl. Would it be possible for her to convince her aunt and uncle that her incredible story was true?

Henry Gale was a practical man. He was a hard working farmer who didn't have time for fantastic stories about a yellow brick road and city made of emeralds. Now, he loved Dorothy with all his heart. He loved her as if she were his own daughter. But this story that she had come up with since the tornado hit was just too much for him to take. Of course he had listened as she described her dream in vivid detail. A part of him wished it had been real, if only to get his hands on one of those emeralds. A precious stone could be sold and would really help with expenses about now.

But talking lions? A man made of tin? Henry had a hard time swallowing all that. Most likely, the truth lay in the child's imagination. He and Emily were worried sick when Dorothy didn't make it into the storm cellar. Once the storm passed, Henry searched all over the farm for the little girl, praying that she had found a safe place to ride it out. When he returned to the house, Em had her wrapped up in her arms. She was telling her story about a days long journey from a land of Munchkins to an Emerald City. But how could she have gone on a trip that lasted several days if she'd only been out of their sight for a few hours?

And now, weeks had passed by since the tornado. Emily was still indulging the child's delusions. Henry could hear her asking Dorothy questions about "Oz" while he was outside working on the tractor. His heart melted whenever the little girl laughed about her adventures. And her laugh was contagious. It wasn't long before he heard Em laughing along with her. Even little Toto would bark, as if he was joining in on the fun. And Henry had to smile as he lay on the ground with a wrench in his hand.

Maybe letting Dorothy hold on to this fantasy wasn't so bad. Children should be able to explore their imaginations. They should be allowed to dream. He was certain that she would eventually grow out of it and would realize that Oz was all a part of an elaborate dream. There was a part of him, though, that was afraid that she wouldn't grow out of it. What if she never accepted the reality of her imagination? He pushed that thought away. His niece couldn't be crazy. She was just a little girl with an adventurous mind.

This prompt brought to us by Sunday Scribblings. See how others interpreted "The Rest of the Story."

After Seeing The Hunger Games

Last night I dreamed that I was standing in a crowd of people in District 12. I was waiting for Effie Trinket to pull names for the upcoming Hunger Games. Of course, she drew my name. All I could think was that it shouldn't be happening. I'm way too old to even be considered as a tribute for the Games. Thankfully, I woke up before I could be sent into the Arena to be brutally murdered on live TV.

I'm sure this dream was influenced by my viewing of The Hunger Games. After what feels like years of anticipation, the movie finally hit theaters yesterday. While I'm sure there will be a number of people who are disappointed with the final product, I'm not one of them. I thought it was awesome.

Now, I didn't come straight home to write down my thoughts about the film because I knew I would be writing out of a sense of excitement from just having left the theater. That would have probably tainted my view of things. Maybe it wouldn't have, I can't really say. I just didn't want to risk it. Because I've done that before. I've said things about movies after walking out, and then after sleeping on it and thinking about it a little more, my feelings change.

After sleeping on it, The Hunger Games is still awesome. And I still want to see it again. And I would if I had the money to spend on another movie ticket.

Look, it wasn't better than the book. I don't think there will ever be a time when I'll be comfortable saying that a movie is better than the source material. But I thought the movie stayed faithful to Suzanne Collins' novel. That being said, I think it helped a great deal that I had actually read the book before seeing this movie.

The novel is narrated by Katniss herself. This means that there's a lot of exposition happening inside the heroine's mind that cannot be fully translated to the screen, which has no choice but to tell the story from a third person perspective. So there are a lot of little details that are left out that could help explain the story.

Does that mean I don't think someone who hasn't read the book can enjoy the movie? No. I think it's still a very entertaining movie. They just might not catch as much upon first glance. Help me out with that. Anyone out there who avoided the book but was willing to see the movie, let me know what you thought.

Something that the movie was able to do was take us outside the arena. By not being tethered to Katniss' perspective at all times, we were able to see how the Gamemakers were able to make changes to the arena in order to position contenders wherever they wanted them. We got to see Haymitch working the room among the wealthy folks in the Capitol, desperately seeking sponsors for Katniss and Peeta.

Jennifer Lawrence makes a great Katniss Everdeen. She's a phenomenal young actress. If you don't believe me, watch Winter's Bone. I wasn't too sure about Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark, but I thought he played the part well. The rest of the cast was pretty much spot on as well.

It was by no means a perfect adaptation. Such a thing can't exist when translating a book to the big screen. But the movie was very well done and I will be seeing it again.

Before You See The Hunger Games

Whether you've read the books or not, there's a good chance you're going to see The Hunger Games this weekend. And if it isn't this weekend, it will be sometime. It's gonna be one of those movies that will be difficult to avoid seeing at some point in your life. But, please, heed my words before seeing the movie.

Please don't boil the plot down to the somewhat less than important issue of what guy Katniss should be with.

Yes, Katniss a powerful lead character in a compelling story. And yes, she has two eligible suitors vying for her affections. I know that will tempt many of you out there to draw comparisons to the inferior Twilight series of books and films. Keep in mind, this is not Twilight.

But it's already happening. I'm seeing people on the internet talking about what team they're on. People are tweeting "TEAM PEETA" or "TEAM GALE." Please, stop it.

I get choosing sides when it comes to Bella Swan's unfortunate fictional life. Those stories have nothing else to lean on but the pathetic love triangle between a vampire, a werewolf, and a girl who cannot convey emotion through facial expression.

The Hunger Games is about so much more than a love triangle. In fact, and I could be wrong, it's my opinion that that little plot thread was thrown in so the books could be marketed to a young audience. Take the romance out, and you have an awesome action/thriller about a girl who is desperately trying to survive in this horrible world that the government had created. Think about all the violence involved in the arena. Should that really be something we are giving to our pre-teens to read in gruesome detail?

But could you really sell a book about a 16 year old girl to a strictly adult audience? I doubt it. So throw in a romance angle and you have millions of teenage girls swooning across America. Now you can put the book on the shelf right next to Twilight. And publishing history is made.

I assume the movie, like the book, features a girl who sets her world on fire. She's smart. She's tough. She's compassionate and loyal and will do anything to protect the people she cares about. She's this decade's answer to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. By comparing Katniss' story to Twilight based on a stupid love triangle, you dare to compare Katniss to Bella, and that is unforgivable.

A Road Rage Rant

I drive a lot. Mostly to and from work. Believe me, it's more than enough.

They say the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Well, the closest thing I can find to a straight line is one of the curviest roads that you can find in this part of Virginia. See, it's one of those long and winding back roads that consists of two lanes and lots of twists.

The twists I'm used to. In fact, when the road stretches on for miles with only me and my car, I have no problem taking those tight turns at 60mph. But then there are the times when it isn't just me on the road. And here comes the rant.

What's the deal with people who drive ten miles under the speed limit? I don't so much mind someone driving slow if it's consistent. By that, I mean that you continue driving slowly when we hit the rare stretch of asphalt that has a broken yellow line. You know, that magical place where it's legal to cross into the opposite lane and pass by the accelerationally challenged.

My problem enters the picture when I'm behind the inconsistent slow drivers. They love to do that magical ten under, right up until the moment we hit that broken line. Then they like to speed up to ten over. This makes it impossible for the impatient drivers behind them to pass. And I, being an extremely impatient driver at 6am, become incredibly irritated. But there's really nothing I can do about it.

There are also a lot of times when it seems like there's no oncoming traffic at all until I reach one of those passing zones. Then, of course, there's that one car that's just enough to keep me from being able to cross the broken line to pass the slow driver. Grrr. Arrgh.

Things are a bit more calm in the afternoon. I don't mean that I'm behind fast drivers or no one at all. I mean that I'm not in a huge hurry to get home in the afternoons. I'm not on anyone's timetable after school lets out. Often I'll get behind a school bus for half the trip, causing my average speed to be about 40mph. But you can't pass a school bus. At least, I don't think you can. But after 3, I really don't care. I know I'll get home at some point. After school driving means no stress.

Why the Letter X Is Unnecessary

I've been back in an elementary school for the past six weeks. During those weeks, I've spent a lot of time in kindergarten. This has allowed me to reflect on our alphabet. Not that I haven't spent time thinking about my ABC's from time to time. After all, I do enjoy to write and sentences are made up of mostly letters found in the alphabet.

Each week, the kindergarten class I observe focuses on one particular letter. This week, they've reached the final letter. If you don't know what that is, you should probably head back to kindergarten yourself. I'll give you a hint, in Canada, they call it Zed. I'm not sure what they'll do next week. Maybe they'll start making up letters. That's an activity I might be tempted to endorse, if I weren't about to argue for the elimination of one of our most cherished letters.

But is the letter X really cherished? I would argue that it isn't. How often is it really used? You can only find it once in a bag of Scrabble tiles. And it isn't even the letter assigned the highest point value.

Thinking about the point values in Scrabble, I suppose the fact that X receives fewer points than Z should tell us that it's used more often, and is therefore easier to use if you have it. So why should we get rid of X as opposed to Z?

The reason is that Z has its own significant sound. X does not. Find a word with the letter X in it that can't be spelled a different way phonetically. I really don't think you can. In the new world that I have just ushered us into, box would equal boks. Fox would become foks.

And what if a word begins with X? Doesn't it make the same sound as the Z? Wouldn't it be just as easy to call it a zylophone? You'd get two extra points in Scrabble. Of course, we'd have to change the name of the ancient Persian emperor Xerxes. What's wrong with Zerkses? I think it looks much more interesting.

So really, what purpose does the X have anymore? There used to be an X rating in films, but they replaced that with the NC-17 years ago. If you ask me, it was just the first step in phasing out the letter altogether.

I know, we could try to make an argument against the letter C. More often than not, its sound can be replicated with a K or an S. But throw an H right next to it and it makes a pretty unique sound. Q could probably be eliminated at some point. Quick is already spelled Kwik on many convenience store signs.

But I think we should take things slowly. It will take some time for people to adjust to only 25 letters in their alphabet. In fact, we'll probably have to come up with a whole new song.

Question of the Week: It's All Relative

Relative to the population at large, how do you rate your physical attractiveness? your intelligence? your personality?

To quote the great Ricky Bobby, "I'm the best there is, plain and simple. I wake up in the morning and I piss excellence." I think that says it all right there.

But seriously, are we working on a ten point scale? If that's the case, I'd probably rate myself at a 7.5. Maybe I'm being too generous. Maybe I'm not being generous enough. I'll leave that to the eye of the beholder.

What about you? Where do you rate yourself?

*Question of the week comes from The Book of Questions by Gregory Stock, Ph.D.

Teenage Potential

In the process of packing up to prepare for my upcoming move, I started feeling a bit nostalgic. It happened because I was packing up a lot of my books and came across some old yearbooks from my days at Woodrow Wilson Middle School. Not the best of times, mind you. But it's likely that it was much simpler.

I had to laugh when I looked at the signatures of my middle school friends. Some seemed well meaning, if slightly empty. Others were kind of condescending. I know I was small, okay? But, as we would all discover before Christmas of our freshman year, I was kind of sick.

One note really caught my attention, though. It was written in the back of my 8th grade yearbook and was signed by the woman who taught English when I was in 7th grade. She was also the faculty adviser for the school newspaper, such as it was. I say that because the school paper wasn't exactly the New York Times. It wasn't even the Wake Weekly. It was several pages of photocopied articles written by kids who were no older than 13. I'm not saying the articles were bad. I can't say they were good either. And I can only be that vague because I have no recollection of any of those articles, nor do I have a surviving copy of any of the issues we put out.

Back to the note that our adviser wrote: "To a delightful young man who just may become a great writer." I looked at that and kind of laughed again. Because what have I done to even attempt to become a great writer?

I have all these ideas floating around in my head. But really, it just feels like those ideas add up to unused potential. And even that isn't a guarantee of anything. There are a lot of times I feel somewhat guilty not taking the time to do something about those ideas and that potential.

Then I think, at least I'm writing on this blog. People are able to see my thoughts. It may not be a traditional publication, but it's mine. But even that's not all that true anymore. Not the part about it being my own thoughts. The part about writing on this blog. I've really been slacking in that department lately. But does that matter either?

Looking back, I've received a total of two comments over the past month. That's it. I made a big deal about having 50 followers not too long ago, but should that really be considered a huge milestone? Sure, the follower thing is a nice way to gauge how many people are seeing a blog, but comments make a writer feel so much better. Having followers means that people are getting notifications whenever I post something new. Comments mean that people have actually read what I've written and felt moved to contribute their own thoughts.

Kind of feels like no one's actually reading this thing anymore.

I'm not trying to have a pity party. Yes, I would love to have hundreds of followers. I would absolutely love to average a dozen or more comments on each of my mind blowing blog posts. In real life, I'm content being a fly on the wall, unnoticed by the world around me. Here, I'm kind of an attention whore. But I'm realistic. I know that my sphere of influence isn't exactly global.

I'm left wondering, do I really have the potential to become a great writer, as my 7th grade English teacher claimed? Maybe I should take a break from keeping up with the blog for a while. Maybe, by doing that, I can spend some working on some of that unrealized potential that I had as a teenager.

Wearing the Green

Do you ever celebrate holidays a day early? I'm sure it happens all the time. Families can't necessarily get together on Christmas day, so they exchange gifts the week before. Or they may not all be able to gather for Thanksgiving because someone has to work the following day, so they may gorge themselves on turkey and stuffing the previous weekend. But St. Patrick's Day? Is it really worth celebrating early?

When you work with elementary school kids, the answer is yes.

Leading up to the mid-March celebration, teachers have been preparing their students with tales of leprechauns and reminding them to wear green. Let it be known, the school is a Pinch Free Zone, so that little tradition didn't quite make its way into this year's version of the St. Patrick's Day mythos. But it was important to convince the kids to wear green nonetheless. After all, what would a pseudo-St. Paddy's Day party be without the wearing of the green.

You wouldn't believe how many of those kids did not wear the green. I guess it just took a while for some of them to get into that St. Patrick's Day spirit. But they got into it when some mischievous leprechauns broke into the kindergarten classroom and caused some semi-serious mayhem. Chairs and trash cans were turned over. A child's jacket was found hanging from a ceiling fan. Cabinet doors were flung open. It was anarchy.

The teacher found a note stating that the messy room was, in fact, the handy work of the little green men. Or are they little men in green? Whatever. The note also claimed they left behind a pot of gold that was hidden somewhere in the room. It was the job of the kindergarteners to clean up while searching for the gold. The gold turned out to be coin shaped chocolate wrapped in gold foil. No one got rich that day. Probably because it wasn't really St. Patrick's Day, so it wasn't really gold.

The excitement of this leprechaunian visit took a while to wear off. Kids were too excited to get back to educational things. They wanted to keep looking for tiny mythical creatures. It helped that soon they were taken on a Spring Walk, in which they would search for signs of spring.

Luckily, they have a pretty short attention span, so the leprechaun pranks were just about forgotten by the time they went outside for their Dora the Explorer-esque adventure. Since spring seems to have sprung early this year, they were able to take a look at plenty of sprouting flowers and leaves. They even saw a butterfly or two. For five year olds, this was all very exciting.

So I didn't wear green today. I wore it yesterday. I got all my SPD shenanigans out of my system a day early.

AFI 61 - Sullivan's Travels

Sullivan's Travels

1941

Directed by Preston Sturges

Netflix sleeve: Tired of churning out fluffy comedies, Hollywood director John L. Sullivan (Joel McCrea) decides to write a serious, socially responsible film about human suffering. When his producers point out that he knows nothing of hardship, he hits the road as a hobo. On his journey, Sullivan invites an out-of-work actress (Veronica Lake) to be his traveling companion, and the pair get into more trouble than they ever dreamed of.

I liked this one. Not really a lot more to say about it. It was entertaining, as romantic comedies sometimes go. I actually watched it a couple weeks ago and have forgotten a lot of the details that would have come to mind if I had written this thing when it was still fresh. I'll try to come up with more to say about Duck Soup, the next movie on the list.

The Single Guy and the Spree

The Single Guy decided that some new clothes were needed. It's been a long while since he decided to purchase something new to wear. The last time he bought new clothes, he was living in North Carolina. To him, that feels so long ago.

So he decided to visit the semi-new Kohl's in Roanoke. He has a Kohl's card and received a coupon for 30% off everything in the mail. This, he knew, would add up to some pretty severe savings.

The Single Guy hates spending money. Even if it means spending money on important items that are needed. At this point, new clothes were fairly close to a necessity. His closet held only one pair of decent khakis for him to wear to school. He discovered this problem when he tried to put on a different pair of pants only to find a gigantic gaping hole in the pocket. He could have worn those pants, but his keys would have definitely found a way to drop down the leg of those pants. Who wants a set of keys in their shoe? Not the Single Guy.

Oh, and the shoe that the Single Guy would have had those keys falling into? It was falling apart. So was its partner. So it was time for a new pair of shoes, as well.

You may be wondering what all the Single Guy bought at the Kohl's. He felt comfortable getting only one pair of pants. He also felt comfortable with only one pair of shoes. He got a pair that had no laces. That will shave off a good 90 seconds off his getting-ready-for-work time in the mornings. And, for the Single Guy, every second counts when you have 90 minute drive ahead of you.

Along with those two (technically three) items, the Single Guy found a few shirts that seemed nice. All in all, he spent around $180 on clothes. That sure sounds like a lot, doesn't it? But here's the fun part... Thanks to purchasing only items that were marked down, as well as that nifty coupon and the discount for using the Kohl's card, he saved a little more than $240. That means he really bought more than $400 worth of items.

The Single Guy really doesn't like to go shopping. But he likes it when they circle a big number representing how much he saved.

The Power of Six

Title: The Power of Six
Author: Pittacus Lore
Published: 2011

I actually finished reading this a few weeks ago. I've just been slacking a lot when it comes to keeping up with my blog. There's a lot going on. But this post isn't about how much I've been slacking on the blog. I'm fairly certain there are several other posts that cover that subject.

The Power of Six is the sequel to I Am Number Four, the story of aliens among us. Naturally, the story continues right where the last book left off. Except we come at it from the perspective of an entirely new character.

At the start of the novel, we're introduced to Marina, who is actually Number Seven. She's living in an orphanage in Spain and is keeping close tabs on John Smith's (Number Four's) plight via the internet. She's not happy about living in an orphanage in Spain. What I found odd about this town in Spain is that no one seemed to speak Spanish. But I don't think that's why she didn't like it there.

Her guardian, Adelina, pretty much turned her back on their Loric heritage. She had become a nun. Well, if not an actual nun, practically a nun. Not that there's anything wrong with one's choice to pursue God full-time. She just happened to ignore the fact that she and her charge were kind of in the middle of a war. Made things a little complicated for the girl who was developing secret super powers.

The book switches back and forth between Marina's and John's perspectives. While Marina is dealing with her problems in a Spanish orphanage, John and his fellow fugitives are on the run. He's making his way around the country with his human friend Sam and Number Six, the Loric Garde member who showed up in time for the epic battle that demolished a high school in the previous book. That's why they're on the run. While the human powers that be don't know about Number Six, they do believe that Number Four is a terrorist and that he has either kidnapped Sam or coerced him to help in his unholy quest for global domination.

Things get complicated for the trio. As tends to happen in novels involving teenagers, a love triangle develops. It's old. It's played out. Seems pretty standard when it comes to the young adult fiction. Meanwhile, Marina's world gets kind of rocked when she's discovered by the bad guys. On the plus side, Adelina decides to come back around and help the girl. Also, she's joined by the tenth member of the Loric Garde, a girl that none of the original nine knew existed. At least, that's the way I've read things thus far. They have their own epic battle as they make their way out of the Spanish town.

I don't want to give anything else away. It was a pretty decent read. I thought it progressed the overall story nicely. And I do look forward to the next installment. Sadly, I'll have to wait until later this year to get my hands on it. In the meantime, I'm working on Stephen King's Firestarter. But I'm taking my time. Like I said, things have been kind of busy around here.

Question of the Week: Doing It Different

If you could change one thing about your past week, what would it be and why?

The only thing I think I would change about the previous week is the ridiculousness that is Daylight Savings Time. Yeah, I know I'll be happy that it's here once I've adjusted to losing that hour of sleep over the weekend. And yes, it will be nice to have daylight later in the evening. But I really don't like losing sleep over this thing. Would it really be that complicated if we were to omit the "spring forward" hour during the day? It feels like I have the jet lag without the memory of an awesome trip somewhere. And I was just getting used to having some sunlight as I left my apartment at the extremely early hour that I need to leave to get to work on time. Now I'm back to pre-dawn skies. Sorry. I'm not normally this cranky. I just feel like I'm missing some sleep.

Back to School

In one week, the smartest comedy on television returns to television after a decades-long hiatus. Watch the trailer. Then tune in next Thursday night at 8:00. Or 7:00 Central. I don't care that American Idol comes on at the same time. I don't care that The Big Bang Theory also comes on at the same time. Community automatically takes priority! I know that one of you out there must have a Nielson box! You're the one that can make a difference!

The World Has Bigger Problems

I'll be the first to admit that I avoid global and even national issues. In a lot of cases, I stay uninformed on purpose. It's partly because I'm selfish. I get wrapped up in my problems or in the problems of my friends and family. And it's partly because I just don't want to know what's really happening in the world. Sometimes I think about the world's problems and realize that I'm just one person. What could I possibly do to make a difference. Could you imagine what the world would be like today if people like Martin Luther King, Jr. or Mother Teresa had said something like that?

Do you have half an hour to spare? If not, find 30 minutes. Then watch this. Then go here. I know that it's already gone viral and there's a very good chance that you've seen it already. But if you haven't, take the time to watch the video. It will break your heart and inspire you at the same time. Time to make a difference.

Low Key

Today is my birthday. At 7:48 this morning, I officially crossed the threshold of 32 years. And you know, it feels a lot like 31. I probably say that every year. Someone inevitably asks, "What does it feel like to feel whatever age you just turned?" My response, typically, is, "Feels just like the age I was on March 5."

In years past I've tried to make a big deal out of my birthday. Not that it's that big a deal. But it's been nice to go out with a group of friends and have a good time. This year I just didn't feel like doing any of that. Not that I believe my 32nd birthday isn't worth celebrating. I just wanted to keep things low key this time.

The extent of my celebrating took place at IHOP. Omelet... Pancakes... It was good. Of course, I can probably skip breakfast and lunch tomorrow due to the sheer volume of food I ingested. Still, quite tasty.

But there were no trips to Chuck E. Cheese. No attempts to pull together a large group of friends. Just a few phone calls and Facebook messages. And, this year, I'm perfectly okay with that.

Next year, however, will be a different story. Wednesday, March 6, 2013 will be epic. Assuming we all survive the coming zombie apocalypse.

I Wasn't Gonna Do This

I've been watching American Idol this season. That's not something I thought I would do after watching what's-his-name win a few years ago. I really can't remember who won. Pretty sad, huh? You can tell he's made an impression on America's consciousness. I know it was Paula Abdul's last season. I didn't quit watching because she quit judging. I just stopped caring.

Not sure I actually care now. But it's been a while and I wanted to give it a shot again. I heard that Steven Tyler was an interesting character last year.

Now they've narrowed this season's hopefuls down to their top 13. Can't say I'm entirely pleased with the line-up. Of the guys, I think that Colton kid (the one with the dual-colored mohawk) is pretty good. The fact that America voted in that Heejun kid over Adam Brock just flat-out pisses me off.

The women, on the other hand, are just about phenomenal. Three of them, for sure, are the ones I'll be pulling for through the end of this thing. Those ladies are Jessica Sanchez, Hollie Cavanagh and Elise Testone. Outstanding. Couldn't care less about the 7 guys that are left, but these girls are awesome.

I know in years past I would blog my thoughts while watching the live shows. I really don't think I'll get back into doing all that. I don't think there was an overwhelming following of my blog back when I was doing that. Even when I was blogging about Idol for the Raleigh newspaper, I didn't get a whole lot of attention for that. Just know that I'm giving the show a chance this year. There's a good possibility that if it ends in disappointment for me, they'll lose me for life this time. Restore my faith in your ability to choose, America.

Don't Call It a Comeback

Have you heard the news? If you haven't, prepare yourself for some pretty amazing excitement. Community is coming back!

I know I can't be the only one that's excited about this. Quick recap: back in December, the Evil Empire (aka NBC) announced that they were taking Community off the schedule for an undetermined amount of time. They tried to placate the show's few but incredibly loyal fans by saying it had not been canceled and that the remaining episodes from season three would air. Someday.

But an indefinite hiatus just did not sound good. Especially for the prospects of a fourth season. So what did the Greendale Human Beings do? They organized. There were trending hashtags on the Twitter. There were flash mobs in major cities across the country. At one point, I heard a rumor that Community would return in April. But now they've decided to bring us back to school in two weeks. March 15 is going to be a wonderful night.

Let's hope we get some more of this...