Well what do you know? It’s April, and the sun is shining, plus the weather is sweet. Here comes the sun, little darling, which clearly makes everything all right. The sun has got his (or possibly her, or its) hat on. Hip-hip-hip-hooray indeed!
Oh no wait-
None of that seems to be true for more than five minutes at a go! Instead it’s grey and cold and wet and generally discouraging almost all of the time. And I’m not a fan of such wintery weather.
I suggest we perform a group sun dance, and to get us on our way I’ve prepared a suitable playlist. Here are ten of my favourite songs about summer. Let’s all play them loudly with our windows wide open while we move and grove, in a bid to get the sun to stick around.
And if it doesn’t work, at least you’ll get to have a fun fight with your neighbours!
Happy Easter time! As far as I understand it, this time of year is all about chocolate, bizarre chicken-rabbit hybrids, and rebirth.
There’s various takes on the story of Jesus’s resurrection, including DH Lawrence’s brilliantly titled ‘The Escaped Cock‘ about dealing with post-resurrection ennui, as well as the widespread belief in Zombie Jesus Day.
But there’s plenty of examples of other characters coming back from the dead elsewhere, and to celebrate Easter in pop culture style, here are my ten favourite revivals from the world of television.
Buffy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Buffy heroically sacrificed herself to save her sister and the world, then was mystically brought back to life by her friends who assumed (for no real reason) that she was eternally stuck in a Hell dimension. If you ask me, the idea that she’d end up somewhere other than the Elysian Fields sounds rather unfairly judgemental. Anyway, Buffy had to claw her way out of her coffin in a confused state, and found it hard to readjust to being one of the living, especially as she was (understandably) depressed at having been ripped out of Heaven by her friends. Still, not being dead led to good times for her, such as sex with Spike and a demonic musical. Life’s not all bad!
I’ll admit it: I’m all about the fiction. I mean, I exist, in reality (as far as I can tell), but I really don’t get what’s so great about real people. I prefer fictional constructs. I would much rather be sharing a packet of crisps down the pub with Daisy from Spaced than I would share breathing space with any of those twats from Made in Chelsea. I’m like Abed from Community. I’d rather be hanging out in the Dreamatorium with Inspector Spacetime.
Maybe this is because I’m a writer, and often my daily tasks include stealing all my favourite personality traits from real people, and applying them to fictional ones. Have you ever had a crush on a character of your own creation before? It’s a little narcissistic, I can tell you.
So imagine my horror when every time I enter the living room, a member of my family is watching something about real people. And you know the problem with real people, (besides the fact that they never travel by phonebox or mysteriously appear alive after jumping off a building), is that they bitch and whine about everything.
The Apprentice should be renamed ‘I’m a Backstabbing Bitch who Undermines Others for Money, but it’s Okay Because I’m Ambitious’. Not so catchy, but much more truthful. Read the rest of this entry »
But too much of a good thing can be bad, and partying too hard can lead to dreadful hangovers.
Luckily, as we approach the end of the month when it all might be getting a bit too much, we can avail ourselves of plenty of the advice from pop culture on how to cure such awfulness!
prairie oyster, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
When Tom was charged with convincing viola prodigy Kim that she didn’t want to give up it all up to become a comedian like him in order to save a business deal, wacky hijinks were bound to ensue. She ended up horribly drunk, with the gang trying to solve the situation ASAP. They decided to apply a classic hangover recipe- the prairie oyster.
It’s a disgusting sounding drink involving brandy, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, bitters, pepper, tomato sauce and a raw egg yolk. Unfortunately it doesn’t work well with people who are still drunk, probably because of the brandy, but it’s a worthwhile choice for the morning after the night before.
Damn it, it’s Monday instead of Sunday again. I got NOTHING done yesterday. I blame the clocks “springing forward”… and the Muppets. Most of my Sunday was spent obsessing over Muppets.
I finally got around to watching The Muppets, which was just… joyful. It was everything good and it had so many of my favourite things!
So, instead of analysing such gems as make your cake look like forest with fairies and little faces are called pixie faces, or answering questions like is jensen ackles a redneck?, this edition of Search Term Sunday is all about the Muppets.
when it seems impossible never ever give up and help family
Pretty much the mission statement of all Muppet movies!
bridging generation gap between parents and children
Happy International Women’s Day! If ever there was a day appropriate for expressing righteous feminist ire, I think that it’s today. As well as ALL THE OTHER ONES.
What I’d particularly like to gripe about right now is the lack of buddy girl movies. There are loads of films about two men, often with opposite personalities, having wacky adventures. In a way they kind of function as the male version of the rom-com.
Now I don’t dislike rom-coms per se, some are even quite good (When Harry Met Sally, No Strings Attached, Four Weddings and a Funeral, 10 Things I Hate About You, Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Bridget Jones’s Diary to name a reasonably inoffensive few) and in general they do exactly what they say on the tin. They’re funny stories about finding love. And that’s fine. Read the rest of this entry »
The proposal for a special day to celebrate the value, struggles and rights of women across the world was made by Luise Zietz and Clara Zetkin in 1910. Inequality of pay, conditions and the status of women at work runs parallel to the sexual exploitation of women, especially through the media.
On an individual level, legal, social and political issues challenge us as women daily in our lives still.
My grandmother, who died in 1972, lived as a supporter of women’s rights. “I remember when people only had aeroplanes as a mad idea in their minds”, she told me one day when I was thinking of dropping History and she was talking me out of it.
“All these thin women these days look as though they’ve agreed to only be half alive,” she told me in the mid-sixties when Twiggy was hugely influential in moulding the thin body as the best shape for women. In 2012, fashions are still very much created for this thin ideal.
So it’s that time again. Lent. The time when perfectly sane people decide to give up things they enjoy and then take it out on the people around them. Oh, I know, I know, you’re just so unhealthy, you’re trying to make yourself a better person, it really is just the right time to give up chocolate.
Erm, no. No, it’s not. Let me offer a tiny bit of wisdom here. Do you really think giving up chocolate for 40 days makes sense before Easter? When there’ll be more chocolate around, on show, and given as gifts than any other time? Are you trying to hurt yourself?
There are varying reasons people give up stuff for Lent, the most obvious (and somehow, least applicable) being religion. If it’s about religion for you, good luck, sacrificing something to show your understanding for Jesus wandering in the desert for forty days. But maybe giving up your weekly packet of chocolate buttons isn’t quite the same as walking in ridiculous heat, un-cushioned sandals and lacking food and water. Just sayin’. Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome to the latest Search Term Sunday! Take a peek at what people have been googling to end up here in the last couple of weeks, sit back, and giggle away.
dean in supernatural cars
Supernatural‘s Dean ended up in a truly supernatural car when his brother was transformed into a Chevy Impala version of Knight Rider. Good times:
Happy St David’s Day, the feast day of the patron saint of Wales. It’s normally celebrated with daffodils (which I dislike for being intensely ugly) and cawl (which I don’t know how to make), so I suggest an alternative way of marking the day.
I thought we could instead admire a list of my ten favourite Welsh characters from the world of pop culture!
Jeff (Coupling)
This British sitcom, often compared to Friends, was about a group of thirty-somethings who spent a lot of time sitting around chatting about their lives and drinking. Not only were the lovely Jack Davenport and Gina Bellman two of the main cast members, Coupling also featured Richard Coleman as Jeff, the resident Welsh weirdo (at least until the fourth season).
His preposterous stories, random musings and botched attempts at hitting on women provided a lot of the show’s humour, and essential respite from the sometimes shrill whining of the other characters.
It’s Pancake Day! A DAY ENTIRELY ABOUT EATING PANCAKES. (And, y’know, preparing for Lent and stuff, but mostly: PANCAKES.)
I love pancakes, as does (I assume) everyone. They’re tasty, light enough that they don’t fill you up immediately, and so versatile that you get to try out lots of fascinating food combinations. THEY’RE BASICALLY A TASTY VERSION OF PILOT SEASON, BUT IN YOUR MOUTH INSTEAD OF ON THE SCREEN.
Which I think is why they seem to be used as a subtle symbol of affection in season six of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Food, and particularly balanced breakfasts, took on more significance in the later seasons, when Buffy (and the other Scoobies) became responsible for raising her younger sister (formerly a blob of mystical energy), Dawn.
In ‘Bargaining (Part One)’, Tara’s pancakes were part of the pleasant domesticity she and Willow tried to create for Dawn after Buffy’s death, will the help of the Buffybot’s mega-sandwich making skills and Xander’s tools. After Willow and Tara broke up due to Willow’s magic addiction, Tara maintained a good relationship with Dawn.
Whether you think Valentine’s Day is wonderfully romantic, an exercise in crass commercialism, traumatic because it brings back memories of reading Carol Ann Duffy’s poem, or a wonderful excuse to watch Some Like It Hot because the film features the St Valentine’s Day Massacre, it’s happening right now.
This is all about awful attempts at English accents! But I wish to preface the rant by pointing out that I don’t mind most terrible tries at an English accent. Really.
Not everyone can manage it, and if you get to laugh at people desperately trying to impersonate someone else, what is there to complain about?
Besides, even there are a lot of Dick van Dyke-esque howlers, there’s also plenty of decent English imitations.
However, there seems to be a wealth of actors on American shows producing unnecessarily over-the-top English accents, considering that they’re either from England or have spent a lot of time there. They manage to sound like confused Yanks awfully aping the Angles. And it makes my ears bleed.
I’m not entirely sure how they make these sounds, but I’d like them to stop.
This Search Term Sunday comes to you from the addled mind underneath my brand spanking new haircut. I now look eerily like Nick Drake, and let’s face it, who wouldn’t want that?
Since the last track on his second album, Bryter Layter, is an instrumental piece simply titled ‘Sunday’ it’s clearly appropriate listening on the last day of the week.
I don’t understand what’s going on with this video, or why it’s claiming to have lyrics, so I suggest you just shut your eyes and listen instead.
Lay back, lounge around, and let me insist that things will get better and brighter later. Spring’s a-coming, and there’ll be sunshine and petals and frolicking bunnies all around soon. And if you need a reason to smile before that’s actually upon us, then have a gander at some search terms! Read the rest of this entry »
I am procrastinating from the realm of productivity. And you know why? Because it’s hard.
Yeah, as it turns out, making databases and learning computer-y languages actually requires a whole load of effort.
And, since I was raised on television, I firmly believe that this is obviously just a minor blip that the universe hasn’t solved yet. There should be a montage to inspirational music right now, and by the end of it I’ll suddenly be a genius!
It occurs to me that despite the fact that Cowboy Jensen has earned his rightful place as our mascot (and his friend Cowboy Jared sort of hangs around as a back up) we haven’t written nearly enough about cowboys.
But that’s all about to change!
In honour of their self-sufficiency, riding skillz and fabulous headgear here are ten of my favourite songs about cowboys and girls:
James Taylor – ‘Sweet Baby James’
I’m not much of James Taylor fan, I tend to find his lyrics insipid and his voice whiny. But ‘Sweet Baby James’, the title track from his second album, is different. It’s a mellow lullaby about a cowboy settling down for the night. And don’t worry, he wasn’t narcissistically calling himself sweet, it was written for his nephew who shares his name. Read the rest of this entry »
I therefore feel I’ve got a pretty good grip on what you all want and how you want it. But what about what I want? For far too long, Search Term Sundays have been dictated YOUR fickle and occasionally funny fetishes. Thus, today is all about me, and which search terms correlate with the things that tickle my fancy. Lucky for y’all, I have awesome taste. So there’s going to be lots of pretty.
But for those of you searching for big bang theory boobs, south carolina sex with a chicken, big hairy housewelf women asses, schoolboy upskirt, panties sniffing soiled spank or spanked or spanking and far too young nude girls - I’m sorry, but you’re out of luck. At least until next time.
As for the rest of you – you’re welcome!
katherine moennig and ian somerhalder
AKA the best thing about the all-too-short-lived Dawson’s Creek spin-off Young Americans. Was there ever a couple prettier or more androgynous?
So, in the spirit of sexual equality, it’s time to have a go at Maroon 5 front-man-slash-guitar-playing-man-candy, Adam Levine. ‘But he’s so pretty!’ I hear you cry. Yes, yes he is. But so is Rihanna, and to be fair, I have to have a whinge about the sexualisation of men, as well as women.
Now, I’ll admit, I have a bit of a thing for this particular singer. Not because he’s particularly talented, and in spite of the fact that his whole image has been geared towards making young girls (and grown women, ahem) find him attractive. I shall have you know that I didn’t do the whole ‘boyband posters on the wall’ thing as a teenager…and clearly I am making up for it now.
I have a few issues with Rihanna. Mostly that she’s the same age as me, is a multi-millionaire, award-winning recording artist and has achieved more than I ever will.
Yes, you’re a bit sexy. Men like you. But could you stop with this? It’s pandering and it’s even more irritating than the stupidly sexual outfits you wear on stage.
Now, okay, I’ve started this with a negative. I’m sure lots of people would say that Rihanna is just taking advantage of the media, that is declaring that she’s a young woman who loves sex, and that’s her right as a feminist. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s the first day of 2012, which means it’s entirely respectable (for once) to be nursing a hangover and lounging around in bed all day.
But it is a Sunday, and the sun is quite firmly set beyond the horizon, so it might be time to shake things up a bit and get on with the first Search Term Sunday of the year. (And then to collapse back into an exhausted heap again immediately afterwards.)
example paper that describes beyonce’s character of in the film obession personality in the terms of the big five personality traits
I’ve got enough essay stress to contend with, I’m certainly not taking on anyone else’s on top of it. Plus you didn’t even explain which film you were talking about.
TV is our religion. A good book on a rainy day is our idea of heaven. And Pop Culture Playpen is our little corner of the interweb to share our various obsessions and rants about the wide world of popular culture, from wailing over Joss Whedon’s latest prematurely cancelled series to ... Continue reading »
