Monthly Archives: May 2011

Katie Recommends: The Killing

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With Mad Men not coming back until next March, I had a hole to fill in my TV schedule. So I started watching AMC’s newest show, The Killing, which is apparently based on a Danish show called Forbrydelsen.

And boy, am I glad I did. There are only three episodes left this season, so it’s a bit too late for you to start watching, but I definitely recommend DVR-ing the reruns or watching the whole season when it comes out on DVD.

Each episode documents one day in the investigation into the murder of seventeen-year-old Rosie Larsen, who, after a high school dance, was found dead the trunk of a car in a lake. The car belonged to the campaign of Darren Richmond, a city councilor running for mayor of Seattle. The detective investigating the case, Sarah Linden, was about to leave Seattle for California to get married, but as she gets further into her investigation, her departure looks less and less likely.

The story is told with no flashbacks and has three main storylines: Linden and her replacement, Stephen Holder, investigating the murder; the Richmond campaign’s struggles in the aftermath of the killing; and the grieving of Rosie’s parents, Mitch (for Michelle) and Stan.

I won’t go into detail about the suspects or motives for those who haven’t seen it, but it’s very suspenseful and well-acted and I never want an episode to end. If you’re an X-Files fan, Linden, played by Mireille Enos, reminds me so much of Dana Scully—a petite, VERY SERIOUS redhead who’s consumed with her work.

The show isn’t perfect—there’s a lot of implausibility, including there only being two detectives on the case, leads they didn’t follow up on sooner, and the fact that it is constantly pouring out (I’m told it doesn’t rain that much in Seattle). But it’s very, very good and easy to get addicted to.

Other shows I’ve been watching:

Glee
When this show premiered, everyone loved it because it was so different from anything else on TV. But the tide has turned and now no one can speak about Glee without complaining about it. Everyone, it seems, has a problem with something about this show. Obviously conservatives don’t like the gay characters. Other people complain that a character is reinforcing a stereotype, or that a character needs a love interest, or that Character X isn’t getting enough screen time while Character Y is getting too much and there’s not enough focus on Ship A and too much on Ship B. Oh, and Rachel is an annoying diva, Finn’s voice isn’t good enough, the characters are inconsistently written, and Will is unprofessional. Plus, it’s gotten too episodic and preachy. Did I miss anything?

I’ll give you that the episodes are a bit preachier and more episodic (“The Religion Episode,” “The Britney Spears Episode” “The Prom Episode”) than they used to be. But everything else is just complaints about things that have been there from the beginning.

This is the thing. Glee is not a show meant to be taken too seriously. It’s a farce. It’s not, and has never been, in any way realistic. I mean, the first episode had Will planting pot on Finn to blackmail him into joining the glee club, for God’s sake. And personally, I don’t watch it because I want something to relate to or because I ship any characters. I watch it because it’s funny and sweet and has good music.

Also, keep in mind—this is the only show on TV that has characters with such diversity of races, religions, sexual orientations, sizes, and abilities. It does its best to show each character positively, and it cannot please everyone. With all the whining about various Issues on sites like the rapidly-getting-on-my-nerves Jezebel, I’m not surprised that so many other shows are less diverse. Showrunners figure they’ll never be able to satisfy everyone and just stick with casts of white heterosexual characters.

Modern Family
This summer I’m going to be catching up with the Season 1 DVDs. I just started watching this season and I love it. But who doesn’t? It’s gotten all kinds of critical acclaim and awards and isn’t doing too badly in the ratings, either. This is one show that manages to hit all the right notes—it’s often laugh-out-loud funny, every single character is likeable, and it’s often very touching without being sappy. The characters could so easily be clichés—trophy wife, doofy dad, ditzy teenager, flamboyant gay guy—but instead they manage to come across as real and full of personality as well as funny. The acting is excellent, and basically, if you’re not already watching this show, you should be.

Jersey Shore
What can I say? I love this show and I can’t wait for the new season. I know a lot of people think this show is a sign of the apocalypse. It’s true that the people on it are ridiculous and not people you’d ever want to know in real life, but…well, sometimes they’re funny and entertaining, too. And no one on the show is all bad. Okay, I’m done trying to justify it. Let me have my guilty pleasure!

Bone Marrow Registry

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A couple of weeks ago, I got a package in the mail containing four cotton swaps. I took each one, brushed them against the inside of my cheek, put them in an envelope, and mailed them off.

I am now officially a member of the Be the Match Bone Marrow Registry.

Sorry to get serious, but it’s time for me to step up on the soap box. Hey, don’t roll your eyes- I haven’t done this for awhile, and last time I did, it was about something similar—platelet donation.

Last year, I read this wonderful article in the Globe about a teenage cancer patient meeting the woman from England whose bone marrow had saved her life. I had thought about joining the registry before, but this was what convinced me that I had to do it.

There are a lot of people and organizations out there that need help, and there are plenty of ways to volunteer—donating money, donating time, raising awareness. But it’s sometimes hard to quantify exactly how what you’re doing is helping.

But joining the bone marrow registry doesn’t just make you feel good about yourself for volunteering– it literally saves lives. Bone marrow transplants are often the last chance for people with certain types of cancer or other life-threatening illnesses. If you are identified as a match, you undergo a minor surgical procedure to extract some marrow from your pelvic bones and might feel some discomfort afterwards. You are more likely to be a match with someone whose ethnic background is similar to yours. I’m white, and noted on the donation form that I have both Western European and Eastern European ancestry. Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, and multiracial donors are especially needed, though. Those of you who fall into any of those categories might particularly want to consider joining the registry.

Here is the site for the Be the Match registry, where you can learn more about becoming a bone marrow donor. You might never be called to donate for anyone, or you might save someone’s life. Just in case the latter turns out to be true, I think it’s worth it.

Weddings, Royal and Otherwise

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So, have you heard there was a wedding in London last Friday?

There was the endless reporting leading up to the wedding, which inevitably led to backlash, which led to backlash to the backlash. But I admit that I set my DVR and watched the wedding coverage when I got home on Friday.

I am completely single. According to all the stereotypes, I should be complaining about how miserable weddings make me, mocking every bride who dares to let her wedding day stress her out, railing against the wedding industry and ranting about couples who spend a fortune on one day.

It’s almost un-PC to want a big wedding these days. I can’t tell you how many people I know who have said some variation of, “I was never the kind of girl who grew up dreaming of her wedding,” or “I don’t want a big wedding.”

But the truth is, I love weddings, and if I have ever have one, I want it to be awesome. Not necessarily fancy, mind you, but not just a cookout in the backyard, either. I want to enjoy having all my friends and family together in one place. I want to be somewhere beautiful and for me to look better than I’ve ever looked in my life. I want to have more fun than I’ve ever had at any party. I want to be so happy that no changes of plans or problems along the way can get me down. And most of all, I want it to be something that reminds me continuously why I want to spend the rest of my life with (hypothetical future husband).

This article touches on a lot of the feelings I have about my hypothetical future wedding—I know, and to some extent agree with, many of the major criticisms about weddings (many traditions are outdated and sexist, too much focus on materialism, people get so caught up in the wedding that they lose sight of the marriage, etc.), but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to plan mine. I have thought about the venue (somewhere by the ocean in New England would be nice), the menu (food I LIKE! I don’t want to hate the food at my own wedding!), the cake (Party Favors in Brookline), the music (our own wedding playlist), the bridesmaids’ gowns (lilac-colored, in whatever style they’d like), and my dress (long and white with sleeves—I’m not a fan of the strapless wedding dress trend). I do not, however, have any idea who the groom will be. (At least Katy Kelleher, the author of that article, had a boyfriend!)

I think for me, what the perfect wedding would come down to is love. I want the celebration of my marriage with the man I love to be something that takes place in a space I love with the food and music I love and, of course, all the people I love. No wedding will ever be perfect, and maybe I wouldn’t want mine to be, but I do enjoy thinking of all the ways that I could make one day as special as possible. Romantic love is a pretty amazing thing, from what I hear, and I think that if two people’s love is real, their wedding should reflect that amazing-ness in whatever way is the most amazing for them.

As for William and Kate, well, I don’t know them, but I do know that they’ve been together for a long time and seem to have prepared themselves well for their married lives. I hope they’re as happy as they looked last Friday.

And thank you, Kate, for wearing a beautiful dress that will inevitably make sleeved wedding dresses popular again. I hope that’s still the style when my hypothetical future wedding day arrives.

Song of the Moment: “First of May”

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I’ve decided to start a new feature on SSTS called “Song of the Moment.” I’ve written before about how I listen to music and how songs are more important to me than albums or artists. The point of this is to provide some commentary on how and why I’m listening to a certain song at the moment, for reasons serious or silly.

This first one is the latter. The song is “First of May” by Jonathan Coulton, which my friend Jenny introduced me to. A couple of years ago in my chorus, we split into groups to sing madrigals, and my group sang “Now Is the Month of Maying,” which is basically a sixteenth-century pop song. At first it just seems like a song about the spring, but as Wikipedia reveals, there are some double entendres going on.

“First of May” is almost like an update of that song, only with fewer double entendres and more, uh, unexpected profanity. Have a listen, but lyrics are NSFW. Be warned: like Cee Lo Green’s “Fuck You,” this is a song that has an unfortunate tendency to get stuck in your head at times when singing it out loud would be inappropriate.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCbD8nsxcd8]