"Is that the show with the black guy?"

The black guy?

"The one where he solves crimes with a white guy? And he is reluctant to participate?"

Yes, Mummy. That does describe Psych. That also describes almost every procedural drama on television right now, and half the movies from the 1980s.

I also enjoy watching that competitive dancing show with the unstable judge, that makeover show with the snarky host, that teen drama with the conveniently absent parents, and that funny reality show with all the cakes. Yum!
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Do it, Blackapella!

"Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!"

Was that Wyclef Jean in the back?

I loved this week's episode of Psych! More child stars from the 1990s, please! Where is the Boy Meets World episode? Goodness knows Ben Savage and Will Friedle are available. And Jaleel White needs to get more work. Get on that, Psych producers. I'm looking at you, James and Dulé.

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Musings from an Angeleno: The Christmas Eve Edition

(Imagine a Christmas picture of the Psych boys and their families here.)

1. If you'll remember my musings from this same time last year, I apparently wasn't so impressive. Well someone was impressed by me this year, and rightfully so, and that is all I will say about that.

2. At the annual Christmas Eve candlelight service, one of the teenage ushers was sporting some Zac Efron-type floppy hair. In my head I was all, "Dude, get a haircut." Then I was like, "at least you don't have the Ef's orange skin." Finally I thought, "Thank goodness Stephanie is at another church over 3000 miles away, because we all know how she likes them young."

3. After the service, I was in the bathroom about to take a shower when I started to have a think. I had encountered some of my old classmates over the past two days, which triggered a frown on my face. Why were most of the people I was friends with in elementary school and middle school and high school still friends with each other, but they weren't friends with me? I hadn't really thought about it before. I just figured they had made other friends in college like I had. And they did, but they are still friends with each other too. I started remembering times during college breaks on St. Thomas when they'd all be hanging out together wherever, but I wasn't really in the group anymore. Then I felt bad retroactively for being left out.
Somehow, when I was scrubbing myself under the shower head that needs better water pressure, I realized that they are all still friends because they all live on the East Coast. They went to the name brand schools in New England and New York and the Washington, D.C. area and Florida, while I went to my top-choice, lesser-known school in California. They have all been visiting each other and hanging out regularly in their new homes since they graduated, because they all live in easy traveling distance from each other. As if the West Coast is a foreign country that requires a Visa and an overnight flight.

I have never regretted going to college in and remaining in Los Angeles. I love my new(ish) friends and being in my industry. There are things that I cannot stand about LA--the required driving and the high cost of living--but that is where I want to be. I just never considered that my old friends would continue to be friends sans moi. I thought I had done something wrong, like, "Thank goodness we got rid of Bianca. She was always such a Debbie Downer. Now we can finally have fun without her loser personality harshing our mellow. w00t!"

Yes, I know I have issues.

Happy Christmahanukwanzaakah to you!

His Girl, Freaky, Night Lights, After Next.

Stories I liked today:

From WireTap Magazine, A Big Tent With No One in It, by Ally Klimkoski:

In November of 2004 there was one age group that voted for John Kerry. Only one. One group decided that George Bush was an unequivocal moron and should not return to the White House. Only one. What we've now learned is that it's not only the standard to believe the president is a complete moron, it's actually quite fashionable.

What is surprising is that this same age group is the one age group that is most often ignored by the Democratic Party, Democratic candidates and most political organizations.

That's right -- it's us. It's the 18- to 30-year-olds.

My favorite part of the article, under what the DNC can learn from the Calvin Klein IN2U campaign, targeted at the 18-30 demographic:

5. Listen -- don't lecture...I am holding out for the day I see a candidate begin a college lecture by walking up to the podium, grabbing the mic and saying "You know, I'm not going to sit here and lecture at you. You get that all day long. I'm curious in what you think and what you want out of me. And before I leave this lecture, I want to come out with some reasonable action items that I can work with you on."...

...7. Age doesn't equal issue. 23 isn't 18, and it's not 25, and it's not 28 and it's not 30. There is more diversion between the 18-30 age group than any other group because so many things change between those times. A new college freshman is nothing like a 21-year-old; being 21 is not the same as someone who has just graduated at 23; and someone who graduated at 23 is nothing like someone who's 25 or pushing 30. They each have different issues that concern them. Student loans will appeal more to the 23+ crowd, but kids who aren't paying them off yet aren't thinking about that yet.

8. Students are not the same as nonstudents. Targeting college students who are 18-25 is nowhere close to targeting working 18- to 25-year-olds. The issues are different; a few people target them differently. Similarly, the working college students who attend tech schools, community colleges or night four-year schools are also different than the regular 18- to 25-year-olds at regular four-year schools. Similarly, those who attended colleges are different than those who didn't yet fall in that demographic, and their issues aren't the same.

From WireTap Magazine, via Feministing, U.S., Denial and the Culture of Violence, by Samhita Mukhopadhyay.

What some are calling the worst shooting in United States history, the death of 32 Virginia Tech students was indeed deplorable. The media circus that followed was also deplorable. Shouldn't the families and victims be given some privacy to deal with the tragedy?

But also what is it about these isolated incidents that capture the national imagination? As other bloggers have noted, last weekend 65 Iraqis died and just yesterday another 183 in Baghdad alone. Why the hypocrisy? So far in 2007 there have been 27 deaths in Oakland County alone. Why have none of those deaths made headline news? Why does America only care about certain people's death? Do some people just deserve to die?

I also liked this article linked inside the previous one: "It's like when 9/11 happened", by Joe Eaton, on Salon.com...

Ko, a senior accounting major, said he and other South Korean students are afraid to stay on campus. Ko said many of their friends in a Korean Christian group were also planning to leave Blacksburg for Northern Virginia.

"It's like when 9/11 happened," Ko said. "Arab people are victims even though they didn't do anything wrong. It's just the same to me." Ko said Korean students have been e-mailing and calling each other since the release of Cho's name this morning. He said he wanted to attend today's convocation at 2 p.m., where President Bush was scheduled to speak, but friends warned him against it. "People said don't attend because it could be a bad situation," he said.

...as well as this student at Virginia Tech writing in his livejournal in real time about the event. It's a sensitive, human account of the tragedy, more so than the breaking stories from NBC and the other American "news" outlets, who have been plastering the killer's mugshot and gun porn photo on every show and website they own.

All of the above reminded me of this exchange featured in Bowling for Columbine:

Michael Moore: If you were to talk directly to the kids at Columbine or the people in that community, what would you say to them if they were here right now?

Marilyn Manson: I wouldn't say a single word to them, I would listen to what they have to say and that's what no one did.

Here's the article from Reuters that gave me a sardonic giggle: Catholic Church buries limbo after centuries. Sucks to be those people who believed in limbo for hundreds years. I wonder what will happen when the next Popes declare that gays are A-OK, women can join the priesthood, and contraception might be a good idea?

Even though I enjoyed the rerun of The Office last night, I would have appreciated a new episode. I totally related to 30 Rock, though. I don't think Bill Cosby and Oprah are coming after me, but I can understand feeling like a supermodel in Cleveland. "Well played, Garkel."

Though I don't see how Jack Donaghy can talk himself out of this one: Alec Baldwin calls Dora the Explorer.

Hey there, buddy. I love Dora the Explorer! All she said was, "Hola." There was no need to call her a "rude, thoughtless little pig." I guess once Mr. Baldwin's book is published, I will understand "the incredible strains created by parental alienation."

BTW, Jack's assistant Jonathan is my new TV crush. Move over Psych guys.