#i get so giddy and joyful watching her perform or sing or talk or do literally anything

[gay-edwardian]

I need to stop watching ABBA/Frida stuff late at night, it can't be good for my health

[pommedefemme]

🎶✨when u get this, list 5 songs u like to listen to, publish. then, send this ask to 10 of your favourite followers (positivity is cool)🎶✨ - I got sent this so now I send to you !

Oh, hey, thanks! Don't mind if I take this opportunity to a) not follow the prompt and b) be a little unhinged :) I'm gonna go with five categories of Things I Listen To instead of five individual songs:

Lesbian Swagger

Okay, so, Brandi Carlile collaborating with Joni Mitchell (a la Lady Gaga with Tony Bennett). They're all great! But this one. Can we talk about her blazer in this clip? Can we talk about Joni bringing the jazz stylings? Can we talk about Elton's cute little hand gestures on the "yeah, yeah, yeah"s?

I watched this and it immediately reminded me of kd performing with Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn, and Kitty Wells. There's something to be said about a stylish lesbian having an absolute blast and bopping about the stage with a giddy grin because she's doing what she loves. (And if she makes everyone else on stage look like a goofy mom doing wine night karaoke, I mean, hey!)

Both kd and Brandi have that infuriating ability to out-sing everyone they've ever shared a stage with. CAN YOU TWO PLEASE GET TOGETHER ALREADY?

And Now: The Gents

Billy Brown is Penny Lane's out and proud younger cousin. You're Nearer makes me think that there is a Paul McCartney drag show in my future. You Have Been Loved is an underrated gem. I often wonder who these guys' target demographic is. I asked my early-twenties gay male coworker if he liked any of them; he said he'd never heard of them. Alarming! Generational shift? Maybe. I've met too many young lesbians who don't know kd or Indigo Girls or Melissa Etheridge. Still! No offense, but Sam Smith and girl in red can't hold a candle to Ye Olde Homosexuals Of Yore.

The Source Of My Snobbery

My voice teacher (of two months) wanted me to sing Un Moto Di Gioia as a recital piece (before my performance anxiety and commitment-phobia got the better of me). Several performances I looked to as reference points are still coming up on shuffle a year later. My showerhead's ears are bleeding. While rehearsing (before quitting), I kept thinking of Tom Hulce and tried to make my version uhh joyful? Sprightly? A smidge on the ironic side with exaggerated winks at my non-existent audience? Embarrassing. Glad I chickened out before the public humiliation phase. Je Crois Entendre Encore quiets something in my ribcage and leaves me in a fugue state. Hey, have you heard Bach's Ricercar? I checked out this CD from the public library in elementary school and it's still embedded in my neurons.

The Local Beat

I'm doxxing myself a bit, but here are my musician friends. Amara The Muse, Chris Braegger, Catfish Mustache, Before Giants, and svlph. Support your local musicians today!

Hey, Siri, Play...(The Songs I Put On Repeat Lately)

Love Is The Right Place, As The World Falls Down, Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby, Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes, Close To You, Gentle On My Mind, The Wind, It Doesn't Matter Anymore. I was going to list Newish Songs That Prove I'm Not A Snob Who Only Listens To Old Things, but it was kinda short and disingenuous. I'm old! I try to keep up with the youth, but I keep coming back to the oldies.

[make-a-little-mischief]

FILM ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT!

My Poysunal Favorite Shots of Jerry

Part Six

The Nutty Professor

*Edited by me with finishing touches and enhancements by @lovejl12

So this is going to double as a "Crazy Chemistry" post (been a hot minute since my first one). There's more to say about these shots than just Jerry lookin good, though that is still true.

This is the precise moment when I first watched the movie (after the initial shock of the reveal settled) that my stomach plummeted out my bum because I realized this was the same person I had overheard screaming and guffawing like a parrot with a sinus infection and I'd had the firm opinion that I could never ever be into him or watch his movies because I can't deal with that level of insanity...

Little did I know, it was not the sounds or the high energy that I would not be able to handle - it was the incomprehensible levels of sexiness.

When I tell you my jaw dropped and my eyes bugged out seeing him as Buddy Love...THAT'S Jerry Lewis??!! Holy crap...and it still blows my mind every time I watch the movie, the impact of characterization and performance - the effortless, minimal, and astoundingly distinct transformation from Professor Kelp that makes it genuinely feel like two separate people...and Buddy being closer to actual Jerry while still feeling like another individual into himself - it's mind boggling. Jerry Lewis is not only a gorgeous man but a great actor.

Speaking of moments that get me every time...

This part, where Buddy comes through Julius during a class lecture makes me squirm in the best way. I have an actual physical reaction to it that I can only describe as my body and mind going into a state of brief shock and awe. Hearing Buddy's tone of voice coming out of Julius' face is so jarring and so brilliant; as you start the scene you don't see it coming and you feel like Stella, just along for another classroom scene. Then the voice changes and you react exactly as she does - wtf was that?? It's perfectly played to put the audience in Stella's shoes and react along with her (especially if you're watching for the first time).

Also, hearing Jerry talking normally or as Buddy when he's dressed as Julius is one of my most favoritest things ever it just tickles me so much.

Also, the dad joke that Buddy makes about carbon dioxide has always been a gas is chefs kiss fantastic comedy. Love it. Would say something like that myself. Much appreciated.

And finally, I wanted to highlight this part during Buddy's song to Stella at the dance. I love the genuine, pure happiness on his face as he sings and keeps looking down at her. In the previous photo it was about Buddy coming through Julius and in this one it's Julius coming through Buddy to do something "really important" (essentially propose to Stella). After all of the outrageous bravado and peacocking, Buddy is finally fully human and vulnerable enough to express his love and appreciation to the woman he admires. He's just happy; he looks like a giddy school boy who's high on the energy of his crush. This is the first time the whole movie where Buddy is being honest in a way that's sweet and tender; he's letting the "inner man" out and by the look on his face, he's enjoying it. I just love how different Buddy is during this song compared to the others (more symbolism to talk about in another post). He's charming in a way that is truly romantic and pure of intent. Just from his smiles and his playfulness as he sings, we can see how much Julius has also had an affect on him - and how this experiment has combined the best of both men into one.

With all of that said, I view it as symbolic that the formula wears off when he tries to do "Old Black Magic". It's like Buddy tries to revert to his old ways but at this point there's no turning back. He (and Julius) are at the point of "If we're together forever, I've got a world that, you've got a world that, we've got a world that swings". Committed, joyful, walking on air, true love. He sang what needed to be sung, just for who it needed to be sung for. I think the intimacy of Buddy's song here - singing to Stella like she's the only one in the room - and it being a proud declaration- singing to her this time in bright exposed lighting and as a mature suitor who loves his woman and doesn't care who knows it - is a fantastic mirror to the "Old Black Magic" scene, shows great character growth and is pretty darn cute.

I have a lot more to say, but I'll leave it there for now. Once I start talking about anything in Nutty I start to compose a full on thesis. That darn Jerry and his brilliance are like too much.

[soft-fandom-requests]

May I request Josuke taking out his S/O on a date, trying to give them their first kiss together? I’d love that so much, thank you if you can! 💝

This wasn’t an ideal date, but at the same time, it was. Being dragged off into the park late at night by your rebel boyfriend was fun and all but it was the time of year where everything was starting to get cold. He didn’t even give you time to put on a jacket, same for him. You both were having a night together, it was one of those days where his mom allowed you to come over just so you both could survive without being love sick or however she put it. In reality, she told you that his grades have never been better since he met you and if he goes more than a week without seeing you outside of school his performance drops both at school and around the house and shes just trying everything within her power to keep these dates going so her son will finally get a life.

This date though wasn’t planned, Josuke just had a spur of the moment idea to go out and find that special spot you two went whenever either of you needed to just have a quiet day after school, or maybe the weekend wasn’t going so smoothly and you both needed a break from everything. There was a quiet spot just a bit away from everything, grass, trees, flowers, occasional cat friend here and there. You two would just sit idly for hours, thumbing through homework, reading a book, finishing assignments, listening to everything around you, listening to music and maybe even singing along when a good one comes on. This spot was the sanctuary you both needed away from home, away from school, from society.

He sat you both down in the wet grass, it was about 3 in the morning and you were half expecting the police to drive up and take you back home, but it was very late and everything is dead silent, even the crickets seemed to be asleep.

“Okay, so I know this is the quiet spot, not meant for talking or even humming unless we are listening to something, but I just really need out of the house to talk to you and this is the only spot that’s really ours you know?” He spoke finally, the whole walk there was silence, him mumbling to himself here and there, and the sound of your footsteps that seemed louder in this quiet night.

“Yeah I get it, everyone needs out every now and then, but this was really half-assed and im not feeling it.” You tell him in your annoyed state, you were cold, your ass was wet, and you were out in a park in the middle of the night with just Josuke with you, and knowing this town, you can never let your guard down. Josuke seemed to fidget more, seeming disappointed in something and you feel regret bubble up in your stomach. “Though it’s you, ill make an acception, next time think it out a little more okay?”

“I did though, this was planned!”

“This was? This was planned?” You ask dumbfounded at how idiotic that seemed.

“Yeah! It’s our spot, we are alone, no one is out here, just me and you for once, alone.”

He had a point, rarely did you have time alone, real-time alone, Okuyasu was a nightmare since sophomore year, and Koichi is very obnoxious with how cute you two were all the time and how he wished he had a relationship like Josuke and yourself.

“Huh, well that’s nice of you, I do quite like it here, the fireflies are still out around this time so its actually quite calming in a way, though jackets would have been nice.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” He chuckled, and you smiled back at him through the night, it was almost a full moon too so you guessed this really was thought out.

“Thanks, babe.” You mumble softly, and Josuke seemed to smile wider.

“Its okay, I thought it would be cool, though I will admit this is really half-assed.”

“You’re telling me.” You two laughed again, then Josuke took a deep breath.

“Do you want to go home?”

“Yeah, honestly, this is really nice and I love you so much for this but I would rather be eating junk food and watching bad movies with you.”

“Then I’ll make this quick, can you close your eyes for me?” He points to his face and stares at you expectantly. You respond with your own look of confusion and question but you did have the strong urge to go home so you closed your eyes as requested. He wasted no time at this moment and pressed his lips to yours. The only reason you opened your eyes wasn’t that you didn’t know what was happening but because his lips were so soft. The touch was hesitant and inexperienced, and his lips would quiver every time you pressed back against him.

When he leaned away your face was immediately replaced with a big smile, giddy and happy.

“This date turned a whole new leaf!” Josuke jumped at the sudden rise of your voice and was hit with a moment of dread that quickly turned to butterflies at your smile. “You kissed me! Atta boy! You are such a wonderful man I really don’t deserve you!”

“Hey, don’t say that!”

“Dude your lips are so soft!”

“You can shut up now!”

“You’re so cute!”

This went back and forth for some time, you wanted another kiss, which he returned after giving you a snarky comment. You both went home after some bickering here and there, all playful, all joyful.

[wits-writing]

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 3 Ep 7: “Getting Over Jeff” review

[My other Crazy Ex-Girlfriend reviews here]

While Rebecca starts learning to go outside of her comfort zone, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend gives the main spotlight to Paula when she returns home to Buffalo, NY and runs into her high school boyfriend. Back in West Covina, Darryl and White Josh come to terms with the impasse their relationship is at. “Getting Over Jeff” is an overall lighter episode than the last few of this season have offered, which is welcome after how heavy the season has gotten.

[Full review under the cut]

Paula spends this episode reflecting on her role as a supporting player in other people’s lives. She spends all her time as a wife, mother, paralegal, law student or helping Rebecca. Once she feels she doesn’t need to be by Rebecca’s side constantly, she tries to reenter her family life and finds that Scott and her sons have developed a routine that phases her out. Scott says that even if she’s done needing to be there for Rebecca, she’ll eventually finding something else to take up her time, it won’t be her family and he gets that. With that in mind, she ends up going to Buffalo to look after her father with Rebecca in tow.

As soon as she gets there her dad sends her out to buy him more vodka. While she’s at the store she ends up coming across “her Josh Chan”, her high school boyfriend Jeff. When a store clerk asks what he means to her, she ends up expressing it in a musical homage to ABBA called “First Penis I Saw.” The song is a joyful number about Paula’s earliest sexual experience and how life changing it felt. The grocery store around her transforms into a space where all the products are cardboard cutouts with “Jeff” on the labels with the notable exception of a sign saying, “Suggestive Vegetables 50% Off.” She and her backup performers, the store clerk and a random older woman, end up singing into those suggestive vegetables and sneaking around the store to look at Jeff as Paula reminisces about the first time she saw his penis and what she did after. (“I didn’t know what to do next. I didn’t have that part planned. He said, “Let me show you some basic moves.” And then he took my hand!”) It’s a hilariously catchy number and performance to get across why Paula hasn’t been able to stop thinking about Jeff since he broke up with her “in the parking lot after we saw Fried Green Tomatoes.”

After Jeff and her start talking at the store, he starts telling her how he never met anyone as interested in cars as her and that he’s restoring an old Camaro. With Rebecca hitting it off so well with her dad, she decides to take Jeff up on his offer and goes to his garage. Seeing her be flirty with the one guy she never got over has Paula acting relaxed and happy in a way we don’t get very often for her character. She does end up playing support to everyone else in her life most of the time. Her indulging the past a little is nice for her and put into further contrast with how she usually is when Rebecca describes her as “everyone’s big spoon.” It’s after working with Jeff on the car for a couple nights and they start dancing that Jeff starts to go in for a kiss. She turns him down and realizes that’s all she wanted out of him, to know that they have similar regrets. With that sense of closure, she’s able to return to her old life without it feeling like a consolation prize.

Rebecca starts the episode three weeks into her therapy treatments. She’s putting a lot of herself into the literal textbook work of getting better, which goes along with her tendency towards overachieving. Dr. Shen tells her that putting so much of herself into the work of her therapy, trying to be an A-student, isn’t what she needs to do to get better. He tells her to get comfortable living at a “C+”, stop being hard on herself and start taking steps back into her life outside of the “therapy bubble.” When Paula tells her about the trip to Buffalo, she jumps on that as a chance to get out and do something adventurous. Before she leaves, she talks with Nathaniel briefly about their feelings for each other and says she wants to be with him but doesn’t know if the therapy books would allow it (an interesting parallel with Greg’s hesitation to go to Emory last season while he’s in AA.)

When she gets to Buffalo, she ends up hitting it off with Paula’s dad, Bob played by Eddie Pepitone. Hanging out with him turns out to be exactly what she needed to get out of her comfort zone as she finds his surly nature charming. She drinks shots and watches conservative news with him, even laughs at his wildly tone-deaf sense of humor at several points. After a day of hanging out with Bob, she gets a late-night text from Nathaniel that she ends up turning into a sexting session. While she still has her moments of self-doubt over doing all these things, Bob tells her to just live those moments out having fun. That someone so unlike Rebecca turns out to be exactly who she needed in her life at this moment is hilariously perfect. She ends up expressing her feelings about this in a Shirley Temple style number called “My Friend’s Dad.” It’s a giddy expression of how much she doesn’t have to worry about how Bob acts since she’s not related to him.

Back in West Covina, Darryl is confronted by his daughter, Madison, about how he hasn’t been able to break up with White Josh since they realized they’ll never be able to agree on having a baby together. This episode does end up marking the end of their relationship as Madison ends up putting them in a situation where they have no choice but to talk about how they can’t move forward with such a big thing they disagree on. Seeing these two break up, especially with what it’s meant for the show since they got together, isn’t easy but it will all come down to how the show follows up on it with both characters.

(It’s also weird how two completely different CW shows, this and Supergirl, had their respective queer couples break up over the exact same issue.)

Josh Chan is dealing with his own path forward and feeling lost, especially since he’s on indefinite suspension from his job since Rebecca framed him for stealing. He’s offered a bartending job at Homebase and ends up taking it as his chance to be a “big boy.” Him trying to make the job “cooler” by doing bar tricks he learned from YouTube tutorials is hilarious to watch as he seems so sure of himself doing all of it. He gets a wakeup call about how this doesn’t improve anything for him when he ends up getting a staff infection by popping a pimple after handling dirty dishes. The puss from the infected area of his face popping out is a variety of gross-out humor that I don’t find entertaining, so that being the punchline his story this episode built to is a little disappointing. But by the end of this he seems ready to try to be more mature.

“Getting Over Jeff” ends up being a wider view into how the characters on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend can function outside of anything with Rebecca old stories concerning Josh, right down to the title. There’s other good bits I haven’t mentioned yet; like Paula’s final talk at the end of the episode with Scott about how she wants to be with her family more in the future, Rebecca telling Paula she doesn’t need to be her big spoon (because same-size spoons fit best together) and Rebecca finally being ready to have sex with Nathaniel again. The episode ends on Rebecca recapping what her weekend was like with Dr. Shen and saying that just being human without needing to be the absolute best or worst feels good. It’s a great note of progress for her and we’ll see how she continues this path when the show returns in the new year with “Nathaniel Needs My Help.”