West Week Ever – 4/25/14

I took a week off, and no one seemed to notice. I’d love to say that I did it for Jesus and Lent, but I really just didn’t feel like writing. Nothing really happened last week anyway, so it’s all a wash. Anyway, we’re back and I’ve got things to ramble about!

I got sucked into a 19 Kids and Counting marathon the other night. Ya know, as much as I wanna hate the Duggar family, I just can’t do it. Sure, they’re a little weird, but they seem like nice people. They just had too many damn kids! One of their older daughters, Jessa, was beginning a “courtship” with a boy, and it was kinda interesting to see what their rules are for such a thing. For one thing, they can only do sidehugs, and there’s no hand-holding or kissing. Their first kiss is saved for their wedding day! Now, this may sound crazy to most people, but I grew up in a bass ackwards conservative church. I remember one time in Pro Teens (yup, that’s what youth group was called), our youth pastor said “You should never tell the person you’re dating ‘I love you’ unless you follow it up with ‘Will you marry me?’.”Even the Duggars aren’t that strict, as their daughters throw around “love” like it’s nothing, so they’re even less conservative than the Wheaton Baptist Church. Anyway, as lame as it all sounds, it’s kinda cute watching the courtship unfold. Ben seems like a nice guy, and Jessa’s a beautiful girl – nothing like the pilgrims you’d expect from an ultraconservative, homeschooled clan. Anyway, the oldest Duggar boy, Josh, and his wife live in the DC area now. I MUST track them down!

While we’re on reality TV, A&E ran a special: Brandi & Jarrod: Married to the Job, focusing on Brandi & Jarrod of Storage Wars fame. I took a hiatus from Storage Wars when Dave Hester left, ’cause that’s when all the allegations came out that it was fake. Plus, I think I’d just gotten tired of the characters. Now that Dave and Barry are gone, plus they’ve brought in Rene and Ivy, it’s fresh enough that I’m giving it another chance. That said, I’d LOVE a regular series just about Brandi & Jarrod as they run their shop and manage their family. It was so much more enjoyable than I thought it would be, and it was nice to see them away from the storage auctions. In the special, we find out that Jarrod celebrates his birthday all month long, and expects parties and gifts everyday. Everything comes to a head when he steals his mom’s pool, sets it up in his driveway, and throws an impromptu pool party that gets shut down by the homeowners association. It’s also funny to me that Jarrod makes his kid wear Outlaw Apparel – the cholo clothing line that Jarrod owns.

There’s been a lot of hoopla about Avril Lavigne’s new video, “Hello Kitty”. For one thing, it’s not Avril’s typical style, so it’s thrown a lot of her fans for a loop. Also, however, folks are crying “cultural misappropriation” about her depiction of Japanese culture. They think she’s being racist instead of it being an homage. Look, the way I see it, you can’t be upset about this if you gave Gwen Stefani a pass with “Harajuku Girls”. She did the same thing, with the same cultural misappropriation; the entire time she toured for L.A.M.B., she was followed by a cadre of 4 Japanese girls as her backup dancers.  Sure, there were people who got upset, but it was nothing on the level of how people are mad over Hello Kitty. I don’t really see the big deal, but I’m also not Asian, so…

Speaking of Gwen, the rumor is that she’s being courted as Christina Aguilera’s replacement on The Voice. It’s not a bad choice, though I’m not sure I’d have thought of her.

The Boondocks came back this week, and felt Hella dated. They decided to tackle the whole Chris Brown situation, which made me realize the show had been gone so long (the last season aired  in 2010) that it never had the chance to deal with that fiasco when it was fresh. Still, it felt rehashed, as it was the Usher episode and the R. Kelly trial episode mashed together. Sarah wanted Pretty Boy Flizzy (the Chris Brown stand-in) to meet Jasmine when it was actually because she was really attracted to him (just like the Usher episode), and women still fawned over Flizzy even after he was convicted of multiple crimes (just like the R. Kelly episode). I feel like we flock to The Boondocks for fresh, biting satire, and this just felt like old hat. If this is indicative of what this final season is going to be like, I already miss Aaron McGruder’s contributions.

One of the oddest things about How I Met Your Mother was the fact that Bob Saget was the voice of Old Ted. Why? Why wouldn’t Old Ted just sound like TED?! Even Family Guy pointed out how it made no sense. I guess they felt they needed a “name” when they were launching the show, but I’m not sure Bob Saget had that kind of star power. Well, the spinoff, How I Met Your Dad is doing the same thing, as Meg Ryan has been cast as the voice of The Mom as she recounts the story of how she met the father of her children. I wish ’em luck, but I doubt I’ll be watching that show. I think they squandered a lot of goodwill with the finale of How I Met Your Mother, and I’m just not ready to get back on that horse anytime soon.

I guess I should say something about that whackadoodle, Cliven Bundy. Ya know – the rancher who claims “the Negro” did better under slavery. On the one hand, that’s a crazy idea to state publicly. On the other hand, I really like saying the word “Negro”, and he’s enabled me to say it many times this week. So, I guess there’s that. But no, he did NOT have the West Week Ever.

Links I Loved
The Long Con: How the Undertaker Actually Passed the Torch to Cesaro by Losing at WrestleMania – UnderScoopFire!

Rush of Nostalgia: Burger King Kids Club – Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang

The 20 Weirdest TMNT Toys – The Robot’s Pajamas

Adventures at Steel City Con – Cool and Collected

In Case You Missed It
Adventures West Coast – Nick Fury Vs. S.H.I.E.L.D. TPB

We’ve got another repeat winner, as Lupita Nyong’o once again had the West Week Ever. A year ago, no one knew who she was. Now, she’s an Oscar winner AND People’s Most Beautiful Person. What a difference a year makes, huh?! Anyway, we’re still waiting to see what her next career move will be, as Oscar hasn’t been kinda to blacktors and blacktresses. In any case, all eyes were on her this week.