Posts Tagged ‘Anna’s fake boyfriends’

Rediscovering new favorites

So I’m watching Ugly Betty again (and thus commences another television-themed blog post). I know, I know, that show went downhill once they made Henry get Charlie pregnant and move back to Tuscon and then move back to New York and then mess with Betty’s feelings for a season and a half and THEN, rudeness of all rudeness, try to pass off that Gio person as a reasonable rival for Betty’s affections. As if.

Anyway, I stopped watching. Except I caught maybe one episode last season, when Betty had just started to date Matt, the rich guy. And I don’t remember caring much about the episode but I do remember thinking “I miss Henry but that dude is CUTE”. I don’t know what made me watch the season premier on Hulu a few weekends ago, but I did, and I am TO-TA-LLY HOOKED, you guys! Mark and Amanda! How did I forget how much I loved them?!

But Matt, oh, my dear, sweet Matt. Apparently, he and Betty broke up at the end of last season because Betty kissed Henry (who was in town visiting from Tuscon with his new girlfriend, also known as Hazel from Gossip Girl with blonde hair and a spray tan) and Matt saw and Matt’s heart went kersplat! all over the sidewalk but because he’s totally not over it, not even a little bit, he got a job as Betty’s new boss at Mode and is now being a complete jerk all over the place and barely doing his job because he’s too busy trying to get Betty to feel at least some of the pain he’s feeling. Mission accomplished!

I feel him, I really do. He’s so in love with Betty and all he wants is to be back together with her, but he’s so angry at her and she’s playing it so cool that he can’t get there. He’s just hurting himself, you know, because the meaner he is to her, the longer he keeps taking it out on her professionally, the less chance there is for them to get back together. But I also get Betty’s position–he’s being such a dick to her! She regrets kissing Henry and even though the show isn’t so great about telling us what Betty feels for Matt (way to make her less sympathetic, show), I SUSPECT she’s still in love with him.

In the middle of watching one of the latest episodes on Hulu, I went into the kitchen to get some iced tea and asked my roommate, “Have you ever watched Ugly Betty?” And she’s like, “I’m watching it right now!” Which is why we live together, by the way. So I launched into my opinionz about Matt, and said, “Betty needs to stick up for herself and he needs to shape up or I’m going to get off the Matt train.”

(Which is what we say about boys each other likes when they’re in our good graces: “I’m totally on the so-and-so-train.” Not even clever! But still true.)

Anyway, is it wrong that I love everyone on that show except Betty? She’s all, wah wah, my boss/ex is being mean to me, and no one likes me at work, which, NO ONE EVER LIKED YOU AT MODE, BETTY. Also, you’re not very good at your job. I mean, come on. After many, many seasons and many, many opportunities to “discover” that Mode and fashion “aren’t superficial”, she’s still hungering after the meatier stories. WELL OKAY THEN. Quit. Ugh.

I have no sympathy for Betty. She is a grand idiot. First of all, when Matt asked her at the end of last season if she still loved Henry, she was all, “Well, there’s a part of me that always will.” NO! That is not the answer! The answer is, “No, Matt, I love you.” I’m single and I know this! It’s not rocket surgery. I resent having to live vicariously through her in order to enjoy the rest of the show, but I’ll do it, for Matt. And Marc and Amanda and Hilda and Justin and sometimes Daniel.

Matt’s totally my new fake boyfriend.

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• Tagged: Anna's fake boyfriends, television, Ugly Betty
  
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The candle feeds the flame

On Sunday, I got a text from my friend Nikki that read: Going to see 500 Days of Summer at 5 at Lincoln if you are interested. Um, WAS I INTERESTED?! No.

Just kidding! I’ve been slavering to see that movie ever since I saw the trailer. I love romantic comedies, and I looooove Joseph Gordon Levitt. It kills me that some people still only think of him as “that kid from 3rd Rock From the Sun” because he’s grown into such a multi-faceted, talented actor since then, most notably in Brick, but also in Mysterious Skin (which I don’t recommend you see unless you have a strong constitution for sex and violence of a graphic nature, but is VERY VERY GOOD if your heart can take it, because it is incredibly sad) and The Lookout (not the world’s best movie, but he is SO GOOD in it).

I’m a pretty critical person, so I can nitpick any book/movie you throw at me, even if I love it to death. I loved this movie to death, and while I took issue with some of the ways in which they addressed the philosophical issues surrounding love and romance, I really sympathized with Tom’s (Joseph Gordon Levitt a.k.a. MY NEW FAKE BOYFRIEND) journey. Everything was so recognizable–the early excitement over a potential new love; the tiny disappointments that you brush off and try to rationalize even though your rational mind knows they’re screaming “S/HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU”, like papercuts to the heart; the desperate need not to let go, even though all signs point to “it’s over”; the crushing heartache that comes when you find out they’ve moved on to someone new. It’s so real, even though it’s heightened because, you know, it’s a movie, and while we might feel like cartoon birds are landing on our shoulders, they most often do not. Well, at least in my experience.

Anyway, the movie was just wonderful. Simply divine. It was just quirky enough to be charming, but not so quirky that you’re like, “This movie is too much quirk and not enough actual humanity”, a territory that, even though I like it a lot, I think Juno veers into at times. 500 Days of Summer is just exhuberant. It approaches the idea of romance in a sincere, unironic and original way, which very few movies can pull off (Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind is the only other one I can think of at the moment). I take a few issues with the ending, but otherwise it’s a great film, and I recommend you all see it.

BUT, if you don’t feel like seeing it, do yourself a big favor and watch the movie’s best scene, a dance number to Hall & Oates’ “You Make My Dreams.” (You can adjust the volume on the righthand side so that you don’t have to listen to the commentary, you can just watch the scene as it is in the movie.) You’ll be glad you did, and you’ll be smiling all day, I promise. I’ve watched it approximately sixteen times.

Confidential to James McAvoy: JGL is just one in my rotating stable of fake boyfriends, but what you and I have, my fake husband, is forever. Don’t ever forget it.

(What?)

• Filed under: movies
• Tagged: Anna's fake boyfriends, Hall & Oates, movies, music
  
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