The most wonderful time of the year!

Has it seriously already been six weeks of this? Ay, time flies when you’re reading loads upon loads of BOOKS! Agh, Honors Lit is whipping me into shape. First The Bell Jar (multiple attempted suicides but a real let down in the end because she LIVES! At least give us a book with a payoff, English Department!), then Life of Pi (first book that I’ve actually enjoyed reading, pretty much all the way through, since To Kill a Mockingbird. But of course nothing is ever that simple. Let’s go ahead and find themes and symbols and conflicts), and now Lord of the Flies (only just started, but not too bad so far. I use phrases like “so far” quite often, you may notice).

Okay, but all in all, so far there’s been no 1984s, Pudd’n’head Wilsons or Jane Eyres in the bunch. But that may change, because I think they put one of those Bronte sisters on the list of books that we absolutely have to read. But that doesn’t matter, because no more Jane Eyre! Seriously, one of the worst books I’ve ever read. So completely dragged out. What happened in 500+ pages could have happened in the following:

My name is Jane Eyre. My parents died. My aunt is mean to me. I went to a boarding school for orphans. I became a governess. I fell in love with my employer (OMG! SCANDAL!). He had a secret wife. I left him and then coincidentally found my cousins. My cousin asked him to marry me (OMG! SCANDAL!), but I said no. I went back to my employer. Who went blind. We lived happily ever after!

THE END (finally!)

Anyway, television season is upon us. Hooray for new ways to occupy my downtime.

First up: America’s Next Top Model. Not too different than any other reality competition, except for this one is fierce! Tyra Banks is a cartoon, but she’s fierce, too!

Next: Gossip Girl. My true anticipation for this fall. In case you didn’t know, it’s one of Josh Schwartz’s (creator of The OC) two shows this fall (I’ll get to the other one later). It premiered Wednesday night. It’s basically my favorite type of TV show: young people living scandalous lives that I wish I somehow had a part in. It’s shooting on location in New York City, which I love. And I love the fashion. And everybody on that show is pretty. So you’d think that I’d absolutely love it, because it’s “Welcome to the Upper East Side, (expletive that I’m not sure my mom would want on this blank, but use your imagination)!” but it’s really not even close to The OC, except for potential love triangles and young people that do drugs and drink and you wonder how people don’t notice when they do it in public, like Central Park, for example (except I read that that’s not actually that uncommon – who knew?). But I found myself comparing it to The OC. It’s not as funny, the adult characters are clichés of rich, overbearing parents, and it doesn’t really have the heart that made me love The OC. But then again, am I looking for The OC 2.0? Sorry, rhetorical question. Is this the show’s aim? To be The OC 2.0? No. I can deal with a fictional dose of scandal every seven days. In fact, we all can. Even though it makes our lives much more boring, it also makes up appreciate our dull lives. You know, in that “Thank God that’ll never happen to me” way?

Next: Chuck. Josh Schwartz’s critical darling this year. About a geek (think Geek Squad) who accidentally downloads a whole bunch of government secrets into his brain. Interesting concept. I only wish the geek were Adam Brody. Sigh.

For my mom: Grey’s Anatomy. The most outrageous show on television returns this fall after a trainwreck season finale. Burning questions:
-What will happen to Cristina now that Burke has left her?
-What will become of Meredith's and McDreamy’s relationship?
-Who will fill the ginormous void left my Addison, deemed as one of the few likeable characters on this show?
-How will the departure (okay, firing) of Isaiah Washington (Burke) affect the show?
How will Meredith’s half-sister, a new intern at the Seattle Grace, factor into the new season?
-Will Dr. Roberts (OC, people) ever make a cameo? Please?
-What will George do after failing his intern exam?
-George! Izzie! Gizzie! Gizzie? GIZZIE!?!?!
-But, more importantly, why do more than twenty million people in America care?

And so, in keeping with this whole Grey’s thing, as well as the quiz that my mom took last night (scroll down), I decided to take a quiz of my own: Which Grey’s Anatomy character are you most like? (In other words, just how crazy are you?)

36 questions later:

You are Callie! Smart, sexy and misunderstood, you aren't afraid to say what you think, but you tend to be very insecure. You like to keep your personal life secret because you feel people will judge you. You don't like labels and break the mold. You are very passionate and when you care about someone you deeply care and tend to be overprotective. All in all people enjoy your fun personality and amazing sense of humor but think you "come on too strong" at times.
Thank goodness. However, I apparently scored 33% as Meredith Grey. Okay, so I’m only one-third completely psycho? Good to know?

And, finally, since I feel like it’s been just too long:

iPod shuffle. Until I feel like stopping.

1. Arrivals (Are Never Enough) – The Ghost Is Dancing. Immediately pulls you in with the chant-like drums. Then sounds like a band that I can’t quite put my finger on. Surprisingly, that doesn’t bother me. (Although, maybe I’m getting a Rogue Wave vibe.)
2. Lover I Don’t Have to Love – Bright Eyes. You know, my mom really finds this song creepy, and probably not just because of Conor Oberst’s rather sneaky voice in this song. Because he sort of always has that hoarse thing going on. I don’t think she likes the lyrics. I love them. I won’t go so far to say that this song is haunting, but, then again, maybe it is. For those of you looking for a more “friendly” version of this song, if such a thing is possible, check out Bettie Serveert’s cover. I think she does it better. And not as creepy.
3. All Kinds of Time – Fountains of Wayne. Yes, of “Stacy’s Mom” fame. Although, that should be illegal. Any song that annoying, that overplayed, and that popular should never garner a band fame. But I think this song is totally the opposite. This song actually plays on The OC early in the series. You wouldn’t guess it from the lyrics, which talk about a quarterback that has “all kinds of time.” You also might not guess that a few years ago this song was featured in a commercial for the NFL Network. Although that seems like a more obvious choice, doesn’t it?
4. Song for Sunshine – Belle & Sebastian. Not the best Belle & Sebastian song. Not the best song from “The Avengers,” the ridiculously amazing fourth season premiere episode of The OC. But that really isn’t saying much, because every song in that episode rocked hard.
5. Remedy (I Won’t Worry) – Jason Mraz. Does this count as kind of embarrassing. Kind of? You be the judge. Actually, I take that back. Don’t judge. Who knows what songs will show up later. It’s a too catchy song from the guy that combines pop and rap to make radio-friendly tunes. We should all be so talented.
6. I Turn My Camera On – Spoon. What of the greatest mysteries of Spoon (okay, the only mystery that I can find) is how lead singer Britt Daniel (what a total rock-star name, by the way) can get his voice so high and have it sound good, while he keep his voice rather low in all of his other songs. Again, we should all be so talented and have as cool of a name as Britt Daniel.
7. The New e Blues – Western States Motel. This song only has 6 plays. No wonder, because it’s rather boring and monotone.
8. One More With Feeling – Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. I’ve expressed my extreme dislike for another GCWCF song, “I Spy,” which sounds like it should come straight out of One Tree Hill or off of a 12-year-old’s Myspace page, but this song is actually pretty wonderful, even though I can still detect that distinct sound from the lead singer’s voice in this song that makes “I Spy” so cringe-inducing.
9. I’m A Player – The K.G.B. This is why I told you not to judge.
10. Here It Goes Again (UK Surf) – OK Go. For all the crap that I say about Grey’s Anatomy, I have to say that it consistently features good music. However, I should also point out that that is not a product of the psychotic characters but rather of the wonderful music supervisor, Alex Patsavas, whom I love and envy and who was the music supervisor on The OC, and does the music for Gossip Girl, too. In this case, AP took a seriously overplayed song, however catchy and awesome the music video for it was, and found the more mellow version.
11. Hummingbird – Wilco. For a while I seriously loved this song, but I hadn’t heard it in a while up until a few days ago, and realized why I loved it in the first place: because it’s just so great. I love how it gradually builds up to the chorus. Right before the one-minute mark, this song seriously reminds me of one song that’s in You’ve Got Mail. Can’t tell you which one, and that, again, doesn’t really bother me.
12. Hang Me Up to Dry – Cold War Kids. This song was on the pilot of Gossip Girl, and over on the TWoP boards, where I am a frequent poster, some viewers were so ecstatic at CWK, an indie band from New York City, getting some recognition. Meanwhile, I keep thinking to myself: the music video for this song was practically on repeat a few months ago over on MTV. If that’s not recognition, then I’m really not sure what is.
13. Run-Away – Super Furry Animals. This song starts out kind of strange, but then it picks up, and sounds like a song from the 80’s. And for me, that’s a good thing.
14. Saturday Morning – Eels. This is a nice upbeat song about getting up early on Saturday mornings. I think it’s my mom’s weekend anthem.
15. Gone For Good – The Shins. I’m going to see this incredible band next month and couldn’t be more excited. Because The Shins make great music, as evidenced by this song.
16. Everything Will Be Alright – The Killers. Okay, that’s it, I’m stopping while I’m still ahead.

Well, that was good. Happy fall, everyone (tomorrow is the first day of fall, in case you didn’t know)! Here’s hoping that the Bulldogs lose to Alabama tonight. That would really kick off the new season in smashing fashion.