New Girl Crush: The Redemption of Anna Kendrick--By Vicky

Recently, Anna Kendrick has been showing up in my life. I recognized her from (ugh) Twilight and had a little bit of bias against her because of it. But the more I have seen her, the more I find myself delighted and charmed by her. I am actually quite impressed.  After a little bit of research, I’m even more of a fan. This girl has gone from nobody to stardom and Twilight helped her get there. (There are spoilers below, ye be warned).

As some of you know, I am not a fan of Twilight, but I slate my curiosity because I did read the books.  I have a really hard time watching any of them, but I get through.  Anna Kendrick plays a mix of two characters from the book; Jessica Stanley and Lauren Mallory, named Jessica. She befriends Bella when she is new to the school and is sort of this annoying presence with a perspective on Edward and the Cullens that I actually related with.

She looks as annoyed as I feel!

Anna’s Jessica gave the graduation speech and speculated that Bella was pregnant at the horribly awkward wedding. She’s kind of snarky and a bearable part of the whole deal.  But still, she was in Twilight. To her credit, she has sky rocketed since then and also, she has defended it with a good point: “I'm tired of hearing people rage on the fans.  If you don't like Twilight, don't buy a ticket.” I can’t help it, Anna, I want to know how they deal with the book!  

After some research, I realized that Anna was in one of my favorite little known musicals, Camp. It’s about a bunch of theatre geeks at a summer camp where they go through rigorous training and big age-inappropriate shows. There is drama, comedy, betrayal, love—and music, of course. Anna plays a lowly actress, Fritzi, who becomes the “assistant” to an ingénue actress. In a fit of anger, she poisons the actress with Woolite and takes over during a performance. Now, before you watch this scene, two things; one, there is some harsh language (one of my favorite lines), and two, Anna was only 17 years old when she filmed this movie.

Seventeen!

She’s been on Broadway and was even nominated for a Tony Award at the tender age of 13 for her role in High Society. Speaking of awards, she has been nominated for many including a/an Oscar, Golden Globe, People’s Choice, MTV Movie Award, and Critic’s Choice among others. Most of these were for Up in the Air which was a great film where she held her own against George Clooney and Jason Bateman. The role of Natalie was written by Jason Reitman with her in mind as the one and only choice. She was charming, solid, and vulnerable and I am now a full-blown fan. I’ve watched an interview or two and she is so sweet and actually speaks well which is refreshing for an actress her age. What I also like about her is that she’s accessibly pretty.  She can be a little nerdy/dorky as well as gorgeous.

Poised and Pretty at the 2010 Golden Globes.

Although I have noticed Anna Kendrick, I have to say that the roles that really solidified her for me were more recent.  Her portrayal of food truck owner Rosie in What to Expect When You Are Expecting was sweet and heartbreaking.  Her story was one of my favorites among the many and my girl crush was ignited. I saw Pitch Perfect the other day and I now have a full-blown crush. It was a cutesy movie, but I’m a sucker for music and underdogs, so I was hooked. I have to say that although it did follow the typical comedy/romance/underdog outline, it was very witty and fun which put it a step above the rest.  Anna’s character, Beca, was a little broody so it was nice to see her arc through the movie.  And she’s quite the talented singer which is another reason to adore her.

I have other Anna Kendrick movies planned for future viewing. She is in End of Watch as Jake Gyllenhaal’s wife and 50/50 with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogan. I plan to see both of these and look forward to her performance in both. Side note for you comic book fans, she’s Scott Pilgrim’s sister, Stacey, in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

So Anna Kendrick has redeemed herself in my Twilight-weary eyes and been added to my list of girl crushes. This is an elite group to include Drew Barrymore and Charlize Theron.  I am eager to see what else she does and glad that she doesn’t seem to be taking a turn toward Lindsay Lohan Land any time soon. From Twilight to Pitch Perfect Anna Kendrick has become a star who can only shine brighter with time.

So what do you think of my girl, Anna Kendrick?  Like her?  Hate her?  Don’t know who she is?  Let me know!

(Vicky, 29, lives in Tallahassee, FL where she is impressed with the fact that there is more than just a Hobby Lobby to buy fabric.  She is a writer, reader, wife, dog mom, theatre lover, and costume maker.  Mostly, she is what she likes to refer to as a sous of everything, master of nothing.)

Why It's NOT ALL McDonald's

Yesterday I posted a blog featuring Jim Gaffigan and his hilarious ode? tribute? rant? to/about McDonald's. If you didn't see it, go watch it.

In the video he makes claims that we all take part in some kind of "McDonald's" which basically means, we all do something, that isn't great for us, but just feeds this almost primal, definitely lazy part of ourselves. He included pop-culture in that statement. He specifically refers to watching Glee and says, "It's ALL McDonald's."

What do you get if you add Billions and Billions?
Fat.

As much as I laughed at the video, I kinda felt my feathers ruffle. I mean, here I am, with my own pop-culture centered blog, and he's saying it could be a waste of time...it's not good for you...it does nothing productive. And here's the thing...I know he's right. It really COULD ALL be McDonald's.

But I don't want it to be.

I want to write about fun things that happen in pop-culture, but I also want to connect them to things in real life that matter. I had a writing professor that once defined literature as "making meaning." This definition works for me because I think...anyone can tell a story, repeat the facts, or even make someone laugh. But can you make people relate? Can you compare the most mundane things to the most meaningful things? Can you find the common threads that run through all stories, all people, in all places, just because we are all human? That's really my goal with Weekend Fat.

I know a lot of the time I fall short of that. And I think that's ok. Like Gaffigan says, we all get and even "need" McDonald's days. But I do hope that more times than not, whatever gets written here at least makes people think, or engages people on a different level than the one that tells your brain to eat those cold limp fries.

Advanced Course in Ruining A Good Thing: The Firing of Dan Harmon

I love noticing connections between seemingly random things. For example, (confession time) yesterday I was Twitter-stalking (Twalking? Stittering?) someone who had posted a picture of a morning glory growing in their yard. For the rest of the day, the words morning glory continued to show up. I decided to put my iTunes on shuffle, which I rarely do, and the first song that played was "Morning Glory" by Oasis. One of my Chinese students asked me what we in America, call the flower that closes up every day? I Googled around and found the most common answer was morning glory. And I blogged about Annie Hall, which starred Diane Keaton and in my brief research on Keaton's filmography, I noticed that one of her more recent movies was called...drumroll please.....Morning Glory.

This thing will not leave me alone!

I like to call this synchronicity.

In writing, I think it's called a theme. I have glanced back over the last week of events, and ladies and gentlemen, I think we have ourselves a theme!

The Theme for the 3rd Week of May, 2012 is...Firing.

Not only did I just celebrate my personal 2 year anniversary from losing a job and write a few blogs about it (Blog 1, Blog 2), but firing happened all over TV last week! Phil had to fire Mitchell on Modern Family. Owen Hunt fired Teddy on Grey's Anatomy. Were there others that I missed?

I think the most notable and detrimental firing last week came from a real life situation. Dan Harmon, the brilliant creator and executive producer behind the recently renewed, Community, got fired from the show last Friday. Here is what he had to say about it. I think he was pretty gracious, considering. The idea is that he gets to stay on as a consultant...but I think you can gather from his statement, that he's not interested. And why would he be? That's like firing Steve Jobs and saying...thanks for making Apple awesome, and also, you stick around to help us pick a good color for the next iPod!

Harmon's reaction to "consulting" on Community.

It's rumored that Harmon is tough to work with. That he's demanding and fights in a "my way or the highway" style. In his thoughts on the firing, he doesn't bother to deny that. Because he knows...that's how amazing TV gets made. Someone is fighting for it! Look, you know I love Shonda Rhimes, but at this point, Private Practice, Grey's Anatomy, and the new Scandal all look very similar. It's entertaining TV but it's not doing a whole lot that's brilliant or new. It's character driven and she can write good characters, but it's not clever. It doesn't make me smarter or more culturally aware. And go on, I dare you to play a Shonda Rhimes drinking game where you watch one (or all) of her shows and every time someone passionately exclaims, "You don't GET to..." take a drink. You will be PASSED OUT before anyone even pouts or makes out.

(Note to self: Come up with Shonda Rhimes Drinking Game.)
(Note to reader: Stay tuned for Shonda Rhimes Drinking Game coming Friday!)

Abed did not anticipate this timeline.

My point is, you don't get excellent TV by doing what everyone else is doing! And let's face it, Community is EXCELLENT. Sure it's been called out on being meta for meta's sake, and sometimes for trying to out meta itself by meta-ing the meta. (If you don't know what meta is, I can't help you right now.) If there's one thing fans hate more than seeing their favorite TV show end, it's seeing it ruined before it ends. Harmon birthed and persisted through the impending doom of cancellations and slow to warm fans, to singlehandedly make Community into the fan favorite it is today. Without him its just one bad episode away from being a shorter version of The Breakfast Club, one laugh track away from being Friends. Thanks NBC, in the words of Dan Harmon, and so many who have blogged before me, "You Britta'd it!"