Stuff going on, Superbowl and Glee

It's been a really long time, hasn't it?  Guess a lot of stuff's been going on.

Tae Kwon Do's been taking off.  Had some new students join.  A few new guys, which we're really excited about, including the girls.  It used to be that the club would alternate every semester being dominated by guys and girls, but the past few semesters have seen the girls continue to dominate and few/no new guys joining.  Seeing all of these guys join (and clearly wanting to stay) has been a change welcomed by all.

Other TKD news:  We've started a demo team and are currently putting something together.  Technically, the demo team existed last semester, but the student we put in charge of organizing it didn't start things up until recently.  The club had put together a demo at the last minute for a campus event last year.  We had so much fun putting it together, that we decided to do it more in the future.  Since we have a lot more time to prepare this year (and a lot more participants), it's gonna be a lot more elaborate.  We're pretty excited.  Since we teach a mixture of ITF and WTF, we're trying to incorporate elements of each.

Outside of TKD.

There's this guy I like.  "Like" is probably a strong word, since I don't really know him that well, but I know that I really like what little I do know, and that I want to get to know him better.  I met him over a year ago, and I liked him immediately.  I didn't bother getting to know him back then because I was having some relationship issues back then, and I thought getting to know a guy I might like could've made things more complicated.  I don't think I'm very good at handling romantic feelings, so I try to keep things as simple as I can, even if that means denying myself opportunities.  Anyway, I've barely seen this guy since then, but recently, I keep bumping into him.  He remembers my name and who I am, which I find pretty impressive considering a) I've only actually met him once or twice, and that was a long time ago and b) I had long hair when we met, and most people have trouble recognizing me now that I have it short again.  I'd like to think that this is a good sign.  I'm going to try to get to know him better next time I get the chance to.  Hopefully it turns out well.  We'll see.

Sidenote:
 How did you all enjoy the Superbowl?  Personally, I was a little bored.  Granted, I don't watch football all that much, but I will from time to time.  For some reason, I just couldn't keep paying attention to the game.  Maybe I just wasn't watching during the good parts.  It was kindof cool how the Steelers almost came back for the win.  At least some of the commercials were decent.  I learned that fireworks were first created when a dragon drank a Coke.

I was pretty excited to see the return of Glee.  I really am gay, aren't I? Being more excited for a campy, musical tv show than the biggest American sporting event of the year?  It was actually a decent episode (and football themed as well).  For those who didn't watch it, the episode more or less centered on the character Dave Karofsky, a bully character that I mentioned in an earlier post.  In this episode, David is struggling with feelings he has that he won't admit to anyone, including himself, because he's afraid that doing so will cost him his friends and his tough guy reputation at school.  However, the few times in this episode that we see him express these feelings are the only times he's ever looked happy during this show.  As the character Artie puts it, Dave's in the first stage of acceptance: denial.  Towards the end of the episode, Dave continues to deny his feelings because he doesn't want to accept the stigma.  Finn points out to him that if he chooses to express himself, he could help change how their world thinks to make it more accepting.  Dave says that'll never happen.

To viewers new to the show that came in from the Superbowl,  this was an episode about a football player who is denying the fact that he loves to perform in glee club, because being in glee is social suicide.  To those of us who have been watching the show and are well aware that this character is a closeted, self-hating homophobe,  this episode suddenly becomes a giant metaphor for his struggle to accept his sexuality.  I can't express enough praise for Max Adler, who plays Dave, for being such an amazing after.  It's amazing how good he is at portraying this role.  A lot of people have been complaining that his development as a character seemed a little rushed.  I have to agree that it did feel that way while watching the episode, but when I stopped to think about it, his character didn't really "evolve" (as in change) much, we just saw a lot of different sides to him that we haven't seen before. I think his development just seemed rushed since there has never been an episode that's focused on him so much.  All that screentime gave the illusion of sppedy development

-Robbie

2 Girls, 1 Robbie.

Long story short.
I went  to a party sponsored by my school's GSA.  Wound up getting drunk.  Woke up the next morning with two girls in my bed.

Funny how omitting certain details in a story can drastically alter its meaning.
Here's what really happened.  Like I said, my school's GSA was hosting one of its parties.  Every year at my school, these parties are probably the biggest and most popular parties of the year.  We top just about every frat party.  No one knows how to party like the gays I guess.  Hosting a drag show during these dances probably doesn't hurt either.  Anyway, I volunteered to be sober driver for my friend and her roommate, both of whom were now 21 and wanted to get the full experience of these dances.  Anyway, after the dance, we went back to my place.  They felt bad that I wasn't able to be drunk with them at the dance, so they treated me to the rest of what they had in order to get me to catch up.  At this point, I was in no condition to drive them home.  I was also uncomfortable with them walking home.  I told them they needed to crash at my place and go back in the morning.  They agreed, and chose to sleep in my queen-sized bed with me, rather than sleeping on the couch or chairs in my living room. Can't say I blame them.  My bed is pretty fucking comfy.  Besides, how many times do you get the chance to say "I got a gay guy drunk and would up sleeping with him?" lol.
Needless to say, I 'slept' with two girls that night, though nothing ever happened. (I'm shuddering at the thought)
The next day, I texted on of my straight friends this message "Went to the dance last night. got drunk. woke up with 2 girls in my bed this morning..........score?"  He got a kick out of it after I explained what really happened.
He said I probably would've preferred the opposite.  Haha maybe.  I  was pretty drunk after the dance.  Don't know how I would've felt actually walking up the next day though.

I actually could've gotten a hook-up if I really wanted to.  There was this one guy I know who was there who's got a bit of a reputation.  He was hitting on me a lot.  It was getting on my nerves.  He shares a class with me and he gets on my nerves there as well.  Not planning on hooking up with him anytime soon.


On an unrelated note, within 2 days, my previous post received more views than any of my previous posts have ever received.  This Dave Karofsky story must really be big news for people.  I heard that Max Adler is in the process of making a video for the It Gets Better Project  Here is Mr. Max Adler's video

-Robbie

Glee "Never Been Kissed"

As some of you may already know, I'm a big fan of Glee.  Yes, I'm aware that it's probably gayer than Queer as Folk, and that I'm very stereotypical for liking it. fuck off.

Anyway,  this week's episode was a very significant one for a number of reasons.  It seems like it was written in response to all of the suicides that have been happening recently and came off as a bit of an afterschool special.
Still, it was overall a good episode that touched on some important issues.

SPOILER ALERT

Some backstory:  one of the show's main characters is Kurt Hummel.  Kurt is a gay highschool student who came out early on in the series.  While Kurt was initially portrayed as little more than a one-dimentional stereotype, he quickly became the most interesting character on the show.  The scenes revolving around Kurt's sexuality are probably the best moments in the show.  Much of this is due to the incredible acting of Chris Colfer, who plays Kurt, and Mike O'Mally, who plays his father, Burt.  The great quality of these scenes is also due to how well written and grounded they are.  The scene where Kurt comes out to his father was positive yet realistic, with Burt being immediately supportive but admittedly not 100% comfortable with the idea.

What happened on this episode:
Kurt's been dealing with bullying like he has for the past season and a half.  As the only out kid at his school, he is targeted quite a bit for his sexuality.  However, he seems to be experiencing more than usual lately, mostly from a football player named Dave Karofsky.  Because of this, along with the suggestion by his fellow glee-clubbers to spy on their competition, Kurt decides to visit Dalton Academy, an all-boys boarding school.  While there, he meets an opening gay character named Blaine.  Blaine is somewhat of an idealized character, being openly gay, completely accepted by his friends and lacking any apparent character flaw.  Blaine explains that he transferred to Dalton because he couldn't take the bullying at his own school.  Kurt considers transferring to Dalton himself, but Blaine recommends that Kurt face his homophobia head on, rather than run away from it like he did.

Kurt follows this advice.  After coming back to his own high school, Kurt is shoved into some lockers by Dave.  Kurt chases after him into the boy's locker room.  Kurt confronts Dave, and the more Kurt tells Dave off, the more anxious and upset Dave gets.  The scene climaxes when Dave pulls Kurt in for a long, hard kiss.  Kurt is so shocked that he doesn't move.  When Dave tries to kiss him again, Kurt pushes him back, and Dave storms off in a tantrum.

Later in the episode, Kurt tries to confront Dave again, this time with the help of Blaine.  Blaine tries to empathize with Dave, but Dave denies the kiss ever happened and storms off.


First of all, I have to give props to Max Adler, the actor who plays Dave Karofsky, for delivering an amazing performance last night.  His acting was incredibly believable,  I was also very impressed that the show decided to give a previously very minor character a very interesting storyline.  I know, a closeted gay male who tries to deny/hide his own sexuality by beating up other gay kids is nothing new, but a storyline like this one has a lot of potential.  I think there are a lot of guys out there who are like Dave. So far, Kurt's done a good job representing a lot of problems that gay teen males face, particularly effeminate ones.  However, a single character can't encompass every problem faced.  That's why Dave can be a great addition to the show.  As a big, masculine football player, he can represent the problems that masculine gay teens face.  It would be even better if Dave's parents were introduced, and they turn out to not be supportive of their son's sexuality.  While that's a horrible thing to happen, it is a reality for many gay kids and I think it would be good to represent that.

I was a little disappointed that Dave was the only homophobic football player shown in this episode.  Personally, I think it would've been good if Azimio, another football player who is frequently seen bullying with Dave, was included and seen bullying Kurt.  I think that would show that while some homophobic people are trying to hide their own sexuality, some are simply homophobic.  It would also shed more light on Dave's personal problems.  Not only does he have to hear gay jokes and other homophobic remarks, but he has to hear them come from his closest friends.  He also has to say them himself in order to maintain his image.  I supposed the show has time to do this in the future, but I don't think it would've hurt to show a little bit of it now.

anyway, that's my rant on glee.  And yes, I do want to see Kurt and Dave (eventually) get together. Eventually

If you want to see the episode, click here

If you want to see the big confrontation, click here

If Dave really does become more fleshed out, and I really hope he does, he'll probably sing eventually.  I've heard that Max Adler did musical theater in high school, so he probably has at least some skill.
Some songs I could picture Dave singing:
Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen (just replace the feminine pronouns with masculine ones)
Mr. Brightside by the Killers
Shadow Stabbing by Cake
Streets of Philadelphia by Bruce Springsteen
and maybe Here's Where I Stand by Tiffany Taylor