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Oh dear. We're SO sorry. JJ's been writing, and I've been livin' my life. But we're back. Well, I am. For those of you people who bother to read our pwning blog. More later!
I'm glad you'll be rejoining me in the wonderful world of reader-less blogs, but what's with the post title?

Degrassi Goes Hollywood

Well, if you watch Degrassi, you probably know that the new Degrassi movie, Degrassi Goes Hollywood, comes out in August, on the 14th to be exact (a pretty cool day in my life anyway).

The general idea of the movie is the same general idea of ever episode of Degrassi: D-R-A-M-A. That spells "drama," just in case you didn't know.

In this all new Degrassi film, the Degrassi crew heads out to Hollywood, where the Degrassi drama gets a whole lot more dramatic. It's Manny on Paige, just like old times, but the stakes are higher and the tensions are thicker. Meanwhile, Craig is back in Ellie's life. And according to the commercial, Paige will slap Marco (which she's done to like every character, so Marco had it coming according to Paige's general code of conduct), there's at least 2 songs, Paige falls and reveals herself underwear-less in order to advertise herself through scandal thanks to some really bad advice, Paige gets a part, Paige gets fired, Manny takes the part, a buff blond surfer does a head-bang, Marco and Craig get in a fight, and Peter spontaneously punches someone in the face. So what do I know about the plot? Yeah, basically nothing.

In fact, all I know is that the movie will feature these characters: Sav (SAV!), Danny, Paige, Mia, Craig, Ellie, Peter, Jay, Marco, Manny, and Kelly. How are they all getting to Hollywood? (I think they take a school bus!) How are they all meeting up? (Cell phones!) Why is Ellie even there if her subplot is romantic galavants with Craig? (Because... hey did you know bananas are botanically classified as berries?) All important questions.

And I have no answers. I don't even know why I wrote this post. But I was bored. So read it, pretend you care, and when I know more, you'll know more. For now, just eagerly anticipate it's arrival.
I think JJ post is super cool times ten! Unfortunately, her obsession, Jane, isn't in the movie. At least, that's according to the previews. But, hey, you never know. On a brighter note, Sav Bhandari is in the movie! Yay! Yay! Double triple quadruple YAY!

Yeah, much to my dismay, Paula Brancati won't be joining the cast for the movie. (Sad)The cast will primarily consist of the stars who haven't been in recent episodes according to logic, which means, unfortunately, Raymond Ablack won't be the star of this film, just a supporting character. But, since I'm also in love with Marco, Paige, and Ellie (in a different sense than the Mango and Sav attraction since even Marco is unattainable... *sigh*) it doesn't bother me so much. In fact, I'm overjoyed by the fact that they're still on the show and have not been in recent season 8 episodes because of scheduling conflicts due to the fact that they were otherwise occupied with awesome things... like filming the first feature length Hollywood Degrassi movie, perhaps?

In the movie, SAV HAS A MULLET. And when the movie is out, he's going to cut it off. I.must.have.his.hair!!!!!!!!!!

Jane Says

I believe I touched on the events in the most recent Degrassi episode in my really long overview of Anastacia "Jane Vaughn" Valieri. But now I get to write a whole blog post about it! Yay!

Okay, so after days of "Jane has it all together... but... will a secret from her past tear her future apart? Do you really want to pretend nothing ever happened? I remember. You're confused. No. How could you do that to me?" over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over... it finally premiered. And it was completely worth the sanity-depriving commercial.

The episode deals with Jane's struggle with her past as she uncovers a secret that maybe should've stayed secret. But as tensions rise the truth becomes evident and Jane learns who she can trust... and who she should've never let into her life in the first place.

Hey, that's pretty cool sounding, like it could be on the back of a book advertising the episode. But I'm not advertising it. I'm reviewing it. So let's take down the aura of mystery (although it was a lot of fun to maintain) and get down to the review-y stuff.

Okay, Paula Brancati is ah-mazing. (Ugh, Mango's rubbing off on me, why did I just say "ah-mazing"?) She's just crazy talented. You just believe everything she does. When she cries, you want to cry. When she smiles, you want to smile. It's this outrageous awesome energy that just picks you up and carries you away, holding you in it's grasp until the credits end and captivating your imagination for hours afterwards. So the acting in an episode all about her character? Amazing. Or ah-mazing as I said before.

The episode is actually confusing towards the beginning which helps it capture the viewers attention and helps you relate to Jane as she struggles to understand her painful past. You're left guessing the whole time until the truth is revealed.

And if you look back to our "Spotlight On: JANE" post, you'll see she had a past of child molestation. This is the episode where this is discovered. Through a series of flashbacks, the truth becomes apparent and Jane addresses a side of her past she didn't even know existed.

Jane's father comes to visit and because she's angry because he left her as a child, Jane greets him with hostility. But she appears to be the only one upset by his actions and winds up with her brother Lucas angry at her, accusing her of always wanting the spotlight. Her mother urges her to get along with him, but she can't, though she can't figure out why. It isn't until Lucas makes a comment about her "stupid backwards pajamas" that she pieces the puzzle together and realizes the truth about her past. At the end of the episode, Jane stands up to Carlo with the help of Lucas and then after a touching hugging crying moment with her mother, the family attends counselling (excluding Carlo who had been told to leave and never come back).

Although this is the second time a character deals with some form of sexual abuse, it is done in an interesting and unique way, realistically portraying the situations many teenagers deal with and, according to the Degrassi commercial, "going there."

So in conclusion, if you're sitting at home doing nothing (or even doing something) drop everything and go watch "Jane Says". It's worth it.

And if you're interested in Jane, it adds a twist to her life, always a bonus with characters as awesome as her!

Spotlight On: JANE

Okay, this time I get to talk about the character because I'm the obsessed one (although in a different sense than Mango in our previous spotlight). I think Jane is awesome. Why? Well, to start, she's the only girl on the football team, faithfully serving as the team's running back. She also dates Spinner and helped him through his chemotherapy when he had cancer. Further more, she is chosen to speak at a leadership symposium because of her accomplishments. And finally, she was molested by her father as a child. Not as cool as the other stuff, but the fact that she was able to achieve so much with such a terrible past proves something, though.

So I guess now I should go a bit more in depth.

Okay, football: Well, after her debut at Degrassi after the Lakehurst fire in season 7, it is revealed that Jane had played rugby in Lakehurst and intended to play football in Degrassi. Principal Sheppard ("The Shep") opposes this decision, but the school board says he can't keep her off the team, so he agrees to let her try-out but warns her that there's no special treatment. Wholeheartedly, Jane agrees to his terms.

So you'd assume that's the end, right? Try-out, be best to try out, get spot on team, all live happily ever after. But please, who are you kidding? This is Degrassi. And nothing ever ends happily ever after without something to prove you want it first. And in Jane's case, that something is basically the entire football team.

Few of the guys on the team are supportive of Jane's football feat and try to bring her down. In fact, after Derek misses a block and Jane gets tackled, the team blames Jane and create t-shirts saying "Sorry I missed the ball... It's my time of month." Jane tells Snake (Mr. Simpson) and he tells the team it's disrespectful and rude. After practice, Derek and Bruce jump her, shoving her into lockers and kicking her in the stomach. When Jane tells Sheppard, he dismisses it as a small incident and sides with Derek. Jane's just about through with football and plans to quit, but receives a gift from Darcy (who's in Kenya at the time) and decides to keep trying. Jane confronts the team, and when over half the team sides with her, Bruce, Derek, and Principal Sheppard are upset, but Jane kneels down with the team for that well-deserved happily ever after.

Okay, next matter of awesomeness: dating Spinner. Spinner was your basic bully for the first few seasons, but after a few life changing events, he began to change. And with Jane's help, he's become a much better person. Jane has been basically the perfect girlfriend. Okay, not perfect, they have their squabbles, but they're practically perfect for each other. When Spinner and Jane first meet, it's at a peace meeting promoting Degrassi-Lakehurst unity after the fire, since their are some hard feelings between the 2. Spinner and Jane go on their first date and after a slight miscommunication (unaware of Spinner's cancer, she nudged him playfully and the groin and he raced out in pain, leaving Jane feeling pretty much dumped) Spinner confesses to Jane that he has testicular cancer and Jane supports him through chemotherapy. Although they have a fight when it is revealed that Spinner has been using weed to cope with chemo, Jane and Spinner work it out and Spinner stops using weed. Jane also helps Spinner when he tries to prove his masculinity by fighting in school frequently. Tensions rise between them, but they come out an item and maintain a strong bond throughout the rest of the season... excluding petty arguments because they manage to fix things every time. That's part of what make them such a great couple. They're not afraid to apologize.

Next: The leadership symposium. Well, that's a drama in itself. Jane was chosen to speak at the symposium because she played football. It was quite an honor and she wrote a magnificent speech and concluded by thanking the people who helped her... but accidentally failed to mention the loving support of someone really important. Who? You guessed it, Spinner. And on with the Valentine's Day special! So Spinner lies to Jane about police school and she learns this during the celebration she threw him. Result=angry Jane. Spinner goes to apologize at the symposium but then hears himself not being thanked. The result=angry Spinner. Spinner than proposes and pisses Jane of even more. So after the 2 of them have basically annoyed one another in every possible way, Jane apologizes at the dance, he apologizes back, the dance, and you just feel drawn to say "aww...". It's cute, it really is, in an and-they-all-lived-happily-ever-after way.

Finally: child molestation. There's not much to say. Her dad is a creepy sex-offender jerk who needs to go die in a hole. And he molested her. Because he's a creep. And a jerk. Jane eventually tells her brother and mother about the molestation and they go to a family counselling to cope with and overcome the event. Carlo = jerk. Just so ya know.

To finish up my Jane section, I'll touch on her real name and her flaws, few as they may be. Okay, flaws: she doesn't really know when not to talk. For instance, when Darcy told Jane about Peter's bad breath, she wasn't really controlled enough to not say anything and kinda sorta accidentally called him "Jungle Breath." She's also a little slow to acknowledge the people who help her most (look above for the little symposium drama). But other than that she's totally awesome. And on to her name: Jane's real name is Anastacia Valieri. Yeah, just like me, you probably looked at that and went Anastacia Valieri... Jane Vaughn... how the fish do you make that connection? Well, you don't. It's supposed to be pretty far out. Jane changed her name so no one would know she was Lucas Valieri's brother, a.k.a. father of Mia's daughter, Isabella.

Now I'm gonna talk about Paula Brancati, the awesome person who plays Jane. She started her film career in television in 1999, which means she was about 10. She continued scoring small and minor rolls in a variety of television shows and eventually hit the Disney jackpot. From 2006 to 2007 she became one of the Disney faces of evil, portraying the typical mean and cynical girl with the rich father and the vocabulary of Gucci, Coach, and Armani, starring as Sarah Van Dyke in "Cow Belles" and Gina in "Jump In!". She also played Callie Stone in a television show Dark Oracle for 19 episodes. Then she hit the mandatory "Life With Derek" guest star path which almost every Degrassi star seemed to do for reasons beyond my comprehension (there's probably reasons, I just don't know them). After becoming Jenny in a show called "Being Erica" for 13 episodes, she was casted as Jane in Degrassi. And will hopefully forever stay Jane. Because I love Jane. But in a different sense than Mango's Sav love (I love SAV!). But it's still love. Because Jane is awesome (like Sav).

Holla! Mango here. I think that... Jane is almost as ah-mazing as Sav (see previous post for how ah-mazing Sav Bhandari is). Um... JJ already said a lot about Jane, so in conclusion, Jane is pretty darn spectacular.

Spotlight On: SAV

Hey, ladies, gents, and other genetic mistakes. It is Mango.

I

love

Sav.

She really does. It's pretty unhealthy.

No offense to Anya, but Sav is completely M-I-N-E. He hearts his family, which I so totally do (define "heart"). Alli is soooo much like my younger sibling(s). She is outgoing and defiant, trying to stray from the demands of her family and culture. But Sav's always there to pull her back into that middle area (much like me, super hero of the family). He's that friendly, laid-back guy in the corner. Yet he gets so out there.

The Studz are way too much like my band, The Allergies. Both formed from a group of great friends (in Sav's case, his pals Peter and Danny... and Spinner, although I wouldn't call him a "pal"), tend to rock due to the talented band-mates. Although my band sings about the quadratic equations while the Studz are a little more... explicit, if you know what I mean.

He transferred to Degrassi from Lakehurst (which I hated until I learned Sav came from there). I transferred to where I live from where I lived (sorry, scared of internet predators), so I totally understand the whole I'm-new-please-don't-jump-me feeling.

Sav learned to kiss from Mia. Um... I don't kiss... so there's no connections there. Sad :(.

He started dating Anya MacPherson. Love her, but one day she is going to die an untimely and unfortunate death that I have absolutely nothing to do with. But you know, it's cute (in a sickening way). He wrote her a song! I want a song! He gifted her stickers! I want stickers! He had the nerve to introduce her to his very unwelcoming family! I want someone to introduce me to their unwelcoming family! (Although I'm not sure if they'd be unwelcoming because I'm Hindu... but Sav's family is Muslim... oh dear.)

Guess what? I love Sav! Despite those ah-nnoying flaws that unfortunately everyone has at least one of (this one being his hypocritical tendencies when it comes to sexual stereotypes in the Muslim culture... although why blame him? Blame the Muslim culture, more to love about Sav), I promise to love, heart, and adore him for ever and for always! PROMISE!

Okay, before I scare everyone away, I'll stop. Have a nice day! :)

Okay, on a less obsessive note, I'll talk about Raymond Ablack, who portrays Sav Bhandari in Degrassi. Well, there's not much to say. Well, he started his career in Canadian televsion by making a guest appearance in an episode of Life With Derek. After that though, basically all he's done is Degrassi, but he's been credited in 19 episodes and there's definitely more to come (although he only appeared in 18 of those episodes... the credits are basically a default credit for every season, so the numbers vary, but apparently he's a big character because since his appearance there's only one episode lacking in Sav-ness).

Wow, okay, he's pretty boring, so I think I'll add to the summary of Sav's character, just a bit more specific.

Sav is the linebacker for the Degrassi Panthers (the football team if you didn't catch that from "linebacker"). Sav and Anya have their ups and downs (for example, Anya dumps him because of the way he treated Alli during the school ecology club field trip and when he is afraid to introduce her to his family) but Sav always manages to win her back. Whether by proving his love by getting in/losing a fight with Riley Stavros over her or taking a chance and inviting her to dinner and standing up for their love.

Of course, Sav is a lovable guy (if Mango hasn't already proved so) and sometimes other people try to get in their way. When Holly J. Sinclair finds out that Sav will have an arranged marriage, she hastily tells Anya. But they work things out and he promises he will fight for them. How adorably heroic is that?! Hey, my section. Sorry. Anyway, Mia Jones also has a thing for Sav. During a badminton tournament, she teaches Sav how to kiss and generally flirt with girls, but when she publicly displays her affection through what she taught him, he objects, saying he thought she just wanted to help him. Later on in the episode Mia realizes the extent of Anya's and Sav's relationship.

So, all in all, Sav is a lovable, outgoing, family-oriented, awesome, rocking, friendly, and relaxed 11th grader who definitely shows some promise as a character to watch in Degrassi. He shows so much more than promise, JJ. Even if the rest of the world hates Sav, I will make sure he isn't stabbed by losers from a rival school or shot by a psycho. As long as I'm around, Sav Bhandari is too! Hello, I was in the middle of summing up the blog post! I apologize. And love Sav. Are you quite done yet? Yes. I love Sav. Okay, now I'm done. Thank you. Anyway, be on the look-out for more Sav. He's sure to take Degrassi to the next level.

P.S. SAV WILL BE MINE!

I thought you were done!

I meant to say "for now". Gotta love Sav!

Hola

Hola (which means "hello," "hi," "yo," and all that stuff in Spanish incase you for some reason didn't know).

Wow... that was long. YO. We heart Degrassi.

I am... well, to avoid internet predator stalker freaks, we'll just call me JJ. I'll talk in italics.

Call me Mango. No questions asked.

Um, yeah. This blog was created for our Degrassi obsession. Yes, obsession. It's quite unhealthy. It's a side effect of watching Degrassi a lot. In fact, we've actually been diagnosed with Degrassi-obsession-itis by a small obscure medical practice in Southern Scandinavia.

JJ speaks in big words. I LOVE DEGRASSI. 'Nuff said.

So, anyway, this will be your source for all information Degrassi related. We know stuff. Seriously. And since no one reads this and no one will probably ever ask us a question, we'll just write a bunch of stuff so if someone should stumble upon our humble little Degrassi encyclopedia, they might learn something.

That was deep.

Now we're done with this scattered and confusing introduction. Let the Degrassi blogging begin.