Just Minutes Away

FROM THE SEASON FINALE OF DEGRASSI SEASON 9!

Like, this seriously is an "OMG" moment.

In less than ten minutes, season 9 will be over.

This is GROUND-BREAKING.

Has ANY show ever gone so long and still kept its edge?  I think not.

Stay tuned all weekend for reviews, reviews, and more reviews!  <-- That was REALLY corny :P

MLML,

Mango

P.S. Oh yeah, and here's another picture of Drake:

Innocent When You Dream

Because my DVR is stupid and refuses to actually record the things I set it to record, I keep having to watch Degrassi online via The Click.  No offense to The Click, it's just not the same thing as actual television.  But oh well.  Here we go, Innocent When You Dream review.  My first review all month, wish me luck!


Well, first of all, I hated Twilight, so the vampire thing really turned me off from the Fortnight books, making me really glad when Clare vowed never to read them again (of course, she probably won't stick to that, but whatever).  I don't think Fortnight is a real book (that, or it's a really obscure one) so it was basically Twilight in my mind.  Think about it... there was a character named Edmund.  Edmund and Edward?  Most definitely a Twilight spoof.


Okay, sorry about that.  Pardon the awkward rant.  Now I'll actually talk about the episode.


So I'll start with the main plot... definitely one of the weirdest things I've ever seen in my entire life.  I basically sat there for the entire episode thinking "What the fish?"  But it wasn't BAD.  It was just WEIRD. In a creepy but hysterical sort of way.


The thing about this bizarre episode?  It was good.  Not just the "What'd you get on the test?" "A 76." "Oh... good..." kind of good, but the "What'd you do today?" "Made a billion dollars selling stocks and watched Degrassi." "GOOD!" kind of good.  I thoroughly enjoyed Innocent When You Dream.  To a degree, Degrassi even sorta managed to go there with this comedic episode, touching lightly on crushes on upperclassmen, particularly those with girlfriends/boyfriends and the pubescent sexual feelings.  But more importantly, it was a good episode, regardless of what show it was.  It was engaging, entertaining, and enthralling.  The extremity of Clare's actions was wildly entertaining.  I've used the word entertaining twice in two consecutive sentences... this makes it three times.  I seriously recommend you watch the episode.  And if you don't really wanna laugh, how about you just watch it so you can revel in the awesomeness of Holly J. and her incredibly mature response to the situation.  I hope we don't lose Charlotte Arnold next season, I'm not quite sure if she's a junior or a senior...


Now the subplot was just obnoxious.  What the fish was it trying to accomplish?  It was basically Sav prancing around being a jerk and moping about life.  I think they really want us to believe that Sanya is officially over forever but it's just not working.  It's really not.  Season 10 I promise you they'll be back together, without a doubt.


So overall, the episode was really good.  Half of it (subplot) wasn't BAD it was just... completely pointless.  The other half was amazing(ly entertaining), so go for it.  Indulge in some Degrassi, it's the best of the past few episodes without a doubt.

[P.S. I'm writing a review of the minisode Forgetting Sav Bhandari, so stick around for that! -Mango]
[P.P.S. Keep your eyes peeled for the next Delly J. episode, Keep On Loving You, which will air Friday, May 21 in the U.S. of A. -Mango] 

Half the Fun and Pink Strappy Heels

UGH, MOM! I WAS WATCHING DEGRASSI! YOU CANNOT MAKE ME TURN OFF THE TV WHILE CLARE MAKES OUT WITH WESLEY!

Sorry, I felt the need to express my anger towards my mother in all caps.  But this episode is actually really good.  No, it doesn't go there, and no, it doesn't get real, but I like it.  A lot.

So I'll watch the full episode tomorrow at 8, since teennick usually doesn't post the full eps until Sunday, and you'll have a review before Monday.  Most likely.  Hopefully.  Yes.

For almost the first half of Innocent When You Dream (which is like, the perfect title), Alli was wearing the shoes she wore in Shoot To Thrill, which are pink strappy heels that I am insanely jealous of and want exceptionally bad.  Alas, I am flat-footed and have a bunion and I am a victim of toe-walking so I am not allowed to wear more than 1/2 inch heels, so that wouldn't work at anyway.  But that doesn't mean I won't buy the shoes just to put in a display case in my room (which is being remodeled at the moment, in case you wanted to know).

MLML,

Mango

Aubrey = Jimmy = Drake

The title of this post might as well read LOVE = LOVE = LOVE.

I was browsing around Xanga blogs today and I found THIS:

And I'm kind of obsessed with it :]

Enjoy this photo, and tonight's premiere of Innocent When You Dream (which is a song by Tom Waits, who is pretty awesome).

MLML,

Mango

We Cheated

Or at least I did. [Yeah, because I definitely did not! -Mango]

Because, although I remained faithful to my dear TeenNick, I couldn't resist reading about the other Degrassi episodes at Kary's Degrassi blog (see affiliates/informative links for a link to the site).  So now after seeing them, I can't really bring myself to write a review for some reason.

But that will change, starting next week.  Because that's where my knowledge stops and I have to actually watch to see what's happening and therefore, everything's fresh in my mind when I go to write about it. [Good! GOOD! -Mango]

Rereading that, I don't know how much sense it made... just know you should expect a decent review this weekend. :) [Make that two, because I WILL WRITE ONE - at least one! I have a swim meet both days and then a track meet on Monday plus a literal TON of homework. -Mango]

Volleyball, Anyone?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI-6h8opV20

^ We do not own this! ^

Dalmar Abuzeid and Miriam McDonald were paired off with pro-volleyball players for a bit of two-on-two beach volleyball :D

Watch it, it's hilarious!

MLML,

Mango

Heart Like Mine (Pt. 2)

With no Marco to help me through part 2, I realized something: Degrassi has lost its edge.  What happened to going there?  To getting real?  Because this was just an overly dramatic, over-hyped episode of Degrassi that reminded me of something from Hannah Montana ("Miley Says Goodbye?"  More like "Miley Makes Me Want to Punch Disney Channel In the Face.")
I swear, there better be some epic return of Coach Carson where some sort of showdown takes place.  Because that's the only logical explanation I can find for that awful excuse for an ending.


I don't have time to write a full fledged review...


Basically -


The subplot was so "eh" I didn't really care at all about it.


The main plot was super intense until the end when I just wanted to punch something (just kidding, I'm not that violent a person) because it was such a let down.


The End.

Why Can't This Be Love? (Pt. 2)

I AM SO SORRY that this post is like, a week (two? three?) late!

I had no time.

Actually, I did have time.  Not an insane amount of time, but enough that if added together, the review could've been out.  But I recently won the award for Teen With Worst Time Management Abilities.

I'm really really really REALLY sorry!

Let's get this party started!

So within the first five minutes of the episode, Sav just keeps dropping bad news on Anya like there's no tomorrow (even though it's already tomorrow in Australia by now).

And then Chantay comes in as Dr. Phil... Thanks for the insight.  Now get off the camera.

"Va-va-va-voom!" -Sav Bhandari
^I swear - NEVER AGAIN. ^

And now begins Farrah's dropping of the hints.  "Bhandari-Hassan family?"  Give me a break.  Being pretty is only like, 1% of it.  Give it up, Hassan.  "What will our children think?"  Puh-lease.  Your accent FAILS!

You ready for this?  I don't know if this has like, a literary device in it or something, but it stuck out so bad I just have to put it here:

Peter: Oh, Anya, could you uh... (waves her away)
Sav: You better get out of the picture.

OUCH!

Farrah: Say 'ghee'!
Sav & Farrah: Ghee!

Oh, you're flippin' hilarious.

"Oh, hold on.  I just want to get a few shoots of Sav for my cousins back in India."

^ SHUT UP! ^

In case you've become addicted to it like me, the song playing when they're entering the school and Farrah pulls a slatternly (thanks Jane Eyre for teaching me that word) move by ripping her dress is "Army of One" by Hill.  I'll check the availability iTunes-wise and post that later.

Here comes the best part of the episode, in my opinion.  Holly J. and Declan :D

Declan: Hello Future Mrs. Bhandari.
Holly J.: (wacks Declan)
Declan: I mean apathetically.
Farrah: Please, it's just all likely I'll marry you.
Declan: (makes a "Bring it on" face)
Farrah: What's your name?
Holly J.: Uh, the natives call him "Puts-Foot-In-Mouth".
Declan: I was joking.  Sav's lucky to have Anya - She's such a hottie.
Anya: (makes "Er..?" face)
Farrah: Mr. Foot In Mouth is right.  You look amazing.  Frankly, I don't think Sav deserves either one of us.
Sav: (walks in to decorative shrubbery - LOLOLOLOLOLOL)

"A nickel, for your trouble.  Buy your niner friend some candy."  Johnny's hair looks especially bad, don't you agree?

Bathroom scene!  Farrah, the bad girl, finally comes out (not of the closet).  And just like in every other cliche, Anya can't tell Sav because then it'll seem like she's jealous.

Anya, you're not Sam (the lifeguard from Beat It).  Stop the mouth-to-mouth.

Another song obsession - "Raise A Little Hell Now" by Shiloh (album: Picture Imperfect).

Peter: Hey Farrah!  How about a dance with your 'date'?
Farrah: (makes a "Puh-lease I'd rather hang out with those blogging losers JJ n' Mango from DegrassiPwns" face)
Peter: Okay...  Maybe not.
^ SHUT.DOWN. ^

Anya: Don't worry, I've taken care of it.
Sav: Wait, like, the pill?
Anya: Come 'ere you.
^ She never actually said that she  Okay nevermind, she flat out lied. ^

Anya: I did something very stupid last night.
Holly J.: Other than the Macarena?
^ HJ - I LOVE YOU (: ^

Personally, although I always say otherwise, I really like(d?) Sanya.  And them breaking up... ouch.  Samantha Munro did an EXCEEDINGLY great job on staging it, though.  Possibly the best breakup scene ever.

SUBPLOT: Alli and Dave (:

I'm actually beginning to like this "couple".  Finally someone came along and told Alli to just... ERGH!  THANK YOU DAVE!

Dave: "We'll call it... The Bhandurner.  Bhandari plus -"
Alli: "Turner.  I get it."
^ Oh, let the poor kid finish his lame crack. ^

"You're too cool for school."
^ Lame line, but nonetheless BURN for Alli.  Loving the Dave.  Loving it. ^

Skip ahead to the formal, right as Anya is whisking Sav off his feet, Dave is showing off his insane dance skills.  I LOVE HIS FACE WHEN HE DOES THIS.  It is exactly the face my friends and I make when we spaz-dance.

Dave: Hey, check it - the Bhandurner slide. (spazzes)

And Alli and her random attempt at the Bhandurner slide.  L O V E.

Overall, this episode (Pt. 1 & Pt. 2) earned itself somewhere in the B section.  It definitely hit "real", but it was just a tiny bit too cliche.  But it's Degrassi, which is worth like a bazillion brownie points.

MLML,

Mango

Give me an N! And then a Y, an R, and a D.

That's right, folks, today's NYRD!  And by NYRD (pronounced "nerd") I mean National Youth Rights Day, not Neptunian Yachtsmen's Reincarnation Day or Norwegian Yearly Roach Demolition.


One of the organizations that helped create NYRD was the National Youth Rights Organization (affectionately known as "NYRA," pronounced "N-eye-rah").  NYRA is one of the leading organizations on the youth rights frontier, working to lower the voting age and drinking age while fighting juvenile curfew laws, behavior modification camps, and just age discrimination in general.  If your town has anyone of those things and you're fed up with it, go to www.youthrights.org and see how you can get involved!  It's a great organization fighting for a cause that doesn't receive enough attention.


So... yeah :)
Do it.
Now.
America loves you.
The End.

Heart Like Mine (Pt. 1)

So the thing that made this episode for me is two words synonymous with Jesus: Adamo. Ruggiero.  And Marco had a pretty boring plot.  Well, I suppose it would've been an interesting one if I were, say, a student teacher coping with teaching at my old school or a retired old man with a passion for stalking youngsters pursuing careers in education and/or intergalactic farming.  But I'm a 14 year-old interested in high school drama.  So it didn't strike me as "WOW."  But Adamo Ruggiero was ON SCREEN looking as smexy as ever.  I just about died.
You see, if you haven't noticed yet, I'm a bit incredibly one hundred percent obsessed with the Jesus that is Adamo.  And even when Marco got to be a bit of a boring character, I lived for episodes with his face.  Even in his awkward brace-face days and his absurd facial hair days, he made my life.  So a Marco plot?  Highlight of the episode.  But I will try to be impartial when reviewing this subplot (though, I'm reviewing it before the main plot so I think I've kinda already ruined that).


So Marco's back, and he and Holly J (whom he fondly refers to as "HJ") have become tight since the last time we saw them.  That whole relationship between them sorta came out of nowhere.  What ever happened to the Sinclair hatred?  It was a little out of the blue for me, but I tried to ignore the absurdity of it throughout the episode.  The plot followed his journey as he tried to discover the role of a teacher and determine the line that sets the boundaries for students and teachers.  The thing that ruined it for me was the fact that this boundary was seen through Marco's eyes.  It was one of those things like Snake and Spike relationship issues or Joey and Caitlin problems... interesting story, but not really what Degrassi was designed to tell about, making it more awkward and less engaging than it needs to be.  Although this wasn't exactly the perspective I was hoping this would be touched on, it is a topic that should be touched on.  I was secretly hoping for both that and some YR (Youth Rights = win) stuff season 9, and 1 out of 2 is pretty good.  I would like to see this same issue touched on more from the student's perspective, but that might just be because I've dealt with some similar things.
Anyway, Adamo hasn't lost his touch as an actor and was still a convincing actor. And it was nice to see some of that big bad Holly J from season 8 that miraculously disappeared after she started dating Declan and hanging with Jane.  Although it wasn't my favorite subplot, it was 1) well executed and 2) ADAMO.  RUGGIERO.


Now for the main plot.  This is really one of those setting the scene things.  The whole Jenna-Clare thing was interesting, don't get me wrong.  But I'm pretty sure the couple will be back, so I wasn't really crying for Clare.  The whole break-up was really uncomfortable, anyway.  It was very spur of the moment, like he opened his mouth to say something and was just making it up as he went and somewhere in the middle realized he was about to dump her.
But the athletic dinner was when it finally got started, after 15 minutes of setting the scene.  KC hooks up with Jenna, makes out with her bearing an incredibly aggressive and intimidating facial expression (I wanted to shout "RAPE" but my 8 year old sister was in the room), yadda yadda yadda.  The whole dinner scene is very quick and random, KC seems to be receiving awards and room keys one minute and making out with Jenna while Alli tells him off in the next.
And now we get to the good stuff.
Now, I sorta already knew what was gonna happen (thanks, Kary!).  But my dear friend Anzykins (not her name, but I've always wanted to call her that) didn't and she called me up as soon as the episode ended (before I saw it, actually) because she was so creeped out by the coach.  And after I saw it, I realized why.  If I were in a room with that guy, I'd shoot myself.  It's very clear that the coach is supposed to be this creepy guy.
What I really liked about this was that it wasn't awkward or forced at all.  Throughout the episode, the coach progressively began to show his true colors, telling KC it's okay to be unfaithful and like other girls, that he should go after what he wants at all costs, that he can take Jenna up to his room, that he can stay late, that he can have a beer, that he can watch porn... bit by bit they establish this, making it more real and much more frightening.


Even though everything was done well, nothing in this episode made me go "WOW!  THAT'S SOME GOOD TELEVISION!"  It was mediocre in comparison to the rest of this exceptional season which is quite disappointing since I was looking forward to this episode.  But hopefully part 2 will show more potential.  It's seems to be a lot like the first episode ever with Emma and her creepy adult friend... maybe, like that episode, it won't really pop unless you watch it all together.