Season 9 Mysteries...

Three letters:

O
M
G

Yes, cuh-razed Degrassi fanatics; DEGRASSI SEASON 9 IS COMING SOON! And there is dehhhh-finitely some (try a LOT!) foreshadowing in those freaky commercials.

I have gathered soooo many juicy details (Cablevision and Wikipedia, thankyouverymuch).

1. Riley can be straight... or at least he can try really, really hard.

2. Clare isn't (*cough* she is *cough*) threatened by the "new, hot girl" (I have come to the conclusion that this is referring to the newest student and member of the Degrassi Power Squad, Jenna Middleton, portrayed by Jessica Tyler).

3. According to Jane, the new guy (obviously referring to Declan Coyle, played by Landon Liboiron) is a narcissist. He has "that obnoxious smirk", "crystal blue eyes", and "that muscle that runs through his neck to his shoulder". Sounds like something's going to happen to Spinner!

4. Peter is going to let anyone get in his way! Aww... don't ruin your annoyingly-perfect life. Your mom's returning to Degrassi to relieve the school of Principal Sheppard and his cuckoo ways. But will you let her..?

5. Alli is finally busting out of her protective Muslim-girl skin. I reckon she's going to pull an Emma and wear nothing in front of the entire student body. Like in that episode when the Purple Dragon sponsors the badminton tournament at Degrassi? Hope your parents aren't there to watch, Little Bhandari!

6. Without a doubt we're going to uncover K.C.'s hidden past (like what the heck K.C. stands for?!). And most definitely his future... will he and Saint Clare last? Or will he pull a Holly J. and ruin her life?

7. Holly J. is just being her normal overly-jerky self-conscious obnoxious persona. All she is after is "to make you cry". And not la-di-da romance cry. More like tear your heart out, stomp on it, then force-feed it to you through your nostrils cry.

8. I believe I've mentioned Declan Coyle before, the brother of Fiona Coyle and heart-breaker from private schools around the globe. Obviously he doesn't follow the "beauty is on the inside" philosophy. (*cough* JERK! *cough*)

9. Dave (last name to be announced, played by Jahmil French) is Chantay Black's cousin who is to attend Degrassi. From the commercials, you can totally tell that he is a short little sophomore, possibly a freshman, trying to get into all the A-list parties. Poor little guy, he doesn't even have a ride!

10. You've most likely seen the commercial where Alli, Clare, and a new character (Jenna Middleton) open a locker, and then it cuts to where Alli says "promise not to tell anyone" and Jenna goes, "I promise". You can sooo assume that Jenna's going to tell someone! And you tell one, all finds out. Like when my mom told her one friend at her seminar that our van broke down, and then next thing you know people are pointing and making an attempt at whispering, "Hey, that's the lady whose van is defective!"

Too bad we have to wait until OCTOBER to get the inside scoop on the things happening within Degrassi Community School. How can we possibly get through the first whole month of school without Degrassi to keep us going? I am most definitely not switching over to something lame, like Beyond the Break (no offense intended, though you'll probably take some anyways).

Umm... bye! (Sorry, my clever and witty ways of saying goodbye are being replaced with Degrassi-concern!!)

Yet Again, More DGH

As JJ is off in the exotic tropical paradise of Hawaii, basking in the sun and celebrating her birthday, I type this blog.

Okay, what did you ah-dore about DGH? Too bad you can't tell us! Sad x 10! Hey... you can totally leave a comment for us. We luh-v you non-existent readers!

Well, I for one love how Paige's boss/mentor, Hailey Montel (played by Mary Ashton) says "IMDb" in the movie. "According to IMDb, I'm nineteen." Can you say sah-weet?

According the IMDb MOVIEmeter (I really don't understand why movie is in all CAPs), the page on DGH has gone up 409% popularity this week. That is most likely due to the infinite and beyond amount of times JJ and I have visited the page.

IMDb is so fantabulous. Talk about living in the future! IMDb also has the nifty feature where it detects goofs in the movie. One being that when Ellie uses Paige's iPhone at the party, she is apparently holding it upside down!

OMG! Did you guys see Cassadee Pope from Hey Monday?! She was the one who looked somewhat like Darcy Edwards from seasons 4 - 8. I loveee Hey Monday!

Well, this has been Mango wishing JJ were here. Tschau! (German for goodbye!)

Abhi (Hindi for NOW!)

Hey there fine smelling readers! Mango = back! Did you miss me? I doubt it, since JJ has been doing such a fantabulous job keeping a blah-g alive.

Guess what? JJ got me obsessed with IMDb! I totally heart the trivia and quote sections! And using my new obsession, I search "Degrassi Goes Hollywood" and guess who's first on the cast list? Raymond Ablack! Tee hee :D

I also love this quote from Jason Mewes: "You're not a star! More like a circle..." Darn, he's an intelligent boy!

Now I will rave about the Season 9 promos that were ran during the commercials. First of all: SPINNER AND HOLLY J?!?! I know this is a blog, and we totally don't use text/IM speak, but WTF?! Um, hey Spinner, I think you forgot about JANE!! They are seriously the best Degrassi couple. Like, ever. Trading Jane for Holly J? It's like previews before movies and Sunday night television- it's just w-r-o-n-g!

Okay, and that creepy commercial where everyone's face is blown up to a ridiculous size and they're all "It's about to get real". Pardonnez moi, but if it's going to get real, what was it before?!

Alas, I must dash over to... there. Snakkes! (That's Norwegian for goodbye!)

Degrassi Goes Hollywood Review

Yes, last night was the night! Degrassi has gone Hollywood and it was nothing short of phenomenal. (She's totally right.)

Now, Degrassi obsession aside, Degrassi Goes Hollywood was a great movie (anything Degrassi is great). It moved at a good and relatively consistent pace, so it managed to accomplish something without rushing and leaving the audience in the dust. It kept my attention the whole time, and even our friends Flannie and... Ashley... watched the whole movie and enjoyed it (although they'll never admit the cursed Degrassi was... *gasp* enjoyable). Well, no, Ashley only stayed in the room for commercials but that's because she loves to be annoying and jerk-ish (try jerk to the 10th degree). Anyway, my point was it was engrossing whether or not you're a die hard Degrassi fan.

The movie opens up on a relaxing Paige on the phone with Marco talking about her glamorous Hollywood life (is it glamourous in Canada?) only to reveal that she isn't a stylist but a personal assistant to a boss who enjoys terrorizing her (you know, like the people who get pushed around like the characters from that bizarre show The Assistants; dude, that show is annoying but high-larious). Then we cut to Canada (with a clear representation of snow versus sun to clarify where you are... useful but annoying towards the end of the movie) and there's Manny in drama class. And then after class she goes up to her teacher and kisses him... oh, how very disturbing. In a sense, that is the definition of irony if you're making Mr. Oleander and Paige reference. Well, anyway, after that terribly awkward moment, Manny tells her incredibly slimy-looking teacher (one of those guys who you look at and go "sex offender" - ha ha pedophile!!) that as much as she'd love to be with him, she's gotta go see Kevin Smith at some event thing for Jason Mewes' movie "Mewesical High" (God that name bothers me). When Kevin Smith spots Manny in the audience he announces to everyone that she was in their film, Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh! and later on Jason Mewes tells her to come to an audition to play Trixie in his movie. Okay, cut back to LA, where Paige has told her boss that she can set her up an audition for Trixie in Mewesical High. Okay, now cut back Degrassi, where Studz has just landed the part of the band in the movie and Manny has just screwed up her audition. Oh, but wait, Peter just punched the lead in the face for flirting with Mia, so they're fired. Okay, now cut back to Hollywood where Paige was just offered the opportunity to audition for Trixie.

It's all coming together now, isn't it? Suddenly, everyone going to Hollywood isn't this awkward and inexplicably coincidential nonsense. No, Degrassi managed to provide a believable and consistent plot.

Now, it's Degrassi, so of course, they don't just go to Hollywood and do stuff. No, it's Degrassi, and everything is an adventure... even the bus-ride to LA (Sav was being a mango here).

There are three primary plots to the movie, and anything else that happened was just completely useless (although, there was minimal fluff, the movie was pretty to the point and managed to really emphasize the important stuff without diluting it was nonsense).

Plot 1: Paige. Paige lands the role initially, so her conflict is not about earning the role, it's about finding her place in "the place where the only thing bigger than their dreams is their drama." After some not-so-great advice from a not-so-great mentor (are you kidding? I l-u-v Perez! I'm not talking about Perez, I'm talking about that spazzy old boss of hers), Paige winds up believing that a diva attitude it the way to survive in that town. She goes to premieres with her old boss (and new mentor), eloquently forgetting that she used to be a jerk. Then, believing her friends "don't understand," she proceeds to boss them around and reject them when she finds out "Ellie's hurting." Too involved in her own little identity crisis, she is completely oblivious to the Degrassi-esque problems surrounding her and is struggling to maintain a reputation. But when her reputation winds up to be below the par she had originally set, Paige sinks to lower and lower levels to get publicity, leading to that much awaited smack across Marco's face when he confronts her about the stupidity of what she's about to do. But can Paige get her feet on the ground in time or will the ground fall in under her as she sinks to levels of no return? (Sorry, just had to end with one of those ominous and unnecessary questions things always end with so not to spoil the ending.)

Plot 2 will be Ellie, I guess, since I've already mentioned her. Okay, so Ellie joins Marco and Paige on their Hollywood vacation from reality, but unfortunately her reality is harder to run from than everyone else's. The initial foreshadowing takes place in Canada, when she looks at the picture of her and her father on her desk and then agrees to go on vacation. The next bit of foreshadowing is at the airport, when Ellie sees a family greeting their soldier father as her returns from the war and as they hug and laugh, Ellie tears up. But you don't truly understand what's happening until Marco gets a phone call from Ellie's mom, who explains what's happened to Marco and tells him to tell Ellie to call her since she's not picking up her cellphone. It turns out, Ellie's father has returned from Afghanistan with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and Ellie's in denial. She's trying to convince herself he isn't sick and Marco isn't helping with his relentless urging of Ellie to go see him. Eventually, it becomes too much and Ellie leaves Paige's estate (although it's unclear if Paige even notices) and goes to stay with Craig, who's been off crack for a year and even wrote Ellie a song in rehab (how sweet is that?). She has a perfect day (at least that's what I gathered as I watched the music montage accompanied by a song about Craig's affections for Ellie) on the beach, as far away from reality as she could hope to be... until Craig's girlfriend comes home. Yeah, then things just get awkward (she was in a TOWEL!). So Ellie excuses herself after dinner only to be chased by Craig who asks her to stay. She tells him she still has feelings for him (that's what tells you it's TV, because in reality we'd just go, "Um... I've gotta go... there's this... fish I need to... look over there! *runs away*") and that she can't stay with him, thanks him for the song, and then walks away. Apparently Craig is so shocked by her words he forgot all about chasing after her and just walks back into his little house. Later on, at Paige's fake 18th birthday (thank her wonderful mentor for that), she receives a call from her mother accusing her of not caring which pretty much emotionally destroys her. Since her mother promoted such good morals earlier on, she decided to follow her footsteps and drink her problems away. So when Craig comes to talk to her, he's greeted by a very drunk and very sad Ellie Nash who tells him to leave her alone, she ruins lives, he'll be better off without her. Thinking she'd misunderstood him when he'd said something to the extent of "I thought my life was perfect, but then you came along and suddenly... it's not so perfect anymore" he reaches over to explain. And yes, the much awaited scene from the previews where Marco pushes Craig into the pool occurs. But we've got it all wrong! Craig isn't the bad guy, he's trying to help Ellie, and Marco's just being annoyingly overprotective! So while the only people who can help her are having a marvelously unnecessary semi-aquatic brawl, Ellie sneaks off to the beach Craig showed her, where she walks crying in circles with an empty bottle and a shawl (which she apparently grabbed on the way out or was just always wearing in a very un-shawl-like way) and then proceeds to drop her shawl and bottle and walk into the ocean fully clothed, leaving a very Hansel-and-Gretel-esque trail of her belongings. When Marco and Craig figure out what's happening, they follow Ellie's breadcrumbs and run out (also fully clothed) to pull her back to shore where she collapses crying, and apparently falls asleep, since the next scene features Ellie sleeping on Craig's couch and Craig telling Marco to go, he'll wait for Ellie. Craig and Ellie have a heart to heart conversation and he winds up walking her to the airport so she can fly home to see her father. Will Ellie-? Oh, forget that question, we all know Craig's gonna turn around and run over to Ellie in a very awkwardly-romantic way considering they're at an airport and grab her in a passionate and meaningful kiss. You'd have to be blind not to see that coming... but it is deceiving when they run over and hug first...

Plot 3: Manny. The greatest plot of the whole show, just because it has Life is a Show and Crash My Party in it. Oh, and One Saturday Night Away. Yes, now we get down to the music! Of course, we touched base on that with Craig, but for a guy who's supposed to be a musician, Jake Epstein did less performing than Cassie Steele. Not that it bothered me, since Cassie Steele has T-A-L-E-N-T. And yes, when you spell it out in letters, it means more than when you just write out the word like a regular human... don't question me. So anyway, Manny find out Paige got the part and is completely emotionally crushed. So the last thing she's expecting is a phone call from Jason Mewes stating that "Paige isn't working out." But we've known that was coming since we first saw the preview. So a regenerated Manny runs to meet Jay at the bus which is driving Studz to LA. And yes, commercial shot again, the memorable running and shouting "I'm coming with you." So hope aboard the Jay Hogart Express, where you're guaranteed some beautiful emotional breakdowns, fabulous music, hilarious Sav-ness, and some deliciously fake drumming from Mike Lobel.

Now, I can not put my love for Stefan Brogren's amazing ability to direct. The movie was really well put together and just flowed marvelously. The movie as a whole was amazing, it fits right in with the whole Degrassi series, but stands well on its own. Basically, no matter who you are, boy, girl, tall, fat, short, thin, dying, living, black, white, purple, walking on your hands, paralyzed, blind, ugly, gay, straight, or anything, you need to see this movie.

This movie is pretty sweet. I mean, it was different than expected, but hey, what's life without some spicy surprises? (Yes I enjoy alliteration.) The music is ah-mazing, Sav has proven himself compatible to me, and it shows that not everything is hunky-dory in La La Land (diva drama!).

For those of you who care, the Be On Degrassi sweepstakes that has been advertised time and time again on the N ended on August 17. So invisible bloggers, you'll be seeing what JJ and I look like in the flesh (on TV), because we are SO going to win that contest!

Mwah! Fir milenge! (That's Hindi for "see you"!)

Tonight!

Yes, that's right, Degrassi Goes Hollywood is tonight! And according to a review, there's an inconclusive ending... sequel? Please?

Oh, this was for imaginary American readers... sorry Canadians. Paradise City is just a few weeks away! Hang in there!

Stay tuned for a full DGH movie review tonight! And (hopefully) a visit from another blogger (who seems to have disappeared along with my other blogging partner, Basil, from www.ntmsense.blogspot.com).

Degrassi Goes Hollywood News

Degrassi Goes Hollywood seems to be doing well! Not that it's aired for the public yet, but reviews seem to be great! It got an A- review from Entertainment Weekly!

Additionally, Degrassi Goes Hollywood premieres August 14th on The-N! For all you Canadians awaiting your CTV "Paradise City" you have to wait until August 30th.

The super-exclusive Canadian premiere is August 26th, which, ironically, is after the American television airing which will probably mean less crazed American fans trying to get in. But since wristbands and all that nonsense are required to get in, it's mainly cast, crew, and the few lucky fans who win tickets.

To prove that I am the epitome of irrelevancy, I will now mention that Degrassi has aired in over 100 countries.

Okay, now since I've got nothing more to say, I'm gonna go. This is probably the shortest blog post I have ever written.

Degrassi Season Nine Confirmed

Yes, you read right, Degrassi season nine has officially been confirmed. Production began May 19th, 2009, and features episodes taking place in the second semester of the 2008-2009 school year (which means, yes, in all technicality, the Degrassi students are living in a different time frame than us, but who cares?), starting in the winter of that year.

Season 9 will be premiering here in the US in October, but if you're a lucky Degrassi watching Canadian, you get Degrassi magic starting September 20th... it's almost enough to make me move up North... but I'm not THAT obsessed.

Oh, quick note for all American Degrassi fans who just can't stand the lack of Canadian music in America, calm down, the Degrassi Season 8 soundtrack in now available in US iTunes! Yeah, I'm probably one of the three people who actually cared, but in case you did, now you know.

Well, according to Stefan Brogren's (Snake's) twitter, there's some intense Sav and Anya episodes in season 9. Not that Mr. Brogren would share those with us, that would be too nice. Mia and Peter also have some intense episodes ("Just Can't Get Enough," a 2-part episode) and there's some speculation that it may be Nina Debrov's (Mia's) last episode. Johnny DiMarco and KC will also have big plots, although what their episodes will be about isn't clear, but "Hearts Like Mine" (another 2 part episode) will be about Clare and KC's relationship.

That's all I know about the up-coming plots in the estimated 22 to 23 episode season, but I have learned some information about some backstage going-ons (did I use that phrase correctly?). Well, for starters, I hope you didn't get too used to the season 8 theme song (I sure didn't, it was not my favorite) because the theme is changing... again. Shocking right? There's some talk of male lead vocals and singing cast members, so we'll have to wait and see. More surprising, though, is the fact that Nina Debrov has landed a role on "Vampire Diaries" and will be leaving Degrassi (hence the "Just Can't Get Enough" talk). Stefan Brogren has also landed the honor of director for "Beat It," a full length Degrassi episode that isn't separate from the main series (i.e. the mini-series, the Halloween specials, and the Degrassi movie, all of which he's directed) which leads us to hope he'll be directing more often, something I definitely wouldn't mind. Additionally, it's been released that CTV and The-N will be airing their episodes in different orders for no specified reason other than they feel like it. Hopefully the episodes will have self-contained plots (otherwise they'll be a lot of confused Canadians), but there seems to be no reason behind this.

That's all the Degrassi season 9 news I have for now... if I had a catchy line used upon departure I would so use it right now, but I'm stuck with a classic but predictable "Goodbye."

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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!