Justin Timberlake: Discuss, please

Guys. I don't get Justin Timberlake.

I'm pretty sure ladies love him. (Like, loooove him.) But I can't see it. Can someone please explain?

When I see him perform, I feel physically uncomfortable... like a friend asked me to come to their cousin's song and dance show, and this guy who I sort of know is singing and dancing his heart out and trying so hard to be sexy, but it's my friend's cousin, and he's kind of strange looking, and it's all just so uncomfortable.

Or it's like a lesser version of if a friend took me to a male strip club for my bachelorette party. Because I'm pretty sure if that had happened, my reaction would be to seriously cry.

So watch this very short clip from the Grammys and tell me: what's the appeal? Or is he truly just strange and sort of a creep who's trying too hard?

I was starting to feel badly that I can't get on board with him (I mean, I generally generic pop culture things!), and then I realized: I think I just generally feel off-put and uncomfortable when people try hard to be sexy. I think It's more off-putting when men do it because, unfortunately, we've all been conditioned to see women do it all. the. time. But... for real, peeps: try hard to be smart, try hard to be accomplished, try hard to be kind, or charming, or funny, or heck, even pretty... but to focus your energies on trying to be sexy? Ew.

On another Grammy note that sort of contradicts my earlier point, I'm becoming obsessed with this Miguel song, not because it's an "ooh-let's-get-down" song, but because I love lite rock, and this song sounds like it could be straight out of the 80s and all over a lite rock station! Is lite rock coming back in a big way??? Let's hope!

Cutest Commercial

So I guess if I'm talking about commercials two days after the Super Bowl, I should be talking about Super Bowl ads. But no. I want to talk about the best commercial ever that I saw over the weekend:

(Or, go here to see it better.)

Ummmmm there's nothing I don't love about this commercial. Why is this girl so precious??? Why is her dress so cute? Her hair so cute? Her sad intense little pout? But here's what really kills me: she's this super little girl, and she knows her dad wants to hear that she's okay, so she's trying so hard to make him feel okay... but she's just a kid! AAAAAAAAAAH.

I saw this on TV, rewound it to see it again, and then looked it up online, watched it twice more, and then noticed I was crying. If you ever want to feel happy and emotive and full of love, just get a cup of coffee, and check out the whole library of Subaru commercials. You'll be glad you did.

(You can see 'em all here.)

What's your favorite Subaru commercial?

2013 to-do: See a scary movie

I am totally scared of scary movies. I know lots of people love the horror/paranormal genre, but it just freaks me the f out, and in a traumatic way, not a fun way.

Honestly, I don't even know that I've seen any scary movies. (Does Scream count? Or was that more just a cultural phenomenon? Because I saw that one. PS - It was scary! Even with Courteney Cox.)

It seems that a lot of people like scary movies because you get all riled up, but then know that the premises are so absurd that there's nothing to worry about. I have a hard time with the second part. After seeing Rosemary's Baby in college, I remember crying from fear and genuinely asking my boyfriend: "Do you promise not to sell your soul to the devil and in exchange let the devil rape me to impregnate me with devil spawn and then let everyone trick me into letting me think that I'm nuts? Do you???"

Anyway, I want to enjoy this genre! It seems fun! But I'm... a-sceeeerrrrrrrrred! So I decided to make one of my 2013 "to-do"s be to see a scary movie (maybe, just maybe, more than one).

This new movie Mama looks pretty spook-tacular! And it stars Jessica Chastain (who I like) and Jamie Lannister (!!!! who I LOVE!), so maybe that means it's also pretty good? What do you think?

Do you like scary movies? Any ideas on how I should tackle this undertaking? Start in movie theaters or at home? Will I have nightmares?

Some noteable articles this week, plus a tip for reading content for free

Guys.

I have some stuff you should read, for various reasons.

:: this whole issue is really, really good ::

1. The Carefully Cultivated Soul of SoulCycle from this week's New York. This is my favorite article I've read in a while. I love the specific kind of nuts it is. I hope this quote piques your interest, but maybe it only really is entertaining in the context of the whole article:
"Favored riders may be pulled to the coveted front row or even asked to ride the instructor bike, which was “the scariest, most thrilling experience of my life,” according to one SoulCycler."

But whatever - it's a fast fun read. Please do it.

2. While you're over at New York, you might as well check out Elizabeth Wurtzel's essay, which has the internets all worked up. (Here is one notable response. You can also read the comments after the article if you want to hear people get riled up.)

3. If you like reading about naughty Hollywood (which is basically everyone), then you simply have to check out Here Is What Happens When You Cast Lindsay Lohan in Your Movie from The New York Times Magazine. I mean, pretty self explanatory from the title. (Thanks for the nudge to read this, Halie!)

4. And just because everyone's talking about it, there's this The End of Courtship article from the NYT Style section. I mean, these trend pieces are always fun to read, but really: is it a "trend" if it's just an obvious thing that everyone has already talked to death?

And, as promised, here's my tip for reading online content for free:
If you go to a source and the url looks like this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/magazine/here-is-what-happens-when-you-cast-lindsay-lohan-in-your-movie.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

...and you find yourself locked out because you've already read too much free content...

Simply delete everything after the "?". You're welcome.

The Seven Weirdest Plot Points in Downton Abbey Thus Far

Downton Abbey is coming back! 
Downton Abbey is coming back! 
Downton Abbey is coming back! 

Can you believe it? Everyone's favorite feel-good drama is back again. As I reflected back on the first two seasons, I remembered that, while we've enjoyed seeing some plot lines progress over the seasons (What's to become of Bates? Will Edith ever get a man? Will someone ever give Mary some blush?), there have also been some super-weird plot points throughout.

Join me as I count down the seven weirdest (or at least really random) plot points from Downton Abbey thus far.

7. Thomas steals Lord Grantham's yellow lab.
Thomas falls out of favor with Lord Grantham, so he hides/steals his dearest yellow lab, so he can "find" him and get back in his good graces.

6. Violet gets taken down a notch at the flower show.
At the annual flower show, Isobel calls Violet out on winning every year, and instead backs Molesley's father's arrangements. Oh, snap!

5. Daisy makes the replacement cook's food taste gross.
Mrs. Patmore is temporarily replaced by Mrs. Crawley’s cook while she's dealing with her eye stuff. She's afraid the family will like her food better, so she has Daisy make the food taste nasty so they won't like it.

4. Matthew and Thomas hang out in the trenches.
Remember how some of Downton Abbey took place, like, in the middle of WWI? I just remembered that. Matthew and Thomas (ew, barf, Thomas) ran into each other in the trench and had a cup of tea. After sharing some conversation, Thomas got his hand shot so he could go home.

3. Bates gets a weird medical device.
Bates secretly buys a device to correct his limp but it hurts really bad. Mrs. Hughes discovers his secret and makes him throw it out.

2. A burned Canadian pretends to be Patrick Crawley.
A severely burned Canadian officer asks to be brought to Downton. He claims he is Patrick Crawley, the heir who died on the Titanic. Only, he says, he didn't die on the Titanic - he was taken to Canada and suffered from amnesia. Now he remembers that he is the Downton heir! No one buys it except Edith who gets super into him. He disappears, leaving her an appropriately ambiguous note.

and the weirdest, most random, moment in Downton history....

1. Carson's secret history, revealed!
Carson is getting followed by a mysterious man and gets the heebie-jeebies... because he is threatening to out Carson's dirty, nasty, scandalous past to Lord Grantham... he used to be a vaudeville performer!!

And just because I can't resist, here's a picture of some cast members out of costume: