Re: 4x02 "Britney 2.0" Watch & Discussion thread

[zuppid]

My comment to the episode



My GOD!He was so fuckin' gorgeous!!!

Ok,fangirl,shut up and get serious.

Well,the episode was not bad but not good either.It was a little boring.

I liked the NY part better and the Hummelberry scenes are SO VERY NICE Love them together.
In this episode Kurt was "the friend" in both the two scenes but eventually they will change the role during the season.I'd like that!

[arina]

I watched it without subtitles so I understood maybe every fifth word, I have to wait for final judgement for the czech subtitles. I don't think it'll change that much though, I was positively surprised by the first episode, but this one really bored me. And not just because Kurt was there so little, I have few favorite episodes without him as well but definitely not this one. I don't like most of the Britney songs, Britanny is my least favorite member of the original cast and I don't care much about the new members so this episode was not really for me...

I liked Cassadra, seeing Puck made me happy and the little of Kurt we got was cute...

[tanita_mors]

I have to admit that I loved how when Cassandra was finishing up her lecture to Rachel (and making Rachel feel positively microscopic) that Rache had a facefull of Cassandra's ass. That shows the amount of respect that Cassandra hs for Ms. Berry. And yes, Rachel did have to do quite a bit of ass kissing there. Pucker up, Berry!

I'm with you Ranwing. I'm liking Cassandra more and more. She is an actual 3-dimensional character that we got in just 2 episodes. She was burned herself because she was so high and mighty and now she is paying for it. I'd be boozing too if I were her. And who better to bring Miss Star Power Rachel down then someone who was her and got fucked for it. I don't get how Carmen can cut someone out of the project, yet Cassy has to take Rachel in when her infraction was much more severe.

As for the Brittany part of the show. HeMo really doesn't need Brit-centring episodes. The only scenes I actually liked her acting choices were the ending one where Santana isn't on Skype and the hallway scene where she is kicking JBI ass. The rest of the time she looked like a robot who was malfunctioning. I'm really not a fan of her continuous dead pan stare.

Jake and Marley are boring as shit, although Jacob did better this time around then in 4x01. His acting was less pronounced and more fluid then before.

Kurt scenes - PERFECTION and we needed at least 2-3 more for me to begin being satisfied.

As for the songs - they were all very high production, but far to many of them were very random and without any proper intro.

I give this episodes a C+/B-, and that is a stench, as I was mostly indifferent to it.

[Glorfindel]

Before I give my comments, let me just say that Chris's acting sticks out in the pool of mediocrity acting in Glee. He was sparkling in his 2 scenes and it was very noticeable to me.
The only other ones who acted okay this episode were Lea, Jane, and Matt. Please bring back Cory soon.


Well, Britney 2.0 being Kurt-lite was an understatement. But how is it possible that in a Kurt-lite episode where he has only 2 scenes they still manage to piss me off as a Kurtsie?
I made some notes during watching the episode, and rearranged them according to location. Here we go:

McKinley:
- The songs feel shoe-horned in, but in comparison to Britney 1.0 this is a brilliant episode.
- The crayon thing for Brittany is getting old, and a bit offensive, tbh.
- Boyfriend song was fun to watch, let’s leave it at that.
- Womanizer was fun, although that erupting volcano…..eww. But it’s kind of telling that I couldn’t pick Marley out in the girls’ dance routine, as in: she doesn’t stand out like eg. Rachel, Brittany or Quinn do. Heck, even Tina knows how to pull more focus than that. Bland.
-3: Chord’s singing surprises me over and over again. His high harmony in ‘3’ sounds not bad, not bad at all. And Jenna is proving for 2 weeks now that she can be the New Rachel, if they let her. I love this song, this stripped down arrangement is soooooo good.
- Okay: Blaine’s “ouch” face during Brittany’s umbrella whipping of JBI totally cracked me up. Darren is good with comic reactions.
- They should let Mr. Schue be a good teacher more. It makes me like Will again, and Matt’s acting skills deserve good material. Now let him sing again.
- The fact that I wrote part of this post during the Jarley duet is quite telling of the New Rachel too. Love their voices, especially Jake’s, but….. no sparks yet.
- Puck!!! I miss you, Noah, and I never thought I’d say that. But you flew from LA just for a 1 minute heart to heart with Jake? Did your dad give you the money back you loaned him after all?
- So glee club is all about making you a man? Gee, I thought it was about singing together and trying to win competitions, my bad. And what about the girls in glee club, they can’t become a man, right? What will they become? Oh, I remember: it’s Britney, b*tch.
- Poor Brittany, ‘Gimme More’ was cringeworthy to watch. Really Glee? Destroy a character just so you can re-enact a Britney performance (and also: so much for RM saying this episode was another ~love letter to the real Britney: I’m sure she loves to be reminded of this performance)
But Heather sold that scene.
- Sam is 2 for 2 in season 4 for being the nicest guy left at McKinley.
- Yay, another love triangle, now with Rachel/Puck/Quinn Marley/Jake/Kitty. Sooooo been there, done that.
- Brad the piano player (he’s back!!!!!!!!) judging Jake: best 2 seconds of the episode!
- So Marley gets the last song of the episode from now on? That got irritating with the Old Rachel a long time ago.

New York:
- Hummelberry riding bikes in their loft!!! They are so cute.
- But really, Glee? Kurt is almost glad he didn’t make it into NYADA because he found a new resilience and focus?!? God, Brittany breaks down after 2 weeks without her gf and has a Britney lovefest organized for her, and Kurt of all people welcomed his upteenth rejection so he could find new resilience? Didn’t he have enough of that already (resilience and rejection)? Jeez.
- Oh Rachel, you did not just say that to your dance teacher. Do you want to make it on Broadway with that attitude? Ah, it seems Cassandra agrees with me.
- Wow, Kate Hudson is flexible, and I’m starting to love Cassandra July. So far I’ve seen nothing but tough love. She takes it a bit OTT, which is not right, but it’s okay.
- Alright: Carmen sends a girl home after not even 10 seconds of singing, and Rachel gets a freaking warning after that outburst? Sure.
- Nice game, Brody. And at least you backed off, that’s more than most characters in Glee have done in the past.

[valkeakuulas]

That was boring and cringe worthy. I just finished watching and I do not remember anything, except Emma apparently doesn't feel that it was her duty last semester, unlike Sue, to see that one of "her" students had 0.0 grade avarage. They've made her character such a redundant one.

Females in Glee are only to support the male ones, same goes for the effeminate males. I wonder why they allowed Sam to be so nice and sympathetic? Oh wait, Sam is the only one left in McKinley that is allowed to feel anything and Sam is the only one that is human. I like Kevin's voice and a used to like Artie but that Boyfriends number with Blaine...I just could not watch it. Nor did I have the tolerance to watch Marley and Jake sing at the benches.

And this triangle with, well The New Finchel and The New Quinn is just ridiculous. Why of why must they do the exact same things they did three years ago. Are they assuming the original audience has left the show?

Oh my precious Kurt and Hummelberry in NY. Generally thinking I watched 40 minutes of crap to get my 3 minutes of Hummelberry. That in game terms is not good odds unless you are crazy and want to lose your money. Glee will make me insane if I have to keep watching it like this.

Based on previous comments on the Rachels sexy dance I was expecting the worse and I also got it. Lea's singing and adaptation of the song were quite nice but why go overboard? I guess this is why Glee got the later slot so we can get the hands on Brody and spread 'em legs. I go again back to the original statement that in Glee world women are just tools for male enhancement. Cassandra is still interesting but pot calling kettle black on Rachel's sexy dance. Which I agree with you was not a dance, it was her tiny little frame being thrown around by guys and pushed around while sitting on tables and hips. I'm feeling extra angry today!

Fortunately for Mckinley's side of the story Brittney's twisted little mind had a cute plan which was backed up by slightly more intelligent Sam. BTW I've said it during the whole Samcedes gate: Sam is too socially intelligent to be a teenage boy. And Tina got to sing a song with Unique. Apparently Wade died after first episode and left Unique going solo. (Which might not be such a bad thing after all.) I grew fond of Puck during the few last episodes in S3 but to use his character so crudley was just insulting. I guess that is how they plan to bring everyone back.

Which leads me to another somewhat OT subject on Glee based on this episode: I, and I'm sure most "old" Glee watchers, can see what they are doing in recycling the storylines, trying to get us to like these new characters. Why not try new SLs, mmhn? What I can tell is that atleast the actors playing Jake and Marley could pull their very own storylines and not just some recycled *hit. Maybe giving the McKinley side their very own smart stories could make me interested in that side of Glee. No? OK, well count me to press fast forward on those bits then.

I get that us here in Kurt Support Central might be a little bit disinterested on Brittney 2.0. Think Kurt, think Kurt...and go and watch next weeks promo. Think Kurt and wish interest rated will be good on the money Chris gets from this. And think I was afraid that I'd have to give positive marks on the poll in this thread twice in a row. No chance with this one.

[Ireth]

Well, I didn't find this episode too bad if I ignore the performances. Kurt was really good for the couple of minutes we saw him. (His face change when he saw Brody . But I don't like Brody.). I'm liking Cassandra more and more and sympathizing with Rachel less and less.

But the Jake-Marley-Kitty triangle is such a boring idea. I would have liked a Jake-Marley story without a third person, but of course they won't be able to write a story like that.
I was so happy to see Puck. But why is Mr Schue so selective about the students he's concerned about? Jake apparently doesn't take Spanish, so the only link he has to Mr Schue is his good voice. I'm sure there are other students who need help and guidance but since they can't sing, they're not wanted in Glee club and so Mr Schue doesn't give a damn?

[zuppid]

Well, I didn't find this episode too bad if I ignore the performances. Kurt was really good for the couple of minutes we saw him. (His face change when he saw Brody . But I don't like Brody.). I'm liking Cassandra more and more and sympathizing with Rachel less and less.

But the Jake-Marley-Kitty triangle is such a boring idea. I would have liked a Jake-Marley story without a third person, but of course they won't be able to write a story like that.
I was so happy to see Puck. But why is Mr Schue so selective about the students he's concerned about? Jake apparently doesn't take Spanish, so the only link he has to Mr Schue is his good voice. I'm sure there are other students who need help and guidance but since they can't sing, they're not wanted in Glee club and so Mr Schue doesn't give a damn?

Shue doesn't teach spanish anymore.He teach Glee so he doen't know the other students and their issues

[Glorfindel]

Shue doesn't teach spanish anymore.He teach Glee so he doen't know the other students and their issues

And History. He changed from teaching Spanish to History last year.

[Ranwing]

Normally after I have a chance to sleep on it and think over the episode I can be more forgiving of it's flaws, but my feelings haven't changed since last night. It was, except for some small scenes, a very weak episode.

First of all, it's becoming painfully obvious that the new ND kids are weak reinterpitations of some of the orginals. Marley is Rachel stripped of her arrogance and made so sweet that she will cause cavities if watched too long. Jake is just Puck's most basic characteristic revisited (apparently being a total horndog is genetic in the Puckerman male liniage). Kitty is Quinn without a trace of her depth. And Unique... a mixture of Kurt and Mercedes without the heart that either of them have. It's pretty sad to see that the McKinley storyline is going to be the weakest part of this season because they are focusing so heavily in these weak characters.

The musical numbers were without exception horrifically bad. We're first dealing with an extremely weak source - Jake was right that music is better when actual instruments are involved. The reinterpitations of Britney Spears's music were so overprocessed that it was hard to tell who was singing what. Autotune is best when used just to clean up the rough edges, not to completely remake the singing into bland uniformity. When I had a hard time telling when Unique was singing and when Tina was singing, you know that we're in for a bad night. And Rachel's song was awful, punctuated by mewls and groans that were supposed to imply sexiness but just irritated me.

Speaking of Rachel... one of the few genuinely enjoyable moments for me was watching the epic smackdown of Rachel's arrogance by one Ms. Cassandra July. There is a huge difference between confidence and arrogance. A confident person can be secure in their own abilities but still be able to listen to and absorb a critical opinion. A confident person will accept their own weaknessess and see where they have room to grow. On the other hand, an arrogant person refuses to acknowledge that they are anything less than perfect and that those who are critical of them have their own motivations for trying to take away from their perfection. Rachel has never been able to handle criticism at any time, constructive or otherwise. She's not really interested in hearing the opinions of others unless it's to reinforce what she already believes about herself. And when she is forced to deal with someone giving an opinion of her that she doesn't like, she either falls apart or tries to deflect the crictism so that she can ignore it. Rachel isn't interested in hearing where a performance of her's may be lacking. She makes that clear all the way back in Prom Queen when she wants to know if her interpitation of Adele is outstanding or merely excellent.

Rationally I think that Rachel knows that she has a lot to learn about dancing, but I think that she expected to be seen as having a huge amount of talent and have that talent catered to. Instead she has a teacher that sees right through her, sees the weaknesses and doesn't hold back on her criticisms. So Rachel did what Rachel always does when faced with someone that's not immediately in awe of her. She deflects and tries to paint it that the problem isn't with her and any lack of ability on her part, but her teacher's own jealousies over her own failed career and that she is taking that out on poor Rachel who has such a bright future ahead of her. In Rachel's mind, she's willing to learn but only if she's rewarded for her very obvious ability and expects to be acknowledged for that ability. The fact that Cassandra immediately pegged her as the weakest dancer in the class and didn't hesitate to make this very clear has left Rachel enormously frustrated because she just isn't equiped to handle not being seen as the best. After finding out that Cassandra's career had collapsed, that gave her the opening to completely dismiss whatever cricitism her teacher might have of her. Her attitude was "You have no right to say anything about me because I'm God's gift to musical theater and you can't get a job in Branson, you has been!" and she rightly got soundly spanked as a result.

Cassandra was totally right that Rachel is one outburst or rant to the wrong person away from making herself totally unemployable in the theater world, regardless of her talent. We're already seeing that Rachel has absolutely no connection with anyone at NYADA except for Brody (who I think has his own agenda that's not for Rachel's benefit). There had to be a reason why when the dancers started to pair up for the tango, all the guys near her quickly moved to find other partners. Nobody seems to want anything to do with her. Rachel more than deserved the ass kicking she recieved and being humbled hopefully will allow her to start maturing a bit. I was irritated at the end though, when Cassandra had one of the male dancers partner with Rachel so she could participate because Rachel didn't earn that consideration. She wasn't by herself practicing and showing that she was trying to learn. She was just sitting there, feeling sorry for herself. She should have been in the back, trying to learn what she could of the dance on her own. But I respect Cassandra for being a good teacher and pulling Rachel into the lesson even if she didn't deserve it.

Yeah, and the idea that Ms. Tibideaux can just expell a student on whim, but Cassandra can only give a warning for that kind of gross behavior from Rachel...

[tanita_mors]

[fantastica]

Cassie's remark to Brody about his continued interests in young "ingenues" make me think that rachel will discover later brody is a womanizer that specializes in young innocent freshman girls. this will help rachel go back to Finn.

the rating came in. it's slightly less than last week's. but since this episode is worse than last weeks according to most people I am afraid next episode's rating will tank, and that's a bad thing because kurt will have the focus. TPTB may think audience dislike Kurt's storylines. such a shame. I hope my worry is unwarranted though.

[sahhar]

Cassie's remark to Brody about his continued interests in young "ingenues" make me think that rachel will discover later brody is a womanizer that specializes in young innocent freshman girls. this will help rachel go back to Finn.

the rating came in. it's slightly less than last week's. but since this episode is worse than last weeks according to most people I am afraid next episode's rating will tank, and that's a bad thing because kurt will have the focus. TPTB may think audience dislike Kurt's storylines. such a shame. I hope my worry is unwarranted though.

Generally the ratings reflect the time of year that the episode airs. Not the quality of the episode. Like next week when all the other big shows come on and people really tune in to watch Kurt's storyline but the ratings aren't as good. Sucks, I know.

[Divalicious]

Never really listened to Britney when she was popular, and my disinterest in her songs continues. People did a good job singing, but I won't be buying any of these tunes.

Liked Brittnay occasionally through the episode, but she is my least favorite, so I am biased to the time Kurt didn't get. I do know next week should be his time to shine, but we've waited all summer for happy, employed Kurt and I'm tired of waiting. Her friendship with Sam is nice, since they both have a learning disability, and her loneliness at the end was touching. Sam this episode, and looks like Artie next episode, it seems Brittnay continues to search for someone to take Santana's place as her protector/crutch. I do think she will come to stand on her own.

Sue seems to have a weak spot for Brittnay as well, if she let that crayon written declaration change her opinion.

I actually have hopes that Jake is a decent actor, his reaction to meeting the Glee kids actually had subtlety, Marley, I think she is an okay actress. Part of me is thinking they want to mirror Grease, they are having the plainly dressed girl interested in the bad boy, but when she stars in the play and wears a cat suit, suddenly she will blossom out and Jake will realize he is interested in the girl. I think they are keeping Marley under wraps until the play. Then I'll have a better opinion.

The actress who plays Kitty seems to handle the heartless bitch storyline, and I fervently hope she will never join ND. I am tired of the enemy being within the camp. Santana first as a spy, and then as the spiteful person who was free to say harmful things to others, but rarely got it dished back. Again if she moves in with Kurt/Rachel, Kurt had better hand her ass to her. I want Kurt only in equal relationships. I feel too much that Santana will be crowding into Kurt's story, and be a model, and Kurt will be stuck going to NYADA to be in Rachel's shadow. This does help form my opinions, my lack of faith.

Rachel's "dance" wow, they are really using Lea's nice legs to hide a lack of danceability. I know they wanted to focus on Cass/Rachel relationship, but I also think Kurt would have shown Rachel up in the dance class. He isn't a fantastic dancer, but he can follow choreography decently. It would make Rachel look even worse. I do see foreshadowing of Rachel saving the day and Cass happily going off into the sunset getting a second chance. Rachel gets to be the hero of her own existence again. Yawn. I actually would appreciate them actually having an adult relationship and have mutual respect, but still not like the other person. Something different. They may be accentuating the sexy adult Rachel, but otherwise she is becoming more and more plastic. Brody's adulation compounds this, at least Finn introduced some reality on occasion to Rachel. Plus Brody isn't the strongest actor, and he is letting Lea's acting deficit show more, IMO. She is fabulous at comedy, but her drama seems forced and usually is just her blurting out words with speed and volume, I just don't get the emotion.

I totally found her outburst to Cass out of place, but it did bring everything out in the open, because they only have 6 episodes to tell Kate's story, got to move it along. Cass' easy forgiveness of Rachel's behavior made me like her more, but feel less about Rachel.

I felt so sorry for Matt, Will's character is written so rotten and he doesn't even get to sing. I miss his voice actually. It was great to hear Tina strut her stuff, even if I am not interested in the song. Unique was amusing, but it does feel like they are pushing all the kids into relationships, romantic or friend, really quick. I am sure they want to get all the new people settled, so the last half of the season they can focus on graduates and continuing to lay ground work for how season 5 is going to operate. I really feel that this whole season is one on-going revamping of the show and the NY scene as it is now can perhaps change. Why tell a story if everyone already knows what is going on from the beginning.

Our itty bit of Kurt was lovely, he was happy and relaxed, had a plan. I hate the resiliency thing, but it is true. Kurt feels sorry for himself for a while, finds the bright side and picks himself up. I don't like that his plan involves only ONE job plan, this or nothing type stuff, but at least he gets it. Can't wait to see him interact with SJP. Hoping his time at Vogue works at least long enough to get him to do a lunch lady makeover.

Yes, must not forget Lord Tubbington, who is one of the best actors on the show, he has that look of disdain down pat.

[fantastica]

i would watch a whole hour of that cat than 1 minute of Brittany.

[Delight]

If you disregard the 40 minutes of this episode that doesn't have Kurt in it, it really isn't too bad...

This episode is bearable to watch if you don't care about any of the happenings in McKinley (Skimpily-clad cheerleaders dancing to heavily autotuned song, forced Unique/Marley friendship, Figgin's unfunny milking joke, two voice-over jokes breaking the fourth wall, pointless songs such as Boyfriend, excessive highlighting of a dancer who can't act or sing, more relationship drama involving characters we don't actually care about etc)

Okay, that was harsh. The McKinley side of things isn't a complete trainwreck. I was amused by Emma's 'So you look like crap' brochure. Not a fan of Brittana, but the scene where Brittany kept staring at her computer waiting for a Santana that wasn't logged on was actually poignant (or should I say, made me see Brittany as more than a robot reciting monotonous lines). It's nice to see Puck again, but to bring him in just to give Jake a 'Glee made me a man' speech is... ugh.

This latest episode convinced me that the writers lack creativity and that the new characters are pale imitations of the old ones. The Marley/Jake/Kitty love triangle feels too much like Rachel/Finn/Quinn for my liking. Also, I fail to detect any chemistry or attraction between Marley and Jake. She suddenly have the hots for some random guy she sees in the school corridor? Really? Even Finchel had better roots than that, and Finchel wasn't a well written romance.

Now for the Kurt-relevant comments:

Kurt being glad for his NYADA rejection because he got to gain 'new found resilence and focus'? Side eyeing this so much. I'm waiting for Brad Falchuk to give Kurt a 'I hate PDA' line next.

The only online review of the episode that I kinda agree on is this:

In the span of this episode, Rachel got flowers, pined for Finn, got kicked out of dance class and then reluctantly let back into dance class. Kurt mostly hung around for witty moral support. Can we give him something to do other than be Rachel's sassy gay friend?

TV.com

[Glorfindel]

I liked these snipbits in reviews:

Kurt, meanwhile, is having no apparent problems spending time apart from Blaine. I don’t blame him.
(---)
Gay guys talkin’ ‘bout Glee: Why does Blaine insist on playing straight in song? Is this whole show a metaphor about music as alcohol?

AV Club

We also got an update on Kurt, who informed us, through clunky dialogue, that he's happy he didn't get into NYADA on the first go-around and he's really grown as a person. I'm really glad all that character growth made it to the screen, writers, we wouldn't want to miss actual development!
Okay, okay, that was mean. Sarcasm is not a friendly mode of communication. But with a cast this big, the writing is cutting corners by necessity, and we're getting a lot of "oh hey by the way" expositional dialogue. "Show, don't tell" has really vacated the building, and I get a little grumpy about it.

Dr. She Bloggo

On a side note, Kurt is going to re-audition for spring semester NYADA and also intern at Vogue because within days of being in the city he's got all his shit together. We love Kurt Hummel.

Billboard (Rae Votta)

[ColferInspired]

I finally got a workable download and found this episode not bad.

Brody still has no chemistry with Rachel, I just can't see any, it looks forced and fake.

The songs weren't too bad, I quite liked Womanizer, and I'm liking Unique's voice more and more.

Marley needs depth and growth and this needs to happen sooner not later. This character is stuck being sweet and nice, she needs some fire to stop her seeming boring.

The Puck and Jake scene was to little and should have had a set up, for Puck to suddenly appear is unrealistic as I think is just for fan service.

Kurt's scenes were cute but there should have been interaction more between Kurt and Brody, I don't Kurt just being the sassy gay friend as he was in this episode.

I still like Marley's singing and adored the song she did at the end.

Oops I Did it Again wasn't bad but not good. The performance was not sexy at all. The hype about this was overrated.

I love Cassandra even more and maybe Rachel is slowly learning but I still think she still thinks she is better than everyone else in some aspects.

Boyfriend was okay and Darren and Artie's voices go well together, but it was an unnecessary song to have on the show.

Drive Me Crazy I actually really enjoyed, I didn't mind this arrangement at all, and I find Melissa and Jacob's voices go well together.

Brittney I did feel sorry for her, but she was too robotic in many scenes and I lost that sympathy.

Sam I am love with all over again.

[zuppid]

I would gladly watch 45 minutes of Kurt riding a bike or painting.I wouldn't even complain about continuity and stuff

[fantastica]

that bike scene is the best part of hte episode imo. so adorable. it made me want to look for a hanger like place like this too. there used to be a lot of place like this in some parts of NY and after several real estate booms they all became expensive condos. many poor artists used to squat in places like this but now they sell the space (after renovation) into fancy lofts.

[Ranwing]

that bike scene is the best part of hte episode imo. so adorable. it made me want to look for a hanger like place like this too. there used to be a lot of place like this in some parts of NY and after several real estate booms they all became expensive condos. many poor artists used to squat in places like this but now they sell the space (after renovation) into fancy lofts.

Very true. I grew up in NYC and like most artistic-leaning kids, dreamed of having a huge unfinished loft one day. They are in very, very short supply nowadays. The Meatpacking district and Tribeca used to have a lot of them but the area in gentrified now and they've all been converted into hideously expensive condos (the kind that start at a million dollars). Alphabet City (the subject of RENT) had a lot of abandoned buildings that had people squatting in, but they also have been taken over and refurbished and it's now a high rent area. Brooklyn had a lot of wearhouse space, but it's been slowly converted and unfinished lofts like this are really rare now. You really have to go to the outlying industrial areas of the outer boroughs to find the few left. But even areas that were previously devoid of residential properties are being taken over (like Long Island City in Queens - previously completely industrial and now one of the hottest "up and coming" areas in NY).

I just checked the real estate listings for Bushwick and they could have rented an actual apartment with rooms and a bathroom for under $2000, but I guess that the show wanted to feed into the impression of Kurt and Rachel being struggling artist typs. Especially Rachel, since it takes partly Rachel out of the hothouse environment of NYADA and puts her in the "real" world.

[fantastica]

i regretted I didn't buy more real estate 15-20 yrs ago when it was dirt cheap compared to today's real estate prices. at that time I didn't have the money. I remember walking through a very upscale neighborhood and everything was above half a mil. I thought only the filthy rich could afford that. then the big r.e. boom came and even a dingy little house in a mixed neighborhood would cost that much! now how did anybody have that much money? it's insane!

ha, nice to know you grew up in NY. I remember you said you were in Britain.

[Ranwing]

ha, nice to know you grew up in NY. I remember you said you were in Britain.

Nope... been to Britain but didn't live there. Born and bred NYC girl (who now lives on Long Island because I can have a nice house for half of what I'd pay for a studio apt in Manhattan).

Yeah, NYC real estate is a pretty interesting animal. There are still cheap areas to live in, but all of the outer boroughs that have quick access (under 1 hour) to Manhattan are sharply escalating in price. Especially those areas that have quick access to the subways. Queens and Brooklyn have seen very sharp escalation in prices for both buying and renting in the past 10 years. The Bronx is still inexpensive, but a lot of areas are pretty dicey and don't have quick access to Manhattan via subway. Staten Island is actually closer to New Jersey than Manhattan so prices there are cheap. I also wish that we would have bought in areas like Harlem and Alphabet City before the yuppies started moving in.

[fantastica]

^ sorry hon i mixed you up w/ some other gals originally from TWOP forum. a couple of them were from Brittain. it now makes sense because I see you here late at night while all the Europeans are dead asleep. I said my memory is the least reliable thing these days, and here's another proof.

1 hr of commuting for any NYer is very normal. I have never lived in a location that takes less than an hour door to door to work or school. Even if the train ride is half an hour, you add 10 minutes of walking to the train station, 10 minutes of walk from the train station, and some more minutes of waiting for hte train. that's almost an hour assume there's no transfer. The good thing is all this walking is better for health if nothing else. It sure beats walking on the treadmill for a boring 20 minutes. that's why I was shocked when i went to the deep south and see so many super fat people - I mean Ashley Finks would be average among them. everywhere you go you have to drive. many neighborhoods don't even have side walk. for that reason alone I love NY so much more. you can actually live here w/o a car.

back to glee. kurt going out late at night for "cake" in a dangerous neighborhood in that outfit would be lucky to come back w/ cake on his face. I mean, I wouldn't dare to go out after sundown if I were him.

[fantastica]

Britney Spears' Former Assistant Breaks Up With Glee -- Makes it Facebook Official



ok, one episode of makign fun of BS and she quits. how does she think we kurtsies feel when we have to sit through 2+ seasons of pain and suffering? she is right that this show makes fun of the characters and indirectly the actors as well.

regardless of negative tone of episode, it brings media attention to BS and for her career wise it's actually a good thing. when it comes to fame, good rep or bad rep doesn't matter. as long as you get people to talk about you. if you are relevent in the media, you are a celebrity. otherwise you are a nobody. that's why many celebs rely on scandals to stay (in)famous.

[sheny]

There's something that's bothering me. I liked Marley in the first episode but I'm not so sure anymore. Obviously she really is the new Rachel even though they gave the title to Blaine. That girl had two solos and two duets in the first two episodes of the season. If this continues we will be forced to listen at least 22 solos from Marley maybe more, 30 duets and if we are lucky enough we will get 2-3 Kurt solos and maybe 1-2 duets. Yay now we have two Rachels or two and a half if we count Blaine. I thing all three of them are great singers especially Lea and Darren, but when it's too much it gets annoying. I hope I'm wrong and we will hear more from Chris and the rest.

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