Panedhiel’s Weblog

My list of under and overrated things!  It’s good to be back!

UNDERRATED

Joe Biden

Poor Joe has been absent from exposure ever since he made some memorable gaffes that could have cost his presidential running mate the election, but that’s okay. He’s VP-elect now, so it’s all good. The only one of the four election stars who hasn’t gotten due SNL credit, Biden is actually a pretty interesting character to watch. Sure, he likes to drop eyeball-rolling-worthy anecdotes and in the words of Sarah Palin, “gosh darn it” he says the “darndest” things, but he’s a pretty earnest guy and an interesting one to watch. It’ll be fun to see him in action with Obama once they get into office.

Kristen Wiig

Absolutely my FAVORITE acress on SNL.  Recently, Tina Fey has (deservedly so) been getting a lot of press for her portrayal of VP candidate Sarah Palin (did SNL really influence the election?) and Amy Pohler, resident neswmistress and Hilary Clinton double, has been widely publicized because of her pregancy and subsequent exit from the show after seven years.  Wiig is one of the most underappreciated actreeses on SNL today.  She portrays some of the most ridiculous characters, including a gum-chomping, high-maintainence trophy wife, an everyday mother who is prone to anxiety attacks at the mere mention of a surprise, and, most recently, a sexy secretary who unknowingly turns off every male in her office after a few stints with a banana, a pink pen, and an operatic rendition of the Happy Birthday song.  Love her.

Matches

With the advent of the small, handheld gas lighter in the 1950’s, matches have sunk to the level of obscurity; they are almost never utilized unless the lighter is out of fluid.  People seem to forget that there is nothing quite so satisfying as striking a match and seeing the small, orange flame at the end burst into life as if by magic.  Use matches to light candles, a fireplace full of logs, houses, or small children on fire!  Matches are fun!

Rahm Emanuel

Obama entered the first few days after winning the election with a bang. He chose former Clinton white house staffer and Chicago congressman Rahm Emanuel to be his chief of staff. A pretty bold choice, according to most political pundits, because Emanuel is considered incredibly partisan, incredibly in-your-face, and swears like a sailor. I can’t believe I’ve never heard of this guy! Apparently he’s the fourth highest-ranking member of the House and has been making his mark ever since the Clinton era. It kind of helps that he’s cute too. he has a little John Slattery thing going for him. Plus he has a really fascinating back story. He used to be a ballerina, he got his middle finger hacked off while working with a meat grinder at Applebee’s, he bransishes kitchen knives at political opponents…seriously, why isn’t this guy as much of a rock star as Obama? But just you wait, people are already bracing themselves for chief of staff Emanuel, and I’m sure he’ll be running a very tight ship in an Obama administration and will be making waves soon.

OVERRATED

Twilight

I know I should give this movie a chance before I even write it off, but you know what? It’s lame. There, I said it. All the teenybopper fanatics can comment negatively all they like, but it doesn’t change the fact that this movie (and the books they are based on) are totally, completely not even worth the buzz. I read the first of  the Twilight books by Stephenie Meyer, and no, they are not akin to J K Rowling’s books. They aren’t even remotely on the same par. A more appropriate comparison would be Judy Blume or freakin’ Francine Pascal, not J K Rowling. I mean, come on. If I could insert an eye-rolling smiley in here, I would. The book itself is cheesy, reads like a teenage girl’s fetishist diary (which let’s admit, it really is) and it’s not even trying to do anything different about vampires at all, even though it is mainly a story about vampires.  It is a trashy romance novel MINUS the sex, which is the only reason trashy romance novels are worth reading in the first place.  As for the movie, it had shown some promise early on with the casting of Kristin Stewart as the movie heroine Bella. I’m not a fan of Stewart, because I think she tries a little too hard to reiterate that she’s a serious actress, and she’s also kind of annoyingly one-note. Notice that most of her roles tend to be that of angst-ridden, whiny teenagers [see: Panic Room, Into the Wild, In the Land of Women].  The addition of Twilight to her list of accomplishments doesn’t exactly thrill me, as you can see. But Stewart is a rarity when it comes to finding actual teenage actresses who don’t go the Lindsay Lohan/Hayden Panettiere route in show business, so that’s why I thought her being cast in Twilight was a good thing. Unfortunately, it didn’t help when I saw the rest of the cast.  Most of the cast were pretty obnoxious and self-absorbed, especially Cam Gigandet and Robert Pattinson. They didn’t even pretend not to enjoy the pathetic adoration of their prepubescent fans wailing and screeching for autographs. So there. Twilight. MAJORLY OVERRATED.

Uggs

WHY HAVEN’T THEY GONE AWAY!?!?! Uggs were bad enough for the first 3 years they pervaded the halls of the American high school, and now that it is winter, there has been absolutely NO decrease in the omnipotence of these hideous sheepskin nightmares.  People ADMIT that they are ugly and still wear them.  Uggs will be one of those things that future generations will look back on and go “what were they THINKING?, not unlike disco, perms, and 80’s synth-pop.

Sarah Palin

Thank goodness she went back to Alaska. I’m happy I won’t have to entertain the notion of her being anywhere near the nuclear buttons anytime soon, but apparently America’s favorite hockey mom is planning to run in 2012. I guess the Mayans were on to something when they predicted that the end of the world would be in 2012. I was skeptical about this end of the world business, but who knew the Mayans foresaw Sarah Palin? Anyone who thinks she hasn’t been the most overexposed, most talked about, clearly over-covered politician ever is out of their mind. More articles have been written about her than Barack Obama, I believe. More articles have been written about her than have probably ever been written about John McCain, and HE was on the top of the ticket! This lady was everywhere this past election, and I am so ready to put Bible Spice (credit due to Alec Baldwin for dropping the nickname) to rest. Goodbye, Sarah Palin. You were fun to watch, but you’re a nut, and you need some help.