Glee, The View, & GQ, Oh My!

Today on The View Patricia Heaton filled in for Joy. Patricia is on The Middle, which I don't watch. At one point, they were talking about the television show Glee, which I do watch. Cory Monteith [Finn], Dianna Agron [Quinn], and Lea Michele [Rachel] made the cover of November's GQ their spread in the magazine is supposedly risque.

Sherri complained about the "sexualization of young girls" and said she didn't like seeing these types of pictures. Patricia complained about how she lives in LA and billboards with girls posed in questionable positions. Barbra pointed out that these girls are only acting on the show and they're not really sixteen or what not.

Sherri also told this story about some chick who was 35, but played a 15 year old on television wasn't allowed to drink in public because the network she worked for wouldn't let her. She portrayed this situation of a tyrannical network having too much say in your life outside of work as the ideal. Putting so much emphasis on the impact of television and actors and is damaging to all involved. It makes society look to television for how to live their lives, it creates no separation between actor and role [which leads to typecasting], and creates a society of weak minded fools who cannot differentiate fictional entertainment from reality.

However, Sherri shouldn't be worried about the supposed sexualization of young girls when the young girls in question are in their mid twenties. They're women and it's their personal choice to dress or pose how they want.

She also tried to blame the magazine in an effort to make someone responsible. She made this comment about how "Playboy is in a mylar package, but GQ is out in the open!" However, this isn't true. There certainly have been issues that have been obscured by a divider because of their cover has someone naked or nearly naked on the cover. And even though Playboy is in that mylar bag, these same dividers cover issues of playboy as well.

Barbra pointed out that if anyone young is seeing these pictures it isn't going to be the first time they've seen such images. Still, Sherri and Patricia seemed worried for the children who watch Glee seeing these photos, but maybe they should be worried for the children who watch Glee because they watch Glee.

Glee is has used the words damn, hell, ass, and bitch multiple times. In season one they had episodes that involved premature ejaculation, teenage pregnancy, and being bribed for your panties. I've yet to know a child that lives in a house with cable and without a guardian. If they think they're kids are too young to watch Glee or read GQ then they shouldn't let them, but the content should still be available to the general public. By not wanting these images available in such a way, they are asking society to do their parenting for them.

In other news, Elton John and Leon Russell made a record together called The Union and it's out and I'm probably going to buy it.

Glee, The Music

Showstoppers 3 Deluxe is a soundtrack for the show Glee and it's the one that has almost all the songs that I want. See, I'm not a complete and total fanboy of Glee. I adore the show, but I much prefer the songs of the second half of the season to the first. The songs from the first half are good, but I'm not eager to listen to them outside of the context of the show.

The only songs this CD doesn't have that I want are Bohemian Rhapsody and To Sir, With Love. Those songs, like all songs from the finale, are on a special CD all by themselves and I was not about to shell out eight bucks for five or six songs. They're good and the former is one of the best Queen covers I've heard, but I can live without having them on my mp3 player.

Back to the record. Lea Michele may be talented, but I flat out don't like her voice. However, I still like the songs she's featured on. The tracks I have on heavy rotation are Hello, A House Is Not A Home, One Less Bell To Answer/A House Is Not A Home, Home, Physical, Rose's Turn, Dream On, Safety Dance, Loser, and Bad Romance. So that's ten out of the twenty tracks.

It was incredibly worth it, because now I can listen to Chris Colfer's voice on the way to school and jam to the new version of Physical. I would love to hear a remixed version of that song that made it even more danceable.

On One Less Bell To Answer, "Since he went away" is sung more effectively than in the original. Not knocking the original, because it's good, but Kristin Chenoweth's voice is stronger but not overbearing. It also marries perfectly with Matthew Morrison's vocals. She made it her own without it having that, "I can do so much better than the original," vibe that I've gotten from some covers (non-Glee covers included).

So...yeah. I know it's kind of silly to care so much about what is not only a soundtrack, but a cover album, but this one is great. I can't wait until the second half of the season is out on DVD. September 14th seems to far away.