"The Misadventures of AWKWARD Black Girl" Webisode 11 - "The Exes"

“The Misadventures of AWKWARD Black Girl” is a web series about the awkward and hilarious events that occur in the life of an awkward black girl named Jay. The show is low budget and was put together by Issa Rae, the woman who plays the main character, Jay. One day she decided to get a few of her friends together and make her own show and people started watching, which is pretty inspiring. Every episode or “webisode” shows what Jay goes through along with a voiceover of Jay telling us what she is really thinking in her head. These are usually things that she could never and would never say out loud. In the episode called “The Exes,” we pick up from where we left off before the brief hiatus. Jay decided to go trick or treating with her crush “White Jay” as she calls him and blows off her best friend CeCe’s party that she told CeCe she would attend. At the end of the Jays’ date, they see one of White Jay’s gorgeous ex girlfriends and Jay awkwardly introduces Jay without even saying her name or mentioning who she is, which upsets Jay. Now, White Jay is apologizing and trying to explain what happened to Jay, but she’s not really sure she wants to hear what he has to say. Jay goes to CeCe’s house and they end up making up and are besties again. Jay has several flashbacks of her bad luck with men and wonders if she’ll ever find a decent man. When she gets home, the other guy that she likes is sitting on her front porch and finally confesses that he likes her. Just as she’s about to speak, White Jay comes up the steps and stands there, making the situation, of course, awkward. Now Jay cannot put it off any longer and she finally has to choose one of the guys. This is where the episode ends until the next one in January, so viewers are left with a cliffhanger.  

"Dexter" - "Get Gellar"

Dexter finally gets Professor Gellar's student, Travis, to trust him in order to find Gellar and kill him before Miami Metro catches on and arrests him. Dexter takes Travis to a hotel so he can have a safe place to stay without worrying about Gellar coming after him. While Dexter is away, another murder takes place and it is clearly the work of the Doomsday Killer (Prof. Gellar) since it continues with the theme of the Book of Revelations. Miami Metro goes to the crime scene where another professor's dead body is lying on a table with his abdomen hollowed out. They are expecting this murder to include symbolism that leads to the Bowls of Wrath, but at first glance they don’t really see a connection. Then someone moves the professor’s arm when they notice that his hand has been chopped off and several bowls filled with blood are triggered to spill blood down on the heads of everyone standing under them. Dexter gets a call from Travis telling him to come to the abandoned church after we see a note written in blood on Travis’ hotel bathroom that tells him to bring the “false prophet” to the church. Dexter goes to the church and finds Travis unconscious lying on the ground. Dexter wanders around the church and ends up in the basement. Dexter looks around the room and finally finds a large freezer in the corner. When he opens it, Gellar’s frozen body is inside and has been in there for a long time, so we know that Travis has been doing the killings himself and has been acting as if Gellar is alive. I definitely did not expect this and it caught me off guard. This twist reminded me of the movie “Psycho” by Alfred Hitchcock and to me it was one of the better episodes this season.

"Glee" - "Mash Off"

This episode of "Glee," begins with the New Directions and the Trouble Tones preparing to compete in a mash off suggested by Mr. Shue. Puck, with Blaine and Mike in the background, performs a version of “Hot for Teacher” by Van Halen to express his love for Shelby,a who is a teacher and also Rachel’s mom. Shelby and Mr. Shue sing “You and I” by Lady Gaga. Without Lady Gaga’s crazy antics and theatrics, as seen in the music video, the song seems so mellow and  you are able to pay attention to the melody which would normally be overshadowed if you’re actually watching Gaga perform it herself. In the first mash off, the New Directions sing a mix of “I Can’t Go for That” and “You Make My Dreams Come True” by Hall and Oates. This is a good mash up, but for a competition with another group, they should have made better song choices. The songs mesh well together but the dance routine along with the Daryl Hall and John Oates costumes (mustache included) make the performance kind of cheesy overall. The final mash up performed by the Trouble Tones, with Mercedes and Santana singing lead, was the best from this episode and maybe even the whole series. They sing a mix of two of Adele’s songs from her second album “21,” which were “Rumor Has It” and “Someone Like You.” Anytime Mercedes and Santana sing together, they always do a great job and are very enjoyable to watch, but I must say that this was my favorite performance from them together. Immediately after the awesome performance, Santana jumps off the stage and slaps the crap out of Finn for outing her as a lesbian to everyone and the screen cuts to black. “Mash Off” is a really good episode and it really makes you want to see what happens next.

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"Glee" - "The First Time"

In “The First Time,” McKinley High is putting on a school play, “West Side Story.” Artie finds his calling, which is bossing people around,which is also know as directing, as he puts it. He pressures the two leads in the play, Rachel and Blaine, to go out and experience deeper relationships with their significant others because they won’t be able to convey real emotions to the audience if they have not experienced these emotions in real life. Blaine visits his old school and walks into a Warblers rendition of “Uptown Girl” by Billy Joel. This is where he meets Sebastian, a new student who clearly likes him. Kurt sees Blaine and Sebastian chatting and feels threatened, but accepts Sebastian’s invitation to Scandalous, a gay bar. Kurt sees Karrovsky here. He has transferred to a new school, but is doing fine. Mike Chang’s father overhears Mike and his mother talking about Mike following his heart and continuing to dance even though his father told him that he has to quit. They decided to keep Mike’s dancing a secret and not tell Mike’s father not knowing that he heard everything. Mike’s father comes to McKinley and tells Mike that he must quit or he won’t have a son, so Mike says “I guess I don’t have a father anymore” and that’s the last we see of them for this episode. McKinley High premieres its first performance of “West Side Story” and it’s a success. In one scene, the cast sings “America” from the play with horrible “Puerto Rican” accents, but the singing is great as always.

Dexter, "Just Let Go" and "Nebraska"

In this episode of "Just Let Go" Dexter's friend Brother Sam, the ex-con turned minister, is shot in his auto shop by a hooded man and ends in the hospital in critical condition. Dexter watches the surveillance video and notices that Brother Sam's dog, who normal barks loudly when he sees someone he doesn't recognize, doesn't budge. Dexter knows that the only other person who can quiet the dog is a kid that Brother Sam decided to take under his wing. Dexter gets a chance to speak to Brother Sam just before Brother Sam dies and he reveals to Brother Sam who shot him. Brother Sam tells Dexter to forgive the kid. Dexter finds the kid and decides to spare his life and tell him that Brother Sam forgives him. Unfortunately, the kid laughs in Dexter's face and taunts Dexter saying that the police won't find out who killed Brother Sam. This angers Dexter which causes him to tackle the kid into the water and drown him in the very same water in which Brother Sam baptised him. The professor and his student continue to carry out their killings inspired by the book of Revelations, but the student begins to have doubts about whether the murders that they are committing are right and he even lets one of the victims go.

In "Nebraska," there is another set of killings that mirror the murders committed by the Trinity Killer, played by John Lithgow, and the Trinity Killer's own wife and daughter happen to be the victims. The department thinks that Trinity is back, but the only problem is that Dexter actually killed Trinity himself. Dexter suspects that Trinity's son is to blame and goes to Nebraska to find him, using the death of Brother Sam as an excuse to take time off from work. Trinity's son lies to Dexter and makes up some bogus story about how he saw his dad kill his mother and sister and how he had to fight his dad off. Dexter tells him that he knows Trinity did not kill them and Trinity's son realizes that Dexter is the one who killed his father and escapes out of the front. Dexter has no choice but to kill him and chases him down. He finally admits to Dexter why he killed his mother and sister and Dexter surprisingly lets him live.

Also, in these episodes, Dexter's brother, Brian, who is dead and was also a serial killer, now appears in Dexter's head and Dexter communicates with him as he does with his dead father. We're are so used to always seeing Dexter talk to his father and after five seasons have gone by, we see it shift to another person, so this adds a very interesting element.

XtraNormal Blog, "Glee" Episodes 3 and 4, "Asian F" and "Pot of Gold"

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Video Interview with Bryan McElwain

"Pretty Little Liars" Season 2, Episode 13, "The First Secret"

"The First Secret," which is episode 13 of the second season of "Pretty Little Liars," is a unique episode. This Halloween special is shot from Allison's point of view. This has not been done before since all of the other episodes take place after Allison's death. In this episode we find out how Allison knew about each of the other four girls' biggest secrets and we get to witness how she uses them to manipulate and bully the other four girls, Aria, Hanna, Spencer, and Emily. Allison finds out that Aria's father, Byron, is cheating on her mother, Ella, when Aria and Allison see Byron kissing one of his students, Merideth, in his car. Throughout the episode, Allison makes fun of Hanna's weight with several fat jokes and she knows that this is an issue that is taking a toll on Hanna's self-esteem. Allison threatens to tell Spencer's sister Melissa that Spencer kissed her boyfriend if Spencer does not mention this to Melissa within a timely manner. Also, at the Halloween party that the girls attend, Allison catches Emily staring at another girl while the girl dances and realizes that Emily is gay. Allison uses all the girls' secrets to control them and to make sure that she is in charge at all times. She knows that the girls will be loyal to her because they would not want her to reveal their secrets. I love this episode because we get a chance to see Allison without it being a flashback from one of the other girls' perspective and we get to see how things were while Allison was still alive. I cannot wait until the second half of season 2 begins!

"Dexter" Season 6, Episodes 2 and 3

As season 6 of Dexter progresses, the storyline gets more and more interesting.  In episode 2, Dexter's sister, Deb (Jennifer Carpenter), is promoted from Detective to Lt., rather than Sgt. Battista, as everyone expected. The former Lt., Laguerta (Lauren Velez), is promoted to Captain of Miami Metro. Deb is now the boss of her boyfriend, Quinn (Desmond Harrington). Dexter almost makes a mistake and kills a former murderer who has turned his life around and has become a minister who works as a mechanic. He follows the man and sees him put a body in the trunk of his car. Dexter is ready to kill the ex-con when dogs on the premises blow his cover and the ex-con sees Dexter. Just as Dexter is about to inject the ex-con with a tranquilizer, he sees the man who was thrown in the trunk, who he assumed was dead, leaning against a car smoking a cigarette. He was saved from making a crucial mistake by killing someone who he did not believe deserved to die according to his code. Also, Dexter finds out that his son Harrison knows about the box of blood slides that he keeps behind the air conditioner.

In episode 3, Quinn proposes to Deb, Deb says no to Quinn because she likes things the way they are and she is not ready to get married. Quinn packs Deb’s things and tells her to move out. He thinks she broke up with him because of her promotion and he can't handle it. Dexter finds an old serial killer that he followed when he was a kid, The Tooth Fairy/Ronny Cox, who got his name from pulling out one of the incisors of each victim, when he starts killing again after over twenty years. Dexter drops his box of blood slides that he keeps after he kills each victim. Now he has no way to know which slide belongs to who and there is no longer any order, which he tries so hard to keep in his life and in his killings. Dexter thinks about how he found out that the Tooth Fairy Killer only had a box of old teeth that he clung to after all those years. This may mean that Dexter realizes he does not need the slides and he might stop collecting them (as they only serve as a liability for him). Good episode. 3.5 remotes out of 5.

My Interview w/ Bryan McElwain

For my assignment this week, I interviewed my classmate, Bryan McElwain. Bryan is also a Communication Arts major at St. John's University and he plays in a band, so that means he's pretty cool. Here is an excerpt of the incredibly exciting and definitely not boring interview:

Q: What's your favorite thing to do when you're not studying?
A: ...I can't get it down to one, so I'm just gonna say... either playing the drums or guitar in the band that I play in or workin' out.

Q:What's your favorite movie?
A: My favorite movie is "The Departed." I like the director, Martin Scorsese. He's one of my favorite directors and it has a long list of stars in it. I like the storyline because there's no good guy or bad guy. It's all up to the person watching the movie.

Q:If Hollywood made a movie about your life, who would play you and what kind of movie would it be?
A:Well, considering some of the insane things that have happened to me in my life, I would have to say it would be a comedy movie, so I might as well say that Ben Stiller would play me

Q: If you had only six months to live, what would you do?
A:If I had six months to live I would probably just travel the world.

Q: If you won 20 million dollars in the lottery, what would you spend it on?
A:I'd of course give a quarter of it to charity, another quarter of it to my parents, and I'd spend the rest on stuff that's probably gonna take a couple years off my life.

Listen to our 3 minute interview here:

"Glee" Season 3 Premiere, "The Purple Piano Project"

"Glee" is back with its third season. All the cast is back minus Sam (Chord Overstreet). Quinn (Diana Agron) got a makeover that was sort of MollyRingwaldinprettymuchanyJohnHughesdirectedteenangstflick-esque, for lack of a better term, Santana (Naya Rivera) was kicked out of the New Directions (the glee club), Mr. Shue (Matthew Morrison) is living with Emma (Jayma Mays), Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Rachel (Lea Michele) are trying to get into a theater group, and Kurt's boyfriend, Blaine (Darren Criss) is now a part of the New Directions, instead of the opposing glee club, The Warblers, in which he was a member last season, and Mercedes has a new boyfriend even though she had just started dating Sam in the last episode of last season and we never really got a chance to see them together.

In this episode, the songs performed were "We Got the Beat" by the Go-Go's, "You Can't Stop the Beat" from "Hairspray", "It's Not Unusual" by Tom Jones, "Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead" from "The Wizard of Oz,"  a mash up of "Anything Goes" and "Anything You Can Do" from "Anything Goes" and "Annie Get Your Gun," and a horrid rendition of "Big Spender" by a New Directions wannabe, Sugar Motto. As the voiceover says every week, "And that's what you missed on 'Glee'."

The episode was a little boring, in my opinion, and some of the song choices were not great, so I would rate it 2.5 remotes out of 5, but I'm sure it will get better.

Dexter, Season 6, Season Premiere - "Those Kinds of Things"

Season six of "Dexter" premiered Sunday, October 2nd. Michael C. Hall is back as Dexter Morgan, the likable blood spatter analyst who "moonlights as a serial killer of criminals who he believes escaped justice," according to IMDb.com. This season, Dexter is trying to find a school for his son Harrison's first year and planning to attend his high school reunion. Dexter is given a suggestion for a Catholic school, recommended by Sgt. Batista (David Zayas). During the interview process, Dexter realizes that he has no religion and doesn't really believe in anything (as far as God). He realizes that he needs to make a decision for his son and figure out what he wants Harrison to believe in, so that he will be able to have a normal life, unlike his own. Dexter attends the reunion with an ulterior motive. We find out that Dexter only wants to find evidence to kill one of his classmates, who got away with murdering his own wife and setting it up to look like a suicide. By the end of the episode, we find out that Dexter is fine with "not believing in anything," as Dexter stated, but we learn that his views may be challenged by another serial killer who commits a murder laced with religious symbolism and clearly wants Dexter to pay attention to him. Overall, the episode was good. If I had to rate it, I would give it 3.5 remote controls out of 5.

America's Next Top Model All-Star Recap

This season, Cycle 17, of America's Next Top Model (ANTM) came back with a twist. Instead of the usual format in which 12 unknown models compete against each other to become America's Next Top Model, they decided to bring back fan favorites from past ANTM seasons. These models will compete each week until someone is named ANTM All-Star.

On the first episode, we found out which models were brought back as they moved into the house that they will live in. Their first photo shoot assignment was to portray an exaggerated version of themselves. Later, the girls were taken to panel with a live audience where the guest judge, rapper Nicki Minaj, helped critique each girl's photo as they came out on stage one by one. The judges not only examined each girl's photo, but the reaction that each girl got from the crowd. One of the audience members said that they did not remember cycle 4 contestant, Brittany, which landed her in the bottom two with Alexandria (Cycle 16) and ultimately sent her home. The problem that I have with this decision is the fact that Brittany is from CYCLE 4!!!!!!! This was 13 seasons ago. If that one does not remember her, the judges should not have held that against her. Also, that person who didn't know who she was must not have been a real fan because I knew exactly who Brittany was when I saw her since her personality on the show made her very memorable. I did not agree with the judges' decision and I was extremely disappointed that Brittany was the first person sent packing. Immediately after this, I rolled my eyes and turned to my suite mate to ask one simple question: Where's the remote?

5 Pictures

People Walking on 7th Ave.

People at Aspen Social Club

Long-shot of Bent Hall

Close-up of Bent Hall 

Close-up of me at Bent Hall

Who I Am

My name is Akilah. I'm a Senior at St. John's University, majoring in Communications. I enrolled in MCC 1100 because I am interested in many different areas of media such as film, television, radio, internet, etc. In Multimedia Communication, I know that we will be dealing with the internet, blogging, audio editing, and a lot more, so I am excited for this semester. One thing that I enjoy doing is seeing films in the theater. Also, I watch a lot of television, which is how I chose the theme for my blog and the name, which is called, as you can see, "Where's the Remote?"