Hallyu in aisle 3: I went to Whole Foods today, and my cashier and the two next to him started singing Nobody by the Wonder Girls and then debating how many members were in the group. I was so stunned that I couldn't say anything! I know they recently did a U.S. tour, but are they being played on the radio now or something? Is k-pop the latest hipster fad? Or is it just something about my branch of Whole Foods (I swear another cashier there looks like she could be Janelle Monáe's little sister who ran off to start her own punk/ska band...)?

I was very satisfied with the finale of MasterChef Australia, except for the part where the season is over. Everyone involved with the show, from the contestants to the hosts/judges to the celebrity chefs, was basically adorable. But I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be watching MasterChef Australia Junior with 8-12 year olds cooking off. Still, it was such an enjoyable reality TV show, especially in contrast to the current disastrous U.S. season of SYTYCD.

Oops, I forgot to catch up on season 3 of Mad Men -- I'd really had the best of intentions to watch this season as it aired. How bad would it be viz. spoilers  if I watched the season premiere tonight before going back to watch last season?

I really think Joss Whedon's Avengers movie is going to be terrible, but that's probably because I loathed the second Iron Man movie. Bendis schmendis, I think the whole Avengers mythos has gotten pretty bankrupt creatively.

1. Figure out who I'm rooting for on MasterChef Australia now that Marion's been eliminated (probably Adam? though I don't know yet who got eliminated on Tuesday's episode)

2. Keep counting down the hours until tonight's Pretty Little Liars after last week's amazing (and very viddable!) cliffhanger

3. Find someone to talk me out of using "Like 4chan for girls" (source) as the title of my Symposium blog post on anon culture in fandom

3b. Figure out if I even have, like, a thesis or a point or anything useful to say for said blog post

4. OMG only 6 more hours until Pretty Little Liars! (Hint: that's enough time to catch up on the first six episodes if you haven't been watching)

...and yet, after Wednesday's episode, I think I accidentally started shipping Marion/Callum. I mean, I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure it counts as shipping when you're mentally shouting at the screen "Just kiss each other, already!" during their cab ride through Paris, despite them showing no particular signs of romantic interest or sexual chemistry towards each other?



I don't know. But I've definitely developed a weakness for Australian reality TV competitions, because the contestants always seem relatively guileless and innocent. At least compared to U.S. equivalents, where everyone's so comparatively poised and polished in front of the camera, as though part of U.S. culture is spending your life mentally readying yourself for your close-up. When I watched the first season of Australia's SYTYCD, I remember being consistently charmed and delighted as I kept thinking how wonderful it was to watch people who don't come onto a show already "knowing" how to present themselves for television audiences.

Aw, I think I got a little teary-eyed at the end of the latest MasterChef Australia.

Plus I'm at the point where I really don't want to see anyone else getting eliminated. It was bad enough to lose Skye and Matthew; at this stage, I'd be happy to see the remaining eight cooking and doing challenges and hugging and cheering each other on indefinitely.

In other news, I'm still on track to rewatch The Pandorica Opens every night until the finale.

I'm not sure how this month got so out of control so quickly viz. work, but it did and it's barely halfway over. I'm on my way home after being in DC doing meetings for the last few days, and, well, interesting/depressing/scary times (the media/security/spectator scene outside of the BP hearing yesterday was pretty wild). But I don't have to go back until the end of the month, and then I get a couple days in San Francisco next month, so overall it looks like things are calming down.

I'm basically behind in everything fannish. I managed to spend an afternoon catching up on the last few months of the comic books I've been reading, only to remember why I got behind on so many of them in the first place. The combination of soul-crushing mega-events (DC's Blackest Night, Marvel's Siege plus whatever they're calling the latest X-Men atrocity) really left a bad taste in my mouth. Though I'm still charmed by Barbara Gordon mentoring Stephanie Brown as the new Batgirl, so at least there's something I can still look forward to each month.

I think I'm still watching TV, but I can't remember anything more complicated than Masterchef Australia (the contestants are all adorable! and they love each other so much!), which is surprisingly enjoyable even if you don't really cook or aspire to cooking, and have no idea what most of the stuff they make is supposed to taste like. I usually end up falling asleep half way through it, and then watching the half I missed plus starting the new episode (it runs six days a week) the next night.

Does anybody have any thoughts about the new season of SYTYCD/US? I'm predictably behind a week, and still not sure if/how the revamped format will work out.

Oh, wait, I remember -- I'm watching Doctor Who! Well, not right at this moment, but I can tell I'll be on the edge of my seat at the back of the sofa for tomorrow's episode. I just want to bake cookies for MSmith & KGillan, they've really let me fall in love with the show all over again.