The Boys are Back!

In fact, the whole cast was back...and so were we, this time in a theater with hundreds of screaming girls rather than in the comfort of our own homes. Last Thursday night/Friday morning, in honor of Darren's upcoming birthday (even though he didn't come), we attended the midnight(eh, 12:05...12:01 was sold out) showing of High School Musical 3: Senior Year.

HSM3: Senior Year is the third and final installment of the phenomenon that began as a Disney Channel Original Movie (a DCOM, if you will) like any other. But what was different about this DCOM? Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century was apparently successful enough to merit Zenon: The Zequal. But where was Z3? Not in the theaters. (In fact, it was the only Zenon installment not to be released on VHS or DVD.) Was it the music? Zenon had some catchy music, courtesy of intergalactic superstar Protozoa. "Boom, boom, boom, make my heart go zoom, zoom, my supernova girl." Classic. That can't be the deciding factor. Was it the choreography? Kenny Ortega is kind of a genius. Was it...Zac Efron?

You know what, it doesn't even matter. I totally digress. So we went to the theater for the midnight showing.

Now, I am the kind of person who will bring my own treats to the theater so I don't have to pay their outrageous prices. Shoot, it was a big enough commitment to buy a movie ticket that was more than $5. As a general rule, I struggle to commit to things more than $5. (Side note: this is the first time I have ever paid for anything High School musical related. I received the first DVD as a Valentines gift--tender, I know, he knew me so well--and both soundtracks as two-week-old hand-me-downs from my little sister when she bought the deluxe editions).

So I brought my own bag of popcorn. However, due to microwave timing issues, it may have gotten a little bit burnt. I wasn't sure, I hadn't opened it yet. The smell made me suspicious, but I would just figure that out later, it was time to go! Cara however thought the smell was downright offensive and wanted me to throw it out the window. I compromised.

Since this movie was kind of a big deal, we knew we would need to get there pretty early to get in line if we wanted to get 8 seats together. So we went at like 10. This left plenty of time for fun activities such as telling fortunes, and rolling some dice.

When I rolled the die, I defied all odds and on like 12 of my first 20 rolls, I rolled a 4. It was pretty amazing. Val and I were amazed.

Finally the lights dimmed and the previews began. All of a sudden Zac Efron's face filled the screen (who even knew he was in any other movies anytime soon?). Probably 85% of the theater screamed in unison. This became a theme for the night. Zac Efron appears: girls scream. Zac dances with Vanessa: girls scream. Zac takes off his shirt: girls scream. I hope that I speak for everyone in our group when I say that I did not scream at these moments. I laughed.

In fact, I laughed through much of the movie. Sometimes I couldn't help myself. It was one of those "this is riduculous, and I cannot believe they expect anyone to take this movie seriously and I'm loving it" laughs. Because, really. This movie is ridiculous. And I cannot believe anyone could take this movie seriously or expect me to. And I loved it.

P.S. Val loved it so much she went out and bought an East High sweatsuit the next day. (Okay, the pants were too small--even Val is not the size of a 10 year old--but we will be checking back for a tween size large when it comes in.)

Published

So Friday was the day. Our friend Jill Crane was finally published in the Daily Universe. It was epic to say the least. Jill wrote a letter to the editor in retaliation/as commentary on a previous letter about cheerleaders uniforms needing to be more modest at BYU, including a comment to the effect of "although I'm not quite certain because I've never been a cheerleader, but I believe it is still possible to do the splits in a longer skirt." You get the idea.
I was at work when I found that she had finally made it in. I had been sitting at my desk for approximately 10 minutes when one of my students became outraged at something in the readers forum. I am not a morning person so my outburst of laughter, probably before I had actually spoken to anyone mind you, was not only thought of as out of context by my employees but totally uncharacteristic for me period. They think I'm a little bit crazy anyways. Might as well keep it going. Anyways, after I explained to the confused girl that it was all in jest she fully appreciated.


So here you go, read and enjoy:

THE SHORTER THE BETTER

In response to the Sept. 24 opinion piece and resulting debate regarding the length of the cheerleaders' skirts, I have a suggestion: Stop thinking you are more righteous than the cheerleaders because you don't have nice enough legs to wear skirts that short. They're just doing their part to help the team.
I would call to your remembrance the episode of "Saved by the Bell" (season1, episode 16, "Save that Tiger") where Jessie wants the squad to wear ankle-length cheerleading skirts. For what should be obvious reasons, this idea didn't fly, and they returned to the traditional uniforms, which included short skirts. Naturally, the team won. The moral of the story here: modesty doesn't win, and if we want our football team to get into a BCS bowl, we should support the cheerleaders' short skirts and sleeveless tops. In fact, the shorter the better. Maybe if we took another inch off the skirts we could climb a few more spots in the rankings. You can't say that wouldn't be worth it.

There you have it. Please do not think that that was serious. I know we love Saved by the Bell, but to actually reference it parenthetically, how could anyone take that seriously? Come on people.