Jocelyn McLean's POLI333 Blog

@aviaaron: I read your intro-post (or rather, your Author page) and saw that you’re a big fan of Parks and Recreation. It is my favourite sitcom on TV right now – I think it’s so much better than a lot of the shows out there  because they manage to keep it funny while also making all of the characters so likeable. Anyways, I spend half of my time perusing YouTube for my favourite TV clips, and as Ron Swanson is one of my all-time favourite TV characters, this is my go-to playlist for his best clips.

@blairmotlukpoli333: I don’t know about you, but growing up in Winnipeg gave me a serious love/hate relationship with the city. In fact, it was mostly hate until I left, and I find myself getting homesick all the time. It especially happens in early December when I’m trying to get myself excited for Christmas but it is rainy, miserable, and green in Vancouver when the ground should be covered in snow. Anyways, this year I started looking for photos of Winnipeg Winters to satisfy my craving for nostalgia, and I stumbled upon this website. The tagline pretty much captures everything I feel about the city.

@jeffdemo: I am so glad there’s a fellow Homeland fan in the class! I honestly watched the entire first season in two days this week when I was sick. Without giving too much away to anyone else in the class who may be reading this, and may want to watch the show, I’ll say that I enjoyed the finale but I’m worried about a few things for next season. This article from New York Magazine kind of captures what I thought about the whole episode.

“The Hollywood Foreign Press have warned me that if I insult any of you, or any of them, or offend any viewers, or cause any controversy whatsoever, they’ll definitely invite me back next year as well.”

Generally, I am an avid follower of popular culture. I was especially obsessive about last year’s movie award season, as I had seen most of the nominated films and was a devout fan of The Social Network. When I tuned in to the 2011 Golden Globe Awards, then, it was entirely for the purpose of rooting for the film I had enjoyed so much. Ricky Gervais’ hosting gig ended up being a (very) pleasant surprise.

There was a lot of controversy surrounding his performance last year: stories about him being fired in the middle of the show, with celebrity guests polarized between giving praise and criticism. Needless to say, the talk of him being fired by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was a publicity stunt, as Ricky Gervais was invited to host again this year, and most people (I imagine) were excited to tune in.

Actually, it’s pretty much the only reason I tuned in, as I have hardly seen any of the films nominated this year. I generally watch the Globes regardless of what’s nominated, simply for the sake of seeing a bunch of A-list celebrities making use of an open bar, only to later give lively, drunken acceptance speeches. But after Ricky’s monologue last year, which was significantly more “controversial” than his monologue the year before, I expected him to go big or go home  – to keep testing the HFPA until they refuse to invite him back again.

So, interestingly, when he made the joke (quoted at the beginning of this post) implying his imperviousness to censorship, and then provided a list of rules he had to follow, I expected him to break every one of them. I waited for the entire show. In the end, though, not only did the HFPA seem to successfully enforce a level of censorship, but they seemed to cut back on his screen time, as well. Of course, Ricky has since tweeted that it was his personal favourite hosting experience at the Golden Globes. Did he get paid more to keep his mouth shut? Will he be invited back next year? I guess we’ll find out.

One highlight of the show – though I didn’t know it at the time – was Homeland‘s win for Best TV Drama. I quickly spent the next two days watching the first 12-episode season, and as I said in my intro post, I am officially hooked. So I guess the Globes were good for something.

Hi everyone,

I am a 4th year Sociology major, minoring in Political Science. I was born just outside of Toronto, but spend most of my life in Winnipeg, Manitoba, before heading out here for school. I hate the rain, and I would prefer the freezing cold (but sunny) weather of Winnipeg any day. I am graduating this year (fingers crossed), at which point I hope to move to Toronto to pursue a career in public relations.

As we have the opportunity to do one free-style post a week, I suppose I should give everyone in the class fair warning about my interests. I am an avid follower of popular culture, so as we are in the midst of awards season there will likely be a few posts about that. I try to keep up with a number of television shows, the most recent of which is Homeland, which I highly recommend to everyone.

That being said, I’m looking forward to this class and I will try to keep my posts as entertaining as possible for those of you who will be reading.