Trust Me Joe, I'll Clear my Schedule

December 29, 2011 4:41 PM

Zooey Deschanel and Joesph Gordon-Levitt sing " What Are You Doing On New Years Eve"
posted by The Whelk (127 comments total)

Way too adorable! I can't take it!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 4:42 PM on December 29, 2011

That's one of the few songs I've ever learned to sing. They do it better, though.
posted by ursus_comiter at 4:45 PM on December 29, 2011

You have reached the upper limit of adorable, and will no longer be allowed to proceed without first serenading me and maybe being my quirky and dapper friends, respectively.

Especially you, Gordon-Levitt and your suits and twinkle. You're on notice.
posted by verbyournouns at 4:46 PM on December 29, 2011 [3 favorites]

As a bit of an antidote, Tom Waits sings New Year's Eve.

I'm pretty sure I know which one my New Year's is going to be more like.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:47 PM on December 29, 2011 [13 favorites]

oh god she's playing a ukelele too. Prepare for this to be shat upon my friends.
posted by Think_Long at 4:48 PM on December 29, 2011 [2 favorites]

Aww, come on now. They're both cute kids, and the strumming's sort of sweet, but this is the way it's supposed to sound. Lena Horne owns this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-d9eGdwc6E&feature=related
posted by kestralwing at 4:52 PM on December 29, 2011 [2 favorites]

They sure do know how cute they are.
posted by ian1977 at 4:53 PM on December 29, 2011 [34 favorites]

For some reason, all day today YT videos have played for 15-30 seconds, then start from 0 again, so after several attempts, I didn't hear much at all. But Deschanel does have a really nice, throaty voice. Maybe I'll hear the whole thing one day.
posted by maudlin at 4:54 PM on December 29, 2011

Sorry, I don't know how to turn a link to YouTube into the cool bold font links that everyone else has. If anyone wants to send me a private message with instructions I'd appreciate it.
posted by kestralwing at 4:55 PM on December 29, 2011

kestralwing,
write your comment,
select the word you want to turn into a link,
use the link button below the Comment field,
enter the address in the dialog box.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 4:59 PM on December 29, 2011 [2 favorites]

One of my favorite Hollywood sightings was seeing Zooey sitting at a table outside at Flore and being all 'hey' as I walked by, then turning around to see who she was sitting with and getting all knock-kneed and flabbermouthy at the sight of M. Ward.

For all the MPDG hate and that doofus of a performance in '10 Things I Hate About You', the two really are quite endearing.
posted by carsonb at 5:03 PM on December 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

Flagged as twee.
posted by chrchr at 5:03 PM on December 29, 2011 [12 favorites]

Yeah, it's cute and all, but then when they get together on New Year's Eve, they'll end up back at his place, and it'll start snowing just as she wants to leave, and then everyone will think it's all creepy when he insists that she shouldn't risk getting home in bad weather.
posted by hippybear at 5:07 PM on December 29, 2011 [5 favorites]

You think?
posted by empath at 5:14 PM on December 29, 2011

everyone will think it's all creepy when he insists that she shouldn't risk getting home in bad weather.

It will be pretty creepy. If he honestly believes it's snowing in LA it's time to leave.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 5:14 PM on December 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

I am unable to tell the difference between a Zoey Deschanel and a Katy Perry spotted in the wild. Are there any tips for beginning manic pixie dream girl spotters?
posted by Ad hominem at 5:14 PM on December 29, 2011 [4 favorites]

Flagged as twee.

If it were any more saccharine, the makers of Mary Poppins would spin in their graves.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:16 PM on December 29, 2011

COBRA!
posted by mikelieman at 5:19 PM on December 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

Are there any tips for beginning manic pixie dream girl spotters?

Here are a bunch of comparisons for you to use in your quest for visual differences.
posted by hippybear at 5:20 PM on December 29, 2011

If it were any more saccharine, the makers of Mary Poppins would spin in their graves.

It's a giving time of year so I'll share my new favourite mental image: I misread that as spit in their graves.
posted by carbide at 5:20 PM on December 29, 2011

Why is it mirrored?
posted by and for no one at 5:21 PM on December 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

I am unable to tell the difference between a Zoey Deschanel and a Katy Perry spotted in the wild. Are there any tips for beginning manic pixie dream girl spotters?

Katy is way freer with her cleavage, so if you see cleavage, it's probably Katy...

Or so I've heard... On the internet...
posted by mikelieman at 5:22 PM on December 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

I don't mind Deschanel's voice, and when I first heard it was pleased to hear somebody doing classic pop jazz vocalization. But it's always seemed a bit mannered and technical to me, and she has trouble on the low notes. I've never heard Joseph Gordon-Levitt sing before -- at least, not except for the karaoke scene in 101 Days of Summer. I like his voice very much -- it's sweet and clear and unforced, and he seems to really like to sing.

I liked him on 3rd Rock, but did not expect to be constantly interested in his career as an adult. But he just keeps interesting me.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 5:22 PM on December 29, 2011 [8 favorites]

oh god she's playing a ukelele too. Prepare for this to be shat upon my friends.

I like Zooey Deschanel and JGL is fricking awesome, but my god does this make me want to punch them.

Please get the fuck off our YouTube you multi-millionaire, internationally famous, privileged cocks. Seriously, you're basically a better read Paris Hilton and Ashton Kutcher at this point so please take Rogen and Di Franco and all your friends and fuck off.

I know you think you're people too an all, but really, you're not. You're like royalty giving tips on how to be thrifty or supermodels telling us that they hate the way they look.

So go bug-fuck crazy like Ballotelli and Gaga or keep your home videos and diaries to be exploited after your death.

Amateur video should be left to the amateurs.

Fucking one-percenters muscling in on our shit.
posted by fullerine at 5:25 PM on December 29, 2011 [36 favorites]

Jebus! Someone has strong opinions about this sort of thing, but I'm not going to say who.
posted by hippybear at 5:28 PM on December 29, 2011 [10 favorites]

Our turgid, spittle-flecked shit!
posted by carsonb at 5:28 PM on December 29, 2011 [2 favorites]

Are there any tips for beginning manic pixie dream girl spotters?


Zooey does obnoxious acting, with slightly more tolerable music on the side. Katy does obnoxious music, with slightly more tolerable acting on the side.
Zooey thinks she's clever and cute; Katy think's she's sexy and outrageous. They are equally wrong.
Zooey has big, blue eyes. Katy has big, dead eyes.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 5:29 PM on December 29, 2011 [22 favorites]

Please get the fuck off our YouTube you multi-millionaire, internationally famous, privileged cocks. Seriously, you're basically a better read Paris Hilton and Ashton Kutcher at this point so please take Rogen and Di Franco and all your friends and fuck off.

So that's where you're going with this? One way ticket to bitter-town?
posted by empath at 5:30 PM on December 29, 2011 [6 favorites]

This is why I love metafilter - you learn something new every day. I never knew what this 'manic pixie dream girl' thing was. And now I do!

and now I understand why my instinctive reaction to any Katy Perry song is to shiver and vacate the immediate premises posthaste
posted by zennish at 5:31 PM on December 29, 2011

"You have a crush on Zooey Deschanel
And your favourite band is Neutral Milk Hotel"

-- the first two lines of the ultimate indie/hipster anthem I'm writing
posted by acb at 5:31 PM on December 29, 2011 [24 favorites]

So who are these people? This was posted to metachat the other day and I watched it from there, but I am still just as confused as ever.
posted by cjorgensen at 5:32 PM on December 29, 2011

Zooey's voice starts off with real potential and then drops to merely okay throughout the video. If she put some time into voice training she could pull off a Gershwin album that would go on the shelf with Sarah and Lena. (and that is saying a lot)
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 5:33 PM on December 29, 2011

So who are these people? This was posted to metachat the other day and I watched it from there, but I am still just as confused as ever.

Cute actors. They did a movie together a while back.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 5:33 PM on December 29, 2011

Jebus! Someone has strong opinions about this sort of thing, but I'm not going to say who.

You know, I didn't really mind the Zooey/Joseph video, but I can also relate to fullerine's spittle-flecked rant. The fact that Mario Balotelli and Lady Gaga are now roughly equivalent as an index of eccentricity is what really sold it for me.

Yes, Mario, why always you?
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 5:34 PM on December 29, 2011

So who are these people?

Um... aside from linking you to Wikipedia or LMGTFY (equally tempting)...

JGL is an actor who first came into popular knowledge as Tommy on Third Rock From The Sun. He's done a lot of film work since then with increasing acclaim. He also does movie production, helps fund independent film projects, and has a really cool online art collaboration community which he founded and participates in.

ZD is an actress who also is part of an indie music duo.

They worked together in the movie 500 Days Of Summer.
posted by hippybear at 5:35 PM on December 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

I especially liked the part at the very end where she looked right at me.
No, not at the camera...at me.
posted by rocket88 at 5:41 PM on December 29, 2011 [3 favorites]

I am unable to tell the difference between a Zoey Deschanel and a Katy Perry spotted in the wild. Are there any tips for beginning manic pixie dream girl spotters?

Zooey is the one without the spurting cans of whipping cream strapped to her chest.

You're welcome.
posted by spoobnooble at 5:41 PM on December 29, 2011 [2 favorites]

Amateur video should be left to the amateurs.

Fucking one-percenters muscling in on our shit.

It's times like these I wish there was an un-favorite option.
posted by odinsdream at 5:42 PM on December 29, 2011 [9 favorites]

The interesting thing is Beatrice from The Inferno was recently identified as the first example of a MPDG written in the vernacular. Elizabethtown etc are plays on a very old archetype.
posted by Ad hominem at 5:42 PM on December 29, 2011 [4 favorites]

Pfft. Not impressed. My friends and I do the same thing when we're together, only we can't sing or play instruments or create anything or look cute.
posted by HotPatatta at 5:42 PM on December 29, 2011 [6 favorites]

Zooey has big, blue eyes. Katy has big, dead eyes.

They both have the dead stare down, ice cold. I'm just waiting for Alison Harvard to pick up an accordion or some other cute instrument and get on ze Youtubes.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:44 PM on December 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

thank god party down lizzy caplan has supplanted my dark hair big eyes husky voice zooey crush or i might be tempted to watch this shit with the sound on
posted by nathancaswell at 5:44 PM on December 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

so please take Rogen and Di Franco and all your friends and fuck off

...back to the set of Freaks And Geeks where you will give us another season, dammit! I don't care that all the geeks are now in their 20s and 6 feet tall; I promise to suspend my disbelief. (Although the only Di Franco I know is Ani, but she can play the cool substitute teacher who turns Lindsey Weir into a punk.)
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 5:45 PM on December 29, 2011 [6 favorites]

Just pretend that these two people are completely unknown to you. Would you be enchanted? Just two kids singing a little song? Really?
posted by binturong at 5:48 PM on December 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

I am unable to tell the difference between a Zoey Deschanel and a Katy Perry spotted in the wild. Are there any tips for beginning manic pixie dream girl spotters?

There's a simple test, actually. Flirt with her. If the whiny wimp in tight jeans who tries lamely to guard his territory has an English accent, it's Katy Perry.
posted by The World Famous at 5:48 PM on December 29, 2011 [2 favorites]

It's always nice when people you have vaguely liked for no particular reason step up and give you a reason. Very nice.
posted by doctor_negative at 5:50 PM on December 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

What am I doing on New Years Eve?

Not watching The New Girl...
posted by GavinR at 5:52 PM on December 29, 2011 [3 favorites]

JGL has been doing some singing stuff recently. here he is singing r. kelly's ignition, nirvana's lithium, gaga's bad romance, brad paisley's alcohol

i am still not over or annoyed by zooey, but even if i were, i'd support her getting him to sing more.
posted by nadawi at 5:54 PM on December 29, 2011 [8 favorites]

These two could so easily be a new George & Gracie, single-handedly bringing back the prime-time variety show where they do a few skits, sing a few songs, cook a rack of lamb, and shoot the shit. Three hours, 7-10pm every Sunday (after 9 it gets a little blue). Everybody would love them forever.
posted by rhizome at 5:55 PM on December 29, 2011 [22 favorites]

Beatrice from The Inferno was recently identified as the first example of a MPDG

Wow is *that* a stretch. If we're going to go that way we had better start talking Muses.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 5:56 PM on December 29, 2011

They really are pretty good. Not surprising since they are both pretty much bred for stardom. Oh well, I guess I'll have to be satisfied being a morlock.
posted by Ad hominem at 5:56 PM on December 29, 2011 [4 favorites]

I liked this a lot. Thanks!
posted by rtha at 5:58 PM on December 29, 2011 [2 favorites]

The Nerdist podcast interviewed Zoey late last year and I gained a lot more appreciation for her after the interview. She funny, slightly nerdy, quite talented, and seems to have her shit together. I'd be very surprised if she ever has a Britney syyle meltdown. I'm pretty much expecting it from Katy.
posted by COD at 5:58 PM on December 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

These two could so easily be a new George & Gracie, single-handedly bringing back the prime-time variety show where they do a few skits, sing a few songs, cook a rack of lamb, and shoot the shit. Three hours, 7-10pm every Sunday (after 9 it gets a little blue). Everybody would love them forever.

Oh my goodness, if Joseph Gordon Levitt wears those really dapper suits he looks so good in, I am sold.
posted by yasaman at 5:59 PM on December 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'd be very surprised if she ever has a Britney syyle meltdown. I'm pretty much expecting it from Katy.

Katy Perry seems pretty smart and self-aware. I doubt she'll meltdown either.
posted by empath at 6:02 PM on December 29, 2011

Gross. I don't mind hipster stuff and I have been called a hipster and I live in Silver Lake but this is soulless and gross at an almost Pamplamoose level.
posted by drjimmy11 at 6:04 PM on December 29, 2011 [3 favorites]

Actually, here's Rufus Wainright doing it the fuck right.
posted by drjimmy11 at 6:05 PM on December 29, 2011 [6 favorites]

Up until this moment I had assumed they were the same person.
posted by mecran01 at 6:06 PM on December 29, 2011

I am unable to tell the difference between a Zoey Deschanel and a Katy Perry spotted in the wild. Are there any tips for beginning manic pixie dream girl spotters?

Zoey is the one where they'd recolor an entire movie to match her eyes.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 6:11 PM on December 29, 2011

Pamplamoose seems to be the end stage in some sort of experiment in which soul is cruelly ripped from music, perhaps it is the Results of some sort of soul reclamation project in which soul is recycled and we are left with pure soul extract and whatever Pamplamoose is. Witness the strange effect soul extraction has had on September by Earth,Wind & Fire.
posted by Ad hominem at 6:15 PM on December 29, 2011 [4 favorites]

The interesting thing is Beatrice from The Inferno was recently identified as the first example of a MPDG written in the vernacular.

Inferno? Please. I was into Beatrice when she was in Vita Nuova, before she was cool.
posted by The World Famous at 6:21 PM on December 29, 2011 [3 favorites]

This is where I'll note I have a baseball signed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. And the box the baseball is in was where I hid the engagement ring that I proposed to my wife with.
posted by jscalzi at 6:22 PM on December 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'm just waiting for Alison Harvard

Oh. No. You. Didn't! She's awesome, and i *love* her. (not in a creepy way, but holy crap she's neat way)

Fucking one-percenters muscling in on our shit.

Holy pretentious! Yeah, they're successful, guess they can't do what they please now. That's only allowed by unknowns in their basement griping about people they claim to not care for anyway. Ugh...

Unrelated side note, i only recently found out she was that annoying cousin of Roz's on Frasier in the episode Kissing Cousin. Which is funny, because i absolutely *hated* that character, and people i know like her. For some reason i just never connected her being her. Weird. I don't hate her or most of her stuff, and really don't get the hate that flows from some people. That goes to where it's deserved, Shia TheBeef.
posted by usagizero at 6:25 PM on December 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is where I'll note I have a baseball signed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Do you also have a DVD signed by David Wright?
posted by xmutex at 6:28 PM on December 29, 2011

I'm just waiting for Alison Harvard

Oh. No. You. Didn't! She's awesome, and i *love* her. (not in a creepy way, but holy crap she's neat way)

Tussin Chan?
posted by Ad hominem at 7:02 PM on December 29, 2011

Maybe I should explain that, she used to post pictures of herself to 4chan covered in fake blood or made up like she was dead. She got the nicknames Creepy Chan and Tussin Chan since she looked like she was sippin that purple.
posted by Ad hominem at 7:05 PM on December 29, 2011

Oh. No. You. Didn't! She's awesome

I try to avoid the dead, Pamplamoose-like eyeballs, but I can't turn away. It's like staring into The Void.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:29 PM on December 29, 2011

There's a simple test, actually. Flirt with her. If the whiny wimp in tight jeans who tries lamely to guard his territory has an English accent, it's Katy Perry.

Considering they (Katy and Russell) were both spotted without the other over the holidays and are minus their wedding rings, that isn't going to work anymore.
posted by Stynxno at 7:29 PM on December 29, 2011

Considering they (Katy and Russell) were both spotted without the other over the holidays and are minus their wedding rings, that isn't going to work anymore.

Crap. That means I may have been flirting with the wrong one and now Katy Perry will think I like her!
posted by The World Famous at 7:40 PM on December 29, 2011 [5 favorites]

Why is it I love the way she sings in everything BUT She & Him?
posted by toekneebullard at 7:41 PM on December 29, 2011 [2 favorites]

Fun fact: When Katy Perry appeared on SNL the first time (Elmo shirt), I thought there was something wrong with her. Like, dumb as a box of broken hammers. The second time when she hosted, I was pleasantly surprised at her versatility as an actress.

Based on what I've seen, Zooey Deschanel lacks even that small amount of talent. Just grating. Everything I've seen of her just seems completely insincere, and that special kind of insincerity where someone pretends to be sincere.

Protip: when you are singing, don't count with your mouth open. When playing the guitar, don't look at your fingers.
posted by gjc at 7:48 PM on December 29, 2011 [3 favorites]

Based on what I've seen, Zooey Deschanel lacks even that small amount of talent. Just grating. Everything I've seen of her just seems completely insincere, and that special kind of insincerity where someone pretends to be sincere.

All the Real Girls
posted by nathancaswell at 7:51 PM on December 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

Well, I thought it was cute.
posted by dinty_moore at 7:53 PM on December 29, 2011

Joseph Gordon Levitt performs Make 'em Laugh on Saturday Night Live, displaying an aptitude for physical comedy as well as great athleticism. And, unlike Donald O'Connor (who I'm not comparing him to at all, mind you), he has to sing it live while performing it, rather than lip-sync.
posted by tzikeh at 7:57 PM on December 29, 2011 [9 favorites]

tzikeh, that link explains so many gifs I've seen of JGL
posted by dinty_moore at 8:01 PM on December 29, 2011

i know lots of guitar/bass/uke/banjo/mandolin players who look at their fingers the first 20 times they play something.

and, you shouldn't count off with your mouth open? go ahead and tell that to the ramones.
posted by nadawi at 8:11 PM on December 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

I am enjoying, in this thread, the disdain of their cuteness, the resentment of their celebrity. I enjoy myself cynically wondering if they are just really good actors.

What I did, when I watched - after getting over how damn good Deschanel's voice is - was to wonder if we would be watching this on the Blue at all if these were just kinda nobodys, like Pomplamoose was not so long ago. Or Jake Shimabukuro, who is now apparently a semi deity.

I dunno. I couldn't decide. It was good, and enjoyable, in a way that wasn't particularly awesome, which is the way ordinary people should be.

Then I listened to Tom Waits, courtesy of TheWhiteSkull, and I figured that if I ever want to enjoy life again, I am going to start drinking. I gave up smoking, too, again, but maybe not for forever.

Hope...the human condition.
posted by Xoebe at 8:13 PM on December 29, 2011

Why doesn't this post have a JoesephGordon-Levitt tag?
posted by tzikeh at 8:18 PM on December 29, 2011

I try to avoid the dead, Pamplamoose-like eyeballs, but I can't turn away. It's like staring into The Void.

" ... what haunts me, is that in all the faces of all the bears that Treadwell ever filmed, I discover no kinship, no understanding, no mercy. I see only the overwhelming indifference of nature. To me, there is no such thing as a secret world of the bears. And this blank stare speaks only of a half-bored interest in food."

(I'm actually half-charmed/entertained by the Pomplameese precisely because of their half-bored interest in food ...)
posted by octobersurprise at 8:34 PM on December 29, 2011 [2 favorites]

No, not the initial count down. In the middle of the song, during a rest, she is mouthing the count.

i know lots of guitar/bass/uke/banjo/mandolin players who look at their fingers the first 20 times they play something

The strings and frets are in the same place no matter what the song is.
posted by gjc at 8:36 PM on December 29, 2011

because The Whelk is really REALLY into Zooey, to the point that he excludes men from his vision altogether when she's in view.
posted by hippybear at 8:36 PM on December 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

The strings and frets are in the same place no matter what the song is.

right. it's those pesky fingers that keep moving!
posted by hippybear at 8:37 PM on December 29, 2011 [6 favorites]

Another thing: How can someone that LOUD still be hard to understand? Something about her voice is like that thing, of where you get water in your ear and everything is loud but unintelligible.
posted by gjc at 8:39 PM on December 29, 2011

So, gjc, do you just keep watching this video you hate over and over looking for new things to point out about what is wrong with it?
posted by hippybear at 8:45 PM on December 29, 2011 [5 favorites]

Protip: when you are singing, don't count with your mouth open. When playing the guitar, don't look at your fingers.

Angus Young looks at his fingers. Who the hell are you again?
posted by rodgerd at 9:06 PM on December 29, 2011 [6 favorites]

Just another reason I love these two.
posted by MHPlost at 9:15 PM on December 29, 2011

Joseph Gordon Levitt performs Make 'em Laugh on Saturday Night Live, displaying an aptitude for physical comedy as well as great athleticism.

This makes me think he entered Nolan's Batman franchise one movie too late, and should've been the Joker.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 9:23 PM on December 29, 2011

JGL should teach a seminar entitled "How to Be Really, Really Smart About Your Career in Hollywood."
posted by eugenen at 10:22 PM on December 29, 2011 [6 favorites]

Why doesn't this post have a Joseph Gordon-Levitt tag?

Yeah, that is weird. It's so funny how folks who know him only from Third Rock and his more mainstream movies view his career. I guess I have a different take since he didn't hit my radar until I saw his performance as a sexually abused teen in Greg Araki's raw and beautiful Mysterious Skin. It's an amazing (actually, devastating isn't too strong a word) movie with great performances all around. And if anyone wants a fun ride, try watching him in last year's Hesher, a bizarre, not-very-successful-but-still-interesting indie flick. Gordon-Levitt gets to go completely bonkers. It's great to watch.

JGL should teach a seminar entitled "How to Be Really, Really Smart About Your Career in Hollywood."

Yeah, he's amazingly talented and that makes some folks mad, but I don't see how anyone could look at the guy's work over the last 8 or so years and not respect him at least a bit. Me, I wish him all the success a human can stand without turning sour.
posted by mediareport at 10:32 PM on December 29, 2011 [4 favorites]

My mom and I were watching television. Zooey and some guy were playing a song on Elvis Costello's show. My mom said: "I'm not sure I like this". I replied: "She's an actress."
posted by ovvl at 11:20 PM on December 29, 2011

Levitt also stars in Brick - which is excellent too.
posted by Jofus at 11:22 PM on December 29, 2011 [3 favorites]

I don't get the negative reactions to this. I have given up all hope in the human race. I hate all the bullshit that comes with the holidays. I am, in short, a misanthrope.

And I thought this was lovely and sweet.

Unless there's some reason to hate these two people beyond what's in this video (I admit that while I know who they are, I don't know all that much about them), what's so terrible about it?

And to the folks who liked it, just ignore me.
posted by Ducks or monkeys at 11:36 PM on December 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

Wow. So very twee. JGL actually looked pretty cute there. Never felt that way about him.

I still dunno why he is considered such a hot item. I don't get it. Like every single day he's posted on the male eyecandy subreddit.

I have never seen so much attention devoted to one guy I probably think of as "he's okay, somewhat above average."

I don't think my tastes are out there either. They're pretty standard. So what's up, JGL fans? It's always nice to see that people have variety in what they find attractive, but I don't understand it!
posted by The ____ of Justice at 2:08 AM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

he's not my cup of tea, but i can see it -

he's funny, he's got a great smile and laugh. he seems like he has good stories. he's nerdy. his regular guy looks are part of the charm. he was an adorable boyfriend/love interest in the 10 things/30 rock days. also, i'm noticing more as he gets older he seems like the right kind of kinky. like. i almost feel like i could guess a few of his quirks, but maybe that's just projection. sort of like james franco, but less manic.
posted by nadawi at 2:25 AM on December 30, 2011 [2 favorites]

Inferno? Please. I was into Beatrice when she was in Vita Nuova, before she was cool.

It didn't capture the rawness of the demos of course.
posted by ersatz at 3:15 AM on December 30, 2011 [2 favorites]

Thanks for the FYI nadawi. Most of what you describe sounds like stuff I'd only know if I've seen his movies/TV appearances. The only thing I can remember seeing him in was that 500 days of Summer movie and Inception. I disliked the first movie enough to fast forward through most of it, and in Inception he had such a minor role, it arguably could have been anybody.

I guess I would have to see more of his acting to understand the love. For now, Manic Franco seems way, way hotter to me than JGL to the 1000th power.
posted by The ____ of Justice at 3:25 AM on December 30, 2011

I know why people hate this video, apart from the buildin Zoey loathing: it's getting way too much credit for something that's halfway decent but nothing more than that but just because it's a celeb doing it it's adorable.

(Regardless of whether any grownup should ever be called "way too adorable" in the first place.)
posted by MartinWisse at 3:26 AM on December 30, 2011 [4 favorites]

Ukuleles. Whenever I see some young white kid strumming one, It sets off something in my caveman brain. One time some douche (with a bunnrabbit mask cocked back on his head, no less) was plunking away on one in my store. I had an incredible urge to go up to him and say "Hey kid, ever seen Animal House?
posted by jonmc at 4:52 AM on December 30, 2011

I'm a young white kid who plays the ukulele. I learned it during study abroad in Scotland when I was feeling homesick for sunshine; however, I frequently meet people who assume that I play it out of some need to be cute or purposefully irreverent.
posted by pugh at 5:18 AM on December 30, 2011 [3 favorites]

I like Ms. Dechanels voice, in spite of her irritatingly calculated cuteness. That said, her voice will never sound as musical to me as it once did since an acquaintance of mine pointed out that she sounds as if she chugs a pint of whole milk before each performance. Now all I hear is phlegm.
posted by Lisitasan at 6:13 AM on December 30, 2011 [2 favorites]

I had no idea JGL could sing! Everyone is going on and on about Zooey, but I really like his singing voice, it's so pleasant. He has the perfect amount of vibrato.
posted by hellomina at 7:21 AM on December 30, 2011

I'm not a fan of Zooey as a singer, but I do like her manic pixie dream girl character Jess in the New Girl.

JGL has a nice voice though and I could totally see him play Wesley Crusher in a remake of Star Trek TNG.
posted by yeti at 8:22 AM on December 30, 2011

Star Trek TNG: The Musical! Wouldn't that be swell?
posted by yeti at 8:24 AM on December 30, 2011 [2 favorites]

I had no idea JGL could sing!
He's a natural woman.
posted by soelo at 8:37 AM on December 30, 2011

Ukuleles. Whenever I see some young white kid strumming one, It sets off something in my caveman brain.

Last fall I encountered a gang of young ukulele players outside a coffee shop. I watched them make up dirty songs and smoke and spit and tease each other while they played and I remarked to my companion "Such nice kids. They give me hope for the future."
posted by octobersurprise at 9:13 AM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

Gordon-Levitt gets to go completely bonkers. It's great to watch.

Agree with this. Hesher is a total downer of an indie flick with some great performances by Natalie Portman, Rainn Wilson and Gordon-Levitt. I'm pretty whatever about this particular video, but both of them have done interesting things elsewhere [liked Deschanel in Our Idiot Brother]
posted by jessamyn at 10:19 AM on December 30, 2011

he's funny, he's got a great smile and laugh. he seems like he has good stories. he's nerdy. his regular guy looks are part of the charm. he was an adorable boyfriend/love interest in the 10 things/30 rock days. also, i'm noticing more as he gets older he seems like the right kind of kinky. like. i almost feel like i could guess a few of his quirks, but maybe that's just projection. sort of like james franco, but less manic.

Yet he's not your "cup of tea." What are we requiring of our actors these days?
posted by rhizome at 11:12 AM on December 30, 2011

oh i love his acting. i love his art. i just don't think about shagging him. i think it's his height - wait, i just googled that. i might have thought he was shorter than he is. i thought he was more like seth green height. hmmm, maybe i have to consider this cup of tea a little longer...
posted by nadawi at 12:58 PM on December 30, 2011

Star Trek TNG: The Musical! Wouldn't that be swell?

Excuse me I have to go work on something .....totally unrelated for the Fringe festival * runs for horizon *
posted by The Whelk at 1:11 PM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

JGL is a funny, talented actor and entertainer who gives his all to every role he plays and appears to love his life.

ZD is nice to look at, period. Her acting talent is esentially nil. In every film, she mumbles in monotone, while opening her eyes wide. There you go, that's her entire range. And yet now people cast her as the 'quirky' girl. Gah.

Hearing her sing just cements my opinion of how bad an actress she is, too; obviously she's capable of different inflections, she just doesn't bother.

AND she's part of a singing duo that calls itself She and Him. That just raises the, "Golly gee, am I cute and I know it," factor up to HEAD ASPLODES level.

I can't believe anyone would put All the Real Girls up as anything other than proof of her lack of acting talent, either--the moment she opened her mouth in that film I groaned aloud. Her voice is so dull! She's got this flat, ugly tone that makes the incongruous idea of an experienced womanizer falling for the hometown girl seem even more ludicrous. I wanted to like the film, and for the most part I did like it, EXCEPT for her.

If a young woman with actual talent like Ellen Page had been in All the Real Girls, it could have been an extraordinary film. Instead, I ended up imagining that the 'Real Girls' are played by all the other actresses in the film, and ZD is an evil soulless android stalking the guys, pods-in-the-basement, Invasion of the Body Snatchers style, for some nefarious purpose too horrific to contemplate. (Try it, it actually works that way.)

Match up ZD and Kristen Twilight "I'm breathlessly mumbling with hair in my face" Stewart in a fight to the death and at least we'd have ONE less untalented mega-starlet to deal with.
posted by misha at 2:55 PM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

Star Trek TNG: The Musical! Wouldn't that be swell?

Excuse me I have to go work on something .....totally unrelated for the Fringe festival * runs for horizon *

Beaten to the punch by the man himself.
posted by Beardman at 3:29 PM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

Match up ZD and Kristen Twilight "I'm breathlessly mumbling with hair in my face" Stewart in a fight to the death

ill be in my bunk
posted by nathancaswell at 3:33 PM on December 30, 2011 [2 favorites]

kristen stewart is going to be incredible. twilight was awful, but i think she's capable of more. i also find a lot of the complaints about how she never smiles to be sexist in origin.
posted by nadawi at 3:47 PM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

She already was kinda great, in Adventureland.
posted by nathancaswell at 3:48 PM on December 30, 2011 [3 favorites]

Stewart's refusal to do anything but the bare minimum in Twilight always struck me as admirable.
posted by The Whelk at 3:55 PM on December 30, 2011 [4 favorites]

Just pretend that these two people are completely unknown to you. Would you be enchanted? Just two kids singing a little song? Really?

Just for the record, I saw this today because it was a sidebar related video when I was looking up hot curler tutorials on YouTube. Until I clicked it, these people actually were completely unknown to me (and yes, I own a television) and I did in fact think this was charming as hell. So sorry to rain on your misanthropy!
posted by DarlingBri at 4:38 PM on December 30, 2011 [3 favorites]

Am I the only one who thought K-Stew was quite good in The Runaways?

Carry on.

Also, The Whelk, I see your appreciation of K-Stew in Twilight and raise you RPattz trolling his fans.
posted by pxe2000 at 5:02 PM on December 30, 2011 [2 favorites]

So can this be added to the list of things that Metafilter does not do well? Holy fuck, people.
posted by Evilspork at 5:30 PM on December 30, 2011

So can this be added to the list of things that Metafilter does not do well?

Speak for yourself. I remain convinced I could do K-Stew well.
posted by nathancaswell at 5:36 PM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

Yeah the two leads' naked hostility toward thier own movies is very amusing.
posted by The Whelk at 7:36 PM on December 30, 2011

Huh. I thought it was sweet.

Are actors not allowed to be friends or have hobbies without it being considered some sort of aggro gesture designed to twist the knife into our personal insecurities? Please do not answer.
posted by desuetude at 11:06 PM on December 30, 2011

Yeah the two leads' naked hostility toward thier own movies is very amusing.

It's like the way Hayden Christenson and Natalie Portman managed to get away with their performances for George Lucas.
posted by mikelieman at 7:20 AM on December 31, 2011

When playing the guitar, don't look at your fingers.

Heh. I thought of this last night, when we went to see X. Both Billy Zoom and John Doe looked at their fingers sometimes.
posted by rtha at 8:11 AM on December 31, 2011

So can this be added to the list of things that Metafilter does not do well?

Can this be added to list of phrases that stop getting used on Metafilter?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:45 AM on December 31, 2011

Do a moratorium thread on MeTa! My list needs updating.
posted by carsonb at 9:55 AM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

Hating people/things because they're at the top of America's media pyramid is in fact something that we do quite well around here.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:29 AM on December 31, 2011 [2 favorites]

I look at my fingers a lot when I play guitar, mostly because it feels awkward to look at other things for no particular reason. Why shouldn't I look at my fingers?
posted by The World Famous at 9:42 PM on December 31, 2011