Top 5 S&G Blog Posts of All Time

My first ever post on Sugar & Gravy was on August 1, 2008 - over 4 years ago.  I've had a few different blogs over the years (including a LiveJournal back in the day!), but S&G has stood the test of time like no other.  I was reminiscing recently, looking over different posts I've written over the years, and I realized that on Blogger you can see how many times each post has been read.  Let's ignore the fact that I've had this blog for over four years and only just realized that... Anyway, I decided to check out and see which posts made the top 5 most read list, and now that I know, I'd like to share the results with you.

Without further ado...

Sugar & Gravy Top 5

1. Naomily: Ultimate Satisfaction - I wouldn't call this my most memorable blog post of all time, nor one that fills me with a sense of pride, but still, it doesn't really surprise me that this is my #1 most read blog post.  Why doesn't it surprise me?  Well, because for a period of 2-4 weeks, I Google/YouTube-searched the word "Naomily" on a daily basis.  Pathetic, I know, but there, I said it.  So, having once been a Naomily-obsessed individual, I probably would've fallen upon this blog post, too, if I hadn't written it myself.  I hope Naomily fans all over the world enjoyed it.
2. Sex and the City: In Review - This was an important, well-researched, lengthy, and satisfying post to write.  I'm glad to see it made the top 2.
3. Today I Am Entertained - References to the MBTI, Audrey Tautou, and "Hoarders"?  How this managed to be so widely read, I'll never know.
4. My trip to France - This was one of my most annoying posts to write because of all the photos I included with it.  However, I planned to write it from the first day I arrived in France, and it was a great way of ensuring that I documented my experiences as I travelled.  I also worked hard to distill my experience into highlights, which was tricky, but satisfying.  Very pleased this was well-read.
5. Lastly, My Shameful Secret - This was a fun post to write and I'm delighted that it was read by so many people.  As much as the tone of the post is tongue-in-cheek, I really did carry my "shameful secret" around with me for a while (7-8 years, to be exact), and though I would often joke about it, it really started to get to me.  This post was cathartic, and also motivational.  Knowing that at least some people were now aware of my inability to drive, drove me (ha!) to achieve this goal.  Like I've said before, accountability really motivates, so thanks for reading!!!

As a bonus, I thought I'd add two honourable mentions, so to speak.  Two posts - both Waterloo-related - that I really enjoy: Ode to Waterloo & Niko Niko

Naomily: Ultimate Satisfaction

Well, I promised I'd follow up when I was done watching the season, so here goes:

I was careful to preface my last post - in which I sang my praises of "Naomily", the perfect on-screen lesbian union - with the fact that I hadn't seen the full season, and so I couldn't be sure I'd always feel the way I expressed in that post. In saying that, I also hoped with my whole heart (yes, I'm being intentionally dramatic) that my feelings for this perfect couple would always remain the same. Once again, if you're planning on seeing this series, then things may be spoiled for you with this post, though I'm really not going to go into specifics.

What I will say though, is that I was fully satisfied by the beginning-to-end portrayal of the relationship of the characters Naomi and Emily. It was thoughtful, realistic, on-point, well-written, well-acted, and every other positive adjective you can think of. The writers nailed it, the actresses nailed it, and even the behind-the-scenes footage nailed it. One of the B-T-S clips in the special features showed the two actresses (Lily Loveless [Naomi] & Kathryn Prescott [Emily]) speaking about their characters, and there was no over-the-top "It was an act of courage for me to play a lesbian character"..."It was weird, but a great learning experience"..."Kissing Lily was funny"... none of that! They didn't even make any references to the fact that their characters were gay, or that they were/weren't in real life. They just said that both of them discussed their characters in real life, were moved by the scripts, and that they did their best to find the humanity in the characters even when they were doing bad things..... Oh, Kathryn & Lily, if only Ilene Chaiken had created a show about lesbian teens in L.A. and cast you two in it..... actually, I take that back. She could've never written a show as good as "Skins" (case in point: need I even say?).

In conclusion: It was perfection. I couldn't be happier about how this relationship played out.


In other news, anyone know whether I should watch "Skins" s.5? I hear it's not great, but then again another friend told me that s.4 wasn't that great and I loved it!!! I guess it's all relative.

Some thoughts on "Skins" (Potential Spoilers)

I'd like to speak about the BBC television show "Skins" for a few minutes, if I could. I'd like to preface my comments on "Skins" by saying that I'm 2 episodes into the 4th season, so I haven't seen it all, and perhaps my feelings about the show will change when I have seen it all, but bear with me in the meantime (and I'll try to post again when I do finish this season)...

Okay... so I'm pretty sure I've spoken about the show before. I watched the first season a few summers ago, and then the second season more recently. For those of you who don't know the show, there was a (nearly) brand new cast in 3rd season, with (nearly) all of the characters from the first two seasons no longer on the show. I believe the same thing happens in 5th season, though I don't know if any characters at all stick around from 4th to 5th.

When I started watching 3rd season (very recently), I was reluctant and skeptical. I loved the first cast and didn't know how I would feel about the new cast.

2 episodes into 4th season, I might say that I like this cast even more than the first one. I could go on talking about every character and every storyline, but I'll keep it simpler than that and discuss two characters and a storyline in particular that has tugged my heartstrings very intensely.

Naomi and Emily (pictured above). Naomi Campbell (ha! but seriously...) played by Lily Loveless & Emily Fitch played by Kathryn Prescott are two high school-age girls in Bristol, England. Their sexual orientations aren't discussed at length, but my sense is that they are both lesbians, or maybe bisexual. The two have feelings for one another and the audience sees their relationship played out in a variety of ways -- sometimes on again/off again, sometimes cute and head-over-heels, sometimes dramatic... in many ways, typical of any on-screen romance, whether gay or straight.

What do I like about it?

• The make-out/sex scenes are incredibly real, and don't seem (to me) at all to be staged for a straight male's viewing. I find them moving and sexual and realistic and hot and everything in between! They aren't overdone, and appear in just the same way as all of the straight sex scenes do.
• The whole topic of a same-sex relationship isn't dealt with in the typical way. The topic is revealed, there's some conflict, but then it just fades into the show as with every storyline. It doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. It's addressed, and then it just is.
• I find the writing of this relationship to be better than any girl/girl relationship I've ever seen, including "The L Word". It puts The L Word to shame, to be frank. You could say they're not comparable because it's adolescence vs. adults, but I'd say that's a cop-out. It is just better than I've ever seen.
• It makes me feel like I'm in high school again. Not that I had the same sort of relationship as Naomi and Emily do, but the way they act, aspects of the things they go through, and just how adolescent it all is (in a good way!) reminds me of what it was like to be a gay teen, what it was like to be a teen in general, and the sort of concepts of relationships you would have... it's just... it's sooooo good.
  

Now, as I said - I don't know how this season and cast finishes, so my feelings may change, but I've never been so moved by a relationship and show like I have with this one (except maybe Six Feet Under, of course). I strongly recommend the show. You won't regret it!