The 3rd Annual Aaron Book Awards

Welcome once again to the 3rd Annual Aaron Book Awards! I will start off with some disappointing news: the total number of books I read this year is 23, down from 35 from last year. And I don’t really have an excuse, since I graduated from university earlier this year and should have had time to read lots… although I was working two jobs for a while. And writing (or procrastinating and pretending to write). And I did read a lot more novels this year than last year, so maybe I actually read more in quantity… anyway! I’m sure you’re not dying to know who won what, so I’ll just get to it.

Without further ado…

Best Play

Winner: The Normal Heart — Larry Kramer

Well, yet again, I only read one play this year, but it was a fucking awesome one. I had been wanting to read it for a while and it was only after watching Ryan Murphy’s film adaptation earlier this year — which left me in a giant puddle of tears — that I was finally able to get a copy from the library.

Can’t recommend this play enough.

Best Children’s Book

Sort of winner? A Pussycat’s Christmas — Margaret Wise Brown

I have to explain.

This book was not on my list of books to read (obviously. Really!). I happened to come upon it while working at the library one day, and took a picture of it to send to someone who looooooves cats. One thing lead to another, and I borrowed the book. But I couldn’t just not read it, so I did.

And honestly, it wasn’t very good. Yeah, the pictures are great because, well, there’s a fluffy cat in them, but the writing itself meanders and is, for a picture book, kind of underwhelming. But I didn’t read any other children’s book this year, and I don’t think this book deserves it. So… I’ll just leave it like that.

Best YA Novel:

Winner:  Openly Straight — Bill Konigsberg

First of all, this was a tough decision. I really enjoyed both Openly Straight and Just Between Us; they both had wonderful protagonists and dealt with a lot of topical gay issues. I have to hand it to Mr. Konigsberg for his fantastic characterization of not just his main characters, but to all of his characters. It’s a skillful technique that has definitely made me think about with my own writing. Plus, the witty humour throughout is simply irresistible.

Nominees: Just Between Us — J.H. Trumble
Openly Straight — Bill Konigsberg

Best Non-Fiction Book

Winner: Toxin, Toxout — Bruce Lourie, Rick Smith

I think this is a difficult category to judge because these books are all so different in their own right. I included It Gets Better because although it is made up of creative non-fiction narratives, its purpose is to educate and provide support to people, the way many self-help and sociological books do.

Ultimately, Toxin, Toxout, the follow-up to last year’s winning Slow Death by Rubber Duck, is our winner this year! Another informative, alarming, and Canadian (!) book about everyday invisible toxins in our lives. If Slow Death by Rubber Duck sounded the alarm on toxins, this book is the therapy session that provides us hope.

Nominees: Toxin, Toxout — Bruce Lourie, Rick Smith

Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities — Patrick Condon

It Gets Better — eds. Dan Savage and Terry Miller

Best Graphic novel/Manga

Winner: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (vols. 5-7) — Hayao Miyazaki

This might be unfair because I picked Nausicaa last year and I hadn’t even finished reading the series… but too bad.

Nominees: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (vols. 5-7) — Hayao Miyazaki

Artifice — Alex Woolfson

Persepolis — Marjane Satrapi

Scott Pilgrim (vols. 4-5) — Bryan Lee O’Malley

Best Memoir/Autobiography

Winner: Nothing to Envy — Barbara Demick

A sobering, devastating, horrific, shocking, and moving piece of journalism. Thanks to David Sedaris for recommending it. I think it’s one of the creative non-fiction books I’ve read.

Nominees: The Bucolic Plague — Josh Kilmer Purcell

Nothing to Envy — Barbara Demick

Persepolis — Marjane Satrapi

Bossypants — Tina Fey

It Gets Better — eds. Dan Savage and Terry Miller

Best Novel (Fiction)

Winner: The Year of the Flood — Margaret Atwood

This was the year of Margaret Atwood. Gotta hand it to her for creating such a frightening depiction of the future. This is what speculative fiction is all about.

I also want to give a shout-out to The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet for being ambitious in language and style. I’d argue that most writers today care more about characters or story or other aspects of writing, and less about language. Mitchell is all about language in this one. It’s not a book for everyone, for sure, but you do have to admire his dedication to words you’ve probably never heard of before.

Nominees: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet — David Mitchell

Oryx and Crake — Margaret Atwood

Fahrenheit 451 — Ray Bradbury

The Year of the Flood — Margaret Atwood

Maddaddam — Margaret Atwood

And the final category: Best Book of 2014

Winner: Nothing to Envy — Barbara Demick
Honorable mention: The Year of the Flood — Margaret Atwood

Goals for next year: read more plays and children’s books!

The New Normal: Episode 4 review

No idea what to blog about today, so here’s another review for The New Normal.

Episode 4: “Obama Mama”

Airdate: Sept. 25, 2012

Written by Ali Adler

Plot summary:

Goldie receives a letter but doesn’t mention what it says.  Shania’s class is having a mock election.  She says that most kids vote the way their parents do, but that she’ll be voting for Obama – implying that Goldie will be voting for Romney.  Anyway, Goldie’s not that interested in politics anyway, saying her grandma stole her voting card for the last election and voted for her.

Jane, a Republican, and Bryan and David have an argument about Obama vs. Romney.  She accuses Bryan and David of being racist because they support Obama simply because he’s black.  The gay couple counter by saying they have plenty of black friends – Jane can see for herself at the party they’ll be throwing in a few days.  In the meantime, they frantically try to find some black friends because, lo and behold, they actually don’t have any.

Eventually, Bryan is able to recruit Rocky, someone he works with (who is black).  He tells her to “invite as many friends as you want”.  However, at the party, the only friends who show up are white, and they get into a short argument about how assuming Rocky must have only black friends is actually racist.  After he explains the situation about how he really wants to prove Jane wrong, she says she invited her brother, who’ll be coming soon.

Bryan then goes up to the waiter of the party, who is also black, and discovers that the waiter is also an actor.  Bryan, who works in the film/TV industry, makes the waiter act throughout the night as if it’s an audition for Bryan.  The waiter agrees, and acts like “a black Frasier” (complete with snooty accent).

At the dinner, Goldie and Rocky’s brother, Clint, flirt and get along really well.  She tells him she’s single, and he asks her out.  Jane, who sees that they’re into each other, tells Bryan and David in private that they ought to tell all their friends that they have a baby on the way.  And they do, outing Goldie as their surrogate.  Jane further embarrasses her daughter by telling everyone that Shania, Goldie’s daughter, should be here.  Clint is shocked.  Goldie, humiliated, runs away.

Bryan, David, and Jane all argue yet again after the waiter reveals himself to be an actor.  David says the important thing is to find Goldie.  Shania leads them to a fast food restaurant, as she’s been craving red meat.  Goldie reveals that Clay, her dumb husband, is suing her for custody, and that the letter says she has to take Shania back to Ohio.

At school, Shania votes for Obama.  Bryan, David, and Goldie befriend an interracial couple who have kids, and they agree to have dinner together sometime to talk about being parents.  As the couple walks away, the husband says, “This is perfect.  We were just saying we need some gay friends!”

Comments:

Well, my feeling was right.  This wasn’t as good as the last episode.  Granted, politics and race are a hard thing to write properly, so I give them props for even tackling topics that are still controversial and could alienate viewers.  At the same time, while watching Jane go on and on at the dinner about Republic values while being completely oblivious to her own bigotry, I couldn’t help but think this:

Why are Bryan and David – no, why is anyone – putting up with her?  I realize they have to occasionally run into her because she’s Goldie’s grandmother, but quite frankly, why do they have to talk to her at all, if she’s going to say such mean things to/about them to their faces?  It’s one thing if Bryan and David tried to change her mind by rationalizing with her, but they don’t, and in many ways, this is what frustrates me sometimes about this show.  It’s almost as if the show is a soap box for Jane to spew her anti-everyone agenda with, little or insufficient rebuttal.  Yes, the show is trying to make her look like an idiot, and yes, she is supposed to be an antagonist.  But time and time again, I find myself wanting – needing – someone to give her the same kind of loud, in-your-face argument from the other side.  It’s almost as if the show doesn’t want to come off as overly left-wing (how the frick can it not when it’s based around a gay couple raising a family??) so instead of going on about liberal views, it posits right-wing ones.  I think this is probably because no Republicans are going to be watching this show and enjoying it.  Therefore, the only viewers would/should be those who are more liberal, those who already know that Bryan and David aren’t Sodomites or ruining families or what have you.  But still!  Argh.

Back to this episode.  Like I said, it’s tricky to handle big issues like race, and I don’t think it was quite successfully pulled off in this case.  The plot with Bryan and David trying to find black people for their party, not to mention the subplot with the waiter acting during the dinner, isn’t all that funny.  Yeah, it’s ridiculous, but really, who cares?

There were nice moments between Goldie and Clint, though I’m biased because I thought Clint was unbelievably good-looking…. sorry, I zoned out there for a sec.  The point is, that little scene with her and Clint said a lot about her character: she’s finally happy, she’s enjoying herself, she’s getting back in the dating world.  Good for her!

There was one other thing I thought didn’t quite work.  After Goldie confesses that she has to bring Shania back to Ohio because Clay is suing her, that’s a really emotional moment.  The next scene is at Shania’s school, at the mock presidential election, and suddenly, the tone jumps to excitement and anticipation.  Tonally, it’s a huge jump, and there should have been some other transition scene between these two.  Not only is there such a difference in tone, but Goldie is now suddenly content and no longer weepy, like magic.

So, all in all, race humour, for me, doesn’t really work.  Politics are also tricky.  Try again, The New Normal.

The New Normal: Episode 3 review

Episode 3: “Baby Clothes”

Airdate: Sept. 18, 2012

Written by Ryan Murphy

Plot summary:

David catches Bryan buying baby clothes and says Bryan broke their promise not to buy any clothes before the blood test results (to see if the baby has any deficiencies or problems).  At an outlet store, a straight couple say some homophobic things to Bryan and David after seeing them kiss.  When Bryan says they’re also going to have a family, the man tells them, “That’s disgusting.  I feel bad for that kid.”

After the incident, David tries to let it go, but Bryan is upset.  It’s one thing to be called names and hateful things when they’re just a gay couple, but would they do if that happened in front of their kid?  As parents, they can’t simply be ashamed or ignore it.  Their kid shouldn’t have to feel that.  “How are we supposed to protect our baby from hate?” asks Bryan.  At the next ultrasound appointment, Goldie reveals that she saw the incident with the homophobic couple and Bryan and David at the store but was too afraid to jump in and tell them off.  She says she will never do that again.  Everyone sees/hears the heartbeat of the baby.  Yay.

Meanwhile, Jane catches Shania, who is wearing a little baby dress as a midriff-revealing halter-top at school, making out with another boy.  Jane immediately becomes concerned for Shania because she had Goldie when she was 17, and Goldie had Shania when she was 17 as well.

At the end of the episode, David shows Bryan a new baby-sized track suit he bought for their kid, despite still not having the test results.  Bryan says they will always be something not perfect about their situation, that there will always be negatives in their lives (there may always be something negative/not ideal when finding out info about their unborn child through tests, and living with two dads is always going to be difficult for their kid), but he needs to “celebrate the wins.”

Goldie, Shania, and Jane come by.  Bryan and David invite them to stay.  Bryan and conservative Jane even share a moment by saying the same punchline at the same time.  Not-so subtle looks of “we might have more in common than we thought!” and the family sits down to eat dinner together.

Comments:

This is by far the best episode yet.  Let me tell you why!

As I’ve stated previously, there are lots of serious issues (still, unfortunately) when it comes to gay families and raising children.  This episode not only gives a hint of the homophobia and intolerance against gay couples, but also couples who have/intend to have children.  That’s really powerful stuff.  I’m thankful that Mr. Murphy handled the scene in the store with the bigot couple really well and not as sentimental as it could have been.  After all, there are people (unfortunately, again) who think exactly like the man in the store.  Good dramatic moment.  And the discussion with Bryan and David about it afterwards and not being parents who are ashamed was pretty touching too.

Last week, Kathleen made a comment about Jamie, the super flaming gay character on The Furies, saying that she didn’t take him seriously because he was so ridiculously gay and like an inferno fire.  That didn’t bother me much because I didn’t expect Jamie to ever have or do anything serious.  He was fun all the time (or maybe he won’t be now…).  In this ep., when Bryan is near-crying and seriously talks to David about not being ashamed to be gay in front of their kid, I couldn’t help but think that was exactly what Kathleen was talking about.  Bryan is so gay and not a serious person that when he’s the one talking about such serious, life-altering topics, the scene doesn’t quite come across as genuine as is intended.  I didn’t take him as seriously as, say, if David had been the one saying all of it.  So that didn’t quite work 100% for me (I still bought it though).

What makes this episode so good is in the way it comfortably demonstrates a very good balance between comedy and drama.  There are serious, dramatic issues with gay couples raising families, but there’s also the funny B-plot with Shania making out with a boy and Jane taking them to Planned Parenthood to get them birth control (the kids are 9 years old!!!  What a hilarious scene).  Even in these two plots, there are both dramatic and comedic elements/incidents that don’t work against each other like they did in the first two episodes.  For example, Bryan comments on a little beanie shaped like a frog and puts it on in the store, while in the other plot, Goldie realizes she should probably talk to Shania about sex so she doesn’t continue the line of 17-year old pregnancies.  Good character development all around too.

This is what I feel the show should be like, were it my show.  Still, I have this strange feeling like it won’t last…

The New Normal: Episode 2 review

Episode 2: “Sofa’s Choice”

Airdate: Sept. 11, 2012

Written by Ryan Murphy and Allison Adler

Plot summary:

Everyone waits on a blood test that will determine whether or not Goldie is pregnant.  In the meantime, Bryan bonds with Shania, who impersonates Little Edie from Grey Gardens.  He tries to get her to confess that she drew on the expensive couch in the house.  David questions whether he’s ready to have a kid in his life.  Bryan and David offer Goldie to live in their super nice guesthouse instead of the run-down (modest, really) place they’re living at now.  Upon Jane’s (Goldie’s grandmother) insistence, Clay, now Goldie’s ex, returns to get back together with her.

Eventually, Bryan figures out it was Jane who drew on the couch (to get Bryan and David angry at Shania).  David is ready to be a dad.  Goldie rejects Clay and asks for a divorce.  After moving in for a bit, she decides that she can’t accept Bryan and David’s offer to live in the guesthouse, saying it’s what they’ve earned, not her.  At the end of the episode, everyone learns that the blood test says Goldie is pregnant.  Group hug!

Comments:

Well, I like this episode more than I did the pilot, oddly enough.  Yes, most, if not all, the characters are still stereotypes (Bryan getting upset that the expensive, brand-name couch got vandalized, Clay is a Neanderthal straight man), but there are some interesting developments.  We see how David and Bryan met years ago.  Bryan doesn’t seem to have changed (he was the same flamboyant guy), but David, dressed like a geek and fresh out of medical school, is shy, socially awkward and wants to impress his (straight) friends by buying Bryan a drink.  That’s the kind of gay guy I want to see on TV.  Then we jump back to the present, and David is now not dressed like a geek, is well-groomed and handsome.  He’s nice to look at, sure, but he’s not as compelling a character as he once was, it seems.  At least for me.

Shania not fitting in at school is a familiar thing that Ryan Murphy’s been mining on Glee.  It makes sense, though, considering Shania is an oddball.  On the other hand, the Jane as the antagonist is already beginning to feel forced.  Yeah, I get that she’s the personification for all the Republican, conservative beliefs out there, but she’s so evil with no characterization that she comes off as a caricature/cartoon villain.  We know her efforts are going to fail, but that she’ll be back next week to try and ruin things again.  Not sure if she’s actually going to do anything besides be a one-note character (it also doesn’t help that Ellen Barkin delivers her lines in the same tone over and over again).

Maybe this is just me, but I’m beginning to really see Murphy’s writing, to the point where it pulls me out of the scene.  For example, Jane tells Goldie, ““Your daughter has no business spending time with those candy-packers in that Sodom and Gomorrah fudge factory”.  This is meant to be funny, I know, but it’s crass and feels like something Sue Sylvester would say on Glee.  It made me aware of the writing because although it might look funny on the page and be something Jane would say, it’s such an unnatural phrase that it doesn’t work in the show.

Also, maybe I’m just getting used to the pacing, but this episode doesn’t feel as hurried as the pilot.  There are still some cuts that are abrupt, but it seems as if the show is settling down, finding its groove.  I hope so, anyway.

TV Show Journal: The New Normal

Did this last year for my TV pilot class and thought I’d post it.

TV Journal: The New Normal

Genre: Half-hour, single-camera comedy (like Glee); some talking heads, like Modern Family

Broadcaster: NBC (network); the show made news when the NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City, Utah, refused to air the series because the representatives were Mormon because, well, the show focuses on a gay couple and they don’t get killed instantly.  Fortunately, it did get picked up by the CW affiliate in the city, and airs on the weekends.

Timeslot: Tuesdays at 9:30pm EST, after another new comedy series, Go On (NBC’s comedy hour)

Stars: Andrew Rannells, Justin Bartha, Georgia King, Ellen Barkin, Bebe Wood

Creators: Ryan Murphy and Ali Adler

Season 1,

Episode 1: Pilot

Airdate: Sept. 10, 2012

Written by Ryan Murphy

Plot summary:

We are introduced to the main characters in the show.  One half of the gay couple, Bryan (Andrew Rannells) spots a cute child one day in a store and tells his partner David (Justin Bartha) that he wants to have a child.  After Bryan shows David how non-traditional families are “in”, the two decide to go on a hunt for the right surrogate.

Meanwhile, Goldie (Georgia King) finds her long-term boyfriend (of nine years) in bed with another woman one day.  This prompts her to change her life and to live her life the way she’s always wanted but never has, namely becoming a lawyer.  Goldie’s grandmother, Jane (Ellen Barkin) is a conservative who’s not fond of gays, and disapproving of just about anything Goldie does.  Goldie has a young, clever daughter, Shania (Bebe Wood), who follows in the tradition of being an unplanned child in the family.  After seeing a happy gay couple with a child on the street, Goldie realizes she wants to help other happy gay couples have a child.

Through an agency, she meets Bryan and David, who immediately love her and want her to be their surrogate to their child.  Bryan and David decide that they should use Bryan’s sperm, since Bryan is an only child and David thinks “the world needs more people like you.”  Just as Goldie is about to proceed with the implantation, her grandmother interrupts the procedure and reveals that Goldie’s father was actually gay, but that she put up with it anyway, despite being offended and grossed out by the thought that he was gay.  They go on with the procedure anyway.

The pilot ends with Bryan and David presenting Goldie a new lawyer’s suit for Goldie’s dream to go to school and become a lawyer.  Everyone is happy.  She checks the pregnancy test, and the show cuts to black.

Comments:

Well, Ryan Murphy does it again – or rather, tries to.  With Glee, he was interested in sharing his view about the importance of music and arts education in public high schools.  With The New Normal, he basically gives his flamboyant, stereotype Kurt his own show – if Kurt were a few years older and had a slightly less gay boyfriend.  It seems he thinks stereotypes are fun to watch, but quite frankly, I’m personally tired of them.  At the very least, a stereotypical gay character would be slightly less annoying to watch if he were actually different in some way.  But in the Pilot, this isn’t the case.  Bryan is the typical fabulously dressed, shopping-crazed gay.  The other characters seem fairly dull as well: David is “masculine” because he watches football and… that’s it.  Nene Leakes, who seems to be some sort of parental figure to Bryan, reprises her role, albeit with a different name, as sassy black woman (she first starred in the last season of Glee), while Bebe Wood, who plays David and Bryan’s surrogate saviour, walks around with the same wide-eyed, sad look the entire episode.  The only honourable mention in the show’s acting and characters is Goldie’s clever-beyond-her-nine-years daughter, Shania, adorably quipping lines like, “No one plans to have a kid when they’re 15, unless they’re in an extremist Christian cult!”  She easily seems to be the most logical and sanest member of the ensemble, which isn’t saying a lot.

Characters aside, the show’s pacing is way too fast.  The editing is too brisk, which makes the passage of time between scenes seem like days, or even the same day.  For example, David originally questions (but not opposes) Bryan’s plan to conceive and raise a child.  Good.  Room for lots of conflict.  This is quelled so easily – in fact, in one neat scene taking place in a playground – via Bryan’s argument that traditional families are no longer the only types of family in the world.  And magically, David is convinced, in what seems like the same day.  Other logical factors, such as financial matters, whether or not both of them are mentally ready to be parents, knowledge of how to actually care for a child, etc. don’t seem to matter, which is so frustrating to see.  If David and Bryan are representatives for gay couples everywhere, regardless of parenting ability, having a child for “cute little clothes” has got to be one of the lamest reasons out there.  In the Pilot alone, we go from gay couple thinking about having a kid, signing up to have a kid, meeting a surrogate, implantation, and finally seeing if she’s pregnant.  Sure, we’re on our way with the show, but the show spends so little time on breathing room that it’s almost as if someone pressed fast forward on this.

Still, I’m interested in seeing where the conflict will be, especially when, at this point, it all seems to be with Goldie’s Republican grandmother.  I wonder if the characters will be given more depth, as the premise of the show – gays having kids – is still a hotly-debated issue that is miles deeper than the shallowness presented thus far.

David Hinckley, of The New York Dailey News, says “The New Normal wants what Modern Family is having. But if we’re going to catapult from South Park to a Hallmark movie, we need a smoother ride.”  I really agree with this.  The pilot is so corny and gimmicky that when it presents genuine issues, these scenes feel fake. If they’re going for a comedy-drama, there needs to be something worth caring about, not just laughing about.

30 Day Song Challenge: Day 15: A song that describes you

It would’ve been so easy to just post any song I had written but I’ve already done that so that was a no-go.  And for a while recently, one of the original songs from Glee, “Get It Right” was totally I song that felt like I could’ve written, about trying to do the right thing and constantly getting it wrong.  “What do you do when your good isn’t good enough?/And all that you touch tumbles down/My best intentions keep making a mess of things/Just want to fix it somehow”, the lyrics from the chorus of the song, are words that made me tear up when I first heard and saw it on the show when it premiered.  This also would’ve been an easy choice to to post.

But somehow, it didn’t feel… complete enough.  Although I think the song is hopeful in the end and that it describes a lot of who I was and am now, it’s missing… something.  Upong listening yet again to “Last Man”, composed by Clint Mansell (who also wrote the score for Black Swan, among other films), the tears I had from my eyes after listening to “Get It Right” finally came down.  I guess I figured out that though “Get It Right” is easy to interpret since the lyrics are right there, it takes a little more effort and thought to come up with the meaning of “Last Man” because it’s strictly instrumental.  I feel like because it has no words to the piece, instead of telling you how you should feel, it leaves it up to the listener to try and make sense of it.  Everyone hears something different in it, and “Last Man” is a piece that I can interpret to mean more than just sadness, which, admitedly, is a lot of it for me.

Here’s a link to “Get It Right” as well:

Denying songs to Glee

So Glee.

I don’t even have to tell you (or at least I shouldn’t have to) what the deal is with that show.  Lots of singing and dancing to songs.  And you may or may not have read how despite the large catalogue of music co-creator Ryan Murphy has had access to so far, he hasn’t gotten a “yes” from everyone.  A few months ago, he was upset that Coldplay and Bryan Adams had denied them access to their songs (both of whom, to my understanding, have changed their minds).

But just as everything seemed to be going smoothly again, I read another article last month about Murphy, who was once again pissed off — this time at Kings of Leon.  While it doesn’t seemed particularly hurtful that the band would deny Murphy the use of their songs, he seemed to take it personally, saying something along the lines of how kids and teens not only across the country but the entire world, really, would watch Glee and be inspired by Kings of Leon’s music, that perhaps it would make them pick up the guitar or start singing or to join a musical program at school.  He also called them some not-so-nice name which was censored on the article page, though the possibilities aren’t that many.

Murphy has repeatedly stressed the importance of arts education, something I strongly believe in.  It’s hard and disheartening to read about cut after cut of arts and music funding, particularly for high schools, where the opportunities for young people to become interested in so many things should be available.

In response to Murphy’s  comments, the band said he shouldn’t take it personally, that they reguarly deny TV shows and movies use of their songs, that it’s just a thing they do.  Meh.

The comments at the bottom of the page which mainly spoke about how Murphy should really calm down and learn that “you can’t always get what you want”.

And now we’ve finally reached the point of this blog entry!

While I do think Mr. Murphy may have crossed the professional line at calling them names, I completely agree with everything else he’s said.  I think he finds it hard that anyone would turn such a great and special opportunity down — an opportunity for the following:

1) Get your song covered and performed on an extremely popular show.  What’s wrong with publicity?
2) This would then lead to [really large number I can’t even estimate] of people downloading the song, buying it, finding it on youtube, watching it, etc.  More publicity!
3)  Reading up on the band, and gaining more fans.
4)  They pay you to use your song!!!!

What’s wrong with that?  It’s a win-win situation, as far as I’m concerned, and probably for Murphy as well.  And then there’s the most important part: arts education.  Think about the impact the show in general has on kids and teens.  How frickin’ cool is music?  The magic of Glee is that so many different people watch it, despite the fact that it is set in an American high school.  It has a much broader appeal than, say, High School Musical; it’s more mature (mostly), and it addresses, at times, some serious topics.  The show has the potential to really change people, to inspire people.

By letting Murphy and the other creators of the show use their songs, I see it as giving back to the world.  I think about how all these musicians first learned how to play their instruments, to sing — wouldn’t you want youth around the world to also be inspired?  To express themselves through music?  Sure, it’s not giving back in the traditional sense (ie.  giving a crap load of money to a high school/charity) but it’s the least musicians can do.

That’s why denying songs to Glee is like a punch in the face for Murphy.  He probably translates the refusal as, “No, we don’t want to inspire kids” rather than “No, we don’t want to license our song for you to use.”  And in that sense, it is personal.

Of course, I’m only speculating about the show’s real impact on influencing kids on arts education.  I haven’t done any research to find out what, if any, changes have been made to high school music programs or if more kids have been signing up for music lessons.  I certainly appreciate Murphy’s passionate message through his show.

Now if only musicians saw it the same way.