It’s TV Time!

Greetings again from the Teen Link blog.

We KNOW that the school year probably has you pretty bogged down at this point, but when you come up for air and find some time to relax we've got some suggestions for you. Here are some new (and old) shows to tune into for some hilarious comedic relief!

Title: Community
Time: Thursday 8:00 PM
Channel: NBC

Summary: Starring Joel McHale (of "The Soup" fame and get this - he's a local Seattle boy!! Joel graduated from Mercer Island High School and went to college at UW) and comedy legend Chevy Chase.
This is a show about a quirky group of Greendale Community College attendees, who form a study group. The show is witty, entertaining, and hilarious and will provide comic relief to any bad day.

Our Rating: ****

Title: The Office
Time: Thursday 9-9:30 PM
Channel: NBC

Summary: Michael Scott (Steve Carell) is in charge of the Scranton office for Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.

The office and it's employees are truly a strange and interesting bunch and will keep you laughing from the beginning of the catchy theme song to the end of the half-hour.

Rating: ***

Title: Glee
Time: Tuesday 8:00 PM
Channel: FOX

Summary: Glee is in its second season and is gaining more and more fans with every episode.With guest stars like Britney Spears John Stamos and comedy legend Carol Burnett, season 2 is a safe bet to be even more popular this time around.

The Glee club is home to a mixture of students from every clique and cliché and make the perfect set-up for loads of some-what comedic drama. But what makes this show better then the rest of the teen dramas is this show has musical numbers in every show, not to mention they are outstanding.

Rating: ****

Title: Raising Hope

Time: Tuesday 9-9:30 PM

Channel: FOX

Summary: Entering its first season, this show is about a guy named Jimmy Chance (Lucas Neff), who knocked up a serial killer and is left with the baby, Hope.

Jimmy still lives with his outrageous family in what is way short of the American dream family. This show makes you cringe, tear-up, laugh hysterically, and will always leave you with a warm feeling.

Rating: **

Title: Running Wilde
Time: Tuesday 9:30-10 PM
Channel: FOX


Summary: This show is about Steve Wilde (Will Arnett) a rich, oil company owner who is desperately trying to win the love and approval of Emmy Kadubic (Keri Russell) the nature-loving humanitarian.
What makes this show interesting is it is told through the eyes of Emmy’s daughter, a 12-year old girl who desires nothing more than to live a normal American life, out of the jungle.

Rating: **

ENJOY...

Flash Mob/Spontaneous Art?

A flash mob is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief time, then quickly disperse. The term flash mob is generally applied only to gatherings organized via telecommunications, social media, or viral emails. The term is generally not applied to events organized by public relations firms or as publicity stunts.

Flash mobs, like this pillow fight flash mob in downtown Toronto, are designed to surprise passers-by.

How it gets started...

"Hundreds of people hopped aboard the No Pants! train Sunday afternoon, showing off their skivvies to some startled Link Light Rail passengers."

Promotion stunt for a Belgian television program, where they are looking for someone to play the leading role, in the musical of "The Sound of Music".

On Wednesday 14th March, 2007 around 50 people attempted a mass freeze frame in a Manchester supermarket lasting four minutes. Five cameras captured the event.

100 Single Ladies stop traffic with Beyonce's famous leggy dance in Piccadilly Circus.

Flash Mobs can be highly choreographed...

Or completely silly and chaotic in nature, like this "spontaneous" pillowfight...

Some are done in the form of a tribute...

And of course when something "viral" gets really popular, the commercial world jumps on it:

And on TV (not exactly a flash mob, but kinda close - no one expected it...)

Interested in participating? Check out the Urban Prankster Network at: http://improveverywhere.ning.com/ where you can watch more videos, get tips on starting your own group or get connected to other groups all over the world who are creating these spontaneous acts of fun and confusion in very public places.

Children of the Pumpkins…er…uh…Corn.

Halloween’s not over just yet, so if you’re looking for something to do to get your last kicks in besides the…





traditional costume party...

a haunted house...

or trick or treating…

Consider a Corn or Pumpkin Maze!

Most cost less than or about the same as going to the movies, have just as much junk food available (kettle corn, hot cider, hot dogs - but fresher and you can almost convince yourself it’s healthy since it came from a farm ;-) The mazes and the farms that typically house them are pretty popular events for little kids, BUT later on in the afternoon and early evening they’re tons of fun for young adults, especially in big groups.

Check ‘em out. Here are a few in the Greater Seattle area:
U-Pick Pumpkin Patch
Sunrise Hill Farms
City of Snohomish Festival of the Pumpkins
Gordon Skagit Farms

Trick-Or-Treat!

With Halloween rapidly approaching, how are you guys celebrating? As much as I love free candy, I’m starting to feel a bit old to be trick-or-treating with five-year-olds in my neighborhood. Some people seem to be having private Halloween parties, but not everyone has the time or resources to pull one of those off. The alternative: haunted houses! In fact, Seattle has several haunted houses that are open on Halloween night as well as several days in the weeks before Halloween.

Probably the most well known is the Kube 93 haunted house. Open every weekend during October until midnight, everyone should be able to find a time to hit this classic spot. Tickets are $15 and available for purchase there, at the Georgetown Morgue (5000 E Marginal Way S Seattle, WA 98134-2408 US). As an annual visitor to the Kube haunted house, I can guarantee that you will not be disappointed, but definitely scared to death. The website is pretty cool too; you can listen to a live feed from the haunted house and check out pictures!

The Kube 93 house is pretty far south, so for those from Northern Seattle the Kiss 106.1 haunted house may be a better option. Similar to the Kube 93 one, this haunted house claims to be one of the scariest in the Seattle area, although I have never attended, so I can’t confirm that fact. Tickets are also $15, but you can pick up coupons for $2 off at any KFC in the western Washington area. Located up north in Tulalip, (10200 Quil Ceda Blvd. Tulalip, WA 98271), it may be easier to get to for some. They also have a cool website, be sure to check it out!

Unfortunately, the Kube and Kiss haunted houses are pretty expensive: $15 for 10 minutes in a haunted house is a little steep. If you’re looking to make a bit of a road trip out of your Halloween festivities, The Fright Factory is said to be the scariest Haunted House in the Seattle area and is open for most of October (the schedule is available online). Located in Buckley, WA about an hour south of downtown Seattle, The Fright Factory only costs $9 for admission, and you can even print out a coupon for $1 off on the website! It may seem like pretty far away, but it is about the same distance most of us travel for the Puyallup Fair every year, so not that bad.

Be sure to check out one of these awesome spots for some fun this Halloween!

Community Event

Since one of Teen Link's main purposes is to raise awareness regarding youth suicide and suicide prevention, it only seems appropriate to bring up this event:

The 2009 Walk to Save Lives (a part of the Out of the Darkness Community Walk) is taking place this Saturday, October 10 at Green Lake. You can register here if you are so inclined. The event kicks off at 10:00 AM, with registration beginning at 8:30 AM. It raises money for a really good cause (suicide prevention), and is a pretty powerful and inspiring event (corny as that sounds).