I'm Putting This on a Card and Handing It Out To People

I was at work searching for a few things when I came across this little gem - Revenge of the Introvert by Laurie Helgoe.  When I was in grad school, we all took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and I scored highly as an introvert (my type was ISFJ.  I was borderline on the last two, if I remember right.  I could have gone either way).  It was kind of a nice moment for me - I finally had someone tell me that it's okay to hate going to social functions and being around obnoxiously huge groups of obnoxious people.  I'm not weird for preferring to spend Friday night at home with a book than schmooze with a bunch of goobers that got thrown together from the local singles' wards (that last one highly applies to the Wasatch Front area.  Good night in heaven, do those people realize how completely ridiculous they can be?)

Then, I got looking into the subject - found articles and books to explain the whole thing to me.  I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about it, but I did like this list that came from the above article (it's on page 4, if you're interested.  The whole article is well-worth your time, especially if you have a friend that you keep giving grief for being "weird" and "anti-social."  Read the article and then tell your friend you're sorry.  They will be even more appreciative of your friendship, I promise).

What Not to Say to an Introvert


Introverts, those quiet creatures that walk among you, are not as mild-mannered as made out to be. They seethe and even will lash out at those who encroach upon or malign their personal comfort zones. Here are a few emotional buttons to avoid with your introverted companions:
- "'Why don't you like parties? Don't you like people?' is a common remark introverts hear," says Marti Laney, a psychologist and the author of The Introvert Advantage. "Usually we like people fine," she insists. "We just like them in small doses." Cocktail parties can be deadly. "We're social but it's a different type of socializing."

- "Surprise, we've decided to bring the family and stay with you for the weekend." Anyone anywhere on the -vert spectrum could find such a declaration objectionable, but it's more likely to bring an introvert to a boil, according to Nancy Ancowitz. Introverts count on their downtime to rejuvenate their resources; an extended presence in their homes robs them of that respite.

- Don't demand immediate feedback from an introvert. "Extraverts think we have answers but just aren't giving them," Laney says. "They don't understand we need time to formulate them" and often won't talk until a thought is suitably polished.

- Don't ask introverts why they're not contributing in meetings. If you're holding a brainstorming session, let the introvert prepare, or encourage him to follow up with his contributions afterward.

- Don't interrupt if an introvert does get to talking. Listen closely. "Being overlooked is a really big issue for introverts," Laney says. Introverts are unlikely to repeat themselves; they will not risk making the same mistake twice.

- Above all, "we hate people telling us how we can be more extraverted, as if that's the desired state," says Beth Buelow, a life and leadership coach for introverts. Many introverts are happy with the way they are. And if you're not, that's your problem.

4th of July Musical Extravaganza!

As is tradition, I'm decorating with the usual fare of patriotic music and videos. Do enjoy.

First - to get us all in a parade-day mood, here is "Seventy-Six Trombones" from the finale of the 1962 version of "The Music Man" (link to the vocal version - it wouldn't let me embed)

 

 I went searching for "Stars and Stripes Forever" and wound up with - of all things - the Muppets doing their own version. And I thought - why the heck not?

 

 (Here's the instrumental version)

 

Next, a staple of elementary school programs and one of my personal favorites - "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood


 

And what 4th of July would be complete with what started it all - the Declaration of Independence (from the HBO miniseries "John Adams")

 

 Just to round things off - a mash-up of "The Patriot" and "John Adams" with the epic score to go with it -

 

 Happy Independence Day, everyone!! (and a BIG happy birthday to my niece, Jaylee, who turns 1 on the 4th)

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Trust the Magic

What is this? A book review?? Well, with all the books I've been reading lately, figures that I would pick at least one to do a proper review of.  And, Dear Readers, this one's a treat!

Title: Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold!
Author: Terry Brooks
Publisher: Random House (Omnibus)
Publication Date: 1986 (Omnibus published 2009)

Synopsis (from Goodreads) -

Landover was a genuine magic kingdom, complete with fairy folk and wizardry, just as the advertisement had promised. But after he purchased it for a million dollars, Ben Holiday discovered that there were a few details the ad had failed to mention. Such as the fact that the kingdom was falling into ruin. The barons refused to recognize a king and taxes hadn't been collected for years. The dragon, Strabo, was laying waste to the countryside, while the evil witch, Nightshade, was plotting to destroy no less than everything. And if that weren't enough for a prospective king to deal with, Ben soon learned that the Iron Mark, terrible lord of the demons, challenged all pretenders to the throne of Landover to a duel to the death - a duel no mere mortal could hope to win. But Ben Holiday had one human trait that even magic couldn't overcome. Ben Holiday was stubborn.

My Review:


Back In The Day (senior year of high school - the last time I really had time to read whatever I pleased), I read a good chunk of Terry Brooks' Shannara novels (good grief, my fingers cannot spell today) and I rather enjoyed them.  Our high school library also had Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold!, and I always meant to pick it up and read it, but I never did.  Now, with my lovely library job and access to all kinds of great stuff to read, I finally picked it up.  Well, I picked up the audiobook, but that counts!

People who read fantasy, back me up on this one - Who doesn't sometimes thinks "Gosh, wouldn't it be cool if there was a magic wardrobe/hidden train platform/time-and-space machine that I could take and visit a world no one's ever seen before or even believes in?"  So, I get the premise of of Magic Kingdom for Sale and I buy into it wholeheartedly (no pun intended).  Ben Holiday is a tough-as-nails lawyer who's still dealing with the death of his wife two years previous.  He finds a department store catalog with an ad for the throne of a fairy-tale kingdom called Landover complete with dragons and fairies and witches and whoever has a million dollars and passes the screening process can have it.  In a moment of pure whimsy (that does nothing if not give me a little bit more faith in the legal community), Ben comes up with the money and buys Landover, thinking it's going to be a nice vacation and a chance to get clear of all the stress and inner turmoil in his life.


Well, if Ben was looking for a place free from stress, Landover ain't it.  The kingdom has been without a king for years and the land is dying because of it.  The people are distrustful of each other and demons have been chomping at the bit to take over Landover for themselves and - oh yeah, the guy who sold Landover to Ben has sold it before and always to some weenie who didn't care to step up and take responsibility, so the Landoverians who would have helped Ben don't trust him because (to them), he's just one in a long line of pretenders just out to have a good time and never mind who gets hurt.


And this, my friends, is where Ben Holiday becomes a hero.

Nightshade? Strabo? Iron Mark? Bickering lords? Puh-lease...

For the first little bit, Ben just rolls with whatever he's told he's supposed to do.  He's pretty much reacting to what gets thrown at him and there's very little character development on his part.  He leans a lot on Questor Thews (the court wizard of Landover, who's not a very good one) and Abernathy (court-scribe-turned-dog... don't ask) and while those two are great for quick information, neither of them know much about ruling a kingdom (to be fair, Ben doesn't know much either).  Most of the first half of the book sees Ben reacting to everything and nothing goes right for him - with the possible exception of meeting Willow, the sylph from the Lake Country who is also the River Master's daughter and who really ought to be annoying but somehow isn't (I admit - I cheered when she showed up to rescue Ben and the others from the trolls.  Cheered even more when Ben let her stay with him. They're too cute together).  It's when Ben finally knuckles down and decides he's going to be Landover's king that things get really entertaining.

First of all, Ben starts a "school" of sorts in order to learn everything he can about Landover - history, culture, geography, the whole nine yards.  Then he starts going to all the really scary characters to get them to pledge to him - much to the chagrin of everyone except Willow and (quite possibly) the G'Home Gnomes (who are about the funniest little guys on the planet).  This, of course, is where Ben faces down stuff much scarier than some old dragon or a witch... and if I told you what it was, that would spoil the ending so I'm going to leave it.

Okay, yeah, this story's pretty predictable in where it's going (there are five more Landover novels, so of course Ben's going to survive!), but it's the getting-there that's the fun of it.  Honestly, I didn't know how Brooks was going to have a character go from being a world-weary, cynical lawyer in the real world to becoming the sovereign ruler of a fairy-tale kingdom, but it works.  Even more fun that Ben accepts all the craziness going on around him and takes it in stride - more than just accept it, he embraces it and claims it as his own!

Bottom Line: Forget combing the train station for that hidden platform - where's the high-end items in the Sears Catalog??


PS - The cover image is actually the 2009 Omnibus re-release that also includes The Black Unicorn and Wizard At Large (there's a second Omnibus with The Tangle Box and Witches' Brew. The most recent offering, A Princess of Landover, is currently available on its own)  Considering what the covers originally were, I have to say this is a marked improvement (I'm glad fantasy cover artists are getting better at their work).

This is My Island In The Sun!

Realizing that I only posted once in June, here I am at the 11th hour for one more little push. (I blame it on the ridiculously hot weather.  I've developed a deep distaste for summertime in my old age).

Just a couple of things going on lately -

- Been teaching my 9-year-old cousin to sew her own quilt, which has been a lot of fun.  Honestly, the only thing that qualifies me to do this is that I once made a pieced quilt in college for a class and I handquilted it - just to say that I'd done it.  Oh - and I pieced a baby quilt for my niece last year, but I had that machine-quilted (she wouldn't have gotten it until she graduated high school otherwise).  So, this has been an interesting experiment in me BS-ing my way through being an expert.  It's still fun, though.  My cousin is a good student :)

- Summer Reading is in full swing at work.  I think I could give the Sign-Up Schpiel in my sleep.  Most of it is the same as last year's, which I helped with when I did my internship at West Jordan Library.  Honestly, I never know if the people signing up have done it before and need all the information or if they're brand new.  But nobody's been snotty with me and given me the "Yes, yes, we know, give us the stuff already!" deal.  The Teen Program this year is a little sparse and I'm not terribly impressed with it, though.  If they read, they get put into a ... drawing.  They don't really get a prize (other than earbuds).  Personally, I never win anything in drawings, so I'd feel like I was getting the short end on this one.  But I've heard that the kids would rather have a drawing instead of a poor selection of book prizes, so who am I to argue?

- Of course there's the yearly requisition of wildfires, only this time someone's been pumping steroids into the darn things.  The closest brush with wildfires I've had before this year was a fire started up the canyon of the ranch our family owned years ago, but it was peanuts compared to what's been going on (and the creek was running full-tilt that year).  My sister's been put on evacuation standby twice (that I know of) for two separate fires just in the past couple of weeks.  It's not a big deal compared to people in Fairview and Colorado Springs (holy crap - have you seen those pictures? I've seen pictures of wildfires before, but I don't think I've seen pictures with so many houses burning!), but still - I worry (it's my life's calling to worry, I guess).

- Better News - Jaylee is going to be 1!  I have a couple of project lined up for her birthday, but they're remaining secret until probably the day before.  And they'll only be posted on Facebook because, hey, privacy settings!  It's been an awesome year with the adorable little stink.  Every time I see her, seems like she's got a new little thing she does (her face scrunch is the best thing in the world!)  So, yeah - aunt-hood = Best Ever!

- Of course, I have plenty of things I'm reading and watching.  My latest project has been Castle, per recommendations from various Facebook friends after I heaped much praise on Firefly and admitted I had never seen anything else with Nathan Fillion.  So, I started and holy cow - a ruggedly handsome novelist following a homocide team around in a police procedural drama?  Could this show be any more made for me? (Maybe if the homocide team was based in Middle-Earth or something). I'm only partway through Season 2, but this is sooo my new favorite show (and I've decided that putting Nathan Fillion in any show or movie is the on-screen equivalent to smothering it in chocolate syrup. Yummy).
  - Also in the works - Avatar: The Last Airbender re-watch, Firefly re-watch (I got my dad the DVD for Father's Day - I know he'd love it if he ever sat down to watch it), I'm toying with the idea of a Doctor Who Fifth Doctor re-watch (I have all of them on DVD except "Four to Doomsday" - don't ask me why I don't have that one yet), and possibly a New Who re-watch as well.

- On the literary front - I'm currently reading a number of things, but I've recently gotten into Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold! by Terry Brooks.  I read some of his Shannara novels in high school and really enjoyed them and, so far, the Magic Kingdom of Landover is much the same.  Fantasy, adventure, humor, mortal peril mixed with a little bit of fluff, a hardnosed lawyer becoming king of a fairy-tale land - can't argue with that.
  - Also, I've gained a taste for historical fiction as well.  The last one I finished was By The King's Design by Christine Trent about a woman who owns a draper shop in London during the Luddite rebellions.  Not bad, actually.  I'm going to start The Queen's Dollmaker soon (which actually should have been first, but it's not an issue that I'm reading it second).  And - I don't know if you can classify this as historical fiction because it was written (more or less) - during the time it was taking place, but I've working on North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.  More on that as it develops.
  - For more historical fiction love, Tor.com is hosting a Georgette Heyer re-read this summer, which is odd for a sci-fi/fantasy site to do (I first got hooked on Tor with the Wheel of Time re-read. Then it was the Legend of Korra recaps - which I still need to do for myself).  I admit, I haven't read Georgette Heyer, but Tor's got my intrigued and with my new historical fiction kick - why the heck not?

That's it with me.  Hopefully I'll be back before the end of August with something new.

Big Damn Heroes - Review and Thoughts on "Firefly"

Last night I finished Serenity, the wrap-up movie of Firefly (I know, I know - what took me so long?)  And I have things to say about the series as a whole.  Spoilers shall be discussed and divulged. Read on!



Before I proceed, let me get the requisite bitching at Fox out of the way -

WHO IS THE EFFING GENIUS THAT DECIDED THAT CANCELING THIS SHOW WAS A GOOD IDEA? TELL ME THEY'VE BEEN FIRED AND BANNED FROM EVER MAKING PROGRAMMING DECISIONS FOR ANY NETWORK ANYWHERE!!!!  WE HAVE TO ENDURE TRIPE LIKE GLEE AND AMERICAN IDOL, BUT WE CAN'T HAVE SOMETHING WITH SUBSTANCE???  WHAT THE #@!%$^& HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?????


(seriously, Fox - stick to sports coverage and cable news.  You guys are good at those things - I love Fox NFL Sunday.  But your handling of primetime drama sucks.  Actually, I'm surprised 24 snuck eight seasons past your poo-flinging monkeys - I mean, TV execs).

Okay, that's out of my system...

I have to credit Keith of Traveling the Vortex for getting me onto this idea of watching Firefly.  I said in my review of The Avengers that I didn't know much about Joss Whedon's work (not out of purposely avoiding any of his stuff - I just never got around to it).  I'm not much for vampires and urban fantasy (even before the Twilight puke-fest), so Buffy's not really my thing.  But he suggested I give Firefly a shot.  And I'm so very glad that he did.

As a kid, I grew up on John Wayne movies and Star Wars.  When you grow up on a farm, you watch westerns while your take your baby bottle.  And I get my sci-fi streak from my dad, who is a fan of both Star Trek and Star Wars (I only took to the latter, though).  But there was always an arbitrary wall between the two genres.  I suppose a lot of people are that way.  Westerns are about history and sci-fi is about the future - there's no possible way to make the two mesh at all (other than flying your toy Millennium Falcon over your plastic cowboys figures).

Going into Firefly, the only thing I knew was that it took place in space and all the fans were continually pissed at Fox for canceling it.  As I popped Disc 1 into the player and started up the first episode - okay, there was a war, main characters fought and lost, and now...

Holy crap - where did that theme song come from???

Yes, folks - the first thing that got me hooked on Firefly was the country-western-type soundtrack (that's another thing farm kids grow up with).  Then I found out that there were western-style towns, six-shooters, horses, desert landscapes - and a freaking spaceship!!



If I had to peg my enjoyment of Firefly down to one thing it would be that Whedon took the typical sci-fi tropes of a crew on a spaceship and having space battles that most sci-fi-spacey-type shows do, but then he blended it with another genre.  That's one reason Doctor Who works so well for me as well - it's not all about the blasters and military ranks and scientific technobabble and crazy aliens (actually, there are no "crazy aliens" in Firefly), you've got tropes from another genre at work to make it new and fun.  I love the premise of Firefly that humanity is terraforming other planets and then settling Old West-style (honestly, that's probably how it would work in reality).

So, you've got a new twist on established genres - but what do you do for characters? Oh good heaven - the characters make this whole thing work!

But one more thing - I was surprised how many Firefly actors I'd seen in other things before this - Jewel Staite was in Flash Forward on the Disney Channel back in the day (also, Space Cases, which I thoroughly enjoyed as an eleven-year-old), Alan Tudyk I knew from A Knight's Tale (it's weird hearing him without his sort-of-not-really-British accent), Morena Baccarin was in V and Adam Baldwin was in Chuck (for all the sort-of jerks he plays, I hear he's actually quite a nice guy. His Twitter feed's lots of fun).  Funnily enough, I'd never seen anything with Nathan Fillion, which I'm chalking up to a crying shame because Mal Reynolds ended up being my favorite out of all of them (though Kaylee gave him a run for his money).

Let's just start with Mal - Yeah, he falls into all the world-weary-war-veteran-turned-captain-of-a-smuggling-operation-of-dubious-legality tropes we've seen before.  But what I love about Mal is that he also falls quite nicely into the role of captain who cares a lot about his crew/family - almost like a caring father/brother/best friend sort of guy.  And it doesn't matter how long a person's been part of his crew, Mal's going to look out for them (but not in any ostentatious or self-serving way).  It just comes naturally to him.  As evidenced by the end of "Ariel" after Jayne nearly sells Simon and River out to the feds and Mal locks Jayne in the airlock and threatens to throw Jayne out into space for what he did - I actually feared for Jayne the whole time until Mal shut the outside door.

And, damn, does Mal look hot in that brown coat of his (I am a fangirl and I am not ashamed).

Kaylee - Kaylee is just flat-out awesome.  My favorite scene of hers is probably in "Shindig" when she's got her pink frilly dress and she comes to that big fancy party (allow me another fangirl moment when Mal shows up in that nicely tailored suit - mmm... yummy - okay, I'm done) and she ends up talking about ship engines with all those guys around her (after having been snubbed by those really snooty... girls...)  And I also love how she and River become friends.  She's about the most cheerful grease monkey I've ever seen and I love her to pieces.

Jayne - All hail the hero of Canton! (and no, I'm not going to sing it for you).

I liked Jayne.  A lot.  Big tough guy with a somewhat girly name? (and yes, that was a hilarious scene with River)  Whose mom sends him knit hats just because?  With a gun named Vera?  Yeah, he screwed up that one time, but he tried to make up for it by buying the crew apples! (considering how hard it is to get fresh produce in deep space, it looks like the gesture was much appreciated).  If there was something I wish we got to see, it's Jayne's mom.  And, by extension, where it is that Jayne's from.  Only because I'm curious and because it would be super-sweet.

The Siblings Tam - I admit, I wasn't terribly taken with River and Simon at first.  Simon was too pretty and River had the whole "Here's a damaged and very mysterious girl that we're not going to tell you about just yet" thing going and there were more interesting things to enjoy. But they slowly grew on me and I was glad to see them both be accepted by Team Serenity.  Obviously, Whedon had something huge in mind for these two for the second season that never happened (*grumble, grumble* blanking idiots at Fox *grumble, grumble*), but ended up playing out in the movie.  Now - the movie was fine, don't get me wrong.  But the story told in two hours was meant to be revealed over the course of 14 episodes.  I don't think anything was lost, necessarily, but I would have loved it to be the full season.  In the end, however, Simon loosened up and River learned how to deal with her situation and ... well, that sentence is going to end with a wistful What Could Have Been sentiment that's just going to irritate me again and I'm going to leave it there.

(Also, I kept thinking "River Song" whenever anyone said River.  Which is entirely different, but there you go.)

Zoe and Wash - I lump these two together because, well, they're married and I think they're best together.  Certainly, they have great moments apart (Wash and his dinosaurs - Zoe and her general badassness), but their personalities deliberately work together to create something fun.  And I love that there's a happily married couple on board the Serenity and they're just adorable

Inara - She's the conscience of the team (which I think was a deliberate move on Whedon's part, given her occupation).  Inara's the refined mom of the family.  I love how she looks out for Kaylee in "Shindig" and how she goes to her friend's aid in "Heart of Gold" (that was my second favorite episode - only "Out of Gas" beats it for me).  Even though she rubs *ahem* elbows with the upper echelons of Alliance society, she still feels most at home with the ragtag misfits.

Shepherd Book - I know there's a graphic novel out there with Book's backstory and, dammit, I want it!  That's all.

Serenity - Yes, I'm counting the ship as a character (hey, if the TARDIS can be a character...)  At the end of "Out of Gas" (which is my favorite of all these episodes - love me a good flashback), there's the scene showing Mal in the market for a new ship - and there's little ol' Serenity sitting on a hill surrounded by junk.  And she looks so stinking cute!  It made me sad when they had to disguise her as a Reaver ship in the movie.  I want a figurine of Serenity to sit on my desk, she's so cute!

This is getting long, but suffice it to say that I loved Firefly and I wish that I'd watched it when it was airing - maybe if more people had watched, we'd have more of it.  Every time I've heard Firefly talked about, the people who've seen it love it and the people who haven't seen it want to watch it.  I don't know of anything else that gained fans after it got canceled and you'd think somebody would get the idea to revive.  I've often heard talk of someone bringing it back, but I don't know how likely that is.  But you never know.  In the meantime, you can't take the sky from me.



(see what I did there?)

Memorial Day Tribute - Honoring Our Heroes

When I was a kid, my grandma would make sure that all our family members in our local cemetery had flowers on their graves.  So, for a long time that's what I thought Memorial Day was - remember family members who have passed on - whether you knew them personally or not.  And to a certain degree, that's part of it.  But then I got older (and grandma passed away) and I learned that it's meant to honor those in the military who were killed in action.  The greatest lesson on this for me came when I was in 8th grade and on a school trip to Washington DC.  There are two things we visited there that made a significant impact on me and that I remember vividly even 14 years later - one is the National Holocaust Museum, the other is the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.  If you are ever in DC for a significant length of time, these are the two places you absolutely MUST see.  Not because they are fun, but because they put so much into proper perspective.

Since it's Memorial Day, I want to focus on the Tomb of the Unknowns (I'm sure I'll get to talk about the National Holocaust Museum another time).  With all the selfishness that I see in the world, it is good to step back and recognize people who lived through horrific things and people who willingly gave up a great portion of their lives to keep the rest of us safe (some who gave up their lives, full stop).  And since I can't go to Arlington today, I can at least take ten minutes of time and blog space to pay tribute to these heroes.

Also, courtesy of The Right Fangirl, here is President Reagan's speech at the National Funeral for the Unknown Solider of the Vietnam Conflict.  Seems appropriate -

God Bless Theater People!

On Friday (or maybe Thursday - I get my days mixed up sometimes), this little gem was spotted floating around Facebook and elsewhere.  And if it doesn't make you laugh and/or cry, you have no soul.



From what I've been able to glean from the comments, Amy and Isaac are both in theater (Amy is a choreographer and Isaac's currently in a production of something-or-another) and that's how they met.  So OF COURSE, he's going to propose in full-on Broadway fashion!  This is totally what I love about theater people - it's no-holds-barred, over-the-top fun - not just for the people putting on the production, but for the people watching.

(Also, Bruno Mars tweeted out about the video. Great stuff!)

A few extra thoughts -

- I'm pretty sure the lyrics isn't "dancing Jews," but those guys totally cracked me up.  Them and the marching band.

- Speaking of the marching band, I almost lost it when the people in band uniforms came in.  The only thing that would have made this any better is if they had instruments and were playing the song.  But this loses nothing by that omission.

- Loved the little kid in the Oregon Ducks jersey with the Dancing Jews.  Also, the older couple with the flowers. Too cute.  There was nothing about this that I didn't completely love.

- The girl in the front with the red dress?  I want that dress.

- And this just may be my own preferences, but Amy is one lucky girl.  Not just because her fiance staged this whole production for her (and props to him for doing so), but he is quite the good-lookin' guy (it could be the suit, but - damn!)

- Finally - just want to add my congrats to Amy and Isaac and all the best wishes.  Thanks for sharing your special moment with all of us - it certainly made my week!

The Preemptive Critic - "Moonrise Kingdom"

Here's a quick and dirty "I saw it posted on Facebook and wanted it to count for a blog post" review -



Knee-jerk reaction: a version of "Napoleon Dynamite" that my literary-snob creative writing professors in college would love.

There is just enough "What the hell...?" in this trailer to make me want to see this. But probably at the dollar theater. With a date. Who's paying for my ticket. Or maybe I'll just borrow the DVD from the library.

(And I'm not a cinephile by any stretch of the imagination, so bear with me when I say - Who the crap is Wes Anderson?)

What If Mozart Composed Video Game Music?

I freely admit, I'm not an expert on what constitutes "good" music (actually, I'm not an expert on what constitutes "good" anything. At least, not according to what industry big wigs say).  I also freely admit that I'm not much of a gamer.  I have my favorite games that I play and I don't venture too far out of that sphere.  However, when I was a kid I played the snot out of Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest.  Hands-down, my most favoritest game! (sadly, I never completed the whole thing - I never could find those last few Bonus Rounds for the two or three Kremcoins (Kremkoins?) I lacked to finish the Lost World).

All that being said, I have long thought that Donkey Kong Country 2 had some of the best darn video game music EVER!  I recently found the soundtrack for a decent price and I've been playing it almost nonstop (just to show how much of a non-gamer I am: They have soundtracks for VIDEO GAMES? That you can BUY???)  One day while I was fooling around on YouTube, I came across this piano medley. And it is GLORIOUS:



Ah, childhood.  I've got to find my copy of DKC2 now!

(This version of "In a Snow-Bound Land" sounds like it ought to be played at a wedding).

Awesome Stuff That Happened in 1985

1985 was a freaking awesome year.  To illustrate, here are a few things that highlight such greatness:

- The first Back to the Future is released
- Ronald Reagan sworn in for a second term as president
- San Francisco 49ers beat the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl XIX
- The Utah Jazz selects Karl Malone in the NBA Draft
- Nintendo releases their first home entertainment system along with the Super Mario Bros. video game
  - In that vein, Tetris is released as well
- The wreck of the RMS Titanic is discovered
- Pete Rose becomes the all-time record hitter in Major League Baseball
- Disney releases The Black Cauldron (shut up - it's a great movie!)
- I was born (May 17)

Happy Birthday to Me!!

(Fair Warning - If you click the above link, you will be singing for the rest of the day. But it's nice and catchy and I like it).

The Verdict Is (FINALLY!) In

I had to see it twice, but I finally have thoughts to share on The Avengers.  Spoilers below the decidedly NOT spoilery (but very funny) video.

 

I have a fun little story to tell.  Actually no, it's not that fun. But it explains a great deal.

The one movie theater that I love going to is the Jordan Landing Cinemark.  This place is a pretty spiffy theater while still being fairly reasonbly priced - the seats are roomy, the staff are friendly and they make their snack bar hot dogs out of unicorn tears.  No, really - they are that good (it's the one time I can justify paying $4 for movie theater food).  This theater is also attracts - shall we say - more higher-class clientele.  I have never had a bad experience going to a movie at Jordan Landing.

Until last Monday night and The Avengers.

I've talked about this before - In the lead-up to this movie, I was as excited as anybody (excepting, perhaps, the people who grew up reading Marvel comics. But that’s a whole ‘nother ballpark).  I have thoroughly enjoyed the Marvel superhero movies and I’ve loved all the continuity that’s gone into these stories. But most of all, I love the characters and seeing where these superheroes come from.  It's a real treat for me, as someone who isn't steeped in Marvel Comics lore, to have a glimpse into these stories and feel like I can be welcomed into the universe and know what's going on without the burden of having to know the source material inside-and-out (which I would love to do, but there's a crapton to read through - never mind having to get it all in the right order).

Sadly, I was delayed in seeing The Avengers, but I had a good reason.  My aunt passed away last week and her funeral was on Saturday in Nevada.  I spent Friday traveling, Saturday at the funeral and with family and coming back home, Sunday passed out on the couch in a pile of travel-worn goo with no desire to go anywhere or do anything.  But I figured I could go see it Monday night after I got off work at 9:00 at night - hopefully the audience would be small and I could enjoy my experience.

Well, turns out the late Monday night showing was a horrible idea.  In short, this is what I had to endure:


- The idiot teenagers who had probably sneaked out of the house so they could canoodle with their boy- or girl-toys in the back of a darkened theater while alternately snickering “OMG his boots r sooo gay!” (meaning Captain America in the dressed-down version of his uniform). Oh, and they kept laughing even after the jokes were over and done with.  Do you know how maddening it is when you are trying to watch an incredibly intense battle sequence and you've got the cast of Degrassi behind you giggling over Odin-knows-what?

   - The married fanboys who finally convinced their extremely skeptical wives to go see it with them. The wives then start clucking to each other about some goofy housewifey thing and how ridiculous their hubbies are being but said hubbies wouldn't give them a moment's peace until they counted this as date night... ALL DURING THE FRIGGING MOVIE!! *headdesk*

   - This one doesn’t bug me as much because at least this audience member is interested in the movie. Still irritating, though. But there was also that one kid who was sugared-up on candy and Coke and keeps asking “Why’d Loki stab that one guy?” “How did [insert character] do that one thing?” “I wanna fly!” Love your enthusiasm, kid, but can you wait until you get to the parking lot?


So, when I walked out of the theater, I was not happy about the movie.  I was too distracted by my very rude and annoying fellow movie-goers and I didn't get the experience that other people got when they tweeted how wonderful this movie was.  And I was extremely annoyed by this because I honestly wanted to love this movie.  In fact, last night I came home and wrote up a whole big thing about how I was so disappointed in the movie and how could they screw it up and what is everyone else thinking and I'm so pissed about this... but then I thought that maybe a second viewing would help.  I then decided to go again after work today and see if I liked it better a second time.

(Don't worry - I did end up liking this movie.  Quite a bit, actually.  I later went back during a matinee to see it again and ended up in a much more amenable audience and figured out that was most of my problem the night before).

At first, I blamed it on the fact that I am not familiar with director Joss Whedon at all.  At the risk of having my geek-cred called into question, I have to confess that I have never been on the Whedon bandwagon.  It’s not a matter of me not liking his stuff; it’s a matter of me never actually watching anything of his.  The most I know about Whedon is that he created Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and a great swath of the sci-fi/fantasy fandom thinks he’s God (I am not being critical here, mind you. I'm just saying that I don't have enough experience with Whedon to make that assessment for myself).

One thing I learned here is that Whedon has a very distinct method of storytelling and it's something I had to be prepared for and I wasn't.  He's like Neil Gaiman in that regard - if I hadn't read at least some of Gaiman's work before seeing "The Doctor's Wife," I would not have know what was going on in that story and I probably would have been similarly disappointed.  However, once I understood how Whedon does things, I was totally on board.  One thing I had difficulty with was the humor - more specifically, the timing of the jokes.  Like Agent Coulson quipping "So that's how it works" after he shoots Loki with the Big Ass Gun after Loki's fatally stabbed Coulson.  That was just one of many mood whiplash moments that had me going "Wait - WHAT?" during my first viewing.

But the second go-round, I was expecting the humor so I was able to better pay attention to the characters and story (helped that the audience wasn't guffawing for five minutes at every little deadpan snark).  In fact, the humor actually enhanced Tony Stark's character, which I did not think was possible.  Tony is hands-down my favorite of the Avengers because he does possess a dark sense of humor and he can pull-off snark in a very natural way.  Plus, his brand of snark actually serves a purpose - I loved the scenes with him and Bruce Banner (the Hulk) looking for the Tessaract and Tony just keeps poking the proverbial bear with the stick (all the while knowing exactly what he's doing).  That's the other thing I love about Tony Stark - he's the scientific genius who can rattle off equations and technobabble, but still keep his "Mr. Cool" billionaire persona.  Also, Tony's interactions with Steve Rogers (Captain America) are pure gold.  Tony and Steve are near-perfect foils to each other - Tony's the dark, sarcastic genius of the bunch while Steve is the All-American Boy Scout who follows orders yet still commands respect, which I love (he is the legendary First Avenger, after all).  It would have been so easy to relegate Cap to be the idealistic idiot wearing spangly Spandex, he became the leader of the Avengers almost by accident and it worked so well.

Also - I have to give mad props to Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner.  I tried watching both Hulk movies prior to seeing The Avengers - yeah, I couldn't do it.  They were both kind of long and boring and I just couldn't care.  I'm going to try to Edward Norton movie again, but really, I don't think I need to.  I think I know enough of the Hulk's backstory and his personality just from watching The Avengers.  Really, this movie did for the Hulk as a member of a team what two whole movies of the Hulk as a solo-act did not do.  That either speaks volumes in favor of Ruffalo and Whedon or it speaks to the incompetence of the guys in the other movies (personally, I like to keep things positive, so I'm going with the first one).

Chris Hemsworth is an awesome Thor and Tom Hiddleston is a fantastic Loki.  I am such a fantasy geek - you tell me something's magic and I will buy it (as long as there are set rules and you stick to them).  Everything for me doesn't have to be totally grounded in hard-core, proven science (or even plausible science fiction).  My opinion from when I saw Thor has not changed - the concept of Asgard and the demigods is such a treat.  I get that Thor is a very different hero from any of the others and it takes a certain kind of writer to bring that to bear in this ensemble cast and this is another area where Whedon gets it right.  I love that Thor and Loki are given opportunities to explore their family relationship - Thor gives Loki a chance to quit his Earth-domination crap and come home.  Thor also feels a responsibility to the Earth and wants to stop Loki from causing problems.  But Loki's been slighted and he's going to cause as much havoc and mayhem and he's going to have fun doing it (Hiddleston's performance when he's yanking everyone's chain while being held prisoner on the SHIELD aircraft carrier is wonderful.  He's another one who does the deadpan snarker very well).

I want to touch briefly on Black Widow and Hawkeye - I want their origin stories.  I don't know if those movies are in the works (or maybe just one for the both of them, since it's made evident that their paths cross early-on), but that is something I dearly want.  Maybe it's a tad unnecessary at this point, but I don't care - I WANTS IT, PRECIOUSSSS!!  They are both fantastic characters - either apart or together and I want to see more of that.

(Oh, and every single time someone said “Tessaract,” I kept thinking of the Tessalecta from Doctor Who. Which is completely different).

This is getting insanely long, but here are some of my favorite moments that deserve special mention (there were so many good ones that it was hard to keep this a reasonable length):

- The Hulk beating the ever-loving snot out of Loki.  Especially after Loki started in on his "I'm a god and you will bow to me you stupid human-thing" speech.
- The old man in Germany standing up to Loki when everyone else has bowed down.
- Iron Man patching "Shoot to Thrill" by AC/DC into Black Widow's jet's PA system.
- Loki in a suit. I know he's the bad guy and all but... damn...
- Agent Coulson explaining to Thor that he got Jane Foster somewhere far away from all the bad stuff happening and Thor being appreciative about it (okay, my little sappy female heart got a little mushy there)
- Anything Agent Coulson does or says (his total fanboying over Captain America was really sweet)
- Nick Fury telling the shadowy SHIELD board of committee director-leader-people that their idea to nuke Manhattan is a "stupid-ass decision."
- And I'm sure I forgot a few, but I'm sure someone else will point them out.

Anyway, Whedon did a pretty good job with this movie (though to be perfectly honest, I would have seen this no matter who the director was - but Whedon was an excellent choice).  The cast was great and the story was put together well and I don't know what else to say about it other than I want another one.  Like, right now. Because that was way too much awesome to be confined to one movie.  There must be more. MOAR, I say!

PS - I still would recommend seeing a movie at Jordan Landing if you're ever in town.  It's not their fault a bunch of ninnies all went and saw the same movie on the same night and ruined my initial experience. But if I find out who those kids were, I would not be opposed to toilet-papering their houses.

I swear the universe is conspiring against me...

I'm having to go out of town this weekend for some family things and I'll be out of commission for a while - and all these awesome things are happening!!! ARGH!

Real quick - here's what's going down -

1. The Avengers movie is kicking ass and taking names. I hope to see it next week sometime (but if I can sneak away to a movie theater today or tomorrow, I will jump on that opportunity).

2. May the 4th Be With You - Happy Star Wars Day, y'all! (The first of two, since the Star Wars release day anniversary is May 25 and is also considering Geek Pride Day).

3. Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day at the library (and other places too. But mostly the library).

4. The cover for A Memory of Light, the 14th and final Wheel of Time book, was released yesterday. I'll have further analysis later, but suffice it to say that this is the first cover of this series (that isn't an ebook re-release) that actually says to the potential reader "READ ME! I'M AN AWESOME BOOK!" (too bad it took until the END OF THE FREAKING SERIES to finally get such a cover /rant)

5. The Vortex Boys are watching "The Mark of the Rani" tonight for Friday Night Who. Seeing as this is one of my favorite Doctor Who stories (not just a favorite Colin Baker story - a favorite Doctor Who story in general), I'm miffed that I have to miss it.  I'll certainly watch it on my own before they review it on the podcast, but Friday Night Who is my ritual. *sadface*

Universe - next time I have to attend to personal stuff, try not to do anything new and exciting while I'm gone.  Just... make it a boring "Everyone go do yardwork" weekend, mmkay?

Beginner's Luck

I've been a little antsy about the Gallifrey One convention next February.  Not in the least because this is my first convention EVER and I want to have a good time, but I know very little about actually going to conventions.  I've asked other con-goers about the logistics and I've read about others' experiences in hopes that I can benefit from something they've learned (Note: Neowhovian has an excellent post with some Gally attendance advice that's well worth a look). But being the travel-dunce that I am, I'm stressing out about plane tickets, hotel rooms, getting from the airport to the hotel and all that jazz (oh, who am I kidding? I stress out about everything. Especially things that really aren't a big deal).

The one thing I've heard over and over is how fast the discounted hotel rooms go.  And that was something that I started to fret about.  The basic idea I got was that if you're not sitting at your computer with your credit card in hand when they announce the hotel room code (and it'll be somewhere like Twitter or Facebook that ends up getting buried under all the other crap that people pile on your wall), you are S.O.L. and you have to book a room elsewhere.  That's probably not entirely true, but I want to have all my travel and accommodations and what-have-you taken care of as soon as possible and just be able to enjoy the experience.

So last night, I'm sitting at my desk and I notice I have a new email.  Turns out, it's from the lovely folks at Gallifrey One announcing that the discounted hotel block is open for people who've pre-registered and here's the code and go get 'em, kid!

First thought was: "Oh, they sent me an email! That's awesome!"  Second thought was: "GO BOOK YOUR HOTEL ROOM NOW!!"

So, I did.  Then, I left for a while then come back to find a SECOND email announcing that the original hotel block was completely booked WITHIN ONE HOUR of the emails being sent out.

You mean - I actually got in under the gun and got my hotel room booked?

I know this is a weird thing for me to be posting about, but THIS KIND OF STUFF NEVER HAPPENS TO ME!!  I fully expected to be one of those newbies who can't get a place to stay in LA and is scrambling the week before to find a couch or the backseat of a car to sleep on during Gally.  Please allow me this victory lap.

Right now, I'm chalking this up purely to beginner's luck.  I'm certain that if I decide to go to Gally in 2014, I will be one of those poor schlubs whose emails got lost in limbo and completely misses the first run of hotel bookings.  But for now, I'm going to enjoy this victory with a herd of Daleks chasing a turtle at what I assume was a past Gally.

Everyone - I'M GOING TO GALLIFREY! (It still hasn't completely sunk in that I'm doing this).

The Preemptive Critic - "Brave"

I'm back! And this post's offering is "Brave" from Disney and Pixar -



Question - Has Pixar done any kind of story involving magic? Disney's done a boatload throughout the years of course, but I believe this is the first Pixar movie to do a story with actual magic (correct me if I'm wrong). So, between magic being used, a female main protagonist and the setting in Scotland (WHEE! SCOTLAND!) and by virtue of it being a Pixar film, I preemptively love, love, LOVE this movie!

... as long as Merida doesn't give a heaping big monologue about "I am Woman and OMG Girl Power!" because that's just stupid. As I have said before. But I trust Pixar can tell a story without getting annoyingly preachy (unlike various reviewers I've encountered online).

But I digress - LOVE THIS MOVIE!!

(And Craig Ferguson is in it! This thing keeps getting better and better!)

PS - How in the name of all that is good and holy would Merida get all that hair stuffed up into that fancy-head-hair-hiding thing? I mean, I have much shorter curly hair and I have the hardest time keeping it in line. Just observing.

Happy Birthday David Tennant!

Today's the day for banana daquiris and 3D glasses as we all give a rousing Happy Birthday to everyone's favorite skinny boy in a suit - David Tennant!



(Seriously - I hope I look that good at 41 ^_^)

Fiction > Reality

SPOILER ALERT! The following post contains obscene amounts of SPOILERS for the following Big Finish "Doctor Who" stories: #133 - City of Spires, #134 - The Wreck of the Titan, #135 - Legend of the Cybermen.  Not to mention scattered SPOILERS for all of the Second Doctor's era (especially from "The War Games" and "The Mind Robber") and maybe a few other minor things. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

I love all the Doctor's companions, though some I love more than others.  It's just the way things happen.  One of my absolute favorites is Jamie McCrimmon, the lovable Scottish highlander who was a mainstay of the Patrick Troughton era.  The Second Doctor had a good handful of companions, but Jamie was THE companion in the late 1960s.  He was brave, if a little naive, but definitely a quick learner and always eager for adventure.  He could roll with the changes in the Doctor's traveling lifestyle with ease and the most adorable smile you've ever seen.  Jamie's story arc is one major reason I often bemoan the fact that so little of the Troughton era remains complete - how cool would it be to watch Jamie's character progression from an 18th century Scotsman with little knowledge of anything outside his own circumstances to someone who fully accepts and embraces time-and-space travel?  But there's no point in lamenting what you can't control, I suppose.  But I can get annoyed that Jamie and Zoe Heriot's memories of traveling with the Doctor were taken away by the Time Lords at the end of "The War Games" because - ARGH! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO A COMPANION??? WHY WHY WHY??

Yes, I'm side-eyeing you, RTD. SO HARD! (poor, poor Donna...)

So, when I discovered Big Finish had produced a trilogy of audio stories with the Sixth Doctor with Jamie as the companion, I wondered "How in the name of Gallifrey is this going to work?"  How are they going to justify Jamie meeting the Doctor again and how will he remember the Doctor and what will the Doctor have to do to bring Jamie along on these adventures?

(Before I go on - I'm blaming/crediting Traveling the Vortex for my renewed binge on Big Finish.  Last week, they had a Companion Archive for Evelyn Smythe, who is a Big Finish-only companion.  And we're watching "The War Games" for Friday Night Who last week and this week.  So, this is their fault).

Long story short (and spoiler-free) - Big Finish did all of that. And more.  You owe it to yourself to seek out these three stories and listen to them (and there is a Companion Chronicle that goes with them - "Night's Black Agents" - but I haven't bought it yet. I will soon, though).

Short story made longer - Let's just take this one story at a time:

(SPOILERS really begin here, so if you're looking to remain unspoiled on the Big Finish stuff, this is where you ought to stop. Seriously - stop now.)

"City of Spires" - This starts out where you'd expect Jamie to be, given how "The War Games" ended. The highlanders are at war with the Redcoats (though Jamie doesn't show up until later).  The Sixth Doctor sort of stumbles into the middle of the fighting (you know, like the Doctor always does) and eventually meets up with Jamie, who is now much older and doesn't remember the Doctor at all.  This story is pretty straightforward - your standard Doctor-meets-new-companion (or former companion who's about to get re-recruited) story.  I won't lie - it's a little odd to have Jamie with the Sixth Doctor at first, but the decision to write Jamie as someone older and with more life experience (and not all of it positive) helped make the reunion work.  Plus, there's a mystery for the Doctor to solve that directly relates to Jamie.  Recall that, at the end of "The War Games," when the Time Lords erased Jamie and Zoe's memories, they were allowed to keep the memories of their first adventure with the Doctor, but they never left in the TARDIS.  The mystery here is this: Jamie doesn't remember anything about the Doctor.  Not even his very first meeting (which would have taken place in "The Highlanders").  So, there's that to figure out on top of the other, more pressing weirdness of anachronistic oil drilling in 18th century Scotland.

"The Wreck of the Titan" - This is where things get really odd.  It starts with the title and the trailer for this story.  The trailer mentions the Doctor and Jamie have landed on the Titanic - which is all the trailer could really talk about without giving away the entire thing.  And as similar as the two are, Titanic is NOT Titan.  BUT - and this is where serendipity comes in because I listened to this the weekend all the Titanic centennial commemoration was going on - there is a book called "The Wreck of the Titan" that was published 14 years before the actual Titanic sank (go here to read about the uncanny similarities between the fictional Titan and the real Titanic).  So, I'm wondering where in the world this is going.  This isn't going to be the movie Titanic with Jack and Rose being replaced with the Doctor and Jamie? Because that would be cool on one level, but totally bizarre on another level.

Luckily, they kept James Cameron away from this one and brought in the fictional Titan.  And that's where things start getting interesting (and where I had my AHA! moment).  Right before the Titanic is due for her date with the iceberg, everything shifts and turns into the story of the Titan.  Even the characters change.  And instead of falling into the ocean, the Doctor and one other character wind up on the iceberg being chased by hungry polar bears (it's a lot cooler in the audio, believe me).  In the meantime, Jamie hooks up with Captain Nemo and the Nautilus and it's about here that my absolute favorite Troughton-era story comes into play.

My friends - Big Finish actually revisted "The Mind Robber." And the fandom rejoiced. (don't click that link if you value your free time).

By "fandom," I mean one crazy fangirl that's bouncing up and down in her seat while driving down to visit her folks for the weekend. Amazing that I didn't careen into the ditch.

"Legend of the Cybermen" - And we're back to the Land of Fiction. Oh and Zoe's back!! (HOLY CRAP - IT IS ZOE!)  And the White Robots! And the Karkuss! And the unicorns! And the - and the - *squee!*

(And there is an absolutely hilarious scene where the fictional characters start narrating their own stories - but Jamie thinks he's in a booth in a sound studio recording for a radio play. Complete with Nicholas Briggs directing and the Doctor/Colin Baker tapping the window of Jamie/Frazer Hines' sound booth and referring to them being trapped in meta-fiction.  It's downright brilliant).

All right, all right - not everything is a fantastic trip down memory lane.  For one thing, the Cybermen have invaded the Land of Fiction.  For another, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe discover that the oil that was being drilled clear back in "City of Spires" isn't oil.  It's ink.  And what do you do with ink?  You write stories with it.  Stories like "Alice in Wonderland" and "Dracula" and "Oliver Twist." Oh, and you bring an old traveling companion to life in the Land of Fiction so you can call on the Doctor to come help you get rid of the clunky old aliens that you inadvertently dragged into this place when they attacked your home.

Translation: Zoe became is the Mistress of the Land of Fiction when the Cybermen attacked her home, she created a fictional Jamie from her memories of him, fictional!Jamie took on a life of his own to the point of getting older, the Doctor got pulled into the Land of Fiction by Zoe and I'm a pile of goo because "What? Jamie's not real???"

(That was FOREVER HEARTBREAK when Jamie realizes he's not a real person and even goes so far as to berate the Doctor for never going back to check in on the real Jamie back in Scotland.  I mean, Jamie does have a point - but does he have to be so mean about it?  Well... yeah, he kind of does... Doesn't mean I have to like it, though).

In the end, the Cybermen are defeated.  Jamie sacrifices his own life to allow the Doctor to escape with Zoe.  The Doctor gets Zoe back to her home on the space station, but not before Zoe forgets the Doctor again.  And the end theme tune plays - with the Troughton-era tune melding into the Colin Baker tune and I want to crawl into a corner and sob.

(On a lighter note - I can't help but think that there was someone at the Big Finish studios that, in a fit of boredom fueled by whimsy, doodled various mythical creatures like fairies and mermaids as partially-converted Cybermen.  On the surface, the idea sounds terrible, but it really works and it's even worth a good laugh).

On the whole, I loved this entire trilogy (I'm not even sure what to call it.  The Jamie Trilogy? The Mind Robber sequel?)  It's Big Finish doing what they do best - creating new stories for well-loved characters and putting them in physical and emotional situations that were unheard of Back in the Day (and probably couldn't be done on TV anyway).  I love that Jamie gets another chance to shine and underneath all that life experience as a jaded war hero, he's still that lovable and endearing traveling companion that I absolutely adore.  This aspect of Jamie meshes well with the Sixth Doctor - where Jamie isn't 100% sure of this goofy-looking "Frenchman" and the Doctor is able to handle it with grace and appeal to that part of Jamie that never really forgot his friend (I maintain that the companions who are made to forget the Doctor still retain a bit of remembrance deep in their subconscious because an experience like the Doctor is too wonderful and precious to ever truly erase.  Sure, it's sentimental and goopy but I don't care).

Bottom Line: I need a Jamie marathon now. (I don't care that it's 12:30 in the morning - where is my "Mind Robber" DVD???)

Happy Birthday Peter Davison!

On this lucky Friday the 13th, let's raise our celery sticks to the air, my friends, and wish the wonderful Peter Davison (the Fifth Doctor) a very happy birthday!  To celebrate, here's the very special Children in Need "Doctor Who" short where the Tenth Doctor meets up with my good friend Fivey - "Time Crash."

 

 Wait - there's a Confidential for this thing too? *squee*

 

 On that note - Happy Birthday Peter Davison and best wishes for many, many more!!

The Preemptive Critic - Now With Added Laugh Tracks!

Seeing as how I recently saw The Hunger Games in theaters, it follows that I also saw a new crop of trailers for upcoming movies. And, Dear Readers, I have reviews to share:

1. What to Expect When You're Expecting

 

First Thought: You're making a comedy based solely on a non-fiction book that tells pregnant women that a little foot swelling is normal??  (That's as much as I can mention on this blog. I try to keep things PG around here).

Poor Lionsgate.  They have this utterly awesome and incredibly popular franchise in The Hunger Games, yet they have provide advertising for their crappier offerings in the name of - what? Fairness? More money? Chris Rock trying to credibly explain how to parent a child?  Honestly, we've done the whole Pregnancy-Baby-Is-Coming-Life-Is-Changing-And-It's-Gonna-Suck-For-You-And-Your-Selfish-Social-Life thing already (Look Who's Talking comes to mind - though the addition of the baby's inner monologue made this a worthwhile and original comedy).  The only thing What To Expect... could possibly add is the obligatory raunchiness to the poop jokes (I don't know how and I certainly would prefer never to find out).  And I've never liked Jennifer Lopez anyway.

I preemptively hate this movie (though I wish that Jeff Vice was still writing for the Deseret News. He'd have something entertaining to say for this pile of diaper goo).


2. The Avengers





Okay, this is an easy one.  Marvel has done an excellent job with this franchise to this point and everything's coming together in this gigantic superhero team-up flick.  The leads are all going to be fantastic, but one thing this trailer shows is that Loki is one badass villain (which is surprising, given that many interpretations of Loki and other trickster-type characters over the years have portrayed a goofy prankster.  A clever prankster, to be sure, but still goofy).  Personally, I like the direction they're taking Loki in this movie - and credit certainly goes to Tom Hiddleston's performance. Even this brief trailer shows just how conniving and evil he is, while still staying true to his traditionally tricky personality.

(And the Hulk looks great, by the way)

I preemptively love this movie.


Bonus Track: Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 2





"We're the same temperature now."


BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA *snort* HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA *wheeze* HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA *cough* ha-ha-ha...ha... *breathe*

When the Summit logo came up, I actually felt my insides shrivel in disgust. But that line spoken like a romantic sentiment by Edward "Shovel Face" Cullen was the funniest thing I heard in that movie theater (including Effie Trinket's "That is mahogany!" outburst. Certainly funnier than that horse turd of a baby-movie trailer).

I preemptively hated this movie before I even saw the trailer... but I now preemptively love the RiffTrax version.

(Now Bella can stare at Edward with red-eye!)

Enough of These Shenanigans...

Time to come clean - I'm not really engaged. I'm not even going out with anybody. Dave doesn't exist (well, there are many Daves in the world, but I made this particular one up). I certainly have a lot of gullible friends (and family too, but I already knew they were sponges. Funnily enough, it was my dad and my brother that believed it the most, with the latter threatening to punch me for it. My mom and sisters totally saw through it).  And - most importantly - that post was my most-viewed post ever! (What, you people aren't interested in my movie reviews? It's time to rethink your priorities, folks!)

Anyway, Happy April Fools' Day everyone!  Thank you all for being good sports about it :)

(I'm just floored that I pulled that one off so well. I'm going to be laughing about this all week!)

An Important Announcement!!!

I've kind of kept quiet about my personal life lately, with good reason.  I have family and friends who tend to go overboard with certain types of expectations and I never wanted to get my hopes up.  But now things are official and it's kind of pointless to keep this quiet and everyone's going to hear about it, so they probably ought to hear it from me first.

I'm engaged.

No, seriously! You laugh, but a few months ago I met this really awesome guy named Dave.  I'd taken a lot of sub shifts at the Whitmore Library one week and he came in while I was working the front desk.  It was really slow (like, pretty much dead) and he started talking to me - found out that he's really into science fiction and fantasy, but he's really cool about it.  The next day, he was back at the library.  I saw him a few times from the backroom, but I didn't think anything of it and just assumed that he lived close by.  The third day I was there, he was there again and he asked me out!  A bunch of his friends were going to watch some movies and he invited me to come, so I did.  And we really hit it off!  Before I went home, he asked me out again - this time, it would just be me and him.  He said he'd make dinner and then we'd go to a movie (he's actually quite a good cook - he made the most fabulous pulled pork BBQ in the world!)

Since then, we've become the best of friends - he's pretty much the most wonderful man in the entire world (though he's not much of a Doctor Who fan.  He likes it well enough, but I have some convincing to do to get him to come to Gallifrey with me next year. We might be able to trade off - if I go to a Star Trek convention for him or something. We're working on that) and I am the luckiest girl right now!

Oh yes, you'll all want to hear how he proposed (sorry, not used to all the ~*~girly~*~ flutters - it's really surreal).  He called me Friday night, but I was at work so he left a message.  He called to tell me that he was stranded in downtown Salt Lake (he's got the worst beater Hyundai. I think it's more chicken wire and rubber bands than actual car) and he needed a lift.  He'd made it as far as the new City Creek mall, but *ahem* "Old Reliable" wasn't going anywhere else.  So, I drove clear into downtown, found a parking meter (bear in mind, it is General Conference weekend, so there's a lot of out-of-towners taking in the sights), put in some change and called him.  He said that he was at the fountain next to the South Visitors Center on Temple Square, which I thought was a little odd, considering that's somewhat out of the way from where I thought he'd be.  But if you have to wait somewhere after dark, you could certainly do a whole lot worse than Temple Square.  I walked over to the fountain and I saw him sitting there in a nice suit.  By now, I wondering what the heck is going on.  But then he got down on one knee and proposed (rather loudly - again, this is Temple Square the night before General Conference and there are TONS of people around).  Long story short - I said yes and we hugged and he kissed me and people applauded and took pictures and there was lots of crying (I told Dave I'd say I did most of the crying - but he has a little something-something stuck in his eye too).

So, yep - I'm engaged and I'm totally thrilled by it.  We haven't settled on a date (honestly - I just got used to the idea of ever getting married!), but it will be at the Salt Lake Temple and just look for the details when the come out, okay?

Oh, and we did take pictures of the ring and us after he proposed (note how red my eyes are).  You can see those pictures here.