Love Me Some Videos...

Hey, guys!

Happy Monday/President's Day! I hope you all are having a good holiday and hopefully don't have to work today...

Me?

I'm sitting here at my work desk...waiting on a conference call to start. Super fun, right?

In lieu of typing up a full post [I don't actually have the time right this moment], I'm posting a few awesome videos...

The first one is the Missy Elliot tribute video that Alyson Stoner posted last week. [She was one of the girls that danced in a few of Missy's music videos. She also did a ton of Disney Channel stuff] She was a great dancer back then, and she still is!

Next, I'm posting a video of Pentatonix performing Maroon 5's 'Payphone.' I love it! These madly talented performers won a Grammy for their 'Daft Punk Medley.' Genuinely happy for these guys!!

Here's the trailer for this week's episode of Arrow...

It looks like it's going to be fairly good one [though, I'll admit that I'm biased...I love the show]. I'm still not crazy about the Oliver/Felicity situation...here's to hoping that's resolved before the end of the season....Have I mentioned that I'm not a big fan of watching new episodes on a weekly basis? Netflix binge-watching really takes care of the whole 'what happens next' anxiety...just saying...

 

Okay, disclaimer for this one: I haven't actually watched this video before adding this to this post. But, I love this video game...soooo. Yep. Posting this video so I can watch it later!

Alrighty...

Hope you enjoy the videos! Will post again soon...

/Facepalm....

As promised, here's my quasi-rant about the latest episode of Arrow...[I think it's safe to say that there will probably be spoilers, sooooooo....yeah, if you aren't quite caught up with the series, you may want to wait and read this post later]

It's Felicity!

As I've addressed in several posts, I'm a huge fan of CW's Arrow...and [as can be read here and here], Felicity Smoak is, by far, one of my favorite characters. Ever. And I think at this point I should reiterate the fact that I've watched a ton of shows and movies, and have read a lot of books and comics...so, for me to say that Felicity is among my favorite characters...that's pretty huge. [To me, anyway...]

One of the driving elements of the Arrow story line [over the second half of season 2 and season 3, so far] has been the teasing of a potential romance between Felicity and Oliver...I mean, come on...who doesn't want to see the brilliant, 'nerdy' girl end up with Starling City's prince charming? [Though his reputation is definitely tarnished, thanks to the happenings during seasons 1 and 2...I still think that Oliver is going to come out everything on top!]

And then, there was the first episode of season 3

*** Okay, not kidding about the spoilers...here they are!***

For as long as Felicity has been a relevant character on the show, it's been obvious that she has some sort of attraction to Oliver. [Not that anyone could blame her...he's quite the handsome/charming guy!] Especially in the 1st season, before Felicity learns about Oliver's secret past-time, she adorably fumbles through social interactions with the handsome hero...as a fellow sufferer or social awkwardness, I really felt like I could relate.

And yet, as the episodes went on, it became more and more clear that the attraction wasn't quite as one-sided as it seemed...especially during the last few episodes of season 2, it started to look like Oliver was the only one that was denying his seat on the 'Olicity' ship. [hahaha...see what I did there?] During season 2, Oliver seemed to be confused on how he wanted to handle the reappearance of the long-thought-to-be-dead Sara...at one point, he even suggests to Sara that they live together, but that notion is rather short-lived. Sara decides to return to the League of Assassins [to hopefully ensure the safety of her family], and this also takes Oliver out of her realm of possibility. It seems as though this decision was for the best, and as a Felicity fan, I was thrilled to see Sara go! [Sara..../sigh....I wound up liking her character more than her sister, Laurel...but I wasn't able to reconcile Sara's actions from the beginning of the series...in my mind, she would always be the younger sister who stole her sister's boyfriend. Always.]

So. With Sara out of the way as a competing romantic interest, I thought that surely Oliver would pursue his increasingly obvious interest in Felicity. And in the first episode of season 3, when he asked Felicity out on an official date, I was ecstatic! She got all dressed up, Oliver put on a suit and tie, there were reservations to a very nice restaurant...it was an official date! [At this point in the series, Oliver had lost his family's company and was very, very poor...which, in my opinion, makes it even more touching that Oliver went through the trouble to treat Felicity to a nice dinner] The series of pictures on the left is a scene from said date...

Okay, so at this point, I realize that I've left out a key part of the Felicity/Oliver dynamic...up until the night that Oliver takes Felicity out for a date, Oliver refrained from pursuing his romantic interest because he had decided that he couldn't be with anyone that he truly loved. His rationale was that as long as he is Oliver Queen and the Arrow, he would be putting anyone that he cared about right into the cross hairs of whatever psycho-villain that bent on destroying Starling City/the Arrow/Oliver Queen. Now, I'm not absolutely positive, but I think Oliver even says this to Felicity at some point...

/sob

Back to the date: things seem to go well, there's the expected awkward banter...and then, there's an attack on the restaurant. Oliver scrambles to make sure that Felicity's safe [I can't remember the details...not sure if he pursues the assailants or not]...Oliver takes Felicity to their secret headquarters [Does that place even have a name? It should...] When Felicity comes to, she frantically looks for Oliver...I cried...those two are lying if they say that they don't love each other...

A good while later, Oliver begins to hint to Felicity that he was right in his initial thoughts that he would be putting her in danger if they continued to pursue a romantic relationship. Felicity tells Oliver that she doesn't necessarily think that it's so...and it all seems to culminate with Oliver telling Felicity that he loves her [even though they can't be together].




Now, I can't say that I completely blame Felicity for her response here...I think she was absolutely in the right for calling Oliver out for dangling the 'perpetual maybe' and not outright deciding to pursue a romantic relationship/retain a mostly-platonic working relationship. It would not be fair for Oliver to ask Felicity to stay in that fuzzy gray area between girlfriend and friend...soooo, I kind of have to respect Felicity for having the self-assuredness to demand that Oliver make a clear choice about what he wanted...

But yeah. this situation was rather frustrating...but it gets worse...

A new character comes into play [Ray Palmer. He's yet another millionaire genius. He bests Oliver in a corporate showdown to buy Queen Consolidated, and ends up becoming Felicity's new boss...] who clearly shows interest in Felicity...and though Felicity comes across as resistant to Ray's advances at first, within a few episodes she seems to be warming up to the guy.

To be fair, a good bit of this 'warming' happens while Oliver is out of the picture. [Oliver goes on a quest, of sorts, to clear up a 'blood debt' with the leader of the League of Assassins...he is presumed dead] About halfway through the latest episode, it appears that Felicity has finally found some peace with Oliver's death and started to move on...aaaaaand of course, this is the time when Oliver makes his grand re-appearance in Starling City. [The audience has known for almost an entire episode that Oliver is still alive...but, of course, he has no way of contacting anyone and letting them know...]

Noooooooo!!!!!

When Oliver and Felicity finally have a chance to talk, face-to-face, she kind of just let's Oliver have it...

I'm guessing that she was sort of venting the pain of having mourned Oliver for a month, and she was angry that it took so long for him to let anyone know that he was alive...but /sigh...come on!!!

I think she really should have cut the guy some slack!

I mean, he practically died. He went and faced down with a master assassin. He did this to save his sister's life!! Felicity has been one of the few characters that's been able to see Oliver's true-self...but I'm guessing that she's fed up with even that facet of Oliver...which, I don't get...

Sooooo....yeah.

This whole, very long post, all boils down to my dislike of this one scene [the one where she says she doesn't want to be a woman that Oliver loves].

It just doesn't make any sense!! [Okay...maybe it kind of does, but that doesn't mean that I like it!]

Thoughts? Comments?

Anybody have any additional insight to the falling apart of 'Olicity'? Because I'm rather at a loss on this one [and I'm tired of typing out this post...]

Selected Snippets...

Hey, guys!

It's been a crazy week....we had so many orders come into the office, I had to work over the weekend and I've been working later than usual pretty much every day this week. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

I would say that it's the overwhelming amount of work that prevents me from experiencing anything that's post-worthy...but I think that, by now, you guys have probably figured out that such a statement wouldn't be entirely true. [What can I say? I take my homebody habits seriously...]

As uneventful as my personal life is [at the moment], there are still a few things that I feel must be acknowledged...or at least thrown out into the paradoxical void that is the internet...

- I need to thank the amazing vocalists in Pentatonix. As a lowly free-time blogger, I'm pretty sure they'll never see this post...but you guys are awesome! Discovered your music a few months ago and have been fangirling ever since...

Listening to yall's music helped me get through this week's hellish amount of work...and it's even saved lives! [I'm not entirely positive that I would have been able to not kill some of the people I work with, if it weren't for your music]

But, seriously. All five of them are crazy talented! You've all won my respect and adoration...as a musician, I know what kind talent and dedication it must take for you guys to do what you do, as well as you do...I hope you guys keep making music...I know I'll keep listening to it!

- If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend the Paddington movie...


The movie is based on the Paddington Bear children's books [I don't remember reading any of them as a kid, but I do remember being vaguely aware of the storyline], and it is adorable!

I thought it was a really cute movie...it seemed to cover quite the span of emotions, definitely not typical for a children's movie. [To be fair...it doesn't take much at all for me to cry over a movie...] The story contains some pretty heavy plot points [death of a family member, confusion of moving to a foreign country, the heartbreaking realization of being unwanted, etc], but manages to keep the overall feel lighthearted enough to keep the movie from needing to come with a self-harm warning.

Overall, it was a lovely movie. I asked the kiddo if he enjoyed the movie and he said he'd give it '100 thumbs-ups'....soooo, I think he might have liked it.

- My DVR is a jerk.

Again, my DVR has betrayed me...it decided not to record this week's episodes of Supernatural and Arrow...a travesty that I only discovered when I finally found myself with enough free time to watch this week's episode of Supernatural.

So much disappointment, DVR...so much disappointment...

Thankfully, I'm caught up to the point of being able to visit CW's website to watch any episodes that I miss...

I'll get caught up with them over the weeke....

Wait...

We just got flooded with about two dozen orders for appraisals...and I wish I were exaggerating.

Looks like I'm going to have to work this weekend, too...

/sobs uncontrollably

Aww, now, see what you've done? Who on Earth
is evil enough to make Dean cry?!?

Love Netflix, Loathe Mean People...

For anyone who might be confused on the issue...

Trivializing someone else's concerns/frustrations is not helpful. Not at all.

In fact, it's quite the opposite.

By doing so, you'll very likely find yourself added to that person's already bothersome list of frustrations.

You'd think that society would have evolved enough to have such fundamental social niceties hardwired to the point of being a default response...but it's not. Far from it.

Am I referring to a particular experience? Yep.
Am I blowing it out of proportion? Probably.
Is the inevitable realization that I am likely overreacting something that I plan to acknowledge? /sigh...do I have to?

Ugh.

You know...there's a definite downside to constant self-reflection...

9/10, I reach the point of realizing the faults in my behavior...and 9/10 I feel obligated to adjust it...and then 9/10 I end up feeling guilty over the way I handled my reaction to the situation...[note that at no point is an apology from the other party mentioned...nope...]

/siiiiiigh. Okay. I'm resigning myself to about 45 seconds worth of self-contained seething...

/seethe /seethe /seethe /seethe

Alright...so that's that...

I really miss my Netflix. Way more than I should probably miss a streaming video service. Netflix trumps interactions with terrible people every time.

In other news...

I am about 5 episodes from being caught up with Arrow....

I don't think I could put into words how much I love this show! It really is that good! [If you haven't been watching the show...you should start catching up on it now so that you don't end up 10 seasons behind like I did with Supernatural...]

This chick...she's
amazing...

And I adore Felicity Smoak...can we just talk about how amazing her character is? Yeah, there are other strong female characters, but Felicity is my favorite, by far...

She's brilliant, witty, and awkward...and yet she's also confident in her abilities and she stands up for her beliefs, no matter who the naysayer is...

She's quirky and adorable and she definitely holds her own in the midst of a cast of characters that should be overwhelming...pretty sure that Felicity Smoak is my spirit animal /grin...

Been there, too.../ouch lol

Lego, Arrow, and Avoidance....

I promise I'm not the jerk that you
think I am...

Well...

I should probably start with an apology of sorts...

I hadn't originally planned on going almost two weeks between posts...but, every time I sat down and tried to start a post, I couldn't come up with anything worth posting...

After a few days, started a post wound up becoming quite the daunting task...kind of like when you've waited beyond the proper social conventions for responding to a friend or associate in a timely manner...it's not that you truly meant to take weeks to get around to calling/emailing/texting them back...but here you are...weeks later...attempting to respond to a now ancient message...and desperately attempting to construct said response in a way that sounds the least like an inconsiderate a-hole...

Yep...it's like that. [Do people without social anxiety issues have this same problem?]

Now that my awkward metaphorical tap dancing is out of the way, I can post about far more entertaining things!

Legos....Legos everywhere...

This past weekend, Birmingham hosted the Brick Fair...the Lego Convention has been around since 2008, but it's only been stopping in Alabama since 2012.

I'd decided to take the kiddo...and the crowd was much, much larger than I'd anticipated. I'd timed our arrival to be within 10 minutes of the start time...and we still had to wait in line a good 10-15 minutes before we had reached the table to buy tickets. I guess more people like Lego than I'd thought!

There were lots of vendors and lots or pretty awesome displays...if you are [or know] a Lego fan, I definitely recommend paying the Brick Fair a visit next year...

What else.../ponders...

Oh, yes...I've finally returned to watching Arrow...[and it feels like I'm cheating on Supernatural]

Now that I've started watching it again, I can't really remember why I'd put off watching the 2nd season for so long...the 2nd season is pretty amazing!

In the 2nd season, a lot of 'new' characters are introduced [though, some are not entirely new...some are just new to the pertinent story line]...and I would say that it's in this season, more so than the 1st, that you'll see more of the connections between the characters. I consider myself as fairly well-versed in the world of comic books...enough to have realized who some of the characters are before their 'big reveals'....and I am loving how the story has developed thus far [and certainly curious to see what they plan on doing in the future...there are so many possibilities!].

I suppose I've got a slight advantage...playing catch-up removes the agony of having to wait for weeks and weeks to see the next episode. [Having to wait for new episodes of Supernatural is killing me!] And I've programmed my DVR to record season 3 of Arrow...so I'll be all caught up soon enough...

But, yeah. Arrow. Awesome. Watch it.

Lastly...

WTF is going on with our government?

As I'm sure you know, our 'State of the Union' address took place last night. From what I heard, it was more of the same...nothing different form the straight manure that we've been thrown over the last 6 years. I elected to play Disney Infinity with the kiddo rather than subject myself to that bowlful of crazy.

Don't get me wrong...I am very concerned about the state of our nation. But I am adamant that the majority of this country's leaders are not in the same boat. Not by a long shot. Soooo yeah. There's that. It's crap.

There it is....got the awkward 'return post' out of the way...back to blog posting regularly! [That's the plan anyway!]

Nerds, ftw!

Ladies and Gentleman: John Barrowman

I just wanted to post this. Love it! [And you know it's the truth, too!]

More Arrow Please!

I completely forgot to add what I'd found out about Arrow yesterday...

I found out that the second season of Arrow isn't available on Netflix. There are few episodes available on Hulu, but they're mid-season episodes and there are only half a dozen or so that you can watch in their entirety. Also checked the CW website, and it's pretty much the same as Hulu. 

This makes me seriously sad, guys. How can Netflix enable binge-watching of shows and not provide all of the completely aired seasons?!? 

/Swoon

Stephen Amell is just too stinkin' adorable! I did find out the the second season will be available on BluRay and DVD in September. I will be purchasing it...assuming that I'll have the funds to do so...Adding an unexpected car payment on top of already tight finances will certainly put a hindrance on buying things for entertainment. 

And, just because...

He's ab-solutely right...someone please give him my contact info! ;)

Kindergarten And The Green Arrow...

Hey Guys! Hope you're having a good morning so far...

Just dropped my kiddo off for his first day of "big kid school" not too long ago. Everything went just as smoothly as I hoped it would, no complaints about the actual drop-off at all! The parents were told several times that we are not to accompany our children into the school, and I was a bit worried that my kiddo would freak out about having to walk into the relatively unknown building all by himself, but he did great! I can't wait to pick him up this afternoon and listen to all the stories that he's going to have about his first day!

I did one of the overly-sentimental mom things and made a chalkboard sign for his first day of kindergarten.

Not actual photo of my child! 

It's got today's date on it, says his "first day of kindergarten," and then lists some of the his favorite things right now, what he wants to be when he grows up, and stuff that I'll want to remember such as his height and weight. I plan on making a similar sign on the last day of the school year, I think it will be fun to see how much he changes during the year!

As some of you may have read, yesterday was my birthday. I survived another year! Woohoo! I intended to write a post summarizing the past year with some witty humor and profound wisdom sprinkled in, and then I managed to wreck my car...so, yeah. I will still write the post, but probably not until later on tonight. 

However, I do want to mention that I finally finished watching the first season of Arrow! I started watching the show (based on the DC comics character the Green Arrow) about a month or so ago at the suggestion of one of my buddies, and I'm helplessly hooked on the show.

The show has an amazing cast!

The first season of the show chronicles Oliver Queen's return from being stranded on an uncharted island for 5 years. His family had thought both he and his father to be dead for the years Oliver was missing, and unfortunately Oliver's father does not make the return trip home with his son.

The first couple episodes of the show were a bit hard to get through, but I think that's pretty common with most shows. It takes a while to get truly interested in the story line and the development of the characters. I'll be the first to admit that I had written off Oliver Queen's character as a Bruce Wayne knock-off, but I'll happily admit that I was wrong and that the Oliver Queen/Green Arrow story line should definitely be given a chance.

 Stephen Amell stars as the show's Oliver Queen aka the Green Arrow aka the Hood. In my opinion, he does an excelled job bringing the character to life and portraying the mind-boggling amount of growth that is experienced by Oliver at different points in the story arc.

Plus, you've got to admit he's certainly easy on the eyes...not saying that him being devastatingly handsome is the only reason to watch the show, but it certainly doesn't hurt!

As far as eye candy goes, I'm also a fan of Oliver's best friend, Tommy Merlyn, as well as the actor who plays him, Colin Donnell. Tommy holds his own as Oliver's best friend, most of the time is equally funny, charming, and witty. And he's got the whole dark hair/blue eyes combo going on...gets me every time.

Another character that I have come to love is Felicty Smoak played by Emily Bett Rickards. Felicity has a very minor role at first, she works in the IT department of Queen Enterprises, and both Oliver and his step-father, Walter, approach Felicity for help on various tasks. I absolutely love Felicity's character! She's brilliant (at some point in the show you learn that she's a MIT graduate), she's funny, and painfully awkward. Some of the interactions between Felicity and Oliver are so awkward, you'll literally cringe...for example:

Yikes...

No worries, Felicity...I'm right there with you. 

So, if you haven't checked out Arrow yet, I suggest that you do! The complete first season can be found on Netflix, and I know that some of the second season can be found on Hulu...I'm going to see if I can find the complete second season online somewhere. 

I'll leave you guys with this small montage of ridiculously adorable pictures of Oliver and Tommy (Stephen and Collin) hanging out together. Seriously, I love these two! Add them to the list of celebrities that I need to meet in real life...