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September 27, 2013

Stuff and Things 9/27/13

So, I decided to try a new thing, where once a week I just take the time to talk about whatever. Stuff and things (which is a phrase I'm shamelessly stealing from my friend. Hi Lil!). It's not really a round up thing, since I only do two posts per week, but I wanted a place where I can talk about books or music or TV or whatever without taking away from the recipe I'm posting. And maybe even post excerpts from what I'm writing, if I ever get brave enough to do that.

Fair warning: any talk of TV/books/movies will likely contain spoilers, but I'll make sure to post it under a jump cut, so it won't be plastered all over my homepage.

So let's get started!

Life as I Know It
A couple really cool things happened recently. My Twitter account was featured on Shari's Berries as one of their "100 Dessert Lovers to Follow." Which feels a little odd, since I don't use my Twitter that often except for Triberr, and the occasional rant about work or retweet from The Mary Sue. So, it's more of a win for my tribemates, whose recipes I share. Go you, my Triberr peeps! Still, it's pretty cool.

Also, RecipeGirl pinned my Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows. Oh. My. GAH. I'm like so totally starstruck. I don't have the words. (And if this can strike me speechless, I am very worried about the chance of meeting John Barrowman at NYCC.) I just, I'll be over here fangirling, okay?

 
This is one of my favorite videos ever. 

Speaking of fangirling, I've made it my mission to watch all the vlogbrother videos from the beginning. It's quite the undertaking, but I'm already 150 videos in, and it's been a lot of fun seeing the genesis of the nerdfighters, and Hank geeking out about Deathly Hallows, and recognizing bits that John will later put in his books. Plus, in my pants jokes never get old, and did they ever actually make the evil baby orphanage book? Because that sounded awesome.

Music
Five For Fighting released a new album. YAAAAAAY!!! I've been in love with Five For Fighting almost as long as I've been in love with Joss Whedon, so it's been a significant portion of my lifespan. And one of his songs, "Transfer," actually inspired my 2011 NaNo Novel, which I am currently in the process of editing. (blech, editing) So I totally preordered the new album, Bookmarks, without hearing a single note, and I was not disappointed.

(Before I go further, I should explain that Five For Fighting isn't a band. It's one guy, John Ondrasik. Just so I don't confuse you)

"What If," the new single (video above) is a good song, but it was definitely a safe choice for a single, since it reminds me a lot of "Chances." It's a bit classic Five For Fighting. And I don't really get the video. Okay, I get that the robot sacrifices his heart to save the little boy, but where did the little boy come from, and why the balloons at the end- was it the robot's dream to fly? There were a couple parts with wings, but they didn't seem hugely important. Was it some sort of dystopian future where robots outnumber humans? I feel like I'm missing pieces of the story, and it's a little frustrating, since story is one of the most important things to me.

But that's not really important; it's just a symptom of my neurosis. What's important is that "Heaven Knows" is one of the best songs I've heard in a while. And "Symphony Lane" is a great, sweeping opus, that speaks a lot to his classical training. And "Down" is just a sweet song that is my new favorite. It's hard not to like any song that opens with "Hey good looking/what you got cooking?" and you're listening to it while baking. It's a good album; I definitely recommend it



TV: Here there be spoilers
Castle- I'm reserving judgement until I see the second part on Monday. Then we'll talk.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.- is kind of annoying to type out. Wow, acronyms are not fun.
Source
I've been so excited for this show since they first announced they were pitching it (well before it was even picked up. I follow Maurissa Tancharoen on Twitter, so I get all the updates), and I think all that build up kind of hurt it a little. It felt like it was trying too hard to be "Whedonesque,"- like it was some sort of imitation of what someone thinks a Joss Whedon show should be- and it's a little annoying that the whole team is kind of ridiculously young and attractive (Sky lives in a van; how does she have such perfect hair?). But since historically the pilot episode is often one of the worst of a series, and I pretty much adore everyone on the production team, and it's Joss Whedon, and COULSON, I'll stick it out. Fingers crossed that Melinda May turns out to be the gruff, crochety veteran/mentor trope, because those are always my favorites.

Although I'm really interested in seeing how Coulson survived. There were some hints that the "hut in Tahiti" wasn't exactly a hut in Tahiti. But it's "better that he doesn't know" so of course that means we're going to find out, and it will be epic and mind-blowing. My current theory is that it was either Asgard- because Coulson kept referring to it as magic, although I don't why they'd keep that from him- or it has something to do with the Chitauri tech that nearly made Gunn go boom. Gunn, meaning the not-quite-superhero guy, I think his name was Mike. He played Gunn in Angel.

And I love seeing familiar faces from the Whedonverse pop up. Hooray for Gunn and Sheppard Book! Fingers crossed that Victor from Dollhouse (I'm totally blanking on the actor's name right now. Gah. I follow him on Twitter, too. Bad fangirl)(Google tells me his name is Enver Gjokaj. How did I forget that?) shows up. He had a small part in the Avengers, and it would be so cool if that translated into a major story plot in Agents of SHIELD. Hear that, Whedon? Make it happen. Plllllleeeeeeeaaaaaaassssseeeeee!

Shameless Self-Promotion
Don't forget to check out this week's posts.

Next week, we'll start talking books. Any stuff and things you want to talk about? I'm listening.
And Needy McSnuggles is purring. And also burrowing into my arm