It's your birthday! JE

Happy Birthday!  Okay, it's not technically your birthday yet at my house.  But it is well into your birthday at your house, so I feel it is appropriate to say woohoo, yay, and ready or not, you have entered your final year as a twenty-something.  Don't worry, I've been at this thirty-something thing for a while and you have nothing to fear.  

I am SO glad that you have finished Supernatural season 5.  I won't tell you how far I have gotten into season 6 because it's your birthday, but since season 5 is behind us and it is (so far) my favorite, I wanted to give it some time.  Because of it being my favorite. Like if I had known that I was going to like it this much when I was starting season 1, I would be finished now. First of all, as we have discussed, there is Cas.  How can you not love this guy?  From his normal, awkward, angel who can't help but kinda love the humans self to future Cas in his hippie free love drug phase.  How amazing was that?  And I love that Sam & Dean had to communicate with him over the phone after he hid them from the angels.  So funny.  I was also a big fan of the twist with the trickster being the angel Gabriel.  I liked the episodes with him in general because they were such a good balance of humor (when they were the CSI guys I was in hysterics) and real, serious danger due and lack of control, and then the added element that he was an angel was very well done.  And because because every show needs a bad guy that you love to hate and hate to love, we get Crowley.  I have never seen Mark Sheppard in a role that he does not just knock out of the park.  Romo on Battlestar, Badger on Firefly, Canton on Doctor Who, the director of the Ring on Chuck, Valda on Warehouse, etc.  Elated to hear him talk about all these things at Emerald City Comicon.  And I would be remiss not to mention how much I loved the appearance of Ash in heaven.  Because his take on heaven was so perfectly in character, up to and including the fact that he had hacked the system.  This season gave us so much in the field of old character development and new characters.  Including our main duo and Bobby, who would could be my favorite.  However I think my real favorite is Chuck the prophet.  First of all, I am a total sucker for all things meta, so the whole thing where there are books about their lives that have a obsessive fandom is brilliant.  Then fitting it into the whole angel storyline and having him be a prophet was perfect.  Plus he was completely endearing.  Per usual, my love of a show is completely character driven.  I mean, I like this storyline this season.  I think I was drawn to it because it was a different kind of apocalypse than anything on Buffy, which steered clear of the traditional biblical world end and stayed in its own world with all things hellmouth.  But angels and demons and Lucifer, plus the four horseman (Death was great, terrifying, but then he also likes a good meal.  Even though rational and chained to Lucifer, he is still formidable and demanding of the respect that comes with his roll.  Definitely the best horseman), that is just all kinds of crazy fun.  I do worry about getting too attached though, as they clearly have no trouble killing people off.  I mean, it's no Game of Thrones, but certainly on par with a Whedon show.  

I also just caught up on Teen Wolf from last night.  Um, holy, all the things batman.  I don't even know what to do with this season, but I love it.  Although I am terrified.  But they won't kill off _____ (name redacted to prevent spoilers), will they?  When you get caught up, I'm going to need you to reassure me that there is no way they would kill ______.  You'll know.

Oscar news!  Idina Menzel is going to perform Let it Go from Frozen!  So exciting.  Which means I really need to see that movie.  Also, I don't know if you saw the video clip I reblogged on tumblr the other day of Anthony Rapp singing a song from the new musical If/Then, but I cannot wait to see clips of that at the Tonys.  It comes out in March, so I assume that is plenty of time?  And if not, then definitely next year. Because it is written by the guys who did Next to Normal (which is amazing) and stars Rapp and Menzel.  A-freaking-mazing.  I don't even care what it's about, I just want the soundtrack.  And the ability to apparate to NYC and obtain tickets for opening night.  

I haven't watched a ton of the Olympics.  But I did see that adorable boy from Canada win the gold in that skiing competition I don't understand.  But he won it in Vancouver (and was the first Canadian to win a gold at home), and this was a repeat victory.  They ski down a hill with lots of little bumps, very quickly, and there are two jumps where they do a flip in the air and try to be kind of fancy, but the speed matters too.  And of course, not falling is important.  Anyhow, I saw that, and he was adorable again.  I also watched a little of the team figure skating.  The Russians were obliterating everyone.  There was a tiny Russian girl whose free skate was brilliant, Tara Lipinski & Johnny Weir are doing the commentary and they were gushing over this performance, and also throwing in a bit of a "I have thought she was the dark horse to win this for months."  Yeah, yeah, you're smart, but see no one else was watching this months ago, no one cared then. And apparently Shaun White did not win a medal today.  Did he cut his hair before the last Olympics?  If not, then my theory is that all his power was clearly in his hair and the haircut took it all away.

Okay, well, I think that's about all I've got for now.  Hope that your birthday is spectacular!!  

After her impressive, buzzfeed influenced efforts creating your birthday message, she has returned to marathoning West Wing and counting the days until her new job.  But there are sure to be more magical adventures soon.

No no no no no no no no - JE

In the immortal words of Robin Sherbatsky when she finds that ring in the bottom of her champagne: No no no no no you cannot do this to me, no no no no. Harry & Hermione? No. Not at all. Hermione is, as we all know, the brightest witch of her age. And she picks Ron, who is loving and loyal and imperfect. And not as smart as her and that is perfectly okay. And maybe he goes on to run a joke shop with his brother while she does crazy genius things. And she appreciates the balance that he brings to her intellectual activist life. And he, after the therapy that they will all need after that ordeal, is perfectly okay being in her shadow because he has more than established his worth because after years of being the sidekick to the boy who lived, not to mention decades of being the youngest brother he finally gets that the spotlight is just that, a spotlight. It doesn't determine your worth, it just makes you visible. Ron Weasley is no fool and he has witnessed what comes with the kind of glory he wanted when he first looked into the mirror of erised and he is just fine being Mr. Hermione Granger, Harry Potter's best mate.  There is no, Harry and Hermione make more sense. The brainy girl with big teeth and crazy hair is suddenly beautiful and ends up with the leading man? Where have we heard that before? Oh, I know, everywhere. You can't develop this relationship over 7 books and come back and say, eh, should have completely re-written that. That epilogue that is way too pretty (so much post-war therapy) and if you want to discuss that, then perhaps. But leave Ron Weasley alone. He grew beautifully over 7 books and more than merited the love of the girl who saved all their asses repeatedly. 
Not to mention, by making it always Hermione & Ron, and not a question, it made it so that the book was about everything else.  It wasn't which one will she pick (unless you were a little delusional) because it was established that Harry & Hermione were fantastic friends.  There wasn't Team Ron vs Team Harry because that would have been completely foolish in so many ways.  It was Team Trio all the way.  Or maybe Team Hermione, cause we know who the real hero was (sorry Harry, you are very brave and talented too, but that isn't the point of this post, so just get over it)

Ms. Rowling, I am a tremendous fan of your work and will continue to be so, but in this case I will stick to the wisdom of one John Green. Once they are out there, books belong to their readers. This reader will be ignoring this ridiculous revelation.

Okay, now that I've gotten that taken care of, let's see what else.

Currently I have the Olympic Opening Ceremony on in the background.  I had thoughts of a little live blogging, but I missed the first 45 minutes and now it is just the athletes parade and while the sweaters are certainly intriguing, I don't think I can come up with that many creative things.  I could just make Putin jokes, but I don't want to lose any potential Russian audience by getting blocked. 

So, I certainly don't want to defend the media, but the State of the Union was kind of uneventful.  Obama was like, you losers can't do anything, so here is what I'm going to try and do with executive powers, anytime you want to try and accomplish something, I live right down the street.  Whereas the Beiber antics might get him deported.  Okay, not really.  I don't think we deport Canadian pop stars, but we probably should when they commit crimes.  

Interjecting: Team Bermuda for the win, they are wearing shorts.  Apparently no one told them it was the Winter Olympics or that they were going to Russia.  

I am pretty sad about Philip Seymour Hoffman.  Such a horrible waste, a horrible thing for his 3 young children, and on a purely selfish level, I am just sad that there will never be another film that is improved by his perfect performance.  There are not many performers on his level (I'm thinking Meryl Streep, Daniel Day Lewis... in my opinion Amy Adams & Christian Bale are close or at least getting there... a few others) where every role is extraordinary and unique and exactly what the movie needed.  At least from the work that I saw, he made bad movies good, good movies great, and excelled when the movie was truly exceptional. Drug addiction is terrible and tragic and I hope that from this high profile death, a few people take notice, pay attention, and maybe think about getting some help.  I think Aaron Sorkin, someone who certainly knows about addiction, wrote a simple but elegant obituary here: http://entertainment.time.com/2014/02/05/aaron-sorkin-philip-seymour-hoffmans-death-saved-10-lives/

Interjection: With the cyrillic alphabet, I never know who will be coming out next.  It's just all over the place.  But don't worry, Canada is here!  I love those guys.  I also love when countries have just one athlete.  Like Kyrgyzstan. And Malta.

Okay, since we are talking about the Olympics, I think the most interesting thing is the addition of a team figure skating medal.  So while they will have the normal competition for the individual and pairs medals, there is also a team medal, which means more figure skating (which I enjoy) and better team spirit, which is nice.  Someone Nancy Kerrigan is thinking, really?  Where the hell was this idea when I got clobbered in the knee?  And Tonya Harding is like, eh, wouldn't have stopped me.

So, I didn't go to the parade on Wednesday.  I really thought a lot about it, but I decided I didn't need to go.  Although maybe I should have because it all still feels a little surreal.  I can't really wrap my head around it.  Superbowl champions.  With the intensity of the NFC championship game and the one-sidedness of the Superbowl, I can't help but think of the 2004 World Series.  After that legendary ALCS, the Red Sox's World Series win and ending of their curse was completed in an anti-climatic manner.  The real series had been that ALCS agains the Yankees.  
But ultimately on Wednesday I had way too much to do at work, it was ridiculously cold (not polar vortex cold, but close), and I knew it was going to be crowded and delayed, and I could just watch it on my computer.  I just love how excited everyone was and that there were more people downtown than live in Seattle proper.  Speaking of the World Series... when we win that, I'll be one of the people camping out on the street the night before.  But you already knew that.

I have seen more Oscar flicks, as you know, but will wait until I've gotten through them all for a full review and award prediction post.

I mentioned the polar vortex and now Sarah is in a real life winter wonderland.  Portland has been blanketed with snow.  I haven't seen Frozen yet, so I don't know if this means she succeed or not on her last mission, but she is going to have to wait it out with her Bailey's & hot chocolate.

Kacey Honors the Olympics...

Okay I had this whole plan of finishing this post like a week ago and post it in honor the ending of the Olympics (which I greatly enjoyed watching with all my free time)…however that time has come and gone…as it so often does… but I still am posting this in honor of the Olympics, because the Olympics made me cry… and they are awesome… and sports movies make me cry…and they are also awesome. So in honor of the 2012 Olympics and all great sporting events that bring people together in an outstanding way I present my favorite sports movies. (WARNING: Do not watch more than 3 of these movies at once as massive amounts of sobbing may ensue.)

Mighty Ducks Trilogy: Classic. We loved Pacey before he was Pacey (or Peter).  I don’t really know much about hockey, but because of this movie anytime I watch hockey I wait for someone to do the “Flying V”. 

Remember the Titans: Football bringing a community together to overcome small mindedness.  As you can see from the glossary this is one Jamie and I quote often and have seen many times.  Also there is a little girl who loves football as much as I do and gets almost as crazy as I do while watching.

The Replacements: This is actually Dad’s favorite, but one I find very entertaining. I have to say the sob factor isn’t so high… but the tears may fall because of the laughing. Very funny.
 

Rudy: Who doesn’t love Rudy? Even if you don’t like football, this is a great film about never giving up on a dream. And as Jamie mentioned in her last post, it is the reason people may silently chant “Rudy, Rudy” at the end of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Hoosiers: Great small town story. Basketball team does the unexpected and coach does not give up his beliefs because of outside pressures. But really I still don’t know a Hoosier is.

The Sandlot: This has to be about the third time we have mentioned The Sandlot on this blog. So watch it already. Rag tag group of kids hanging out playing baseball...awesomeness ensues.

A League of Their Own: This is a family favorite. Baseball is pretty much an Emerson family religion (hence the number of baseball movies chosen) but when you combine baseball with girl power, it pretty becomes the Emerson family motto. And although we say no crying in baseball… there is crying in baseball… just not while on the field.

Field of Dreams: Thought about hard enough, this is really a strange movie. But that’s what makes it great. Voices from the sky, dead people coming out of corn fields and baseball… ending with a simple catch between father and son…what’s not to love?

Bull Durham: Again not so much about the crying as it is about the laughing. But you’ll never look at a meetings at the pitchers’ mound the same way, but you’ll better understand the church of baseball.

Cool Runnings: Only movie to make the list that is actually about the Olympics. This movie is hysterical… Jamaicans learn to bobsled…based on a true story… and even though it’s funny it will get you in the end with a slow clap... tears, lots of tears.

So what have we learned? Sports movies cool. The Olympics are cool. And crying is cool.

Coming Soon: Sarah writes a rap about Greek Gods to the tune of Fresh Prince of Bel Air.