five friday favorites #15: week of march 27, 2015

I'm late on the Friday Favorites again because ... speech. We had state speech yesterday, and after I got home, I crashed. Because I'm not motivated enough to get the Friday Favorites finished before Friday, they're late ... again.

1. Getting retweeted ... by Sean Lowe!
As we all know by now, I love the Bachelor franchise. So of course I was going to read former Bachelor Sean Lowe's book! After I reviewed it, I linked to my review on Twitter. And then this happened ...

After having a fangirl moment, I went to my blog stats. Almost immediately, my review had more than 100 page views. At the end of the day, it had more than 300. At this moment, it has nearly 500. My stats are going to look really great this month :-)

Thank you, Sean!!!

2. These kids

As you've probably gathered by now, speech has been consuming my life for the last three months. The season ended yesterday with the state meet. (Insert happy dance here.) Last week, we had our district meet, and we had a completely amazing day. We took 14 entries, and 11 got medals. Of those 11, 8 qualified for state and 3 of those 8 were event champions. Because we had two duets and one OID (drama) in our state qualifiers, we ended up taking 12 kids to state! And on top of that, we won the district championship as a team!!!

We didn't have a great day at state from a results standpoint, but the kids gave it their all, and I think most of them really enjoyed the day. Also, we're a very young team--of the 12 kids who went to state, only four had been in speech prior to this year--so the future looks bright for the Nebraska Christian speech team.

3. Three healthy cats
Last Friday, I posted this photo on Instagram:

We all survived the vet visit and are now back in our happy places.
For the cats, that means basking in the sun. For me, that means #MarchMadness.
I swear, going to the vet is one of the most stressful things... #catsofinstagram

Unfortunately, I posted that photo too soon. About five minutes later, Skaara (in the top right corner) started throwing up. I ended up rushing him back to the vet, and he got a steroid shot that finally stopped the vomiting. Poor guy wasn't himself until about midday Saturday. I'm very thankful that the other two didn't have a reaction like Skaara and that he's feeling better!

4. "The Ballad of Serenity"
Basically, this is two fandoms colliding. After Joss Whedon donated to the Kickstarter for The Letter Carrier, Jesse L. Martin, Carlos Valdez, and Rick Cosnett from The Flash recorded this thank you video. All three are majorly involved in The Letter Carrier.
Actors from my favorite new show of the season singing the theme song to one of my favorite gone-too-soon shows? Magical.

5. For the Right Reasons

So of course this has to be my book pick of the week!

For the Right Reasons is such a fun book! Whether you love The Bachelor, hate-watch The Bachelor, or just wonder what all the hoopla is about, you should read this book. It gives a behind-the-scenes look at this fascinating series, and it's written from a Christian perspective, so there aren't any salacious details.

Check out my review here.

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five friday favorites #12: week of jan. 16, 2015

Once again, I've gone two weeks between Friday Favorites ... and really, I'm lucky to even get this posted on a Monday! Speech is in full swing, and by the time I make it home after a full day of work followed by speech practice, I'm done. The other night, I fell asleep on the couch at 6 p.m. Yesterday, I took an afternoon nap--and I never nap! February 28, the next Saturday without a speech meet, can't come soon enough!

1. This

Need I say more?

OK, I will. One of my best friends had never seen Pride & Prejudice before. Tragedy, right? So a few years ago, I gave her the Kiera Knightley version ... not because I think it's the best version (I don't) but because I didn't think she'd ever sit through the five hour BBC masterpiece. A couple months ago, she finally watched the DVD I gave her. Then, shock of all shocks, she told me we should watch the BBC version when she was home for Christmas break! She didn't have to ask twice :-)

We spent one great afternoon basking in Colin Firth-as-Darcy's awesomeness ... or at least I did. While she liked the movie, she actually preferred Matthew Macfadyen's Darcy. Seriously! In her defense, she is quite a few years younger than me, and her first exposure to Colin Firth was in What a Girl Wants, so she struggled to see Amanda Bynes' dad as a romantic figure. Still, though ... how could you ever pick Matthew Macfadyen over Colin Firth???

2. Nikki's Refusal to Throw Juan Pablo under the Bus
It's no secret that I enjoy watching any show the Bachelor team puts out there. So, even though I'm not crazy about "Prince Farming" (seriously, ABC? That's just about as bad as "Juan-uary"), I tuned into the season premiere two weeks ago. Honestly, I find Chris a bit boring, and, after the premiere, I also questioned his judgement. I didn't watch last Monday's episode, and I'm not sure if I'll watch any more this season--we'll see. Anyway, back to the premiere ...

This year, ABC/Team Bachelor decided to kick off the season with an hour long red carpet show, followed by the two hour premiere. (Yes, three hours is excessive. Most of the time, the two hour episodes are far too long!) The highlight (lowlight?) of the red carpet special was Chris Harrison's excruciating interview with Nikki Ferrell, who recently split from last year's bachelor Juan Pablo. I was never a Nikki fan during the season, and Juan Pablo ended up not being my favorite, but Team Bachelor clearly reviles the man--maybe because he didn't play by their rules?

Anyway, Nikki. She went way up in my estimation during the interview. It was painful to watch because Chris was bound and determined to get her to say bad things about Juan Pablo, and she refused. Chris's feelings about Juan Pablo came through loud and clear, and it certainly didn't make me like him any more. But Nikki? Way to be classy, girl! Here's WetPaint's take on the interview.

3. My Crazy Kitty
Oh, Isis. When last week began, I was a little worried about her because she threw up a couple times in close succession. Well, maybe she had a little bug that day, or a hairball, or something, but now she seems completely recovered. The other night, she was tearing around the house, leaping on top of furniture, and "fighting" with anything that would move, all while Hammond and Skaara slept on the couch.

And then this happened:

I got a new Christmas tree that I bought online for 1/3 of the original cost. The box is in terrible shape (blame Walmart or UPS?). I heard a noise and went to investigate. Apparently, Isis has decided that fake Christmas trees are quite comfortable. Silly kitty!

She continued her craziness on Saturday night when she was responsible for this:

But then on Sunday, I saw this side of Isis instead:

I'm so thankful that a "little" thing like getting shot didn't keep her down!

4. Agent Carter
I wasn't sure if I'd watch Agent Carter, but then this review by Rissi helped me decide. I've now watched all three of the episodes that have aired (thanks, HuluPlus!), and I'm completely hooked. I absolutely love the characters, especially Peggy Carter, Jarvis, and Daniel. Oh, Daniel--he's played by Enver Gjokaj (I know, you're probably saying, "Who?"), an actor I've loved ever since Dollhouse. (I think he was the best actor on Dollhouse, even though he played a supporting character.)

So far, this series is completely delightful, and I look forward to continuing it.

5. Breyers Carb Smart Ice Cream
I'm still not ready to talk too much about Trim Healthy Mama, the new diet/eating plan I've been following, though I'll have an update very soon. In the meantime, though, I have to share this amazing ice cream. The last time I had ice cream was sometime before I started THM in December. I love ice cream, but it seemed like too big of a cheat to me because of all the sugar. (THM has you separate fats and carbs and avoid added sugar.) I've made several on-plan shakes that taste kinda sorta like ice cream ... but I was really missing ice cream. Then I read about Breyers Carb Smart, and I thought, how good could it possibly be??? But I saw that Walmart had it yesterday, so I threw it in my cart without even checking the price (yes, desperate times ...)

It. Is. Amazing.

Probably shouldn't eat it every day, but when the ice cream cravings hit, it will be perfect. (It's sweetened with Splenda, which is not a "THM-approved" sweetener, but I'm not really a stickler about that.)

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why i don't miss netflix

When I wrote about dumping Netflix a few months ago, I closed with the following:

As of right now, I think I'll come back to Netflix someday. But maybe I'll discover that I don't miss it much at all.

Well, I was right ... about the second sentence. I don't miss Netflix, not one bit. Here's why: for the first time in my life, I'm experiencing the wonder that is the DVR.

When I moved, I intended to just move my internet service (through CenturyLink) with me. I hadn't paid for TV since I lived with a friend in Grand Island from 2005-2006, so I planned to move my antenna that picked up five stations (on a good day) with me, as well.

That all changed when I called CenturyLink to request a transfer of services and try to negotiate a better rate. I went through the appropriate menu options and waited. And waited. And waited. After 20 minutes without reaching a live person, I hung up and dialed CenturyLink's main competitor in my town: USA Communications. In less than a minute, I was speaking with a customer service rep, and I learned that, for approximately what I was paying for internet through CenturyLink, I could get internet, cable, and a DVR. These prices are the introductory 6-month prices, and the rep urged me to call back when those rates are close to expiring—she said they are nearly always running retention specials for their current customers. Sold!

When I called CenturyLink to cancel—thus pushing different automated menu options—I was on the line with a customer service rep in less than two minutes. So apparently you're much more important to the company if you're wanting to leave than if you're calling for any other reason. I get it, but it's still frustrating.

My introduction to the wonderful DVR commenced the next week, and I quickly fell in love.

What I love most about the DVR is it allows me to watch TV on my schedule. (Yes, the VCR I had hooked up to my parents' cable TV did this too, but the DVR is simpler and doesn't require tapes.) Rarely do I stay up late watching something—I can always record it! And if I have two shows on during the same timeslot? I can either record one and watch the other live, or I can record both and watch them later. This saved me last Tuesday, when NCIS (a show you know I'm obsessed with!) and Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. premiered at the same time, and I had a meeting at work. With the VCR, I would have had to choose the more important of the two (and NCIS would have won with no question), but thanks to the DVR, I could watch both!

Side note: The NCIS premiere was as great as I'd hoped it would be, and I can't wait for part two of Ziva's goodbye tomorrow night. S.H.I.E.L.D. was okay—I enjoyed the witty Whedon-esque dialog, but the plot didn't enthrall me. I still have it set as a series recording on my DVR, but I'm not sure if I'll keep watching.

The DVR is not essential—neither is cable, for that matter—but I'm certainly enjoying it! I realize that I've done this backwards—most people dump cable in favor of Netflix, not the other way around. But I didn't really dump Netflix for cable—the cable was just a happy, unexpected development. Seriously, though, with all of my expanded basic cable, DVR'd Hallmark and Lifetime movies, and Amazon Prime offerings, who has time to miss Netflix?

My current DVR'd programs. In between the girly movies and Lifetime movies-of-the-week, I do go for some culture. See? Henry IV!

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nothing to make much ado about

Last month, Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing finally reached theaters. Of course, it didn't reach any theaters near me ... indy movies never come to Central City, and rarely do they play in Grand Island. But my sisters were as excited about this movie as I was, so we decided to see it in Chicago while Blendy and I were visiting Val in Indiana.

I went into the movie fully expecting to love it and anticipating that I'd want to rush out and buy it the instant it hits DVD. Well, that's not exactly what happened ...

You'd think that, as both a Shakespeare fan and a Whedon fan, I'd love this film. But I ended up feeling rather ambivalent about it. It was fine, but it certainly wasn't anything special. In fact, I was so bored during a few segments that I nearly fell asleep.

I'm all about modern-day adaptations of classic tales, but in this case, I didn't think the update really worked. For one thing, while it was a bit humorous at first to hear Shakespeare's words come out of the mouth of someone who was talking on a cell phone, I soon just found it distracting and even absurd. I didn't really buy Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker in their roles as Benedick and Beatrice—I know they were a beloved pair on Angel (which I never watched), but I didn't really think they had much chemistry. And the film is fairly dark—it doesn't carry the light, happy tone I expected. (When I voiced that last objection to Blendy, she said, "Of course it's dark. It's Whedon!" Which is true ... but it's also a Shakespeare comedy!)

That said, the film did do some things right. The scenes where Beatrice and Benedick hear about the other's supposed love for them were hilarious, full of great physical comedy. I enjoyed Fran Kranz as Claudio (Topher!), Reed Diamond as Don Pedro, and Clark Gregg as Leonato. But the best part, hands down, was Nathan Fillion as Dogberry. He completely knocked it out of the park! When I first heard that was his role, I was disappointed—in the Kenneth Branagh version, I always found Dogberry's scenes downright painful. Michael Keaton's Dogberry was gross, unkempt, and probably insane. Fillion's Dogberry was an idiot, but a hilarious one. (Go here to watch a clip.)

As we watched the film, I couldn't help but compare it to Kenneth Branagh's version, and I ended up concluding that the Branagh version is superior in every way except for the portrayal of Dogberry. I even preferred Keanu Reeves's sneering Don John!

All in all, I'm glad we were able to see the movie, but I don't think it's one I'll be adding to my collection.

Have you ever been disappointed by a movie you'd greatly anticipated?

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much ado about whedon

I was first introduced to Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing in my college Shakespeare class. I read the play and fell in like. I watched the Kenneth Branagh film and fell in love.

I was first introduced to Joss Whedon when my brother and sister-in-law gave me their copy of Firefly to watch. After struggling a bit to make it through the pilot, I liked it. Then I watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I loved it. Then I bingewatched Dollhouse on Netflix. I joined the ranks of the Whedonites. The only "big" Whedon projects I haven't gotten into are Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel ... and that's because I don't do vampires. Period. I even liked The Cabin in the Woods, and I generally stay as far away from horror films as I can get!

So you can imagine my delight when I learned that Joss Whedon had filmed a modern-day adaptation of Much Ado. To make it even better, he used his friends—actors who have appeared in previous Whedon projects. Nathan Fillion. Amy Acker. Fran Kranz. Clark Gregg. Sean Maher. I could go on and on ... basically, if you're a fan of Whedon's work, you'll recognize a vast majority of the actors.

For a long time after the movie was announced, I couldn't find out much about it, other than the cast list. But now the film has a trailer AND a release date! (June 7—unfortunately, chances are probably pretty slim that it'll be showing in my area. Road trip, anyone?)

Here's the trailer. I couldn't be more excited!

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