Ramblings of a Thirty-Something

Can you believe the day is almost here? The day we get to go back? And no, before you ask, I am NOT talking about school. We’ve already been back at school for almost a month…where have you been? And no, I’m also not talking about the future. Sorry, Doc and Marty. No, I mean the day we get to go back…to Downton. *cue stirring piano themes* I’ve tried filling the void left by the Crawley family in many different ways. Victoria, The Crown , Doctor Thorne {also a Julian Fellowes project}, various Jane Austen adaptations. Each are fantastic in their own way, obviously. But I’ve missed the Downton Abbey characters. The series finale is, in my opinion, one of THE BEST series finales of all time. Everyone ended in a good place. Bates and Anna had a beautiful baby, Thomas was back, Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes were happy, all of the Crawleys were happy…I cried through most of it. Happy tears, of course. For the most part. It was beautiful. And they didn’t do t...

There are a lot of "ifs" that begin this blog post: If you have previously read my blog, you know I love all things Jane Austen. If you have visited a bookstore in the last few years, you may know there was a book written called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. If you have a television, you may have seen any number of trailers for the movie that was released just yesterday bearing the same name. If you have ever wondered my feelings on zombies, you will now finally be satisfied. To be honest, the whole supernatural scene that's been very popular lately, with vampires and zombies and such, has never really been all that exciting to me {not to be confused with the Supernatural  scene, which follows the delicious, plaid-wearing Winchester brothers and their battle with the supernatural forces and creatures that exist in our world and beyond...that kind of supernatural I like}. But zombies have never really interested me. I've always kind of toyed around wi...

I love school holidays. Columbus Day, President's Day, MLK Day...they're all great! There is just something about being able to sleep in on a Monday morning that is truly euphoric. A holiday feels so different than just a regular weekend day--weekends are usually reserved for errands and church and general running-around. You always have them, and so there are always things that need to get done on a weekend. But a free Monday--now that is truly a gift! I'm notorious for doing everything I have  to do on the weekend so my Monday is completely clear for whatever I want  to do. And when it's bitterly cold outside, I don't feel nearly as guilty when I don't leave the house. I had about four things I wanted/needed to do today:  get my oil changed, finish the book I'm reading, write, and catch up on my DVRed shows. Last night being a Sunday, I had an episode of Downton Abbey  to watch, of course, but I also had the premiere of a new mini-series that has me...

Living for the weekend is kind of something you do as a teacher (or any person who works Monday through Friday). And there are many good reasons to do so! I mean, you get to sleep in and wear yoga pants and not put on makeup--Saturdays are pretty wonderful. Sundays are always a special day, too, for many reasons. I mean, sure, Sunday nights are kind of a bummer since you know you have to get up for work the next morning (cue the tears),  but between church, football, and  Once Upon a Time , what else could anyone need? Actually, I can think of one thing. One thing that has been sorely missed over the last several months. One big, gaping hole in my life that has finally been addressed. That's right, everybody. Downton Abbey  is back. And while we all get back to our weekly rituals for watching, I thought it would be fun to list, in no particular order, my ten favorite Downton  characters. I say no particular order because it changes week to week, episode to...

There comes a time in every television show's life where the end is near. You may notice it by lackluster storylines or uncharacteristic character actions or new plot twists added only for their shock value. For some shows, there is never any sign. The season simply ends, ready to go on to a second season, and then the studio decides to cut it from their lineup. Like, for example, ABC's Forever , which I am still holding out hope that it will come back to me...I mean us, all television viewers. For other shows, like The Mentalist , there comes a point when the original story arc is completed, and so the show comes to a conclusion, ties up all loose ends, and throws an amazing farewell party (like the wedding between Jane and Lisbon...oh, it was wonderful!). Well, Hell on Wheels  now fits into that last category. The fifth season premiered on Saturday night, and as we have been reminded again and again via Twitter and other outlets, this is the final season. Which, to me, begs...

Grab yer dirk an' yer kilt, whether ya be MacKenzie or Fraser:   Outlander  is back, ya ken? (Insert fangirly squealing here) For anyone who doesn't understand anything I said, I apologize. It's hard to come back to my flat Midwestern accent after listening to the lilting speech of the Highlanders for an hour. If you are not aware, Outlander  is a fantastic series on Starz based on a fantastic series written by Diana Gabaldon. Here's a non-spoilery synopsis:  a woman (Claire) in "present-day" 1945 travels back to 1743 Scotland via some magic stones at Craigh na Dun. She doesn't know how to get back to her own time and is forced to survive in this slightly civilized land at the mercy of the Clan MacKenzie while avoiding the British Army. If it sounds at all cheesy, I apologize. It's hard to do it justice. Photo from Starz.com Outlander  is not just a time-travel story. The story delves into the politics of the day and the major historical th...

So right now, I'm rather upset about something. I really wanted to do some kind of vague, passive-aggressive blog post/Facebook post/series of tweets/watch The Hobbit  until my anger vanished. But I decided to be above all that and instead post about something I've been super excited about recently. And that something is Cinderella. Honest to goodness, if you haven't seen this movie yet, drop everything and go. Right now. I'm not kidding. You can finish reading this later. Everything about this movie is wonderful and perfect and charming...especially the prince. Boy howdy, is he charming!  I mean, look at those eyes...and that smile. Dear Richard Madden never smiled like that when he was Robb Stark (granted, Robb Stark never really had much to smile about). Random fun fact about our lovely Prince Kit. He had a bit of the male-version of the Princess Leia problem (being too...large for his costume and having to be...restrained in a certain way). Maybe you don...

Okay, so occasionally I come on here, to this blog on which I randomly post random things about nothing of any real importance, and I post something deep that may or may not change your life. This is not one of those times. This is one of those times where I get on to this blog on which I randomly post about things of virtually no importance and wax poetic about a current obsession. Usually, that means Tolkien, but we're in uncharted waters here, boys. And girls. And animals with access to computers. We all need to sit down and have a very serious discussion about vikings .  Not the dumb old football team from Minnesota (sorry, I'm still rather bitter about the whole Brett Favre thing). Not the guys on the Capital One commercials. I'm talkin' about Vikings, the best show on the History Channel. And yes, that's including Pawn Stars. Source:  History.com If you have not managed to catch any part of this show, you really should start. It's not for the...

A whole new way to watch televisions shows has entered the scene in the last few years. I'm talking about binge-watching. Thanks to DVD releases of television seasons and websites like Netflix and Hulu, we can watch entire seasons of shows in a matter of a day or two. And people do it--I've been guilty of it. I watched the entire series of Archer in what added together equaled less than two days. You just click to watch the next episode and you can...it's like a super power. And it's great with shows like Doctor Who or Game of Thrones , and it's even better when you have just discovered a show that has already been on the air for several years. Like two summers ago, when I binge-watched seven seasons of Supernatural . But my most recent binges have been relatively small, and they have been necessary. Last year, we were introduced to perhaps the most terrifying television show to ever be broadcasted...and no, I'm not talking about American Horror Story. I...

I had fully intended at the start of the month to do a separate blog post about each of my favorite Christmas movies, but that fell by the wayside quickly. Given my affinity for lists, I have decided the best course of action would be to simply make a list of the remaining Christmas movies. Some you may agree with, some you may not. Some you may have never heard of, but I highly recommend you check them out. 1. Holiday Inn   Bing Crosby strikes again--this time with costar Fred Astaire--as he sings through the holidays in yet another of Irving Berlin's masterpieces. (Fun fact:  the idea for the songs in this film and later the entire production started after Irving Berlin wrote Easter Parade. Without that song, there would be no White Christmas. ) 2. How the Grinch Stole Christmas   The original cartoon starring Boris Karloff. I don't feel the need to say much more because if you haven't watched it, you must have been raised in the woods by wolves. 3. Thomas K...

Time for another holiday movie review (and it's a good one!) One of my all-time favorite movies--not just at Christmas. White Christmas starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Vera Ellen, and Rosemary Clooney...my goodness! What a cast! What a show! I can't think of a single bad thing to say about this movie...except maybe that it ends? Oh, and the Choreography song...don't much care for that number. But this movie tells a holiday story like no other--the holiday idea of helping out those you love using what you can. Bing and Danny play Bob Wallace and Phil Davis, and when the movie opens, we find them in the midst of World War II on Christmas Eve, saying goodbye to their current general. One thing leads to another, and they end up being one of the hottest teams in show business. Then they happen upon the Haynes sisters--Betty, played by Rosemary, and Judy, played by Vera Ellen--and the sparks begin to fly. Falling in love on the dance floor and singing together.....

After a year of waiting, the second installment in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy has been relased in theaters. And oh. My. Goodness... Desolation of Smaug? Try the Desolation of my Weekend! My sister and I made a semi-perilous journey to Champaign on Friday night, when the movie had been in theaters a total of nineteen hours. (I say "semi-perilous" because it wasn't bad going down, and when we came back north the snow had stopped, but the roads weren't great...ergo, semi-perilous). I was prepared for the movie to be great...and I was also very worried. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say I watched The Unexpected Journey at least twenty times. And I've been following every news release of The Desolation of Smaug (which I shall henceforth call DOS ) since the first bits were leaked back in March or whenever it was. What if I had overreached it's amazingness in my mind? What if my expectations were too high? They weren't.  They weren...