Operation P.R.O.M

Let me sum up:
Last week's Venture Bros season finale.



Let me splain:
It's a rare prom episode that fails to make me cry, and Venture Bros was no exception. Brock's final mad dash to the compound did evoke a tender tear. I'm a sap for Warburton. And hilarious failure. And this beautiful show.

More importantly, I wanted to do this as a shout-out to the good folks at AstroBase Go! Their noble effort helped to keep this past weekend from turning truly tragic for my spousal unit and me. Thanks to past episode "Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean," my husband knew to get himself to the ER right away on Friday. Consequently, he still has two balls. Doc and Jackson, we love you.



Seriously boys, if you've ever had pain that feels like a twisted testicle, even if it went away after a few minutes, talk to your doc. Apparently they aren't supposed to be able to twist at all--you may have the Bell Clapper Deformity, which can be fixed with a minor surgery, and prevent your balls from ever getting so twisted up that they DIE.

~Geek out

Deathly Hallows Part I--Tear Countdown

Let me sum up:
The 8 movie moments that induced salty spillover in the most recent Harry Potter installment. Spoiler heavy...



8. Hermione "obliviating" her parents

7. Charity Burbage calling out to Snape

6. Harry taking a last look at the cupboard under the stairs

5. Hedwig's death

4. Harry and Hermione at his parents' grave

3. The Doe patronus

2. Dobby I (Dobby's death)

1. Dobby II (Harry saying they'll dig the grave by hand)

Let me splain:
I don't retain a whole lot of detail from anything I read, and the HP books are no exception. This leaves me in the delightful position of thoroughly enjoying every movie, rather than leaving miffed because of details they left out. Deathly Hallows Part II has the potential to violate this rule since I do absorb Snape trivia rather well. But I actually just ran into some photographic evidence that the epilogue WILL be included, so yay.

I was fairly certain that DH Part I would end with Dobby. I believe I mentioned in a previous post that I ran across pics of them filming Dobby's burial sometime last year and that was enough to undo me. If Dobby's death hadn't led to tears, the movie would have been a complete failure in my eyes. But, as with reading the book, it led to several waves of tears. In fact, in anticipating this sad moment, I almost lost it a few times during Dobby's sometimes hilarious, sometimes moving lines at Bellatrix's house before the final, fatal moment.

There were 4 or 5 other solid moments of tear-up sans spillover, but I didn't keep track of these. I do recall that one was Scrimgeour going through Dumbledore's will (always pictured Billy Connolly in this role--if only to give the wig folks a break--but I loved Bill Nighy).

Anyhoo, as with the books, Dobby took the cake for tears. Which, as I've noted, shocked me since until this scene Dobby had always stuck me as mildly annoying. While viewing the movie, the Doe patronus came in a close second for tears. Even I was surprised the sobby-goodness here. Snape girl, through and through.

~Geek out

Optimus

Let me sum up:
The death of Optimus Prime.





Let me splain:
This is for all you XY chromosomes. I'm a lady. I didn't have much of a relationship with the Transformers as a kid. But I was blown away by my husband's reaction to Optimus when we settled in for a weekend with the cartoon dvds 6 years ago. And when we went to see the first live action movie. The look on his face when Optimus spoke was akin to something I've seen him share with his Dad on one or two special occasions.

When I was at college, the resident university comedy magazine noted that it's really easy for a guy to attract the ladies in English class by pointing out that ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING is a Christ metaphor. I won't belabor the point. Whatever your stance on spirituality and religion, it's not difficult to be drawn to characters that emulate love and sacrifice. It's why Christina Ricci has an Aslan tattoo, for goodness sakes. Whether you think these characters are fictional shadows of a factual creator, the stuff of Jung and Campbell piped through our blood and brains, or simply great writing, they're pretty kick-ass. And I think it's rather nifty when we get a glimpse of what makes us human through a lion or a robot.

~Geek out

PS--Potter geeks: I will be keeping tear minutes during the movie this weekend. Play along and we can compare!

The Sting

Let me sum up:
Futurama episode, "The Sting"



Let me splain:
While searching for photos I found a thread declaring this the worst episode ever. Those dudes are crazy. If you don't love heart wrenching Frye/Leela storylines, you don't love Futurama. I dig their relationship because it reminds me of my husband and I in high school...we didn't start dating until we were 21, and I think that was a good call. Frye will get there (as we saw in recent Futurama movies).

Anyhoo, the episode is delightfully psychedelic, and the ending makes me very weepy. But hey, if poignant twist endings and trippy sing-alongs aren't enough for you, this episode is still golden because it has a callback to the fact that Frye copulated with a radiator.



~Geek out

Disneyland Commericals

Let me sum up: Um, pretty self explanatory.

















Let me splain:
Man, I have been at this for a couple hours now. I'm fricking exhausted, and about to go into a coma from all the sugary, cloying goodness. These are not for the faint of heart. But man, I love them.

I actually set out tonight to find my favorite Disney commercial ever, and failed. It's the one where the Grandpa says his ears don't work too well, and then his granddaughter gets him some Mickey ears. LOVES IT. Last week one of my supervisor's discussed a Vietnam vet he's working with whose main therapeutic goal is to be able to take his granddaughter to Disney World. That's the good stuff.

Incidentally, there's been a recent campaign showing footage of parents surprising their kids with a Disney trip. This one is especially near and dear to me. My parents took the ruse one step further--starting the day by telling us we were going to the dentist. Youtube is full of surprise videos. The kids usually go into shock, and then often become oddly mature and detail oriented, with comments like "But I have to go to school, don't I?" Or, as in this video, "Where's our shoes!?"

~Geek out