Snowcation Day 1, a.k.a. The Walk Has All Been Cleared By Now

So...it snowed a bit here this weekend. And by "a bit," I mean "multiple feet." If we lived somewhere like Michigan or Massachusetts or Alaska, this would not be an event. However, we don't. We live in DC, Land of the Snow Pansies. Although as snow freakouts go, this one was rather warranted. Roads covered with wet, heavy snow; 2-3 inches an hour during the worst part; and, apparently snow lightning. I was asleep when this happened, but people assure me that it was real. It started Friday afternoon around 11...this picture is from about 2 pm, after we had been released from work early, and I'd gone to pick my car up from the car-fixing people in Mt. Airy.
The snow still wasn't sticking too much - it was more like sleet. By about 4, it was starting to get a bit fluffier.
By the time it got dark around 7:30, there was enough snow to make good footprints (which I made going to the mailbox to send back a Netflix DVD. My So-Called Life, Disc 4, if anyone cares.)
Annnnd...then I woke up Saturday morning.
Yeah, there were like 20 inches by then. The trees were covered,and so was everything that was on my front porch, including the flip flops I leave out there for emergency purposes. I think this was the snow trying to be ironic...beach shoes covered in snow.

And the snow wasn't done yet - it kept snowing for the better part of the day.

It was up to 22 inches by lunchtime,and almost two feet at its lowest point by the time Kathy came over to retrieve her shovel that afternoon.

That afternoon, I shoveled the front walk, which took entirely too long. But luckily, the snow had pretty much stopped by then, so I only had to do it once. I am a firm believer in the "wait until it's done" school of snow shoveling. Sunday morning, the sun was out, glaring off of the snow, and the people were tunneling their way out as well.

So...now I'm holding out hope that the sun will melt everything off of my car and the surrounding area. This will likely not happen, but since I don't have to go to work tomorrow, I'm in no hurry to clean it off anway.

And now...time to make cookies like last time! I think I'm going to start calling these Snowstorm Cookies. Any votes on what shape to make them?

Snowcation Day 2, a.k.a. We're Not Gonna Protest!

So, everyone in the DC area is all frantic about the snow. I choose to accept it. Anything that gives me an excuse to stay inside and watch movies all day, and cancels swim lessons and might even cancel work on Monday, is super duper in my book. My stupid thesis and the fact that my house is a mess got a little bit in the way of my weekend of sloth, but I've managed to fit in quite a few movies too. And I'm sure you want to hear all about them!

I started Friday night with the esteemed PCU, as inspired by Erin quoting it on Facebook. This movie is awesome, and if you haven't seen it, I would highly recommend it. David Spade's best work not accompanied by Chris Farley, and you can never have too much of The Piven unless you count how many seasons of Entourage there have been. It's highly quotable, as well - it's the origin of the quote that serves as the title of this blog. Here, the trailer, if you've never seen it:




Saturday afternoon brought Walk Hard, a spoof of Walk The Line, which I've been meaning to rewatch since Sarah visited a few weekends ago and we watched one of the greatest scenes I've ever seen - when Dewey Cox meets the Beatles:



That scene will never, ever not be funny. "I know a song about an octopus!" Heh.


After a brief intermission for thesis-writing and cupcake-making for Kathy's mini-birthday party, the movie shows resumed. Next up - The Hangover, also known as the reason I walk around singing about tigers.


Kathy came over for dinner, as we were supposed to go out for her birthday that evening. Clearly, that didn't happen, so instead, I put an umbrella in her glass and told her it was a party. And I let her pick the movie. Since she has excellent taste, she picked Mamma Mia! You know what I love about Meryl Streep? That she's such an acclaimed actress, and that she's reached a place in her career where she can basically pick whatever the hell she wants to do. And she picks things like this. She clearly has fabulous taste. And also, I want to be Christine Baranski when I grow up.


Next up was a disc of Seinfeld episodes, including my first favorite episode (as in, the first episode to be my favorite one, not my favorite episode ever), The Parking Garage. I think of this scene every time I'm in a parking garage...




Sunday morning started with another Facebook-inspired choice. More than one of my friends had posted that they were watching Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. This is my favorite Marilyn Monroe movie, so I decided it would be next. Although, to be honest, I prefer Jane Russell's character to Lorelei, if only for this scene:




I also enjoy the part where Lady Beekman says "You'll find that I mean business!" and Dorothy says, "Oh yeah? Then why are you wearing that hat?" I want to be her when I grow up too.

Next, I chose For Your Consideration, in honor of Oscar season. You all may or may not know that I have coerced the Party Planning Committee at my office into having an Oscar party. Apparently no one was surprised when I suggested this. Can't imagine why. By why wouldn't you want to honor such fine cinematic moments as this?



The movie fest was paused after that, though, for it was the day of one of the greatest moments of the year. Yes, it was Puppy Bowl Sunday! My personal favorite was Jersey Boy, although Jake and Fava were quite the competitors as well.

Next, there was this football game on too. Last year there was one, and it was super awesome and we had a party and the Steelers won their sixth ring, and did I mention it was super awesome? This year, it wasn't nearly as exciting. Let me just tell you, football is not nearly as fun when you like both teams but don't have a preference between them. If you love one, you want the other to lose and you can yell at them. And if you hate one, you want the other to win, and you can yell at the one you hate. There's no one to yell at when both teams are fine! That being said, whenever they'd show Peyton Manning, I'd think of this. And I would be happy.



And so goes the weekend's television watching...stay tuned, because my work is closed Monday and Tuesday, and there's supposed to be more snow Tuesday night, so there will likely be another whole list of entertainment coming soon!

In The Lane Snow Is Glistening

Welcome to the world's most worthless snowstorm. It's Saturday, so I don't get out of work (and believe me, there's enough out there that even my work would let us go home early!). Had it started during the night, there's a fair chance that swim lessons would've been cancelled, but it didn't start until the second-to-last class was ending. An unrelated note - today's quote of the day from swim lessons is "Yay, water!", as spoken by a very excited two-year-old while she was splashing.

But I digress. Back to the snow. It took me more than 20 minutes to get home, I almost died multiple times, and it's a good thing that my car was going to the car place to get fixed this week anyway. If the alignment wasn't messed up before, it's a pretty safe bet that sliding into the curb at the bank messed it up pretty well.

So now I'm stuck here. Chances are good that I will be baking again this afternoon. Which is not good, because I really should be writing my thesis. We'll see what happens.

As mad as I am at the snow, though, I do have to say how pretty it is. I feel like I'm living in a snowglobe.

Some Will Win, Some Will Lose

Now that I've made my semi-educated guesses regarding the Golden Globe Award film nominations, it's on to my area of more expertise - television. Yay!

Best Television Series - Drama: Disclaimer - I'm about three seasons behind on Dexter and House, and one season behind on True Blood. That being said, I don't think any of them really stood a chance anyway, except maybe True Blood. From what I've heard, while all three were both wonderful in their earlier seasons, and continue to be great, none is as good as it was in their respective first seasons. And none could compare to the remaining two nominees. Although, let me just tell you how weird it is to explain to someone why you like the show Big Love so much. "Yeah, it's great! What's it about, you ask? Um...polygamy." Yeah, it goes over well. But it is tremendous, and this past season (which I just finished watching, courtesy of Netflix) was one of the best. That being said, I think Mad Men is the one to beat in this category. And for good reason - the show wins awards left and right, and is showing no signs of slowing down. The show essentially revamped throughout the season, and rather than jumping the shark, it seems to have come through even stronger. That, and Jon Hamm is dreamy :-)

Best Actor in a Drama Series: Jon Hamm. See above - Mad Men wins awards like it's its job, and this part was made for him. The rest of them (Simon Baker, Michael C. Hall, the fabulous Hugh Laurie, and Bill Paxton) can't compare.

Best Actress in a Drama Series: If ever there was a year for January Jones, I think this is it. That being said, I'll be surprised if she wins against any of the difficult competition: Glenn Close, Julianna Marguiles, Anna Paquin, and Kyra Sedgwick. My limited knowledge of any of the actresses' shows except for Mad Men and True Blood makes it difficult to choose, but based on history, I'm tentatively going with Glenn Close.

Best Television Series - Comedy: I think this is the year that 30 Rock is going down. Not that it should - it's one of the greatest shows on television right now - it just has the misfortune to be getting to be the old, unexpected answer in a category with two bright, shiny new toys in it. I still don't know why the ancient Entourage was nominated over something like How I Met Your Mother, but it's here to be ignored, so let's ignore it. You know how I love The Office, but this season, while great, was nothing compared to its competitors. Which brings us to the real contenders - the aforementioned 30 Rock and new toys Glee and Modern Family. 30 Rock is getting old. Not worse, just old. And the Golden Globes have always been good for recognizing fresh, new shows. Which leaves us Glee and Modern Family. All season long, I've been trying to get people to watch both shows, which is made all the more difficult by the fact that they air at the same time. But now that Glee is on hiatus, it is the time for all of you to listen to me and start watching Modern Family. When have I ever steered you wrong? And once you've done that, you will agree with the following statement: Despite the fact that Glee is an original, beautifully crafted masterpiece, and I love it and am counting the days until it returns in April, I want Modern Family to win. I'm not saying it's better, I'm just saying that it is equally deserving and would benefit far more from the win. OK, I said it. I'm going to lock my door to protect myself from the hordes of Gleeks coming to kill me. But seriously, go watch an episode and tell me you don't find it delightful.

Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical: I want to marry Matthew Morrison and have his babies. And if Glee is to win an acting award this year, I think it will be his. But I wouldn't be surprised if it's Alec Baldwin (over my future husband Morrison, Steve Carell, David Duchovny, and Thomas Jane) again this year. I never thought I'd love Alec Baldwin, but there you go.

Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical: Have you guys seen United States of Tara? Because it's pretty darn awesome. And Toni Collette makes it that way. Of the other four nominees (Courteney Cox, Lea Michele, Edie Falco, and Tina Fey), I think she has the best chance. To be fair, I haven't seen Edie Falco's show yet, and I've heard that she's great, so she probably stands a pretty good chance as well. But my money's on Toni Collette.

Supporting Actor and Actress: I hate how the HFPA organizes their supporting actor categories - all actors and actresses in television programs, whether comedy, musical, drama, miniseries, whatever, get grouped together into these two categories. This leads to stupid things, like Chloe Sevigny and Jane Lynch vying for the same award for their performances in Big Love and Glee, respectively. Or Michael Emerson versus Neil Patrick Harris versus John Lithgow in Lost, How I Met Your Mother, and Dexter, for vastly different performances. Between the differences in each performance and the fact that I've seen very few of the nominated miniseries and TV movies, choosing is rather difficult. So I'm picking who I want to win - Jane Lynch and Neil Patrick Harris. And I'd be happy with Chloe Sevigny or Michael Emerson as backup choices.

So there you go - watch tonight! See how well I guessed! And be happy for my coworkers that tomorrow is a federal holiday, and they won't have to listen to me recap the entire show for the better part of the morning!

What Do Tigers Dream Of When They Take A Little Tiger Snooze?

As you probably know if you've spoken with me in the past week or so, the Golden Globe Awards are tonight. I love the Golden Globe awards, and as usual, have spent far more time than usual analyzing the nominations. I've come to a few conclusions about some of the major film awards:

Best Motion Picture - Drama: This is a really depressing lot of films. To be fair, I've only seen two and a half of them at present, but let's go through the list. A technologically gorgeous film that says that, basically, in the future, Americans will be evil and aliens will be good and the Americans will kill all of them because of undescribed and unjustified capitalist greed (Avatar). A very well made and realistic film about the war that, no matter how expertly done, is still not what I'd call uplifting (The Hurt Locker). Nazis and Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds). Another reportedly depressing film about an obese minority girl with a wretched family situation (Precious). And a sleek, shiny film about firing people (Up in the Air). How is a girl to choose?! Well, I'll omit the one that made me want to smack it for being preachy and having a crap plot (Avatar). I'll also omit the two I haven't seen (Inglourious Basterds and Precious), because it's easier that way :-). Which leaves me with one that is depressing, realistic, and topical, and one that is depressing, pretty, and topical. Normally I'd go for pretty, especially when that pretty is Intern George, but in this case, I'm picking The Hurt Locker. I feel like the war will resonate more than the country's economic difficulties, although I'd be OK with either. As long as it's not the overrated and vapid Avatar, I'm happy. And either way, this category is like a freaking ray of sunshine...I feel like they should hand out Prozac to the voters after they've viewed the nominees.

Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical: I like when I've seen the majority of the nominated films in a category. Well, I do as long as I agree with the winner (case in point - last year's Oscar Best Picture race.) Such is the case for this category. The only one I haven't seen is It's Complicated, which I don't think has much of a chance anyway. Of the others - Nine was gorgeous. I love Rob Marshall, and you all know my weakness for musicals. And check out the trailer - isn't it fabulous? I could watch it all day. However, it was missing this little thing called a plot, which is kind of important for moviemaking. When your movie compantion turns to you an hour into the film and says "Tell me again what this movie's supposed to be about?", you know there's a problem. Julie and Julia was carried by the spectacular performances of its lead actresses, but may be a bit too frothy to win - much like the aforementioned It's Complicated. Which leads me to two of my top ten movies of the past year - The Hangover and (500) Days of Summer. I have a great weakness for vulgar comedies like The Hangover. I quote them like it's my job. (Actually, I often quote them AT my job). And this one has the added bonus of a talented cast; an intricate, well planned plot; and this - one of the greatest moments in cinema in all of 2009. I'd be thrilled if it won. That being said, if I were a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, my vote would be for the endearing (500) Days of Summer. While it's a bit depressing for the category (maybe it should've been in the other one!), it's an overall lovely film. Go rent it. Now. Go on, I'll wait. And buy Zooey Deschanel's CD while you're at it.

Other Awards: As I haven't seen all of the nominated performances and animated films, it's a lot harder to judge them than it is the films as a whole. Therefore, I give you this list, generated purely out of my personal preferences: Emily Blunt (even though she's marrying John Krasinski). Colin Firth (for obvious reasons). Meryl Streep (same thing). Joseph Gordon-Levitt (see above regarding (500) Days). Up (which was a delight, and deserves everything it's won so far). Anna Kendrick (even though I'd bet money that it'll be Mo'nique). Stanley Tucci. And Kathryn Bigelow (because anything that involves James Cameron losing is OK with me).

The Weather Outside Is Frightful

As you most likely know, there was a bit of snow here last weekend. And by "a bit," I mean "like two feet." It started late Friday night as Tricia and I were coming home from the movies (side note - Up In the Air was a commendable, if not particularly happy, film. I'd highly recommend it.), and while the roads weren't bad yet, it was only a matter of time. The snow continued overnight, and by Saturday morning, my yard looked like this:

By noontime, Kathy was so bored that she made the trek over from her apartment. I made her measure the snow (9 inches at this point) before I'd let her inside.

She was so bored that she even offered to shovel my front walk.

She came inside after that, and I let her watch me make cookies. Don't ask me why the picture is flipped sideways...I blame Blogger.

After a few hours, you could barely tell that the walk had been shoveled.

The snow was up to 16 inches by then.Kathy re-shoveled the walk, because she is awesome.

By dusk, the snow was up to over 20 inches. It made the cars look like Snow Beasts.The snow stopped by the next morning, and the sun was out. Kathy and her shovel and I and my awesome snowbrush attacked the Snow Beasts.

We started with my car.

After awhile, the snowbrush got a bit saturated, but we didn't let that stop us.

We walked over to Kathy's to free her car too. That giant pile of snow on top? That's how much we got. Craziness.

Once we finished, I worked on Sunday's culinary boredom-killer: peppermint cupcakes with mint chocolate icing, as iced with the cupcake decorator Tricia gave me for Christmas. Even though my coworkers didn't get to eat them until Tuesday because everything was closed on Monday (yay snow day!), they still received rave reviews.

Oh, the Humanity!

In honor of the holiday, and also just because it's awesome, I give you this, one of the greatest episodes of Thanksgiving television ever produced - "Turkeys Away"!



And the second runner up -Friends always had good Thanksgiving episodes, but none so awesome as "The One Where Ross Get High." I love Jacques Cousteau! (I can't embed this one, so follow the link. You won't regret it.)

Happy Thanksgiving to all!