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Miss Peepy? She didn't quite come out how she looked in my head, but I can't think of what I could have done differently.

Banjo makes the balance a little off, but I'm pleased overall.

What time, you ask? PEEPS DIORAMA CONTEST TIME!!!! I am pretty sure I know what I am going to do, but I need to think it through and check my supplies to be sure. One downside to the awesomeness of diorama-making -- you feel like you can never throw anything out, because what if you need it for a diorama prop? I've been box hoarding since Christmas, too, because I don't know what size and shape I'll need! The extra boxes, at least, can go once I've picked the setting.

I am happy that this year, unlike last year, they have the good sense not to start a contest dependent on Easter candy before Valentines's Day. (Although I wonder if we have the Olympics to thank for that? Bye, Olympics. I'll miss you!) Here's my prediction -- someone is going to do Miley Cyrus foam finger tweaking dance, and someone is going to do veterans storming the barricades of the WW2 memorial during the shutdown, I just know it. I can't think of what Olympics moment someone will dioramize, but someone is bound to. Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski? And I bet there's at least one Elsa in her ice castle. As ever though, I have to see it in my mind, know how I would make it, and be excited about making it, and none of those ideas are for me. (Well, maybe the Frozen one, but elaborate set designs are not my forte. Pass.)

Eeeeeeeeee! I am so excited! I am biased, of course, but I think it's a pretty good trailer, in that it sets the tone and lets you know the basic shape of the plot without giving too much away. Unlike, say, the Divergent or Ender's Game trailers, which had scenes from the end of the book in them!

But if she and Piz have been together since college, how is it possible that his parents haven't met her yet? That seems unlikely. Perhaps it was just the way it was edited.

In other Kristen Bell news, Frozen is fantastic. I've seen it twice now. She is SO good as the voice, and her singing blew me away. I knew she could sing, but I didn't know she could Disney Princess Sing, or Hold Her Ground Against Idina Menzel Sing, but she can and does! I've been obsessed with Love Is an Open Door, putting it on repeat. The "door" notes she sings are just pure and beautiful and go straight to hitting the pleasure button in my brain. (See also: "smelling salts" and "survive" notes in Frank Turner's song Recovery.) KB, how so awesome? Even beyond her, the movie is really good. It's funny, and subverts expectations of a traditional Disney narrative, and the ending was great in a way that made me a little verklempt. Well done all around.

Hope everyone's 2014 is off to a good start!

DUUUUUUUUUUUDE. ( spoilers )

Can't believe there's only three eps left this season!

( spoilers )

In other tv news, I continue to love Hart of Dixie. That show is a ray of sunshine on my tv. It is fucking delightful, and makes me so happy. I watch so many shows with high stakes and tension, I do love that the stakes of a given HOD episode might be, can the best friend and new boyfriend of the main character learn to get along? And Rachel Bilson is so gifted as a comedian, I just ♥ this show.

Whaaaaaaaaat? ( spoilers )

Happy Halloween, everyone!

ZOMG. I am flailing. DUUUUUUUDE!!!! I did not see that coming. ( spoilers ) Eeeeeeeeee! I am so excited about where this will go. I love that I so rarely have any idea how anything will resolve. This show, man. It gives me ALL THE FEELS.

In other news, I recommend Rush. I was surprised I liked it so much. It was a compromise choice with a friend. I didn't want to see Gravity (floating off into space has been the stuff of nightmares since I learned it was possible as a kid), and he didn't want to see The Butler (granted, the movie time was not so convenient) so we chose Rush even though neither of us was gung-ho. I figured, what the fuck, at a minimum, I can watch Chris Hemsworth, and boy did it deliver on that front. On him, 70s fashion makes sense. And we see him out of his clothes too! ( minor spoilers about Natalie Dormer's character )

But even beyond the tastiness of Chris Hemsworth, the movie is genuinely good. In some way it reminds me of Friday Night Lights, in that it's hard to explain how it's both about a sport and not about a sport at the same time. I have zero, truly zero, knowledge about or interest in Formula One racing, and that in no way impacted my enjoyment of the movie. In fact, it was super exciting, since I legitimately didn't know who won what. Don't let the trailer put you off, it's more than a zoom zoom popcorn movie, although it does entertain on that front, too. It's really about rivalry between two drivers and how it pushes them and how they make each other better, even as competition crystalizes their belief in their approach, and what the sport means to them. Daniel Brühl is fricking amazing in this movie. I hope it does well overseas, as it appears not to be setting the US box office on fire, which is a shame, because I really liked it.

Whaaaaat? No, seriously, what the actual fuck was going on with your American Ninja Warrior episode tonight? Why why why why why would you not show two out of the six people to make it through? I know it takes place before a live crowd, but guess what, it's not airing live. This isn't a World Cup soccer match. Do you control your own show or what? You edit the crap out of it to show competitor profiles and interview the families and stuff, EDIT IT SO YOU SHOW THE PEOPLE WHO COMPLETE THE COURSE. Just because they competed at a time when commercials would air doesn't mean you can't show them, because YOU CONTROL WHEN ADS AIR. Christ.

sincerely, me

I don't know how it is I've been sucked into American Ninja Warrior, but I have been. I think I can blame Arrow for putting salmon ladders on my radar and the tension plus people falling down. My money would be on Leïto, though, he'd totally beat the course. Although, I suppose that would make him France's Ninja Warrior, not America's.

Here's my completely made-up unsubstantiated theory, because it's the only reason I can think of: they named her North West to make her unGoogleable. As famous as that little baby is and will be, there is just no way the only results when Googling will be her. If that's not the reason, then I just don't know. I think Nori is cute, though. How in the world does everyone seem to know that that is Japanese for seaweed? Is that common knowledge I just missed out on?

Things that make me happy:

Troublebuckets Charm School

Kanye West 'Yeezus' lyric or Lucille Bluth quote? Take our quiz! - Hahhaha, awesome.

A BABY BAY WITH HICCUPS, I COULD JUST DIE FROM THE CUTE:




Things that make me grrrr:

At The Movies, The Women Are Gone: "In many, many parts of the country right now, if you want to go to see a movie in the theater and see a current movie about a woman — any story about any woman that isn't a documentary or a cartoon — you can't. You cannot. There are not any. You cannot take yourself to one, take your friend to one, take your daughter to one.

There are not any."

And Man of Steel needs to go on this list. I didn't hate it, but man, do I hate the ending. ( Man of Steel spoilers ) One neat detail, though, the truck that gets smashed into that parking garage? Labeled Lexcorp. Dun dun DUN.