The Muppets

Today, Avery and I watched the new Muppet movie, The Muppets. He LOVED it, and I quite enjoyed it myself.  I am glad we both liked it as now we have something else to watch besides Sesame Street.  Not that I don't like Sesame Street, but I have seriously seen every single episode several times and am up for something new.  Watching the movie made me want to see The Muppet Show as I don't think I've ever actually seen any episodes.  I also think that would be nice to watch with Avery because I would enjoy it better and Avery loves anything with people and Muppets (he has never liked any cartoons). I looked online and I can get all the seasons from the library. Yay!

What I Learned: Avery liked the Muppet Movie and I can get The Muppet Show from the library.

The Artist

Tonight was the annual Hohenstein Oscar Party. This is always fun because we get to see a lot of friends, eat great food, play the ballot game and of course, watch the Oscars. Jared and I were only able to go to part of the party since we had to be home before Avery woke up (yes, he still wakes up a few times every night...), but we found out later at home who won Best Picture. While I had only seen three of the nine nominated films (The Help, The Descendants and Moneyball), I picked The Help to win best picture, but The Artist won. I really want to see this movie and now I want to see it even more.

What I learned: The Artist won Best Picture.

Moneyball

Tonight, Neal, Blake, their friend Jake, my mom, Jared and I all watched Moneyball. I knew the basic gist of the story since my mom had already read the book and told me about it, so I knew that the Athletics used Sabermetrics to assemble a baseball team to try to combat the unfairness of ball clubs that had less revenue to work with, and that they ended up not going to the World Series that year (although they were close). I also knew that most people in baseball tried to dismiss this method and criticized Billy Beane for using it, citing the fact that the Athletics didn't even go to the World Series that year. I did not know that regardless of that fact, the Athletics set an American League record that season, winning 20 consecutive games, and they finished first in their division with a record of 103-59.

The other thing I learned is this: I knew the Red Sox broke their curse in 2004, winning the World Series, but what I didn't know is that they did it using Sabermetrics (they actually offered Billy Beane $12.5 million to be their GM but he declined the offer in order to stay with the Athletics. They hired Bill James, the "creator" of Sabermetrics, as a consultant instead, and promptly won the World Series).

What I learned: The A's hold the American League record for most consecutive wins and had a record season using Sabermetrics to build their team. This method also helped the Red Sox break their curse in 2004.

Harry Potter

Today I went over to my dear friend Angela's house to watch all the special features from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II. Warner Brothers is being lame and only putting the special features on the blu-rays for HP, so now I have to rely on the hospitality of my friends with blu-rays in order to enjoy the awesomeness that is Harry Potter (thankfully, they very willingly oblige).

I'm sure I could list about 20 random things that I learned while watching the special features today but I won't bore you with that. Instead I will just comment on the coolest thing: Warner Brothers is opening up Leavesden Studios for tours permanently! You can go and see all the actual sets and everything! And, it's completely affordable at only 28 pounds for adults. Too bad I don't know when my next trip to London will be :(

Check it out: http://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/

What I learned: Harry Potter will live on forever at Leavesden Studios for all to enjoy :)

Side Effect of Pregnancy?

Tonight I attended Advent by Candlelight at my church. It was a beautiful event that included desserts, finger foods, wine, singing and a short program. In the program, we watched a "music video" of a song that Amy Grant wrote about how Mary felt being the mother of Jesus. The video however was just scenes from the movie The Nativity Story with the song playing over it. The scene specifically was when Mary and Joseph arrive in Bethlehem, Mary is on the verge of giving birth, Joseph has to find a place for her, they find a stable as a last resort and she then gives birth to Jesus.

I don't know if I can blame this on the fact that I'm pregnant or the fact that I am now a mother and have experienced childbirth and the joys of motherhood, but it took every ounce of self control I could find to not break out sobbing while watching this. It's pathetic, I know. But seriously, I don't know how I held up. I think this might be the first time I've seen a movie or anything with a scene like that in it since I gave birth and so it's hard to tell what the cause of my emotions really was (although truthfully, I'm sure it was a little of both). But in the end I saved my dignity (not because I would have lost it had I cried, but I would have lost it had I burst out audibly sobbing, which is what would have happened had I not been successful in containing this welling up of emotions).

What I learned: Being a mother/being pregnant makes me appreciate/empathize/remember when I watch things with other mothers/pregnant women, which apparently leads me to gush with almost uncontrollable emotion. Great?! (<-- insert interrobang here)

Monarchs and Other Things

Today I started my new job as the administrative assistant at Fresh Frame Photography (I actually don't have a title or know what it would be, but based on what I will be doing, it's closest to that, so I'm going with it). I learned a LOT, not just at the job, but throughout the rest of the day. Here are a few snippets.

1. I learned how to scroll on a MAC.
2. I learned how to "right click" on a MAC
**Disclaimer: I am completely computer literate. I just am a PC, not a MAC, so I didn't know how to do a lot of basic things because I've used a MAC all of two times in my entire life.**
3. I learned how to take screen shots of damaged files in Light Box.
4. I learned how to do basic exposure editing in Light Box.
5. I learned that you can order monarch butterflies online and that you keep them refrigerated to keep them alive before releasing them. Ok, this one needs a little more explanation.

In looking through some wedding pictures to find damaged files, I saw that a couple had given everyone an envelope of sorts. Inside each envelope was a monarch butterfly. I was astonished-how did they get these butterflies to stay in the envelopes? How long were they in there? Sarah (my employer) informed me that you can order them online for mass release at special events. They come to you a day or so before your wedding (or whatever event you are using them for) and you keep them in the fridge or in the insulated box they come in. Because of the colder temperatures, they "sit" with their wings together and "hibernate" so they don't need food or water for a few days. Then the day you need them, you take them out of the fridge an hour or so before you plan to release them to give them ample time to warm up and unfold their wings, and presto! Everyone opens their envelope and the butterflies are released! How cool is that? Here's a website to prove it: http://www.mrbutterflies.com/instructions.htm

6. Jared and I went to see Immortals after learning that they changed the movie times since the last time we looked. We were supposed to see J. Edgar. We both realized that neither of us were in the mood to see blood and gore and violence...too late. The movie wasn't bad, but it was not the movie we wanted to see. Boo.

7. I learned how to play a new game at game night called Reverse Charades. It is exactly what it sounds like and it was very fun and I don't really like normal charades. Basically, everyone on your team but one person stands up and tries to get the one person to guess. There is a timer and your team just has to get through as many cards as you can. I think it's more fun because you don't feel like you're on the spot and having to act goofy in front of all these people as you are doing it with your whole team.

What I learned: See above (since they're all spelled out pretty clearly this time).

Movies Beginning With Y

My mom likes to play guessing games. I suppose you could say that I like playing them as well. While we were on the road today (my mom, Avery and I left this morning to drive to North Carolina to visit my brother Alex) and while Avery was napping, we decided to play a guessing game. Here's how it goes. The first person names a movie-Shawshank Redemption for example. The next person then has to come up with a movie that begins with the last letter of the previous movie, so in this case, an N. Simple, fun, and makes you think. Except there are an overwhelming number of movies that end in E, N or Y but there are a lot less movies that start with these letters. E and N we didn't get stuck on too badly, but after only about 10 Y movies, we were stuck. When we got to the hotel, we were determined to find more movies that began with Y since there clearly had to be more that neither of us could think of. Turns out, there just aren't that many movies beginning with Y. You would think there would be more movies that started with "you," "your," "young" or "yellow" but there aren't. I guess next time we'll just have to think of movies that end with different letters in order to keep the game moving.

What I learned: There aren't that many movies that begin with "Y."