Super Bowl XLV

While I truly love football, I wasn't all that into the Super Bowl this year. I don't know if it's because I'm battling a cold or just because I didn't really care about either of the teams. But it was still a super fun time spent with my family while we ate way too much junk food. If only the preacher hadn't talked so long tonight, we would not have missed the entire first quarter. *cough*Dad*cough*

Even though I didn't care about who would win, I chose Steelers from the beginning. But with about two minutes left of game time, I switched my already-shaky loyalty to Packers just to say that I was rooting for the winning team. And also because their quarterback was cuter. Yay Green Bay!

Commercials

I was hoping to see some awesome commercials, but I was really disappointed. Yeah there were a few cute ones, and a few super raunchy ones, but only two or three that I really loved. My number one favorite commercial was the VW Passat commercial that I talked about in my previous post. My second favorite was this Doritos commercial...



Doritos always comes out with some great ads, so I was glad to see another great one. I seriously LOL'd. Here's my third favorite...



I don't care anything about the Best Buy program, but I loved seeing Ozzie say "What's a Bieber?" and then have Justin in a ridiculous costume make fun of himself. I cannot stand his music, but props to him for taking a good joke.

Half Time Show

I'm not a fan of Black Eyed Peas, but in my opinion they were tons better than last year's The Who. Here are my observations on their halftime show...

1. Voices and Sound were pretty bad. I'm willing to give Fergie and her homies the benefit of the doubt because I could tell their sound peoples weren't doing a good job. And if the sound people weren't doing a good job, their monitors may not have been functioning properly either, thus throwing the singers off key. But off key or not, I still didn't care for the singing. Kudos to them for actually doing a live show instead of lip-syncing.

2. Fergie's outfit made me happy. Not only did she not dress like a loser, but she had on what looked like a football player's set of shoulder pads. And it was sparkley!!! I spent half the show fascinated with her twinkling suit. Am I easily amused? I think so. Everyone else's outfits were lighted too. Apparently their costume designer thoroughly enjoyed the new Tron movie, because the outfits were undoubtedly inspired by it.

3. The stage show was awesome. Usually there's just a simple stage and they let fans on the field to enjoy the concert. But this time, the people on the field were part of the stage show. Their lighted suits and carefully choreographed routine made for a visually appealing performance in addition to the band's weirdly suited stage presence.

Facebook Activity

Every now and then I checked my news feed on Facebook to see what was going on. Lots of my friends were either yay-ing or boo-ing recent plays and making their own (mostly disapproving) comments about the half time show. But then a post caught my attention. Owl City posted, "There's the kickoff. Legolas goes wide! BUT WAIT! Gandalf with the interception! He's running down the field shouting 'YOU SHALL NOT PASS!'" I had a blast reading his following several updates giving us play-by-play commentary of the Lord of the Rings football game going on in his head. As if I didn't love him enough already!

Mandy's Choice Awards 2011

So the People's Choice Awards winners were announced this week. I didn't watch the ceremony on tv, but I did check out the list of nominees and the winners this afternoon. And I couldn't help but lol. In nearly every category available, the latest Twilight movie and the actors involved won in their respective categories. Is there really any need to guess the approximate age and IQ range of most of the voters? I think not.

I find that my taste in music, movies, and tv shows differs greatly from the majority of America. So here are the winners of the prestigious 2011 Mandy's Choice Awards. Instead of a trophy, the winners will receive my undying adoration. Much more valuable then a plastic trophy, right?

Favorite Family Movie - Tangled

Yeah Toy Story 3 was great, but I was allergic to the ending. It made my eyes water. And Tangled's main character was played by my beloved Zachary Levi (Chuck). I've already raved about this movie's adorableness, so go refresh your memory here.

Favorite Action Movie - Iron Man 2
Normally, I don't care for sequels. (examples of sequel suckage: Spiderman 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest) But because I loved the first flick so much, I was willing to pay the ridiculous fee to see it in theater. And I was surprised with it's complete awesomeness. Explosions everywhere. Very satisfying sequel. You must see it.

Favorite Actor - Zachary Levi
Chuck Bartowski and Flynn Ryder (Tangled). Need I say more?

Favorite Actress - Gabrielle Anwar
As Fiona Glenanne in Burn Notice, Gabrielle gave me one of my favoritest quotes ever. "If it sounds too good to be true, best to shoot it just in case." While I think she was prettier with a little more meat on her bones in the 1992 film "The Three Musketeers", I love seeing the tiny woman holding a gun that's just as big as she is.

Favorite Guilty Pleasure - Phineas and Ferb
Anyone who knows me well knows that I love this Disney Channel show. I know countless tunes from the show by heart and have a tendency to burst out in song at any random moment. And then people have a tendency to look at me funny.

Favorite TV Show - Chuck
Seeing a trend too, huh? I watched a majority of seasons 1-3 on dvd recently, so my opinions may be a little skewed at the moment. Well seeing that I'm currently deeply in love with the character of Chuck, I would probably be more accurate in saying that my opinion is undoubtedly biased. *sigh*

Favorite TV Duo - Shawn Spencer and Gus Burton
The fake-psychic pair of Shawn and "Magic Head" Gus makes me lol every episode. Shawn's childlike impulses contrast perfectly with Gus' practical personality. The only thing I don't like is that I miss half of the puns related with 80's movies references.

Favorite Album - "Stories" by Addison Road
I've been a fan of Addison Road since their first album. Within a week of first having "Stories", I was already singing every word to every song in my car on the way to work. And I might or might not have been dancing and scaring the people in the cars around me.

That's all, folks! Tune in next January for the 2012 Mandy's Choice Awards! You can purchase t-shirts in the lobby for $15.99. Make checks payable to the "Support Mandy's Movie Addiction Fund."

Top 3 Christmas Albums

It's CHRISTMAS TIME!!! I always love this time of year and not just because it includes my birthday, which is enough reason to celebrate in and of itself. It's time to pull out the decorations and deck the halls with all sorts of shiny sparkley pretties and more nativity scenes then there are gospels describing them. But we can't do this decorating thing without music to dance to. So what do we listen to? While I adore my Owl City, it's time for him to take a backseat to three of the best Christmas albums ever.

Skidding into third place on my list of Christmas must-haves is the "Christmas Offerings" album by Third Day. Maybe I'm a little biased because I'm currently on a Third Day kick with the recent download of the new album "Move". So loving it. Taking a holiday spin on their occasional worshipful "Offerings" albums, Mac Powell and his homies give a selection of Christmas carols the southern rock treatment. They surprised me with a few live concert recordings that actually came out quite well when stacked against all the other studio recordings. And nearly every song makes me want to dance. Or at the very least sway a little. Right now, it's on sale at Amazon for 5 bucks. I suggest you take advantage of the deal while you can.

Second place in my list belongs to my beloved Josh Groban with the album "Noel". I love that cd so much that I'm known to occasionally play it in the middle of the summer. Josh has such an outstanding voice, and he makes me melt when paired with Brian McKnight for "Angels We Have Heard on High" and Faith Hill for "The First Noel". I have absolutely no idea what he's saying in the Latin songs like "Ave Maria", but it is enchanting. Honestly, the man could be singing a string of expletives and I would still find it beautiful. Oh, and he'll be part of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting Concert tomorrow night on NBC, and I will be watching just for him.

And finally, my Christmas would not be complete without listening to my first place winner, Mannheim Steamroller's 1988 album "Fresh Aire Christmas". During long road trips each Christmas to see grandparents, we would play this album several times through. While I would protest the seemingly billionth time mom played some of her old favorite cd's, I always enjoyed listening to Mannheim Steamroller's interesting versions of Christmas songs. Coming up soon we'll be making a trip to Virginia to see my grandfather, and I'll gladly turn off my mp3 player and take off my headphones to enjoy the album with my family. The music now seems little strange because it's undoubtedly from the 80s as it mixes horns and synthesizers, but it never fails to happify me.

I could go on and on about other Christmas classics, like the single "Carol of the Fryers", the soundtrack to "Charlie Brown Christmas" or the singing vegetables of Veggietales, but my list was long enough and I'm sure there's a character limit on blogger. But anyways, don't forget to pop in your favorite Christmas cd in December and dance like it's nobody's business. And if you do it again in July when it's 100+ degrees outside, I won't look down on you for it.

Redecorating!

I have lived in the same little room full of all my stuffage for nearly eight years. Every now and again I find myself bored with the decor. But instead of emptying my room to paint and rearrange furniture, I replace pretties and pictures on my shelves and walls and clean out some of the stuff I don't use anymore. I would rearrange the furniture, but I know there's absolutely no other way to could get all my stuff to fit within these four walls.

So this weekend, I barricaded myself in my room to redecorate as opposed to getting up way before dawn and suffering from social claustrophobia while fighting people for toys and electronics. The spirit of creativity and cleansing came upon me and I proceeded to make a huge mess of my room before throwing things out and prettifying the place again. With papers, candles, and stuffed animals tossed about my quarters, I shifted all my books and DVDs around and infused a cutesy thing here and there. And ta-da!! I have a new looking room!

My already significantly reduced cd collection had been filling up needed space on my shelves, so I donated most of them to our church youth group. Since I have all those discs ripped to my hard drive and I download (legally) most of the music I have, there's really no need to keep them. However, I am holding on to a few cds for sentimental reasons. Like two of them have autographed pamphlets and remind me of great concerts. I absolutely cannot let go of Josh Groban's "Noel" album. And another is a gift from one of my favorite teachers at my old high school. That's particularly funny because we would often get in debates with him about how Christian rock is good while he said it was an oxymoron. But then the cd he gave me was rocked out praise and worship music. His wife probably purchased it, but I like thinking that maybe I did win those debates after all.

For the longest time, I've been wanting to put large pictures from my trip to Charleston SC from about three years ago. I'm not very artistic, but I know a pretty picture when I see it. And so yesterday I took the plunge, got three of my favorite photos printed off as 8x10's, and bought three matching frames. Here are the pics:

This one makes me feel like I'm spying a little because it's somebody's personal balcony. But it's in the historic district so they know their place is gonna be looked at and they shouldn't mind, haha! But I adore the wrought iron decorations and the overflowing flower pot in the middle. And those iron plates at the top and left side of the picture have their own special story. While taking a carriage tourist ride, they explained that bombs rocked the city during the Civil War and the buildings became structurally unsound. So to keep the walls from falling off, they ran long iron rods through the house and secured them with the plates on the outer walls.

One of my absolute favorite pictures, this was taken from the wall of the city that overlooks Charleston Harbor and Fort Sumter. I love these lamps that dot the walkway surrounded by mountains of giant azaleas. Maybe it reminds me of Narnia, thus flinging me into my own fantasy world of kings and fauns, except here it would be southern gentlemen and smelly horses. Ok, maybe it's not that fantastical, haha! And then I also love the old historic homes and buildings in the background.

And finally, I spent half an afternoon at this place. The Waterfront Park is filled with benches, flowers, and the occasional college student taking a nap in the grassy spots. For a second I considered going to school there just so I could act like a hobo like these other people. When Sam and I weren't sitting next to the pineapple fountain, we relaxing on the pier in the back of the photo. If you look closely, you can see a battleship to the right. I love how this picture is taken in the shade under a tree and looks out on the sunbathed plants surrounding my favorite fountain.

I'm not even completely done redecorating my room, but I hope it's a while before I feel the need to do this again because it's exhausting. Now please excuse me while I take much needed nap.

I Heart Owl City

Only recently have I truly discovered the ear pleasability of Owl City. Although the break through album "Ocean Eyes" was released in 2009, I was super happy with just "Fireflies" and "Vanilla Twilight". I mean, why get obsessed with a guy who calls himself "Owl City"? What does that even mean anyways? But I had no idea what I was missing until I finally got my hands on the full album two weeks ago. Thank God for daddies who take advantage of Amazon album download specials without completely understanding what they're buying.

Most of the music I listen to is Christian Rock or Pop like Sanctus Real and Addison Road with the occasional Disney Channel song thrown in - I heart me some Jonas Brothers. This Dance/DJ or "Synthpop" style is totally new to me and I am loving it. (I almost typed "Sithpop" there at first, which gave me a giggle, because I just imagine that Darth Vader hates such music.) All  my other music follows the same basic pattern of verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus, bridge, and chorus, but Owl City is very unpredictable and it's kinda refreshing.

I have to be honest, half the time I have no clue what he's talking about in his songs. Sometimes I think he just came up with a cute and catchy tune then threw some lyrics in there to make it work. And apparently I'm not the only one who has trouble deciphering the message...

While I may not always understand what he's trying to say, I am impressed that there is not even a hint of profanity, or inappropriate material in his music. I love that Adam Young has made quite a name for himself among young people without singing about sex, drugs, and violence. In fact, his music is very optimistic and happifying. He's totally clean, so I have no problems with playing his music while my sisters are with me, much less surrounding myself with his tunes.

Another thing that impresses me about him is that he does input some of his faith into his songs. The short but beautiful song "Meteor Shower" contains the lines, "I am not my own, For I have been made new", referencing 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 and 2 Corinthians 5:17. The song "Tidal Wave" speaks some of his own testimony, saying, "Then I was given grace and love, I was blind but now I can see, Cause I've found a new hope from above, And courage swept over me." Not only does he reference faith in his songs, but he is completely open about it as seen in a Christianity Today article.

In no way am I leaving behind my beloved Sanctus Real, Addison Road, or Jonas Brothers, but I am so glad to have found Owl City. I'll be spending the next several minutes dancing in my room to his music. But first I will make sure that my blinds are pulled down because my dancing is quite shameful. Now, you go give him a listen.

Stuck In My Head

So I've had Hannah Montana songs stuck in my head for the last couple of days. Her devilishly catchy tunes simply cannot be shaken from my mind easily. I may have to stop watching the show just for the fact that whatever song is sung (I accidentally typed "dung" there when writing up my draft of this post... totally unintentional, but it may speak of what my subconscious thinks of Miss Miley) is replayed for hours on end following the credits. I need to get some good music stuck in my head. Liiiiike...

Addison Road! Their new album "Stories" came out a few weeks ago, and I downloaded it (legally, of course) the first available day. I loved their first album and have seen them in concert twice so far, so I was kinda nervous about how good album numero dos would be. I was disappointed with the quality of my beloved Tenth Avenue North's new album and I didn't want to feel that way about Addison Road. But I loved it!!! It was the same kinda stuff that I was attracted to in the beginning, but I can tell they have grown some as a band. I like that.

One of the things I really like in this album is how they sing about potentially depressing topics, but the music is very upbeat and does not reflect the expected feeling of the song. For example, the song "Don't Wait" begins "Today I lost a friend of mine, I never even got to say goodbye, I thought we had time to burn, but life is short you only get one turn..." But the music for this song was far from draggy and funeral procession-y. It quickly became one of those songs I dance to while driving down the highway with people looking at me funny.

Now I gotta take a quick bunny trail. I love how what could be sad songs are sung happily, but I hate it when the opposite happens. Happy songs should not sound sad. I will never forget one time the song "Beulah Land" was sung so horribly in a church. They were supposed to be singing about the joy at going to Heaven, but they slowed it down tremendously and it sounded like they were on their way to the other place. So yeah, don't make the tune ruin the happy. End bunny trail.

I'm also rediscovering the awesomeness that is Owl City. I already adore the songs "Fireflies" and "Vanilla Twilight" but just the other day I listened to the song "Rugs From Me To You." I'm not even going to bother trying to describe it, because I know I'm gonna crack up and then the rest of this post will be nothing but typos. So just go listen to it for yourself here and then you'll understand why Adam Young is now on a new level of awesome.

I Love You, Zachary Levi

I went to the movies for a double feature yesterday - Iron Man 2 and Shrek 4. Both of which were great, but that's not the topic of this post. What I heard and saw before each movie has given me the giddiness to type up these few paragraphs.

So one of my favorite shows is NBC's Chuck. It's about a geek who is forced into spy work for the government. It's quite hilarious. If you get the chance to watch it, you definitely should. But anyways, the main character is played by Zachary Levi. I loooove watching him on tv, but then he suddenly showed up on the giant movie screen during the pre-movie entertainment.

Sitting alone in the theater at the time, my jaw dropped as I saw my beloved Chuck behind a microphone singing along with Katherine McPhee. I nearly melted into a puddle right there when I realized he was not only my favorite actor, but he could very well become my favorite male singer. Move over Josh Groban, this man has one of the sweetest, smoothest voices.



I love you, Zachary Levi.

Counting Down The Days

Ever since learning the news yesterday, I am so super giddy about Tenth Avenue North, one if my fave bands, releasing a new album next month. I feel like I'm waiting in line to ride the awesomest roller coaster at the theme park, both terrified and excited as I count how many people are in line before me.

I am terrified because I'm afraid that mah boys will disappoint me. Several times, I've looked forward to a band's new album, but then I don't like it because either the band has changed or my personal tastes have changed. Having listened to these fellas for over a year now and loved their music, I would hate to find their second album less satisfying than their first.

But I am also ridiculously excited because I am in desperate need of a new album of awesomeness to add to my music collection. And based on their previous album, I don't really expect to be let down. These guys brought me "Love is Here" and "By Your Side", along with "Times" which still brings me to tears nearly every time I hear it... which really isn't a good thing while operating a moving vehicle. They have their newest single "Healing Begins" (which I have already listened to about twelve times) available on their website, and if the rest of the album is anything like that song then I'm almost sure I will love it.

I will be happily counting down the days, my friends. I daresay I am anticipating this more than the opening weekend of Lord of the Rings 3 and the DVD release of Star Trek. And that's saying a lot.