My Latest Love - Wander Over Yonder

Life has been chaotically busy at work. The last couple of months have been a blur! Luckily, I saw my reminder fast enough this time so I didn't miss my posting spot. Phew!

Anyway, I'm normally behind the times, so you may already know all about these guys, but I'm gonna share them with you anyway. :)

I'd seen them around but never actually watched the show. I knew the song though. That thing is catchier than heck! (If you've not heard it before - click the video! I dare you! Heh heh)

But one fateful night, too tired after coming home from work to get up when it was time to move elsewhere, I saw the second half of an episode. The Gift 2: The Giftening - and I was HOOKED!

Here's a taste of that most awesome episode...

I was rolling on the floor. The brilliance of it! Terrorize the bad guys by making them happy! The horror! And the final gift at the end of the episode - priceless! (You won't see it in the taster - heh heh)

I'm not a laugh-out-loud person. It's super rare for me. But not when watching this show. It cracks me up! Been going to sleep with the theme bopping around too. lol.

The show is the creation of Craig McCracken. He's been in the field for a long time now and then he came up with this piece of awesomeness in 2013.

Let me introduce you to these lovely people....

Wander
He loves to travel, meet people, see new things, make friends, help anyone and everyone. He plays a mean banjo, too! No idea what race he is. But he is definitely super spunky!

Sylvia
Wander's best friend and fellow traveler. She's tough, smart, athletic. And Wander is her best friend, too.
She has no acting skills, which seems to give no one a hint as she delivers her lines with no emotion and even sarcasm.

Sylvia has as a rapier wit and is stubborn as can be when it comes to Wander. But when he looks at her like this....

She can't say no and goes along with his crazy schemes. Normally to her aching regret. But they still a lot of fun regardless.

The two of them travel from planet to planet in blow bubbles. And they aren't the only ones. Seems to be the preferred method for wanderers/tourists.

They're very handy!


Lord Hater
He is the baddest of the bad and he will prove it by taking over the universe! If he feels like it. He loves being bad. Loves rock music and air guitar and doing evil deeds. Hates Wander with a passion because he tends to spoil his plans. Wander, however, thinks they're best buddies! Oh my!

Peepers
Lord Hater's right hand man. Down to earth, smart, and wants nothing more than to help Lord Hater achieve his aims. The two of them go way, way back.

And this is Lord Hater's ship - I love this thing!!!!

See the tongue? It's the way off the ship. Lol.

She really is a beauty. 

What cracks me up most about the show is the weirdness and the fact it looks stupid, but it's quite profound and smart. It also has a ton of in-jokes from the 70's on up. Too fun! (They even steal the Star Wars poster pose and do it with a Banjo - so cool!)

Wander Over Yonder can be seen on the Disney Channel - so if you get a chance, check it out. Too much fun!

Movie Review - Despicable Me 2 (YAY!)

Despicable Me 2

Starring: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Benjamin Bratt, Miranda Cosgrove, Russell Brand, Ken Jeong, Steve Coogan, Elsie Kate Fisher, Dana Gaier, Moises Arias, Nasim Pedrad, Kristen Schaal, Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud, and more.

Directed by: Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud Screenplay by: Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul Original Music by: Heitor Pereira and Pharrell Williams

Premise: Gru is approached by AVL, the Anti-Evil League, after an entire laboratory in the Arctic Circle is stolen. AVL wants his help in identifying whoever took it and retrieving the dangerous compound PX-41. At first having no interest, Gru changes his mind when Dr. Nefario leaves his employ. Plus it's also a great way to avoid his neighbor's and daughters' efforts to set him up with women to date. (Rated PG)

Review:

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: All the fun people and the great characters from "Despicable Me" are back! Steve Carrel is too much fun as Gru. And with the new emotional challenges he's presented with in this film, he excels even more. Kriten Wiig had been part of the last film as Miss Hattie, and she's back again, this time as Agen Lucy Wild, one of the members of AVL. Her voice acting range is great, so I can definitely see why they wanted her back. She's great as the super competent, yet overeager Agent Wild. Directors Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud also bring back their own voices for all the beloved minions in Gru's employ.

New to the Gruverse is Benjamin Bratt as Eduardo. He had to have had a blast playing the character because it shows. Though I have to say his chicken almost succeeded in upstaging him.

2) Animation - Total Thumbs Up: Illumination Entertainment's quality of animation is superb. The attention to even incidental detail adds a lot to the overall effect. Even more fun are the telltale angles and camera sweeps used in other types of films which they recreated for theirs to bring forth specific genre treatements. The very beginning of the film is a slow, winding shot of the Arctic tundra and the lab facility being hidden there. You'll forget you're about to watch a comedic animated film, and instead think you're about to watch a 007 spy thriller.

Visual gags abound. Not only do we get our fill of the minions and their antics, but the film is filled with other more subtle visual jokes and in-jokes, many from spy and science fiction films. Gru at the toupee shop trying to scan for trace elements of the missing PX-41 while keeping the shopkeeper unaware was crude but utterly hilarious. The scenes with the chicken were just too funny. (The chicken gets used in a hilarious in-joke from the movie "Alien" that was too hilarious) Not to be outdone, the minions do music parodies at the end of the film that will have parents in stitches.

The flashback to El Macho was so over the top it was fantastic. And wait untill you get a look at how to enter the secret lab! (And make sure to stay for the credits - minion mischief abounds as they hold auditions for the 2014 spin-off movie "Minions"!)

3) Plot/Story - Total Thumbs Up: The plot has several threads which interweave with the whole. On the one hand you have Gru trying to find a niche to further a career of some sort and support the girls, while also spending time with them and watching them grow. On another, the neighbor and the girls are trying to match Gru with someone to date, though unknown to them Gru has only had bad experiences in the dating arena. Add in the complication that Margo is getting old enough to notice boys herself, and Agnes wondering what it is to have a mother, and the story now has an explosive combination of themes to explore.

And yet there's more! Throw in a supervillain, an aggression increasing potion, and a mall full of suspects, and there's plenty to keep the kids and adults enraptured throughout. (The guacamole chip hat was awesome!)

4) Music - Total Thumbs Up: All the great themes from the original film are back! And they've also added new ones. It was obvious they had a lot of fun with music in this one. Especially the parodies.

Conclusion: "Despicable Me 2" was everything and more than we could have hoped for in a sequel. You'll keep replaying certain moments in your head, because they were just so much fun. Totally worth it!

Rating: 4.25 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price to See Again!)

Teen Temps in Texas! Indoors!

Down here in Texas, winter sometimes feels like it's only a foot note during the holidays with a day here or there of truly (To Texans) cold temperatures.

This winter it's been even warmer than usual  and playing sinus havoc by rising to the 70's and 80's then plummeting to the 30's for a day or so then swinging back up to the 70's again.

Having lived down here now for twenty years plus, true cold is not something I've thought of as getting to experience again. But I was wrong!

I now work in Grapevine, TX and my boss and I noticed that the Gaylord Texan Hotel would be doing a Christmas event. Figuring we were too close to miss out, we took an early lunch one day and went to experience - ICE! Merry Madagascar

In this huge hotel, way off to the side, they set up a giant tent, bring in an absurd amount of cooling units. In the traditions of the famous Harbin Ice Festival in China, the owners of the Gaylord Texan have striven to bring us a little of the amazing ice shaping art seen there down home to Texas.

(Gigantic ice buildings at the Harbin Ice Festival)

And though we love to say everything is bigger in Texas, with ice we couldn't do as big as China, but the fact we can at all is amazing!

With temps down in the teens, your admission ticket also gets you your very own parka (you'll need it) then you can see what the 40+ Chinese artisans the hotel brought from overseas created for the delight of those willing to pay.

Marty, Gloria, Alex, Melman, all our favorite Madagascar friends are there. (The man in back is sporting one of the provided and essential parkas.)

Sphinx on ice! :)

The pic above is actually a set of ice slides. The boss and I actually went and slid down the thing. Heh heh (It was only us and one other set of adults at that time of day, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves! Bwahahaha) (No one present to take embarrassing Youtube videos that might go viral. Heh heh) 

Lights inside blocks of ice.

And what would Madagascar be without the Penguins? (Hey there, Skipper) 

The lemurs are also in attendance, but I didn't end up with a pic of them. Hmmm. (Did King Julian abscond with it?)

Loved this waterfall.

The angel was very cool.

Lit nativity scene.

The boss and I, knowing a little about what we were getting into, dressed up for this. Cap, gloves, multiple layers of clothes. Even having to take my glove off to make the phone take pics, I was able to tuck it away and keep warm. Every zipper and button was closed. I was doing pretty good throughout, but the boss wasn't so lucky.

By the time we finished the 20 minute or so walk through the exhibit she felt like she'd turned into ICE. Hee hee!