Gretch-a-sketch (old)

First off, I'd like to congratulate Sandy, the winner of the tumblr giveaway. Yay, Sandy! Email me your address, letter preference, and whether you'd like black or white earrings before Friday. Also, if you didn't win, remember you can get 10% your order with the code "Gretchen."

Okay, next item to cover. The hair adventure went well, except it's much darker than I wanted. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but it's not quite as obviously red as I had hoped. In the right light, though, you can tell it's very deep and burgundy. It's actually kind of vampy, so overall I'm a fan.


I'm off to traipse around the Ohio and New York countryside for a week. There are some really, really, really great guest posts coming your way, so stay tuned.

First stop: Cleveland!


(video embedded in the post)

P.S. +25 Cool Points to the first person to identify the movie my title line ("To Business!") is from.

Oh, you guys. Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog has left me utterly speechless. (But apparently not speechless enough to blog about it.) My inner fangirl is squee-ing out of control right now.


Quick Intro: Dr. Horrible was written by Joss Whedon and his family during the WGA Strike. It stars Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Harris, MD; How I Met Your Mother) as the awkward villain, Nathan Fillion (Firefly) as the not-so-perfect hero, and Felicia Day (The Guild) as the shiny girl at the laundromat. Each episode is around 10 minutes long and will air over the next week. (July 15--Act One; July 17--Act Two; July 19--Act Three) It will stay online until the 20th.

Act One Thoughts: WOW. I can almost forgive the strike for bringing us the most memorable internet event in a long time. The script benefits from having most of the Whedon clan as writers. I idolize Joss on many levels. He writes stories that you care about, well-defined characters, brash and sarcastic dialogue, and the MOST bad-A women that have ever been written. I'm not kidding when I say that I want nothing more in life that to be as strong as the ladies in the Whedon universe.

The musical sections are so broad and pithy they belong on Broadway. It clocks in at around thirteen minutes, but goes by way too fast. The beginning video blog portion from Dr. Horrible himself was almost on the verge of being overbearing, but then the first musical number kicks up and it revs right along. Dr. Horrible's friend and fellow villain Moist's line-delivery is simply hilarious, but the single funniest part is the initial greeting between Penny and Horrible.

I always knew Neil Patrick Harris (Dr. Horrible) was funny, but I never knew he was this funny. He handles the patented Whedon-wit with surprising aplomb and humor. His voice deftly carries the music--check out this video of him and Jason Segel singing the confrontation song from Les Mis. Felicia Day (Penny) is darling and SO awesome. I either want to go shopping with her or stalk her, I can't decide which. If you haven't watched her web series The Guild, you need to do that right after you watch Dr. Horrible five times in a row. (The Guild is a ten episode parody about web gamers that is dead on, but I should issue a language warning on that one.) Nathan Fillion (Captain Hammer) has always made me weak at the knees. Uber-swoonage! (swnage?) He's got a seriously good voice and you can just tell he is relishing every moment of this role. Zack Whedon wrote a short comic book based on Captain Hammer that you can read here.

It's quotable, singable, and is going to be referenced at conventions for a good fifty years from now. You can get the season pass for all three episodes on iTunes for $3.99. I know I'll buy the special edition DVD, the inevitable soundtrack, and a t-shirt.

Watch Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog here.

There is a wild thunderstorm outside right now. It's times like this I wish I had a governess.



I'm pretty sure any girl's interest in authoritative men can be traced back to Captain Von Trapp.

For your viewing pleasure: The visual aids for my addiction presentation in neuroscience today.
A+? Or A++?



I was always the Jessie of the group.



The ironic thing about this video is that the words they use to diss dope at the beginning are also pretty good descriptors of their character.

(I also plan on using Michael Scott's line about more people using cocaine than reading a book to their children during my portion on addiction statistics.)

I'm going home for the weekend to spend some quality time with my pops and meet some amazing teen bloggers, so it should be fun.

I cannot get enough of watching this, even though the guy on the left reminds me of the guys I automatically despise. You know, the kind that think they're the funniest person on earth.



Happy Friday the 13th (spooky!), Happy Useless Holiday Day tomorrow, and Happy Father's Day on Sunday!