Hello wonderful followers. I hope you're all having a fantabulous Thursday. Mine is kind of icky actually. It's rainy and gross here in good 'ole Northern Virginia and I would so much rather spend the day in sweat pants, curled up under a blanket, watching Netflix than sitting here at work, but whatcha gonna do?
So todayyyy, I am linking up with the fabulous Gina from This Is Not Your Blog for "Things I Like Thursday." Because there's things that I like. And it's Thursday.
To start you off, there's this lovely little trailer for Despicable Me 2. I know I posted it the other day, but since Office Boy gave me minions the other day and one of them is now sitting on my desk (so I can look at it and smile whenever I feel like it) at work, I've had various people ask about said minions. And then I ask them if they're seen this trailer. And so I show it to them. And I just like it.
Next, we've got another video for you all. I first discovered Michael Henry and Justin Robinett sometime back in the November-ish time frame when a friend randomly posted one of their videos on Facebook. Or maybe my Biggie posted one of their videos on my wall. Either way, I listened to their music and kind of fell in love because they play like...a lot of musical instruments and sing and stuff but they especially play piano.
Now, pretty much anyone who knows me knows that I love piano. I've been playing since I was six (that's 17 years, people. Aka...a long time.) and pretty much the easiest way for a man to make my heart melt is to sing me a beautiful song whilst playing piano. (Note: I am aware of the fact that I have just given the entire male population the secret to win my heart, but you're kind of out of luck, because another guy already has it. Sorry dudes. Better luck next time.) Ok. It's not really true. You have to be a lot more than a good singer and piano player for me to like you enough to date you, but it certainly doesn't hurt. I just like piano music. A lot. And men who sing.
At one point my Biggie decided we were going to marry the two of them. We had this whole elaborate scheme concocted in which I interviewed them for an Arts & Entertainment blog and then we realized we had all these things in common and then dated and fell in love and lived happily ever after. But then she met a boy. And so did I. So that plan kind of died. Plus...they live in Texas. And I, well, don't.
So anywayyyyy. All of that to say there's been this ridiculous hullabaloo about this new British pop boy band thing called One Direction. There's lots of speculation about whether or not they're going to revive boy bands which, I suppose, is entirely possible, but I don't care who you are...you will never be as awesome as a 90s American boy band. Ever. But they have this song called "What Makes You Beautiful" and the words are actually pretty good. And I mean, I guess they do alright with it (I finally actually heard it the other day on the radio after hearing about it for weeks), but Michael Henry and Justin Robinett did a cover. And I'm sorry...their cover is way better. Plus there's outtakes at the end.
If you like their stuff (which you should), you can check out all their other videos on their YouTube channel and purchase their music on iTunes or through their website. They also have sweatshirts and tshirts and fun stuff like that. A couple of my favorites are their covers of "God Gave Me You" by Blake Shelton, "Everything" by Michael Buble, "Grenade" by Bruno Mars, and "Meteor Shower" and "Fireflies" by Owl City. You should also watch this video. Yes, I know. It's April and that is a Christmas song. But for real...it's hilarious. Because it's an *NSync Christmas song. And they're wearing ridiculously tacky Christmas sweater vests. And they play mouse trap. Enough said.
Yesterday, the lovely Emma of Charcoal Renderings introduced me to the absolutely hilarious Noa Givens of Oh, Noa!
All of her posts are absolutely hilarious, but the one Emma pointed out to me first and really is just so fantastically funny is this one. It is titled "Being A Lady: Like Fending Off Hateful Lemurs All Day." Basically, she did an open call for questions men had about being women. And some of them are pretty ridiculous. And her answers are hilarious. (Be warned...there is a bit of language in her posts. But they're still quite funny.)
This morning I was pleased to discover, upon scanning my Facebook newsfeed, that "The Muppets" has a sequel in the works. It has the potential to be awful, because, let's face it, some sequels in no way live up to the predecessors. But I think it could also be really funny. I only recently saw the movie with Office Boy, during which he declared that Amy Adams and I are the same person and therefore, he is basically dating Amy Adams.
It's actually been a couple of weeks since I found this, but I was on a blogging break, sooo...
Anyway, I read this fantastic article from Relevant Magazine about the different between beauty and sexuality and how our culture's view of beautiful things in relation to sex is incredibly skewed and doing damage to men and women alike. It brings up a lot of really good points and I thought it was very thought provoking. A couple of my favorite quotes:
If grace is real, it is strong enough to give us the capacity to distinguish the delight in gazing at beauty from obsessive lust. If grace is real, it is also strong enough to give us the capacity to distinguish between the longing to be validated as beautiful and the longing to cause another person to be overwhelmed by a desire so strong he or she forgets their commitments.
Too often, the Church talks about beauty and desire in ways that suggest the Church doesn’t believe grace is quite that real.
"...if men are taught they can't separate a delight in beauty from a longing for sex, they won't."
"...shame doesn't just lead to unhealthy sexual relationships (including between husbands and wives); it leaves too many men feeling like potential predators and too many women feeling as if they're vain, shallow temptresses."
"If grace is real, it is strong enough to give us the capacity to distinguish the delight in gazing at beauty from obsessive lust. If grace is real, it is also strong enough to give us the capacity to distinguish between the longing to be validated as beautiful and the longing to cause another person to be overwhelmed by a desire so strong he or she forgets their commitments.That's some good stuff right there.
Too often, the Church talks about beauty and desire in ways that suggest the Church doesn't believe grace is quite that real."
And last, but not least, Office Boy showed me this recently and it's just...hilarious. Ladies and gents, I present you, John Stamos' Guide to Cuddling.
Are there things you're liking this Thursday? Join the party and link up with us! Happy Thursday! :)
