XIX | TRAILER TUESDAY | XIX

Taking a quick break from my NaNoWriMo word-crush assault to bring you a handful of movie trailers. I decided I would try to share some more family friendly movies. It is Thanksgiving after all! I thought this would be a pain, considering I just shared 6 animated features last week (XVIII | Trailer Tuesday | XVIII). As luck would have it, though, there were a few more family-orientated trailers popping up. Usually I post six trailers, but tonight will only be three. Enjoy!

Muppets: Most Wanted (3/21/2014):

It looks like we have some more Muppet action coming soon! I really enjoyed the reboot, and was a little saddened to find Jason Segel didn’t write (and possibly not appear in) this sequel. It does have the same director, though. And like most every Muppet movie, it has it’s fair share of celebrities and guest star cameos. I’ve always like that aspect of The Muppets. I suppose Segel’s goal was to revamp the franchise and breath some new life into it. Missions accomplished, I say. Muppets Most Wanted looks like it will be more of the same you have come to expect from the franchise, and that’s a good thing. Will I see this in the theaters? It’s very possible.

Maleficent (5/30/2013):

Here was have the classic Sleeping Beauty tale told from the perspective of the villain. The teaser trailer it pretty well done. I really like the voice over of Princess Aurora with the snippets of Maleficent played throughout and then highlights when she steps out of the shadows. I would be interested in seeing this movie, but I’m not sure if I’d see it in theaters. I don’t think I have seen Angelina Jolie in a movie for some time, and this seems an interesting role for her. That isn’t exactly enough to get me to the theater, though.

The Boxtrolls (9/24/2014):

It seems that the creators of The Boxtrolls listened to me last week, because they just released a new trailer! Unfortunately, the trailer doesn’t show anything more about the movie, but it does show their creative process in the making of The Boxtrolls, which I find to be pretty fascinating. As I said last week, it’s still almost an entire year out, so it may be until Spring of 2014 until we see an actual full-length trailer.

Did any of the highlighted trailers interest you? Did you like The Muppets reboot? If so, any interest in the sequel?

XXV | 10 THINGS OF THANKFUL | XXV

OH SNAP!

It’s finally arrived! The 10 Things of Thankful’s 25th AnnWEEKiversary (Weekaversary?)!

Whatever, it’s the 25th weekend of the Blog Hop that forces encourages you to look past all the boring, problematic, traumatic, “enter whatever negative descriptor desired” bullshit that most of us encounter on a daily bases and to appreciate the finer moments you’ve experienced throughout the week.

Stuck in the middle of rush hour traffic for over an hour and you’ve only moved 100 feet? That blows! At least you were able to enjoy a Snickers. What’s that? You didn’t know you were going to be a while and forgot your candy bar? In the same sluggish crawl of traffic you’ve experienced every single work day for the past two years? Way to go genius! At least you can rock out to some righteous tunes on your stereo. Are you kidding me? Some crackwhores ripped the stereo out of your dash years ago and you’ve been too poor to ever buy a replacement? What a pair of douches! At least you can still belt out a tune to your little heart’s desire.

Point is: There are always things to be Thankful for. The harder and shittier things are, the more important it is to take the time to reflect upon them.

I won’t get too sentimental until we hit the big 1-0-0, but I will attempt to give Thanks in a slightly alternate manner today. I’m going to highlight 25 random facts about my home state of Minnesota. Some of them I know, some of them I’ll just be discovering for the first time with you, and all of them are (or will be) things I am Thankful for.

Sure, you can simply Google these factoids, but I’m saving you the proverbial leg-work so you can just sit back and relax as I dish them out for you. So eat up. My time loss, is your laziness’s gain. You’re welcome…

The 10 Things of Thankul: Minnesota Edition

1. SPAM. It’s like ham, but it’s not. And for the betterment of the Human race, some crazy people in MN decided to create this edible hunk of meat. I used to despise the stuff for years, but as I’ve aged and my tastes… matured… I’ve come to find I like fried SPAM. Just don’t smell it when first opening the canister (or in any pre-cooked state really). The aroma is likely what sent me on the anti-SPAM bender to begin with. Just trust me.

2. Minnesota is the only state (at the time of this write-up… to my knowledge.. okay, fuck, according to Google) to have elected a professional wrestler as governor. Jesse Ventura. He was badass governor. He was a badass in Predator. Bastard is probably still a badass. BAMF, to be more politically correct.

3. Target and Best Buy originated here.

4. Post-it Notes were invented here by 3M. Hell, there are probably a handful of things invented by 3M that I could list. I will have to remember this if things start drying up at the end of this list...

5. We are the ones that brought Zubaz into existence? Oh Sweet Mother Mary Baby Jesus in a Handbasket, I’m so sorry! BAZINGA! Those suckers were so comfortable!

6. MN was (is?) home of the Coen Brothers.

7. We are home to the first shopping mall ever built! This video has nothing to do with MN, but it does deal with shopping malls:
8. Prince. Eh… The Artist Formally Known as Prince.

9. Tonka Trucks were first developed here.

10. Rollerblades were invented here.

11. Rollerblades not useful enough to meet the demands of your day to day? Well, the stapler was also invented here! That is if Spring Valley is in MN. The hell if I’m going to take those 30 seconds to Google that… Okay, it is.

12. The capital of Minnesota is St. Paul.

13. But, the largest city is Minneapolis.

14. With their powers combined they form the Twin Cities.

15. MN is home to the Walker Art Center.

16. The Mall of America (once proclaimed to be the largest mall in the US, which I don’t believe is accurate, or…?) resides in MN. Because that made sense to build it way the hell up here… Jealous?

17. Bob Dylan.

18. Wheaties originated here.

19. Our State Muffin is Blueberry. States have fucken muffins? Whatever, blueberry is cool.

20. The movie Fargo doesn’t accurately portray how Minnesotans are. I swear. I’m pretty sure this is a fact. I hope…
    
21. Fargo, directed by the Coen Brothers, was partially filmed in Minnesota and, despite the blurb above, is a really good movie.

22. Minnesota was the 32nd state, reaching statehood on May 11, 1858.

23. Home of the Vikings, Twins, Timberwolves, and Minnesota Wild. Whether these teams are something their fans care to embrace and are proud of seems to flux season to season.

24. The state’s name originates from a Dakota Sioux Indian word for “sky-tinted water”. Another source cites it to mean “cloudy water”. Let’s stick with sky-tinted, shall we?

25. It’s freaking cold outside! This is a fact!

And so there you have it! 25 random facts about the state of Minnesota. I’m almost mostly pretty surely positive that at least 80% of them are accurate!

We aren’t finished yet. There were rumors about Naked Cake (started by some unidentified superhero of the Universe) being involved with the 25th TToT entry and a handful of the blog hop’s hosts and participants delivered! It’s probably only fair I do the same.

The Naked Cake Isn’t a Lie

It's a Naked Cake!

A Dressed Cake!

Another Naked Cake!

A Dress that's a Cake! Or is that a Cake that's a Dress?

Unfortunately that concludes this week’s special edition of the 10 Things of Thankful’s 25th weekend celebration! If you are better about managing your time, you still have plenty of it to participate in not only the blog hop, but the ongoing conversations throughout it, which last all weekend (and even long after sometimes)! Don’t miss out on this special occasion!

A thank you to the host and co-hosts of this wonderful blog hop and a bonus mention of Thankfulness for those who were great sports during the entire Naked Cake Fiasco of 2013! It was a lot of fun!

Feel free to leave your Thankful List in the comments below, if you aren’t participating directly with the blog hop! Have you ever been to Minnesota? If so, what did you think of our lovely state? Did you already know some of the facts provided? Again, for all of the awesomeness originating here that we have spread to the world (especially those Zubaz): You’re Welcome!