Today I learned...

Today I learned this: take any British actor you can think of, and I guarantee there is a picture out there of him drinking tea. I was doing some light fangirling on Pinterest today, and I noticed that a picture of Tom Hiddleston I saw had something in common with one of Benedict Cumberbatch: they both had a cup of tea in hand. Being the random American tea lover and Anglophile that I am, I couldn't help but get a chuckle out of that. So I looked up a few more actors. And then a lot more. Because there were that many to find (and because I was bored). I now have a collection of The Most British Pictures Ever that I don't know what to do with, so I guess I'll post my results here.

You get a double shot of Tom Hiddleston - a cute one and a funny one - since he's what started this madness. You can thank me later.

"The most British man to ever British." Completely accurate. And really adorable. Like everything that comes out of his mouth.

Next up is Benedict Cumberbatch. This is the picture that made me originally think, "Hah! Him and Hiddleston. Ah, the English and their tea." Little did I suspect.

David Tennant. In a cupboard. As one does.

Daniel Craig. Leave it to him to look completely badass while doing something often associated with little girls in frilly pink dresses and their teddy bears.

Gary Oldman. This one's even got HP Sauce on the table. Perfect.

Jude Law. You're starting to see what I'm saying, right? There is no shortage of these photos.

Not that I'm complaining. I wouldn't mind looking at Michael Fassbender's eyes twinkling at me over a teacup every morning. Technically, I'm not sure if he actually qualifies as British - his mother is Northern Irish, but he great up in the Republic of Ireland, but whatever, they're all a bunch of tea drinkers - he's from the British Isles, that's close enough. (Hehe, American logic!)

Even Hugh Laurie, whom we Americans are always surprised to learn is English, is enjoying a nice cuppa. I think most of us have figured it out by now, but there for a while I couldn't believe the number of people who watched House and didn't know of the existence of Jeeves & Wooster.

 

Alan Rickman even has a video of himself drinking tea. Seriously, watch it - it has DRAMA!!! The only bummer is that he doesn't talk in it.

This is when things started getting a little weird. This is Colin Firth, apparently. Taking a tea shower. I just...don't even know.  This makes me NOT want to drink tea. Sorry, Colin - you're still the best Mr. Darcy, though.

Aaaaaand then there's this one, with Jude Law and Ewan McGregor. Yeahhhh. You probably didn't want to see this, but neither did I. "One lump or two?" ...Oh god, I wish I hadn't made that joke. *takes rocket ship to other end of universe* *meanwhile a second Boston Tea Party takes place as a result*

Um, so yeah, now that things are incredibly awkward and your appetite is ruined, the end! But I was right, wasn't I? EVERY. SINGLE. ACTOR. This is as far as I got, but I'm sure I could've found dozens more. To make up for that last one, I did find one more that isn't cracked out, though. It has nothing to do with tea, but at the beginning I said these were The Most British Pictures Ever, and I was wrong. This is The Most British Picture Ever.

It could use a cup of tea in there somewhere, though.

What I'm up to

Well, what I'm REALLY up to is procrastinating on my lab report. It's all done except for one section, but it's the hard one: The Discussion.  You know, the part where you explain why you effed up.

Started school. Again. It's never going to end. I don't know what the point of making a lot of money is if I don't start working until I'm 35 (not to mention the amount of debt I'll incur when I finally hit pharmacy school). Whatever.

Finally got a nude lipstick I like. I know, exciting news. It's MAC Hug Me. Also got Dubonnet, which is burgundy red. I've been waiting since the '90s for burgundy lipstick to come back into style, so I'm not going to waste my chance, by god!

Speaking of gods, I've been fangirling over The Avengers lately. More specifically, Loki/Tom Hiddleston. As every good fangirl should. I watched it and Thor yesterday, and it gave me, how do you call, nerd problems. I realized that it's sort of depressing that I enjoy the family drama in Thor way more than that of the Star Wars prequels.  That sounds sort of derogatory toward Thor, but what I'm trying to get at is that Star Wars, the originals, set sort of a gold standard for modern retellings of "family issues," and the prequels failed miserably at reaching that standard. Meanwhile, Thor, which is a pretty good but not great movie, makes me give way more of a crap about Loki (who's not even the main character) and his relationship with Thor and Odin than I ever could about Anakin and his relationships. (There is one common thread, though - I don't give a flip about Natalie Portman's character in either one! Although, there again, I like her in Thor better.)  I don't want this to turn into another what's-wrong-with-the-prequels harangue, so I won't go there, but I just want to say: they should have been better. They didn't have to be the best movies ever, or even as good as the original trilogy, but they should've been, and could easily have been, better. Thor got us in the feels; why couldn't you?

Yeah, so, nerd problems.

Let's talk about tea. Yes, tea.

I'm having a bit of a tea renaissance at the moment. I've been trying to quit drinking soda, but I'm not ready to give up caffeine (just nasty, fattening sugar water), so I've been reveling in my small collection of good teas - Earl Grey, Earl Formal (with lavender, yum), and Lapsang Souchong - from Cafe Moto, the best coffee/tea purveyor in the universe, and I just bought myself a nice Lenox stoneware tea set (it was on sale, couldn't resist). Now I'm dying to get down to Moto and pick up something that'll put a little more variety in my daily cup. I neeeeeed some English Breakfast - I have the teabag variety, and it's just not cutting it. There are so many other tempting varieties to choose from, though: chai, jasmine, Darjeeling, sencha... oh, the possibilities!

I also found out that I've been brewing tea the wrong way for years. I was letting my water come to a big-ass rolling boil - WRONG. Turns out you want your black tea to be somewhere between 195-205ºF, and green tea should be even cooler. After I read that, I wondered how much of a difference it would really make, but when I tried it, it did have a noticeable effect! Definitely brings out the flavor better. To add insult to injury, I was brewing it way too long. I like my tea strong, but brewing it longer is not the answer.  I mean, I never let it go over 5 minutes, so I wasn't absolutely killing it, but I think cutting it down to 3-4 min. keeps the astringency to a minimum. If I want it stronger, I need to use more tea. Problem solved. Also, I mentioned teabags. I don't think I'll ever give those up completely - they're not ideal at all, but they'll do in a pinch. Good for tea emergencies. Sue me.

What I have no problem chucking in the bin, however, is all of those "Christmas blends" that show up in stores with cute little drawings of snow-covered houses and promise a festive blend of spices for a cold winter night. Bah humbug. I guess it's great if you like cinnamon-flavored water. Why didn't I just sprinkle some cinnamon in a hot cup of water? Why does the FDA allow this to be called tea at all? What are birds? We just don't know.

Not really a big fan of orange-flavored teas, either.  I can deal with Constant Comment, but that's about it. What I really hate, though, is when people put milk/cream/sugar/honey/anything into their green tea. The blog Tea Guy Speaks (which you should probably be reading instead of this if you have any interest in tea) was just talking about this, and I totally agree. I'm usually not a very judgmental person; I'm big on "live and let live" and all of that, but people: if you wanted a glass of milk, pour yourself a fricking glass of milk. If you don't like plain green tea, then you just don't like green tea. Period. There's no point wasting money on green tea if you're just going to pour half the fridge into your mug along with it. I have no problem with a little milk or sugar going into black tea (not a big fan of sugar myself, but I find it acceptable for others) because you can still taste the tea through the additional paraphernalia. The same cannot be said for green tea. I will make a couple of exceptions: go ahead and chug your green tea lattes from Starbucks and your bottled Lipton diabetic-coma-inducing sweetened drinks. I don't know what's in those things, but you can hardly call it tea. I still think it's a waste of money, but at least it's not a waste of decent tea. Bottom line: if you're gonna drink good green tea, TASTE. IT.

Opening a can of whoop ass...calculus style!

After reading back over my posts (yes, I do find myself entertaining) and realizing how much I've blathered about my calculus class, can I just say that I got an A in that bitch? That's right, I kicked ass and chewed bubblegum. Sixth grade me would be like, "I don't even know you, man. No way are you good at math." Well, suck it, sixth grade me, because it might've taken me a while, but I GET this whole math and science thing. God, I'm happy about that. I've been really gun-shy about this whole pharmacy thing; while I was pleasantly surprised with the grades I got in the first couple of semesters of chem and math, I was afraid that when shit got real down the line, I'd start to not do so well. Hasn't happened so far. I'll finally get balls-deep into chemistry this semester, plus I have anatomy, which I think is somewhat hardcore, so this will be the true test. I'm excited to get back into chem. I couldn't get into the one whole fricking section of the class I needed last semester, so it'll be nice to get back to the ol' lab. Anyway, an A! *I* got an *A* in calculus! Inconceivable!

Hey hey, hockey season!

So yeah, hockey's back. Woohoo and all that stuff. I suppose I was feeling a little more overjoyed about this before the Wings dropped 2 and beat the Blue Jackets (the Blue Jackets!!) in a measly shootout. I was prepared for them to suck somewhat, but wow, I was not prepared for this. Like, okay, I didn't think we'd beat St. Louis, but losing 0-6? That's a bummer. I thought the game with Dallas could go either way, but I did not expect to come within 3.4 seconds of getting shut out.

I don't care if we lost Lidstrom and Stuart on defense and couldn't even find anybody to replace Stuart's level of play. I don't care if we lost Holmstrom (even though I think he's always been way underrated and will be missed more than a lot of people think). Yes, we have a jacked up defense, but we should still have some major awesomeness going on with our forwards in Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, Filppula, etc. etc., and if they're not scoring any goals, then it doesn't matter if you give up 1 or 8 to the opposing team. While I realize that having a wonky defense wonks up the whole team, this is DATSYUK we're talking about - all he needs is a little time in the attacking zone, and if nobody can even give him that, then shit, I guess we really are screwed.

Of course, things wouldn't be QUITE as bleak if half the team hadn't managed to injure themselves in the space of three whole games. You've been keeping up on the training during the lockout, you say? Well, your groins beg to differ. Then there are the freak accidents. Poor Ian White, one of two decent d-men we still have from last year, got a leg laceration and had to have surgery, for pete's sake. Ericsson (and if this doesn't scream Ericsson, I don't know what does), STEPPED ON A PUCK IN PRACTICE, and injured his hip AND SHOULDER. SHOULDER!!! How do you step on a puck and slam your shoulder into the boards with enough force that it keeps you from playing? I. Ask. You. At least that's what I understand to be wrong with him. First the media said he wasn't injured, then they said it was his shoulder, then they said it was his hip, but I think the shoulder injury still stands, unless I'm misinterpreting their perfectly clear reporting.  Who else is out? Bertuzzi, Helm, Colaiacovo, Mursak, and Kindl. That makes four d-men out of a lineup that's already defensively challenged.  I guess Ericsson's coming back soon, but the rest of the d-men are out of the picture for weeks at least. When it pains, it gores.

I do think a little of this could've been prevented. Some people still blame Ken Holland for not signing Ryan Suter, which I don't understand - he did all he could, short of kidnapping the guy.  I don't hold that against him. What I do have a problem with is that he didn't start looking for a top notch partner for Lidstrom after Rafalski left. We needed a long-term guy who would be awesome with Lidstrom while he was still here, and then would provide a foundation for our defense along with Kronwall once Lidstrom departed over the Western Seas for the Undying Lands (was that too nerdy? sorry, I'm on a Hobbit kick). We had the time - Lidstrom wasn't ready to retire yet, so Kenny could take his time and make sure he signed the right guy. Didn't happen, though. Instead we got...Ian White. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we have him - he was great with Lids last year and is one of very few blue liners right now who doesn't scare me - but he's not the Answer to Our Prayers that we need so badly right now. Shit happened, so to speak, with Suter, but the amount of time we had should've allowed Holland to look in other places. However, instead of repaving the street, we just filled up the potholes with guys like White, Quincey, and Commodore. My other beef is that while Lidstrom was here, we didn't have Brendan Smith play with the Wings regularly so he could learn from the best. Instead we wasted our time with Kindl. Why? WHY? Now Smith gets to join a big disjointed mess, and he looks as disjointed as the rest of them. Although, frankly, considering how epically bad Quincey has been doing, I have to commend him for doing as well as he has with Quincey as a partner. Good gravy, the guy looks like he's never seen a PK take place, let alone ever played in one.

Let's focus on the positive for a moment, though. Ken Holland pulled some of his old magic when he signed Tootoo and Brunner this summer. I thought he was nuts for signing Tootoo - yes, we needed some toughness badly, but man, he was not my favorite guy in Nashville (though that was partly due to the whistles). Yeah, I'm a dumbass, I love the guy already, what can I say? Dude's an inch taller than me at 5'9" but just as punishing as any other big hitter in the league. He can Kronwall with the best of them!

Our biggest blessing, though, is Damien Brunner. Talk about the surprise of my life. Yeah, he was the leading goal scorer in the Swiss league last year, but I didn't know he would be THAT good! He's already got a shootout goal that rivals any of Datsyuk's, and the one and only goal in the Dallas game that came 3 seconds before the game was over. He's a little fancy and gets knocked down a lot, but I'm sure the NHL will breed that out of him in due time. The important part is that he SHOOTS. He's always in the right spot to get the puck, and when he gets it, he makes the best of his time with it. The shot might be a little too tricky and miss, but hey, there's always next time. Finally, somebody who makes his own chances instead of waiting around for the puck to find him and then going, "Aw shucks, should I shoot it?" when he gets it. I hope this will have a good influence on Filppula. Not that he has a problem with getting the puck; it's just the shooting part that's still developing. And it IS developing - last year was a big sign of that - but he could still use a little push every now and then, and maybe Brunner will help with that. Franzen I have no hope for; he'll stop floating and score a goal when he darn well feels like it. Also, I'm super glad that Zetterberg went over and played in the Swiss league with him during the off-season. On a team full of new guys or guys who are filling new roles, it's nice to have one who's already got a head start on some chemistry with the team.

I've also been pleasantly surprised with our replacement defensemen. Everybody's been going on and on about Smith's talent for the last few years, but Lashoff has ended up being the Griffins product that looked the most at home on the Wings so far. It's a miracle. And then there's mystery man Kent Huskins. Never heard of this dude in my life, but he was nice and stable for a guy brought in as a panic signing after we lost half of our blue line. I kind of forgot to pay attention to him on Tuesday, but I'd say me not noticing him is a good thing - he wasn't doing any boneheaded stuff that brought negative attention, unlike certain people whose names start with Q.

So yeah, at least we have a few guys that, given a little time to get to know each other, will begin to shine. Once we get our poor sickies back, we shouldn't be looking quite as woeful, and maybe we'll be able to trim a couple of frayed ends. I still think we're going to have the worst season we've had in a long time, but hey, at least it's short.

I saw The Hobbit on Sunday! To be honest, it kind of snuck up on me. I didn't know who was going to be Bilbo until November (but once I did, being a big Sherlock fan, I knew Freeman would be beyond perfect). I finally got it together and started re-reading LOTR and listening to Led Zeppelin (as one does), and at last I was in the proper frame of mind to receive it. I thought it was great.  I knew it wouldn't be as good ad LOTR because the book isn't as good, but I thought they made the best movie they could with the material they had. All the casting was great - I've randomly been a Richard Armitage fan since I watched North and South in an English class. If I didn't like Viggo Mortensen in the role so much, I'd say he'd make a pretty decent Aragorn, too. It did drag a little, but there's nothing I would've taken out. I like the added scenes with Galadriel, Saruman, and co. Makes it segue a little more smoothly into LOTR and gives The Hobbit a bit of extra gravitas.

The big problem, though, is a technical one, like everybody's been saying. You have a choice between seeing it in 2D or 3D. The 2D version is shown at 24 frames per second. However, the movie was shot at 48 frames per second, and seeing it in 3D is the only way to see it at 48 fps. What's the difference? Well, in 2D (24 fps), it's normal looking...except for the fast-moving action scenes, which judder across the screen and look blurry because they're impossible to focus on. This was most noticeable for me during the scenes in Erebor. I haven't seen the 3D (48 fps) version, but the problem is the same one HDTVs have - they make all movies look like cheap BBC productions from the '70s, or like video recordings of stage plays. Yes, there's a lot more detail, and the action shots are clear as a bell, but it almost looks TOO real, like you're watching real life in video game form. It's really not my favorite thing. I'll take my 24 fps and crappy-looking action shots over Bilbo looking like he's starring in a high school Rodgers & Hammerstein production, if it comes to that. I don't think it needs to, though; this is all fixing a problem that doesn't exist. Don't plague my movies with the same problem my TV has, please!

The Fat Lady's singing, but at least it's on my iPhone...

Well, I had a pretty awesome day until baseball came on.  Went to Nordie's, which is always fun.  I didn't buy anything; my mom was doing the shopping, but I just like being there.  Then - THEN! - we went to the Verizon store, and guess what Iiiii orrrderrrred?  That's right, what else but an iPhone 5!  I was going to get the 32 GB one, but I ended up going for the 64.  Jeez I'm excited!  This is the best thing I've ever bought myself, other than my guitar.  The spoiled, competitive little bitch in me can't wait to spring it on my friends.  Yep, I openly admit it...maturity is not my strong point.  Can't wait to see how this Siri thing works..."Siri, when is hockey coming back?" "Never." "Why?" "Because Gary Bettman is an asshole." "Thanks, Siri, you always have the right answer."

Speaking of sports, then it was home for baseball. Oh. God. Why.  At least we had the lead at SOME point during the series, thanks to Monsieur Triple Crown.  Still got swept, though.  Really embarrassing.  I was being all positive on Twitter, which is unusual for me.  It probably just hasn't hit me yet.  Tomorrow I'll be playing all the sad songs I usually play when the Wings lose in the playoffs and bawling in calculus and that kind of thing.  It's been a good year of baseball for me, though.  The Tigers had big ups and downs, and the Padres sucked steadily like they usually do, but I went to 3 Padres games and had a lot of fun with friends and family. Plus, it's been great getting to know the Tigers better over the past couple of years of watching on and off (with special thanks to the Wings fans I follow on Twitter for educating me on baseball in general), and I think sometime in about August they finally really hooked me.  Now I'm all excited for spring training and shit.  Pretty sure I'm in for the long haul now.  It was hard to get into it at first because I'm used to hockey and all its fast-paced excitement, but now that I have a way better clue of what's going on, I think all the strategy and mind games that go on between the pitcher and batter are really interesting.  Yeah, so...come on, March.  Ain't like I've got anything else going on.  What the hell did I do before I started watching sports?  My life feels so empty right now, and yet in another time and place, I was content without it.  Inconceivable.

You know what else I miss?  My fucking chemistry class.  I had, like, almost-friends in that class!  We had good times!  I even enjoyed lab, even though I kind of panicked the morning of every lab day.  I guess that's how you know you're meant to do something - even when you're scared of something, you end up enjoying it while you're doing it and missing it when it's over.  Baby come back.  Hopefully I can get in to the last general chem class I need next semester...fingers are crossed.