Kickin' it old school

I was feeling in an old school mood today, so I busted out my Beverly Hills, 90210 T-shirt.

This was one of my favorite TV shows growing up, and when I saw this shirt at Old Navy a while back, I just had to buy it.

Not much else going on in my life right now, other than I just came back from London 2 weeks ago. It was an interesting trip, to say the least. I got sick, I lost my luggage, and I also lost $100 worth of souvenirs. WTF.

But, I made up for it in the end, by eating another glorious $100 meal at The Steakhouse in Harrod's, taking a lovely stroll through Queen Regent's Park, getting rained on (ha ha ha) and seeing my beloved Cumberbatch in Hamlet at the Barbican.

He was great.

Anyhoo, it's Friday, it's sunny outside, and I'm ready for the weekend.

Until next time...

Swoon

I think he looks really good in this picture. *blushes*

London bound

And just like that... I'm off to London for my birthday again. Let's hope this time when I go... I get lucky.

Cumberbatch

Hang in there, Benedict :)

Pic of the day

Love these two together... they seem like best buddies!

OMG

Drool. That is all. *dies*

I'm back!

So... I'm back from my two week vacation to the United Kingdom, and boy do I miss it. I could totally live in London. I liked that city so much!

I'll blog about my trip later on this month... for now, I'll leave my fellow readers (all three of you) with a pic of me in Wales at Conwy Castle. That's me, Princess Randi, looking down at all of my peasants from my ivory tower (ha ha ha).

My nervousness about my upcoming U.K. trip

So... for the first time in my life this upcoming Sunday, I will be going on my first international trip. On the one hand, I'm really excited to see places that I've never been before! I can't wait to see all of the landmarks in the United Kingdom that I've only seen on television up close and personal. It's going to be great.

On the other hand... I'm EXTREMELY nervous about my trip.

Why, might you ask? Let's see:

• For the first time in my life, I'm going to be considered a foreigner. Not that it's bad to be a foreigner, it's just that it's going to be weird to be in a place where no one sounds like me.
• Secondly, I'm afraid that my luggage is going to get lost!
• Thirdly, I'm worried about not having enough money. The British pound is $1.70 for every American dollar. WTF.
• And lastly, I guess... I'm afraid that I'm going to get lost, miss my flight and lose my passport.

So there you have it... my fears.

I shouldn't be worried, right? It's not like they don't speak English in the U.K., lol. 

Perhaps maybe my biggest fear is that after 9 months of planning out the most exciting vacation that I am about to take in my life thus far... I'm afraid that I won't have a good time.

Hmmm. How can I not have a good time? My friends will be with me. I get free room and board in Wigan when I stay there. George Clooney will be getting married in London while I'm there. And I may be able to (schedules permitting) stop off at the University of Oxford and possibly get a glimpse of Prince William and Kate Middleton. 

Yeah. That sure as hell sounds like a bunch of things to be afraid of. Perhaps I should just calm down.

I will, I guess. Perhaps when I'm finally on the plane.

I'm going to try and stay active on Twitter and Instagram, so that I can post pics whenever I can. So for all 3 of my blog followers, you will see that I probably didn't have anything to worry about in the first place.

And that I really am, having a good time overseas.

PS - My birthday is on Monday, September 1st. And I'll be in Scotland, having a pint. That doesn't sound so bad, right? Cheers!

Best Summer Ever

So... this summer is going to be off the heezy! Why??? Because I'll be travelling the whole time...

I KNOW! YAY!

I haven't taken a real vacation since June 2006, when I went to visit San Francisco with my sister. I know... shame on me for not getting out more. Since then, I have taken weekend trips to Atlanta, New York City and Atlantic City, but this time, I'll be taking some REAL vacations and spending my time away from work travelling to these wonderful places:

Atlanta, Georgia

Memorial Day weekend will be the start of my vacation season. I'll be visiting my friend Jeannine again for the weekend. It's not technically a "vacation", but I'll be getting away from good 'ol Washington, DC, and spending time with her and her family. I might actually spend the weekend in Albany, GA with her husband's family, doing some country stuff like shooting guns and riding around on an ATV. I've never done anything like that before... and even though it sounds a little like not exactly what I would do on vacation... I'm thinking that it'll be fun, though. Because ATV's are awesome, lol. After that, I'm headed to...

Seattle, Washington

I've never been here! And I miss the West Coast. I'll be here for 4th of July weekend with my friend Anne. Lots of stuff to see here... the Pike Place Market, the first ever Starbucks, Voodoo Doughnut (a day trip to Portland is in the itinerary) and we'll also be taking a cruise around Puget Sound (money permitting). And of course, we'll be hitting up Mr. Space Needle as well. And then lastly, I'll be going to three different places in the United Kingdom...

Manchester, England

Remember when I blogged about winning $2K in prize money for travel at my company's X-mas party? Well, I plan to spend that money on a trip overseas, starting on my birthday in September (for two whole weeks!!!!). I won't be going to Paris (waaaaaah... another time), but I'll be all over England and Scotland. My first stop is going to be Manchester, where my friend Dawn's husband, Andy, is from. He's from a small town here called Wigan. I'm crossing my fingers in the hopes that we'll see a soccer (aka football) match and drink lots of beer with the townies (lol). From there, it's off to...

Edinburgh, Scotland

I just want to see a castle, and pretend that it is mine! We are going to spend the weekend here. Perhaps I'll see a few people in kilts. And hopefully I'll have some money to buy one (we'll see). And perhaps I'll talk to some Scottish guys who'll have accents so thick that I won't know what the hell they are saying. And perhaps I'll eat some haggis. Yes, haggis, aka sheep intestines. EW. Well, at least it's cooked. And then, my last stop will be...

London, England

Oh, I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to go here! It's the home of Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, the London Bridge, and of course, this lovely man pictured below:

Sadly, I found out that he won't be portraying Hamlet on stage until next year. So, he may not be in London when I'm there (ugh... depressing). I think at this point in time an act of God would have to put him in the city at the same time that I'm there, since he likes to work all of the time and then spend his free time in NYC. Perhaps I'll get lucky and he'll be in town that week. We'll see.

Even if he's not there, I'll still have a good time. I'll definitely be hitting up the Sherlock Holmes museum and be paying a visit to the street that they film the BBC's Sherlock on. Man, I love that show. And instead of meeting my dear Cumberbatch,  maybe I'll pass by Prince William and Kate Middleton! Or meet Daniel Craig! Pipe dreams, yes I know. But who knows. It could happen, people!

So that's my summer. I forsee myself being insanely broke by the time I come home from the U.K., but honestly, I think it'll all be worth it. And I promise to update my Twitter and Instagram feeds with lots of pics so everyone can see what I'm up to when I'm visiting all of these places.

Now I just have to get my passport and buy some luggage... I know! I'm so lazy.

Benedict Cumberbatch, King of the Photobombers

Yep, that's my boy in the background, photobombing U2 at the Oscars last night. And then...

... he turned around and did it again later on in the evening. LOL. He's so wonderful :)

PS - He sat next to Brad and Angelina at the Oscars all night long! Lucky!

Update

Haven't felt like blogging too much lately... but I guess I can add in a few things that have been going on with me in the last few weeks:

• I'm close to writing 10,000 words for my novel. YAY!
• I've been feeling a lot healthier and happier in the last week or so. I think my body is almost back to normal, after 8 years of crazy.
• I've been watching True Blood on HBO. It's a good show.
• Sam has kept on being Sam. Lots of meowing, though.
• I saw Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. It was ok.

Anyhoo... still like Cumberbatch... just not as much as I used to. It's a relief. But I still think that the man is wonderful. Check him out on Sesame Street below.

Until next time...

12 Years a Slave and the "film bomb" that is The Fifth Estate

Everyone who reads my blog KNOWS that I love Benedict Cumberbatch.

With that said, as much as I love love love Cumberbatch, I absolutely had NO interest in seeing The Fifth Estate this weekend.

Why? Because I really didn't find the subject matter that interesting. And apparently, everyone in America didn't find it interesting either, because almost no one went to see the movie this weekend. I think it barely broke $1 million at the box office.

Honestly, I would pay to see a movie with Cumberbatch in it reading the damn phonebook. And I would drool over him while listening to him sound out people's names as he read them aloud. And totally love it. Why? Because it's him reading the phonebook in that wonderful voice of his. I would find that entertaining and interesting on top of that.

However, I didn't see The Fifth Estate mostly because I don't care about Julian Assange. Hell, I didn't even know what embassy he was being holed up in (read my post on S%$# I don't know if you like). I mean, I'm all for supporting my boy in whatever he does, but he really does have to make a film about a subject that I'm interested in, or make a film that gets really good reviews (if he reads the phonebook and it gets good reviews, I would go see that, lol). Which leads to my next talking point...

I went out with my friend Lisa and saw 12 Years a Slave today. It was good. Since some of my favorite people were in it (Pitt, Fassbender and of course, Cumberbatch) and it was generating a lot of Oscar buzz, I made my way to the theater, even though I'm no fan of watching minority groups get torchered on screen (especially my own group).

Chiwetel Ejiofor gave a strong performance, and so did Lupita Nyong'o, who is cute as a button. Fassbender's performance was good too (even though he was evil) and I was happy to see Brad Pitt in it as well (even though he is only in a few scenes).

Cumberbatch was not in the movie that much, but I thought that he did a good job in the few scenes that he was in. And his American southern accent was pretty good (love him!).

If you can handle the hard-to-watch scenes of slaves being beaten (I closed my eyes a lot), then I recommend seeing the film. It's quite good.

Anyhoo, Cumberbatch's failure to get people to the theater this weekend to see The Fifth Estate is quite the talk of the Internet. There is even an article in Variety on whether or not he is a leading man (click here to read).

My opinion? He's an A-lister for sure. Whether or not he can drive people to the theater remains to be seen.

I think he can, given the right role and given some critical buzz. The man is wonderfully talented, and regardless of him being able to open a film, he'll have a long career in Hollywood and in Britain. Could he be a movie star? Maybe. Even though he may be "unconventional" looking, he truly has a great on-screen presence and he's good in pretty much everything that he does. And he's got a crazy fanbase (me included, but I'm no Cumberbitch, or anyone's bitch, for that matter). I think that people who have heard of him and seen his work recognize his talent, but I don't think too many people really know who he is in the US for him to really be a star here at this point in time. That may happen after the rest of his movies come out this year.... we'll see.

He'll bounce back from this with no problem. Lots of stars make box office bombs, and they go on to have successful careers. I'm not worried about him.

Meanwhile, I'm just waiting for Sherlock season 3 (can't wait!!!) and for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (aka The Dragon Movie) to come out in theaters this fall.

Happy Thursday!

 

Cumberbatch graces the cover of the international version of Time Magazine. Love him!

S%$# I don't know

Here's a post about s%$# I don't know.

Some chick on one of my favorite online blogs just ripped me a new one on a thread because I didn't know that Julian Assange was being held in an Ecuadorian embassy in London (I thought he was in an embassy IN Ecuador). She then questioned whether or not Americans in general knew anything about what was going on with Assange, and wondered why I was so clueless about him.

Hmmm. Can't say that I wasn't exactly not pissy about that comment, but at the same time, I kind of didn't care (yet here I am blogging about it... ha ha).

The only reason why I know as much as I know about Julian Assange is because I like Benedict Cumberbatch so much. Hell, I even went to Assange's Wikipedia page just to read a little bit about him just so I could be in the know about "The Fifth Estate" movie that comes out about him this Friday. Only because why? My beloved Cumberbatch stars in the film.

Honestly, I don't care about the whole WikiLeaks thing. I find it boring. I mean, I get why the whole thing is relevant and what Assange was trying to accomplish by releasing all of those secret documents (he released documents, right?), but truth be told... BORING.

Not to mention, apparently Assange has access to movies in that embassy as well (he recently watched "There Will Be Blood" and liked it... dude, you are like, 6 years late on that s%$#)... I thought it was like an office building of some kind? They have areas where you can eat and sleep and watch movies in? WTF?

Now, perhaps I should know what the function and purpose of an embassy is. We have many of them in Washington, DC, here where I live, but I've never been to one. I've passed a few off of Massachusetts Ave while driving in my car, but I've never stopped to really look at one or read up on what they are for. Apparently it is a place for foreign diplomats or something like that to do "stuff" in... LOL... I know I sound stupid... ha ha ha... but, whatever!

Hell, I had to look up what "civil liberties" were just so I could understand Cumberbatch's rebuttal response to what Assange said to him. Apparently lots of people have their civil liberties violated. I should know that, right? I mean... um, damn! Wow. I, uh... oh boy.

Ok. I'm clueless about some things. Let's see what else I don't know... oh damn. The list on this blog would be too long to include all of those things. Let me pick a few:

*Where Cumberbatch lives in London
*How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood
*Who the president of Iran is
*Why some women dress horribly
*Why Putin thinks that Americans aren't special
*Why I'm writing about things I don't know

I'm trying to be sarcastic here, of course.

Whatever. You know what? Sometimes I comment on things that I only know a little about because I want to be in the conversation. And I like to think that I can put my two cents in without being COMPLETELY informed about everything that's going on.

Apparently the woman who commented about my ignorance about Assange thought that everyone in America was truly invested in the WikiLeaks affair and what's going on with that whole thing. I think she's from a country who is really into what's going on with him.

There's probably a good chunk of people here in the US who know a lot. Sadly, I'm not one of them.

You guys know me though... if it's not about celebrities, movies or sports, I don't give a s%$#.

It's so hot outside

Ugh... this summer weather is already starting to bear down on me... and we are only twoish weeks into the summer. Rrrr.

Haven't blogged in awhile... I've been busy being lazy. I've been meaning to write, but I've been just loafing around, watching TV and being silly. I blame the summer weather.

One thing that I have been doing a lot of is watching "Game of Thrones"... which is like THE BEST SHOW EVER! OMG... I looooove that show. Tyrion Lannister (aka Peter Dinklage) is like my favorite character.

He's like, da bomb. I can totally see why Dinklage won the Emmy and the Golden Globe for his role on this show. If you don't watch Game of Thrones, I highly recommend you do so. It's that frickin' awesome.

In other news, I'm still in looooove with Benedict Cumberbatch. My obsession with him has died down since Star Trek into Darkness has come out (thank God), but I still giggle like a little school girl whenever I see pictures of him.

Giggling as we speak.

Anyhoo, I'm trying to pick up writing again in my spare time (laziness, duh) and I'm trying to get back on the exercise track. It's going to be some work, but I think I can do it. I have to push through my laziness and get it done.

Not to mention... I recently took a trip down to ATL to visit my friend Jeannine 2 weeks ago... I had a good time. Her daughters are very cute and we went out for girls night and had a really good time. I hadn't been out drinking and dancing in forever. The only thing that was crappy about the weekend is that her adorable daughter Rose peed on me. EWWWWW.

Other than that... life is moving along. I'm hoping the next 6 months bring me good fortune as I continue to improve my health, further my writing career and perhaps, maybe, JUST MAYBE, consider looking for love on Match.com.

Don't hold your breath on that last one, though :)

For Rachel K.

Somehow or another, your comments were awaiting moderation in my Blogger account, and I didn't find out until now! I didn't realize that ANYONE was reading my crazy ramblings other than my close buddies from Barnes and Noble.

Thanks so much for the comments... and thanks for being a fellow Benedict Cumberbatch lover. My friends don't understand why I like him so much. But honestly, after watching Sherlock and some interviews he's given over the years, I'm totally smitten with him. He's a great actor, and seems like an all around good guy.

I couldn't find your email address, but please send me a message! I would love to correspond with you if you like.

And of course, I couldn't end this post without a lovely picture of my current obsession.

He's so cute.

Rrrrr

This man is ruining my life. Seriously.

I need to stop thinking about him and all of his wonderfulness. Oh man. Someone help me.

I think I'll be ok after Star Trek into Darkness comes out. Fingers crossed.

The last month or so has been a little rough, but it's over. Thank goodness. Work drama totally rules my life. You would think if I didn't like to cause so much of it, then I would be ok. But alas, that's not how I roll.

Anyhoo, I finally started getting some feedback from the volunteer company that I signed up to write for (after I practically fussed at them for ignoring my awesomeness). I've been a little lazy and haven't done the required reading yet, so I need to hop on that.

I think that the stagnation in my life is starting to end and things are starting to move along now. I lost a dress size, I'm going to be writing in the evenings, and hopefully I'll pick up my diet and exercise program again. The era of laziness is over. Time to start moving again.

That means less TV, less Goldeneye (video games) and more work. Oh boy.

Top 5 Hollywood Guys

My top 5 Hollywood obsessions at the moment:

1) Justin Timberlake... drool... he can sing to me any day of the week.

 

 2) Jesse Williams... double drool... he's the only reason I still watch Grey's Anatomy.

 

 3) Benedict Cumberbatch... I want to have his children...

 

 4) Will Smith... if I had to pick a celebrity to marry... it would be him. Cumberbatch comes a close second.

 

5) Idris Elba... the man is fine. Period. I love his show Luther!

I think I need a boyfriend. Stat.

My Favorite Brits

Ahhh... you are looking at two of my favorite British people, Benedict Cumberbatch and Idris Elba. I don't know why all of a sudden I have switched my gaze from hot American guys to hot British guys, but it's not like I'm complaining or anything. These guys are awesome!

Drool, drool, drool... I'm currently wishing that I lived in London, just so I can be in close proximity to these two.

I can't wait to see Star Trek into Darkness and Pacific Rim (even though it looks like Voltron at the cinema) this summer staring these guys! The wait just might kill me.

But at least for now I get to watch "Sherlock" and "Luther" on Netflix streaming... yay!

And in the meantime... here are the trailers for "Star Trek" and "Pacific Rim"... drooooool.

Sherlock, Sherlock, Sherlock

Oh man. Here I am on a Thursday night, at 12:45 am, drunk, blogging while sitting next to Anne and watching my new favorite show, the BBC's "Sherlock". I am IN LOVE with this show.

For anyone who doesn't know about the fabulous man in the picture on the left, that's Benedict Cumberbatch, aka, Sherlock Holmes, aka, my future husband and father of my unborn children.

He's so wonderful. This man may be a little geeky looking (after all, he's playing a genius), but he is quick witted, well spoken, articulate, and fabulous. He delivers his lines on this show so wonderfully... the cadence in his voice, the pace at which he speaks... oh man. It's breath taking. I swear to God, I'm in love.

The guy next to him is Martin Freeman, aka, John Watson on the show, aka The Hobbit (Bilbo Baggins), which is currently in theaters. He's cool too... yeah, he's the sidekick, but he plays a vital role on the show as my beloved's right hand man.

Anyways, back to Benedict. I think he's so handsome. And... he's going to be in the new Star Trek movie next year, looking all kinds of hot, like this:

Drool... I love watching well written shows with smart, nerdy looking, hot men. Sherlock is a really good show. I can't believe it took me 2 years to start watching it.

But I'm glad I finally did.

The only question I have now.... what is a Cumberbatch? I need to look that up on the Internet.