Bumberlaughs

Guys. Bumbershoot was last weekend and on top of an amazing amount of free Starbucks I was able to see a crap ton of comedians. And this is usually not my entertainment of choice. Something about stand up comedy makes me so incredibly uneasy. I usually just sit in terror that they’re going to a.) bomb b.) panic and start heckling the audience and then c.) get booed off the stage. I can’t help but empathize with those performers–I think it might be the hardest performing art.

But I wanted to be sure to give you guys a run down of who you should be Youtubing on your lunch break. I loved them and hopefully you will too.

Nick Thune did NOT look this good when we saw him. But he was hilarious and even picked on my friend Travis. I should preemptively send him a “you’re welcome” card for name dropping him on PopFountain.

The Triumphant Return of PopFountain

… otherwise known as: Sorry we’ve been MIA. There’s been a lot of stuff going on. New apartments. New roommates. New fleas on the couch. New stores to manage. New stresses in life, love and the pursuit of finishing Firefly. But we’re coming back—loud and proud.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: From a Muggle’s perspective

Do they take renters?

Yes, I am 24 years old. And yes, I did travel from Seattle WA all the way down to Orlando FL (which is a whopping 3,000 miles away) all in the name of Harry Potter.

Harry Potter Wizarding World opened in June 2010 as an additional attraction at Universal Studios. Going to Orlando for anything other than Disney World is one of the highest forms of treachery in my family. Yet here we were, my two sisters and I, making the long ass journey all the way there. But my god, was it worth it.

It took a while to get to the actual Wizarding World. Like any good amusement park tycoons they knew that it was their big ticket item so they make you hoof it through all of these crazy places like Seuss Land before you make it to the Hogwarts Gates. Momma wanted to see more hippogriffs and less loraxes (loraxi?) so I was keeping a brisk pace. When we finally reached the entrance it happened so quickly I kind of missed it. I thought the entrance would have been more grandiose and I would feel a magical shift in being. I didn’t. But I didn’t let that get me down. We were finally there and we had some serious ground to cover.

The Wizarding World itself isn’t that big. If we’re going to compare it to Disney World which, let’s be honest, I’m going to be doing this entire review, it would be comparable to Adentureland in the Magic Kingdom. So, not as big as Fantasyland, but not too shabby. The crowds were pretty thick, but we arrived at 8:30 am and were able to beat a lot of the rush. Don’t let it fool you when it says that the doors open at 9 am. That’s crap. But we successfully visited every attraction that the Wizarding World had to offer and stretched it out for an amazing 8 hours. (I’d say a typical visit should only last 4 or 5 depending on lines). So here’s what to look forward to along with some insider tips:

Theme Song Tryouts: Take 4

I know, I know, it’s already the middle of July and we (by which I mean “I”) haven’t even posted our AWESOMELY OUTDOOR July Movie Preview yet… but to be fair, the only movie we’re even remotely excited about this month doesn’t come out till THIS FRIDAY (!!!), so up till now it hasn’t really mattered, right?  Hello?  Please?

Mom…???

At any rate, please accept this amusing little ditty as my atonement for services not rendered, and I promise you I will get that preview out by Friday morning!

Google Voice: Yeah, I didn’t know it existed either.

He'll never be able to wear that shirt again.

I’m the type of person who is, how do you say, not very techno-savvy.  I still buy and read actual books–Kindle can suck it.  (Sidebar:  How will you demonstrate your intelligence to guests if you don’t have numerous leather-bound books lying around? Or how will you steady that Value Village table leg that is just a spaghetti-in-you-lap disaster waiting to happen? I worry about these things. But, as I was saying…) I also actually use my phone as a, dare I say it, phone. No internet, or GPSing or video playing. Just talkin’ and textin’ for this little lady.

But I will say that ever since I started using Gmail I’ve been keen to try out some of Google’s new ventures. They are so mainstream it’s hard not to just jump on the overcrowded bandwagon. Michael and I Google Doc-ed our review of Toy Story 3, I lost my planner and had to use Google Calendar for a summer and Google Blog search is fun for Saturday mornings while you eat your Special K with red berries.

Theme Song Tryouts: Take 2

Remember how a little less than a week ago, we posted a video of us (one drunk, the other sober… won’t spoil which is which) trying to come up with a theme song for our beloved blog, and then we cryptically promised there would be “more to come.”  Well, you might still be able to accuse us of rhythmic deficiency, but now at least you can’t accuse us of lying.  Enjoy!

Theme Song Tryouts: Take 1

We know it… you’re bored.  We’re bored.  We thought Toy Stoy 3 was coming out this week too and so we thought, “Hey, there’ll finally be something compelling for us to blog about,” but oh… we were both wrong.  Then we thought, “Wait!  Every good blog has a theme song, right?  RIGHT?!”  So, inspired by recent findings we decided to strike out and attempt to create our own PopFountain of musical myrrh.  More to come…

“Come little children/I’ll take thee away”

Hocus Pocus reference in June? DOUBLE POINTS.

We would never do this to you.

But seriously. PopFountain recently created the Twitter account @PopFountain (how ever did we come up with that title?) and we want you all to follow us like lemurs to the water. Need some reasons? Well belly up to the bar and listen to this soda jerk’s truth spittin’.

Things that you’ll find on our Twitter account:

1. Late-breaking pop culture news that we  discovered from one of our trusted news sources*
2. Live-tweeting of events such as midnight openings, season finales, and concerts
3. Retweeted hilariousness from the best twitter-ers out there (like @kikiabba and @sedgeforrent)
4. Drunk tweeting is bound to happen at some point
5. And basically anything that we want to share with you but only have 140 characters worth of things to say about it

So follow us, we’ll follow you, and together we’ll all somehow figure out how to get on Ellen!

(*read as either “Leaky Cauldron” or “Facebook”)

Be a Mother Lover

My sister found the cutest website today to celebrate Mother’s Day. You can send your mom a video clip from CNNBC that features her as the Mother of the Decade. Celeb testimonials include America “Real Women have Curves and are Ugly” Ferrera and mom of the Willenium Michelle Obama. My mom loves stuff like this. Most moms do. It’s right up there with crying at Hallmark commercials and buying bulk boxed wine. Make the video, send her the link and DON’T FORGET TO CALL HOME TOMORROW. Even though she promises to start learning how to text, a phone call is still the best option. And isn’t it worth it so that you too can be cool and thoughtful?

Happy Mother’s Day!

Suicide: “Cerenberg and the City”

Christ, kid, take it easy on the Mountain Dew!

Remember when you were a little kid and you’d go to a gas station and get a pop and much to your mom’s chagrin you’d mix all of the flavors together until what was in your cup was a brown cacophony of syrupy sweetness that you wouldn’t dream of drinking now that you’re all *cough*mature*cough*?  Well, that’s kind of what it’s like going into a conversation between Kiki and me.  We start out talking about one thing but quickly add in so many other topics that by the end we’re not really sure what we’ve wound up talking about… just that it was insightful, revelatory gold (even if only to us.)  From time to time, we hope you will indulge us (and let’s face it, if you’re reading this, you probably already are) as we share with you our “Conversational Suicides” such as this one, which stems from my recent conversation with Ms. Abba regarding her negative feelings toward Jesse Eisenberg.

MICHAEL: So, the cat’s out of the bag: you’re not a Jesse Eisenberg fan.  Why, Kiki?  What gives?

KIKI: When will the tabloids stop printing these vicious lies? For the record I would like to publicly state that I do not dislike Jesse Eisenberg.  Anyone that likes Michael Cera (which I do and you don’t, Mr. Trenary) can’t possibly dislike Jesse Eisenberg. They are basically the same person. Except Jesse can probably open his mouth all the way.

M: Where would you say this ‘vicious’ rumor stems from?  There has to be a reason people think you like Jesse Eisenberg even less than you like Kirsten Dunst.

K: A of all, let’s not even bring up that bland piece of boring, Kirsten Dunst or I might have to become violent. B of all, here’s the truth of the matter: I didn’t like Adventureland or Zombieland. Granted, my expectations for Adventureland were way too high. I thought it would be more Superbad and less Nick & Nora. (See? I even had to use Michael Cera movies to make an accurate comparison.) It just wasn’t funny. Although I don’t think it was meant to be. It was probably meant to be more poignant and a coming of age story and… I’m getting bored just typing this. And why Bill Hader and Kristin Wiig bothered to be in it is beyond me.