Good news, and a funny cartoon

I'm going to cement my geek rep here by posting this link to a Penny Arcade comic: Mr. Period's Forum Tips . Apparently the wedding world is not the only place you'll find people who act like jerks on the internet! (Shocking, I know. Also, language NSFW. Also, if you don't play video games, the comic won't make much sense, except for the joke about the backslash.)

And, on a totally unrelated note ... I have a tracking number for my invitations!!! I am so happy and relieved. Part of me is still worried that they'll send the wrong number of invites, or that my box will be intercepted and eaten by angry beavers or something, but I really do feel like a weight has been lifted. We may actually get to invite people to our wedding in a timely manner! Phew!

Weddingtainment: Ellie and Awesome, "Chuck"

The cake didn't arrive? Your caterer brought shrimp cocktail instead of shrimp skewers? The flowers are the wrong color?

Don't worry. Your wedding is still going better than Ellie Bartowski's. Luckily she's taking it in stride.

Image from sepinwall.blogspot.com

Last night's "Chuck" finale featured the wedding of Chuck's older sister Ellie and her fiance Devon, better known as Captain Awesome (because he is a hot doctor who enjoys skydiving and other Awesome activities). Unfortunately, an enemy of our reluctant spy hero shows up to ruin the festivities. Not only does he threaten to kill Ellie unless Chuck does what he wants ... he threatens the cake! Clearly Chevy Chase is pure evil.

Image from NBC.com

If you're up for an hour of goofy, wedding-related fun, go to Hulu or NBC.com right now and stream "Chuck vs. the Ring." The episode is a bit heavy on the "Chuck" backstory (so don't worry if all the talk of the Intersect has you totally lost), but I think anyone who's ever planned or attended a wedding will sympathize with Chuck's horror as ... well, I won't tell you the whole story. Just know that it involves paratroopers, the worst wedding band ever, a last-minute alteration to a bridesmaid's dress, and some pretty scary in-laws.

3 totally awesome things that have nothing to do with weddings

OK, I'm sick of weddings again. But that doesn't mean I can't blog! Here are three totally awesome things that I think you should know about. They have nothing to do with weddings, but did I mention they're awesome?

1. "Chuck," 8/7c Mondays on NBC

Image from www.geekshow.us

Take a sweet, smart guy whose life hasn't quite gone as planned -- that's Chuck Bartowski, our titular character. Now add a CIA-defector ex-roommate who plants the nation's secrets in his head. Throw in a gorgeous secret agent assigned to protect him (the fantastic Yvonne Strahovski as Sarah) and the hilarious Adam Baldwin as the National Security Agency's Major John Casey. Occasionally show us Chuck's screwed-up co-workers at the Buy More where he makes $11 an hour as a Nerd Herd tech support guy. Sprinkle with great alternative-indie music, ironic 80s references, and a bunch of villains named after obscure Philadelphia sports figures. The result: the most entertaining hour of TV all week.

"Chuck" sounds so off-the-wall that it's hard to explain to people who haven't seen it before, much less sell them on watching it. But trust me: all of those nutty elements I just mentioned work seamlessly in the show's context. If you're looking for 44 minutes of pure fun, go watch an episode on Hulu (I suggest "Chuck versus Santa Claus," one of the series' best episodes to date). Then tune in for the season's last two episodes, because if NBC cancels this quirky gem, I'm going to be completely crushed.

2. "Flower" for the Playstation 3
"Flower" is even harder to explain than "Chuck," but I'll give it a go. It's a short game you can download from the Playstation Network for $9.99 (i.e., don't look for it on Amazon.com or in stores). You play as ... well, sort of as a gust of wind. You steer by tilting the controller, and the object is to bring a barren landscape back to life by hitting a series of targets shaped like flowers. When you hit a target, you hear a musical note; hit lots in a row and the game becomes almost symphonic.

Image from www.digitaljournal.com

The graphics in "Flower" are stunning, and once you get used to the controls, it's an almost giddily good ride. It's unlike anything else I've ever played, and it's both exhilerating and oddly soothing.

3. The Matthew Shardlake novels by CJ Sansom

Image from www.amazon.co.uk

Matthew Shardlake, born a hunchback, is a lawyer in Tudor London whose connections with religious reform movements provide him with both powerful allies and terrifying enemies. In the first novel, Dissolution, Shardlake's patron and fellow reformer Lord Cromwell sends him to investigate a murder at a monastary, one that is being dissolved in accordance with King Henry VIII's new religious rules. The subsequent three books -- Dark Fire, Sovereign, and Revelation -- follow Shardlake as he continues to navigate the thorny webs of politics and religion, while trying to do right by his legal clients and solve murders.

The Shardlake books are alive with rich historical detail. CJ Sansom has a PhD in history, and it shows -- he gets the details right without beating his reader over the head with his knowledge of life in 16th-century England. The mysteries are sophisticated without being overly convoluted, his characters are fascinating, and his prose is elegant and readable. If you like historical mysteries, I strongly suggest you stop reading my blog right now and go immediately to the public library or bookstore. Dark Fire is my favorite, and I think Sovereign is the weakest of the four, but they're all well worth having on your nightstand.

Possibly the awesomest proposal EVER

I love proposal stories. Econo Boy popped the question in the most romantic way I could have imagined -- by taking me away to our favorite B&B, somehow managing to sneak along two dozen roses and a bottle of champagne, and laying a trail of flowers out to the B&B gardens after breakfast. Part of me suspected that my practical sweetie might one day propose by suggesting that we take a look at the tax codes and figuring out which wedding date would maximize our tax savings, and so this surprise champagne-and-roses proposal completely swept me off my feet.

So I'm a big fan of the traditional down-on-one-knee proposals. But I also love the more unusual ones, and when I read today's entry in Manolo for the Brides, I got a big goofy grin on my face. It's about a guy who proposed to his girlfriend by hacking a role-playing game called Chrono Trigger.

Confession time: I'm a video game geek. Back when I was a kid, my brother and I saved our pennies to buy a Super Nintendo and then a Playstation, and Chrono Trigger was among my very favorite games. So this proposal spoke to a very deep place in my heart. All the best to my fellow video game geeks!

Now, if only I could get Econo Boy to let me register for a PlayStation 3 ...