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Juggling a Ball Has a Cool Side
It’s the middle of May, which means the weather is nice and is warming up into the 70s and 80s in most areas. What to do outside? Well, if you have a few minutes this weekend, I suggest taking up juggling. However, forget about those boring yellow tennis balls and pick up a soccer ball for a more exciting and entertaining challenge.
Don’t believe me that juggling a soccer ball can be entertaining?
Now that’s German efficiency at its best.
I Love The Goldbergs!
Spoiler Alert: Content in this blog post is from the May 13, 2015 episode of The Goldbergs
(The Goldbergs Twitter)
The theme of last night’s season two finale was the only four-letter word that doesn’t need to be bleeped out: love.
Telling someone “I love you” is a paradox that knows no bounds. Adam, Dana, Barry, Lainey, Erica and Murray all strugglde in how to say and react to such a daring declaration. In life, there are only a few sentiments that can register earthquake-level emotions and saying and hearing the “L-word” is one of them. Regardless of age or method, the instant after that word is said feels like you are either saved from walking the plank or like you are pushed off into the deepest ocean imaginable.
Either way, it changes everything…
Adam (inspired to do what all us guys did to some extent in our lives) penned a letter that was signed with his love for his girlfriend Dana. And, like a man, he dropped the folded letter in her locker for her to find and open with unyielding happiness! That was surely going to be the reality until he panicked and convinced his sympathetic and over-the-top gym teacher to perform a random drug search in Dana’s locker as she was pulling it open to discreetly retrieve said letter with the “L-word” included.
Boom, crisis averted! Or so Adam thought.
When it came to expressing his feelings, Barry was, well, Barry. As his girlfriend Lainey was at cheer leading practice for their big rivalry game with Central High, he inadvertently blurted out his love for his understandably shell-shocked lady. This all-too-familiar awkwardness pulled Barry and Lainey in two opposite directions: he proceeded forward at 100 MPH with his love and she backtracked in embarrassment. Let’s just say this led to a dancing, giant-faced Fighting Quaker and a school bus being rocked by a rival school’s vengeful fans.
Back at the Goldberg household, Murray was struggling to vocally express his love for his daughter (isn’t a roof over her head enough?). Beverly, who literally never shies away from publicly proclaiming her undying love for her children whilst wearing her pink bath robe with curlers in her hair, as well as a personalized message over the school’s PA system for her snuggle monkey Barry, was forced to rage-juice in front of Erica for not replying to her father’s mumblings of, “I love you.” Like so many of us in a child-parent relationship, that sentiment is strangely taken as a given. It’s a tall wall to climb. However, Beverly knew the impact of hearing it and saying it.
And she discovered the secret passageway past this particular wall and it only cost $57, plus tax.
A leather jacket and leather boots later, Murray saw right through the obvious charade in his daughter’s now vocal love for him. Despite being cast as a distant father figure, Murray occasionally reminds us just how smart and savvy he is. This includes pushing his pushy wife into Erica’s room and tricking her into genuinely saying she loves her dad with Murray standing right outside the door. Even though love may seem like a given with family, this scene proved how nice it is to hear it, regardless of the circumstance.
And there stood Barry in the rocking school bus with his fellow cheerleaders, preparing to face a mascot beat down as equal payback for an earlier incident between the two rival schools. Seeing his bravery, Lainey confessed she was skeptical to say the “L-word” because of her mom leaving her and her dad. But, blown away by her boyfriend’s courage, said she loved Barry. This gave the Fighting Quaker the right stuff for his battle with an angry mob. Unfortunately, it didn’t help, as he was whaled on by the kids at Central High. But he was loved and that’s all that mattered!
Seeing his brother do anything for love, Adam raced his bike over to Dana’s house. He knocked on the door, she opened it, he said, “I love you” and she knocked his socks off with an “I love you” back! Then, she really knocked him over with news she may be moving to Seattle after summer break. It was the most emotional scene of the series thus far as Dana handed Adam his Green Lantern ring back. We’ll have to wait and see if she’ll get the ring back by no moving…But this moment has given the show it’s first Wonder Years/Boy Meets World dynamic of heartbreak and unknown love. It was a vital plot twist for the series.
We’ve all been where the Goldbergs were last night, telling someone we love them with a letter, by accident or by trickery. I’ve certainly written a note (a postcard, actually) along with a giant bear to a girlfriend saying, “I love you” (Let’s not get into her non-response response). The point is that we need to be brave enough to say, “I love you” when we mean it because when it’s said back, it’s the greatest feeling in the world and absolutely everything seems possible, even in the worst of times.
What do I love, in this very moment? That The Goldbergs is coming back in the fall for Season 3.
That’s a cobra strike of awesomeness!
Wolfgang, You May Play First
Back in January and February, it seemed like May would never arrive. The cold was so bitter and biting that I couldn’t imagine what a warm spring day could feel like. The sun was on a seemingly endless hiatus. But now that May is here, there’s a sustaining warmth that’s finally landed throughout the United States.
Some may wonder what’s so special about April’s exit? Well, perhaps this annual inspiration stems from a quintessential operatic masterpiece that was first premiered to the public back on May 1, 1786 in the impossibly stunning city of Vienna. The tempo is undeniably upbeat and encouraging.
Ladies and gentleman, “The Marriage of Figaro” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
Hopefully, this music enhances your numerically and symmetrically fun 5-1-15 day (May 1, 2015).
Dance of the Butterfly
Spoiler Alert: Content in this blog post is from the April 29, 2015 episode of The Goldbergs
Feeling like a dork is strangely normal, but only in the rare cases when it’s socially acceptable. In every other situation, the embarrassment is like freaking out in the middle of a high school cafeteria at lunch protesting the lack of chocolate pudding by smashing superfluous pears with slurred speech due to new temporary braces, all while enduring the tragic vision restrictions of pink eye by wearing giant rimmed glasses not considered cool in any decade.
This is Steve Urkel territory, which Erica experienced for the first time in years.
“I’m a butterfly! I’m just going through some stuff, OK?”
For Erica, her unlucky streak began when her unlucky brother Barry unknowingly spread his grotesque pink eye to his sister by laying face down on her pillow. This was after Erica and Lainey informed Barry his “dance moves” were just awkward moves in a small space. Therefore, the BFF’s forbid Barry from joining them on the regionally broadcast sensation, “Dance Party USA.” So, accordingly, Barry took it upon himself to learn real dance moves by asking his surprisingly nimble gym teacher to help him in a comically awkward midnight dance session.
End result: Barry’s dancing on TV with his girlfriend and Erica’s struggling to find her butterfly wings that’s totally not a metaphor for anything related to life and outer appearances.
(The Goldbergs Twitter)
The only other Goldberg more unlucky than Erica at this point was Adam. Blinded by the gloriously infinite all-you-can-eat popcorn shrimp Pops won as a bonus in Atlantic City, he was in sheer awe of Pops. Seemingly invincible, there was no end to Pops’ lucky streak of winning at anything gambling-related. Except, what if his bubble of wonderment was popped by his dad? Murray, always the straight-talker with no filter, informed his youngest son of the charade of Pops’ perceived perfection.
Awkward…especially after Adam over-estimated the lucky powers of Pops and nearly lost his entire childhood to his friend in a hilariously predictable game of lunchtime paper football at school. Super mom Beverly came to the rescue, except this was a job for the super grandfather, with or without his leather jacket.
Growing up with two older sisters who were in high school the same time I was in middle school (like the Goldbergs sibling trio), they seemed like they had the inside track on things. Even with all the chaos that comes with high school, there was a sense of control on their parts. And for the longest time, I had been (am) the goofy younger brother with a valuable obsession of insightful knowledge of movies, music and TV. They’ve basically informed me as much. But even when I was going through my awkward phase in middle school (as we all do), my sisters made sure I got to tag along on several occasions. This despite the “coolness” protocol that dictated otherwise.
It wasn’t just the specific activities we did together during this time in our lives, but more so that I was given a temporary visitors pass into their world for a little bit. They’re special memories. While I could list some specific events, it’s tough to beat Erica, Lainey and Barry all dancing and groovin’ together without bounds or concern over looking ridiculous on a popular regionally broadcast dance show.
And yes, “Dance Party USA” was a real thing back in the ’80s!
From Barry trying to a little bit less Barry in front of his admittedly too-good-for-him girlfriend Lainey to Pops passing down his grandfather’s pocket watch to Adam to Erica feeling a glimpse of sibling love to Mr. Meller sharing off some killer dance moves that his ex-wife is surely missing to Beverly losing a war (the card game kind), this episode showed there’s no luck needed when family and friends are involved.
The Goldbergs is simply all-you-can-get awesomeness.
Jimmy's Daily Planet 