Yo, Man! Imma Show Ya Rap Battles! (post-)#WhatsupWednesday

Today, I introduce you to #WhatsupWednesday (don’t mind that it’s late). I could call it #WhateverWednesday, but I don’t think I like the sound of that. It’s like your mom telling you something and you roll your eyes and mutter, “Whatev”. Nope, I’m not comfortable with that. “What’s up” sounds friendlier in contrast. So for this alternate hash potato, I’m sharing various stuff that have caught my interest, but are not that applicable for my other hash potatoes.

Now that that’s explained…

I’ve just recently realized that I’m actually a YouTube-freak. I go through the site searching for vids of songs, musicals, funny talk shows, pranks (zombie vids!!!),…Not anymore cute animal vids, though, as I get that a lot from Facebook already. Anyway, these searches have brought me interesting stuff and because I grew up in the “rap of ages”, you ken betcha momma’s *bleep* I got a heckuva kuhlecshun here! *wink, wink* Okay, before you proceed,

WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE AND SEXUAL CONTENT. NOT FOR KIDS!

Thought I’d give you that. Now, do tell me who you think won in these vids.

First, I found Anne Hathaway rapping against James Corden of Carpool Karaoke fame (he’s famous for his show and whatev, but I never really knew about him except when I happened to search for “Carpool Karaoke”, which I did hear about). I’m not going to share CK vids as it’s so popular, you’ve probably already seen them all. I did like the ones with Adele and Sia, even the one with One Direction because of the collab kind of thing. Gotta watch more, maybe. I do give credit to James, he’s got some musical talent in him.

Here are the two doing rap battle at Corden’s late show’s Drop the Mic segment.

I think that she did “Hatha-slay” him! Yo, Anne, you rock!!! I mean, rap!!!

I’m not seeing that many DTM vids, but I enjoyed this one with Kevin Hart, though he’s an actor I’m  just a tad familiar with (did see his movie with The Rock while on a bus).

Sorry, James, I think that’s two times in a row your bottom got whipped! *trying a cleaner language here 😉 *

Meanwhile…! I found these ones below just yesterday. It’s great that they actually take effort to take care of the settings and stuff when they could just do a kind of DTM thing.

Enjoyed most of them, but a couple didn’t quite make it to my list. The Gandalf vs Dumbledore one made me squee in glee at first only to have my bubble burst–yeah, it wasn’t as good as I expected it would be (so click at your own risk). Mostly sexual references and nothing substantial enough. I liked the Albert Einstein vs Stephen Hawking vid as well, but I don’t like making fun of the differently abled. I’m not even going to attempt to link to it. You do it. There’s also one with the Eastern Philosophers vs Western Philosophers, but I respect our Eastern Philosophers so, up to you to check also.

Now, for the battles.

I found that I liked the Princess Rap Battles more, so I’m showing them first. The guys’ vids have some sick verses as well, though, and the beats, awesome.

It seems that Daenerys won here in the end, but rap-content wise, I think it’s a tie.

It’s a tie, too! Don’t you think?

Oh, Galadriel won this one, hands down. Leia never had an iota of a chance to win against the great elf.

Now, the boys doing Epic Rap Battles of History. The girls are princesses and the guys get to be intelligent, geeky ones…Although, there is that Superman vs Goku vid, so I guess it kinda even things out.

Sorry, GoT fans, but LOTR nailed this battle. I don’t understand the reference to Led Zeppelin, though. [UPDATE: That last statement is quite the proof that I am not a Led Zep fan, LOL!!! Just found this that should explain the reference: Led Zeppelin and Lord of The Rings – Rockers and Tolkien Fans.]

Nobody won. Well, maybe the third one in this battle (being not-so-quite techie still, I have no idea “who” that was). Or was that also supposed to be “Steve“? And, boy, too much of an angry Bill here.

It’s true: Jack was a real serial killer who never got caught; Hannibal was fictional and did get caught (or he would not have met Clarisse). That said, Hannibal killed Jack  *he he, get it? killed?..uh, okay…*

I…honestly don’t know who won…

Here are some more that I liked (in random order), if you’re interested:

1. Ash Ketchum vs Charles Darwin (Picachu was no match to Darwin’s ape, methinks)
2. Snow White vs Elsa (oh, yeah, the princess was no match for the queen! It wasn’t really a fair match. Just let it go, Snow White, dear)
3. Miley Cyrus vs Joan of Arc (don’t even know the connection between them, but anyway, Joan just slayed Hannah Montana)

So the people behind these vids are asking viewers who they’d like to see do rap battles. I already gave these ideas:

1. boyband vs. boyband

2. Walking Dead vs. World War Z vs. Zombieland (whichever they can “pair” up), OR Rick Grimes vs. Gerry Lane vs. Tallahassee

3. Bones vs. CSI

4. Elementary vs. Sherlock (two Sherlocks, yay!!!)

5. Johnny English vs Austin Powers

6. Charlie Chaplin vs Mr. Bean (I wonder how they’re gonna do this unless they act it all out as they talk gibberish with subtitles below, he he)

7. Wayne & Garth (Wayne’s World) vs Bill & Ted (Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey) vs Jay & Silent Bob (View Askewniverse)

8. Cats The Musical vs Lion King The Musical (it would be awesome to see how they’ll do the costumes!)

9. Elphaba (Wicked) vs Fiona (Shrek)

I’ve been thinking of more, like Xena maybe rap-battling it out with…Wonder Woman? Not sure if there’s anyone else more appropriate for the Warrior Princess. Maybe, I could also suggest James Corden vs Jimmy Fallon. I mean, people are already comparing them anyway: they sing and they have famous “Justin” buds (Bieber vs Timberlake, respectively). How about Edward Cullen vs Louis de Pointe du Lac, or simply Louis of Interview with the Vampire.

We’ll see.

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Hope you enjoyed the vids. If you’re a minor, I hope you didn’t. Who would you like to see doing a rap battle, guys? Suggest some below if you can’t make a comment over at YouTube 🙂

October 2016 RECAP #MonthlyRecap

Ha! You’d think I’d be doing this quite regularly now. But no, I still miss posting on certain days when I am supposed to. I shouldn’t be hard on myself, though. Have to remember that I promised myself that I’d just chill and not stress over it. I did stress about other writing-related things and with good reason. Let me just keep that/those to myself, though. Regardless, I think I did okay enough.

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here’s how October 2016 went:

Blog-wise:

(1) So, how did my hash potatoes go?

#MondayMemoirs (see “comfort”) – I’m supposed to always have a Monday post weekly. Unfortunately, these days, I am usually busy at home on weekends, I am not able to log in.

Even when I am able, I often spend my time worrying about other “real-world” things, like accompanying one of the kids to class rehearsals as the class is required to perform as a group. Well, they were made to choose from dancing and singing and it’s good he chose the latter–he’s not a good singer, but he is a more awkward dancer. He even kind of freezes when performing. I am trying to change that, although I don’t think my strict style is working on him...

#MondayReviews (see Cancer? Schmancer! ~Fran Drescher)

#TuesdayTunes (see Fight Songs!, Poetry in Music) – You can never really run out of things to share when it comes to music. Maybe just run out of time when busy. Good thing I was able to deliver.

#AskWednesday (see The Warrior Teacher) – Well, somebody promised she’d be sending her answers, but she probably hasn’t answered anything yet. Plus she just lost someone close to her so that’s understandable. As for the others, it’s my own fault as I haven’t sent any questions yet (partly because I was expecting the said promised answers). Will push through then.

#ThursdayTips (none in October ) – In a sort of way, my missing posts here were kind of affected by a kind of issue I had to deal with last month. To think I do have stuff to share.

#FeatureFriday – Last time, I said this would alternate with #FridayFlashdance, which basically meant it would be my default post whenever I couldn’t post a feature in time. However, given that it was near Halloween, thought I’d do a #FreakyFriday thing again, like last year. So…

#FreakyFriday (see Freaky Me, ZZzzzoooommmbiiiesss…!!!) – I actually enjoyed these! The thing is, I was also supposed to share a third post last October 28. Miss Indecisive got the better of me again. The post is still in draft mode. Because I enjoyed that, though, and it’s still November, anyway, think I’ll continue this hash potato for a while. Don’t be surprised, then, by next Friday.

Saturdays and Sundays, or any day, could be about anything. I will post anything when I feel like it, like Moms, we are with you… that is a re-share of a writeup over at My Trending Stories. I definitely could relate to it.

(3) My Trending Stories. Posted once or twice, but certain things were kind of off for me and I didn’t have time to deal with them as well. I will need to have a working scheme for this because I do want to post there.

(4) Memoirs of a Coffee Cat. If you don’t know yet, that’s my more personal blog over at another platform. There were a few posts when I was in Drama Queen mode, but they were not really much. I just wanted to let off a bit of steam. Meanwhile, I have been re-sharing stuff from way back 2004, editing and updating along the way. It’s weird in a way as I get to re-read stuff that I now do not remember what were really about (some stuff vaguely shared), or who I was referring to. To think I said somewhere there that I could be having a lovelife soon. LOL. I should have known that “soon” meant eight years more, give or take.

Social Media Reach-out:

As I said in my last recap, I am very thankful to new followers. And of course, I am also very thankful to those who have followed me over the months, especially the years. Let me share some of them to you  and feel free to visit their blogs. Here they are in alphabetical order:

Christine,         Jane,          Lani,        Mabel,

Raine,               Rara,          Victo

More bloggers to link to in the coming months, for sure. “Old” ones, new ones.

Fiction/Story-writing:

Trying something out. That’s all I’m going to say.

Literature:

Done with Gregory Maguire‘s Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West online book. I wish I could read the third installment of his series, but I couldn’t find an uploaded copy where I found the first. I will read something else from there then as I am curious to see how certain movies based on books actually “look” and “feel” in written form.

Personal:

How apt that I thought of starting to watch The Walking Dead. Got season 1 and watched with the family. There were several awkward moments the first family night when characters spent sexy time, so the kids had to look away or close their eyes. The next night, I made sure to fast-forward to more wholesome scenes (like there’s any) as I already finished the whole thing the night before, ergo, I knew what to expect and when. Got season 2 now, but we haven’t seen it yet. Meanwhile, we started watching Japanese animated films. I made sure to watch with them so I could translate and explain the movies to them.

Aside from movies, I am again obsessing over stuff and stars that I obsessed over years back. Two of them are “CATS The Musical” and Veerle Casteleyn. I have, in fact, been playing professional sleuth (or professional stalker, you choose), trying to really find Veerle. I am proud to say that I have updated my post that is dedicated to her: Little Dove: Cat of a Feather. Do check!!! One of my fondest wishes is to see Veerle in person before I die. If I do die not seeing her, then I’ll fly and get to finally find her at the other side of the globe–no visa!!! I’ll be the first stalker spirit/ghost, ha ha haaa!!!!

 

Alright, that’s it with October. I predict that November would be a blast (yeah, right). Oh, and it’s my parents’ wedding anniversary today…

Love you, Mame & Dade!!!

 

September 2016 RECAP #MonthlyRecap

September was a much better month for me, writing/blogging-wise. There were some glitches, but the positives outweighed the negatives. I mean this in a less-stressed out way. There were two weeks that I hardly posted anything. Something got me busy, but all was for naught. At least, I tried. It honestly did cause me to lose my mojo a bit, had to clear my head…Now, I’m BACK.

Here’s how September 2016 went:

Blog-wise:

(1) Not obvious, but I have begun calling may hashes as “hash potatoes”. No reason, I just think it’s cute. I’ve thought of several reasons to give just so I can justify calling them that but, bottomline is, I just like it, period.

So, how did my hash potatoes go?

#MondayMemoirs (see What I Am) – I could have posted more, but Mondays are often tricky unless I am able to schedule something the weekend prior. No #MondayReviews posted.

#TuesdayTunes (see Out of Oz)

#AskWednesday (see Born to Sing) – I was so lucky to have interviewed the very gracious Hanna De Guzman. Read to get to know her, guys.

#ThursdayTips (see Let the Spiders Crawl)

#FeatureFriday (see Butterfly Kisses and Lullabies, my replacement Friday post) – This is also a tricky day for me. I do intend to alternate this with #FridayFlashdance. Guess what that’s going to be about 😉

Saturdays and Sundays could be about anything, just like any given day of the whole week. That is, when I am able to post anything. Or MORE, like Dream a Little Dream [Reshared].

(2) So I’m done with my singer, Hanna. I am currently waiting for my interview with my horticulturist-friend, and a Muay Thai artist with whom I worked when I was in college. I have not really yet talked to Andoyman regarding the update interview. But here’s news! The professional dancer I mentioned before has said yes to an interview. Will do that soon!

(3) My Trending Stories. As mentioned before, it’s a new site, they’re still doing stuff to perfect it, but it’s still an honor to be invited, and there’s no such thing as perfect. This is me (CLICK ON IT):

I began posting for it. Then there were two weeks that I was really prolific in posting. The next two weeks, though, I lost much interest and time in posting anywhere.  I’ll get back to it, I promise.

Social Media Reach-out:

This really took the backseat. But I assure you that I appreciate everyone who clicks on LIKE and especially FOLLOW. I am awed and humbled that despite my seeming inactivity, I keep finding out through my email that people have been clicking on the FOLLOW button.

I would like to pay it forward. Just let me get my act together and I will soon be posting links here to legit followers (I do emphasize on legit).

Fiction/Story-writing:

NEXT!!!

Literature:

Abandoned Thomas Hardy‘s Tess of the D’Urbervilles for now. Unintentionally abandoned Gregory Maguire‘s Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West online book. Priorities weigh heavier. Will try to get back to reading soon as I am able.

Personal:

I do try to go online on weekends, but I’ve lessened it. Going online does cost money if you don’t have a permanent Internet connection and you just buy “load” for your WiFi, like I do, though it is less expensive.

I’m only home on weekends, so it’s the time to do stuff in the house the way I want them done (I am slightly OC, so understand that I want to do things a certain way).  Time to arrange things the way I want them arranged, sew what needs to be sewn, fix what little things need to be fixed, iron clothes for the coming week, and see to it that the kids open their books and notebooks. More important, weekends mean family time. I’m not the perfect mother at all, but I try to manage the best I can, even if they hate it when I get mad.

So in the evenings or while I iron clothes, I just watch my still-unseen Season 9 and 10 episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation…

Life is a series of ups and downs, so you face everything. No ifs, no buts. You have to learn everyday. Therefore, in the meantime, you get to watch the gory stuff and plan how you can get away with murdering your enemies and covering up all the evidence…KIDDING!!! 😉

Out of Oz #TuesdayTunes

You’re most probably familiar with the word “Oz” already. There’s the original Frank L. Baum book, then there’s the 1939 movie with Judy Garland, then the ’70s Broadway musical version, followed by an all-star cast film adaptation of that Broadway musical version in 1978, and then there’s the Gregory Maguire book inspired by the original book but not quite, THEN the Broadway musical inspired by that book inspired by the original…Yeah, I know you’re familiar with it. And you know what I’m featuring today: WICKED songs!

I’m sorry if I’m tiring you with a lot of WICKED stuff in this blog…Actually, I’m not sorry, he he…I love, love, looooove the Broadway musical. Couldn’t you tell with my WICKEDly Ozsome review?

That intro aside, I am happy to announce I found this series on YouTube. They call it the #OutofOz series and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying them. It’s “where favorite Wicked alumni and current performers sing re-imagined versions of Wicked songs.” Not sure if there should be more, but so far, I’m only seeing four of them.  Gimme MOOOOOREEEE!!!!!

A new take on “For Good” (a song they originally sang) by Kristin Chenoweth (Glinda) and Idina Menzel (Elphaba)

 

Duet version “Defying Gravity” by Rachel Tucker (Elphaba) and Aaron Tveit (Fiyero)

 

Cute “Popular” song by Aaron Tveit! Hee…

 

Lastly, “I’m Not that Girl” duet version by Rachel Tucker and Kara Lindsay (Glinda)

 

LOVE ‘EM!!!

 

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Hope you loved them as much as I did/do. Check out last week’s #TuesdayTunes, They Say Something Together 🙂

August 2016 RECAP #MonthlyRecap

What to write? What. To. Write? What-to-write? Whatto write? What towrite? Whattowrite? Whattowrite, Whattowrite? WhattowriteWhattowrite? WhattowriteWhattowriteWhattowrite…?????!!!!

Seemed like it was just last week when I was complaining about how fast July flew by, thing was, it wasn’t last week. August certainly beat my July. I hardly know where the weeks went! And I am totally irritated with myself. Seems like I hardly did anything, at least nothing that I really wanted to do. Well,…not exactly, but I’m still mad.

Here’s how August 2016 went:

Blog-wise:

(1) Excited by how my hashes made me prolific, I decided to do some trial-and-error and find out what would work best for me. In my busy-ness about this matter, planning and planning and planning, I ended up not posting much at all, because I couldn’t make up my freakin’ mind!!! Indecisiveness does not solve anything. I need to fix that about myself. If you were able to follow me, at least, last week, I think you would notice that I tried.

So I have created a new set of scheduling scheme and it will hopefully work. Anyway, my hashes will go like this:

#MondayMemoirs (which I am skipping for now to make way for this), alternating with #MondayReviews (see Helen vs Troy, though that’s more of a comparison of two films rather than a review)

#TuesdayTunes (see They Say Something Together)

#AskWednesday (see Interview with a Komikero REWIND)

#ThursdayTips (wait for it)

#FeatureFriday (I didn’t have any last month. I know already who to feature, but I never get to write the full thing.)

Saturdays and Sundays could be about anything, just like any given day of the whole week.

(2) Happy to say (like I haven’t yet…) that I have a bunch of interviewees already — a horticulturist, a singer, a Muay Thai artist, a comic book artist (we haven’t talked about this yet, but he saw already last Wednesday’s post, so he knows an update interview is coming), hopefully a dancer (haven’t talked about it with her yet), hopefully another martial artist (who hasn’t yet read my invitation for an interview). Now, I am crossing my fingers that anyone of the first three sends her answers for next week’s post…

(3) Well, I got a nice invitation to be a regular writer for My Trending Stories. It’s a new site, they’re still doing stuff to perfect it, but it’s still an honor to be invited, and there’s no such thing as perfect. This is me (CLICK ON IT):

You will see that I am FOLLOW-ing myself. Narcissistic -much. Pathetic, huh? LOL. Actually, I don’t know what I did but I ended up clicking on the follow button or something and can’t even find a way to unfollow myself. But YOU! You, my friends, are welcome to FOLLOW me there, LIKE anything, make a COMMENT.

I post random stuff, meaning, much like here in my blog, I post anything I feel like posting. I want to be able to post for various sections and be versatile. I do choose the less personal thingies. Readers are not there to find out what I did today, what I ate yesterday, where I was last week. Well, I could tell you, but the life of the Real J.Gi isn’t so interesting so, bleh.

Social Media Reach-out:

I am ashamed to say that this whole reach-out thing is kinda overwhelming me. It’s not that I don’t do it. The thing is, I try to do everything, that is why I end up kind of like incapacitated. Talk about irony. I need to be more organized. Or maybe I try to organize everything, that’s the problem. My husband has been saying that with me, I always have to have a process. That is true. But it also causes my downfall. So maybe I’ll just chill-out a bit and be more spontaneous about it. Yes, let’s try that.

Fiction/Story-writing:

Did I mention I have lived with a chaotic mind this past month?

Literature:

Started with Thomas Hardy‘s Tess of the D’Urbervilles, but then I found Gregory Maguire‘s Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West book online! Yay!!!!

Personal:

When my August started, it was really messed-up already — remnants of July. If only I could tell you. Maybe the life of the Real J.Gi is interesting after all, at least, for those who like tension a lot. However, it has been my motto to be positive so I try not to let things get to me. They still do, but at least, I don’t sulk about them. You can’t change people, especially not the self-important, self-righteous, self-entitled, judgmental ones. So you change how you react to them instead.

Okay, the happy things: I met up with two of my dearest friends on separate days. Didn’t take a twofie with Jenny; did take twofies with Myra, lots of ’em, but not sure if she’d be okay with me sharing any here. We updated ourselves with one another’s lives. It’s always nice to spend time with your buddies for life.

The sad things:

(1) I missed the Indie Komiks Market. Again. But I never miss the Komikons without valid reasons. Just that they are always valid. I’ll try to make up for it in the Grand Komikon.

Me and my friend Sherwin The Kraken at one of the Komikons

(2) Two good guys have left. One good guy is about to. It sucks when you lose people you like, those who have been good to you, who even tolerate you when you’re being talkative or asking too many technical questions while they also worked, who make an effort to not make you feel left out.

A special shout-out to one of my besties, Sherwin The Kraken! I will miss you. Thank you so much for everything, you know I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I hope to still see more of you, but we know that reality is, people do grow apart, at least, by distance. I hope to still be with you and your lovey on the next comics conventions!

 

Alright, let’s see what September 2016 has in store…

 

What’s Up? #atozchallenge2015

I’ve been house-bound for days and will continue to be in the coming weeks. But I refuse to just keep lying down or sitting down doing nothing or staring into space or, worse, crying and staying depressed. So I try to keep busy. Of course, I don’t overdo, don’t worry. So what’s up with me?

These are what keep me busy:

TV. There are actually not so much interesting stuff to watch on regular channels. Too bad we don’t have cable. It won’t be practical for us, anyway. But I’ve been watching way too much kiddie shows for my own good, I’ve found myself singing along to Hi-5 songs.

Books. I finally had time to finish The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd last week (I liked the movie as well, just want to say). I am now reading the same author’s work, The Mermaid Chair. Taking it in stride.

Once finish, I’ll most probably read the second book of the Wicked novel series titled Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire, even if I haven’t yet read the first (hey, I don’t have a copy, alright?).

 

THEN I’ll continue my on-and-off reading of Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire. I was on it last year till I found out I was pregnant. Didn’t know if reading it would not affect the baby, but I did not want to risk it (so much for that).

Write. Well, I haven’t done much yet, but I’m trying. I have to go back to the me that I knew. Blogging is one way to do it. And I am about to continue with my long-time and long-neglected story, even if it means doing longhand.

Organization. I am not allowed to do much work (husband too strict — hate it but love him for it at the same time). So just little by little, I sort things out, stuff I haven’t had much time to take care of when I was busy working. It’s great ’cause organization is something we haven’t done well for months. It’s what makes me feel more me.

Home-tutoring. Not really homeschooling but kind of. School’s out but we need to prepare our recent-kindergartner for his exam this May that’s supposed to test if he’s ready for the first grade. Personally, I know he is and he’s actually smart, but then you can’t be too complacent as you never really know what they’re going to ask the kid to do or answer. We do think we have the right ideas so I try to teach him base on those and try to add more ideas.

 

I know I’ll have much more to do these next weeks. Will keep you posted 🙂

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This serves as my “W” post for the 2015 A to Z Challenge.

#Videos to Get By #atozchallenge2015

It’s April. I vowed to finish the A-to-Z Challenge, which became my personal challenge the whole year, but still, here we are. I would’ve already finished had I not gone through something last week. Yet, here I am, fulfilling something I promised myself, something that’s gonna keep my mind off things and also gonna help me move on. Anyway, for my “V” post, I am sharing the videos that have entertained me a lot these past months.

Let’s start with The Popular Song by Mika and Ariana Grande. This isn’t new but not surprisingly, me being not that up-to-date these recent years, my radar missed this one. I find this song fun and, having been somewhat bullied in school as well, relatable a bit (DISCLAIMER: I do not promote revenge and violence). I gotta admit, though, one thing that drew me to this was the fact that it’s kind of a spin-off–if we can use that word for songs–of one of my favorite WICKED song that’s titled Popular. Check this one out:

Next is the song Love Yourself. Just last month, I think, I publicly confessed through Facebook that I never thought I’d say I liked a Justin Bieber song until this one. I’ve sort of outgrown it by this time, but why not give it a chance if you haven’t yet? Maybe you’ll like it, too. Certainly not the kind of Bieber songs we got used to. There are actually two video versions of the song, but I am very partial to this one because of the dancing:

Lastly, we have here a series of episodes from the reality show Undercover Boss. I really like this show and honestly, I cried every time I watched an episode, which was exactly why I decided not to continue because I didn’t want my crying to affect the baby. I started watching this when someone shared this episode on FB:

Hope you like these vids!!!!