You know I’m a fangirl, right? Yes, that was me squeeing like a banshee at 7am this morning when I got on the computer to do actual work–yes! I was!– only to get completely blindsided by the Avengers movie gag reel.

It has been leaked about 2000 times by this point and reposted and pulled and reposted and pulled too many times to count in the less-than-24 hours it’s been “out.” I have friends who have ripped copies from websites, YouTube, and tumblr. I can’t give you a live link for it because it is such an unstable a commodity, but trust me, it is worth every effort you can focus on the chase. It is hysterical!

And while I love seeing behind-the-scenes stuff for the sheer amusement value (Captain America defeated by a parachute pack…yeah, that happened!) what it mostly does is put me in awe of actors. They put on goofy costumes and say inane lines out of order on sets that are half-built or mostly green-screen and they have to take it all very seriously. It’s no wonder they end up cracking up 9 times out of 10! You put me in one of those outfits (not that I could fit, mind you) on one of those sets and sit me across from Samuel Jackson and you’d be lucky that I remember how to speak English.

It’s just amazing what actors go through to give us two and half hours of perfect escapist fantasy. As a writer, I have it easy: if I can dream it, I can write it, and the only goofy costume I have to squeeze into is my pajamas!