Tonight’s episode was pretty funny. And while, I think (or maybe I should say hope) that the writer’s haven’t finished with Robin and Barney, it appears they are trying to throw us that way…moving on. There was so many great things about this episode.  Mainly Barney tonight. You see kids, when a man is as funny, original and awesome…oh wait, I’m not old Ted. Either way, his plays and winks were hilarious. There were so many catchphrases that I can’t even count. Reminds me of last week (the rough patch) when he was in the fat suit (that most people hated) and randomly threw out the line “catchphrase” at the end of a sentence. And though I would have loved to seen the entire Lorenzo Von Matterhorn play, I thought the Scuba Diver was awesome. And I’m wondering if the playbook will make it’s self to the published world much like the Bro Code and Bro on the Go…

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     I think in a way they are still working on Robin and Barney though. While Barney was definitely the focus of tonight, the Robin’s career focus subplot could either play a significant part (as indicated from the last scene), be a one off later in the season, or server as a segway back into the relationship. On the record, I think the last option is a long shot, but I still think it’s an option. The best thing that came from that in my opinion was the frozen waffles bit.

    So instead of the long drawn out commentary I’ll get straight to my favorite lines, moment and such. IF you think I left something great out then there is a great place to let me know in the comments section below. Overall for me, this was a really great episode with a ton of laughs, but enough about me, what did you think?

Legendary Lines:  

Barney: Correct! Circle gets a square!

Robin: My playbook? Bro… it’s a two volume set. Right here.
Ted: It’s a great read actually.

Marshall: Lawyered…of Nature!

Marshall: In that case, frozen waffles are…frozen waffles.

Robin: I will bang your heads together like coconuts.

Barney: And it…is…on.

Ted: For those of you keeping score, the Ted Mosby works!

Mother Music:

• Rondo Alla Turca by Mozart (the sequences from Barney’s Playbook)
• Nino Rota’s What Is A Youth from the 1968 film version of Romeo & Juliet  (Barney finally succeeds with "The He’s Not Coming" play)

Moments of Awesomeness:

• Frozen waffles, the whole gag (forshadowing?) of Ted & Marshall ribbing Robin about fining “the one” was great. Frozen waffles was the best though.
• All of Barney’s plays. And especially the wink after they work. What smorons.
• miltswanca’s
• Barney… period
• I love that Barney says Al-Qaeda stole the playbook.
• The twist ending to the Scuba diver. It was obvious where they were going, but still pretty funny to watch it play out.
• Lorenzo Von Matterhorn…in fact wikipedia did say this until they discovered it was part of the episode:

    Lorenzo Von Matterhorn was born somewhere in Switzerland in the spring of 1974. The exact date and circumstances of his birth are unknown since he was immediately placed in a basket and tossed in a river. Young Lorenzo rode the pristine Alpine glacial melt waters for hundreds of miles until a young Milanese woman discovered the basket along the banks of the river Po. Some say it was this first early journey to Milan that fueled both his love of exploration and fashion. The woman would raise Lorenzo as her own, naming him Lorenzo after her father and giving him the surname Von Matterhorn to reflect his Swiss heritage as well as his uncommonly large penis.

    Shortly after his family moved to New York City in the late 70’s, Lorenzo began rescuing stray puppies and other cute animals. As someone who had been abandoned himself, Lorenzo recognized both the pain of loneliness as well as the power of hope. One evening, while nursing a particularly cute Cocker Spaniel back to health, Lorenzo noticed the rest of his brood howling in unison. Curious as to their abilities, he spent the next several months developing their voices and then entered them as a musical act in a local festival under the name DOG STEVENS. They took first place, and went on to become one of the most successful animal musical acts since The Beatles.

Read more: Who The Heck Is Lorenzo Von Matterhorn? Don’t Ask Wikipedia…

The Re-Return:

Like I said earlier, the ending is quite intriguing and I don’t know where it will go… Ted and Barney try to convince Robin that the love of her life will walk through the door of MacLaurens. As each guy comes in she knows they are full of it… “The ironic part” is at work she meets Don.

Robin: Damnit Marshall

To give you a hint on the next updated poster, I’ll just say if you are different you might be left out in the cold! Check out the Be Awesome Instead Store for more info and to see what’s available!

I love the Boeing F-22 Raptor Fighter Jet… helps explain a lot of Barney’s Office Posters. Also B…if your reading, feel free to stop by and try our my drum set sometime.

Variety says that stations will be paying upward of $350 million in it’s first cycle for re-runs of How I Met Your Mother. Not only is the coin nice for the people involved in the show but this will also mean there will be more chances to watch past episodes! Like we needed another reason to sit on the couch.

This should also bring a lot more stability for the show since it’s renewal was in question last year. It’s no secret that the “star casting” with Britney helped the show reach new viewers, regardless of what you think about her or her acting (which I thought was fine..but whatever).

Will she be back? Well BuddyTV says yes, but I think they have their sources off. One source is from before all of her Season 3 episodes had aired and in the other Carter Bays says:

It hasn’t been talked about but we never rule anyone out

The second source is a great TVsquad interview with Carter Bays. While I recommend you read the entire interview here are some great clips from it:

JK: So this isn’t a response to how deep people got with the story line and the clues about the mother last year?
Bays: Oh we still love all that. I certainly don’t want people to think this is like a weather change of the show and that we’re going a totally new direction with it. It’s just kind of where our heads are at but we still love all that stuff. I mean, that ongoing mystery is still kind of the backbone of the show and we’re definitely, we’re definitely going to be teasing it along, especially this season. I mean my gosh, just from where the season finale left off that’s right front and center of what’s going on at the beginning of the season.

How I Met Your Mother Season 4 Wedding Theories start now:

JK: The wedding you guys mentioned, the wedding episode is going to involve Ted and Stella in some way shape and form?
Bays: Yeah.
JK: In what way shape or form might that be? Is that something you want to mention or is that something…
Bays: I think we’ll leave that to be seen by everyone.
JK: So it’s not necessarily that Ted’s the groom and Stella’s the bride?
Bays: No we haven’t talked about that yet.
JK: So there’s going to be a wedding and those two are involved and that’s the extent.
Bays: Yeah.
JK: Which episode is that going to be around? Is that early on?
Bays: I don’t think we have that quite solidified yet.

How I Met Your Mother Season 4 Guest Stars:

JK: Any guest stars coming back that fans might be familiar with from earlier seasons? Any new guest stars coming?
Bays: I’m trying to think. Oh you know who’s going to be back? Stuart and Claudia. They’re going to be back from season one and Stuart was at (Marshall’s) bachelor party. He’s going to make another appearance. We’re always trying to bring back; we’ve got Joe Manganiello as Brad. We love him and we’d love to have him back. I’m sure we’ll try and get Barney’s brother James (played by Wayne Brady) back on the show.

And just in case you have been living under your bed since Season 3 ended you would definitely check out Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog and get your copy of the Bro Code Book. They are both not only Awesome but Legendary.

Ok How I Met Your Mother fans, it would seem there has always been a lot of speculation about the “butt load of motivational posters” in Barney Stinson’s Office. I actually get a question or comment related to this once a week or so… given the popularity of this topic I did some research, and feel it’s time now (before season 4 changes the wall again) the drop some knowledge. This post is only accurate through the end of Season 3, so feel free to comment and I’m sure there will be a revised post in the future.

You see, there is really not a simple question. For one thing, you never see all of them in one shot and when you do, you might catch a title but the catch phrase is a lot more difficult to see. The other, and more important issue is that they change from season to season! You may remember in my article about the Awesomeness Poster, that I posted this theory:

Finally… I feel the need to start a conspiracy theory. So what we know for sure is that the Awesomeness poster is first mentioned in Season 1 Episode 17 (Life Among the Gorillas) of HIMYM. And when it is mentioned Barney motions to either the back left corner of his office behind his desk. We also know that the poster makes it’s first “on screen” appearance in Season 3 Episode 1 (Wait For It…) (..stop waiting that was the name of the episode, sheesh) and at this time it is behind Barney’s desk to the right of the center of the room. So he just moved his posters around right? Wrong. ….

Let me point out a few things. First, in the area Barney pointed, the awesomeness poster is not there. Behind his desk there is no poster with the F-16 jet we saw in season 3 or the correct number of letters for the word “Awesomeness.” It can’t be on the wall to the left of Barney because as you can see there is just a huge set of windows. Was there even an awesomeness poster is Season 1…or just the mention of it.

… for more of the theory read the whole post

And to help prove my theory came shots from Season 3. But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. Lets start with what’s on Barney’s office walls during Season 1 of How I Met Your Mother. What’s more I’ve tried to let you know where you can either buy or make your own from stock photos. Hope this helps.

Season 1

During Season 1 there were 12 motivational posters. 10 Behind Barney’s desk and 2 on the wall next to his door. Given the way his office is laid out I don’t think there were more but I’m no Architect, though once I…ah, you don’t care so onward. As I mentioned earlier, despite the fact that Barney said there was an Awesomeness Poster in season 1, there is not one on the walls so it won’t count toward the “original 12″ this time. Some are sold already and some were probably made by some HIMYM peeps, I couldn’t find everything but I do consider this to be the definitive work on the subject. It has taken many hours of research and browsing posters, stock photos, websites, etc… so enjoy.

1. Courage – “True greatness comes when you’re tested. Theodore Roosevelt”

This one is relatively easy to find, if you click on the word courage above you’ll see one place to buy it. You’ll notice the courage poster in the most top and left position behind Barney’s desk with a picture of firefighters on it.

2. Challenge – “We either find a way or we make one”

Funny that it should say make one, because that’s probably where this one came from. I can’t seem to find it on any rock climbing or motivational sites. The stock photo is no where to be found either. I can tell that is what the poster says but that’s about it. If I find out otherwise this will be updated. If your stuck on having one, here are some alternatives that I can recommend, since it can’t be exact:

Challenge skiiing (wording not the same as above)
Challenge running (still different)
And if you want to make your own these look like stock photos that would work, The Climber 3, Leading, Freeclimbing , Climbing or Rockclimber. If you plan on buying a stock photo then read this for info on some free iStockphoto credits.

3. Opportunity – “You will always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

A cool little basketball motivational poster. It is to the left of the courage poster also larger in size. You can could find it, like the courage poster at allposters. However it is discontinued. Maybe they will bring it back soon until then try amazon: Opportunity Motivational Psoter

4. Teamwork – “The chain is only as strong as the weakest link”

Another homebrew poster. The stock photo can be found at iStockphoto (like the awesomeness poster stock photo) but the poster was probably made for the show and isn’t available online that I can find.

5. Perseverance – “Continuous effort is the key to unlocking your potential. sir Winston Churchill”

A few guys in a rowboat…seems a little too peaceful for Barney Stinson, but who am I to judge. This can be found at allposters also.

6. Perfection - “It is not good enough to win, everybody else should lose”

It either says everybody or everyone, but I’m pretty certain on the rest of it. For me, this is the coolest poster in the office. Put this one in the “not found” category too because it’s a no show online. The planes seem to be Boeing F/A – 18 Hornets from the Blue Angels. And from the literally thousands of photos of them, this photo called formation flying is the closest to the one in Barney’s office I could find. If you are into making your own I would use that, fighter jets, hornet shockwave or airplanes in formation. And now there is a version of the perfection poster available in the be awesome instead store! Want to use something else? I would love to see your version of the Perfection poster. Post it below or email me!

7. Lead with Vision -

….this is where things get fuzzy. Again, the photo has proven a better hide-and-go seek player than me.  Stock Photo found (thanks to stfan for the comment and work!) If I were going to make my own I would use Into the Sunset, but as for what it says I have no clue. The only “Lead with Vision” m.p. I could find used the catch phrase “Leaders keep their eyes on the horizon, not just on the bottom line.”, but it looked so corny I refuse to post it here.

Now stay with me on this poster a second. This poster has a strange characteristic the we begin to see in some of the upcoming posters. Notice the white banding over the catch phrase? Not sure if this was HIMYM staff made or a characteristic of a sold poster brand but I couldn’t find them anywhere online. Keep that in mind would you, I would love to know if there is an answer. Either way a version will be in the shop soon!

8. Conformity – “It’s the one who is different that gets left out in the cold.”

These little penguins are evasive. The conformity penguins poster has the only catch phrase read aloud on the show. Season 1′s “Life Among the Gorillas” is where we get this and the bulk of the poster views. Still can’t find the stock photo but people do seem to enjoy the fan version.

9. Strength - “What the mind can conceive, it can achieve” (thanks to NPHFan in the comments for the quote!)… I know it has columns (much like the Ted’s first Skyscraper), but I can’t exactly find them. Classical Columns and Pillars look close but if you are a stickler for detail you’ll notice it’s not exact. I’ll reserve my thought on made vs. bought but if you need a different quote for your own try: “Anyone can give up, it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that’s true strength.” Otherwise, since Barney seems to have a thing for jet posters just try out this Strength poster.

10. “the mystery poster”...I say mystery but it actually appears to be a second Teamwork poster. Skydivers in a circle holding hands (how sweet) this posters says, “Coming together is the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success. Henry Ford.” Since we already have 1 teamwork poster the title of this may be why it is hidden behind a wine rack. Feel free to compare the two and leave your thoughts:

Posters by the door:

11. Determination – … saying unknown… I do like “Climb as high as you can dream” like this determination poster. Which makes sense since it appears to to be a climber standing atop a cliff he just climbed. Here again we see that wonderful white bar over the catch phrase…making it that much harder to read from the views we have.

12. Focus – …still no bloody clue what it says… here we have a black and white photo of a cyclist riding … and it’s oddly enough out of focus. Other than the stock photo, I did find a focus poster, but it uses some inline skater instead of a cyclist…maybe that’s you but it didn’t seem too Barney. The quote does though.

Season 2

Very little is seen of Barney’s office in Season 2, from what I can see it looks the same as season 1 (see the beginning of “World’s Greatest Couple” if needed). So, Nothing much to see here, keep the line moving.

Season 3

In the “Wait for it” (ep. 1), you will notice the first visual of the Awesomeness Poster. It shows up behind Barney and between the “Challenge” and “Teamwork” Posters. Missing now is the “Perfection” poster that graced the wall so…err…perfectly? By the end of season 3 the “Teamwork” and “Awesomeness” Posters have switched places, but “Perfection” stays missing. There is good news though because now you can see a small wall by the windows with 2 new posters. This brings the total (through Season 3) to 15 posters total.

13. Awesomeness – “When I get sad, I stop being sad and be Awesome Instead. True Story. Barney Stinson”

This is the most famous and the one that everyone wants to own and know about. If you don’t know anything..or everything about it then take a few and read all you will ever want to know about the Awesomeness Poster.

14. Greatness – No picture is ever seen and the text is too blurry to read in everything I can find. I think the first word is “The” but don’t take that to the bank. The closest I could find was this Greatness poster, but the one Barney has is vertical not horizontal so no dice.

15. Discovery – Another white bar over the phrase, so no much clue what it say… probably something like “You can’t read this, ha, ha, ha.” I was hoping the stock photo would be at iStockphoto like some of the others, but alas it was not. I’m so sick of looking at poster and stock photos. Either way, winning the “close but no cigar” award for these is Régate Ajaccio 2007.

I know this list is not quite complete and where to buy or make several posters remains unknown. If you run across anything that would make this list more complete please post a comment here or email me using the contact page. Did you end up making your own? I would love to see them. For now I’m off to find an Advil.

Thanks and Be Awesome.

Also, mark your calendars (Outlook, iCal, google, actual…) because How I Met Your Mother returns to the air for Season 4 on September 22.