My Life in Bullets

Summertime

2009-05-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

Wow, I haven't blogged in 4 months. Crazy. I guess I don't have much to say since I don't do much besides go to school, read for school, watch TV (usually online at that), and talk on the phone. I mean, I could write post after post about those things, but who wants to hear about that? As always, I've been motivated to write again by the fact that there is something else way more important that I should be doing: studying for finals, which start tomorrow. I never thought I'd miss W&M where we wrote more papers than took exams, but there you have it. I'm honestly not too worried about it since I've gone through this process before and came out relatively unscathed and since I think I have a pretty good handle on my classes. Of course, I could regret not spending every waking hour re-reading my notes and outline, but I don't see that happening. I've decided instead to take a moment and look ahead to the summer. I have a list of summer goals/projects, and I thought I'd list them here.

*Organize my many, many, many, many photos into albums. I already have a lot of pictures in albums, but I have hundreds, possibly thousands, more just sitting in a box, some of which are worthy of being preserved in a nice little book.

*Touch up some places on my wall with fresh paint. Apparently my landlord didn't think it was necessary to make the place look too nice before I moved in, so I'll do it myself. I wish I could paint my room purple, but that would be way too much work.

*Read at least 15 books. I'd set that goal higher, but I am taking two classes, working as a research assistant, and writing a 45-page paper for a journal at school, so I won't have much more free time than I do now.

*Finally make it to Mt. Vernon and the National Archives. Anyone who wants to come is welcome to join me!

*Try 10 new restaurants in the city. I tend to stick to a few that I really like, and I want to branch out a bit.

*See at least 10 movies in theaters. These will include Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Star Trek, Up, Public Enemies, (500) Days of Summer, Away We Go, and Julie and Julia. May include Land of the Lost, Year One, Bruno, Funny People, and Cold Souls. But definitely won't include The Proposal, Final Destination 4, Dance Flick, or Imagine That. See a summer release calendar here.

*Walk a bunch, wearing comfortable clothes since DC is killer in the summer.

I think that's it for goal and projects. I have a few fun things lined up, too:

*Trip to NYC the weekend right after finals (10 days!). I'm eating at Craft, going to the Museum of Modern Art, walking around the Central Park Zoo, going to a jazz club in the Village. It's going to be spectacular.

*See No Doubt in July (maybe June, can't keep it straight). A middle school dream come true! I've liked them pretty consistently since Tragic Kingdom, even though Rock Steady was not my favorite CD of all time and Gwen Stefani's solo stuff makes me want to rip the stereo out of the car and throw it out the window whenever one of her songs comes on.

*Visit my sister's family in Washington. She'll have a two-month old baby boy by then, so that's very exciting.

And that's it. Maybe I'll be able to update more over the summer.

Fifty

2009-01-05T13:22:00.001-08:00

As I said in my last entry, I took the 50 book challenge this year, and because I am proud of the fact I was able to finish, here is the list of books I read.

1. Rabbit, Run by John Updike

2. All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren

3. Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution by Caroline Weber

4. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams

5. Native Son by Richard Wright

6. Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck

7. Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck

8. The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver

9. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

10. Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer

11. New Moon by Stephanie Meyer

12. Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer

13. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (re-read)

14. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling (re-read)

15. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (re-read)

16. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore

17. The House of the Spirits by Isabelle Allende

18. Othello by William Shakespeare

19. Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress by Susan Jane Gilman

20. Kiss my Tiara by Susan Jane Gilman

21. Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas by Chuck Klosterman

22. When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

23. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

24. Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

25. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (re-read)

26. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman

27. Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

28. The Known World by Edward P. Jones

29. A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr

30. The Gospel of Food: Why We Should Stop Worrying and Enjoy What We Eat by Barry Glassner

31. Big Coal by Jeff Goodell

32. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

33. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

34. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon

35. Papillon by Henri Cherriere

36. Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens by Jane Dunn

37. Bill Bryson’s African Diary by Bill Bryson

38. Things I Learned about My Dad by Heather Armstrong

39. The Third Freedom: Ending Hunger in Our Time by George McGovern

40. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

41. Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk

42. Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk

43. Pink Think: Becoming a Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons by Lynn Peril

44. Bad Haircut by Tom Perrotta

45. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

46. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (re-read)

47. Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation by Cokie Roberts

48. In a Sun-Burned Country by Bill Bryson

49. Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

50. The Road by Cormac McCarthy

51. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

My five by five of 2008

2009-01-05T09:53:00.000-08:00

I haven't updated this blog in months. I was really busy with school, and then winter break has kind of gotten away from me. I wanted to at least write up a list (or five) of my favorite things of 2008.

1. Movies I saw in theaters:

*The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This is an epic, Forrest Gump-type movie about the life of a man who is born old and ages backwards. Brad Pitt, never one of my favorite actors, does a good job, but Cate Blanchett is amazing. It's based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald that I haven't read, but I've read that it's just kind of loosely-based on that. I can believe that since the movie is almost 3 hours long. Parts are a little too...sentimental...? I don't know. The story is being told to Blanchett's Daisy as she lies dying in a New Orleans hospital room by her daughter while Hurricane Katrina is bearing down on them, and those were my least favorite scenes. Just everything having to do with the daughter could have been cut and I think the movie would have been better for it. Other than that, it's a beautiful movie that holds your (or at least my) interest for the entire length of it with some really good performances, including the one by the actress who plays Benjamin's adoptive mother, Taraji P. Henson. See it!

*Doubt. Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman both do a really good job in this movie about a nun who suspects a priest at a Catholic school of abusing a young student. I don't want to give too much away, but I thought the best part of this movie was how open-ended it was; there is no definite answer, no neat conclusion, you're just left with a sense of doubt (apt title).

*WALL-E. I've written about this before, but I just watched it again the other day and want to reiterate how great it is. I still think it should be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, but it probably won't be.

*The Dark Knight. I also wrote about this before. Best comic book movie ever!

*Atonement. I don't think I've seen a movie quite so heart-wrenchingly depressing all year. But it was very well-made, very well-acted (even by Keira Knightley, an actress I usually can't stand), and very good at making you, the watcher, lose all hope for life.

2. Movies on DVD:

*The Darjeeling Limited

*Into the Wild

*There Will be Blood

*John Adams mini-series

*Gone Baby Gone

3. Books:

I took the 50-book challenge this year, and was actually able to finish 51 books by December 31st, due in large part to the fact that I spent so much of my free time reading this summer. My favorite five (that I had never read before this year) are:

*Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. Meeting him is still one of the best moments of the year :).

*Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. Never thought I'd like a western, but this is so good. Don't let the length scare you away; it's a relatively quick read.

*The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. My only complaint about this book is that there are too many footnotes that interrupt the flow of the story. I understand the book is based in all the history of 20th century Dominican Republic, and that that history needed to be explained in part to help the average reader's understanding of what was going on, but they were too long and too numerous.

*The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. This book is actually kind of similar to Oscar Wao, in that it's a story about a particular family through several generations. It's really great, and has made me want to read more of her stuff.

*Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer. The only book on this list that wasn't read as part of my two-person book club, and the only one that isn't fiction. It's a very interesting look at fundamental Mormonism, and all the convoluted, patriarchal beliefs upon which that religion is based.

4. TV shows I watched for the first time this year:

*Mad Men

*Six Feet Under

*Pushing Daisies

*Gossip Girl (don't judge me, I know it's trash)

*Flight of the Conchords

5. Favorite Christmas presents:

*Digital picture frame. I love pictures, I love picture frames, I have a small apartment with limited space in which to put all of my picture frames. Perfect solution!

*iPod speakers. Now I can listen to my iPod in my room with better sound quality than that provided by my laptop.

*Gloves masquerading as mittens from J Crew.

*WALL-E on DVD

*A personal travel mug coffee maker.

My recommendation of the week

2008-10-24T13:13:00.000-07:00

I do not have cable in my apartment in DC. I never thought I'd be able to survive without it, but it's surprisingly easy with most networks putting their shows online and with my Netflix subscription. And, you know, with that whole usually being too busy to watch television thing since I should be focusing at least 9o to 95% of my energy and attention on law-school-related stuff. Eh. I've taken this cable-free opportunity to catch up on shows I've never seen before but have always wanted to see. Mad Men, for example, has been on my queue for almost three months. Sitting at the top of my queue, in fact, for that entire time. The fact that I have friends who live about two miles away from me, have had it on their queue for much less time than I have, and have still gotten it before me is nothing short of infuriating, and Netflix will be getting a very sternly-worded email from me in the next day or so letting them know what I think of their "long wait." I digress. One of the other TV shows I added to my list is Pushing Daisies, a show I always thought looked cute and quirky. I got the first disk yesterday and watched the first episode, and I absolutely loved it. That's still all I've watched, but I feel confident in recommending it to everyone as the cutest show that has ever been put on television ever. Like, in history. It's funny and colorful and original and so visually stimulating. Kristin Chenoweth is in it, and of course she's adorable. Lee Pace, the lead, is so good-looking that I don't know how Anna Friel's character is going to be able to resist touching him forever.

So, the premise: Pace's character Ned has this special power whereby he can bring a person back to life just by touching them. After one minute, though, another person has to die in that person's place, and if he touches the person he brought back to life a second time, that person will die for good. He teams up with a private investigator (Chi McBride, who I love) to collect reward money for solving murders by bringing victims back to life and asking how they died. He just brings them back for a minute, though, because as I already said, after that someone would have to die in their place. A childhood friend is killed, so he brings her back to find out by whom, but he can't bring himself to touch her again, thereby killing her, so she gets to stay living, but they can't touch ever again or else that's it for her for good.

What I love about it so much is that it's equal parts Tim Burton, Dr. Seuss, and those Walgreen commercials about a town called Perfect that I have always been particularly fond of. So I highly recommend this show, even though I've only watched episode 1. I'm going to watch the second episode as soon as I'm done writing this and if it's shit, I'll retract this entire post.

I want to live in Perfect:

Fun-filled

2008-10-01T09:23:00.000-07:00

This last weekend was definitely one of the most, if not the most exciting, weekends I've had since my move to DC. So I thought I'd blog about it!

*On Friday, a friend and I went to the supposedly legendary Hawk n' Dove to watch the presidential debate. Apparently the Hawk n' Dove used to be a place where politicians would go and make back-room deals, but now I couldn't imagine that any of them would step foot in there since there's nothing to really distinguish it from any other bar in the city. It was filled to maximum capacity by the time we got there, but we were lucky enough to be able to find the last two available seats in the place before the debate got under way. I was worried that we wouldn't actually be able to hear anything since everyone was talking at full volume, but as soon as the debate began, everyone became silent. It was kind of eerie. I was amazed. I spent the entire debate distracted by (1) the lines on the bottom of the screen indicating the response from Democrats, Republicans, and Independents to everything the candidates were saying; (2) how much make-up everyone was wearing; and (3) the overwhelming desire for Obama to slap that arrogant smile off of McCain's face. My take-aways from the debate: McCain is a name-dropper, and his face would translate almost perfectly into a Wii character.

*Saturday, the same friend and I went to the National Book Festival held on the Mall. It was raining off and on, but that didn't stop us from heading out there to get books neither of us have actually read signed by their authors. See how ominous the sky looks with those dark clouds swirling around the Monument:

First we had Salman Rushdie sign The Satanic Verses, and then Cokie Roberts sign Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation. I have every intention of reading both, but it might be quite some time before I get to Rushdie's. Here is a picture that I hate of myself of my book being signed by Roberts:

*Then on Sunday, the same friend (again) and I went to see Kathy Griffin at the DAR Constitution Hall. We're both fans of her stand-up and of her hilarious reality show My Life on the D-List, so this was quite the thrill. We weren't lucky enough to meet her or to run into any of Team Griffin in the lobby, but the show was so funny that it was OK. She covered everything from her experience at this year's Emmy's to the Lohans to Nancy Grace. If you ever get the chance, I suggest you go see her.

I can't have many more weekends like this or else I won't get any work done. Though I do have some exciting things lined up for the weekends ahead, like a trip to Six Flags (for free!), a wedding, and possibly a trip home.

I know, I know

2008-09-18T07:50:00.000-07:00

I know I need to update this blog, and I know that my last few updates haven't really been all that interesting, but I promise that I'm trying to think of something to write. I've been consumed by school for the last few weeks and haven't had a lot of time to think of anything good, let alone write about it.

For now, here's what I've been up to:

*Getting used to all the reading I have to do.

*Learning about torts, contracts, civil procedure, and how to properly cite statutes and cases in legal memos.

*Being astounded--astounded, I say--by people who answer their cell phones in the library and then proceed to have a full conversation with the person who called them WITHOUT LEAVING THE LIBRARY. This is right up there with doing the same thing in a movie theater. How can one be so unaware of the fact that so many people wish they would die?

*Been to two TJPPP-reunion-type happy hours. The first was last week when people who are still in the program came up for their monthly "Friday in DC," and the second was yesterday, and I was the initiator of that one, so go me because it was really quite successful. The turn-out was seriously impressive, I think mostly because we went to a place with such a great special ($1.50 for a pint of beer) and because the majority of people lived nearby. I actually drank two beers, which makes that the most beer I've had since the first semester of my freshman year of college when I had an unfortunate experience involving a forty and a lot of whisky that I won't go into here, but which left me unable to even stomach a hearty whiff of the stuff, let alone a whole glass of it.

*Talked to a few people at school.

*Watched the third season of Buffy, and started the fourth. Maybe I'll blog about how wonderful that show is once I'm done with the whole thing. There's something to look forward to.

*Baked chicken. It was delicious and nutritious, and it left me feeling very accomplished.

*Ate the chicken, though that probably goes without saying...

*Maintained a budget. I've been sticking to it so far, but this is only the first month...I guess it's not time to brag yet.

*Continued walking the mile and a half to the Tenleytown Metro at least three out of the five days I have school. It's getting better now that it's cooling off, but I probably shouldn't say that too often or else Mother Nature will be all like, "Oh yeah?! HEAT WAVE!" And that would suck.

Really, I think that's everything. I'll try to be better about updating; my life just isn't too blog-worthy right now. Although, I am going to see Kathy Griffin in ten days, so that'll definitely make it on here. Can't wait!

A little bit of everything

2008-09-08T16:17:00.000-07:00

*Last movie I saw: Tropic Thunder. I thought this movie was absolutely hilarious. It makes fun of how self-involved/obsessed people in the movie industry are. My favorites are Ben Stiller as Tugg Speedman, the shitty actor trying to be taken seriously by starring in "deeper" movies, and Roberty Downey, Jr. as Kirk Lazarus, the serious actor who takes his job a step too far in undergoing some kind of skin pigmentation therapy to play a black soldier in Vietnam. Tom Cruise has been getting praise for his take on an overweight, balding, borderline-evil movie studio executive; there's even been a talk of this role redeeming his career, but I think it's going to take a lot more than one supporting role in one movie to bring him back from the depths of crazy he's chosen to so publicly plunge to in the last few years. There's not really a lot more to say about this movie besides that it's really funny. Robert Downey, Jr. continues to make me happy that he's making such a successful comeback--he's dreamy.

*Things that are bothering me: the heat, the walk to the Tenleytown Metro, the shuttle ride to school from the Metro, the shallow girls I go to school with, the feeling that I'll never have a life because I just don't have the time, many other little things.

*What I want to do: be picked for one of the junior staff positions on the Human Rights Brief, calm down, sleep, something fun this weekend.

*What I'm looking forward to: Kathy Griffin on the 28th, going back home eventually, Christmas break (already!), voting in November (and not for the crazy people, even if one of them is a woman), being done with this first year of classes, colder weather.

Wow

2008-08-28T13:35:00.000-07:00

Things that have made me go 'wow' in the last week and a half:

*The fact that, even though I took out more than what I could've expected to make at a job had I decided to pursue a career with my MPP after graduating instead of going on to more school, my loans were not going to be enough to cover living expenses after tuition and other fees, some I failed to take into account (student health insurance, I'm looking at you), were taken out. I've since fixed this problem by taking out more in loans. At least I want to work in the human rights field once I graduate, thus guaranteeing that paying back these loans will be damn near impossible.

*Overhearing one of my fellow 1L's refer to another girl in her class as "Pockface" to her friends, who then laughed. This girl is in law school, so it's safe to assume that she's at least 22, and this isn't a horrible school, so one would think it'd be safe to assume that she's not a complete idiot. Unfortunately, she is an incredibly immature bitch with some serious insecurities, because the reason she was being so hard on this other girl was because she had the nerve to speak in class. I didn't see who it was, but I hope she fails out or develops a drug problem or contracts a painful (but, OK, curable) STD. Mean? Yes, but I'm in a particularly vengeful mood today.

*How far my house is from the Tenleytown Metro. It's like 1.32 miles, but it seems like a lot longer. I walk this everyday, both ways, since it's just too much money to take the Metro one stop from Friendship Heights (which is a ten-minute walk from my house) to Tenleytown. I can't justify it since I would rather do other things with that money. So instead I start everyday by working up an intense sweat and getting pissed off because I'm sweating, and then end the day the same way, except usually with more sweating since it's the middle of the afternoon when I'm walking home instead of the early morning when the temperature isn't as quite as high. This, however, is much better than walking in the pouring rain, as was confirmed this morning.

*How much some things cost. Law books, hi-speed internet cords, electricity, butter, anything from Whole Foods. The list of things that I think are overpriced is infinite.

*How homesick I am. I'm going home this weekend (I know, I didn't even make it two whole weeks, but this has always been the plan), and I could not be more excited. I'm dropping off boxes I have no room for in my tiny apartment, picking up a few things I wasn't able to stuff into my car or my parents' van on my first moving trip, and seeing friends, family, and Honey. I'm stopping in Richmond tomorrow to see friends I haven't seen in far too long, and I am absolutely giddy with excitement. Well, sometimes giddy, like when I have time to think about it; mostly I've just been stressed, tired, and kind of depressed ever since I got here. So tomorrow will be a good day. I just have to endure the rest of today and my one class in the morning, and then I'll let the giddiness overtake me.

Settled

2008-08-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I moved to DC. I've been trying to avoid feeling homesick by keeping myself busy and so far I think I've done a commendable job. I have:

*...been 1/3 of an amazing moving team that also included my dad and my best friend Melissa. When I say amazing I mean, among other things, easily worn out by carrying heavy things up many stairs. Being the forward-thinker that I am, I chose to move into an apartment that requires me to climb three sets of stairs to get from the outside up to my bedroom. The stairs inside my apartment are particularly steep and harrowing, but we managed to move all of my belongings--did I mention that I'm also a packer who is adept at putting as much stuff into one box as humanly possible, thereby ensuring that all boxes are as heavy as can be?--into my room. Melissa proved herself to be the best kind of friend in the world by giving up her entire day to help me with this move, and she has kept me updated on the fact that her legs still hurt. I like to make my friends work for my love, and Melissa, you've totally earned it.

*...gone furniture shopping at IKEA. This also happened on Saturday and my parents and Melissa stuck around to help. I really wouldn't have been able to do it without them since my car is small, I needed a bed, and IKEA doesn't deliver the one I had my eye on. So we went to the wonderland that is IKEA, I picked out a bed, mattress, and TV stand, and we were on our way back to my house to carry yet more heavy crap up those three sets of steps. Then we got to spend the next several hours putting it all together. I love all of my easy-to-assemble furniture.

*...made another trip out to Potomac Mills (where IKEA is) to buy a bookshelf and other necessities from Target, and to stop by Best Buy to get some advice from the Geek Squad about why my computer wouldn't connect to the internet. They were absolutely no help whatsoever. Since I was on my own I had to carry my very heavy bookshelf up in pieces and put it together myself.

*...went on my very first grocery shopping trip now that I'm on my own for good. Food is much too expensive.

*...figured out that I can't for the life of me work my gas stove. I should probably call the landlord about that since my roommate is in Mozambique until Sunday and I would like to cook before then.

*...called Comcast to come fix my internet problems. Two technicians had to come out before they could figure it out, but it's working now and I'm happy for that.

*...walked the two miles to the campus bookstore in order to buy my books. The walk in the heat was almost as much fun as dropping almost $700 on textbooks.

*...put all of my stuff in its place. My room is super cute and almost completely done. I just need to get a dresser and I'll be all set. Until then, I'm partly living out of a suitcase.

*...watched the entire second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD while unpacking and building furniture. I don't have cable so I have to rely mostly on DVD's and TV-on-the-internet to get by. Buffy is as good as I remember it.

I'm still homesick, but that will [hopefully] pass soon enough.

Here is a photo tour of...well, mostly my bedroom, but some of the rest of the apartment, too.

It went from looking like this (with Honey, the best lil' helper ever):

To this (a dresser will eventually be going where that red suitcase is):

My room has a little nook that I've made into an office-type space, but where I have so far spent no time since my room is so hot and my desktop computer has been acting up for the past few weeks:

Here's the front of the building I live in--it's a house that was built in 1900 that's been converted into four apartments:

And I think that's good enough for now. Give me a call or drop me a line if you'd like to visit!

Transition

2008-08-14T06:13:00.001-07:00

In two days I will be leaving for DC. Here's a list of everything I'm feeling:

*Excitement. I will finally be on my own, responsible for myself [almost] completely, I won't have to answer to my parents, and I'll be living in one of the biggest cities in the country. I'm excited about decorating my new bedroom and making it my safe haven away from school and everything else, and I'm excited about getting to know my neighborhood and the city as a whole a lot better in the next three years. I'm excited because I'm going to get a bicycle, something I haven't had since I was about ten. I'm excited to start law school and to meet new people and learn new things. I'm excited to start getting a clearer view on what my life is going to be like once I'm finally done with school now that I at least have a general idea of what I want to do. I'm excited to be so close to so many people I know and like already. I'm excited to start this new phase of my life.

*Terror. All the things I just said I'm excited about? They also scare the shit out of me. Well, except for being close to people I know; that's actually quite comforting. With the exception of last summer, I've never really been on my own before, and then I had a light at the end of the tunnel. This time it's forever (at least I hope so, I really do). Having to pay all of my own bills is understandably scary. Having to meet a whole new bunch of people is terrifying. I don't know if you know this, but I'm a little on the shy side. It took me, like, the whole first year to make friends at William and Mary and that was in a program of 24 people; American University's law school's students number in the hundreds. I really do not make the best first impression. Getting to know me takes some persistence and a lot of patience--I make people work for it. I've tried to be better, and I think I've done a commendable job, but I'm still incredibly, painfully shy when I'm thrown in with a bunch of strangers.

*Sadness. I'm ready to get out of this house and out of this town, but I'm still sad to go. I'll miss my parents and Honey and the friends I'm leaving here. I know I'm only 3 and a half hours away and that I can come home whenever I want, but I'm not going to live here anymore. I keep trying not to think about it because I start crying every time I do, and I don't want anyone to think that I don't really want to go. Because I do. But it's still going to be sad. Unfortunately, in a time that should be more exciting than anything else, this is the most powerful thing I'm feeling right now.

*Frustration. I fucking hate packing. I have way more stuff that I feel it's necessary to take with me than I originally thought. There are going to be two cars and a minivan loaded up to DC on Saturday, and I'm 99% sure that I'm going to have to come back to get some stuff. I should really be a less material person...

Just wondering...

2008-08-10T07:14:00.001-07:00

Could someone explain to me why the uniforms for the women's Olympic beach volleyball teams look like this:

While the men's uniforms look more like this (I couldn't find a picture of the U.S. men's team, or really very many of any male Olympic beach volleyball players, though there's a butt-load of pictures of the women...I wonder why...):

I understand that sometimes men play shirtless, but I haven't actually seen a male match yet, and am just going off the fact that when I sat down in front of the TV last night with my parents who were watching the U.S. play Japan in women's beach volleyball and I wondered aloud about the skimpiness of the uniforms, they pointed out that the men wear knee-length board shorts and tank tops. How is wearing a bottom that is so small that they're constantly having to pick it out of their ass conducive to playing a good game of volleyball? It may be a boring sport (but then, what isn't?), but putting these women who have worked their asses off to be at the top of their game in tiny little bikinis like they're Sports Illustrated models is ridiculous and insulting. I don't know if the players have any say in the uniforms, but I can't imagine they were all that hyped about having perpetual wedgies on international television.

Honey!

2008-08-07T12:06:00.000-07:00

Today is Honey's third birthday! Or her 21st if you're counting in dog years, which makes that bottle of Goldschlager I bought her totally appropriate.

..Honey when we first got her almost three years ago..

..Honey today with her real present..

Summer mission update, part deux

2008-08-04T14:13:00.000-07:00

It's been about a month and a half since I last updated about my summer missions, so here I am to do so once again.

*I have kept trying to eat less/better and have been pretty good about avoiding certain things altogether, like regular soda. I've fallen out of the daily habit of exercising since I started working, but now that I'm done with my job I'm going to try to get back into it. I even got on the treadmill today. I started seeing results from my efforts, not much, but still something and that's encouraging.

*Trying to read 50 books in a year is still a more enjoyable goal to pursue than losing weight. I'm up to 40 now. My favorite five books I've read since I last posted are Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams, Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (favorite as in I've only read seven books since I last posted so picking five isn't that easy and I enjoyed reading it like I enjoy watching bad reality television so it makes the list over the other two books in the series), and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling (a re-read, of course).

*The coffee things is out. I'm not even moving to Seattle.

*I have started and quit my job. I was working at Bed Bath and Beyond, and let me tell you: I could not be more happy to be done. I vow here and now to never work in retail again. I just can't take it. I was miserable everyday I had to go to work, I was miserable the whole time I was there, and I was miserable on my days off knowing I'd have to go back. I made some money that will come in handy in the next couple of weeks when I go to buy furniture, but it barely makes all the awfulness of working in retail worth it. Ick.

*As I said before, I'm not moving to Washington anymore, so that goal is cancelled.

*My most exciting news: I found a place to live in DC! It's the cutest apartment ever, and I can't wait to move in and decorate my new bedroom. It's a two-level apartment in a huge old house that's been converted into an apartment building. The top floor of my place is technically the attic, which means it's super hot up there, but it's also pretty huge, especially for DC. The house is in Friendship Heights in a really nice looking neighborhood, so I'll feel safe and away from everything, but I'm still in the city. I insist that people come and visit me as soon as possible, so let me know if you're interested. However, I'm not sure when I'll be moving in yet. I originally wanted to be settled in the first week of August, but as that time gets closer (and is now actually upon me), I've decided there's no reason to rush. I don't know if I'm getting cold feet or what, but I keep putting my moving date off. I will definitely move by the Saturday after this coming one, maybe sooner. Packing is fully under way, so good for me.

*Friend time is still rarer than I'd like. I need to do something about that, like now.

Stream-of-consciousness: Batman

2008-08-02T08:07:00.000-07:00

I saw The Dark Knight on opening weekend and it's been on my mind since then. I'd really like to see it again since it was so good and I know it's going to go down as one of the masterpieces of comic book-based films. Or, I guess I should say graphic novel-based. There's been a major influx of these kinds of movies over the past decade or so, and let's be honest, there's been a lot of crap (Spiderman 3, anyone?), but a few have stood out as just plain good. Batman Begins was amazing, of course, but in some people's opinion so were the first two Spiderman movies, the second in particular. Spiderman isn't really my thing. Neither is Superman. How boring is Superman, really? He's from another planet where everyone is just like him; he just happened to land on ours and that's why he's special. Wow--he's super strong and can see through walls and fly. How basic. How easy. Batman has always been my superhero of choice, ever since seeing Tim Burton's original movie and its sequel Batman Returns. That particular thread of the franchise quickly went south when they changed directors and stars, but Chris Nolan has more than redeemed it with his two interpretations of the character.

In The Dark Knight, Batman (or the Batman as the citizens of Gotham refer to him in the movie) fights a band of terrorists led by the Joker. In case you haven't seen the movie and drawn the obvious conclusions for yourself or read any article about the film whatsoever, Batman is like the U.S. in this "war on terror" we've been waging for years now--he breaks rules in order to try and beat the bad guys, often putting other people in harm's way for what he feels is the greater good. People die as a result of his actions, or often because of his inaction. In last week's issue of Entertainment Weekly, they did a cover story on The Dark Knight, and this quote from Michael Caine (Alfred the butler) stood out to me:

"Superman is the way America sees itself, but Batman is the way the world sees America."

The great thing about Batman is that there isn't anything super about him--he's just an incredibly wealthy guy with some childhood trauma and nifty gadgets who knows how to kick ass. He's always been a vigilante, but in these films Nolan addresses that more fully and realistically than it's even been addressed before, and when you watch the movies you see Batman for the crazy mofo he really is. The Joker is more obviously out of his mind, but putting on a bat costume to go out and fight crime doesn't exactly scream sanity. I just love how the whole story of Batman, but these movies in particular, blurs the line between good and evil--nothing is black and white in Gotham, it's just all scary as fuck.

To maintain the original intent of my blog (I feel like I haven't typed a bullet in weeks), here is a list of my top five favorite graphic novel-based films:

*The Dark Knight. See above.

*Batman (1989). I love Tim Burton and his interpretation of Batman was the best there was until Nolan decided to give it a shot. His interpretation of the Joker, played by Jack Nicholson, while campier than Heath Ledger's, will hopefully remain as iconic as it's been in the last nearly-20 years, even in face of such a great performance as Ledger's.

*Iron Man. This movie is so good. Ridiculously good. Another message movie about the state of the world and America's role on the global stage, but nothing is shoved down your throat. I have a soft spot for Robert Downey, Jr. and had been waiting for his comeback; this movie was the perfect vehicle for that to happen. He's great in it: charming, funny, sexy, powerful, hott. Yep...two t's for the 43-year old ex-druggie.

*Ghost World. No superhero shenanigans here, but it still counts. I once showed this to a group of friends my freshman year of undergrad and when it was over one of the guys thanked me for wasting two hours of his life. I wouldn't listen to him if I were you, since this movie is great and everyone in it turns in amazing performances, including Thora Birch, Steve Buscemi, and Scarlett Johansson in the first role I'd seen her in. It's slow-moving, so be warned if that's not something you can stand.

*X-Men. I love Cyclops. I love the triangle with him, Wolverine, and Jean Grey. I love, and feel so bad for, Rogue. I love all the different characters and their unique powers. I love the second movie in this trilogy, though the third kind of blew. I haven't seen them in years, but I think I may actually have liked the second the best; I remember crying at the end. Either way, this spot is designated for one of the X-Men movies.

Ohmigod.

2008-07-31T13:23:00.000-07:00

This sounds like the coolest music festival ever. There are too many bands on both days to pick between the two, so I would definitely have to buy a two-day pass. I think I'm willing to go a little more into credit card debt for this, so is anyone else looking to blow $175? Just look at that lineup--Duffy, Citizen Cope, Lupe Fiasco, Foo Fighters, and Jack Johnson (I admit I'm not exactly familiar with his music...I think he sings a song about bubbly toes) on the first day, and She & Him, Bob Dylan, Kanye West, Stone Temple Pilots (I didn't even know they were still together), and Nine Inch Nails (I know at least two songs) on the second. August 9th and 10th in Baltimore. Hey! I think I know someone who's going to be living in Baltimore by then! You know who you are.

Seriously, though. Drop me a line and let's talk about this if you're interested.

Teaser

2008-07-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

I can't wait! Now I just have to re-read all of the HP books before then...

A-ha!

2008-07-21T07:54:00.000-07:00

So I've been trying to put my finger on what exactly I don't like about the Twilight series and I've figured it out. I knew going in that they were written by a Mormon housewife, but I tried not to let that influence my opinion of them or make me biased in some way against them. But seriously, that could easily explain my main issue with these books (besides the admittedly cheesy writing). And that is that they are incredibly steeped in very rigid gender roles (Mormonism is unabashedly patriarchal for those who are unaware). Edward holds enormous sway over Bella and very often goes so far as to tell her what to do (or, more often, what not to do). He's her protector and she's the klutzy, delicate female who constantly needs saving. Stephanie Meyer doesn't even try to make Bella the strong one in the relationship at any point since, even if it seems like Bella gets her way at times, Edward always wins out in the end. I'm only 200 pages into the third book right now and so far it's been completely filled with Edward telling Bella that she can't go visit her best friend just because he happens to be a werewolf. The fact that he is telling her what to do under the guise of trying to keep her out of harm's way doesn't make it any better. There's also a subplot involving two secondary characters who are in a relationship--a male werewolf and a female human--that seems to me to imply that women shouldn't leave their men even if they're abusive towards them.

Another way in which I think the whole Mormon thing influences these books: there's no sex. I guess that's to be expected in any books that are targeted to adolescents and that aim to sell millions (I mean, there wasn't any sex in the Harry Potter series, but I would never have even thought of that as an issue). However, the way Meyer approaches the sex thing seems to me like an allegory of abstinence until marriage. Edward and Bella can't do the deed because he's a vampire and she's a delicate human (Meyer uses the word delicate to describe Bella which is why I keep using it), and he could lose control in the heat of the moment and crush her skull. What's implied, mostly because the books all seem to be leading up this particular event, is that they can do it once Bella is changed into a vampire. So, to me, transforming into a vampire equals getting married. I might be reading too much into a series of books meant for tweenagers, but try reading them and not seeing this, too, now that I've pointed it out.

I don't know if I would go so far as to suggest that the Twilight series is cleverly-disguised Mormon propaganda, but I definitely think that Meyer's beliefs and values have understandably made their mark on the books. However, none of this is going to stop me from continuing to read them. I do enjoy them for the most part...

Five times five

2008-07-19T11:33:00.001-07:00

Saw this on someone else's blog, thought I'd do it too. I picked my own five things, though.

*Five upcoming movies I really want to see (at least until the reviews are in): Pineapple Express (a new Judd Apatow movie starring two F&G alums, James Franco and Seth Rogen), American Teen (a reality-type movie that follows five Indiana students through their senior year of high school), Vicky Christina Barcelona (latest Woody Allen flick starring Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz, and the hotness that is Javier Bardem), Tropic Thunder (could be ridiculously stupid or really funny...or both), and The Rocker (ditto).

*Five things I've purchased in the last week (this one I might've borrowed from the original blogger): A Calphalon rectangle cake pan that was originally $22 but that I got for $8.61, all three books in the Twilight series (counting this as one), a little organizer notebook by Real Simple from Target, lunch at Guapo's in DC, and a ticket to see The Dark Knight today (AMAZING!).

*Five things I don't want to do but have to do: Go to work tonight, drive to DC and back by myself tomorrow, take out an exorbitant amount of money in loans for law school and living expenses, pack, go to work tonight (I don't want to do it so bad it makes the list twice).

*Five things I wish: That I am successful in finding a place to live tomorrow, that I was obscenely rich, that gas was cheaper (or free since we're talking wishes here), that all of my favorite foods had 0 calories and 0 grams of fat, and that I would never wake up with a headache again.

*Five television shows I've ordered from Netflix on DVD: Undeclared, Mad Men, Flight of the Conchords, Weeds, and Beverly Hills, 90210.

Sucked

2008-07-17T19:52:00.000-07:00

I have been totally sucked into the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. I started reading the first book Sunday and finished the second today. I first became aware of the phenomenon that is Twilight through the flair application on Facebook--like half of the available flair is Twilight-related. I was curious as to who this highly-adored Edward Cullen is so I looked it up on Wikipedia and immediately scoffed at the whole thing, brushing it off as purely a tweeny-bopper fad. A stupid tweeny-bopper fad at that. I mean, basically the books are about a human girl and a vampire who fall in love. I saw that storyline, no doubt done much better, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer ten years ago (oh my God, it's been more than ten years!). It's not incredibly original. I have to say, while I still don't think it's all that original, I find it all really compelling. I'm not sure I can go any further than that in my praise, since the jury's still out on whether or not this is high-quality storytelling--I seriously need a second opinion because it's entirely possible that my guilty pleasure side (the side of me that likes Philippa Gregory novels and America's Next Top Model) is just getting the better of me here. But regardless of how good they may be, I absolutely love them. Tomorrow I will be buying Eclipse (the third book in the series), I'm already looking forward to the publication of the fourth book on August 2nd (though I won't be going to any midnight parties, like for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), and I'm dying to read Midnight Sun (the first Twilight book as told from Edward's point of view) whenever Stephanie Meyer gets around to writing/publishing it. Also, and you're totally invited to come with, I'm going to be seeing the Twilight movie when it hits theaters in December (I very much approve of their casting Kristen Stewart as Bella--she has serious potential). So, if you can find the time and have the interest, give at least the first book a read and tell me what you think.

Gah!

2008-07-14T07:32:00.000-07:00

*The internet in my house is not working. There is nothing more infinitely frustrating than not having a functioning internet connection. This is a horrible time for this kind of thing to happen, too, since I'm in the process of finding a place to live in DC, a process that requires me to be able to check and send email and to check updated listings on Craigslist. I'm in Panera now, have been for more than 2 hours, so I'm sure I'm going to smell like food for the rest of the day. Or, you know...until I shower.

*I still haven't found a place to live. I know I only looked at three places, but still! The last time I tried this, I was instantly asked to move into the second place I looked. The perfect place, I might add. I have been asked to move into a place I looked at, but not the perfect one. I know I shouldn't freak out yet, but it's July 14th already. I have two weeks until I wanted to move into a place and they're all going so fast. There were 11 people going to one of the open houses on Saturday, and at the other one I have to imagine that more than 11 people showed up since it was drawn out over the course of three hours and in the first 20 minutes there were already at least 7 or 8. I tried my hardest at all the places I saw to be very personable and outgoing, but that is a huge challenge for me and I felt like I spent most of the time just smiling like an idiot and nodding a lot. Everyone please keep your fingers crossed that the perfect place will call or email me today. And also that the internet will be up and running within the hour so I don't have to come back to this place again.

Change of plans

2008-07-07T12:47:00.000-07:00

I got a phone call this morning letting me know that I've been admitted to American University off of their waitlist. This is great news since it's always nice to get approval and some kind of affirmation that, yes, you are smart, but it also set into motion an arduous, highly emotional decision-making process that I almost would've preferred not to have to go through. It only lasted about an hour and a half, but it was still rough. In the end, I decided to give up on going to Seattle in favor of attending a significantly better school (like 40 spaces higher in the rankings better). I'm still not completely OK with that decision since I've been planning on moving to Seattle for months and have been wanting to move to either there or San Francisco for years and it's really hard to let go of that so quickly, but I know it'll be what's best for my future. It is hands-down the hardest, most life-impacting (Is that a word? Is now.) decision I've ever had to make and I was only given 24 hours to make it in. As I said, I took less than two. I know I don't need to justify my decision to anyone because I have no doubt that anyone reading this doesn't realize that a better school is a better choice, but if I were to give my top three reasons, they would be:

*Of course, the quality of schools. Not only is it that much better-ranked than SU overall, but it's also fifth in the country for International Law, the area of concentration I've been most interested in. Specifically, they have a great human rights program (which is exactly what I wanted to go into) and a very interesting-looking women and the law program.

*While Seattle is ideally my kind of place, DC is much closer to home for me. It's not that I'm scared to leave my parents--I've definitely lived very far away from them before and had no problem--but it'll be nice not to be so incredibly far away from them. And from Honey. I know I would love Seattle, but I also kind of love DC. I'll be in the same area as last year, and I absolutely loved my neighborhood (Tenleytown/Friendship Heights). I already know it and am comfortable getting around the city, so the transition period won't be as scary. It won't be as exciting either, but it'll still be a thrill, just a smaller one.

*Money. It's a much more expensive school (especially since SU gave me a scholarship), but speaking in more immediate terms, I won't have to pay as much to move up there and I'll be able to bring pretty much whatever I want which means I won't have to buy small pieces of furniture to replace what I wasn't able to cart with me. And I won't have to drive across the damn country when gas prices are over $4. And I won't die in the middle of Montana, alone with no one to find me for hours (because in my head Montana is a desolate state with only the occasional motorist or cowboy making their way across the land every few days or so).

So. This list is here now for me to check back on whenever I question my decision in the coming weeks. I'm sure once I'm in DC and settled, I'll have no doubt that I made the right choice. I could always move to the west coast eventually...right?

By the way, American's colors are Blue and Red and their mascot is the eagle. Go USA.

Masterpiece

2008-06-29T16:47:00.000-07:00

Pixar has never made a single misstep. From Toy Story to Ratatouille, every single film they've released over the last 13 years has been very nearly perfect. For years, The Incredibles has held the top spot in my opinion as Pixar's best movie, but that has all changed as of today. Because today I saw WALL-E, a dystopian look at what the future may be for us earthlings with the most adorable robot ever conceived at its center. This movie is absolutely flawless. Reviews I've read have called it a masterpiece, and I definitely don't think that's going too far. I strongly urge everyone to see this movie immediately. I will see it with you. For the entire duration of the film I thought I might explode because WALL-E (the character) is just too cute for me to handle. Of course there's a great message at the heart of WALL-E (the movie), as there is in every Pixar movie, but there's also an incredibly sweet romance, a lot of big-laugh-moments, and, again, the cutest character ever. I don't want to give anything away, so I won't say much about it. It'll definitely win the Oscar for best animated movie, but I think it should be nominated for best movie period. Go see it!

My Okinawa

2008-06-25T21:56:00.000-07:00

My friend Leanne just did a post on her Albuquerque, and suggested that I do the same about my Okinawa. I posted a while ago about my experiences going to high school on the island, but this has some new information, so hopefully it won't feel like too much of a repeat. I also urge everyone to make a stop on Okinawa if you ever have the chance, though I realize most people probably never will since if you have the money it takes to go to Oki, you're probably going to go somewhere more well-known. I don't blame you, but if you ever have access to an infinite amount of money and can do anything and go anywhere you want, be sure to add Okinawa to that list and be sure to drop me a line (and maybe a few hundred grand). Also, note: Okinawa is not a city, it's an entire island, but I'm answering these questions as though it is.

*My Okinawa: Diana

*My age: 24

*Occupation: Part-time retail bitch, soon-to-be law student

*I lived here for: A total of 12 years and 8 months (ages 1 through 10 and 14 through 18)

*I lived here because: My dad was in the Air Force and that's where they sent us.

*My neighborhood: When we first lived there we lived in the Zukeran Apartments off-base, then Sybil Manor on-base. The second time we lived in Kadena Circle out Gate 1 off-base, then Jennings on-base.

*My favorite restaurant: My favorite place I'd go with my parents was Capital Steakhouse off-base, a hibachi restaurant. My favorite place to go with my friends was Coco's Curry, food I still get cravings for. There was also a restaurant past the four corners out Gate 2 called Popeye's (not the American fast food chain) that I loved.

*If you go to this restaurant, be sure to order: If you go to Capital Steakhouse, get the potatoes and kobe beef; you'll get the most delicious soup I've ever had in my entire life as an appetizer--I'm not sure what kind it is, but I think it was some kind of potato. At Coco's, I would suggest the chicken katsu with 0-level curry (they vary in spiciness from 0 to 10 and I'm a wimp). At Popeye's, I always ordered the chicken katsu. Mmm...

*My favorite museum: I always liked going to Shurijo Castle, a castle from the 14th century that was destroyed during WWII and reconstructed in the early '90s. People can go through and tour the inside and they have an on-site museum of artifacts and such. It's incredible to see in person.

*Best tourist location: I always liked going to Okuma, a beach resort for those stationed on Okinawa. Go to Expo Park to see a dolphin show (they also have a huge aquarium) or Ryuku Village to watch a mongoose-habu fight (the mongoose always won when I was watching...might seem like a disturbing show for a first grade field trip, but it didn't strike me as weird at the time).

*Best insider spot: Devil's Cove is a nice beach spot to go with friends at night. The seawall is a great place to walk by the water during the day (here is a Flicker photostream that has some great shots of the artwork people put on the seawall).

*My favorite area: I was in high school while I lived here, so I always loved to go to Jusco (great big Japanese mall) and Dragon Palace (greatest arcade ever). The whole area is called American Village since it combines elements of American and Japanese culture. There are American chain restaurants (I don't remember the Starbucks, it might have been put in after I moved), which is actually important to American teenagers living in a foreign country, but there are also tons of great Japanese restaurants, a bunch of cute boutiques, and a karaoke place nearby. Plus, it's all beach adjacent.

*Best place to go shopping: I loved going to BC Street out Gate 2. There was an semi-open-air mall, some really cute clothing stores (not that I could fit into most Japanese clothing since I'm not tiny), at least one music store (oh, the days when people actually bought CD's...), and one of my favorite stores called Ammo Box. They sold funky clothes and accessories, plus some random junk.

*When you visit, don’t forget to pack: A Japanese-English dictionary, though most people over there that you'll come into contact with speak English.

*But leave room in your suitcase for: A kimono :).

*The one local cuisine you should try when you’re in town is: Soba! And since every hibachi place I've been to in the states sucks, go to one there so that you'll never enjoy it here again.

*The best way to get around: Driving. But be warned: drivers on Okinawa are more than a little reckless. They follow the three car rule--when the light turns red, three more cars will go through it.

*If I had to describe this city in one word, it would be: Japanese. No, maybe bustling since there are always so many people walking down the streets, shopping in the stores, and just generally moving around.

*I tell my friends to stay at: I never stayed here overnight, but I went during the day to the spa and pools and it was really nice--Hotel Nikko Alivila.

*The one thing most outsiders don’t know about this city is: The cities/downtown areas of Okinawa are overcrowded and a little dirty, but the people are super friendly so they and the beautiful beaches make up for it.

*They say “Virginia is for lovers.” So fill in the blank: Okinawa is for people who like history, being immersed in a different culture, and going straight from the shops to the beach. I can't sum that up in one word.

Summer mission update

2008-06-21T12:27:00.000-07:00

I wrote about a month ago about all the things I'd like to accomplish this summer, and I thought I'd update you all on my progress. So here they are in order:

*I've been working pretty hard at looking and feeling better. I get on the treadmill everyday(I've only missed four or five days total in the last month, all due to being out of town or too busy, not just to being lazy) and added daily walks with Honey to my being-more-active regimen. Unfortunately I haven't seen any results from either of these things or from eating better/less, but I'm trying not to let that discourage me since if I gave up then I definitely wouldn't see any results. I still haven't weighed myself and probably won't. Ever. If I can help it.

*I've also been reading a lot so I should be able to complete the 50 book challenge this year. The last time I wrote I was up to 22 and now I'm up to 33. Woo! This is definitely a more enjoyable goal to pursue than the first. My favorite five books of the ones I've read since I wrote last are Papillon by Henri Charriere (autobiographical, true story by the only man to successfully escape from Devil's Island, a penal colony in French Guiana in the 1930s), Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer (loved the movie, loved the book even more), Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore (really funny book that I've wanted to read for a long time and finally decided to buy after two friends on goodreads gave it five stars), When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris (more funny essays about his life, focusing more on his boyfriend Hugh this time), and Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk (almost a little too twisty for my tastes, it started to remind me of a daytime soap opera, but it was interesting). My least favorite by far is Rabbit, Run by John Updike--I have never despised a character, a protagonist no less, more than Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom. I couldn't get past how unsympathetic he is, especially since I got the feeling that Updike expected readers to sympathize with him. I do not recommend this book at all to anyone.

*I still haven't really acquired a taste for coffee beyond lattes. Maybe I'll start to really work on this one once I'm in Seattle. A big part of me not working on it is that I've been trying desperately to save money and didn't feel like coffee was important enough to spend any of my few precious dollars on.

*Speaking of money, I was finally able to secure employment! It took over a month for the store to call me back after I submitted my application, but at least they finally called me back. I can't even put into words how much I've been worrying about money. I have enough to get to Washington and to get into an apartment, but not enough to buy a bed or anything else I would need once I'm there. This job won't pay me much, but I'm going to ask them to work me as many hours as possible so I can make as much as I can, and at this point I'll take what I can get. I start on Tuesday so I decided to put off leaving until the last week of July (probably the 27th so I can still get to WA before August 1st) so I can work a little longer. Yay for me!

*Of course I can't update on my progress on getting to Washington in one piece since I haven't left yet, but I can say that I've already started packing and am trying to figure out just how much stuff I can fit into my car. It's not a lot, but I'll be able to take what I need for sure. And what I need includes a few boxes of books, of course.

*I've given up on finding a studio and have instead been in contact with another in-coming SU 1L. The plan now is to find a two-bedroom close to campus at the beginning of August. I think it'll be better to live with someone since it'll probably be cheaper and after spending the last couple of days alone in my house, I've been reminded of how much I hate living alone. I start freaking myself out as soon as it's dark out--every sound is a prowler, I have to check all around my bed and even in my closet for monsters every time I re-enter my room even though no monster would be able to fit into my small and cluttered closet. Logic really flies out the window once irrational fear takes over. I mean, the monster could have some amazing shrinking powers to fit into small spaces and he could grow to a great size once I discover his presence...you never know.

*I haven't been spending as much time having fun with friends as I'd like, but that goes back to the money thing and to the fact that almost everyone else has moved a little farther away and started working at real jobs. Besides the wedding in CT, I've spent most of my time at home. That's OK, though. Hopefully now that I'll have a little more money I'll be able to be more social. Except that now I'll be working, probably til late at night on the weekends, so maybe not.

EW's Mark Harris

2008-06-16T17:08:00.001-07:00

Exactly!

Mark Harris is a columnist for Entertainment Weekly, a magazine I've read faithfully since I was in middle school. In the last few months or year or so, EW has started printing a column on the last page of every issue called "The Final Cut" where a rotation of regular contributers write a little something on whatever's been on their mind lately (as long as it's entertainment-related). Diablo Cody and Steven King are two of the other contributers and while I always enjoy reading their entries, Mark Harris consistently writes something that I've been thinking but have been unable to put into words. In the article linked to above, he discusses just how annoying it is that every article that is written about the success of the Sex and the City movie refers to it as "shocking" or "surprising" because Hollywood executives have this tendency to forget (or to just ignore the fact) that women go to the movies, too. It's so freaking spot on that I had to share it.

Dear adolescents of America:

2008-06-16T15:31:00.000-07:00

I realize that what I'm about to say might make me sound behind the times, or old, or whatever. I understand that every generation is appalled and slightly disgusted at the choices made by the generation that follows it. I know that I have no reason to take pride in some of the choices I made myownself when I was your age. However, I simply cannot be silent any longer; I would feel like I was failing you if I let you continue dressing the way you do, speaking the way you do, and indulging your worst tastes in music, movies, and television the way that you have been in recent years. So, in an effort to help you, here are five tips that, if followed, will serve you to avoid any further embarrassment.

*Stop shopping at Hot Topic. Short of a few cool band shirts, this store sells nothing that will not make you look like a stupid poseur douche. The style of clothing this store specializes in was once only worn by unique groups of people: punks and goths. Hot Topic has taken only the superficial elements of these peoples' lifestyle or culture or whatever you want to call it and has made it a brand, has marketed it to easily-influenced children like yourselves, and, in the meantime, has made quite a profit from it--something that flies in the face of the fundamental beliefs of the groups whose style they have appropriated. They have been helped by the likes of Avril Lavigne and Fall Out Boy in popularizing and mainstreaming these looks, but make no mistake about it: these people are not punk. They are pop stars, just like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. You are not cool. Wearing a tail in public (a tail! Like from a Halloween raccoon costume! I saw this today on a girl walking through a Macy's!) does not make anybody look at you with anything other than ridicule. I think everyone should be comfortable being their own person and that their fashion choices should reflect that--dying your hair a color not found in nature used to be a good way to look as unique on the outside as you were on the inside, but it's become so common that now it's just another way to conform. Still, I have no problem with people doing this (I always wanted to at least have some hot pink streaks in my hair, but never had the guts to do it and now I kind of regret that since the time of my life where that would've been acceptable has passed), just when they do it to be a part of this awful, widespread fashion trend. I'm tired of the black-on-black, of the graphic hoodies, of the studded belts, of the ugly hats.

*Also, stop dressing like this:

I think that leggings with a short skirt can look cute (not on my body type), but so many teenage girls don't understand the difference between cute and cheap.

*These guys...

...are not attractive.

*The Hills is not real. You are not on The Hills. You will never have lives like the people on The Hills. Maybe watch something that doesn't come on MTV every once in a while. There are a lot of other channels out there! That channel just glorifies stupidity and irresponsible behavior (for anyone who wants to dispute that, check out an episode of The Real World. If at least three of the people in the RW house don't get dangerously wasted, hook up with each other, or throw an overdramatic fit, I will pay you $50), and I feel like it's breeding stupidity in the teenagers who watch MTV's original programming and think that's an acceptable way to be.

*Stop being so mean to each other. We're supposed to get more inclusive and tolerant as the generations go on, but I think we're regressing. It's great that it's become more acceptable for people in their teens to be out and proud, to not have to hide who they are, but the wave of conservatism, both political and religious, that has washed over this country since the beginning of this century has had its effect on those who aren't yet old enough to vote. It was reprehensible and appalling enough when adults attacked other adults for their sexuality, but when an eighth grader uses sexuality as a reason to kill a fellow classmate, it is absolutely shocking and tragic. Where does a child get the idea that homosexuality is a capital offense? That it's become common practice to use the word "gay" as an insult, and in reference to absolutely anything, is sad to me. But, hey, I hate when men insult other men by comparing them to women, so maybe I'm just sensitive and easily-offended. Videos of teenagers beating the shit out of their peers should not be put on YouTube and subsequently watched by millions of people--it's not entertainment; it's violence, the perpetrators of which are so remorseless that they border on sociopathic. MySpace should not be used as a means of bullying your friends. At the very least, this kind of behavior will lead to low-self esteem in those being bullied, and at the very worst...well, just read the story linked to in the previous sentence. Stop targeting those you have decided are weak, if only for the fact that you can never be sure what they're capable of.

Now, I know some of this can come off as a little judgmental and that people your age are more likely to ignore advice rather than follow it, but I really think that if you take this advice while you're still teenagers, then the world (or at least this country) can be a better place when you become adults. Honestly, if it gets any worse, I don't know what I'll do, but I think it involves moving to Canada. Or Europe.

I can see!

2008-06-13T15:52:00.000-07:00

I hate getting eye exams for the same reason I always hated getting my hearing tested in elementary school: I feel like if I get something "wrong," even though it's not technically my fault, the person conducting the test is going to think I'm an idiot or they're going to diagnose me with a disorder I don't actually have. There's just too much pressure to read those tiny lines of text correctly, just like there was too much pressure to hear every high-pitched beep in those giant headphones and not only that, but to hear them in the correct ear. There's also a lot of pressure when the optometrist* has you look through this thing and tell him or her if you can see more clearly through lens 1 or lens 2, lens 3 or lens 4, lens 5 or lens 6, etc. It's like if you give the wrong answer because you can't remember what the screen looked like through lens 4 as compared to lens 5, even though you just looked through it half a second ago, then the doctor is going to give you the wrong prescription which you'll be stuck with for a year, meaning that your entire world will be blurry for a whole year. That means a year of squinting, of headaches, of holding books four inches from your face, of not being able to read the board in class, of missing exits in strange places because the sign warning you it was coming was, like, ten feet away. I get serious anxiety before visiting the optometrist. I had my eyes examined (tested?) three days ago and had to go back today to have my new contact lens fitted (lens because only one eye got worse, so I only had to try out the one). Luckily everything seems to have worked out fine, as usual, but there's always the possibility that they won't and that's what all my neurotic worrying is for: to prepare me for the worst. Now I can just continue to worry for the next year that my eyes are going to keep degenerating to the point where they no longer make contact lenses strong enough for me and I'll have to wear glasses on a daily basis (the possibility of going blind altogether is not nearly so frightening. Call me vain, but I just really hate the way I look in glasses).

*I had to look up the difference between an optometrist and an ophthalmologist before writing this. An ophthalmologist, besides having a very hard-to-spell name, can perform eye surgery. An optometrist is the person you go to in the local mall or Wal-Mart to get prescriptions for glasses and contacts.

P.S. Since I doubt I'll be blogging about anything where this will be relevant, I just want to say now that Alanis Morissette's new album, Flavors of Entanglement, is really good. It comes after her break-up with ex-fiance Ryan Reynolds, so it's inspired by heartbreak, just like all of her good stuff. I recommend it, especially the songs "Not as We," "Versions of Violence," "Limbo No More," "Moratorium," and "Torch."

Up the coast

2008-06-11T18:35:00.000-07:00

This summer has, for the most part, been moving along pretty slowly. This past weekend was a major exception as it saw me off on a road trip through the Northwest Corridor to a friend's wedding in Connecticut. Highlights:

*On the way, the friend I was making the trip with and I made a stop in Baltimore to look at some apartments for her. I've only ever been to Baltimore once, during my undergrad American Literature class when we took a field trip there to see where Frederick Douglass lived as a child and young man after reading Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. While I'm still half-convinced that the tour guide was just some guy our professor met on the street (since the "tour" seriously consisted solely of him reading historical marker signs located around what I think was Fells Point), I remember thinking the city was pretty cool. Unfortunately it was approximately 700 degrees outside, so I didn't enjoy our time there as much I might have had we come in, say, February. Also, if I were to hold a meeting with some Baltimore city planners, I would suggest fewer one-way streets and more (cheaper/free) parking.

*The wedding in Connecticut was beautiful. I'm so glad I was able to go and that so many other people from William and Mary were able to make it as well. When time came for the bride to throw the bouquet, I was absolutely determined to catch it. I'm not so sure that anyone else was really trying for it, but I didn't let that put a damper on my victory.

*I didn't feel well on the ride home the next day, so I spent most of it filling out a crossword puzzle from the free newspaper the hotel gave us (for future knowledge, "Chop-chop to Chaucer" is "apace") and playing the license plate game. By the time we got home, we had counted 45 different states and Washington, DC. The only states we weren't able to find are Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, North Dakota, and Wyoming. Of course, I'm counting Alaska which I didn't technically see until the next morning when I was on my way to an eye appointment, but how often do you see an Alaska license plate? Also on the way home, after stopping for gas that cost more than $4.25 a gallon, I invented a car that runs on the driver's eagerness to reach his or her destination. I don't have all the mechanics figured out, but I'm just the idea person.

**UPDATE** The driver of my trip just left a comment informing me that a Nebraska plate was spotted when we got back to her apartment complex. Therefore, I'm counting it and our number is up to 45. Woo!

I was definitely happy to finally be home, but am also really glad I was able to go on this trip. Getting out town for a couple of days was very necessary since I've been spending so much time at home over the last few weeks. Now I'm just counting down until it's time for me to leave for good--one thing this trip did was make me even more nervous about driving to Seattle on my own. If I can be so exhausted just riding in a car with someone else driving for that long, then how am I going to be able to make it when I'm the one driving and I'm all by myself? Gah!

June's tunes

2008-06-01T10:27:00.000-07:00

The new playlist is up. It's mostly made up of Duffy songs since she's my favorite new artist at the moment. I highly recommend her entire debut CD--Rockferry. She's like Amy Winehouse if Any Winehouse showered every once in a while...and stopped smoking crack. I also included "Chasing Pavements" by Adele, another new artist I really like. Interestingly enough, when I Googled Duffy, I read in her Wikipedia entry that her, Adele, and some other girl I can't remember are all referred to as the "new Amys" in either England or the music business, whichever. To round out the playlist is "Jolene" by Dolly Parton because, well, why not? Unfortunately ProjectPlaylist.com only had 30 second snippets of Rockabye Baby songs, except for "Close to You" (originally by the Cure), but when I added that to the playlist it wouldn't work on my blog for some reason. So I can't share any lullabies with you. Sad.

Rockabye Baby

2008-06-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

I know I've said I'll never have kids, and I will stand by that statement, but on the off chance that I do, I will definitely be investing in the entire collection of Rockabye Baby CD's. I don't know if you've ever heard of these (I did a long time ago, but forgot about them until today), but this company takes the songs of well-known, and often not kid-friendly, artists and turns them into pretty, soothing lullabies (for parents not into the likes of Barney and other eye-gougingly annoying children's music). They have compilations of songs by the Beatles, the Cure, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Metallica, Tool, Nine Inch Nails, Green Day, Coldplay, Radiohead, Bob Marley, the Beach Boys, U2, the Smashing Pumpkins, AC/DC, Nirvana, the Rolling Stones, the Eagles, No Doubt, the Ramones, Bjork, Queens of the Stone Age, and a collection of Christmas songs that have been recorded by big-time artists (like "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" by John Lennon). I came across Rockabye Baby when I was searching for a particular Radiohead song, one that iTunes apparently doesn't have, and the lullaby version came up. I suggest at least going to iTunes and listening to the little clips of some of these songs, because it really is surprising how good some of them are. Not all translate that well into lullabies, but most are at least kind of funny. Some of the songs I thought were most notable:

*"Running" by No Doubt

*"Closer" by Nine Inch Nails (nothing like listening to a song that includes the line "I want to fuck you like an animal" made into a twinkling, child-friendly tune)

*"Hey You" by Pink Floyd

*"Sober" by Tool

*"Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin

*"Don't Panic" by Coldplay

*"Friday I'm in Love" by the Cure

*"When I Come Around" by Green Day

And the three I actually bought (I'm on a very tight budget and shouldn't have even bought these, but I couldn't resist):

*"Paranoid Android" by Radiohead (my favorite)

*"With or Without You" by U2

*"Tonight, Tonight" by the Smashing Pumpkins

I know it sounds crazy, but they're just so pretty. In fact, I'm hoping that some of them are on the website I use to make my playlist because if they are, I'm definitely going to include them for June.

Recent discoveries

2008-05-28T08:28:00.000-07:00

*Seattle University's mascot is the Redhawk and their colors are red and black. Finally a color scheme I can get behind and one that doesn't involve that garish shade of yellow schools try to pass off as 'gold.' Since middle school my school colors have been blue/gold, blue/gold, black/gold, blue/gold, and green/gold (there are two high schools in there). Compared to those combinations, red/black seems positively chic.

*Looking through the Wikipedia entry for SU, I discovered that the only two notable graduates I recognized were Duff McKagan (ex-bassist for Guns n' Roses and current basist for Velvet Revolver) and Mary Kay Fualaau (formerly Mary Kay Letourneau, famous for having a sexual relationship with a 13-year old student of hers, becoming pregnant by him, going to prison, becoming pregnant by him again, and then marrying him upon her release). Awesome.

*Mario Kart for the Nintendo Wii is far superior to any other racing video game I've ever played and I must have it someday. However, the only way I have even the slightest chance of not coming in 12th is to get the bullet from those mystery boxes so I can blast past the competition. I came in first the first time I played and that can be solely attributed to the bullet. The other few times I played I think I held a steady spot at number 11.

*Lord of the Rings is freaking long.

What I've Been Watching on DVD

2008-05-22T12:06:00.000-07:00

I haven't been to the movies much recently (though I'm dying to and willing to go anytime), so I've decided to write up my thoughts on some of the DVD's I've seen over the recent weeks. Here they are:

*Into the Wild. I’ve never read the book it’s based on (though it is on my to-read list), but if it’s half as gripping as the movie then I know I’ll love it. This tells the story of Christopher McCandless, aka Alexander Supertramp, a recent college graduate with a privileged background who decides to give up everything, including contact with his family, to live a life of solitude in…well, the wild. He travels across the United States by hitchhiking and taking the occasional odd job, trying to reach his desired destination—the Alaskan wilderness. I don’t know if the ending is a secret to anyone anymore—it wasn’t to me—but even though I knew it was coming, I was still hoping hoping hoping until the very end that what I knew was going to happen wouldn’t happen. It’s certainly nothing I would ever be tempted to do, but I was rooting for McCandless to do whatever it was he set out to accomplish, and also to then return home to his exceedingly distraught family and to a safer life. The slow pace, the soundtrack (provided by none other than Eddie Vedder), McCandless’s experiences and the relationships he forges with people he meets on his journey, and especially the ending all contribute to the intensity of this movie—it haunted me (for lack of a better word) for days after watching it. Highly recommended. For those of you who have read the book, a few things were changed or exaggerated in the translation to film (according to Wikipedia), but I think that this is one of those rare instances where you should divorce the book from the movie and just look at it on its own—it’s really good.

*I’m Not There. This movie is a strange, sort-of-biopic about Bob Dylan. Strange in that six actors portray characters that are supposed to represent different stages of his life, but not one of them is named Bob Dylan. The timeline isn’t linear; it jumps from time to time, from persona to persona, and it can be kind of hard to stay focused through the whole thing—I personally let my attention stray elsewhere during the scenes featuring Ben Whishaw and Richard Gere. Cate Blanchett—who plays Jude Quinn, a representation of Dylan right after he went electric and started losing fans who felt he had sold out—definitely steals the movie. She’s incredible in anything, but any actress who can convincingly play a man, let alone one as iconic as Dylan, and pull it off as well as she did deserves the title of “Best Actress of Our Time.” Damn the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for giving the Best Supporting Actress Oscar to Tilda Swinton for a (in my opinion) run-of-the-mill suspense thriller like Michael Clayton. This one is also recommended, but not as highly as Into the Wild.

*Lars and the Real Girl. Reviews for this movie were mixed when it first came out—I had heard not-so-good things about the film itself but raves for Ryan Gosling’s performance. I generally agree with critics on this one. He did a good job playing sad-sack Lars who orders a Real Doll from the internet and tells everyone that she’s his girlfriend. A quirky premise with a certain amount of promise, but something of the writer’s/director’s intentions didn’t quite make it through. I don’t believe that everyone in this small town would go along supporting Lars’s delusion and treating Bianca (the doll) like a real person. This inability to suspend disbelief makes it impossible to really enjoy the movie since it’s pretty much the whole point. I wouldn’t say not to see if you’ve really been wanting to for a while, but if you’re on the fence, allow me to push you over to the ‘no’ side.

*The Darjeeling Limited. This movie also received mixed reviews, but I absolutely adore it. I’ve never seen a Wes Anderson movie, but if this is what they’re like, then I will be Netflixing them all. It was hilarious in a quiet, unassuming way, and unexpectedly sweet and touching. Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Scwartzman star as equally screwed-up brothers who haven’t spoken in years and who are taking a trip through India on the title train to visit their mother at a convent. A series of misadventures ensues which causes them to rehash all their old problems and to subsequently become closer than ever. I went into this movie thinking that I wouldn’t like it and was pleasantly surprised; however, the most surprising thing was how much I loved Jason Schwartzman after watching it—he’s probably made it into my top five, in spite of the ill-conceived mustache (redundant, I know, since when is a mustache ever a good idea?) he has for most of the film.

*La Vie en Rose. An amazing biopic of Edith Piaf, one of the most famous (if not the most famous) French singers of all time. It chronicles her sad, crazy life, jumping back and forth between her earlier years to her dying days on the French Riviera. Piaf was a major diva and party girl (read: drinker and drug user) and those parts of her personality/life serve as the focus of most of this film. Actually, her tragic childhood gets pretty extensive treatment in the first half of the movie. Marion Cotillard does a great job playing her; she and the team of make-up artists more than deserved the Oscars they won for their work. Recommended for anyone who recognizes the name Edith Piaf, those who don’t mind subtitles, and those whose eyes can withstand reading subtitles for almost two and a half hours.

Summer mission

2008-05-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

Now that school is over and I don't have to worry about reading for a grade, writing papers, or giving presentations, I have all this time to devote to whatever the hell I want. I've come up with several "missions" to complete so I don't just wander aimlessly through these summer months. They are:

*To look and feel better about myself before law school. During the summer of 2004, I really buckled down and managed to lose more than 20 pounds. I have never in my life looked better or felt better about myself than I did in the year that followed--almost all the pictures I actually like of myself are from that time. I was able to keep the weight off for that first year by going to the gym a lot and eating smarter, but the next summer had us moving from Texas to Virginia so I didn't have easy access to a treadmill when I was home and I totaled my car during that move so once we got to Langley I didn't have transportation to the awesome base gym. I worked more than 30 hours a week (in food service no less) and was taking 18 credit hours at school (mostly English classes to complete my minor, plus working on my senior thesis) during my senior year so something had to be cut out if I wanted to continue sleeping at night and that thing was gym time. I got straight A's that year, but lost my work-out ethic and started gaining weight back. Over the last two years I've gained weight at an alarming rate (ha! that rhymes) and have kept telling myself that I'll work it off later. Well, the time has come to stop putting it off and making excuses. Today is day 3 of me getting on the treadmill and cutting out junk food and sodas (I cut out sodas for a few weeks at a time every couple of months, but will stick to it this time if it's the last thing I do). My goal is to fit into this jacket:

This picture was taken in October 2004, so more than three and a half years ago, but I believe I can do it. I love that jacket!

*To read as many books as possible. I'm taking the 50 book challenge and trying to read 50 books in one year. As of today I'm up to 22, and that number would be higher if April hadn't been the busiest month of my academic career wherein I was able to finish one book and that was for school (Big Coal).

*To acquire a taste for coffee. I like flavored coffee drinks, like lattes and Starbucks frappuccinos, but I want to be able to drink real coffee. I'm moving to Seattle and I've heard it's pretty popular there, plus I'll be going to law school and probably staying up late to study, so it seems in my best interest to be a coffee drinker. I haven't started working on this one yet (coffee is icky).

*To get a part-time job to make money for my move. I applied to a store I worked at the summer before grad school, so hopefully they'll hire me back. I hate working retail, but it'll only be for 6 weeks at the most and I could really use the extra money. Otherwise I'll have no source of income and will risk dipping into my savings before I start my trip. Most of the money from this job, were I to get it, would go towards furnishing my new place and making sure I have enough money for, you know, food before school starts in late August and I start getting paid there.

*To get to Washington alive and in once piece. I'm really nervous about my cross-country drive, like really, extremely nervous. Terrified might be a better word. As mentioned earlier, I totaled my car when driving from Texas to Virginia, and I'm scared it'll happen again and I won't be as lucky as I was the first time (it was an accident that my passenger and I should not have been able to walk away from completely unscathed). This trip will be even longer, 2946 miles and 45 hours to be exact, so I'm understandably worried. At least this time I'll be more cautious, I'll get plenty of rest the night before, and I won't use cruise control (I don't care what anyone says, it's an awful invention that leads to carelessness). I just wish I didn't have to go it alone...

*To find a not-too-tiny studio apartment in Seattle close to SU, or at least within the city limits. Or to somehow make contact with another in-coming SU student who would be willing to look for a two-bedroom with me. I really don't want to live with more than one person and I don't want to move in with someone who is already established in a place since I would feel like I was moving into their apartment and not like it was mine too.

*And, of course, to spend as much time as I can with friends I won't get to see once I move so very far away.

Buddhist puppy

2008-05-15T15:25:00.000-07:00

Look how cute! He can copy his person perfectly!

His name is Conan and he's supposed to be a chihuahua but he doesn't look like any chihuahua I've ever seen. I wish Honey did more cute things like this...she mostly just lies around the house all day. She needs to get in the news and start pulling her weight around here.

Glow in the Dark

2008-05-12T08:25:00.000-07:00

My friend Melissa took me to the Glow in the Dark tour show last night in Virginia Beach for my graduation present. For those who haven't heard of it, the tour features Lupe Fiasco, N.E.R.D., Rihanna, and Kanye West. I may not strike most people as the biggest hip hop fan ever, but I love Rihanna and think Kanye West is pretty darn awesome, too. I didn't know any songs by the other two people/groups, but figured it'd be fun. Here are some highlights from the night:

*Lupe Fiasco was the first performer on stage and, with the exception of a featured role in a Kanye West song, I had never even heard his name before coming to the show. From the way the crowd was reacting to him, I have to assume I was the only one. He had a lot of energy and was really good, and I was surprised to learn that I had heard one of his songs, or at least the chorus: "Daydreamin" (ordinarily featuring Jill Scott, but she wasn't on this tour, so some other girl was singing her part). Everyone else has heard this song, too, since it's the kind of trippy, pretty song in the AT&T commercial where phones are blooming out of flowers ("Baby, I fell asleep beneath the flowers for a couple of hours on a beautiful day..."). I downloaded it as soon as I got home. According to Wikipedia, it samples a cover of a cover of a cover and it apparently won a Grammy this year (one of the award shows I don't watch).

*About halfway through his set, the rain started coming down pretty heavily. This shouldn't have been much of a problem for us even though we were in an amphitheater since we were under the cover. However, it was raining so hard and the wind was so strong that it started coming in horizontally and we got soaked. I didn't come prepared for inclement weather with a jacket, so I was freezing. A couple of people on stage through the night casually mentioned that we were under a tornado warning, so that definitely made the night more exciting, like an adventure. Would we make it to Kanye without blowing away? No one knew. What this meant, though, was that all the people who bought lawn seats got to come in under the cover and started taking unfilled seats. Most of them eventually got kicked out of those seats once late-coming ticket holders showed up and watching that provided us with ample entertainment between sets.

*N.E.R.D. was next up on stage and this is a group whose name I've heard (I even know that one of them is Pharrell, a really successful producer, who is from VA Beach), but whose music I am completely unfamiliar with. They were really good, too, but it wasn't too exciting for me since there wasn't a single song I recognized. They pulled up six girls from the audience to dance with them on stage and were subsequently molested by the over-eager, over-excited, handsy fans...I suppose "molested" is a strong word, but they were all over them. I guess the girls saw their opportunity and went with it--N.E.R.D. did not seem too bothered by it all.

*Our seats were right behind one of those VIP boxes, which is really just a rectangle set off by metal rails with lawn furniture in it, filled with five people in nice suits. My friend speculated that they were related to Pharrell since he's from the area, but they didn't move an inch or express one iota of excitement during the entire show, let alone during his set. I was quite impressed by their restraint and their ability to sit so still for so long.

*Rihanna followed N.E.R.D. and she was really the one I was most excited to see. I think "Umbrella" is a flawless pop song, one I'm not ashamed to admit to loving with every fiber of my being. She's a really good performer and she sang all the songs I know, plus some (I only have her Good Girl Gone Bad CD). She closed her set with "Umbrella" and that was the first song of the night to get me out of my seat. I was unbelievably excited to hear that song and sang along very loudly to the whole thing. Since it was a rainy day, a lot of people had umbrellas on them and everyone who did opened them up and waved them around in the air for this song. It was great. I wonder what it must feel like to have thousands of people singing along to one of your songs with you...

*I stood for the entire Kanye West set. It was incredible. I could have done without the weird lost in space skit thing he was doing, but it really brought the whole sci-fi vibe of the night together--Pharrell made the "live long and prosper" hand sign (from Star Trek) to signify VA during his set and dancers during Rihanna's were dancing with glow sticks that looked like light sabers. I didn't know sci-fi was so big in the hip hop world. I have Kanye's last two CD's, but I really only know the singles, and he sang them all. "Gold Digger," "Diamonds from Sierra Leone," "Heard 'Em Say," "Touch the Sky," "Flashing Lights," "Jesus Walks," and "Stronger." People can say what they want about him and his ego, but his ego is completely justified--he really is that good. And he really cares about his fans and putting on a good show. His set was, of course, the longest, by at least 30 minutes. He was out there by himself and he didn't slow down or falter once. He even poked fun at himself, promising that he would stop spazzing out at award shows if he could just get off the planet he was stranded on in his [silly] skit (again, the only flaw in the whole show was this act). He sang "Hey Mama," a song obviously devoted to his mother, moving the entire audience since this is the first Mother's Day since his mom died.

*Unfortunately, as they are prone to do, other people managed to prevent me from enjoying myself completely during Kanye West's set. The people who had tickets for the two seats next to me showed up right before he started (I don't know how they justified spending so much money on tickets to a show with four acts only to come for the last one, but whatever) and everything was going well for the first half. Then they went to get drinks and while they were gone, I guess more people came to take their seats. Instead of leaving once the actual ticket holders came back, they all just squeezed into the space, so the girl next to me ended up standing kind of in front of me and the girl next to her, who was dancing like she was having a freaking seizure, was next to me, hitting me every so often in her spazziness. By the end of the show, even after my friend had politely asked her to move, the one girl was standing directly in front of me, I was getting hit more often by the other girl, and three of the drunk sorority chicks behind me had hit me four times (whether this was on purpose or not, I'll never know). No matter what happens, I am always astounded at how rude people can be. I imagine that being a complete asshole with no consideration whatsoever for other people must be really freeing. You can do whatever makes you happy with no guilt.

*To complete my already amazing present, and probably to lift my spirits a bit after those bitches tried to ruin my night, my friend bought me this really cute t-shirt. I have to say, I love that a big-time rapper has adopted a cute teddy bear as his mascot. I even think his name is cute: Dropout Bear. After buying our souvenirs, we then made our way to her car. After wandering around the muddy parking lot (in flip flops...oh yeah) for about twenty-five minutes, we found her car and were on our way home.

I realize that this is one of my longest posts ever, but it was a great show and I want to remember it all.

Done

2008-05-12T08:01:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, the Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy at the College of William and Mary, class of 2008, graduated. I am one of the very few who will not be putting my master of public policy degree to immediate use, but I will no doubt one day benefit from having it on my resume. I'm excited about being done and about what's to come, but I'm also going to be sad once it really hits me that it's all over and that I won't be seeing the people I've seen regularly over the last two years any more. I haven't kept it a secret that this program wasn't for me, but I always really liked the people and will definitely miss them all.

On the bright side, I got an iPod for graduation from my parents and I am in love with it. It replaces my old Creative Zen mp3 player which did its job for two and a half years and is now retired. I spent two days getting all of my music off of the Creative Zen onto my computer and then onto my iPod. I also learned a valuable lesson: iTunes is a dangerous place. I was there for no more than 4 minutes and downloaded 42 songs. They just make it so easy. That being said, I am also in love with iTunes. They have everything.

This semester in numbers

2008-05-04T11:06:00.001-07:00

*2: Number of times I’ve left the state (far too few) and the number of times I got really sick (strep throat and a bad stomach bug)

*3: Number of presentations I’ve given (far too many)

*5: Number of classes I missed, not including Ethics

*17: Number of books I’ve read (all but 2 for fun)

*25.3: Approximate number of hours I spent surfing the internet when I should’ve been paying attention in Ethics (thanks to fellow bloggers, Dear Prudence, Craigslist, and Facebook, among others)

*47: Number of pages I’ve written on the topic of big coal, usually focusing specifically on mountaintop removal mining

*539: Number of pictures I’ve taken (frankly, I’m surprised that number’s not higher)

*4620: Approximate number of miles I’ve put on my car, not counting trips made for social events

*5,000,000: Approximate number of envelopes I’ve addressed, stuffed, and sealed for my assistantship

*Unknown/unquantifiable: Amount of time spent talking about books, movies, TV, celebrity gossip, how unfortunately idiotic guys can be sometimes, our future plans, and other people with really good friends; volume of wine consumed; number of cupcakes baked; amount of uncooked cupcake batter consumed

Pearl Jam Reclaimed

2008-05-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

About a year and a half ago I ended a very serious, long-term relationship. This blog is about me and can be kind of personal sometimes, but I don't want to go into too much detail about something like this. I'll just say that it was kind of a bad relationship that came to a nasty end months, maybe even years, after it should have. I've considered myself over it for months now, but two nights ago I took the final step in rising above it completely: I put all of my Pearl Jam CD's back on my mp3 player. See, my ex was obsessed with this band and he's the one who really introduced me to their music. I fell in love with Pearl Jam over the course of our relationship, and not just because he liked them since there were plenty of bands he liked that I detested (Catherine Wheel comes to mind), but as soon as we broke up it was just too painful to hear Eddie Vedder's voice and to listen to these songs that I associated so strongly with him. In the last year and a half, I've not only taken them off of my mp3 player, but have insisted that other people change the radio station when a PJ song comes on in their car (which happens, oh, all the time in Seattle), and have excused myself to go to the restroom if one of their songs comes on in a bar (rare, but it still happens). Music is a powerful thing; it can bring back memories you otherwise wouldn't think about and bring on emotions you otherwise wouldn't feel. Listening to Alanis Morissette's third album, Under Rug Swept, and Natalie Imbruglia's second, White Lilies Island, always takes me back to my senior year of high school, the Beach Boys always make me feel like a kid, and Pearl Jam will probably always make me think of this relationship. But at least it doesn't hurt anymore.

In honor of this milestone, I've put together a Pearl Jam playlist for the month of May. It would be a top ten list of my favorite PJ songs, but the site I use didn't have all of the songs I would have included (namely, "Wishlist," "Not for You," "Love Boat Captain," "Present Tense," and "Smile"). These are still great.

*"Better Man" (Vitalogy, my favorite PJ album).

*"Yellow Ledbetter"

*"Rearviewmirror" (Vs.)

*"Black" (Ten)

*"Daughter" (Vs.)

*"Elderly Woman behind the Counter in a Small Town" (Vs.)

*"Alive" (Ten)

*"Corduroy" (Vitalogy)

*"Do the Evolution" (Yield)

*"Nothingman" (Vitalogy)

List of the week: My 'Favorite' Bookshelf

2008-04-29T18:25:00.000-07:00

I have an account over at goodreads.com, where you can rate all the books you've ever read, compare your opinions of books to those of your friends, read user reviews, list books you want to read, etc. The three default bookshelves are "read," "to-read," and "currently reading," but you can create your own bookshelves as well. I made one of my favorite books, and here they are in alphabetical order by author's last name (absolute favorites are in bold):

*Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. This is a great young adult novel about a high school freshman who has just recently gone through a traumatic experience and has lost all of her old friends. It deals with some heavy stuff, but Melinda Sordino is such a funny and relatable protagonist that the story avoids being depressing. I think I've read this at least seven times since I was a sophomore in high school.

*The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

*Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

*Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

*In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Hands down, my favorite book of all time. Capote blends fact with fiction, detailing the true-life murders of the Clutter family in a sleepy farm town in Kansas and following the murderers as they try to avoid being caught, filling in the parts and dialogue he couldn't possibly have known with his own creative touches. Capote befriended the murderers in their Kansas jail cell after they'd been caught, as they went through trial, and as they went through appeals on death row; he was there the night they were hanged. He focuses much of the book on giving Perry Smith, the one who actually pulled the trigger, a human side, and if you read or see Capote or see Infamous (not as good as the former), you'll learn that this was because he felt a connection with Smith based on their similarly sad and neglected childhoods. This is an amazing book and should absolutely be required reading.

*The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

*The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

*The Hours by Michael Cunningham

*Middlesex by Jeffrey Euginides. Epic. Do yourself a favor and ignore the Oprah sticker on the cover--I read this book about four years ago, so before it was ordained by the big O, and probably would have avoided it if she'd gotten to it before I did.

*The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Euginides

*Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. Foer creates one of my favorite characters in contemporary literature with little nine-year old Oskar Schell who's trying to learn more about his father who died in the World Trade Center on September 11th.

*Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

*The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser

*Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress by Susan Jane Gilman

*Mythology by Edith Hamilton

*A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

*One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

*The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

*To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Undeniably great.

*The Giver by Lois Lowry

*Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

*Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe

*Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

*Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

*Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl

*The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I know it's cliche for teenage girls to love this book, but I really did love it when I first read it at 16. In fact, a lot of my favorite books as a teenager were about suicidal women--this, The Virgin Suicides, Girl, Interrupted, probably others. I wonder if that means anything...

*Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

*Empire Falls by Richard Russo

*The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

*Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

*Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris

*We Need to Talk about Kevin: A Novel by Lionel Shriver

*Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

*Antigone by Sophocles

*The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. This book follows the Joad family as they migrate from Kansas to California during the depression, but my favorite parts are the alternating chapters where Steinbeck writes in his own voice, not that of the Joads, about the general plight of the migrant workers.

*East of Eden by John Steinbeck. An Oprah book club selection I read knowing full well that she'd put her stamp of approval on it. I only read it because it was an established classic independent of her, and I'm so glad I did because it's incredible.

*The Color Purple by Alice Walker

*A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

*Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

24

2008-04-28T17:56:00.000-07:00

More than two weeks ago, I turned 24. It still hasn't hit me that I'm now firmly established in my mid-20s. If someone asked me how old I am, it would probably take me two tries to get to 24, and it probably will for a couple of months (just like how I mistakenly put the wrong year in the date until mid-February because I was just so used to it being 2007--it was 2007 for a whole year). What makes me feel old more than anything else, even more than the fact that I'm older than all the new starlets and pop idols, is that I am now a year older than Monica and Rachel were when Friends first started. When I was 12 years old watching that show, the characters on it epitomized adulthood more than anyone else in the world and I've kind of carried that idea with me as I've grown up. Even though I realize now how ridiculous their lives were and that people their age with their jobs would never have been able to afford the apartments they lived in, I still feel like I've accomplished so little when I compare myself to them. That's probably why you shouldn't compare yourself to fictional television characters. That and it's kind of irrational and crazy. It's like having low self-esteem because Superman can fly, stop a speeding car just by standing in front of it, and come out relatively unscathed from a gunfight, but no matter how many times you try any of those things, you end up in the hospital.

Even though it's late in coming, here's my favorite picture from my birthday celebration that was very thoughtfully planned by a very good friend:

I felt very special and not really very old at all.

Time flies

2008-04-23T15:39:00.000-07:00

My parents left for Miami today--they're going on a cruise that leaves from there tomorrow and wanted to get there a day early just to make really sure that they wouldn't miss it. This means I have the house all to myself for almost a week, and this is the perfect time for that since this is the beginning of finals for me. I have a big exam for my administrative law class Friday morning and should have been able to devote the entire day to studying for it since I have no class and nowhere to be. But that would have been completely out of character for me. Instead I...

*Did some important housework, like laundry and cleaning my bathroom.

*Gave my dog Honey a bath.

(She doesn't know why I want to do something as mean to her as give her a bath when all she does is give me love.)

*Went grocery shopping for the ingredients I'll need to make a bavarian lemon dessert I plan on bringing to Friday's end-of-the-semester party.

*Searched for apartments that will no longer be available when I need them on craigslist.

*Confirmed that, after years of not picking it up, I can still play the clarinet.

(Yes, that's a book of Disney songs, but in my defense, the last time I bought a book of music I was 13. And yes, now that I have a cool new camera, I will be taking pictures of everything.)

*Made a delicious crab cake dinner.

I did manage to find time to do some studying, and will be sure to do more before the night is over, somewhere in between posting this blog, straightening my hair, and watching America's Next Top Model.

Nothing Weird Here

2008-04-20T20:02:00.000-07:00

Now that I've decided to go to Seattle University for law school, I've been checking craigslist daily to see what kinds of apartments I might be able to live in once I make the move (even though I won't actually be moving for a while now). I've pretty much decided that a studio I could have to myself would be ideal since I don't really like to share space, but I still look at the shared options where people are looking for new roommates to share their apartments/houses. Today I stumbled across this gem of a post under the title "Nothing weird here. Prudes need not apply.":

I am in search of a nice female roommate that is in need housing fast. Preferably unemployed so you could take care of the place a give it a nice womens touch. E-mail me and tell me whats going on in your life and why you need a place quick.Seeking quiet, clean and responsible roommate to share large one bedroom (THATS ONE BEDROOM) condo in the beautiful Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle. That means there is only one bedroom in this unit. Not one bedroom for rent, but one bedroom period. Seeking roommate to share that bedroom and the rest of the place. Send pic of your self and tell me how much stuff you have with you.

Well, the rest of the description makes the place sound pretty secure and it does have a private balcony...plus, it's free... No, no, out of the question, too shady. The guy posts pictures of himself at the end. There are four and none of them look like the same person. And none of them make me want to take this option into serious consideration.

10 Things I Hate about You

2008-04-19T20:56:00.001-07:00

I can sometimes be a very irritable person, I admit it. There are times where the littlest thing can set me off, even if it’s something that would ordinarily roll right off my back. But there are certain things that are sure to annoy me any day of week, no matter what kind of mood I was in beforehand. My top ten pet peeves are as follows.

*Driving too slow in the fast lane. I have to commute 45-minutes one way everyday to school, so it’s inevitable that people on the road are going to piss me off. It’s gotten to the point this semester that I’m starting to worry that the commute is going to affect my health since it can’t be good for me to start and end everyday in a blind rage. Of course I go over the speed limit on the interstate, sometimes as much as 15 over, and there is always someone blocking my way, and they often refuse to get over into the slow lane no matter how loud I yell or how many awful faces and gestures I make in their rear view mirror. I hate these people with a passion. I strongly believe that the world would be better off without them because chances are that if they haven’t mastered basic road etiquette, then they’re either complete idiots or complete assholes. And who needs that?

*Going along with the first point, I hate people who wait until the last minute to merge even though there are signs warning you that the lane you’re in is going to end miles before the fact. I know they’re trying to get as far as they can before they absolutely have to merge, but they’re the reason traffic slows to a stop when I-64 goes from four lanes to two. One of them always cuts me off, causing me to slam on my brakes to avoid slamming into them. They’re inconsiderate, rude, and selfish. I also hate people who slow down to a complete stop before making a right turn. They just slow me down.

*This is kind of a weird one, but I hate when people walk behind me. It makes me self-conscious. This is mostly a problem when walking to and from buildings on campus, and I realize other people need to get to class too, but it drives me crazy. Usually just when they walk right up behind me so I know they’re going faster than I am, but then they don’t go around me even though I give them enough room to. I feel like they’re watching me and I hate it.

*People who invite all their friends to add whatever cool new application they’ve discovered on Facebook. I don’t want it, stop clicking invite all, or I will de-friend you.

*People who are rude to wait staff, cashiers, and other people in customer service positions. Unless the person is being a real dick to you, there’s no excuse for this. Most people with these jobs are really trying and have no control over how slow the line is moving, how long it’s taking for you to get your food, or the fact that the rolling pin you’re only buying because it’s 75% off isn’t ringing up on sale. Ditch the attitude, you’re only embarrassing yourself.

*Also, get off your cell phone while you’re being waited on. It’s unbelievably rude and there’s no way you’re that important. Chances are, that conversation can wait.

*Teenagers in mob form. Large groups of teenagers/pre-teens/college kids have always made me uneasy, even when I was their age. They’re loud, obnoxious, trying to impress their stupid friends, and tragically uninformed about what it means to be cool. I get little comfort knowing that one day they will be embarrassed by their behavior and their fashion choices (seriously, I was at Busch Gardens last week and it was like Hot Topic Middle School was having a field trip with all the kids there dressed in pseudo-goth/emo black, graphic zip-up hoodies, and studded belts).

*People who refuse to control their children in public. At the New Town Theater in Williamsburg, there’s a big fountain out front and when I was out there the other week to see Horton Hears a Who (yes, I’m fully aware of how old I am, but it was really cute), there were several children just running wildly around it. I looked but could not for the life of me figure out who they belonged to because there were no responsible adults in the vicinity. All I wanted to do was push the damn kids in. And what if someone like me went with such an awful instinct? Parents should be there to ensure that such a thing does not happen, or they should at least be close by to fish them out and comfort them after it does.

*People who talk about weight, how fat they are, how they shouldn’t be eating what they’re eating, etc. It just makes other people uncomfortable and self-conscious.

*People who are unreliable, late, don't do what they say they're going to when they say they're going to. I hate when certain people consistently let you down. But who likes that?

My new must-have

2008-04-16T16:08:00.000-07:00

I found this link on Dooce, and I have to have one. They're pygmy hedgehogs, they fit in the palm of your hand, and they're freaking adorable. I don't know how much 190 pounds is translated into dollars, but if it's close to $15, I can totally swing that.** You can keep them like hamsters!! AND they love to be handled!!! I wonder if, when they get to running really fast, they curl up into a ball and kick bad guy ass. You know...like Sonic. Because that would be helpful to have around once I'm living on my own in a big scary city.

**Oh, so google informs me that 190 pounds is equal to about $375...that might take some savin' up.

On this day...

2008-04-10T04:57:00.000-07:00

April 10th is usually the 100th day of the year (101st during leap years). It is also the anniversary of the momentous occasion of my birth. Though it isn’t celebrated on the [inter]national scale that it surely will be one day, it’s still pretty darn special, and here are a few reasons why (and just some tidbits of trivia that I find interesting):

Events:

*1606—the Charter of the Virginia Company of London is established by royal charter by James I of England with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America.

*1710—the first law regulating copyright is issued in Great Britain.

*1790—The U.S. Patent system is established.

*1866—The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is founded in New York City by Henry Bergh (I <3> animals!).

*The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is first published in New York City by Charles Scribner’s Sons.

*1979—On “Terrible Tuesday”, a tornado lands in Wichita Falls, TX killing 42 people. (I used to live here, so it makes the list).

*1998—The Belfast Agreement is signed

*2008--Diana Miller makes a final decision regarding law schools and sends in her deposit to Seattle University.

Births:

*1389—Cosimo de Medici (patriarch of the very powerful and endlessly fascinating Medici family who ruled Florence during most of the Italian Renaissance.)

*1847—Joseph Pulitzer

*1932—Omar Sharif (actor)

*1951—Steven Seagal

*1958—Babyface

*1959—Brian Setzer

*1984—Mandy Moore

*1988—Haley Joel Osment

All information comes courtesy of Wikipedia, except for that bit about me deciding on Seattle U.

Thirty years

2008-04-09T19:41:00.000-07:00

My dad's retirement ceremony is tomorrow. He's been in the Air Force for thirty years, so it's a pretty big deal. My sister and her family, my grandparents, and my aunt and uncle are in town for it and a bunch of people he works with/has worked with will be there. A brief rundown of his long career:

*Started out in CE on Langley AFB in Hampton, VA. While here, he started working on F-15's, made friends with the Buffets, a family we're still friends with, had my sister and then me, and advanced in rank to Staff Sergeant. He's a go-getter.

*Stationed on Kadena AFB on Okinawa, Japan. Taught a class in F-15 maintenance. Basically became an expert on the planes. Advanced in rank to Master Sergeant. Made many more family friends that we've kept over the years.

*Stationed at Seymour Johnson AFB in Goldsboro, NC. Advanced in rank to Senior Master Sergeant. Decided to move back to Okinawa instead of going remote (by himself) to Korea for a year. Survived teaching my sister how to drive.

*Stationed back on Kadena AFB. Spent three months during the summer of 2000 in the desert of Saudi Arabia, came back much thinner. Advanced in rank to Chief Master Sergeant, a rank reached by only 1% of all enlisted members of the Air Force. Extended his stay on Okinawa so I could graduate high school with my friends instead of having to move in the middle of my senior year.

*Stationed on Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, TX. Sheppard is a training base where new enlistees go right after basic training and my dad was the first person these poor people would see when they got off the bus. He's very good at putting the fear in 'em. While here, he completed his bachelor's degree (in something to do with business) after working on it for ten years or so.

*Returned to Langley. Joined the Inspector General (IG) team as their maintenance guy. The IG team inspects bases and gives them a rating or a grade. If they fail the inspection, then they have 6 months to improve where needed before they're inspected again. If they fail again, people responsible get kicked out of the Air Force. It's a huge deal when bases are preparing for an inspection, so again he's instilling fear. While here he also received his MBA (in less time than it's taking me to get my MPP).

So now he's retiring and is still not sure what he's going to do after the military. Beyond going on a cruise with my mom in a couple of weeks that is. For his ceremony I put this slide show together of pictures from his life. I'm proud of figuring out how to do this, so I've posted it. Don't feel pressured to watch it since it's close to five minutes long, but if you do you will be rewarded with a horribly geeky middle school era picture of me at about the halfway point. You're welcome.

List of the Week: Five stars

2008-04-08T08:39:00.000-07:00

Movies I’ve given 5 stars to on Netflix, one for every letter (a few 4’s are thrown in since I didn’t have all the letters covered in the five star rankings):

* Almost Famous. This was my favorite movie starting from when I first saw it (my senior year of high school) until just recently. It would still probably make the top 5, definitely the top 10. It's funny and sweet and totally made me want to go on the road with an up-and-coming rock band. This is a coming-of-age story done right.

* Brokeback Mountain.

* Chasing Amy. My favorite Kevin Smith movie and I am a huge Kevin Smith fan. Proof, as far as I'm concerned, that Ben Affleck is not completely worthless (as is Gone Baby Gone and the "I'm F***ing Ben Affleck" video he did with Jimmy Kimmel).

* Dogma. This is also a great Kevin Smith movie, and another good move on Affleck's part.

* Edward Scissorhands. My favorite movie of all time.

* First Wives Club, The. I just think this is hilarious, but even I'm surprised that I gave it five stars. I haven't seen it since high school, so I might feel differently about it if I watched it now.

* Garden State.

* Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. My favorite HP book and movie.

* Incredibles, The. Best Pixar movie so far. Wall-E looks great, though.

* Juno

* Knocked Up

* Lost in Translation. In my top 2.

* Moulin Rouge. Also one of my favorite movies from my senior year of high school. It's just so visually stimulating. And it's a beautiful, sad story. I love the soundtrack.

* Nightmare Before Christmas, The

* O Brother, Where Art Thou?

* Princess Bride, The. In my top 5.

* Queen, The (4). One of the movies I had to take from my four-star list since I didn't have a five-star Q movie.

* Romeo + Juliet. Another Baz Lurhmann great (he also did Moulin Rouge). I like the juxtaposition of the modern day setting and the Shakespearean English. I generally dislike Claire Danes (even though she's in this, one of my favorite movies, and My So-Called Life, my favorite TV show), but this is just such a beautiful movie. "Kissing You" by Des'ree is one of my favorite love songs.

* Stranger Than Fiction

* Triplets of Belleville, The. Really quirky French animated movie. No dialogue. Highly recommended.

* Usual Suspects, The (4) I knew the ending to this movie before I watched it, but it's still really well-crafted.

* V for Vendetta (4) This movie isn't that great, but it's a pretty good comic book-based movie.

* Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I also like Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

* X-Men (4) My favorite superhero movie. I love Cyclops and Wolverine and I briefly wanted to be Rogue until I realized how much it would suck to have her superpower.

* Year of the Dog (4). This movie made me cry at least three times. A surprisingly good dramatic turn by Molly Shannon.

* Zoolander. I just think it's hilarious.

Tubular

2008-04-02T05:32:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of the 1980's and my birthday is coming up in just a little over a week; I wanted to throw a big '80s night blowout (even though I realize how cliche that might be) with lots of great music, tacky clothes, theme games (like the game Celebrity? Try it using only stars/bands of the '80s), and neon colors. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like that's going to be possible, so I'll settle for listening to the music that made the decade I was born so obnoxiously wonderful. Here is a list of my ten favorite songs from the '80s (all on my new playlist for your listening pleasure).

*"Under Pressure" by Queen featuring David Bowie (1981). A song so good that it was later ripped off by the incomparable Vanilla Ice. It has a nice message, a good beat, and a great crescendo. Why can't we give love one more chance?

*"Time after Time" by Cyndi Lauper (1984). I had the chance to see her live this summer on the True Colors tour, but didn't take it. I think I'll regret that for a while. This has been one of my favorite songs for maybe my whole life. It's a true '80s masterpiece.

*"Mad World" by Tears for Fears (1982). It was hard to choose among their big songs because I really like all of them--"Shout," "Head Over Heels," and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World." I just love the chorus. The Gary Jules cover of this song from the Donnie Darko soundtrack is also really good.

*"Call Me" by Blondie (released in 1980, so I'm counting it even though it was recorded in 1979). If I did karaoke, I'd want to do this song.

*"Let's Dance" by David Bowie (1983). Makes me want to dance even though I have no rhythm.

*"Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" by the Pet Shop Boys (1985). Also the theme song for "Beauty and the Geek," but that's not why I like it. In fact, if I watched that show regularly, it would probably make me hate this song.

*"Just Like Heaven" by the Cure (1987). A sweet song from a band with a whiney reputation.

*"With or Without You" by U2 (1987). I've never been the biggest U2 fan--I've always felt they were a little overrated--but there's just no denying how great this song is. And how timeless--it could be released today and still be a hit (or at least in the mid- to late-'90s).

*"Dirty Diana" by Michael Jackson (1988). I had never even heard of this song until my freshman year of college, which is amazing since it apparently went to #1 and it has my name in it. That's really why I like it so much. Just don't believe everything he's saying about me in this song.

*"Holding Out for a Hero" by Bonnie Tyler (1984). Over the top, super catchy, great song to drive to.

My new dream man

2008-03-29T07:24:00.000-07:00

Jonathan Safran Foer, easily one of my favorite contemporary authors, came to William and Mary last night to give a talk called "Why Jews Laugh at Things that Aren't Funny," all about humor and being Jewish. He talked for about an hour and it turns out that on top of being brilliant he's also hilarious, like the funniest person in the world. And he's very good-looking, increasingly so the more he talks. After his speech, there was a reception where the first 100 people to show up for the event got to line up and get him to sign copies of his books (Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close). Of course I was first in line since I'm nothing if not agressive when it comes to meeting famous people. I had a copy of each of his books and he signed both (I was only going to ask for EL&IC, but he offered to sign both because, did I mention? He's also the nicest person in the world), and then he told me that I was dressed very nicely. That's right: Jonathan Safran Foer complimented me--sure, it was about how I was dressed which isn't so much about me, but I'll take whatever I can get and will remember it until the day I die as one of the top five moments of my time at William and Mary. Here is the lone picture I got from the night--he's signing a copy of a friend's book, but in the future when I show anyone this picture, he will be signing a copy of my book:

He may not look like much here, but trust me, he's dreamy. It's too bad he's married because, you know, otherwise it could totally happen for us.

Just because...

2008-03-27T20:42:00.000-07:00

In case it's not obvious, this is cute for the following reasons:

*The shirt says "daddy says i'm beautiful"

*Her blissful lack of self-consciousness over her bulging tummy

*Her gigantic smile with four tiny teeth

*She's my niece and, well, she takes after me. Can't you see it? The freckles will come in later, trust me.

The Culkin Dynasty

2008-03-25T13:59:00.000-07:00

This may seem like an odd topic, but stay with me. The Culkin family has produced several [arguably] talented individuals and, after perusing imdb.com today, it occurred to me just how many movies they’ve made that I have enjoyed. So, as I am wont to do, I decided to make a top five list of movies starring at least one of the Culkin kids.**

*My Girl starring Macaulay Culkin as Thomas J. This is one of the sweetest movies ever, and one of the few coming-of-age stories with a female protagonist. Anna Chlumsky (what ever happened to her?) plays Vada, the daughter of an undertaker who runs a funeral parlor from his home. On top of this morbid fact, her mother is dead so Vada is understandably fixated on death. Over this one summer, she has her heart broken for the first time (when she finds out that the object of her affection, her English teacher, is engaged), adjusts to her father’s new relationship with the bohemian Shelly, and becomes best friends with Thomas J. Who dies. I think this is the first movie that ever made me cry. It definitely contributed to my intense fear of bees and other stinging insects (they really can kill you! Sure, I wasn’t allergic, but what the hell did I know about allergies? I was seven; all I knew was that they stung Thomas J. and he died—that’s simple cause and effect as far as I was concerned). At the end of it all, we are to understand that Vada is more grown-up and has benefitted from her experiences, and I believe it. Culkin is convincing as a meek little nerd who admires and fears Vada in equal measure and will follow her to hell and back if she asked—that’s never more evident than in how he goes about getting stung in the first place. This movie is an important, and oft-overlooked, part of the pop culture history of most girls my age and up to five years older. I feel bad for those who can’t own this movie the way I can because it’s just that good but probably only if you saw it at the right time (though I would urge you to give it a try if you were unfortunate enough to miss it, just in case it can still reach you).***

*Mean Creek starring Rory Culkin as Sam. This one centers on a group of children who decide to take revenge on a school bully (played surprisingly well by Josh Peck, the Nickelodeon child star of The Amanda Show and Drake and Josh) by inviting him out on a boating trip on the local creek only to play a trick on him once on the water. Spurred on by Sam’s older brothers, they push the bully into the water thinking he can swim, they’re incorrect in this assumption, and things go terribly wrong after that. The kids then have to face a moral decision about whether to tell people the truth or to cover up their horrible mistake. This movie is good. The children are all real, no inherent evil resides in their souls, they’re not sociopathic, they just want to stand up for their friend and put a bully in his place. They react to their actions in a completely believable way (what would your 12-year old self have done in their place?) and you have no choice but to sympathize for them because of what they’re going to have to endure as a result of those actions. What’s more, Peck is moving in his bully role, showing the human side of a mean kid who uses physical aggression to cover up how insecure and hurt he is that no one wants to be his friend.

*The Good Son starring Macaulay Culkin as Henry. This movie scared the shit out of me and made me not want to have children. Culkin stars as a sociopathic child of a very nice family living in a coastal Maine town (this movie is also what first made me want to go to Maine, it’s gorgeous). Elijah Wood plays his cousin Mark who comes to stay with his extended family after his mother dies of cancer. The two become fast friends, but Mark soon realizes that Henry is fucking insane. He also realizes that it will be almost impossible to convince anyone of this fact since Henry is so good at acting like a nice boy. Having someone around who knows his secret, however, causes Henry to be careless and cracks start to appear in his “good son” façade. The ending is very Sophie’s Choice, if one of Sophie’s children was a conscience-less murderer who Sophie knew had killed one of her other children and the other was not her child at all but was instead a nephew by marriage…OK, maybe it’s nothing like Sophie’s Choice, but it still involves some pretty heavy psychological turmoil. This is a suspense thriller that I can get behind (most suck).

*Igby Goes Down starring Kieran Culkin as Igby. This movie is generally labeled as the new Catcher in the Rye, and I can definitely see some similarities—a rich young kid who feels detached from his parents and others of his social class flunks out of prep schools and sets out to find himself in New York City. The supporting characters are really what make this movie good since Igby isn’t a very likable character (much like Holden Caulfield) since he’s immature and is spoiled by that which he is rebelling against.

*Saved! starring Macaulay Culkin as Roland. This is a pretty funny satire of high school and religion starring Jena Malone as Mary, a popular student at a Christian high school who accidentally becomes pregnant after having sex with her gay boyfriend in an effort to turn him straight. After becoming ostracized for her mistake by the in-crowd (with Mandy Moore at the center), she realizes that those she’d helped to make feel like outsiders when she was popular (the school’s lone Jewish girl, wheelchair-bound Roland, and a skater boy) are actually good people. She becomes more open-minded and tolerant of differences and realizes that religion shouldn’t be used as a weapon to hurt others but should instead be a means of comfort and a source of personal happiness. Culkin is pretty funny here once you get past how weird he looks as an adult.

**This is what trying to be original will get you.

*** Does it seem like I put too much stock into movies sometimes? I really do believe that they can affect you on a profound level if you allow them to and if you see them at the right time—they can shape the way you look at things, the way you speak (as can TV shows—I watched the entire My So-Called Life series about a month ago and was blown away by how many words or phrases I incorporated into my own vocabulary from that show over the years), and the person you want to become (and, thus, the person you do become)****. They’re like books in that way.

****I’m big on parentheses, I know. I’m sure you’re used to it by now, but I thought I’d point out that I am aware that I use (and perhaps abuse) them.

St. Patrick's Day in Savannah: Highlights

2008-03-18T12:42:00.000-07:00

*Of course the first highlight has to be seeing Sarah, Ben, and Jeff again. Jeff and I were both visiting from out of town and both got in on Thursday. We spent our first day/night in town hanging out in Ben and Sarah's apartment, drinking, playing Wii (I am so good at Wii golf, and by so good I mean embarrassingly bad), going for a walk that ended badly for me (ask and I'll tell you the story and show you the wounds; I'll just say that it involves racing a dog in flip flops, my total gracelessness, and a concrete slab), and eating Mexican at a restaurant that I'm sure was wonderful (things are a little fuzzy starting here). Here's Jeff and me at Jalapeno's:

(My camera was on some weird setting, but I think this picture turned out better for it)

*The main reason for the trip was, of course, to take part in the St. Patrick's Day celebration. Due to some holy week, the powers that be changed St. Pat's to Friday the 14th which worked out perfectly for me since I didn't even have to miss anything important (no, Ethics is not important). We watched three hours of the parade and still left before it was over, and then went to a low-country boil held at Sarah's French Canadian friend Fred's house. He had four friends in from Montreal who were all equally good-looking and friendly, so this was pretty much the most awesome day ever. There was much drinking, Jello shots, food, and entertainment (provided primarily by the increasingly drunk French Canadians) and a good time was had by all. We headed downtown afterwards for more friends, more Mexican food, and more drinking.

(Waiting for the bus into town--we were quite responsible. Photo credit: Sarah Meurer)

(There were a million bag pipe troops, so this picture pretty much sums up the parade)

(Joe and Max, two of the French Canadians, modeling the shirts Sarah made and Ben was selling. Photo credit: Jeff Butler)

(Everyone was wearing the shirts.)

(We ordered and shared either four or five of these giant margaritas. Yum. Photo credit: Jeff Butler)

*The next day is probably the most surreal day of my life. Jeff's mom and and step-dad were in Hilton Head, SC, and they invited us to the resort and spa they were staying at for a day and night. Our room faced the pools and the ocean and had a balcony so we were able to enjoy the spectacular view more thoroughly. We spent a few hours sitting by the pool. The only downside for me was that I didn't come prepared for this spontaneous trip with a bathing suit and I didn't want to shell out over $100 for a new one from the hotel gift shop, so I wasn't able to enjoy the water--luckily I was treated to bottomless cocktails, so it was all good. The day was topped off by an incredible dinner in the hotel restaurant, drinks in the lounge, and a silent lightning storm that we were able to watch safely from our balcony (unfortunately for all the people still in Savannah for the night the same storm caused River Street to be evacuated and power to be lost in all of Chatham County). Room service breakfast the next morning was one more amazing contributing element to what is easily the most expensive 24-hour period of my life. This unplanned trip definitely made what would already have been a great weekend getaway absolutely, unbelievably perfect.

(Our view from the room. We were also able to watch dolphins or porpoises swimming close to the shore)

*Coming home was rough. The trip was fairly smooth, so I guess I could be grateful for that. I am definitely not, however, grateful to be back in school. With a little over a month of classes to go, I am suddenly aware of how much work I have to do. I'll definitely be able to use another weekend like this when everything is done.

Go green!

2008-03-17T08:10:00.001-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Be sure to wear green or I will pinch the hell out of you.

I'll post an update about my unbelievable weekend in Savannah later.

My last five movies

2008-03-09T19:37:00.000-07:00

*Atonement. I saw this a while ago and thought it was one of the most beautiful movies I've seen in a long time. Shows the damage one little girl (a stupid, completely unsympathetic little girl who I wanted to throw against a wall) can do to the lives of everyone connected to her. I love how it follows the story through the decades, how it makes you think the story is going one way only to deliver the crushing blow at the end that no, things aren't that easy, happy endings are not guaranteed, and sometimes the mistakes you make when you're 13 really can ruin everything for everyone. The only flaw with this movie is Keira Knightley. I'm not saying that she didn't do a good job, but she did a good job for her. Let's face it, she's not all that...talented. She has this one look that she gives all the time and I can only assume that it's her *serious face* for when she's in a *serious role*. She just looks pissed ALL THE TIME. I know she's always starring in these period movies and that people had it hard back in the day, but every once in a while they cracked a smile. Should you see it? YES! Immediately! Be prepared to cry and be consumed by the feeling that maybe it's not all worth it after all (that feeling will pass...eventually).

*The Other Boleyn Girl. This movie is based on the book by the same name by Philippa Gregory. I have admitted in the past to liking her books (one of my many, many guilty pleasures), but they are definitely not historically accurate. The movie took that inaccuracy a step further by straying from the plot of the book. It was too fast-paced, the Boleyn parents were made out to be too sympathetic when in reality (and even in the book) they were ruthlessly ambitious and didn't care what they or their family had to do in order for them to advance and gain wealth, and Jesus Christ, I know it makes for easier watching but Henry VIII was not an attractive man by the time Anne Boleyn entered the equation. He was in his mid to late 30s and morbidly obese, not to mention he had a festering knee wound that reeked and kept him from being so lithe and virile. I've spent the better part of this weekend watching DVDs of The Tudors and that's really been bothering me. This movie was not very good and I hate to say it but part of that had to do with Scarlett Johansson's performance. She also had one facial expression in this movie (shocked, emotionally wounded), and it drove me crazy. Of course the biggest problem was the dialogue...and the storyline...and the direction. It was just bad. Not 27 Dresses bad, but bad nonetheless. Should you see it? I'll leave that up to you since I really don't feel all that strongly either way and I definitely think this would be more up to one's personal tastes (whereas I wouldn't recommend 27 Dresses to anyone in the world).

*Be Kind Rewind. This is Michel Gondry trying too hard. To be quirky, funny, heart-warming, whatever. Parts were funny, but I couldn't get past how unbelievable the basic premise was. Jack Black becomes magnetized after breaking into a nuclear power plant and erases all the movies on VHS in the video store that Mos Def is running while the owner of the store, Danny Glover, is out of town. They then remake all these movies and rent those out to wild success. That's the part I didn't believe: that anyone would like their versions or be willing to pay $20 to rent them. Should you see it? I'm not sure. Parts were funny, but none of it was as funny as I expected, and I was unable to suspend disbelief while watching it. That's not good.

*Penelope. I'm sure everyone's seen the previews and they really tell you all you need to know about the plot. There are no surprises about how this ends, but I wasn't expecting there to be. I was expecting it to be better than it was though, and I kind of resented a major part of the ending. I thought the movie as a whole was much too cutesy for my tastes and would maybe be more to the liking of a 6th-grader. I totally want every outfit Christina Ricci wore though. Should you see it? If you're a 6th-grader. Or maybe if you have nothing better to do and you can make a matinee (which means you have to get to the theater before some ridiculous time like 3 or 4). Oh, and you must be female. I hate to make those kinds of generalizations, but there is no way that any guy is going to enjoy this.

*Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. Amy Adams in another cute, sparkly role, but of course she's great in it and Francis McDormand is incapable of sucking, but this movie wasn't quite what I expected. It was light and frivolous which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I just saw it a few hours ago and I'm already having a hard time remembering specifics. The costumes were a highlight, as was Lee Pace (wow, he's dreeeeeeamy). Should you see it? I would suggest waiting until it comes out on DVD.

The last four movies on this list were all seen in the last week. It's pretty much all I did over Spring Break. Wooo! Watch out, I'm outta control!

March music

2008-03-04T17:28:00.000-08:00

The March playlist is up. There's a bit of a theme.

1. "Let My Love Open the Door" by Pete Townshend. Great song. Dan in Real Life on DVD March 11th, by the way.

2. "You Look So Fine" by Garbage

3. "Higher" by the Cardigans

4. "What Can I Do" by the Corrs. A version of a high school favorite I've never heard. I like it.

5. "Alone" by Heart. One of the best 80s power ballads--definitely top 5.

6. "I Know" by Fiona Apple. I am going to continue to push Fiona Apple on people. Until I die. The last verse is my favorite.

7. "Kiss the Girl" from The Little Mermaid. Perhaps the best Disney song EVER. Screw "A Whole New World." I would maybe be willing to tie it with "Beauty and the Beast" from...Beauty and the Beast.

8. "Because the Night' by 10,000 Maniacs. I hate Natalie Merchant. H-A-T-E. However, I love this song more than words can say.

9. "Falling Slowly" by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova from Once. It's been on here before, but it just won the Oscar and it fits the general theme so well that it makes it again.

10. "Love You Madly" by Cake.

Why Santa Clara University School of Law is AWESOME

2008-02-29T17:43:00.000-08:00

*They have an International Law program that involves a very impressive study abroad program. SCU offers more study abroad programs than any other U.S. law school with 17 programs in 13 countries--Switzerland/France, Netherlands, Hong Kong/China, Turkey, Germany, England, Australia, Japan, Costa Rica, Korea, Singapore, Austria/Slovakia/Hungary. Loans and scholarships are available for all of these.

*SCU offers an International Law Certificate for JD students that requires them to choose among electives like Comparative Criminal Law, Legal Aspects of War: Humanitarian Law, and International Human Rights Theory and Practice. Neato.

*SCU is located in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area, I think an hour or two from SF (though with traffic that probably works out to about twelve).

*They are the first of the eight schools I applied to to accept ME! I won't be making any decisions until I hear back from the others, but I am absolutely thrilled to hear a yes and could definitely see myself there. This means that it really is going to happen: I really am going to law school, I really can end up on the west coast, I really have the chance to completely change my life. How terrifying.

Birthday wishlist

2008-02-26T09:10:00.000-08:00

All I want for my birthday is one tiny, itsy-bitsy, lil' baby polar bear cub. Luckily, there just happens to be one living in the Nuremburg Zoo in Germany. Her name is Flocke, and while I'm sure they're giving her a fine home, she will find no more love than I will shower her with were she to come and live with me. I'm not sure how one would go about procuring a polar bear cub from a German zoo, but that's really not my problem so much as it's the problem of the gift-giver who decides to get this for me (aka, my super best friend for life, the person who will get part of my liver were he or she ever to need it, my main beneficiary when I die rich). Why I want a polar bear cub:

Those eyes! Those ears! That little sleepy face!
That vanity!
I must have her. I'll even let her keep her name to help ease the transition from zoo life to life in my Hampton home (and eventually my west coast apartment). Honey will be wary of her new friend at first, but she'll adapt.

To help you in your quest for this, the perfect birthday present, I've found the Nuremberg Zoo Director's name, Dag Encke, and the email address for the zoo as a whole, tiergarten@stadt.nuernberg.de. Other contact information can be found here (in German), so I guess you should direct all polar-bear-cub-buying inquiries there.

And the winner is...

2008-02-25T10:12:00.001-08:00

The Oscars aired last night, and while there weren't too many surprises, I thought it was one of the best broadcasts of it I've seen in a few years (and apparently one of the lowest-rated). Though it was obvious they had been preparing the show to go on in the midst of the writer's strike (there were a lot of montages and commercial breaks), it was still funny and entertaining. Here are my highlights:

*Jon Stewart as host. He was so funny, poking just the right amount of fun at the audience and all the self-congratulation, not saying anything to seriously offend anyone (though did you see Jessica Alba's face when he was talking about her being pregnant? She needs to learn to take herself more lightly, especially since she sucks so very much). My favorite line of the night (in effect), talking about the Democratic presidential nominees: "Usually when there's a woman or a black man president, there's an asteroid heading straight for the Statue of Liberty."

*Norbit loses for best make-up. I don't care how impressive the make-up was, there's no way this movie should have been honored with an Academy Award. Says Stewart, "Even Norbit got a nomination, which I think is great. Too often the Academy ignores movies that aren't good."

*Javier Bardem winning best supporting actor for No Country for Old Men. I didn't enjoy what I saw of this movie a couple months ago, but as I've put distance between it and myself, I've decided that I have to see the rest of it. It's nice that he's an amazing actor and all that, but I just enjoyed looking at him and hearing him speak Spanish since he is the sexiest person on the planet. And he was there with his mom! That's so cute! I love him.

*The biggest thrill for me was when Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard won best song for "Falling Slowly" from Once. I've written about how much I love this movie, and this song was one of the main reasons for that. I loved Enchanted, which had three songs nominated, but there was no way that any song from that could have competed with this. I loved when Stewart brought Irglova back on stage after a commercial break to let her give her acceptance speech since Hansard took too long thanking people and she was cut off. That has to be a first.

*Ratatouille winning for best animated feature. It was the only one of the three nominees that I'd seen, but I still felt it deserved to win. I don't think Surf's Up was seriously in the competition, and I know Persepolis is supposed to be great (and would love to see it), but I'm pretty sure Ratatouillie was one of the best, if not the best, reviewed movie of 2007, so it should be rewarded. Plus, it was super cute and Pixar can do no wrong.

*Cate Blanchett losing both best actress and best supporting actress. I didn't think she would get the big one for Elizabeth: The Golden Age, and I can't believe that she thought she would either, but I really thought she was a shoo-in for supporting actress for her role in I'm Not There. I've heard nothing but rave reviews for her performance in that film, more so than for any of the other nominees, so I was surprised when Tilda Swinton won for Michael Clayton, a movie I was not that impressed with overall. I guess this wasn't really a highlight, just one of the few surprises of the night. She accepted defeat very graciously, but it probably helps that she already has an Oscar.

*A large proportion of last night's winners were not from the United States. I just thought that was interesting. Winners for best costume, make-up, actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress, song, short documentary, and animated short were all from foreign countries. Go U.S.A.!

In general, I was happy with the show and the winners. I wasn't at all surprised that No Country for Old Men won as much as they did (four overall). I was a little disappointed that Brad Renfro was left out of the In Memoriam tribute, an omission they're blaming on limited time, but there's nothing to be done about that.

Sharing the hilarity

2008-02-20T11:43:00.000-08:00

Celebrities as regular people.

This site has something funny posted everyday, but this is definitely one of the funniest lists I've seen so far (obviously, since it's the first that prompted me to blog about it). My favorites are Ashlee Simpson, Nicole Richie, and Madonna.

Making freedom count

2008-02-12T12:46:00.000-08:00

Today I voted in the Virginia primary. I can't tell you who I voted for because if I do it won't come true. For performing my civic duty, I got this nifty sticker that I've been wearing with pride since 7:30 this morning:

I'm jealous of those who voted in Williamsburg and were given stickers proclaiming that they made freedom count. Yet another reason Hampton blows.

Why "kid power" is a bad idea

2008-02-08T17:11:00.000-08:00

Kids have really bad taste. I realize that this is the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, but they couldn't do better than this? Here are some highlights:

*Are We Done Yet? nominated for best movie.

*The Rock and Jessica Alba as best actor and actress. Have either of them picked a movie that was at all good in, like, their entire careers? Isn't it firmly established that Alba is box office poison? Did you see The Eye, Awake, or Good Luck Chuck? Of course you didn't, no one did. I'm wondering which one of those gems (which are respectively rated PG-13, R, and R) these children had in mind when they nominated her.

*"Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne as best song. This is a song that she has been accused of stealing from someone else. A lack of creativity is highly valued at Nickelodeon.

*Boys Like Girls, a band I've never even heard of, nominated for best musical group. I went to their Myspace page and after listening to the first 10 seconds of all four songs they have posted there, I still do not recognize them. I have learned, however, that they're part of that pop-emo set, so I'm completely sure that they are not deserving of this title.

I do have to say that I think it's commendable that the children are still supporting Jamie Lynn Spears, pregnant 16-year old star of Zoey 101, nominating her for best television actress.

For those interested, the show is at 8 on March 29th and is hosted by Jack Black (speaking of Jack Black, I have to see his new movie Be Kind Rewind which starts Friday--it looks hilarious). While I think it's great the Writer's Strike is finally over (I'm going through Ugly Betty and The Office withdrawal), I think it's unfortunate that we had to lose the Golden Globes to it while the NKCA will go on as planned. For those who care about quality film and acting, the Oscars air at 8 PM on February 24th. That should give me enough time to see more of the movies nominated...

Things to look forward to

2008-02-08T15:23:00.000-08:00

*St. Patrick's Day in Savannah. One of my good friends from undergrad lives in Savannah and I'm going to visit her for the weekend before St. Patrick's Day so I can go to the big parade and drink in the streets. I could not be more excited since I went there last year in April and had the best time--Savannah is definitely one of the best places I've ever been, partly because it's beautiful and historic and all that, but partly because of the no open container laws (there's nothing more freeing than ordering a cocktail to go). This is my favorite picture from last year:

I love those trees. The weather is going to be amazing (if it doesn't rain, knock on wood) and there are going to be so many people in town when I'm there. According to Wikipedia, Savannah's St. Pat's parade has the largest crowd with over 750,000 people in attendance in 2006. That's insane! Also according to Wikipedia, it's a tradition for female spectators to kiss male members of the armed forces marching in the parade...I'm not sure I'll be continuing that tradition (but who knows, because as I've already mentioned, there will be drinking in the streets). To commemorate the event, my friend (a graphic designer) and her boyfriend have made these super cool t-shirts and they're going to be all entrepreneurial and sell them (the front says "SAVANNAH"):

I will definitely be buying one and you can, too. There are only 34 days until I leave and 35 until the parade--they're holding it on Friday the 14th instead of the 17th since apparently there's some kind of holy week taking place then.

*My dad's retirement. On April 10th, which also happens to be my birthday, my dad will be retiring from the Air Force after 30 years of being in. It's kind of a big deal and a bunch of people might be coming in from out of town, including my grandparents, some family friends we knew on Okinawa, and my sister's family. Of course I'm always excited to see my nieces, but this is going to be especially exciting since April 11th is Savannah's first birthday.

*The end of graduate school at William and Mary. It's coming and it is less than three months away. Crazy!

Sometimes it sucks**

2008-02-03T19:21:00.000-08:00

For February I thought about making a playlist of my favorite love songs. It would include such masterpieces as "I'll Stand By You" by the Pretenders and "Something" by the Beatles, but as I'm sure some of you you have seen, a friend has already beaten me to it. Instead, inspired by my seemingly never-ending status as Single (yes, capital S), I've decided to make a list of what I've deemed anti-love songs. Because, let's face it, sometimes love sucks. It rips you apart, drowns you in sorrow, and makes you feel like the most worthless waste of life to ever be put on this earth. We've all been there, and if you haven't, then, well, you should know that I hate you and that you are completely unrelatable as a human being. The songs can fit into two groups, maybe three...possibly four: post-break-up-fuck-you songs, post-break-up-woe-is-me songs, I'm-better-off-without-you songs, and Pat Benatar.

*Post-break-up-fuck-you songs:
"Get Gone" by Fiona Apple. This is one of my favorite songs in the world, definitely my favorite Fiona song. The basic message is I've done all I can for you, neither of us are better for it, I'm done being treated like shit, and it's time for you to leave. I cannot stress how much I love this song. I cannot stress how much I completely relate to it. I could have written it a year ago if I had, you know, musical talent.

"Song for the Dumped" by Ben Folds Five. It's just hilarious. "Wish I hadn't bought you dinner right before you dumped me..."

"What Goes Around Comes Around" by Justin Timberlake. I wish this was always true.

"As Heaven is Wide" by Garbage. Super angry, wishing for revenge song. Good to drive fast to when angry.

*Post-break-up-woe-is-me songs:
"Back to Black" by Amy Winehouse.

"Happy Ending" by Mika. This is one of my favorite "new" songs (as in released in the last year or so) because it's so sad, so true, and it has this kick ass crescendo at the end.

"Romeo and Juliet" by Dire Straits.

*I'm-better-off-without-you songs:
"I'm Outta Love" by Anastacia.

"Fighter" by Christina Aguilera. This has been one of my many theme song for years.

*Pat Benatar:
"Love is a Battlefield" by Pat Benatar. It really is.

**For the record, I am not one of those people who hates Valentine's Day just because I don't have someone special to share it with. I love it, just like every other holiday and even bought the perfect thing to help me share the joy with others today. I can't tell you what it because it's a surprise!

Six more weeks!

2008-02-02T11:08:00.000-08:00

Happy Groundhog Day!

Punxsutawney Phil says six more weeks of winter. He released the following statement:

"As I look around me, a bright sky I see, and a shadow beside me. Six more weeks of winter it will be!"

To celebrate this, the greatest of all weather forecasting holidays, try to catch the classic Groundhog Day on TV. It shouldn't be too hard.

How to Give Yourself a Head Injury, Lesson 1

2008-01-25T20:23:00.000-08:00

The other day I was sitting in the law school lobby with a friend of mine, chatting before my class started. Since I had some time and since my battery was close to dying, I decided to plug in my laptop. The only outlet was several feet away from my chair, but my cord could reach, so I plugged it in and waited. When it was time to get up and go to my classroom, I didn't feel like walking those several feet to the outlet to pull the plug out properly, so I just took ahold of the middle of the cord and pulled. Nothing happened, so I pulled harder. This time, the plug whipped out of the wall, hitting me square in the forehead. It hurt like hell (kind of like slamming your finger in a car door), but I didn't want to draw attention to the embarrassingly stupid thing I had just done, so I made absolutely no reaction. Luckily, no one saw, including the two people I had been talking to, so I thought I was in the clear, but then I touched my forehead and noticed that I was bleeding. I thought, "Shit! There's no way I'm going to be able to hide this...maybe if I just keep my fingers casually placed on my forehead as I'm walking away, they won't think anything of it..." Here's the thing: there's nothing casual about holding your forehead, and trying to act like nothing's wrong is infinitely harder when you are noticeably bleeding from your head. As was inevitably the case, one of my more astute friends did notice and asked what was wrong, so I had to recount the whole story to her immense amusement. Seriously. She laughed for like ten minutes. At my pain.

Later, after the bleeding had stopped, I realized just how close I was to taking out an eye (about an inch), and started thinking about how awful and humiliating it would have been to have lost an eye because I was too lazy to walk a few feet to unplug my laptop. I was always taught when I was a kid that when unplugging an electrical cord to hold the part that you actually plug in (I don't know what components of a power cord are called and neither does Wikipedia, so I will never know) and to never pull the cord because that could cause some kind of damage or electrical danger (death!). Surprisingly, since I was always specifically afraid of dying by electrocution after seeing a very scary scene of Stephen King's The Standing (I should really write him a letter because a lot of my childhood fears were brought on by seeing just snippets of this and It), I never took this to heart. But now, after almost seriously injuring myself, I do.

Hollywood Suffers a Loss

2008-01-22T16:15:00.002-08:00

This is so incredibly sad. It's really rare for a young actor to remain successful after he or she becomes too old to star in the teen fluff films that made them famous, but Heath Ledger was an exception. You can just go to IMDB.com and look at his resume to see that he has matured in his choices since 10 Things I Hate About You (which even as fluff was still the best of that brand of movies) and A Knight's Tale (entertaining even if not exactly award-winning), choosing better and more interesting roles as a deeply conflicted and gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain and as one of six incarnations of Bob Dylan in I'm Not There. It's truly unfortunate that such a promising talent had to succumb to the infamous dark side of fame, and it is heartbreaking to think of his young daughter having to grow up without her father.

20 Reasons Why I Hate 27 Dresses

2008-01-22T15:40:00.000-08:00

**Warning: The following contains many spoilers for the new movie 27 Dresses. Unless you have a brain, in which case I’m not actually spoiling anything, I’m just stating the obvious since there is absolutely nothing surprising about this movie.

1. Malin Akerman, who plays Katherine Heigl’s younger (and supposedly more attractive) sister. She’s a horrible actress and she always looks too perfect but there’s something about her that makes her not all that pretty. I have dubbed her the new Cameron Diaz.

2. Edward Burns. His character was dull and stupid. He might very well be a great actor but his voice (which he can’t seem to raise above a whisper) and the fact that he was in this and The Holiday make me seriously doubt that. In fact, I will never be convinced. He is a bad actor. There is no reason to proselytize to me about any quality movies he’s been in, any awards he’s won, I will not be converted. I have found religion and this is its sole belief (there are sub-sects for those who believe this about Cameron Diaz and Keanu Reeves as well).

3. There must be a romantic comedy ingredient list that directors/writers/producers think they can just pull things from to make a successful movie. This one had at least ten of them. Star love interests who start out constantly bickering? Check. Spontaneous group sing-along to a classic song? Check. Female doormat who eventually learns to stand up for herself? Check. Sassy best friend who tries (and generally fails) to keep the female star grounded? Check. Stunningly gorgeous female lead made dowdy by dying her usually blond locks brown? Check. That’s seriously just half of the stereotypical, contrived plot points in this movie. I think they beat The Holiday.

4. After Knocked Up, I really expected more from you Katherine Heigl.

5. You too, James Marsden. You were on such a good roll with Enchanted and Hairspray, and then you had to go and screw it up with this load.

6. A question about romantic comedies in general: why do people have to be so stupid?

7. And why can’t I be given a reason to believe that anyone would actually fall in love with the people in romantic comedies? They’re always so simple, uninteresting, self-centered, and, again, stupid.

8. There was nothing redeeming about any of the characters. Each and every one of them embodied all of the traits listed above. Edward Burns’s character (not to harp on him or anything) was way too boring for me to believe that two women would be madly in love with him—if I had to spend five minutes with someone like him, I think I would slip into a coma.

9. I just don’t believe that the main love interests would have gotten married within a year. They made him too anti-marriage in the whole rest of the movie to suddenly have him get married and not explain his change of heart even one little bit.

10. Why did they have to get married anyway? Why is that the perfect ending? Throughout the whole movie, the message is sent that Jane (female lead, Heigl) really just wants to get married (because, of course, that’s all that any woman wants); she wants to love, be loved, and make it legal in front of all her friends and family. Parallel to this is the fact that she is, as mentioned earlier, a doormat. She gets over that and we’re supposed to believe that she’s a stronger, more assertive woman. So why does she still have to get married in the end? I’m not saying that people who want to get married, or who actually do, are weak, but it seems like that completely flew in the face of her supposed transformation. Was it supposed to be like her reward for “changing”? Marriage and a picture perfect wedding are not the end-all be-all for us women—I wish these movies would stop acting like they’re all that matter to us. They make sure to show her getting married, but don’t ever mention what she ends up doing after she quits her job.

11. How the hell could she afford such a nice apartment in New York City on an assistant’s salary? Not to mention 27 bridesmaid’s dresses? Those ugly things aren’t cheap.

12. The bridesmaid’s dresses were too over-the-top ugly. It was supposed to be funny, I guess, but it wasn’t. The whole scene where she tries on every single one for a guy she supposedly doesn’t like while he takes pictures is just bizarre. Really, who would do that?

13. I have never known of a cell phone that can withstand being held out in the pouring rain for at least five full seconds. That’s like the equivalent of submerging them in a tub of water. They would have been destroyed in real life, but not in the magical land of romantic comedies.

14. The script was so ridiculously cheesy. One line in particular was so bad that it elicited a completely involuntary wordless utterance from me that was apparently the most amusing thing about the whole movie for my fellow moviegoers.

15. Tess (younger sister/shitty actress) is completely unbelievable in her level of self-absorption and ridiculousness. Nobody chooses their bridesmaids because they could “pull off a strapless.” They do it out of love, familial obligation, and/or cheap publicity (for celebrities or wannabe celebrities).

16. Also, nobody would think it was acceptable to completely destroy their dead mother’s wedding dress to use a scrap of it for their own and to then offer the rest of the scraps to their sister for her own future dress.

17. After Jane becomes more “assertive,” she proves it by declaring her love for Malcolm/Kevin (who she had previously not liked very much at all) on stage, into a microphone, at a wedding she was not invited to that is on a yacht that was pulling away from the dock when she arrived and which she jumped onto. In heels and a dress. What the hell? I mean, he would eventually have returned to land, probably in a couple of hours, so why all the theatrics?

18. What kind of sick person would enjoy filling a position that requires you to hold up a bride’s dress while she pees? I’ve never heard of this being done, but if that’s what’s expected of a maid-of-honor, I am going to have to pass if I’m ever asked to be one. NASCAR drivers are catheterized during races so they don’t have to make pit stops—they just, like, pee into a bag. Maybe brides who want to wear cumbersome poufy dresses should look into that.

19. I don’t know if it was supposed to, but this movie makes weddings look really boring, unoriginal, and just awful for everyone involved. That seems weird to me for a movie that otherwise seems to promote them.

20. Would a guy really call off what is probably a very expensive wedding the day before the ceremony because he finds out his fiancée was just pretending to be a vegetarian? That doesn’t seem like such a big deal to me, but I’m not Edward Burns so I guess I wouldn’t understand.

I apologize, but...

2008-01-15T20:17:00.000-08:00

This is hilarious. I've seen these on three cars or trucks in the last six months and they really are vulgar and disgusting. I agree that they're a distraction, too, especially if you're behind one of these cars and spend five minutes in stop-and-go traffic trying to take a picture with your camera phone so you can show your friends what you were railing against when you saw the first...set...two weeks before. Not that I've ever done that... To be clear, I don't think the accessories themselves are funny, just that someone is trying to outlaw them. I'm all about freedom of expression, but I think people who are stupid enough to think that these are funny or acceptable should be penalized in some way.

Listography, Part II

2008-01-15T07:26:00.001-08:00

I've been wanting to post another list from the fantastic book I got for Christmas, Listography, but couldn't decide which to do. Inspired by my recent brush with fame, I've decided to post my list of celebrity encounters. It's pretty short, but hopefully it's a little interesting.

*Alex Trebek. When I was a junior or senior (or maybe it was the summer in between) in high school, the Jeopardy! people came to Okinawa to try to find contestants. I took the test and obviously failed, but I still got to meet Alex. Actually everyone got to since he held an autograph session thingy where everyone on the island lined up for him to sign these 5x7 pictures of himself. It was right after he shaved his mustache, so it was almost impossible to recognize him in-person.

*The Donnas. The summer after my freshman year of college, I went to Lollapalooza in Dallas and the Donnas were the first ones up on the main stage. Before getting tickets I had never listened to them, so I bought their newest CD at the time, Spend the Night, and absolutely loved it. After they played, they went to a booth to sign autographs, so my now ex-boyfriend and I got in line. Let me set up the scene here: It was August in Dallas on a day that was as humid as that part of Texas gets since it had been raining earlier, I wasn't wearing sunscreen since it was supposed to be overcast and stormy all day, when we first got there I had had a huge strawberry daiquiri, I had a migraine from standing too close to some speakers, and I was seriously dehydrated. Standing in line for more than half an hour, I started to feel really nauseated. I don't want to go into too much detail since it's all pretty disgusting, but I'll just say that things got much worse before they got better, but I didn't get out of line and I still got their autographs. Also something I will always remember: at a booth adjacent to the Donnas', 30 Seconds to Mars was signing autographs and because of some time limit you could only pick one band to stand in line for. I do not listen to 30 Seconds to Mars and couldn't care less about the rest of the band, but I am a huge fan of My So-Called Life, and, as some of you may know, the lead singer of 30StM is none other than Jordan Catalano (aka Jared Leto). I was completely torn, but ultimately decided that the Donnas was the better choice since the only reason I really love Leto is because he was Jordan and I know he hates when people bring that up which makes me think he may be an asshole. Plus, he was wearing weird make-up and had eyeliner or mascara running down his face and he looked emaciated.

*Sean Penn. A couple years ago I went to the Norfolk airport with one friend to pick up another, and as we were waiting for her flight to get in, another one arrived. Among the passengers was Sean Penn. No joke. I don't know why he was here, but there was a chauffeur and some other people there to greet him, and it was definitely him. If I know nothing else, I know celebrities. That may be a sad statement, but it's true. I wanted to approach him or maybe take a picture with my phone, but my friend kept me from doing so, reminding me of his penchant for punching out photographers.

*Ben McKenzie. With the exception of the last season, I loved The OC. So I was ecstatic when a friend and I went to a panel on child soldiers in Uganda in DC this summer and he was there. I realize that it sounds bad to be so incredibly elated at an event for such a somber cause, but I could not contain myself. He was sitting in the front row, blocked from my line of vision, and about 15 minutes from the end my friend turns to me and tells me the guy from The OC is up there. I totally think she's mistaken until I lean over and see him too. After the talk was over, I made a beeline up to him, possibly pushing 15 to 20 people out of my way in the process, and asked if I could have a picture with him. I may be shy and timid in every other way, but put a celebrity in front of me and I am as assertive as it gets. Here's the picture:

He's really short and little in person, but even better-looking than on TV. Ryan Gosling was also there, actually on the panel, but I didn't get to meet him since every single person in the room surrounded him when they were done talking.

*Last, of course, is Paula Deen. Just scroll down to read all about it.

Close Encounters of the Food Network Kind

2008-01-11T06:52:00.000-08:00

Let's just get this out of the way: I love the Food Network. It started with a slight fascination with how Rachael Ray was able to cook so many meals in under 30 minutes, and has since turned into a passion for Iron Chef America, Alton Brown, the "secret life" of anything from garlic to diner food, and Unwrapped (a show that reminds me of my favorite part of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood where they would go to a factory to see how something like saxophones are made from start to finish). So imagine my excitement when, on a simple excursion to Aroma's in Williamsburg, I meet the queen of the Food Network herself:

It's Paula Deen, y'all!* She's just as perky and nice in person as she is on TV, but you can never tell if that's for real. She looks so happy in this picture, and she does a great job of hiding her cigarette from the camera.

*I do not now, nor have I ever nor will I ever, use the word "y'all." I was imitating Paula Deen who adds it to the end of every single sentence she says.

I want one!

2008-01-10T22:48:00.000-08:00

I know we've never met, but I've never loved anyone or anything more than you.

Top 7 in '07, Part II: Books

2008-01-06T11:53:00.000-08:00

Excluding everything Harry Potter, here are my favorite books that I read this year:

*The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. I wrote my senior thesis on fairy tales and I love when authors either reimagine these old stories, or incorporate elements of them into their own original work. This is a sad story about David, who has just lost his mother and had to accept a new stepmother and half-brother all too quickly, and his fantastical journey through a dark fairy tale world. He’s trying to find his way home, hopes to find his mother, and is forced to face some pretty terrible monsters along the way. It’s an adult fairy tale, and not adult in the porn sense of the word, but just in the sense that it’s for grown-ups, and it’s very well done (unlike some of what Gregory Maguire has put out there).

*Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. This is one of my favorite movies, but I had never read the book until just a couple of weeks ago. It’s a sweeping soap opera of a book that, as most people know, is set in Georgia in the years before, during, and after the Civil War and is centered mainly around Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler. Just like any novel set during the Civil War in the south, it’s kind of depressing in that nothing goes well for more than 10 pages at a time. After reading it, I watched the movie again and thought it’d be a great idea for Hollywood to make a newer version, not a remake but a reinterpretation, that follows the book a little more closely. Then I thought maybe that’d be a little gratuitous since an emotionally devastating movie based on a book set in the south during the Civil War already exists: Cold Mountain. So, if you don’t want to read the book but you want to have a good idea of what reading it is like, watch both Gone with the Wind (which actually doesn’t make the Civil War look all that bad) and Cold Mountain (which gives no illusion that the Civil War was in any way civil and which left me emotionally drained for several weeks after seeing it) back-to-back.

*The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. This is an epic tale about two young Jewish cousins, one an immigrant from Czechoslovakia, in 1940s’ New York City, trying to make it big in comic books. They succeed, but neither are made particularly happy by their success: Kavalier is on an ongoing quest to send for his family who are still in Nazi-occupied Prague, and Clay has to deal with the realization that he’s gay…in the 1940s. The book covers about a decade and a half of their lives and it really makes you feel like you know the characters. It’s a heavily researched look into the early world of comic books (with references to and cameos by real-life comic book creators like Stan Lee and Bob Kane) that comes off as very plausibly true without reading too much like a history lesson.

*We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver. I don’t want to have children and I have many reasons for this, most of which are at least a little well thought out and rational, but one of the reasons I have is a fear (that was first confirmed when I saw The Good Son in middle school and then when I read this book) that it is completely and entirely possible to give birth to a conscience-less sociopath who just wants to hurt and kill others, including yourself. This book is told in letters written by Eva, who never wanted to have kids, to her estranged husband Franklin, who pressured her into having son Kevin and then into staying home with him full-time even though she owned a fairly successful business (another reason I don’t want kids—I refuse for that to be the assumed family dynamic if I get married). She never really feels like she connects with Kevin as he’s growing up, and she even finds him a little off, detached, and sometimes scary. Her husband continually denies this, thinking she’s just crazy and a bad mother. Then Kevin mercilessly kills seven students, a teacher, and a cafeteria worker at his school. This is a great book because it is fucking terrifying, and it’s terrifying because it’s about something that can, and does, actually happen.

*Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. This is a twisty coming-of-age mystery that centers around a very smart teenager, Blue, her move to a small town in North Carolina with her professor father, and the events that take place after a very cool and well-respected teacher takes her under her wing and into her inner circle. I loved it and I always get very excited when I like newer books, so this was a great find for me (it was also August’s selection for my two-person book club).

*The Color Purple by Alice Walker. This is just an undeniably great book that shows how strong the bonds between women can be. It’s also written in letters, but the ending is a little more uplifting than the one in We Need to Talk about Kevin.

*Oh Pure and Radiant Heart by Lydia Millet. This book chronicles what happens when three of the scientists responsible for the atom bomb—Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard, and Enrico Fermi—wake up in the present-day and are confronted with the aftermath of what they helped to create in the desert of New Mexico in the 1940s. The three embark on a mission to stop the use of nuclear weapons with their reluctant guide/protector, Ann, and her even more reluctant husband Ben. They travel to Japan to see where two atom bombs were dropped in 1945 and then around the United States, gathering more and more supporters along the way. Their campaign takes on a life of its own, quickly getting out of their control, and escalating to a violent climax that is the antithesis to all they set out to accomplish.

Least favorite: On Beauty by Zadie Smith, A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle, The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (I think mostly because I was disappointed that it didn't live up to the hype).

Top 7 in '07, Part I: Movies

2007-12-30T20:08:00.000-08:00

Here are my favorite movies from 2007:

*Hairspray. I loved this movie for its energy, catchy music, and message, as much as for the fact that it was really damn funny. I saw it with a friend after it’d been out for a while and I had waited as long as I could, and when it was over, I turned to her and said in all seriousness, “There was absolutely nothing wrong with that movie.” I loved every minute of it; I love that the protagonist, the one everyone is rooting for, is a bigger girl; I love that they make people see that she is beautiful regardless of what she weighs; I love that whoever came up with the idea of making this into a musical was able to take what was a kind of weird John Waters movie and turn it into something this joyous and uplifting. Because that’s what it is: Joyous. And. Uplifting. But not in a super-corny, annoying way. That’s why it’s great. That’s why it’s going to be one of those movies that I can stand to watch over and over again without getting sick of it. That and the awesome soundtrack.

*Dan in Real Life. I know I’ve already written about how much and why I love this movie, but I’ll just reiterate that it is so, so good. It came between seeing some pretty crappy movies (see below for some of the worst), and that just made it that much better. It’s hilarious, sweet, and Steve Carrell is so endearing that it’s impossible not to love him and wish for him to be happy. Hate his two oldest daughters, love him forever.

*Little Children. Kate Winslet at her best (and I saw this pretty soon after seeing the abomination that is The Holiday), playing a woman unhappy and stifled in her suburban surroundings and her role as a mother to a child she doesn’t feel she knows or cares for as she “should.” After discovering her somewhat older, inattentive husband is having a strange virtual affair online, she starts up an affair of her own with the neighborhood hottie played by the scrumptious Patrick Wilson (Google Image search him and tell me who could blame her). They both feel estranged from their respective spouses (he because his ambitious and successful wife doesn’t understand his lack of these qualities and is always on his back about studying for the bar exam, a test he has already failed numerous times). They get together for play dates for their children and themselves (if you know what I mean…wink wink), feel alive again, fall in love, and make plans (I won’t tell you how those turn out). I also shouldn't fail to mention the disturbing sub-plot centered around Ronnie McGorvey, the known pedophile who’s moved into the neighborhood to live with his mother, causing a wave of hysterical, indignant fear among the parents living there, and who plays a central role in the climax (anti-climax?) of the film. Side note of trivia: Patrick Wilson is from Norfolk, VA, and both he and Kate Winslet starred in two of my least favorite movies ever--however, they really do a lot to redeem themselves here.

*Juno. I just saw this on Christmas day after many weeks of dying to, and let me tell you: it was worth the wait. It tells the story of a 16-year old girl who accidentally becomes pregnant after having sex with her best friend one night because she [claims she] was bored. Luckily, she has the most understanding parents in the entire world who do not make a big fuss over the unfortunate situation and she has the coolest head ever, and decides quite easily to give the baby up for adoption to a nice-looking couple she finds in the local penny-saver. It is so easy to overlook the fact that it really is all a little too easy for this pregnant high school student because the movie is so funny, and it’s a smart kind of humor. Also, the soundtrack is perfect.

*Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. I pretty much love musicals and adore anything Tim Burton does, so of course a movie that puts these two things together would make the list. It is everything that Tim Burton represents: dark, over-the-top, Gothic (not goth), kind of creepy, and very stimulating for the senses (the way he combines the visual aspects of scenery, costumes, and make-up with the aural aspects of everything from the accents he gives his characters and the music he chooses to support his films is one of the reasons I love Tim Burton’s movies). Johnny Depp was absolutely amazing as Todd, the seriously wronged and seriously vengeful barber who returns to London after escaping from prison where he was incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit and finds his wife and daughter gone (wife dead, daughter taken as a ward by the judge who sent him to jail in the hopes of stealing his wife). After an unexpected turn of events, he decides to take up his old trade, kill all the people who come to him for a shave (since they’re all rats anyway), waiting for the day when the judge will come to him for his services and he can kill him, too. It’s a little gruesome, but the gore is so intentionally fake-looking that it’s not hard to watch, and Johnny Depp is a surprisingly good singer (though not so surprisingly for those of us who are his die-hard fans, and who know, know, that he is amazing at absolutely everything).

*Enchanted. This is maybe the cutest movie ever made that isn't associated with Pixar, and it somehow manages to be cute without being annoying or too sugary sweet. It's hilarious and Amy Adams is adorable and lovable as Giselle, the pure-of-heart princess who is transported from her bright, happy world to New York City and has no idea how to get back but isn't scared because she has faith that her Prince Edward will find her and rescue her. It made me wish that people really did break out into song like that...why don't we? Everybody always seems so happy in musicals (except, of course, in Sweeney Todd).

*Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The first one I saw in theaters. If only for the whole atmosphere and experience of going to see it on opening night in a theater full of working adults, it makes the list.

Almost made the list: Waitress, Knocked Up, Eastern Promises.

Movies I hated: Evening, Love in the Time of Cholera, Hannibal Rising, The Nanny Diaries, Rendition, Bee Movie.

Best I saw on DVD: Once, Harry Potter Years 1-4, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Queen, The Departed, Monster House, Good Night & Good Luck, Ratatouillie.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T07:24:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone is having a very happy Christmas! I've updated my playlist with some non-holiday tunes I've been listening to obsessively lately, including a few from Once, some Cardigans, the Cure, Pet Shop Boys, Lennon, Costello, and Hendrix.

A few things I got for Christmas this year:

*All five Harry Potter movies on DVD

*The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta

*Barnes and Noble gift cards

*Mechanical pencils with apple-scented lead (it's a Japanese thing)

*A pink travel cooler with a nine can capacity (also useful for transporting human organs)

What did you get?

Once

2007-12-21T21:00:00.000-08:00

I just finished watching this great movie, Once, and wanted to share why I think it is so wonderful:

*First and foremost is the music. It's billed as a musical, but it's definitely not your typical Grease, Hairspray, or Rent kind of musical. The songs are Damien Rice-esque, so beautiful, full of emotion and melodies that soar (I don't even care how corny and cliche that sounds, it's really true sometimes). The music is like another character, it drives the movie, but it doesn't seem inappropriate or unnecessary at any time. The songs stand on their own, completely independent of the film, so if nothing else, check out the soundtrack. Some of them are almost painful to listen to if you've ever had your heart broken, but they're just so gorgeous that it's impossible not to listen to them over and over...slowly falling into a deep pit of despair...but still swaying to the melody...oh, it's so good.

*Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. They play the guy and girl in the movie (they really don't have names, so I didn't just forget them), and they're both just amazing. I immediately wanted to marry him, and I am not ashamed of the fact that this is about 98% because of the guitar and his voice...and, of course, the songs he creates. She has a beautiful voice, and the two songs her character writes and provides lead vocals for in the movie are the most haunting of the whole soundtrack. Another thing that makes them both even more amazing is that they actually wrote all of the songs they sang in the film.

*The movie itself was also very good. It's a story about a week spent by two strangers who meet on the street when he's playing a song he wrote and she stops to listen--they play his music together, write more, and record the songs for him to take to London. It could be a little slow at times, but it had little funny moments, sweet moments, and they didn't fuck it up by having a perfect, completely unrealistic ending. Obviously, the best part about this movie was, for me, the music. Seriously, at least listen to a few of the songs ("Falling Slowly," "The Hill," "When Your Mind's Made Up," and "Say It to Me Now" in particular).

That's all.

Happiness is...

2007-12-16T17:09:00.000-08:00

*Season 2 of Big Love on DVD. No matter how busy I was with studying for my law final, writing the two papers that are due in the next two days, and taking my take-home Budget final, I still managed to set aside three hours a day for four days this last week to watch (perhaps a little obsessively) this wonderful show about the screwy Henrickson family. Of course I'm sure most of you know that they're a polygamist family living in suburbia, but do you have any idea of the kind of drama that goes down in their world? It's bad enough having to hide your lifestyle from the rest of the world, but to have two crazy-dangerous polygamist cults coming after you would be the kick in the pants it would take me, if I were the first wife (or the third...the second is out of her mind), to get the hell out. Rent it if you haven't seen it--it's very well-written, original, and you really start to care about and even identify with at least some of the characters.

*Being done with classes. Today I finished writing my last paper of the semester and then took my last final. This means I am a little closer to graduating and to whatever will come after graduation. Unfortunately, I only have until January 7th before I have to go back for stupid law classes.

*Book shopping. A friend and I have a two-person book club and every month we go to Barnes and Noble and walk around the shelves picking out our new book. This can take upwards of two hours, but it is always two hours well-spent. This month's book is The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. Friday night we went shopping for January's book and decided on Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. I also threw in Nocturne by John Connolly and Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell just because I have very poor self-control.

W&M's new logo

2007-12-12T15:46:00.000-08:00

The College of William and Mary has adopted a new logo after some big controversy erupted over the use of the feathers in the old one to signify us as "the Tribe." The logo was changed in the spirit of political correctness from this:
To this:
I didn't really have a problem with the feathers, but I understand the argument from those who do. I also understand that people hate the new logo, and why, but one of the reasons people keep harping on for why it sucks in, for example, a Facebook group called "Students Against the New W&M Logo," is the fact that the M in the new logo is just an upside down W. Now maybe it's just me, but isn't it obvious to anyone else that the M in the old logo is also just an upside down W? The new logo is ugly and boring, but at least get your argument straight if you want it to change.

My cute lil' addict

2007-12-10T19:38:00.000-08:00

Today my dad and I took my dog Honey to the vet for her annual check-up. She was very excited to go somewhere new (she doesn’t have the memory capacity to remember that she’s actually been there before), and wasn’t even fazed when, upon walking through the door, a friendly-looking black lab tried to bite her face off--how rude. One of the concerns we have that we brought up with the vet is that Honey has this habit of licking spots on each or her front paws until those spots are completely raw--we thought maybe they were hot spots at first, but she kept doing it, so we thought maybe she had a skin disorder or an allergy. The vet assured us that it's nothing as serious as that. Apparently, these are called lick granulomas--a dog can become obsessed with licking their paws because doing so leads to the release of endorphins, resulting in a sort of addiction to paw-licking. So...my dog likes to get high.

(She was a little scared of the camera)

She's also 15 pounds overweight and we have to put her on a diet. Poor puppy has had such a hard day.

Listography

2007-12-09T20:04:00.000-08:00

Last night a very good friend gave me a very good Christmas present (my first of the year!). As those of you who read my blog know, I love making lists. So, she bought me a book/journal called Listography: Your Life in Lists which gives pages with topic headings, like "Your Favorite Films", "Places You've Lived", "Your Character Flaws", etc. It's perfect. I've decided to share one of the lists with you: Professions I would like to have:

*Reviewer of:
i. Amusement park rides--There couldn't possibly be a more fun job in the world. Sure, maybe you'd get sick of riding the rides after a while, but that's when you move onto a new job.
ii. Movies--Get paid to see all the new movies and bash the ones I hate in national publications? Awesome. I will kill your career Cameron Diaz.
iii. Fancy hotels--I'd get to travel and be pampered (and, of course, feared) for a living.

*Caretaker of:
i. Red pandas--On "Growing up Red Panda", they showed how if you put your fingers in the paws of baby red pandas, they grab on like human babies, and you can lift them in the air without them letting go. It was the cutest thing in the world, and I want to experience it.

ii. Polar bears--After Knut made headlines earlier this year, I wanted to get a polar bear of my own. It would probably be better if I just worked at a zoo and cared for one there instead of bringing one home...they get pretty big...and predatory.

iii. Baby elephants--They're just adorable. They may slightly resemble little old men, but I would love to cradle a sad little baby elephant and sing him to sleep with "Baby Mine."

*Publisher--I would love to get to pick what books get to be published, get to read the next great story before anyone else in the world, and give up and coming writers the chance to be heard.

*Biographer--I think this would just be an interesting job, and I'd get to become the authority on historical figures that fascinate me.

*Travel writer--Again, I'd get to travel everywhere in the world and write about it. It'd be a lot of fun and a lot of people would be really jealous that I got to do that for a living--always a plus.

Please Christmas don't be late

2007-12-02T15:49:00.000-08:00

*Here is my scrawny little Christmas tree that I keep in my room:

I put it up yesterday while listening to Christmas music and just generally getting in the Christmas spirit. I couldn't get a good picture of the tree that showed the star on top, but that's OK since I can't seem to get the star to stand up straight. It's all very Charlie Brown's Christmas. This is my favorite new ornament from the Disney Store:

It's Cinderella's glass slipper!

*For your benefit, "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" by John Lennon and "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't be Late)" by Alvin and the Chipmunks have been added to my playlist. What year was that song written that Alvin so desperately wants a hula hoop? Oh, Wikipedia informs me that it was recorded in 1958, pre-Chipmunks cartoons. That explains it.

*All the classic holiday commercials are coming on TV now, my favorite of course being the Coca Cola one with the polar bears and penguins dancing to "Little St. Nick" by the Beach Boys. It warms my heart. Also, ABC Family is now in its "25 Days of Christmas" mode which means shitty holiday TV movies, but also means that Harry Potter movies come on just about everyday of the week now. It's nice.

What I've been seeing

2007-11-28T21:32:00.000-08:00

*Rendition. This movie focuses on...well, nothing really, it's not a very focused movie, but it's meant to scare people in this country by showing them just what the U.S. government is capable of. On his way home from a harmless business trip to South Africa, Egyptian-born Anwar El-Ibrahimi is taken into custody and flown to a dark, dank prison in Egypt where he is interrogated (tortured) for days without being told why, without his wife being told where he is, and without actually having done anything. The people who made this movie set it up with some weird timeline twist, but unless you were actually able to pay attention the whole entire time, it's hard to follow just what they did and what happened when. Jake Gyllenhaal plays a naive CIA analyst stationed at the secret prison in which El-Ibrahimi is detained, and after sitting in on a few "interrogations", he has second thoughts about his formerly exciting career and decides to make a change. I won't tell you what he does, but no one's surprised (or are they?). I tend to think political thrillers that focus on making a buck off of hot button issues, profiting off of people's fears, and drawing obvious conclusions (torture is wrong, folks) are exploitative, poorly constructed, and boring. This one was no different. Should you see it? I wouldn't recommend it, but I wouldn't necessarily warn people away from it if it's the kind of thing they like.

*The Nightmare Before Christmas in Disney 3-D. I've already written about how much I love this movie, but I'd just like to say that making it 3-D does it absolutely no favors. I hate having to wear those stupid glasses and whatever they do to make movies three dimensional also makes them blurry. Should you see it? Everyone should, but not in 3-D.

*Bee Movie. Before seeing this, I heard of some little controversy: parents were upset after taking their young children to see it because they didn't realize it was rated PG (even though plenty of other CG movies have been PG, including Madagascar, The Incredibles, and the Shrek trilogy) and there's a scene in which they gun down Winnie the Pooh. I thought it'd be pretty stupid and that Jerry Seinfeld's voice would drive me crazy, and I was more than half right on both counts. There were scenes that were hilarious, but for the most part it can only possibly appeal to dumb children. The plot was all over the place, it was all convoluted, and it made no sense. Why do humans understand bees when they talk in this movie? How long do bees actually live, because at first they made it seem like they had a very short lifespan, but then they're all alive long enough for all the flowers in the world to die (sorry to spoil that fine plot point for all of you who haven't seen it yet). How many storylines does one movie need? One should be enough, especially for a kids' movie, but this one had at least three. And why was I so disappointed that when they finally got around to shooting Pooh it was only with a tranquilizer gun? Should you see it? If you're under the age of 4 (my 2-year old niece apparently loved it).

*Love in the Time of Cholera. I read the book and thought it was pretty good. Actually, this book has the distinct honor of being the first book chosen by a friend and I for our two-person book club and the only one she never finished. The movie was painful to sit through for many reasons. First is how miscast John Leguizamo is as Lorenzo Daza--he was supposed to speak with some kind of Spanish accent, but couldn't get the Brooklyn out (and why, when they're speaking English anyway, they even have to bother having Spanish accents in the first place is beyond me). Second is how pitiful Javier Bardem is as lovestruck stalker extraordinaire Florintino Ariza, and how unsympathetic he becomes. I don't feel bad for people who have sex with over 600 women in their alleged attempt to get over the person they love being with someone else. It was boring, bad, misogynistic, long (but not as long as it seemed), and bad. I know I said bad twice, but it was that bad. Awful. I want my money and two and a half hours back. Should you see it? No, I wouldn't even recommend reading the book after that.

*Dan in Real Life. This is maybe my favorite movie of the year--it definitely gives Hairspray a run for its money. It was so funny and Steve Carell was so cute and endearing. Every scene had me cracking up, one had me tearing up, and the whole thing made me want to join the Burns family. Should you see it? Yes, and you should take me with you because I am dying to see it again.

**What I can't wait to see: Juno (looks so cute and hilarious), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Tim Burton + Johnny Depp (singing!) + Helena Bonham Carter = my kind of holiday blockbuster), The Other Boleyn Girl.

Cole Invasion

2007-11-28T16:38:00.000-08:00

I know not everyone is an avid reader of my blog, so allow me to reintroduce my sister and her family. They are the Coles--my sister Christie, her husband Don, and their two little girls Hannah (2) and Savannah (7 months). I usually see them about twice a year, though this visit marks the third for 2007, a record high. They were here from Tuesday of last week until today, eight days total, but it felt like a lot more, especially for my poor dog Honey who got sent to her kennel any time she even thought about going to sniff Savannah (who was, for the record, on the floor, at perfect sniff level). Here are some highlights:

*Thursday was Thanksgiving. I had two friends over, making us a group of seven adults, but we had enough food to feed approximately 92, so we were all well-stuffed by the time the meal was over. We also had wine at Thanksgiving dinner for the first time in my family's history, also maybe the first time we've had wine at any dinner come to think of it. We started the day out with the Macy's Parade, ate tons of food and dessert, and played a rousing game of Scattergories. The Cole girls wore matching outfits and entertained us from time to time with their adorableness, but mostly we stayed out of each other's way for most of the day. Here's me with the nieces:

*Friday and Saturday were glorious because my parents took the Cole family to West Virginia so Don could meet relatives and see the places we'd visit every three years when we were kids. I spent the days writing an Education Policy paper, watching Netflix DVDs, reading, and going to see one of the worst movies I've seen in a while (but that's another post). It was peaceful and Honey managed to get some much-needed rest.

*Sunday we went to Colonial Williamsburg for some sightseeing sans stroller. While I could see how a stroller could be a pain in the ass in buildings with stairs and no elevator, walking around for close to five hours with a 7-month old (who was strapped to her daddy's chest) and a 2-year old (who was running free until she ran right out of steam) was a horrible idea, especially considering that we went in one, one, building with stairs and those were wide enough to accommodate people carrying a stroller up and down. It would've been fine. I myself had never been to Colonial Williamsburg and was pleasantly surprised to see that I got in everything for free (finally I start to see some benefits from going to William and Mary) and that I got my family in for 25% off. At least I'm good for something. So we walked around a lot, saw the Governor's Palace, stopped in the college bookstore for at least 45 minutes to regroup (get coffee, use the bathroom, feed babies, change diapers, sit), walked down Duke of Gloucester Street to the Capitol Building, and caught the bus back to the Visitor's Center and were on our way back home. Here are a few pictures from the day that make it look not all that bad:

(The Cole family in front of the Governor's Palace)

(The Miller family with Hannah who insisted on being in the picture but then just stood there and ended up looking like some random child who ran into the shot)

(A tired Hannah at the end of the day)

*I was sore from walking so much and carrying Hannah off and on all day Monday, but somewhere around 2:30 the pain turned into something else, and I just felt achy all over like right before you come down with the flu. Somehow I was able to make it through Education Policy (last one of the semester!!), drove home, and came thisclose to dying...well, not really, but I did have a temperature of 101.2. I think this was probably a case of mild dehydration, so I drank lots of water, took some medicine, and passed out around 9:30, feeling better in the morning.

*I mostly spent Tuesday hanging out with my sister and her husband--we went to see Dan in Real Life (more on how much I loved this movie later), got drinks at a bar, and shopped before heading home to spend time with the babies. My mom bought Hannah a Snow White dress-up kit and while she was having fun wearing red silky gloves that were at least two or three times too big for her, Savannah amused herself with our dog Honey's squeaky red ball (we washed it first).

(Hannah sits like a queen)

(Savannah plays like a puppy)

So now they're gone and the house is quiet again. It's nice, but it was fun having them here. Hopefully we'll see each other again someday soon.

Losing "friends"

2007-11-26T13:49:00.000-08:00

One of the reasons I continue to have a Myspace account is that it is a great way to keep in touch with people you may otherwise lose contact with. However, sometimes I go a little overboard with the nostalgia and add people that, if I were to give it a second’s thought, I would realize that I don’t really want to keep in touch with. Recently, I accepted a friend invitation from a girl I went to school with (3rd grade on in elementary school and then my senior year of high school). She has since gotten married to a low-rung Army guy, had a baby, and moved to Germany. How nice for her. After looking through her page and some of her blogs, I quickly realized that she is quite the religious person. That’s fine, I have no problem with people who believe in god or people who are devoutly religious, as long as they don’t try to push their beliefs on me, which usually they don’t. Then I logon to Myspace today and see this bulletin from this girl under the title “DON’T SEE THIS MOVIE!!!”:

Click the link below for the Snopes comments or go to Snopes’ web site and check the information. Very disturbing.
Check this out before seeing the movie.
The Golden Compass
I have heard of this movie although I did not know what it was about. Please check out the link, it's scary stuff.
You may already know about this, but I just learned about a kids movie coming out in December starring Nicole Kidman. It's called The Golden Compass, and while it will be a watered down version, it is based on a series of children's books about killing God (It is the anti-Narnia). Please follow this link, and then pass it on. From what I understand, the hope is to get a lot of kids to see the movie - which won't seem too bad - and then get the parents to buy the books for their kids for Christmas. The quotes from the author sum it all up. I'm going to tell everyone about this movie, I hope you do too.
http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

If you click on this link, you will learn that Philip Pullman is plotting to kill god in the hearts and minds of young children, and that this movie has been made with the anti-religion themes considerably played down with the sole mission of getting parents to buy the books on which it is based so that Pullman can fully indoctrinate all the world’s children against god. This fear of beliefs that are different from one’s own, this suppression of different ideas is the kind of thing I hate. I suspect that the kind of people who believe this about the His Dark Materials trilogy are the ones who are out banning, and even burning, copies of Harry Potter, they were also probably the ones out picketing The Da Vinci Code when it hit theaters. With all the things that are wrong with this world, why would you choose to focus your energy on a Nicole Kidman movie? One in which polar bears talk, wear armor, and engage in hand to hand combat. If a children’s book and movie are enough to destroy your child’s faith, then perhaps you’re not doing [what you think is] your job right. Teach your children what you want, but teach them strength of mind and character so they’re not so easily swayed by something bright and flashy. I understand that faith and spirituality are things that are generally passed on to one’s children, but what’s wrong with letting them explore all the different ideas that are out there and develop their own beliefs? Wouldn’t their beliefs be stronger if they came to them on their own?

While I think it is absolutely ridiculous to target such a seriously (really, truly, honestly) harmless movie and book trilogy because you think it's going to...I don't know...lead to an uprising against your church, turn all the children in the world against god, destroy Christianity, blow up the world, what really raises my ire and motivated me to write this post is that it is wildly inappropriate to post a bulletin on Myspace urging all of your friends to boycott something based on your beliefs, to push these beliefs on people whose religious background you're not familiar with. Don't make such assumptions, it's how you lose friends. Upon reading this bulletin, I immediately deleted this person from my friends list...that'll show her.

Lost in time

2007-11-25T18:22:00.000-08:00

I spent the day touring Colonial Williamsburg with my parents and my sister and her family who are visiting from Washington. This may have been pure hell at times, but here is what kept me from calling up a friend and begging her to save me (!!!):

Hannah--the cutest little colonial girl around. When these people leave, I will write a more detailed post about their exhausting visit.

Brings me joy

2007-11-23T08:14:00.000-08:00

*The Killers have a new CD of b-sides and rarities called Sawdust. On it is my new favorite song--"Tranquilize" featuring Lou Reed. Though the CD doesn't seem to be getting rave reviews (those negative Nancys over at stereogum.com don't seem to like anything so their opinion carries absolutely no weight with me), I think it's really good. In particular, people seem to have a big problem with their cover of Joy Division's "Shadowplay," a song I had never heard before buying this CD. I really liked it the first time I heard it, so I decided to check out the original to see why people hated the cover so much. I still don't know, I think both are good, but that's just me and I am not a diehard Joy Division fan. But back to "Tranquilize": I've had it in my head for days and am not annoyed by it at all. Everyone should listen to it and to make that easier for you all, I have added a super high-tech playlist located on the right in the pink. I've also added both versions of "Shadowplay" so you can compare them yourself. Making playlists is not one of my favorite things since it turned out to be a huge ordeal--don't use Finetune if you want to make one.

***Sub-bullet: I also put "Dreaming of You" by the Coral on the list because it's another song I've been listening to nonstop for days. It's catchy and happy, and some of you might recognize it from the episode of "Scrubs" when J.D. and Eliot first hook up.

*Since Thanksgiving is over, it's now perfectly acceptable to listen to Christmas music! As a little gift from me to you, I made the rest of my playlist some of my favorite Christmas songs, including the modern classics "All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey and "Last Christmas" by Wham!. The problem with the site I used, Project Playlist, is that they didn't have a lot of stuff I wanted. For example, I wanted Diana Krall's version of "Christmas Time is Here" instead of the high-pitched Charlie Brown version. I also wanted Danny Elfman's original version of "What's This?" from The Nightmare Before Christmas but had to settle for Fall Out Boy's (it's really not bad). Enjoy!

*While I love my nieces, I am overjoyed that I get to take a break from their week-long (plus one day) visit since they're going to Bluefield, WV to visit our relatives and I am staying here. They're adorable, yes, but they're also very loud and I have accomplished nothing since they've been here. They'll be back tomorrow so I have to try to at least finish my Education Policy paper before then.

The holiday season has arrived...

2007-11-21T17:28:00.000-08:00

...and with it comes the chaos of having two children under the age of 3 in the house. At least it means being surrounded by cuteness like this:

There will be more pictures later, but I just had to get this out there. Happy Thanksgiving!

And I will...

2007-11-21T09:03:00.000-08:00

"This is why I love Thanksgiving: it's the one day out of the year when gluttony is not only condoned, it's encouraged. See, gluttony is a sin, just like murder is a sin. So when you eat on Thanksgiving, you have to eat as though you were murdering someone."

--Professor Tinkler, Survey of World Literature, Shepherd University, November 2004

This week in reality TV

2007-11-14T20:40:00.001-08:00

*Project Runway finally premiered its fourth season after a break that lasted far too long. For anyone who has never had the [intense] pleasure of watching this show, it's a very well-done, high-tension, suspense-filled competition among 15 fashion designers who are all equally ambitious, passionate, and sure of themselves. Every week they're given some outlandish challenge (like making clothes out of trash) and told to "make it work" by the wonderful (if a little overblown) Tim Gunn. The show always culminates in a runway show where the designers and their designs are metaphorically ripped to shreds by the three regular judges and one special guest judge. It is amazing. The show has just started and I can already tell the bitchy in-fighting is going to make the long wait all worth it. Kit, a 26-year-old freelance wardrobe stylist from LA, had this lovely gem to offer: "Life is too short to wear ugly outfits." Love it. One of the most exciting sights I've seen in New York City is the building where the designers make the magic happen:

*Tyra Banks reached a new height of bitchy this week on America's Next Top Model when she revealed to the remaining seven girls that they would be going to China...right before sending one of them home. Why she chose to reveal this to them, watch them get all excited, and then put them through the elimination is beyond me (maybe just poor planning on the producers' part?). But it was great. Ambriel was finally sent home after weeks of me thinking that she couldn't cut it, and hopefully Chantal is not far behind. I cannot stand another week of this kind-of-pretty girl with an upturned nose talking about how she's so perfect, how she was born to be a model, and how she wants to spend her life in front of a camera. I can't imagine how sad it would be to believe that you were born to be a model--how little do you have to think of yourself for you to think that's all you can do?

*On The Salt -n- Pepa Show, Spinderella finally entered the mix and was sure to bring the drama, just not as much as I would've liked. It was mostly about how she didn't get enough credit, blah blah, the end. The three went on The Tyra Banks Show to perform and rehash all their old problems and then kiss and make up. It was kind of disappointing, though it was interesting to learn that Spinderella was only 16 and still in high school when she started touring with the group as their DJ. It makes me wonder what her parents were thinking sending her out on the road with the girls who wrote "Shoop".

Bitchfest '07

2007-11-12T14:56:00.000-08:00

What's been pissing me off lately:

*Burger King has a new ad campaign that shows a group of moms who want to kill the king because he's introduced a breakfast sandwich on soft buttery bread that is tagged as "better than mom can make." In one, a mom says angrily, "The other day I asked my son what I could make him, and he said he'd already eaten." Skipping over the whole violent aspect of these commercials, why is it still acceptable for huge multinational corporations to push their dated patriarchal gender roles on us? That these three women value being the cook for their family so much that they're filled with homicidal rage when anyone threatens to usurp their subservient role is absolutely ridiculous. These commercials imply that women live to serve their children--why else would she be so mad that her son had found something to eat on his own, that she didn't have to take time out of her day to stop and serve him, unless she has absolutely nothing else to fill her time? There are countless commercials that show women in the role of the housewife, and I hate a lot of them, but this one crosses a line with me. This is not to say that I have any problem with women who choose to stay at home or that I think their work has no value, but don't pigeonhole us advertising companies! We do more than cook, clean, and take care of babies--why don't more than deodorant commercials even hint at that? If we're not mothers, we're whores (I could go on for days about those stupid Axe commercials)--the good ol' Freudian dichotomy lives on in today's commercials.

*In my education policy class, there are several nontraditional students working towards their masters degree in education. I don't know if it's their age, the time they've spent out of school, or if it's just an education-major thing, but they ask the stupidest questions, make the most inane comments, and they have no shame in doing so. I don't want to offend anyone, but week after week I am astounded by the fact that some of these people were even allowed to come here.

*Traffic on I-64W has been really f-ed up in the last week and a half. Construction has caused two of four lanes to be closed on the first half of my trip to school, and on the second, traffic slows down about four miles from my exit for no discernible reason. On top of that, people have generally been going a lot slower lately and I don't know why. There are multiple lanes for a reason--if you want to go the speed limit (or below it, you idiots), you have your own special lane just for you; if you want to go at a more reasonable pace, you have yours, too; and for most of my commute, if you want to go ridiculously, dangerously fast, you can use the HOV lane as long as it's not 6 to 8 AM or 4 to 6 PM (or all the time if you have someone with you). This should solve so many problems, but unfortunately you don't have to be particularly bright to get a driver's license so there are people on the road who don't seem to be capable of grasping this concept.

*Fuckin' PRS.

What's next

2007-11-05T14:02:00.000-08:00

*Thanksgiving. Not only am I looking forward to this gluttonous holiday because it means two extra days off from school, but because my sister and her family are coming to visit for a whole week. This means I get to see the babies! Savannah will be seven months old and crawling, and Hannah will be a month and a half shy of three years old. Both will still be adorable. Recent pictures to prove I'm right:

Savannah--

Hannah--

My mom and I bought Hannah a Snow White dress-up set so she and I can dress up and watch Shrek 3 together one day (I just happen to have this costume lying around...), we bought some Lincoln logs which I am just dying to rip open and play with, and we're going to pick up an Aquadoodle mat (sooo much fun) and a sit-and-spin (just a note: if I had a million dollars, I would totally have an adult size sit-and-spin built for me because they are just that awesome and why should kids have all the fun). Our house will not be a boring place for these babies to visit, oh no. Not like my grandparents' house! We have cable!

*The LSAT. Because I'm crazy, I've decided to (try to) continue going to school next year in order to get my law degree. Law school has always been in the back of my head, and after a spirited pep talk from a friend who is currently in her first year of law school, I've decided to go for it. So, on December 1st I will be in a great big room with other crazy people at Hampton University taking what is probably the most masochistic test ever devised (though I've never taken a look at the MCAT). I've been doing the practice tests, I timed myself on a couple of the sections this last weekend, and I seem to do alright. Hopefully I'll continue doing alright when I'm actually taking the test. Wish me luck.

*Holiday shopping. I already have plans to go shopping on black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), so I will be among the masses of bargain-hunters out looking for the best deal they can get on anything from a pair of jeans to an iPod to kitchen utensils. Should be a good time. I really like going Christmas shopping for friends and family because I think I do a pretty good job of picking out good presents and I like bringing others joy. Awww...

*The end of the semester. There's one class that's making this semester hell, so I will be relieved when it's all over and I can relax for a few weeks with some good books, some mindless television, and a lot of sleep.

Time I'll Never Get Back

2007-11-04T08:26:00.000-08:00

When you decide to invest anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours of your life in watching a movie, you do so expecting the movie to be good, to be worth not doing something more interesting/productive/stimulating. When the movie is over and you feel like the time would have been better spent staring at a wall, then you know the movie was bad. This is a completely subjective list of the my five least favorite movies of all time:

*Sweet November. Keanu Reeves is by far the worst actor alive today who inexplicably continues to get work. No matter how serious he's trying to be his voice always has a hint of Ted from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures. He comes off as an idiot, even if he's supposed to be portraying a genius, and his characters are never sympathetic because he cannot pull sympathetic off. He is just too much of a douche. That being said, any movie starring Keanu Reeves, or featuring him in any capacity, is automatically locked into the category of shitty movies, but this one really takes the cake as the worst of his movies that I've seen (I haven't seen The Lake House but I suspect it would surpass even this abomination in sheer crap). The storyline is contrived--dying woman takes a new man into her home for a month every month to teach him to live life to the fullest, take nothing for granted, seize the day, etc., November's man falls in love with her, finds out she's dying, lets her go, becomes a better man, oh how sad, boo hoo. I hate this sappy nonsense--you will not prey so easily on my emotions Hollywood, I will not succumb to such an obvious ploy. Sad love stories can be told well, but this is the epitome of all that can be done wrong in the genre.

*Meet the Parents. I know this is a fairly controversial choice since so many people love this movie, but I can't stand watching movies or TV shows that feature so many simple situations going so implausibly wrong. It's what I hated about There's Something About Mary, and it's what I hate about Meet the Parents. It would have been so easy for Ben Stiller's character to avoid all of the problems he managed to create. I can't stand knowing that something stupid and embarrassing is going to happen when there's nothing I can do to stop it, no matter how loud I yell at the screen--it gives me actual anxiety and I hate it. Somehow I've seen this movie twice, but I've managed to avoid seeing the sequel.

*The Holiday. I debated as to whether or not to include this on the list because, compared to other movies, it's not really that bad, but it made the cut because I think it embodies all that is wrong with the romantic comedy genre. Plus, it stars Cameron Diaz, the worst actress alive today who inexplicably continues to get work. In this movie, two women who are at the ends of their ropes because of the men in their lives, decide to switch homes, one of which is in LA, the other in the English countryside. Once in their new locations, they each meet a man that is perfect for her, and they all get together in the end to celebrate Christmas as BFFs. There are so many things wrong with this movie that it would be best for me to go through them one-by-one. 1) Kate Winslet, an actress I love for her strength and confidence, plays a complete doormat. She's in love with her boss who's engaged to someone else, she cries (over)dramatically all the time, she makes this annoying puppy-dog face all the time, and she doesn't stand up for herself. I feel bad for her. 2) Jude Law's character is too perfect, and I'm not saying this because if I met him in real life I would think he was ideal, but because I can tell that he's supposed to be perfect. He has a good job, he's smart, he's hyper emotionally available, he has two adorable daughters with British accents, his wife is dead, and he's willing to do anything for Cameron Diaz's character. This person doesn't exist. 3) It's completely unbelievable. From Jude Law's character, to the perfect houses each woman lives in, to the number of coats Diaz is able to pack into the one medium-sized suitcase we ever see her carrying. None of this could happen, and that is the biggest problem I have with romantic comedies. They give (unfortunately stupid) women false hope, and they don't give the rest of us enough credit (the fact that this insipid brand of movies is supposedly made for us is a rant in and of itself--how stupid do they think we are?).

*Evening. I saw this this summer with two friends, and while I feared it would be too sappy for my tastes, I hoped that the fact that Michael Cunningham (author of The Hours) was associated with it and Vanessa Redgrave was one of its stars would save it. No such luck. This movie was so bad that one of my friends and I discussed all of its flaws for the two-hour bus ride back to her Metro stop and it still comes up to this day. It was ridiculously sappy, the different stories they try to tell were not cohesive, and they do a horrible job of making the audience care about what happens to the people in the stories. *SPOILER ALERT* Buddy dies, and I don't care. The whole movie is supposed to hinge on this one event, but when it happens, it doesn't make me care, it doesn't clarify what all else is going on, it doesn't make it more interesting. There were so many other ways they could have taken this movie, but they didn't. The most interesting thing about going to see this movie was when an incredibly rude woman answered a call on her cell phone and proceeded to talk to the very loud person on the other end for several minutes. It was hilarious and exciting because I thought someone might actually throw something at her.

*Kate and Leopold. This movie is about a man who travels in time from the olden days (I don't know when) to the present day and falls in love with Meg Ryan. It is Meg Ryan at her most annoying and Hugh Jackman at his most ridiculous. There is nothing redeeming about this movie and there's no point in going into why I didn't like it; the premise should be enough explanation.

So that's it. I'm sure if I gave it more thought I'd be able to come up with a lot of other movies that are just as bad as these, but I think this is a pretty solid representation of movies I hate, taking into account that I generally avoid mindless action flicks, gory horror movies, and exploitative political thrillers.

A Nostalgic Look Back

2007-10-30T13:37:00.000-07:00

High school was a magical, if sometimes traumatic, time for everyone, but having the opportunity to live out the trials and tribulations of those tumultuous four years in a foreign country really made the experience that much more special for me. As I’ve mentioned in my Introduction, I grew up on Kadena Air Force Base on Okinawa, Japan, spending the years between ages 1 and 10 there and returning when I was a freshman until I graduated. I think people get the wrong idea when I tell them I lived on Okinawa, thinking that I lived among the locals, spoke Japanese, and ate rice and sushi everyday. It wasn’t exactly that exotic since I lived on the base for most of my time over there, but I did manage to venture off base as often as possible to shop at the most interesting stores, eat the most delicious food, and go to the coolest arcades on the planet. Here are the top five things I miss/loved/remember the most about high school.

*Living in one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Since we were on a sub-tropical island, we never had to go far to find some awe-inspiring piece of nature, usually a beach with the clearest, bluest water you’ll ever see. This was only ten minutes from my house:

(It’s also where we spent Senior Skip Day)

Not that I did this on a regular basis, but I miss being able to skip class to go walk along the beach, even in January. I did that, let’s say once, with a friend and while we were walking we happened upon a disposable camera that still had about 20 pictures left to take, so we took them of each other. I know this is a bad picture, but I refused to let him get a shot of me, so this really is the best I have:

(After we got them developed, we ended up with about 5 pictures of three Japanese strangers—in one, they’re mooning the camera, but I’m nice enough to not post that here.)

One of the best things about the beauty being so abundant is that there weren’t very many places that would get all that crowded. In the United States, you’d be hard-pressed to find a waterfall that isn’t a tourist attraction swarming with hundreds of people trying to get a look. Hell, you’d be hard-pressed to find a waterfall where you can legally get in the water at the bottom. For my 18th birthday, a group of friends and I stayed at Okuma (a beach resort for military/DODDS teachers/civilian employees of the military stationed on Oki), and we took one morning to hike to Hiji Falls. Even though there was a sign warning us to not swim at the falls since there had been numerous drownings, we still did:

(The rock behind me was super slippery, so it acted as the perfect water slide.)

*Close-knit group of friends. I haven’t been part of such a tight group since high school and I really miss it. In the last six years, I’ve found that most friendships as you get older are superficial at best and don’t go too much deeper than that. I miss having a group of friends I could talk about anything with, I could laugh with, and I could just assume I’d be hanging out with on the weekend without really having to ask. I still know where all of these people are and what they’re currently doing, I’ve kept in touch with all of them one way or another, and I’ve been told that’s fairly uncommon:

Growing up with the understanding that you’re going to have to say goodbye to the people you love because they’re going to move far away unless you move first instilled pretty much all of us with the ability to keep in touch better than people who just stay in one place for their whole lives. It took less than a year for the friends I knew in North Carolina to stop writing, but I exchanged letters with my childhood best friend from when I was nine until a couple of years ago (she disappeared from Myspace, and therefore, from the face of the planet). I’m glad that I still get to be so close to my high school friends, one of whom only lives about 20 minutes down the road in Norfolk (my best one :)).

*Living on a military base. The bases I’ve lived on/near or been to in the States have all pretty much sucked, but that’s understandable since when you’re here everything you need is fairly accessible off-base. When you’re in the middle of the Pacific, everything has to be put on the base with you. The Base Exchange (BX) was huge and affordable, the Tiki Cafeteria had Taco Bell, Baskin Robbins, and other familiar fast food places, and the one-room movie theater did a commendable job of scheduling movie showings so we were able to stay current. Of course, we were also kept very secure with the military police keeping guard at all the gates:

(We asked him to do this for us, and he was nice enough to oblige)

Generally growing up in a military environment has also helped shape who I am, not that I’ve ever really given it that much thought. A lot of times in movies or on TV, they portray military families as stricter than others (like boot camp strict), and I wouldn’t say that that’s at all accurate. My dad has never demanded that I drop and give him twenty. It’s probably not really that much different, you just get used to moving around and making do with what you can get. It also means having to attend boring events, like squadron command changes, squadron picnics, and the occasional fancy dinner to honor your father and the other people who made Chief:

Another great thing about growing up on a military base is all the free things they arrange for us. It’s kind of like living on a college campus. We had lots of festivals, fairs, and the occasional free concert. The best was, of course, when the Beach Boys came, but I couldn’t find any of the pictures I have from when Mike Love walked right in front of me, but here’s one from when 98 Degrees played AmeriFest:

(I’d like the say they were really popular then so you can get off my back, but I don’t think they were ever all that popular)

*The best part of high school for most people is the weeks leading up to the end. They were filled with excitement over finally being done with classes and what college would bring and sadness from knowing that we’d be separated from each other, probably for the rest of our lives. So we made sure to spend lots of time together and have as much as fun as we could before it was all over. We went to Kadena Marina for (school-sponsored) Senior Skip Day:

We got together for the sole purpose of taking pictures in front of my friend Annie’s beautiful off-base house:

And of course, we graduated:

(I was clearly not happy about it when it came time to actually do it.)

*What I miss about Okinawa in general is the food and fun you can’t get anywhere else. The arcades in Japan are about 5 million times better and more advanced than those in the States. My favorite game to play was the Taiko Drum Game (which has since been made into the greatest Play Station game ever):

The food is also better than anything I’ve found in the States so far. The best places were the steakhouses where they’d cook in front of you, the places where you’d order raw food and cook it yourself, and the Mongolian barbecues. The best place, however, was called Cocos, where you could order curry over rice and (usually) chicken cutlets and you could choose the spiciness from a range of 0 to 10 (I always picked 0). I still get cravings for this place:

Okinawa is located in close proximity to other great places, like China, Korea, Malaysia, and of course, mainland Japan. Unfortunately my parents kind of suck sometimes, so the only place we made it was Guam (but we went there twice…woo hoo!). Guam is further south so it’s more of a tropical locale, but here’s what made me go ooo:

(There was also a Planet Hollywood, a Hard Rock Café, a galleria, and a K-Mart.)

So there’s my sum-up of high school. I apologize for the length and congratulate those who made it to the end. I’ve been asked by several people what it was like living on Okinawa, so this is my answer. I’d go back in a second (but not to high school).

Children throwing snowballs instead of throwing heads

2007-10-21T15:33:00.000-07:00

The Nightmare Before Christmas is being released in theaters for a limited time in honor of Halloween. In celebration of this, here is a list of my top five favorite movies by my all-time favorite director, Tim Burton:

*1. Edward Scissorhands (1990). Burton's first collaboration with Johnny Depp who was trying desperately to separate himself from his 21 Jump Street persona in the minds of Hollywood and the public. The age-old story of an outsider with scissors for hands who tries to be accepted by the people who live in the brightly-colored town at the bottom of the hill his gloomy mansion sits atop only to inadvertantly attack a few of them and subsequently be chased back to said mansion where he presumably fakes his death so he can be left in peace has never been more brilliantly or beautifully told. Danny Elfman's music, particularly "The Ice Dance" playing in the scene where Winona Ryder dances in the ice flakes of a statue Edward is carving, make what would otherwise have been a great movie absolutely perfect. Depp's performance in this movie foreshadowed the quirky choices he would make in the future and signaled the beginning of a beautiful (and lucrative) relationship between him and Burton.

*2. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). Burton didn't direct this movie, but he did write and produce it. It's one of the most original stories ever told, definitely one of the best Christmas movies ever made (or is it a Halloween movie? What makes it so great is that it's both!). Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, grows weary after yet another year of celebrating Halloween, and takes a lonely walk in the woods when he comes across a clearing surrounded by a ring of trees, each with a different door. He decides to go through the most fascinating one in the shape of a Christmas tree, and then stumbles into Christmas Town. Jack loves what he sees so much, that he goes back to Halloween Town to tell everyone there about how wonderful Christmas is, and they decide to take over that holiday for the year. Nightmare is sweet and funny, it takes you to a whole different world (two even), and it teaches you that even at Christmas, good intentions can get you shot out of the sky. Again, Danny Elfman's music adds the perfect touch to an already amazing movie.

*3. Big Fish (2003). The only movie on this list that doesn't suggest that I shop at Hot Topic, it centers on the broken relationship between a grown man (Will) and his dying father (Ed). Will felt like he was cheated out of getting to know Ed because as he was growing up, Ed told Will tall tales about his life, all of which Will has decided in his infinite wisdom as an adult must have been lies. The movie is filled with the tall tales as both Ed and Will reflect back on Ed's life. The stories are all sweet, most of them are brightly-lit, all of them are folk-tale-fantastic, and Ed and Will reconcile in the end, just before Ed dies. At his father's funeral, Will meets all of Ed's old friends, most of whom had played parts in his exaggerated stories, and realizes that maybe he wasn't lying after all. Awww...

*4. Beetlejuice (1988). Absolutely hilarious. Funnier than a movie about an innocent, happy, young couple (the Maitlands) that dies in a car crash should be. I remember parts of this movie scaring me when I was a kid (when they leave the front porch for the first time after being dead and enter the scary alternate universe filled with sand and a huge snake, when they pull off their faces, and when they are conjured into view by Otho and rapidly decay in front of the Deetz family), but I also remember loving it and watching it five million times, so I must not have been that scared by it. One of my favorite scenes in cinema is the one set around the dinner table when the Maitlands possess the Deetzes and their guests, making them sing "The Banana Boat Song" (Day-o, day-ay-ay-o, daylight come and he wanna go home).

*5. The Corpse Bride (2005). Burton's return to stop-motion animation more than a decade after Nightmare, this movie told the story of an unfortunate bride who was murdered by her fiancee and has been waiting in the woods to find another man to marry her. She finds Victor and takes him to the Land of the Dead with her to be her husband, but he's supposed to marry Victoria in the Land of the Living. It's a sad but beautiful story, made even better by the voices of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter (Burton's girlfriend and latest muse).

If you haven't already, you should see them all. And, no, I don't shop at Hot Topic, nor do I condone others shopping there.

Ooooooooooooooo

2007-10-17T21:34:00.001-07:00

My blog is celebrating Halloween. It's so festive.

Push it real good...all the way to heaven

2007-10-16T18:53:00.000-07:00

What show mixes has-been superstars of the 90s trying to make a comeback and deep-seated conflict between old friends with raunchy lyrics and born-again Christian zealotry? Why it's my new favorite guilty pleasure, The Salt n' Pepa Show on VH1. Here's why it's so great:

*Salt, or Cheryl Wray, abruptly broke the group up in 2000 (who knew they were together for so long?) to deal with some personal issues, such as bulimia, and has since formed a very strong relationship with God. She has a family and a comfortable life, and as a born-again Christian, she regrets the racy lyrics of the groups' most famous hits, like "If she wanna be a freak and sell it on the weekend, it's none of your business" from the classic "None of Your Business." Salt does not want to re-enter the music industry, but Pepa (aka Sandy Denton) needs to get paid, so she pressures her and Salt agrees to a gig (playing at Shaq's birthday party...) on the condition that they pick one of their tamer songs and change some lyrics. Example: "[He] knocks me out with one shot for the rest of the night" from "Whatta Man" becomes "And I'm so glad that he made me his wife." I prefer the original, but maybe that means I'm destined to spend eternity in a fiery hell.

*Pepa is really good at pretending to be oblivious to the fact that some of her behavior may be offensive to Salt...or at least I hope she's pretending...I guess she could just be a simpleton. She agrees to perform an even more edited version of "Whatta Man" (following the example of Sister Act, it's somehow turned into a song praising Jesus) in Salt's church and does a sexy dance, taking it all the way down to the floor, seemingly unaware that that might not be the right place for it. She also claims to have thought for all of these years that "Push It" is about dancing...sure.

*Eventually--and I cannot wait--the third and oft-overlooked member of Salt n' Pepa, Spinderella (poor girl didn't even get in on the group name) will be entering the mix as well. In an interview with this week's Entertainment Weekly, Deidra Jones (that's her real name) says that she'll be bringing her own baggage to the show, warning, "When they're finished with their beef, they're going to have to address mine." And I will be tuning into see it.

VH1 plays new episodes of this gem of a show every Monday at 10 PM, and plays reruns about 500 times in between since it's VH1 and that's what they do.

Short and Sweet: Movie Reviews

2007-10-13T21:44:00.000-07:00

In the last few weeks I've had the pleasure of going to the movies several times (one of my favorite things...when the movie is good). Here are some very short reviews:

*The Simpsons Movie. I was a little late in seeing this, especially considering the fact that I wanted to desperately since I first heard they were making a movie years ago. Making a movie based on a television show is never a sure bet, let alone when the show is such an integral part of our pop culture and still on the air. You'd be hard pressed to find one person who hasn't seen at least one episode (or at least you think you would, I happen to know that one person), and there was really no way they were going to please everyone. The movie followed the same format the show has for the past few seasons: starts out with one storyline that somehow leads to the main one that is completely unrelated to the first. It was funny sometimes, but it was mostly unnecessary. It was really just a longer episode of the TV show. I'm glad they didn't keep the more "realistic" shadowing they used in the movie for the show. Should you see it? Yes, but on DVD (and no, if you're that one person who hasn't seen the show).

*The Nanny Diaries. Stupid, romantic comedy, meaningless fluff. Horrible interpretation of the book that wasn't all that bad. And, though it pains me to say it, really bad acting on Scarlett Johansson's part. I love her, but comedy is not her strong suit, but we already knew that after Scoop. Should you see it? No. Maybe, maybe if it comes on TBS on a Sunday far in the future when you have absolutely nothing else to do. Even then, I'd check the Food Network before I'd sit through this.

*Eastern Promises. This movie is so intense. You don't know who's on whose side, who's going to die, how Viggo Mortensen looks so damn good at close to 49 years old. The story twists and turns, throats are slit, and there is full frontal of Mr. Mortensen (though it comes in a very disturbing fight scene that I mostly watched through my fingers). I can't say a lot more without giving too much away. Should you see it? Yes, definitely.

*Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Visually stunning, but too long. I love this period of history, the Tudor dynasty in particular, and even though I don't claim to be an expert on all the historical detail, I found it hard to get past all the blatant inaccuracies. Who knew that Sir Walter Raleigh led the English against the Spanish Armada? (I'm pretty sure he was in Ireland for most of the year that took place). Or that Mary Stuart was such a straight-up bitch? (This is the part that gave me the most trouble since Mary had a legitimate claim to the English throne, she came to Elizabeth, her cousin, for help in solving the problems in her own country, not to threaten Elizabeth's position, and was imprisoned for years before she was ruthlessly executed. AND they gave her a Scottish accent when she was raised in France!). The way they portrayed Raleigh and Mary weren't the only problems with the movie. It was mostly just pretty with some moments of great (if a little over-the-top) acting from Cate Blanchett. Should you see it? I wouldn't advise against it, just don't base your knowledge of history on this movie.

*Michael Clayton. Long and boring. There were at least two times when I was tempted to just get up and go home. That's all I have to say. Should you see it? If you insist, which some people will because George Clooney is in it and he can do no wrong. He can. See Oceans's 12.

Piggybacking

2007-10-12T13:59:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine over at the Tee Spot just wrote a post about her top five favorite Beatles songs. Since I was included in both the post and the conversation that led her to write it, I thought I'd be a great big copycat and post my own list. That is after all what I do.

*"Across the Universe" (Let It Be). This has been my favorite song since my freshman year of college, and it never gets old for me. No matter what's going on, this song puts me at ease, if only for the three minutes and forty-eight seconds it's playing. This song made me love the Beatles, it made me really listen to their music, it made me look beyond their #1 CD. The fact that it almost didn't make it onto Let It Be, the last Beatles album, blows my mind and makes me appreciate the fact that I've been lucky enough to hear it that much more.

*"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (The White Album). Lennon and McCartney get most of the credit for pretty much everything the Beatles did and were, but George Harrison was also quite brilliant. All the proof anyone could possibly need for that fact can be found in this song. Even if all that existed of this song was the opening, I would love it, but the lyrics themselves are beautiful, too. The acoustic-based version on the Beatles Love CD is heartbreaking.

*"Happiness is a Warm Gun" (The White Album). Starts out soft and sad, turns trippy, and ends in doo wop. It's perfect. It's also where I get the "Bang Bang, Shoot Shoot" subtitle for my blog.

*"Something" (Abbey Road). This is one of the greatest love songs ever written because of its honesty; no matter how much you love someone, love is never a completely sure thing: "You're asking me will my love grow / I don't know, I don't know / You stick around now it may show / I don't know, I don't know." A truth so few artists admit to in their music.

*"For No One" (Revolver). This is one of the greatest post-break-up songs ever. It makes me cry almost every time I hear it because of the chorus: "And in her eyes, you see nothing / No sign of love behind the tears / Cried for no one / A love that should have lasted years."

My honorable mentions: "I've Just Seen a Face", "Hey Jude", "All You Need is Love", "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)", "Come Together", and "Eleanor Rigby".

They say it's your birthday

2007-10-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

Happy belated birthday to the late, great John Lennon.

I hope you didn't turn over completely in your proverbial grave after last night's "Singing Bee" tribute to you and Paul McCartney.

Firsts

2007-10-08T15:20:00.000-07:00

*Today I took my dog Honey on her first walk around the neighborhood. First, let me point out that she is the biggest scaredy-cat ever--she's terrified of loud noises, shrubs, clouds, among other things--and that's one of the main reasons she has never been on a real walk. She can't get more than 20 feet out the front door before she sees a lamp post and freaks out. So it was quite an accomplishment for us to make it out of our court and 100 feet down the next street before having to turn back. She was kind of foaming at the mouth from being so excited and breathing too heavily, and a little girl hurt her feelings by calling her chubby, so we went back home. Oh, and while we were on our walk, these two little yappy dogs tried to intimidate Honey by ganging up and barking at her, but they totally got theirs when their owner yelled at them and made them go in the house. Ha!

*Last week, I got my first ticket. It wasn't for anything that I think is serious, like speeding or reckless driving or driving down the wrong side of the highway at night with no headlights while you're high on crack. It was for going through a light that had just turned red. Before this, I had never even been pulled over, so imagine how upset I was when the officer gave me a ticket! Imagine my shock when I find out the next day that it's going to cost me $161. That's more than it would cost if you got caught going 15 over the speed limit. That just doesn't seem fair to me. I wouldn't have even gone through the light if it hadn't been for the dumbass in front of me who took 700 years to change lanes into the left turn lane, not getting there until the light turned yellow, making me think I could make it once I got around him...but I didn't. I'm still upset about this whole thing. And now I'm broke, too.

Why I didn't get much done this weekend

2007-10-07T16:13:00.000-07:00

*Busch Gardens. Friday, a friend and I went to Busch Gardens since William and Mary was nice enough to sell tickets to students for $20 (marked down from the usual $55) for this weekend. I went out to Williamsburg around 10 and we headed to the park by 11:30. For over four hours we rode the most fantastic rides EVER, including roller coasters (the new Griffin was fantastically terrifying), state fair-type rides, the swings, and Escape From Pompeii (water ride). We also walked approximately 4.7 million miles, mostly uphill in 85 degree weather, stopping every so often for a $200 bottle of water. The highlight of the day was Da Vinci's Cradle, one of the state fair-type rides that just whooshes you around in the air for half a minute (and. yes, whooshes is the best way to describe what it does). The disappointing realization: roller coasters now give me headaches...sad, but not enough to keep me off of them. The day was so much fun, but I have never been so tired in my life as I was when I was driving home. It was kind of dangerous.

*Ugly Betty. I bought the first season on DVD last week and had to finish it this weekend or else the world would end. Not only did I finish the last couple of disks, but I was also able to watch the first two episodes of the new season on abc.com. I'm completely hooked, and I cannot wait to see the next episode. Every single week is a cliffhanger! It's great.

*Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz. This is the October book for my two-person book club, and it's really good so far. Any time I felt like reading, I would pick this up instead of my law book. I think I made the right decision.

*Iron Chef. It's been on a lot this weekend. It's awesome. I can't not finish an episode once I start watching it. It's not possible! I have to know who wins! Plus, I'm kind of in love with Bobby Flay and the Chairman...I don't know his name.

*I was just really tired all weekend. And I suck.