what's with today today?

this is the messy desk

this is the 600-card project that just got added to the messy desk

guess who gets to do it?

oh yeah.

movies, movies

I just took a few days off of work, and with that time off what did I accomplish? Not a dang lot, but I did watch an impressive stack of movies. None of them were life-changingly awesome, but here's the rundown:

Confessions of a Shopaholic - dumb. not even really cutesy chick-movie dumb.

The Soloist - TERRIBLE. seriously, don't rent this. I turned it off 45 minutes in, and I never turn movies off. completely, overtly, anvil-t0-the-head manipulative.

Henry Poole is Here - I love Luke Wilson, but I knew this was probably going to be terrible, so I have been trying to avoid renting it, but since I had the time I just decided to get it over with. I wanted this to be a nice little film on faith, but it was just kind of vague and trite and cheesy.

The Reader - This was a difficult film to watch due to its morally complex storyline, and is even more difficult to recommend, due mostly to the explicit sexual content. However, Kate Winslet turned in a powerful performance, and the movie was provoking, and possibly heartbreaking.

A Thin Red Line - I own this one, and decided to watch it again just to kind of cleanse the palate of some of the bad movies. This is a great movie, and if you haven't watched it, you should. Terrence Mallick does a great job of involving nature as a main character in his movies, and his tone-poem style doesn't work for everyone, but it's interesting and I think everyone should check out one of his movies just for the experience.

The Fall - I own this one too, and hadn't watched it since I purchased it. It's got some powerful imagery in it, and although the bouncing back and forth telling-a-story-to-a-child-while-paralleling-adult-issues could be offputting, I find it to be charming and powerful.

Eastern Promises - Viggo Mortensen is totally bad-ass and terrifying in this one.

All the Days Before Tomorrow - a vague story about two not-quite-romantic friends that bounces back and forth between significant moments in their relationship. pretty cinematography, 'meh' writing.

Knowing - I am still trying to decide what I think about this one. It's sci-fi/allegory ending kind of left me feeling uneasy, because while it offers a general redemption ending for mankind, characters in specific that we are asked to identify throughout end up s.o.l.

Wristcutters: A Love Story - I think I liked this one best out of all the rentals. Quirky dark comedy that just completely worked for me, despite the suicide scene at the beginning that made my joints all go 'rubbery'. Patrick Fugit is always great, in my opinion, and even the appearance of Shannon Sossamon (generally a movie-killer for me) didn't ruin it for me.

surprise!

yesterday, I was having a bad day, and then Mitch texted me that he had bought me a "present". which made my day slightly better! I was hoping for a movie... :)

so what is it? why, an OSU t-shirt to wear on game day, of course...

just plane selfish

Flying home from Texas on a 4+ hour flight, I specifically requested an aisle seat. I love aisle seats. When the lady walks up to me and asks me to switch seats with her so that she can sit next to her 16-year-old daughter, I mentally grapple with the situation. Yes, I want to be giving and selfless and kind. I also really don't want to switch seats with her. She has a middle seat - the bane of my existence. Then her husband (through gritted teeth) irritatedly tells her that she is holding up the line, and that it is rude of her to ask me to give up my aisle seat for a middle seat, and apologizes to me for her.

I should have taken the social cue and said "No, it's ok, no problem, polite blah blah" and traded seats. But I didn't. I took the out he gave me and kept my aisle seat...and then he sat down next to me, a physical reminder of my selfishness for the entire flight. needless to say, it was horribly awkward, and lesson learned: just switch seats. 4 hours of discomfort is preferrable to guilt for the rest of my life over the high road not taken.