grr.

I hate everything and everyone today.

the slummionaire

I'm apparently posting this a day late as 'Slumdog Millionaire' apparently swept the Golden Globes last night, but...

you should check it out. all the critics are hyping the hell out of it, but really it's not arty or deep or life-changing, it's just a good example of why we watch movies: it's escapist (literally - the backdrop of the cities/slums of India is arresting, and I have never wanted to travel there so badly before), it's an underdog tale, AND it's a love story.

also, it ends with a Bollywood-style choreographed music number. choreography=count me in! (but don't worry, guys, if synchronized bopping bothers you, just turn it off before the credits roll.)

the list(s)

I wanted to make a list of the top 10 movies of 2008. However...here's the thing. I really didn't see many movies in 2008 apparently. So, here are 3 lists of movies I liked, movies I was disappointed with, and movies I still want to see...

2008 movies I liked:
Dark Knight
Iron Man
Hulk
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Hancock
Hellboy II (the costumes/effects, NOT the writing)
Hamlet II

2008 movies I was disappointed with:
Miracle at St Anna (good until the end, and then...not so much)
The Spirit
Wanted
Indiana Jones
The Happening
Prince Caspian
Hellboy II (the writing, ugh)
Step Brothers
X Files


2008 movies I still want to see:
Frost/Nixon
Bolt
Defiance
Slumdog Millionaire
Waltz With Bashir
In Bruges
Revolutionary Road
Synechdoche, NY
Milk
Pineapple Express
Gran Torino
Snow Angels
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
Quantum of Solace

land of 10,000 lakes

"let us hope that we are all preceded in this world by a love story."

I just watched Sweet Land again this other evening. yes, it is sentimental and predictable, but I hold that this formula does not always equal boring. It is a visual poem on love, land, and heritage. (Then again, I must acknowledge that most people will find it sloooow - it may have resonated so deeply with me primarily because of the Norwegian/German farming heritage that the story draws upon.)

However, the cinematography (Minnesota farmland) was also beautiful and evocative, and Elizabeth Reaser was perfectly cast. Alan Cumming - not so much...

coffeecoffeecoffeejavajavajavajava

I drank about 50 oz of coffee at 6pm last night. I drink about 20-40 oz of various diet sodas daily, so I thought I could handle it. apparently coffee is to soda what red is to pink. (sorry about the weird analogy, I'm too wired to come up with something a little less odd.)

anyways, it was a

bad.
idea.

I am still jacked up on all the caffeine. my whole body was literally vibrating last night, and I was convinced I was going to have a stroke. we were watching Kung Fu Panda, and it was all I could do to sit on the couch and not bounce up and down on the cusion nonstop.

the power went off at 1pm. and 2pm. and I was awake and heard everything shut off both times.

synecdoche, new york

I love Phillip Seymour Hoffman, even more than Charlie Kauffman. I think this film looks fascinating.

oh, and here's the homework on the title:
Synecdoche (pronounced "si-NEK-duh-kee", IPA: /sɪˈnɛkdəˌki/; from Greek sinekdohi (συνεκδοχή), meaning "simultaneous understanding") is a figure of speech in which:
-a term denoting a part of something is used to refer to the whole thing
-a term denoting a thing (a "whole") is used to refer to part of it
-a term denoting a specific class of thing is used to refer to a larger, more general class
-a term denoting a general class of thing is used to refer to a smaller, more specific class
-a term denoting a material is used to refer to an object composed of that material

having a blast

the Arctic Blast(TM) has taught me many life lessons. Here are just a few of them:

1. it doesn't feel good to be left out of something, especially a dramatic snowstorm. Mr Blast, you seriously couldn't have come an extra 5 miles down I-5 with some nice freezing rain? a little extra snow? I have been a faithful (if not overly vigilant) follower of your work for the past 2 weeks, and you leave me out in the warm?

2. meteorologists are kind of a men's club. yeah, they let the blond-haired Claire Danes lookalike do weather when it's the typical rainy forecast, but as soon as the storm hits, they kick her to the curb, all "go do that puff piece on keeping your pets safe during the storm". and because she is as dumb as she looks, she trots happily off to obey, while the guys with names like Mark and Steve with overly large ties get to do the real reporting.

3. walking in the falling snow at night while listening to Sigur Ros is one of my top 3 worship experiences. you should try it.

the most exciting thing that will ever happen to me (and it really just happened to someone else 10 feet away)

So, on Tuesday when I got into work, there were some people here meeting with pastors for prayer, and it was whispered to me that "they are the parents of that guy who they arrested as a suspect in the Woodburn bombing". which was weird and scary and sad.

Then Bob left, and about a minute after he left he called and said that he thought there were cops parked along the highway, possibly monitoring the couple. Since my reaction to just about everything Bob says is "yeah right", I kind of dismissed it. I did go outside and look, and didn't see any cars, so I went back to work.

Then, the couple went to leave, and as they did, I turned and told Tiffany, who shares an office with me, who they were. As I was telling her, her eyes got big, and she said "holy crap, the FBI is here!" and hit the ground. I turned around and looked just outside my window, and sure enough there were about 15 guys with guns and asault rifles about 10 feet away from me, yelling phrases you only hear on TV like "FBI, FREEZE!".

so I slid out of my chair and onto the ground under my desk. I then spent the next minute trying to decide which I wanted more: to see what was going on, or to crawl out of my office and away from the guns. I opted for the latter...

sucks

So, while stuck at home by snow and ice, I watched part of two movies on cable. Two horrible, awful movies. Couldn't finish either of them. Their very existence makes life much less worth living. The culprits:

_Dreamgirls
_Love in the Time of Cholera

Dreamgirls was just awful and horrible and stupid. No amount of singing could redeem it.
and Love in the Time of Cholera might not have been awful and horrible and stupid, but for the plain fact that Javier Bardem is the creepiest man EVER, and no matter how good an actor he is, he cannot make me believe that he is not motivated purely by a desire to hack open the leading lady and sew clothes out of her skin.

can I get another amen?

copy/pate the below address to hilarious holiday awesomeness!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000Z9946M/ref=dm_mu_dp_trk3?ie=UTF8&qid=1229209045&sr=1-26

Philosophy will clip an angel's wings

I am in the process of making two sets of large angel wings for the JBC Christmas production in a few weeks.


Three lessons I have learned:

1.) I am not creative when it comes to hands-on crafts. they stress me out. however, Mitch knows how things should go together. I now know to go directly to him next time before I start my brainstorming process.

2.) Feathers are fluffy, floaty, and messy. It looks like a chicken massacre in our kitchen right now.

3.) hot glue guns are AWESOME! I shall henceforth use it on everything.

easy listening

I don't normally promote/listen to soft rock radio; however...the time for exceptions has come, because they are playing Christmas music from now until...Christmas!

Also, if you want to stream it, say, at your workplace, you can do so here http://www.k103.com/cc-common/ondemand/player.html?world=st

Ode

O, Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi

How I do love thee -

Your insignificant source of nutrients

Doth not dissuade me

from my devotion to you.

You are more refreshing than

fresh spring water;

more flavorful by far.

Your phenylketonurics and Potassium Benzoate (though indimidating)

Do bring me joy.

Your promises that you contain no juice,

nor sugar,

and little-to-no-sodium

Bring comfort to my soul.

We shall ne'er again be parted,

O Diet Pepsi mine,

for your bubbly caffeination

is my very center, my reason,

my core.

[translation: I didn't have any Diet Pepsi for, like, 48 hours. aaand it sucked. sorry about the not poetry; the combination of Wild Cherry flavoring and carbonation goes straight to my brain after that long...]

a good (re)read

I am a re-reader. I cycle through my library regularly. I like to rediscover old characters and form new favorites.

One of my all-time favorite books that I am getting ready to dive into again, after I finish Memoirs of a Geisha, is 'How to be Good' by Nick Nornby (who also wrote High Fidelity and About a Boy). Superb humor of the British variety. I highly recommend, with a disclaimer that there IS some language. (Have I mentioned that I find the f-word hilarious, especially when paired with British vernacular?) You can borrow it after I'm done...but I warn you, I dog-ear the heck out of all the pages. Bookmarks, schmookmarks...

after that I think I'll move on (back?) to 'Til We Have Faces' by CS Lewis. a beautiful, haunting myth retold. Lewis has a weaving way of pointing out (drawing out?) the truth of each of us in the characters.

you should read that one too...

alvays be prepared

How To Fight Off a Vampire @ Yahoo! Video

Joaquin Phoenix Shocks With Retirement Announcement

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

no one told me about it...

...but Ben Folds put out a new album in September! huh. it's awesome, of course.

possibly heartless (not spleen-less)

You remember that scene in Patriot Games (or was it Clear and Present Danger?), where Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) finds out that his wife/daughter have been in a car crash and that his daughter was injured? The part where he delivers what is undoubtedly supposed to be a heartrending line "They might have to remove her...spleen." and then breaks down crying, while holding his wife oh-so-tenderly?

that scene has always sent me into hysterics, but not in the way the directors/actors likely intended. oh, how I laugh and laugh...

maybe it's the word spleen? something about the unconvincing way Harrison Ford conveys grief?

anyways, someone recently called me about a family member's injury and the possibility of spleen removal...and while I sympathized with the scary situation the patient and family are going through...I'll admit that totally socially inappropriate laughter was looming on the horizon. luckily I have mastered the art of brevity on the phone, and so I was off before the giggles struck.

fluorescing

We are slowly replacing all of the bulbs in our house with the energy-efficient fluorescent versions. They will save us $40 a year per bulb! That's amazing!

However...

They are hideous and I hate them. The light they shine is unnatural and soul-sucking. We have tried all of them - the 'daylight' 'soft light' and 'natural light'. 'Natural light' my ASS! More like 'warehouse' 'asylum' and 'office cubicle'.

whole lot of nothing

I'm a bad blogger, I know. I'm just frickin' tired and have had a whole lot of nothing interesting going on. Haven't even seen any movies!

oh, we DID recently get a DVR receiver. it's very awesome. However, I don't have time to watch everything I am recording. My current recording list is:

Heroes (but don't talk to me about it - I haven't watched any new ones yet!)
House
Bones
Fringe (you should watch it - it's super good)
Pushing Daisies
The Office

I'm considering dropping House; I can always catch up on USA repeats later, right?

also, I recently discovered Battlestar Galactica on DVD. it's an excellent sci-fi show, if you like that kind of thing, which I do, being nerdish. I let myself watch it while I run on the treadmill every night, and curiosity about the next episode keeps me consistent.

um, what else? I tied my shoes too tight for running and bruised my toenails...

yeah, I got nothing. Happy Wednesday, y'all.

to sleep, perchance to dream

Insomnia is a symptom of a sleeping disorder characterized by persistent difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep despite the opportunity. It is typically followed by functional impairment while awake...

See, for me, falling asleep is not the problem. I can fall asleep in less than 5 minutes with the lights on and the TV on ...it's STAYING asleep from the hours of 1:30-5am that seems to be the trouble. It could be the weather changes (I seem to remember having this problem last fall.) Then again, it could just be that fall is wicked-busy and I'm stressed.

oh, but when I do fall fitfully asleep during that time window, I have amazing (but not at all restful) dreams. last night, I was at a Winterhawks hockey game with Mitch, in seats right up against the glass, cheering on the violence (my favorite part of hockey: when they throw the gloves off, pull the other guy's shirt over the head, and PUNCH!! it's awesome.).

either way...Tylenol PM and sleeping pill addictions: here I come!

consequence, schmonsequence

ScienceDaily (Sep. 27, 2008) — Eight-year-old children have a radically different learning strategy from twelve-year-olds and adults. Eight-year-olds learn primarily from positive feedback ('Well done!'), whereas negative feedback ('Got it wrong this time') scarcely causes any alarm bells to ring.

8 is the new 2, apparently.

made me laugh...

the coolest

Jack White is cooler than everyone else in the world combined. everyone else is all "that's a cool riff, let's play it on guitars!", and Jack White is all, "yeah, but I think I'll take some of those guitar-sytle riffs and rock them vocally. that's what I will do. and it will be cool."

and it is.

white ink

'White tattoos - the latest must-have accessory in Hollywood' according to http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/femail/article-1055607/White-tattoos--latest-accessory-Hollywood.html

shoot. now if I get a white ink tattoo, everyone will think it's because Lindsay Lohan got one...even though I've been saying I was going to get one for, like 2 years now. that's what I get for procrastinating, I guess.

top of the rental queue

The Fall comes out on DVD today. You realy should check it out. The visuals are spectacular.

It's a movie about the power of storytelling, and while it sometimes buckles under the weight of the grand spectacle that Tarsem lays out for us, there are those 'moments' where it transcends spectacle and gives us space to explore the human elements that make the story worth telling.

musicality

Musical tastes and personality type are closely related, according to a study of more than 36,000 people from around the world...


BLUES = High self-esteem, creative, outgoing, gentle and at ease

JAZZ = High self-esteem, creative, outgoing and at ease

CLASSICAL MUSIC = High self-esteem, creative, introvert and at ease

RAP = High self-esteem, outgoing

OPERA = High self-esteem, creative, gentle

COUNTRY AND WESTERN = Hardworking, outgoing

REGGAE = High self-esteem, creative, not hardworking, outgoing, gentle and at ease

DANCE = Creative, outgoing, not gentle

INDIE = Low self-esteem, creative, not hard working, not gentle

BOLLYWOOD = Creative, outgoing

ROCK/HEAVY METAL = Low self-esteem, creative, not hard-working, not outgoing, gentle, at ease

CHART POP = High self-esteem, not creative, hardworking, outgoing, gentle, not at ease

SOUL = High self-esteem, creative, outgoing, gentle, at ease

here we are now, entertain us

the CW is a terrible network. and yet I am always seduced into watching the new shows when they premiere in the fall, simply because I am starved for new television.

so, I watched the Gossip Girl premiere Monday night, and abou 1/3 the 90210 premiere Tuesday, and I am now kind of in love with CW for providing me with two of my new favorite TV villains:

Chuck on GG is pure, awesome EVIL. I heart him!

and Lucille Bluth is on 90210! ...well, she's not really supposed to be Lucille, per se, but it's an almost IDENTICAL role, right down to every withering critique and inappropriate comment laced with booze and bitterness.

berry scenario

I don't like planning meals OR shopping for them OR cooking them. which leads to this common scenario: my mom gave me these awesome blackberries. they are huge and awesome looking. however, I have almost none of the ingredients required to make a cobbler. :(

but I am determined to eat those blackberries, dangit! so, I combine oats, brown sugar, and margarine together, bake it for 10 minutes, pile it on top of the blackberries, and am currently pretending it's a berry crisp.

aaaand that's my dinner. what? I'm a grown-up, I can eat that for dinner if I want to. if only I had some cool-whip... or, ice cream, or...

:)

candy-fest 2008

it's all about the Whoppers. thank you, Hersheys, for this magical addition to the candies of the world.

-"There is no sincerer love than the love of food." (George Bernard Shaw)

-"Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you want and let the food fight it out inside."(Mark Twain)

-"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well."(Virginia Woolf)

-Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die. - - - Isaiah 22:13

-Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are. (Anthelme Brillat-Savarin)