I just reorganized my bookmarked 'favorites' alphabetically yesterday.
I can't find anything today.
dammit.
1. Can someone please explain Twitter to me? I don't ... get it. I went to the website and it was not very informative. It mostly sounds invasive and demanding at the same time.
2. my cold/cough is almost gone, but I still have swollen glands/nodes on my neck that show up about 3 times a year, often before or after an illness but sometimes for no reason at all, and I'm mostly hoping they are not indicators of some sort of lymphatic cancer, but rather a lingering sinus or ear infection...
Shall I go to the doctor yet, or wait?
remember 'Jimmy Eat World', 'Blink 182', 'Weezer', and all those good old 2000-era bands? Pandora Radio just reminded me of how much I like them!
my brother and I hit up the Carmike for a double-feature last night. First, we saw Frost/Nixon. Langella's Nixon is more haunted than you would have expected, and so you don't have to spend the film fighting against unwelcome sympathy; instead you begin to empathize with him, despite his actions, at the realization that the last 20 years of his life must have been a lonely hell. Michael Sheen was also great as Frost - I'll admit I have been interested to see what he would do with his career after The Queen, and I think this movie will finally make a Name for him.
then we decided to go for the depression flick with Sam Mendes' Revolutionary Road, as he once again focuses on the dark side of suburban America. Kate Winslet is one of my all-time favorite actresses, and she is fantastic as always. I was surprised to find out that this movie is actually based on a book written in 1961 - it seemed to be set in the mid 50's or so, but felt much more immediate, despite the fedoras and Mad Men-esque office commute. my highest praise, though, has to be given to the final scene - a perfectly executed ending to the film.
so basically, I liked them both, but would recommend the former over the latter, given a choice between the two, just because I know most people don't love the despair-laden flicks. (although if that IS your cup of tea, then you REALLY should check out 28 Grams. depress-o-rama. it's awesome.)
so, I have shaken off my case of the growlies, and am no longer ready to kill myself and/or everyone around me!
the perfect antidote, it turns out, is skipping Tribe and going to a movie. by myself. Gran Torino.
Clint Eastwood's growly, cranky, hate-y old man was awesome, and sad, and funny, and...did I say awesome?
together we decided that although people are irritating and frustrating and growl-inducing, that love is worth the risk of making yourself vulnerable.
Thanks, Clint - good times!
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
"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...
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.
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
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.
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...
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.
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.
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
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. 
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
...but Ben Folds put out a new album in September! huh. it's awesome, of course.
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?
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'.
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.
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...
