Thanksgiving Adventure

Okay, as always I DID enjoy my break. At least it doesn't ever go the other way around where I'm super excited and it always turns out shitty. This is definitely the better tradition.

The bus ride home was slightly on the rough side. I decided to go with the red eye on Tuesday and although I got in line at exactly midnight for my 1am bus, the bus didn't arrive until 2am and we didn't leave until nearly 2:30am. But... I wasn't terribly surprised because it was Thanksgiving weekend. Since I have more to talk about in this entry, I won't address my pillow issue or my mysterious unquenchable thirst at length. For the NY to PA bus, something huge hit the windshield. We had to pull over and the police came and we had to get into another bus blah blah blah. The whole shabang took over an hour and a half, but it was ok because I slept the most while the bus was stopped. Then I took the bus home, picked up a slice of pizza for my mom, brother, and me, and talked to my mom for about a minute before I passed out for an hour. I woke up again later, but I ended up going to bed at 7pm. I woke at 5:40am, watched two episodes of Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and went back to sleep until 10:40am.

We all made the Thanksgiving feast. Even though it was just my family, we insisted on making appetizers-- spinach and artichoke dip!!! And while eating said dip, we all played monopoly! (except my mom, because she doesn't really like board games)!!! And I won!! And we played until bankruptcy! EXCELLENT!

Then, before the turkey was done, my mom took me out to drive for the first time since I took my test... marking my 16th day of driving ever. I couldn't remember which peddle was gas and which was the brake, which I took as a terrible sign. But... it turned out fine. I thought my mom was going to have to drive me to a parking lot so I could remember how to turn, but she didn't. I pulled out of our driveway and rode around our neighborhood just fine.

Thanksgiving is hilarious because it took us about 8 hours to make and about 15 minutes to eat before we were ready to die. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, yams, rolls, and cranberry sauce. After dinner, my mom and I went driving again. This time we tackled highways and Philadelphia. Scary, but pretty okay. Then we played monopoly AGAIN, and my brother won this time. Although, when he was taking the last of my sister's money slowly, he tried to give some back to her because he felt so bad about taking everything from her. We told him he had to take the money because we weren't going to let his conscience off the hook, and he started to cry because he felt so bad! Cute.

The next day we registered my car. Then I watched a little bit of The Nanny Diaries, which was exactly like The Devil Wears Prada except, according to the 45 minutes I watched, less good. I guess that's not my official take on it though. Can't judge a movie in 45 minutes.

Then I drove around on my own for the first time EVER! What I learned... nay... what I reiterated to myself, was that I only know about 3 miles of my town in one direction from my house... which is fine when you walk, but scary when you drive. I drove to Claire's house. Then I drove to Sarah's house. Then I drove to other Claire's house. That was the extent of my knowledge. I got lost when I tried to drive past other Claire's house, and had a panic attack until I found familiar roads again... and I'm convinced that that was a miracle.

Later I WALKED to Claire's house and the five of us (Claire, Natalya, Claire, and Sarah) went out to dinner. Then we went to a bar because a friend told us to meet him there. He's a year older than us and told him that his friends were having an impromptu reunion. That was false. It was the 2005 five-year class reunion!! While it was interesting seeing the people from the year ahead of us (lots of weight gain, not that I judge), it was mostly scary and I kept my head down for a lot of it. Since there was a cover charge, we kind of had an obligation to stay for a bit, but we left around 11. Then we went down and essentially crashed a get together of some boys two years younger than us. That was nice... also a little awkward. Mostly, I went home with a supreme blast-from-the-past feeling.

Next day: Picked Elena up in Philadelphia. Stocked up on food. Drove the ENTIRE WAY TO BOSTON!! I wasn't even terribly nervous for most of it. The worst part was probably being in Boston. We were supposed to get off at exit 20 but the exits went from 18 to 22.... wtf. Buuuut I did some amazingly aggressive driving! What I learned was that the driving is so INSANE that it doesn't really matter what you do because people are merging all over the land anyway!

So it took about 9.5 hours and about $35 for gas and more for tolls. Plus I only peed 3 times. Amazing.

Things I need for my solo trip in 23 days:

1. Water bottle with a pop cap so I can open and close it on my own.

2. Tape converter thing to plug my ipod into the car (so I don't have to listen to Christmas music and the Dirty Dancing soundtrack on cassette-- left my my grandpa!)

Things I learned in general:

1. All lady talk radio personalities sound exactly the same.

2. Elena and I can only name like... 21 U.S. Presidents.

3. My brother's new youtube site. Please enjoy this Matt-classic.

When I got home, I watched Splash, which I rented from Netflix. I don't know how BAD the movie is, but Daryl Hannah isn't a great actress and it is just pretty dated. Whatever. But it compelled me to watch Sleepless in Seattle because of the young Tom Hanks and the fact that it has a lady radio personality that sounds the same as every other one.

Anyway, I used to not like Sleepless in Seattle that much, but I think I was resentful because that would never happen. This time I decided... well OBVIOUSLY that could never happen... most romantic comedies couldn't but they just aren't so obviously fanciful. Plus, Jurassic Park could never happen either. And what's the point of movies if not to make our fanciful dreams come true? Anyway, I liked it this time. Plus, it's the second movie that I can think of where the girl gets the man of her dreams when it seems like... EXTREMELY unlikely, mostly because they've never met, the other one being Sixteen Candles.

So... now I have to write a paper. Lame.

Also, I want to see It's Complicated. I just do.

Take it Easy

After I had my chick flick, what-makes-Lloyd Dobler-so-unattainable!? freak-out (which unfortunately escalated to near tears with my roommate later... buuuh), I went to bed pretty miserable. But the next day in class, in an amazing and the-universe-really-must-look-out-for-me coincidence, we had what my professor called "the boisterous women" day during which we watched and discussed Murphy Brown, Designing Women, and Roseanne-- lovely, flawed, self-motivated, and generally.... a normal amount of happy (obviously "normal" is subjective). Even more importantly, my professor was in love with all of these women. So, I'll just find someone like him. Done. Freak out subsided.

Missed The Big Bang Theory last night because I was asleep... again! I don't think I've EVER caught that show during it's broadcast. For some reason I seem to regularly be asleep at 9:30pm on Mondays. Something is amiss.

Sometime last week I had to stay up all night for a paper (lame) and the next day I had to find a way to be alive during work. In addition to my first attempt with 5 Hour Energy (which cannot evaluate as I was a walking zombie without reliable opinions at the time ... which may actually be a reasonable evaluation in itself), I also decided to read Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason, which is my go-to book for when I need to laugh immediately (like when I have scary thoughts at 3am). I figured if I was laughing, I'd be awake. It worked miraculously except that I can't stop reading it, even though I've read it at LEAST 4 times before! Plluuuuus the flaw in reading the Bridget Jones' books is that she speaks in incomplete shorthand sentences because it's in diary form.... so I start THINKING in incomplete sentences. I skipped several words of this very blog entry and had to go back and complete the sentence. That book is HILARIOUS though. And it totally does keep me awake.

Speaking of which, I regularly fall asleep in my Art and Literature of Film class. I am convinced that it is because the class is right after lunch and it's weirdly hot and the seats are padded and cozy... and it's dark. Plus, honestly, some of the movies just aren't that fun to watch, even if they are pretty interesting in terms of innovation. Caffeine does not help. I've tried everything short of energy drinks, which I don't really want to be consuming twice a week.

Today I was, as always, sure that I would fall asleep, but I really wanted to see Rear Window. So instead of having only Winter Fresh gum, I also got Big Red for a little jolt if I felt the sleepy pocket nearing. Buuuut I didn't even need them because the movie was EXCELLENT! Maybe all Hitchcock movies are really great and I'm biased against them for some unexplained reason. In fact, I'm pretty sure this must be the case. Regardless, the movie was VEEERY energizing and I participated tons afterwards as a result. Which just goes to show that a good movie can cure the sleepy right up.

Lastly, Claire posted a number of ways to get out of a funk including the idea to make a positive playlist. I JUST made a playlist for that very reason called Take it Easy (which doesn't actually include the song "Take it Easy") and I thought I'd share its contents:

1. "No Rain" by Blind Melon

2. "I Can See Clearly" by Johnny Nash

3. "What's Up" by 4 Non Blondes

4. "Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles

5. "Give Me One Reason" by Tracy Chapman

6. "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" by Bob Dylan

7. "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" by Bob Dylan

8. "Penny & Me" by Hanson

9. "No Rain" by Blind Melon

A petite half hour of Take it Easy.

Chick Flicks

Chords recorded ALL DAY today! It was pretty fun for me because I brought Cruel Intentions and Say Anything just in CASE we decided to watch movies, which we have never done in the past. Well we watched BOTH!! Cruel Intentions was amazing as always, but watching Say Anything made me WAAAAAY happier than I thought it would. I love when you watch movies that you really love and then you realize you love them EVEN MORE than you remember!!! That's why The Princess Bride is my favorite movie. Every time I watch it I'm like "fuck! I LOOOVE this movie!" When I mentioned this to someone, about how you relove your most loved movies, the person was like "yes! Like August Rush!" Really? That's the first movie to come to mind when you think of the miracle of rewatching great movies? Unfortunately I don't remember who said it, but I am going to have to rewatch that movie and either understand what she means or judge her.

What I especially loved about Say Anything though was Lloyd's semi-frustration about people asking him what he wants to do. In one scene, he points out to his guidance counselor about how people say that they know what they want to do, but they really don't know... and he doesn't know what he wants to do, but at least he KNOWS that he doesn't know. And then he just goes to Europe with her! And I think that's GREAT and spontaneous and doesn't rely on plans that are made for plans sake! And he's simple and honest and... I was just so pleased! Plus, he has a dialogue with his sister about how she should just CHOOSE to be in a good mood. Honestly, I don't know if the movie was confirming my own ideas, or I GOT those ideas from Say Anything a long time ago but didn't realize it at the time.

Someone (Devon, who writes this great blog) pointed out that Lloyd just sets unrealistic expectations for women about how men should be, based on her reading of Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs (which I have also read-- funny but I essentially disagreed with the author on all points). After watching the movie though, I just don't underSTAND why it's unrealistic. He's not crazy smart or handsome or anything like that. He just cares about her and that's all it takes-- just caring (the word "caring" DOES make me cringe with feelings of cliche and meaninglessness, but... I need to use it here). But I think that a lot of it is on her too-- she doesn't demand too much or nag him or tell him what to like or wear or who to hang out with.

I mean, I have to assume that my argument on this point is basically proving that I'm incredibly disillusioned about what to expect from men because I watch a ton of movies. But I don't know why it's any less realistic than the dream of having a non-nagging, cooking, cleaning, gorgeous, sex-goddess lady... and I think that is a much more perpetuated "myth"... not to mention that I think women really think they need to be this way (or they aren't really women...) in a really real, deep-seated, unfortunate way.

Later I watched The Ugly Truth for the first time. It kind of seemed like they were trying to satisfy the new love of telling women exactly what men want (aforementioned sex-goddess ladies), but also trying to be less scary for women who don't exactly fit said criteria (at least ONE man will like you for who you are, the movie assures me). I think I should just stop watching these movies until I feel more confident about what kind of a woman I want to be... because mostly when I watch these new romantic comedies I just feel like I'm competing with Katherine Heigl and Jennifer Connelly figures, who, in a fucked-up turn of events, are basically failing at THEIR pursuit of happiness and sense of identity in these movies.

For the next week I'll probably be thinking about what I will take from this movie as truth (ugly or otherwise) and what I will take as sexist fallacy. Then I will wonder if I only think said information is fallacy because I'm living in delusion or denial. Then I'll get frustrated about whether there can possibly be truth. I'll probably have to come to the conclusion that even if women are being really oppressed, it is just the imperfect society we live in and I should just try to work with what I have-- after all, how can I be livid about societal standards of the sexes when people are starving and dying from wars and we can't even agree on saving our world from global warming. And then I'll think, if everyone thought this way, how would we have conquered slavery or women's rights to vote or work or gotten medicare or welfare or unions or social security? And then I'll admire the fact that even though it sometimes (often?) it seems like people are generally selfish, it really is amazing that we, as humans, have become so organized that we reached a point where even some people can feel fairly secure-- kind of an anomaly in the animal kingdom, right? And we're constantly fighting for more security for everyone. That's AMAZING! And I'm so lucky that I can be one of those people who doesn't have to worry about dying or even really suffering on a day to day basis (or really ever). And when you look at it from that perspective, how can you be upset society expects you to do a little more than you really feel comfortable doing or that you have a consistent feeling of inadequacy. But on the other hand, if we can overcome slavery and women's rights to vote and unions and medicare and social security, why can't I neglect my eye brows?

Honestly, you can have this discussion with yourself forEVER cycling through anger, sadness, anxiety, and guilt for... as long as your attention lasts. And given the self-obsessed nature of this inner conversation, your attention can probably last a WHILE.

CLEEEEEAAAARLY I need to become more self-aware and self confident before I watch this most recent batch of chick flicks. Say Anything is gold, though.

Clearly This Isn't Really It

Saw Michael Jackson's This Is It today.

First of all, it was really awesome. It was pretty much just footage, not really from a point of view-- mostly subtle editing, except for a few places. They hit pretty much every really famous song, and like EVERYONE says, it is a really cool insight into how involved Michael is (was... wah wah) in the process of making his music and his concerts. Maybe (/definitely) it's because I'm not a dancer, but how do they remember all of those moves??!! Even though I know it's not true, when I watch Michael performing, I always kind of feel like he just makes shit up as he goes and everyone else has to just follow him because... he's heaven. But... that's SUPER false. Also, I like when people give notes like "let it simmer" or "it needs more booty." Actually, I'll qualify that statement by saying that I like hearing people give those kinds of notes to OTHER people. If it were me receiving that order, I'd start to cry because I have no idea what "more booty" in a song sounds like.

Another thing: I always feel like Michael lived (wah wah) in a cave and wasn't really aware of the outside world. But he DOES add a lot of new technology and stuff-- he doesn't just keep going with what he already did before. That's pretty dedicated. ALSO, I feel like most people would just yell out orders-- even high school choreographers, in my experience, just freak out when things aren't exactly right. But Michael pretty calmly gives notes and doesn't really shout. If I were working for him, I feel like I wouldn't be scared of him so much as worried that I was inadequate (which I absolutely WOULD be) and worried that I was ruining his genius. Also, it really seems like everyone was so obsessed with him that no one would be like "I can't BELIEVE we have to do ______" behind his back. I bet they'd be like "wow, we're doing ____? That is GENIUS!"

Obviously I'm sad that he's dead... but seeing as I never knew him personally, I really feel like in his case, he's going to be around FOREVER a la Elvis... but even more so because there is soooooo much more footage of him. At the very beginning of the film, it says that the movie was made from like... a jillion hours of footage that was being made for Michael's personal archives. HOW MUCH MORE SHIT IS IN HIS PERSONAL ARCHIVES?!!

I bet in 3, 4, 5 years they are going to have a much more elaborate documentary of Michael with archive footage from before. And then after that, like... 15 years from now, there will be ANOTHER documentary that has a more removed spin on Michael's effect on the world. I mean, before the movie they had a preview of a new documentary of the rest of the Jackson family. PLUUUS, I bet they'll put out a JIIIIIIILLION more of his albums like they do with Biggie and Tupac. Plus, one of his kids will probably write a book... or get into some trouble or... become famous. Then THEY'LL get a documentary. We can only hope. Maybe they'll make a part 2 of that biopic that they always air on VH1 (or at least they used to before that network started to blow-- although I heard that they are bringing back Behind the Music, which is gold because that's how I know so much about TLC and Gloria Estefan). That movie only goes up until the time Michael got burned in a pyrotechnics malfunction during the filming of a Pepsi commercial... and I'm pretty sure that was in the late 80s or early 90s.

I'm just saying... he's not really dead in terms of MY media-only relationship with him.

Continued Research

To follow up on my interest in Chris Rock's Good Hair documentary, I decided to look up Tyra Banks' opinion on the matter-- I vaguely remember her having a natural hair day where she and others took off their wigs. Anyway, she had an entire show on the subject, semi-inspired by Chris Rock's documentary and it was SUPER enlightening. I didn't realize how intense hair was for black women. It's SUPER sad because the chemicals burn. And little girls have terrible self-esteem-- other kids made fun of them. One five-year-old was obsessed with a Hannah Montana wig, not because she loved Hannah Montana, but because she thought it made her look pretty. One woman went back to her natural hair and her mom won't introduce her to people as her daughter because she just "doesn't look like my daughter anymore." One lady was relaxing her THREE-year-old daughter's hair-- and that shit is super painful and TERRIBLE for your hair! Plus, they spend like, a JILLION dollars on all of the stuff! And the extensions! And it's so time consuming!

On Tyra, they said that historically, women with looser hair were way more likely to be freed and have better jobs and stuff because it was a sign of being the offspring of the slave owner, and the trend stayed.

I just really didn't realize any of this. I kind of feel like a douche because I always feel so sorry for myself and other women because of how much maintenance is required, even for the most low maintenance girls, just so that we don't look like complete monsters-- whereas, someone is going to be attracted to a guy no matter how little he does to himself. I just didn't know that black women had SO MUCH more pressure than we do. I don't do SHIT to my hair. Plus, I learned in health care sociology that black women are WAY more likely to give birth to a baby with low birth weight and black men AND women have a lower life expectancy, regardless of education or wealth (which is usually the determining factor), just because of the constant pressures of racism-- the stress releases chemicals into your body, and because it doesn't stop, it takes a huge toll on their health.

Anyway, if you want to watch the special, here is the link to the first part.

In other news, I have so much to do this week, and I didn't even realize it. I think it'll be okay, because it's mostly not academic-- it's just about finding time.

I watched Donnie Darko for the second time on Halloween. The first time I watched it was with Pat, and we were painting and chatting at the time (which I hardly ever do during a movie I haven't seen) and so I attributed my lack of understanding to that. Turns out, it's straight up confusing. I guess I'm going to have to watch it again, and I shall as I both own it, and think Jake Gyllenhaal is super attractive.

Also, I am currently rediscovering the miracle of The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys. I always consider it to be my least favorite of a trio of movies, the other two being Imaginary Heroes and Igby Goes Down (which, to be clear, is not widely considered to be a trio). But now I see that I really can't rate them in terms of favorites. The movie really is the shit! They all are! Plus, Jena Malone-- she might not be my FAVORITE actress ever, but there is something to be said for the fact that she's in the BEST MOVIES EVER! Seriously. Into the Wild, Saved!, The United States of Leland, The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys... plus Stepmom, which is pretty good, Life as a House, which isn't GREAT but has HUUUGE merits (of which Jena Malone takes huge part), Donnie Darko, which... is still up in the air for me, and I can't forget Pride and Prejudice, the Knightley version, which... in comparison with the 6-hour BBC version is INCREDIBLY all-encompassing of the story without being too rushed... a miracle that I don't fully understand.

But seriously, The Secret Lives of Alter Boys-- I need to remember to not underestimate this movie again.

That is all.

Update: All of the Malone talk made me need to see an interview (except let's be honest-- this is going to turn into a JILLION interviews) and I would TOTALLY want to be her friend! She seems like the fucking SHIT! Which shouldn't surprise me, given her aforementioned movie choices.

How great does Good Hair, the documentary by Chris Rock, look? Unfortunately, it came out October 9th and is now in zero theaters near me. LAME!

I decided to dress up as "Blythe watching the 'No Rain' video by Blind Melon," which I think was a success/no one really asked. I seem to always forget that in addition to me consistently bitching about holiday anxiety, I ALSO consistently have a great time during holidays and feel stupid that I bitched so much. Damnit!

I want to mention that my other costume ideas were "Business Blythe" or "Blythe in a skirt." Elena pointed out the narcissism of my only costume ideas being other forms of me.

Today at the Hillel, there was excessive throwing of challah (bread) in the trash from long distances. At one point, Pat threw challah at Doug while his hands were full of other things and this was the dialogue that took place:

Pat: You forgot to catch, son.

Doug: You forgot my hands were booked, son.

My hands were booked! What a great phrase! I can't comment on the "son" part, which is also hilarious, but... I don't think I could ever pull that part off... and I don't think anyone would argue with that presumption (what is the difference between "assumption" and "presumption?"). I would write a paper on it, maybe, if I was still in Linguistic Anthropology.

Also, I talked to Julia, who is from L.A., about my self-consciousness about my clothes. Julia assured me that Boston is way more judgmental and if I can survive here, I can certainly do it there. THAT is the first testimony that I really believe and makes me feel WAY better. My grandpa also said something along the lines of L.A. being more laid back and where my people are (the way I feel about Portland), but... what does he know? He's the most east coast man around.

Yes. I feel much better now that I've talked to Julia.

Lastly, let's just watch "No Rain." I just love it so much!!

Holiday Anxiety

Holiday anxiety.

I know I consistently bitch about holidays... but I can't help it. Too much anxiety. I have gift anxiety at Christmas (with a dose of middle class guilt and anti-family). I have obligation anxiety at Thanksgiving-- I don't really give a shit about the holiday, but dodging the obligation is tricky. I even get a little bit of birthday anxiety. No Easter anxiety though... no one cares about that holiday... at most you get a surprise package of chocolate. New Years is okay too.

But obviously on Halloween I get costume anxiety. In theory it seems super fun to dress up! When you've got a really clever idea and you've been gathering props for the whole month, nothing is better than showing it off. But MOST of the time, I don't think about it. And then the week before Halloween, you want to go to the parties but you'll look like an idiot if you aren't dressed up/ you're a party pooper. Ugh. Then you either have to come up with with something lame OOOR come up with something clever that's super low maintenance. I just want to put on a skirt and call myself "Blythe who gives a shit," but I think it's too negative for festivities.

I decided to start labeling the blog posts... but actually it's WAY less fun than I thought. I pretty much have movies and TV in every single blog... and I can't put every single movie that I mention or review. That's too many labels... and if I only use the label once, what's the point? Plus, sometimes I only put one line about something. Is that worth a label? Plus... I don't think I'm going to go back and label all of my 300+ blogs. We'll see. I'll go with it for now, but I don't think it'll last.

In other news, This Is It got really great reviews! Bittersweet just like The Dark Knight. Speaking of which, Heath Ledger's other movie, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, is coming out soon. What if it's so good that Heath Ledger wins ANOTHER Oscar? I bet he would be the first actor to win two Oscars post-mortem. At the very least, he might be the first actor to win an Oscar for two consecutive years post-mortem. Maybe it would be even MORE of a bummer, though. If the movie is ANY good it'll probably just be a huge bummer, regardless of any Oscars involved.

Not One of My Better Entries...

I forgot to mention this yesterday, but WTF on the Pope front. If you haven't heard/read, there is a lot of dissent in the Anglican community over the Anglicans allowing women and openly gay clergy. Soooo the Catholics have decided to allow the Anglicans who don't want gays and women in high places to join Catholic priesthood while keeping some of their Anglican-ness, INCLUDING their ability to be married!! W.T.F. I honestly never thought they'd allow married priests, and certainly not so soon. But way to fuck it up by doing it because they want to welcome (more) sexists and homophobes. Lame lame SUPER lame! Here's an article from the Huffington Post.

ANYWAY, last night I had a LOT of trouble sleeping, which usually isn't the case for me. But it SUPER sucks when it just won't happen and you're calculating the hours of sleep you have left and what you can get out of the next day so you can have a snooze.... fine. In the past. BUUUT in addition to that, I've had two successive dreams about tarantulas.

The first one was that my friend Amanda was coming out of a door to tell me a story and she mentioned that she had a tarantula. I freaked out and told her not to come out, but she did anyway and put the spider in my hand. I freaked out and threw the spider into a room. But before I could close the door, the spider SHOT back and me and was freaking out and crawling frantically all over my body. I screamed at Amanda and kept trying to get the tarantula off, but she smiled and kept telling me the story.

THEN, during my nap today, I dreamt about my "step brothers" and either another sister by my father or Indigo as a baby. Really hard to say. While this dream was pretty complex, at the end of the dream, I went into Cole's bedroom and he had a tarantula loose in there. I freaked out, obviously, but I also remembered my Amanda dream IN this dream. In the dream I wanted to call Amanda to tell her that my Amanda-tarantula dream was a premonition for the current encounter with a tarantula.

I THINK I'm a little stressed... and I THINK I know why....

(L.A. L.A. L.A. L.A. L.A. L.A. L.A. L.A. L.A.)

Yesterday I found an application on my laptop called FRONT ROW, which... may do other things, but what captured me was it's ability to show me movie trailers! Oh HELL yes! I'm not going to list all the movies I want to see because I'm pretty sure I was using this application for like... an hour last night. But ... be prepared for when I can't resist anymore. Also, perhaps you should look into this application. Seriously... I almost died.

Actually, there is one that I must mention. Apparently they've decided to make what seems to be another For Richer or Poorer, but with Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker as the leads (as opposed to Kirstie Alley and Tim Allen). It's called Did You Hear About the Morgans? and it takes place in Wyoming instead of Amish country. LAME!

PUMPED about Toy Story 3 though...

LASTLY, one of my previous anthro professors comes into the hillel pretty regularly and today I told her that I am officially an anthro minor. COINCIDENTALLY, for the first time, she attempted to give me a tip. Shameless.

Small Triumphs

Officially accepted L.A. Back out west I go, even if I'm shoved... or pulled there by a tractor (I know the phrase is actually "tractor beam," but I changed it so that it implies my resistance rather than L.A.'s irresistibility. Maybe I should've gone with different wording... but it's my blog).

I slept about a BILLION hours this weekend. Miraculously, it put me in an excellent mood instead of a groggy one. I must've needed it.

We got a new chef at the hillel for Saturdays. I met him two Saturdays ago briefly-- he's tall, about 45ish, and has Vince Vaughn's voice exactly--it's weird. ANYWAY, this week I saw him and he hugged me, which made me feel really weird and uncomfortable. But then he gave me a cookie... so my attitude changed. By the end we were essentially in love and he gave me 6 rolls of challah, 2 tomatoes, a little tupperware of roast beef, one with potato salad, and one with watermelon, AND 6 baby pumpkins for decoration. Awesome!

I talked to my mom before accepting L.A. and I told her that one of my biggest concerns is that they are going to judge me about how I dress, even though I am for sure buying new clothes. Still... said clothes are certainly not going to be the epitome of chic. My mom told me that I was being prejudiced and that people from L.A. are not different than people here. To which I replied that they absolutely ARE different. I told her that to say they weren't is like when people suggest that you can't tell if men are gay or not because a straight man can be super flamboyant and a gay man could be... not. But really, even though there are always exceptions, to say that there aren't patterns is to be turning a blind eye completely. Yes of course there are many kinds of people in L.A.... but there is also an L.A. culture that isn't the same as northeast culture-- to say they are generally the same is wrong. Then she got pissed and told me that I was prejudiced about gay people. Ugh.

In other news, I chose High Fidelity as my Best Buy movie. I'm pleased with the choice. I think I needed it. It was PRETTY fun choosing, but they don't have a terrific movie selection at Best Buy-- only a half an aisle for ALL of their comedy and drama films. They used to have an entire aisle. Lame. Although I REALLY wanted Being John Malkovich. I was not at all surprised that they didn't have Amelie, though.

Also, when I was little I used to watch this live action version of Snow White that I was obsessed with. About two years ago I REALLY tried to find out what it was but I couldn't. I asked about it on yahoo answers and someone gave me a title of a german film that seemed like it might be the one, but I could only find one picture so I couldn't be sure.

For whatever reason, I tried to find it again today. I went back to the yahoo answers (which told me I last posted a question two years ago-- that's how I know) and got the title and looked it up. Now there are MANY postings of the movie. I found some pictures. I found a trailer. I even found a site that had the entire film that I could watch... but it didn't seem to work on a mac. Regardless, I'm so amused because it was totally dubbed in English and I guess I never noticed as a child. Also... it's like... the worst production quality ever. But it was SUPER neat seeing and hearing it again. It was veeeery nostalgic to hear the wicked witch's theme song and feel more fear than I would have if I was just seeing this incredibly lame movie for the first time. If you'd like to see what I'm talking about, here's the trailer. The movie was made in 1955 and I have NO idea why I had a tape of it or why it was clearly one of my most frequently watched movies as a child. Here's a picture:

I kind of want to paint it...

ANYWAY, I need(ed?) to come up with a story for The Big Bang Theory. I basically came up with the whole thing in... not that long (although it HAS been floating in my mind for a while). I'm SHOCKED because I thought it would be harder than The Office, given that I'm not QUITE as intimately familiar with The Big Bang Theory as I am with The Office. Turns out... that's not really the factor. The Big Bang Theory only has about 10 scenes per half hour, whereas The Office has...

40!!

Plus... The Office really is much more intricate... and has many more people to incorporate. This, of course, is assuming my Big Bang Theory idea is any good... Hope so.

YES. MORE.

I NEED TO SAY that I just essentially finished That '70s Show. The ending SUCKS! All I can think about is how Dawson's Creek definitely bested That '70s Show in terms of endings. And Dawson's Creek is usually mysterious because it bests no show... and yet I still love it (except best kissing-- Good lord, Joshua Jackson!). Anyway, take THAT That '70s Show!

ALSO I decided that I HAD to own Love Me If You Dare. HAD TO! So I went on amazon.com and the cheapest copy was like... $30!! which I can't pay even if I NEED a movie. So I decided to check ebay, which I've never used before. I found it for $16! Done. I knooooow I shouldn't buy movies, but everyone knows it's my heart's desire and I really haven't bought any movies in a long time! "But you DID buy 2 books and a concert ticket AND a standup comedy ticket, Ms. Blythe..."

Fine! I love myself! I want me to be happy! Is that a crime!? Get off my back!

You know who else wants me to seek happiness in movie shopping? Best Buy. Hours after I bought my movie, I got a ticket from the Best Buy rewards club for a free $10, on which it says that it can be used like cash. It only took me 3 years of membership, but I got $10. Regardless, I get to buy ANOTHER movie tomorrow!!! WHOOOOOO!!

I'm seriously considering High Fidelity or Being John Malkovich. Or Amelie if they have it. Tomorrow's going to be heaven!

What we've learned today is that I apparently need three separate blog posts in about 12 hours. I need a post per every 4 hours.

Dreams and Reality

The other night I had a VERY brief dream in which I was panicking about whether or not I would get into the L.A. program. So I was freaking out with worry that I wouldn't get in and then I open the email (and I DID reflect on the sadness of opening emails in my dreams) and I DID get in. But the wave of relief never came. I just continued my line of panic in another direction. But... despite the dream, I do feel like I've been getting braver. Sometimes I have waves of optimism. Which leads me to this:

I DID get into the L.A. program! I just found out today. Good lord.

Instead of talking about that, I'd rather mention that I am also INCREDIBLY likely going to graduate with a minor in Anthropology. When I say "incredibly likely" I mean... I'll have to actually die or get amnesia in the process of doing the paper work for it to not happen. So... that's cool, albeit a little useless. But... I also thought taking AP tests was useless when it was actually the opposite. So you never know what good can come from a minor in anthro. At the very least, it tells people that I'm a half-expert on humans.

I didn't watch any late night TV this week because The Daily Show and The Colbert Report were on hiatus for the week (it WAS torture, yes). So... it turns out that if I don't have the impetus of Jon Stewart, I don't need to spend the whole night with Letterman and Conan and Ferguson. Instead, I've essentially watched 3/4 of the entire series of That '70s Show, which is my 15-year-old sister's fave. It is pretty golden, but not enough for me to fall head first into obsession.

Bob Casey, our (PA's) junior senator, wrote me back (/his interns did). He's already for health reform but I did learn some stuff. In my first draft of this blog (yes... I may have drafts...), posted an excerpt from his reply, but then I realized that no one would read it. Basically, he mentioned a HELP committee bill, which I hadn't really heard of, that had a lot of great things INCLUDING a public option, although it said that it will NOT require everyone to have insurance. I thought all public option bills were killed though, so I need to do some research on what he's talking about.

Also, a while ago, I watched Citizen Kane, which I wasn't looking forward to because it seemed really Joni Mitchell. Well... I gotta say it was pretty great! It wasn't a snooze-fest like 2001: Space Odyssey or Lawrence of Arabia, both of which I actually couldn't finish because I was fighting unconsciousness... and lost.

Lastly, Claire frequently writes about a site called etsy.com, which is all handmade stuff. Well, the other night when I was writing faux journal entries in my notebook, I realized I should buy a new diary on that site.

ETSY.COM IS AMAZING!!/ I don't know how I'll ever EVER be able to choose!!!

I shall be frequently updating on this dilemma.

Also, I passed my 300 entries mark on this blog!!! Crazy.

ALSO, I ACCIDENTLY ERASED MY FREE CELL HISTORY!!!! I was REALLY upset before I decided that I was a little TOO attached to it, and erasing it is probably healthier in the long run. PLUS, it'll give me a chance to win more than just 59% percent... after I'd played SOOO much, there was basically no hope in improving my stats. If I go back to 59% though, we'll know that it's a very accurate representation of my free cell skills.

Reinstating the Movie Section

First of all, in case you didn't understand my previous definition of "Joni Mitchell," here is a concrete example. This beer is the most Joni Mitchell beer I've ever seen!

You see, it could be very great. Who knows? (actually I do... and it was pretty fine) BUT it looks unBELIEVably boring! Would you pick this out of a lineup of beers? Nay. In the same way that you wouldn't jump to take a class on colonial times in a lineup of history classes. COULD be good, but SEEMS too boring. It's Joni Mitchell!

ANYWAY I saw two movies this weekend. Yes, after my well-over-a-month movie (in the theater) drought, I am finally going to start catching up.

MOVIE SECTION

1. Where the Wild Things Are-- Obviously getting a lot of hype. I thought it was VERY well done in terms of making a largely plotless book into a movie with a very discernible plot but, impressively, not compromising the integrity of the book. It was also visually stunning. BUUUUT I think the BEST part of the movie was that it was, I'm pretty sure, the BEST portrayal of a child and a child's world EVER! Or at least the best I've seen.

You know how most movies that have children in it take the "kids say the darndest things" approach? What I mean is that they treat children like idiots to the world, not in a mean way but in a way that doesn't match with my experiences being a child and being with children. But children really DO observe the world and have an understanding of things. They just aren't jaded by experience like we are because they haven't experienced the redundancies in life. They can still make connections that we can't see. They still see possibilities whereas we jump ahead to outcomes because we've seen it all before. ANYWAY, the point is that this movie REALLY captured that. And it REALLY captured the way children live in the moment so much where they can be having a blast and then the next SECOND they're crying or they're scared. It really got the energy (the child is ALWAYS running around) and the disregard for danger that children have. It got what I think is the exact level of sympathy and compassion that children have-- self-focused but just STARTING to understand and care about how other people feel. Plus all the monsters had very distinct, child personalities that were VERY true to life, I thought. And all of the monsters and Max had incredibly complex and real types of relationships.

-- SLIGHT SLIGHT SLIGHT SPOILER NEXT! (although it's not like you haven't read it...)!!--

Max doesn't even hug every monster when he leaves... even monsters that are nice... because a kid wouldn't.

--SPOILER COMPLETE--

Plus, Max's plans were child like. His relationship with his mom and sister were amazing. The way he reacts to everything was perfect. I really TRULY thought this movie is unmatched as far as insight into children. I could go on and on and on about all of the child real-ness! AMAZING!

Now, I did think that the ending was a LITTLE abrupt, but I didn't really mind. If they had drawn it out or made him too sad about leaving the world, it might have cancelled out some of the amazing child-realness (I can't think of another word). Also my friend Franki said that she was a little disappointed that the monsters weren't as carnal and beastly as they were in the book--instead they were just a little sad and frustrated with the world and their relationships (mirroring Max's sadness from life). That didn't bother me though.

BUUUUUT visually the movie was amazing!! And the child reminded me of Joseph Gordon Levitt... except maybe a better actor than Levitt was at that age.

So... I recommend.

The Invention of Lying-- I WAS really pumped about it because it was written, directed by, and starring Ricky Gervais, who is genius. Plus Tina Fey was in the previews. THEN I heard that my grandpa read mixed reviews, which included disappointment that Tina Fey was hardly in it at all. So I went in with shmena expectations. SO for the first... maybe 20 minutes of the movie, it was funny but a little much. Not only does no one lie, but they also blurt out everything that they're feeling right away. It was funny but after 3 minutes, I was over it. Although I must admit that that plot line is a brilliant way to get through exposition without seeming too contrived-- you knew where everyone stood right away. Although that's kind of the reason I got bored with it so quickly.

BUUUUUT then it got really good! Now reviews mentioned that there was a bit of a metaphor about god (again, reviews according to my grandpa as I don't typically read reviews and if I do, not until after I've seen the film)... but it was a HUGE, not even metaphor, about god. And obviously I can't know this, but I really don't know that you could enjoy the movie as much as I did without being an atheist. And what I really liked was that he introduced god into everyone's life, kind of on accident, and it kind of changed everything... but it also kind of didn't. It just sort of changed the purpose people had for being who they are. It was also a commentary on looks. And, of course, it was a commentary on love.

Basically, I thought it was pretty clever, but I thought it was even more honest. Ricky Gervais has great sincerity to him that is a little judgmental but is much more self-pitying and self-deprecating. For instance, Bill Maher constantly points out how everyone is stupid, but Ricky Gervais approaches the world in astonishment like "does everyone see this madness as clearly as I do?" coupled with "it's so unfortunate that I can see how crazy everything is but in the end I'm destined to walk and be judged as a chubby guy who's kind of funny." I hope you KIND OF understand what I mean... even though I see that my words aren't terribly clear.

Also, I don't know why the reviewer was upset by Tina Fey only being in it for a bit. It was obviously a cameo and there was no reason for her to be in more of it. Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, AND Jason Bateman all made cameos as well... and they were all BRILLIANT!! I love when cameos are brilliant!!

Basically, all in all I didn't get too much insight from the movie, but it reflected, essentially, how I see the world... but in a funny and less depressing way. So... I liked it.

ALSO, I want to point out that both movies dealt with fantastical solutions to not major or abrupt crises, but general sadness and frustration with things that aren't anyone's fault but still suck. I don't know if this is, perhaps, a tone of the people... or if I seem to be gravitating to those movies... or if it's a coincidence.

Personal Late Night Dilemma and Pomegranate Advice

Ok having my TV back is both gold and... not-so gold. It's pyrite, if you will.

For one thing, having a TV can suck you into things you really don't want to watch and don't honestly have the time for. For instance, yesterday I watched Along Came Polly, which has to be my least favorite Ben Stiller movie, my least favorite Phillip Seymour Hoffman movie, and my least favorite Hank Azaria movie. To be fair, it isn't my least favorite of the Aniston flicks (She's Just Not That Into You, Rumor Has It) or my least favorite Debra Messing film (The Wedding Date). Still... the movie shouldn't be a temptation, yet simply existing seems to have been enough of a motivation for me to succumb.

ALTHOUGH, on the gold end, I almost died having to wait to watch Jon Stewart's interview with Rod Blagojevich.

Now since the summer, I've been watching my late night programs online. Because of CBS' lame website, I switched to Conan as being my primary late night talk show host of the 11:30-12:30 time slot (except I only watch the last half hour because Colbert trumps both). Well now that both Letterman and Conan are equal again (because I'm going to watch them on TV), which do I choose? I went to both of their sites and wrote down the guests for every day this week. With some simple math, I've come up with a good plan for each day.

(Conan on the left; Letterman on the right)

Monday: Drew Barrymore > Felicity Huffman = Conan

Tuesday: John Krasinski > Kelsey Grammer = Conan

Wednesday: Kate Walsh < madonna =" Letterman

Thursday: Michael Moore... =? Woody Harrelson = hard to say

Friday: Joshua Bell < david =" Letterman

Other information:

If you cut a pomegranate into 6 pieces and then put it under water in a bowl, you can EASILY get the seeds out. PLUS all of the peel floats to the top and the seeds sink to the bottom so you can skim the top of the water of all the peel and then drain the seeds in a colander. Then you've got all the seeds!! WAY better than picking them out of the peel individually, in my opinion.

PLUS, you can put the seeds into a bowl and mash the juice out by swishing the seeds with a glass. If you decide to put a pomegranate and a half of juice in a martini glass with 1.5 shots of vodka and a splash of lemonade, you get a pretty delicious drink. Then if you take a few sips and take a picture of it, I can only guess it might look something like this:

Worth it? Probably not (unless you get the pomegranates for free, which happened to be my fortunate circumstance at the time). Fun and delicious? HELL YEAH!

Emile Hirsch

JESUS H!

Into the Wild....

I'll tell you there is an Emile Hirsch movie for my every temperament. He makes windows to my soul at the exact pace that my brain thinks of them! Whatever I'm thinking about, he's already made the film that understands it, delves deeper into it, and shows me the outcome.

I LOVE EMILE HIRSCH.

And I LOVE Into the Wild!

(And Imaginary Heroes, The Secret Lives of Alter Boys, Milk, Lords of Dogtown, Alpha Dog, probably Taking Woodstock (when I see it)...)

And I LOVE that it speaks to me right when I need to hear it!

Too bad he doesn't share my enthusiasm for late night talk shows because he doesn't seem to have been a guest on any of them.

Four Parts and the Longest One is About TV...

I guess fortunately (?) my life has reached such a momentum that I can no longer write everything I do, despite what seemed to be my insatiable need to record all of my own dull doings. So, I will break it (my life) into parts and see what happens:

Part 1: Blythe-specific Selective Media Coverage (if you loosely define "media coverage")

The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are back. Thank god! Even the few things that I actually saw on my own (without their coaxing) were infinitely funnier and more illuminating when they showed it to me.

The Office is also back!!! (YEEESS!!!!!) I thought the first episode was great, which is a good sign because I had awfully high expectations.

Right afterwards was the new show Community, which seemed a little offensive about community colleges... but it seemed funny enough. I only watched until the first commercial because ... I guess it didn't capture me enough. BUT John Oliver, one of my favorite Daily Show correspondents, was a main character. The real question is where is this Community going to go when 30 Rock comes after it's time-slot on October 15th? Also, I do NOT have faith in Parks and Recreations.

On the radio front, I HIGHLY recommend subscribing to the free podcast of This American Life... although I wouldn't hold anyone against not doing it because... I don't know anyone who really has the time to listen to an hour of radio. But if you DO have the time... or a long drive or something... pretty much every episode inspires me or illuminates something for me or makes me rethink or recognize the complexity of things I thought I knew. It's just pure gold. Plus David Sedaris sometimes contributes!

Also, I STILL haven't used my free movie pass. The one that I had back when I decided I was going to use it on 500 Days of Summer. And then I was going to see Inglourious Basterds. And then Extract. Bah!

Lastly, if you know me at all, you know that I watch like... a billion interviews per day. Well I PARTICULARLY enjoyed Matt Damon on Letterman the other day. The entire interview was gold, but as I couldn't find the entire thing as an isolated clip, I would at least recommend watching the best part. If you want to watch the whole thing, you can find it on cbs.com. Just find the interview and then move the marker right on top of the commercial line that looks closest to the middle (I don't know why I'm explaining when I know that no one will do it).

Part 2: Work

I LOVE working at SED! I've caught up on my Real Time with Bill Maher and I'm going through my This American Life. Hillel is fine and easy too. Today I decided to not shower right away so that I could shower AFTER I have to wear the visor. What I'd like most from these places, though, is to get paid. I'm getting to be QUITE poor again (thank god for my god money).

Part 3: Anecdote

Today when I got to work, Sandy, the woman who sets up the station and who I now know is from Hong Kong (she also has an accent) was there. I'm OBSESSED with her! Well today when she was leaving to go upstairs, she stopped to tell me what the muffin flavors were today:

Sandy: We have banana nut and cheepo

Blythe: Cheepo?

Sandy: Yes cheepo. They have cranberries, blueberries, and one other kind.

Blythe: Okay thanks.

About 15 minutes later, Ben, a regular customer (and friend of Rachael's) comes over.

Ben: Can I have a muffin?

Blythe: Sure. We have banana nut and what Sandy told me was a "cheepo" muffin. It has cranberries, blueberries, and one other kind of berry.

:::pause:::

Ben: I think she meant "triple."

How embarrassing!! I'm so glad he pointed that out to me before I spent the whole day calling them "cheepo" muffins (/I'm definitely always going to call berry muffins "cheepo" in my head.)

Part 4: Let's Wrap it Up

This girl that I thought was the funniest girl in my old TV writing class transferred into my new one. I tried to downplay my excitement but she wrote a GREAT episode of Seinfeld last year and I am PUMPED to see what she comes up with this year!! She's also reeeaaally nice. So... awesome (/I'm a creep).

We post our final list of girls for Chords tomorrow at 8am. I hope they choose us!!!!

Unaccountable Taste and Dirty Money

I have to see Extract. Both Jimmy Fallon AND Letterman were RAVING about it for like... a year and a half. Tomorrow.

Also, this was last week or something, but I posed the question to someone about why THE Final Destination was doing so well. 3D! I forgot about that surprisingly weighty new element to movies. I think I might piss my pants if I saw that in 3D... so I can see the appeal.

Glee got great ratings, which was especially impressive because that's when Obama did his big health care address. Plus everyone talks about the show. At the Hillel, these girls talked for like... a half hour about where they were going to watch it. Plus my a cappella friends are obsessed... which makes sense because it's about a cappella... but even my TV friend whose taste I trust, Stephanie, recommended it to me. I watched it! I don't get it!

I watched Death to Smoochy last night. It was PRETTY good... but I'm pretty sure I'll never have to see it again. I liked the message and satire more than the movie itself. I MORE enjoyed watching it and then going on thedailyshow.com and watching Jon Stewart interview all of the people that were in the movie. It reaffirmed all of my feelings about all of the actors. Loves the Ed Norton, Danny DeVito is fun as hell, and Robin Williams has so much god damn energy that IIII need to take a nap per every 10 minutes he talks.

Last night, when I was getting out of bed for something... I don't know what happened exactly but I caught my big toe nail on my ankle. But the (more) mysterious part is, while my toe nail is incredibly strong and my ankle skin is relatively weak, I did not break the skin on my ankle but my big toe nail broke half way down and started bleeding quite a bit! I just wonder how that's possible. I imagine it was some magic angle at which the nail hit my ankle... the only angle that would cause the nail to break instead of the skin. Or maybe this isn't interesting at all. Regardless, I didn't know what to do about the toe, so I taped it with medical tape and I haven't looked at it again. I imagine I'm currently susceptible to foot diseases.

Also, I forgot to mention that I now have to wear a visor at Hillel... which sucks because now I have to really think about when I'm going to take a shower every day to minimize how long I have to go around with flat hair from the visor. My question is, do visors even help? Because I was already wearing my hair back and it's not like you shed from the top of your head.

The reason for the visor is the health inspector lady came. Everything was okay. Buuut, what I've been doing is wearing plastic gloves to make food and then whenever I touch money, I take the gloves off and put new gloves on... which in my opinion is excessive and pretty wasteful. I essentially use different gloves for every customer... and the trash can largely consists of "used" gloves. Whatever, I get it. But the health inspector lady told me that I should wear gloves when I make the food, take them off to work with the money, WASH MY HANDS, and then put more gloves on. She was like, "you see you hands get contaminated when you touch the dirty money and then you touch the clean gloves, which contaminates them-- just another way of looking at it."

I REAAALLLY wanted to say "how dirty is it?" in a suggestive manner. Nevertheless, I'm not actually going to do that because it would dry my hands out. I already have to use lotion EVERY TIME I wash my hands... and even sometimes when I don't because I FREQUENTLY (like... 15 times a day, literally) feel like my hands are too dry. I actually don't know how the compulsion started... because I've only been doing it for like... 1.5 years but it doesn't seem like something that's going to go away for me. And I'm not sad about it because it will just keep my hands smooth longer. The rest of my skin will shrivel up over the years, but my hands might remain silky. Regardless, I simply cannot wash my hands 25 times in 4 hours. Although I don't want to deliberately breaks rules just because I think it's incredibly stupid. I NEVER wash my hands before meals and I'm positive that I haven't gotten sick once from that. And I'm sure I've touched dirtier things than money before sticking my fingers right in my mouth. I don't care. I hardly get sick at all. Plus it strengthens your immune system.

ANYWAY, I'm just going to wear my dirty gloves when I touch the dirty money and then my hands will only be touching new clean gloves and nothing else. Problem solved. Hay day for plastic glove companies and anti-bacterial soap, though (as always).

Bragging About My Life (Sorry) with a Side of Cellphone Complaint

Life is going GREAT so far!!

Yesterday/Tuesdays in general, according to my schedule, look the roughest. I have work from 9am-1pm, then class from 2pm to 6pm (but really 5:30pm most of the time) and Chords from 7pm-10pm (except yesterday when I had to be there at 6:30pm).

ANYWAY, that is a LOOONG day! Except that it really wasn't. Hillel is SO un-taxing that I mostly read for my homework the whole time. And what did I read? Scripts of Two and a Half Men and 30 Rock. Then I had a free sandwich and off to film class.

This was my first film discussion and my teacher wanted to do getting-to-know-you exercises, which in my opinion cause WWAAAAYYY more anxiety than they alleviate. In fact, I don't think they EVER alleviate anxiety. I'm not sure why professors (or TAs in this case) do it.

BUUUUUUUT you know how we did it in this class?! We got in groups of three and we had to pick out three movies that would be on all of our top ten movie list!!!

!!!!!!!!

THAT IS MY FAVORITE THING TO DISCUSS WITH STRANGERS!!! Particularly strangers who love movies!!

AAAAAND!!!!!

We picked The Princess Bride (!!!), American Beauty (!!), and Wall-e (which wouldn't REALLY make my top ten... but... obviously we needed a little give, and it was perfectly acceptable).

AAAAAAAAND!!! (can there even BE an "and"!!?)

My class' favorites as a whole were The Princess Bride (!!!!!!!!), American Beauty (!!), and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind!

GOLD!! We even filled out little cards and put our own personal top five movies on that! This is where I want to be!!

Then we watched some old movies and discussed. It's really about learning the best film-story technique right now... so it's not too noteworthy what the movies were. Regardless, in the future we're basically watching a movie and then discussing it at the end. That is what the 3.5-4 hours will make up.

And THEN I get to sing. Or in this case, listen to people try out, which ... you can use your imagination to think of how fun that is (QUITE fun).

Plus today, in my TV writing class, we voted to write our class script (which we're doing BEFORE individual ones) on The Office!!!!

And today we watched an episode of South Park in class. South Park is hilarious as it is, but I think it's ESPECIALLY hilarious when you watch it in class. AAAND when you have to talk about it. For instance, here is a direct quote from my professor:

"So we talked about the story of one little kid masturbating a dog escalating into..."

I know I'm getting into my brag-y self again... but it's MUUUCH better than the downer I've been more recently. At least for me it is.

Here's something though. Yesterday I read a lot of scary health care things and then I told them to Elena later in the night. Presumably as a consequence, I had nightmares about my mom losing her health care.

Also, I had to buy deodorant for the first time in literally years. I'd obtained so much from various places but I've finally run out.

Also, this isn't relevant to today or this week or anything, but I would like to reflect on how depressed (yes, depressed) cellphones make me. I'm not TRRYYYYING to be a butt (I say that so much... on some level I'm sure I am trying to be a butt), but I HATE that you can't talk to ANYONE without them being distracted by their phone. I hate it because it's alREADY hard to make a connection with someone. But then they get a text. And MOST people look at it... but they insist that you keep talking or THEY try to keep talking but you know they aren't thinking about your conversation anymore. And then they smile and ask "what was I talking about?" and in my head I'm like "fuck you. I don't give a shit anymore!" because you know that whatever the text was was completely useless and I just think the person with you should get your attention.

I only like actually talking to a few people anyway... but I think it's more of a depressing notion. I can't even talk to my MOM without her getting distracted. That's why grandpas are awesome. But I ESPECIALLY despise when people pick up their calls... which only a FEW people still haven't realized is like... the least cool thing ever. Some people do it in the middle of THEIR sentence!! And some people don't even give you a warning.

Actually the worst thing is that I can't say anything about it. I'm pretty sure I'd be less offended, especially in the case of answering the phone mid sentence, if the person slapped me across the face.... but if you got noticeably upset, you'd look completely crazy and irrational.

Buuuut... I had a great day today!!

David Letterman said Extract was brilliant.... so maybe I'll check that out.

Joni Mitchell, Hillel, Hair, Other Uselessness...

Before I start... You know when you know something could likely be good or interesting but it looks or sounds so SO boring that you either aren't going to see or hear it OR it's going to take a lot of will power to see or hear it? Ok, to my knowledge, it's a common situation with no single word to describe it. Now, Kevin and I used to use "Joni Mitchell" as the description. For example:

Person A: Are you going to see Paul Revere's house?

Person B: eh... I don't know. It's pretty Joni Mitchell.

This isn't to say anything bad about the actual Joni Mitchell. At the time we came up with the phrase (and subsequent list of Joni Mitchell things), we felt like we SHOULD listen to Joni Mitchell but... it was too Joni Mitchell. Since then, I have grown very fond of Joni Mitchell, particularly the songs "Little Green," "River," and "Carey." Also, Bob Dylan really likes Joni Mitchell. Regardless, I need this to be part of my blogging vocabulary.

Pressing on... I saw a new trailer for The Open Road starring Jeff Bridges and Justin Timberlake, who I think is a WONDERFUL actor, but I concede that I could just be seduced by his charm and charisma... although in my opinion, that's about 75% of acting. It does look a little JONI MITCHELL though. Also, it looks like Justin's less cute-and-funny-teen version of Crossroads.... and there are parents involved.

I had my first day at the Hillel dining hall (as opposed to the cafe, where I started on Thursday). It was lovely. I worked with two boys, which made me very shy... so I'm going to have to try to speak more next time. But also, I enjoyed watching how they interact with me as "the girl"-- where they drew the line on everything. For instance, they didn't seem to have a problem talking about strippers, but they wouldn't look me in the eye while doing it. Also, their voices became gentler when directing their speech to me.

Here is something glorious for me (relatively speaking) that I noticed. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I start the day with class which begins at 10am, which I think is the earliest that my brain is fully functioning. BUUUT on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I start the day with (largely non-interactive) work at 9am... which is fine because I don't NEED to have a fully functioning brain yet. Then on Saturday I start work at 10am... which is a LITTLE sucky... but it IS interactive and also a good way to get up on a Saturday.

And for something unrelated (as all of these things are), part of my homework was to familiarize myself with these 4 shows:

1. Two and a Half Men

2. The Office

3. 30 Rock

4. The Big Bang Theory

(Being a television major is AWESOME... I do have other things too though... because all majors require work!)

I obviously know The Office and 30 Rock, but I watched several episodes of the other two. Not bad. I particularly like The Big Bang Theory because Leonard is David from Roseanne (my favorite character)... which I already knew, but what I DIDN'T know was that Sara Gilbert, Darlene from Roseanne, is a regular character too!! Fun!

Lastly, Elena and Matt went to see a Boston taping of Wheel of Fortune! I can't WAIT to hear what it was like!

Double lastly, how could THE Final Destination (why did we need a "the?"), aka: Final Destination 4, reach the top of the box office??!! And without any Devon Sawa!! I just don't understand! I'm inclined to blame the recent series of films with bad lady hair:

(Bullock in All About Steve)

(Adams in Julie and Julia)

You may say that's just two films... I say two's enough to do some damage! People are growing confused and they want to see death follow some beautiful people around.

(I'm really kidding though. I think we need more leads with less attractive hair so we can start relaxing some standards here. I think Adams should grow some armpit hair... help her sisters out a bit).

(but actually not-- I'm not that liberated.)

(yet...)

:::dramatic music swell:::

Job Security and Class

Glorious glorious glorious!

First of all, the Hillel job is pie. Plus, I make sandwiches during the job (but only 2 kinds of sandwiches-- lox and tuna) but MAYBE this will be able to count as some kind of food services job in the future if I need to be a waitress. Mostly it's nice because it isn't terribly busy. I got through a LOT of my Colbert book re-read, which will hopefully be replaced with a book of more academic use in the future (I didn't realize I would be able to read and thus wasn't prepared).

Also, while I'm speaking of work, I DID get my SED job back (it was questionable before because I thought I was too busy for them to take me). Soooo I'm working either 21 or 22 hours a week this year (questionable because I know I'm starting at 10am at Hillel on Saturday but I DON'T know when I'm ending... I didn't think to ask. I imagine 1 or 2pm)!! WHOOO! I haven't had money in so long (my fault, my fault, I know, I know, I know, I know!). Elena informs me that she thinks this is going to be stressful... but I don't think so. Or maybe I'm just greedy about the moneys.

ANYWAY, my classes seem kick ass!

TV writing: My professor has an INTENSE career! If you look up Michael Loman on imbd.com, you'll see what I mean. He's very kind and not scary at all, though. Also, he's my professor for my television comedy (sans writing), which I haven't had yet, but... I assume they'll be similarly awesome. PLUS I get to write a script on my own as a final project and it can be whatever running sitcom I want. YES!!

Health care sociology: When I signed up for the course, I thought I would enjoy it because it's so timely. NOW I see that I'm so fortunate to take the class while we have a strong hope for change. When I left the class, I a LITTLE wanted to kill myself over our current health care situation. I'll probably (hopefully) write out the stuff I think is important. Crazy stuff here.

Art and literature of film: AWESOME!! Basically we watch a movie on Tuesdays. Then right after we discuss it. Then on Thursday we have a lecture about it. Then Friday is an optional re-screening of the movie from Tuesday. Two things are great about that:

1. It's GREAT that they accommodate for wanting to watch a movie twice. On a big screen!

2. That's 2.5 hours on a Friday that I don't have to go to... which makes it easier for me to decide to take a trip... to Penn State, perhaps? Yes!

Also, we're not really starting the novels yet, but they're going to quiz us on the novels, which is nice because it'll make me actually read them. They aren't that long, so I don't think it'll get to be too much.

Some other semi-interesting things:

1. My friend Nora and I were walking home from Julia's (west) at 1am and we saw this guy screaming at a girl in a really scary way for a long time. We thought, maybe it'll be fine, but on the off chance that something happens, it would never escape our conscience's. So I called the police and we watched as two police cars came and took them both away. It couldn't have taken more than a minute from the time I placed the call. I hadn't even hung up before the first police car got there. Awesome. After wards we basically kissed each other's ass, telling each other what good samaritans we are. We were pretty pleased with ourselves.

2. I watched Pumpkin. When I started it I was like "oh god, this is the worst movie ever!" And then as it progressed I was like "wait... this really IS the worst movie... in a good way." I think it was intentional.. in which case, it's pretty funny. I guess it's kind of in the realm of But I'm a Cheerleader... which I do like.

3. New season of The Office starts Sept. 17 at 9pm. PUUUUMPED!! It starts in real time with Pam four months pregnant!

Submerged

Submerged in the world of people.

Amanda's mom took Amanda, Joanna, and me out for dinner the other day. It was FANTASTIC and I'm pretty sure I could not have been more appreciative (unless I was a native in a third world country... but that, I believe, is implied). Now, I pretty much have money again, and I certainly will... and I don't have anxiety about food TOO much anymore. All of these things I was trying to hide for a bit (relatively unsuccessfully... but still, I didn't reveal, even here, the extent of the situation) because I didn't want to sound like I thought I didn't deserve what happened, and I didn't want to sound like I was begging or whining. It was bad but it was a good bad.

ANYWAY, now that I have money, I don't feel as inhibited about talking about the situation I was in for a couple of weeks. I didn't THINK I was talking about it TOO much, but I guess I must have because after dinner, Amanda's mom offered to buy me groceries!!! Some people are so lovely that I can't handle it at all. I declined because my stomach no longer takes precedence over my guilt, shame, and courtesy... something I can't say was true 10 days ago.

Look at the word vomit. Awful. But... it is MY blog! And I'm not begging anymore... I'm just, apparently, really pleased with myself.

Anyway, I'd gotten up at 8:45am, done my 6.4 miles of moving, and after dinner, at 10:30pm, I was about to kill myself with exhaustion. After so much decadence and flexible consciousness in the summer, my body was like "WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING!?!" So I went home, but unfortunately didn't sleep... until midnight when I HAD to because I still had a LOT of cleaning to do (All my fault, though. Can I stress this enough to not sound like I'm really whining? No? Sorry...)

So I woke up at 2am. I did laundry. Scrubbed down the kitchen and the bathroom and the bedroom. Threw away a shit-ton of stuff. It was intense... and not bad at all. Vanessa was supposed to come back around 6am and I finished everything around 5:30am. SOOOOO to kill some time, I did what I've become accustomed to doing... I assume out of solitude. I read ALOUD from my blog.... which I wouldn't even admit right here... but it's pretty important. Because I ASSUMED that Vanessa would call me when she got there... because what are the other options? She doesn't have a key. That's why had to wait for her.

WEEEELL instead, she came to the window, HEARD ME TALKING TO MYSELF, and shouted for me to come to the door. AT 6AM! HOW EMBARRASSING! My skin doesn't really have blushing capabilities, but I can guarantee if it did, this is when they would be utilized. Just to be clear, I don't really know Vanessa terribly well... at all. She didn't really say anything about it, for which I was very thankful. However, we ended up having a lovely chat for well over an hour, and at some point we were talking about living in the apartment and how there is a level of solitude that gets to be too much. She told me that she would get really lonely, and I told her that I wasn't getting LONELY so much as I started worrying that I was going crazy sometimes. And then I laughed and said "like how you caught me talking to myself at 6am just now!" And she looked and me and laughed and told me that she did hear me talking but she didn't make the connection that I was talking to myself. The weirdness hadn't even occurred to her. So... shot myself in the foot on that one.

That I came back to my south apartment at like... 8am or something, which was really comforting. I bet I'm more comfortable in this apartment than any other place in the world, which is good because I'm here now and sad because... of obvious reasons. Plus it was very cute making the trip to south because I had my plant... and you can't walk down the street with a plant and NOT be cute... in my humble opinion. Also, my plant has grown substantially since it arrived at the west apartment. It seems that the windowsill was optimum for jade-growing. I imagine my plant is sad to be in my south apartment where it has to struggle for survival... and certainly doesn't have the opportunity to thrive. C'est la vie.

Then I finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which was gold! Pure gold!! Honestly, I couldn't recommend it more because it's so good and also it's very short and thus not much of a commitment.

Then Amanda came over bearing GROCERIES!! Because APPARENTLY, without noticing, I DID word-vomit about food too much! What an amazingly generous woman (Amanda's mom... and Amanda, of course)! I think I'm going to write her an email to thank her personally since I didn't see her when Amanda delivered them. She got me a ton of pasta, SAUCE (which I could previously not afford), apples and bananas, frozen chicken, organic peanut butter, two heads of garlic, a loaf of wheat bread, and two boxes of Honey Bunches of Oats. Can you even believe it?! I'm floored by the generosity and kindness some people give me... especially when I did literally nothing to deserve it.

Then we went to get my meal plan (this was yesterday, to clarify). The dining hall starts today... but the GSU never ended... a fact that hadn't occurred to me until I got the meal plan. So basically I had a huge feast. It was AMAZING!! Two feasts in a row!!! I couldn't be more excited!!!!

Then I promptly passed out. There was no other option. And it was lovely.

At some point I put up SOME paintings so I wasn't looking at white walls. I also watched I Love You, Man. It was PRETTY good. I thought it was funny, but it wasn't earth shattering in any way. Plus, they use weird abbreviations and awkward nicknames and stuff a LOT in the whole movie... which was good because it showed the level of awkwardness. BUUUUUT it started to be really painful. Every time it happened, it make me NOT in love with either of them. Not that you're necessarily supposed to fall in love with them... but... I think it would have helped. In summation: I would be more likely, for better or worse, to watch a comedy like that if I was in love with any of the lead characters, and because of a useful technique they used to show awkwardness, I couldn't be in love with them because I felt too strange about the language. That isn't an official review of whether it was good or bad as a movie. It's just how I feel it will be held in my own memory.

This morning I got my stored stuff from storeurdorm. It was VERY prompt. My window of delivery was noon to 2pm and my stuff came at like... 11:59am! Amazing! And they brought the stuff right to my room and everything. Very lovely. And I WOULD give them an excellent review, except that my TV is broken.

!!

I was pretty upset about it, because the screen isn't cracked, but it definitely isn't watchable. I honestly have no idea how it could have happened because the TV was in it's box with the original packing styrofoam. The point is that even if I called storeurdorm, they will only give me $100... which doesn't even pay for half of the TV. BUUUUT miraculously, Elena thought of the warranty. And the manufacturers DO give you a warranty for up to 1 year. And I bought my TV on September 4th!!!! Isn't that LUCKY!!?

I still didn't really believe they were going to fix it, especially since I didn't have the receipt, but it gave me hope. So I called the Best Buy people and they tell me to take it into the store. Although I DIDN'T need a receipt... because of the miracle of computers. I think they got my receipt just from my phone number. If that isn't a miracle, I don't know what is! But I also had the box and all the papers for it. I don't know if that helped, but it certainly didn't hurt.

So I took it into the store and they told me the manufacturers would still handle it and they shipped it out! So... MIRACLE!! I'll still only believe I will finish this business with a fully functioning TV when I see it. I'm not going to get my hopes up. BUUUT so far it's going as well as possible!! Excellent!

So today I'm thankful! I'm thankful for:

1. Food

2. Amanda's mom

3. Best Buy warrantees

4. Elena, for thinking of warrantees

5. Storeurdorm (for everything BUT the TV, obvs)

6. Tempur-pedic mattress pads

7. The Perks of Being a Wallflower

8. My life.

And surely more.