Haha I can't count

What a moron...wondering why I got a 9.5 on the grade I look at my blog and whaddya know?!  I only made 27 entries.  Oh well, at least its done!

Crappy ending...

I just finished watching the movie 'Freedom Writers' for an educational psychology class I'm taking.  I wish I had a better review to end this blog with, but sadly, this seems to be it.  Unless you're way into teachers or cheesy movies, don't waste your time with this one.  Teacher Hilary Swank (vomit) walks into a class filled with gangsters on her first day of teaching, gains their respect, saves the world...etc.  Very predictable (although it says its a true story).  I think the only song on this movie's soundtrack was Montell Jordan's 'This is how we do it'...to which Swank gets down with her class...at which I sort of puked in my mouth a little.

So I guess that's it...I know how the world of blogs works now.  Still can't say I'll ever do this again, but the exercise has actually made me more interested in reading other peoples' blogs as a source of info or humor.  I've found some good ones out there that I may not have considered prior to this exercise.   

 That's all!

Two more...for real

Second to last post!  I have NOTHING to say.  I'm tired, there's no milk for my coffee...crabby crabby crabby.  We're watching Its always Sunny in Philadelphia.  Good stuff, but not enough to make my mood better.  :(  I want this semester to end.  

Wicked butt burn

I spent all day yesterday landscaping and now have a horrible strip of sunburn right above my butt.  I guess my shirt was riding up and my pants were falling down...and being bent over working all day super-exposed my poor butt to the Spring rays.  It's sort of hilarious but it also really hurts.  It does give me an excuse to watch movies in my underwear all day!  

Robotech

My boyfriend apparently downloaded a million episodes of his favorite childhood cartoon, 'Robotech.'  Oh I just can't wait... :/

City of God...again

This is truly a great movie...I don't think there's much that can top it. That said, even though I've seen it a handful of times now, it always sort of messes with my head for a few days afterward. We watched it last night and I keep visualizing the scene where the two runts are cornered and the little one is crying his eyes out ("do you want it in the foot or the hand?"). It gives me chills...

On another note, I snagged a leather ottoman from my mom's on Easter... 5 hours alone with it and Zoe (the cat) had it ruined. Stupid cats...she's gone in T minus 15 days and counting! (back to Kevin's parents) Woohoo!

Event Horizon

I generally trust Kevin to pick good movies and make similarly good recommendations, but every once in a while his taste surprises me.  He insisted that the Sci Fi movie 'Event Horizon' was a must see and, although it wasn't bad, I really didn't see what sets it apart from other hyped-up action-adventure films.  Granted, I did fall asleep for a few minutes in the middle of the flick, but I can't imagine I missed much.  Basically, a bunch of astronauts set out to rescue a space shuttle that had disappeared some years back.  Here, it managed to fold the universe in two and make its way onto the other side of the time-space continuum...which happened to be hell.  Not bad for an action flick, but I can't see what makes him like it so much... although, Kevin also watches Celebrity Apprentice...hahahahahahah!  Good thing no one reads this...the secret's out!  Maybe I'll disclose more secrets in these next few blogs!

I thought 24 was the magic number

I realized tonight that I was mistaken...I need to have 28 posts!  I do have a 

new movie to talk about for this one, but I don't know what I'll have to say for myself in the lat 7 posts!  Saw 'Thank You for Smoking' this weekend.  It follows the life of a lobbyist for Big Tobacco who is just 'paying his mortgage.'  There are a few good spins on spin in the  movie that I'd imagine aren't too far from how the how that whole realm of society actually functions.  When the movie ended, I thought, "eh, good flick" but after thinking about it for a few days I think I liked it more than I realized.  

I almost ended up paying for the silly DVD today because the Netflix envelope and our electric bill payment blew off of the little hook under our mailbox.  We've lived here for 6 months now and I still don't understand the mail.  If I put something in the box, the mailman doesn't take it because there is no flag to put up.  I usually end up making a big obnoxious sticky note telling them to take our mail, but Kevin insists that they will take it if it is on the hooks.  I refuse to put the mail there because I think it'll blow away (which it did) but he took the mail down today so it was out of my hands.  So, I definitely win our little 'where does the mail go?' battle, but we still need to figure out how these goofy mailboxes are supposed to work!  Am I missing something?

2 more?

3 more to go...what to say???  I still haven't found my inner blogger but I have gotten in the habit of making little mental notes on the lines of "oh, that's something I could blog about."  I usually forget these mental notes, but the fact that they run through my mind means that I have met my objective...at the beginning of the  blog I hoped to become more conscious of how I waste my time and I guess, in a way, I am.  

No time for movies lately.  I watched the ER finale (I used to be a big fan) and it stunk.  I put PS I love you on our NetFlix que forever ago because I didnt really know what it was...I think I overheard someone talking about it and just stuck it on there.  Kevin didnt really know what it was either so we looked at some reviews that were SO bad that we didn't bother.

I spent Saturday morning before work glued to the local news on the Stanton Heights psychopath because I live like 3 blocks away from the disaster area.  It's amazing how we are so naturally drawn to really f**ked up things....all I wanted to talk about that day was what was going through that kid's head.  I guess it's just human nature to be nosy...

almost...

Thank goodness this semester is almost over!  This past FT weekend kicked my butt but it's all smooth sailing from here...

Back to the movie thing, which was supposed to be this blog's topic... I saw Let the Right One In on Saturday and it definitely gets my seal of approval.  I've always loved a good scary movie but good ones are few and far between anymore.  This Swedish vampire film had a great storyline (based on a novel), amazing cinematography and even better acting.  Subtle tricks of the camera made it so much more tasteful than American - let me throw it in your face 100 times so you definitely notice how much money we spent - movies.  

We finally bought Watchmen (the graphic novel) to read it through before seeing the movie.  About 1/2 way through...i get more excited for the movie with each page...

I'm a landscaper!

So we made it out of Animal Friends sans pet.  We actually sort of ducked out of the place because a pitt bull fight broke out while we were there - people were yelling, blood was flying, yuck!  People REALLY need to quit breeding those dogs...yes, they can be good pets, but anything with that kind of temper is a ticking time bomb.  There was a pug there who apparently couldn't be house trained...it looked so out of place that I couldn't quit giggling.  

Anyway, it's good we didn't get a pet because along with 2 internships, 5 classes and a lazy boyfriend I started another job last week.  So far I absolutely LOVE it!  A 2:00 am buzzed up craigslist search last friday led me to an organic landscaping company...a few emails were exchanged and I am now a landscaper!  I've been busting my ass but it's so great to be outside and I really like who I'm working with....funny how life seems to work out for me.  I feel lucky, but I think i've had enough hard times to deserve a bit of good karma.  Anyway, if you'd like a lovely, safe yard for your family... It's Only Natural Landscaping is where it's at!  Check out their facebook app. or ask me and I'll tell ya all about it!  (not that anyone reads this...except Professor and apparently Patrick too...yeah shout outs!)

Well for some reason that one worked just fine... same size .jpeg and everything! Hmmm...

Anyway, this was by far one of the cutest things I've ever seen.  Some street dude in San Fran. just walked around with his three pets who would assume this adorable position every time he stopped...Yes, that's a RAT on a CAT on a DOG.  On that note, Kevin and I are going to Animal Friends tonight...we are NOT bringing anything home, just looking!  But then again, I think I've said that once before and wound up coming home with two cats...  No, really, though...no pets just yet.

kumquats

Home sweet home, unfortunately.  I think the Chinatown kumquats gave me food poisoning b/c I was a MESS Wednesday...all better now, though.  The cat is sure happy to have us home...she hasn't shut up since we walked in the door.  Siamese are usually pretty 'chatty', but she is over the top!  Here's a picture of the City Lights bookstore...if it'll actually upload this time...why does uploading take forever,  but only sometimes???

Nevermind on that photo...it has been 40 minutes and it's still 'uploading'...probably b/c my computer is a turd

:(

I've literally walked about 25 miles in the last few days!  Chinatown is what I thought it'd be...lots of random junk for sale and people everywhere!  Got to visit City Lights Bookstore and the commercialized 'Beat museum,' while in that area.  I spent the day after the Chinatown trip walking through the Lombard St. area to Fisherman's wharf (where I ate a crab and drank a few Anchor Steams).  After the beers, I thought it'd be a good idea to walk to the Golden Gate bridge.  I didn't see the big section of my map telling me that a half of it wasn't drawn to scale so I walked and walked and walked to get there...and then walked some more to get back.  Probably at least a 15 mile day!  Somehow we lucked out and have a hot-tub in our hotel room so I'm not completely crippled from all this walking... 

Yesterday I made the trek to Haight-Ashbury... on the way I stopped at a farmers market where I ate the best asian pear I've ever had! I really can't quit talking about this fruit... I also filled my pockets with kumquats (sp?) for the journey.  Anyway, I'm going to go find more fruit to take home (am I allowed to do that?)  More later...

San Francisco

What a lovely city, I don't think I'm coming home...

It was nice to take the IT midterm and then take off...thanks for not making it too difficult (yea, i'm talking to you, Professor, since I'm sure you're the only one who reads this!)  I'm about to set off on my first big adventure so I'll definitely have something to talk about when I get back.

On the plane we watched 'The Outsiders' which I really liked, I even shed a tear at the end...can't believe I hadn't seen it before!  Boys' coming of age movie with camaraderie and a super-sad ending, highly recommended.  I just had to look up how to spell camaraderie (who would've guessed that extra 'a'?).  I guess somehow US Air got the contract for our flight at the last minute and can you believe that they no longer give you POWER on a flight?!  Yes, not only did they yank out the movie and radio system, but they probably spent even more money disconnecting the power supplies from the armrests on the seats!  Doesn't a plane generate power anyway?  We also were delayed for an hour once we were already boarded so by the time we were in the air we had pretty much drained the battery in both of our computers.  Needless to say it was a long, crappy flight...

Ok, to Chinatown and the City Lights bookstore...we'll see how this goes...!

Get to gettin'...

I'm a bad blogger... I guess that is a good realization to make now, though.   We watched 'Super-High Me' the other night.  It's (obviously) a similar concept to super-size me, but with pot.  The comedian, Doug Benson, gives up his smokin' ways for a month only to prepare for an all-out smoke binge in the month following that.  It's a pretty stoner-ific idea... "I'm gonna see what happens if I smoke for a month...and make a movie...and people will watch it!!!" And he was right...Anyway, it's not quite serious enough to be a true documentary, but all-in-all he makes a pretty good case for stoners.  He does provide some insight into medical dispensaries, however...(he is in California (where else?!) which I thought was interesting

On the note of stoner-comedians, we ran into Mike Epps (Next Friday etc...) at the Lawrenceville GetGo at like 3am last Friday.  He was asking the worker-ladies to heat up his chicken wings.  I don't think he's from around here, so it was a pretty exciting encounter.

On the note of California...3 days and counting!

On the note of 

blog

Again, I have very little to talk about but really want to keep up on this.  I'm pretty excited to watch episode 4? of Flight of the Conchords tonight, even though I thought last week's episode wasn't as spectacular as the others (though still VERY good!).  

I've been wasting some time on stumbleupon.com this week...it's pretty good for that.  For those who haven't used it, it's sort of like the 'Pandora' of websites...picks what it thinks you will like based on past preferences.  I had to re-download Mozilla to use it though, since the required toolbar won't work on Safari.  

sleepy

I'm posting so I can cross 'blog' off of my to-do list for the week.  I don't have much to talk about, though, because I can't seem to make it through a movie without falling asleep.  Well, I guess I did make it all the way through the original 'National Lampoons' last week.  It got a few laughs out of me, esp "I think you're all f**ed in the head!"

I watched the first half of both Milk and Wall-E before dozing off.  Both of them were amazing, from what I saw, but I guess i'll talk about them more when I actually finish watching them.

Post 11...12 more to go?  

Domo

So I first want to give a shout out to the Professor- Please don't think my complaints about having to blog are personal!  I'm going to try to learn from this - see ---I figured out how to post a picture-(though it was pretty simple)  I just find myself with very little to say to a blank space...but I guess since you are reading these, I'll try to get more creative!

Anywhoo...I figured I'd post my creation of the week.  I actually thought about making a domo birthday cake on my own and then found that there have been numerous people who beat me to the idea.  Ah well!  

Not much media to speak of this week - though I did see the first two episodes of this season's Flight of the Conchords - A+++ !  Genius!  See it!    

2 more

Oh...I meant to add two other reviews earlier this week as I'm really trying to hit my quota so this blogging crap can end (this has become a blog of crappy movie reviews, if you haven't noticed) 

Y tu Mama Tambien (2001?) was excellent.  Two boys exploring adolescence on a road trip with an older woman.  A lot of debauchery added to how very real this film was.  This would have never left the ground in America (I just imagine loads of rioting PTA moms who think that there is NO place for this smut etc.)  As you find out in the end, the woman's unfortunate fate makes her actions throughout the movie retrospectively reasonable.  I though it was a fitting end, but it oddly kept making me think back to watching Happy Go Lucky.  Can't a woman just be a little crazy?  I'm not making sense...

Also this week I finally saw The Big Lebowski...it's a Kevin favorite and I don't think he would have let me go much longer without seeing it.  I loved the stranger cowboy and I'm happy I can now appreciate ALL of the references that i hear ALL OF THE TIME!  Kevin's bday is tomorrow and we're about to open presents...I got him some fantastic Russian vodka and a bottle of Kahlua...we're gonna be Dudes tonight :)

Benjamin Button

Speaking to the title of this blog...I wasted 3 hours this morning watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  It is what it is, as was often repeated in the movie, and what it is is: a drawn out Forrest Gump-ey type tale.  The beginning is cute, Benjamin is this weird looking little old-man-child and he's trying to get a grasp on the meaning of his life.  The movie remains cute through Benjamin's adolescence and then it starts to really drag.  The idea is that he is getting physically younger throughout life, but when he literally turns into a child my last drop of appreciation for the movie was lost.  Growing all the way into infancy is just too unbelievable...the movie should have ended after the India scenes, in my opinion.  

In the beginning I was reminded of Youtube videos of Harlequin babies...I think I will watch them again although they are very disturbing.  Check it out but don't say I didn't warn you.  

To add to my irratability this morning, I got an email 'regretting to inform me' that I didn't get Phish tickets for the Btown show.  What the hell, guys?  Does an address RIGHT NEXT TO THE VENUE mean nothing?  

Another lazy Sunday

The first 2 1/2 hours of my Sunday were spent watching Gomorra, which I'm glad I saw but my review is not as enthusiastic as I had anticipated.  It was a great film, but I generally don't enjoy plots that are all about men and power.  Maybe it's because I'm a girl, although I know of girls that totally dig this stuff, or maybe my schema just isn't deep enough for my interest to really be piqued.  Kevin didn't really understand my apathy either...who knows, maybe I just have bad taste?  

Anyway, we spent a few hours fighting the never-ending battle against cat hair and by the time that was over we were too beat to go anywhere to watch the game.  So, I cheered the Steelers to victory in the comfort of my living room.  Woooo Super Bowl!!   Woooo 4 bottles of wine!  Woooo Ibproufin! 

Happy go Lucky

Watched 'Happy Go Lucky' last night...the acting was amazing!  Overall, it was a great film but I think that Kev & I were both ready for it to end...the quirky British thing can get overwhelming at times.  I would absolutely recommend it to a friend, though.  

I'm reading a lot of teen books for my YA class so I'm not going to go into details for each one...if I come across something notable, I'll mention it!  This may turn out to be more of a movie review blog than anything else though...  

On a musical note, though, I almost forgot to enter the Phish lotto for summer tour tix...I'm not the fan I once was, but a Btown show is not to be missed!  

Religilous

I fell asleep towards the end, but all in all this was an amusing documentary. I appreciate Bill Maher but think that his outspokenness actually hurts his cause sometimes. He gets a little raunchy and degrading and sometimes it makes it hard to respect what he's saying...I think he'd be a dickhead in person too.

slumdog millionaire

Watched Slumdog Millionaire last night...EXCELLENT!  I'm glad that it gave a glimpse of the f*c*ed up begging situation in India.  It's hard to look a disfigured child in the eyes and tell them 'no', but maybe after seeing this movie more people will realize that their 'good deeds' are only perpetuating the problem.

...

Thanks to Kristin for the link to the Twilight blog...is a blog something you can have private conversations in (like Facebook?) or is every conversation posted?  Hmm...guess that's something I should learn.  Anyway, I don't think we're going to be grilled on Twilight details for the class, but I think that it was simply assigned to familiarize us with what teens are into these days.  I actually was really disappointed by the book...I thought there would be some scandal, or at least a deeper story line.  The book's popularity, in my opinion, must have been caused solely by hype.  My 12 year old cousin, Madeline, told me what happened in the last 3 books...it took all of 5 minutes and I could have predicted most of it.

Anyway, my media experience this weekend was much more positive.  Comedian Louie CK is a funny dude...his act had me actually laughing out loud last night, which is a response that is rare for me.  I don't follow comedy much, but next to Mitch Hedberg he may be my new favorite.  I tried to post a link, and I'm curious to see how it shows up on this...

what is the point of this, again?

I have kept a journal for as long as I can remember, and absolutely cringe at the thought of someone reading it. It has nothing to do with any 'dirt' that may be disclosed in its pages, but simply that keeping a journal is one of the few things I do for MYSELF and I would like to keep it that way. That is what bothers me so much about blogs...who am I writing this to? do I want people to read it? if so, that will probably change much of how it is structured...readable english, fun pictures, interesting info etc. But then why wouldn't I just make a webpage? The truth is that I don't really want anyone to look at this...nor do I like the idea of having my presence out there on the megawebernet... Ah well, though, the things we must do in the name of education.

I'm working at the reference desk right now, so technically not wasting any time. When I get home this evening I plan to waste my time doing the following:

1. Finish 'Twilight' - I didn't think I'd enjoy it, and I was right! Again, a class requirement...but, just think of how many potential new friends I will have thanks to my ability to make small talk about teenage vampires!
2. Finish watching Weeds Season 3, disc 2- My girly side will benefit from Mary Louise Parker. She's hot and dresses really great so when I watch the show I'm that much more inspired to actually brush my hair and care about my outfit.

here we go...

I have been racking my brain for a 'topic' for this blog (a course assignment). I do a lot of varied stuff and have a lot of random interests but nothing seemed to be enough to structure a blog around. So, along with some inevitable tangents that will probably sneak in, I am going to use this as a space to sort of review the things that I waste my time on each week. Have you ever had a boss ask you to write down what you have accomplished on the job every half hour? It's really annoying and sort of rude, but the results are really interesting.

I figure that if I am constantly keeping a mental tab on how whatever I'm doing is beneficial to me, then I will naturally waste my time in more productive ways. Right? Yeah, maybe not...

Anyway, I predict that there will be a lot of book/movie/music reviews to come. Other things that I catch myself wasting time on are: playing the keyboard, screwing with the cat, and rearranging furniture.