Alas!

Work was thoroughly blah today.
I did pick up the complete plays of Aristophanes today. I need to read "The Frogs" for Intro to Theatre. Did I choose to read "The Frogs" because Sondheim made a musical adaptation of it?


You know me better than I thought, Anonymous. And Bill.

I don't know if I wrote about this but here's two more reviews from Cinema de Nicholas.

"Secret Honor"
-Apparently this was a play before they made it into a film. It features Nixon dictating for an hour and a half. It was really good, and the actor (I forget who it was, he's in a lot of stuff) was really amazing. It's part of Criterion. As good as it was, there is only so much Nixon one person can stand and a feature film of him in a room talking/shouting/crying gets a little boring. Funnily enough the next film in my queue is "Nixon".

"The Darjeeling Limited"
-Have I ever told you how much I love Wes Anderson movies? They always have such a good heart, and TDL is no exception. The film really highlighted the strengths of Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman and Adrian Brody. The short "Hotel Chevalier" was odd, and I felt like it was supremely unnecessary but whatever. Great film. See it.

Movies PArt Deux!

I knew I has something else to say:

#3: Ana and I watched "Eastern Promises." Very good movie. Viggo definitely scored his Oscar nod in that film. Very intense action. Great Russian gangster movie. SPOILER: If your life ambition was to go through life withOUT seeing Viggo Mortensen's junk, you might want to skip this one.

#4: I watched "Sunshine" last night. It was Phen-fucking-omenal. It's like Armageddon+Alien(the thriller aspect, not the extraterrestrial aspect)+Every Good Space Movie Ever Made. It is one of my favorite movies now. I loved it.

I think that's it.
Yea.

Movies!

Ok, so I know it's been awhile AGAIN and that this months posts don't total anywhere near last months, but in my defense I have other things to do so STOP JUDGING ME ANONYMOUS!
Here we go!
#1: Ana and I went to AMC Theatres last Saturday and attended their Oscar day which was all 5 best picture nominees in a row. 12 hours in a theater with 20 minute breaks. It was awesome. Ana could only stay for "Michael Clayton" and "There Will Be Blood" which sucked, but she had a call back and work later so it's understandable. After she left I watched "Atonement", "Juno" and "No Country For Old Men" for the 3rd time. I'll get to the majority of how I felt about each film a little later but they were all great. The projectionist apparently fell asleep during "Atonement" or something, because the aspect ratio was all wonky. Apparently, when a film is sent to theatres it isn't cropped to the screen and the projectionist does that. That being said, in one of the hospital scenes near the middle of the film you could clearly see a dolly track for a good 5 seconds. I thought I imagined it, but I talked to other people there who had seen it.
#2: The Oscars. Oh, The Oscars. First off, kudos to all the nominees and for Jon Stewart for coming up with some awesome stuff (sans writers, I would assume). The night was very nice. It was a very cooshy Oscars in my opinion in that everything that deserved to win, won. I felt "Juno" was a very funny movie with a good heart, but even without seeing the other nominees I assumed she didn't deserve an award among all of those power house actresses. I'm not sure how I felt about Tilda Swinton winning for "Michael Clayton" because I honestly didn't feel that much for her performance. I love that "The Bourne Ultimatum" swept the technical awards. Those kind of awards are for things you don't even notice while seeing the movie until they show clips at the Oscars. I was all, "Best Sound Mixing?" But then they played the clip, and it made it very clear how much of the movie really relied on that. I found it very strange that "The Golden Compass" won best CG. I really thought "Transformers" was a shoe in. I love that "Sweeney Todd" won Best Art Direction. Again, it's the one awards that I really felt it deserved. I loved Johnny Depp, but his performance was just not on par with Daniel Day-Lewis. Best Original Song. Did I want "Once" to win? Yes. Do I have a special place in my heart for "Enchanted"? Absolutely. It was weird that all the songs were from musical movies. It was like watching a gimped Tony's. I love Amy Adams, and she was wonderful in "Enchanted" but she doesn't have the pipes to sing live on stage. It really sounded more like Karaoke than anything else and without the pigeons and cockroaches and whatnot the song loses a lot of it's charm. Kristin Chenoweth was alright. I didn't like her operatic voice in that song, it didn't seem to mix well. And then that guy singing the last song was flat for the last half of it. I hated him. The performance for "Once" really was beautiful and their acceptance/getting kicked off stage/other acceptance speech was adorable.

I think that's it.
Bill, don't be mad at me for anything I said about Ellen Page.

Been A While!

So, I know it's been awhile. It's not that I have not been on the computer, or not had time. It's just that I haven't really felt like writing. That, and there was not much to say.
No More.
First off, and most importantly probably is that Ana and I are an item now. It's nice. Very nice. She's a very nice and very beautiful girl, and I am happy to be with her. She makes me smile..... a lot. Ok, that's enough of that.
Secondly, I watched "Company" tonight on PBS. I recorded it, and got home to catch the tail end of Act I and all of Act II. I have a few things to say:

1) Good God. I love this show.
2) Good God. Raul Esparza is fucking amazing.
3) The last two things are things I already knew, but it was nice to be reminded.
4) I almost cried at the finale. Both at the end of "Being Alive" and the legit last scene.
5) The actress who played Marta was a fucking ham, and I dislike her.
6) I fucking hate the fact that PBS is required to censor a piece of art like this.
"Shit" shouldn't have to be censored.
7) I need to buy the DVD.

V-Day!

Ah, Valentine's Day. So terribly awkward for new relationships.
It was nice today though. I gave Ana a valentine and four vouchers to see a movie with me at the alamo. Also a bar of 87% dark chocolate. I don't know how she can eat the stuff, but she says she likes the darkest kinds of chocolate. She gave me a valentine, which I was not expecting at all but it was really nice and the message inside was extremely cute. I am such a sap for this girl.

If you were wondering, the picture above is from "Friday Night Lights" which I decided to watch today, and haven't watched in about a month. The scene was in a movie theatre and that is ME in the red circle, bitches. I know it's blurry. I know it's only for about five seconds. But it's more network airtime than anyone I personally know has ever gotten so..............BOO-YAH! It feels good. All that time. Probably over 60 hours of filming time this season, and those five, blurry seconds make it all worth it because there are hundreds of others who never get that out of the same amount of work.

News!

The writers strike is OVER!

Hoo-rah!

Good News:

Lost, The Office, 30 Rock. All either coming back for the season, or having a complete season.
Cavemen, Carpoolers. Completely dead! Hoo-ray!

Bad News:

Scrubs might or might not have its final episodes aired. They might just be straight to DVD.
Friday Night Lights returning is looking VERY doubtful. The series always got great reviews, but never got the ratings it needed.

I love the way John Stewart is handling the writers being back.

Girl!

I had class today.
I find myself liking my T.V. Production class more and more every week. It's awesome.
Went over to Ana's apartment today and we watched the majority of the first disc of Arrested Development. It's been awhile since I have seen it, so it was great. Then, after TV Prod I picked her up and we went to Kirby Lane Cafe. Good times all around.
I find myself smiling a lot for seemingly no reason.
I like it. It's been awhile since I have felt butterflies.

I think I may be repeating pictures, but if I don't remember posting it it feels like a new one to me.

Harumph!

Today was shit.
I woke up feeling really crappy and I almost called out, when I realized that I called out LAST sunday and that would not be cool. Work was bleh, and I felt like crap the whole day. On the drive home, I started experiencing acid reflux and now it's full blown heart burn. Ugh. Thankfully I still have some nexium trials left from when I was deathly ill at CCSU. So that will hopefully make things better. Mom should be home at 11-ish.
Hopefully seeing Ana tomorrow because she doesn't have work. I need some good news.

Actually, on that note. The good news note, not the Ana note which, by the way, is going very well. The Writer's Strike is apparently over! They should be back at their desks on Wednesday!
Also, I was wearing my FNL shirt today at work and one of the fucking STARS of the show came in. It was the albino looking guy. I forget his characters name. Kind of embarrassing seeing as how I was wearing a FNL shirt, but we talked for a little bit when I was ringing him out. I told him I'm an extra and I was wondering if he had heard anything about when they are going to start filming again. Pretty nice guy. Pretty nice guy.

Film!

Today was a me day, which I always enjoy. I sat around, cleaned the last bits of the house for when my mom comes home. I also watched "Jarhead" and "The Nines".
"Jarhead" was really good. I don't think it really brought anything new to the genre, but it was nice to see a modern day "Platoon".
"The Nines" was very interesting. Am I the only person who actually likes Ryan Reynolds? If you're a critic, you should check out this movie. A nice little head trip that doesn't end in a terribly depressing way.
My mom is adorable. She just called and we talked for awhile. She brought up the apartment thing and asked what people on Craig's List meant when they said "420 friendly". I was cracking up. THEN she asked over my laughter if it meant "something about being gay". I could not control myself. It was ridiculous.

Damn!

So either the Drafthouse decided not to update their ticket availability until 5. Or, a bunch of losers faster than me got the tickets to the sneak peek of "Semi-Pro". God damn it.
Oh well. Life finds a way.

Hooray!

So all of the sudden I remembered something. Fished around in my car for a bit.
Came out with two AMC gift cards from this summer in CT that my mom had sent me then which i hadn't used.
All in all, $28. So I am going to be paying a grand total of $2 or $3 for 5 Best Picture nominees and free popcorn and soda.
WIN.

Monies!

Concerning the monies........I have pretty much none.
My credit is at it's limit because of the gas from this month and due to text books. So I am MORE than happy that mi madre is coming home sunday to pay all that off.
THEN.
I am going to try my damnedest to get tickets to a sneak preview of "Semi-Pro" at the Drafthouse because (drumroll)........................fucking WILL FERREL is going to BE THERE.
FUCK.
In addition to whatever the ticket price is, everyone in attendance has to be wearing a Florida Tropics team uniform which you can either make or purchase. Apparently they are going to take a group picture of everyone in uniform with Will in a group shot.
Awesome.
THEN.
On the 23rd AMC theatres is having a screening of all 5 of the Best Picture nominees in one day. $30 and you get five movies, unlimited popcorn and soda. Fucking win.

I got my U.S. History II test back. I got 100% on the multiple choice. The essay I got a 5/10 on.
So I got 30/35. So a B. Better than I was expecting so.........eh.

Post! Get it?!

I put up two posters today and I don't know how I feel about them.
One is "There Will Be Blood" which is awesome. It's not the one of Daniel Day-Lewis' face that you see everywhere. It looks almost like a bible, it's really cool.
The other is "Iron Man" which came out of a magazine so it has those perma-creases through it. It's shiny, which is cool but it is made of the same kind of material that bags that hold magazines are made of, so it's kind of............wrinkly? Kinda cool. But kinda ......... wrinkly.
Yea.
They are also kind of crooked, so that does not help.

In other news, they had a montage of fight clips at the end of "The Daily Show" between John Stewart/Stephen Colbert/Conan O'Brian. It was AWESOME.

Jew!

So, today I met Ana before class at this place called Manny Hatten's. It's this legit New York deli, they even get cheesecake shipped daily from Carnegie Deli in NYC. And I ordered LOX!! I felt so Jewish! It was awesome. It tasted alright. Like a huge "Philadelphia roll" sushi, but with bagel instead of rice. I wouldn't eat it all the time, but it is a nice way to get fish into my diet every now and again.
I wasn't sure if I wanted to talk about this, but I am now LOVING the feud going on between Conan O'Brien and John Stewart/Stephen Colbert. Conan came on both programs last night demanding to fight the both of them and it was utter hilarity. John Stewart is such a small man. Anyway, I loved it and I think it is great that late night shows are kind of banding together to get through this (hopefully) last stretch of the writers strike.

Test!

So, I had my first test of the semester in U.S. History II.
It was not terrible. The majority of it was scantron, which I have not done in years and makes me feel like I am back in high school. One essay at the end. I may not like the teacher, but she provides thorough notes and a detailed study guide for each exam. Also, thankfully at ACC the exams are not cumulative so you only get tested on things that you have just learned. I think I got at least a B, which is an awesome feeling for me because I am usually terrible at history and last semester with Bill Cosby really put my confidence in the dumps for academic classes. I feel like this semester is going to go really well.
T.V. Production went well. Talked to Richie for a few seconds. Pretty much the standard, "I'm ok with you now, just don't mess up or I will kill you." big brother stuff. Should not be a problem. Presented my treatment to the class. I call in "Newsworthy". And it is pretty much just a montage of breaking news stories from the century, which will hopefully juxtapose what is considered newsworthy now-a-days to way-back-when. I am already happy with it. It's going to be a challenge to get it all filmed live, but it should be fine.

P.S. - I have had many funny images on this Blog, but I think todays really takes the cake.

Vomitorium!

And no, I don't mean the passageways underneath a stage.
I called in today because I woke up and ran to the bathroom and.......yea.
Work wasn't too happy, but hey, neither am I. Also, I barely work anymore anyway so my paycheck is going to suck a little extra next time. Great.
Mom called last night to check in. She'll be home next Sunday, which I am happy for. Apparently she's bringing Toby which is awesome. I miss my puppy. I awkwardly told her how badly I need to move out. I mean, I am spending around $300 a month on gas alone. That is stupid. Criminally so. Then I told her that I need to expedite getting my new computer because my fucking HP just decided to give up on making the CD-R work. Wonderful.

Let's do a tech recap:
- My Ipod won't sync so I have been burning CD's.
- My computer won't burn CD's so ...... I am fucked pretty much. And it's not that it won't burn CD's. I could get over that. It won't PLAY CD's either. So Samantha at work burned me a copy of Photoshop CS3 and it is worthless because I can't get it installed on the damn computer. ARG!

Today, I did my studying for U.S. History II. We'll see.
I watched "Network" and "Easy Rider". AFI's #64 and #84 respectably.
"Network" was great. Old, but a lot of it's ideas were still really fresh which, honestly, is not a good thing.
"Easy Rider" confused the shit out of me. It felt like a high school kid filmed it. I really liked Jack Nicholson in it, but the rest seemed to be "WERE HIPPIES AND NO ONE UNDERSTANDS US! SMOKE WEED! BUY AND SELL COKE AND THAT'S IT!" Like if "Blow" wasn't interesting.

Point!

Worked today.
Came home and didn't really feel good, So I just laid down and watched "An Inconvenient Truth".
Pretty good. It's pretty much just a really long powerpoint presentation. With a bunch of scenes of how great Al Gore is. It really put him on a pedestal, which I don't really get because the movie is not supposed to be about him but rather the environment. When it focused on the environment, it really shined and had a lot of really eye-opening graphics and photos. Especially the pictures of glaciers decades apart. When it talked about Gore, I was very bored. I know he was robbed of the presidency. I know he's a pretty good guy. I don't care enough about him to watch a whole movie.
Work tomorrow. Blarg.
I have to study for U.S. History II. I have a test monday.
Blarg times two.

Wow!

So...............


Ok, I realize that I start pretty much every entry with "So,", and I am pretty sure I have addressed this concern before but I now realize I don't really care.

So, I went downtown to see "No Country for Old Men" with Ana. She recommended that we pre-purchase the tickets because it is Oscar season, but I told her not to worry because these movies have been out for months and everyone has seen them already. WRONG. Apparently no one gives a shit about good film until some old crotchety men tell them what is good. That is lame. And the movie was sold out. My bad. So we went north to the arboretum and got tickets for a later show at a different theatre. Ana was hungry, so we went to the Cheesecake Factory and it was packed and ridiculous so we left. We then traveled to Amy's Ice cream, got in line and were next when we realized that they didn't take cards and neither of us had any cash. What kind of legitimate business these days does not accept cards? I always get confused when people come into Border's and ask "Is credit ok?" Anyway. We decided to walk and talk for awhile instead and wandered into Barnes and (Sorry "&") Noble and got some stuff at the Starbucks there. I found that we have a lot in common. Almost too much. Not too much, but almost. That's a joke, by the way. But in Starbucks I told her how my new thing was seeing the AFI top 100 films and she said, "What?" And I replied, "Oh, The American Film Institute issues a list of the 100 greatest films of all time." And she opened her purse and pulled that list out. That is awesome. That is determination. So, I had a little nerd-gasm. Not going to lie.

We saw the movie. It was great.
And that was pretty much the end of the night.
I had a great time and I think she did too, so hopefully another movie night is in the near future.
Side note: I have a T.A. in my TV Production class. This guy Richie. Really cool guy and I get along with him fine. Which apparently is a good thing because he is Ana's brother. That could make things awkward, but I'm not planning on it. Anyway, he's a cool guy and I might be seeing more of him.

Feb!

So, this month was supposed to start with real-life Pokemans. But my harddrive likes to just randomly delete jpegs. Which is .......... you know........great. So random pics it is. Like this one from Adult Swim's "Darkplace"!

Yesterday I had theatre class and the auditions for "Much Ado About Nothing". The auditions were kind of meh. I read a scene with some girl for maybe 45 seconds and that was that. So, i dunno. Doing Shakespeare would be a good mix up for me, but if I don't get in I won't be upset. I had time to kill before the audition so I went to the Drafthouse and saw "Teeth".
Yea.
The trailer really confused me, because it was clear what was happening but it was still kind of funny. And that's pretty much the whole movie. A "Such-a-dark-comedy-that-sometimes-its-not-funny-comedy".
Yea.
Good. Amusing. Not really worth seeing in theatres.
I really liked Matt from Nip/Tuck in it though.

Today I watched "Goodfellas".
Fucking great. I understand the whole Scorsese thing now.
Good movie.