Racism at CU

There's a lot of hoopla going on right now about an editorial that was published in the campus newspaper a week or so ago. It was by a white boy who claimed that all "Asians" hate white people. (I put "Asians" in quotes because what does that really mean? Asian Americans? Actual Asians? If he means literally people who originally lived in Asia-- not children of people who originally lived in Asia, well, there just aren't that many of them in Boulder and I highly doubt that he's talked to more than 4 of them.) Anyways, it rightly got a lot of attention and flack. What I find interesting is that the paper published another editorial right alongside that one from an Asian American student that seems to support the original editorial's opinion, and in my opinion is equally offensive. But this one's getting almost no attention at all!

If you go to this website: http://www.colorado.edu/news/reports/campuspress/chronology.html there's links to the two editorials. All I can think is there must be monkeys running the campus press, because no one in their right mind would publish either of these articles without expecting a lot of backlash. Perhaps they were supposed to be sarcastic and satirical, but in today's world where it was a Korean student that shot up Virginia Tech, this sort of satire is not welcome. There is enough racial tension in the US without poorly-expressed editorials like these fanning the flames.

Oscars Reflections

We had a girls' night last night and watched the Oscars. I got pizzas, Alizzle made sangria, and Amber brought Zoe. It was a great night, with altogether too much snarkiness regarding the celebrities' outfits and too much pizza... at least for me! Some majors points that I got from the evening:

1. Sangria is delicious. Rock on wine and rum!

2. John Travolta dressed like a woman for his last movie Hairspray, and decided to continue the trend by wearing a LOT of makeup to the Oscars.

3. Tilda Swinton wore no makeup to the Oscars. Her coollness level skyrocketed when I found that out. But perhaps she and John Travolta should take a page from the others' book and switch that trend up. John at least would benefit from the lesson.

4. A lot of the ladies went with the classic Hollywood look on Sunday. I thought they looked more beautiful than usual. I hope this trend keeps up.

5. John Stewart is frickin' hilarious. I hope he's the new Billy Crystal and they keep bringing him back.

6. I'm very grateful that the writers' strike is over. I hope they got a good deal out of it, but I'm really happy that they ended before the Oscars. It's such a fun night! Plus, it means that awesome shows like The Office will be starting up again soon!

7. Papa Murphy's may be my favorite pizza in town. Abo's would normally be number 1, but I've been disappointed with them lately. Their pizzas aren't as crispy as I like.

8. I really need to see No Country for Old Men.

The Gods Must be Angry

I played in the uber-crapshoot yesterday, the 10k FPP turbo tourney on PokerStars. 9600 ppl registered, although there was room enough for 12k. The top 4,000 people cashed, so it was a juicy tourney to play, even if it was a turbo. I managed to qualify for it in a 2k FPP 6-man qualifier, and joined the Wolf and Bag for what I predicted to be a wild, but fun ride.

It started off so well. I doubled up early and kept building my stack the way my bludgeoning style does so well. I was especially proud of the hands I didn't get involved in. Sometimes I get so excited about playing that I'll jump into pots I shouldn't... but not this time. I was up to 24k when the average stack was about 8k, and then made what I hoped would be the play of the tourney. Two players ahead of me with average stacks both went all in, and I called on the button with 99. I was wavering on the decision of whether or not to do it, but then Wolf said, "folding here is a fine play, but if you're playing for the final table, picking this pot up would be huge." And I always play for the final table. I called and the others showed A9 and KQ. I somehow managed to dodge all the high cards, and BLAMO! I'm at 42k.

This is when the poker gods got angry.

Apparently that was too much success, because I don't think I won a pot after that. And I was playing good hands. I lost 99 to KQ, KK to JT, AK to QJ, AK to J5, AK to AA, JJ to A4, and I'm sure plenty more that I've stricken from my memory. These were all in pre-flop. The only hand I didn't lose was when I got AK in against AK, and even then I was seriously worried, until the flop came rainbow for the split.

I managed to finish in the 750s for a pretty decent score considering that I put zero dollars into the tourney, but I found no joy in it. I was playing a great game, had a great stack size, and lost it all to an insanely bad run of luck. Even when I was crippled, with a measly 1200 stack when the ANTES were 400 each I got it in with Tc2c against KT. I thought that there'd be a little mercy at the end when the flop came 3 K x with 2 clubs. The turn was 3c and I had a flush to bring me back to 6k (certainly no reason to hope for a comeback, but it would've been a moral victory) but then the river brought the dreaded third tre and I was gonzo.

What's the lesson of this story? I have no idea. If you can find one, you let me know. The best I could come up with was that maybe I'm not meant to have a huge poker score, maybe the gods want me to be a small fish in a big pond. But I'll be damned if I stop trying.

ASOIAF Casting: Part III

Tyrells and Associates:
Mace Tyrell: Bernard Hill (seen in Lord of the Rings)
Loras Tyrell: Shawn Ashmore (seen as Iceman in X-Men)
Margaery Tyrell: Alexis Bledel
Randyll Tarly: Zach Grenier (pictured above)
Queen of Thorns: Gloria Stuart (old lady from The Wedding Singer)

Top 10 No-Thinker Games:

These are games that are good for slacking off at work, or when you just wanna zone out. Other game lists pending.

10. Mahjong
9. Free Cell
8. Solitaire
7. Bounce Out
6. Alchemy
5. Minesweeper
4. Web Sudoku
3. Daily Jigsaw Puzzle – shout out to Dr. Coins for getting me obsessed with this one
2. Spider Solitaire
1. Text Twist

15 Hottest Women

15. Padma from Top Chef

14. Angelina Jolie

13. Crush, the American Gladiator

12. Megan Fox

11. Ana Ivanovic

10. Emmanuelle Chriqui

9. Katherine Heigl

8. Jennifer Aniston

7. Shakira

6. Rachel McAdams

5. Evangeline Lilly

4. Jessica Alba

3. Elisha Cuthbert

2. Eva Green

1. Tricia Helfer

SUPERbowl

There are so many things to say about Sunday's Superbowl, and I've heard many of my own thoughts echoed on ESPN, in Moon's blog, and talking to friends. I won't repeat it again here. What I wanted to add was a quote that came to me while watching the game. It's from Miracle, the movie about the USA hockey team that beat the Soviets in the Lake Placid Olympics. I love that movie because it shows the side of great sports moments that are so often neglected by other sports movies. It shows that it's not just talent but working your ass off that'll get you that far. (I've never seen another movie devote so much of its time to sprints.) And it also shows that sometimes working that much harder, and having team unity can overcome a more talented team. That's a lesson that everyone should know, because-- if you're not Tiger Woods or Roger Federer-- there's always someone more talented than you playing your sport.

"Great moments... are born from great opportunity. And that's what you have here, tonight, boys. That's what you've earned here tonight. One game. If we played 'em ten times, they might win nine. But not this game. Not tonight. Tonight, we skate with them. Tonight, we stay with them. And we shut them down because we can! Tonight, WE are the greatest hockey team in the world. "

Nice job Giants.

ASOIAF Casting: Part II

Now for the "good guys," the Starks. This was my favorite House to pick, although they were also the hardest. I have a very specific idea of what they should look like. However, I think I've been very successful (if I do say so myself).


On a side note, how hot would the real children of Clive Owen and Cate Blanchett be? Wowza!

And I know that Brienne of Tarth isn't a Stark, but she was tied to Catelyn for a while, so I figured I'd just stick her in here.

Starks and Associates:

Ned Stark: Clive Owen
Benjen Stark: Ryan Gosling
Brandon Stark: Christian Bale
Catelyn Stark: Cate Blanchett
Robb Stark: Michael Anganaro (who you might recognize as the young William from Almost Famous )

Sansa Stark: Hayden Panitierre
Arya Stark: Hannah Marks
Bran Stark: Cayden Boyd
Rickon Stark: Spencer Fox
Lyanna Stark: Eva Green
Maester Luwin: Dan Futterman (seen in The Birdcage and A Mighty Heart)
Rodrik Cassel: Donald Sutherland
Roose Bolton: Kevin Spacey



Ramsey Bolton: Topher Grace (picked solely for his creepy resemblance in facial expressions to Kevin Spacey)




Old Nan: Maggie Smith
Hodor: Tyler Mane (seen as Saber Tooth, from X-Men)
Meera Reed: Jena Malone
Jojen Reed: Liam Aiken
Brienne of Tarth: Charlize Theron (think North Country)
Jory: Adam Baldwin (obviously the man has to be in here, and maybe one of the real Baldwins too...)

A Song of Ice and Fire casting (it’s a fantasy series, so this is my fantasy cast): Part I

For those of you that don't know the series A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin, you won't understand this, and I pity you greatly. You should go read the series, and then come back and read this blog. HBO recently bought the rights to the series, and since then everyone's been talking about which big name actor they want to play the major roles. I decided to make my own, rather extensive list. So I've split it into the major Houses/groups and will be posting them over the next several posts. Obviously, I have to start with one of the biggest, most powerful houses in the great land of Westeros, the dreaded Lannisters. Hope you enjoy!

Lannisters and Associates:

Tywin Lannister: Rutger Hauer
Kevan Lannister: Paul Giamatti
Jaime Lannister: Aaron Eckhart
Cersei Lannister: Rachel McAdams
Tyrion Lannister: Tommy Flanagan (with a lot of special effects, of course)
Joffrey: Max Pirkis (Octavian from Rome) Myrcella: Jenna Boyd
Tommen: Chris O’Neil
Bronn: Cillian Murphy
Lancel Lannister: Ben Foster
Shae: Jamie-Lynn Sigler (seen in Sopranos)
Shagga: Vince Vaughn
Conn: Owen Wilson
Timett son of Timett: Ben Stiller
Osney Kettleblack: Liev Schreiber
Osfred Kettleblack: Charlie Sheen
Sandor Clegane: Daniel Craig
Gregor Clegane: Vinnie Jones
Illyn Payne: Daniel Day Lewis
Vargo Hoat: John Malkovich

The Aussie Open!

I have so many fond memories of the Australian Open. Two years ago I was working a 2pm-10pm job, so watching the 1:30am games live was both doable and exciting. There's not usually a lot of good TV on at that time, so it was great to have something to watch. The Australian Open is without question my favorite of the tennis majors because of it's casual atmosphere. It has none of the stodginess of Wimbledon, and fans go to support the players, not just to watch the game. They hoot and cheer, and boo when they don't like someone's attitude. I find myself cheering right along with them, even though I know they can't hear me through the TV.

I haven't been able to watch as much of the Aussie Open lately, now that I have an 8am-5pm job, but what I've seen has been really exciting. At the beginning of the year I'm sure everyone predicted a Federer-Nadal match for the men and Henin-Williams for the women. But none of those names are in the finals. Tsonga's putting on a show reminiscent of Baghdatis' run a couple of years ago, and Djokovic just crushed the mighty Federer. The women's matches have been equally exciting, with Sharapova looking to take it all against the young Ivanovic. As Moon would say, it's the hottest women's tournament ever.

At first, I was wondering what I would be doing this weekend with no football on, but then I remembered tennis finals. Am I more excited about the Superbowl or the Australian Open? I really couldn't say right now. I love cheering on the underdogs, and each weekend has them. I'll be rooting for Ivanovic and the Giants for sure, and maybe Tsonga too. It's been a great year for sports so far. I only hope the rest of the year is as exhilirating!

Coat rack reviews

I found myself yesterday afternoon engrossed in customer reviews on amazon.com regarding coat racks. That coat rack is perfect, but it costs too much. That coat rack’s legs are noted as being unstable, I wonder if wood glue would fix the problem? This coat rack has good reviews but I don’t like the color. I want a coat rack that goes with my new end tables. But maybe in a few years the end tables and coat rack won’t be in the same room anymore, so does it really matter? I couldn’t help but laugh at what a sad and sorry person I’d become.

My life has changed a lot of late, seemingly overnight and inexplicably. I find myself going to bed at a reasonable hour, and being completely exhausted the next day if I don’t. When I drink I’m responsible about it and don’t find myself hugging a toilet all night or waking up to a massive headache. Just enough to get a buzz, thank you, and no more than that. I have a lot of errands to run tomorrow and don’t want to feel fuzzy. I watch the news every morning so that I can be a more informed citizen.

Less than a year ago I could stay up til 3am, wake up at 7 and be fine for the rest of the day. I’d get smashed every weekend and laugh at the stories we’d share for the rest of the week before a new drunken adventure would grab our attention.

A lot of you are probably thinking that these are all good things and why am I complaining? Yeah it’s probably healthier and I’m living a better lifestyle in general, but that’s not the point. When I graduated from college I moved away from home, got a job, paid taxes and did a lot of the regular domestic things: complained about gas prices, did the laundry, went to the bank. But I'd still party til dawn, hang out with friends, eat frozen pizzas around the clock. So I still felt young too.

Before I felt like I was growing up, but now I feel like I’m growing old. Maybe responsibility is a good thing in the long run, but I thought I’d have at least a few more carefree years before I started worrying about wobbly coat racks.

Old Me v. New Me

Whenever I write notes to myself I always use the second person, for example, “call your sister tomorrow and tell her happy birthday.” I used to try and be cutesy and write “I need to call my sister so I can say happy birthday!” but I hated writing it and hated reading it even more. I was indignant that the old me would presume to refer to me in the first person! But why would I hate that? I mean it’s not like I’m writing a letter to someone else; I’m writing it to me. So why would I phrase it like I was someone else?

That set me to wondering if maybe I was writing to someone else. Sure, I’ve got the same body as Future Me, but I’m not the same person that I will be tomorrow. Maybe tonight I’ll finish a puzzle, and that means that Future Me has accomplished more than I have now, and knows more that I do now. And has more memories than I do too. And I don’t think of Past Mes as the same person that I am now. I draw from the experiences the Past Mes have had and I share the same memories, but I don’t think I’m the same person that I once was. High School Me was shy and quiet, tried to keep a low profile, and quite frankly probably knew more academic knowledge than I know now. Today’s Me is much more outspoken, honest, and more experienced, and I like that.

I know this all sounds really dumb and more than a little weird, but I find it comforting. I picture Future Mes who have successful careers and spend fabulous vacations sunbathing in the Caribbean or wine tasting in Italy. I see a Future Me with a rambling country home and a yard full of dogs. I imagine a Future Me going on a book tour with agents and managers that I haven’t met yet. I see a wise and serene Future Me surrounded by grandchildren that I buy presents for that they don’t appreciate. I know that even if I’m not all these things now, someday I could be. I take comfort in knowing that I can change for the better, and hope that I will continue to do so for the rest of my life.

Top 10 Friends Episodes

Making this list turned out to be incredibly difficult, because I love Friends so much. Probably too much, really. But I finally got it down to ten episodes with only four on the honorable mention list. Apologies in advance to all those good episodes that didn’t get mentioned, but believe me, a lot of research went into this post.

Honorable mention:
The one with Princess Consuela (season 10, episode 14)
The one with five steaks and an eggplant (season 2, episode 5)
The one with the giant poking device (season 3, episode 8)
The one with Chandler in a box (season 4, episode 8)


10. The one with the jellyfish (season 4, episode 1)
Noteworthy moment - Ross and Rachel getting into a fight after he admits that he fell asleep reading her letter. Rachel: “Yeah, well it’s not that common, it doesn’t happen to most guys, and it IS a big deal!!”

9. The one where Ross finds out (season 2, episode 7)
Noteworthy moment – has one of the greatest ending scene during the credits, when Chandler bums Monica out by reminding her how much life sucks so that she won’t force him to work out. Only rivaled by the one where Ross pushes a mannequin down a flight of stairs as a practical joke and Rachel thinks it’s him.

8. The one with the holiday armadillo (season 7, episode 10)
Noteworthy moment – The episode ends with Santa, the holiday armadillo, and Superman lighting a menorah. Need I say more?

7. The one with the kips (season 5, episode 5)
Noteworthy moment – Ross is trying to tell Rachel he can’t see her anymore when she gets a letter from her mother telling her that the family dog, Le Poo, died. Rachel: “It’s Le Poo!” Phoebe: “I know it’s Le Poo now, but it’ll get better.”

6. The one with the prom video (season 2, episode 14)
Noteworthy moment - Phoebe: “It's a known fact that lobsters fall in love and mate for life...You know what, you can actually see old lobster couples walking around their tank, holding claws.”

5. The one with Phoebe’s birthday dinner (season 9, episode 5)
Noteworthy moment – Ross describes the fate of his and Rachel’s child when they’re locked out after Rachel’s imagination runs wild with worry: “The pigeon – no, eagle!—flew in and landed on the stove, bursting into flame. The baby seeing this, leaps to the mighty bird’s aid. The eagle, however, misconstrues it as an act of aggression and grabs the baby in its talons! Baby and bird still ablaze are locked in a death grip, swirling around in the whirlpool that fills the apartment.”

4. The one where everybody finds out (season five, episode 14)
Noteworthy moment – What I consider to be Phoebe’s best episode. She’s both clever, conniving, and witty. Phoebe: “They don’t know that we know they know we know.”

3. The one where no one's ready (season 3, episode 2)
Noteworthy moment - The only real-time episode that all happens in Rachel and Monica’s apartment. And so fantastic – includes the scene where Joey wears everything that Chandler owns. Could he BE wearing any more clothes?

2. The one where Ross got high (season 6, episode 9)
Noteworthy moment - The scene where all the friends start yelling, including… Rachel: “I wasn’t supposed to put beef in the trifle!” and Phoebe: “I love Jacques Cousteau!” Also responsible for some of the funniest outtakes in the entire series.

1. The one with the embryos (season 4, episode 12)
Noteworthy moment - Clearly the only non-noteworthy moment in the absolutely excellent episode is anything involving Phoebe’s plotline. But my favorite quote? “Don’t blame the questions!!!”

2007, a year in review

Quick version: 2007 was awesome.

Long version: I think I will always remember 2007 very fondly. It was a HUGE year for me, more than I even realized until it was over. I began 07 in the Bahamas-- not a bad start! I went straight from there to my new job, which I quickly realized was a vast improvement for me, both financially and emotionally. Obviously a lot happened over those 365 days, but here's a quick summary of the highlights: I travelled to France, I went to Hawaii, I went to Florida, and I feel like I travelled somewhere else too, but right now I can't remember. I took a day-long writer's workshop, which motivated me to work even harder on my book and set a deadline to have it done by the end of 2007. I celebrated my 5 year anniversary with my boyfriend. I created my own board game. I had some pretty good scores in poker-- nothing huge, but big enough to keep me happy. Then I ended the year by going to a kickass New Year's Eve party, and yet still woke up in 2008 without a hangover!

Downsides to 2007 - obviously it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, so here's a few of the negatives that happened. 1: I didn't finish my book. This is a big one. It's not really a big deal, but I don't like that I didn't reach a goal that I set for myself. 2: I got sick a lot. I actually got food poisoning twice, and I brought a nasty cold with me into 2008 that I'm not pleased with. Plus I think the holidays were a bit rough on my waistline (Florida food is largely based around frying and grease).

I feel like 2007 was the year that put my life in order. I'm finally starting to see a pattern, have some goals for my life that are more specific than, "don't die young, and have fun until you do."

So, taking all that into account, here are my New Year's resolutions:

1. Finish my book! Ideally sometime very soon, but certainly soon enough that I can have my peers read it and get back to me with ideas.

2. Exercise at least 3 times a week. I bought an elliptical specifically for this purpose and then neglected it for the entire month of December. Not good.

3. Put more citrus in my diet. This is especially important in the winter when it's not easy to come by. I've taken to putting wedges of lemon in my water (my illness had me craving lemons) which both makes the drink tastier, and makes me feel better. This is a habit I want to continue long into the future.

These are small goals, maybe, but I feel like at this point in my life that's all I really need to "have it all." I've got good friends, a loving family, a happy home. I have a good job, and a dream job in the works (fingers crossed). I have my whole future in front of me and it's full of potential, and a past that's full of happy memories. What more can a person really ask for?


Nostrovia!

Top 10 Christmas Songs

10. Grandma Got Run over by a Reindeer
9. Let it Snow!
8. Twelve Days of Christmas
7. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
6. White Christmas
5. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
4. Baby, it’s Cold Outside
3. Do you Hear What I Hear?
2. All I Want for Christmas is You
1. Carol of the Bells

Quote of the Week

Julie: i have friends who just got a norwegian forest cat
me: they're poofy!
Julie: oh i guess she's a mix, so only her tail is poofy
Julie: if they had named her while looking at her from the back they would have called her fluffy-butt
Julie: but as it turns out they didn't. her name is millie.
me: lol

Quote of the Week

"so guess what

I just went to the bathroom...

and while I was washing my hands

I noticed I was wearing 2 watches

my metal one on my left wrist

my digital one on my right"

- Doug, on gchat

A World Drowning in Bureaucracy

Today I overheard my boss talking with my boss’s boss about a co-worker. This co-worker had been given a responsibility, saw a way to make the job more efficient, and adjusted some paperwork accordingly. Basically she rearranged some wording on a form. My boss’s boss found out about it today. “She just can’t be taking initiative like that,” my boss’s boss said in an appalled tone, as though my co-worker had just streaked the office or slapped a student in the face.

Since when did “initiative” become a bad word?

I thought that people who took initiative were supposed to be rewarded, sought-after employees. This co-worker, in my eyes, did nothing wrong. There are about 4 people in the world who actually look at this form, and she consulted every one of them to make sure they were happy with the adjustments. But she didn’t bring it in front of a committee of people who never even glance at this stupid piece of paper, and now she’s in trouble because of it. Why does every change have to have a committee’s support behind it? Isn’t “micromanage” supposed to be the bad word?

This sort of bureaucracy is what’s drowning our society today. Millions of people are employed, however unhappy they may be, to help slow the system down. I’m all for supporting the system, I think that societies need structure, but it’s reaching the point where it feels like we’re trying to prevent improvement, change, EVOLUTION. It’s a natural thing to change, see if things get better and stick with it, or go back to the old way if it got worse. I think my heart belongs to a place like Greenwood. It may not be managed well, but at least everyone supports you when you step up to try and fix the problems, instead of getting told off for it.

We’re taught when we’re little that we can make a difference, we can change the world if we want to! But if we can’t even change our own jobs, one tiny detail of our daily life, how are we supposed to keep believing that? I told a friend yesterday, “You can’t fix the world, but at least you can do something about your little corner of it.” But now I’m starting to doubt that too.

The sort-of top 15….

This isn’t a list of great literary novels of our time. This is a list of books that I really love to read. I know a lot of them aren’t deep, meaningful, symbolic, whatever. I don’t care! They’re entertaining, emotional, suspenseful, and that’s what matters to me. Screw you James Joyce!


Dead last. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks – I read it in Italy. It was left in Italy. I feel bad for Italy.

Second to dead last. Next by Michael Crichton – I warned Moon not to read it, but he did anyways. I’m sure he’ll regret it for the rest of his life.

Third to dead last. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce – seriously, a textbook of a novel. I appreciate the work that went into making this book (probably a billion times more than the Notebook) which is why it’s not dead last. But it hurts me to read it. It’s like reading cardboard. It’s full of unemotional, detached characters who I really couldn’t care less about what happens to them.

12. The Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey – probably doesn’t deserve a place on this list, but I’m giving it one anyways. I don’t recommend that anyone over the age of 14 read these books.

11. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin – a fabulous murder mystery book for kids.

10. The World According to Garp by John Irving – it’s funny, it’s heart-wrenching, it’s bizarre. It’s John Irving at his peak.

9. The Long Walk by Stephen King* - One thing I love about King’s books is he leaves some of them open-ended. You don’t REALLY know what’s going to happen to the characters. For me it makes the story keep going, long after the book is done. You can wonder about what happened next, come up with your own theories, relish it for a bit longer (kind of like garlic).

8. Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie – the definition of suspenseful. I couldn’t sleep until I found out what happened. I always had this weird thought in my head that Agatha Christie was Alfred Hitchcock’s pseudonym for literature

7. The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling – yeah, so they’re children’s books. I still love ‘em!

6. The Stand by Stephen King* - I judge all post-apocalyptic books by this high standard. It’s epic, which in my opinion is the best kind of story you can get.

5. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving – an all-around great, which also gave me a new appreciation for armadillos.

4. Armor by John Steakley* - I can’t come up with a quip that can summarize how I feel about this book. It’s a great stand-alone book.

3. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card* - It’s one of those books that sticks with you, whether you read it once or a hundred times. Truly inventive and insightful.

2. The Redwall series by Brian Jacques – C’mon! It’s Redwall! It’s got mice and badgers at war against rats and weasels and foxes! Brian Jacques may be personally responsible for my love of small woodland critters (except the South Park Christmas critters, those are fucked up).

1. The George RR Martin series, A Song of Ice and Fire* - the series hasn’t even finished yet, but I can’t stop thinking about them… talking about them… reading them over and over. Thankfully there are groups for this sort of lunacy.

* denotes books/series that were recommended by the Wolf. The man picks winners. He should start a club, like Oprah.

Movies these days suck

The Wolf told me he'd take me to a movie, any movie, that I wanted. So I looked at what's in theaters, and decided that I'd rather watch Wheel of Fortune on TV. There's NOTHING out. I mean, it was tough picking between The Game Plan and Resident Evil: Extinction. What has happened to modern cinema? Wolf has mostly given up on American film and has turned to foreign films, which has yielded some pretty quality stuff, but I'm still a cinematic patriot at heart.

I hope that some day US filmmakers will pull their heads out of their asses and realize that what they're doing isn't working. Movies based on books, sequel after sequel, remake after remake-- the world isn't finished with creativity!! Come up with an original idea people!

The few movies I am excited about, sadly ARE a part of that category: The Golden Compass, Elizabeth: the Golden Age, and Sleuth. A couple of other movies have caught my eye: Rendition and American Gangster, but these are mostly based on the fact that I love the actors-- Jake Gyllenhaal and Chwietel Ejiojor respectively-- not so much the plotlines. (Actually, Clive Owen is why I want to see the Elizabeth sequel.)

Hopefully the Christmas season will improve the film landscape, otherwise it's gonna be a looooong winter.


p.s. congrats Moon!