Test Post

Hey guys! I got a smartphone recently (HTC myTouch 3G Slide) and I just downloaded the Blogger app. I thought I'd try blogging from my phone, hense the 'test post'.

Giving Up

I've decided (finally) that I can't let this movie-review thing hold me back any longer.

I'm going to be temporarily dropping that project, so that I can focus on other things that I want to blog about.

I'm not giving up on it for good though. I'm only a few reviews from actually finishing the damned thing, and I do plan on finishing it. I'm just going to be blogging about other stuff in the meantime.

What's going to happen is that I'm going to go back to blogging about whatever the hell I feel like, and every once in a while (between now and April 2012) I'll be posting the remainder of my movie reviews.

Still with me after all that? Great!

Can't wait to see ya'll at my next post!

NaNoWriMo 2011

Peppy

Peppy

April 17th, 1997 - November 9th, 2011

Day 18

Oh look! Once again, I'm not dead. I could say that I've been really busy, and that would be true. I'm in my penultimate (don't you love that word?) semester at my University and I'm this close (----) to getting my degree. So things are a bit hectic right now. But really, there's been times that I could have blogged, I just haven't gotten around to it until now. So without further ado ('cause really, you people know the drill by now):

Day 18: Modify


Before I say anything, and I mean anything about this movie, I should warn you that it is GRAPHIC. Extremely graphic. This movie (and the trailer as well) contains scenes where people are being: pierced, tattooed, suspended from hooks, operated on, scarred and burned. Proceed at your own risk. That being said, I really, really loved this movie. It's a documentary about body modification in all of its various forms. From simply putting on your makeup in the morning to going out and having someone shove meat hooks in your back, this movie covers it all. It's a great piece, very thought provoking. It takes on issues like: What exactly is body modification? And what's the difference between modification and mutiliation? While the movie tends to center around individuals who are in the "industry" (piercers, tattoo artists, etc.) it does try to provide a variety of different opinions and view points on the subject matter.
Like I said before, this movie isn't exactly for the squeamish. But all in all, it's worth seeing. Personally, I gave it ★★★★.


If you are interested, please feel free to check out this nifty trailer I dug up for you guys. But please keep in mind that like the movie, the trailer is extremely GRAPHIC, and is certainly NOT for 'all audiences':


P.S. (I always seem to have one of these, don't I?) If you've seen the movie, I'd love to know what you thought of it! Share your thoughts and opinions with me here in the comments if you'd like!


P.P.S. I'm really really really going to try to blog more often. I want to hurry up and finish this movie series so that I can move on to bigger and better things!

Day 17

This is the third day in a row that I'm updating my blog! Are you guys proud of me or what? (Oh, you said 'what'... nice.) Anyway, I'm just trying to get these movie reviews over and done with so that I can blog about some of the things that have been going on in my life, and some of the projects I'm working on. So right now we have...

Day 17: Show Me Love


The original Swedish title of this movie is: Fucking Åmål, which I believe is a reference to the town that the movie takes place in. This isn't quite your typical coming-of-age teen lesbian movie, but it's pretty close. The story centers on two teenage girls, Elin and Agnes, who really have nothing more in common than the fact that they both live in the same town. Agnes doesn't have any friends, but is passionately in love with Elin, who spends her time hanging out with the 'popular' crowd, and generally makes fun of girls like Agnes. The story is cute, and even though you can tell that the film-makers tried really hard not to have things be too predictable, at some points it's unavoidable. I think I would have related to this movie a little bit more if I were closer in age to the main characters. Not that I'm old or anything. But I'm not certainly not 13 anymore.

Over all this movie was very enjoyable and I'm glad that I stumbled across it (on NetFlix, of course). I'm not sure that I'd watch it again, but I liked it enough to give it ★★★.


If you want to see it for yourself, I dug up the trailer for you, and you can check it out right here:


If you've already seen 'Show Me Love' or 'Fucking Åmål' or whatever you'd like to call it, please let me know what you thought of it! You can share your thoughts and feelings and opinions and what-not here in the comments!

Day 16

Hey! I thought I'd try posting another blog entry, seeing as I still have quite a few movies to review and what-not.

Day 16: Buried


First of all, I have to say that this movie is not for everyone. I consider myself to be only mildly claustrophobic, and I was uncomfortable at times. I vaguely recall seeing an ad for this movie one of the very few times I actually went to the theater to see something, but it never really stood out at me as something that I had to see. But then I started this project, and stumbled into the habit of watching Ryan Reynolds movies on Saturday, and I was running out of things to see. I can tell you right now, I am so glad I picked this movie. Ryan Reynolds is literally the only person in this movie who has screen time. He plays Paul Conroy, a contractor working in Iraq who has been kidnapped and buried alive for ransom money. The entire movie takes place in the coffin that he's been buried in, and we get to watch Paul try to figure out how he's going to escape. He's got a lighter, a pen and a cell phone with him in his underground prison. Obviously, I'm not going to tell you what happens, because I don't want to spoil the movie, but let me just tell you that the whole thing blew me away. I'm obviously a big Ryan Reynolds fan (seriously, marry me Ryan?) and it was such a treat to watch him in such an amazing role. Paul is miles away from the type of characters Ryan Reynolds usually plays, and in this case different is good.

I cannot properly express how much I loved this movie. I didn't hesitate to give it ★★★★★, and it deserves every single one of them.


There are a few 'teasers' out there, but I manged to find one of the trailers for you guys to watch, you can say 'thank you' now... Or, I guess you could just check out the trailer:


If you've seen Buried, please please please, tell me what you thought of it here in the comments. Just try not to spoil anything for people who haven't seen it.


P.S. In case you didn't notice, I've added the 'Pages' feature to this blog. That means that you can see all of my April movie reviews on their own separate page, just clink on the link right under the header!

Day 15

Guess who's still alive? if you guessed CarynSKA, you'd be right! I am alive! And I'm blogging again. Sort of. Well, I'm going to do this post at least, and then maybe another, and maybe another. One thing at a time, okay?

Okay, I know it's been a really long time since I last blogged (3 months, 2 weeks and 3 days, but who's counting right?), but I really do want to finish this little movie review series I started. So I'm going to go ahead and jump back into that, and then later on I'll post about what's been going on in my life over the last several months.


Day 15: Ponyo


I remember seeing posters and ads for Ponyo right at the beginning of 2008, and I swore that I was going to see it the minute it came out. Yeah, right. It's nothing against the movie, I always do that. Anyway, I really did want to see this movie, because I am just a very little bit in love with Hayao Miyazaki and all of the wonderful, amazing things that he does. I finally got around to watching Ponyo way back in April, as the halfway mark for my Movie-A-Day project, and I really can't imagine why I waited so long! This movie is super, super cute. (I said super twice, so you know I mean it) The plot centers around a little boy named Sôsuke, and the goldfish he rescues and then names Ponyo. Ponyo doesn't really want to be a goldfish though, she would much rather be a human girl, and as she starts to turn human, she and Sôsuke end up having to save the world. Oh, and did I mention that Ponyo's father is the king of the sea, who doesn't want to see his beloved daughter turn into a human? Yeah, that kind of complicates things a bit.

If you are a fan of Miyazaki's work, then you'll understand what I mean when I say that Ponyo is every bit as cute as My Neighbor Totoro, and every bit as captivating as Spirited Away. I've decided to award this movie ★★★★.


This movie comes highly recommended by yours truly, and if you want to check it out for yourself, here's the trailer:


If you've already seen Ponyo, (or any of Miyazaki's movies, really) I'd love to know what you thought of it! Share your thoughts and opinions here in the comments!

Day 14

I know I didn't post yesterday, but as usual, I was really busy. It's almost passover here, which means that when we're not frantically cleaning every inch or our house, we're cooking everything in sight. Busy busy busy. But never fear, I'm still watching my movies, and I'm still going to blog about them. Like I'm doing right now:


Day 14: Together


Two weeks into the project, and I've seen my first foreign language film. Together is a Swedish movie set in Sweden in the 1970's. The plot centers around the unconventional lives of a group of friends and relatives living together in a commune. I'm not sure how Netflix knew to recommend this movie to me, but I'm glad that the monkey-bots that run the site suggested it. The movie has lots of different elements in it, many of which are favorite for me. It's got GLBT characters, unconventional families, counter-culture and of course comedic misunderstandings. There's a lot going on in the movie, but the main plot centers around the character of Elisabeth, who leaves her abusive husband and brings her kids to live with her brother in his commune, called Together (Tillsammans in Swedish). Once there she meets some very unusual and possibly crazy people, like Anna, her ex-husband Lasse, and his best friend Klas, among others. I normally don't feel the need to provide any warnings for people regarding movies, since I believe that's what ratings are for. But this is a special case. Since this isn't an American movie, it doesn't come with a nice tidy letter rating, so I'm going to go ahead and tell you that it's at least an R rated picture. I say that only because this movie contains male and female nudity of the full frontal variety.

Despite the unexpected nudity, the movie was great. It was funny and interesting to watch. I gave it a solid ★★★.


If you're not too put off by the fact that this movie has subtitles, check out the trailer:




And if you've actually already seen it, I'd really love to know what you thought of it! Share your thoughts and opinions here with me in the comments!

Day 13

It's almost midnight, and I just got back from skating, so I'm freakin' tired. But I need to get myself caught up on these posts, so here I am. Aren't you glad? No? Well you should be. So there! (I know you can't see, but I'm sticking my tongue out at you, because I am apparently very immature) And now I'm rambling. So uh, here we go:


Day 13: Zombieland


What can I say about Zombieland? Can I say that it was really freakin' funny? Can I say that it had lots of undead zombie gore? Can I say that I loved every minute of it? Yes, yes and yes. When I first saw the trailers all I can remember thinking is: A zombie comedy staring Woody Harrelson? Count me in!" And you know what? It was great! In a post apocalyptic world overrun by zombies, you don't need brute strength or mean cunning to survive, all you need are rules. And Columbus has an entire list of them. You follow the rules, you survive. The movie had me laughing almost the entire time, the main characters were brutal but lovable. And the plot was solidly funny. I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes to laugh at their scary movies.

While it's not quite up the standard set by the epic zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland managed to earn itself a solid ★★★. I'd see it again.


And if you want to see some of the undead guts and blood for yourself, check out the trailer:




As always, if you've seen this movie (or any of the others I've been blogging about) please share your thoughts with me here in the comments!

Day 12

Yeah I know, I haven't exactly been sticking to my two updates a day schedule. But I've been really busy, I swear! I've been dealing with school and bills and cleaning and the frickin' holiday (which is quickly approaching) and on top of everything else I've been writing a script. So uh, yeah, busy. But don't worry, I haven't forgotten my project, so:


Day 12: Exit Through the Gift Shop


I thought it was high time I watched a documentary for this little project of mine, and Exit Through the Gift Shop had been sitting in my queue for a looong time. So what is it, you ask? It's about street art, rather it's a documentary about making a documentary about street art. Confused yet? Well, once upon a time there was a gentleman named Thierry Guetta, he liked to film things. A lot of things. He eventually got involved with some prominent street artists and decided to make a documentary about them. In the process he became a street artist himself (under the pseudonym of Mr. Brainwash), and his documentary kind of took on a life of it's own. Still confused? Yeah well, I think it's supposed to be at least a little bit confusing. The movie follows Thierry's explorations into the world of street art and introduces you to some of the biggest names in the businesses, like Invader, Shepard Fairey and the most famous of these underground artists, Banksy.

As strange as it was, I really loved this film. It has a comedic element to it, and obviously there's art, lots and lots of art. I gave it ★★★★, and they were all well deserved.


If you'd like to see some of the madness for yourself, check out this nifty trailer I found for you:




If by some chance you've actually seen this movie, please please please share your thoughts with me! I'd love to know what you guys thought of it!

Day 11

I can't believe it's already Wednesday, the week's not even half way through and I'm already waaay behind in all of the things that I need to get done. This seems to be a chronic problem with me. On the side, I'm almost caught up with these little posts. According to my calculations (I love saying that, it makes me feel smart) on Friday I should be both watching my 15th movie, and putting up my 15th post! Yay. So, let's get to it, shall we:


Day 11: The Kids Are All Right


This is another of those movies that I had been meaning to see for a while now. I saw trailers for it last summer and I remember saying to my boyfriend, "we're going to see that the minute it's in theaters..." Yeah, like that happened. But it was well worth the wait. The story is about the two teenage children of lesbian parents reaching out to their sperm-donor father, and the very unusual family they all make. I've overheard a few people say that this movie was made just to show that gay people can be parents too, and it does that, but it's about a lot more. It's about family, and what exactly makes up a family. It's about parenthood, and relationships, and teenagers and being someone's child. It's about how people who love each other can come together to create something more than they ever could have imagined. But I'm rambling.

I loved this movie enough to give it ★★★★★ (the 4th movie this month to earn all those shiny little stars!).


If you'd like to take a look for yourself, I found the trailer for you:




I'd love to know what you guys thought about the movie if you've seen it. Or even if you haven't seen it. Share your thoughts with me here in the comments, okay? Okay, thanks!

Day 10

I've got a lot of things that I need to get done today. One of them is a second blog post on my movie project, so that I can get myself caught up in the next few days. So lucky you, you get to read two posts in one day. Yeah you do. And here it is:


Day 10: Monsters


This movie provides a slight to the standard creature feature. It's set six years after a space probe carrying alien life forms crash lands in Mexico. The creatures invade Northern Mexico and the United States is desperately trying to keep them out. The story is about a journalist who must accompany a young woman on her journey back in to America. I really really loved this movie. It's about more than just creatures, or aliens, in my opinion at least, it's about the natural order, and learning to live in strange circumstances. There's a lot of subtext to the movie. You really can't watch it and not think about illegal aliens and U.S. immigration policies.

Overall, I thought this was a fantastic movie, I gave it ★★★★.


I don't think my review is really doing this film justice, so please, check out the trailer for yourself:




I had never heard of this movie before I dug it up on Netflix, but if you happened to have seen it, please share your thoughts with me here in the comments!

Day 9

I honestly didn't intend this when I started this little project, but Saturdays seem to be my day to watch Ryan Reynolds movies. I just happened to see one of his movies on my first Saturday and I just happened to watch one this past Saturday as well:


Day 9: Chaos Theory


Watching this movie only reaffirmed my belief that Ryan Reynolds is a phenomenal actor. He can play a wide variety of roles while remaining his adorably charming self. Chaos Theory is about how the smallest details can affect our lives in very big ways. Ryan Reynolds plays Frank Allen who is chronically over-organized. In an attempt to give him a little extra time one morning his wife intends to change the clock to give him 10 extra minutes, but instead makes him 10 minutes late. The movie's about timing, and family, and a little bit of chaos. Netflix classifies it as a 'Romantic Drama' but it definitely has its funny moments.

I would give Chaos Theory ★★★★★, and that's not just because I'm in love with its star. The movie really is phenomenal, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who thinks their life could use a little chaos.


But, if you want to see for yourself, here's the trailer:




As always, please share your thoughts and opinions here with me in the comments! Thank you for reading!

Day 8

Okay, I'm slowly slowly catching up on these posts. I figure that if I can post two today (Monday), two tomorrow (Tuesday), and two on Wednesday, then I should be all caught up on Thursday! Yay for me! So look forward to another post sometime tonight, but for now:


Day 8: Anger Management


I was having a discussion about Adam Sandler with a friend of mine the other day. I was talking about how much I loved his earlier movies like Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison, and she told me that I had to see Anger Management . Well I saw it, and honestly, I was disappointed. Sure it had it's moments, but it was no where near as funny as I was lead to believe it would be. The story is about an ordinary man who has trouble standing up for himself. Because of a mix-up on an airplane he ends up sentenced to anger management training with a real whack job of a therapist. The whole thing is very overdone, and not all that funny. I can't tell if that's because Adam Sandler's not quite as funny as he used to be, or if my sense of humor has matured somewhat since the 90's.

Either way, I would only give Anger Management ★★, and I don't think I'd want to watch it again any time soon.


But if you'd like to judge it for yourself, here's the trailer:




If you liked this movie, or if you thought it was kinda boring like I did, please please please share your thoughts with me in the comments!

Day 7

I'm way behind on these little reviews, so you're probably going to be seeing more than one a day until I can catch myself up. It shouldn't take more than a few days, unless I get lazy again (which is always a possibility with me).


Day 7: Pandorum

  
I'm going to start off by saying that Sci-Fi really isn't my genre of choice. But Netflix seemed to think that I would like this movie, and they were right! Pandorum is set in the future, some unknown time after the year 2174. Basically, we've used up all of the resources on planet Earth, and a small section of the population has been sent off to colonize a new planet called Tanis. The movie begins with two crew members waking up from 'hyper-sleep' to an apparently deserted ship. The entire movie deals with them trying to discover exactly what has gone wrong with their mission. Despite my lack of affection for science fiction, this movie really impressed me. There's action, suspense, a bit of romance and just enough guts and gore to keep me entertained. It's 1 part Sci-Fi epic, 1 part disaster flick, and 1 part psychological thriller.

I gave Pandorum ★★★, and I might even see it again if someone wanted to watch it with me.


If you'd like to check it out for yourself, here's the trailer:




Please share your thoughts and opinions on this movie with me here in the comments! Thanks!

Day 6

Arg! I'm getting really behind. I've just been so busy this month. I've been reading The Human Stain for English and working on physics homework and writing a script on top of it, so you know, busy. (Did I mention that we're on this whole spring cleaning kick around here? Yeah...) Anyway...


Day 6: It's Kind of A Funny Story


First of all, I freakin' loved this movie. I wanted to see it from the time I saw the first trailers for it. While I did love Zach Galifianakis' performance, I saw this movie mostly for Keir Gilchrist (because I am totally obsessed with him in The United States of Tara). The movie's about a young man who can't deal with the stresses of his life and so, accidentally checks himself into a psych ward. The people that he meets there and the experiences that he has help him learn to cope with his life and not stress out so much. The story is heartwarming and hilarious at the same time. It struck me as a very funny, modern day version of Girl, Interrupted.

I gave it ★★★★★ (Like I've said before, I'm a terrible critic, but this movie really is something very special).


If you don't believe me (or even if you do) check out the trailer for yourself:




And if you've already seen it, please please please share your thoughts and opinions with me in the comments!


P.S. Yes, I am fully aware that this movie is based on a book, and I fully intend to read it!

Day 5

I know I'm a little behind with these, but I've been swamped with school, so just stick with me okay? I promise that I'll post about every movie I'm seeing this month. The posts may be late, but rest assured that I am indeed watching a movie every single day. For example:


Day 5: The Comedy of Terrors


I liked this movie. It was recommended to be by a friend after I had gone to see Arsenic and Old Lace at the Redford Theatre . I mentioned that I loved Peter Lorre and she said "You've seen Comedy of Terrors, haven't you?" I had not, but I'm glad I've seen it now! Peter Lorre and Vincent Price star (alongside Boris Karloff) as the owners of a funeral business that's seen better days. So they decide that the best way to pick up some business is to off their clients themselves. As expected, hilarity ensues.

I enjoyed this film a lot, and I give it ★★★


If you'd like to judge for yourself, just check out the trailer:




As always, if you've seen this masterpiece of comedic terror, please share your thoughts with me in the comments!


P.S. If you don't like waiting for my blog posts to find out about how my Movie-A-Day project is going, you can always follow me on Twitter.

Day 4

You might have noticed a few changes around here. I'm messing around with formats and templates and trying to find something that really works for me. I'm still playing with the settings and the html, so you'll probably see a lot more changes soon. But I can't let that get in the way of my super exciting Movie-A-Day project.


Day 4: Barton Fink


This... is a strange movie. But really, what else can you expect from the Coen brothers? I told a friend of mine that I was watching the movie, she asked what it was about, I told her "I'm not really sure yet."
I think it's about stories. The stories that happen to people, the stories that people tell, and the stories that people don't tell. On a very basic level this story is about a playwright from New York who moves to Los Angeles to write scripts for motion pictures. The movie is also about heads, in a strange sort of way. But I don't know if I can say too much about that without giving things away.
I gave Barton Fink ★★★★, but that's probably because I like strange movies.


If you'd like to know if this is your kind of moive, check out the trailer:




And of course, if you've already seen Barton Fink, please please please share your thoughts with me in the comments!

Day 3

So far my movie-a-day project has been going well. I didn't have a lot of time today, so I watched one of the shorter films sitting in my NetFlix queue, an old (and I mean old) black and white horror flick.


Day 3: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari


I have to say, this movie wasn't quite as awesome as I thought it would be. It had been sitting in my queue for a long time, and I suppose that over that time I kind of built the movie up in my mind to be some epic of silent horror. Don't get me wrong, it was a good movie, just not nearly as creepy or chill-inducing as I was expecting. The story is basically about a traveling mystic who terrorizes a small town with the help of an enslaved somnambulist named Cesare. Like I've said, the movie is silent and therefore obviously in black and white. The scenery and backgrounds are done in a very interesting style. The characters are pretty interesting and the story's got a great, and very creepy ending.

Overall, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a ★★★ movie, and a piece of cinematic history well worth watching.


It's an old movie, but I managed to dig up a trailer of sorts that you can check out. It does have some spoilers, so beware:

Day 2

Two posts in one day, aren't you people lucky? Yeah ya are. Anyway, this 'watching a movie every day' thing is turning out to be a lot easier than I thought. See normally, I don't really watch movies all the way through in one sitting. I'm the type of person who will start watching a movie, give up after 10 minutes and come back to it 3 months later just to give up after another 10 minutes.

Yeah.

But by making my movie watching into a project, I feel responsible, I feel obligated to finish the movies in time. And I'm enjoying it! Who knew watching a movie all the way through could be so much fun? (Yeah, I know I'm special)


Day 2: Definitely, Maybe


This is another movie that I've been meaning to see for a really long time. I remember when I first saw the trailers, I told myself that I'd go see it in theaters but uh, that never happened. And so as soon as I got NetFlix, I put it into my DVD queue, along with about 50 other movies. But I'm glad I finally got around to seeing it.

Ryan Reynolds is one of my favorite actors (not just because he's gorgeous, though he is). I think he's very talented, if not a bit predictable. He does always seem to play the same charming characters, but that's something I like about him. He plays the role of a father very well, and some of the scenes with him and his daughter really broke my heart.

Overall I'd give Definitely, Maybe ★★★★ I really loved it, even though it made me cry.


And since I didn't actually tell you anything about the plot of the movie, check out the trailer:




If you've seen this movie, I'd love to know what you thought of it! Please share your thoughts in the comments!

Movie-A-Day

In honor of Script Frenzy I've decided that I'm going to try to watch a different movie every day this month. I thought it'd be a great way to get inspired to write my very own script!


I started my project yesterday, when I had some free time between classes. (I'm so glad I've got access to streaming movies on NetFlix) So, without further ado...


Day 1: The World's Fastest Indian


This movie had been sitting in my NetFlix queue for a looong time. It was recommended to me by a friend over a year ago. I had some time yesterday, so I finally sat down and watched it, and I'm so glad I did.

The movie was heartwarming and inspiring (just what I wanted for this little project) not to mention beautifully put together.

Anthony Hopkins stars as Burt Munro a sweet little old man from New Zealand who dreams of going to America to race his 40+ year old motorcycle at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The movie is about Burt, and his bike, but it's also about his journey and all of the people he meets along the way.

I personally give this movie ★★★★★ (but I'm really a terrible critic, I tend to love everything).


If it sounds interesting, check out the trailer:




And if you've already seen the movie, I'd love to know what you thought of it! Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Arts Magazine

I know I haven't posted anything in a while (quite a while) but I wanted to share this quick post with you all.

On March 9th I submitted a tiny (exactly 150 words) piece of fiction to may school’s student-run ‘Arts’ magazine. This is the first time I’ve submitted any of my writing for any type of publication. Needless to say, I’ve been nervous as hell about the results. I’ve been checking my e-mail obsessively for about a week and a half now waiting to hear back from the editors of the magazine.

I had a piece of my art-work published in my high school’s student-run magazine, but I’m pretty sure that they took every submission that wasn’t highly inappropriate (it didn’t hurt that I submitted my piece for the very first edition, when the ‘editors’ were starved for submissions).

There’s really no point that I’m trying to make here, just a few things I needed to get off my chest. Thanks for listening, and I’ll be sure to let you know when (if) I hear back from the magazine editors!

P.S. If you want to read the piece I submitted, I posted it here: Night

Celebrating Valentine's Day

In case any of you wonderful folks out there were wondering how I spent my Valentine’s Day (and even if you weren’t…) I thought I’d post a quick little note about it.

In case you couldn’t guess, I made pink and red cupcakes to celebrate the holiday (and yes, I consider Valentine’s Day a holiday). I ate them with my boyfriend and then he made me macaroni and cheese for dinner. After which we curled up together and watched Moulin Rouge! I had never seen it before and I loved it. It’s sweet and sad and beautiful and yes, I cried like a baby.

The story is essentially about a young man who comes to Paris to write. He ends up falling in love with a prostitute/can-can dancer while writing a truly Bohemian play and avoiding the attention of a nasty Duke. If you like sappy-romantic-bawl your eyes out type movies, this one comes highly recommended. Or just if you like something a little bit trippy, with lots of loud music.

Valentine's Day

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day! Have some cupcakes!

Flash Fiction

A piece of Flash Fiction I wrote for my Writing Group . 150 words on the theme of Night:


It was just about 5:30. The sun had set and the moon had not yet risen. Nevertheless I could feel the change brewing inside me, its tidal pull too strong to ignore. I did a quick calculation, it was something I had become adept at, eight minutes to go. I began to strip down, shirt, pants, shoes, all put away in my duffel. A number of my favorite shirts had been sacrificed before I came up with that idea. Six minutes now. All the hair on my body was standing on end, perhaps caused by the raw energy now coursing through me. Four minutes. I got down on my hands and knees, scrapping them up a bit on the underbrush. Two minutes. My bones began to ache, preparing to stretch and shrink into new shapes. It was time, the full moon up above me, I howled at it in greeting.

My Semester So Far...

Well, I’m about a week and a half into the Winter Semester, so it seemed like a good time to shoot out a quick blog post. I want to keep ya’ll updated now, don’t I?


Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

English 224: American Lit (MWF 9:20-10:27)
So far, I freakin’ love this class. The readings are interesting, my classmates seem intelligent and my prof is wonderful. He manages to strike a great balance between informative and funny that so many teachers miss. I feel like I’m already learning a lot, but having a good time doing so. There are a lot of assignments (I’ve got an entire google calendar dedicated to them) but nothing seems unfair or unreasonable. The only gripe I have is with the textbook situation, more specifically the stupid bookstore. The text is a custom anthology of American Literature, and isn’t available anywhere but the campus bookstore (again, because it’s custom for this class). The prof informed us that the bookstore ordered plenty of copies, and that they would be priced at about $50, which is a lot, but not unreasonable for a textbook. This was incorrect. The bookstore only ordered about ¾ of the books that we needed, and priced them at $75. Yay. Other than that one tiny little thing, the class is phenomenal, and I look forward to it. Which is good, considering it’s my first class of the day.


PHY 101: Intro to Physics w/o Calc (MWF 12:00-1:07)
So far, physics hasn’t been nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. I don’t do well with math, and I’m not great with science (I know, why am I a bio major again?). So I really wasn’t looking forward to having to take physics. My boyfriend (who is an engineering student and a math and science freak) suggested that I watch some of the physics lectures given over at MIT, which are available online thanks to Open Course Ware (which I will blog about later, I promise). It seemed like a bad idea, if I couldn’t manage calc over at the community college, how would I be able to manage physics at freakin’ MIT? But it worked! The math mostly went over my head, but I understood the concepts, and that’s really been helping me out! To the point where I’m bored in my physics class because I know this stuff already. I’m sitting there on the third day of class saying to myself “Velocity, acceleration, really? This stuff is so easy!” And that my friends, has never happened to me before. I’m actually looking forward to the rest of the semester of physics.


BIO 323: Developmental Biology (MW 3:30-5:17)
What can I say about bio? So far, I’m loving it. I’ve got my awesome binder, my awesome notebook and I even got a really cheap copy of the textbook on Amazon. I’m pretty happy with that. The class is going to be difficult, I’m not kidding myself about that. I learned my lesson from genetics last semester. But at least the material is interesting. From what I can tell, the class is going to be all about the mechanisms governing the development of critters. Be they frogs or chickens or sea urchins or human beings. Which is stuff that I LOVE! One of my favorite books of all time (It’s seriously in my top three) is Mutants by Armand Marie Leroi and it’s really all about the genetics of development. It’s main focus is figuring out how we can learn about the different mechanisms of human development by looking at systems in which that development has gone awry. For example, we can learn about how the long bones of our arms and legs develop by looking at people who have no long bones in their limbs (a condition called phocomelia). See? I told you I loved this stuff. I’ll be honest though, one of the things I’m looking forward to most about this class is the opportunity to read one of my favorite books yet again. But I’m sure the class itself will rock too.


Okay, I guess that’s it for now. I’ll be back later, remind me to tell you all about MIT and Open Course Ware and the wonderful Walter Lewin, okay?

2011

Happy 2011!


At my house we rang in the New Year in style, and by ‘in style’ of course I mean with cupcakes. :o)