December 2008 archive
(8 entries)
December 25, 2008
You've got the teeth of the hydra upon you
I got many exciting Christmas presents this holiday season, but two in particular that I think the readers of this blog might be interested in.
First, I got a package addressed "To: Sarah; From: Kota." Our family usually has little jokes/hints on the gift tags, but this name meant nothing to me, so I was intrigued. I opened up the box and it was the GPS that I'd asked for:
Hooray! I still didn't understand the whole "Kota" thing, though. I lifted up the GPS...
And discovered a plastic triceratops hidden among the GPS accessories.
Then I remembered that Kota was the triceratops my parents had threatened offered to buy me instead of the GPS a month ago. It was nice to see them tie in the whole GPS/triceratops thing.
Then there was a Build-A-Bear Workshop box from Alfie under the tree with my name on it. I was not that enthused, because I'm not a huge stuffed animal fan, but I braced myself and opened the box. Imagine my glee when it turned out to be a stuffed TYRANNOSAURUS REX.
And not just any Tyrannosaurus Rex, but a Tyrannosaurus Rex in a homemade "Feelings are boring. Kissing is awesome" t-shirt, and with a print-out of the related comic.
My very own T-Rex! I have been carrying him around with me all day, and he has been stomping everything in his path.
srah | 2:22 PM
Tags: christmas, dinosaur comics, holidays
December 17, 2008
'It's funny how the colors of the real world only seem really real when you viddy them on the screen.'
It's been over two years since I went on an American Film Institute Top 100-watching kick, but I thought I would check my progress now, since Alfie did. I'm at 81, if my calculations are correct. I think these are the only AFI Top 100 (1998 list) movies that I've seen since my last update:
- Lawrence of Arabia - August 2007
I had seen Lawrence of Arabia, but I wasn't sure if I'd seen it all in one sitting. Now I have, and on the big screen, too! If you have an opportunity, see it on the big screen. - Annie Hall - October 2007
At the beginning of the movie, there's a scene where Woody Allen is complaining about a guy loudly proclaiming his opinions on this, that and everything. Is that supposed to be irony? Because this entire movie is WA loudly proclaiming his opinions on this, that and everything. - The Best Years of Our Lives - January 2008
Very long, but a great character-driven story about the challenges related to coming home from war. - Double Indemnity - March 2008
The banter is so banterlicious. And all the bantering and gazes are hot! I think I put off watching this for years because - although I LOVE Barbara Stanwyck - I couldn't picture Fred "The Egg and I" MacMurray in a hard-boiled noir role. Turns out, he's totally hard-boiled and actually kind of sexy in a weird Fred MacMurray bantering way. - A Clockwork Orange - June 2008
The book is better (isn't that always the case?) but I really liked the 70s-futuristic aesthetic. As I'd predicted, the violence was a bit off-putting (it's a lot easier to 'fast-forward' through it while reading), in particular the violence against women. It seemed like Kubrick wanted as much woman-flesh on screen as possible, so I ended up getting this creepy feeling that they were being raped both by the characters onscreen as well as by the camera. It left me with an antipathy towards young men and a desire to speak in nadsat and reread the book. - Tootsie - September 2008
I couldn't decide whether I'd seen Tootsie all the way through or not, but now I definitely have. Lovely lovely movie! - Apocalypse Now - September 2008
I hate war. I like watching war movies, because I hate war and they get me all riled up.
This movie is very long. I think the music was used very well and the character development was fascinating. But it's still long. - Rocky - December 2008
I don't know how I get it into my head that a movie could possibly be just two hours of punching (or two hours of war, or two hours of gangsters gunning each other down). Turns outallmost (I'm looking at you, Goodfellas) of these AFI genre movies are on the list because they have compelling stories and characters, and are not just aboutawarenesseducationcontrolacceptancepunching.
It would have helped if I'd know the slightest thing about boxing, though, so I wouldn't have been all, "Is it over? Is it over? I guess it's over." The ending was very sudden, but I suppose that paves the way for sequels. Are there sequels? /feigned innocence
Read on for my updated AFI list...
Dream
I dreamt last night that I was on some sort of tour (might have been a study abroad site visit, or just a group tour) in Abu Dhabi with my dad. We went to this museum where there was a big mural on the wall of Gerald Ford, so my dad was talking excitedly to the curator, who was a big fan of President Ford's and also a chronicler of local unsolved mysteries and supernatural phenomena. I don't know where my dad went, but there was a section of the dream where I was in the employee-only area of some restaurant/hotel, running around all the kitchens and back areas.
Then I wanted to go back to my hotel, but I remembered that there were no buses or subways because it was a holiday (it was either Christmas or Easter, and I remember thinking it was stupid that they would stop the buses and subways in Abu Dhabi for a Christian holiday) so I would have to take a cab. A cab came near me so I waved it down, and as it came closer, I saw it was full of people so I assumed it wouldn't pick me up. He waved to me to get in, and I decided it was better to be in a cab - even if he was going to drop all these other people off first - than to be waiting for one. It turned out all the people in the cab were the cab driver's family and they were spending the holiday together by riding around with him. They took me back to their house and the cab driver's brother tried to put the moves on me, and I had to rebuke him and say, "American girls are not all easy!"
December 16, 2008
We have all, at one point or another in our lives, been a Wookiee.
I think one of the reasons Star Wars episodes IV-VI are so appealing is that we have all been (or known someone who is) a whiny teenager, a kind of bitchy "princess", a smart aleck, a know-it-all, or the crazy old man down the street with a secret past.
One of the MANY ways in which Star Wars episodes I-III failed is that I don't identify with someone who's a rebellious slave, or the teenaged ruler of their own country and/or planet¹.
December 11, 2008
I love you, Dr Johnson, and I want to have your babies.
I love Scattergories¹. I rule at Scattergories². I love being given a letter and having to come up with words that start with that letter³.
So the dealio with this meme is:
You leave a comment on this post, and I'll assign you a letter. You write about ten things you love that begin with your assigned letter, and post it at your place. When people comment on your list, you give them a letter, and the chain continues on and on.
Allthewine did N, and gave me the letter B.
- Breakfast. The best meal of the day, any time of the day.
- Borders Books & Music. Because it's based in Ann Arbor. W00t!
- Boeuf bourguignon. I have a recipe for Crock-Pot boeuf bourguignon, but it hasn't gotten around to making itself yet.
- Blogging. It may not seem like I like it, but I do! When I can think of something to write about, I enjoy it!
- Bunnies!
- Brownies.
- Butter. In brownies.
- BACON!
BelchingBlackadder.
Prince George: Got a bit stuck, have you?
Edmund: I'm sorry, sir. It's five hours later, and I've got every word in the English language except 'a' and 'aardvark' still to do. And I'm not very happy with my definition of either of them.
Prince George: Well, don't panic, Blackadder, because I have some rather good news.
Edmund: Oh, what?
Prince George: Well, we didn't take 'no' for an answer, and have, in fact, been working all night. I've done 'B'.
Edmund: Really? And how have you got on?
Prince George: Well, I had a bit of trouble with 'belching', but I think I got it sorted out in the end. (burps) Oh no, there I go again! (laughs)
Edmund: You've been working on that joke for some time, haven't you, sir?
Prince George: Well, yes, I have, as a matter of fact, yes.
Edmund: Since you started...
Prince George: Basically.
Edmund: So, in fact, you haven't done any work at all?
Prince George: Not as such, no.
- "Ink and Incapability"- Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.
¹ Which now that I write it out, looks like some particularly disgusting genre of slasher movie.
² Actually, I don't rule. I don't really win any more than anyone else, which I enjoy because it keeps me competitive. I do rule at Trivial Pursuit, and I object to this new 25th anniversary version of Trivial Pursuit with different question levels, because I think it will handicap Trivial Pursuit geniuses and bring us down to the level of the rest of you proles.
³ My secret Scattergories strategy (which I'm sharing with you with the understanding that if we meet each other and play Scattergories in real life, you will not copy from me and use this answer, thus negating my huge score) is to hope that when a C is rolled, there will be a category on the card in which I can insert Carrie Chapman Catt, and get three points, because she has a lot of Cs and no one besides me (and now you) knows who she is. Suck it, everyone who said "Charlie Chaplin"!
srah | 5:36 PM
Tags: blackadder, food, memes, the office
December 10, 2008
Dreams
I dreamt last night that my family and I were driving north across the Mackinac Bridge (for the uninformed, this is the bridge that connects the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of Michigan) and then next thing I knew, we were taking a ferry into Sydney Harbor in Australia (but I couldn't find the Opera House anywhere because there were too many amusement park rides on the shore). We got off the boat and then we were in Turkey, and we were mad because the airline had lost our bags. Then I realized I had no idea how long this trip was going to be, but I had only brought five day's worth of contacts. We tried to get into a taxi, but he yelled at us and told us to go sit on the sidewalk. We were pondering what to eat when I woke up.
When I fell back asleep, I dreamt that Neal Schweiber, Bill Haverchuck and I were at my parents' house with my parents. I think I was supposed to be Sam Weir, but I also think that I was a girl. We were sitting in the family room around dusk, watching TV, when my dad noticed someone sneaking into our garage and stealing a pair of my pyjamas. So Neal and I went outside and chased the guy down the block (it may have been Alan White, or I may have just assigned this role to Alan when I woke up) and because I kept a steady pace and he just tried to run fast, I caught up with him. He was wearing the pyjamas and I told him to give them back, but he wouldn't, so we fought and I took the pyjamas off him and Neal and I ran away with them, leaving him in his underwear. He chased us for a while, but then gave up. On the way back, Neal kept kissing my forehead and telling me how awesome I was, fighting the guy.
srah | 6:55 AM
Tags: dream, freaks and geeks, travel
December 5, 2008
Dream
I dreamt last night that I told Mr Tumnus I would serve his master, even though I (the dreamer, not the character in the dream) knew that Mr Tumnus's master was Satan. I (the character in the dream, not the dreamer) was pretty stupid.
December 3, 2008
Pippilotta Viktualia Rullgardina Krusmynta Efraimsdotter Långstrump
Just because I am 5'1" and wearing stripey tights and Mary Janes and no makeup and drinking chocolate milk, you automatically jump to the conclusion that I am a child? How dare you?!¹
