A Little-Read Blog

Movies of 2011

2011-12-31T22:47:00.001-05:00

Not as many as last year ... but eh, it's not a big deal. Pretty good count overall, I'd say.

In Theaters (in the order of viewing)

Paul
Taxi Driver (re-release)
Source Code
Thor
X-Men: First Class (excellent ensemble superhero team/origin flick)
Super 8
Midnight In Paris (light-hearted, yet serious and very well-done)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (excellent cinematography, but that also goes for Part 1, too)
Captain America (probably the best of the superhero films this year)
Cowboys and Aliens
Drive (one of the best films of the year)
50/50
The Muppets
Crazy Stupid Love (theater grand re-opening; New Year's Eve (ha-ha, coincidence?) wasn't working, so we got a vote and the majority went for Crazy Stupid Love)
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (stellar action flick)
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) (intense, but very well done and up there on the Best Of The Year list)
The Adventures of Tintin (stunning and probably up there, too)

On DVD (in the order of viewing)

Amelie
The Social Network
Vertigo
The Apartment
Bellamy
The Kids Are All Right
Crumb
American Splendor
Last Night
Stage Beauty
The Godfather
The Godfather, Part 2
Children of Men
Fanboys
Bon Cop, Bad Cop
Bridget Jones's Diary
Howl
Pearl Jam 20
Nirvana: Live at the Paramont
Despicable Me

Not counting or tallying re-watches this year, but the few I can think of include Monsters, Inc., Up, and Little Rascals.

Books of 2011

2011-12-31T22:47:00.000-05:00

I know that close to half of these are graphic novels, but I still count them. And I know that I didn't finish three items on the list (as indicated), but two were short story collections that didn't need to be read fully and one was a novel we were told to read up to a certain point in before skimming the rest. The three were for classes. So I read them as I needed to for the class. That's that. And I'm 6 books short of last year's tally, but ... eh. Beat the Nerdfighter Challenge (50 books in a year).

Just Another Judgment Day (Simon R. Green)
Mockingjay (Suzanne Collins)
How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less (Sarah Glidden)
The Passage (Justin Cronin)
A Contract With God (Will Eisner)
Oryx and Crake (Margaret Atwood)
Serenity: Those Left Behind (Joss Whedon)
A Canticle for Leibowitz (Walter M. Miller Jr.)
Doctor Who: Agent Provocateur (Nick Roche)
Doctor Who: Fugitive (Tony Lee)
Doctor Who: Through Time and Space (Tony Lee, et al)
Fun Home (Allison Bechdel)
The Sandman: A Game of You (Vol 5) (Neil Gaiman)
The Sandman: World’s End (Vol 8) (“)
The God of Small Things (Arundhati Roy)
Children of Men (P.D. James)
Buddha (Vol 1) (Osamu Tezuka)
Locke and Key: Welcome to Lovecraft (Vol. 1) (Joe Hill)
The Sandman: The Kindly Ones (Vol 9) (Neil Gaiman)
The Good, The Bad, and The Uncanny (Simon R. Green)
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Man On Earth (Chris Ware)
Sin City: The Hard Goodbye (Vol 1) (Frank Miller)
Earth Abides (George R. Stewart)
The Illustrated Book of Genesis (Robert Crumb)
In The Shadow of No Towers (Art Spiegelman)
The Postman (David Brin)
Maus: A Survivor’s Tale (Vol 1: My Father Bleeds History) (Art Spiegelman)
Maus: A Survivor’s Tale (Vol 2: X) (Art Spiegelman)
The Lover’s Dictionary (David Levithan)
One of Our Thursdays is Missing (Jasper Fforde)
Understanding Comics (Scott McCloud)
How to Survive in a Science Fictional World (Charles Yu)
A Hard Day’s Knight (Simon R. Green)
The Colour of Magic (Terry Pratchett)
The Last Lecture (Randy Pausch)
On a Pale Horse (Piers Anthony)
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Rebecca Skloot)
Powers: Who Killed Retro Girl? (Vol. 1) (Brian Michael Bendis)
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (Ransom Riggs)
Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe)
Pamela (Samuel Richardson) (not fully …)
Selected Tales (Edgar Allan Poe) (not fully …)
Selected Tales and Sketches (Nathaniel Hawthorne) (not fully …)
Batman: Year One (Frank Miller)
The Sorrows of Young Werther (Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe)
The Turn of the Screw (Henry James)
Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity (Hugh MacLeod)
Locke and Key: Head Games Vol. 2 (Joe Hill)
Locke and Key: Crown of Shadows Vol. 3 (Joe Hill)
Batman: Cacophony (Kevin Smith)
Batman: The Widening Gyre (Kevin Smith)
The Night Eternal (Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan)
The Old English Baron (Clara Reeve)
A Game of Thrones (George R.R. Martin)
Doctor Who: A Fairytale Life (Matt Sturgis)
Locke and Key: Keys to the Kingdom Vol. 4 (Joe Hill)
God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian (Kurt Vonnegut)

Absence

2011-12-19T12:57:00.000-05:00

Hello readers! It's ... um ... been a while?
In the time that I've not been posting here, I saw Danielle twice, got a Tumblr, worked at the local day camp that I worked at last year for the summer, and started and finished my second-to-last semester of college. I've been doing some reading and some film viewing, but not as much as I would've hoped for. Let's take a look at the Summer Goals post to evaluate.

1) Read

This is so simple it goes without saying. I have a stack of eleven books from the library to get through, four of them being "new" books. I aim to get through all of them, including the three I have on reserve that are slowly making their way towards me. Additionally, I have a reading list (eighteen books long, including works like Moby Dick, Robinson Crusoe, and Sorrows of Young Werther) for two of my upcoming fall courses that I want to try to partially work my way through to get a head start on the course material. And perhaps one or two other books that I've been meaning to get to for a while. In other words, who is probably going to have close to 70 books read by the end of the year?
Additionally, I've had a Harry Potter re-read on the horizon for a while and this seems like an appropriate summer to do so, especially because I've talked about the idea with Danielle. And the re-read won't be a part of my book count for the year. I only count new books.

I'm to 51 books for the year, namely because I wasn't quite able to keep up with some readings for classes ... like Moby Dick. But that shall be finished ... most likely over the break. Long story short, I was slowing down with the readings, taking notes in the margins ... and things kept building up a bit, but I had the class discussions and Wikipedia and Sparknotes to keep me more or less abreast of things.
The Potter re-read? Yeeeeah ... books 1 and 2 were checks ... and then we jumped ahead to book 7, but I didn't finish the re-read of that. XD

2) Watch
Dexter: During the second spring break period my college had, I picked up season 1 of Dexter from the library, having read three of the five novels and always wanting to watch the show, but not being able to since we didn't get Showtime. I marathoned the season over a few days and immediately wanted more. I proceeded to check out seasons 2 and 4, watching the second season over the last week-ish, but waiting on season 4 until I could get my hands on season 3. After season 4, I aim to either wait until season 5 is on DVD, or I'll ask the glorious Internets for assistance.
Doctor Who: Believe it or not, I haven't seen all of Doctor Who. ... I mean New Who. I do aim to watch what I can of it and I've said it numerous times, but I have a friend with ALL of Classic Who, so yeah ... there's that. But back to New Who. I have most of series 1 to finish watching (5 to 7 episodes) and a smidge of series 2 to finish (2 to 3 episodes). And I'm so going to. Finally.
Movies: A bunch of classics and new films, like The Graduate, Apocalypse Now, and Transsiberian, among others. And perhaps some re-watches, too, like Dr. Strangelove, The Usual Suspects, and Fight Club.

Okay ... well ... I got through season 3 of Dexter and I've now got seasons 4 and 5 on my external. As for Doctor Who, that's a check! But as for the re-watches and other DVD viewings ... that's a no. Well, I did see Bon Cop, Bad Cop, Bridget Jones's Diary, and Howl ... and Sorcerer's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, and one or two other movies. But as for in-theater viewings since then, there's been X-Men: First Class, Super 8, Midnight In Paris, Deathly Hallows, Part 2, Captain America, Cowboys and Aliens, Drive, 50/50, The Muppets, Crazy, Stupid, Love, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

3) Reorganize

Bookshelf: I seriously want more space on my bookshelf for books from college and other such things. I mean, to start, I can clean out or move my collection of Rolling Stone backissues ... and do something about all those photo albums and chachkas ...
Wall: My wall is a jumble of postcards, ticket stubs, posters, and other miscellaneous items from the last year or two. I have a bunch more posters and things I want up there, but to do that, there needs to be some reorganization. We'll see how things fare.
Notes: I've been wanting to do this for a while: type up my class notes. Why? So I don't have to worry about carrying around notes for a previous class in a spiral notebook. And to save paper and whatnot. Shouldn't take too long with my typing skills ... hopefully.

Well ... could've had more progress there. Got through some of the magazines. Didn't really reorganize the wall, but I moved King Tut to behind the computer desk and put Scott Pilgrim in the center over my bed. And I got a good deal of my class notes from last semester typed up.
***
Otherwise ... I went to a Maureen Johnson Q&A and saw Paul McCartney at Yankee Stadium over the summer and both were excellent! ^_^ And I caught Andrew Bird in October. Incredible! And Robbers on High Street in October, too!
A good amount of the later half of the year is documented on Dailybooth, so take a peek there. And Tumblr, too.
Back next week with the book and movie lists of the year!

Summer Goals

2011-05-26T10:36:00.000-04:00

I feel that I haven't done one of these in a while and that I should so I have something to refer back to when I ask myself what I've actually accomplished over the summer.

1) Read

This is so simple it goes without saying. I have a stack of eleven books from the library to get through, four of them being "new" books. I aim to get through all of them, including the three I have on reserve that are slowly making their way towards me. Additionally, I have a reading list (eighteen books long, including works like Moby Dick, Robinson Crusoe, and Sorrows of Young Werther) for two of my upcoming fall courses that I want to try to partially work my way through to get a head start on the course material. And perhaps one or two other books that I've been meaning to get to for a while. In other words, who is probably going to have close to 70 books read by the end of the year?
Additionally, I've had a Harry Potter re-read on the horizon for a while and this seems like an appropriate summer to do so, especially because I've talked about the idea with Danielle. And the re-read won't be a part of my book count for the year. I only count new books.

2) Watch

Dexter: During the second spring break period my college had, I picked up season 1 of Dexter from the library, having read three of the five novels and always wanting to watch the show, but not being able to since we didn't get Showtime. I marathoned the season over a few days and immediately wanted more. I proceeded to check out seasons 2 and 4, watching the second season over the last week-ish, but waiting on season 4 until I could get my hands on season 3. After season 4, I aim to either wait until season 5 is on DVD, or I'll ask the glorious Internets for assistance.
Doctor Who: Believe it or not, I haven't seen all of Doctor Who. ... I mean New Who. I do aim to watch what I can of it and I've said it numerous times, but I have a friend with ALL of Classic Who, so yeah ... there's that. But back to New Who. I have most of series 1 to finish watching (5 to 7 episodes) and a smidge of series 2 to finish (2 to 3 episodes). And I'm so going to. Finally.
Movies: A bunch of classics and new films, like The Graduate, Apocalypse Now, and Transsiberian, among others. And perhaps some re-watches, too, like Dr. Strangelove, The Usual Suspects, and Fight Club.

3) Reorganize

Bookshelf: I seriously want more space on my bookshelf for books from college and other such things. I mean, to start, I can clean out or move my collection of Rolling Stone backissues ... and do something about all those photo albums and chachkas ...
Wall: My wall is a jumble of postcards, ticket stubs, posters, and other miscellaneous items from the last year or two. I have a bunch more posters and things I want up there, but to do that, there needs to be some reorganization. We'll see how things fare.
Notes: I've been wanting to do this for a while: type up my class notes. Why? So I don't have to worry about carrying around notes for a previous class in a spiral notebook. And to save paper and whatnot. Shouldn't take too long with my typing skills ... hopefully.

I'm sure there's more stuff to hit on, but those are the main categories I hope to work on over the summer, giving me something to do. I'll check back on these at the end of the summer.

Until next post. Allons-y, Alonso!

It's Been About a Month ...

2011-05-11T16:43:00.000-04:00

*coughcoughcough* So ... *shuffles around and dusts off keyboard* It's been a while ... I have a few reasons ... first, being the second spring break. I didn't do much work and indulged in some pleasure reading. When I came back from break, I was playing catch-up, mostly with Earth Abides for my Apocalyptic Lit class. The book was ... okay. It was slow ... and I wasn't really liking the narration style. The main character, Ish, thought to himself most of the time, he rushes into a relationship with an African American woman after the apocalypse, no moves are really made to try and restore civilization to a pre-apocalyptic way of life ... and he overpraises his bright son who dies of typhoid fever. Okay read, a bit over-hyped by the professor.
Apart from that, I was finishing up Vlog/Video Every Day in April and doing my best to keep up with the rest of my coursework, the remainder of my internship, and other goings-on on campus. And those things have taken time away from my internet social activities, like blogging and vlogging and such. I mean, Twitter and Dailybooth are relatively easy to keep up with, but I wanted to hold off on the time-intensive activities until I had time ... and that time is nearing.
The semester is almost at an end, thankfully. I handed in a roughly 8-pager yesterday and I'm finishing off 2 4-to-5 pagers for tomorrow, followed by a final tomorrow night, followed by station business, and one on Tuesday night, followed by ice cream with friends. And packing. Lots and lots of packing. Well, maybe minus one of those "lots", thanks to the fact that my parents took back about half of my stuff when they stopped in for lunch the weekend after the second break. Most of this round of packing is sheets and mattress-related materials, so they'll take up the most space.
*cracks knuckles* Well, I'd best better be getting back to the writing ... post-food, of course. See you all in a few days ... with a few more comics, hopefully. Not too much drawing improvement, but ... meh.

Until next time! Allons-y, Alonso!

Self-Portrait (4/13/11)

2011-04-14T23:11:00.000-04:00

Beautiful Monday (4/11/11)

2011-04-14T23:10:00.005-04:00

Lazy Sunday (4/10/11)

2011-04-14T23:10:00.004-04:00

Pillowman and BUMP (4/9/11)

2011-04-14T23:10:00.003-04:00

Friday Highlights (4/8/11)

2011-04-14T23:09:00.001-04:00

Boring Thursday (4/7/11)

2011-04-14T23:03:00.000-04:00

Inspired by 'Emitown'

2011-04-06T21:47:00.000-04:00

I decided to take a little leaf out of Emitown when I picked up a black flare pen and a piece of paper I had laying around. This is the result. I may continue this. I mean, I did pick up 3 80-page Moleskine journals ...

Also, I just wanted to thank everyone once again who read and commented on the last post about Neil's opinion on getting people into Doctor Who. It seriously made my Tuesday, if not my week.

On Neil and Doctor Who

2011-04-04T20:06:00.000-04:00

I've been watching the Doctor Who panel from Wondercon this past weekend (so jealous of everyone there ... mostly 'cause Neil Gaiman and Mark Sheppard were on the panel and there were cool promotional shirts ... and the spoiler-y stuff). Neil retweeted a link to it on Twitter earlier and I've been watching on and off over the last hour or so ... when I should be doing readings and a bit of writing for tomorrow. But who cares, right? It's Doctor Who!
Anyways, about 16 and a half minutes into the video (probably 20 or so minutes into the panel), Neil said something so true about the show in regards to whether or not people have to know about the 47 years of Doctor Who mythology.

No, look, there's a blue box. It's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. It can go anywhere in time and space and sometimes even where it's meant to go. And when it turns up, there's a bloke in it called The Doctor and there will be stuff wrong and he will do his best to sort it out and he will probably succeed 'cause he's awesome. Now sit down, shut up, and watch 'Blink'.

That's all I wanted to share. :) If you wish to watch it, it's linked here.

Until next time! Allons-y, Alonso!

On Teachers, Health, Tape, and Other

2011-03-27T19:36:00.000-04:00

Yes, I know I haven't posted in roughly three and a half weeks, but I have my reasons ... the first being midterms, followed closely by PAX East (I made a video about it), pre-Spring Break work, and lastly, Spring Break (well, one of two ... but that's a story for another time). I have a few things I feel are worthy of mentioning on this blog that have happened recently, so we'll proceed in chronological order, starting with returning to my high school alma mater.

Teachers
I returned to my old high school yesterday to see the spring musical. They had the privilege of putting on a production of The Phantom of the Opera. The performance was excellent, despite the production being high school level. There was an actual chandelier that was "crashed", they had a boat that worked (for the most part ... I mean, it was moving thanks to the stripped down electrical wiring of a wheelchair), and the three leads sounded fantastic! I caught up a bit with two teachers during intermission and a bit after the show was over. The first was my band teacher, who I had seen here and there since graduating. He's a rather cool guy and I can't believe how old his oldest son is now. The second was my 12th grade AP English teacher. She was overjoyed to hear I'm majoring in English and we talked about where I might go with the major for a bit. I shall have to return to visit both on my next break.

Health
I'm close to getting over whatever it is I got after PAX East and it's been almost 2 weeks since I showed symptoms and went in to Health Services. *sigh* All the doctors I've seen (three at Health Services, one pediatrician I've seen for years, and my uncle via phone) have said it's viral and I should get rest and eat healthy and gargle salt water and drink tea and such ... and I have been, but the symptoms have been going away slowly. My mom is convinced it's mono, but there's been no fever and no soreness in my abdomen ... the headache's gone, and so has most of the tenderness under my chin, along with my sore throat. *double sigh* I'm on bed/apartment rest, apart from classes and things I need to be at (my internship, my radio show, the Relay this weekend (again, depending on whether or not I'm feeling 100%, but I should be by Saturday)). But I can manage. I think I'm close to kicking whatever it is to the curb.

Tape
While waiting on an unusually long End-of-Spring-Break line (truthfully, a lot of the line was people seeing their children off) for a bus back to college, I started up a short conversation with the father of the girl ahead of me. He was talking about movies and spoilers (but not mentioning stuff like "Oh, Snape killed Dumbledore"), like Reservoir Dogs, The Sixth Sense, and The Usual Suspects. I commented on the Tarantino and Singer flicks, and he proceeded to mention Taxi Driver, which I had seen recently, so I mentioned my thoughts on it (Good 3-star film, but Bickle is hard to identify with. And also how the media can glorify those who don't fit the category of "hero".). While we were slowly filing up the line, we passed tape from a cassette strewn on the ground. We both noticed it and he commented on it to his daughter. I, meanwhile, thought of how we throw aside a trusty form of entertainment for the next hot thing on the market.

By the by, I created a side project of sorts where I post little anecdotes about the little things in life, like helping out a family member who you don't particularly get along with or being thanked by a class of 3rd or 4th graders for holding a door (speaking of those two, I should toss that post up on the site soon ...). Give it a look if you like.

Until next post! Allons-y, Alonso!

Dream Journal #7: Zooey and the Food Court

2011-03-03T09:59:00.000-05:00

Oddly enough, I had two dreams last night that somehow flowed together ... well? Decently? I dunno, but they flowed as dreams do.

#1
I was in one of my high school science classrooms and Zooey Deschanel was at the front of the classroom, either with the teacher ... or she was the teacher. The class was working on a lab and we all asked her if she could sing for us. With some coaxing, she started singing 'Sing'. Coincidentally, 'Sing' was on my iPod queue this morning when it was trying to wake me up. Anyways, Zooey finished singing and the class dismissed. On my way out, I asked two classmates what the homework assignment was, just for clarification.

#2
I was looking at the pre-prepared sandwiches and such in the food court and I noticed that the position of the soup pots was different, two on either side of the sandwich carrel. Courtney, one of the other interns at my internship, came up and started ladling soup (chicken noodle, I believe it was) out of one of the pots. It wasn't looking like chicken soup, as there were black beans in it. It might've been mislabeled, but she was looking a little disgusted to start. I believe I went over to another soup pot and got myself some soup and went off on my merry way.

Until next dream!

Live-Blogging the 2011 Oscars

2011-02-27T23:31:00.001-05:00

Let's get the show on the road a little early, shall we?
***
Pre-show
7:54 PM- I'm watching the ending of the Red Carpet stuff. Robert Downey Jr. and his wife are on now. They're adorable!
8:01 PM- Waitwait, half an hour until the awards start?! C'mon!
***
The show
8:30 PM- Ooooooh, awesome opening montage! And excellent song choice!
8:31 PM- Eeeeee! ^_^ I love this! Franco and Hathaway in Inception, The Social Network, The Fighter, True Grit ... MORGAN FREEMAN! :D ... The King's Speech, Black Swan ... Alec Baldwin! "Inceptioned!" ... BACKTOTHEFUTURE! :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
8:37 PM- Where was the DeLoreon?! XD
8:40 PM- And we're thanking the moms ...
8:41 PM- "Where's the dad?" XD
8:42 PM- First award! Presenting: Tom Hanks! And it's for Art Direction.
8:43 PM- The girls across the hall just squeed about Titanic.
8:44 PM- Art Direction goes to Alice in Wonderland! 1 for 1
8:47 PM- Cinematography ... and it goes to Inception! Congrats to Wally! 1 for 2
8:49 PM- Commercial
8:51 PM- Kirk Douglas?! Wow ... *applause* 95 this December ... presenting for Supporting Actress, huh?
8:55 PM- Eeee! Adorable!
8:57 PM- Congrats to Marissa Leo! 1 for 3
8:59 PM- And Melissa got bleeped. XD
9:00 PM- Nearly cried, maybe?
9:01 PM- Let's see if Justin tries to hit on Mila. XD And no, Justin, you aren't Banksy. And Justin and Mila are presenting Best Animated Short.
9:02 PM- And he whips out his iPod/iPhone. XP
9:03 PM- And ... The Lost Thing. 1 for 4
9:05 PM- Best Animated Feature!
9:06 PM- TOYSTORY3! :D 2 for 5
9:08 PM- Commercial
9:12 PM- And we're back! Anne Hathaway is taking about the history of the Oscars!
9:13 PM- Oooh, Brolin and Bardem in matching suits! ^_^ And they're presenting Best Adapted Screenplay!
9:14 PM- Sorkin wins! :D 3 for 6
9:16 PM- And here goes Original Screenplay ... God, I love Javier's tone!
9:18 PM- And ... The King's Speech it is! 3 for 7
9:20 PM- And another commercial
9:23 PM- Anne Hathaway in a suit! ^_^ Song and dance number?
9:24 PM- Cut to embarrassed Hugh! XD
9:25 PM- That's ... that's ... XD And a Charlie Sheen joke!
9:26 PM- Will Russell hit on Helen? I hope not! ... Oh dear. XD
9:27 PM- In a Better World ... 3 for 8
9:29 PM- And Reese is presenting Supporting Actor!
9:32 PM- Aaand ... Christian Bale! 4 for 9
9:35 PM- Commercial time
9:39 PM- And the Oscars will still air on ABC until the world ends ... or past that. XD
9:40 PM- Ze Aussies are coming, ze Aussies are coming! XD Ze are presenting Sound Editing! And probably Sound Mixing, too. And Score, I would guess. Classic John Williams medley! :D
9:42 PM- Okay, Best Score it is.
9:43 PM- Oh, well ... I'm still very pleased that Trent and Atticus won. 4 for 10
9:45 PM- And here's ScarJo ... and Matthew who slurs a bit ... I think. XD Presenting Sound Mixing and Editing, I guess.
9:47 PM- INCEPTION! Sound Mixing! Alright! 5 for 11
9:48 PM- "Chris is the architect ..." ... Wait ... so who is in control of the dream? XD And now it's Sound Editing.
9:49 PM- And it's Inception ... 5 for 12
9:50 PM- And we're back to the commercials
9:54 PM- Tomei presenting ... the Science and Tech stuff.
9:55 PM- Here we go to Cate Blanchett, presenting for Makeup!
9:56 PM- Rick Baker wins! 5 for 13
9:58 PM- And here we go to Costume Design.
9:59 PM- Another win for Alice? XD 6 for 14
10:01 PM- Well, hello, Mister President! Nice to see you poking into the Oscars! And here's Kevin Spacey!
10:02 PM- For Best Song ... we start with Randy Newman for Toy Story 3.
10:05 PM- Mandy Moore ... and Zach Levi! :D
10:07 PM- And a commercial break partway through the Best Song part? XP
10:11 PM- Jake! Quite making James jealous! But you're presenting Best Documentary Short with Amy Adams! :)
10:13 PM- Congrats to Strangers No More. 6 for 15
10:14 PM- And to Best Live-Action Short!
10:15 PM- And I got it wrong. XP 6 for 16
10:17 PM- Remixing and Auto-tuning .. did they get the Gregory Brothers or Mike Relm for this? XD
10:19 PM- Oprah ... what're you doing presenting at the Oscars? XD But you're presenting Best Documentary.
10:21 PM- And another one for my brother XD 6 for 17
10:23 PM- And another commercial?! Geez!
10:26 PM- Oh, Billy ... you've put on some weight ...
10:29 PM- Oooooh, the first televised Oscars!
10:30 PM- Yeah ... a talking Bob Hope is a little unnerving ... but hey, it's Jude and Robert! :D I love the bromance.
10:33 PM- INCEPTION! :D YES! 7 for 18
10:34 PM- And to Film Editing we go!
10:35 PM- Congrats to The Social Network! And it's another I lost. XD 7 for 19
10:36 PM- I hope I will break into the double digits tonight. XD I won't get them all right.
10:37 PM- And another commercial XP
10:41 PM- Mkay, James, innuendos? Really? XP But at least the Songs are continuing.
10:42 PM- Florence of Florence & The Machine did the vocals for this song?! WHOA! :D
10:46 PM- Randy Newman got it? :/ Oh well ... 7 for 20
10:48 PM- And another commercial break XP
10:52 PM- And here's Celine Dion honoring the ones we've lost.
10:55 PM- And to another commercial? XD Or no! Halle Berry talking about Lena Horne ... and another commercial ... after Lena finishes singing?
11:00 PM- Well, they didn't keep the ceremony under 2 and a half hours. But here's Hillary Swank introducing Kathryn Bigelow introducing Best Directing.
11:02 PM- Whoa! That's a shock! Congrats, Tom! 7 for 21
11:05 PM- Heeeere's Annette!
11:06 PM- Oh, wonderful awards recap!
11:08 PM- And another commercial XP
11:11 PM- And we're back! Get to the final awards! JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEFF! And here we go, glad-handing the Lead Actress nominees.
11:16 PM- Called it! 8 for 22
11:18 PM- Quick! Zoom in on Natalie's belly!
11:19 PM- Anne, you're flubbing your words. XD Hrm ... last year's Lead Actor and Actress winners presenting to this year's.
11:21 PM- Is Jeff going to win this again? Nah.
11:25 PM- COOOOOOOOOOLIN! :D 9 for 23 Can I make it to double digits?!
11:29 PM- C'mon! Can't we get this ceremony under 3 hours?

11:31 PM- STEVEN! :D FINALLY! Get on with the presentation!

11:35 PM- EXCELLENT montage!

11:36 PM- And the Oscar goes to ... THEKING'SSPEECH! I got into the double digits! 10 for 24

And with that, I bid you all adieu. Thanks for following along and see you all next year at the Oscars! Allons-y!

2011 Oscar Picks

2011-02-27T02:28:00.000-05:00

From one awards show to another we go. This time, it's the Oscars. And I'm a film buff (despite not seeing a fair amount of the classics like Gone With the Wind, Braveheart, and Dances With Wolves), so this is a big deal for me. And for the first time, I've seen all but two of the Best Picture nominees. So without further ado, Here are my picks. And yes, I'll be live-blogging the ceremonies on Sunday. And once again, I'll be competing with Danielle. Friendly competition, mind you. We haven't decided on what the winner will receive. ANYWAY (in reverse order) ...

Best Live-Action Short is one of the over-looked categories that I don't get to ... so I'm just going to pick Wish 143. It sounds amusing. Dying 21 year old cancer patient goes to a Make-A-Wish-like group and asks for sex before he dies. Also nominated are The Confession, The Crush, God of Love, and Na Wewe.

I'm going with Pixar's Day & Night out of habit for Best Animated Short ... 'cause it's Pixar and they're awesome. The Gruffalo, Let's Pollute, The Lost Thing, and Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage are also nominated.

Um ... *does Eenie Meanie Miney Moe* Poster Girl for Best Documentary Short? Also nominated were Killing in the Name, Strangers No More, Sun Come Up, and The Warriors of Qiugang.

I'll give Best Visual Effects to Inception. Seriously awesome stuff. Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1, Hereafter (Seriously, was it for the giant wave or for Clint?), and Iron Man 2 were also nominated.

Inception for Best Sound Mixing! The King's Speech, Salt, The Social Network, and True Grit were also nominated.

Let's give one to TRON: Legacy, shall we? Also nominated in Best Sound Editing is Inception, Toy Story 3, True Grit, and Unstoppable.

Another category I don't pay much attention to, but I'll go with "If I Rise" from 127 Hours for Best Song. Also nominated are "Coming Home" from Country Strong, "I See the Light" from Tangled, and "We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3.

The epicness of Inception or the awesome electronica of The Social Network ... Zimmer it is! Also nominated for Best Score is 127 Hours, How to Train Your Dragon, and The King's Speech.

Um ... let's just give The Wolfman Best Makeup, shall we? It's Rick Baker! Also nominated were Barney's Version and The Way Back.

Oh ... the smooth flowing ballet-like editing of Black Swan or the stacatto cutting of The Social Network? I'll go with Black Swan. Also nominated in Best Editing are 127 Hours, The Fighter, and The King's Speech.

I'll say Alice in Wonderland for Best Costume Design. Also nominated were I Am Love, The King's Speech, The Tempest, and True Grit.

Grrr, another tough category ... part of me is saying The Social Network, but another is saying Black Swan for Best Cinematography ... I'll go with Black Swan. Also nominated are Inception, The King's Speech, and True Grit.

I'll pick Alice in Wonderland for Best Art Direction. Also nominated were Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1, Inception, The King's Speech, and True Grit.

We can either go political (Gasland, Inside Job, Restrepo) or odd (Exit Through the Gift Shop) or inspiring (Waste Land) for Best Documentary. Sounds like Exit Through the Gift Shop is going to take it, so I'll go with it.

Best Toy Animated Story Feature 3. Additionally, How to Train Your Dragon and The Illusionist received nominations.

Um ... I don't get to see many foreign films ... but let's go with Biutiful for Best Foreign Language Film. Dogtooth, In a Better World, Incendies, and Outside the Law are also nominated.

Let's give one to Nolan for Inception, shall we? Also nominated in Best Original Screenplay are Mike Leigh (Another Year), Scott Silver + Paul Tamasy + Eric Johnson (The Fighter), Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg (The Kids Are All Right), and David Seidler (The King's Speech).

Gaaaaaaah, why must the Best Adapted Screenplay category be another tough one? Um ... I'm going with Sorkin for The Social Network. Also nominated were Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy (127 Hours), Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3), The Coen Brothers (True Grit), and Debra Granik and Anne Roselini (Winter's Bone).

I'd honestly be happy with any of the nominees for Best Director, but I think I'll have to go with Fincher (The Social Network). But Aronofsky (Black Swan) would be a pleasant surprise. Additionally, David O. Russell (The Fighter), Tom Hooper (The King's Speech), and the Coen Brothers (True Grit) were nominated.

Natalie Portman. Black Swan. Best Actress. Need I say more? Additionally, Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right), Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole), Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone), and Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine) were nominated.

Best Actor, without a doubt, goes to Colin Firth as King George VI in The King's Speech. Additionally, James Franco (127 Hours), Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network), Jeff Bridges (True Grit), and Javier Bardem (Biutiful) were nominated.

I'd be all for Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross in True Grit for Best Supporting Actress, but Helena Bonham Carter was pretty good in The King's Speech ... Hailee it is! Additionally, Amy Adams and Melissa Leo were up for their performances in The Fighter and Jacki Weaver got a nod for her part in Animal Kingdom.

Best Supporting Actor seems to be a bit of a toughie for me. See, I've heard fantastic things about Christian Bale in The Fighter, but Geoffery Rush was excellent in The King's Speech ... but I'll go with Bale. Additionally, John Hawkes (Winter's Bone), Jeremy Renner (The Town ... and also fantastic in The Hurt Locker), and Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right) garnered nominations.

For Best Picture, I'm going with The King's Speech. My explanation is here. Additionally, The Social Network, True Grit, Black Swan, Inception, 127 Hours, The Kids Are All Right, The Fighter, Toy Story 3, and Winter's Bone are nominated.

Let's see how my picks do tonight. What are some of yours? And who will do better with their picks?

On Arcade Fire's Win

2011-02-14T00:55:00.000-05:00

Well, where to begin? Seeing Arcade Fire on the stage launching into 'Month of May' was absolutely fantastic, although I didn't think it was the best choice from the album to play at the Grammys. But then again, it was the first single. When I heard it last year when it dropped, I listened to it and thought something along the lines of "Oh, this is cool. Maybe a little loud and scream-y for me ..." And then I heard the whole album when it dropped and I flat out loved it.
And then when Barbara Streisand announced that The Suburbs won ... I nearly jumped out of my seat. Both fists shot up in the air and started pistonning. I was making a high pitched noise somewhere short of a dog whistle. I was jubilant. ... Extremely jubilant. Yes, I know that The Black Keys won an award or two or three for Brothers and Vampire Weekend was nominated in two or three categories for Contra but didn't win and Mumford and Sons didn't win either ... but still ... we can now say that Arcade Fire is a Grammy Award-winning band.

Live-Blogging the 2011 Grammys

2011-02-13T21:00:00.024-05:00

I haven't really done this for the Grammys before, but what the hell, I'll give it a whirl.

Pre-show
I've seen two promos for the Grammys so far naming the artists who'll be performing. And they don't mention Arcade Fire, The Avett Brothers or Mumford and Sons. x_x

The show
8 PM: Yes, starting with an honorary performance/award for Aretha Franklin! Great way to start! ... But Aretha, oh how the years have treated you. :(
8:02 PM: Christina Aguilera and Martina McBride as part of a tribute to Aretha? Um ... interesting. But toss Florence of Florence & The Machine in there? Nice! :)
8:05 PM: Florence ... you are awesomeness!
8:13 PM: Oh, hi, Aretha! :D
8:14 PM: And we have a commercial.
8:19 PM: And we're back. Bows for the tribute performers. Oh, and they're presenting for Pop Performance (Duo or Group). Hrm ... *sees nominees* ... I'd be fine with Glee, Train, Maroon 5, or ... Paramore.
8:21 PM: Congrats to Train!
8:22 PM: Oy! Easy with the playing people off! And Ricky Martin ... are you in silver lamé pants? XD
8:23 PM: Heeeeeeeeeeeere's Gaga! ... In an egg. And she's hatching! ... I like the hat!
8:26 PM: Organ? A la Phantom? ... Or ... wait ... it looks like something out of the Fortress of Solitude. And the dancers are in skin-colored underwear.
8:28 PM: And another commercial. ... C'mon! Announce Mumford and Sons, Arcade Fire, and The Avett Brothers!
8:33 PM: Wait ... who is this guy? ... *goes on Wikipedia* Oh. Huh. Miranda Lambert's hubby. Can you say preferential treatment? XD
8:38 PM: Lenny Kravitz! Nice to see ya! And introducing Muse! :D
8:40 PM: Someone rushing on stage? What? ... Oh, part of the act! XD
8:45 PM: And another commercial. XP
8:49 PM: Seacrest! Bravo! ... How are you still relevant? ... Um ... interesting super group? Bruno, aren't you supposed to be somewhere ... on charges? *checks Wikipedia* Okay, never mind, community service. Get going on that! ... After this set. I'm rather enjoying it. :)
8:57 PM: Dierks ... who? Country singer? Finally another award presentation! Sure took long enough! ... Female Country Vocalist. Um ... yeah ... I don't really care about this category ... but I'd be fine with Jewel.
8:59 PM: Well, Miranda performed and she won. Congrats to her.
9 PM: And a commercial. ... THEY MENTIONED MUMFORDANDSONSANDTHEAVETTBROTHERSYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES! ANDARCADEFIRETOO! *HAPPYHAPPYHAPPYHAPPYHAPPYHAPPYHAPPYHAPPYDANCE*
9:05 PM: ... Eva, what are you doing introducing Justin Bieber at the Grammys? ... *snickers at "Beautiful relationship"*
9:06 PM: Justin ... you can play guitar? ... 'Baby' on acoustic guitar? Well ... I'm slightly impressed. No Auto-tuning? ... Japanese drummers?! ... And back to the Autotuning singing. XP *cracks open Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns*
9:09 PM: Jaden? Where's your sister? Too busy whipping her hair? XD ... And you're in leopard skin tight-pants.
9:13 PM: Paramore and the goth actress (and by goth I mean the character she plays dresses goth-like) from NCIS? Uh ... okay. But it's Best Rock Album! Oh, Jeff Beck, Muse, Pearl Jam, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Neil Young ...damn, I'd be fine with any of 'em. ... Okay, Muse, nice, nice! :)
9:15 PM: And another commercial.
9:20 PM: Donnie, please take off the glasses ... unless you're hungover. ... And paired with Selena Gomez? Uh ... And in this category (Best Pop Vocal Album), I'm either for Susan Boyle or Lady Gaga. Or maybe John Mayer. Maybe Katy Perry. ... Congrats, Gaga! ... Skin-tight, pre-fitted leather outfit? Okaaaaay ...
9:23 PM: And they start to play Gaga off, but they let her finish. :) And Letterman has a bit? Okaaaaaaaay ...
9:25 PM: MUMFORDANDSONSMUMFORDANDSONSMUMFORDANDSONSMUMFORDANDSONS!
9:27 PM: AVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETBROTHERS! :D
9:30 PM: DYLAN ... and his raspy growl. XD
9:34 PM: *clears throat and calms down* So ... 'The Cave', 'Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise', and 'Maggie's Farm' were just fantastic! Wow ... I kinda want to see Mumford and Sons, The Avett Brothers, and Bob Dylan make an album together. :) And now a commercial.
9:39 PM: Oh, Lifetime Achievement awards. Nice, nice. :) And ... wait, wait, an NFL player? Okaaaaay?
9:40 PM: Lady Antebellum covering Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes? I'm impressed!
9:44 PM: Miley with Kings of Leon? ... Nothing about Miley having sex while on fire? ... I kid, I kid. And presenting for Best Country Album. Hrm ... I'm going with the Zac Brown Band. Or Lady Antebellum. Congrats, Lady Antebellum!
9:50 PM: Okay, Cee-Lo looks like a giant painted turkey. And Gwyneth Paltrow singing along with him on 'Forget You'? And another commercial.
9:56 PM: NPH! SINGSINGSINGSING ... no? :( ... But a sex joke about Katy Perry? Okaaaay?
10 PM: And now you're in a tiny diamond coated summer dress. Bravo, Katy, I think you gave a fair amount of the male Grammy audience a raging hard-on. ... Me? No thanks.
10:02 PM: Going a bit country now? Oh, never mind, this is a good tune. Dolly Parton cover, huh? :) Maybe minus John Mayer.
10:04 PM: Song of the Year. Okay. Either Ray LaMontagne or Cee-Lo. Mkay, Lady Antebellum is still good. :)
10:06 PM: Mkay, another commercial ... and nothing against Bieber, but I don't want to see him win when he's up against people like Florence and the Machine and Mumford and Sons.
10:12 PM: Seth Rogen presenting a Grammy? Mkaaaaay? Well, the Miley Cyrus pot joke was amusing.
10:13 PM: *mutes TV/lowers volume and opens The Dark Knight Returns*
10:20 PM: Jewel? John Legend? Okay. ... Best New Artist? Bieber? Nope. Drake? Nah. Florence and the Machine? I could go for them. And Mumford and Sons too. ^_^ Dunno about Esperanza Spalding. AAAAAAAAAAAAAND ... okay, an unknown in my book, but congrats, Esperanza!
10:23 PM: Another commercial. But Album of the Year is coming soon. :)
10:28 PM: Matthew Morrison! Do something from 'South Pacific'! ... Probably not.
10:32 PM: And a memoriam. Bobby Hobb? I recognize the song he's singing. Gerry Rafferty ... :( Oh, so many great names. Alex Chilton too. ... We lost Jimmy Dean? O_o
10:34 PM: MICKJAGGER!
10:40 PM: Commercial. God, as if there weren't enough. XP
10:46 PM: Kris, we haven't seen you in a while! ... And is it just me or are you and Jeff Bridges looking oddly similar nowadays? XD
10:47 PM: Babs!
10:50 PM: A remix of 'Misirlou'? Mkay ... Nikki, you have ... Marge Simpson hair. Best Rap Album? Um ... *picks blindly* The Roots? ... Eminem. Well ... I guess white guys can rap.
10:53 PM: Mkay, another commercial. GETTOARCADEFIREALREADY!
10:58 PM: Puff Daddy/P-Diddy/Sean Combs ... you're still relevant?
10:59 PM: Rihanna and Drake performing? *returns to The Dark Knight Returns*
11:02 PM: Marc Anthony and J-Lo? Presenting Record of the Year ... I'm pulling for maybe Cee-Lo.
11:04 PM: Well, congrats again, Lady Antebellum! Really taking the Grammys this year!
11:05 PM: And another commercial. Arcade Fire already, c'mon!
11:12 PM: ARCADEFIREYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!
11:20 PM: Babs and Kris presenting Album of the Year! Arcade Fire all the way!
11:22 PM: YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!
11:25 PM: And they're playing 'The Suburbs'. This is the best end to the Grammys. Ever. (Correction: 'Ready to Start')
11:28 PM: Hey! End credits and Delta and Hilton ads! Off my screen! I wanna see Arcade Fire!

And the Grammys are over. Well, not a fan of all the winners, but I might have to check out Lady Antebellum now. Until the Oscars! Allons-y!

On ... Well ... Stuff

2011-02-02T00:02:00.000-05:00

While this doesn't necessarily represent my dabblings in cooking ... it's a bit close. XD The most I've made is a quiche ... but that was back in September.
***
I started using Pandora again the other day after getting a bit tired of my Alternative playlist. I started an Arcade Fire station. So far, I've gotten ... probably close to 10 Arcade Fire songs ... and 3 different versions of 'Hallelujah'. One is by Rufus Wainright, another by Jeff Buckley, and another by John Cale.
***

Updates ... let's see ... classes are going well. I'm doing my best to keep up with the Lit Theory readings, which are going to be the most demanding. My internship is going well, too. So far, I've locked and uploaded one video. I'm finishing another up hopefully for this Thursday.

Until next post! Allons-y, Alonso!

On Turning 21

2011-01-25T00:36:00.000-05:00

Having not posted since the 9th, I feel that this is a good time to post. Oh, and this is my 600th post on this blog. Yay? ... Better reason to say "Yay!": I celebrated my 21st.
As I've become accustomed to the college way of life over the last two and a half semesters, I've kept my birthdays relatively low-key: go out for dinner with some friends, come back to the dorm, have cake, play Apples to Apples ... well, this year, things changed a bit. I still brought a cake up, I still had friends over (to the apartment this time), but there was no dinner out (probably later in the week) and there was no Apples to Apples ... just talking for about 2 or 3 hours. And it was ... well, nice. It usually is. Maybe it was nicer because I didn't have any classes today. ... Yes, the semester started on my birthday. If I did have classes ... well, they'd be syllabus review, most likely.
Turning 21 ... feels like a milestone, yet it doesn't at the same time. I've lived mostly a dry life. I've only had some wine here and there at family gatherings or holiday dinners and some sips of champagne at New Year's. I'm not one to dive right into alcohol. Binge drinking isn't my thing. The idea of a drink with dinner or out with friends is right up my alley ... but I don't know my preferences or my limits so I don't know where to start. I guess slow yet safe experimentation is the way to go. Hell, my new license hasn't even arrived yet.
***
I've received 193 wall posts on Facebook. I've received 8 @replies with birthday well-wishes. I've received 2 very nice videos, one from Danielle (and some assorted web friends) and a short one from Mike. I've received 3 cards from family members. I've received a number of well-wishes in person. Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy (21st) birthday. I'm so glad that I know so many people who make an effort to send annual well-wishes my way, to someone who had a chance of not being here now if things had gone awry.
Thank you all <3

Pre-Israel Thoughts

2011-01-09T17:58:00.000-05:00

I'm leaving for Israel tomorrow night with my campus's Hillel program for Birthright. 10 days, with peers, mostly Kosher food ... wonderful. I was thinking about bringing a ham sandwich to the airport with me to eat while waiting in the terminal ... but that would probably be un-Kosher ... yeah.
I mean, I can deal with the food. I was in Israel for two weeks in the summer of 2008 for a family bar/bat mitzvah trip and I got accustomed to the food rather quickly ... especially shwarma ... oh, shwarma ... :)

Now, where was I? Yes, right, Israel. 10 days, 2 (maybe 3) books ... yes, books. Big books. Justin Cronin's The Passage (a 700 pager, roughly) and Neil Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors. The flights are going to be long, of course ... and we're going to have downtime in the hotels and on the bus ... we'll see what I can get done. And I might also bring Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture for a quick read to knock it off my reading queue.
***
But what else is there to talk about? I've been to Israel once before. I've seen a large portion of the sights and sounds ... but that's because I was there for a few more days and we went up and down the country. On this tour, we won't be going too far into the Negev ... and on the Margaret Morse tour, we went as far south as Eilat. Well ... we'll see what the trip shall hold.

Until next post! Allons-y!

Movies of 2010

2010-12-31T18:29:00.000-05:00

2010 releases (in the order viewed):
Shutter Island
Kick-Ass

Book of Eli

Iron Man 2

Toy Story 3

Inception

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Alice in Wonderland

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

127 Hours

Black Swan

The King's Speech

Tron: Legacy

True Grit

Older releases (in the order viewed ... mostly):
Up in the Air
Brothers Bloom
Sherlock Holmes
500 Days of Summer
Avatar
Bonnie and Clyde
The Godfather
Much Ado About Nothing
Badlands
Smoke Signals
My Own Private Idaho
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
Rambo: First Blood Part II

Lone Star

Daughters of the Dust

A Woman Under the Influence

Angels and Demons
The Hit
Paranormal Activity
Invention of Lying
In the Loop
Franklyn
A Serious Man
Gremlins
Stardust
Sky High
Pirate Radio

Dead Poet's Society

Eternal Sunshine
Royal Tenenbaums
Igby Goes Down
Wall Street
400 Blows
Night of the Living Dead
Dawn of the Dead
White Oleander
Virgin Suicides
Land of the Dead
Youth in Revolt
Fido
Edward Scissorhands
Fantastic Mr. Fox

Love Actually

Re-watches (in the order viewed):
Pulp Fiction
Toy Story
Hitchhiker's
Big Lebowski
Serenity
Spirited Away
Up
Toy Story 2
Reservoir Dogs
28 Days Later
BTTF
Shaun of the Dead
Toy Story 3
History of the World Part 1

Yeah ... so ... I was in the theater/in front of the TV/my laptop screen a lot ... :)
Pleasant viewing in the new year!

Books of 2010

2010-12-31T18:28:00.000-05:00

The Lost Symbol (Dan Brown)
Under the Dome (Stephen King)
Othello, The Moor of Venice (William Shakespeare)
Much Ado About Nothing (William Shakespeare)
The Taming of the Shrew (William Shakespeare)
Murder Mysteries (Neil Gaiman)
Harlequin Valentine (Neil Gaiman)
Creatures of the Night (Neil Gaiman)
Eternals (Neil Gaiman)
The Last Temptation (Neil Gaiman)
Midnight Days (Neil Gaiman)
The World According to Twitter (David Pogue)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Mark Haddon)
Will Grayson, Will Grayson (John Green and David Leviathan)
Changes (Jim Butcher)
Worst Case (James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge)
And Another Thing … (Eoin Colfer)
Have a Little Faith (Mitch Albom)
Fang (James Patterson)
BPRD 1946 (Mike Mignola)
Abe Sapien: The Drowning (Mike Mignola)
Fables: Legends in Exile (Vol 1) (Bill Willingham)
Fables: Storybook Love (Vol 3) (Bill Willingham)
Fables: March of the Wooden Soldiers (Vol 4) (Bill Willingham)
Fables: Homelands (Vol 6) (Bill Willingham)
Fables: Arabian Nights and Days (Vol 7) (Bill Willingham)
Fables: Wolves (Vol 8) (Bill Willingham)
Fables: Sons of Empire (Vol 9) (Bill Willingham)
I, Alex Cross (James Patterson)
Fables: The Good Prince (Vol 10) (Bill Willingham)
Thessaly: Witch for Hire (Bill Willingham)
Jack of Fables: The Bad Prince (Vol 3) (Bill Willingham)
Jack of Fables: Jack of Hearts (Vol 2) (Bill Willingham)
Fables: The Dark Ages (Vol 12) (Bill Willingham)
Jack of Fables: The Nearly Great Escape (Vol 1) (Bill Willingham)
Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall (Bill Willingham)
Blockade Billy (Stephen King)
Knightly Academy (Violet Haberdasher/Robyn Schneider)
Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour (Bryan Lee O’Malley)
The Walking Dead Volume 1: Days Gone Bye (Robert Kirkland)
The Walking Dead Volume 2: Miles Behind Us (Robert Kirkland)
The Gates (John Connolly)
Blood Oath (Christopher Farnsworth)
Horns (Joe Hill)
Stories (Neil Gaiman, et al)
Doctor Who: The Forgotten (Tony Lee, Pia Guerra)
Haunted (Chuck Palahnuik)
Let It Snow (Maureen Johnson, John Green, and Lauren Myracle)
Doctor Who: The Betrothal of Sontar (Mike Collins, et al)
Beowulf (Seamus Heaney)
The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)
A Separate Peace (John Knowles)
Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins)
White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (W.S. Merwin)
The Virgin Suicides (Jeffrey Eugenides)
Thursday’s Child (Sonya Hartnett)
Surrender (Sonya Hartnett)
The Faerie Queene, Book 1 (Edmund Spenser)
The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
I Am The Messenger (Markus Zusak)
The Fall (Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan)
Shades of Grey (Jasper Fforde)

So there is is. This year's list of books read. I started a few other Shakespeare plays and one or two or three or a few other books, but I hope to tackle them in the new year. I know I didn't read as many as last year, but over 50 (the yearly Nerdfighter challenge) is still good.

Pleasant reading in the new year!

365 Photos, Day 365: Love

2010-12-31T18:15:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 364: True Grit

2010-12-30T22:27:00.002-05:00

Stellar movie. Pitch-perfect from the Coens. I'll be shocked if Hailee Steinfeld doesn't got Academy recognition.

365 Photos, Day 363: Presents!

2010-12-29T21:29:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 362: Cookies

2010-12-28T21:33:00.002-05:00

Top of 2010: Music

2010-12-28T00:19:00.000-05:00

Being a member of the radio station, I have access to more new music that I can keep track of. What follows are the twelve I've been listening to a fair amount (some more than others), as well as my top 9.

Winter: Contra (Vampire Weekend), Sign No More (Mumford and Sons)
Spring/Summer: Travelers in Time and Space (Apples in Stereo), Shame Shame (Dr. Dog), Volume Two (She & Him), Evelyn Evelyn (Evelyn Evelyn), Good Old War (Good Old War)
Fall: The Suburbs (Arcade Fire), Write About Love (Belle and Sebastian), Lonely Avenue (Ben Folds and Nick Hornby), Le Noise (Neil Young), The Orchard (Ra Ra Riot)

My top ones include (in no particular order once again):
- Contra: Perfect summer-y sound in the darkness of winter to dispel all cold feelings. 'Holiday' is the perfect summer-y tune. And oddly enough, it's in Honda commercials now.
- Sigh No More: British folk rock. Shakespeare nods here and there. Heart-wrenching lyrics. Need I say more? Try 'Awake My Soul'.
- Good Old War: Wonderful flowing concept album that's a strong follow-up to their debut. Go with the single 'My Own Sinking Ship'.
- Shame Shame: Pretty steady set of indie rock tracks from Philly. Try 'Jackie Wants A Black Eye' and 'Unbearable Why'.
- Volume Two: Summer, bubble gum-y ... and it's Zooey Deschanel, who does have quite a soothing voice! Try 'Thieves' and 'Ridin' In My Car'.
- Evelyn Evelyn: One half is Amanda Palmer. And it's a really odd concept album, featuring a bit of a few pop genres, but it works and it sounds stellar. Try 'Elephant Elephant' and 'Chicken Man' to get the scope of the album.
- The Suburbs: Arcade Fire. Need I say more? Try 'We Used To Wait'.
- The Orchard: Somewhat of a Vampire Weekend-esque sound, but not quite. Try 'Massachusetts'.
- Lonely Avenue: Ben Folds' piano skills don't let you down, paired with Hornby's wondrous words. Definitely check 'Levi Johnson's Blues', 'From Above', and 'Saskia Hamilton'.

Until next post! Allons-y!

365 Photos, Day 361: Clearing the Deck

2010-12-27T19:08:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 360: Outage in a Blizzard

2010-12-26T22:26:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 359: Jewish Christmas

2010-12-25T23:32:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 358: Black Swan

2010-12-24T23:46:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 357: New Nightside

2010-12-23T23:59:00.000-05:00

365 Photos, Day 356: Series 4

2010-12-22T23:14:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 355: Library Haul

2010-12-21T23:57:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 354: 127 Hours

2010-12-20T23:38:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 353: Bloody Bloody

2010-12-19T23:48:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 352: Photos

2010-12-18T23:34:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 351: P4A

2010-12-17T23:59:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 350: Season Finale

2010-12-16T23:33:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 349: Tron Flannels

2010-12-15T23:35:00.002-05:00

A Tale of 17 Rainbow Cupcakes

2010-12-15T22:15:00.000-05:00

Last night, a full batch of 12 and a partial batch of 5 were baked.
2 were consumed by the author.
3 were given to friends in another apartment. One who at one quite liked it.
1 was given to a friend who is helping with some resumé stuff.
1 was given to a good friend with great taste in music and good relationship advice as breakfast.
1 was given to a good family friend, who quite liked it as well.
1 was given to the station GM.
1 was given to a station community member, who quite liked it too.
1 was given to a friend who is a campus bus driver and said it was delicious.
1 was given to a station friend, big comics fan, and former collab channel buddy.
The final 5 are sitting in my refrigerator.

365 Photos, Day 348: Baking Time!

2010-12-14T23:21:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 347: Studying

2010-12-13T23:57:00.001-05:00

365 Photos, Day 346: Buffet

2010-12-12T22:51:00.002-05:00

Unpublished Column

2010-12-12T01:18:00.000-05:00

What follows is the column I wrote for the Finals issue of the campus paper. It won't be appearing in the issue because I missed the deadline by a few hours. :( Enjoy!
***

Politically, the news recently has been a tad depressing, what with the lame duck session, as well as one major international story. A repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has been shot down. A tax cut compromise for the rich has been passed, but there is hope. Last I heard, there’s a filibuster against it. As for the international hubbub, there’s the Wikileaks uproar. But that all doesn’t really bother me right now. Why? I’m happy right now.

I’m just happy. Maybe it’s because classes are over. Maybe it’s because I’m nice and warm inside my apartment. Maybe it’s because there’s snow in the air and on the ground as of when I’m writing this. Maybe it’s because of the Christmas-y tunes I’ve been spinning recently, even though I don’t celebrate Christmas. Hey, maybe there should be more Hanukkah songs that aren’t quite traditional and aren’t written and performed by Adam Sandler. It gets old. Maybe it’s because I can just see the light at the end of the tunnel and, God, is it a sight for sore eyes. I don’t know why. But I’m happy, which is quite a good thing, especially during this time of the semester and year.

Yes, that’s right, it’s time for finals. Some of your classes might’ve been the best you’ve taken this semester or so far in your college career. Your professors and/or TAs might’ve been extremely enthusiastic about their respective subjects and were able to convey as much as they possibly could to you to get you ready for the final exam, if there is one. Some of your classes might’ve been the absolute worst. Your professors and/or TAs might’ve been droll and boring and monotonous and picky with all their assignment grading. But thankfully, it’s all over now. Mostly over, that is. Everyone has a few more days before they pack up and head home for a nice six weeks of recuperation and family time.

Six weeks. Six whole weeks. Can you believe it? Six whole weeks of relaxation after a grueling fifteen weeks of classes is like heaven. What are you going to do? You’ve got plenty of time to spend in New York City, depending on your proximity. You’ve also got plenty of time to spend with friends, apart from family, as well as catch up on pleasure reading, if you do that at all. Traveling, reading, and family time is what I have awaiting me. Travel-wise, I’ll be spending about a week in Toronto and ten days in Israel on a Birthright trip. Reading-wise, I have a feeling that I’ll finish at least five books. And as for family time, two to three weeks at home are just fine for me.

But what sucks, and I mean REALLY sucks, is that the spring semester starts on my birthday. Not that I’m complaining or anything … but worst timing ever! Oh, and The Decemberists have a three show run at the Beacon during that first week of classes. I’m currently bemoaning the transportation woes. Actually, that doesn’t really matter. I’ll be back here at [REDACTED], celebrating my birthday with friends and starting some hopefully interesting classes.

Happy holidays and a happy New Year to all! See everyone in 2011!

365 Photos, Day 345: Christmas-y

2010-12-11T23:59:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lateness.

365 Photos, Day 344: More Snow

2010-12-10T23:31:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 343: School's Out

2010-12-09T23:02:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 342: More Work

2010-12-08T22:32:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 341: Brit Lit

2010-12-07T23:59:00.000-05:00

365 Photos, Day 340: Winter Wonderland

2010-12-06T22:25:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 339: Lights

2010-12-05T22:40:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 338: First Snow

2010-12-04T21:05:00.002-05:00

On Casting 'Paradise Lost'

2010-12-04T02:35:00.000-05:00

This past Thursday in my Brit Lit course, we were discussing the important characters and more or less who we'd choose to cast in said roles if we were in charge of casting for an adaptation of Paradise Lost. What follows is what we as a class came up with. My suggestions are in bold.
***
- Adam: Keanu Reeves, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Brad Pitt?
- Satan: Al Pacino, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christian Bale, Nicholas Cage?, Daniel Day Lewis, Johnny Depp?, one of the Baldwin Brothers, Colin Farrell, Mel Gibson, Ian McKellen
- Eve: Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz, Gwenyth Paltrow?, Eva Longoria, Kate Winslet
- God (the Father): Ian McKellen, Morgan Freeman, Christopher Lee, James Earl Jones, Betty White, Queen Latifah, Meryl Streep
- God (the Son): David Tennant, Russell Brand
***
With Adam, we were going for actors who can do vacant, emotionless, and shirtless rather well. I chuckled at the thought of Keanu and when the prof mentioned shirtlessness and poor displays of emotion, the thought of Pattinson and Lautner popped into my head and I sheepishly suggested them. Pitt was suggested because he and Angelina work well.
There was an age split when it came to suggestions for Satan, however, the choices primarily relied on how well angry and emotional turmoil could be played out. Pacino was suggested in sync with Reeves in hopes of another Devil's Advocate-like casting. I suggested Bale because of his anger and Cage because ... well, he's Nick Cage.
With Eve, we were looking for some brains and beauty. I had no suggestions there ... but I was thinking about how horrible the casting would be if Kristen Stewart was cast as Eve ... it'd be almost like Twilight over again ... *shudder*
With God (the Father), we were looking for a stern figure with a large repetoire and an overpowering voice. McKellen was the first to pop into my head. Of course, Freeman, Lee, and Jones are known for their recognizable voices. And White, Latifah, and Streep were suggested to fiddle with the gender casting. And as for God (the Son), we were thinking about a bit of flamboyance and such. We didn't get to casting him, but I suggested Tennant and Brand to the prof as the class was letting out.

Until next time! Allons-y, Alonso!

365 Photos, Day 337: Mail! :D

2010-12-03T23:43:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 336: O.S.U

2010-12-02T23:58:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 335: Hanukkah

2010-12-01T23:35:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 334: Mark Street

2010-11-30T22:36:00.002-05:00

Recent Ramblings

2010-11-30T22:24:00.000-05:00

I've had a few things floating around in my brain over the last few days and I just want to get them out. So here you go.
***
From the drive back on Sunday: "We're almost traveling against our will. Home is back that way and is drawing us back with the allure of safety, security, and the sensuality of homemade food. College is up that way and is drawing is forward with assignments to (in some cases begrudgingly) complete and late nights perched over laptops with our energy drinks of choice (tea, coffee, energy drinks). The only thing keeping us awake is the promise of warm lodgings and microwaved food up ahead, along with the consistent glare of the lampposts along the side of the highway."
***
From the mailroom earlier today: "Huh. A job/internship prep meeting thing in a coffee house type setting on campus. Nice, nice. Wait, pizza and soda will be served? ... Pizza and soda in a coffee house?! What happened to bringing your laptop and other equipment and material into a coffee house, ordering your mocha frapp latte and blueberry muffin, and getting to work on whatever it is you set out to work on?! I mean ... geez ... pizza and soda in a coffee house ... what has the world come to?"
***
See you all after this work-stress-reading-writing-editing period. Which should be about 2 weeks.

Allons-y, Alonso!

365 Photos, Day 333: Zombie Prep

2010-11-29T23:09:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 332: Skunk

2010-11-28T23:15:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 331: Crumbs Cupcake

2010-11-27T22:46:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 330: Library Haul

2010-11-26T23:53:00.002-05:00

On ... Stuff (Bob Dylan, Harry Potter and Traveling)

2010-11-26T00:41:00.001-05:00

Well ... hi. I realize that my posts here have been few and far between, with the exception of the photos. I mean, last month, you got 5 posts, apart from the photos. This is the third for this month. ... Eh, I can do better. Which is kinda why I'm writing this. Let's start with the Bob Dylan concert.
***
Bob Dylan. What more is there to say? He's Bob Dylan. And ... I was expecting more.
A week and a half after Harvey ended, Bob Dylan showed up on campus to play a gig and ... it was okay. My expectations there a bit too high. He was great and all ... but he would've been better if I recognized a few more of the songs in the fifteen song concert. And of the five or so that I DID recognize, I only was able to by picking out phrases from the mumble-y, raspy voice of the now faded raconteur. But I still enjoyed myself.
***
After Dylan, I needed my Potter fix, which I most definitely got at midnight in one of six out of nine filled auditoriums.
To start the night off, I ordered my ticket earlier in the day online. Yes, I know, quit giving me that look. I had been planning on ordering it, but I kept putting it off. ... ANYWAYS, I hitched a ride with my friend Stephanie (who I learned is a big fan of Jasper Fforde (I had a copy of Shades of Grey.), in addition to being a big fan of the new Doctor Who) and her friends and brother. We got to the theater and were sent to Theater 5, but we went with Theater 9 because of better seating. We took our seats and chilled for a bit before the manager walked around dressed as Bellatrix, a food trolley came around for a trivia contest (I won a coupon for a small popcorn because I correctly identified what sugar quills are), and a local radio personality did more trivia stuff in a turkey outfit with an iPad (Sadly, I messed up with the names of the Defense Against the Dark Arts profs).
I proceeded to walk around to the other auditoriums to see if I recognized anyone. I saw my friends Jordan, Rachel, Kim, Noora, Brian, and a few others. Oddly enough, I didn't see Heather. But I discovered that Brian is more or less an unofficial Nerdfighter and a major fan of Charlie McDonnell.
After the trailers (my theater laughed at the trailer for Cowboys and Aliens and also saw an impressive new trailer for The Green Hornet), the penultimate Harry Potter movie began and I wasn't disappointed. Yes, it's been three years since I read the 7th book, but Yates and everyone involved did a fantastic job, despite a few faults here and there.
***
And yesterday, I drove home. Well, I didn't DRIVE ... but I was a passenger of Sam, a family friend. The ride went smoothly. I read about half of Markus Zusak's I Am The Messenger. We stopped in a small town called Cobleskill for a quick bite from McDonald's. The town itself appeared to be a quaint place with only one movie theater. It was showing Deathly Hallows, Part 1. The McDonald's on the other hand ... was okay. I got a McSnack Wrap which was lukewarm and had American cheese. Cheap fast food = mediocre quality. And one of the singles we got back had "red boner" scrawled on the back.
Afterwards, we continued to Albany to pick up a friend of Sam's and we continued on our way, passing The Egg while the GPS was redirecting us. I arrived home around 5:30, said hi to everyone, dropped my stuff off, and joined my family for dinner at a family friend's house. And that was most of the rest of the evening.

*phew*

Hrm ... I think I'll save NaNoWriMo and The Walking Dead for the next post, which should come before Finals Week.

Until next post! Allons-y, Alonso!

365 Photos, Day 329: I Am The Messenger

2010-11-25T23:58:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 328: Traveling Home

2010-11-24T23:52:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 327: Cake in a Mug and Doctor Who

2010-11-23T23:57:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 326: Scott Pilgrim, Take 3

2010-11-22T22:55:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 325: Live Spektor

2010-11-21T23:16:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 324: Fringe on 'Burn In Effigy'

2010-11-20T23:25:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 323: Gabriel The Marine

2010-11-19T21:51:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 322: Midnight

2010-11-18T22:07:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 321: Bob Dylan

2010-11-17T18:55:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 320: Jacqueline Goss

2010-11-16T23:59:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 319: Pie Mail

2010-11-15T22:23:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 318: Filming

2010-11-14T23:35:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 317: More Bands

2010-11-13T22:28:00.002-05:00

6 Hours on a Bus + A Rockin' Night

2010-11-13T13:29:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning, I woke at what seemed like (and probably was) the crack of dawn to get ready for what was to be a fair portion of my traveling for that day. An early bus was waiting for me to go home. I needed a new lower retainer, so the orthodontist had an appointment, which I claimed and during which I got a new impression of my lower teeth. While on the bus down and back, I noticed a fair amount of things that I want to share.
Down:
- Outside the bus at the terminal, I see a grandfather, his son, and his grandson and granddaughter. The grandson has curly/wavy brown hair and is wearing an orange jacket. The granddaughter has a black bob cut and is in a purple jacket. The children are doing the "Let's jump in the air while holding onto your hands so you can hold us up for a few seconds" thing. All very cute.
- I engaged a nice older woman (wearing a burgundy/magenta sweater/vest) in a short conversation. When she got I, I saw that she was reading Let Me In/Let The Right One In. I waited to ask her about it until her adult daughter moved up to take the seat next to me when the girl sitting in it got off. The elder woman said that while she is liking the novel, it's quite gory enough and probably won't be seeing either film adaptation. She then asked if I had read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, to which I replied that I started it and then put it off to the side, determined to get back to it. She proceeded to mention something she heard about the planned American adaptation: that it would be less realistic than the original film.
Up:
- My travel buddy was a nice guy named Dan, a micro-science major (if my memory serves me) in grad school up in Ithaca. We traded college basics (major, etc.).
- The driver was very protective of his bus. He stopped twice. The first time was a guy talked a bit loudly on his cell phone (I didn't hear because I had my headphones on.), so the driver stopped, pulled over, and walked back to him and asked strongly if he could quiet his conversation. What happened to courteous phone calls? The second time was a guy in the way back who had been smoking on the bus. I had smelled smoke, but I thought that somebody had smoked before getting on the bus ... and I realized after the guy had been kicked off that there were no stops where people got on after the halfway stop. Smoking on a bus? Really?
***
When I returned in the evening, I made my way down to campus to assist with stuff for the band show that the music group I'm a part of. There were four bands playing, one of which I'd heard of and seen twice prior. I'd heard of and heard a bit of one of the other groups. The first two groups, A Fire With Friends and Swear & Shake, were pretty cool. The third group, Secret Beach (a local group), was alright. And the fourth and final group, River City Extension, really heated up the place, as the windows in the room fogged over and flannel shirts and t-shirts were removed. They blew the house down with seven high energy tracks from their album, along with a few new tracks, that had the crowd dancing along in a mosh pit of sorts.
After that gig, I went downstairs to check out a Neutral Milk Hotel cover group called Neutral Uke Hotel, made up of members of Golden Bloom and The Motion Sick. Apart from played "In An Aeroplace Over The Sea", the trio played versions of some songs from their respective groups, along with another Neutral Milk song. Overall, they were pretty cool. And a bit geeky, too. :)

Until next time! Allons-y, Alonso!

365 Photos, Day 316: River City Extension Returns

2010-11-12T19:03:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 315: Game Show Night

2010-11-11T23:55:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 314: Happy 50th, Neil

2010-11-10T23:10:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 313: Book Thief

2010-11-09T23:57:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 312: Student-Faculty Dinner

2010-11-08T22:44:00.002-05:00

365 Photos, Day 311: Demo Reel

2010-11-07T23:59:00.000-05:00

365 Photos, Day 310: Closing Night

2010-11-06T18:39:00.002-04:00

365 Photos, Day 309: Night 2

2010-11-05T19:57:00.002-04:00

365 Photos, Day 308: Night 1

2010-11-04T23:53:00.002-04:00

365 Photos, Day 307: Tea at Final Rehearsal

2010-11-03T23:59:00.000-04:00

365 Photos, Day 306: Paintings

2010-11-02T23:45:00.002-04:00

A Stereotypical College Student

2010-11-02T22:09:00.001-04:00

Today has been ... a good day. And I felt like a stereotypical college student. Why? Let me tell you.
***
I slept in way past my alarm, but I woke in time to squeeze in a quick shower, grab a granola bar, and catch the bus to make my Teen Lit course, which I was a touch late to, but the prof didn't mind. And I learned that we'll only have 4 grades in the class. So I may or may not write the next paper. We'll see how busy I am with Harvey and other things this weekend.
I registered and got into 3 out of the 4 classes I was hoping to get in to. I swung by the English office and got a petition form for it. I walked back to the apartment for a lunch break and filmed a quick ranty kinda video before heading back down. I met with the professor of the course I'm trying to petition into and I found out that I couldn't petition in to the course, but that I should keep checking the registration site for people dropping the course. Before heading to hand in my Brit Lit assignment, I realized that I forgot it back at the apartment, so I spent a hell of a long time waiting for someone printing 145 pages on the double-sided printer for my assignment to print.
We viewed a few videos by Michael Olenick in my Video class and discussed human behavior in apocalyptic situations and such in my Zombie class, which was quite interesting. Dinner with my Zombie classmate (and radio apprentice) Tom went well. We discussed the group project we'll be working on for the end of the semester. We're thinking about an escape plan video, involving HVZ players. ^_^
And the second tech run is going quite smoothly.
Oh, and I didn't doze off in any of my classes today. I guess I should aim for 8 and a half or so hours of sleep more often. :)

Until next time! Allons-y, Alonso!

365 Photos, Day 305: Sketch

2010-11-01T23:59:00.000-04:00

365 Photos, Day 304: Contribution

2010-10-31T23:20:00.002-04:00

365 Photos, Day 303: Sanitarium Set

2010-10-30T21:06:00.002-04:00

365 Photos, Day 302: Rally?

2010-10-29T22:26:00.002-04:00

365 Photos, Day 301: Surrender

2010-10-28T23:59:00.001-04:00

365 Photos, Day 300: DFTBA!

2010-10-27T23:28:00.002-04:00

365 Photos, Day 299: English Readings

2010-10-26T23:13:00.002-04:00

365 Photos, Day 298: BTTF

2010-10-25T23:59:00.000-04:00