With September just around the corner, new television is just weeks away, and it's time to decide what, if anything, we will sit down and watch week after week. There are few things I love more than episodic television--both the very good and occasionally the lowbrow--so fall's lineup is a welcome reprieve from the intellectual and moral wasteland of summer's reality programming. So here are the shows I plan on watching this year because frankly I'm going to need a break from graduate studies.
Glee premieres Wednesday, September 9th 9/8c on FOX. For those who missed the pilot back in the spring, it's a one-hour musical comedy that focuses on the Glee Club at one American high school. It features delightful, full-on musical numbers including such songs as Amy Winehouse's "Rehab" and Journey's "Don't Stop Believing." Look for Jane Lynch as the bitchy, snarky cheer-leading coach.
Gossip Girl third season is back on the CW's Monday nights starting September 14th 9/8c. After a whip-smart second season the gang is headed to its freshmen year in college which makes me a little worried because high school provided the perfect backdrop for this teen soap. Still I love me some Gossip Girl.
The Office is now entering its sixth season--I can't even believe it--returning to NBC on Thursday, September 17th 9/8c. Either you watch it or you don't, still here's the video of the cast to catch you up on what went down last season and where this one may be headed.
Eastwick is a new series that will be appearing on ABC Wednesdays 10/9c debuting on September 23rd. A series based on the movie based on the novel The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike. Anyway, it looks promising, so I think I'll give it a try.
The Dollhouse will start its second season on Friday, September 25th 9/8c. I missed the first season, which is now out on DVD, but I think I need to get in on the latest of Joss Whedon's projects starring Eliza Dushku. Here's a somewhat long recap of season one.
And on Sundays PBS will be showing Ken Burn's twelve-hour story of The National Parks: America's Best Idea. The epic six-part film will begin on September 27th 8/7c. It looks like a grand exercise in American history and riveting cinematography. Mark Kirby of GQ says, "Think of it as Planet Earth featuring places you might actually get to go sometime."
Finally, I plan to watch the fourth season of 30 Rock which I find to be sometimes uneven but which the Emmy's love, bestowing 22 nominations on the third season. There's no video for this one, but it premieres Thursday, October 15th on NBC. The Emmy Awards by the way will be presented on CBS Sunday, September 20th 8/7c. Anyway, that does it for me. What will you be watching this fall?
P.S. Here's a hilarious eight-minute recap of the first three seasons of Battlestar Galactica called "What the Frak is Going on with Battlestar Galactica." I could watch it over and over and over again. It contains spoilers by the way.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
I Believe I May Have a First Sentence
As I was wandering outside tonight, as is my wont, this first sentence came to me, and then the second as I was writing it down. I think it makes a great beginning, but for what I don't know. So I'm not sure it will ever come to anything, but I'm intrigued.
The dark house was punctuated by lighted windows like a leering Jack O'Lantern. Still, the weak, academic light emanating from the fenestration did little to dispel the shadows that engulfed the house, for the darkness on this night had a physical density to it which nothing could pierce.
The dark house was punctuated by lighted windows like a leering Jack O'Lantern. Still, the weak, academic light emanating from the fenestration did little to dispel the shadows that engulfed the house, for the darkness on this night had a physical density to it which nothing could pierce.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Liminal Spaces
It's a little strange to be home now, alone, as my baby sister left for college a couple of weeks ago. The house is quiet and I miss her. It's also a little strange to watch all the busy students at the U--especially the freshmen--readjust to campus, because even though I'm also starting school this fall, mine is still a month away. There is much to done in the remaining month including such things as packing and freaking out, but for now all is still. I'm just reading books, going to movies, hanging out with friends, and catching reruns on television.
Speaking of books I just started Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner which is not at all what I expected, my expectations mostly based on As I Lay Dying. So far I've been managing a chapter a day which isn't bad considering there are only nine chapters and they're anywhere from 20 to 80 pages each and the writing's a bit dense. I'm not sure if I like it yet; we'll just have to wait and see. I recently finished All Souls by Christine Schutt, a novel about--well I'm not really sure what it was about, but it concerns the characters at an elite Upper East Side school in Manhattan--the students, parents, and teachers. I was really excited to read it because I love Gossip Girl (the television series, not the books), and All Souls was a finalist for the Pulitzer--and I love awards. But the novel was much more difficult than I thought it would be, and in the end I was rather disappointed. Finally, I've been making my way through Sexual Personae by Camille Paglia and it is fascinating. The subtitle Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson is fitting for this tome which is described as "a unified-field theory of Western culture, high and low" from the Ancient Egyptians who invented beauty through the art and literature of the ages up to the American Transcendentalists and Dark Romantics. Harold Bloom calls it "an enormous sensation of a book, in all the better senses of 'sensation.'" And it is sometimes outrageous and infuriating, tackling the assumptions of conservatives, liberals, and feminists alike. The New York Times says it is "as intellectually stimulating as it is exasperating." And while I don't agree with all of Paglia's points, she makes a persuasive argument while challenging everything I thought I knew. I still have much to read, but I highly recommend this book especially to my friends who are interested in art and literature, and especially those who consider themselves feminists.
Anyway, once I finish Absalom, Absalom! I will have checked off a good portion of my summer reading list though--alas and alack--I will not have finished everything on it. Faulkner and Paglia will complete the fifteen books I did read this summer, but there were still four more titles on my list that didn't make it including American Rust; Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs; Lady Chatterley's Lover; and One Hundred Years of Solitude--which I never finished in Continental Lit II. Nevertheless, it's the only reading list I've come remotely close to finishing, and I intend to finish these four novels in the fall though I'm sure grad school has other plans.
I've also checked off a few more movies off my summer list. Star Trek is every bit as good the second time around; The Hurt Locker is "ferociously suspenseful," a war movie refreshingly free of political polemics; and Moon is a spare and haunting science fiction movie where individuals are expendable in the face of technology and energy. I also saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince after rereading the book. While the narrative is terribly engrossing, I think the book is full of cliches, bad writing, and static characters. (Let the hate comments begin.) The movie was a fine visual adaptation of the book, but certainly not great cinema on its own merits. I think that the third movie directed by Alfonso Cuaron is the best of the film franchise, though I'm not even sure if I've the seen the fourth and fifth movies. So while Labor Day is still a couple of weeks away, I would just like to say what I think were the most fun and enjoyable summer movies. Star Trek obviously, The Brothers Bloom which is hilarious and almost masturbatory in its own enjoyment, Julie & Julia is a visual feast with the always sublime Meryl Streep, and (500) Days of Summer is a delightful romp with the best soundtrack of any movie to come out, so far, this year. What were your favorite films this summer?
Speaking of Labor Day we are entering the time and space between summer and fall. While the Autumnal Equinox is not until September 23rd and we're still waiting for the first cold snap--though it's been unusually cool this summer--classes are starting for most students and Labor Day is just around the corner. Summer is ending and fall is beginning. These are my two favorite seasons and I love the liminal space between them. As Kristyn and I were driving home from Harry Potter, it was late evening and the pale daylight was fading from the mountains and city buildings, and everything was peaceful even in the city. I felt the smallest pang of nostalgia, the tiniest tremor. And I wanted to listen to Regina Spektor's "Summer in the City," Vanessa Carlton's "White Houses," and Dashboard Confessional's "Stolen." We watched the season pull up its own stakes / and catch the last weekend of the last week. And now I need to work on my fall playlist--any suggestions?
It is also the time of the harvest. I visited SLC's Farmers Market which was absolutely delightful! I've only been to one other farmers market before, it was a bit pitiful and I was quite young. Anyway, Pioneer Park was swarming with people and the vendors were hawking their wares from fresh produce and baked goods to cooked meals and hipster handicrafts. It was so much fun, and I want to go back this weekend. I bought some peaches for peaches & cream!, and heirloom tomatoes. I've been using them to make tomato sandwiches which are delectable. Toast some bread, slather it with mayonnaise, layer on juicy slabs of fresh tomatoes--for best results use a variety--sprinkle with salt and pepper, and eat open-faced. OMG! So good. Bring on the peaches and tomatoes, I'm ready for fall. I'm ready for jacket-weather, leaf peeping, long walks on brisk evenings, exploring coffee shops and drinking hot chai lattes, starting school, and curling up in a blanket reading novels.
Speaking of books I just started Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner which is not at all what I expected, my expectations mostly based on As I Lay Dying. So far I've been managing a chapter a day which isn't bad considering there are only nine chapters and they're anywhere from 20 to 80 pages each and the writing's a bit dense. I'm not sure if I like it yet; we'll just have to wait and see. I recently finished All Souls by Christine Schutt, a novel about--well I'm not really sure what it was about, but it concerns the characters at an elite Upper East Side school in Manhattan--the students, parents, and teachers. I was really excited to read it because I love Gossip Girl (the television series, not the books), and All Souls was a finalist for the Pulitzer--and I love awards. But the novel was much more difficult than I thought it would be, and in the end I was rather disappointed. Finally, I've been making my way through Sexual Personae by Camille Paglia and it is fascinating. The subtitle Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson is fitting for this tome which is described as "a unified-field theory of Western culture, high and low" from the Ancient Egyptians who invented beauty through the art and literature of the ages up to the American Transcendentalists and Dark Romantics. Harold Bloom calls it "an enormous sensation of a book, in all the better senses of 'sensation.'" And it is sometimes outrageous and infuriating, tackling the assumptions of conservatives, liberals, and feminists alike. The New York Times says it is "as intellectually stimulating as it is exasperating." And while I don't agree with all of Paglia's points, she makes a persuasive argument while challenging everything I thought I knew. I still have much to read, but I highly recommend this book especially to my friends who are interested in art and literature, and especially those who consider themselves feminists.
Anyway, once I finish Absalom, Absalom! I will have checked off a good portion of my summer reading list though--alas and alack--I will not have finished everything on it. Faulkner and Paglia will complete the fifteen books I did read this summer, but there were still four more titles on my list that didn't make it including American Rust; Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs; Lady Chatterley's Lover; and One Hundred Years of Solitude--which I never finished in Continental Lit II. Nevertheless, it's the only reading list I've come remotely close to finishing, and I intend to finish these four novels in the fall though I'm sure grad school has other plans.
I've also checked off a few more movies off my summer list. Star Trek is every bit as good the second time around; The Hurt Locker is "ferociously suspenseful," a war movie refreshingly free of political polemics; and Moon is a spare and haunting science fiction movie where individuals are expendable in the face of technology and energy. I also saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince after rereading the book. While the narrative is terribly engrossing, I think the book is full of cliches, bad writing, and static characters. (Let the hate comments begin.) The movie was a fine visual adaptation of the book, but certainly not great cinema on its own merits. I think that the third movie directed by Alfonso Cuaron is the best of the film franchise, though I'm not even sure if I've the seen the fourth and fifth movies. So while Labor Day is still a couple of weeks away, I would just like to say what I think were the most fun and enjoyable summer movies. Star Trek obviously, The Brothers Bloom which is hilarious and almost masturbatory in its own enjoyment, Julie & Julia is a visual feast with the always sublime Meryl Streep, and (500) Days of Summer is a delightful romp with the best soundtrack of any movie to come out, so far, this year. What were your favorite films this summer?
Speaking of Labor Day we are entering the time and space between summer and fall. While the Autumnal Equinox is not until September 23rd and we're still waiting for the first cold snap--though it's been unusually cool this summer--classes are starting for most students and Labor Day is just around the corner. Summer is ending and fall is beginning. These are my two favorite seasons and I love the liminal space between them. As Kristyn and I were driving home from Harry Potter, it was late evening and the pale daylight was fading from the mountains and city buildings, and everything was peaceful even in the city. I felt the smallest pang of nostalgia, the tiniest tremor. And I wanted to listen to Regina Spektor's "Summer in the City," Vanessa Carlton's "White Houses," and Dashboard Confessional's "Stolen." We watched the season pull up its own stakes / and catch the last weekend of the last week. And now I need to work on my fall playlist--any suggestions?
It is also the time of the harvest. I visited SLC's Farmers Market which was absolutely delightful! I've only been to one other farmers market before, it was a bit pitiful and I was quite young. Anyway, Pioneer Park was swarming with people and the vendors were hawking their wares from fresh produce and baked goods to cooked meals and hipster handicrafts. It was so much fun, and I want to go back this weekend. I bought some peaches for peaches & cream!, and heirloom tomatoes. I've been using them to make tomato sandwiches which are delectable. Toast some bread, slather it with mayonnaise, layer on juicy slabs of fresh tomatoes--for best results use a variety--sprinkle with salt and pepper, and eat open-faced. OMG! So good. Bring on the peaches and tomatoes, I'm ready for fall. I'm ready for jacket-weather, leaf peeping, long walks on brisk evenings, exploring coffee shops and drinking hot chai lattes, starting school, and curling up in a blanket reading novels.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Summer Movies Redux
Isn't redux such a great word? And one so rarely has the opportunity to use it. This weekend I saw two movies on my summer list: Julie & Julia and (500) Days of Summer both of which were excellent. 500 Days is a delightful 95 minute romp of great music, great outfits (thank you Hope Hanafin; I want Tom's wardrobe!), and the always great Zooey Deschanel being unbearably cute. The movie tells you up front that it is NOT a love story--no happy ending, no boy gets girl--rather it's the story of Tom who falls in love with Summer who stomps his heart to bits. It's a deft portrayal of the twentysomething not-love-story complete with an Enchanted-styled musical number, and I highly recommend it. Anyway, seeing these movies got me thinking about my summer movie list--because I love to make lists and I love even more to check items off. Anyway, I've regrettably missed a few films including Easy Virtue, Cheri, and Whatever Works. The problem with indie movie theaters is that they don't play these movies for very long. One has to pounce when these movies come out or else miss the goods. And yet movies come out on DVD so quickly now and thank god for Netflix. So to help me see the rest of the films on my summer list, including a few new ones, I've decided to post them here.
Star Trek: Okay, yes I've already seen it, but it's awesome and it's playing at the dollar theater so I don't think one final theater screening is out of line.
The Hangover: A movie with almost no promotion garnered a lot of buzz when it was released while still earning mixed reviews. Nevertheless, it's playing at Brewvies Cinema Pub and really any excuse to drink beer at the movies in Utah is a worthwhile endeavor.
The Hurt Locker: Kathryn Bigelow's film has garnered a lot of attention and has been billed as one of the most important and affecting movies about Iraq to date. It's also 98% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes. So I need to get over to the Broadway before it, like the rest, disappears.
Moon: The trailer bills this movie, starring Sam Rockwell, as an intelligent sci-fi thriller about alternative energy sources on the moon as well as artificial intelligence. I love me some science fiction that combines social commentary with actual science/technology and how it affects mankind.
The Cove: I just saw the trailer for this documentary and it was terrifying. It's described as a "pulse-pounding eco-thriller" that infiltrates a secret cove in Japan to expose a shocking crime against nature that involves dolphins.
The Time Traveler's Wife: I'm mostly going to see this because I read the novel for book club and I wonder how it's going to turn out. I also love Rachel McAdams. I hope it's good, but I don't have the highest expectations.
Humpday: Lynn Shelton's movie, which premiered at SIFF, is also getting a lot of attention as would any movie whose premise is two straight friends who decide to make a gay porno together (like an art house Zack and Miri, but with dudes). Is the attention or the film homophobic? I don't know. But I think it will be an interesting film nevertheless.
Adam: I'm going mostly to see Hugh Dancy (my celeb crush) who plays a man with Asperger's and falls in love with his neighbor played by Rose Byrne.
Little Ashes: A biopic about Lorca, Dali, and Bunuel is finally coming to SLC. I was excited to see this, but the reviews haven't been very good. If anyone else has seen this, please let me know if it's worthwhile.
The other films that have come out this summer that I'm semi-interested in seeing but probably won't include Funny People, Harry Potter 6, Public Enemies, Paper Heart, Ponyo, and Inglourious Basterds. If there are any movies on this list that I should definitely see or skip, let me know. Also, I need to get myself to a drive-in theater because they're awesome.
And here's just a brief run-down of films coming out this fall that have caught at least a passing interest.
Fame
Coco Before Chanel
An Education
The Road
Amelia
Nine
Brothers
All Good Things
The Princess and the Frog
The Lovely Bones
It's Complicated
Star Trek: Okay, yes I've already seen it, but it's awesome and it's playing at the dollar theater so I don't think one final theater screening is out of line.
The Hangover: A movie with almost no promotion garnered a lot of buzz when it was released while still earning mixed reviews. Nevertheless, it's playing at Brewvies Cinema Pub and really any excuse to drink beer at the movies in Utah is a worthwhile endeavor.
The Hurt Locker: Kathryn Bigelow's film has garnered a lot of attention and has been billed as one of the most important and affecting movies about Iraq to date. It's also 98% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes. So I need to get over to the Broadway before it, like the rest, disappears.
Moon: The trailer bills this movie, starring Sam Rockwell, as an intelligent sci-fi thriller about alternative energy sources on the moon as well as artificial intelligence. I love me some science fiction that combines social commentary with actual science/technology and how it affects mankind.
The Cove: I just saw the trailer for this documentary and it was terrifying. It's described as a "pulse-pounding eco-thriller" that infiltrates a secret cove in Japan to expose a shocking crime against nature that involves dolphins.
The Time Traveler's Wife: I'm mostly going to see this because I read the novel for book club and I wonder how it's going to turn out. I also love Rachel McAdams. I hope it's good, but I don't have the highest expectations.
Humpday: Lynn Shelton's movie, which premiered at SIFF, is also getting a lot of attention as would any movie whose premise is two straight friends who decide to make a gay porno together (like an art house Zack and Miri, but with dudes). Is the attention or the film homophobic? I don't know. But I think it will be an interesting film nevertheless.
Adam: I'm going mostly to see Hugh Dancy (my celeb crush) who plays a man with Asperger's and falls in love with his neighbor played by Rose Byrne.
Little Ashes: A biopic about Lorca, Dali, and Bunuel is finally coming to SLC. I was excited to see this, but the reviews haven't been very good. If anyone else has seen this, please let me know if it's worthwhile.
The other films that have come out this summer that I'm semi-interested in seeing but probably won't include Funny People, Harry Potter 6, Public Enemies, Paper Heart, Ponyo, and Inglourious Basterds. If there are any movies on this list that I should definitely see or skip, let me know. Also, I need to get myself to a drive-in theater because they're awesome.
And here's just a brief run-down of films coming out this fall that have caught at least a passing interest.
Fame
Coco Before Chanel
An Education
The Road
Amelia
Nine
Brothers
All Good Things
The Princess and the Frog
The Lovely Bones
It's Complicated
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Feast for the Eyes
I just saw Julie & Julia and I loved it! The only downside was that I went to see it at 10:40 am on a Saturday morning--I didn't even know such a time existed--and when we left the theater the sun was unbearably bright. (Even though the temperature has sunk from the 90s to the 70s--such a strange summer.) The movie is based on two memoirs--the eponymous title by Julie Powell as well as Julia Child's My Life in France. My primary interest was in the Julie Powell story--and if you haven't read the memoir I highly suggest you do, it's one of my favorites--but it would have made a thin film by itself and so the Julia Child story provides an excellent buttress, and perhaps becomes the better part of the film. This is where we learn about the complete difference between books and movies, but Nora Eprhon has written a wonderful film adaptation that cuts back and forth between the two narratives most excellently.
Meryl Streep is perfect, how predictable, as Julia Child and we would expect nothing less. Stanley Tucci is also excellent as her husband, Paul. It's quite an interesting story of how this tall, red-headed woman became the icon Julia Child who forever changed the way Americans cook and think about food. It's set against the backdrop of post-war Paris as Child learns to cook and seeks to publish her famous cookbook.
Amy Adams was actually better than I thought she would be as Julie Powell. I just think Adams is too sweet to portray the cynical, narcissistic, foul-mouthed Powell--and while not all of that comes across, enough does to work. Powell is a hard-bitten government secretary stuck in a dead-end job, who, as she approaches thirty, decides to cook her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year, and along the way, complete with many, many meltdowns, discovers the recipe for joy and the zest for life--not to get carried away or anything.
The sets and costumes were great and everything, but the best part was the food and the butter and the butter and the butter and the butter. Streep and Adams along with everyone else are constantly eating and cooking, cooking and eating--that is when they're not busy kissing and boffing their spouses, and even sometimes when they are. It's truly a visual feast infused with joie de vivre. I highly recommend this film.
Meryl Streep is perfect, how predictable, as Julia Child and we would expect nothing less. Stanley Tucci is also excellent as her husband, Paul. It's quite an interesting story of how this tall, red-headed woman became the icon Julia Child who forever changed the way Americans cook and think about food. It's set against the backdrop of post-war Paris as Child learns to cook and seeks to publish her famous cookbook.
Amy Adams was actually better than I thought she would be as Julie Powell. I just think Adams is too sweet to portray the cynical, narcissistic, foul-mouthed Powell--and while not all of that comes across, enough does to work. Powell is a hard-bitten government secretary stuck in a dead-end job, who, as she approaches thirty, decides to cook her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year, and along the way, complete with many, many meltdowns, discovers the recipe for joy and the zest for life--not to get carried away or anything.
The sets and costumes were great and everything, but the best part was the food and the butter and the butter and the butter and the butter. Streep and Adams along with everyone else are constantly eating and cooking, cooking and eating--that is when they're not busy kissing and boffing their spouses, and even sometimes when they are. It's truly a visual feast infused with joie de vivre. I highly recommend this film.
Monday, August 3, 2009
21 Again
So I recently had a birthday (this blog's for you Kristen!), but as a lady never reveals her true age, I have decided to stay twenty-one indefinitely--much like Lorelai who continues to be sixteen. Of course, Lauren Graham looks improbably youthful and maintains her kick-ass figure. Anyway, my birthday was on Tuesday and I received many wonderful birthday wishes, so thank you for those. It was a pretty low-key day, but then I've learned to expect less from birthdays and holidays, otherwise they're just anti-climatic. I did go to the Cheesecake Factory with my family which was wonderfully delicious. And then it was present-time. I got a Rubik's Cube and this notebook computer from which I am typing this very blog. Now the laptop wasn't nearly as exciting since the delivery was late. So instead of actually unwrapping the computer, I got a printout of the order. However, it's still a very nice gift, and will be very useful come graduate school. I've also rapidly developed the very bad habit of watching television while also connecting to the Internet. But more on that later. Now the best present was seeing Tori Amos in concert a couple of weeks ago. And then I did buy three books for myself off my amazon wish list which are also on my summer reading list, so happy freaking birthday to me!
The next day I had dinner with Kristyn at Firehouse Pizzeria--I've had pizza every day this week--where I discovered the wonder that is the Cutthroat Pale Ale, a handcrafted beer made right here in Utah. Being more of a lager guy myself, I've avoided this and other ales, but this one is magical and delicious and I hope to consume many more before leaving for Washington. And with any luck, they just might sell this in Seattle too. On the down side, Washington State just hiked up liquor prices by 6%. Ouch. And I thought I was leaving Utah. Anyway, another nice "birthday present" was finally finding an apartment to live in. I had put it off and off because it was far too stressful, and I like to avoid real situations/problems in my life--I'm only twenty-one after all. But it only took like fifteen minutes and the gentle guidance of Ellen to find a really great place--all I have to do now is fax the lease in later this week. Boo-yah baby! But this whole moving-to-Seattle thing has felt a lot more real lately, which is kinda freaking me out.
Speaking of Ellen, we almost share the same birthday and so decided to share a birthday party--which perhaps wasn't the best decision for two Leos. Staying twenty-one means throwing a children's birthday party which meant going to Tracy Aviary--I love birds!--and Liberty Park. While we didn't ride any of the carnival rides at the park, alas and alack, we did have a pinata! I bought it out of a nostalgic wistfulness for my childhood and because Ellen's never had a pinata--say what?! But you know what the thing about pinatas are? They're fucking AWESOME! I fully plan on having a pinata at all my birthday parties. And I made a teddy bear character cake, frosted beautifully for looks, and a beets-and-olive-oil Devil's Food cake for deliciousness, decorated appropriately with a 21 candle. And Melissa got me season two of How I Met Your Mother which is awesome and is also what I'm watching right now. Miss Liss, I love you!
And so today was Ellen's actual birthday, and so we made use of our Lagoon Season Passports and also discovered that Ellen needs Xanax. But we had a wonderful time at Lagoon, just riding the rides, except I am now exhausted and ravenous. And then we sang lots of Broadway show tunes in my car. "Seasons of Love" and "Memory" made me a little sad that I'll soon be leaving, and then I've also had "Forever Young" stuck in my head lately, but that is neither here nor there. But all in all, what a wonderful day! I also picked up some books at the library today--Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique and Camille Paglia's Sexual Personae, you know just some "light" reading to make up for my feminist literature gap. Meanwhile, I've been trudging through Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night which really is not nearly as good as The Great Gatsby, and Mr. F. Scott kind of sucks at characters. I'm planning on finishing it anyway, but I would really rather read Hemingway's The Garden of Eden instead. Oh well. But now it's bedtime for bonzo, so I will bid you all a fond bon nuit.
The next day I had dinner with Kristyn at Firehouse Pizzeria--I've had pizza every day this week--where I discovered the wonder that is the Cutthroat Pale Ale, a handcrafted beer made right here in Utah. Being more of a lager guy myself, I've avoided this and other ales, but this one is magical and delicious and I hope to consume many more before leaving for Washington. And with any luck, they just might sell this in Seattle too. On the down side, Washington State just hiked up liquor prices by 6%. Ouch. And I thought I was leaving Utah. Anyway, another nice "birthday present" was finally finding an apartment to live in. I had put it off and off because it was far too stressful, and I like to avoid real situations/problems in my life--I'm only twenty-one after all. But it only took like fifteen minutes and the gentle guidance of Ellen to find a really great place--all I have to do now is fax the lease in later this week. Boo-yah baby! But this whole moving-to-Seattle thing has felt a lot more real lately, which is kinda freaking me out.
Speaking of Ellen, we almost share the same birthday and so decided to share a birthday party--which perhaps wasn't the best decision for two Leos. Staying twenty-one means throwing a children's birthday party which meant going to Tracy Aviary--I love birds!--and Liberty Park. While we didn't ride any of the carnival rides at the park, alas and alack, we did have a pinata! I bought it out of a nostalgic wistfulness for my childhood and because Ellen's never had a pinata--say what?! But you know what the thing about pinatas are? They're fucking AWESOME! I fully plan on having a pinata at all my birthday parties. And I made a teddy bear character cake, frosted beautifully for looks, and a beets-and-olive-oil Devil's Food cake for deliciousness, decorated appropriately with a 21 candle. And Melissa got me season two of How I Met Your Mother which is awesome and is also what I'm watching right now. Miss Liss, I love you!
And so today was Ellen's actual birthday, and so we made use of our Lagoon Season Passports and also discovered that Ellen needs Xanax. But we had a wonderful time at Lagoon, just riding the rides, except I am now exhausted and ravenous. And then we sang lots of Broadway show tunes in my car. "Seasons of Love" and "Memory" made me a little sad that I'll soon be leaving, and then I've also had "Forever Young" stuck in my head lately, but that is neither here nor there. But all in all, what a wonderful day! I also picked up some books at the library today--Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique and Camille Paglia's Sexual Personae, you know just some "light" reading to make up for my feminist literature gap. Meanwhile, I've been trudging through Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night which really is not nearly as good as The Great Gatsby, and Mr. F. Scott kind of sucks at characters. I'm planning on finishing it anyway, but I would really rather read Hemingway's The Garden of Eden instead. Oh well. But now it's bedtime for bonzo, so I will bid you all a fond bon nuit.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)