Happy Holidays

Right now I am eating a delicious slice of the pumpkin cheesecake I made to celebrate my own Thanksgiving. One of my best Thanksgivings was spent in Cedar City, and I actually had to work. But almost no one called Convergys that day, and so we played games like I Have Never and threw bouncy balls around. And then I went back to my apartment and all my roommates were gone (except for Adrian), and I drank a bottle of Meier's sparkling grace juice and watched The Rules of Attraction. I was so energized afterward (sugar rush!) that I cruised Main Street listening to Christmas songs on the radio. All in all, it was a pretty good day. This Thanksgiving was not exactly like that. It was very low-key but more lonely. I missed all my friends and family.

I did make a whole feast for myself. Besides the pumpkin cheesecake, I also made homemade cranberry sauce which is my specialty--but it's also ridiculously easy. A monkey could make it. I also made a spinach pancetta strata (which is like Italian stuffing), spinach artichoke dip, and Brussels sprouts. The Brussels sprouts were actually not half-bad even though I burned my hand on the pan--an ibuprofen and a few glasses of wine helped ease the pain tremendously. I also bought a rotisserie chicken which I didn't even touch until yesterday. The wine, Brussels sprouts, dip, and cranberry sauce are gone. The cheesecake is disappearing at an alarming, yet delicious, rate. So all I have left is the strata and a couple of chicken legs.

I spent the day watching movies. Well, first I watched all ten Thanksgiving episodes from Friends on the WB's website. That was delightful. I also watched a couple of The West Wing's Thanksgiving episodes. Again, delightful. And then Netflix screwed up my movies, and instead of sending me Will & Grace and Were the World Mine, they sent me A Streetcar Named Desire and Dark City. I sort of stopped paying attention towards the end of Streetcar so I'm not entirely sure what happened. What I do know is that Marlon Brando exudes sexuality. So damn hot. Whew. Dark City is an interesting and bizarre, stylistic and dark science-fiction picture starring Rufus Sewell who's very pretty--especially ten years ago. It reminded me a lot of Sin City and now I very much want to see that movie again. On Friday afternoon, I made my way all the the way down to Capitol Hill to see An Education which was very good. It was very interesting and not at all what I had expected based on the trailer. So I had to adjust my expectations, but I think it was all for the better. The screenplay's by Nick Hornby based on a memoir by Lynn Barber, and it's set in England in the early '60s right before The Beatles took over and shook things up. It's a coming-of-age story of Jenny played perfectly by Carey Mulligan. I didn't make the connection myself, but she's being compared to Audrey Hepburn--the sunglasses help enormously--yet Carey Mulligan is effortless and graceful and glowing so the comparison is apt. Peter Sarsgaard who has always creeped me out, was only mildly creepy, but then his character is a charmer, so I guess it's very good acting. Here's a part of Roger Ebert's review and it doesn't contain any real spoilers:
"So young women, let this movie offer useful advice. When a man seems too good to be true, he probably isn't -- good, or true. We all make mistakes when we're growing up. Sometimes we learn from them. If we're lucky, we can even learn during them. And you must certainly see Paris. Do not count on meeting the aunt."
By the way, I also loved the last line of the movie. All in all, it was a good film and worth checking out.

There were also a couple of trailers for movies I want to see. I love the way that the way trailers present movies change through the years. A few years ago trailers seemed to give away the whole movie. Sometimes the two-and-a-half minute trailer is better than the movie itself. But I think we're moving away from that a little bit, based on these two trailers anyway. I have no idea what either of them is about, but I desperately want to see them. The first is the directorial debut of Tom Ford's film A Single Man and it's garnered a lot of critical buzz. The second is Nine and all I know is that it's a musical from the same director of Chicago. By the way, I finally bought Chicago on sale at the grocery store last week, and I also watched that on Thanksgiving. I love Chicago! Here are the trailers:



And today I started working on some lists. I finished my wish list on amazon and my holiday/winter playlist. Some of my favorites include Allison Crowe's cover of "River," The Killers' "A Great Big Sled," and Tori Amos' versions of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "Little Drummer Boy." I also love "How Long" by Martha Wainwright which screams Christmas to me with the "starlight gleaming" and the melancholy atmosphere; it would be the perfect song for a Christmas scene in Brokeback Mountain. (Is there a Christmas scene in that movie? It's been a while since I've seen it.) I also queued all my holiday movies on Netflix for this month. Based mostly on TBTL's recommendations from last year I will be watching The Shop Around the Corner, Die Hard, Love Actually (it's a tradition!), Fanny and Alexander, the original Miracle on 34th Street, Meet Me in St. Louis, the 1984 A Christmas Carol with George C. Scott, and The Dead which is based on a James Joyce story and is actually set during the Epiphany. It's not a very traditional list, but I'm kind of going for a more alternative Christmas this year, but if I happen to catch It's A Wonderful Life, A Charlie Brown Christmas, or The Muppet Christmas Carol on TV then so much the better. What are your favorite Christmas movies?

I can't wait to go home. I have three more weeks of classes and finals, but I'm not too stressed out. I only have three assignments and one final, and none of them should be too difficult. This break has also been nice and long. I only got one extra day off, but I can't believe it's only Saturday. I still have Sunday to relax and lounge around. Delightful! Well, the Christmas season has begun in earnest. I guess it's time to start my Christmas shopping. Peace on Earth, goodwill to men.