Bette Davis Eyes

The first time I saw All About Eve, I didn't really like it that much or appreciate it. I was too young, and I kept expecting Bette Davis to say "Poor Eve" with an accompanying hand gesture--thank you very much Will & Grace. So I put the film back on my Netflix queue and once again I watched it. (The same narrative goes for Sunset Boulevard--that one comes in the mail in a week or two.) Well this time I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated the film, and I also knew that no one was going to say "Poor Eve." Anyway, Bette Davis as Margo Channing is one of the great screen performances of celluloid, and it got me thinking about other iconic roles in the history of film.

I think the two best examples of what I'm looking for are Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's and Peter O'Toole as T.E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia. When one says Audrey Hepburn, one immediately thinks of the little black dress, the tiara--or that hat--the cigarette holder, the wayfarers. One thinks of her drinking coffee and eating a pastry in front of a Tiffany's store window, singing "Moon River" on the fire escape, the rain-drenched kiss with George Peppard after the fraught taxi ride, or any of the other classic scenes. It is the very definition of iconic. Likewise, it isn't hard to see Peter O'Toole with those piercing blue eyes, wearing--well I'm not sure what he's wearing--Arabian garb, riding horses and camels in front of the devastating beauty of all of Arabia (actually filmed in Jordan).

I'm looking for those roles that are not simply iconic--or we have to include Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in Return of the Jedi--but that are also great performances. Maybe we should include Carrie Fisher. So here's the rest of my initial list:

Meryl Streep as Sophie Zawistowski in Sophie's Choice. One of the greatest performances by one of our greatest actresses. Amazing.

Marlon Brando as Stanely Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire (or really any movie). A sweaty Marlon Brando in a torn undershirt yelling "Hey Stella!" There's nothing more to say.

Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz. Maybe it's not a tour de force performance, but what about her checkered blue dress skipping down the yellow brick road? And it's Judy Garland! (Say it in your best Liza Minnelli voice.)

Elizabeth Taylor as Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Because you have to include Elizabeth Taylor, right? One of her best performances.

Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close up." & "I am big. It's the movies that got small."

Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance in The Shining. "Here's Johnny!"

So here's some more greats that I haven't seen yet. Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull or Taxi Driver, Maria (Renee) Falconetti in La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc, Katharine Hepburn in Long Day's Journey Into Night, Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke, and Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch. So what do we think? What are the greatest iconic performances?

Spring in January

Do you know what was lovely? Coming home in December to lots of snow and coldness and Christmas. It was perfect. Do you know what was even more lovely? Coming back to Seattle in January where the temperatures have ranged from the 40s-60s all month. This is a vast improvement over December when it got below freezing. Boo. Anyway, the trees are budding and the tulips are, well, doing whatever tulips do. The only downside is that it has been the rainiest month since I've been here, but that's what spring's all about right? Well--warm trumps wet--I'll take it!

I've decided that I'm never getting a doctorate degree, but I've been thinking lately that I'd like to get another Master's degree, maybe just one more. In film studies! I mean watching film, studying film history and theory, writing papers about film--how me is that? Of course if I did, I'd want to go to some teaching university where the tuition is reasonable--god, I miss SUU. There's no money in film studies. Besides I'm spending a ridiculous amount of money to be a librarian, though at least a librarian is a professional degree. Well, there's some debate whether or not the librarian is a profession or simply an occupation, but I believe it fulfills the criteria of a profession (except those people in circulation!), though I have a vested interest in doing so. And if I want to go the academic library route, a second Master's comes in mighty handy. I could be a film librarian. Brilliant! Wait, is there such a thing? There has to be.

So Suzanne Vega is coming to Seattle in February. So friends, what do we think? should I spring for some Vega tickets? "Luka" was playing in the grocery store the other day, awesome, and "The Queen and the Soldier" has been coming up a lot on my genius playlists (maybe it's a sign). I've never really used genius before, but this weekend was a revelation. or something. And I love "Caramel" and "Tom's Diner." Also, Hey Marseilles is playing at The Crocodile this weekend, and I'm super stoked. I've been listening to "Calabasas" nonstop lately.

So I'm about 1/3 of the way done with the quarter. It's actually kind of scary how quickly it's going. Right now I'm working on a presentation about national information policy. What the what? I don't know either. In related news I got out of the house this weekend. Go me. On Friday I went to a game night with people I don't know, so that was a lil' awkward, but I'm awesome at Taboo! On Saturday I went to Jeannie's housewarming party which was divided between the library students in jeans and the former sorority girls (and guys) who were not in jeans. And there was wizard-slapping going on. I did not engage this time in said wizard-slapping, though I promised Alex I would next time. And then last night the Fighting Librarians were supposed to have a movie night, well we did anyway, but attendance was sorely lacking. But I saw True Romance for the first time. 1993 was a different time. But yay Detroit! After hearing about Detroit on NPR sometime last year, I've decided that I'm moving there. My future is in Detroit. Hope my Ann Arbor counterparts don't have the same bright idea. But they do! Damn them. And they're already adjusted to freezing Michigan winters.

So I don't know what I'm saying anymore. I'm on my second beer. I love not having class on Tuesday. I know my last post was pretty video heavy but I wanted to link to "Natalie Raps" an SNL Digital Short from 2006 that went viral, so you may have seen it before wherein Natalie Portman makes fun of her good girl/intellectual image. It makes me laugh every time. One day I want to smash a bottle over my head like that. WHAT?!

Garfunkel and Oates

I find it really hard to be productive each and every day. On Monday I got a lot done, but it was like pulling teeth to do anything on Tuesday. Yesterday, I was mildly productive, but today I got out of bed after noon and haven't done anything since. Which is a shame since I have two assignments due tomorrow. One of which includes designing a research proposal which feels a lot like designing a science fair project, which is something I always sucked at. Fortunately, I don't actually have to conduct the research. At least I have a problem/question to work with now.

Anyway, when I feel spectacularly unproductive I like to watch these YouTube videos from a musical/comedy duo called Garfunkel and Oates. I first heard about them on TBTL, and I love them. I've posted some of them on Facebook which you may have seen. But here I'm posting my favorite four videos.

First up is the "Worst Song Medley" which I think may have been their first video. It's pretty funny even if I actually like of couple of the songs.


The next video is pretty funny which is called "Pregnant Women are Smug" which pretty much hits it on the nose. There are too many good lines too mention.


My favorite one is "Sex With Ducks" which is a pro-gay marriage song in response to Pat Robertson's statement that new hate crimes legislation would protect people who like to have sex with ducks. It was actually commenhater Bill O'Reilly who said that man-duck weddings might be down the road. Also, I think the guy in the video is pretty cute.


The last video here is "This Party Just Took a Turn for the Douche." The lyrics to this one are explicit as could be expected. I love how they take us through a list of doucher qualities while making some pretty witty references--everything from John Donne to Arrested Development to Margaret Sanger. The best part is that most douchers probably wouldn't catch most of the references.


Well I better get back to the books. Hope you enjoy the videos!

Golden Globes Rundown

Today I woke up early, not on purpose, but decided to get a head start on my day anyway. I even made breakfast--not something I usually do. I then headed to Zoka Coffee to do homework, except even at 9 am, which I personally feel is plenty early enough, it was completely full on a Monday morning. I'm starting to think that it may be slightly busier than usual because it's a holiday. If it's not normally so busy and I can find a seat there, it may become my new homework/reading haunt on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday mornings (late mornings, basically early afternoons), because let's face it, when I'm at home, I'm terribly unproductive. This post--case in point.

So I checked my school email, no small task, before feeling defeated by my JavaScript class and opting to read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay instead. Now I'm back home and don't feel particularly inspired to do homework--and the day started off so well. My printer came in the mail though, and I just set that up. So instead of reading I thought I'd give a quick rundown of last night's hoopla. If you're not into film and television and Hollywood navel gazing the way I am, you may as well stop reading now.

First though, on Friday, after class, I made my way down to Capitol Hill to see Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (worst movie subtitle ever) in the historic (drafty) Harvard Exit Theatre. It was a pretty depressing and bleak movie, and while it offered some hope it didn't really offer redemption. Gabourey Sidibe did a fantastic job, though I'm not sure what all the buzz is about. Mo'Nique, a stand-up comedienne, gave a wrenching performance fully deserving of the Golden Globe, even if I would have preferred the lovely Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air), or perhaps Julianne Moore, who I always love, even if I still haven't seen A Single Man. Even though the movie was kind of a punch in the gut in the theater, I had mostly forgotten about it by the next day.

On Saturday I saw It's Complicated which was delightful. I was the only guy in the theater with a bunch of middle-aged women. It's a typical Nancy Meyers' film, so it's not going to be a most amazing film you've ever seen. But I think they're smart, funny, well-written, easily-digested movies about relationships. I laughed out loud a lot, and I was charmed. Meryl Streep is fantastic as always, opposite Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. John Krasinski (The Office) stole several scenes even though he's getting typecast as Jim.

So last night I sat down with some hummus and a Framboise Lambic from Belgium--technically it's a beer, but it tastes more like alcoholic raspberry juice--to watch the Golden Globes. My reception of NBC is a little fuzzy, so I don't really have any comments on the dresses, though everyone looked lovely. I don't recall any fashion disasters. Ricky Gervais hosted and the man is incorrigible. Aside from shameless self-promotion and catty, British asides, my favorite jokes included being replaced by Jay Leno and blaming anything offensive on the beer a la Mel Gibson. And almost everyone was wearing pins to support Haiti.

The first award went to Mo'Nique for Supporting Actress as I've already mentioned though she forgot to thank the HFPA and mention her fellow nominees. Toni Collete won for United States of Tara beating Tina Fey. 30 Rock has enjoyed a lot of love, but it won only one award last night for Alec Baldwin who was already engaged in a charity event for . . . Haiti, I think. Anyway, I thought the third season of 30 Rock was uneven while the current season is killing it. Still, it's nice to see other shows/people win. John Lithgow won for Dexter and while I've still only seen the first season, I'm excited to eventually get to season four. And Up predictably won Best Animated Feature. Up is a perfectly fine film though I was seriously underwhelmed when I saw it for all the hype, and it might make a nice change if Pixar didn't win for once. And Michael C. Hall also won for Dexter, and apparently he had cancer which is now in remission. And Julianna Margulies won for The Good Wife which I have never seen, though it sounds interesting.

Cher and Christina Aguilera presented Best Song which went to the movie Crazy Heart which doesn't even come out until February. And Best Score went to Up, beating Avatar, A Single Man, and Where the Wild Things All. Best Miniseries went to Grey Gardens which is very predictable since it's HBO and everything. Meryl Streep was nominated twice for Best Actress in a comedy, but still managed to win for her inimitable portrayal of the iconic Julia Child. Which is as it should be, even if she wants to change her name to T-Bone. She was of course fantastic as a Nancy Meyers "everyday" woman, but Julia Child is a legend. And really the other contenders didn't have a chance. Marion Cotillard and Julia Roberts gave fine performances but not necessarily award winning. And I didn't see The Proposal, but really?

Kevin Bacon won for some miniseries. And then Drew Barrymore won her first Golden Globe for Grey Gardens and was flustered and charming and who doesn't love Drew? Still she had some pretty steep competition from Joan Allen, Jessica Lange, and Sigourney Weaver. Well, I'm only guessing because I haven't seen any of the miniseries, but they're all pretty big players. Jason Retiman and Sheldon Turner won Best Screenplay for Up in the Air, yay!, even if they beat Quentin Tarantino's superb Inglourious Basterds the only other real contender.

Sophia Loren presented Best Foreign Language Film which went to The White Ribbon from Germany. And Mad Men won Best Television Drama for the third year in a row. Chloe Sevigny won for Big Love and shared her award with her sister wives, and some guy stepped on her dress. Tear. And Christoph Waltz won Best Supporting Actor who, despite the billing, is the true star of Inglourious Basterds and not Brad Pitt. And then Martin Scorsese's leading men, Robert DeNiro and Leonard DiCaprio, presented him with the Cecil B. DeMille award.

The Best Director category was pretty intense. James Cameron and his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelowe were both up for Avatar and The Hurt Locker respectively. Jason Reitman was up for Up in the Air which as I've mentioned is the best movie of the year, I think so anyway. Quentin Tarantino was up for Inglourious Basterds, again superb, and of course the category has to include Clint Eastwood who directed Invictus which I haven't seen so I didn't even know he was nominated, but of course he was. So James Cameron won, which seems almost inevitable when your film costs $250 mil. Still I would have preferred Reitman, Tarantino, or even Bigelowe or Eastwood. We'll have to see in March whether or not the Academy has forgiven him for Titanic. Who else is bummed that the Oscars aren't until March this year? And who else is upset that they upped Best Picture nominees to ten instead of five?! I mean really!?

Glee won Best Comedy for TV which was great. So the pilot was really good, but then it was apparent that Glee wasn't working at every level. Eventually though, I think the show did get everything together by the end of the first half of the season. So even if 30 Rock was better, it's still great to see Glee win especially since it's so different from everything else on the air. We'll just have to wait to see whether or not FOX cancels it.

And then The Hangover won Best Musical/Comedy. Really? So this was never really going to be my kind of film, but it was a small movie that exploded in the summer and got all sorts of critical love, so I decided to see it. But then the summer ended and I didn't see in the theaters. So when I saw it, it was by myself on a TV screen, but I was seriously underwhelmed. I'm not sure if I laughed even once. Sure it's well-written, and well-acted, and makes more of the material than really any other similar movie would, but I would have preferred any of the other films in this category. (500) Days of Summer is witty and whimsy, yet real. It's Complicated is an actually funny movie. Julie & Julia doesn't work at every level but it's perfectly enjoyable. And Nine is a great musical that I haven't stopped thinking about since I saw it last week.

Sandra Bullock also won her first Golden Globe for The Blind Side. At least it wasn't for The Proposal. I also think Carey Mulligan was deserving for An Education. A perfectly lovely film she holds effortlessly together and who's as glamorous as Audrey Hepburn. But she's young and she'll be back. And this point my mother called me, so I didn't really hear any of the other speeches, which is sad because apparently Robert Downey Jr. gave a really good one. He won, and I didn't even know he was nominated, for Sherlock Holmes. And then Jeff Bridges got a standing ovation when he won for Crazy Heart. Again this movie doesn't even come out till next month, so I don't even know what it's about. But George Clooney needs to win himself a Best Actor (not supporting) Oscar and Up in the Air has been declared his subtlest performance yet. Also I hear Colin Firth is amazing in a Single Man which I am going to see soon . . . I hope.

This brings us to Best Picture Drama. I think Up in the Air should have won. We'll see what the Oscars think. Precious is a well made film, but kind of forgettable--maybe that's just me. The Hurt Locker is a masterwork of suspense and one of the best, non-polemical films about the war in Iraq to date. Inglourious Basterds may be Tarantino's best work even if it doesn't have the cult status of Pulp Fiction, not yet anyway. And I still prefer Kill Bill. Apparently there's a Kill Bill 3 in the works. I'm excited, but also a little apprehensive. So Avatar won of course. Well it did take like 10 years to make, and the amount of money was outlandish though well spent, and it's a fine film in its own right, I just didn't connect with it. So whatever.

Afterward, I watched the final disc of season four of Weeds which Ellen gave me for Christmas. And it sure has gone downhill. The first two seasons were so great and subversive. The third season introduced a lot of changes, which I didn't really care for. Zooey Deschanel who appears as Kat is amazing in her pitifully small four episode arc that bridges seasons two and three. Love you! In season four the location changes entirely, which is pretty unusual for a TV series though Saved by the Bell moved to college. And Heylia and Conrad are gone. So the first two seasons are about a pot-dealing soccer mom living in the suburbs and it's satirical. Now I'm not sure what the series is about--there seems to be no focus anymore. Besides the characters are pretty caustic and there's also been unbelievable scenarios throughout the series which used to be funny but now are just off-putting. And people die though nobody cares. So even though I would watch Mary-Louise Parker read a phone book, I think I'm done with Weeds even though season five just came out, season six has been announced and there are plans for a seventh--I'm out.

Better get back to homework. Blerg.

Cinema Italiano

So today is Thursday, which means it's my day off, except that I have hours of reading I have to do before tomorrow. My first assignment this quarter is also due tomorrow, so that's exciting. It shouldn't be to bad really, and I already took my first quiz: 11/12--not too shabby. The quarter is rolling on. Anyway, besides reading, I have to do laundry and dishes and go grocery shopping. And the third season of How I Met Your Mother arrives today from amazon, so just how productive I will be remains yet to be seen. I think we all have a pretty good idea though where the day is going.

So in another effort to put off chores and homework, I am writing here. Anyway, the Golden Globes are almost upon us--this Sunday people! Today it also dawned on me that my reception of NBC is terrible. Sad day. But 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation return tonight! Course I won't be watching till this weekend. So last year I was so on top of the movies, it was awesome. This year, I have to battle things like school, rain, money, and parking. Still I've seen eight of the ten films nominated for Best Picture. On Monday I saw Up in the Air which I will talk about later, and yesterday I saw Nine.

So my friend Kristen asked if I didn't think Nine was contrived and full of archetypes, and my answer was yes. But Nine is a musical=contrived about muses=archetypes. It's not the best movie I've ever seen in my life, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable film. Besides it's loosely based on Fellini's classic 8 1/2. In fact I now want to see Federico Fellini's films, seven of which are in my book 1001 Movies to See Before You Die, isn't that impressive? Nine was also the march of the Oscar winners from director Rob Marshall (Chicago), it stars Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood, My Left Foot) as an Italian director, Guido, getting ready to shoot his epic ninth film Italia--the only problem is he hasn't written the script yet because he's completely burned out. The women in his life include his wife Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose), his mistress Penelope Cruz (Vicky Christina Barcelona), his mother Sophia Loren (La Ciociara), his leading lady Nicole Kidman (The Hours), his costume designer Judi Dench (Shakespeare in Love), American journalist Kate Hudson (Almost Famous), and the prostitute Stacy Ferguson (no Oscar for you Fergie). Okay, so Rob Marshall and Kate Hudson didn't win Oscars either, but I thought they did until IMDb corrected me. Anyway, if I remember right everyone sang one number except Daniel Day-Lewis and Marion Cotillard who each got two songs. Daniel Day-Lewis is a brilliant actor, though not one of my favorite people, but I thought his casting was inspired. My friend Elise's favorite scene was Nicole Kidman's number "Unusual Way" which was basically the key to the entire film, and while it was very good, Kidman's singing made me think of Moulin Rouge! and Baz Luhrmann sets and Ewan McGregor, and while those are all very fine things, it took me out of the movie a little bit. Actually the striking thing is that I preferred the songs from the Oscar-less women. That may have been because Fergie and Kate Hudson had the most fun and stylized musical numbers: "Be Italian" and "Cinema Italiano" respectively. Here in fact is a trailer for Nine set to "Cinema Italiano." Kate Hudson plays a journalist from Vogue who states that style is the new content. That idea is an attractive one to me much to my own chagrin since I think it's also the idea behind so much of today's societal ills: style not content. Still, it's a very fun number and you'll be singing "Guido, Guido, Guido!"

Be Italian!

Remember my list of my favorite films of 2009? Well I need to go back and put Up in the Air at the top of the list. It is the best film I've seen this this year (or really last year?). This may sound a little surprising coming from director Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking, Juno) who also co-wrote the screenplay adapted from Walter Kim's novel, but with Up in the Air, Reitman's really found his stride. George Clooney plays Ryan, a man married to his transitory lifestyle of flying around the country where he's brought in by various companies to lay off their workers. A film mixing air travel with massive layoffs has never been so timely. Anyway, Clooney is not only an obvious choice but an inspired one since his character convinces us that he is more than satisfied with his no-strings attached lifestyle which only makes it that much more crushing when everything, inevitably, falls apart. Vera Farmigia goes toe to toe with our leading man as Alex, the charming and droll sexual interest for Ryan. Our third character is Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) who is both an idealist and a hard-nosed realist. She's a young upstart at Ryan's company who threatens his lifestyle and so is taken under his wing to show her the dirty end of their business. Along the way Ryan, and the rest of us, learn something about life, love, and how to deal in these modern times. I think it was sometime around when our three leads were discussing said subjects in the St. Louis Airport (right Rae?) that the film really took off for me and I knew I was watching something special. What's really amazing is how easy the movie could have been wrapped in cliches from stock characters including our three leads to Ryan and Natalie's boss (Jason Bateman), from Ryan's sister's frumpy, small-town wedding to Ryan's aha moment, everything is presently real and transcends cliche. Okay, so his aha moment is actually a bit cliche, still... It's also a film that raises some interesting questions but nothing is neatly resolved. With all of that said, I think Up in the Air is one of the best written, directed, and acted films this year along with being one of the smartest and funniest. Go see it!

So after I got out of Up in the Air, I returned to my car which had a parking ticket which I actually kind of expected. The ticket couldn't quite kill my mood because it was such a good movie, but sometimes I really hate Seattle which has nothing to do with the weather, though it's grey and rainy again today. See I parked in a zone I wasn't allowed to park in, but only because there is no parking in Seattle, the traffic is also an utter mess too. So driving in Seattle sucks which wouldn't be so bad if Seattle had a good public transit system. The buses are okay, but I don't live near any good routes. I mean I wouldn't want to drive in London either, but the Underground is brilliant. My citation is also at least twice what it would be in SLC, because Seattle is bloody expensive. I would hate see what California is like. First of all what kind of matinee movie ticket is called a bargain at $7.50? My grocery bill is also more than twice what it would be back in good ole Utah. Sure they pay more and there's no state income tax, which would be nice if I had a job, but I'm just throwing my student loans at sales tax. Though it's okay if I don't drive because I have no social life in Seattle. Sure I'm friends with some people in my program but with grad school and part-time jobs nobody has time to hang out, and the Seattle freeze is very, very real. See how much rage a simple parking ticket released? So lately I've decided I need to live in the Midwest. Me a gay (soon to be) librarian with a humanities background and with a taste for indie films, HBO, good wine, and craft breweries. I really shouldn't condescend to the Midwest but that's my indie films and HBO talking. Rae, Amber, and Megan, what do we think of the Midwest?

Well, I better get on with everything I need to do today, now that it's three o'clock in the afternoon. Awesome. Oh and the other two films I need to see? It's Complicated and Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire. With any luck, I'll see those this weekend before the Globes.

Round 2

So I just finished my first week of my second quarter of library school, and am now entering week two. Though since I don't have class till Wednesday, I'm still enjoying my four-day weekend. The other nice thing about quarters? They're only ten weeks long, which means, class-wise, I'm already done with 10% of the term. There is an eleventh week for finals, but it appears that I won't have any, which means I will be using that for my second week of spring break. I really thought that we would automatically get two weeks off between winter and spring quarters since we only got two weeks off for winter break, but UW apparently thinks otherwise.

I've been thinking a lot about using people's names in this blog especially since I'm about to talk about my classes and professors. I tend to mention you, my friends, but only in favorable and factual statements. This is not my moody, angsty MySpace blog from my college days (which is essentially defunct now anyway). So maybe my law school friends will have insight on this arena of Internet laws and ethics. (Also, if I've mentioned you and you'd rather I didn't, just let me know.) So I flew back to Seattle on Sunday, and used Monday to settle back in and play around. On Tuesday, however, I was dreading going back to school, but Wednesday rolled around anyway, and after six hours of classes I felt a little bit better about the whole thing, surprisingly. So last quarter I only had one class per day Monday through Thursday, and they were in the afternoon. And I was very lazy. Now I have three classes on Wednesday and Friday from 8:30 in the morning to 3:30 in the afternoon with an hour for lunch. On those days it feels more like school, though the other five days of the week? No structure, so I'm still very lazy. I really need to seriously look for a part-time library job. Back to Tuesday, and I went through my school email inbox which I had let grow wild sometime back in October. That was a mess. But I eventually got caught up on that, though it requires daily attention which means it's already getting out of hand once again. That night I was desperately looking for a new three-subject notebook to start the quarter with and Office Depot failed me miserably. After looking in a couple of other stores, I found a passable notebook though they were sold out of my beloved Mead notebooks. C'est la vie. But I was ready for Wednesday, more-or-less.

My alarm went off at seven in the am which is the earliest I have intentionally woken up during my time in Seattle. I got ready and after walking out my door went to go get me some Starbucks. During this time I saw like five buses go by, including the mysterious 243 which I had never seen before, which clearly reinforced that this was morning-time because in the late afternoon the buses are supposed to come every 15-20 minutes and they are late anyway. So I caught the sixth bus that came along to campus and prepared myself for Information in Social Context(s) while catching up with half the cohort. This class is taught by one of the PhD students and this is her specialty. Basically it's a class about the legal and political aspects of information within the LIS profession and ethical and moral responsibility. I thought I always wanted to minor in philosophy but after doing the first week's reading which included Mill, Kant, and Aristotle, I realized that a PoliSci minor was about as much of that as I can take. Thankfully we are moving on from moral reasoning to professional ethics and information policy--readings include the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. Joy. Well, hopefully it'll be an interesting, provocative, and enjoyable class. And because our instructor is a grad student, it appears that our readings and assignments are much more grounded in reality which is nice.

We then moved on to Organization of Information and Resources which is basically the first cataloging class and is for our entire cohort. So far I think this class is going to be my favorite of the bunch. Our professor Joe Tennis is an adorable man. He looks like the quintessential, perhaps stereotypical, librarian/cataloger. He is super organized, though we've been having a few snafus with the room's technology, and he's very passionate and funny about the material. So far we've begun talking about the attributes of a document as well as a few of the models of cataloging. There's still a boatload of reading to do but the grading is based on five multiple guess quizzes and four (out of five) assignments which I believe will be relatively straightforward. Here's hoping.

After a quick lunchbreak, I got ready for Research Methods, a required core course that I am getting out of the way early. Whenever I hear the word research I tend to panic. I realize I've done research in high school and college, and that every time I wrote an essay fusing together primary and secondary texts and critical theory, I was doing a type of research, a squishy type known as humanities scholarship. I like the word scholarship a lot more than research. This is also why I like the squishy library side of library and information science. Research still makes me think of technicians in lab coats doing sciencey things in stark labs. It also makes me think of charts and tabulated results where n = x and too many numbers. However, we started class with Bach's fugue (which I had already seen in Dr. P's class), this Powers of 10 video (a bit long and science class-y but still interesting), and talking about Borges's story "The Library of Babel," so maybe this won't be such a bad course. I also realized that we will only be talking about research methodologies without actually doing any field work which makes me very happy. Still, by its very nature this will probably be my least favorite of the three classes. It also has the largest assignment/project due at the end. Boo. And the two people in my group for this project, who seem like lovely people, are no longer interested in being librarians. One of the girls who is in her fourth year (of a two-year program) is finishing her Master's just because, even though she is no longer interested in libraries or information science. That was a little bit sad, so I hope I graduate on time in two years and will still be excited to be a librarian. There are also seven textbooks for the class though none of them are exactly required. There's a basic textbook which I need to buy online since it's not available at the bookstore (though it is on reserve at the library), but then instead of or in addition to that book, we can get one of these other textbooks if we feel like it. I can tell you I don't like this situation at all. Just pick one textbook, order it into the UW bookstore, and I'll buy it and maybe even read it. Just sayin'.

My fourth class is a one-credit, pass/fail, pre-req, entirely online course called Algorithmic Thinking. Yes, I am scared. Apparently it's about JavaScript based on my textbook which is called JavaScript for Programmers. Can I just mention that I'm in a library program and not computer programming? Well I finished the first week's module on Saturday which included downloading all sorts of programs onto my laptop and retrofitting my Mozilla browser. The process was exhausting. It also involved a short survey to see where we all were in regards to the material and I learned just exactly how little nothing I know. Okay, so I can do some html tags, but that's about it. Anyway, I hope the class is interesting, maybe even fun, and that I learn a little bit about . . . algorithms or whatever instead of setting my head on fire.

The weather's been pretty nice lately. I mean compared to Utah which was lovely and cold and snowy and perfect for Christmas. But now it's January and even if it's grey and rainy like today, I am okay as long as the temperature stays in the forties and fifties. *knock on wood* And I don't think asking for a couple of sunny days here and there is too much. On Friday I watched Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (which is available for instant watching on Netflix),and it was just as delightful as when I saw it in theaters. I also watched Gladiator for the first time and I nearly cried. Joaquin Phoenix was also getting me all hot and bothered. Remember when he was gorgeous and not crazy? *sigh* And last night the Fighting Librarians got back together for pub trivia at the Dubliner where I had a Guinness and Jameson, which Rae taught me in Minneapolis, and we totally won. And I grabbed some Dick's on the way home, because even though eating a cheeseburger and french fries at 11:30 at night is not exactly healthy, Dick's is the best fast food ever especially when you've been drinking.

Well I better get started on my reading for Wednesday. Happy Monday!

525,600 Minutes

So here's a new playlist for the new year, mostly composed of songs that I feel have a somewhat hopeful message of renewal.

• "The New Year" by Death Cab for Cutie. So this is the new year / And I don't feel any different. 'Nuff said.
• "Auld Land Syne" sung here by Barenaked Ladies. Auld Lang Syne means "old long since" or rather times gone by. We'll take a cup of kindness yet / For auld lang syne.
  
• "Winter Song" by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson. I'm holding this one over from my holiday playlist since it's still winter for a little while. I still believe in summer days / The seasons always change / And life will find a way.
  
• "Seasons of Love" from Rent. This song is performed at the beginning of the film version and then reprised on New Year's Eve. Let's celebrate, remember / A year in the life of friends. How do you measure a year in the life?
  
• "Vagabond" by Wolfmother. This song is featured on (500) Days of Summer and it's awesome.
  
• "Girl" by Tori Amos. Well I'm not seventeen / But I've cuts on my knees / Falling down as the winter / Takes one more cherry tree. It's also about being your own girl. or boy as the case may be.
  
• "Ghost of Corporate Future" by Regina Spektor. This is such a fun and hopeful song. If the world ever stresses you out or the future looks bleak, just take a few minutes and listen to this song.
  
• "You Owe Me Nothing in Return" by Alanis Morissette. She sings about completely unconditional love which actually seems a little masochistic. So Alanis. Still, it's a long enumeration of ways to love someone which is always nice.
• "Hero" by Regina Spektor. I'm the hero of the story / Don't need to be saved. This was also on (500) Days of Summer.
• "All Along the Watchtower" covered by Jimi Hendrix. For pure awesomeness. It also makes my Battlestar Galactica heart happy.
• "Silent All These Years" by Tori Amos. Sometimes I hear my voice and it's been HERE / Silent all these years. This is about learning to speak up for yourself, something I've gotten better at but still need to work on.
• "Human" by The Killers. Because I felt like it
• "Leaving on a Jet Plane" covered by Chantal Kreviazuk, also known as the Armageddon version. This is because I just flew back from Utah, and I don't know when I'll be back again.
• "True Colors" as performed by Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) and the rest of the Glee cast. Because when I saw it on TV, I almost cried. And it's another song about being yourself which is always a good message.
• "Major Tom" covered by Shiny Toy Guns. I stole this from Megan's playlist.
• "Blue Skies" by Noah and the Whale. I also stole this from Megan. It's a song about leaving the past behind and moving on to blue skies. Obviously this band is not from Seattle.
• "Winding Road" by Bonnnie Somerville. Most of you will recognize this from the Garden State soundtrack. Because life is a winding road and we're all along for the ride looking for a place called home.
  
• "Pretty Good Year" by Tori Amos. Tears on the sleeve of a man / Don't want to be a boy today / ... / Hold onto nothing as fast as you can / Well, still, pretty good year.

Well, that's it for me. What songs are you listening to to start off 2010?
Happy New Year.

So This is the New Year

Hello, and welcome to my New Year's post; it's going to be massive. So go to a store, buy a hat, and get ready to hold the eff onto it. I'm not kidding.

Year in Review. I'll try to make this as brief as I can. Here we go.
January: I watched a helluva lot of movies getting ready for the Golden Globes and Oscars. I also saw Casa Blanca for the first time ever. I know.
February: I started listening to NPR after 101.9 The End canceled The Parker Show. I enjoyed a Death by Chocolate Valentine's party with friends. I saw a few more movies and won the Oscar pool. I submitted my graduate school applications, and was already jonesing for summer. I also started "working" at the SLC Public Library.
March: I went to Minneapolis for a Sigma Tau Delta convention and caught up with old friends like Rae and Slarue. I miss you! Highlights included a Neil Gaiman reading and signing, a drag queen show at the Gay '90s, and the French dip sandwich at Hell's Kitchen. Minneapolis, I heart you.
April: I thought a lot of deep thoughts inspired by NPR, television, and bumper stickers. And I doubled my Tori Amos catalog.
May: I made my summer playlist and my summer reading list. They were both awesome. And I saw Star Trek with Dain and Megan.
June: It rained. a lot. and was very cold. So we packed up and hit the Caribbean on a cruise ship--I read like four books. Key West was awesome and more hot and humid than any place else I've ever been on this Earth. My favorite souvenir is a Fossil wristwatch that I bought on the cruise ship. And I stopped "working" at the SLC Public Library.
July: I saw Tori Amos in concert. It changed my life. Dain moved to Philly and Whitney moved to Minnesota, and nothing's been the same since. I also watched the first season of Brothers & Sisters--so good!--and saw a couple of excellent summer films: The Brothers Bloom and Away We Go. I turned twenty-three and had a pinata at my birthday party.
August: I watched almost as many movies as I did in January including Julie & Julia and (500) Days of Summer. I started to freak out about moving to Seattle, and I quit my job at the Marriott Library at the U. Best. Job. Ever.
September: Over Labor Day I threw a bon voyage party, and it was very fun. I started watching Dollhouse, I moved to Seattle, and I finished Battlestar Galactica. My life has changed in profound ways.
October: I started grad school in earnest. I watched a lot of scary movies--The Innocents was excellent and terrifying. And I dressed up as newsie for Halloween.
November: I saw Regina Spektor in concert and it was delightful. For Thanksgiving I made my own personal feast and watched far too much TV as well as a few movies including An Education.
December: I finished my first quarter of classes and finals. I went to some parties and drank a lot. I flew home to Utah and celebrated Christmas with my family and caught up with old friends.

The Big Haul. In which I will try to be both grateful and humble about all the amazing loot I got this year, because isn't that what Christmas is all about?
I got black Adidas Sambas--score!--and money to buy a printer so I don't actually have to pack one on the plane. Santa brought me a Philips Sonicare toothbrush--I think in addition to flossing and with proper use I can say goodbye to gingivitis, tartar, and cavities--and a GPS which will be helpful in Seattle. My favorite gift is a book called 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die which is awesome. I've already seen around 100--I keep finding more movies that I've seen. I also got (500) Days of Summer on DVD which I somehow lost before I even removed the plastic wrapping. I'm more than a little upset, but it seems to be gone forever. FROWNY FACE! And as I've already mentioned I got the final season of The West Wing which I recently finished watching, and now my set is complete. I also got The Rocky Horror Picture Show so I can finally stop being extra virgin olive oil. And Ellen gave everyone a used copy of the Trivial Pursuit board game (except Matt and Dixy who got Celestial Pursuit). She went to several DI's to find complete, intact sets--it was pretty awesome. Now I need to find friends in Seattle with whom to play it. I got a lot of other really good stuff, so thank you to all my friends and family. You're the best!

The Last Two Weeks.
On the 19th I took a taxi to SeaTac and flew away home to SLC. It was a little strange to be back home at first. On Saturday I celebrated Christmas with college friends by eating fondue and opening presents. On Tuesday I caught up with Elise and Justin and we watched Meet Me In St. Louis. On Wednesday I drove around doing some last minute shopping. My aunt came over for Christmas Eve and we unwrapped a few presents, sang carols, and read Christmas stories by the warmth of the fire. Christmas morning came and went and we unwrapped a lot more presents. On Saturday we drove down to my grandma's and back. While we were there we ate, played games including The Beatles Rock Band, watched Kung Fu Panda, and the cousins exchanged presents, and I got a B&N gift card, $10 bucks, and chocolates, so that's pretty neat. On Sunday, Elise hosted a post-Christmas party where I drank a lot of beer, ate a lot of hummus and salsa, and caught up with a few more people.

On Monday morning I had breakfast for lunch with Kristyn and Jessica, who is now engaged, and that was fun. Later that day I went bowling with my family. Across the lanes there were five giant screens that played the music videos of all the Disney Channel artists and other teenyboppers--who knew there were so many? Well, I played four games with my sister and brother-in-law. I broke 100 three times, so that was cool. On Tuesday I braved the snowy weather and roads to hang out with Kristen P. We went and saw The Young Victoria which was alright. It was a lavish costume drama like The Duchess--just not as good. It worked best as a love story between Victoria and Albert, but the larger political story fell flat which was very disappointing. And then it suddenly ended after she gave birth to her first child because we all know that is when a woman's life ends. Emily Blunt was very good though, as she always is. Still we saw it at the Broadway Cinema, my favorite indie movie house. Afterward, we went and got pizza and cheese pull-a-parts at The Pie which I miss so very much. On Wednesday I went on a date with a guy named Jason which went pretty well. However, I don't think anything's going to happen since I'm in Seattle and once he graduates this spring he wants to work in NYC or Chicago or else teach in Korea.

On New Year's Eve I went downtown for 3VE where I caught up with Ellen, Justin, and Christopher, and we first went to a Broadway sing-along and that was pretty fun. Then we met up with Melissa at The Gateway and grabbed dinner at Z'Tejas which was delicious. Val and Grady joined us and we walked through Temple Square and saw the lights. Afterward, I went to Megan's house for the eighth year in a row to ring in the new year. Megan and I talked about library school and Dain joined us to talk about Dollhouse which is collectively blowing our minds. So midnight came and went, and then we watched Wolverine which was actually pretty good. The CGI wasn't top-notch but who needs special effects when Hugh Jackman is naked? Anyway, I thought it was pretty entertaining.

I slept in so very late on New Year's Day and then my family went and saw Avatar in 3-D. I still don't know what to make of it. I will say it was good though I wasn't blown away by it like everyone else I know. The 3-D was used very effectively and subtly which was a nice touch. Its message is blatantly green and anti-war which was evidenced by an excessive amount of National Guard and Air Force promos before the movie. I'm still thinking about it today which may be the best thing I can say for it. It was good but not the best movie I've seen nor was it the most enjoyable or even the most important, but it was definitely something. So I saw it and I'm glad, but I'm just not sure it's Best Picture material... Well, we'll see.

Lists.
So most film critics makes a top ten list at the end of the year. Well there were a lot of movies released this year, technically, that I haven't seen yet as well as many movies I saw in January and February that were released in 2008. Anyway, I just wanted to give my top five movies and books that I saw or read this year. So post-Oscar season, my favorite movies that I've seen this year, in no particular order, include Star Trek which was the perfect, flashy summer blockbuster. (500) Days of Summer which was a sweet but not saccharine love story, or rather the perfect twenty-something not-love story. An excellent indie film with a great outfits and a bitchin' soundtrack. I should say The Hurt Locker which is a perfect film in its own right, but I much preferred Julie & Julia starring the always superb Meryl Streep and butter. Inglourious Basterds is the first (and only) Quentin Tarantino film I've seen in theaters, and I saw it twice. It may be his best film yet, though Kill Bill is still my favorite. Finally An Education is a perfectly lovely indie film held together effortlessly by the sublime Carrie Mulligan who rightfully earned a Golden Globe nod. There are still many, many films I want to see including Nine, Up in the Air, and The Princess and the Frog to name a few.

On to books, none of which on my list were released in 2009. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse is one of Louise Erdrich's best novels (or so I've heard) and it was quite enjoyable and literate. Good stuff. I read The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton, whom I adore. It's widely regarded as her best novel and I can see why though I prefer The Age of Innocence. Little, Big by John Crowley is one of the best fantasy works I've ever read and also one of the most difficult novels I've managed to finish. Still, all that hard work payed off. I just finished The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler who is the master of the private detective novel. It was far superior to Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon. Chandler just has a way with words that I love. The fifth spot is a tie between Richard Yates's Revolutionary Road and Alexandra Fuller's Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight. Yates's novel remorselessly portrays a marriage and the social malaise of the 1960s. Fuller's memoir perfectly captures a childhood spent in an Africa of civil unrest and war. I also have to give a brief nod to two excellent novels I reread this year. Donna Tartt's The Secret History is one of my favorite contemporary novels and I love returning to Hampden College and the sharply drawn, if amoral, characters. And Don DeLillo's postmodern classic White Noise is a biting satire of technology and mass culture.

Well, that's a lot about 2009 and it was a pretty good year. I suppose this is where we talk about 2010, and I mention my New Year's resolutions, but I just don't seem to have any. Not yet, anyway. I was reading The Guardian's book blog which mentioned reading resolutions--like looking up every new word in a dictionary or mixing up nonfiction with novels--and I don't even have any of those. So I hope 2010 is just as good, hopefully even better--I'm excited to be in Seattle this summer--but for now I've got to go. If I think of any resolutions or goals, I'll let you know. I should probably revisit my life list which is ... somewhere. Well, I've written some long-ass blogs, but I think this is my longest hands down. I told you to buy a hat. For now I'll say shalom and have a Happy New Year!

P.S. Now it's time to get a new playlist together. But later...