Thankgiving update

Happy Thankgiving everyone.

Well, I made it through the Holiday. Actually, it was really nice, even though I didn't go home. Instead, I spent it with my Denver family, and it was a really good time. We ate, bickered, and laughed. What else do you need?

Diet update

11 lbs down!

So, I've been doing really well on the diet, but I think the success has gone to my head, cause last night I had a chocolate mousse dessert (low carb though).

My mind is a blank. I keep feeling I should write something, but I can't think of anything. I think it's due to work. I gave a lecture yesterday, the first in a class that I'm teaching the first third of. The biggest thing is that I'm so insecure about whether I'm doing alright. Am I speaking at a good pace? Am I explaining everything clearly? Am I giving them enough informaiton? Is the material at an appropriate level for a graduate class?

I'm so tired of being insecure, but I don't know how to turn it off.

Very fun to read...

The Watley Review

Writer's Block

I'm not a writer. Outsided of scientific writing, I don't have the discipline. I always have Ideas, but when the time comes to put pen to paper I can spit out a couple pages, then give up. I think my creative writing is a two page limit, in general. (Is that like a 2 drink minimum?) However, I have some friends that are much, much better at this than I am, and this is for them, courtesy of Overcaffeinated.net:

How to Hack Your Way Out of Writer's Block

For us not writer's, there may be something useful to. I personally suffer from the disease lazygoodfornothingbonesitis, a.k.a. I'm a HORRIBLE procrastinator. I may try some of these tips next time I get stuck.

Speaking of procrastinatin, back to work. I'm editing a paper. How FUN!

To Remake, or Not to Remake... Evil Dead

So, Bigfoot sent me an email today about a notice in Variety that Universal has plans to remake Evil Dead, with Sam Raimi as producer and Bruce Campbell (the B-movie god) to work beind the screens. I honestly don't know how I feel about this. I love the Evil Dead movies, and I'd love to see the franchise continue on the big screen. But part of the charm of the original is the low budget yet highly effective and inventive special effects (read bruce Campbell's autobiography If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-movie Actor or listen to the director's commentary on the movie for some great examples) as well as BC himself. Oh, and Ted Riami in a big rubber suit. Anyway, if I had my druthers I'd love to see Evil Dead 4, with BC as Ash and SR at the helm.

.....

Of course, as George Lucas pointed out in his recent responses to Star Wars fans, Hollywood, although it may cater to fans, does not have to kowtow to them. Of course the studios are free to do what they want, and my petty little concerns don't mean a thing. A lot of movies have been remade recently, in many genres, and have had a variety of results. I guess I'll just wait and see.

Quote

Jack: I'm not an enigma, just a contradiction.

-Clive Owen
Croupier

Accents

So, I'm having a block at work and am going to try and fix it by diverting my thoughts to another subject:

Accents

I've got a thing for them, specifically British (english, irish, scottish, welsh) and Aussie. For example, let's just take a look at my current favorite actor list

Hugh Jackman (Aussie)
Jude Law (English)
Colin Firth (English)
Jeremy Northam (English)
Gerard Butler (Scottish)
Clive Owen (English)

I think my obsession with accents is due to a large auditory component to my attraction to someone. Another case in point: Rob Thomas, lead singer of Matchbox 20. Cute in a boy next door way, but his voice..... to quote Mike Myers "Oh my gawd, it's like butter." Ok, that's not my exact reaction to it, but the intensity of the emotion is the same.

Speaking of fav actors, I hit the BMW movies site the other day. If you remember from some clips shown in commercials, they have done a series of short movies featuring Clive Owen as The Driver. As he is a fav of mine, I downloaded all the shotrs, and can't wait to watch them. If you're interested in his stuff, I recommend Gosford Park, which has a wonderful ensemble cast, although I recommend subtitles, not to accomodate any difficulties with understanding accents, but rather becasue some of the dialogue is VERY soft. Also, I've heard that Croupier is also good. It's on my list to rent soon.

Chicago weather

Well, winter is finally here-ish (yeah!) and it's time to trot out an oldie but goodie:

Chicago Weather

The Cocktail Party

A friend of mine back in Chi-town is having a holiday cockatil party. Of course, like the majority of parties he has thrown in the last 10 years, I will not be able to attend, as I do not have the money for a plane ticket for one night. However, that gets me to thinking (a dangerous proposition, to be sure).

What has happened to the cocktail party?

Decades ago, cocktail parties were IT. I remember being a little girl, surrounded by my parents and their friends, everyone laughing and having a good time, drinking this or that, until the wee hours. In my house, parties like this usually marked a special event, like holidays or birthdays, but in general, cocktail parties were had by all. They gave an aura, as I look back with childish eyes, of elegance and ease, and a type of easygoing yet adult social activity. As I grew older, however, they seemed to be replaced by bars, coffeeshops and meat markets. Now, I'm not against coffeeshops or bars, especially if they're not too smoky. I detest meat markets, unless I'm there with friends to laugh at the desperatioon and bald spots (NO COMBOVERS!!! PLEASE!). But how I wish that we had a current version of the cocktail party.

Girlzoot threw a cocktail party last New Years. Other than drinking a bit too much, I had a lovely time. We all dressed up and spent a lovely time hanging out and trying various drinks. It was great. I want more of that. It's holiday time. This is the perfect time of year for it. You can make your spiked eggnog, maybe have a Tom and Jerry party, or just basics: martinis, old fashioneds, gin and tonics, as well as the newer round of drinks like, in homage to TR, an appletini. And you don't even have to get drunk. Depsite my personal record, cocktail parties are a time to, inexplicably, get dressed up and let your hair down. The cocktails are a garnish to the experience, not necessarily the focus.

So, I beg of you, the world at large, return to the cocktail party!! Find that little black dress, or that suit you haven't worn in a while, and invite your friends over for an evening. Try something new in the cocktail world, or at least new to you. Most importantly, have fun.

Headaches are like...

You know, sometimes I wonder why we have a tendancy to describe headaches in terms of tools. For example:

It feels like my head is in a vise
My head is pounding
It feels like a nail has been driven into my eye

Diet Update

Day: 4
Weight: 248 lbs.
Weight lost since last update: 7 lbs.
Total Weight Lost: 7 lbs.


Mood: More tired than hungry, which my friends who have tried this diet say is normal in the first week, and invigorated by the weight already lost, even though half od it is probably water weight. So far so good, and thanks to Tyjannasaurus Rex (TR) for her crab quiche recipe.

Diet-Day 1

I have started the South Beach Diet. This is Phase I, the hardest, strictest phase.

Day: 1
Weight: 255 lbs.
Mood: Apprehensive and hungry

Goal: 10% weight loss by Feb. 1 (11weeks)

Just when you thought it couldn't get any wierder....

YMCA, sung in Japanese by Skeletor

http://www.malevole.com/mv/misc/tribute/

Creativity

For me, the greatest drug of all is creation, because you can create, you get the same kick, because, evolutionary-wise, your brain gives you feedback, that when you create, all of a sudden you get a little endorphin buzz.
Why did you think Einstein looked like that?

-Robin Williams
"Inside the Actor's Studio"

When childhood awakes

So, tomorrow a movie is coming out: The Polar Express. Now, I have never read the book that it was based on, but I am pointing out it's existence in order to illustrate the ever increasing trend of turning children's books into movies. The question is

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Some recent examples have included "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (not bad), "The Cat in the Hat" (bad) and the classic "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", which is going to be remade by Johnny Depp and Tim Burton, which isn't as wierd as it sounds if you go back to the original book and realize yet again that Roald Dahl was a dark children's writer. And don't forget the Harry Potter books.

Found on another site (http://www.readersread.com/cgi-bin/roundup.pl?roundup=4520301):
Twentieth Century Fox has signed a deal with Walden Media to make five children's novels into movies. These are in addition to the The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe currently in production. The films will be based on the following books: Kate DiCamillo's Because of Winn-Dixie, Katherine Paterson's Bridge to Terebithia and Lois Lowry's The Giver; Wendy Orr's Nim's Island; and Adam Mortimer's Biblionauts.

For an exhaustive list, go to http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/movies.html.

But let's get back to the question: good or bad. Ignoring the all-too-familiar case where an adaptation is so horribly askew that it resembles the book in nothing more than title (Starship Troopers, anyone?), I think that this is a good thing. Many of these books are classics that I fear are being forgotten (the Roald Dahl books are a good example), and so I like it when an adaptation is good enough to get kids to go back and read the original work.

Which brings me to my next point. In 2005 a movie will be coming out called Five Children and It. It has already been released overseas, I believe; either that or the comments I've read have come from advance screenings. I'm not sure about it, even though it stars the voice of Eddie Izzard as It, and, as always, I will not go back and reread the book until after the movie. But the book......

Five Children and It and The Story of the Amulet are two of my favorite childhood books. They were written at the turn of the century (1900) by E. (Edith) Nesbit (http://www.modjourn.brown.edu/mjp/Bios/Nesbit.html) and are absolutely fabulous. I highly recommend them. If you can't find them at the store, a poor alternative is an online copy, found here http://www.indiana.edu/~letrs/vwwp/nesbit/fivechil.html.

Check them out.

Blah blah blah

Monday afternoon:

Mood: frustration and annoyance

Music: the hum of the ventilation system

Sniff... No more vacation

Well, I'm back at work, finishing lunch.

And I'm now officially thirty.

And it's a Monday.

Ugh.

Humor on a Friday

A funny, pseudofictitious? look at running a game store
actsofgord.com

Movies re-enacted by bunnies in 30 seconds (recently features on STARZ for Halloween)
www.angryalien.com

I'm On Vacation!!!!

Ok, maybe a bit pathetic, but I am on vacation (in my apartment in Denver) for the week. I'm relaxing, sleeping in, staying up late, and wokring on a few at home projects.

Time to go and make my beaded lamp shade.

Ciao,
Me

Goodbye, faith in humanity

Before I start:

Some of you may disagree with the following comments. I respect that, and I hope that you can respect my rantings and opinions.



So..... my vote yesterday meant nothing.

Why? Why did our country just re-elect an administration that does nothing but preach hate, fear and intolerance? Why did the state of Colorado vote against a measure that would split our Electoral college votes so as to mimic the popular vote? Why doesn't every state in the country already do this? Why can't people separate universal human ethics with religion dictated morality?

We live in a country founded on acceptance of people regardless of creed, and one that has in its charter a separation of church and state. And yet we have now, through our own action, emprisoned ourselves in another four years under a man who appears, at least to me, to be alienating the rest of the world through the pursuit of his own religious agenda.

Why is it that pursuing a fundamentalist Christian agenda is ok, but pursuing a fundamentalist Islamic agenda is wrong?

Does anyone else see the parallels between the treatment of women as second class citizens and the treatment of homosexuals as second class citizens?

What is the legal basis for saying marraige can only occur between a man and a woman? From a legal standpoint, all it is is a document sharing the legal and financial responsibilities between two people. The man/woman thing comes from a religious definition. Again, separation of church and state, people!!!

I'm not questioning the results of the election. The popular vote won out, and that's at least one small point of light. It just scares me that half the country voted for such a socially repressive regime. Remember that your family values aren't necessarily those of your neighbor.

If you're not hurting anyone else, or yourself, do whatever the hell you want, in my book. Go ahead and say what you want, express your opinions, but don't try to force your views on me and I'll do the same.

Mirror, mirror on the wall....

What are the connections between things like blogs, livejournals, and the like and narcissism?

Snow

So, it snowed last night, for Halloween here in Denver. Not unusually, I am one of the few people I know that is actually happy about this. Let's face facts: I like snow. I like watchign it fall, I like bundling up against the cold, I even like driving around the slushy streets and swearing at people who drive like idiots in it.

Why was it so wrong of me to believe that moving to a mountain state would mean driving with people who actually know how to drive in the snow? Heads up people! Slush does NOT peam driving at 2 miles per hour. It means driving carefully, accelerating reasonably, and not tailgating. But, and yes, I know most of you believe this is just an urban legend, but you can drive the speed limit.

Rant aside, the world is white and beautiful outside, and I am hoping for lots of snow days this winter.