Willpower...what's that?

08.31.06

Song of the Day: Sweet Coffee - Don't Need You

I recently decided I wasn't going to buy any more books, given the sheer number I own that I haven't read yet. This morning, I left for school far too early, and found myself on Michigan Avenue with an entire hour before class started. I popped into Borders, swearing that I was only going to look and see what new books were out, rather than buy anything. How great was my willpower?

"Ooh, look, Douglas Preston's Tyrannosaur Canyon is finally in paperback."

Yeah, what willpower?

Bookstores put me in a strange mood; I get mesmerized by all the pretty covers and get an itching feeling under my skin that I really need to buy every single book I lay eyes on. This is probably why I've already filled up two bookshelves and have taken to stacking new books on the kitchen table.

I'm currently watching Casablanca for the first time, and I'm totally amused. Ingrid Bergman cheats on her husband while he's in a concentration camp. Ingrid and Humphrey Bogart fall in love with each other even though they don't know a single thing about each other. I think it's totally classic, but not for the reason most people do, I suspect.

11:14 PM [link]

Bones!

08.30.06

Song of the Day: Dido - White Flag

Bones is back! All day long I was cheerfully singing to myself, "Bones, Bones, Bones!" I might just be a little bit obsessed. I love how the mystery each week is secondary to the characters, and I love Brennan's total disconnect from societal norms despite being an anthropologist.

Some thoughts on the new shows Fox has been kind enough to give us this early in the Fall season:

Prison Break season 2 is boring. I only caught one or two episodes last year and wasn't enthralled. Now, it's like, Scofield and Burrows almost get caught by the FBI agent, but they slip away at the last moment! Rinse, repeat. I'll probably quit this one once How I Met Your Mother starts.

Vanished is very intriguing, but they're packing a lot of information into each episode. I almost have to watch it twice to make sense of everything.

Justice, to my horror, is about defense attorneys. I don't think I can watch a show that vilifies the DA; it goes against every principle that I have. So far, the first episode has left me believing that all the main characters are total slimebags, but I can't decide if that's the way the writers wrote them, or if that's my own prejudices coming through.

I'll also admit to watching Project Runway for the last two weeks. At first, I turned my nose up at it, assuming from the title that it was a total skankfest like America's Next Top Model. However, I caught an episode by accident while learning how to use Tivo's controls, and was totally surprised by how it's all about some fantastically talented fashion designers who whip together amazing outfits out of scraps of fabric and some pencil sketches. Although it definitely has its share of gossip and drama, I'm pleased with how much time they devote to the judges' deliberations so that you actually get a feel of what real life fashion designers look for. I wish more reality shows were this classy (since they're obviously not disappearing anytime soon, they ought to make them more enjoyable).

Now bring on the new Grey's, dammit!

08:58 PM [link]

Last Day of Freedom

08.27.06

Song of the Day: Scissor Sisters - Comfortably Numb

The television is holding me captive. First, The Silence of the Lambs. I kept telling myself, "I've seen this so many times, I'm going to turn it off." Not so much. Then as the credits were rolling and I was picking up the remote, what flashes across the screen? "Next: The Lost Boys."

Who needs a social life on Saturday night when the world's best movies are playing?

One day left of freedom before the fall semester starts. My last fall semester, ever. And I'm actually looking foward to it, especially the class I'm taking with this woman.

I'm craving some sort of red carbonated soda, but I'm not exactly sure where to find such a thing.

Edit: Speaking of The Lost Boys, this is a hilarious synopsis of the movie, complete with animated .gifs.

01:47 AM [link]

Oh my.

08.26.06

Song of the Day: Massive Attack - Safe From Harm

Why does Tivo keep recommending vengeance-themed movies for my viewing pleasure?

I take back everything bad I've ever said about MySpace. I stumbled across an ex-boyfriend's MySpace page tonight; and not just any ex-boyfriend, but the meanest, cruelest, most miserable bastard of an ex-boyfriend you could ever imagine. I've yet to meet anyone else in life who is as volatile and soulless as him; I spent most of the two years we were on-again-off-again wanting to apologize to everyone he left in his warpath - waitresses, cashiers, his siblings, random people walking past him on the sidewalk.

So imagine my delightful amusement when I see him listing "musical theater" and "ballet" in his interests on MySpace, and yet again referencing his love for "Broadway musicals" in his About Me section. Apparently, sometime during the last three years since I broke up with him, he's discovered a tender side to himself. His excitement over "cute" shoes and linen shirts, as well as his purchase of a purple Camaro, always had me (and Shannon) wondering just which side of the road he drove on, but this really takes the cake. He's also 31 and still single, which is quite at odds with the "OMG, MUST GET MARRIED AND MAKE BABIES RIGHT NOW" attitude I was subjected to when he was only 26. This is proof that either it's absolutely impossible to date him without wanting to kill him, or that he's simply not satisfied with anyone of the female persuasion.

Of course, the only problem with this theory is that all the gay men I know are a blast to be with, socially adept, and very cool all around. This description is completely at odds with I Love Broadway Musicals Ex, who was very not cool, very not fun, and very socially demented.

Whether he will ever resolve whatever internal conflicts that cause his cruelty towards others remains unknown to this glad-to-be-out-of-his-life woman, but at least now I am blessed with the priceless vision of Mr. I Must Let Everyone Know That I Am Angry And Better Than Them tearing up at Rent and singing along with Christine in Phantom. Who knew MySpace was actually good for something?

04:47 AM [link]

Excellent

08.25.06

Song of the Day: Nerina Pallot - Blood Is Blood

I have done it yet again.

"It" being totally BSing a class taught by a professor who drives me nuts with his general airheadedness and getting a fantastic grade. "Fantastic" being an A- in this case. I didn't even write the full 10 pages he asked for on the final, go figure that one out.

I also got a rebate check in the mail from Visa today; they're kind enough to give me a certain percentage of my purchases back each year. This check is enough to feed me for an entire month, unless I suddenly develop a preference for caviar and Cristal.

Things are supposed to happen in 3s, right? Which means that by the time midnight rolls around, something else really good should happen. Maybe.

On another note, what is up with Psych's first season being only 8 episodes long? This show was totally a fresh breath of air. (EDIT - new episodes resume in January, phew!)

08:56 PM [link]

Ouch

08.24.06

Song of the Day: Everything but the Girl - Wrong (Todd Terry Unreleased Freeze mix)

Why do I feel like I have been kneed in the ribs when I have not, in fact, been kneed in the ribs?

Mysterious aches and pains suck.

12:55 AM [link]

Tivo Woes Over

08.23.06

Song of the Day: Delta Goodrem - Last Night on Earth

It is 18 minutes after midnight on Wednedsay, which means the world did not end upon the release of Paris Hilton's CD. Quite frankly, I'm shocked.

Finally, after one trip to Best Buy, two trips to Radio Shack, a visit from my telephone company, and pulling the bookshelf out twice, my Tivo is up and running. Several problems were ironed out after near-heart attacks - I got the wireless adaptor working, and now with the help of a cable splitter and some clever wiring, I can watch one channel while recording on another (which was essentially the whole point in getting the damn thing).

Very first order of business? Programing it to record every episode of the Twilight Zone that plays on the SciFi channel. Excellent.

I never used to watch much television, but when I started law school two years ago, I found myself watching every night. Maybe my brain is finally protesting after all the academic abuse I've subjected it to.

12:20 AM [link]

A Few Good Men

08.20.06

Song of the Day: Airlock - Slipinside

A Few Good Men ranks among my top favorite movies. It's on TV all the time, and if I happen to flip past it, as I did tonight, I can never turn down the chance to see it again. I can't figure out what it is that's so brilliant about it, although the names attached to it may explain some of it. Aaron Sorkin wrote it, and The West Wing was my favorite show for years, and Rob Reiner directed it, as he did two of my other favorite movies, The Princess Bride and Stand By Me. If only trials in real life were this gripping, I'd jump at the chance to litigate. Unfortunately, I don't think I've ever sat through a trial where I didn't nearly nod off at least once.

I'm also not sure how I still manage to love law-oriented movies and television shows when I'm completely burned out at school. Maybe it's because law in entertainment is stripped down to the dramatic moments and the brilliantly executed lines of questioning that lead to an "ah ha!" moment. I'm always acutely aware of the brief moments of screentime when a lead attorney hands a box of documents or security tapes to a nameless grunt and tells them to find something, or asks them to track down some fact or relevant caselaw, because I've been the grunt who does the research. It's not fun, it's not glamorous, and if it were given screentime in proportion to the time it takes in real life, there would not be five hundred Law & Order spinoffs trying to satisfy everyone's legal procedural hunger.

Only one week left before I have to stop pretending I'm not a law student. I'm so ready to be DONE.

03:25 AM [link]

Tivo woes

08.18.06

Song of the Day: ATB - Hold U

1. Tivo arrives. Yay!
2. Open the Tivo box. Still yay!
3. Spend a half hour griping about whether I want to go to Best Buy for a wired or wireless USB adaptor
4. Finally decide, after eating a veggie burger, to just let it run through the phone line until I feel like spending the money on a wireless adaptor.
5. Hook up the all the cords, the phone line, turn on the TV
6. Yay! Tivo startup screen appears!
7. Tivo does its initial phone call during the setup phase
8. What is this? No dial tone? What?
9. Take all the books of the bookshelf in front of the phone jack in the wall. Pull bookshelf out.
10. Everything looks fine, wtf?
11. Call phone company. Spend 20 minutes on the phone with heavy-accent guy as he performs tests.
12. Heavy accent guy says a technician has to come out on Monday.
13. Call Dad (for the 20th time today) and ask him to call the landline number.
14. Dad calls back; says phone number was disconnected.
15. Start to panic: why have I been paying if it's been disconnected? How long has it been like this (I only use my cell phone; I can't remember the last time I picked up my landline)? Why does a technician need to come if it's been disconnected? Why didn't heavy-accent guy see this? Do I call back and point this out?
16. Finally decide that I'll point it out to the technician on Monday, and let him and the company figure it out themselves.
17. Unhook the Tivo so I can watch TV this weekend; leave bookshelf pulled out while hoping it doesn't fall over.
18. Holy crap, it's 5:30 already? Sigh.

05:50 PM [link]

Addiction

08.17.06

Song of the Day: Nina Gordon - Hate Your Way

I'm yet again addicted.

My recent Tivo purchase made me realize I can record the third season of Veronica Mars while catching up on the first two on DVD. Blockbuster kindly sent me the first two discs of season 1 today, and I've already fiendishly consumed the first. What in the world stopped me from watching this show two years ago? I'm already dying to know who killed Lilly Kane? and what's going on with Veronica's mother.

I must go drop the already-viewed discs in the mail so that Blockbuster can get the next ones to me as quickly as possible. I seriously think that the inventors of DVDs-by-mail systems and Tivo should get Nobel Prizes. Because, you know, their inventions are dynamite.

/nerdy jokes

09:51 PM [link]

Bits

08.15.06

Song of the Day: Gabriel & Dresden - Dust in the Wind

Visiting my DC-area family reaffirmed my thought that if I ever have a kid, I'm going to be so impatient for them to get to the age where they can talk and be very amusing. I will also teach my kids to do terrible things because I won't be able to stop laughing at them long enough to reprimand them, and then they'll take my laughter as a sign they just did something really spectacular and socially acceptable.

Tivo is having a sale where you can get a free 40-hour DVR box if you commit to a one year subscription at $13 a month. It will forever be my secret that I spent all of yesterday jumping around my apartment squealing, "I GOT TIVO!! I GOT TIVO!!" I'd hate for anyone to know what a dork I am.

Not that I need to watch more TV than I have been lately; who knew there were SO MANY episodes of Without a Trace and the various Law & Order shows on TNT and USA? Christopher Meloni several times a day...sigh.

I also caught an episode of The X-Files from very early in the first season last night, and I'd forgotten just how frickin' good that show was in its early years. It's too bad it didn't stay that way.

The cooking fanatic in me just wails at how big suburban grocery stores are compared to the ones that are stuck in the middle of a city. That didn't stop me from making kick-ass chipotle cashew chicken with spicy glazed spinach tonight, but, sigh.

11:44 PM [link]

Travelin'

08.08.06

Song of the Day: Heart - Alone

Yesterday, I was in Ohio. Today, I'm in Chicago. Tomorrow, I'll be in Virginia.

Between tomorrow and Sunday, I'm bound to have at least one story to share about the World's Most Adorable 3-Year-Old.

My favorite Japanese restaurant closed. There's another one a block away, but they don't have bento boxes. Sigh.

Today I bought my most anticipated CD of the year, Nina Gordon's Bleeding Heart Graffiti. I'm rather miffed that iTunes has an exclusive acoustic version of "Tonight and the Rest of My Life" that you can get only by purchasing the entire album, rather than by paying 99 cents for the track. I'm not a fan of owning only a digital copy of an album, and I'm not paying for it twice just to get this track, so...sigh.

11:28 PM [link]

Creepy

08.06.06

Song of the Day: Tina Cousins - Forever

Things like this convince me that J and I are of one mind, body, and soul:

After not talking to her at all today, I picked up my phone just now to text message her asking how the Tool concert is. As I flip it open and began scrolling for her name, the phone begins vibrating as she text messages me with an "IEIEIE Tool!" message.

If the last 10 years hadn't been filled with all sorts of moments just like this, I'd be a little creeped out. Now, I just scream our often-used phrase, "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" and figure there's a reason why, when I was 13-years-old, I picked some random person out in California to be my best friend. If there's one good thing about the internet, it lets you find those people you're meant to be with that you'd never have found otherwise.

10:21 PM [link]

Computer woes solved

08.05.06

Song of the Day: Kosheen - Catch

Today I added 1 gig of RAM to my laptop and fixed the problem that had been plaguing me for the entire two years that I've had it. Apparently, the amount of RAM it originally came with was barely enough to run Windows XP, much less the rest of the programs I have on it. Thanks IBM, I love you too. The realization that anytime over the last two years I could have spent a measly $150 to remove one of the biggest causes of stress in my life makes me want to puke.

I've decided that my life right now would be like if Dr. McDreamy had picked Meredith after her passionate "pick me" speech, because Addison was mean to him and Meredith was the one who brought him joy and happiness, and they spent a month together that was really fantastic, and all of a sudden Meredith just stopped speaking to him, and when he WTFed, she would only say, "I'll explain someday," or be completely silent. And then, since he was very hurt and confused, Dr. McDreamy would decide he should be more like Dr. House, because Dr. House is mean to everyone, and being nice didn't ever get Dr. McDreamy anywhere. The fact that I'm having these thoughts that are tied directly to my favorite TV shows probably means I should have said "no" when the waitress asked if I wanted another beer.

Dr. House is funny when he's mean. Maybe it'd be an improvement to be like him.

07:10 PM [link]

Dinner

08.03.06

Song of the Day: The Wallflowers - One Headlight

I had Indian food for dinner tonight.

Yes, that deserves its own blog entry. It was just that fabulous.

11:22 PM [link]