Oh, to procrastinate...

So, I should be studying for my exam on Literature for Adolescents (Eng 320) that's tomorrow at noon. However, I have been extremely bad at actually sitting down and focussing on the material.  It's difficult since the class is discussion based and goes off on so many tangents that the actual material is kind of hard for my to grasp.  I don't mean thats its hard to understand.  I find it very interesting and enjoy the class a lot, I'm just slightly a little lost at what to study....and due to my hell week last week, I haven't done a lot of the later readings....Oh well, this isn't a blog meant to rant on my exam.  Its actually meant to highlight what I have been doing now that I'm not about to die.

btw, before I go on, please keep my friend Kayla in your prayers, she's having heart problems and I care for her deeply and want to be healthy again.

Anyway, as previously stated.  I've been doing everything but be productive....depending on your personal definition of the term.  The last unit in my American Film Studies course was on musicals...so I've been hoarding those from the library....I say hoarding....but so far I've only got two on top of the ones for class.   I have plenty more on my list though.  I have found out though the Fred Astaire is my Buster Keaton of this semester.  I absolutely love Buster Keaton and after last semester I got nearly his whole collection of works for Christmas.  I really need to get back on track with finishing it. Anyway, I've been watching a bunch of Astaire's things, reading up on him and so on.  I even ordered his autobiography from my work (Waldenbooks).  He seems like he was a very interesting man.  Just the fact that he has in his will that no one is allowed to make a movie version of his life seems very intriguing and honorable. He is stated in saying "It is there because I have no particular desire to have my life misinterpreted, which it would be." 

For the most part, however, I have been catching up on Bones.  I had had to cut the show from my schedule this last school year because I just got so busy with school work that I couldn't handle it all.  I have always loved the show, and adored the entire cast of characters though.  Anyway, so when I found out that Booth and Brennan were finally getting together (I'm sorry if thats a spoiler for anyone) I just had to catch up.  I started a lil before hell week, had that week, and then finished them over the last few days.  I had like almost 30 to watch I think...this past season is rather long comparative to what some seasons seem to be now.  I just finished this morning/last night at like 3am and am now ready to watch it as it airs for the next few weeks.  Perhaps I should ask for that day off of work haha.  Eh, if I do have to work I'll just watch it online, like I have been doing.  I'll be sad, but there's nothing that can really be done.  That week is rather busy with things I'm excited about btw.  GreenDay's new CD (21st Century Breakdown) is coming out then...and so is Lee Pace's film, Possession....(possession looks promising but, sadly due to the economy its distributor went out of business, has had to go straight to DVD) Yay!  Also yay for Wolverine this weekend and The Soloist.

I'm also super excited for the finale of How I Met Your Mother...So many things I've heard will be going on.  I really should just take a blog/day here and there to devote to just how I feel about where my favorite shows are going....I think I will...Look out for quite a few updates hopefully as these shows come to an end.  

The biggest and saddest of these for me of course will be Pushing Daisies.  I'm a part of the  ABC Inner Circle and so I've been privileged enough to have already seen two of the three unaired episodes (which will be airing starting may 30th).  Seeing how quick they've been showing them, I'm assuming the final one will be screened sometime next weekish.  I'm kind of sad because today when I watched it I felt distracted.  I had just bought some new vine charcoal and was sketching random things as I watched, as well as trying to chat with the other fans in the room....so I yeah....I'll probably have to go watch it on YouTube or what not before the final ep.  I hate to think it was disinterest that made me not focus. What I saw I liked.  There still seems like a lot to tie up...and I know that since they weren't given the chance to really end it properly, a lot of those plots will be left open...which sucks....The comic book is a go, which is good...though its going to be a good deal different, it seems, than the show...a lot less character driven perhaps? sad day....I know a lot of people want to see a movie to tie everything up....but I just don't know.  I'm really going to miss it...but after seeing the Dead Like Me movie, I'm kind of scared.  I know Brian Fuller didn't have anything to do with it (the aformentioned movie)...but it was just so disappointing in so many areas (some due to things they just couldn't help) that I wouldn't want that to happen to Pushing Daisies.  I hear the final episode is amazing.....so I'm really excited.  

Well, since all I'm doing is babbling about stuff, I should probably go and get some sleep so I can wake up and study at least an hour before the test.  Here's to the summer (which promises trips like disney and dallas, possible raises, and moving into a new house....fun times)!

I think Cheek to Cheek is just beautiful...and Drum Crazy really shows his individual talent. Next Time Maybe I'll highlight some Gene Kelley. From what I've seen I love Singing in the Rain as a whole....but only a few routines from An American in Paris....I'll keep you updated...

-Cheers

more to come

I am in the middle of drowning in schoolwork...but hopefully once summer comes I can get back to this and my various other hobbies. Until then, here's a few pics of my first attempts at wood-burning.

The first one was my very first attempt. Its based off of the very last line from Edith Wharton's novel, The House of Mirth. The last chapter of that book is pure beauty. I really should have used a different tip when trying to do the words, but hey, thats why to practice, to learn.

The second one there was my birthday gift to my fiancé. It was only my second wood-burning and I was actually very impressed my how far I progressed with it. At the moment I am working on a pair of stools inspired by Pushing Daisie's Ned and Chuck relationship. I'll prob post some pics of the first one next time...it won't be quite finished, but I'm thinking its going to be a slow work in progress. This last pic is just something I found while working on my Chaucer paper. Its from an old edition of a children's Canterbury Tales. I just love the idea of that sort of relationship between Chaucer and his readers, no matter how altered the children's versions were. Also, its just kind of cute.

Cheers!

A little bit of Catch Up...

So, for the past few weeks I've had about three different blogs rolling around in my head...and now that I just watched Soldier's Girl, I just don't even know where to start....

I wanted to comment on the fact that Pushing Daisies, after being nominated for three golden globes last year (the same amount of emmys they won), they were not nominated at all this year.  I'm not going to lie, it made me kind of mad.  It isn't so much that I really care about a lot of the awards...cus they don't always mean anything...but idk...I love True Blood and agree it deserves some nominations, but seriously?  best actress in a drama?  I've always liked Anna Paquinn, but just something about this role does not always seem to work for her.  If I was to nominate anyone for their acting it would be one of the smaller roles, like Tara or Sam (excuse me for not knowing their names)...They are the ones that make me forget I'm watching something.  Stephen Moyer I don't think got anything, and he's better, in the show...oh well.  I guess I'm just bitter Pushing Daisies got "cancelled" and was hoping they'd at least get a few nominations...this season has been great.  So anyway, I was watching the brilliant Craig Ferguson last night and he was totally mocking the golden globes and saying that people buy their way into nominations and all...which made me feel better....so I was going to start out with a video of that...but instead I found this...

This is a side of Craig I have never seen and now really respect.  I just think it really takes a lot to not just join in with everyone when they make fun of someone.  No matter how swept up I'll admit I can even get into celeb gossip, I really kind of hate it.  People, for some reason, feel as though they have the right to take a person and beat them down so much until they are objectified as a joke.  I like how he took time to tell his story (and btw Feb 18th is my birthday so I was a lil Yay!) and just show that all people are are just that, people.  No one is perfect...far from it.  As Americans we pride ourselves in freedom of speech, which is awesome, I just think that now-a-days, people have pumped themselves up into thinking they are this higher form who has the right to make fun of everyone, without thinking about what they are saying.  Criticism is helpful yes, but there is a fine line between that and cruelty.

This is not a main point of my blog, but, as I just said, I just watched Soldier's Girl, and props to Lee Pace for his performance of Calpernia.  Though, I'm not  going to lie, it wierded me out a bit, I thought he did an amazing job.  I really don't know, btw, if I hadn't known it was him, if I would have been able to discern who he was.

I've been watching Dead Like Me lately and it has really made me think of  Brian Fuller as an auteur....but more on that to come in a later blog once I have finished the remaining 18 episodes...

Okay, so I was going to take time to write about Baz Luhrmann's Australia, which I was so privileged to see two nights ago...but now looking at the time and the amount of studying I have yet to do for my 8 a.m. film final....I had better go....So, that will be later as well....

cheers 

upon seeing it a second time...

..yes I saw Twilight again with a friend.  Anyway, I liked it a lot more the second time around, though its not like I disliked it the first time.  I was able to catch a lot of Hardwicke's camera angles and all of that sort of stuff better this time.  I watched her movie Thirteen the other day and I really liked it, especially the scene where she shifts the camera around as Tracey is getting pulled from side to side.  I really appreciate her vision now.  The only thing that bothers me about twilight now is, now that I've seen Nikki Reed as Evie, I have a hard time seeing her as Rosalie...Idk, I think its probably the fact that I know shes a brunette now.  Well, I meant this to be longer and about other stuff..but I have to leave for work really soon.  Later!

Twilight

So, there are a lot of mixed reviews going on about Twilight.  While I  think they probably could have done better, I will admit that I liked it.

First of all, it depended a lot on the assumption that everyone has read the books.  There isn't much of the character development you would normally see in a stand alone movie, other than perhaps Bella.  Then again, I don't know if that varies too much from the first book.  You learn to love Bella and Edward first and then over the span of the four books you learn a whole lot more about everyone else.  I've read complaints about the choppiness and everything and I really just think this is why....Its more of a companion to the novel rather than its equal.  Its so that people can see their favorite scenes enacted before them. I will say it is very much a "surface" movie....What I mean is that there isn't too much depth put to the scenes...its just, watch and enjoy....but you know...there isn't necessarily anything wrong with that kind of movie every so often.  

Overall I thought it was a nice relaxed night/morning at the movies.  What I liked is how they turned many of the overly melodramatic and gushy scenes into more humorous ones.  I honestly think that might have been rather painful to sit through.  However, in making Edwards supposed disgust for Bella in the beginning so extreme, it made it comical. As an audience you are suppose to feel what Bella did, which is basically, "What the fuck?"  A lot of fans have blamed this on Robert's acting abilities, as if it cheapened the movie...however, I think it was deliberate.  It made it enjoyable. I know I definitely laughed throughout some of those parts in the book.  I will also say, that the Bella in the movie is slightly different than the one in the books.  She is pretty much the same, but theres just something different.  I don't know if its just Stewart's innate teenage edginess, or the wit, or just whatever, she's somehow different. Oh and also, I liked that they included Stephanie Meyer in one of the dining scenes...

Two things I overtly didn't like really were the segueway into the second book (the fact that Victoria was there was alright....but did she really have to walk down the staircase and let loose her hair like some classic hollywood actress?  I mean if she's letting her hair down and ready to get to  business okay...but it just seemed pointless) and the use of the quote "of three things I was certain."  Granted, I never have really liked that quote.  It was always a little too cheesy in print....and idk....saying it where they did made it even worse.

-cheers

(btw, the baseball scene is kind of kick ass.)

They did it

ABC has now officially cancelled two of my favorite shows, Pushing Daisies and Eli Stone.   I was really excited that they were taking chances with such quirky shows, however I guess it just didn't work.

Pushing Daisies is, without a doubt, my favorite show on television.  It's style is so visionary and it's dialogue is so fun.  Bryan Fuller says he is attempting to get a movie or a comic book pick up to finish the show off, which is awesome and I'll def. buy one, but its just not the same.  I won't be able to gush quite as much as I did say, in last nights episode when Chuck finally got to  talk to her Mom.  Its not that I don't believe in the power of the written word, because I am an English Major, I just have grown accustomed to the actors and getting to watch how everything unfolds ( I am also a film minor).  People keep saying that some other stations could always pick it up, or that it might come back next season.  All of that would be nice, but the chances are very slim in my opinion.  At least they got a chance to rewrite the final episode and possibly fix some loose threads.  I just hate getting so attached to a show and then have it get cancelled (before now it was Joan of Arcadia).  Oh well, heres to the Season 2 DVD and Comic Books!  I shall always support the vision.

Eli Stone, I was actually kind of expecting, even though it seems to have been the the biggest shock, along with Dirty Sexy Money.  I really enjoy the show, don't get me wrong.  I just think it was trying to accomplish more than it could at one time.  The whole thing with him and the rally at the end of last season...I wanted to see that play out....but its totally more long term than it had...unfortunately...And now I don't know its position in filming...so if it is done, then they cannot fix the ending like Pushing Daisies was prepared to do...I just hope Eli and Maggie get together....thats all I want.

Sad day....sad day.

(P.s. there is one good thing about today...even though it is now a little tainted...I'm going to the Twilight midnight release tonight!)

Hello.

Okay, so at this point in time I don't really have any idea how often I will be able to post on here, or even really what I will be posting.  I originally had the idea that I would write more formal, subject oriented things on here and the more informal, everyday stuff on my other blog...Now, however, I'm having a harder time than planned distinguishing the two.  One of the main reasons I've switched over to blogger is because it seems to have more traffic.  All the people I use to  talk to on Xanga have pretty much stopped blogging.  I don't know, I just want to feel like people are actually reading what I write and hopefully want to discuss it with me.  Throughout my internet existence I have flowed in and out of various fan groups, with the one I was the most involved in being the one for Whose Line is it Anyway.  I just really like the sense of community and the ability to talk about things that, no matter how silly outsiders see it, genuinely matter to the people discussing it.  

So, this is me putting myself out there.  

cheers.